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 22 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 376 331 317
Rank change year-on-year -45 -14 +3
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 252 202 289
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.54% 0.69% 0.67%
As % of the System Software category 5.16% 5.38% 6.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 171 131 192
10th Percentile £356 £350 £300
25th Percentile £424 £455 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.39% +2.50% -7.92%
75th Percentile £568 £619 £608
90th Percentile £650 £744 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.60% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 12 26
10th Percentile - £35.23 -
25th Percentile - £59.38 £14.06
Median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% +330.77% -77.84%
75th Percentile - £66.00 £15.19
90th Percentile - - £88.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £14.63
% change year-on-year +11.11% +330.77% -77.33%

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 4,881 3,753 4,674
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.53% 12.74% 10.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,307 2,565 3,197
10th Percentile £213 £213 £195
25th Percentile £400 £400 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -7.14%
75th Percentile £594 £619 £600
90th Percentile £688 £700 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £460
% change year-on-year -0.31% +3.59% -5.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 178 92 232
10th Percentile £15.34 £14.99 £14.06
25th Percentile £21.25 £19.51 £15.50
Median hourly rate £52.75 £28.21 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +87.02% +25.36% -56.84%
75th Percentile £74.26 £65.25 £60.00
90th Percentile £89.00 £87.83 £71.19
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £37.50 £21.00
% change year-on-year +40.00% +78.57% -47.50%

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 22 April 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
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 22 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 -62 235 £493 -6.08% 58
UK excluding London -41 136 £482 -3.60% 49
London -49 95 £525 -8.70% 19
Work from Home -11 91 £500 - 26
North of England -10 84 £481 +27.25% 12
Yorkshire -15 46 £500 +14.29% 4
North West -20 37 £460 +20.73% 7
South East -46 20 £475 -17.39% 20
Midlands -66 14 £425 -15.00% 3
West Midlands -60 11 £375 -18.92% 2
East of England -39 10 £550 +2.33% 8
South West -35 8 £538 +3.86% 1
Scotland -3 5 £550 +7.32% 3
North East -21 1 £400 +10.34% 1
East Midlands -35 1 £500 -13.04% 1

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 5 (1.98%) Microsoft Exchange
1 5 (1.98%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.19%) Apache Spark
2 3 (1.19%) Palantir Foundry
3 2 (0.79%) Apache
3 2 (0.79%) CMS
3 2 (0.79%) nginx
3 2 (0.79%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.79%) Umbraco
4 1 (0.40%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.40%) JBoss
4 1 (0.40%) WebLogic
Applications
1 3 (1.19%) Adobe Illustrator
1 3 (1.19%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.79%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.40%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 110 (43.65%) Azure
2 45 (17.86%) AWS
3 36 (14.29%) OpenShift
4 34 (13.49%) GitHub
5 26 (10.32%) Azure DevOps
6 24 (9.52%) GitHub Actions
7 19 (7.54%) GCP
7 19 (7.54%) Serverless
8 18 (7.14%) Azure Monitor
9 17 (6.75%) Entra ID
10 13 (5.16%) Azure AKS
11 11 (4.37%) Azure Storage
11 11 (4.37%) Microsoft 365
12 9 (3.57%) AWS Lambda
13 8 (3.17%) Azure Key Vault
13 8 (3.17%) PaaS
14 7 (2.78%) Azure Functions
15 6 (2.38%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (2.38%) AWS CloudFormation
15 6 (2.38%) AWS CodePipeline
Communications & Networking
1 34 (13.49%) Firewall
2 29 (11.51%) DNS
3 16 (6.35%) VPN
4 15 (5.95%) VSAN
5 13 (5.16%) Network Security
6 12 (4.76%) DHCP
6 12 (4.76%) VLAN
7 10 (3.97%) SAN
7 10 (3.97%) SSL
8 9 (3.57%) Reverse Proxy
9 8 (3.17%) TCP/IP
9 8 (3.17%) WAN
10 5 (1.98%) FTP
11 4 (1.59%) LAN
11 4 (1.59%) SD-WAN
11 4 (1.59%) SSH
12 3 (1.19%) NAS
12 3 (1.19%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.79%) Cisco Nexus
13 2 (0.79%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (5.56%) SQL Server
2 9 (3.57%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (2.78%) Azure SQL Database
4 6 (2.38%) DB2
4 6 (2.38%) Oracle Database
5 5 (1.98%) Power BI
6 4 (1.59%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (1.19%) Amazon Athena
7 3 (1.19%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (1.19%) Amazon Redshift
7 3 (1.19%) Apache Hive
7 3 (1.19%) Big Data
7 3 (1.19%) Data Hub
7 3 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.19%) DynamoDB
7 3 (1.19%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.19%) MySQL
8 2 (0.79%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.79%) ImageNet
9 1 (0.40%) Data Vault
Development Applications
1 31 (12.30%) Git
2 14 (5.56%) GitLab
3 9 (3.57%) JIRA
3 9 (3.57%) PVCS
4 8 (3.17%) Jenkins
4 8 (3.17%) Rational DOORS
5 3 (1.19%) SonarQube
6 2 (0.79%) JMeter
6 2 (0.79%) Postman
6 2 (0.79%) RStudio
6 2 (0.79%) Selenium
6 2 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.79%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.40%) Gradle
7 1 (0.40%) Terragrunt
General
1 32 (12.70%) Social Skills
2 17 (6.75%) Finance
3 16 (6.35%) Public Sector
4 11 (4.37%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (4.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 9 (3.57%) Banking
5 9 (3.57%) Legal
6 8 (3.17%) Electronics
7 5 (1.98%) Retail
8 3 (1.19%) Marketing
9 2 (0.79%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (0.79%) Front Office
9 2 (0.79%) Social Science
9 2 (0.79%) Spanish Language
10 1 (0.40%) Advertising
10 1 (0.40%) Back Office
10 1 (0.40%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.40%) Italian Language
10 1 (0.40%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.40%) Police
Job Titles
1 29 (11.51%) DevOps Engineer
2 26 (10.32%) Azure Engineer
3 22 (8.73%) Senior
4 16 (6.35%) Architect
4 16 (6.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 15 (5.95%) Wintel Engineer
6 12 (4.76%) VMware Engineer
7 11 (4.37%) Analyst
7 11 (4.37%) Cloud Engineer
8 10 (3.97%) Azure DevOps Engineer
8 10 (3.97%) Consultant
8 10 (3.97%) Lead
8 10 (3.97%) Site Reliability Engineer
9 9 (3.57%) Security Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) Migration Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) Platform Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) Site Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) Software Engineer
11 7 (2.78%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
11 7 (2.78%) C/C++ Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.17%) ARM Templates
1 8 (3.17%) REST
1 8 (3.17%) YAML
2 4 (1.59%) Middleware
3 3 (1.19%) Hugging Face
3 3 (1.19%) JSON
4 2 (0.79%) .NET
4 2 (0.79%) Kafka
4 2 (0.79%) OpenCV
4 2 (0.79%) PySpark
4 2 (0.79%) PyTorch
4 2 (0.79%) Regular Expression
4 2 (0.79%) SpaCy
4 2 (0.79%) TensorFlow
5 1 (0.40%) Java SE
5 1 (0.40%) LDAP
5 1 (0.40%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 1 (0.40%) Pandas
5 1 (0.40%) SOAP
5 1 (0.40%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 23 (9.13%) Replication
2 22 (8.73%) Data Centre
3 20 (7.94%) Clustering
4 15 (5.95%) Cloud Native
5 13 (5.16%) Hybrid Cloud
6 12 (4.76%) Linux Command Line
6 12 (4.76%) Private Cloud
7 9 (3.57%) Product Ownership
8 6 (2.38%) FlexPod
8 6 (2.38%) Onboarding
9 5 (1.98%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.59%) Public Cloud
11 3 (1.19%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (1.19%) SCADA
11 3 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
12 2 (0.79%) Driving Licence
12 2 (0.79%) EMC VMAX
12 2 (0.79%) EMC VNX
12 2 (0.79%) IBM XIV
12 2 (0.79%) PACS
Operating Systems
1 73 (28.97%) Linux
2 66 (26.19%) Windows
3 41 (16.27%) Windows Server
4 39 (15.48%) VMS
5 26 (10.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (3.17%) CoreOS
7 7 (2.78%) AIX
7 7 (2.78%) Data ONTAP
7 7 (2.78%) Unix
8 4 (1.59%) SUSE
9 3 (1.19%) Apple iOS
9 3 (1.19%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.40%) Android
11 1 (0.40%) Rocky
11 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (28.57%) DevOps
2 67 (26.59%) CI/CD
3 58 (23.02%) Migration
4 50 (19.84%) Infrastructure as Code
5 41 (16.27%) Disaster Recovery
5 41 (16.27%) High Availability
6 34 (13.49%) Network Virtualisation
7 32 (12.70%) Performance Tuning
8 29 (11.51%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 28 (11.11%) Capacity Planning
9 28 (11.11%) Containerisation
10 27 (10.71%) Continuous Improvement
11 22 (8.73%) Platform Engineering
11 22 (8.73%) Technical Leadership
12 20 (7.94%) Cybersecurity
13 18 (7.14%) Deployment Automation
14 17 (6.75%) AI
14 17 (6.75%) Problem-Solving
15 16 (6.35%) Change Management
15 16 (6.35%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 67 (26.59%) Python
2 64 (25.40%) PowerShell
3 38 (15.08%) Bash
4 34 (13.49%) SQL
5 11 (4.37%) Shell Script
6 10 (3.97%) C
7 8 (3.17%) Bicep
7 8 (3.17%) C++
8 7 (2.78%) Embedded C
8 7 (2.78%) Embedded C++
9 6 (2.38%) Java
9 6 (2.38%) Ruby
10 4 (1.59%) PL/SQL
11 3 (1.19%) C#
12 2 (0.79%) Go
12 2 (0.79%) Korn
12 2 (0.79%) PHP
13 1 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.40%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.40%) RPG
Qualifications
1 64 (25.40%) Security Cleared
2 51 (20.24%) SC Cleared
3 20 (7.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
4 17 (6.75%) OCP
4 17 (6.75%) Oracle Certification
4 17 (6.75%) VCAP
5 15 (5.95%) Azure Certification
6 14 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (5.16%) MCSA
7 13 (5.16%) MCSE
8 6 (2.38%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.59%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (1.19%) Degree
11 2 (0.79%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 2 (0.79%) RHCA
11 2 (0.79%) RHCE
12 1 (0.40%) CompTIA Security+
12 1 (0.40%) Master's Degree
12 1 (0.40%) PMP
12 1 (0.40%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (2.38%) GDPR
1 6 (2.38%) QA
2 3 (1.19%) Accessibility
2 3 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
2 3 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.40%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.40%) HIPAA
3 1 (0.40%) NIST
3 1 (0.40%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.40%) SOC 2
3 1 (0.40%) WCAG
System Software
1 79 (31.35%) VMware Infrastructure
2 45 (17.86%) vSphere
3 42 (16.67%) VMware ESXi
4 33 (13.10%) Active Directory
5 27 (10.71%) Hyper-V
6 17 (6.75%) KVM
7 14 (5.56%) Docker
8 10 (3.97%) VMware NSX
9 9 (3.57%) Firmware
9 9 (3.57%) NFS
10 7 (2.78%) Ceph
11 5 (1.98%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.79%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 2 (0.79%) HDFS
12 2 (0.79%) Xen
13 1 (0.40%) BitLocker
13 1 (0.40%) iptables
13 1 (0.40%) NLBS
13 1 (0.40%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.40%) Samba
Systems Management
1 71 (28.17%) Terraform
2 61 (24.21%) Ansible
3 56 (22.22%) Kubernetes
4 38 (15.08%) vCenter Server
5 13 (5.16%) PowerCLI
6 10 (3.97%) Grafana
7 8 (3.17%) Prometheus
7 8 (3.17%) SCCM
8 7 (2.78%) Microsoft Intune
8 7 (2.78%) SnapMirror
9 6 (2.38%) IBM BigFix
9 6 (2.38%) VxRail
10 5 (1.98%) WSUS
11 4 (1.59%) Argo
11 4 (1.59%) Data Guard
11 4 (1.59%) Failover Clustering
11 4 (1.59%) Oracle RMAN
11 4 (1.59%) systemd
12 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Clustering
12 3 (1.19%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
Vendors
1 82 (32.54%) VMware
2 73 (28.97%) Microsoft
3 22 (8.73%) Cisco
4 19 (7.54%) Red Hat
5 18 (7.14%) IBM
6 12 (4.76%) Oracle
7 10 (3.97%) Dell
7 10 (3.97%) Google
7 10 (3.97%) NetApp
7 10 (3.97%) Tenable
8 8 (3.17%) ANSYS
9 7 (2.78%) Veeam
10 5 (1.98%) Databricks
10 5 (1.98%) OpenAI
10 5 (1.98%) Splunk
11 4 (1.59%) Commvault
11 4 (1.59%) OpenText
11 4 (1.59%) Pure Storage
11 4 (1.59%) Qualys
11 4 (1.59%) ServiceNow