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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 366 332 320
Rank change year-on-year -34 -12 +2
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 289 191 272
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.66% 0.64%
As % of the System Software category 5.98% 5.33% 5.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 120 186
10th Percentile £357 £350 £309
25th Percentile £424 £456 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £497 £513 £518
Median % change year-on-year -3.12% -0.97% -4.17%
75th Percentile £568 £616 £608
90th Percentile £654 £750 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.40% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 10 27
10th Percentile - £33.25 -
25th Percentile - £40.31 £14.06
Median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% +330.77% -77.84%
75th Percentile - £65.63 £15.19
90th Percentile - £66.00 £86.97
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £14.63
% change year-on-year +11.11% +330.77% -77.33%

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 4,831 3,586 4,571
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.06% 12.31% 10.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,243 2,435 3,147
10th Percentile £219 £213 £200
25th Percentile £400 £388 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -4.76%
75th Percentile £594 £611 £600
90th Percentile £680 £700 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £463
% change year-on-year - +2.70% -3.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 184 84 230
10th Percentile £16.25 £14.99 £14.06
25th Percentile £21.25 £15.41 £14.48
Median hourly rate £52.50 £28.00 £22.40
Median % change year-on-year +87.50% +25.00% -58.52%
75th Percentile £74.00 £64.50 £60.75
90th Percentile £91.00 £88.53 £78.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £32.32 £19.18
% change year-on-year +62.43% +68.57% -54.21%

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 16 May 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
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 16 May 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 -19 269 £497 -5.43% 62
UK excluding London -27 159 £483 -3.40% 49
London -45 105 £525 -10.64% 21
Work from Home +7 103 £500 -1.23% 33
North of England +3 91 £481 +28.27% 11
Yorkshire -11 50 £500 +5.26% 4
North West -9 40 £465 +23.89% 7
South East -43 37 £514 -10.61% 13
Midlands -72 15 £425 -15.00% 5
West Midlands -68 12 £375 -25.00% 3
East of England -34 9 £425 -19.05% 4
South West -34 8 £450 -15.89% 7
Scotland -7 5 £550 +7.32% 3
North East -23 1 £400 +10.34%
East Midlands -26 1 £500 -4.76% 2

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 6 (2.08%) OpenStack
2 5 (1.73%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.38%) SharePoint
4 3 (1.04%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.04%) Palantir Foundry
5 2 (0.69%) Apache
5 2 (0.69%) CMS
5 2 (0.69%) Confluence
5 2 (0.69%) nginx
5 2 (0.69%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.35%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.35%) IIS
6 1 (0.35%) JBoss
6 1 (0.35%) WebLogic
Applications
1 3 (1.04%) Adobe Illustrator
1 3 (1.04%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.69%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.35%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 114 (39.45%) Azure
2 51 (17.65%) AWS
3 41 (14.19%) OpenShift
4 34 (11.76%) GitHub
5 26 (9.00%) Azure DevOps
6 24 (8.30%) Entra ID
6 24 (8.30%) GitHub Actions
7 20 (6.92%) Azure Monitor
8 19 (6.57%) Serverless
9 18 (6.23%) GCP
10 17 (5.88%) Azure AKS
11 13 (4.50%) Microsoft 365
12 11 (3.81%) Azure Storage
13 10 (3.46%) Nutanix
14 9 (3.11%) AWS Lambda
14 9 (3.11%) Azure Key Vault
15 8 (2.77%) PaaS
16 7 (2.42%) Amazon EC2
16 7 (2.42%) Azure Functions
17 6 (2.08%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 37 (12.80%) Firewall
2 36 (12.46%) DNS
3 23 (7.96%) VPN
4 21 (7.27%) VLAN
5 19 (6.57%) Network Security
6 17 (5.88%) DHCP
7 15 (5.19%) VSAN
8 12 (4.15%) WAN
9 11 (3.81%) SSL
10 9 (3.11%) SAN
10 9 (3.11%) SD-WAN
11 8 (2.77%) Reverse Proxy
11 8 (2.77%) TCP/IP
12 7 (2.42%) LAN
13 5 (1.73%) FTP
13 5 (1.73%) Wi-Fi
14 4 (1.38%) SSH
15 2 (0.69%) Cisco Nexus
15 2 (0.69%) IPsec
15 2 (0.69%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.88%) SQL Server
2 9 (3.11%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (2.42%) Azure SQL Database
4 6 (2.08%) DB2
4 6 (2.08%) Oracle Database
5 5 (1.73%) Power BI
6 4 (1.38%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (1.04%) Amazon Athena
7 3 (1.04%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (1.04%) Amazon Redshift
7 3 (1.04%) Apache Hive
7 3 (1.04%) Big Data
7 3 (1.04%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.04%) DynamoDB
7 3 (1.04%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.04%) MySQL
8 2 (0.69%) Data Hub
8 2 (0.69%) ImageNet
9 1 (0.35%) Power Query
9 1 (0.35%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 29 (10.03%) Git
2 15 (5.19%) GitLab
3 11 (3.81%) Jenkins
4 9 (3.11%) JIRA
5 7 (2.42%) PVCS
6 6 (2.08%) Rational DOORS
7 3 (1.04%) SonarQube
7 3 (1.04%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.69%) JMeter
8 2 (0.69%) Postman
8 2 (0.69%) Selenium
8 2 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.69%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.35%) Gradle
9 1 (0.35%) RStudio
General
1 38 (13.15%) Social Skills
2 19 (6.57%) Finance
3 15 (5.19%) Public Sector
4 13 (4.50%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 10 (3.46%) Legal
7 9 (3.11%) Banking
8 6 (2.08%) Electronics
9 5 (1.73%) Retail
10 3 (1.04%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.04%) Front Office
10 3 (1.04%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.04%) Marketing
11 2 (0.69%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.35%) Advertising
12 1 (0.35%) Back Office
12 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.35%) Police
12 1 (0.35%) Social Science
12 1 (0.35%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 37 (12.80%) DevOps Engineer
2 24 (8.30%) Azure Engineer
3 23 (7.96%) Senior
4 22 (7.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 20 (6.92%) Architect
6 17 (5.88%) Wintel Engineer
7 13 (4.50%) Cloud Engineer
8 12 (4.15%) Analyst
8 12 (4.15%) Lead
9 11 (3.81%) Consultant
9 11 (3.81%) VMware Engineer
10 9 (3.11%) Azure DevOps Engineer
10 9 (3.11%) Security Engineer
11 8 (2.77%) Site Reliability Engineer
12 7 (2.42%) Administrator
12 7 (2.42%) Linux Engineer
12 7 (2.42%) Migration Engineer
12 7 (2.42%) Platform Engineer
13 6 (2.08%) DBA
13 6 (2.08%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.77%) ARM Templates
1 8 (2.77%) REST
1 8 (2.77%) YAML
2 4 (1.38%) Middleware
3 3 (1.04%) Hugging Face
3 3 (1.04%) JSON
4 2 (0.69%) .NET
4 2 (0.69%) OpenCV
4 2 (0.69%) PySpark
4 2 (0.69%) PyTorch
4 2 (0.69%) Regular Expression
4 2 (0.69%) SpaCy
4 2 (0.69%) TensorFlow
5 1 (0.35%) Java SE
5 1 (0.35%) LDAP
5 1 (0.35%) OpenID
5 1 (0.35%) SciPy
5 1 (0.35%) SOAP
5 1 (0.35%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.35%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 30 (10.38%) Replication
2 24 (8.30%) Data Centre
3 22 (7.61%) Clustering
4 15 (5.19%) Cloud Native
4 15 (5.19%) Hybrid Cloud
5 12 (4.15%) Linux Command Line
6 11 (3.81%) Private Cloud
7 10 (3.46%) Product Ownership
8 7 (2.42%) Onboarding
8 7 (2.42%) PKI
9 6 (2.08%) FlexPod
9 6 (2.08%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.73%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.38%) Public Cloud
12 3 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (1.04%) Mainframe
12 3 (1.04%) SCADA
12 3 (1.04%) Security Posture
12 3 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
13 2 (0.69%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 80 (27.68%) Linux
2 79 (27.34%) Windows
3 46 (15.92%) Windows Server
4 37 (12.80%) VMS
5 30 (10.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (2.77%) AIX
6 8 (2.77%) CoreOS
6 8 (2.77%) Unix
7 7 (2.42%) Data ONTAP
8 4 (1.38%) SUSE
9 3 (1.04%) Apple iOS
9 3 (1.04%) Ubuntu
9 3 (1.04%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.69%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.35%) Android
11 1 (0.35%) Rocky
11 1 (0.35%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (28.37%) CI/CD
2 80 (27.68%) DevOps
3 69 (23.88%) Migration
4 56 (19.38%) Infrastructure as Code
5 43 (14.88%) Disaster Recovery
5 43 (14.88%) High Availability
6 36 (12.46%) Network Virtualisation
6 36 (12.46%) Performance Tuning
7 35 (12.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 32 (11.07%) Continuous Improvement
9 31 (10.73%) Capacity Planning
10 30 (10.38%) Containerisation
11 24 (8.30%) Cybersecurity
12 23 (7.96%) Platform Engineering
13 21 (7.27%) Technical Leadership
13 21 (7.27%) Vulnerability Management
14 20 (6.92%) RBAC
14 20 (6.92%) Validation
15 19 (6.57%) Problem-Solving
15 19 (6.57%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 71 (24.57%) Python
2 69 (23.88%) PowerShell
3 43 (14.88%) Bash
4 37 (12.80%) SQL
5 11 (3.81%) Shell Script
6 9 (3.11%) Bicep
7 8 (2.77%) C
8 6 (2.08%) C++
8 6 (2.08%) Embedded C
8 6 (2.08%) Embedded C++
8 6 (2.08%) Java
9 5 (1.73%) C#
9 5 (1.73%) Ruby
10 4 (1.38%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.69%) Go
11 2 (0.69%) Korn
11 2 (0.69%) PHP
12 1 (0.35%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.35%) Groovy
12 1 (0.35%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 74 (25.61%) Security Cleared
2 58 (20.07%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
4 18 (6.23%) VCAP
5 17 (5.88%) OCP
5 17 (5.88%) Oracle Certification
6 16 (5.54%) Microsoft Certification
7 15 (5.19%) MCSA
7 15 (5.19%) MCSE
8 13 (4.50%) Azure Certification
9 9 (3.11%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.08%) BPSS Clearance
11 4 (1.38%) Degree
12 3 (1.04%) CISSP
12 3 (1.04%) ISTQB
12 3 (1.04%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 3 (1.04%) PMI Certification
12 3 (1.04%) PMP
13 2 (0.69%) CISM
13 2 (0.69%) RHCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (4.15%) QA
2 6 (2.08%) GDPR
3 3 (1.04%) Accessibility
3 3 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.69%) GMP
4 2 (0.69%) GxP
5 1 (0.35%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.35%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.35%) NIST
5 1 (0.35%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.35%) SLA
5 1 (0.35%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.35%) WCAG
System Software
1 90 (31.14%) VMware Infrastructure
2 52 (17.99%) vSphere
3 46 (15.92%) VMware ESXi
4 38 (13.15%) Active Directory
5 30 (10.38%) Hyper-V
6 18 (6.23%) Docker
7 17 (5.88%) KVM
8 10 (3.46%) Firmware
8 10 (3.46%) NFS
9 9 (3.11%) VMware NSX
10 8 (2.77%) Ceph
11 5 (1.73%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.69%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 2 (0.69%) HDFS
12 2 (0.69%) Xen
13 1 (0.35%) NLBS
13 1 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.35%) Samba
13 1 (0.35%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 1 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 76 (26.30%) Terraform
2 66 (22.84%) Ansible
3 58 (20.07%) Kubernetes
4 41 (14.19%) vCenter Server
5 12 (4.15%) PowerCLI
6 11 (3.81%) Grafana
7 9 (3.11%) SCCM
8 8 (2.77%) Microsoft Intune
8 8 (2.77%) Prometheus
9 7 (2.42%) SnapMirror
10 6 (2.08%) IBM BigFix
10 6 (2.08%) VxRail
10 6 (2.08%) WSUS
11 4 (1.38%) Argo
11 4 (1.38%) Data Guard
11 4 (1.38%) Failover Clustering
11 4 (1.38%) Microsoft Clustering
11 4 (1.38%) Oracle RMAN
11 4 (1.38%) systemd
11 4 (1.38%) vMotion
Vendors
1 94 (32.53%) VMware
2 78 (26.99%) Microsoft
3 30 (10.38%) Cisco
4 22 (7.61%) Red Hat
5 17 (5.88%) IBM
6 13 (4.50%) NetApp
6 13 (4.50%) Oracle
7 12 (4.15%) Dell
7 12 (4.15%) Google
8 10 (3.46%) Tenable
8 10 (3.46%) Veeam
9 7 (2.42%) Commvault
10 6 (2.08%) ANSYS
10 6 (2.08%) ServiceNow
10 6 (2.08%) SolarWinds
11 5 (1.73%) CyberArk
11 5 (1.73%) Databricks
11 5 (1.73%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.73%) Qualys
11 5 (1.73%) Splunk