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 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 124 134 120
Rank change year-on-year +10 -14 -29
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,193 721 753
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.19% 2.18% 1.99%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.33% 6.05% 6.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 729 454 455
10th Percentile £325 £280 £360
25th Percentile £413 £381 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £503 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.37% -4.19% -2.33%
75th Percentile £650 £600 £613
90th Percentile £750 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £525
% change year-on-year +5.26% -9.52% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 41 35
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.83
25th Percentile £18.75 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% +11.78% -2.17%
75th Percentile £54.25 £31.00 £26.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £40.00 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £25.11 £15.00
% change year-on-year -12.39% +67.42% -34.78%

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 18,838 11,921 11,534
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.54% 36.06% 30.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,246 7,303 6,908
10th Percentile £322 £297 £275
25th Percentile £425 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £518 £526
Median % change year-on-year +1.32% -1.49% -4.36%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £668
90th Percentile £750 £750 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,308 618 413
10th Percentile £13.93 £14.75 £15.62
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.82 £22.50
Median hourly rate £36.00 £27.54 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +30.74% -42.03% +6.15%
75th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.56 £72.50 £75.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.51 £27.54 £55.75
% change year-on-year +28.94% -50.60% +9.94%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 +3 1,015 £538 +4.37% 2,192
UK excluding London -10 644 £500 +5.26% 949
London +8 410 £550 - 1,253
Work from Home -25 276 £545 +6.86% 542
North of England +5 225 £500 +5.26% 222
South East -4 167 £525 +27.27% 291
Yorkshire +7 131 £500 +11.11% 56
North West -18 74 £525 -1.87% 113
Midlands -59 70 £500 +2.75% 123
South West -27 58 £650 +18.18% 65
West Midlands -52 58 £525 +5.00% 92
East of England -9 51 £500 -16.67% 129
Scotland +1 46 £375 -16.67% 53
Wales +12 34 £468 +58.47% 48
North East -16 26 £625 +257.14% 53
East Midlands -19 12 £425 -5.56% 31
Channel Islands - 1 £575 - 2
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 26

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 34 (2.85%) Confluence
2 19 (1.59%) SharePoint
3 15 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.75%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.59%) IIS
6 5 (0.42%) Apache
6 5 (0.42%) CloudStack
7 1 (0.084%) CICS
7 1 (0.084%) nginx
7 1 (0.084%) SAS
7 1 (0.084%) Tomcat
Applications
1 23 (1.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (1.84%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
4 10 (0.84%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.42%) AutoCAD
6 5 (0.42%) Navisworks
6 5 (0.42%) Revit
7 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (0.92%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.17%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.084%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.084%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.084%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.084%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 257 (21.54%) Azure
2 208 (17.44%) AWS
3 65 (5.45%) GCP
4 60 (5.03%) GitHub
5 48 (4.02%) IaaS
6 46 (3.86%) Microsoft 365
7 41 (3.44%) Entra ID
8 37 (3.10%) SaaS
9 29 (2.43%) OCI
10 21 (1.76%) PaaS
11 20 (1.68%) Azure DevOps
12 17 (1.42%) OpenShift
13 16 (1.34%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 15 (1.26%) OneDrive
14 15 (1.26%) Power Platform
15 13 (1.09%) AWS Direct Connect
16 12 (1.01%) Nutanix
16 12 (1.01%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 8 (0.67%) Azure Monitor
18 7 (0.59%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 282 (23.64%) Firewall
2 184 (15.42%) WAN
3 166 (13.91%) BGP
4 126 (10.56%) DNS
5 123 (10.31%) Network Security
6 120 (10.06%) VPN
7 110 (9.22%) LAN
8 105 (8.80%) VXLAN
9 102 (8.55%) VLAN
10 100 (8.38%) OSPF
11 87 (7.29%) SAN
11 87 (7.29%) SD-WAN
11 87 (7.29%) TCP/IP
12 83 (6.96%) DHCP
13 77 (6.45%) Ethernet VPN
14 63 (5.28%) Wireless
15 60 (5.03%) Wi-Fi
16 58 (4.86%) Structured Cabling
17 54 (4.53%) BIG-IP
17 54 (4.53%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (3.77%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.26%) Power BI
3 11 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.84%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.59%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.50%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.42%) Db2
7 5 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.25%) Big Data
9 3 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.17%) Flink
10 2 (0.17%) Metadata
10 2 (0.17%) Sybase ASE
10 2 (0.17%) Sybase IQ
Development Applications
1 79 (6.62%) JIRA
2 38 (3.19%) Jenkins
3 37 (3.10%) GitLab
4 27 (2.26%) Git
5 8 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.17%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.17%) MSI
7 2 (0.17%) Toad
8 1 (0.084%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.084%) Cucumber
General
1 287 (24.06%) Social Skills
2 176 (14.75%) Finance
3 92 (7.71%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (5.20%) Banking
5 56 (4.69%) Telecoms
6 53 (4.44%) Public Sector
7 46 (3.86%) Documentation Skills
8 25 (2.10%) Legal
9 24 (2.01%) Retail
10 18 (1.51%) Manufacturing
11 16 (1.34%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.34%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 8 (0.67%) Police
14 6 (0.50%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.50%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.42%) Cyber-Physical System
15 5 (0.42%) Law
15 5 (0.42%) Presentation Skills
16 4 (0.34%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 193 (16.18%) Architect
2 191 (16.01%) Network Engineer
3 148 (12.41%) Senior
4 121 (10.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 82 (6.87%) Data Centre Engineer
5 82 (6.87%) Project Manager
6 72 (6.04%) Lead
7 71 (5.95%) Network Architect
8 48 (4.02%) Consultant
9 44 (3.69%) Data Centre Manager
10 39 (3.27%) IT Engineer
11 38 (3.19%) Senior Network Engineer
12 36 (3.02%) Technical Architect
13 34 (2.85%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 33 (2.77%) Solutions Architect
14 33 (2.77%) Support Engineer
15 32 (2.68%) Infrastructure Manager
16 30 (2.51%) Analyst
17 29 (2.43%) Technical Manager
18 28 (2.35%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 118 (9.89%) Terraform
2 31 (2.60%) REST
3 29 (2.43%) Middleware
4 18 (1.51%) YAML
5 16 (1.34%) .NET
5 16 (1.34%) 802.1X
6 15 (1.26%) JSON
7 6 (0.50%) LDAP
7 6 (0.50%) NETCONF
7 6 (0.50%) SAML
8 5 (0.42%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (0.42%) OpenConfig
8 5 (0.42%) RESTCONF
8 5 (0.42%) YANG
9 4 (0.34%) GeoJSON
9 4 (0.34%) Kafka
9 4 (0.34%) Redfish
9 4 (0.34%) RESTful
10 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
10 3 (0.25%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 84 (7.04%) Hybrid Cloud
2 49 (4.11%) Public Cloud
3 35 (2.93%) Cloud Native
4 33 (2.77%) Private Cloud
5 32 (2.68%) Enterprise Storage
6 31 (2.60%) Management Information System
7 30 (2.51%) PKI
8 28 (2.35%) Replication
9 27 (2.26%) Onboarding
10 26 (2.18%) Operational Technology
11 25 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
11 25 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
12 24 (2.01%) Clustering
13 21 (1.76%) SCADA
14 20 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
15 17 (1.42%) Fibre Optics
16 16 (1.34%) CMDB
16 16 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
17 15 (1.26%) Driving Licence
18 11 (0.92%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 202 (16.93%) Windows
2 129 (10.81%) Linux
3 76 (6.37%) Windows Server
4 31 (2.60%) Unix
5 19 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.17%) AIX
7 13 (1.09%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.84%) Apple iOS
9 9 (0.75%) VMS
10 8 (0.67%) Solaris
10 8 (0.67%) Windows 10
11 7 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
12 5 (0.42%) HPUX
12 5 (0.42%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (0.42%) SUSE
12 5 (0.42%) Ubuntu
12 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
13 3 (0.25%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 262 (21.96%) Migration
2 180 (15.09%) Problem-Solving
3 173 (14.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 164 (13.75%) Stakeholder Management
5 131 (10.98%) Infrastructure as Code
6 114 (9.56%) ITIL
7 109 (9.14%) CI/CD
8 108 (9.05%) Agile
9 99 (8.30%) Project Delivery
10 97 (8.13%) High Availability
10 97 (8.13%) Validation
11 96 (8.05%) Continuous Improvement
12 89 (7.46%) Disaster Recovery
13 88 (7.38%) Roadmaps
14 82 (6.87%) Zero Trust
15 81 (6.79%) Change Management
16 78 (6.54%) Cybersecurity
17 73 (6.12%) DevOps
18 72 (6.04%) Technical Leadership
19 68 (5.70%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 162 (13.58%) Python
2 76 (6.37%) PowerShell
3 55 (4.61%) SQL
4 34 (2.85%) Bash
5 19 (1.59%) ActionScript
6 16 (1.34%) C#
7 12 (1.01%) T-SQL
8 11 (0.92%) Bicep
9 8 (0.67%) Perl
10 7 (0.59%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.59%) Shell Script
11 4 (0.34%) Go
11 4 (0.34%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.25%) Java
12 3 (0.25%) JCL
12 3 (0.25%) Lisp
12 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.17%) Korn
13 2 (0.17%) MATLAB
13 2 (0.17%) REXX
Qualifications
1 303 (25.40%) Security Cleared
2 208 (17.44%) SC Cleared
3 148 (12.41%) Cisco Certification
4 100 (8.38%) DV Cleared
5 92 (7.71%) CCNP
6 60 (5.03%) Degree
7 52 (4.36%) CCNA
8 34 (2.85%) AWS Certification
9 29 (2.43%) CISSP
10 28 (2.35%) CCIE
10 28 (2.35%) Microsoft Certification
10 28 (2.35%) Network+ Certification
11 26 (2.18%) A+ Certification
11 26 (2.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 25 (2.10%) Azure Certification
13 22 (1.84%) PMI Certification
14 21 (1.76%) PMP
15 20 (1.68%) MCSE
16 19 (1.59%) VCAP
17 15 (1.26%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (2.93%) QA
2 30 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 27 (2.26%) NIST
3 27 (2.26%) SLA
4 14 (1.17%) GDPR
4 14 (1.17%) GRC
4 14 (1.17%) PMO
5 9 (0.75%) JSP 440
5 9 (0.75%) NCSC
6 8 (0.67%) PCI DSS
7 6 (0.50%) ISO 31000
7 6 (0.50%) ISO 9001
7 6 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 5 (0.42%) Disclosure Scotland
8 5 (0.42%) NIST 800
9 4 (0.34%) RMADS
10 3 (0.25%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.17%) HIPAA
System Software
1 153 (12.82%) VMware Infrastructure
2 99 (8.30%) Active Directory
3 54 (4.53%) vSphere
4 49 (4.11%) VMware NSX
5 40 (3.35%) Hyper-V
6 36 (3.02%) Docker
7 34 (2.85%) VMware ESXi
8 26 (2.18%) Firmware
9 14 (1.17%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (0.92%) NFS
11 8 (0.67%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
13 5 (0.42%) ISA Server
13 5 (0.42%) Microsoft App-V
14 4 (0.34%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.34%) PowerHA
15 3 (0.25%) BitLocker
15 3 (0.25%) KVM
15 3 (0.25%) SRDF
15 3 (0.25%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 144 (12.07%) Ansible
2 59 (4.95%) Kubernetes
3 34 (2.85%) FortiGate
4 20 (1.68%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.42%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.34%) vCenter Server
6 16 (1.34%) VxRail
7 14 (1.17%) Grafana
7 14 (1.17%) SCCM
8 12 (1.01%) Microsoft Clustering
8 12 (1.01%) PowerCLI
9 11 (0.92%) SCOM
9 11 (0.92%) vMotion
10 10 (0.84%) Jamf Pro
11 9 (0.75%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 7 (0.59%) Dell DRAC
12 7 (0.59%) Nagios
13 6 (0.50%) CASB
13 6 (0.50%) NetBackup
14 5 (0.42%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 284 (23.81%) Cisco
2 202 (16.93%) VMware
3 158 (13.24%) Microsoft
4 134 (11.23%) Palo Alto
5 111 (9.30%) F5
6 67 (5.62%) Fortinet
6 67 (5.62%) ServiceNow
7 59 (4.95%) Arista
8 58 (4.86%) Juniper
9 52 (4.36%) Dell
10 44 (3.69%) Aruba
11 37 (3.10%) CheckPoint
12 35 (2.93%) Oracle
13 34 (2.85%) Google
14 33 (2.77%) Red Hat
15 32 (2.68%) Veeam
16 26 (2.18%) Commvault
17 25 (2.10%) Zscaler
18 22 (1.84%) IBM
18 22 (1.84%) NetApp