Hybrid/Remote Virtual Desktop Job Trends

Virtual Desktop
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for remote or hybrid work requiring Virtual Desktop skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 414 398 395
Rank change year-on-year -16 -3 +16
Permanent jobs citing Virtual Desktop 39 35 113
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.17% 0.21% 0.46%
As % of the System Software category 2.06% 1.69% 3.97%
Number of salaries quoted 24 26 86
10th Percentile £37,375 £37,170 £33,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,190 £46,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £42,500 £58,263
Median % change year-on-year +41.18% -27.05% -10.37%
75th Percentile £77,500 £62,188 £78,613
90th Percentile £82,750 £67,875 £85,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £45,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +11.11% -18.18% -8.33%

All System Software Skills
Work from Home

Virtual Desktop falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring system software skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 1,894 2,073 2,844
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 8.27% 12.53% 11.54%
Number of salaries quoted 1,412 1,217 2,035
10th Percentile £31,567 £29,050 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £36,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £85,500 £87,300
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +13.40% -3.00% -10.71%

Virtual Desktop
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Virtual Desktop and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Virtual Desktop job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Virtual Desktop
Salary Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Virtual Desktop.

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Virtual Desktop

Virtual Desktop
Salary Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Virtual Desktop over the 6 months to 18 August 2026.

Virtual Desktop salary histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

Virtual Desktop
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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 24 (61.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (30.77%) SharePoint
3 2 (5.13%) IIS
Cloud Services
1 39 (100.00%) Azure
2 25 (64.10%) Microsoft 365
3 17 (43.59%) Azure Monitor
4 16 (41.03%) Azure DevOps
4 16 (41.03%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 15 (38.46%) PaaS
6 14 (35.90%) Entra ID
6 14 (35.90%) OneDrive
7 12 (30.77%) Azure Functions
7 12 (30.77%) Azure Key Vault
7 12 (30.77%) GitHub
7 12 (30.77%) IaaS
7 12 (30.77%) Serverless
8 5 (12.82%) Azure Storage
9 2 (5.13%) AWS
9 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Copilot
9 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Purview
9 2 (5.13%) ShareGate
10 1 (2.56%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 19 (48.72%) VPN
2 11 (28.21%) Firewall
3 7 (17.95%) DHCP
3 7 (17.95%) DNS
4 5 (12.82%) TCP/IP
5 3 (7.69%) LAN
6 2 (5.13%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (2.56%) VoIP
7 1 (2.56%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (30.77%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (5.13%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 12 (30.77%) Git
General
1 25 (64.10%) Social Skills
2 14 (35.90%) Law
3 13 (33.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 4 (10.26%) Organisational Skills
5 3 (7.69%) Banking
6 2 (5.13%) Finance
7 1 (2.56%) Legal
Job Titles
1 17 (43.59%) Analyst
2 13 (33.33%) Infrastructure Analyst
3 6 (15.38%) Consultant
3 6 (15.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 6 (15.38%) Senior
3 6 (15.38%) Senior Analyst
3 6 (15.38%) Senior Infrastructure Analyst
4 5 (12.82%) Azure Engineer
5 4 (10.26%) Azure Consultant
5 4 (10.26%) Service Analyst
5 4 (10.26%) Support Analyst
5 4 (10.26%) Technical Consultant
5 4 (10.26%) Technical Engineer
6 3 (7.69%) Cloud Engineer
6 3 (7.69%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
6 3 (7.69%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
7 2 (5.13%) Help Desk Engineer
7 2 (5.13%) Microsoft 365 Consultant
7 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Engineer
7 2 (5.13%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 15 (38.46%) Security Posture
2 12 (30.77%) Podcast
2 12 (30.77%) Public Cloud
3 6 (15.38%) Self-Motivation
4 4 (10.26%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (7.69%) Cloud Security Posture
5 3 (7.69%) Driving Licence
5 3 (7.69%) Onboarding
6 2 (5.13%) BYOD
6 2 (5.13%) Mobile App
6 2 (5.13%) Private Cloud
7 1 (2.56%) CMDB
7 1 (2.56%) Enterprise Storage
7 1 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (2.56%) Microsoft Licensing
Operating Systems
1 30 (76.92%) Windows
2 12 (30.77%) VMS
2 12 (30.77%) Windows Server
3 7 (17.95%) Apple iOS
4 4 (10.26%) Android
5 3 (7.69%) Windows 10
6 2 (5.13%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (58.97%) Cloud Security
2 21 (53.85%) Infrastructure as Code
3 19 (48.72%) Problem-Solving
4 17 (43.59%) Analytics
4 17 (43.59%) Log Analytics
5 16 (41.03%) Computer Science
5 16 (41.03%) DevOps
6 14 (35.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 14 (35.90%) Root Cause Analysis
7 13 (33.33%) Mentoring
8 12 (30.77%) Agile
8 12 (30.77%) AI
8 12 (30.77%) API Management
8 12 (30.77%) CI/CD
8 12 (30.77%) DevSecOps
8 12 (30.77%) Generative AI
8 12 (30.77%) Observability
8 12 (30.77%) Performance Tuning
8 12 (30.77%) Scrum
8 12 (30.77%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 27 (69.23%) PowerShell
2 19 (48.72%) Bicep
3 12 (30.77%) Bash
3 12 (30.77%) Kusto Query Language
3 12 (30.77%) SQL
Qualifications
1 19 (48.72%) Azure Certification
2 18 (46.15%) Microsoft Certification
3 8 (20.51%) Degree
4 4 (10.26%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (2.56%) CompTIA Security+
5 1 (2.56%) Network+ Certification
5 1 (2.56%) SC Cleared
5 1 (2.56%) Security Cleared
5 1 (2.56%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (5.13%) GDPR
2 1 (2.56%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (2.56%) SLA
System Software
1 28 (71.79%) Active Directory
2 19 (48.72%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (30.77%) vSphere
4 7 (17.95%) Hyper-V
5 4 (10.26%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (53.85%) Terraform
2 14 (35.90%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (12.82%) SCCM
Vendors
1 34 (87.18%) Microsoft
2 19 (48.72%) VMware
3 12 (30.77%) ScienceLogic
4 3 (7.69%) Dell
4 3 (7.69%) iManage
4 3 (7.69%) Nexthink
5 2 (5.13%) Apple
5 2 (5.13%) Citrix
5 2 (5.13%) Samsung
6 1 (2.56%) Cisco
6 1 (2.56%) NetApp
6 1 (2.56%) Veeam