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 13 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 145 116 94
Rank change year-on-year -29 -22 +9
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 717 743 1,146
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.02% 2.04% 2.48%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.64% 6.59% 7.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 450 444 771
10th Percentile £241 £363 £325
25th Percentile £373 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £711 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £514
% change year-on-year -9.52% +2.19% +4.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 34 22
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.81 £17.72
25th Percentile - £12.08 £20.88
Median hourly rate £25.15 £22.69 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.85% -1.36% -63.20%
75th Percentile £31.00 £24.18 £71.25
90th Percentile £67.25 £28.75 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £21.59 £23.00
% change year-on-year +16.49% -6.13% -41.77%

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 12,706 11,273 14,806
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.79% 30.92% 32.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,850 6,655 9,974
10th Percentile £276 £281 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £657 £669
90th Percentile £750 £788 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 685 355 495
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.94 £16.95
25th Percentile £17.98 £22.50 £20.93
Median hourly rate £27.00 £37.50 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.00% -14.77% +49.15%
75th Percentile £50.75 £68.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.16 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.00 £37.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year -30.67% -18.80% +86.28%

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 13 November 2025.

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 13 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 16 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 13 November 2025. 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 -34 627 £520 -3.26% 568
UK excluding London -20 396 £475 -9.52% 289
London -16 254 £525 -1.18% 301
Work from Home +18 196 £525 -4.55% 215
North of England -12 135 £490 -2.00% 48
Midlands -11 95 £431 -26.07% 40
North West 0 76 £550 +10.00% 32
West Midlands -12 72 £465 -22.50% 32
South East -32 72 £425 -19.05% 112
Yorkshire -23 54 £450 +7.14% 9
South West -31 36 £550 - 35
Scotland +4 32 £450 - 9
East of England -19 26 £600 +50.00% 41
East Midlands -2 23 £358 -19.55% 8
Wales +4 15 £276 -15.00% 12
North East -7 8 £175 -58.82% 7

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 28 (3.91%) SharePoint
2 21 (2.93%) Confluence
3 20 (2.79%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (1.53%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.84%) Apache
6 5 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.70%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.56%) HCL Notes
7 4 (0.56%) nginx
8 3 (0.42%) CICS
8 3 (0.42%) GeoServer
8 3 (0.42%) Smallworld
8 3 (0.42%) ThingWorx
8 3 (0.42%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.28%) FileNet
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle Coherence
9 2 (0.28%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.14%) IIS
10 1 (0.14%) OpenEdge
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 55 (7.67%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (4.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (3.49%) MS Visio
4 16 (2.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 15 (2.09%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.14%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.84%) Payment Gateway
2 5 (0.70%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.42%) Oracle Financials
4 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.14%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.14%) Primavera
5 1 (0.14%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 131 (18.27%) Azure
2 107 (14.92%) AWS
3 69 (9.62%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (5.44%) GCP
5 20 (2.79%) Entra ID
5 20 (2.79%) Power Platform
6 15 (2.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 15 (2.09%) OpenShift
7 13 (1.81%) SaaS
8 12 (1.67%) IaaS
8 12 (1.67%) PaaS
9 10 (1.39%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 9 (1.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 7 (0.98%) AWS Direct Connect
12 6 (0.84%) Akamai
12 6 (0.84%) GitHub
12 6 (0.84%) npm
12 6 (0.84%) Nutanix
12 6 (0.84%) OneDrive
13 5 (0.70%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 197 (27.48%) Firewall
2 123 (17.15%) WAN
3 104 (14.50%) Wireless
4 73 (10.18%) BGP
5 63 (8.79%) DNS
6 62 (8.65%) VPN
7 61 (8.51%) LAN
8 51 (7.11%) SD-WAN
9 48 (6.69%) OSPF
10 44 (6.14%) Cisco Nexus
11 40 (5.58%) Wi-Fi
12 39 (5.44%) Cisco ISE
12 39 (5.44%) Network Security
12 39 (5.44%) SAN
13 37 (5.16%) DHCP
14 36 (5.02%) VXLAN
15 34 (4.74%) MPLS
15 34 (4.74%) VLAN
16 30 (4.18%) TCP/IP
17 25 (3.49%) Cisco Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (2.65%) Relational Database
2 17 (2.37%) Power BI
3 12 (1.67%) RDBMS
4 9 (1.26%) GIS
5 8 (1.12%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.84%) NoSQL
6 6 (0.84%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (0.70%) Apache Hive
7 5 (0.70%) Hadoop
7 5 (0.70%) HBase
8 4 (0.56%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.42%) Big Data
9 3 (0.42%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.42%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.42%) DataStage
9 3 (0.42%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (0.42%) InfluxDB
9 3 (0.42%) QGIS
9 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 20 (2.79%) JIRA
2 17 (2.37%) Git
3 14 (1.95%) Sonatype Nexus
4 12 (1.67%) Jenkins
5 11 (1.53%) GitLab
6 10 (1.39%) Maven
7 9 (1.26%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.56%) Gradle
8 4 (0.56%) Selenium
9 3 (0.42%) ER Studio
9 3 (0.42%) ERwin
9 3 (0.42%) TeamCity
10 2 (0.28%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.14%) Fiddler
11 1 (0.14%) Postman
General
1 165 (23.01%) Social Skills
2 135 (18.83%) Finance
3 75 (10.46%) Public Sector
4 71 (9.90%) Telecoms
5 68 (9.48%) Banking
6 65 (9.07%) Analytical Skills
7 33 (4.60%) Manufacturing
8 31 (4.32%) Documentation Skills
9 27 (3.77%) Marketing
10 25 (3.49%) Electronics
11 19 (2.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 19 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
12 15 (2.09%) Organisational Skills
13 14 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.98%) Front Office
14 7 (0.98%) Investment Banking
14 7 (0.98%) Legal
14 7 (0.98%) Local Government
15 5 (0.70%) Law
15 5 (0.70%) Retail
Job Titles
1 114 (15.90%) Network Engineer
2 111 (15.48%) Architect
3 73 (10.18%) Analyst
4 50 (6.97%) Project Manager
5 41 (5.72%) Senior
6 35 (4.88%) Network Architect
7 33 (4.60%) IT Support
8 32 (4.46%) Consultant
9 31 (4.32%) Infrastructure Manager
10 30 (4.18%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 29 (4.04%) Data Centre Engineer
11 29 (4.04%) Security Engineer
11 29 (4.04%) Support Engineer
12 28 (3.91%) Data Centre Manager
13 24 (3.35%) Business Analyst
13 24 (3.35%) Cisco Engineer
13 24 (3.35%) Desktop Support
13 24 (3.35%) Solutions Architect
14 23 (3.21%) 2nd Line Support
14 23 (3.21%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.35%) RFC 2544
2 23 (3.21%) Middleware
3 18 (2.51%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.70%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.56%) Jinja
6 3 (0.42%) REST
7 2 (0.28%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.28%) eBPF
7 2 (0.28%) EJB
7 2 (0.28%) Java SE
7 2 (0.28%) LDAP
7 2 (0.28%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.28%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.28%) Spring
8 1 (0.14%) Elastic Stack
8 1 (0.14%) ONNX
8 1 (0.14%) OpenTelemetry
8 1 (0.14%) PyTorch
8 1 (0.14%) React
8 1 (0.14%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 35 (4.88%) Hybrid Cloud
2 27 (3.77%) Cloud Native
3 23 (3.21%) Fibre Optics
4 22 (3.07%) Driving Licence
4 22 (3.07%) Public Cloud
5 19 (2.65%) Replication
6 18 (2.51%) Private Cloud
7 17 (2.37%) Onboarding
8 14 (1.95%) Mainframe
9 12 (1.67%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.53%) PKI
10 11 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
11 10 (1.39%) Management Information System
12 9 (1.26%) Clustering
12 9 (1.26%) Product Ownership
12 9 (1.26%) SCADA
13 8 (1.12%) CMDB
13 8 (1.12%) Legacy Systems
14 7 (0.98%) Enterprise Storage
14 7 (0.98%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 96 (13.39%) Windows
2 75 (10.46%) Linux
3 46 (6.42%) Android
4 44 (6.14%) Mac OS
5 34 (4.74%) Windows Server
6 23 (3.21%) Unix
7 20 (2.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (1.67%) CentOS
9 8 (1.12%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.84%) Windows 10
11 4 (0.56%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.56%) Solaris
11 4 (0.56%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.28%) AIX
12 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.28%) zOS
13 1 (0.14%) MVS
13 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 131 (18.27%) Migration
2 84 (11.72%) Problem-Solving
3 75 (10.46%) Stakeholder Management
4 67 (9.34%) Agile
5 56 (7.81%) Service Management
6 54 (7.53%) ITIL
7 51 (7.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 49 (6.83%) Disaster Recovery
9 48 (6.69%) Roadmaps
10 46 (6.42%) Customer Service
10 46 (6.42%) High Availability
11 45 (6.28%) Infrastructure as Code
12 44 (6.14%) Change Management
12 44 (6.14%) DevOps
12 44 (6.14%) Network Design
13 42 (5.86%) CI/CD
14 41 (5.72%) Data Centre Operations
14 41 (5.72%) Project Delivery
15 39 (5.44%) Business Intelligence
15 39 (5.44%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 76 (10.60%) Python
2 42 (5.86%) PowerShell
3 34 (4.74%) SQL
4 19 (2.65%) Bash
4 19 (2.65%) Java
5 11 (1.53%) Shell Script
6 10 (1.39%) Perl
7 8 (1.12%) Lisp
8 7 (0.98%) Go
9 5 (0.70%) C
10 3 (0.42%) Bicep
10 3 (0.42%) C#
10 3 (0.42%) JCL
10 3 (0.42%) Korn
11 2 (0.28%) AWK
11 2 (0.28%) JavaScript
11 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.28%) Ruby
11 2 (0.28%) sed
12 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 205 (28.59%) Security Cleared
2 176 (24.55%) SC Cleared
3 87 (12.13%) Cisco Certification
4 58 (8.09%) CCNP
5 56 (7.81%) Degree
6 39 (5.44%) DV Cleared
7 28 (3.91%) CCIE
8 25 (3.49%) CCNA
9 17 (2.37%) AWS Certification
10 13 (1.81%) CISSP
11 11 (1.53%) JNCIE
12 10 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (1.26%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 8 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
14 8 (1.12%) PMI Certification
14 8 (1.12%) PMP
15 7 (0.98%) Azure Certification
16 6 (0.84%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 6 (0.84%) CCDP
16 6 (0.84%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.93%) NIST
2 20 (2.79%) SLA
3 19 (2.65%) PCI DSS
4 16 (2.23%) PMO
5 15 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 11 (1.53%) Data Quality
6 11 (1.53%) GDPR
7 10 (1.39%) QA
8 4 (0.56%) NCSC
9 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.28%) GRC
9 2 (0.28%) ISO 22301
9 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.28%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.14%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 65 (9.07%) VMware Infrastructure
2 59 (8.23%) Active Directory
3 27 (3.77%) VMware NSX
4 25 (3.49%) Docker
5 18 (2.51%) Hyper-V
5 18 (2.51%) vSphere
6 13 (1.81%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.98%) Firmware
7 7 (0.98%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.70%) HDFS
9 4 (0.56%) KVM
9 4 (0.56%) NFS
10 3 (0.42%) GPFS
11 2 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
11 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.14%) Samba
12 1 (0.14%) SRDF
12 1 (0.14%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 70 (9.76%) Ansible
2 57 (7.95%) Terraform
3 28 (3.91%) FortiGate
4 23 (3.21%) SCCM
5 22 (3.07%) Kubernetes
6 14 (1.95%) Microsoft Intune
7 11 (1.53%) Grafana
8 9 (1.26%) vCenter Server
9 8 (1.12%) Control-M
9 8 (1.12%) Puppet
10 7 (0.98%) SCOM
11 6 (0.84%) CASB
12 5 (0.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.70%) Hadoop YARN
12 5 (0.70%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.70%) SCOrch
12 5 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
13 4 (0.56%) Argo
13 4 (0.56%) OpenView
14 3 (0.42%) OPNET
Vendors
1 235 (32.78%) Cisco
2 99 (13.81%) Microsoft
3 87 (12.13%) VMware
4 65 (9.07%) F5
5 60 (8.37%) Dell
6 54 (7.53%) Palo Alto
7 53 (7.39%) HP
8 46 (6.42%) Juniper
9 43 (6.00%) Apple
10 39 (5.44%) ServiceNow
11 37 (5.16%) SAP
12 33 (4.60%) Fortinet
13 31 (4.32%) Oracle
14 27 (3.77%) Meraki
15 23 (3.21%) Arista
15 23 (3.21%) SolarWinds
16 18 (2.51%) Citrix
17 16 (2.23%) CheckPoint
17 16 (2.23%) Remedy
18 15 (2.09%) Red Hat