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 21 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 139 122 99
Rank change year-on-year -17 -23 +2
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 757 685 1,039
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.06% 2.02% 2.37%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.90% 6.31% 7.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 484 414 706
10th Percentile £278 £350 £319
25th Percentile £404 £425 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £700 £693 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% +7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 28 23
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.75 £17.89
25th Percentile - £20.30 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +5.13% -63.49%
75th Percentile £35.00 £27.81 £70.00
90th Percentile £69.99 £38.81 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.00 £24.18 £23.00
% change year-on-year +11.66% +5.13% -57.13%

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 12,826 10,854 13,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.92% 31.96% 31.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,018 6,487 9,182
10th Percentile £275 £268 £263
25th Percentile £406 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £535 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.93% -2.73% -
75th Percentile £625 £662 £668
90th Percentile £738 £775 £766
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 646 338 492
10th Percentile £13.72 £17.43 £16.50
25th Percentile £17.99 £22.72 £20.44
Median hourly rate £27.00 £32.75 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.56% -22.94% +21.43%
75th Percentile £60.52 £64.94 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £79.13 £76.73
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £32.50 £45.21
% change year-on-year -16.28% -28.11% +53.25%

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 21 December 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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 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 -14 656 £513 -2.38% 196
UK excluding London -6 412 £475 -5.00% 151
London -1 261 £525 - 83
Work from Home +21 209 £530 -0.93% 75
North of England -5 133 £494 -0.75% 41
Midlands +2 89 £451 -22.24% 12
South East -26 88 £455 -9.00% 65
North West +8 84 £545 +9.00% 17
West Midlands +1 69 £470 -18.97% 9
Yorkshire -40 44 £390 -7.14% 19
Scotland +11 37 £438 -2.78% 7
South West -30 37 £550 +0.18% 18
East of England -24 27 £600 +42.01% 14
East Midlands -7 20 £203 -61.81% 3
Wales 0 14 £276 -30.94% 1
North East -2 8 £175 - 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £425 - 2

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 31 (4.10%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.04%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (1.85%) Confluence
4 10 (1.32%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
6 6 (0.79%) Apache
7 5 (0.66%) Apache Spark
8 4 (0.53%) HCL Notes
8 4 (0.53%) nginx
9 3 (0.40%) CICS
9 3 (0.40%) GeoServer
9 3 (0.40%) Smallworld
9 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.26%) FileNet
10 2 (0.26%) Oracle Coherence
10 2 (0.26%) ThingWorx
10 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.13%) IIS
11 1 (0.13%) OpenEdge
11 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 56 (7.40%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (4.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (3.30%) MS Visio
4 18 (2.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.72%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.13%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.79%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.53%) Oracle Financials
3 3 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.26%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.13%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.13%) Maximo
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.13%) Primavera
5 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.13%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 144 (19.02%) Azure
2 113 (14.93%) AWS
3 72 (9.51%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (5.94%) GCP
5 23 (3.04%) Power Platform
6 20 (2.64%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 18 (2.38%) Entra ID
8 16 (2.11%) OpenShift
9 13 (1.72%) SaaS
9 13 (1.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 12 (1.59%) AWS Direct Connect
10 12 (1.59%) IaaS
10 12 (1.59%) PaaS
11 10 (1.32%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (1.32%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 8 (1.06%) npm
13 7 (0.92%) OCI
14 6 (0.79%) GitHub
14 6 (0.79%) Nutanix
15 5 (0.66%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 216 (28.53%) Firewall
2 134 (17.70%) WAN
3 93 (12.29%) Wireless
4 84 (11.10%) VPN
5 79 (10.44%) BGP
6 69 (9.11%) LAN
7 61 (8.06%) Network Security
8 57 (7.53%) DNS
9 56 (7.40%) OSPF
10 53 (7.00%) Wi-Fi
11 43 (5.68%) SD-WAN
12 39 (5.15%) Cisco Nexus
13 38 (5.02%) VLAN
14 36 (4.76%) Cisco ISE
14 36 (4.76%) SAN
15 35 (4.62%) MPLS
15 35 (4.62%) VXLAN
16 34 (4.49%) DHCP
17 28 (3.70%) TCP/IP
18 27 (3.57%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.64%) Power BI
2 19 (2.51%) Relational Database
3 12 (1.59%) RDBMS
4 11 (1.45%) SQL Server
5 9 (1.19%) GIS
6 6 (0.79%) NoSQL
6 6 (0.79%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.66%) Apache Hive
7 5 (0.66%) Hadoop
7 5 (0.66%) HBase
7 5 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (0.53%) Data Mining
8 4 (0.53%) InfluxDB
9 3 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.40%) Big Data
9 3 (0.40%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.40%) Data Vault
9 3 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (0.40%) Metadata
9 3 (0.40%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 22 (2.91%) Git
2 16 (2.11%) Sonatype Nexus
3 15 (1.98%) Jenkins
4 14 (1.85%) JIRA
5 11 (1.45%) Maven
6 8 (1.06%) GitLab
6 8 (1.06%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.40%) ER Studio
7 3 (0.40%) ERwin
7 3 (0.40%) Gradle
7 3 (0.40%) Selenium
8 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
General
1 185 (24.44%) Social Skills
2 130 (17.17%) Finance
3 86 (11.36%) Public Sector
4 81 (10.70%) Analytical Skills
5 69 (9.11%) Telecoms
6 65 (8.59%) Banking
7 37 (4.89%) Documentation Skills
8 36 (4.76%) Manufacturing
9 27 (3.57%) Marketing
10 25 (3.30%) Electronics
11 22 (2.91%) Presentation Skills
12 19 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 16 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
14 12 (1.59%) Retail
15 11 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
16 7 (0.92%) Front Office
16 7 (0.92%) Investment Banking
16 7 (0.92%) Local Government
17 6 (0.79%) Legal
17 6 (0.79%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 121 (15.98%) Architect
2 117 (15.46%) Network Engineer
3 70 (9.25%) Analyst
4 68 (8.98%) Project Manager
5 51 (6.74%) Senior
6 45 (5.94%) Network Architect
7 39 (5.15%) Data Centre Manager
8 36 (4.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 32 (4.23%) IT Support
9 32 (4.23%) Security Engineer
10 31 (4.10%) Consultant
11 29 (3.83%) Solutions Architect
12 28 (3.70%) Infrastructure Manager
12 28 (3.70%) Support Engineer
13 27 (3.57%) Data Centre Engineer
14 25 (3.30%) Desktop Support
14 25 (3.30%) Lead
15 23 (3.04%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
15 23 (3.04%) 2nd Line Support
15 23 (3.04%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.04%) 802.1X
2 19 (2.51%) Middleware
3 12 (1.59%) RFC 2544
4 5 (0.66%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.53%) Jinja
5 4 (0.53%) LDAP
5 4 (0.53%) VML
6 3 (0.40%) REST
7 2 (0.26%) .NET
7 2 (0.26%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.26%) eBPF
7 2 (0.26%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.26%) Java SE
7 2 (0.26%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.26%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.26%) OpenConfig
7 2 (0.26%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.26%) RESTCONF
7 2 (0.26%) Spring
7 2 (0.26%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 45 (5.94%) Hybrid Cloud
2 32 (4.23%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.17%) Public Cloud
4 19 (2.51%) Replication
5 17 (2.25%) Driving Licence
5 17 (2.25%) Onboarding
5 17 (2.25%) Self-Motivation
6 16 (2.11%) Fibre Optics
7 15 (1.98%) Mainframe
8 14 (1.85%) Private Cloud
9 13 (1.72%) SCADA
10 12 (1.59%) PKI
11 11 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
12 10 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
13 9 (1.19%) Clustering
13 9 (1.19%) CMDB
13 9 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
13 9 (1.19%) Product Ownership
14 8 (1.06%) Management Information System
15 7 (0.92%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 93 (12.29%) Windows
2 70 (9.25%) Linux
3 43 (5.68%) Mac OS
4 42 (5.55%) Android
5 41 (5.42%) Windows Server
6 17 (2.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 15 (1.98%) Unix
8 7 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.79%) CentOS
9 6 (0.79%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.53%) Solaris
10 4 (0.53%) VMS
10 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
10 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.26%) AIX
11 2 (0.26%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.26%) zOS
12 1 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.13%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.13%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (18.23%) Migration
2 108 (14.27%) Problem-Solving
3 88 (11.62%) Stakeholder Management
4 65 (8.59%) ITIL
5 62 (8.19%) Agile
6 56 (7.40%) Infrastructure as Code
7 53 (7.00%) Project Management
8 51 (6.74%) Project Delivery
9 49 (6.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 48 (6.34%) Change Management
11 47 (6.21%) CI/CD
11 47 (6.21%) Roadmaps
12 46 (6.08%) Customer Service
12 46 (6.08%) DevOps
12 46 (6.08%) Network Design
12 46 (6.08%) Service Management
13 45 (5.94%) Load Balancing
14 43 (5.68%) Cybersecurity
15 42 (5.55%) Business Intelligence
16 41 (5.42%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 78 (10.30%) Python
2 47 (6.21%) PowerShell
3 38 (5.02%) SQL
4 21 (2.77%) Java
5 20 (2.64%) Bash
6 10 (1.32%) Perl
7 8 (1.06%) Lisp
8 6 (0.79%) Go
8 6 (0.79%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.53%) C
10 3 (0.40%) Bicep
10 3 (0.40%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.40%) VBA
11 2 (0.26%) C#
11 2 (0.26%) C++
11 2 (0.26%) Ruby
12 1 (0.13%) COBOL
12 1 (0.13%) Korn
12 1 (0.13%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 231 (30.52%) Security Cleared
2 193 (25.50%) SC Cleared
3 100 (13.21%) Cisco Certification
4 75 (9.91%) CCNP
5 58 (7.66%) Degree
6 44 (5.81%) DV Cleared
7 29 (3.83%) CCIE
7 29 (3.83%) CCNA
8 21 (2.77%) AWS Certification
9 14 (1.85%) CISSP
9 14 (1.85%) JNCIE
10 11 (1.45%) PMP
11 10 (1.32%) PMI Certification
11 10 (1.32%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 9 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
12 9 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
13 8 (1.06%) Azure Certification
13 8 (1.06%) BPSS Clearance
13 8 (1.06%) Network+ Certification
14 7 (0.92%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.77%) NIST
2 20 (2.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.38%) PCI DSS
3 18 (2.38%) PMO
3 18 (2.38%) SLA
4 13 (1.72%) GDPR
4 13 (1.72%) QA
5 11 (1.45%) Data Quality
6 6 (0.79%) NCSC
7 4 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.26%) ISO 22301
8 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.13%) GRC
9 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 78 (10.30%) VMware Infrastructure
2 55 (7.27%) Active Directory
3 45 (5.94%) VMware NSX
4 28 (3.70%) Docker
5 17 (2.25%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (2.11%) Hyper-V
6 16 (2.11%) vSphere
7 8 (1.06%) Firmware
8 7 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.66%) HDFS
9 5 (0.66%) KVM
10 3 (0.40%) Lustre
10 3 (0.40%) NFS
11 2 (0.26%) Ceph
11 2 (0.26%) GPFS
11 2 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
11 2 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.26%) SRDF
11 2 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.26%) Xen
Systems Management
1 79 (10.44%) Ansible
2 73 (9.64%) Terraform
3 32 (4.23%) FortiGate
4 24 (3.17%) Kubernetes
4 24 (3.17%) SCCM
5 15 (1.98%) Grafana
6 12 (1.59%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (1.32%) SCOM
7 10 (1.32%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.19%) Puppet
9 7 (0.92%) CASB
9 7 (0.92%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
10 6 (0.79%) SCOrch
11 5 (0.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.66%) Control-M
11 5 (0.66%) Hadoop YARN
12 3 (0.40%) Argo
12 3 (0.40%) OPNET
12 3 (0.40%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 247 (32.63%) Cisco
2 98 (12.95%) VMware
3 94 (12.42%) Microsoft
4 79 (10.44%) Palo Alto
5 67 (8.85%) Dell
6 57 (7.53%) F5
7 55 (7.27%) Juniper
8 50 (6.61%) HP
9 42 (5.55%) Apple
10 38 (5.02%) SAP
11 37 (4.89%) CheckPoint
11 37 (4.89%) ServiceNow
12 35 (4.62%) Fortinet
13 34 (4.49%) Oracle
14 33 (4.36%) Meraki
15 24 (3.17%) Aruba
16 20 (2.64%) Arista
17 19 (2.51%) Citrix
18 15 (1.98%) NetApp
19 14 (1.85%) Remedy