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 24 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 125 101
Rank change year-on-year +10 -24 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,011 639 974
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.18% 2.16% 2.23%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.72% 6.38% 7.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 624 414 644
10th Percentile £318 £328 £295
25th Percentile £409 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £482 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.02% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £723 £675 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £475 £531
% change year-on-year -1.26% -10.59% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 26 48
10th Percentile £16.01 - £16.25
25th Percentile £17.56 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £19.85 £24.66 £24.44
Median % change year-on-year -19.51% +0.92% +12.76%
75th Percentile £34.64 £41.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £77.93 £43.75 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £24.00
% change year-on-year -21.57% +2.75% +11.81%

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 15,036 10,013 13,322
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.36% 33.90% 30.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,385 6,397 8,539
10th Percentile £304 £300 £263
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -4.43% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 713 393 908
10th Percentile £16.03 £16.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £21.25 £15.17
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.05 £28.13
Median % change year-on-year +41.84% +13.96% +25.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £86.00 £82.45 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.54 £31.42 £26.33
% change year-on-year +51.30% +19.33% +19.68%

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 24 April 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 24 April 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 24 April 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 +7 821 £481 -8.33% 376
UK excluding London -3 569 £469 -1.26% 270
London -2 293 £550 +4.76% 145
Work from Home +13 259 £475 -9.52% 132
South East +3 182 £463 -5.85% 105
North of England +17 176 £458 +13.02% 47
Yorkshire -4 85 £365 -3.31% 16
North West +2 79 £481 -3.75% 23
Scotland +7 52 £475 +11.76% 12
South West -33 49 £513 -6.48% 36
Midlands -50 47 £474 -13.82% 35
West Midlands -49 42 £474 -18.63% 30
East of England -19 36 £478 +24.16% 32
Wales +2 32 £450 +12.50% 5
North East -4 12 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -36 4 £475 -13.64% 5
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 9

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 19 (1.88%) Confluence
2 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (1.19%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.99%) CICS
4 4 (0.40%) nginx
4 4 (0.40%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.40%) WebLogic
5 2 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.20%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.099%) HCL Notes
6 1 (0.099%) Mendix
Applications
1 20 (1.98%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.48%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.20%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 6 (0.59%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.30%) Primavera
2 3 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.20%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.099%) Maximo
4 1 (0.099%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.099%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 178 (17.61%) Azure
2 147 (14.54%) AWS
3 59 (5.84%) GCP
4 34 (3.36%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (1.68%) Entra ID
5 17 (1.68%) IaaS
5 17 (1.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 15 (1.48%) GitHub
6 15 (1.48%) SaaS
7 14 (1.38%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 13 (1.29%) OpenShift
8 13 (1.29%) Power Platform
9 12 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (1.19%) PaaS
10 11 (1.09%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 10 (0.99%) AWS CloudFormation
12 9 (0.89%) AWS Direct Connect
12 9 (0.89%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (0.79%) Amazon S3
13 8 (0.79%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 281 (27.79%) Firewall
2 171 (16.91%) WAN
3 157 (15.53%) BGP
4 123 (12.17%) OSPF
5 111 (10.98%) Network Security
6 109 (10.78%) LAN
7 106 (10.48%) VPN
8 89 (8.80%) VXLAN
9 85 (8.41%) SAN
10 77 (7.62%) Structured Cabling
11 69 (6.82%) DNS
11 69 (6.82%) VLAN
12 60 (5.93%) Ethernet VPN
13 53 (5.24%) DHCP
14 49 (4.85%) Cisco Nexus
15 45 (4.45%) SD-WAN
16 42 (4.15%) Wireless
17 40 (3.96%) NX-OS
18 39 (3.86%) Wi-Fi
19 33 (3.26%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (0.99%) DataStage
2 8 (0.79%) Power BI
2 8 (0.79%) SQL Server
3 6 (0.59%) Relational Database
4 5 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.40%) Big Data
5 4 (0.40%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.40%) Power Query
5 4 (0.40%) PowerPivot
5 4 (0.40%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.30%) InfluxDB
7 2 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.20%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.20%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.20%) GIS
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.20%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.099%) DB2
8 1 (0.099%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 38 (3.76%) JIRA
2 32 (3.17%) Git
3 21 (2.08%) Jenkins
4 18 (1.78%) GitLab
5 9 (0.89%) Maven
6 8 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.49%) JMeter
8 4 (0.40%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.40%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.40%) Subversion
9 3 (0.30%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
10 1 (0.099%) AppScan
10 1 (0.099%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.099%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.099%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.099%) Postman
General
1 259 (25.62%) Social Skills
2 139 (13.75%) Finance
3 122 (12.07%) Analytical Skills
4 73 (7.22%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.54%) Documentation Skills
6 47 (4.65%) Banking
7 31 (3.07%) Legal
8 29 (2.87%) Telecoms
9 23 (2.27%) Retail
10 22 (2.18%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
12 12 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.19%) Presentation Skills
13 9 (0.89%) Law
13 9 (0.89%) Marketing
13 9 (0.89%) Military
14 7 (0.69%) Aerospace
14 7 (0.69%) Investment Banking
14 7 (0.69%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.49%) Portuguese Language
Job Titles
1 184 (18.20%) Network Engineer
2 166 (16.42%) Architect
3 104 (10.29%) Senior
4 80 (7.91%) Data Centre Engineer
5 77 (7.62%) Project Manager
6 49 (4.85%) IT Engineer
7 48 (4.75%) Lead
8 47 (4.65%) Data Centre Manager
8 47 (4.65%) Network Architect
9 45 (4.45%) Field Engineer
10 43 (4.25%) Analyst
10 43 (4.25%) Field Service Engineer
11 41 (4.06%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 40 (3.96%) Solutions Architect
13 35 (3.46%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 34 (3.36%) Infrastructure Manager
15 33 (3.26%) Senior Network Engineer
16 28 (2.77%) Technical Architect
17 27 (2.67%) Cisco Engineer
17 27 (2.67%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (4.15%) Middleware
2 32 (3.17%) 802.1X
3 11 (1.09%) LDAP
4 8 (0.79%) Redfish
5 6 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (0.59%) Spring
6 5 (0.49%) Jinja
6 5 (0.49%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.49%) XML
7 4 (0.40%) ADO
7 4 (0.40%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.40%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.40%) REST
7 4 (0.40%) RESTCONF
7 4 (0.40%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.40%) VML
7 4 (0.40%) YANG
8 3 (0.30%) Kafka
8 3 (0.30%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.30%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 51 (5.04%) Analytical Mindset
2 49 (4.85%) Hybrid Cloud
3 29 (2.87%) Clustering
4 28 (2.77%) Management Information System
4 28 (2.77%) PKI
5 22 (2.18%) Fibre Optics
6 21 (2.08%) Cloud Native
6 21 (2.08%) Onboarding
6 21 (2.08%) Public Cloud
7 20 (1.98%) Driving Licence
8 19 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.78%) CMDB
9 18 (1.78%) Replication
10 17 (1.68%) Enterprise Storage
11 16 (1.58%) Private Cloud
11 16 (1.58%) SCADA
12 14 (1.38%) Data Protection Act
12 14 (1.38%) NHS
13 13 (1.29%) Mainframe
14 11 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 129 (12.76%) Windows
2 126 (12.46%) Linux
3 39 (3.86%) Windows Server
4 36 (3.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (2.27%) Unix
6 19 (1.88%) AIX
7 16 (1.58%) Solaris
8 11 (1.09%) CentOS
9 8 (0.79%) VMS
10 7 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (0.59%) Android
11 6 (0.59%) Mac OS
12 5 (0.49%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.40%) HPUX
13 4 (0.40%) Oracle Linux
13 4 (0.40%) SUSE
14 3 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
14 3 (0.30%) Windows 10
15 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 180 (17.80%) Problem-Solving
2 175 (17.31%) Migration
3 97 (9.59%) Stakeholder Management
4 87 (8.61%) ITIL
5 82 (8.11%) High Availability
6 79 (7.81%) Continuous Improvement
7 78 (7.72%) Roadmaps
8 74 (7.32%) Infrastructure as Code
9 71 (7.02%) Project Management
10 67 (6.63%) Change Management
11 63 (6.23%) CI/CD
12 61 (6.03%) Validation
13 60 (5.93%) Load Balancing
13 60 (5.93%) Project Delivery
14 59 (5.84%) Break/Fix
15 58 (5.74%) Technical Leadership
16 57 (5.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 56 (5.54%) Customer Service
18 54 (5.34%) Agile
19 52 (5.14%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 89 (8.80%) Python
2 39 (3.86%) PowerShell
3 30 (2.97%) SQL
4 23 (2.27%) Java
5 20 (1.98%) Bash
6 15 (1.48%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.19%) COBOL
8 10 (0.99%) Perl
9 9 (0.89%) MATLAB
10 8 (0.79%) Bicep
11 5 (0.49%) C
11 5 (0.49%) C++
11 5 (0.49%) VBA
12 4 (0.40%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.40%) Lisp
12 4 (0.40%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.30%) Korn
14 1 (0.099%) Groovy
14 1 (0.099%) Ruby
14 1 (0.099%) Scala
Qualifications
1 299 (29.57%) Security Cleared
2 218 (21.56%) SC Cleared
3 214 (21.17%) Cisco Certification
4 132 (13.06%) CCNP
5 93 (9.20%) CCNA
6 68 (6.73%) DV Cleared
7 60 (5.93%) Degree
8 49 (4.85%) Network+ Certification
9 42 (4.15%) Microsoft Certification
10 41 (4.06%) A+ Certification
10 41 (4.06%) MCSE
11 27 (2.67%) CCIE
12 25 (2.47%) PMP
13 24 (2.37%) PMI Certification
14 19 (1.88%) Azure Certification
15 17 (1.68%) City & Guilds
16 16 (1.58%) AWS Certification
16 16 (1.58%) JNCIS
17 14 (1.38%) BICSI Certification
17 14 (1.38%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.67%) SLA
2 26 (2.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.47%) PMO
4 22 (2.18%) NIST
5 20 (1.98%) GDPR
5 20 (1.98%) QA
6 11 (1.09%) NCSC
6 11 (1.09%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.79%) GRC
8 7 (0.69%) Disclosure Scotland
9 5 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.30%) RMADS
12 2 (0.20%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.099%) COBIT
13 1 (0.099%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.099%) SOC 1
System Software
1 86 (8.51%) VMware Infrastructure
2 55 (5.44%) Active Directory
3 47 (4.65%) VMware NSX
4 24 (2.37%) Firmware
5 22 (2.18%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (2.18%) vSphere
6 19 (1.88%) Hyper-V
6 19 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
7 13 (1.29%) Docker
8 10 (0.99%) KVM
9 4 (0.40%) SRDF
9 4 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.30%) PowerHA
10 3 (0.30%) UAG
10 3 (0.30%) Veritas Cluster Server
11 2 (0.20%) Ceph
11 2 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.20%) vCloud
11 2 (0.20%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 99 (9.79%) Ansible
2 79 (7.81%) Terraform
3 57 (5.64%) FortiGate
4 40 (3.96%) Kubernetes
5 33 (3.26%) Grafana
6 23 (2.27%) Prometheus
7 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Intune
7 12 (1.19%) SCCM
8 11 (1.09%) NetBackup
9 10 (0.99%) Check_MK
9 10 (0.99%) vCenter Server
10 9 (0.89%) Podman
10 9 (0.89%) Red Hat Satellite
11 8 (0.79%) Dell DRAC
12 7 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 6 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
13 6 (0.59%) SCOM
14 5 (0.49%) Nagios
14 5 (0.49%) PowerCLI
14 5 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 286 (28.29%) Cisco
2 128 (12.66%) VMware
3 116 (11.47%) Palo Alto
4 96 (9.50%) Microsoft
5 89 (8.80%) Dell
6 86 (8.51%) Juniper
7 78 (7.72%) F5
8 45 (4.45%) Arista
9 43 (4.25%) Fortinet
10 42 (4.15%) Aruba
10 42 (4.15%) CheckPoint
11 41 (4.06%) ServiceNow
12 35 (3.46%) SolarWinds
13 34 (3.36%) Red Hat
14 33 (3.26%) Google
15 31 (3.07%) Splunk
16 29 (2.87%) IBM
17 26 (2.57%) Meraki
17 26 (2.57%) Oracle
18 23 (2.27%) HP