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 2 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 99 88
Rank change year-on-year -20 -11 -10
Permanent jobs citing Windows Server 1,686 1,489 2,252
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.53% 2.99% 2.77%
As % of the Operating Systems category 26.28% 21.90% 22.10%
Number of salaries quoted 1,331 1,239 1,658
10th Percentile £27,750 £27,500 £26,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,000 £40,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -5.88% -5.56%
75th Percentile £56,250 £55,000 £55,000
90th Percentile £68,750 £75,000 £67,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £41,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% -8.54% +2.50%

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 6,416 6,800 10,188
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.83% 13.64% 12.52%
Number of salaries quoted 4,790 4,482 6,844
10th Percentile £28,000 £27,000 £26,750
25th Percentile £32,000 £31,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -16.00% -4.76%
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% -4.26%

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 2 September 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 2 September 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 -25 1,570 £42,000 +5.00% 577
UK excluding London -14 1,410 £40,000 +6.67% 435
Work from Home -18 379 £42,500 - 196
South East +10 360 £42,500 +6.25% 141
North of England +23 356 £37,500 +7.14% 94
London -80 246 £55,000 -8.33% 192
South West -37 219 £37,500 -2.83% 44
Midlands -20 203 £37,500 +7.14% 79
North West +52 194 £37,500 - 46
East of England -7 188 £36,500 -18.89% 62
Yorkshire -35 128 £36,000 +20.00% 27
East Midlands -22 105 £32,500 -7.14% 34
West Midlands -22 98 £42,500 +21.43% 45
Wales -55 41 £45,000 -21.74% 5
Scotland +22 39 £32,500 -18.75% 16
North East -48 34 £42,500 +21.43% 24
Northern Ireland -81 4 £40,000 -27.27% 9

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
1 465 (27.58%) Microsoft Exchange
2 314 (18.62%) SharePoint
3 95 (5.63%) IIS
4 35 (2.08%) Confluence
5 25 (1.48%) Apache
6 19 (1.13%) nginx
7 10 (0.59%) WordPress
8 9 (0.53%) 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
10 4 (0.24%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.059%) CMS
11 1 (0.059%) HCL Domino
11 1 (0.059%) HCL Notes
11 1 (0.059%) NetWeaver
11 1 (0.059%) Site Server
Applications
1 133 (7.89%) Microsoft Office
2 34 (2.02%) 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 (0.059%) Revit
Business Applications
1 5 (0.30%) Infor CloudSuite
2 3 (0.18%) Exchequer
2 3 (0.18%) Infor LN
2 3 (0.18%) Infor M3
2 3 (0.18%) NetSuite
2 3 (0.18%) Primavera
2 3 (0.18%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.18%) Sage X3
3 2 (0.12%) Carpe Diem
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 (0.059%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.059%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.059%) FLEXCUBE
4 1 (0.059%) Magento
4 1 (0.059%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,088 (64.53%) Microsoft 365
2 895 (53.08%) Azure
3 499 (29.60%) Entra ID
4 173 (10.26%) AWS
5 114 (6.76%) OneDrive
6 60 (3.56%) SaaS
7 47 (2.79%) IaaS
8 38 (2.25%) Power Platform
9 32 (1.90%) Power Automate
10 31 (1.84%) PaaS
11 28 (1.66%) Microsoft Copilot
12 27 (1.60%) Nutanix
13 23 (1.36%) Google Workspace
14 21 (1.25%) GCP
15 20 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
15 20 (1.19%) Mimecast
16 18 (1.07%) Microsoft Purview
17 15 (0.89%) Cloudflare
18 14 (0.83%) Azure Sentinel
19 13 (0.77%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 626 (37.13%) DNS
2 550 (32.62%) Firewall
3 507 (30.07%) DHCP
4 272 (16.13%) VPN
5 250 (14.83%) TCP/IP
6 208 (12.34%) VLAN
7 194 (11.51%) WAN
8 182 (10.79%) LAN
9 146 (8.66%) Wireless
10 131 (7.77%) Wi-Fi
11 113 (6.70%) VoIP
12 73 (4.33%) Network Security
13 68 (4.03%) SAN
14 33 (1.96%) NAS
15 29 (1.72%) Internet
15 29 (1.72%) SSL
16 19 (1.13%) VSAN
17 18 (1.07%) Remote Desktop
18 16 (0.95%) Structured Cabling
19 13 (0.77%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 188 (11.15%) SQL Server
2 96 (5.69%) Amazon RDS
3 26 (1.54%) MySQL
4 19 (1.13%) Power BI
5 16 (0.95%) Azure SQL Database
6 15 (0.89%) PostgreSQL
7 13 (0.77%) MongoDB
8 12 (0.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 10 (0.59%) Relational Database
10 9 (0.53%) Oracle Database
11 8 (0.47%) Crystal Reports
12 5 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
13 4 (0.24%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 3 (0.18%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
15 2 (0.12%) BusinessObjects
15 2 (0.12%) KNIME
15 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
15 2 (0.12%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 55 (3.26%) JIRA
2 47 (2.79%) Git
3 18 (1.07%) GitLab
4 14 (0.83%) Jenkins
5 9 (0.53%) Bitbucket
5 9 (0.53%) 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%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.059%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.059%) Gatling
8 1 (0.059%) JMeter
8 1 (0.059%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.059%) Postman
8 1 (0.059%) Vagrant
General
1 747 (44.31%) Social Skills
2 223 (13.23%) Analytical Skills
3 123 (7.30%) Finance
4 71 (4.21%) Manufacturing
5 62 (3.68%) Organisational Skills
6 53 (3.14%) Retail
7 49 (2.91%) Documentation Skills
8 44 (2.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 43 (2.55%) Legal
10 40 (2.37%) Telecoms
11 38 (2.25%) Public Sector
12 29 (1.72%) Law
13 21 (1.25%) Aerospace
14 18 (1.07%) Banking
15 14 (0.83%) Influencing Skills
16 13 (0.77%) Games
17 12 (0.71%) Military
18 10 (0.59%) Advertising
19 8 (0.47%) Electronics
19 8 (0.47%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 503 (29.83%) IT Support
2 410 (24.32%) IT Engineer
3 389 (23.07%) Support Engineer
4 327 (19.40%) IT Support Engineer
5 271 (16.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 213 (12.63%) Senior
7 192 (11.39%) Analyst
8 149 (8.84%) Systems Engineer
9 140 (8.30%) IT Technician
10 128 (7.59%) Support Analyst
11 126 (7.47%) 2nd Line Support
12 120 (7.12%) Support Technician
13 103 (6.11%) IT Support Technician
14 86 (5.10%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 80 (4.74%) IT Analyst
16 76 (4.51%) Administrator
17 75 (4.45%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
18 74 (4.39%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 69 (4.09%) Lead
20 65 (3.86%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 102 (6.05%) Terraform
2 43 (2.55%) .NET
3 31 (1.84%) HTML
4 27 (1.60%) CSS
4 27 (1.60%) Web Services
5 24 (1.42%) XMPP
6 22 (1.30%) LDAP
6 22 (1.30%) XML
7 21 (1.25%) Regular Expression
8 19 (1.13%) .NET Framework
9 17 (1.01%) JSON
10 12 (0.71%) Middleware
11 11 (0.65%) ARM Templates
12 8 (0.47%) SAML
13 5 (0.30%) ASP.NET
13 5 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
13 5 (0.30%) JSON Schema
13 5 (0.30%) WinForms
14 4 (0.24%) ADO
14 4 (0.24%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 198 (11.74%) Driving Licence
2 106 (6.29%) Hybrid Cloud
3 100 (5.93%) Data Centre
4 99 (5.87%) Onboarding
5 89 (5.28%) Legacy Systems
6 78 (4.63%) Self-Motivation
7 55 (3.26%) Management Information System
8 46 (2.73%) Replication
9 41 (2.43%) Clustering
9 41 (2.43%) PKI
10 37 (2.19%) Public Cloud
11 33 (1.96%) CCTV
11 33 (1.96%) Security Posture
12 20 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
12 20 (1.19%) Private Cloud
13 18 (1.07%) Enterprise Storage
14 16 (0.95%) Cloud Native
15 15 (0.89%) Cyber Threat
16 12 (0.71%) Analytical Mindset
17 11 (0.65%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 1,686 (100.00%) Windows
2 422 (25.03%) Linux
3 204 (12.10%) Windows Server 2016
4 153 (9.07%) Windows 10
5 123 (7.30%) Windows Server 2019
6 65 (3.86%) Mac OS
7 61 (3.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 52 (3.08%) Ubuntu
9 40 (2.37%) Windows Server 2012
10 39 (2.31%) Apple iOS
11 36 (2.14%) Android
12 27 (1.60%) CentOS
13 20 (1.19%) VMS
14 14 (0.83%) Windows Server 2008
15 13 (0.77%) Unix
16 8 (0.47%) Rocky
17 7 (0.42%) Debian
18 5 (0.30%) CoreOS
19 3 (0.18%) Solaris
20 1 (0.059%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 589 (34.93%) Problem-Solving
2 409 (24.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 398 (23.61%) Customer Service
4 341 (20.23%) Continuous Improvement
5 318 (18.86%) Disaster Recovery
6 299 (17.73%) Cybersecurity
7 287 (17.02%) ITIL
8 199 (11.80%) Migration
9 189 (11.21%) Service Delivery
10 169 (10.02%) Project Delivery
11 144 (8.54%) Mentoring
12 142 (8.42%) High Availability
13 137 (8.13%) Customer Experience
14 135 (8.01%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 132 (7.83%) Business Continuity
16 124 (7.35%) Root Cause Analysis
17 108 (6.41%) Kalman Filter
18 107 (6.35%) ITSM
19 98 (5.81%) Infrastructure as Code
20 88 (5.22%) Web Filtering
Programming Languages
1 329 (19.51%) PowerShell
2 191 (11.33%) SQL
3 91 (5.40%) Python
4 47 (2.79%) Bash
5 39 (2.31%) C#
6 26 (1.54%) Bicep
7 24 (1.42%) VBA
8 16 (0.95%) Java
9 14 (0.83%) Ruby
10 11 (0.65%) JavaScript
11 10 (0.59%) T-SQL
12 9 (0.53%) PHP
13 8 (0.47%) VBScript
14 7 (0.42%) VB.NET
15 6 (0.36%) Shell Script
16 4 (0.24%) Perl
16 4 (0.24%) VB
17 3 (0.18%) Kusto Query Language
18 2 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 2 (0.12%) Go
Qualifications
1 271 (16.07%) Security Cleared
2 180 (10.68%) Degree
3 178 (10.56%) SC Cleared
4 161 (9.55%) Microsoft Certification
5 109 (6.47%) Azure Certification
6 103 (6.11%) Cisco Certification
7 86 (5.10%) DBS Check
8 84 (4.98%) DV Cleared
9 78 (4.63%) CCNA
10 37 (2.19%) Network+ Certification
11 35 (2.08%) CCNP
12 23 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
12 23 (1.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 22 (1.30%) AWS Certification
14 21 (1.25%) A+ Certification
14 21 (1.25%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 19 (1.13%) CompTIA Security+
16 18 (1.07%) MCSA
17 17 (1.01%) MCSE
17 17 (1.01%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 193 (11.45%) Cyber Essentials
2 156 (9.25%) SLA
3 87 (5.16%) PCI DSS
4 75 (4.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 47 (2.79%) GDPR
6 37 (2.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 20 (1.19%) NIST
8 9 (0.53%) QA
9 5 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.18%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.18%) COBIT
10 3 (0.18%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.18%) ISO 9001
10 3 (0.18%) RMADS
11 2 (0.12%) GRC
12 1 (0.059%) COSHH
12 1 (0.059%) DICOM
12 1 (0.059%) HL7
12 1 (0.059%) ITGC
12 1 (0.059%) NCSC
System Software
1 1,103 (65.42%) Active Directory
2 500 (29.66%) Hyper-V
3 473 (28.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 104 (6.17%) vSphere
5 82 (4.86%) Terminal Server
6 64 (3.80%) Virtual Machines
7 62 (3.68%) VMware ESXi
8 43 (2.55%) Docker
9 34 (2.02%) Virtual Desktop
10 27 (1.60%) VMware NSX
11 15 (0.89%) Virtual Servers
12 14 (0.83%) Firmware
12 14 (0.83%) Squid
13 9 (0.53%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 9 (0.53%) Terminal Services
14 7 (0.42%) BitLocker
15 6 (0.36%) VMware Server
16 4 (0.24%) EMC RecoverPoint
17 3 (0.18%) DFS Replication
17 3 (0.18%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 362 (21.47%) Microsoft Intune
2 92 (5.46%) Ansible
3 65 (3.86%) Kubernetes
4 49 (2.91%) SCCM
5 40 (2.37%) FortiGate
6 33 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
7 29 (1.72%) vCenter Server
8 24 (1.42%) Failover Clustering
9 22 (1.30%) WSUS
10 20 (1.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 19 (1.13%) SCOM
12 17 (1.01%) Jamf Pro
12 17 (1.01%) VxRail
13 16 (0.95%) ZABBIX
14 15 (0.89%) Microsoft Clustering
14 15 (0.89%) Packer
15 14 (0.83%) Puppet
16 13 (0.77%) Nagios
17 12 (0.71%) Grafana
18 11 (0.65%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 1,322 (78.41%) Microsoft
2 697 (41.34%) VMware
3 228 (13.52%) Veeam
4 182 (10.79%) Cisco
5 120 (7.12%) Splunk
6 112 (6.64%) SolarWinds
7 88 (5.22%) Nimble Storage
8 81 (4.80%) Brocade
9 80 (4.74%) Tanium
10 67 (3.97%) SonicWALL
11 65 (3.86%) Meraki
12 63 (3.74%) Apple
13 58 (3.44%) Citrix
13 58 (3.44%) Red Hat
14 46 (2.73%) Fortinet
15 43 (2.55%) Sophos
16 42 (2.49%) HP
16 42 (2.49%) ServiceNow
17 40 (2.37%) Google
18 39 (2.31%) Oracle