Data Centre Contract Job Trends

Data Center
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Centre in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Centre over the 6 months leading up to 1 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 96 127 105
Rank change year-on-year +31 -22 -19
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,181 631 912
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.41% 2.17% 2.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.47% 6.35% 7.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 722 412 620
10th Percentile £318 £313 £300
25th Percentile £407 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £493 £500 £526
Median % change year-on-year -1.40% -4.99% -4.32%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £686 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £474 £475 £538
% change year-on-year -0.21% -11.63% +7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 19 45
10th Percentile £16.00 - £13.35
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £18.27
Median hourly rate £19.60 £37.50 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year -47.75% +56.25% +12.89%
75th Percentile £37.87 £42.50 £40.00
90th Percentile £75.61 £55.00 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £27.75 £23.25
% change year-on-year -30.29% +19.33% +10.81%

All Generic Skills
UK

Data Centre falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 15,809 9,941 12,968
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.30% 34.12% 30.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,769 6,300 8,331
10th Percentile £313 £292 £270
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 769 405 923
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £19.85 £20.45 £15.24
Median hourly rate £40.00 £33.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +21.21% -5.71% +59.09%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.60 £82.40 £71.04
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.85 £32.05 £34.21
% change year-on-year +36.83% -6.31% +55.50%

Data Centre
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Centre relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Data Centre job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Centre
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Centre over the 6 months to 1 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Centre over the 6 months to 1 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 18 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Centre within the UK over the 6 months to 1 June 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +30 967 £495 -5.26% 507
UK excluding London +18 679 £474 -0.21% 280
London +13 334 £550 +4.76% 248
Work from Home +29 319 £483 -3.50% 165
North of England +26 235 £474 +6.46% 63
South East +16 212 £463 +2.78% 103
Yorkshire -3 115 £365 -14.12% 25
North West +11 96 £488 -3.20% 28
Midlands -39 58 £467 -15.12% 23
Scotland +10 57 £466 +4.96% 15
West Midlands -42 52 £468 -14.83% 19
South West -22 50 £495 -13.91% 32
East of England -13 39 £492 +64.00% 39
Wales +3 34 £468 +16.88% 5
North East 0 28 £625 +468.18% 10
East Midlands -27 5 £400 -27.27% 4
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 8
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

Data Centre
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 22 (1.86%) Confluence
2 14 (1.19%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.93%) CICS
4 10 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
5 5 (0.42%) nginx
6 4 (0.34%) Apache
6 4 (0.34%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.34%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.34%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.085%) IIS
9 1 (0.085%) Mendix
Applications
1 15 (1.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (0.93%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
2 11 (0.93%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.34%) AutoCAD
4 3 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
4 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.17%) DELMIA
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.17%) Primavera
2 2 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.085%) Maximo
3 1 (0.085%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 242 (20.49%) Azure
2 198 (16.77%) AWS
3 71 (6.01%) GCP
4 36 (3.05%) Microsoft 365
5 33 (2.79%) GitHub
6 31 (2.62%) IaaS
7 29 (2.46%) SaaS
8 28 (2.37%) OCI
9 22 (1.86%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.44%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 15 (1.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 14 (1.19%) OpenShift
12 14 (1.19%) PaaS
13 12 (1.02%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
14 11 (0.93%) OneDrive
14 11 (0.93%) Power Platform
15 10 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
15 10 (0.85%) Nutanix
16 9 (0.76%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 337 (28.54%) Firewall
2 203 (17.19%) WAN
3 183 (15.50%) BGP
4 147 (12.45%) OSPF
5 126 (10.67%) Network Security
6 124 (10.50%) LAN
7 123 (10.41%) VPN
8 122 (10.33%) VXLAN
9 118 (9.99%) SAN
10 97 (8.21%) DNS
10 97 (8.21%) VLAN
11 95 (8.04%) Structured Cabling
12 84 (7.11%) Ethernet VPN
13 77 (6.52%) SD-WAN
14 74 (6.27%) DHCP
15 53 (4.49%) BIG-IP
16 52 (4.40%) Cisco Nexus
17 50 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
18 47 (3.98%) NX-OS
19 44 (3.73%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.27%) SQL Server
2 10 (0.85%) DataStage
3 6 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (0.51%) Power BI
4 5 (0.42%) Relational Database
5 4 (0.34%) Big Data
5 4 (0.34%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database
5 4 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.34%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.25%) GIS
7 2 (0.17%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.17%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.17%) Oracle Database 12c
7 2 (0.17%) Power Query
7 2 (0.17%) PowerPivot
8 1 (0.085%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.085%) InfluxDB
8 1 (0.085%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 55 (4.66%) JIRA
2 38 (3.22%) GitLab
3 36 (3.05%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.96%) Git
5 7 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.51%) Maven
6 6 (0.51%) ScriptRunner
7 5 (0.42%) JMeter
8 4 (0.34%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.34%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.34%) Subversion
9 3 (0.25%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
10 1 (0.085%) AppScan
10 1 (0.085%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.085%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.085%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.085%) Postman
General
1 292 (24.72%) Social Skills
2 160 (13.55%) Finance
3 132 (11.18%) Analytical Skills
4 83 (7.03%) Public Sector
5 62 (5.25%) Documentation Skills
6 47 (3.98%) Banking
7 34 (2.88%) Legal
8 31 (2.62%) Telecoms
9 26 (2.20%) Manufacturing
10 22 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
10 22 (1.86%) Retail
11 13 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.02%) Law
13 10 (0.85%) Military
14 9 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
15 8 (0.68%) Aerospace
15 8 (0.68%) Financial Institution
15 8 (0.68%) Marketing
16 7 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
17 5 (0.42%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 209 (17.70%) Network Engineer
2 189 (16.00%) Architect
3 135 (11.43%) Senior
4 90 (7.62%) Data Centre Engineer
5 80 (6.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 74 (6.27%) Project Manager
7 59 (5.00%) Lead
8 58 (4.91%) IT Engineer
9 56 (4.74%) Field Engineer
9 56 (4.74%) Network Architect
10 53 (4.49%) Field Service Engineer
11 43 (3.64%) Solutions Architect
12 42 (3.56%) Data Centre Manager
13 37 (3.13%) Analyst
13 37 (3.13%) Infrastructure Manager
14 36 (3.05%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 36 (3.05%) Senior Network Engineer
14 36 (3.05%) Technical Architect
15 32 (2.71%) Administrator
16 31 (2.62%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (4.15%) Middleware
2 32 (2.71%) 802.1X
3 12 (1.02%) LDAP
4 9 (0.76%) Redfish
5 8 (0.68%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.59%) Spring
7 5 (0.42%) Jinja
7 5 (0.42%) Kafka
7 5 (0.42%) REST
7 5 (0.42%) XML
8 4 (0.34%) ADO
8 4 (0.34%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.34%) YAML
9 3 (0.25%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.25%) EJB
9 3 (0.25%) Java EE
9 3 (0.25%) JSON
9 3 (0.25%) OpenLayers
9 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.25%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 65 (5.50%) Hybrid Cloud
2 59 (5.00%) Analytical Mindset
3 36 (3.05%) Management Information System
4 29 (2.46%) Cloud Native
5 28 (2.37%) PKI
6 27 (2.29%) Clustering
7 26 (2.20%) Enterprise Storage
8 25 (2.12%) Fibre Optics
9 24 (2.03%) Onboarding
10 22 (1.86%) CMDB
10 22 (1.86%) Private Cloud
11 21 (1.78%) Driving Licence
11 21 (1.78%) Public Cloud
11 21 (1.78%) Replication
12 18 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
13 17 (1.44%) SCADA
14 16 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
15 14 (1.19%) NHS
16 13 (1.10%) Mainframe
17 12 (1.02%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 154 (13.04%) Linux
2 149 (12.62%) Windows
3 40 (3.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 36 (3.05%) Windows Server
5 23 (1.95%) Unix
6 22 (1.86%) AIX
7 17 (1.44%) Solaris
8 12 (1.02%) CentOS
9 9 (0.76%) Ubuntu
9 9 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
10 8 (0.68%) VMS
11 6 (0.51%) Apple iOS
11 6 (0.51%) Mac OS
12 4 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.34%) HPUX
12 4 (0.34%) Oracle Linux
12 4 (0.34%) SUSE
13 3 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
13 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
13 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (17.61%) Problem-Solving
2 193 (16.34%) Migration
3 115 (9.74%) High Availability
4 111 (9.40%) Stakeholder Management
5 110 (9.31%) Infrastructure as Code
6 104 (8.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 103 (8.72%) ITIL
8 97 (8.21%) Roadmaps
9 96 (8.13%) CI/CD
10 93 (7.87%) Continuous Improvement
11 85 (7.20%) Load Balancing
12 79 (6.69%) Agile
12 79 (6.69%) DevOps
13 78 (6.60%) Validation
14 77 (6.52%) Project Delivery
15 75 (6.35%) Project Management
16 73 (6.18%) Change Management
17 68 (5.76%) Customer Service
18 65 (5.50%) Break/Fix
18 65 (5.50%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 139 (11.77%) Python
2 41 (3.47%) PowerShell
3 36 (3.05%) SQL
4 28 (2.37%) Bash
5 22 (1.86%) Java
6 16 (1.35%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.02%) COBOL
8 11 (0.93%) MATLAB
9 10 (0.85%) Bicep
9 10 (0.85%) Perl
10 8 (0.68%) PL/SQL
11 7 (0.59%) ActionScript
12 5 (0.42%) C
12 5 (0.42%) C++
12 5 (0.42%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.34%) Lisp
14 3 (0.25%) VBA
15 2 (0.17%) JCL
15 2 (0.17%) Korn
15 2 (0.17%) REXX
Qualifications
1 326 (27.60%) Security Cleared
2 245 (20.75%) Cisco Certification
3 243 (20.58%) SC Cleared
4 152 (12.87%) CCNP
5 111 (9.40%) CCNA
6 72 (6.10%) DV Cleared
7 68 (5.76%) Degree
7 68 (5.76%) Network+ Certification
8 56 (4.74%) Microsoft Certification
9 51 (4.32%) A+ Certification
9 51 (4.32%) MCSE
10 27 (2.29%) Azure Certification
11 25 (2.12%) CCIE
12 24 (2.03%) City & Guilds
13 23 (1.95%) PMP
14 22 (1.86%) PMI Certification
15 21 (1.78%) AWS Certification
16 20 (1.69%) BICSI Certification
17 19 (1.61%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
18 17 (1.44%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (2.79%) SLA
2 26 (2.20%) NIST
3 23 (1.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (1.95%) QA
4 21 (1.78%) PMO
5 18 (1.52%) GDPR
6 10 (0.85%) NCSC
7 9 (0.76%) Disclosure Scotland
7 9 (0.76%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.68%) GRC
9 6 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
9 6 (0.51%) RMADS
10 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.25%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.17%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.085%) COBIT
12 1 (0.085%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 104 (8.81%) VMware Infrastructure
2 61 (5.17%) Active Directory
3 38 (3.22%) VMware NSX
4 33 (2.79%) vSphere
5 32 (2.71%) Firmware
6 28 (2.37%) VMware ESXi
7 26 (2.20%) Virtual Machines
8 24 (2.03%) Hyper-V
9 13 (1.10%) Docker
10 12 (1.02%) KVM
11 7 (0.59%) NFS
11 7 (0.59%) SRDF
12 6 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
13 4 (0.34%) Ceph
13 4 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
14 3 (0.25%) UAG
14 3 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
14 3 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 136 (11.52%) Ansible
2 103 (8.72%) Terraform
3 59 (5.00%) FortiGate
4 45 (3.81%) Kubernetes
5 37 (3.13%) Grafana
6 30 (2.54%) Prometheus
7 20 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
8 13 (1.10%) Check_MK
8 13 (1.10%) NetBackup
9 12 (1.02%) vCenter Server
10 11 (0.93%) Podman
10 11 (0.93%) PowerCLI
10 11 (0.93%) Red Hat Satellite
11 10 (0.85%) SCCM
12 9 (0.76%) Dell DRAC
13 8 (0.68%) vMotion
14 7 (0.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
14 7 (0.59%) Tivoli Storage Manager
15 6 (0.51%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 316 (26.76%) Cisco
2 157 (13.29%) VMware
3 154 (13.04%) Palo Alto
4 112 (9.48%) F5
5 103 (8.72%) Microsoft
6 99 (8.38%) Dell
7 89 (7.54%) Juniper
8 70 (5.93%) Arista
9 61 (5.17%) Fortinet
10 59 (5.00%) Aruba
11 53 (4.49%) ServiceNow
12 48 (4.06%) CheckPoint
13 42 (3.56%) SolarWinds
14 39 (3.30%) Google
14 39 (3.30%) Red Hat
15 36 (3.05%) IBM
16 29 (2.46%) Oracle
17 28 (2.37%) Splunk
18 26 (2.20%) NVIDIA
19 23 (1.95%) Atlassian