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

6 months to
20 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 100 123 104
Rank change year-on-year +23 -19 -15
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,127 645 916
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.34% 2.21% 2.15%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.34% 6.51% 7.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 705 422 620
10th Percentile £318 £339 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.39% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £675 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £475 £531
% change year-on-year -1.26% -10.59% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 22 45
10th Percentile £16.00 £24.18 £13.35
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £18.27
Median hourly rate £19.34 £27.50 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.67% +14.58% +10.75%
75th Percentile £33.75 £41.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.16 £43.75 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £22.50
% change year-on-year -21.57% +9.60% +5.83%

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 15,363 9,915 12,913
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.91% 33.99% 30.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,540 6,314 8,317
10th Percentile £313 £300 £266
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £740 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £477 £500
% change year-on-year +1.10% -4.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 725 400 899
10th Percentile £16.00 £16.11 £12.25
25th Percentile £19.64 £20.45 £15.17
Median hourly rate £41.94 £31.91 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year +31.45% +1.29% +40.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.24 £83.20 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £30.78 £30.00
% change year-on-year +46.20% +2.60% +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 20 May 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 20 May 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 20 May 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 +20 915 £485 -7.62% 459
UK excluding London +15 646 £469 -1.26% 291
London +20 315 £550 +2.61% 201
Work from Home +22 297 £478 -7.73% 158
North of England +24 216 £469 +5.33% 73
South East +3 200 £463 +2.78% 105
Yorkshire -5 99 £365 -14.12% 31
North West +14 95 £481 -4.47% 31
Scotland +1 57 £466 +9.59% 21
Midlands -56 53 £460 -16.36% 33
South West -35 50 £495 -10.00% 31
West Midlands -43 47 £465 -15.45% 29
East of England -9 41 £487 +94.90% 23
Wales +4 35 £468 +16.88% 6
North East 0 24 £400 +263.64% 11
East Midlands -29 5 £400 -27.27% 4
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 5

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 21 (1.86%) Confluence
2 12 (1.06%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.98%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (0.89%) CICS
5 5 (0.44%) nginx
6 4 (0.35%) Apache
6 4 (0.35%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.35%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.27%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.18%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.089%) IIS
9 1 (0.089%) Mendix
Applications
1 16 (1.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (1.15%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.98%) Microsoft Project
4 11 (0.98%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.27%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.18%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.18%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.27%) Remedy ITSM
1 3 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.18%) DELMIA
2 2 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.18%) Primavera
3 1 (0.089%) Maximo
3 1 (0.089%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 223 (19.79%) Azure
2 182 (16.15%) AWS
3 68 (6.03%) GCP
4 34 (3.02%) Microsoft 365
5 24 (2.13%) SaaS
6 23 (2.04%) OCI
7 21 (1.86%) Entra ID
7 21 (1.86%) GitHub
8 20 (1.77%) IaaS
9 16 (1.42%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 15 (1.33%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 13 (1.15%) OpenShift
11 13 (1.15%) PaaS
12 11 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
12 11 (0.98%) Power Platform
13 10 (0.89%) Azure Sentinel
14 9 (0.80%) AWS Direct Connect
14 9 (0.80%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (0.80%) Nutanix
14 9 (0.80%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 320 (28.39%) Firewall
2 198 (17.57%) WAN
3 176 (15.62%) BGP
4 143 (12.69%) OSPF
5 124 (11.00%) Network Security
6 119 (10.56%) LAN
7 118 (10.47%) VPN
8 111 (9.85%) SAN
8 111 (9.85%) VXLAN
9 92 (8.16%) Structured Cabling
10 88 (7.81%) VLAN
11 83 (7.36%) DNS
12 78 (6.92%) Ethernet VPN
13 68 (6.03%) SD-WAN
14 65 (5.77%) DHCP
15 53 (4.70%) Cisco Nexus
16 51 (4.53%) Wi-Fi
17 43 (3.82%) BIG-IP
18 41 (3.64%) NX-OS
19 37 (3.28%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.15%) SQL Server
2 10 (0.89%) DataStage
3 6 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (0.53%) Power BI
4 5 (0.44%) Relational Database
5 4 (0.35%) Big Data
5 4 (0.35%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.35%) Oracle Database
5 4 (0.35%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.35%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.27%) GIS
7 2 (0.18%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.18%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.18%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
7 2 (0.18%) Power Query
7 2 (0.18%) PowerPivot
8 1 (0.089%) MariaDB
8 1 (0.089%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 45 (3.99%) JIRA
2 35 (3.11%) Git
2 35 (3.11%) GitLab
3 27 (2.40%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.71%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (0.53%) Maven
5 6 (0.53%) ScriptRunner
6 5 (0.44%) JMeter
7 4 (0.35%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.35%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.35%) Subversion
8 3 (0.27%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.27%) Zephyr
9 1 (0.089%) AppScan
9 1 (0.089%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.089%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.089%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.089%) Postman
General
1 273 (24.22%) Social Skills
2 151 (13.40%) Finance
3 131 (11.62%) Analytical Skills
4 81 (7.19%) Public Sector
5 61 (5.41%) Documentation Skills
6 45 (3.99%) Banking
7 32 (2.84%) Legal
8 27 (2.40%) Telecoms
9 26 (2.31%) Manufacturing
10 23 (2.04%) Retail
11 22 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
12 11 (0.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.89%) Military
14 9 (0.80%) Law
14 9 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
15 8 (0.71%) Aerospace
15 8 (0.71%) Financial Institution
15 8 (0.71%) Marketing
16 7 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
17 5 (0.44%) Portuguese Language
Job Titles
1 204 (18.10%) Network Engineer
2 180 (15.97%) Architect
3 126 (11.18%) Senior
4 84 (7.45%) Data Centre Engineer
5 73 (6.48%) Project Manager
6 68 (6.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 59 (5.24%) IT Engineer
8 56 (4.97%) Field Engineer
9 54 (4.79%) Lead
10 53 (4.70%) Field Service Engineer
11 52 (4.61%) Network Architect
12 47 (4.17%) Data Centre Manager
13 42 (3.73%) Solutions Architect
14 38 (3.37%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
15 35 (3.11%) Analyst
15 35 (3.11%) Senior Network Engineer
16 34 (3.02%) Infrastructure Manager
16 34 (3.02%) Technical Architect
17 32 (2.84%) Administrator
18 30 (2.66%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.17%) Middleware
2 33 (2.93%) 802.1X
3 13 (1.15%) LDAP
4 9 (0.80%) Redfish
5 8 (0.71%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.62%) Spring
7 5 (0.44%) Jinja
7 5 (0.44%) Kafka
7 5 (0.44%) REST
7 5 (0.44%) XML
8 4 (0.35%) ADO
8 4 (0.35%) NETCONF
8 4 (0.35%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.35%) VML
9 3 (0.27%) EJB
9 3 (0.27%) Java EE
9 3 (0.27%) JSON
9 3 (0.27%) RESTCONF
9 3 (0.27%) YAML
9 3 (0.27%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 60 (5.32%) Analytical Mindset
1 60 (5.32%) Hybrid Cloud
2 33 (2.93%) Management Information System
3 28 (2.48%) Clustering
3 28 (2.48%) PKI
4 25 (2.22%) Fibre Optics
5 24 (2.13%) Cloud Native
6 21 (1.86%) CMDB
6 21 (1.86%) Onboarding
7 20 (1.77%) Enterprise Storage
7 20 (1.77%) Public Cloud
8 19 (1.69%) Driving Licence
8 19 (1.69%) SCADA
9 18 (1.60%) Private Cloud
9 18 (1.60%) Replication
9 18 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
10 14 (1.24%) NHS
11 13 (1.15%) Operational Technology
12 12 (1.06%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 147 (13.04%) Linux
2 141 (12.51%) Windows
3 38 (3.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 38 (3.37%) Windows Server
4 23 (2.04%) Unix
5 21 (1.86%) AIX
6 17 (1.51%) Solaris
7 12 (1.06%) CentOS
8 10 (0.89%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.80%) Ubuntu
10 7 (0.62%) VMS
11 4 (0.35%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.35%) HPUX
11 4 (0.35%) Mac OS
11 4 (0.35%) Oracle Linux
11 4 (0.35%) SUSE
12 3 (0.27%) Embedded Linux
12 3 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
12 3 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.18%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 206 (18.28%) Problem-Solving
2 190 (16.86%) Migration
3 107 (9.49%) High Availability
4 99 (8.78%) Infrastructure as Code
4 99 (8.78%) ITIL
5 98 (8.70%) Stakeholder Management
6 93 (8.25%) Roadmaps
7 90 (7.99%) Continuous Improvement
8 84 (7.45%) CI/CD
8 84 (7.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 80 (7.10%) Load Balancing
10 77 (6.83%) Validation
11 72 (6.39%) Change Management
11 72 (6.39%) Project Management
12 70 (6.21%) Project Delivery
13 67 (5.94%) DevOps
14 66 (5.86%) Customer Service
15 64 (5.68%) Break/Fix
16 63 (5.59%) Agile
17 61 (5.41%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 123 (10.91%) Python
2 39 (3.46%) PowerShell
3 37 (3.28%) SQL
4 25 (2.22%) Bash
5 22 (1.95%) Java
6 16 (1.42%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.06%) COBOL
8 11 (0.98%) MATLAB
9 10 (0.89%) Perl
10 9 (0.80%) Bicep
11 8 (0.71%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.44%) C
12 5 (0.44%) C++
12 5 (0.44%) JavaScript
13 3 (0.27%) VBA
14 2 (0.18%) Groovy
14 2 (0.18%) Korn
14 2 (0.18%) Lisp
15 1 (0.089%) JCL
15 1 (0.089%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 310 (27.51%) Security Cleared
2 240 (21.30%) Cisco Certification
3 235 (20.85%) SC Cleared
4 147 (13.04%) CCNP
5 111 (9.85%) CCNA
6 67 (5.94%) Degree
7 65 (5.77%) Network+ Certification
8 62 (5.50%) DV Cleared
9 54 (4.79%) Microsoft Certification
10 51 (4.53%) A+ Certification
10 51 (4.53%) MCSE
11 26 (2.31%) CCIE
12 24 (2.13%) Azure Certification
13 23 (2.04%) City & Guilds
14 22 (1.95%) PMI Certification
14 22 (1.95%) PMP
15 20 (1.77%) BICSI Certification
16 19 (1.69%) AWS Certification
17 16 (1.42%) JNCIS
17 16 (1.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (2.84%) SLA
2 23 (2.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (2.04%) NIST
2 23 (2.04%) QA
3 22 (1.95%) PMO
4 17 (1.51%) GDPR
5 11 (0.98%) NCSC
6 9 (0.80%) Disclosure Scotland
7 8 (0.71%) GRC
7 8 (0.71%) PCI DSS
8 6 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
9 4 (0.35%) RMADS
10 3 (0.27%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.18%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.18%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.089%) COBIT
12 1 (0.089%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.089%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 96 (8.52%) VMware Infrastructure
2 60 (5.32%) Active Directory
3 40 (3.55%) VMware NSX
4 32 (2.84%) Firmware
5 31 (2.75%) vSphere
6 25 (2.22%) VMware ESXi
7 24 (2.13%) Virtual Machines
8 22 (1.95%) Hyper-V
9 14 (1.24%) Docker
10 12 (1.06%) KVM
11 6 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.44%) NFS
13 4 (0.35%) Ceph
13 4 (0.35%) SRDF
13 4 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
14 3 (0.27%) PowerHA
14 3 (0.27%) UAG
14 3 (0.27%) Veritas Cluster Server
14 3 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 128 (11.36%) Ansible
2 96 (8.52%) Terraform
3 59 (5.24%) FortiGate
4 44 (3.90%) Kubernetes
5 34 (3.02%) Grafana
6 27 (2.40%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.51%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (1.24%) Check_MK
9 12 (1.06%) NetBackup
9 12 (1.06%) SCCM
10 11 (0.98%) Podman
10 11 (0.98%) Red Hat Satellite
10 11 (0.98%) vCenter Server
11 9 (0.80%) Dell DRAC
11 9 (0.80%) PowerCLI
12 8 (0.71%) vMotion
13 7 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 6 (0.53%) EMC NetWorker
14 6 (0.53%) Tivoli Storage Manager
15 5 (0.44%) Nagios
Vendors
1 307 (27.24%) Cisco
2 149 (13.22%) Palo Alto
3 147 (13.04%) VMware
4 102 (9.05%) Microsoft
5 101 (8.96%) F5
6 95 (8.43%) Dell
7 87 (7.72%) Juniper
8 64 (5.68%) Arista
9 56 (4.97%) Aruba
10 55 (4.88%) Fortinet
11 49 (4.35%) CheckPoint
12 48 (4.26%) ServiceNow
13 41 (3.64%) SolarWinds
14 38 (3.37%) Google
15 37 (3.28%) Red Hat
16 34 (3.02%) IBM
17 30 (2.66%) Splunk
18 29 (2.57%) Meraki
19 28 (2.48%) Oracle
20 26 (2.31%) NVIDIA