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 5 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 387 389 315
Rank change year-on-year +2 -74 +16
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 302 166 241
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.50% 0.63%
As % of the System Software category 5.64% 4.19% 5.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 114 165
10th Percentile £389 £350 £347
25th Percentile £425 £425 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £588 £584 £608
90th Percentile £718 £640 £662
UK excluding London median daily rate £487 £500 £520
% change year-on-year -2.60% -3.85% -0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 5 4
10th Percentile £26.90 - -
25th Percentile £58.44 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £49.09
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% -29.72% -37.65%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £84.11
90th Percentile - £50.45 £85.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.00 £58.50 £49.09
% change year-on-year +45.30% +19.17% -37.65%

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 5,357 3,963 4,313
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.85% 12.01% 11.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,516 2,510 2,826
10th Percentile £225 £213 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £370
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £688 £669 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
Number of hourly rates quoted 248 122 102
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.87 £14.16
25th Percentile £25.75 £17.47 £19.72
Median hourly rate £62.50 £33.39 £28.75
Median % change year-on-year +87.21% +16.12% -39.93%
75th Percentile £74.00 £67.19 £68.20
90th Percentile £90.00 £88.68 £83.32
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.14 £58.50 £33.58
% change year-on-year +7.92% +74.20% -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 5 October 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 5 October 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 5 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 -6 272 £500 +0.50% 305
UK excluding London +3 180 £487 -2.60% 242
London -62 95 £532 +5.35% 105
Work from Home -39 92 £487 +2.53% 179
North of England -14 73 £500 +19.05% 51
South East -14 60 £475 -13.64% 57
Yorkshire -8 40 £524 +13.67% 20
North West -16 31 £484 +48.92% 28
South West -38 16 £558 +1.36% 22
East of England -11 15 £353 -25.68% 41
Midlands -38 13 £487 -4.04% 31
West Midlands -45 10 £487 -4.51% 21
Scotland -15 6 £425 -19.05% 23
East Midlands -9 3 £500 +5.26% 10
North East - 2 £413 - 3

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 (3.31%) IIS
2 6 (1.99%) Confluence
2 6 (1.99%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.66%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.99%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.66%) CMS
5 2 (0.66%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.33%) Apache
6 1 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.33%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.33%) nginx
6 1 (0.33%) OpenStack
Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Adobe Illustrator
1 4 (1.32%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.66%) InDesign
2 2 (0.66%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.33%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.33%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.33%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 148 (49.01%) Azure
2 71 (23.51%) Entra ID
3 42 (13.91%) AWS
4 37 (12.25%) Azure Monitor
5 32 (10.60%) Azure DevOps
5 32 (10.60%) IaaS
6 24 (7.95%) Azure AKS
6 24 (7.95%) GitHub
7 23 (7.62%) Microsoft 365
7 23 (7.62%) OpenShift
8 16 (5.30%) GitHub Actions
9 15 (4.97%) PaaS
10 13 (4.30%) Azure Key Vault
11 12 (3.97%) GCP
12 11 (3.64%) Amazon EC2
12 11 (3.64%) Power Platform
12 11 (3.64%) SaaS
12 11 (3.64%) Serverless
13 10 (3.31%) Datadog
14 9 (2.98%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 51 (16.89%) DNS
2 39 (12.91%) Firewall
3 28 (9.27%) VPN
4 21 (6.95%) DHCP
5 19 (6.29%) SSL
5 19 (6.29%) WAN
6 17 (5.63%) Network Security
7 16 (5.30%) VLAN
8 10 (3.31%) LAN
8 10 (3.31%) SD-WAN
9 9 (2.98%) HTTP
10 7 (2.32%) FTP
10 7 (2.32%) Wi-Fi
11 6 (1.99%) SAN
11 6 (1.99%) TCP/IP
11 6 (1.99%) VSAN
12 5 (1.66%) HTTPS
13 4 (1.32%) SSH
14 3 (0.99%) Kerberos
14 3 (0.99%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (10.60%) SQL Server
2 15 (4.97%) MySQL
3 11 (3.64%) Azure SQL Database
3 11 (3.64%) Power BI
4 10 (3.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 8 (2.65%) Data Lake
6 7 (2.32%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.99%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.99%) Amazon Redshift
8 3 (0.99%) Apache Hive
8 3 (0.99%) Big Data
8 3 (0.99%) DynamoDB
8 3 (0.99%) Hadoop
9 2 (0.66%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon Aurora
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon QuickSight
10 1 (0.33%) MariaDB
10 1 (0.33%) Oracle Exadata
10 1 (0.33%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 17 (5.63%) Jenkins
2 14 (4.64%) Git
3 11 (3.64%) GitLab
4 8 (2.65%) JIRA
4 8 (2.65%) SonarQube
5 4 (1.32%) CppUnit
5 4 (1.32%) PVCS
5 4 (1.32%) Rational DOORS
6 3 (0.99%) Maven
6 3 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.99%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.66%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.66%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.33%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.33%) Selenium
8 1 (0.33%) Vagrant
8 1 (0.33%) Visual Studio
General
1 50 (16.56%) Social Skills
2 26 (8.61%) Finance
3 14 (4.64%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (3.31%) Legal
5 9 (2.98%) Banking
5 9 (2.98%) Public Sector
6 8 (2.65%) Manufacturing
7 7 (2.32%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.99%) Back Office
8 6 (1.99%) Front Office
9 5 (1.66%) Retail
10 4 (1.32%) Law
10 4 (1.32%) Marketing
11 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.66%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.66%) Local Government
11 2 (0.66%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.66%) Publishing
12 1 (0.33%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 51 (16.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 50 (16.56%) Azure Engineer
3 43 (14.24%) Cloud Engineer
4 32 (10.60%) DevOps Engineer
5 25 (8.28%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
6 24 (7.95%) Senior
7 22 (7.28%) Lead
8 21 (6.95%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
9 19 (6.29%) Architect
10 13 (4.30%) Analyst
10 13 (4.30%) DBA
11 12 (3.97%) Platform Engineer
11 12 (3.97%) Wintel Engineer
12 11 (3.64%) Administrator
12 11 (3.64%) Consultant
12 11 (3.64%) Security Engineer
12 11 (3.64%) SQL DBA
13 9 (2.98%) Linux Engineer
13 9 (2.98%) Storage Engineer
14 8 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (23.84%) Terraform
2 15 (4.97%) ARM Templates
3 8 (2.65%) JSON
3 8 (2.65%) Regular Expression
4 7 (2.32%) LDAP
5 4 (1.32%) REST
6 3 (0.99%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.99%) Middleware
6 3 (0.99%) Web Services
7 2 (0.66%) ADO
7 2 (0.66%) YAML
8 1 (0.33%) Lambda Expressions
8 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Graph
8 1 (0.33%) OpenTofu
8 1 (0.33%) Oracle GoldenGate
8 1 (0.33%) SAP Basis
8 1 (0.33%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 37 (12.25%) Replication
2 31 (10.26%) Clustering
3 18 (5.96%) Hybrid Cloud
4 14 (4.64%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.97%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.97%) Enterprise Storage
5 12 (3.97%) Onboarding
6 9 (2.98%) Linux Command Line
6 9 (2.98%) PKI
6 9 (2.98%) Public Cloud
7 8 (2.65%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (2.32%) Cyber Threat
8 7 (2.32%) Mainframe
8 7 (2.32%) Operational Technology
9 6 (1.99%) Fixed Income
9 6 (1.99%) Market Risk
9 6 (1.99%) Security Posture
9 6 (1.99%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.66%) Product Ownership
11 4 (1.32%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 106 (35.10%) Windows
2 65 (21.52%) Linux
3 63 (20.86%) Windows Server
4 25 (8.28%) VMS
5 24 (7.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (3.31%) Unix
7 6 (1.99%) Ubuntu
8 4 (1.32%) Data ONTAP
8 4 (1.32%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.32%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.99%) AIX
9 3 (0.99%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.99%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.66%) Android
10 2 (0.66%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.66%) CoreOS
10 2 (0.66%) zOS
11 1 (0.33%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.33%) Rocky
11 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (25.83%) DevOps
2 75 (24.83%) CI/CD
3 69 (22.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 68 (22.52%) Migration
5 67 (22.19%) Infrastructure as Code
6 41 (13.58%) Disaster Recovery
7 38 (12.58%) Continuous Improvement
7 38 (12.58%) RBAC
8 33 (10.93%) High Availability
8 33 (10.93%) Runbook
8 33 (10.93%) Validation
9 32 (10.60%) Performance Tuning
10 31 (10.26%) Stakeholder Management
11 29 (9.60%) ITIL
11 29 (9.60%) Problem-Solving
12 26 (8.61%) Cybersecurity
13 25 (8.28%) Platform Engineering
14 24 (7.95%) AI
14 24 (7.95%) Containerisation
14 24 (7.95%) Network Virtualisation
Programming Languages
1 104 (34.44%) PowerShell
2 66 (21.85%) Python
3 36 (11.92%) SQL
4 30 (9.93%) Bash
5 14 (4.64%) Bicep
6 11 (3.64%) T-SQL
7 8 (2.65%) C
7 8 (2.65%) C#
7 8 (2.65%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.66%) Groovy
8 5 (1.66%) Java
9 4 (1.32%) C++
10 3 (0.99%) Embedded C
11 2 (0.66%) Korn
12 1 (0.33%) Cypher
12 1 (0.33%) Go
12 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.33%) RPG
Qualifications
1 92 (30.46%) Security Cleared
2 78 (25.83%) SC Cleared
3 26 (8.61%) Microsoft Certification
4 22 (7.28%) Azure Certification
5 21 (6.95%) Degree
6 13 (4.30%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (3.97%) MCSA
7 12 (3.97%) MCSE
8 11 (3.64%) DV Cleared
8 11 (3.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 10 (3.31%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 8 (2.65%) VCAP
11 6 (1.99%) ISTQB
12 5 (1.66%) CCNA
12 5 (1.66%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.66%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 3 (0.99%) CCA
13 3 (0.99%) CISM
13 3 (0.99%) CISSP
13 3 (0.99%) Citrix Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.64%) QA
2 4 (1.32%) SLA
3 3 (0.99%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.66%) Accessibility
4 2 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (0.66%) GMP
4 2 (0.66%) GxP
4 2 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.33%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.33%) NIST
5 1 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 91 (30.13%) VMware Infrastructure
2 63 (20.86%) Active Directory
3 38 (12.58%) vSphere
4 30 (9.93%) Hyper-V
4 30 (9.93%) VMware ESXi
5 27 (8.94%) Docker
6 13 (4.30%) NFS
7 9 (2.98%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (2.32%) VMware NSX
9 6 (1.99%) KVM
10 5 (1.66%) Firmware
11 4 (1.32%) Ceph
11 4 (1.32%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.99%) BitLocker
12 3 (0.99%) VMware Workstation
13 2 (0.66%) HDFS
13 2 (0.66%) Veritas Volume Manager
14 1 (0.33%) Dovecot
14 1 (0.33%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 1 (0.33%) Squid
Systems Management
1 43 (14.24%) Kubernetes
2 41 (13.58%) Ansible
3 22 (7.28%) vCenter Server
4 17 (5.63%) Grafana
5 16 (5.30%) SCOM
6 12 (3.97%) Prometheus
7 11 (3.64%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (2.98%) Failover Clustering
8 9 (2.98%) SCCM
9 7 (2.32%) Packer
9 7 (2.32%) Podman
10 6 (1.99%) Proxmox
11 5 (1.66%) Microsoft Clustering
11 5 (1.66%) vMotion
12 4 (1.32%) OPNET
12 4 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
12 4 (1.32%) WSUS
13 3 (0.99%) Argo
13 3 (0.99%) PowerCLI
13 3 (0.99%) SnapMirror
Vendors
1 117 (38.74%) Microsoft
2 96 (31.79%) VMware
3 28 (9.27%) Cisco
4 24 (7.95%) ServiceNow
5 18 (5.96%) Oracle
6 15 (4.97%) NetApp
7 12 (3.97%) CyberArk
7 12 (3.97%) Dell
8 11 (3.64%) Red Hat
8 11 (3.64%) Veeam
9 10 (3.31%) Google
9 10 (3.31%) Splunk
10 9 (2.98%) Commvault
10 9 (2.98%) IBM
10 9 (2.98%) SolarWinds
11 8 (2.65%) Qualys
12 7 (2.32%) Citrix
13 6 (1.99%) Databricks
13 6 (1.99%) Meraki
13 6 (1.99%) Palo Alto