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 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
3 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 375 386 325
Rank change year-on-year +11 -61 +10
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 312 177 248
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.59% 0.53% 0.64%
As % of the System Software category 5.98% 4.57% 5.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 124 167
10th Percentile £387 £350 £336
25th Percentile £425 £425 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -6.54% +1.90%
75th Percentile £580 £600 £608
90th Percentile £663 £725 £664
UK excluding London median daily rate £487 £494 £570
% change year-on-year -1.42% -13.33% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 16
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £26.00 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.50 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +1.45% +135.90% -77.84%
75th Percentile £68.75 £35.75 £15.19
90th Percentile £69.50 - £49.37
UK excluding London median hourly rate £46.75 - £14.63
% change year-on-year - - -69.09%

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 5,218 3,875 4,465
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.82% 11.70% 11.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,427 2,487 3,102
10th Percentile £225 £225 £218
25th Percentile £400 £380 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -2.44%
75th Percentile £592 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £685
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £498
% change year-on-year - -4.62% +4.84%
Number of hourly rates quoted 209 100 148
10th Percentile £15.39 £13.75 £14.06
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.65 £15.36
Median hourly rate £52.50 £31.39 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +67.28% +31.87% -52.40%
75th Percentile £74.00 £79.03 £58.69
90th Percentile £79.10 £91.50 £70.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £59.50 £23.29
% change year-on-year -11.76% +155.47% -13.74%

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 3 August 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 3 August 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 3 August 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 +4 288 £500 - 94
UK excluding London +13 177 £487 -1.42% 67
London -36 113 £525 - 36
Work from Home -27 95 £500 - 54
North of England -8 84 £488 +16.07% 14
South East -29 54 £475 -15.56% 23
Yorkshire -12 47 £500 +11.86% 8
North West -23 35 £480 +37.14% 6
Midlands -45 18 £487 +2.53% 5
South West -24 16 £540 -8.09% 10
West Midlands -62 12 £425 -7.61% 4
East of England -10 6 £425 +41.67% 13
Scotland -10 5 £375 -26.83% 1
East Midlands -13 4 £500 +5.26% 1
North East - 2 £400 -

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 (1.60%) Confluence
1 5 (1.60%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.96%) Apache
2 3 (0.96%) Apache Spark
2 3 (0.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.64%) CMS
3 2 (0.64%) IIS
3 2 (0.64%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.64%) Palantir Foundry
3 2 (0.64%) Umbraco
4 1 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.32%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.32%) JBoss
4 1 (0.32%) WebLogic
Applications
1 5 (1.60%) Adobe Illustrator
1 5 (1.60%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.64%) Chatbot
2 2 (0.64%) InDesign
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 144 (46.15%) Azure
2 51 (16.35%) AWS
3 48 (15.38%) Entra ID
4 35 (11.22%) Azure DevOps
4 35 (11.22%) Azure Monitor
5 33 (10.58%) OpenShift
6 25 (8.01%) GitHub
7 23 (7.37%) Azure AKS
8 18 (5.77%) GCP
8 18 (5.77%) IaaS
9 17 (5.45%) GitHub Actions
9 17 (5.45%) Serverless
10 16 (5.13%) Microsoft 365
11 13 (4.17%) Azure Key Vault
12 11 (3.53%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 11 (3.53%) Azure Storage
12 11 (3.53%) Power Platform
13 10 (3.21%) Azure Functions
13 10 (3.21%) PaaS
14 9 (2.88%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 44 (14.10%) DNS
2 41 (13.14%) Firewall
3 28 (8.97%) VPN
4 22 (7.05%) SSL
4 22 (7.05%) VLAN
5 21 (6.73%) Network Security
6 20 (6.41%) DHCP
7 17 (5.45%) WAN
8 16 (5.13%) VSAN
9 10 (3.21%) SD-WAN
10 8 (2.56%) FTP
10 8 (2.56%) SAN
11 7 (2.24%) LAN
11 7 (2.24%) SSH
12 6 (1.92%) TCP/IP
13 5 (1.60%) Wi-Fi
14 4 (1.28%) HTTPS
15 3 (0.96%) Cisco Nexus
16 2 (0.64%) NAS
16 2 (0.64%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (9.62%) SQL Server
2 11 (3.53%) Azure SQL Database
2 11 (3.53%) Power BI
3 10 (3.21%) MySQL
4 8 (2.56%) Data Lake
4 8 (2.56%) PostgreSQL
5 7 (2.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.96%) Amazon Athena
6 3 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
6 3 (0.96%) Apache Hive
6 3 (0.96%) Big Data
6 3 (0.96%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (0.96%) Db2
6 3 (0.96%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.96%) Hadoop
6 3 (0.96%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.32%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.32%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.32%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.32%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 17 (5.45%) Git
2 13 (4.17%) Jenkins
3 9 (2.88%) GitLab
4 6 (1.92%) JIRA
5 4 (1.28%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.96%) PVCS
6 3 (0.96%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.64%) CppUnit
7 2 (0.64%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.64%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.64%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.32%) Selenium
8 1 (0.32%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.32%) Visual Studio
General
1 43 (13.78%) Social Skills
2 29 (9.29%) Finance
3 15 (4.81%) Legal
4 13 (4.17%) Banking
5 12 (3.85%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (3.21%) Public Sector
7 7 (2.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (2.24%) Retail
8 6 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.92%) Front Office
9 5 (1.60%) Manufacturing
10 4 (1.28%) Marketing
11 2 (0.64%) Law
11 2 (0.64%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.64%) Publishing
12 1 (0.32%) Advertising
12 1 (0.32%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.32%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 43 (13.78%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 38 (12.18%) Azure Engineer
3 37 (11.86%) DevOps Engineer
4 30 (9.62%) Cloud Engineer
5 23 (7.37%) Senior
6 22 (7.05%) Lead
7 17 (5.45%) Analyst
7 17 (5.45%) Architect
8 16 (5.13%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (4.81%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
10 11 (3.53%) Administrator
10 11 (3.53%) Consultant
11 10 (3.21%) Linux Engineer
11 10 (3.21%) VMware Engineer
12 9 (2.88%) DBA
12 9 (2.88%) Wintel Engineer
13 8 (2.56%) Azure DevOps Engineer
13 8 (2.56%) Migration Engineer
13 8 (2.56%) Solutions Architect
13 8 (2.56%) Storage Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.17%) ARM Templates
2 9 (2.88%) REST
3 8 (2.56%) YAML
4 5 (1.60%) Middleware
5 3 (0.96%) Elastic Stack
5 3 (0.96%) JSON
6 2 (0.64%) SOAP
7 1 (0.32%) .NET
7 1 (0.32%) cloud-init
7 1 (0.32%) Java SE
7 1 (0.32%) Kafka
7 1 (0.32%) Lambda Expressions
7 1 (0.32%) LDAP
7 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.32%) Node.js
7 1 (0.32%) NumPy
7 1 (0.32%) OpenID
7 1 (0.32%) PySpark
7 1 (0.32%) SciPy
7 1 (0.32%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 32 (10.26%) Replication
2 20 (6.41%) Clustering
2 20 (6.41%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.77%) Data Centre
4 14 (4.49%) Linux Command Line
5 9 (2.88%) Cloud Native
6 8 (2.56%) PKI
6 8 (2.56%) Product Ownership
7 7 (2.24%) Enterprise Storage
7 7 (2.24%) Mainframe
7 7 (2.24%) Onboarding
8 6 (1.92%) Fixed Income
8 6 (1.92%) FlexPod
8 6 (1.92%) Market Risk
8 6 (1.92%) Operational Technology
9 5 (1.60%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.60%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.96%) EMC VNX
10 3 (0.96%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 97 (31.09%) Windows
2 85 (27.24%) Linux
3 54 (17.31%) Windows Server
4 39 (12.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 33 (10.58%) VMS
6 8 (2.56%) CoreOS
6 8 (2.56%) Ubuntu
6 8 (2.56%) Unix
7 7 (2.24%) Data ONTAP
8 6 (1.92%) AIX
9 5 (1.60%) SUSE
10 3 (0.96%) Apple iOS
10 3 (0.96%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.96%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.32%) Rocky
12 1 (0.32%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (25.96%) DevOps
2 75 (24.04%) CI/CD
3 65 (20.83%) Migration
4 60 (19.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 56 (17.95%) Infrastructure as Code
6 43 (13.78%) Performance Tuning
7 41 (13.14%) High Availability
8 40 (12.82%) Disaster Recovery
9 33 (10.58%) RBAC
9 33 (10.58%) Validation
10 31 (9.94%) Continuous Improvement
10 31 (9.94%) Problem-Solving
11 30 (9.62%) Network Virtualisation
12 27 (8.65%) Vulnerability Management
13 25 (8.01%) Capacity Planning
14 24 (7.69%) Analytics
14 24 (7.69%) Runbook
15 23 (7.37%) ITIL
15 23 (7.37%) Stakeholder Management
15 23 (7.37%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 88 (28.21%) PowerShell
2 67 (21.47%) Python
3 43 (13.78%) SQL
4 39 (12.50%) Bash
5 10 (3.21%) Bicep
6 8 (2.56%) C
7 7 (2.24%) C#
8 6 (1.92%) Shell Script
8 6 (1.92%) T-SQL
9 4 (1.28%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.96%) Java
10 3 (0.96%) Korn
11 2 (0.64%) C++
11 2 (0.64%) Embedded C
12 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.32%) Go
12 1 (0.32%) Groovy
12 1 (0.32%) JavaScript
12 1 (0.32%) RPG
12 1 (0.32%) VBA
Qualifications
1 80 (25.64%) Security Cleared
2 65 (20.83%) SC Cleared
3 20 (6.41%) Azure Certification
4 17 (5.45%) Degree
4 17 (5.45%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (5.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 11 (3.53%) VCAP
7 10 (3.21%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (3.21%) MCSA
7 10 (3.21%) MCSE
8 9 (2.88%) OCP
8 9 (2.88%) Oracle Certification
9 6 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (1.92%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.92%) ISTQB
9 6 (1.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 5 (1.60%) CCNA
10 5 (1.60%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 4 (1.28%) CISSP
12 3 (0.96%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.21%) QA
2 4 (1.28%) SLA
3 2 (0.64%) GMP
3 2 (0.64%) GxP
3 2 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (0.64%) NIST
3 2 (0.64%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.32%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
4 1 (0.32%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.32%) GDPR
4 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.32%) WCAG
System Software
1 93 (29.81%) VMware Infrastructure
2 50 (16.03%) Active Directory
3 48 (15.38%) vSphere
4 41 (13.14%) VMware ESXi
5 27 (8.65%) Docker
6 25 (8.01%) Hyper-V
7 12 (3.85%) KVM
7 12 (3.85%) VMware NSX
8 11 (3.53%) NFS
9 7 (2.24%) Ceph
9 7 (2.24%) Firmware
10 6 (1.92%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.96%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 3 (0.96%) VMware Workstation
12 2 (0.64%) HDFS
12 2 (0.64%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 1 (0.32%) BitLocker
13 1 (0.32%) iptables
13 1 (0.32%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.32%) Samba
Systems Management
1 71 (22.76%) Terraform
2 53 (16.99%) Ansible
3 52 (16.67%) Kubernetes
4 30 (9.62%) vCenter Server
5 16 (5.13%) Grafana
6 14 (4.49%) PowerCLI
7 12 (3.85%) Prometheus
8 9 (2.88%) SCOM
9 8 (2.56%) SCCM
10 7 (2.24%) SnapMirror
11 6 (1.92%) Microsoft Intune
11 6 (1.92%) Podman
11 6 (1.92%) vMotion
11 6 (1.92%) VxRail
12 5 (1.60%) Proxmox
13 4 (1.28%) Argo
13 4 (1.28%) Avamar
13 4 (1.28%) Failover Clustering
13 4 (1.28%) Microsoft Clustering
13 4 (1.28%) OPNET
Vendors
1 98 (31.41%) VMware
2 91 (29.17%) Microsoft
3 29 (9.29%) Cisco
4 23 (7.37%) ServiceNow
5 20 (6.41%) Oracle
6 19 (6.09%) Red Hat
7 18 (5.77%) NetApp
8 14 (4.49%) Dell
9 13 (4.17%) Google
9 13 (4.17%) IBM
10 11 (3.53%) Veeam
11 10 (3.21%) Qualys
11 10 (3.21%) Tenable
12 9 (2.88%) CyberArk
13 8 (2.56%) Databricks
14 7 (2.24%) Commvault
14 7 (2.24%) SolarWinds
14 7 (2.24%) Splunk
15 6 (1.92%) Palo Alto
16 5 (1.60%) Meraki
104 Virtual Machines jobs Nationwide