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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 131 99
Rank change year-on-year +12 -32 0
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 935 628 991
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.19% 2.06% 2.23%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.57% 6.16% 7.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 590 391 651
10th Percentile £292 £350 £280
25th Percentile £400 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.07% -2.38% -4.46%
75th Percentile £580 £625 £638
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -6.20% -2.44% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 25 44
10th Percentile £20.55 £21.64 £17.53
25th Percentile £25.15 - £22.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £24.18 £24.99
Median % change year-on-year +8.09% -3.25% +11.08%
75th Percentile £73.03 £29.25 £41.25
90th Percentile £74.78 £52.50 £71.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.80 £24.18 £24.00
% change year-on-year +201.05% +0.75% +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 14,229 10,198 13,445
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.36% 33.45% 30.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,945 6,290 8,635
10th Percentile £285 £275 £256
25th Percentile £406 £409 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £527
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.28% -4.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £768 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 670 342 836
10th Percentile £15.48 £18.14 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.55 £16.25
Median hourly rate £33.50 £32.50 £30.08
Median % change year-on-year +3.08% +8.05% +33.78%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £83.13 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £31.76 £30.00
% change year-on-year +5.48% +5.87% +36.36%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 +6 775 £478 -8.95% 405
UK excluding London +7 541 £469 -6.20% 265
London -19 273 £525 +0.48% 184
Work from Home +44 265 £475 -11.21% 141
North of England +13 189 £472 -0.63% 50
South East +5 145 £450 - 106
North West +27 102 £500 - 25
Midlands -20 76 £466 -23.24% 33
Yorkshire -16 72 £365 -8.75% 20
West Midlands -20 62 £474 -21.91% 16
Scotland +28 54 £469 +4.22% 19
South West -41 35 £550 -3.08% 30
East of England -15 32 £478 +13.14% 32
Wales +7 24 £350 -12.50% 7
North East -1 17 £175 +59.09% 5
East Midlands -16 14 £158 -65.00% 16
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 28 (2.99%) SharePoint
2 19 (2.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.93%) Confluence
4 8 (0.86%) CICS
5 5 (0.53%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.43%) nginx
6 4 (0.43%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.32%) GeoServer
7 3 (0.32%) Smallworld
8 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.21%) HCL Notes
8 2 (0.21%) Oracle Coherence
8 2 (0.21%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.11%) Mendix
Applications
1 51 (5.45%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (2.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (2.89%) MS Visio
3 23 (2.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (1.71%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.32%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
1 4 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.32%) Primavera
2 3 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.21%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.21%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.21%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.11%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.11%) Maximo
4 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 174 (18.61%) Azure
2 130 (13.90%) AWS
3 67 (7.17%) Microsoft 365
4 58 (6.20%) GCP
5 22 (2.35%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 19 (2.03%) SaaS
7 17 (1.82%) IaaS
7 17 (1.82%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.71%) Entra ID
9 15 (1.60%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 14 (1.50%) PaaS
11 12 (1.28%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (1.28%) GitHub
11 12 (1.28%) OpenShift
12 11 (1.18%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 11 (1.18%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (1.18%) AWS Direct Connect
13 9 (0.96%) Amazon S3
13 9 (0.96%) Nutanix
14 8 (0.86%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 276 (29.52%) Firewall
2 164 (17.54%) WAN
3 128 (13.69%) BGP
4 100 (10.70%) LAN
5 94 (10.05%) VPN
6 93 (9.95%) Network Security
7 91 (9.73%) OSPF
8 81 (8.66%) Wireless
9 68 (7.27%) DNS
10 59 (6.31%) Structured Cabling
11 58 (6.20%) VXLAN
12 56 (5.99%) SAN
12 56 (5.99%) VLAN
13 52 (5.56%) DHCP
14 48 (5.13%) Wi-Fi
15 44 (4.71%) SD-WAN
16 43 (4.60%) Cisco ISE
17 39 (4.17%) Ethernet VPN
18 37 (3.96%) Cisco Nexus
19 33 (3.53%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.60%) Power BI
2 10 (1.07%) Relational Database
3 8 (0.86%) DataStage
3 8 (0.86%) SQL Server
4 5 (0.53%) GIS
5 4 (0.43%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.43%) Power Query
5 4 (0.43%) PowerPivot
5 4 (0.43%) RDBMS
6 3 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
6 3 (0.32%) InfluxDB
6 3 (0.32%) QGIS
6 3 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
7 2 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.21%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.11%) Data Mining
8 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.11%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 31 (3.32%) Git
2 28 (2.99%) JIRA
3 20 (2.14%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.71%) GitLab
5 11 (1.18%) Maven
6 7 (0.75%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.53%) JMeter
8 4 (0.43%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.43%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.43%) Subversion
9 3 (0.32%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.32%) ScriptRunner
10 2 (0.21%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.11%) AppScan
11 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
11 1 (0.11%) LoadRunner
11 1 (0.11%) Metasploit
11 1 (0.11%) Postman
General
1 234 (25.03%) Social Skills
2 163 (17.43%) Finance
3 104 (11.12%) Analytical Skills
4 100 (10.70%) Public Sector
5 57 (6.10%) Documentation Skills
6 52 (5.56%) Telecoms
7 45 (4.81%) Banking
8 43 (4.60%) Manufacturing
9 31 (3.32%) Marketing
10 24 (2.57%) Electronics
11 23 (2.46%) Legal
12 22 (2.35%) Influencing Skills
13 20 (2.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 20 (2.14%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (1.60%) Retail
15 12 (1.28%) Investment Banking
15 12 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
16 9 (0.96%) Military
17 8 (0.86%) Law
18 6 (0.64%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 162 (17.33%) Network Engineer
2 143 (15.29%) Architect
3 83 (8.88%) Project Manager
4 75 (8.02%) Senior
5 63 (6.74%) Analyst
6 55 (5.88%) Data Centre Engineer
7 46 (4.92%) Network Architect
7 46 (4.92%) Solutions Architect
8 44 (4.71%) Lead
9 43 (4.60%) Data Centre Manager
10 36 (3.85%) IT Support
10 36 (3.85%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 34 (3.64%) Infrastructure Manager
12 30 (3.21%) Consultant
12 30 (3.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 28 (2.99%) Cisco Engineer
13 28 (2.99%) Support Engineer
14 27 (2.89%) Infrastructure Project Manager
15 26 (2.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 26 (2.78%) Data Centre Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.32%) 802.1X
2 27 (2.89%) Middleware
3 9 (0.96%) LDAP
4 6 (0.64%) RFC 2544
4 6 (0.64%) Spring
5 4 (0.43%) ADO
5 4 (0.43%) ARM Templates
5 4 (0.43%) NETCONF
5 4 (0.43%) OpenConfig
5 4 (0.43%) RESTCONF
5 4 (0.43%) Spring Boot
5 4 (0.43%) VML
5 4 (0.43%) XML
5 4 (0.43%) YANG
6 3 (0.32%) Jinja
6 3 (0.32%) Redfish
6 3 (0.32%) REST
6 3 (0.32%) Yocto
7 2 (0.21%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.21%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 45 (4.81%) Hybrid Cloud
2 26 (2.78%) Analytical Mindset
3 23 (2.46%) PKI
3 23 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
4 21 (2.25%) Driving Licence
4 21 (2.25%) Onboarding
5 20 (2.14%) Clustering
5 20 (2.14%) Public Cloud
6 19 (2.03%) Cloud Native
6 19 (2.03%) Management Information System
7 17 (1.82%) Replication
8 15 (1.60%) CMDB
9 14 (1.50%) NHS
10 13 (1.39%) Fibre Optics
11 12 (1.28%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (1.28%) Enterprise Storage
11 12 (1.28%) Mainframe
11 12 (1.28%) SCADA
12 10 (1.07%) Private Cloud
13 8 (0.86%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 125 (13.37%) Windows
2 115 (12.30%) Linux
3 44 (4.71%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 32 (3.42%) Android
5 32 (3.42%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.82%) Unix
7 12 (1.28%) AIX
8 11 (1.18%) CentOS
9 10 (1.07%) Solaris
10 7 (0.75%) VMS
10 7 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
11 5 (0.53%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.32%) Embedded Linux
12 3 (0.32%) Windows 10
13 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.11%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (17.65%) Migration
2 150 (16.04%) Problem-Solving
3 108 (11.55%) Stakeholder Management
4 81 (8.66%) ITIL
5 77 (8.24%) Project Management
6 73 (7.81%) Agile
7 69 (7.38%) Roadmaps
8 67 (7.17%) Project Delivery
9 65 (6.95%) High Availability
9 65 (6.95%) Infrastructure as Code
10 63 (6.74%) Continuous Improvement
11 62 (6.63%) Change Management
12 61 (6.52%) CI/CD
13 59 (6.31%) Load Balancing
14 53 (5.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 52 (5.56%) DevOps
16 48 (5.13%) Data Centre Operations
17 46 (4.92%) Change Control
17 46 (4.92%) Cybersecurity
18 45 (4.81%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 86 (9.20%) Python
2 55 (5.88%) PowerShell
3 35 (3.74%) SQL
4 29 (3.10%) Bash
5 23 (2.46%) Java
6 18 (1.93%) Perl
7 12 (1.28%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.96%) Lisp
9 8 (0.86%) COBOL
10 7 (0.75%) Bicep
10 7 (0.75%) MATLAB
11 5 (0.53%) VBA
12 4 (0.43%) C
12 4 (0.43%) C++
12 4 (0.43%) JavaScript
13 3 (0.32%) Korn
13 3 (0.32%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.11%) Groovy
14 1 (0.11%) Ruby
14 1 (0.11%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 303 (32.41%) Security Cleared
2 237 (25.35%) SC Cleared
3 169 (18.07%) Cisco Certification
4 126 (13.48%) CCNP
5 68 (7.27%) Degree
6 66 (7.06%) CCNA
7 58 (6.20%) DV Cleared
8 27 (2.89%) CCIE
9 24 (2.57%) Network+ Certification
9 24 (2.57%) PMI Certification
9 24 (2.57%) PMP
10 20 (2.14%) AWS Certification
11 19 (2.03%) Microsoft Certification
12 18 (1.93%) A+ Certification
12 18 (1.93%) MCSE
13 15 (1.60%) JNCIS
14 13 (1.39%) Azure Certification
14 13 (1.39%) JNCIP
15 12 (1.28%) CISSP
15 12 (1.28%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.21%) PMO
2 23 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 21 (2.25%) NIST
3 21 (2.25%) SLA
4 19 (2.03%) PCI DSS
5 17 (1.82%) GDPR
5 17 (1.82%) QA
6 9 (0.96%) NCSC
7 7 (0.75%) Data Quality
8 5 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.53%) Disclosure Scotland
9 4 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
9 4 (0.43%) GRC
10 3 (0.32%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.21%) ISO 22301
11 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.11%) COBIT
12 1 (0.11%) RMADS
12 1 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 76 (8.13%) VMware Infrastructure
2 62 (6.63%) Active Directory
3 46 (4.92%) VMware NSX
4 24 (2.57%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (2.14%) Firmware
6 18 (1.93%) vSphere
7 16 (1.71%) Hyper-V
8 15 (1.60%) Docker
9 10 (1.07%) KVM
9 10 (1.07%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.32%) SRDF
11 2 (0.21%) Ceph
11 2 (0.21%) Lustre
11 2 (0.21%) PowerHA
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 (0.11%) Microsoft App-V
12 1 (0.11%) RHEV
Systems Management
1 88 (9.41%) Ansible
2 75 (8.02%) Terraform
3 54 (5.78%) FortiGate
4 32 (3.42%) Kubernetes
5 27 (2.89%) Grafana
6 21 (2.25%) SCCM
7 16 (1.71%) Microsoft Intune
8 15 (1.60%) Prometheus
9 8 (0.86%) Check_MK
10 7 (0.75%) CASB
10 7 (0.75%) Podman
10 7 (0.75%) Red Hat Satellite
10 7 (0.75%) SCOM
10 7 (0.75%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.64%) PowerCLI
11 6 (0.64%) SCOrch
12 5 (0.53%) vMotion
13 4 (0.43%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 4 (0.43%) NetBackup
13 4 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 291 (31.12%) Cisco
2 118 (12.62%) Palo Alto
3 111 (11.87%) VMware
4 96 (10.27%) Microsoft
5 85 (9.09%) Dell
6 82 (8.77%) Juniper
7 68 (7.27%) F5
8 49 (5.24%) ServiceNow
9 44 (4.71%) Aruba
9 44 (4.71%) CheckPoint
9 44 (4.71%) HP
10 37 (3.96%) Meraki
11 36 (3.85%) Fortinet
12 32 (3.42%) Apple
12 32 (3.42%) Oracle
13 31 (3.32%) SolarWinds
14 30 (3.21%) Arista
15 29 (3.10%) SAP
16 27 (2.89%) Google
17 26 (2.78%) Citrix