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 31 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 126 106
Rank change year-on-year +12 -20 -16
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,217 750 859
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.29% 2.29% 2.16%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.87% 6.57% 7.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 717 476 577
10th Percentile £325 £300 £350
25th Percentile £413 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £503 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.60% -6.51% -0.12%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £625
90th Percentile £750 £675 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £541
% change year-on-year +2.11% -12.12% +8.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 31 39
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.99
25th Percentile £17.50 £24.66 £12.08
Median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -16.50% +5.67% +19.00%
75th Percentile £38.75 £33.00 £26.41
90th Percentile £79.90 £43.75 £29.22
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £18.14
% change year-on-year -21.57% +35.98% +2.34%

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 17,715 11,410 12,149
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.36% 34.79% 30.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,799 7,046 7,801
10th Percentile £320 £300 £300
25th Percentile £420 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year - -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £638 £641 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £813
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 955 545 657
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.13 £12.28
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.87 £16.85
Median hourly rate £43.96 £29.50 £41.25
Median % change year-on-year +49.02% -28.48% +10.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £77.00 £73.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £44.04
% change year-on-year +46.53% -31.88% -2.13%

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 31 July 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 31 July 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 31 July 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 +16 1,027 £514 -2.10% 560
UK excluding London -11 668 £485 +2.11% 274
London +15 398 £550 +4.76% 326
Work from Home +8 304 £525 +3.96% 148
North of England +3 231 £485 +10.86% 76
South East -1 211 £520 +10.64% 95
Yorkshire -4 132 £365 -9.88% 18
North West -14 84 £506 -3.62% 28
South West -30 62 £495 -10.00% 30
Midlands -57 60 £456 -13.24% 21
West Midlands -57 55 £465 -7.00% 13
Scotland -15 43 £425 -4.23% 10
Wales +4 40 £468 +24.67% 8
East of England -14 32 £500 -3.85% 38
North East -24 21 £625 +468.18% 30
East Midlands -22 4 £363 -33.49% 8
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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 30 (2.47%) Confluence
2 15 (1.23%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.82%) CICS
4 9 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.49%) OpenStack
6 5 (0.41%) Apache
6 5 (0.41%) CloudStack
7 4 (0.33%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.25%) nginx
8 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.082%) IIS
9 1 (0.082%) Mendix
9 1 (0.082%) SAS
Applications
1 20 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.48%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.82%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.66%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.41%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.16%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 8 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.25%) Primavera
3 2 (0.16%) OpenText MBPM
3 2 (0.16%) Oracle BPM
3 2 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 267 (21.94%) Azure
2 231 (18.98%) AWS
3 73 (6.00%) GCP
4 43 (3.53%) GitHub
5 40 (3.29%) IaaS
6 36 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
7 34 (2.79%) SaaS
8 29 (2.38%) OCI
9 25 (2.05%) Entra ID
10 18 (1.48%) PaaS
11 17 (1.40%) OpenShift
12 16 (1.31%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 15 (1.23%) Azure DevOps
13 15 (1.23%) Power Platform
14 12 (0.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 12 (0.99%) OneDrive
15 10 (0.82%) Azure Sentinel
16 9 (0.74%) Nutanix
17 8 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
18 6 (0.49%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 332 (27.28%) Firewall
2 194 (15.94%) WAN
3 184 (15.12%) BGP
4 138 (11.34%) OSPF
5 135 (11.09%) VPN
6 133 (10.93%) DNS
7 125 (10.27%) VXLAN
8 119 (9.78%) SAN
9 115 (9.45%) LAN
10 106 (8.71%) Network Security
11 103 (8.46%) VLAN
12 100 (8.22%) DHCP
13 86 (7.07%) Ethernet VPN
13 86 (7.07%) Structured Cabling
14 85 (6.98%) SD-WAN
15 76 (6.24%) TCP/IP
16 60 (4.93%) BIG-IP
17 58 (4.77%) Wireless
18 54 (4.44%) Wi-Fi
19 49 (4.03%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (2.05%) SQL Server
2 11 (0.90%) Power BI
3 9 (0.74%) DataStage
4 7 (0.58%) Big Data
4 7 (0.58%) Oracle Database
4 7 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (0.49%) Db2
5 6 (0.49%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 6 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 6 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 4 (0.33%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.33%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
6 4 (0.33%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.33%) Oracle Database 12c
6 4 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (0.33%) SAP Data Services
7 3 (0.25%) GIS
8 2 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.16%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 77 (6.33%) JIRA
2 30 (2.47%) Jenkins
3 29 (2.38%) GitLab
4 26 (2.14%) Git
5 6 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 6 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.41%) JMeter
7 4 (0.33%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.33%) Maven
7 4 (0.33%) Subversion
8 3 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.16%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.16%) MSI
9 2 (0.16%) Toad
10 1 (0.082%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.082%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.082%) Postman
General
1 299 (24.57%) Social Skills
2 162 (13.31%) Finance
3 123 (10.11%) Analytical Skills
4 74 (6.08%) Public Sector
5 51 (4.19%) Banking
6 48 (3.94%) Telecoms
7 47 (3.86%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (2.38%) Retail
9 26 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
9 26 (2.14%) Legal
10 17 (1.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.15%) Manufacturing
12 12 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.74%) Law
14 8 (0.66%) Military
14 8 (0.66%) Police
15 6 (0.49%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.49%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.49%) Marketing
16 3 (0.25%) Billing
Job Titles
1 197 (16.19%) Architect
2 187 (15.37%) Network Engineer
3 150 (12.33%) Senior
4 117 (9.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 108 (8.87%) Data Centre Engineer
6 79 (6.49%) Project Manager
7 62 (5.09%) Network Architect
8 58 (4.77%) Lead
9 51 (4.19%) IT Engineer
10 47 (3.86%) Field Engineer
11 44 (3.62%) Field Service Engineer
11 44 (3.62%) Infrastructure Manager
12 43 (3.53%) Technical Architect
13 42 (3.45%) Data Centre Manager
14 39 (3.20%) Solutions Architect
15 37 (3.04%) Senior Network Engineer
16 35 (2.88%) Support Engineer
17 33 (2.71%) Consultant
18 32 (2.63%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
19 31 (2.55%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (4.35%) Middleware
2 32 (2.63%) 802.1X
3 12 (0.99%) REST
4 10 (0.82%) Redfish
5 8 (0.66%) Elastic Stack
5 8 (0.66%) LDAP
6 7 (0.58%) NETCONF
6 7 (0.58%) Spring
7 6 (0.49%) OpenConfig
7 6 (0.49%) RESTCONF
7 6 (0.49%) SAML
7 6 (0.49%) YANG
8 5 (0.41%) .NET
8 5 (0.41%) Jinja
8 5 (0.41%) Kafka
8 5 (0.41%) XML
9 4 (0.33%) GeoJSON
9 4 (0.33%) RESTful
9 4 (0.33%) Spring Boot
9 4 (0.33%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 74 (6.08%) Hybrid Cloud
2 52 (4.27%) Analytical Mindset
3 49 (4.03%) PKI
4 42 (3.45%) Clustering
5 36 (2.96%) Management Information System
6 35 (2.88%) Cloud Native
7 32 (2.63%) Enterprise Storage
8 28 (2.30%) Fibre Optics
8 28 (2.30%) Private Cloud
9 27 (2.22%) Onboarding
10 24 (1.97%) Replication
11 22 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
11 22 (1.81%) Public Cloud
12 18 (1.48%) Driving Licence
13 16 (1.31%) CMDB
13 16 (1.31%) Mainframe
14 15 (1.23%) Operational Technology
14 15 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
15 14 (1.15%) Distributed Systems
15 14 (1.15%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 169 (13.89%) Windows
2 138 (11.34%) Linux
3 46 (3.78%) Windows Server
4 39 (3.20%) Unix
5 26 (2.14%) AIX
5 26 (2.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.40%) Solaris
7 10 (0.82%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.82%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.49%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.41%) HPUX
9 5 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
9 5 (0.41%) SUSE
9 5 (0.41%) VMS
9 5 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
9 5 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.33%) CentOS
10 4 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
11 2 (0.16%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.16%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 247 (20.30%) Migration
2 205 (16.84%) Problem-Solving
3 146 (12.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 133 (10.93%) Stakeholder Management
5 116 (9.53%) High Availability
6 112 (9.20%) ITIL
7 110 (9.04%) Infrastructure as Code
8 107 (8.79%) CI/CD
9 97 (7.97%) Agile
10 96 (7.89%) Roadmaps
11 89 (7.31%) Continuous Improvement
12 86 (7.07%) Load Balancing
13 85 (6.98%) Project Delivery
14 84 (6.90%) Change Management
15 82 (6.74%) Validation
16 76 (6.24%) DevOps
17 74 (6.08%) Zero Trust
18 70 (5.75%) Technical Leadership
19 68 (5.59%) Network Design
19 68 (5.59%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 161 (13.23%) Python
2 53 (4.35%) PowerShell
3 43 (3.53%) SQL
4 31 (2.55%) Bash
5 19 (1.56%) Java
6 14 (1.15%) Perl
7 13 (1.07%) Bicep
8 12 (0.99%) Shell Script
9 11 (0.90%) COBOL
10 10 (0.82%) ActionScript
11 9 (0.74%) PL/SQL
12 6 (0.49%) JavaScript
13 5 (0.41%) C#
14 4 (0.33%) MATLAB
15 3 (0.25%) JCL
15 3 (0.25%) Korn
15 3 (0.25%) Lisp
15 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
16 2 (0.16%) REXX
16 2 (0.16%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 322 (26.46%) Security Cleared
2 213 (17.50%) Cisco Certification
3 211 (17.34%) SC Cleared
4 122 (10.02%) CCNP
5 106 (8.71%) DV Cleared
6 88 (7.23%) CCNA
7 65 (5.34%) Degree
8 59 (4.85%) Network+ Certification
9 49 (4.03%) Microsoft Certification
10 42 (3.45%) A+ Certification
10 42 (3.45%) MCSE
11 28 (2.30%) Azure Certification
12 27 (2.22%) AWS Certification
12 27 (2.22%) CCIE
13 26 (2.14%) City & Guilds
14 23 (1.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 22 (1.81%) PMI Certification
15 22 (1.81%) PMP
16 20 (1.64%) BICSI Certification
16 20 (1.64%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (2.71%) QA
2 32 (2.63%) SLA
3 28 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (1.89%) NIST
5 19 (1.56%) PMO
6 16 (1.31%) NCSC
7 15 (1.23%) GDPR
8 9 (0.74%) Disclosure Scotland
9 8 (0.66%) JSP 440
10 6 (0.49%) GRC
10 6 (0.49%) RMADS
11 5 (0.41%) PCI DSS
12 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.16%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.16%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 2 (0.16%) WCAG
14 1 (0.082%) SEPA
System Software
1 120 (9.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 75 (6.16%) Active Directory
3 43 (3.53%) vSphere
4 41 (3.37%) VMware NSX
5 36 (2.96%) VMware ESXi
6 35 (2.88%) Hyper-V
7 31 (2.55%) Firmware
8 27 (2.22%) Docker
9 18 (1.48%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (0.90%) NFS
11 7 (0.58%) PowerHA
12 6 (0.49%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.49%) SRDF
13 5 (0.41%) KVM
13 5 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
14 4 (0.33%) BitLocker
14 4 (0.33%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
14 4 (0.33%) VMware Workstation
15 3 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 138 (11.34%) Ansible
2 114 (9.37%) Terraform
3 60 (4.93%) Kubernetes
4 50 (4.11%) FortiGate
5 28 (2.30%) Grafana
6 26 (2.14%) Microsoft Intune
6 26 (2.14%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.40%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.15%) VxRail
9 13 (1.07%) NetBackup
10 11 (0.90%) Dell DRAC
10 11 (0.90%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 10 (0.82%) Jamf Pro
12 9 (0.74%) PowerCLI
12 9 (0.74%) vMotion
13 8 (0.66%) Microsoft Clustering
13 8 (0.66%) SCCM
14 7 (0.58%) Check_MK
14 7 (0.58%) EMC NetWorker
15 6 (0.49%) Nagios
Vendors
1 285 (23.42%) Cisco
2 173 (14.22%) VMware
3 131 (10.76%) Palo Alto
4 122 (10.02%) F5
5 121 (9.94%) Microsoft
6 87 (7.15%) Juniper
7 77 (6.33%) Dell
8 74 (6.08%) Fortinet
9 71 (5.83%) Arista
10 55 (4.52%) ServiceNow
11 42 (3.45%) IBM
12 41 (3.37%) Google
13 40 (3.29%) SolarWinds
14 37 (3.04%) Aruba
15 34 (2.79%) CheckPoint
16 33 (2.71%) Red Hat
17 31 (2.55%) Splunk
18 28 (2.30%) Oracle
19 23 (1.89%) HP
20 22 (1.81%) Extreme Networks