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

 6 months to
22 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 383 381 327
Rank change year-on-year -2 -54 +7
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 315 161 243
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.50% 0.64%
As % of the System Software category 5.83% 4.17% 5.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 190 115 167
10th Percentile £393 £353 £342
25th Percentile £444 £425 £414
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -6.54% +1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £706 £639 £663
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £498 £525
% change year-on-year +0.50% -5.24% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 4 6
10th Percentile £26.90 - -
25th Percentile £58.44 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% +135.90% -81.42%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £66.46
90th Percentile - - £84.67
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.00 - £14.63
% change year-on-year - - -81.42%

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 5,404 3,863 4,347
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.90% 11.89% 11.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,540 2,432 2,906
10th Percentile £221 £214 £213
25th Percentile £400 £376 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £588 £600
90th Percentile £680 £669 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
% change year-on-year - - +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 254 117 110
10th Percentile £15.95 £13.75 £14.16
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.87 £17.81
Median hourly rate £63.14 £34.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +85.69% +23.64% -45.00%
75th Percentile £74.83 £80.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £92.11 £90.60 £81.48
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.25 £28.75
% change year-on-year +1.17% +123.48% -28.13%

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 September 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 22 September 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 22 September 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 -4 286 £500 - 186
UK excluding London +4 180 £500 +0.50% 122
London -39 107 £521 +2.76% 68
Work from Home -28 90 £500 +5.26% 73
North of England -6 82 £500 +19.05% 28
South East -21 55 £483 -17.87% 36
Yorkshire -15 45 £519 +12.58% 7
North West -19 35 £485 +49.23% 20
South West -34 16 £558 +1.36% 6
Midlands -47 15 £487 -1.62% 14
East of England -22 13 £300 -36.84% 35
West Midlands -48 10 £487 -2.84% 12
East Midlands -12 4 £500 +5.26% 2
Scotland -27 4 £375 -28.57% 2
North East - 2 £413 - 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 10 (3.17%) IIS
2 6 (1.90%) Confluence
3 5 (1.59%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.27%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.95%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.63%) Apache
6 2 (0.63%) CMS
6 2 (0.63%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.32%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.32%) nginx
7 1 (0.32%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.32%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.27%) Adobe Illustrator
1 4 (1.27%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.63%) InDesign
2 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.32%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 149 (47.30%) Azure
2 61 (19.37%) Entra ID
3 49 (15.56%) AWS
4 41 (13.02%) Azure Monitor
5 33 (10.48%) Azure DevOps
6 29 (9.21%) OpenShift
7 27 (8.57%) IaaS
8 26 (8.25%) Azure AKS
9 24 (7.62%) GitHub
10 16 (5.08%) GitHub Actions
11 15 (4.76%) Microsoft 365
12 14 (4.44%) PaaS
13 13 (4.13%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 13 (4.13%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (4.13%) Serverless
14 12 (3.81%) GCP
15 11 (3.49%) Amazon EC2
15 11 (3.49%) Power Platform
16 10 (3.17%) Azure Storage
16 10 (3.17%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 49 (15.56%) DNS
2 45 (14.29%) Firewall
3 27 (8.57%) VPN
4 22 (6.98%) VLAN
5 21 (6.67%) Network Security
6 20 (6.35%) DHCP
6 20 (6.35%) SSL
7 19 (6.03%) WAN
8 15 (4.76%) VSAN
9 10 (3.17%) SD-WAN
10 9 (2.86%) HTTP
10 9 (2.86%) LAN
11 7 (2.22%) FTP
11 7 (2.22%) SAN
12 6 (1.90%) TCP/IP
13 5 (1.59%) HTTPS
13 5 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
14 4 (1.27%) SSH
15 3 (0.95%) NAS
15 3 (0.95%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (10.48%) SQL Server
2 15 (4.76%) MySQL
3 11 (3.49%) Azure SQL Database
3 11 (3.49%) Power BI
3 11 (3.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 8 (2.54%) Data Lake
4 8 (2.54%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.95%) Amazon Athena
5 3 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
5 3 (0.95%) Apache Hive
5 3 (0.95%) Big Data
5 3 (0.95%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.95%) Hadoop
6 2 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.63%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.32%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.32%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.32%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.32%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 16 (5.08%) Jenkins
2 15 (4.76%) Git
3 10 (3.17%) GitLab
4 7 (2.22%) JIRA
4 7 (2.22%) SonarQube
5 5 (1.59%) PVCS
6 4 (1.27%) CppUnit
6 4 (1.27%) Rational DOORS
6 4 (1.27%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.95%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.63%) Maven
8 2 (0.63%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.63%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.32%) Selenium
9 1 (0.32%) Vagrant
9 1 (0.32%) Visual Studio
General
1 52 (16.51%) Social Skills
2 28 (8.89%) Finance
3 14 (4.44%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (3.81%) Legal
5 9 (2.86%) Banking
6 8 (2.54%) Manufacturing
7 7 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.90%) Back Office
8 6 (1.90%) Front Office
8 6 (1.90%) Public Sector
9 5 (1.59%) Retail
10 4 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.27%) Law
10 4 (1.27%) Marketing
11 2 (0.63%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.63%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.63%) Local Government
11 2 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.63%) Publishing
12 1 (0.32%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 47 (14.92%) Azure Engineer
1 47 (14.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 36 (11.43%) Cloud Engineer
3 32 (10.16%) DevOps Engineer
4 26 (8.25%) Senior
5 23 (7.30%) Lead
6 20 (6.35%) Architect
7 19 (6.03%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
8 16 (5.08%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (4.13%) Analyst
9 13 (4.13%) DBA
10 12 (3.81%) Platform Engineer
11 11 (3.49%) Administrator
11 11 (3.49%) Migration Engineer
11 11 (3.49%) Security Engineer
11 11 (3.49%) SQL DBA
12 10 (3.17%) Consultant
12 10 (3.17%) Wintel Engineer
13 9 (2.86%) Linux Engineer
13 9 (2.86%) Storage Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (22.22%) Terraform
2 15 (4.76%) ARM Templates
3 10 (3.17%) JSON
4 9 (2.86%) REST
5 8 (2.54%) Regular Expression
6 7 (2.22%) LDAP
7 5 (1.59%) Middleware
7 5 (1.59%) YAML
8 3 (0.95%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.63%) ADO
9 2 (0.63%) SOAP
9 2 (0.63%) Web Services
10 1 (0.32%) Java SE
10 1 (0.32%) Node.js
10 1 (0.32%) NumPy
10 1 (0.32%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 1 (0.32%) Pandas
10 1 (0.32%) SAP Basis
10 1 (0.32%) SciPy
10 1 (0.32%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 42 (13.33%) Replication
2 33 (10.48%) Clustering
3 20 (6.35%) Hybrid Cloud
4 14 (4.44%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.81%) Linux Command Line
6 11 (3.49%) Cloud Native
6 11 (3.49%) Enterprise Storage
7 9 (2.86%) Mainframe
7 9 (2.86%) Onboarding
7 9 (2.86%) Product Ownership
7 9 (2.86%) Public Cloud
8 8 (2.54%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (2.22%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (2.22%) Operational Technology
9 7 (2.22%) PKI
10 6 (1.90%) Fixed Income
10 6 (1.90%) Market Risk
10 6 (1.90%) Security Posture
10 6 (1.90%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (1.27%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 110 (34.92%) Windows
2 73 (23.17%) Linux
3 64 (20.32%) Windows Server
4 33 (10.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 31 (9.84%) VMS
6 9 (2.86%) Unix
7 8 (2.54%) Ubuntu
8 5 (1.59%) SUSE
9 4 (1.27%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (1.27%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.95%) AIX
10 3 (0.95%) Data ONTAP
10 3 (0.95%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.63%) Android
11 2 (0.63%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.63%) CoreOS
11 2 (0.63%) zOS
12 1 (0.32%) Amazon Linux
12 1 (0.32%) Rocky
12 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (25.08%) DevOps
2 78 (24.76%) CI/CD
3 77 (24.44%) Migration
4 65 (20.63%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 64 (20.32%) Infrastructure as Code
6 45 (14.29%) Disaster Recovery
7 44 (13.97%) RBAC
8 42 (13.33%) Performance Tuning
9 41 (13.02%) Continuous Improvement
10 40 (12.70%) High Availability
11 39 (12.38%) Validation
12 33 (10.48%) Problem-Solving
13 31 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
14 30 (9.52%) ITIL
14 30 (9.52%) Runbook
15 28 (8.89%) Platform Engineering
16 27 (8.57%) Network Virtualisation
17 26 (8.25%) AI
17 26 (8.25%) Cybersecurity
18 25 (7.94%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 101 (32.06%) PowerShell
2 69 (21.90%) Python
3 39 (12.38%) SQL
4 34 (10.79%) Bash
5 12 (3.81%) Bicep
6 11 (3.49%) T-SQL
7 8 (2.54%) C
7 8 (2.54%) C#
7 8 (2.54%) Shell Script
8 6 (1.90%) Java
9 4 (1.27%) C++
9 4 (1.27%) Groovy
10 3 (0.95%) Embedded C
11 2 (0.63%) Korn
11 2 (0.63%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.32%) Go
12 1 (0.32%) JavaScript
12 1 (0.32%) RPG
12 1 (0.32%) VBA
Qualifications
1 94 (29.84%) Security Cleared
2 77 (24.44%) SC Cleared
3 25 (7.94%) Azure Certification
4 23 (7.30%) Microsoft Certification
5 22 (6.98%) Degree
6 14 (4.44%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (4.13%) DV Cleared
7 13 (4.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 10 (3.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (3.17%) MCSA
8 10 (3.17%) MCSE
8 10 (3.17%) VCAP
9 6 (1.90%) ISTQB
10 5 (1.59%) CCNA
10 5 (1.59%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.59%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 3 (0.95%) CISSP
11 3 (0.95%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.95%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.95%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.49%) QA
2 4 (1.27%) SLA
3 3 (0.95%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.95%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (0.63%) GMP
4 2 (0.63%) GxP
4 2 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.63%) NIST
5 1 (0.32%) GDPR
5 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.32%) WCAG
System Software
1 101 (32.06%) VMware Infrastructure
2 59 (18.73%) Active Directory
3 45 (14.29%) vSphere
4 40 (12.70%) VMware ESXi
5 33 (10.48%) Hyper-V
6 26 (8.25%) Docker
7 13 (4.13%) NFS
8 12 (3.81%) VMware NSX
9 9 (2.86%) Virtual Desktop
10 8 (2.54%) Firmware
11 7 (2.22%) Ceph
12 6 (1.90%) KVM
13 3 (0.95%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.95%) VMware Workstation
14 2 (0.63%) HDFS
14 2 (0.63%) Veritas Volume Manager
15 1 (0.32%) BitLocker
15 1 (0.32%) DFS Replication
15 1 (0.32%) Dovecot
15 1 (0.32%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 46 (14.60%) Ansible
2 45 (14.29%) Kubernetes
3 30 (9.52%) vCenter Server
4 17 (5.40%) Grafana
5 16 (5.08%) SCOM
6 12 (3.81%) Prometheus
7 11 (3.49%) Failover Clustering
8 9 (2.86%) PowerCLI
9 8 (2.54%) SCCM
10 7 (2.22%) Packer
10 7 (2.22%) Podman
10 7 (2.22%) vMotion
11 6 (1.90%) Microsoft Clustering
11 6 (1.90%) Microsoft Intune
11 6 (1.90%) Proxmox
11 6 (1.90%) VxRail
12 4 (1.27%) Argo
12 4 (1.27%) Avamar
12 4 (1.27%) OPNET
12 4 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 109 (34.60%) Microsoft
2 108 (34.29%) VMware
3 29 (9.21%) Cisco
4 25 (7.94%) ServiceNow
5 20 (6.35%) Oracle
6 17 (5.40%) Dell
7 15 (4.76%) NetApp
8 12 (3.81%) IBM
8 12 (3.81%) Red Hat
8 12 (3.81%) Veeam
9 10 (3.17%) Splunk
10 9 (2.86%) CyberArk
11 8 (2.54%) Google
11 8 (2.54%) Qualys
11 8 (2.54%) SolarWinds
12 6 (1.90%) Commvault
12 6 (1.90%) Databricks
12 6 (1.90%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.59%) Meraki
13 5 (1.59%) Okta
205 Virtual Machines jobs Nationwide