vSphere Contracts

VMware vSphere
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring vSphere skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited vSphere 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 375 403 401
Rank change year-on-year +28 -2 +52
Contract jobs citing vSphere 146 199 336
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.50% 0.46% 0.56%
As % of the System Software category 3.98% 4.24% 4.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 96 147 251
10th Percentile £371 £325 £313
25th Percentile £496 £453 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £480
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +4.15% +6.68%
75th Percentile £614 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £630 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £569 £475 £455
% change year-on-year +19.68% +4.40% +1.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 15
10th Percentile - - £26.70
25th Percentile - - £36.75
Median hourly rate - £70.66 £55.50
Median % change year-on-year - +27.32% +61.45%
75th Percentile - - £76.13
90th Percentile - - £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £70.66 £45.25
% change year-on-year - +56.15% +37.12%

All System Software Skills
UK

vSphere 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%

vSphere
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for vSphere in the UK

vSphere
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for vSphere in the UK

vSphere
Daily Rate Histogram

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

Daily rate histogram for vSphere in the UK

vSphere
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for vSphere in the UK

vSphere
Top 14 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing vSphere 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 +17 125 £566 +13.25% 75
UK excluding London +11 89 £569 +19.68% 69
Work from Home +35 40 £525 +5.00% 50
London +21 38 £525 - 11
South East +19 38 £575 +21.05% 27
North of England +49 27 £488 -4.41% 12
Yorkshire +29 15 £475 +26.67% 5
North West +21 12 £510 -5.12% 5
South West +10 10 £470 -7.39% 10
East of England - 8 £550 - 4
Midlands +21 3 £543 -32.19% 13
Scotland -1 3 £709 +45.49% 3
West Midlands +13 2 £543 -39.72% 10
East Midlands - 1 - - 3

vSphere
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 20 (13.70%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (6.16%) IIS
3 6 (4.11%) OpenStack
3 6 (4.11%) SharePoint
4 4 (2.74%) Apache
5 2 (1.37%) Confluence
6 1 (0.68%) BizTalk Server
6 1 (0.68%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 3 (2.05%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.68%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 58 (39.73%) Azure
2 29 (19.86%) Microsoft 365
3 28 (19.18%) IaaS
4 16 (10.96%) Entra ID
4 16 (10.96%) OpenShift
5 10 (6.85%) AWS
6 7 (4.79%) PaaS
6 7 (4.79%) SaaS
7 6 (4.11%) GitHub
8 4 (2.74%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (1.37%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (1.37%) GCP
9 2 (1.37%) Google Compute Engine
9 2 (1.37%) OCI
10 1 (0.68%) Amazon ELB
10 1 (0.68%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.68%) Azure Key Vault
10 1 (0.68%) Cohesity
10 1 (0.68%) Nutanix
10 1 (0.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 34 (23.29%) DNS
2 33 (22.60%) VSAN
3 32 (21.92%) Firewall
4 20 (13.70%) Network Security
5 18 (12.33%) SAN
6 17 (11.64%) DHCP
7 13 (8.90%) Intrusion Detection
8 11 (7.53%) TCP/IP
9 9 (6.16%) NAS
10 8 (5.48%) VLAN
11 7 (4.79%) Fibre Channel
11 7 (4.79%) iSCSI
11 7 (4.79%) NetScaler
12 6 (4.11%) SMTP
12 6 (4.11%) VXLAN
13 5 (3.42%) BGP
13 5 (3.42%) Ethernet VPN
13 5 (3.42%) Multicast
13 5 (3.42%) OSPF
13 5 (3.42%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (13.70%) SQL Server
2 10 (6.85%) Oracle Database
3 3 (2.05%) Big Data
3 3 (2.05%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.68%) GIS
4 1 (0.68%) MSDE
4 1 (0.68%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.68%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 16 (10.96%) Jenkins
2 9 (6.16%) Git
3 7 (4.79%) Sonatype Nexus
4 5 (3.42%) GitLab
5 3 (2.05%) Bitbucket
5 3 (2.05%) SonarQube
6 2 (1.37%) JIRA
6 2 (1.37%) Subversion
General
1 33 (22.60%) Social Skills
2 18 (12.33%) Telecoms
3 15 (10.27%) Finance
4 14 (9.59%) Public Sector
5 8 (5.48%) Law
6 7 (4.79%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (4.11%) Local Government
8 4 (2.74%) Analytical Skills
9 3 (2.05%) Banking
9 3 (2.05%) Billing
9 3 (2.05%) Legal
10 1 (0.68%) Electronics
10 1 (0.68%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.68%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.68%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 30 (20.55%) VMware Engineer
2 25 (17.12%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 17 (11.64%) Architect
4 15 (10.27%) Consultant
5 12 (8.22%) Infrastructure Specialist
5 12 (8.22%) Senior
5 12 (8.22%) VMware Infrastructure Engineer
6 9 (6.16%) Azure Engineer
6 9 (6.16%) Cloud Engineer
7 8 (5.48%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Database Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Infrastructure Architect
8 7 (4.79%) Oracle Database Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Support Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) VMware Architect
9 6 (4.11%) Analyst
9 6 (4.11%) Migration Engineer
10 5 (3.42%) Network Consultant
10 5 (3.42%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.74%) .NET
1 4 (2.74%) ASP.NET
1 4 (2.74%) Middleware
2 3 (2.05%) Apache NiFi
2 3 (2.05%) ASP.NET Core
2 3 (2.05%) CSS
2 3 (2.05%) HTML
2 3 (2.05%) RabbitMQ
3 1 (0.68%) LDAP
3 1 (0.68%) SOAP
3 1 (0.68%) XML
3 1 (0.68%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 20 (13.70%) Hybrid Cloud
2 17 (11.64%) Data Centre
3 16 (10.96%) Public Cloud
4 11 (7.53%) Clustering
5 9 (6.16%) PKI
6 6 (4.11%) Private Cloud
7 5 (3.42%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (3.42%) Linux Command Line
8 4 (2.74%) Management Information System
9 3 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (2.05%) Replication
10 2 (1.37%) CMDB
11 1 (0.68%) Blackberry
11 1 (0.68%) Cloud Native
11 1 (0.68%) NHS
11 1 (0.68%) Onboarding
11 1 (0.68%) RSA SecurID
11 1 (0.68%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 70 (47.95%) Windows
2 49 (33.56%) Windows Server
3 39 (26.71%) Linux
4 14 (9.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 14 (9.59%) Windows Server 2016
5 13 (8.90%) Windows Server 2019
6 10 (6.85%) CentOS
6 10 (6.85%) Windows 10
7 8 (5.48%) Ubuntu
8 7 (4.79%) Windows Server 2003
9 6 (4.11%) Unix
9 6 (4.11%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (2.74%) Android
10 4 (2.74%) Apple iOS
11 2 (1.37%) Solaris
11 2 (1.37%) VMS
12 1 (0.68%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.68%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 33 (22.60%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (21.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 24 (16.44%) High Availability
4 18 (12.33%) Change Management
4 18 (12.33%) Cybersecurity
5 17 (11.64%) Agile
6 16 (10.96%) Migration
7 15 (10.27%) CI/CD
7 15 (10.27%) Network Virtualisation
7 15 (10.27%) Project Delivery
8 14 (9.59%) Infrastructure Automation
8 14 (9.59%) Performance Tuning
9 13 (8.90%) Business Continuity
9 13 (8.90%) Disaster Recovery
10 12 (8.22%) ITIL
10 12 (8.22%) Vulnerability Scanning
11 10 (6.85%) DevOps
12 9 (6.16%) Customer Service
12 9 (6.16%) Enterprise Architecture
12 9 (6.16%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 51 (34.93%) PowerShell
2 25 (17.12%) Python
3 13 (8.90%) Shell Script
4 7 (4.79%) Bash
5 6 (4.11%) SQL
6 3 (2.05%) C#
6 3 (2.05%) Java
6 3 (2.05%) JavaScript
7 2 (1.37%) Perl
7 2 (1.37%) VBScript
8 1 (0.68%) C
8 1 (0.68%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 51 (34.93%) Security Cleared
2 31 (21.23%) DV Cleared
3 26 (17.81%) SC Cleared
4 16 (10.96%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
5 15 (10.27%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (8.22%) Azure Certification
7 7 (4.79%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (4.79%) VCAP
8 4 (2.74%) CCIE
8 4 (2.74%) CCIE Data Center
8 4 (2.74%) CCNP
8 4 (2.74%) OCP
8 4 (2.74%) Oracle Certification
9 3 (2.05%) CCNA
9 3 (2.05%) Degree
9 3 (2.05%) MCSE
9 3 (2.05%) VCP5
9 3 (2.05%) VCP6
10 2 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
11 1 (0.68%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.11%) SLA
2 4 (2.74%) GDPR
3 2 (1.37%) HIPAA
3 2 (1.37%) QA
4 1 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.68%) NIST
4 1 (0.68%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 101 (69.18%) VMware Infrastructure
2 61 (41.78%) Active Directory
3 32 (21.92%) VMware NSX
4 29 (19.86%) VMware ESXi
5 12 (8.22%) Hyper-V
6 8 (5.48%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (4.79%) XenApp
8 6 (4.11%) DFS Replication
8 6 (4.11%) Docker
8 6 (4.11%) NFS
8 6 (4.11%) XenDesktop
9 5 (3.42%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (2.05%) vCloud
10 3 (2.05%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 40 (27.40%) Ansible
2 34 (23.29%) vCenter Server
3 26 (17.81%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (13.01%) Terraform
5 18 (12.33%) Kubernetes
6 14 (9.59%) WSUS
7 13 (8.90%) vRealize
8 11 (7.53%) PowerCLI
9 9 (6.16%) Microsoft Clustering
9 9 (6.16%) VxRail
10 8 (5.48%) Nessus
10 8 (5.48%) SCCM
11 7 (4.79%) vRealize Orchestrator
12 5 (3.42%) Progress Chef
13 4 (2.74%) Norton AntiVirus
14 3 (2.05%) Failover Clustering
14 3 (2.05%) Kibana
15 2 (1.37%) Dell DRAC
15 2 (1.37%) Packer
15 2 (1.37%) SELinux
Vendors
1 127 (86.99%) VMware
2 64 (43.84%) Microsoft
3 23 (15.75%) Red Hat
4 15 (10.27%) Dell
5 13 (8.90%) Cisco
6 12 (8.22%) Citrix
7 11 (7.53%) Oracle
8 9 (6.16%) HP
8 9 (6.16%) Veeam
9 7 (4.79%) Symantec
10 5 (3.42%) NetApp
11 4 (2.74%) SolarWinds
12 3 (2.05%) Ericsson
12 3 (2.05%) Google
12 3 (2.05%) Infoblox
12 3 (2.05%) Meraki
12 3 (2.05%) Nokia
12 3 (2.05%) Palo Alto
12 3 (2.05%) Splunk
12 3 (2.05%) Veritas