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 20 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 146 116 94
Rank change year-on-year -30 -22 +5
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 727 748 1,147
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.03% 2.05% 2.49%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.68% 6.60% 7.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 454 445 769
10th Percentile £245 £363 £330
25th Percentile £380 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £650
90th Percentile £709 £710 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £518
% change year-on-year -9.52% +1.45% +3.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 34 23
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.81 £17.72
25th Percentile - £12.08 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £23.34 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.77% +1.47% -63.20%
75th Percentile £31.00 £24.80 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.25 £30.41 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £21.59 £23.00
% change year-on-year +16.49% -6.13% -41.77%

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 12,806 11,332 14,704
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.78% 31.06% 31.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,912 6,693 9,879
10th Percentile £275 £285 £275
25th Percentile £406 £410 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £535 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.67% -2.73% -
75th Percentile £638 £663 £664
90th Percentile £738 £787 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 691 363 493
10th Percentile £13.50 £17.11 £16.75
25th Percentile £18.25 £22.50 £20.85
Median hourly rate £27.33 £37.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -26.14% -16.85% +48.33%
75th Percentile £53.44 £68.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.16 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.54 £37.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year -25.58% -19.88% +84.72%

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 20 November 2025.

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 20 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 16 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 20 November 2025. 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 -22 638 £515 -4.19% 580
UK excluding London -18 393 £475 -9.52% 341
London -14 264 £525 - 279
Work from Home +5 196 £525 -4.55% 218
North of England -15 137 £490 -2.10% 56
Midlands -1 95 £431 -28.17% 43
North West 0 75 £550 +10.00% 43
West Midlands -14 72 £465 -22.50% 36
South East -37 71 £431 -17.86% 146
Yorkshire -24 57 £444 +5.71% 7
South West -38 35 £550 - 38
Scotland 0 30 £438 -2.78% 13
East of England -28 24 £600 +42.01% 39
East Midlands -6 23 £358 -18.68% 7
Wales +10 15 £276 -19.34% 14
North East -7 8 £175 - 7

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 31 (4.26%) SharePoint
2 22 (3.03%) Confluence
3 20 (2.75%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (1.24%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.83%) Apache
6 5 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.69%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.55%) HCL Notes
7 4 (0.55%) nginx
8 3 (0.41%) CICS
8 3 (0.41%) GeoServer
8 3 (0.41%) Smallworld
8 3 (0.41%) ThingWorx
8 3 (0.41%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.28%) FileNet
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle Coherence
9 2 (0.28%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.14%) IIS
10 1 (0.14%) OpenEdge
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 57 (7.84%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (4.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 26 (3.58%) MS Visio
4 18 (2.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.14%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.83%) Payment Gateway
2 5 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.55%) Oracle Financials
4 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.14%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.14%) Primavera
5 1 (0.14%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 133 (18.29%) Azure
2 108 (14.86%) AWS
3 69 (9.49%) Microsoft 365
4 41 (5.64%) GCP
5 23 (3.16%) Power Platform
6 20 (2.75%) Entra ID
7 15 (2.06%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 15 (2.06%) OpenShift
7 15 (2.06%) SaaS
8 12 (1.65%) IaaS
8 12 (1.65%) PaaS
8 12 (1.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 10 (1.38%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 7 (0.96%) AWS Direct Connect
10 7 (0.96%) npm
10 7 (0.96%) OCI
11 6 (0.83%) Akamai
11 6 (0.83%) GitHub
11 6 (0.83%) Nutanix
11 6 (0.83%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 200 (27.51%) Firewall
2 118 (16.23%) WAN
3 105 (14.44%) Wireless
4 71 (9.77%) BGP
5 62 (8.53%) DNS
5 62 (8.53%) VPN
6 57 (7.84%) LAN
7 47 (6.46%) SD-WAN
8 46 (6.33%) OSPF
9 43 (5.91%) Network Security
10 42 (5.78%) Cisco Nexus
11 40 (5.50%) Wi-Fi
12 39 (5.36%) Cisco ISE
12 39 (5.36%) DHCP
13 37 (5.09%) SAN
14 35 (4.81%) VXLAN
15 34 (4.68%) MPLS
15 34 (4.68%) VLAN
16 30 (4.13%) TCP/IP
17 25 (3.44%) Cisco Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.75%) Power BI
2 19 (2.61%) Relational Database
3 12 (1.65%) RDBMS
4 9 (1.24%) GIS
5 8 (1.10%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.83%) NoSQL
6 6 (0.83%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.83%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (0.69%) Apache Hive
7 5 (0.69%) Hadoop
7 5 (0.69%) HBase
8 4 (0.55%) Data Mining
8 4 (0.55%) InfluxDB
9 3 (0.41%) Big Data
9 3 (0.41%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.41%) Data Vault
9 3 (0.41%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (0.41%) Metadata
9 3 (0.41%) QGIS
9 3 (0.41%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 18 (2.48%) Git
2 17 (2.34%) JIRA
3 14 (1.93%) Sonatype Nexus
4 12 (1.65%) Jenkins
5 11 (1.51%) Maven
6 9 (1.24%) GitLab
6 9 (1.24%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.55%) Gradle
7 4 (0.55%) Selenium
8 3 (0.41%) ER Studio
8 3 (0.41%) ERwin
9 2 (0.28%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.14%) Fiddler
10 1 (0.14%) Postman
10 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
General
1 175 (24.07%) Social Skills
2 139 (19.12%) Finance
3 79 (10.87%) Public Sector
4 71 (9.77%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (9.77%) Telecoms
5 70 (9.63%) Banking
6 34 (4.68%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (4.40%) Manufacturing
8 27 (3.71%) Marketing
9 25 (3.44%) Electronics
10 22 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
11 20 (2.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (2.06%) Organisational Skills
13 14 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.96%) Front Office
14 7 (0.96%) Investment Banking
14 7 (0.96%) Local Government
14 7 (0.96%) Retail
15 6 (0.83%) Legal
16 5 (0.69%) Law
Job Titles
1 113 (15.54%) Network Engineer
2 111 (15.27%) Architect
3 75 (10.32%) Analyst
4 52 (7.15%) Project Manager
5 41 (5.64%) Senior
6 33 (4.54%) Consultant
6 33 (4.54%) IT Support
6 33 (4.54%) Network Architect
7 31 (4.26%) Support Engineer
8 30 (4.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 29 (3.99%) Data Centre Engineer
9 29 (3.99%) Infrastructure Manager
9 29 (3.99%) Security Engineer
10 28 (3.85%) Data Centre Manager
11 26 (3.58%) Business Analyst
12 25 (3.44%) Desktop Support
13 24 (3.30%) Cisco Engineer
13 24 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
14 23 (3.16%) 2nd Line Support
14 23 (3.16%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.16%) Middleware
2 21 (2.89%) RFC 2544
3 18 (2.48%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.69%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.55%) Jinja
6 3 (0.41%) REST
7 2 (0.28%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.28%) eBPF
7 2 (0.28%) EJB
7 2 (0.28%) Java SE
7 2 (0.28%) LDAP
7 2 (0.28%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.28%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.28%) Spring
8 1 (0.14%) .NET
8 1 (0.14%) ASP.NET
8 1 (0.14%) JSP
8 1 (0.14%) ONNX
8 1 (0.14%) SAML
8 1 (0.14%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 38 (5.23%) Hybrid Cloud
2 30 (4.13%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.30%) Public Cloud
4 22 (3.03%) Driving Licence
5 21 (2.89%) Fibre Optics
5 21 (2.89%) Replication
6 19 (2.61%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.34%) Private Cloud
8 14 (1.93%) Mainframe
9 13 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
10 12 (1.65%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (1.51%) PKI
11 11 (1.51%) SCADA
12 10 (1.38%) Management Information System
13 9 (1.24%) Clustering
13 9 (1.24%) Product Ownership
14 8 (1.10%) CMDB
14 8 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
15 7 (0.96%) Operational Technology
15 7 (0.96%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 97 (13.34%) Windows
2 71 (9.77%) Linux
3 47 (6.46%) Android
4 45 (6.19%) Mac OS
5 38 (5.23%) Windows Server
6 22 (3.03%) Unix
7 19 (2.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (1.38%) CentOS
9 6 (0.83%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.83%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.55%) Apple iOS
10 4 (0.55%) Solaris
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2008
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.28%) AIX
11 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.28%) zOS
12 1 (0.14%) MVS
12 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 136 (18.71%) Migration
2 90 (12.38%) Problem-Solving
3 80 (11.00%) Stakeholder Management
4 69 (9.49%) Agile
5 56 (7.70%) ITIL
6 55 (7.57%) Service Management
6 55 (7.57%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 48 (6.60%) Infrastructure as Code
8 47 (6.46%) Customer Service
8 47 (6.46%) Roadmaps
9 46 (6.33%) Disaster Recovery
10 45 (6.19%) Change Management
10 45 (6.19%) CI/CD
10 45 (6.19%) High Availability
11 43 (5.91%) DevOps
11 43 (5.91%) Network Design
11 43 (5.91%) Project Delivery
12 42 (5.78%) Business Intelligence
13 41 (5.64%) Data Centre Operations
14 40 (5.50%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 76 (10.45%) Python
2 44 (6.05%) PowerShell
3 36 (4.95%) SQL
4 20 (2.75%) Java
5 19 (2.61%) Bash
6 10 (1.38%) Perl
7 9 (1.24%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.10%) Lisp
9 7 (0.96%) Go
10 5 (0.69%) C
11 3 (0.41%) Bicep
11 3 (0.41%) C#
11 3 (0.41%) JCL
11 3 (0.41%) Korn
11 3 (0.41%) VBA
12 2 (0.28%) AWK
12 2 (0.28%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.28%) Ruby
12 2 (0.28%) sed
Qualifications
1 213 (29.30%) Security Cleared
2 178 (24.48%) SC Cleared
3 84 (11.55%) Cisco Certification
4 55 (7.57%) CCNP
4 55 (7.57%) Degree
5 43 (5.91%) DV Cleared
6 26 (3.58%) CCIE
7 23 (3.16%) CCNA
8 19 (2.61%) AWS Certification
9 14 (1.93%) CISSP
10 12 (1.65%) JNCIE
11 10 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
12 9 (1.24%) PMP
12 9 (1.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 8 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
13 8 (1.10%) PMI Certification
14 7 (0.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 7 (0.96%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.96%) CCSP
15 6 (0.83%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.89%) NIST
2 20 (2.75%) PCI DSS
2 20 (2.75%) SLA
3 18 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.48%) PMO
4 14 (1.93%) GDPR
5 11 (1.51%) Data Quality
6 10 (1.38%) QA
7 4 (0.55%) NCSC
8 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.28%) GRC
8 2 (0.28%) ISO 22301
8 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 2 (0.28%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.14%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 71 (9.77%) VMware Infrastructure
2 59 (8.12%) Active Directory
3 35 (4.81%) VMware NSX
4 25 (3.44%) Docker
5 18 (2.48%) vSphere
6 16 (2.20%) Hyper-V
7 13 (1.79%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (0.96%) Firmware
8 7 (0.96%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.69%) HDFS
10 4 (0.55%) KVM
10 4 (0.55%) NFS
11 3 (0.41%) GPFS
12 2 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
12 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
13 1 (0.14%) Samba
13 1 (0.14%) SRDF
13 1 (0.14%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
13 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 69 (9.49%) Ansible
2 61 (8.39%) Terraform
3 32 (4.40%) FortiGate
4 25 (3.44%) SCCM
5 21 (2.89%) Kubernetes
6 13 (1.79%) Microsoft Intune
7 12 (1.65%) Grafana
8 9 (1.24%) SCOM
8 9 (1.24%) vCenter Server
9 8 (1.10%) Control-M
9 8 (1.10%) Puppet
10 7 (0.96%) Single Sign-On
11 6 (0.83%) CASB
12 5 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.69%) Hadoop YARN
12 5 (0.69%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.69%) SCOrch
13 4 (0.55%) Argo
13 4 (0.55%) OpenView
14 3 (0.41%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 236 (32.46%) Cisco
2 103 (14.17%) Microsoft
3 93 (12.79%) VMware
4 65 (8.94%) F5
5 61 (8.39%) Dell
6 56 (7.70%) Palo Alto
7 54 (7.43%) HP
8 50 (6.88%) Juniper
9 44 (6.05%) Apple
10 37 (5.09%) SAP
10 37 (5.09%) ServiceNow
11 33 (4.54%) Fortinet
11 33 (4.54%) Oracle
12 26 (3.58%) Meraki
13 23 (3.16%) SolarWinds
14 22 (3.03%) Arista
15 17 (2.34%) Citrix
16 16 (2.20%) CheckPoint
16 16 (2.20%) Remedy
17 14 (1.93%) Red Hat