Windows Server Job Trends

Microsoft Windows Server
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Windows Server skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 123 101 88
Rank change year-on-year -22 -13 -8
Permanent jobs citing Windows Server 1,667 1,494 2,305
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.55% 2.99% 2.78%
As % of the Operating Systems category 26.16% 21.62% 22.34%
Number of salaries quoted 1,324 1,275 1,829
10th Percentile £27,750 £27,500 £26,450
25th Percentile £30,938 £31,250 £31,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,000 £40,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -5.88% -5.56%
75th Percentile £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
90th Percentile £68,750 £72,500 £65,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £40,500
% change year-on-year +6.67% -7.41% +1.25%

All Operating Systems
UK

Windows Server 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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 6,372 6,911 10,318
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.93% 13.85% 12.43%
Number of salaries quoted 4,768 4,602 7,316
10th Percentile £28,000 £27,000 £26,500
25th Percentile £32,000 £31,250 £34,438
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,000 £48,925
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -14.15% -6.81%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £42,500 £38,325 £45,000
% change year-on-year +10.89% -14.83% -2.17%

Windows Server
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Windows Server job vacancy trend in the UK

Windows Server
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Windows Server.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Windows Server

Windows Server
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Windows Server over the 6 months to 20 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Windows Server in the UK

Windows Server
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Windows Server within the UK over the 6 months to 20 August 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
England -23 1,548 £42,000 +5.00% 405
UK excluding London -5 1,394 £40,000 +6.67% 346
Work from Home -15 368 £42,500 - 136
South East +2 359 £42,500 +6.25% 133
North of England +20 353 £37,500 +11.94% 72
London -94 243 £55,000 -8.33% 106
South West -32 218 £37,500 -5.06% 40
Midlands -22 196 £37,500 +7.14% 50
North West +55 194 £37,500 +1.35% 37
East of England -8 180 £36,500 -23.16% 44
Yorkshire -28 126 £37,500 +25.00% 21
East Midlands -20 101 £32,500 -7.14% 17
West Midlands -30 95 £42,500 +21.43% 33
Wales -42 44 £43,750 -23.91% 7
Scotland +17 39 £32,500 -18.75% 12
North East -53 33 £42,500 +21.43% 17
Northern Ireland -76 5 £40,000 -27.27% 1

Windows Server
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
1 451 (27.05%) Microsoft Exchange
2 299 (17.94%) SharePoint
3 86 (5.16%) IIS
4 35 (2.10%) Confluence
5 22 (1.32%) Apache
6 17 (1.02%) nginx
7 10 (0.60%) WordPress
8 8 (0.48%) Skype for Business
9 6 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2013
10 4 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 4 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2007
10 4 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2010
10 4 (0.24%) JBoss
10 4 (0.24%) SAS
11 3 (0.18%) Tomcat
12 1 (0.060%) CMS
12 1 (0.060%) Drupal
12 1 (0.060%) HCL Notes
12 1 (0.060%) NetWeaver
12 1 (0.060%) Site Server
Applications
1 137 (8.22%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (2.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 3 (0.18%) Photoshop
4 2 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.12%) SmartSuite
4 2 (0.12%) SOLIDWORKS
5 1 (0.060%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.060%) Revit
Business Applications
1 5 (0.30%) Infor CloudSuite
2 4 (0.24%) Exchequer
2 4 (0.24%) Primavera
3 3 (0.18%) Infor LN
3 3 (0.18%) Infor M3
3 3 (0.18%) NetSuite
3 3 (0.18%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.18%) Sage X3
4 2 (0.12%) Carpe Diem
4 2 (0.12%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
4 2 (0.12%) Sage 200
4 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.060%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.060%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.060%) Magento
5 1 (0.060%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,072 (64.31%) Microsoft 365
2 898 (53.87%) Azure
3 483 (28.97%) Entra ID
4 174 (10.44%) AWS
5 107 (6.42%) OneDrive
6 63 (3.78%) SaaS
7 47 (2.82%) IaaS
8 39 (2.34%) Power Platform
9 34 (2.04%) PaaS
10 30 (1.80%) Power Automate
11 28 (1.68%) Nutanix
12 26 (1.56%) Microsoft Copilot
13 24 (1.44%) GCP
14 22 (1.32%) Google Workspace
15 20 (1.20%) Mimecast
16 18 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
17 16 (0.96%) Microsoft Purview
18 15 (0.90%) Cloudflare
19 13 (0.78%) GitHub
20 12 (0.72%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 619 (37.13%) DNS
2 536 (32.15%) Firewall
3 500 (29.99%) DHCP
4 261 (15.66%) VPN
5 249 (14.94%) TCP/IP
6 197 (11.82%) VLAN
7 195 (11.70%) WAN
8 183 (10.98%) LAN
9 137 (8.22%) Wireless
10 124 (7.44%) Wi-Fi
11 110 (6.60%) VoIP
12 70 (4.20%) SAN
13 68 (4.08%) Network Security
14 35 (2.10%) NAS
15 28 (1.68%) Internet
16 25 (1.50%) SSL
17 19 (1.14%) VSAN
18 17 (1.02%) Remote Desktop
19 16 (0.96%) Structured Cabling
20 14 (0.84%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 186 (11.16%) SQL Server
2 96 (5.76%) Amazon RDS
3 25 (1.50%) MySQL
4 20 (1.20%) Power BI
5 17 (1.02%) PostgreSQL
6 16 (0.96%) Azure SQL Database
7 15 (0.90%) MongoDB
8 12 (0.72%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 10 (0.60%) Oracle Database
10 8 (0.48%) Crystal Reports
10 8 (0.48%) Relational Database
11 5 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
12 4 (0.24%) Elasticsearch
12 4 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.18%) Data Lake
13 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 2 (0.12%) BusinessObjects
14 2 (0.12%) Looker
14 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
14 2 (0.12%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 58 (3.48%) JIRA
2 51 (3.06%) Git
3 19 (1.14%) GitLab
4 15 (0.90%) Jenkins
5 9 (0.54%) Bitbucket
5 9 (0.54%) Visual Studio Code
6 4 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.12%) Ant
7 2 (0.12%) Apache Ivy
7 2 (0.12%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.12%) IBM UrbanCode
7 2 (0.12%) Maven
7 2 (0.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.12%) TeamCity
7 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.060%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.060%) Gatling
8 1 (0.060%) JMeter
8 1 (0.060%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.060%) Postman
General
1 737 (44.21%) Social Skills
2 221 (13.26%) Analytical Skills
3 125 (7.50%) Finance
4 69 (4.14%) Manufacturing
5 62 (3.72%) Organisational Skills
6 54 (3.24%) Retail
7 50 (3.00%) Documentation Skills
8 45 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 42 (2.52%) Legal
10 39 (2.34%) Public Sector
10 39 (2.34%) Telecoms
11 29 (1.74%) Law
12 23 (1.38%) Banking
13 21 (1.26%) Aerospace
14 14 (0.84%) Influencing Skills
15 13 (0.78%) Games
16 12 (0.72%) Military
17 10 (0.60%) Advertising
18 9 (0.54%) Local Government
19 8 (0.48%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 493 (29.57%) IT Support
2 402 (24.12%) IT Engineer
3 378 (22.68%) Support Engineer
4 319 (19.14%) IT Support Engineer
5 254 (15.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 210 (12.60%) Senior
7 194 (11.64%) Analyst
8 149 (8.94%) Systems Engineer
9 143 (8.58%) IT Technician
10 132 (7.92%) Support Analyst
11 128 (7.68%) 2nd Line Support
12 121 (7.26%) Support Technician
13 104 (6.24%) IT Support Technician
14 85 (5.10%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 80 (4.80%) IT Analyst
16 73 (4.38%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
16 73 (4.38%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 72 (4.32%) Administrator
18 70 (4.20%) Lead
19 65 (3.90%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 106 (6.36%) Terraform
2 40 (2.40%) .NET
3 31 (1.86%) HTML
4 28 (1.68%) Web Services
5 26 (1.56%) CSS
6 25 (1.50%) LDAP
6 25 (1.50%) XMPP
7 23 (1.38%) Regular Expression
8 22 (1.32%) XML
9 18 (1.08%) .NET Framework
10 17 (1.02%) JSON
11 12 (0.72%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.72%) Middleware
12 7 (0.42%) JSON Schema
12 7 (0.42%) SAML
13 5 (0.30%) ASP.NET
13 5 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
14 4 (0.24%) ADO
14 4 (0.24%) GraphQL
14 4 (0.24%) web3js
Miscellaneous
1 202 (12.12%) Driving Licence
2 107 (6.42%) Hybrid Cloud
3 99 (5.94%) Onboarding
4 97 (5.82%) Data Centre
5 89 (5.34%) Legacy Systems
6 79 (4.74%) Self-Motivation
7 55 (3.30%) Management Information System
8 45 (2.70%) Replication
9 42 (2.52%) PKI
10 41 (2.46%) Clustering
11 35 (2.10%) Public Cloud
12 32 (1.92%) Security Posture
13 29 (1.74%) CCTV
14 20 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
14 20 (1.20%) Enterprise Storage
15 18 (1.08%) Private Cloud
16 16 (0.96%) Cloud Native
17 15 (0.90%) Cyber Threat
18 12 (0.72%) Analytical Mindset
19 11 (0.66%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,667 (100.00%) Windows
2 411 (24.66%) Linux
3 205 (12.30%) Windows Server 2016
4 147 (8.82%) Windows 10
5 122 (7.32%) Windows Server 2019
6 65 (3.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 64 (3.84%) Mac OS
8 49 (2.94%) Ubuntu
9 37 (2.22%) Apple iOS
9 37 (2.22%) Windows Server 2012
10 34 (2.04%) Android
11 25 (1.50%) CentOS
12 19 (1.14%) VMS
13 14 (0.84%) Windows Server 2008
14 12 (0.72%) Unix
15 5 (0.30%) CoreOS
15 5 (0.30%) Debian
15 5 (0.30%) Rocky
16 3 (0.18%) Solaris
17 2 (0.12%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 581 (34.85%) Problem-Solving
2 400 (24.00%) Customer Service
3 383 (22.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 337 (20.22%) Continuous Improvement
5 302 (18.12%) Disaster Recovery
6 290 (17.40%) Cybersecurity
6 290 (17.40%) ITIL
7 189 (11.34%) Service Delivery
8 188 (11.28%) Migration
9 161 (9.66%) Project Delivery
10 147 (8.82%) Mentoring
11 143 (8.58%) High Availability
12 138 (8.28%) Customer Experience
13 133 (7.98%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 126 (7.56%) Business Continuity
15 125 (7.50%) Root Cause Analysis
16 109 (6.54%) ITSM
17 106 (6.36%) Kalman Filter
18 102 (6.12%) Infrastructure as Code
19 90 (5.40%) Web Filtering
Programming Languages
1 328 (19.68%) PowerShell
2 191 (11.46%) SQL
3 96 (5.76%) Python
4 47 (2.82%) Bash
5 37 (2.22%) C#
6 28 (1.68%) Bicep
7 24 (1.44%) VBA
8 18 (1.08%) Java
9 12 (0.72%) Ruby
10 10 (0.60%) T-SQL
11 9 (0.54%) JavaScript
11 9 (0.54%) PHP
12 8 (0.48%) Shell Script
13 7 (0.42%) VB.NET
13 7 (0.42%) VBScript
14 4 (0.24%) Perl
15 3 (0.18%) Kusto Query Language
15 3 (0.18%) VB
16 2 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 2 (0.12%) Go
Qualifications
1 269 (16.14%) Security Cleared
2 176 (10.56%) SC Cleared
3 173 (10.38%) Degree
4 153 (9.18%) Microsoft Certification
5 108 (6.48%) Azure Certification
6 97 (5.82%) Cisco Certification
7 86 (5.16%) DV Cleared
8 83 (4.98%) DBS Check
9 76 (4.56%) CCNA
10 34 (2.04%) Network+ Certification
11 29 (1.74%) CCNP
12 27 (1.62%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 23 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
14 22 (1.32%) AWS Certification
15 21 (1.26%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 20 (1.20%) A+ Certification
17 17 (1.02%) Computer Science Degree
18 16 (0.96%) CompTIA Security+
19 15 (0.90%) MCSA
20 14 (0.84%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 185 (11.10%) Cyber Essentials
2 155 (9.30%) SLA
3 87 (5.22%) PCI DSS
4 78 (4.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 46 (2.76%) GDPR
6 34 (2.04%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 22 (1.32%) NIST
8 9 (0.54%) QA
9 5 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.18%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.18%) COBIT
10 3 (0.18%) ISO 9001
10 3 (0.18%) RMADS
11 1 (0.060%) COSHH
11 1 (0.060%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.060%) DICOM
11 1 (0.060%) GRC
11 1 (0.060%) HL7
11 1 (0.060%) ITGC
11 1 (0.060%) NCSC
System Software
1 1,103 (66.17%) Active Directory
2 487 (29.21%) Hyper-V
3 462 (27.71%) VMware Infrastructure
4 108 (6.48%) vSphere
5 82 (4.92%) Terminal Server
6 61 (3.66%) VMware ESXi
7 60 (3.60%) Virtual Machines
8 49 (2.94%) Docker
9 33 (1.98%) Virtual Desktop
10 26 (1.56%) VMware NSX
11 15 (0.90%) Virtual Servers
12 14 (0.84%) Squid
13 13 (0.78%) Firmware
14 10 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 9 (0.54%) Terminal Services
16 6 (0.36%) BitLocker
16 6 (0.36%) VMware Server
17 4 (0.24%) EMC RecoverPoint
18 3 (0.18%) DFS Replication
18 3 (0.18%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 344 (20.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 94 (5.64%) Ansible
3 70 (4.20%) Kubernetes
4 48 (2.88%) SCCM
5 39 (2.34%) FortiGate
6 32 (1.92%) Single Sign-On
7 25 (1.50%) vCenter Server
8 24 (1.44%) Failover Clustering
9 22 (1.32%) WSUS
10 21 (1.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 18 (1.08%) SCOM
11 18 (1.08%) ZABBIX
12 17 (1.02%) VxRail
13 15 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
13 15 (0.90%) Microsoft Clustering
13 15 (0.90%) Nagios
13 15 (0.90%) Packer
14 14 (0.84%) Puppet
15 13 (0.78%) Grafana
16 11 (0.66%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 1,303 (78.16%) Microsoft
2 683 (40.97%) VMware
3 218 (13.08%) Veeam
4 174 (10.44%) Cisco
5 126 (7.56%) Splunk
6 112 (6.72%) SolarWinds
7 88 (5.28%) Nimble Storage
8 81 (4.86%) Brocade
9 80 (4.80%) Tanium
10 62 (3.72%) Meraki
11 59 (3.54%) Red Hat
12 58 (3.48%) SonicWALL
13 56 (3.36%) Apple
14 55 (3.30%) Citrix
15 47 (2.82%) ServiceNow
16 45 (2.70%) Fortinet
17 44 (2.64%) Sophos
18 43 (2.58%) Oracle
19 40 (2.40%) Google
19 40 (2.40%) HP