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 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 105 86
Rank change year-on-year -23 -19 -19
Permanent jobs citing Windows Server 1,717 1,394 2,095
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.45% 2.81% 2.81%
As % of the Operating Systems category 25.94% 22.15% 21.91%
Number of salaries quoted 1,343 1,128 1,267
10th Percentile £27,750 £28,000 £28,150
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £40,406 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.94% -10.21% -
75th Percentile £57,500 £57,500 £57,500
90th Percentile £68,750 £75,000 £70,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £38,094 £42,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% -10.37% +6.25%

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 6,618 6,294 9,560
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.60% 12.70% 12.83%
Number of salaries quoted 4,798 4,049 5,635
10th Percentile £27,750 £27,000 £28,000
25th Percentile £31,875 £31,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £41,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.43% -17.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,450 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £42,500 £38,325 £47,500
% change year-on-year +10.89% -19.32% +1.06%

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 3 October 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 3 October 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 -20 1,602 £42,000 +3.94% 877
UK excluding London -4 1,422 £40,000 +5.00% 641
Work from Home +1 405 £42,500 -5.56% 336
South East +3 374 £42,500 +6.25% 187
North of England +26 337 £37,500 +7.14% 143
London -60 267 £56,250 -6.25% 273
Midlands +2 240 £38,000 +8.57% 111
South West -58 203 £38,500 +2.67% 69
East of England -17 187 £37,500 -16.67% 83
North West +46 174 £37,500 -7.41% 81
West Midlands +7 132 £42,500 +21.43% 64
Yorkshire -11 130 £35,500 +9.23% 42
East Midlands -29 108 £31,500 -3.08% 46
Scotland +29 41 £32,500 -13.33% 37
Wales -67 37 £45,000 -21.74% 12
North East -51 33 £42,500 +21.43% 21
Northern Ireland -81 3 £40,000 -27.27% 8

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
1 484 (28.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 326 (18.99%) SharePoint
3 98 (5.71%) IIS
4 31 (1.81%) Confluence
5 27 (1.57%) Apache
6 19 (1.11%) nginx
7 13 (0.76%) Skype for Business
8 10 (0.58%) WordPress
9 4 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 4 (0.23%) JBoss
9 4 (0.23%) SAS
9 4 (0.23%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.17%) Office Communications Server
11 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2013
12 1 (0.058%) CMS
12 1 (0.058%) HCL Notes
12 1 (0.058%) Moodle
12 1 (0.058%) NetWeaver
12 1 (0.058%) SharePoint Server
12 1 (0.058%) Site Server
Applications
1 125 (7.28%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (1.92%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 3 (0.17%) Photoshop
4 2 (0.12%) SmartSuite
4 2 (0.12%) SOLIDWORKS
5 1 (0.058%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.058%) Revit
Business Applications
1 5 (0.29%) Infor CloudSuite
2 3 (0.17%) Infor LN
2 3 (0.17%) Infor M3
2 3 (0.17%) NetSuite
2 3 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.17%) Sage X3
3 2 (0.12%) Carpe Diem
3 2 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.12%) Elite 3E
3 2 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
3 2 (0.12%) Sage 200
3 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.058%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.058%) FLEXCUBE
4 1 (0.058%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,123 (65.40%) Microsoft 365
2 918 (53.47%) Azure
3 582 (33.90%) Entra ID
4 174 (10.13%) AWS
5 125 (7.28%) OneDrive
6 57 (3.32%) SaaS
7 49 (2.85%) IaaS
8 36 (2.10%) Power Platform
9 35 (2.04%) Google Workspace
10 32 (1.86%) Power Automate
11 29 (1.69%) Microsoft Copilot
12 24 (1.40%) Mimecast
12 24 (1.40%) PaaS
13 21 (1.22%) Azure DevOps
13 21 (1.22%) GCP
13 21 (1.22%) Microsoft Purview
14 20 (1.16%) Azure Sentinel
15 18 (1.05%) Nutanix
16 17 (0.99%) Azure Monitor
17 15 (0.87%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 648 (37.74%) DNS
2 579 (33.72%) Firewall
3 527 (30.69%) DHCP
4 310 (18.05%) VPN
5 266 (15.49%) TCP/IP
6 240 (13.98%) VLAN
7 201 (11.71%) WAN
8 195 (11.36%) LAN
9 139 (8.10%) Wi-Fi
10 137 (7.98%) Wireless
11 116 (6.76%) VoIP
12 74 (4.31%) Network Security
13 66 (3.84%) SAN
14 33 (1.92%) SSL
15 31 (1.81%) NAS
16 29 (1.69%) Internet
17 18 (1.05%) VSAN
18 16 (0.93%) Structured Cabling
19 14 (0.82%) IP Telephony
19 14 (0.82%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 194 (11.30%) SQL Server
2 87 (5.07%) Amazon RDS
3 28 (1.63%) MySQL
4 21 (1.22%) Azure SQL Database
5 17 (0.99%) Power BI
6 15 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
7 12 (0.70%) Relational Database
8 10 (0.58%) MongoDB
8 10 (0.58%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 8 (0.47%) Oracle Database
10 6 (0.35%) Crystal Reports
11 5 (0.29%) Data Warehouse
12 4 (0.23%) Data Lake
13 2 (0.12%) Big Data
13 2 (0.12%) BusinessObjects
13 2 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
13 2 (0.12%) KNIME
13 2 (0.12%) Looker
13 2 (0.12%) Power Query
13 2 (0.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 50 (2.91%) JIRA
2 43 (2.50%) Git
3 17 (0.99%) GitLab
4 13 (0.76%) Jenkins
5 9 (0.52%) Bitbucket
6 4 (0.23%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.23%) Visual Studio Code
7 3 (0.17%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.12%) Ant
8 2 (0.12%) Apache Ivy
8 2 (0.12%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.12%) IBM UrbanCode
8 2 (0.12%) Maven
8 2 (0.12%) Postman
8 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.058%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 1 (0.058%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.058%) Carbide.c++
9 1 (0.058%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.058%) Flyway
General
1 748 (43.56%) Social Skills
2 223 (12.99%) Analytical Skills
3 140 (8.15%) Finance
4 71 (4.14%) Manufacturing
5 53 (3.09%) Organisational Skills
6 50 (2.91%) Retail
7 49 (2.85%) Documentation Skills
8 46 (2.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 45 (2.62%) Telecoms
10 44 (2.56%) Legal
11 32 (1.86%) Law
11 32 (1.86%) Public Sector
12 29 (1.69%) Aerospace
13 14 (0.82%) Military
14 13 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
15 12 (0.70%) Banking
15 12 (0.70%) Games
16 10 (0.58%) Automotive
16 10 (0.58%) Local Government
17 9 (0.52%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 507 (29.53%) IT Support
2 423 (24.64%) IT Engineer
3 396 (23.06%) Support Engineer
4 330 (19.22%) IT Support Engineer
5 292 (17.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 214 (12.46%) Senior
7 205 (11.94%) Analyst
8 135 (7.86%) Systems Engineer
9 133 (7.75%) Support Analyst
10 121 (7.05%) 2nd Line Support
11 108 (6.29%) IT Technician
11 108 (6.29%) Support Technician
12 94 (5.47%) IT Support Technician
13 90 (5.24%) 2nd Line Engineer
13 90 (5.24%) Administrator
14 84 (4.89%) IT Analyst
15 80 (4.66%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
16 72 (4.19%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
17 67 (3.90%) Lead
18 66 (3.84%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 97 (5.65%) Terraform
2 44 (2.56%) .NET
3 33 (1.92%) HTML
4 29 (1.69%) CSS
5 27 (1.57%) Web Services
6 24 (1.40%) XML
7 20 (1.16%) JSON
8 19 (1.11%) .NET Framework
9 17 (0.99%) LDAP
10 15 (0.87%) XMPP
11 14 (0.82%) Regular Expression
12 13 (0.76%) ARM Templates
13 12 (0.70%) Middleware
14 10 (0.58%) SAML
15 8 (0.47%) WinForms
16 7 (0.41%) ASP.NET Web Forms
17 6 (0.35%) Elastic Stack
17 6 (0.35%) Microsoft Graph
18 5 (0.29%) ASP.NET
18 5 (0.29%) jQuery
Miscellaneous
1 218 (12.70%) Driving Licence
2 107 (6.23%) Onboarding
3 106 (6.17%) Hybrid Cloud
4 80 (4.66%) Legacy Systems
5 79 (4.60%) Data Centre
6 69 (4.02%) Self-Motivation
7 52 (3.03%) Management Information System
8 46 (2.68%) Replication
9 45 (2.62%) PKI
10 42 (2.45%) Clustering
11 37 (2.15%) CCTV
11 37 (2.15%) Security Posture
12 30 (1.75%) Public Cloud
13 28 (1.63%) Enterprise Storage
14 19 (1.11%) Cloud Native
14 19 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
15 15 (0.87%) Private Cloud
16 14 (0.82%) Cyber Threat
17 13 (0.76%) Operational Technology
18 12 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 1,717 (100.00%) Windows
2 412 (24.00%) Linux
3 193 (11.24%) Windows Server 2016
4 171 (9.96%) Windows 10
5 123 (7.16%) Windows Server 2019
6 62 (3.61%) Mac OS
7 56 (3.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 46 (2.68%) Ubuntu
9 36 (2.10%) Android
10 35 (2.04%) Windows Server 2012
11 34 (1.98%) Apple iOS
12 23 (1.34%) CentOS
13 22 (1.28%) VMS
14 14 (0.82%) Unix
15 10 (0.58%) Rocky
16 9 (0.52%) Windows Server 2008
17 7 (0.41%) Debian
18 5 (0.29%) CoreOS
19 3 (0.17%) Solaris
20 1 (0.058%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 617 (35.93%) Problem-Solving
2 455 (26.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 386 (22.48%) Customer Service
4 359 (20.91%) Disaster Recovery
5 353 (20.56%) Continuous Improvement
6 327 (19.04%) Cybersecurity
7 292 (17.01%) ITIL
8 227 (13.22%) Migration
9 180 (10.48%) Project Delivery
10 175 (10.19%) Service Delivery
11 139 (8.10%) Mentoring
11 139 (8.10%) Root Cause Analysis
12 135 (7.86%) High Availability
13 134 (7.80%) Business Continuity
14 133 (7.75%) Customer Experience
15 122 (7.11%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 112 (6.52%) ITSM
17 101 (5.88%) Infrastructure as Code
18 99 (5.77%) Kalman Filter
18 99 (5.77%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 340 (19.80%) PowerShell
2 193 (11.24%) SQL
3 86 (5.01%) Python
4 52 (3.03%) Bash
5 41 (2.39%) C#
6 33 (1.92%) Bicep
7 24 (1.40%) VBA
8 21 (1.22%) Ruby
9 15 (0.87%) Java
10 13 (0.76%) JavaScript
11 11 (0.64%) T-SQL
12 8 (0.47%) PHP
12 8 (0.47%) VBScript
13 7 (0.41%) Shell Script
13 7 (0.41%) VB.NET
14 4 (0.23%) Perl
14 4 (0.23%) VB
15 2 (0.12%) C
15 2 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 1 (0.058%) Go
Qualifications
1 266 (15.49%) Security Cleared
2 185 (10.77%) Degree
3 178 (10.37%) SC Cleared
4 173 (10.08%) Microsoft Certification
5 115 (6.70%) Cisco Certification
6 106 (6.17%) Azure Certification
7 85 (4.95%) CCNA
8 79 (4.60%) DV Cleared
9 58 (3.38%) DBS Check
10 45 (2.62%) CCNP
11 41 (2.39%) Network+ Certification
12 26 (1.51%) AWS Certification
13 25 (1.46%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 23 (1.34%) CISSP
14 23 (1.34%) CompTIA Security+
14 23 (1.34%) MCSA
15 22 (1.28%) A+ Certification
16 21 (1.22%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
17 20 (1.16%) BPSS Clearance
18 19 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 203 (11.82%) Cyber Essentials
2 140 (8.15%) SLA
3 81 (4.72%) PCI DSS
4 74 (4.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 47 (2.74%) GDPR
6 41 (2.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 19 (1.11%) NIST
8 15 (0.87%) QA
9 5 (0.29%) Data Quality
9 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.23%) Accessibility
10 4 (0.23%) GRC
11 3 (0.17%) COBIT
11 3 (0.17%) RMADS
12 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.058%) COSHH
13 1 (0.058%) DICOM
13 1 (0.058%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.058%) HL7
13 1 (0.058%) TickIT
System Software
1 1,124 (65.46%) Active Directory
2 519 (30.23%) Hyper-V
3 475 (27.66%) VMware Infrastructure
4 106 (6.17%) vSphere
5 85 (4.95%) Virtual Machines
6 73 (4.25%) Terminal Server
7 71 (4.14%) VMware ESXi
8 39 (2.27%) Docker
9 35 (2.04%) Virtual Desktop
10 25 (1.46%) VMware NSX
11 22 (1.28%) Firmware
12 18 (1.05%) Virtual Servers
13 14 (0.82%) Squid
14 8 (0.47%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 6 (0.35%) BitLocker
15 6 (0.35%) VMware Server
16 5 (0.29%) Terminal Services
17 4 (0.23%) DFS Replication
17 4 (0.23%) XenApp
18 3 (0.17%) EMC RecoverPoint
Systems Management
1 405 (23.59%) Microsoft Intune
2 84 (4.89%) Ansible
3 58 (3.38%) Kubernetes
4 57 (3.32%) SCCM
5 42 (2.45%) FortiGate
6 35 (2.04%) Single Sign-On
7 25 (1.46%) Failover Clustering
7 25 (1.46%) vCenter Server
8 24 (1.40%) Jamf Pro
8 24 (1.40%) WSUS
9 21 (1.22%) Puppet
10 19 (1.11%) SCOM
11 18 (1.05%) Progress Chef
12 17 (0.99%) ZABBIX
13 16 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 15 (0.87%) Microsoft Clustering
14 15 (0.87%) VxRail
15 12 (0.70%) Nagios
16 11 (0.64%) Nessus
17 10 (0.58%) Packer
Vendors
1 1,339 (77.98%) Microsoft
2 701 (40.83%) VMware
3 241 (14.04%) Veeam
4 203 (11.82%) Cisco
5 113 (6.58%) SolarWinds
6 104 (6.06%) Splunk
7 82 (4.78%) Meraki
8 78 (4.54%) SonicWALL
9 77 (4.48%) Citrix
10 75 (4.37%) Nimble Storage
11 73 (4.25%) Brocade
12 72 (4.19%) Tanium
13 67 (3.90%) Apple
14 62 (3.61%) Fortinet
15 55 (3.20%) Google
16 49 (2.85%) Red Hat
17 45 (2.62%) WatchGuard
18 44 (2.56%) Sophos
19 37 (2.15%) Oracle
20 36 (2.10%) HP