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

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 133 102
Rank change year-on-year +19 -31 -8
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 985 614 961
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.20% 2.11% 2.17%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.72% 6.25% 7.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 611 403 632
10th Percentile £313 £327 £283
25th Percentile £409 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.83% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £589 £606 £638
90th Percentile £700 £675 £706
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £475 £528
% change year-on-year -1.05% -9.95% +5.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 26 47
10th Percentile £16.01 £24.17 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.71 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year +1.99% -0.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £72.69 £38.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £80.60 £43.75 £52.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £23.50
% change year-on-year -21.57% +4.94% +9.48%

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 14,648 9,824 13,414
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.79% 33.83% 30.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,210 6,291 8,593
10th Percentile £300 £300 £259
25th Percentile £409 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £773 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -4.43% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 684 378 890
10th Percentile £15.76 £16.95 £12.27
25th Percentile £19.34 £22.50 £15.39
Median hourly rate £43.60 £32.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +34.16% +18.18% +22.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £83.20 £67.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £32.13 £25.75
% change year-on-year +41.49% +24.78% +17.05%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 +10 812 £488 -7.14% 436
UK excluding London +2 553 £470 -1.05% 306
London -12 299 £540 +2.86% 184
Work from Home +14 262 £475 -11.21% 123
North of England +24 187 £460 +8.24% 53
South East +7 163 £475 -5.00% 115
North West +15 97 £500 - 28
Yorkshire -9 75 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -33 67 £474 -24.16% 32
West Midlands -30 54 £475 -24.08% 14
Scotland +9 49 £475 +8.57% 29
East of England -16 35 £478 +13.14% 45
South West -42 35 £538 -2.09% 31
Wales +1 29 £350 -12.50% 11
North East +3 17 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -23 12 £200 -55.56% 18
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 20 (2.03%) SharePoint
2 18 (1.83%) Confluence
3 16 (1.62%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (0.81%) CICS
5 4 (0.41%) nginx
5 4 (0.41%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.41%) WebLogic
6 2 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.20%) HCL Notes
6 2 (0.20%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.10%) Mendix
Applications
1 34 (3.45%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (2.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (2.03%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.42%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.61%) 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 (0.10%) Maximo
4 1 (0.10%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 185 (18.78%) Azure
2 148 (15.03%) AWS
3 65 (6.60%) GCP
4 53 (5.38%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (2.23%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 18 (1.83%) SaaS
7 17 (1.73%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 17 (1.73%) IaaS
8 16 (1.62%) Entra ID
9 14 (1.42%) Power Platform
10 12 (1.22%) Azure DevOps
10 12 (1.22%) GitHub
10 12 (1.22%) OpenShift
10 12 (1.22%) PaaS
11 11 (1.12%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 11 (1.12%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (1.12%) AWS Direct Connect
12 9 (0.91%) Amazon S3
13 8 (0.81%) Nutanix
14 7 (0.71%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 290 (29.44%) Firewall
2 174 (17.66%) WAN
3 152 (15.43%) BGP
4 113 (11.47%) OSPF
5 106 (10.76%) LAN
6 105 (10.66%) VPN
7 102 (10.36%) Network Security
8 77 (7.82%) SAN
9 76 (7.72%) Structured Cabling
10 74 (7.51%) VXLAN
11 73 (7.41%) DNS
12 68 (6.90%) VLAN
13 60 (6.09%) Wireless
14 59 (5.99%) DHCP
15 51 (5.18%) Ethernet VPN
16 50 (5.08%) SD-WAN
17 42 (4.26%) Cisco ISE
17 42 (4.26%) Wi-Fi
18 36 (3.65%) Cisco Nexus
18 36 (3.65%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (0.91%) Power BI
2 8 (0.81%) DataStage
3 6 (0.61%) Relational Database
3 6 (0.61%) SQL Server
4 5 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.41%) Big Data
5 4 (0.41%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.41%) Power Query
5 4 (0.41%) PowerPivot
5 4 (0.41%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.30%) InfluxDB
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 (0.10%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (3.45%) JIRA
2 33 (3.35%) Git
3 21 (2.13%) Jenkins
4 17 (1.73%) GitLab
5 9 (0.91%) Maven
6 7 (0.71%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.51%) JMeter
8 4 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.41%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.41%) Subversion
9 3 (0.30%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
10 2 (0.20%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.10%) AppScan
11 1 (0.10%) Burp Suite
11 1 (0.10%) LoadRunner
11 1 (0.10%) Metasploit
11 1 (0.10%) Postman
General
1 253 (25.69%) Social Skills
2 152 (15.43%) Finance
3 119 (12.08%) Analytical Skills
4 88 (8.93%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.69%) Documentation Skills
6 45 (4.57%) Banking
7 43 (4.37%) Telecoms
8 35 (3.55%) Manufacturing
9 30 (3.05%) Legal
10 23 (2.34%) Marketing
11 20 (2.03%) Retail
12 19 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
13 16 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 16 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (1.52%) Electronics
15 11 (1.12%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (1.02%) Investment Banking
16 10 (1.02%) Law
17 9 (0.91%) Military
18 8 (0.81%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 172 (17.46%) Network Engineer
2 164 (16.65%) Architect
3 93 (9.44%) Senior
4 82 (8.32%) Project Manager
5 67 (6.80%) Data Centre Engineer
6 51 (5.18%) Network Architect
7 49 (4.97%) Analyst
8 48 (4.87%) Solutions Architect
9 46 (4.67%) Data Centre Manager
10 39 (3.96%) Lead
11 38 (3.86%) IT Engineer
12 36 (3.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 36 (3.65%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 35 (3.55%) Infrastructure Manager
14 34 (3.45%) Field Engineer
15 33 (3.35%) Field Service Engineer
16 31 (3.15%) IT Support
17 28 (2.84%) Cisco Engineer
17 28 (2.84%) Consultant
18 27 (2.74%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (3.76%) Middleware
2 33 (3.35%) 802.1X
3 11 (1.12%) LDAP
4 6 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
4 6 (0.61%) Spring
5 5 (0.51%) Redfish
6 4 (0.41%) ADO
6 4 (0.41%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.41%) Jinja
6 4 (0.41%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.41%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.41%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.41%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.41%) VML
6 4 (0.41%) XML
6 4 (0.41%) YANG
7 3 (0.30%) Kafka
7 3 (0.30%) REST
7 3 (0.30%) RFC 2544
7 3 (0.30%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 45 (4.57%) Hybrid Cloud
2 39 (3.96%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (2.74%) Clustering
3 27 (2.74%) PKI
4 24 (2.44%) Driving Licence
5 23 (2.34%) Management Information System
6 22 (2.23%) Onboarding
7 21 (2.13%) Fibre Optics
8 19 (1.93%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.83%) Cloud Native
10 17 (1.73%) Replication
11 16 (1.62%) CMDB
11 16 (1.62%) Public Cloud
12 14 (1.42%) NHS
13 13 (1.32%) Enterprise Storage
14 12 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
14 12 (1.22%) SCADA
15 11 (1.12%) Mainframe
15 11 (1.12%) Private Cloud
16 8 (0.81%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 126 (12.79%) Windows
2 114 (11.57%) Linux
3 42 (4.26%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 20 (2.03%) Android
5 20 (2.03%) Mac OS
6 15 (1.52%) Unix
7 13 (1.32%) AIX
8 11 (1.12%) CentOS
9 10 (1.02%) Solaris
10 8 (0.81%) VMS
11 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
12 5 (0.51%) Ubuntu
13 3 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
13 3 (0.30%) Windows 10
14 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
14 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
15 1 (0.10%) Debian
15 1 (0.10%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
2 163 (16.55%) Migration
3 106 (10.76%) Stakeholder Management
4 86 (8.73%) ITIL
5 81 (8.22%) High Availability
6 77 (7.82%) Roadmaps
7 73 (7.41%) Project Management
8 69 (7.01%) Continuous Improvement
8 69 (7.01%) Load Balancing
9 66 (6.70%) Infrastructure as Code
9 66 (6.70%) Project Delivery
10 63 (6.40%) Change Management
11 62 (6.29%) Agile
12 61 (6.19%) CI/CD
13 52 (5.28%) Customer Service
13 52 (5.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 51 (5.18%) DevOps
15 50 (5.08%) Data Centre Operations
15 50 (5.08%) Validation
16 49 (4.97%) Break/Fix
Programming Languages
1 96 (9.75%) Python
2 51 (5.18%) PowerShell
3 28 (2.84%) Bash
4 27 (2.74%) SQL
5 23 (2.34%) Java
6 18 (1.83%) Perl
7 14 (1.42%) Shell Script
8 10 (1.02%) COBOL
9 9 (0.91%) MATLAB
10 7 (0.71%) Bicep
11 6 (0.61%) Lisp
12 5 (0.51%) C++
12 5 (0.51%) VBA
13 4 (0.41%) C
13 4 (0.41%) JavaScript
14 3 (0.30%) Korn
14 3 (0.30%) PL/SQL
15 1 (0.10%) Go
15 1 (0.10%) Groovy
15 1 (0.10%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 305 (30.96%) Security Cleared
2 230 (23.35%) SC Cleared
3 195 (19.80%) Cisco Certification
4 133 (13.50%) CCNP
5 82 (8.32%) CCNA
6 68 (6.90%) Degree
7 64 (6.50%) DV Cleared
8 39 (3.96%) Network+ Certification
9 32 (3.25%) Microsoft Certification
10 31 (3.15%) A+ Certification
10 31 (3.15%) MCSE
11 28 (2.84%) CCIE
12 24 (2.44%) PMP
13 22 (2.23%) PMI Certification
14 20 (2.03%) AWS Certification
15 17 (1.73%) Azure Certification
16 16 (1.62%) JNCIS
17 14 (1.42%) JNCIP
18 12 (1.22%) JNCIA
18 12 (1.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (2.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 27 (2.74%) PMO
2 27 (2.74%) SLA
3 23 (2.34%) GDPR
3 23 (2.34%) NIST
4 17 (1.73%) PCI DSS
4 17 (1.73%) QA
5 10 (1.02%) NCSC
6 5 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
6 5 (0.51%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (0.41%) GRC
8 3 (0.30%) RMADS
9 2 (0.20%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.20%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.10%) COBIT
10 1 (0.10%) NEBOSH
10 1 (0.10%) SOC 1
System Software
1 84 (8.53%) VMware Infrastructure
2 63 (6.40%) Active Directory
3 45 (4.57%) VMware NSX
4 22 (2.23%) Firmware
4 22 (2.23%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (1.93%) vSphere
6 17 (1.73%) Docker
7 16 (1.62%) Hyper-V
8 15 (1.52%) VMware ESXi
9 10 (1.02%) KVM
10 3 (0.30%) PowerHA
10 3 (0.30%) SRDF
11 2 (0.20%) Ceph
11 2 (0.20%) Lustre
11 2 (0.20%) NFS
11 2 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.20%) vCloud
11 2 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 98 (9.95%) Ansible
2 77 (7.82%) Terraform
3 56 (5.69%) FortiGate
4 40 (4.06%) Kubernetes
5 33 (3.35%) Grafana
6 23 (2.34%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.73%) SCCM
8 15 (1.52%) Microsoft Intune
9 10 (1.02%) Check_MK
10 9 (0.91%) Podman
10 9 (0.91%) Red Hat Satellite
11 7 (0.71%) SCOM
12 6 (0.61%) vCenter Server
13 5 (0.51%) Dell DRAC
13 5 (0.51%) Endace
13 5 (0.51%) NetBackup
13 5 (0.51%) PowerCLI
14 4 (0.41%) EMC NetWorker
14 4 (0.41%) Nagios
14 4 (0.41%) vMotion
Vendors
1 293 (29.75%) Cisco
2 122 (12.39%) Palo Alto
3 120 (12.18%) VMware
4 93 (9.44%) Microsoft
5 92 (9.34%) Dell
6 88 (8.93%) Juniper
7 69 (7.01%) F5
8 46 (4.67%) Arista
9 44 (4.47%) Aruba
9 44 (4.47%) Fortinet
10 43 (4.37%) ServiceNow
11 42 (4.26%) CheckPoint
12 36 (3.65%) Meraki
13 35 (3.55%) SolarWinds
14 34 (3.45%) Google
15 33 (3.35%) HP
16 32 (3.25%) Red Hat
17 29 (2.94%) IBM
17 29 (2.94%) Splunk
18 27 (2.74%) Citrix