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

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 396 386 341
Rank change year-on-year -10 -45 -13
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 306 169 237
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.51% 0.62%
As % of the System Software category 5.68% 4.21% 5.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 183 116 162
10th Percentile £390 £350 £346
25th Percentile £425 £425 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £588 £578 £608
90th Percentile £733 £639 £662
UK excluding London median daily rate £486 £500 £520
% change year-on-year -2.80% -3.85% -0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 5 3
10th Percentile £26.90 - £27.96
25th Percentile £58.44 £33.25 £48.81
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £83.55
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% -58.71% +6.13%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £84.67
90th Percentile - £50.45 £85.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.00 £58.50 £83.55
% change year-on-year +45.30% -29.98% +6.13%

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 5,391 4,017 4,323
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.88% 12.13% 11.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,557 2,552 2,819
10th Percentile £225 £208 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £688 £670 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
% change year-on-year - - +0.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 245 123 96
10th Percentile £16.40 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £25.75 £17.56 £20.38
Median hourly rate £62.50 £32.77 £33.58
Median % change year-on-year +90.72% -2.42% -29.88%
75th Percentile £74.00 £67.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £88.60 £84.28
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.14 £60.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year +4.36% +21.00% +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 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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -8 275 £500 - 226
UK excluding London +15 182 £486 -2.80% 124
Work from Home -23 97 £475 - 65
London -60 95 £532 +5.35% 108
North of England -17 75 £500 +15.34% 33
South East -28 59 £475 -9.52% 35
Yorkshire -1 43 £519 +9.26% 16
North West -23 30 £485 +49.23% 17
East of England -22 16 £377 -20.74% 22
South West -31 15 £575 +4.55% 10
Midlands -38 13 £487 -4.04% 15
West Midlands -42 10 £487 -4.51% 11
Scotland -20 6 £425 -19.05% 7
East Midlands -12 3 £500 +5.26% 4
North East - 2 £413 -

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 (3.27%) IIS
2 7 (2.29%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.96%) Confluence
3 6 (1.96%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.65%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.65%) CMS
4 2 (0.65%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.33%) Apache
5 1 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.33%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.33%) nginx
5 1 (0.33%) OpenStack
Applications
1 3 (0.98%) Adobe Illustrator
1 3 (0.98%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.65%) InDesign
2 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.33%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.33%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.33%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.33%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 149 (48.69%) Azure
2 73 (23.86%) Entra ID
3 41 (13.40%) AWS
4 38 (12.42%) Azure Monitor
5 34 (11.11%) IaaS
6 33 (10.78%) Azure DevOps
7 25 (8.17%) Microsoft 365
8 24 (7.84%) Azure AKS
9 23 (7.52%) GitHub
10 22 (7.19%) OpenShift
11 16 (5.23%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (4.90%) PaaS
13 13 (4.25%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (4.25%) GCP
14 11 (3.59%) Power Platform
15 10 (3.27%) Amazon EC2
15 10 (3.27%) Datadog
15 10 (3.27%) SaaS
15 10 (3.27%) Serverless
16 9 (2.94%) Cohesity
Communications & Networking
1 48 (15.69%) DNS
2 40 (13.07%) Firewall
3 29 (9.48%) VPN
4 19 (6.21%) DHCP
4 19 (6.21%) WAN
5 18 (5.88%) Network Security
6 17 (5.56%) SSL
6 17 (5.56%) VLAN
7 10 (3.27%) LAN
7 10 (3.27%) SD-WAN
8 9 (2.94%) HTTP
9 7 (2.29%) TCP/IP
9 7 (2.29%) Wi-Fi
10 6 (1.96%) SAN
10 6 (1.96%) VSAN
11 5 (1.63%) HTTPS
12 4 (1.31%) FTP
12 4 (1.31%) SSH
13 3 (0.98%) Kerberos
13 3 (0.98%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (10.78%) SQL Server
2 14 (4.58%) MySQL
3 12 (3.92%) Azure SQL Database
4 11 (3.59%) Power BI
5 10 (3.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 8 (2.61%) Data Lake
6 8 (2.61%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.31%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.31%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.65%) Amazon Athena
8 2 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.65%) Apache Hive
8 2 (0.65%) Big Data
8 2 (0.65%) DynamoDB
8 2 (0.65%) Hadoop
8 2 (0.65%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.33%) MariaDB
9 1 (0.33%) Neo4j
9 1 (0.33%) Oracle Exadata
9 1 (0.33%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 17 (5.56%) Jenkins
2 14 (4.58%) Git
3 10 (3.27%) GitLab
4 8 (2.61%) JIRA
5 7 (2.29%) SonarQube
6 4 (1.31%) CppUnit
6 4 (1.31%) PVCS
6 4 (1.31%) Rational DOORS
7 3 (0.98%) Maven
7 3 (0.98%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.98%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.65%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.65%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.33%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.33%) Selenium
9 1 (0.33%) Vagrant
9 1 (0.33%) Visual Studio
General
1 48 (15.69%) Social Skills
2 27 (8.82%) Finance
3 14 (4.58%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (3.27%) Banking
4 10 (3.27%) Legal
5 9 (2.94%) Public Sector
6 8 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (2.61%) Manufacturing
7 6 (1.96%) Back Office
7 6 (1.96%) Front Office
8 4 (1.31%) Law
8 4 (1.31%) Retail
9 3 (0.98%) Marketing
10 2 (0.65%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.65%) Automotive
10 2 (0.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.65%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.65%) Local Government
10 2 (0.65%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.65%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (17.32%) Azure Engineer
1 53 (17.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 45 (14.71%) Cloud Engineer
3 31 (10.13%) DevOps Engineer
4 26 (8.50%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
5 23 (7.52%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
5 23 (7.52%) Lead
5 23 (7.52%) Senior
6 19 (6.21%) Architect
7 13 (4.25%) Analyst
7 13 (4.25%) DBA
8 12 (3.92%) Platform Engineer
8 12 (3.92%) Security Engineer
8 12 (3.92%) Wintel Engineer
9 11 (3.59%) Administrator
9 11 (3.59%) Consultant
9 11 (3.59%) SQL DBA
10 9 (2.94%) Storage Engineer
11 8 (2.61%) Linux Engineer
11 8 (2.61%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (23.86%) Terraform
2 17 (5.56%) ARM Templates
3 8 (2.61%) JSON
3 8 (2.61%) Regular Expression
4 7 (2.29%) LDAP
5 5 (1.63%) Middleware
6 3 (0.98%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.98%) REST
6 3 (0.98%) Web Services
7 2 (0.65%) ADO
7 2 (0.65%) 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 39 (12.75%) Replication
2 31 (10.13%) Clustering
3 19 (6.21%) Hybrid Cloud
4 16 (5.23%) Onboarding
5 14 (4.58%) Data Centre
6 13 (4.25%) Cloud Native
7 12 (3.92%) Enterprise Storage
7 12 (3.92%) Mainframe
8 10 (3.27%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (2.94%) Linux Command Line
9 9 (2.94%) PKI
9 9 (2.94%) Public Cloud
10 8 (2.61%) Cyber Threat
11 7 (2.29%) Operational Technology
11 7 (2.29%) Security Posture
12 6 (1.96%) Fixed Income
12 6 (1.96%) Market Risk
12 6 (1.96%) Self-Motivation
13 4 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
13 4 (1.31%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 106 (34.64%) Windows
2 68 (22.22%) Linux
3 62 (20.26%) Windows Server
4 26 (8.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 26 (8.50%) VMS
5 10 (3.27%) Unix
6 6 (1.96%) Ubuntu
7 4 (1.31%) Data ONTAP
7 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (0.98%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.98%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (0.98%) zOS
9 2 (0.65%) AIX
9 2 (0.65%) Android
9 2 (0.65%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.65%) CoreOS
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon Linux
10 1 (0.33%) Rocky
10 1 (0.33%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (25.82%) DevOps
2 75 (24.51%) CI/CD
3 72 (23.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 70 (22.88%) Migration
5 69 (22.55%) Infrastructure as Code
6 45 (14.71%) Disaster Recovery
7 38 (12.42%) RBAC
8 37 (12.09%) Continuous Improvement
9 36 (11.76%) Runbook
10 35 (11.44%) Validation
11 31 (10.13%) High Availability
11 31 (10.13%) Performance Tuning
12 30 (9.80%) ITIL
12 30 (9.80%) Stakeholder Management
13 29 (9.48%) Problem-Solving
14 27 (8.82%) Cybersecurity
15 26 (8.50%) Platform Engineering
16 25 (8.17%) Network Virtualisation
17 24 (7.84%) AI
17 24 (7.84%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 108 (35.29%) PowerShell
2 67 (21.90%) Python
3 37 (12.09%) SQL
4 30 (9.80%) Bash
5 17 (5.56%) Bicep
6 11 (3.59%) T-SQL
7 8 (2.61%) C
7 8 (2.61%) C#
7 8 (2.61%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.63%) Groovy
8 5 (1.63%) Java
9 4 (1.31%) C++
10 3 (0.98%) Embedded C
11 2 (0.65%) Korn
12 1 (0.33%) Cypher
12 1 (0.33%) Go
12 1 (0.33%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.33%) RPG
Qualifications
1 91 (29.74%) Security Cleared
2 77 (25.16%) SC Cleared
3 26 (8.50%) Microsoft Certification
4 23 (7.52%) Azure Certification
5 20 (6.54%) Degree
6 13 (4.25%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (3.92%) MCSA
7 12 (3.92%) MCSE
8 11 (3.59%) DV Cleared
8 11 (3.59%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 10 (3.27%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 8 (2.61%) VCAP
11 6 (1.96%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (1.96%) ISTQB
12 5 (1.63%) CCNA
12 5 (1.63%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 4 (1.31%) CISSP
14 3 (0.98%) AWS Certification
14 3 (0.98%) CCA
14 3 (0.98%) Citrix Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.59%) QA
2 4 (1.31%) SLA
3 3 (0.98%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.65%) Accessibility
4 2 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (0.65%) GMP
4 2 (0.65%) GxP
4 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.33%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.33%) NIST
5 1 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 91 (29.74%) VMware Infrastructure
2 64 (20.92%) Active Directory
3 38 (12.42%) vSphere
4 28 (9.15%) Hyper-V
4 28 (9.15%) VMware ESXi
5 27 (8.82%) Docker
6 12 (3.92%) NFS
7 9 (2.94%) KVM
7 9 (2.94%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (2.29%) VMware NSX
9 5 (1.63%) Firmware
10 4 (1.31%) DFS Replication
11 3 (0.98%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.98%) Ceph
11 3 (0.98%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.33%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.33%) Postfix
12 1 (0.33%) Squid
12 1 (0.33%) Veritas Volume Manager
12 1 (0.33%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 43 (14.05%) Kubernetes
2 42 (13.73%) Ansible
3 22 (7.19%) vCenter Server
4 16 (5.23%) Grafana
4 16 (5.23%) SCOM
5 13 (4.25%) Microsoft Intune
6 11 (3.59%) Prometheus
7 9 (2.94%) Failover Clustering
7 9 (2.94%) SCCM
8 7 (2.29%) Packer
8 7 (2.29%) Podman
9 6 (1.96%) Proxmox
10 5 (1.63%) Microsoft Clustering
10 5 (1.63%) vMotion
11 4 (1.31%) OPNET
11 4 (1.31%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (1.31%) WSUS
12 3 (0.98%) Argo
12 3 (0.98%) PowerCLI
12 3 (0.98%) SnapMirror
Vendors
1 120 (39.22%) Microsoft
2 96 (31.37%) VMware
3 28 (9.15%) Cisco
4 24 (7.84%) ServiceNow
5 19 (6.21%) Oracle
6 15 (4.90%) NetApp
7 14 (4.58%) CyberArk
7 14 (4.58%) Dell
8 13 (4.25%) IBM
9 11 (3.59%) Google
9 11 (3.59%) Red Hat
9 11 (3.59%) Veeam
10 10 (3.27%) Splunk
11 9 (2.94%) Commvault
11 9 (2.94%) SolarWinds
12 7 (2.29%) Citrix
12 7 (2.29%) Qualys
13 6 (1.96%) Databricks
13 6 (1.96%) Meraki
13 6 (1.96%) Palo Alto