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 17 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 409 | 400 | 335 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -9 | -65 | -11 |
| Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines | 306 | 169 | 236 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.55% | 0.51% | 0.63% |
| As % of the System Software category | 5.59% | 4.14% | 5.49% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 182 | 113 | 160 |
| 10th Percentile | £390 | £352 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £425 | £406 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £500 | £521 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -4.08% | -0.71% |
| 75th Percentile | £588 | £575 | £608 |
| 90th Percentile | £702 | £638 | £663 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £485 | £500 | £520 |
| % change year-on-year | -3.00% | -3.75% | -1.05% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 12 | 5 | 2 |
| 10th Percentile | £26.90 | - | £83.77 |
| 25th Percentile | £58.44 | £33.25 | £84.11 |
| Median hourly rate | £77.50 | £34.50 | £84.67 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +124.64% | -59.25% | +7.55% |
| 75th Percentile | £92.11 | £35.75 | £85.22 |
| 90th Percentile | - | £50.45 | £85.56 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £85.00 | £58.50 | £84.67 |
| % change year-on-year | +45.30% | -30.90% | +7.55% |
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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills | 5,476 | 4,087 | 4,302 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 9.91% | 12.27% | 11.48% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,610 | 2,587 | 2,804 |
| 10th Percentile | £225 | £213 | £213 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £378 | £371 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £500 | £500 |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £588 | £608 |
| 90th Percentile | £688 | £675 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £475 | £475 | £475 |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 257 | 131 | 90 |
| 10th Percentile | £16.60 | £14.99 | £15.38 |
| 25th Percentile | £25.75 | £17.56 | £21.05 |
| Median hourly rate | £60.33 | £27.50 | £37.08 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +119.38% | -25.84% | -25.84% |
| 75th Percentile | £74.00 | £67.00 | £69.92 |
| 90th Percentile | £90.00 | £88.00 | £80.13 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £62.50 | £54.00 | £50.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +15.74% | +8.00% | +25.00% |
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 Daily Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
Virtual Machines Hourly Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
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 17 October 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 | -12 | 279 | £500 | - | 204 |
| UK excluding London | -7 | 183 | £485 | -3.00% | 129 |
| Work from Home | -29 | 96 | £481 | +1.26% | 81 |
| London | -69 | 95 | £517 | +2.38% | 81 |
| North of England | -17 | 74 | £497 | +11.14% | 32 |
| South East | -18 | 63 | £475 | -9.52% | 36 |
| Yorkshire | -3 | 43 | £515 | +8.42% | 14 |
| North West | -18 | 29 | £484 | +33.52% | 17 |
| East of England | -12 | 16 | £377 | -20.74% | 22 |
| South West | -39 | 15 | £575 | +4.55% | 13 |
| Midlands | -37 | 12 | £487 | -4.04% | 17 |
| West Midlands | -39 | 9 | £487 | -4.51% | 12 |
| Scotland | -25 | 4 | £425 | -19.05% | 7 |
| East Midlands | -10 | 3 | £500 | +5.26% | 5 |
| North East | - | 2 | £413 | - | 1 |
Virtual Machines Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
System Software
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VMware Infrastructure | 29.7% | 91 |
| 2 | Active Directory | 20.6% | 63 |
| 3 | vSphere | 12.7% | 39 |
| 4 | Docker | 8.8% | 27 |
| 4 | Hyper-V | 8.8% | 27 |
| 4 | VMware ESXi | 8.8% | 27 |
| 7 | NFS | 3.9% | 12 |
| 8 | KVM | 3.3% | 10 |
| 9 | Virtual Desktop | 2.9% | 9 |
| 10 | VMware NSX | 2.6% | 8 |
| 11 | Firmware | 2.0% | 6 |
| 12 | BitLocker | 1.3% | 4 |
| 12 | DFS Replication | 1.3% | 4 |
| 14 | VMware Workstation | 1.0% | 3 |
| 15 | Ceph | 0.7% | 2 |
| 16 | Corosync | 0.3% | 1 |
| 16 | Dovecot | 0.3% | 1 |
| 16 | EMC RecoverPoint | 0.3% | 1 |
| 16 | Postfix | 0.3% | 1 |
| 16 | Squid | 0.3% | 1 |