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 26 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 130 103
Rank change year-on-year +15 -27 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 970 606 938
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.21% 2.09% 2.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.67% 6.15% 6.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 600 396 611
10th Percentile £311 £325 £280
25th Percentile £406 £413 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £482 £515 £520
Median % change year-on-year -6.44% -1.01% -5.45%
75th Percentile £588 £610 £638
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £475 £513
% change year-on-year -1.16% -7.32% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 25 46
10th Percentile £16.01 £24.17 £17.13
25th Percentile £18.39 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £23.71 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -3.86% -0.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £71.49 £29.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £75.83 £42.75 £61.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £24.00
% change year-on-year -21.57% +2.75% +10.75%

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 14,544 9,856 13,416
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.07% 33.91% 30.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,137 6,296 8,590
10th Percentile £300 £296 £256
25th Percentile £409 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.67% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £771 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 683 376 877
10th Percentile £15.62 £16.95 £12.34
25th Percentile £19.00 £22.26 £15.39
Median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.05% +18.18% +22.22%
75th Percentile £68.88 £65.25 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.32 £83.20 £67.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £31.76 £25.50
% change year-on-year +43.14% +24.55% +15.07%

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 26 March 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 26 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 17 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 26 March 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 +4 802 £485 -7.62% 436
UK excluding London +4 546 £470 -1.16% 306
London +1 297 £550 +4.76% 184
Work from Home +16 257 £475 -11.21% 123
North of England +27 187 £459 +8.00% 53
South East +11 161 £463 +2.78% 115
North West +16 97 £499 -0.25% 28
Yorkshire -3 74 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -28 67 £474 -24.16% 32
West Midlands -35 55 £475 -24.08% 14
Scotland +13 50 £488 +11.43% 29
East of England -19 33 £478 +13.14% 45
South West -43 33 £550 - 31
Wales 0 28 £350 -12.50% 11
North East +1 18 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -26 11 £200 -55.56% 18
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 4

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 (2.27%) SharePoint
2 18 (1.86%) Confluence
3 16 (1.65%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (0.82%) CICS
5 4 (0.41%) nginx
5 4 (0.41%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.41%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.31%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.31%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.21%) Oracle Coherence
7 2 (0.21%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.10%) Mendix
Applications
1 37 (3.81%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.27%) MS Visio
3 21 (2.16%) Microsoft Excel
4 17 (1.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.44%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.31%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.62%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.31%) Primavera
2 3 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.21%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.21%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.10%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.10%) Maximo
4 1 (0.10%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 187 (19.28%) Azure
2 148 (15.26%) AWS
3 69 (7.11%) GCP
4 56 (5.77%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (2.27%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 18 (1.86%) SaaS
7 17 (1.75%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 16 (1.65%) Entra ID
8 16 (1.65%) IaaS
9 14 (1.44%) Power Platform
10 12 (1.24%) Azure DevOps
10 12 (1.24%) GitHub
10 12 (1.24%) OpenShift
10 12 (1.24%) PaaS
11 11 (1.13%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 11 (1.13%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (1.13%) AWS Direct Connect
12 9 (0.93%) Amazon S3
13 8 (0.82%) Nutanix
14 7 (0.72%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 280 (28.87%) Firewall
2 170 (17.53%) WAN
3 145 (14.95%) BGP
4 106 (10.93%) OSPF
5 105 (10.82%) LAN
6 101 (10.41%) VPN
7 99 (10.21%) Network Security
8 75 (7.73%) Structured Cabling
9 71 (7.32%) VXLAN
10 70 (7.22%) DNS
10 70 (7.22%) SAN
11 62 (6.39%) VLAN
11 62 (6.39%) Wireless
12 56 (5.77%) DHCP
13 48 (4.95%) SD-WAN
14 47 (4.85%) Ethernet VPN
15 42 (4.33%) Cisco ISE
16 41 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
17 33 (3.40%) Cisco Nexus
17 33 (3.40%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (0.93%) Power BI
2 8 (0.82%) DataStage
3 7 (0.72%) SQL Server
4 6 (0.62%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.52%) GIS
5 5 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.41%) Big Data
6 4 (0.41%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.41%) Power Query
6 4 (0.41%) PowerPivot
6 4 (0.41%) SAP Data Services
7 3 (0.31%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.31%) Geospatial Data
7 3 (0.31%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.31%) QGIS
8 2 (0.21%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.21%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 32 (3.30%) JIRA
2 31 (3.20%) Git
3 19 (1.96%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.65%) GitLab
5 9 (0.93%) Maven
6 7 (0.72%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.52%) JMeter
8 4 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.41%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.41%) Subversion
9 3 (0.31%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.31%) ScriptRunner
10 2 (0.21%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.10%) AppScan
11 1 (0.10%) Burp Suite
11 1 (0.10%) LoadRunner
11 1 (0.10%) Metasploit
11 1 (0.10%) Postman
General
1 255 (26.29%) Social Skills
2 152 (15.67%) Finance
3 113 (11.65%) Analytical Skills
4 93 (9.59%) Public Sector
5 54 (5.57%) Documentation Skills
6 46 (4.74%) Telecoms
7 43 (4.43%) Banking
8 37 (3.81%) Manufacturing
9 29 (2.99%) Legal
10 25 (2.58%) Marketing
11 21 (2.16%) Influencing Skills
12 19 (1.96%) Retail
13 17 (1.75%) Electronics
14 16 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 16 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
16 11 (1.13%) Investment Banking
17 9 (0.93%) Law
17 9 (0.93%) Military
18 6 (0.62%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 164 (16.91%) Architect
2 162 (16.70%) Network Engineer
3 84 (8.66%) Senior
4 83 (8.56%) Project Manager
5 62 (6.39%) Data Centre Engineer
6 52 (5.36%) Analyst
7 51 (5.26%) Network Architect
7 51 (5.26%) Solutions Architect
8 45 (4.64%) Data Centre Manager
9 39 (4.02%) Lead
10 38 (3.92%) Infrastructure Manager
11 36 (3.71%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 34 (3.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 33 (3.40%) IT Engineer
14 32 (3.30%) IT Support
15 30 (3.09%) Field Engineer
16 29 (2.99%) Cisco Engineer
16 29 (2.99%) Consultant
16 29 (2.99%) Field Service Engineer
16 29 (2.99%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.30%) 802.1X
2 31 (3.20%) Middleware
3 9 (0.93%) LDAP
4 6 (0.62%) Elastic Stack
4 6 (0.62%) Spring
5 5 (0.52%) Redfish
6 4 (0.41%) ADO
6 4 (0.41%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.41%) Jinja
6 4 (0.41%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.41%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.41%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.41%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.41%) VML
6 4 (0.41%) XML
6 4 (0.41%) YANG
7 3 (0.31%) REST
7 3 (0.31%) RFC 2544
7 3 (0.31%) Yocto
8 2 (0.21%) OpenLayers
Miscellaneous
1 44 (4.54%) Hybrid Cloud
2 35 (3.61%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (2.78%) PKI
4 26 (2.68%) Clustering
5 23 (2.37%) Driving Licence
6 21 (2.16%) Fibre Optics
6 21 (2.16%) Onboarding
7 20 (2.06%) Management Information System
8 19 (1.96%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.86%) Cloud Native
10 17 (1.75%) Public Cloud
10 17 (1.75%) Replication
11 14 (1.44%) CMDB
11 14 (1.44%) NHS
12 12 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
12 12 (1.24%) Enterprise Storage
12 12 (1.24%) SCADA
13 11 (1.13%) Mainframe
13 11 (1.13%) Private Cloud
14 8 (0.82%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 125 (12.89%) Windows
2 116 (11.96%) Linux
3 43 (4.43%) Windows Server
4 33 (3.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (2.37%) Android
5 23 (2.37%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.75%) Unix
7 13 (1.34%) AIX
8 10 (1.03%) Solaris
9 9 (0.93%) CentOS
10 7 (0.72%) VMS
10 7 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
11 5 (0.52%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.31%) Embedded Linux
12 3 (0.31%) Windows 10
13 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.10%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 164 (16.91%) Migration
2 159 (16.39%) Problem-Solving
3 113 (11.65%) Stakeholder Management
4 86 (8.87%) ITIL
5 78 (8.04%) High Availability
5 78 (8.04%) Roadmaps
6 74 (7.63%) Project Management
7 69 (7.11%) Continuous Improvement
8 68 (7.01%) Agile
9 67 (6.91%) Infrastructure as Code
9 67 (6.91%) Load Balancing
10 65 (6.70%) Project Delivery
11 62 (6.39%) Change Management
12 61 (6.29%) CI/CD
13 54 (5.57%) DevOps
14 51 (5.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 50 (5.15%) Data Centre Operations
16 48 (4.95%) Customer Service
16 48 (4.95%) Validation
17 46 (4.74%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 91 (9.38%) Python
2 52 (5.36%) PowerShell
3 28 (2.89%) Bash
3 28 (2.89%) SQL
4 23 (2.37%) Java
5 18 (1.86%) Perl
6 12 (1.24%) Shell Script
7 10 (1.03%) COBOL
8 7 (0.72%) Bicep
8 7 (0.72%) Lisp
8 7 (0.72%) MATLAB
9 5 (0.52%) C++
9 5 (0.52%) VBA
10 4 (0.41%) C
10 4 (0.41%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.31%) Korn
11 3 (0.31%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.10%) Groovy
12 1 (0.10%) SystemVerilog
12 1 (0.10%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 308 (31.75%) Security Cleared
2 234 (24.12%) SC Cleared
3 182 (18.76%) Cisco Certification
4 127 (13.09%) CCNP
5 75 (7.73%) CCNA
6 69 (7.11%) Degree
7 65 (6.70%) DV Cleared
8 33 (3.40%) Network+ Certification
9 28 (2.89%) Microsoft Certification
10 27 (2.78%) A+ Certification
10 27 (2.78%) CCIE
10 27 (2.78%) MCSE
11 24 (2.47%) PMP
12 22 (2.27%) PMI Certification
13 20 (2.06%) AWS Certification
14 17 (1.75%) Azure Certification
15 16 (1.65%) JNCIS
16 14 (1.44%) JNCIP
17 12 (1.24%) JNCIA
17 12 (1.24%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 26 (2.68%) PMO
3 25 (2.58%) SLA
4 24 (2.47%) NIST
5 22 (2.27%) GDPR
6 17 (1.75%) PCI DSS
7 14 (1.44%) QA
8 11 (1.13%) NCSC
9 5 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.52%) Data Quality
10 4 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
10 4 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
10 4 (0.41%) GRC
11 3 (0.31%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.31%) RMADS
12 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.10%) COBIT
13 1 (0.10%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.10%) SOC 1
System Software
1 84 (8.66%) VMware Infrastructure
2 61 (6.29%) Active Directory
3 46 (4.74%) VMware NSX
4 22 (2.27%) Firmware
4 22 (2.27%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (2.06%) vSphere
6 18 (1.86%) Docker
7 16 (1.65%) Hyper-V
8 14 (1.44%) VMware ESXi
9 10 (1.03%) KVM
10 3 (0.31%) PowerHA
10 3 (0.31%) SRDF
11 2 (0.21%) Ceph
11 2 (0.21%) Lustre
11 2 (0.21%) NFS
11 2 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.21%) vCloud
11 2 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.10%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 92 (9.48%) Ansible
2 77 (7.94%) Terraform
3 55 (5.67%) FortiGate
4 40 (4.12%) Kubernetes
5 33 (3.40%) Grafana
6 23 (2.37%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.75%) SCCM
8 14 (1.44%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (0.82%) Check_MK
10 7 (0.72%) Podman
10 7 (0.72%) Red Hat Satellite
10 7 (0.72%) SCOM
10 7 (0.72%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.62%) PowerCLI
12 5 (0.52%) Dell DRAC
12 5 (0.52%) Endace
12 5 (0.52%) vMotion
13 4 (0.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 4 (0.41%) CASB
13 4 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 286 (29.48%) Cisco
2 120 (12.37%) Palo Alto
3 119 (12.27%) VMware
4 95 (9.79%) Microsoft
5 90 (9.28%) Dell
6 86 (8.87%) Juniper
7 67 (6.91%) F5
8 44 (4.54%) Aruba
9 42 (4.33%) Arista
9 42 (4.33%) CheckPoint
10 41 (4.23%) ServiceNow
11 40 (4.12%) Fortinet
12 36 (3.71%) HP
12 36 (3.71%) Meraki
13 34 (3.51%) Google
13 34 (3.51%) SolarWinds
14 30 (3.09%) Red Hat
15 29 (2.99%) IBM
15 29 (2.99%) Splunk
16 27 (2.78%) Citrix