Virtual Machines Contract Job Trends

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Virtual Machines skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 386 390 343
Rank change year-on-year +4 -47 -3
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 315 165 235
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.50% 0.62%
As % of the System Software category 5.78% 4.20% 5.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 187 115 161
10th Percentile £391 £346 £345
25th Percentile £425 £423 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £594 £588 £608
90th Percentile £709 £640 £663
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -1.32% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 5 5
10th Percentile £26.90 - -
25th Percentile £58.44 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% +135.90% -81.42%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £83.55
90th Percentile - £50.45 £84.89
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.00 £58.50 £14.63
% change year-on-year +45.30% +300.00% -81.42%

All System Software Skills
UK

Virtual Machines falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring system software skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 5,446 3,929 4,257
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.92% 11.97% 11.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,571 2,483 2,816
10th Percentile £220 £213 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £599 £588 £602
90th Percentile £680 £668 £699
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 117 100
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.75 £14.16
25th Percentile £25.75 £17.75 £18.93
Median hourly rate £63.14 £34.00 £28.75
Median % change year-on-year +85.69% +18.26% -39.93%
75th Percentile £74.00 £72.50 £69.77
90th Percentile £90.00 £89.78 £83.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £61.50 £33.58
% change year-on-year +5.69% +83.13% -15.20%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Virtual Machines relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Virtual Machines job vacancy trend in the UK

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Virtual Machines.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 30 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Virtual Machines.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 30 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Virtual Machines within the UK over the 6 months to 30 September 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 +1 285 £500 - 203
UK excluding London +6 184 £493 -1.32% 123
London -53 102 £532 +5.35% 77
Work from Home -36 95 £494 +4.44% 76
North of England -20 78 £500 +19.05% 31
South East -17 59 £475 -17.39% 41
Yorkshire -11 45 £519 +12.58% 11
North West -21 31 £484 +48.92% 18
Midlands -34 17 £487 -1.62% 15
South West -38 16 £558 +1.36% 8
East of England -14 15 £353 -25.68% 25
West Midlands -44 12 £487 -2.84% 12
East Midlands -15 4 £500 +5.26% 3
Scotland -22 4 £375 -28.57% 3
North East - 2 £413 - 2

Virtual Machines
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 10 (3.17%) IIS
2 6 (1.90%) Confluence
2 6 (1.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.59%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.95%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.63%) Apache
5 2 (0.63%) CMS
5 2 (0.63%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.32%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.32%) nginx
6 1 (0.32%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.32%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.27%) Adobe Illustrator
1 4 (1.27%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.63%) InDesign
2 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.32%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 148 (46.98%) Azure
2 67 (21.27%) Entra ID
3 44 (13.97%) AWS
4 37 (11.75%) Azure Monitor
5 34 (10.79%) Azure DevOps
6 30 (9.52%) IaaS
7 29 (9.21%) OpenShift
8 25 (7.94%) Azure AKS
9 24 (7.62%) GitHub
10 20 (6.35%) Microsoft 365
11 16 (5.08%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (4.76%) PaaS
13 14 (4.44%) Azure Key Vault
14 13 (4.13%) GCP
15 12 (3.81%) Serverless
16 11 (3.49%) Amazon EC2
16 11 (3.49%) Power Platform
16 11 (3.49%) SaaS
17 10 (3.17%) Azure Storage
17 10 (3.17%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 50 (15.87%) DNS
2 41 (13.02%) Firewall
3 29 (9.21%) VPN
4 21 (6.67%) DHCP
5 19 (6.03%) SSL
5 19 (6.03%) WAN
6 18 (5.71%) Network Security
7 17 (5.40%) VLAN
8 10 (3.17%) LAN
8 10 (3.17%) SD-WAN
9 9 (2.86%) HTTP
10 7 (2.22%) FTP
10 7 (2.22%) Wi-Fi
11 6 (1.90%) SAN
11 6 (1.90%) TCP/IP
11 6 (1.90%) VSAN
12 5 (1.59%) HTTPS
13 4 (1.27%) SSH
14 3 (0.95%) NetScaler
15 2 (0.63%) ICMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (10.48%) SQL Server
2 15 (4.76%) MySQL
3 11 (3.49%) Azure SQL Database
3 11 (3.49%) Power BI
3 11 (3.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 8 (2.54%) Data Lake
4 8 (2.54%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.95%) Amazon Athena
5 3 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
5 3 (0.95%) Apache Hive
5 3 (0.95%) Big Data
5 3 (0.95%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.95%) Hadoop
6 2 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.63%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.32%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.32%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.32%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.32%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 17 (5.40%) Git
1 17 (5.40%) Jenkins
2 11 (3.49%) GitLab
3 8 (2.54%) JIRA
3 8 (2.54%) SonarQube
4 5 (1.59%) PVCS
5 4 (1.27%) CppUnit
5 4 (1.27%) Rational DOORS
6 3 (0.95%) Maven
6 3 (0.95%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.95%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.63%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.63%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.32%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.32%) Selenium
8 1 (0.32%) Vagrant
8 1 (0.32%) Visual Studio
General
1 51 (16.19%) Social Skills
2 29 (9.21%) Finance
3 14 (4.44%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (3.81%) Legal
5 9 (2.86%) Banking
6 8 (2.54%) Manufacturing
7 7 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (2.22%) Public Sector
8 6 (1.90%) Back Office
8 6 (1.90%) Front Office
9 5 (1.59%) Retail
10 4 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.27%) Law
10 4 (1.27%) Marketing
11 2 (0.63%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.63%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.63%) Local Government
11 2 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.63%) Publishing
12 1 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 49 (15.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 47 (14.92%) Azure Engineer
3 40 (12.70%) Cloud Engineer
4 32 (10.16%) DevOps Engineer
5 26 (8.25%) Senior
6 22 (6.98%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
6 22 (6.98%) Lead
7 20 (6.35%) Architect
8 18 (5.71%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (4.13%) Analyst
9 13 (4.13%) DBA
10 12 (3.81%) Platform Engineer
11 11 (3.49%) Administrator
11 11 (3.49%) Consultant
11 11 (3.49%) Security Engineer
11 11 (3.49%) SQL DBA
12 10 (3.17%) Wintel Engineer
13 9 (2.86%) Linux Engineer
13 9 (2.86%) Storage Engineer
14 8 (2.54%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (22.86%) Terraform
2 15 (4.76%) ARM Templates
3 10 (3.17%) JSON
4 8 (2.54%) Regular Expression
4 8 (2.54%) REST
5 7 (2.22%) LDAP
6 5 (1.59%) YAML
7 4 (1.27%) Middleware
8 3 (0.95%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.95%) Web Services
9 2 (0.63%) ADO
9 2 (0.63%) SOAP
10 1 (0.32%) Java SE
10 1 (0.32%) Node.js
10 1 (0.32%) NumPy
10 1 (0.32%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 1 (0.32%) Pandas
10 1 (0.32%) SAP Basis
10 1 (0.32%) SciPy
10 1 (0.32%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 36 (11.43%) Replication
2 29 (9.21%) Clustering
3 20 (6.35%) Hybrid Cloud
4 15 (4.76%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.81%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.81%) Enterprise Storage
5 12 (3.81%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.17%) Public Cloud
7 9 (2.86%) Linux Command Line
7 9 (2.86%) Mainframe
7 9 (2.86%) Product Ownership
8 8 (2.54%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (2.22%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (2.22%) Operational Technology
9 7 (2.22%) PKI
10 6 (1.90%) Fixed Income
10 6 (1.90%) Market Risk
10 6 (1.90%) Security Posture
10 6 (1.90%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (1.27%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 107 (33.97%) Windows
2 69 (21.90%) Linux
3 62 (19.68%) Windows Server
4 29 (9.21%) VMS
5 27 (8.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (3.17%) Unix
7 6 (1.90%) Ubuntu
8 4 (1.27%) Data ONTAP
8 4 (1.27%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.27%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.95%) AIX
9 3 (0.95%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.95%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.63%) Android
10 2 (0.63%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.63%) CoreOS
10 2 (0.63%) zOS
11 1 (0.32%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.32%) Rocky
11 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (25.71%) DevOps
2 80 (25.40%) CI/CD
3 73 (23.17%) Migration
4 67 (21.27%) Infrastructure as Code
4 67 (21.27%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 43 (13.65%) RBAC
6 41 (13.02%) Disaster Recovery
7 40 (12.70%) Continuous Improvement
8 39 (12.38%) Validation
9 35 (11.11%) Performance Tuning
10 34 (10.79%) High Availability
11 33 (10.48%) Runbook
12 32 (10.16%) Problem-Solving
13 31 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
14 28 (8.89%) ITIL
15 27 (8.57%) Platform Engineering
16 26 (8.25%) AI
16 26 (8.25%) Cybersecurity
17 24 (7.62%) Containerisation
17 24 (7.62%) Network Virtualisation
Programming Languages
1 103 (32.70%) PowerShell
2 72 (22.86%) Python
3 38 (12.06%) SQL
4 33 (10.48%) Bash
5 14 (4.44%) Bicep
6 11 (3.49%) T-SQL
7 9 (2.86%) Shell Script
8 8 (2.54%) C
8 8 (2.54%) C#
9 7 (2.22%) Java
10 5 (1.59%) Groovy
11 4 (1.27%) C++
12 3 (0.95%) Embedded C
13 2 (0.63%) Korn
14 1 (0.32%) Cypher
14 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.32%) Go
14 1 (0.32%) JavaScript
14 1 (0.32%) Kotlin
14 1 (0.32%) VBA
Qualifications
1 94 (29.84%) Security Cleared
2 80 (25.40%) SC Cleared
3 24 (7.62%) Microsoft Certification
4 22 (6.98%) Azure Certification
4 22 (6.98%) Degree
5 14 (4.44%) BPSS Clearance
6 12 (3.81%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 11 (3.49%) DV Cleared
8 10 (3.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (3.17%) MCSA
8 10 (3.17%) MCSE
9 8 (2.54%) VCAP
10 6 (1.90%) ISTQB
11 5 (1.59%) CCNA
11 5 (1.59%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.59%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 3 (0.95%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.95%) CCA
12 3 (0.95%) CISSP
12 3 (0.95%) Citrix Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (3.81%) QA
2 4 (1.27%) SLA
3 3 (0.95%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.95%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (0.63%) GMP
4 2 (0.63%) GxP
4 2 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.32%) NIST
5 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.32%) WCAG
System Software
1 93 (29.52%) VMware Infrastructure
2 64 (20.32%) Active Directory
3 37 (11.75%) vSphere
4 31 (9.84%) VMware ESXi
5 29 (9.21%) Hyper-V
6 28 (8.89%) Docker
7 13 (4.13%) NFS
8 9 (2.86%) Virtual Desktop
9 8 (2.54%) VMware NSX
10 7 (2.22%) Ceph
11 6 (1.90%) Firmware
11 6 (1.90%) KVM
12 4 (1.27%) BitLocker
13 3 (0.95%) VMware Workstation
14 2 (0.63%) DFS Replication
14 2 (0.63%) HDFS
14 2 (0.63%) Veritas Volume Manager
15 1 (0.32%) Dovecot
15 1 (0.32%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 1 (0.32%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 45 (14.29%) Kubernetes
2 42 (13.33%) Ansible
3 23 (7.30%) vCenter Server
4 18 (5.71%) Grafana
5 16 (5.08%) SCOM
6 12 (3.81%) Prometheus
7 11 (3.49%) Microsoft Intune
8 8 (2.54%) SCCM
9 7 (2.22%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (2.22%) Packer
9 7 (2.22%) Podman
10 6 (1.90%) Proxmox
11 5 (1.59%) vMotion
12 4 (1.27%) Argo
12 4 (1.27%) OPNET
12 4 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
13 3 (0.95%) Microsoft Clustering
13 3 (0.95%) PowerCLI
13 3 (0.95%) SnapMirror
14 2 (0.63%) systemd
Vendors
1 115 (36.51%) Microsoft
2 98 (31.11%) VMware
3 28 (8.89%) Cisco
4 25 (7.94%) ServiceNow
5 19 (6.03%) Oracle
6 15 (4.76%) NetApp
7 13 (4.13%) Dell
8 12 (3.81%) CyberArk
8 12 (3.81%) Red Hat
9 11 (3.49%) IBM
10 10 (3.17%) Google
10 10 (3.17%) Splunk
11 9 (2.86%) SolarWinds
11 9 (2.86%) Veeam
12 8 (2.54%) Commvault
12 8 (2.54%) Qualys
13 6 (1.90%) Databricks
13 6 (1.90%) Meraki
13 6 (1.90%) Palo Alto
14 5 (1.59%) Xerox