Virtual Machines Contracts

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring Virtual Machines skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Virtual Machines over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 334 330 321
Rank change year-on-year -4 -9 +75
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 191 287 465
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.65% 0.66% 0.78%
As % of the System Software category 5.21% 6.12% 5.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 191 319
10th Percentile £352 £300 £363
25th Percentile £459 £400 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £501 £540
Median % change year-on-year +4.50% -7.31% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £608 £589
90th Percentile £745 £675 £695
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £519
% change year-on-year - -3.66% +3.80%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 27 18
10th Percentile £31.49 - £23.63
25th Percentile £40.31 £14.06 £26.75
Median hourly rate £63.00 £14.63 £66.00
Median % change year-on-year +330.77% -77.84% +38.28%
75th Percentile £65.63 £15.19 £70.19
90th Percentile £66.00 £88.75 £79.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.00 £14.63 £63.00
% change year-on-year +330.77% -76.79% +24.09%

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 3,664 4,691 7,882
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.53% 10.76% 13.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,498 3,206 5,629
10th Percentile £214 £198 £205
25th Percentile £400 £331 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -7.14% -
75th Percentile £623 £600 £638
90th Percentile £700 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £460 £483
% change year-on-year +3.26% -4.69% +7.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 90 233 280
10th Percentile £14.99 £14.06 £14.95
25th Percentile £16.25 £15.50 £18.25
Median hourly rate £27.72 £22.50 £53.43
Median % change year-on-year +23.20% -57.88% +167.13%
75th Percentile £64.50 £60.00 £66.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £77.90 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.50 £22.00 £41.88
% change year-on-year +29.55% -47.46% +131.16%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Virtual Machines as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines.

Daily rate trend for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines.

Hourly rate trend for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Virtual Machines in the UK

Virtual Machines
Top 16 Contract 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 April 2025. 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 -28 165 £525 +2.44% 115
London +11 92 £575 +7.48% 47
UK excluding London +1 77 £500 - 73
Work from Home +20 72 £506 +1.25% 76
North of England +10 23 £381 -35.15% 18
Midlands +27 16 £500 +25.00% 15
West Midlands +20 15 £463 +15.63% 12
North West +12 15 £381 -38.32% 11
East of England +32 13 £538 -10.71% 8
South East +9 12 £575 +6.98% 17
Scotland +14 8 £513 -2.38% 4
South West +37 5 £500 +13.84% 10
Yorkshire -7 5 £475 +39.71% 7
North East - 3 £363 -
East Midlands +9 1 £575 +76.92% 3
Wales +5 1 £300 -29.41%

Virtual Machines
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 13 (6.81%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (5.24%) WebSphere
3 7 (3.66%) Confluence
4 6 (3.14%) Apache Spark
4 6 (3.14%) IIS
4 6 (3.14%) SharePoint
5 5 (2.62%) Skype for Business
6 3 (1.57%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
6 3 (1.57%) Exchange Server 2013
7 2 (1.05%) BizTalk Server
8 1 (0.52%) Apache
8 1 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.52%) JBoss
8 1 (0.52%) MTS
8 1 (0.52%) OpenStack
Applications
1 2 (1.05%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (1.05%) Microsoft Project
1 2 (1.05%) Notion
1 2 (1.05%) Trello
2 1 (0.52%) AutoCAD
2 1 (0.52%) Final Cut Pro
2 1 (0.52%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.52%) QuarkXPress
2 1 (0.52%) SketchUp
Business Applications
1 2 (1.05%) SAP IBP
1 2 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 86 (45.03%) Azure
2 36 (18.85%) AWS
3 27 (14.14%) Entra ID
4 24 (12.57%) Azure DevOps
5 22 (11.52%) Microsoft 365
6 18 (9.42%) GCP
6 18 (9.42%) PaaS
6 18 (9.42%) SaaS
7 17 (8.90%) Serverless
8 14 (7.33%) Azure Monitor
9 13 (6.81%) Azure AKS
10 11 (5.76%) IaaS
11 10 (5.24%) OCI
12 9 (4.71%) Azure Functions
13 8 (4.19%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (4.19%) Cloud Computing
13 8 (4.19%) GitHub
14 7 (3.66%) Azure Logic Apps
15 6 (3.14%) Azure Event Grid
15 6 (3.14%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 35 (18.32%) Firewall
2 23 (12.04%) DNS
3 17 (8.90%) DHCP
3 17 (8.90%) VPN
4 13 (6.81%) TCP/IP
5 12 (6.28%) Network Security
5 12 (6.28%) SAN
6 6 (3.14%) WAN
7 5 (2.62%) Intrusion Detection
7 5 (2.62%) Skype
7 5 (2.62%) SNA
8 3 (1.57%) IMAP
8 3 (1.57%) NAS
8 3 (1.57%) NGFW
8 3 (1.57%) SMTP
8 3 (1.57%) VLAN
8 3 (1.57%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (1.05%) Broadband
9 2 (1.05%) IPsec
9 2 (1.05%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (6.81%) Azure SQL Database
2 10 (5.24%) DB2
3 9 (4.71%) SQL Server
4 5 (2.62%) Amazon RDS
4 5 (2.62%) Power BI
5 4 (2.09%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (1.57%) Data Lake
6 3 (1.57%) Hadoop
6 3 (1.57%) Oracle Database
7 2 (1.05%) Big Data
7 2 (1.05%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (1.05%) MySQL
8 1 (0.52%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.52%) Apache Hive
8 1 (0.52%) Couchbase
8 1 (0.52%) HBase
8 1 (0.52%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.52%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.52%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.52%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 10 (5.24%) Git
1 10 (5.24%) Jenkins
2 9 (4.71%) JIRA
3 6 (3.14%) GitLab
4 1 (0.52%) Maven
4 1 (0.52%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 32 (16.75%) Social Skills
2 28 (14.66%) Finance
3 23 (12.04%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (7.33%) Public Sector
5 7 (3.66%) Banking
6 6 (3.14%) Telecoms
7 5 (2.62%) Financial Institution
7 5 (2.62%) Law
8 4 (2.09%) Legal
8 4 (2.09%) Marketing
9 3 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (1.05%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.05%) Electronics
10 2 (1.05%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.05%) Retail
11 1 (0.52%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.52%) Arabic Language
11 1 (0.52%) Billing
11 1 (0.52%) Dutch Language
11 1 (0.52%) French Language
Job Titles
1 45 (23.56%) Architect
2 19 (9.95%) Senior
3 18 (9.42%) Solutions Architect
4 17 (8.90%) Azure Engineer
4 17 (8.90%) Cloud Architect
4 17 (8.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 17 (8.90%) Technical Architect
5 15 (7.85%) Security Engineer
6 14 (7.33%) Azure Architect
6 14 (7.33%) Consultant
7 12 (6.28%) Operations Engineer
8 11 (5.76%) DevOps Engineer
9 10 (5.24%) Cloud Engineer
10 9 (4.71%) Automation Engineer
10 9 (4.71%) Cloud Infrastructure Architect
11 8 (4.19%) Administrator
12 7 (3.66%) Azure DevOps Engineer
12 7 (3.66%) Oracle Architect
12 7 (3.66%) Systems Architect
12 7 (3.66%) Technical Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.28%) ARM Templates
2 6 (3.14%) Middleware
3 4 (2.09%) Azure Blueprints
3 4 (2.09%) YAML
4 2 (1.05%) CSS
4 2 (1.05%) HTML
4 2 (1.05%) OAuth
4 2 (1.05%) OpenID
4 2 (1.05%) SAML
4 2 (1.05%) XHTML
5 1 (0.52%) ADO
5 1 (0.52%) EJB
5 1 (0.52%) Hibernate
5 1 (0.52%) Java EE
5 1 (0.52%) JSP
5 1 (0.52%) Kafka
5 1 (0.52%) Node.js
5 1 (0.52%) REST
5 1 (0.52%) STL
5 1 (0.52%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 14 (7.33%) Management Information System
2 12 (6.28%) Mainframe
3 11 (5.76%) Data Centre
3 11 (5.76%) Product Ownership
4 10 (5.24%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (4.19%) Cloud Native
6 7 (3.66%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (3.14%) Linux Command Line
7 6 (3.14%) PKI
7 6 (3.14%) Public Cloud
7 6 (3.14%) Replication
8 5 (2.62%) Private Cloud
9 4 (2.09%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (1.57%) Blackberry
10 3 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.57%) Reinsurance
11 2 (1.05%) Clustering
11 2 (1.05%) Hedge funds
11 2 (1.05%) Onboarding
11 2 (1.05%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 51 (26.70%) Windows
2 32 (16.75%) Windows Server
3 26 (13.61%) Linux
4 13 (6.81%) VMS
5 12 (6.28%) Unix
6 11 (5.76%) Windows Server 2019
7 10 (5.24%) Windows Server 2012
7 10 (5.24%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (2.62%) Windows 10
8 5 (2.62%) Windows 7
8 5 (2.62%) zOS
9 4 (2.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (1.57%) Windows XP
11 2 (1.05%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.52%) AIX
12 1 (0.52%) Debian
12 1 (0.52%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.52%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.52%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.52%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (26.18%) DevOps
2 45 (23.56%) Problem-Solving
3 35 (18.32%) Migration
4 34 (17.80%) High Availability
5 30 (15.71%) CI/CD
6 29 (15.18%) Agile
7 27 (14.14%) Cloud Security
7 27 (14.14%) Infrastructure as Code
8 22 (11.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 19 (9.95%) Disaster Recovery
10 18 (9.42%) ITIL
11 16 (8.38%) Project Management
12 15 (7.85%) SIEM
13 14 (7.33%) Analytics
13 14 (7.33%) Incident Response
13 14 (7.33%) Roadmaps
13 14 (7.33%) Security Operations
14 12 (6.28%) Infrastructure Automation
14 12 (6.28%) RBAC
14 12 (6.28%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 39 (20.42%) PowerShell
2 33 (17.28%) SQL
3 29 (15.18%) Python
4 15 (7.85%) Bash
5 11 (5.76%) Bicep
6 5 (2.62%) JCL
6 5 (2.62%) Shell Script
7 4 (2.09%) C#
7 4 (2.09%) Java
7 4 (2.09%) JavaScript
8 2 (1.05%) Perl
8 2 (1.05%) PHP
8 2 (1.05%) REXX
9 1 (0.52%) ActionScript
9 1 (0.52%) ActionScript 2.0
9 1 (0.52%) Go
9 1 (0.52%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.52%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.52%) VB
9 1 (0.52%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 47 (24.61%) Security Cleared
2 37 (19.37%) SC Cleared
3 14 (7.33%) Degree
4 12 (6.28%) Azure Certification
5 7 (3.66%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (3.14%) Computer Science Degree
7 5 (2.62%) MCSE
8 4 (2.09%) DV Cleared
8 4 (2.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 3 (1.57%) AWS Certification
9 3 (1.57%) CTC Cleared
10 2 (1.05%) PMI Certification
10 2 (1.05%) PMP
11 1 (0.52%) CCIE
11 1 (0.52%) CCNP
11 1 (0.52%) Cisco Certification
11 1 (0.52%) IBM Certification
11 1 (0.52%) MCSA
11 1 (0.52%) OCP
11 1 (0.52%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (4.71%) GDPR
2 8 (4.19%) SLA
3 4 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (2.09%) NCSC
3 4 (2.09%) SOC 2
4 3 (1.57%) GRC
4 3 (1.57%) HIPAA
4 3 (1.57%) NIST
4 3 (1.57%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.05%) Accessibility
5 2 (1.05%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.52%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.52%) Basel III
6 1 (0.52%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 1 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.52%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.52%) GxP
System Software
1 56 (29.32%) Active Directory
2 34 (17.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (6.81%) Hyper-V
3 13 (6.81%) VMware ESXi
4 10 (5.24%) Docker
5 5 (2.62%) vSphere
6 4 (2.09%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (2.09%) VMware NSX
7 3 (1.57%) KVM
8 1 (0.52%) Apache Flume
8 1 (0.52%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 34 (17.80%) Terraform
2 25 (13.09%) Kubernetes
3 17 (8.90%) Ansible
4 15 (7.85%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (7.33%) vCenter Server
5 14 (7.33%) WSUS
6 10 (5.24%) SCCM
7 6 (3.14%) Data Guard
8 5 (2.62%) Microsoft Clustering
8 5 (2.62%) NetApp OnCommand
8 5 (2.62%) Tivoli NetView
8 5 (2.62%) vMotion
8 5 (2.62%) vRealize
9 3 (1.57%) CASB
9 3 (1.57%) Puppet
9 3 (1.57%) SCOM
10 2 (1.05%) Grafana
10 2 (1.05%) Proxmox
10 2 (1.05%) SCOrch
10 2 (1.05%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 68 (35.60%) Microsoft
2 37 (19.37%) VMware
3 19 (9.95%) Palo Alto
4 18 (9.42%) Oracle
5 17 (8.90%) Google
6 12 (6.28%) IBM
7 7 (3.66%) Cisco
7 7 (3.66%) ServiceNow
8 5 (2.62%) Citrix
8 5 (2.62%) Fortinet
8 5 (2.62%) SAP
9 4 (2.09%) Broadcom
9 4 (2.09%) NetApp
9 4 (2.09%) Veeam
10 3 (1.57%) Rapid7
10 3 (1.57%) Sophos
11 2 (1.05%) Apple
11 2 (1.05%) McAfee
11 2 (1.05%) Red Hat
11 2 (1.05%) Symantec