WSUS Contract Job Trends

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring WSUS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 533 449 508
Rank change year-on-year -84 +59 +166
Contract jobs citing WSUS 39 102 125
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.28% 0.27%
As % of the Systems Management category 0.68% 1.96% 1.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 30 85 86
10th Percentile £330 £275 £275
25th Percentile £469 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £506
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -1.23% +8.58%
75th Percentile £594 £582 £594
90th Percentile £703 £608 £615
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +10.00% -2.44% +13.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 10
10th Percentile - - £36.36
25th Percentile - - £37.89
Median hourly rate - - £53.92
75th Percentile - - £60.00
90th Percentile - - £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £62.92
% change year-on-year - - +55.06%

All Systems Management Skills
UK

WSUS falls under the Systems Management category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring systems management skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills 5,701 5,197 6,639
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.24% 14.32% 14.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,812 3,319 4,729
10th Percentile £306 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £548
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.11% -4.78%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £688 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £517
% change year-on-year - -3.29% -1.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 105 62 169
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.67 £18.50
25th Percentile £19.00 £23.59 £32.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% -38.10% +104.20%
75th Percentile £63.25 £60.00 £75.00
90th Percentile £76.05 £74.40 £78.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £32.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year -23.08% -29.62% +100.78%

WSUS
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing WSUS relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

WSUS job vacancy trend in the UK

WSUS
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WSUS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WSUS

WSUS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing WSUS over the 6 months to 17 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for WSUS in the UK

WSUS
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WSUS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WSUS

WSUS
Top 12 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing WSUS within the UK over the 6 months to 17 November 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 -87 39 £550 +10.00% 14
UK excluding London -94 29 £550 +10.00% 13
South West +10 17 £550 +4.76% 2
London +5 10 £600 +23.08% 2
Work from Home -3 9 £538 -11.16% 5
East of England - 6 £550 -
South East -49 3 - - 8
North of England -41 2 £353 -25.79% 1
North West -27 1 £330 -30.53% 1
West Midlands -31 1 £300 -48.48%
Midlands -32 1 £300 -48.48% 1
Yorkshire - 1 £375 -

WSUS
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 13 (33.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (20.51%) SharePoint
3 5 (12.82%) Skype for Business
4 3 (7.69%) IIS
4 3 (7.69%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 8 (20.51%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (2.56%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 10 (25.64%) Azure
2 6 (15.38%) Microsoft 365
3 5 (12.82%) Cohesity
4 4 (10.26%) AWS
5 2 (5.13%) Azure Sentinel
5 2 (5.13%) Google Workspace
6 1 (2.56%) Entra ID
6 1 (2.56%) GCP
6 1 (2.56%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 22 (56.41%) DNS
2 14 (35.90%) DHCP
3 12 (30.77%) Skype
4 5 (12.82%) TCP/IP
4 5 (12.82%) Unified Communications
5 4 (10.26%) SAN
6 2 (5.13%) DMZ
6 2 (5.13%) Firewall
6 2 (5.13%) VPN
7 1 (2.56%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (7.69%) SQL Server
2 1 (2.56%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (2.56%) AdminStudio
1 1 (2.56%) InstallShield
1 1 (2.56%) JIRA
1 1 (2.56%) Metasploit
1 1 (2.56%) MSI
General
1 11 (28.21%) Social Skills
2 8 (20.51%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (15.38%) Public Sector
4 4 (10.26%) Finance
5 3 (7.69%) Banking
6 2 (5.13%) Front Office
6 2 (5.13%) Investment Banking
6 2 (5.13%) Legal
7 1 (2.56%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (2.56%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 8 (20.51%) Wintel Engineer
2 5 (12.82%) Analyst
2 5 (12.82%) Security Engineer
3 4 (10.26%) IT Engineer
4 3 (7.69%) Administrator
4 3 (7.69%) Infrastructure Analyst
4 3 (7.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 3 (7.69%) Platform Engineer
4 3 (7.69%) Server Administrator
5 2 (5.13%) Help Desk Analyst
5 2 (5.13%) Help Desk Engineer
5 2 (5.13%) Help Desk Support
5 2 (5.13%) Help Desk Support Analyst
5 2 (5.13%) IT Security Engineer
5 2 (5.13%) IT Support
5 2 (5.13%) IT Support Analyst
5 2 (5.13%) IT Support Engineer
5 2 (5.13%) Operations Engineer
5 2 (5.13%) Security Analyst
5 2 (5.13%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.56%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 11 (28.21%) PKI
2 2 (5.13%) Legacy Applications
2 2 (5.13%) Security Posture
3 1 (2.56%) Enterprise Software
3 1 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (2.56%) Onboarding
3 1 (2.56%) Smartcard
3 1 (2.56%) YubiKey
Operating Systems
1 35 (89.74%) Windows
2 25 (64.10%) Windows Server
3 10 (25.64%) Linux
4 8 (20.51%) Windows 10
5 7 (17.95%) Windows Server 2012
5 7 (17.95%) Windows Server 2016
5 7 (17.95%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (7.69%) CentOS
6 3 (7.69%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 15 (38.46%) ITIL
2 13 (33.33%) Service Management
3 11 (28.21%) Patch Management
4 10 (25.64%) SIEM
5 8 (20.51%) Critical Thinking
5 8 (20.51%) System Testing
6 7 (17.95%) Vulnerability Management
7 6 (15.38%) Change Management
7 6 (15.38%) Computer Science
7 6 (15.38%) Continuous Improvement
7 6 (15.38%) Root Cause Analysis
7 6 (15.38%) Server Management
8 5 (12.82%) Cybersecurity
8 5 (12.82%) Vulnerability Scanning
9 4 (10.26%) Build Automation
9 4 (10.26%) Deployment Automation
9 4 (10.26%) Incident Response
9 4 (10.26%) Operations Management
9 4 (10.26%) Problem-Solving
9 4 (10.26%) Security Hardening
Programming Languages
1 21 (53.85%) PowerShell
2 12 (30.77%) SQL
3 2 (5.13%) Bash
3 2 (5.13%) Python
4 1 (2.56%) Java
4 1 (2.56%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 20 (51.28%) Security Cleared
2 15 (38.46%) SC Cleared
3 10 (25.64%) Degree
4 9 (23.08%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (20.51%) MCSE
6 5 (12.82%) CCNA
6 5 (12.82%) CCNP
6 5 (12.82%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (12.82%) DV Cleared
6 5 (12.82%) ITIL Certification
6 5 (12.82%) Master's Degree
7 1 (2.56%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (7.69%) SLA
2 2 (5.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (2.56%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (2.56%) GDPR
3 1 (2.56%) NIST
System Software
1 22 (56.41%) Active Directory
2 15 (38.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (23.08%) Microsoft Virtual Server
3 9 (23.08%) Virtual Servers
4 8 (20.51%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (7.69%) Hyper-V
5 3 (7.69%) NFS
5 3 (7.69%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (7.69%) VMware NSX
6 1 (2.56%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 26 (66.67%) SCCM
2 10 (25.64%) Ansible
3 6 (15.38%) Microsoft Intune
4 5 (12.82%) vCenter Server
5 3 (7.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 3 (7.69%) Nessus
5 3 (7.69%) Terraform
6 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Clustering
6 2 (5.13%) NetApp OnCommand
6 2 (5.13%) vMotion
7 1 (2.56%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 23 (58.97%) Microsoft
2 16 (41.03%) VMware
3 9 (23.08%) SolarWinds
3 9 (23.08%) Splunk
3 9 (23.08%) Veeam
4 8 (20.51%) Cisco
5 4 (10.26%) NetApp
5 4 (10.26%) Qualys
6 3 (7.69%) Red Hat
6 3 (7.69%) Sophos
6 3 (7.69%) Tenable
7 2 (5.13%) Bloomberg
7 2 (5.13%) Citrix
7 2 (5.13%) ION Trading
7 2 (5.13%) Rapid7
7 2 (5.13%) Reuters
8 1 (2.56%) Kaseya
8 1 (2.56%) Progress
8 1 (2.56%) ServiceNow
8 1 (2.56%) Veracode