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

6 months to
28 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 112 129 101
Rank change year-on-year +17 -28 -8
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,034 637 964
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.20% 2.17% 2.23%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.83% 6.39% 7.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 634 415 641
10th Percentile £318 £325 £300
25th Percentile £407 £413 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.22% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £711 £675 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £467 £475 £538
% change year-on-year -1.72% -11.63% +7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 24 48
10th Percentile £16.01 - £16.25
25th Percentile £18.07 £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 £31.50 £41.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £77.40 £43.75 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £24.00
% change year-on-year -21.57% +2.75% +12.89%

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 15,145 9,962 13,178
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.24% 33.94% 30.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,438 6,371 8,443
10th Percentile £306 £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 £656
90th Percentile £738 £775 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 724 395 906
10th Percentile £16.03 £16.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £21.25 £15.17
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £28.75
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +13.04% +27.86%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.13 £60.00
90th Percentile £86.00 £82.40 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.54 £31.76 £27.50
% change year-on-year +49.69% +15.49% +25.00%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 +13 841 £478 -8.95% 401
UK excluding London +5 586 £467 -1.72% 290
London +6 295 £550 +4.76% 161
Work from Home +21 265 £475 -9.52% 137
North of England +22 187 £457 +12.72% 53
South East +2 185 £463 -5.61% 111
Yorkshire -10 90 £365 -3.31% 18
North West +11 84 £481 -3.75% 26
Midlands -53 53 £474 -13.82% 31
Scotland -2 52 £472 +11.06% 12
South West -38 49 £513 -6.48% 43
West Midlands -46 48 £474 -18.63% 27
East of England -17 36 £478 +24.16% 32
Wales +2 32 £450 +12.50% 6
North East -5 15 £263 +138.64% 9
East Midlands -38 4 £475 -13.64% 4
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 10

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 (1.84%) Confluence
2 12 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (1.16%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.97%) CICS
4 4 (0.39%) nginx
4 4 (0.39%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.39%) WebLogic
5 2 (0.19%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.19%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.097%) HCL Notes
6 1 (0.097%) Mendix
Applications
1 19 (1.84%) Microsoft Excel
1 19 (1.84%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.45%) MS Visio
3 14 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.16%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.19%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.19%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 6 (0.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.29%) Primavera
2 3 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.19%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.19%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.097%) Maximo
4 1 (0.097%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.097%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 187 (18.09%) Azure
2 154 (14.89%) AWS
3 61 (5.90%) GCP
4 34 (3.29%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (1.74%) Entra ID
5 18 (1.74%) SaaS
6 17 (1.64%) IaaS
6 17 (1.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 16 (1.55%) GitHub
8 14 (1.35%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 13 (1.26%) OpenShift
9 13 (1.26%) Power Platform
10 12 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
10 12 (1.16%) OCI
10 12 (1.16%) PaaS
11 11 (1.06%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 10 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (0.87%) AWS Direct Connect
13 9 (0.87%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (0.77%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 292 (28.24%) Firewall
2 174 (16.83%) WAN
3 163 (15.76%) BGP
4 129 (12.48%) OSPF
5 115 (11.12%) Network Security
6 109 (10.54%) LAN
7 108 (10.44%) VPN
8 97 (9.38%) VXLAN
9 86 (8.32%) SAN
10 78 (7.54%) Structured Cabling
11 71 (6.87%) DNS
12 70 (6.77%) VLAN
13 67 (6.48%) Ethernet VPN
14 54 (5.22%) DHCP
15 50 (4.84%) Cisco Nexus
15 50 (4.84%) SD-WAN
16 43 (4.16%) Wi-Fi
16 43 (4.16%) Wireless
17 40 (3.87%) NX-OS
18 33 (3.19%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (0.97%) DataStage
2 8 (0.77%) Power BI
2 8 (0.77%) SQL Server
3 6 (0.58%) Relational Database
4 5 (0.48%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.39%) Big Data
5 4 (0.39%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.39%) Power Query
5 4 (0.39%) PowerPivot
5 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.29%) InfluxDB
7 2 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.19%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.19%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.19%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.19%) GIS
7 2 (0.19%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.19%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.097%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 39 (3.77%) JIRA
2 32 (3.09%) Git
3 22 (2.13%) GitLab
3 22 (2.13%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.87%) Maven
5 8 (0.77%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.48%) JMeter
7 4 (0.39%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.39%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.39%) Subversion
8 3 (0.29%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
9 1 (0.097%) AppScan
9 1 (0.097%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.097%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.097%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.097%) Postman
General
1 264 (25.53%) Social Skills
2 140 (13.54%) Finance
3 127 (12.28%) Analytical Skills
4 77 (7.45%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.42%) Documentation Skills
6 47 (4.55%) Banking
7 31 (3.00%) Legal
8 28 (2.71%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.13%) Retail
10 21 (2.03%) Manufacturing
11 20 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
12 13 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 12 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
14 10 (0.97%) Military
15 9 (0.87%) Law
16 8 (0.77%) Marketing
17 7 (0.68%) Aerospace
17 7 (0.68%) Investment Banking
18 6 (0.58%) Organisational Skills
19 5 (0.48%) Portuguese Language
Job Titles
1 192 (18.57%) Network Engineer
2 165 (15.96%) Architect
3 110 (10.64%) Senior
4 80 (7.74%) Data Centre Engineer
5 76 (7.35%) Project Manager
6 49 (4.74%) IT Engineer
7 48 (4.64%) Data Centre Manager
7 48 (4.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 48 (4.64%) Lead
8 47 (4.55%) Network Architect
9 45 (4.35%) Field Engineer
10 43 (4.16%) Analyst
10 43 (4.16%) Field Service Engineer
11 39 (3.77%) Solutions Architect
12 35 (3.38%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 33 (3.19%) Infrastructure Manager
13 33 (3.19%) Senior Network Engineer
14 28 (2.71%) Technical Architect
15 27 (2.61%) Cisco Engineer
15 27 (2.61%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (3.97%) Middleware
2 32 (3.09%) 802.1X
3 11 (1.06%) LDAP
4 8 (0.77%) Redfish
5 6 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (0.58%) Spring
6 5 (0.48%) Jinja
6 5 (0.48%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.48%) XML
7 4 (0.39%) ADO
7 4 (0.39%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.39%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.39%) REST
7 4 (0.39%) RESTCONF
7 4 (0.39%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.39%) VML
7 4 (0.39%) YANG
8 3 (0.29%) Kafka
8 3 (0.29%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.29%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 54 (5.22%) Hybrid Cloud
2 51 (4.93%) Analytical Mindset
3 29 (2.80%) Clustering
4 28 (2.71%) Management Information System
4 28 (2.71%) PKI
5 23 (2.22%) Cloud Native
5 23 (2.22%) Fibre Optics
6 21 (2.03%) Public Cloud
7 20 (1.93%) Driving Licence
7 20 (1.93%) Onboarding
8 19 (1.84%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.74%) CMDB
9 18 (1.74%) Enterprise Storage
9 18 (1.74%) Replication
10 16 (1.55%) Private Cloud
10 16 (1.55%) SCADA
11 14 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
11 14 (1.35%) NHS
12 13 (1.26%) Mainframe
13 11 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 131 (12.67%) Windows
2 127 (12.28%) Linux
3 41 (3.97%) Windows Server
4 36 (3.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (2.22%) Unix
6 19 (1.84%) AIX
7 16 (1.55%) Solaris
8 11 (1.06%) CentOS
9 7 (0.68%) VMS
9 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.48%) Android
10 5 (0.48%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.48%) Ubuntu
11 4 (0.39%) HPUX
11 4 (0.39%) Oracle Linux
11 4 (0.39%) SUSE
12 3 (0.29%) Embedded Linux
12 3 (0.29%) Windows 10
13 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 185 (17.89%) Problem-Solving
2 176 (17.02%) Migration
3 97 (9.38%) Stakeholder Management
4 90 (8.70%) High Availability
4 90 (8.70%) ITIL
5 81 (7.83%) Infrastructure as Code
6 80 (7.74%) Continuous Improvement
7 78 (7.54%) Roadmaps
8 70 (6.77%) Project Management
9 68 (6.58%) Change Management
9 68 (6.58%) CI/CD
9 68 (6.58%) Load Balancing
10 65 (6.29%) Validation
11 63 (6.09%) Project Delivery
12 60 (5.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 59 (5.71%) Break/Fix
14 58 (5.61%) Technical Leadership
15 57 (5.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 56 (5.42%) Customer Service
17 55 (5.32%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 96 (9.28%) Python
2 39 (3.77%) PowerShell
3 31 (3.00%) SQL
4 23 (2.22%) Java
5 20 (1.93%) Bash
6 15 (1.45%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.16%) COBOL
8 10 (0.97%) Perl
9 9 (0.87%) MATLAB
10 8 (0.77%) Bicep
11 5 (0.48%) C
11 5 (0.48%) C++
11 5 (0.48%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.48%) VBA
12 4 (0.39%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.39%) Lisp
13 3 (0.29%) Korn
14 1 (0.097%) Groovy
14 1 (0.097%) JCL
14 1 (0.097%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 307 (29.69%) Security Cleared
2 225 (21.76%) SC Cleared
3 218 (21.08%) Cisco Certification
4 135 (13.06%) CCNP
5 95 (9.19%) CCNA
6 68 (6.58%) DV Cleared
7 59 (5.71%) Degree
8 49 (4.74%) Network+ Certification
9 42 (4.06%) Microsoft Certification
10 41 (3.97%) A+ Certification
10 41 (3.97%) MCSE
11 27 (2.61%) CCIE
12 24 (2.32%) PMP
13 23 (2.22%) PMI Certification
14 19 (1.84%) Azure Certification
15 18 (1.74%) City & Guilds
16 16 (1.55%) AWS Certification
16 16 (1.55%) JNCIS
17 15 (1.45%) BICSI Certification
18 14 (1.35%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.61%) SLA
2 26 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.42%) PMO
4 22 (2.13%) NIST
4 22 (2.13%) QA
5 20 (1.93%) GDPR
6 11 (1.06%) NCSC
6 11 (1.06%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.77%) Disclosure Scotland
7 8 (0.77%) GRC
8 5 (0.48%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.29%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.29%) RMADS
11 2 (0.19%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.097%) COBIT
12 1 (0.097%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.097%) SOC 1
System Software
1 87 (8.41%) VMware Infrastructure
2 56 (5.42%) Active Directory
3 47 (4.55%) VMware NSX
4 26 (2.51%) vSphere
5 24 (2.32%) Firmware
6 23 (2.22%) VMware ESXi
7 22 (2.13%) Virtual Machines
8 19 (1.84%) Hyper-V
9 13 (1.26%) Docker
10 10 (0.97%) KVM
11 4 (0.39%) SRDF
11 4 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
12 3 (0.29%) PowerHA
12 3 (0.29%) UAG
12 3 (0.29%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 2 (0.19%) Ceph
13 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 2 (0.19%) vCloud
13 2 (0.19%) Virtual Servers
13 2 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 109 (10.54%) Ansible
2 85 (8.22%) Terraform
3 58 (5.61%) FortiGate
4 40 (3.87%) Kubernetes
5 33 (3.19%) Grafana
6 23 (2.22%) Prometheus
7 13 (1.26%) Microsoft Intune
8 12 (1.16%) SCCM
9 11 (1.06%) NetBackup
10 10 (0.97%) Check_MK
10 10 (0.97%) vCenter Server
11 9 (0.87%) Podman
11 9 (0.87%) PowerCLI
11 9 (0.87%) Red Hat Satellite
12 8 (0.77%) Dell DRAC
12 8 (0.77%) vMotion
13 7 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 6 (0.58%) EMC NetWorker
14 6 (0.58%) SCOM
15 5 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 287 (27.76%) Cisco
2 134 (12.96%) VMware
3 126 (12.19%) Palo Alto
4 96 (9.28%) Microsoft
5 88 (8.51%) Dell
6 87 (8.41%) Juniper
7 86 (8.32%) F5
8 51 (4.93%) Arista
9 45 (4.35%) Aruba
10 43 (4.16%) CheckPoint
10 43 (4.16%) Fortinet
11 40 (3.87%) ServiceNow
12 35 (3.38%) SolarWinds
13 34 (3.29%) Google
13 34 (3.29%) Red Hat
14 31 (3.00%) Splunk
15 29 (2.80%) IBM
16 27 (2.61%) Oracle
17 26 (2.51%) Meraki
18 23 (2.22%) Citrix