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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 122 102 91
Rank change year-on-year -20 -11 -21
Permanent jobs citing Windows Server 1,710 1,417 2,117
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.48% 2.87% 2.71%
As % of the Operating Systems category 26.19% 22.01% 21.49%
Number of salaries quoted 1,348 1,150 1,372
10th Percentile £27,750 £27,750 £28,000
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,600 £40,156 £44,387
Median % change year-on-year +1.11% -9.53% -1.36%
75th Percentile £56,250 £56,775 £57,000
90th Percentile £68,750 £75,000 £70,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £39,000 £38,094 £42,000
% change year-on-year +2.38% -9.30% +5.00%

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 6,529 6,437 9,853
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.67% 13.02% 12.61%
Number of salaries quoted 4,818 4,167 6,059
10th Percentile £27,750 £27,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,500 £31,250 £36,250
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 £66,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £42,500 £38,325 £45,000
% change year-on-year +10.89% -14.83% -3.23%

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 18 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 18 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 -28 1,594 £41,000 +2.50% 712
UK excluding London -8 1,430 £39,000 +2.38% 506
Work from Home -3 390 £42,500 -5.56% 211
South East +11 362 £42,500 +6.25% 151
North of England +21 353 £37,500 +7.14% 95
London -68 252 £55,000 -8.33% 235
Midlands -15 228 £37,500 +7.14% 113
South West -50 213 £37,500 - 49
East of England -6 191 £37,500 -16.67% 71
North West +64 187 £37,500 -1.96% 51
Yorkshire -18 132 £35,500 +9.23% 27
West Midlands -9 118 £42,500 +21.43% 77
East Midlands -31 110 £31,500 -3.08% 36
Scotland +29 40 £32,500 -37.40% 20
Wales -59 40 £45,000 -21.74% 11
North East -56 34 £42,500 +21.43% 19
Northern Ireland -75 3 £40,000 -27.27% 7

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
1 470 (27.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 322 (18.83%) SharePoint
3 101 (5.91%) IIS
4 34 (1.99%) Confluence
5 28 (1.64%) Apache
6 20 (1.17%) nginx
7 11 (0.64%) Skype for Business
7 11 (0.64%) WordPress
8 4 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
8 4 (0.23%) JBoss
8 4 (0.23%) SAS
8 4 (0.23%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2007
9 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.058%) Drupal
10 1 (0.058%) HCL Domino
10 1 (0.058%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.058%) Moodle
10 1 (0.058%) Office Communications Server
Applications
1 132 (7.72%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (1.93%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 3 (0.18%) 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 (0.18%) Infor LN
2 3 (0.18%) Infor M3
2 3 (0.18%) NetSuite
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 (0.058%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.058%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.058%) Exchequer
4 1 (0.058%) FLEXCUBE
4 1 (0.058%) Magento
4 1 (0.058%) Primavera
4 1 (0.058%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,104 (64.56%) Microsoft 365
2 893 (52.22%) Azure
3 535 (31.29%) Entra ID
4 172 (10.06%) AWS
5 117 (6.84%) OneDrive
6 59 (3.45%) SaaS
7 48 (2.81%) IaaS
8 39 (2.28%) Power Platform
9 34 (1.99%) Power Automate
10 29 (1.70%) Microsoft Copilot
10 29 (1.70%) PaaS
11 23 (1.35%) Google Workspace
12 22 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
12 22 (1.29%) GCP
13 20 (1.17%) Mimecast
13 20 (1.17%) Nutanix
14 19 (1.11%) Microsoft Purview
15 15 (0.88%) Azure Monitor
15 15 (0.88%) Cloudflare
16 14 (0.82%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 630 (36.84%) DNS
2 567 (33.16%) Firewall
3 510 (29.82%) DHCP
4 292 (17.08%) VPN
5 256 (14.97%) TCP/IP
6 221 (12.92%) VLAN
7 191 (11.17%) WAN
8 182 (10.64%) LAN
9 147 (8.60%) Wireless
10 135 (7.89%) Wi-Fi
11 119 (6.96%) VoIP
12 73 (4.27%) Network Security
13 66 (3.86%) SAN
14 31 (1.81%) NAS
15 30 (1.75%) Internet
15 30 (1.75%) SSL
16 18 (1.05%) VSAN
17 17 (0.99%) Structured Cabling
18 14 (0.82%) IP Telephony
19 12 (0.70%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 192 (11.23%) SQL Server
2 88 (5.15%) Amazon RDS
3 29 (1.70%) MySQL
4 20 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
4 20 (1.17%) Power BI
5 15 (0.88%) PostgreSQL
6 12 (0.70%) MongoDB
6 12 (0.70%) Relational Database
6 12 (0.70%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 8 (0.47%) Crystal Reports
7 8 (0.47%) Oracle Database
8 5 (0.29%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.23%) Elasticsearch
9 4 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.18%) Data Lake
10 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 2 (0.12%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.12%) KNIME
11 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
11 2 (0.12%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 52 (3.04%) JIRA
2 45 (2.63%) Git
3 18 (1.05%) GitLab
4 14 (0.82%) Jenkins
5 9 (0.53%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.41%) Visual Studio Code
7 3 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 3 (0.18%) 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%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.058%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.058%) Octopus Deploy
9 1 (0.058%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.058%) Vagrant
General
1 742 (43.39%) Social Skills
2 220 (12.87%) Analytical Skills
3 129 (7.54%) Finance
4 70 (4.09%) Manufacturing
5 53 (3.10%) Organisational Skills
6 51 (2.98%) Documentation Skills
6 51 (2.98%) Retail
7 46 (2.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 45 (2.63%) Legal
9 44 (2.57%) Telecoms
10 37 (2.16%) Public Sector
11 31 (1.81%) Law
12 26 (1.52%) Aerospace
13 15 (0.88%) Banking
14 14 (0.82%) Influencing Skills
15 12 (0.70%) Advertising
15 12 (0.70%) Games
15 12 (0.70%) Military
16 9 (0.53%) Local Government
17 8 (0.47%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 509 (29.77%) IT Support
2 422 (24.68%) IT Engineer
3 400 (23.39%) Support Engineer
4 334 (19.53%) IT Support Engineer
5 285 (16.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 222 (12.98%) Senior
7 196 (11.46%) Analyst
8 139 (8.13%) Systems Engineer
9 131 (7.66%) 2nd Line Support
10 129 (7.54%) Support Analyst
11 127 (7.43%) IT Technician
12 115 (6.73%) Support Technician
13 98 (5.73%) IT Support Technician
14 92 (5.38%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 84 (4.91%) Administrator
16 81 (4.74%) IT Analyst
17 80 (4.68%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
18 79 (4.62%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 69 (4.04%) Lead
20 64 (3.74%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 101 (5.91%) Terraform
2 45 (2.63%) .NET
3 33 (1.93%) HTML
4 29 (1.70%) CSS
5 27 (1.58%) Web Services
6 24 (1.40%) XML
7 20 (1.17%) .NET Framework
7 20 (1.17%) JSON
7 20 (1.17%) LDAP
8 19 (1.11%) XMPP
9 17 (0.99%) Regular Expression
10 14 (0.82%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.70%) Middleware
12 9 (0.53%) SAML
13 6 (0.35%) Elastic Stack
13 6 (0.35%) WinForms
14 5 (0.29%) ASP.NET
14 5 (0.29%) ASP.NET Web Forms
14 5 (0.29%) jQuery
15 4 (0.23%) boto
Miscellaneous
1 210 (12.28%) Driving Licence
2 104 (6.08%) Hybrid Cloud
3 103 (6.02%) Onboarding
4 96 (5.61%) Data Centre
5 80 (4.68%) Legacy Systems
6 74 (4.33%) Self-Motivation
7 54 (3.16%) Management Information System
8 44 (2.57%) Replication
9 42 (2.46%) Clustering
10 41 (2.40%) PKI
11 38 (2.22%) CCTV
12 34 (1.99%) Security Posture
13 31 (1.81%) Public Cloud
14 21 (1.23%) Enterprise Storage
15 18 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
15 18 (1.05%) Private Cloud
16 17 (0.99%) Cloud Native
17 15 (0.88%) Cyber Threat
18 13 (0.76%) Operational Technology
19 12 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 1,710 (100.00%) Windows
2 422 (24.68%) Linux
3 193 (11.29%) Windows Server 2016
4 163 (9.53%) Windows 10
5 123 (7.19%) Windows Server 2019
6 62 (3.63%) Mac OS
7 58 (3.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 54 (3.16%) Ubuntu
9 38 (2.22%) Android
9 38 (2.22%) Apple iOS
10 37 (2.16%) Windows Server 2012
11 27 (1.58%) CentOS
12 23 (1.35%) VMS
13 16 (0.94%) Unix
14 12 (0.70%) Windows Server 2008
15 8 (0.47%) Rocky
16 7 (0.41%) Debian
17 5 (0.29%) CoreOS
18 3 (0.18%) Solaris
19 1 (0.058%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 596 (34.85%) Problem-Solving
2 436 (25.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 398 (23.27%) Customer Service
4 348 (20.35%) Continuous Improvement
5 334 (19.53%) Disaster Recovery
6 311 (18.19%) Cybersecurity
7 292 (17.08%) ITIL
8 211 (12.34%) Migration
9 189 (11.05%) Service Delivery
10 172 (10.06%) Project Delivery
11 141 (8.25%) Mentoring
12 133 (7.78%) High Availability
13 131 (7.66%) Business Continuity
13 131 (7.66%) Customer Experience
14 126 (7.37%) Root Cause Analysis
15 123 (7.19%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 110 (6.43%) ITSM
17 101 (5.91%) Infrastructure as Code
18 97 (5.67%) Kalman Filter
19 84 (4.91%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 340 (19.88%) PowerShell
2 194 (11.35%) SQL
3 89 (5.20%) Python
4 51 (2.98%) Bash
5 41 (2.40%) C#
6 29 (1.70%) Bicep
7 24 (1.40%) VBA
8 17 (0.99%) Ruby
9 16 (0.94%) Java
10 13 (0.76%) JavaScript
11 11 (0.64%) T-SQL
12 9 (0.53%) PHP
13 8 (0.47%) VBScript
14 7 (0.41%) VB.NET
15 5 (0.29%) Shell Script
16 4 (0.23%) Perl
16 4 (0.23%) VB
17 2 (0.12%) C
17 2 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 2 (0.12%) Go
Qualifications
1 265 (15.50%) Security Cleared
2 186 (10.88%) Degree
3 173 (10.12%) SC Cleared
4 172 (10.06%) Microsoft Certification
5 110 (6.43%) Azure Certification
6 109 (6.37%) Cisco Certification
7 82 (4.80%) DV Cleared
8 81 (4.74%) CCNA
9 78 (4.56%) DBS Check
10 42 (2.46%) Network+ Certification
11 40 (2.34%) CCNP
12 26 (1.52%) AWS Certification
13 23 (1.35%) A+ Certification
13 23 (1.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 23 (1.35%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 22 (1.29%) CompTIA Security+
15 21 (1.23%) BPSS Clearance
15 21 (1.23%) MCSA
15 21 (1.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 20 (1.17%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 199 (11.64%) Cyber Essentials
2 145 (8.48%) SLA
3 80 (4.68%) PCI DSS
4 72 (4.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 48 (2.81%) GDPR
6 39 (2.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 19 (1.11%) NIST
8 13 (0.76%) QA
9 6 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.29%) Data Quality
11 3 (0.18%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.18%) COBIT
11 3 (0.18%) RMADS
12 2 (0.12%) GRC
12 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.058%) COSHH
13 1 (0.058%) DICOM
13 1 (0.058%) HL7
13 1 (0.058%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.058%) TickIT
System Software
1 1,111 (64.97%) Active Directory
2 504 (29.47%) Hyper-V
3 484 (28.30%) VMware Infrastructure
4 104 (6.08%) vSphere
5 75 (4.39%) Virtual Machines
6 73 (4.27%) Terminal Server
7 67 (3.92%) VMware ESXi
8 40 (2.34%) Docker
9 35 (2.05%) Virtual Desktop
10 27 (1.58%) VMware NSX
11 17 (0.99%) Firmware
12 15 (0.88%) Virtual Servers
13 14 (0.82%) Squid
14 9 (0.53%) Terminal Services
15 7 (0.41%) BitLocker
15 7 (0.41%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 6 (0.35%) VMware Server
17 3 (0.18%) DFS Replication
17 3 (0.18%) EMC RecoverPoint
17 3 (0.18%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 379 (22.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 91 (5.32%) Ansible
3 63 (3.68%) Kubernetes
4 53 (3.10%) SCCM
5 40 (2.34%) FortiGate
6 33 (1.93%) Single Sign-On
7 30 (1.75%) vCenter Server
8 25 (1.46%) Failover Clustering
8 25 (1.46%) WSUS
9 20 (1.17%) SCOM
10 18 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 17 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
11 17 (0.99%) Puppet
12 16 (0.94%) ZABBIX
13 15 (0.88%) Microsoft Clustering
13 15 (0.88%) VxRail
14 14 (0.82%) Progress Chef
15 13 (0.76%) Packer
16 12 (0.70%) Nagios
17 11 (0.64%) Nessus
Vendors
1 1,328 (77.66%) Microsoft
2 706 (41.29%) VMware
3 229 (13.39%) Veeam
4 185 (10.82%) Cisco
5 109 (6.37%) Splunk
6 107 (6.26%) SolarWinds
7 75 (4.39%) Nimble Storage
8 73 (4.27%) Brocade
8 73 (4.27%) SonicWALL
9 72 (4.21%) Tanium
10 70 (4.09%) Meraki
11 67 (3.92%) Apple
12 63 (3.68%) Citrix
13 55 (3.22%) Red Hat
14 54 (3.16%) Fortinet
15 44 (2.57%) Google
16 42 (2.46%) Sophos
17 39 (2.28%) Oracle
18 38 (2.22%) HP
18 38 (2.22%) ServiceNow