Windows Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Microsoft Windows
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Windows skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 17 10
Rank change year-on-year -12 -7 +3
Permanent jobs citing Windows 248 286 703
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 4.79% 10.20% 10.87%
As % of the Operating Systems category 68.51% 70.62% 70.09%
Number of salaries quoted 206 200 643
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,475 £26,000
25th Percentile £31,000 £32,188 £31,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £40,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% - +23.08%
75th Percentile £45,000 £50,000 £55,000
90th Percentile £65,000 £60,000 £59,000
South East median annual salary £36,000 £40,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -10.00% - +9.59%

All Operating Systems
Thames Valley

Windows falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring operating system skills in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 362 405 1,003
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 7.00% 14.44% 15.51%
Number of salaries quoted 282 293 898
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £36,250 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £45,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +5.88% +7.59%
75th Percentile £62,500 £58,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
South East median annual salary £45,000 £45,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year - +5.88% -

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Windows relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Windows job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Windows
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Windows.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Windows

Windows
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Windows in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 11 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Windows in the Thames Valley

Windows
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Windows within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 11 April 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Buckinghamshire -12 101 £35,000 -22.22% 25
Berkshire -2 98 £42,500 -5.56% 30
Oxfordshire -22 49 £33,000 -17.50% 22
Windows
South East

Windows
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 26 (10.48%) SharePoint
2 15 (6.05%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (2.82%) IIS
4 2 (0.81%) CMS
4 2 (0.81%) Exchange Server 2013
4 2 (0.81%) WordPress
5 1 (0.40%) Apache
Applications
1 43 (17.34%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 97 (39.11%) Microsoft 365
2 75 (30.24%) Azure
3 19 (7.66%) AWS
3 19 (7.66%) Google Workspace
4 18 (7.26%) Entra ID
4 18 (7.26%) GCP
5 8 (3.23%) SaaS
6 6 (2.42%) Azure DevOps
7 4 (1.61%) Power Automate
7 4 (1.61%) Power Platform
8 3 (1.21%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.81%) Mimecast
10 1 (0.40%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.40%) IaaS
10 1 (0.40%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 72 (29.03%) Firewall
2 54 (21.77%) DNS
3 31 (12.50%) DHCP
4 26 (10.48%) LAN
5 25 (10.08%) VPN
6 23 (9.27%) WAN
7 22 (8.87%) VoIP
8 21 (8.47%) TCP/IP
9 15 (6.05%) Wi-Fi
10 10 (4.03%) Wireless
11 7 (2.82%) NAS
12 5 (2.02%) SAN
12 5 (2.02%) VLAN
13 4 (1.61%) NetScaler
13 4 (1.61%) Remote Desktop
13 4 (1.61%) Wireshark
14 3 (1.21%) Ethernet
14 3 (1.21%) Network Security
15 2 (0.81%) Cisco ISE
15 2 (0.81%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.03%) SQL Server
2 6 (2.42%) Relational Database
2 6 (2.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 4 (1.61%) Power BI
4 3 (1.21%) Data Mining
4 3 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.40%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 27 (10.89%) JIRA
2 3 (1.21%) Subversion
3 1 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
3 1 (0.40%) Git
General
1 95 (38.31%) Social Skills
2 13 (5.24%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (4.84%) Finance
4 11 (4.44%) Telecoms
5 10 (4.03%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (2.42%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.02%) Manufacturing
7 5 (2.02%) Retail
8 3 (1.21%) Games
8 3 (1.21%) Local Government
9 2 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (0.81%) Legal
10 1 (0.40%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.40%) Automotive
10 1 (0.40%) Aviation
10 1 (0.40%) Electronics
10 1 (0.40%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 102 (41.13%) IT Support
2 63 (25.40%) Support Engineer
3 62 (25.00%) IT Engineer
4 55 (22.18%) Analyst
5 54 (21.77%) IT Support Engineer
6 46 (18.55%) Support Analyst
7 26 (10.48%) Technical Support
8 25 (10.08%) 2nd Line Support
9 24 (9.68%) Architect
10 21 (8.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 20 (8.06%) IT Analyst
12 17 (6.85%) Technical Analyst
12 17 (6.85%) Technical Support Analyst
13 16 (6.45%) IT Support Analyst
14 15 (6.05%) Applications Support
15 13 (5.24%) Applications Support Analyst
15 13 (5.24%) IT Support Technician
15 13 (5.24%) IT Technician
15 13 (5.24%) Senior
15 13 (5.24%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.63%) Regular Expression
2 8 (3.23%) .NET
2 8 (3.23%) LDAP
3 7 (2.82%) WinForms
4 6 (2.42%) .NET Framework
4 6 (2.42%) Entity Framework
4 6 (2.42%) XMPP
5 5 (2.02%) ASP.NET
6 3 (1.21%) JSON
6 3 (1.21%) JSON Schema
6 3 (1.21%) XML
7 2 (0.81%) Middleware
7 2 (0.81%) Web Services
8 1 (0.40%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 26 (10.48%) Driving Licence
2 24 (9.68%) Social Media
3 19 (7.66%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.03%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (3.23%) NHS
6 7 (2.82%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.02%) PKI
8 4 (1.61%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.61%) Management Information System
9 3 (1.21%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.21%) Linux Command Line
10 2 (0.81%) Fibre Optics
10 2 (0.81%) Security Posture
11 1 (0.40%) Clustering
11 1 (0.40%) Embedded Systems
11 1 (0.40%) EPoS
11 1 (0.40%) FMCG
11 1 (0.40%) Renewable Energy
11 1 (0.40%) Replication
11 1 (0.40%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 91 (36.69%) Windows Server
2 45 (18.15%) Linux
3 22 (8.87%) Windows 10
4 13 (5.24%) Android
4 13 (5.24%) Apple iOS
5 12 (4.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (4.03%) Mac OS
7 8 (3.23%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.81%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.81%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.40%) Unix
9 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (29.44%) Customer Service
2 69 (27.82%) Problem-Solving
3 28 (11.29%) Cybersecurity
4 27 (10.89%) ITIL
5 23 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
6 22 (8.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 19 (7.66%) Creative Thinking
8 16 (6.45%) Mentoring
9 15 (6.05%) Computer Science
10 13 (5.24%) SIEM
11 10 (4.03%) Customer-Centricity
11 10 (4.03%) Disaster Recovery
11 10 (4.03%) Network Design
11 10 (4.03%) Root Cause Analysis
11 10 (4.03%) Software Engineering
12 9 (3.63%) Customer-Centric Approach
12 9 (3.63%) Data Protection
13 8 (3.23%) Application Security
13 8 (3.23%) Data-Driven Decision Making
13 8 (3.23%) Mobile Device Management
Programming Languages
1 34 (13.71%) SQL
2 13 (5.24%) PowerShell
3 9 (3.63%) T-SQL
4 7 (2.82%) C#
5 5 (2.02%) Python
6 3 (1.21%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.40%) Bicep
7 1 (0.40%) C++
7 1 (0.40%) Java
7 1 (0.40%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 42 (16.94%) DBS Check
2 41 (16.53%) Degree
3 36 (14.52%) Security Cleared
4 28 (11.29%) DV Cleared
5 11 (4.44%) Microsoft Certification
6 9 (3.63%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (3.63%) SC Cleared
7 8 (3.23%) A+ Certification
8 6 (2.42%) MCSE
9 3 (1.21%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (1.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 2 (0.81%) CCNA
10 2 (0.81%) ISTQB
10 2 (0.81%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.81%) Network+ Certification
10 2 (0.81%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 1 (0.40%) CCIE
11 1 (0.40%) CCNP
11 1 (0.40%) CCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (4.03%) SLA
2 7 (2.82%) Cyber Essentials
2 7 (2.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (1.61%) QA
4 3 (1.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.40%) GDPR
System Software
1 108 (43.55%) Active Directory
2 20 (8.06%) Hyper-V
3 18 (7.26%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (6.05%) vSphere
5 10 (4.03%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.61%) Docker
7 3 (1.21%) BitLocker
7 3 (1.21%) Terminal Services
8 2 (0.81%) Terminal Server
9 1 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 21 (8.47%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (4.03%) vRealize
3 5 (2.02%) Jamf Pro
3 5 (2.02%) SCCM
3 5 (2.02%) SCOM
3 5 (2.02%) SmoothWall
4 2 (0.81%) SCSM
5 1 (0.40%) Autotask
5 1 (0.40%) Control-M
5 1 (0.40%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.40%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.40%) Kibana
5 1 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.40%) Terraform
Vendors
1 120 (48.39%) Microsoft
2 48 (19.35%) VMware
3 26 (10.48%) Google
4 10 (4.03%) Cisco
5 8 (3.23%) ServiceNow
6 7 (2.82%) McAfee
6 7 (2.82%) Palo Alto
7 6 (2.42%) CheckPoint
7 6 (2.42%) Citrix
7 6 (2.42%) Meraki
7 6 (2.42%) Red Hat
7 6 (2.42%) Sage
7 6 (2.42%) Xamarin
8 5 (2.02%) Adobe
8 5 (2.02%) Veeam
9 4 (1.61%) Atlassian
9 4 (1.61%) NetApp
9 4 (1.61%) Sophos
10 3 (1.21%) Juniper
10 3 (1.21%) Oracle