Virtual Desktop Contracts with Hybrid/Remote/WFH Options

Virtual Desktop
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics for remote or hybrid contract work requiring Virtual Desktop skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Virtual Desktop over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 279 297 363
Rank change year-on-year +18 +66 +136
Contract jobs citing Virtual Desktop 25 48 115
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 0.25% 0.31% 0.44%
As % of the System Software category 2.14% 3.31% 3.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 38 88
10th Percentile £295 £346 £400
25th Percentile £475 £500 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £555
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +8.11% +5.71%
75th Percentile £559 £608 £600
90th Percentile £605 - £629
UK median daily rate £525 £600 £550
% change year-on-year -12.50% +9.09% +10.00%

All System Software Skills
Work from Home

Virtual Desktop falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring system software skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 1,169 1,452 3,207
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 11.80% 9.46% 12.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 868 1,058 2,296
10th Percentile £358 £263 £300
25th Percentile £425 £405 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £534 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.68% -3.84% -
75th Percentile £625 £618 £633
90th Percentile £775 £677 £725
UK median daily rate £525 £488 £525
% change year-on-year +7.69% -7.14% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 34 101
10th Percentile £25.25 £15.50 £19.00
25th Percentile £52.44 £15.88 £47.50
Median hourly rate £65.50 £43.32 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +51.20% -33.35% +165.31%
75th Percentile £79.38 £65.00 £70.25
90th Percentile £92.50 £84.57 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £22.50 £53.43
% change year-on-year +22.22% -57.88% +167.13%

Virtual Desktop
Trend for Jobs with a WFH Option

Job vacancies with remote working options citing Virtual Desktop as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Virtual Desktop trend for jobs with Hybrid/Remote/WFH options

Virtual Desktop
Daily Rate Trend for Jobs with a WFH Option

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in job vacancies with remote working options citing Virtual Desktop.

Virtual Desktop daily rate for jobs with a WFH option

Virtual Desktop
Daily Rate Histogram for Jobs with a WFH Option

Daily rate distribution for jobs with remote working options citing Virtual Desktop over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Virtual Desktop daily rate histogram for jobs with a WFH option

Virtual Desktop
Hourly Rate Trend for Jobs with a WFH Option

3-month moving average hourly rate quoted in job vacancies with remote working options citing Virtual Desktop.

Virtual Desktop hourly rate for jobs with a WFH option

Virtual Desktop
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities with WFH Options 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 3 (12.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (8.00%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (4.00%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 18 (72.00%) Azure
2 8 (32.00%) Microsoft 365
3 4 (16.00%) Entra ID
4 3 (12.00%) IaaS
4 3 (12.00%) PaaS
4 3 (12.00%) SaaS
5 2 (8.00%) Azure Monitor
5 2 (8.00%) Cloud Computing
5 2 (8.00%) Power Platform
5 2 (8.00%) PowerApps
6 1 (4.00%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (4.00%) Azure Logic Apps
6 1 (4.00%) Azure Storage
6 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Purview
6 1 (4.00%) OneDrive
6 1 (4.00%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 2 (8.00%) DHCP
1 2 (8.00%) DNS
1 2 (8.00%) VPN
1 2 (8.00%) Wi-Fi
2 1 (4.00%) Firewall
2 1 (4.00%) MPLS
2 1 (4.00%) NetScaler
2 1 (4.00%) Network Security
2 1 (4.00%) Remote Desktop
2 1 (4.00%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (8.00%) Power BI
2 1 (4.00%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (4.00%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (4.00%) SQL Server
General
1 6 (24.00%) Social Skills
2 2 (8.00%) Finance
2 2 (8.00%) Local Government
2 2 (8.00%) Public Sector
3 1 (4.00%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (4.00%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (4.00%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 4 (16.00%) Support Engineer
2 3 (12.00%) Architect
3 2 (8.00%) 2nd Line Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) 2nd Line Support
3 2 (8.00%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Azure Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Consultant
3 2 (8.00%) Desktop Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Linux Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Solutions Architect
4 1 (4.00%) Active Directory Consultant
4 1 (4.00%) Active Directory Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Active Directory Support
4 1 (4.00%) Active Directory Support Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Azure Consultant
4 1 (4.00%) Cloud Architect
4 1 (4.00%) Cloud Solutions Architect
4 1 (4.00%) IT Support
4 1 (4.00%) Migration Specialist
4 1 (4.00%) Network Performance Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (4.00%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 2 (8.00%) Hybrid Cloud
1 2 (8.00%) Low-Code
1 2 (8.00%) PKI
2 1 (4.00%) Legacy Systems
2 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Licensing
2 1 (4.00%) NHS
2 1 (4.00%) Replication
2 1 (4.00%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 10 (40.00%) Windows
2 6 (24.00%) Linux
3 4 (16.00%) Apple iOS
3 4 (16.00%) Windows Server
4 3 (12.00%) Android
5 2 (8.00%) Windows 10
5 2 (8.00%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (4.00%) Mac OS
6 1 (4.00%) Unix
6 1 (4.00%) VMS
6 1 (4.00%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (24.00%) Migration
2 5 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
3 4 (16.00%) DevOps
3 4 (16.00%) ITIL
3 4 (16.00%) Service Management
4 3 (12.00%) Agile
4 3 (12.00%) Customer Service
4 3 (12.00%) Roadmaps
5 2 (8.00%) Business Intelligence
5 2 (8.00%) CI/CD
5 2 (8.00%) Configuration Management
5 2 (8.00%) Infrastructure as Code
5 2 (8.00%) ITSM
5 2 (8.00%) Multi-Factor Authentication
5 2 (8.00%) Test Automation
6 1 (4.00%) Customer Engagement
6 1 (4.00%) Mobile Device Management
6 1 (4.00%) Problem Management
6 1 (4.00%) Product Management
6 1 (4.00%) Release Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (36.00%) PowerShell
2 1 (4.00%) Bicep
2 1 (4.00%) C#
2 1 (4.00%) SQL
2 1 (4.00%) VB
2 1 (4.00%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 13 (52.00%) Security Cleared
2 8 (32.00%) SC Cleared
3 6 (24.00%) DV Cleared
4 2 (8.00%) Degree
5 1 (4.00%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (4.00%) NCSC
System Software
1 7 (28.00%) Active Directory
2 2 (8.00%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (8.00%) vSphere
3 1 (4.00%) BitLocker
3 1 (4.00%) XenApp
3 1 (4.00%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 12 (48.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (12.00%) SCCM
3 2 (8.00%) Terraform
4 1 (4.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 1 (4.00%) Kubernetes
4 1 (4.00%) SCOM
4 1 (4.00%) SCOrch
4 1 (4.00%) WSUS
Vendors
1 8 (32.00%) Microsoft
2 6 (24.00%) Citrix
3 3 (12.00%) Remedy
4 2 (8.00%) Zscaler
5 1 (4.00%) Apple
5 1 (4.00%) Cisco
5 1 (4.00%) Meraki
5 1 (4.00%) Nexthink
5 1 (4.00%) Palo Alto
5 1 (4.00%) ServiceNow