Hybrid/Remote Virtual Machines Job Trends

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for remote or hybrid work requiring Virtual Machines skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 336 332 336
Rank change year-on-year -4 +4 +27
Permanent jobs citing Virtual Machines 119 82 168
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.49% 0.50% 0.72%
As % of the System Software category 6.32% 4.13% 6.02%
Number of salaries quoted 86 59 121
10th Percentile £36,500 £44,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,313 £52,500 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £57,500 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +56.52% -8.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £118,750 £85,000 £85,000
90th Percentile £143,750 £105,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £60,459
% change year-on-year +4.35% -4.89% -6.99%

All System Software Skills
Work from Home

Virtual Machines 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 1,884 1,984 2,789
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 7.70% 12.19% 11.93%
Number of salaries quoted 1,409 1,098 1,741
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,925 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £36,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £54,000 £56,525
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -4.47% -5.79%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £91,250 £85,000 £87,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% -7.41% -1.82%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

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

Virtual Machines job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Virtual Machines
Salary Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

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

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

Virtual Machines
Salary Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 20 September 2026.

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

Virtual Machines
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 9 (7.56%) IIS
2 6 (5.04%) SharePoint
3 5 (4.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (4.20%) nginx
4 4 (3.36%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (4.20%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 82 (68.91%) Azure
2 40 (33.61%) Azure AI
2 40 (33.61%) Azure Machine Learning
2 40 (33.61%) Azure Synapse Analytics
2 40 (33.61%) Snowflake
3 29 (24.37%) Serverless
4 23 (19.33%) Entra ID
5 18 (15.13%) Microsoft 365
6 13 (10.92%) AWS
6 13 (10.92%) Azure Monitor
7 11 (9.24%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (6.72%) Azure AKS
9 6 (5.04%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 5 (4.20%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 5 (4.20%) Azure Pipelines
10 5 (4.20%) Azure Service Bus
10 5 (4.20%) Cloudflare
10 5 (4.20%) IaaS
10 5 (4.20%) SaaS
11 4 (3.36%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 22 (18.49%) Firewall
2 17 (14.29%) TCP/IP
3 14 (11.76%) DNS
3 14 (11.76%) VPN
4 12 (10.08%) DHCP
5 7 (5.88%) VLAN
6 4 (3.36%) Network Security
6 4 (3.36%) Wireless
7 2 (1.68%) WAN
8 1 (0.84%) BGP
8 1 (0.84%) FCoE
8 1 (0.84%) Fibre Channel
8 1 (0.84%) iSCSI
8 1 (0.84%) LAN
8 1 (0.84%) NX-OS
8 1 (0.84%) TETRA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (46.22%) SQL Server
2 17 (14.29%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (3.36%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 25 (21.01%) Snyk
2 5 (4.20%) Octopus Deploy
3 4 (3.36%) Git
3 4 (3.36%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.68%) GitLab
4 2 (1.68%) TeamCity
4 2 (1.68%) Terragrunt
5 1 (0.84%) JIRA
General
1 44 (36.97%) Finance
2 26 (21.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 16 (13.45%) Social Skills
4 13 (10.92%) Banking
5 8 (6.72%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (4.20%) Law
7 2 (1.68%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.68%) Retail
8 1 (0.84%) Advertising
8 1 (0.84%) Automotive
8 1 (0.84%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 38 (31.93%) Senior
2 35 (29.41%) Architect
3 26 (21.85%) Cloud Architect
3 26 (21.85%) Senior Architect
3 26 (21.85%) Senior Cloud Architect
4 25 (21.01%) Cloud Security Architect
4 25 (21.01%) Security Architect
4 25 (21.01%) Senior Security Architect
5 22 (18.49%) Data Manager
5 22 (18.49%) Engineering Manager
5 22 (18.49%) Finance Manager
6 15 (12.61%) Azure Engineer
6 15 (12.61%) Support Engineer
7 11 (9.24%) IT Engineer
7 11 (9.24%) IT Support
7 11 (9.24%) IT Support Engineer
8 10 (8.40%) Cloud Engineer
8 10 (8.40%) Head of AI
8 10 (8.40%) Head of Finance
9 9 (7.56%) Azure Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (12.61%) Terraform
2 9 (7.56%) ARM Templates
3 6 (5.04%) .NET
4 5 (4.20%) Loki
5 4 (3.36%) COM
5 4 (3.36%) DCOM
5 4 (3.36%) LDAP
5 4 (3.36%) Middleware
6 1 (0.84%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 26 (21.85%) Data Centre
2 6 (5.04%) Hybrid Cloud
2 6 (5.04%) PKI
3 4 (3.36%) Cloud Native
3 4 (3.36%) Mobile App
3 4 (3.36%) Raspberry Pi
3 4 (3.36%) Self-Motivation
3 4 (3.36%) Smartcard
4 3 (2.52%) Management Information System
5 1 (0.84%) Client/Server
5 1 (0.84%) Clustering
5 1 (0.84%) Distributed Systems
5 1 (0.84%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.84%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
5 1 (0.84%) IoT
5 1 (0.84%) Linux Command Line
5 1 (0.84%) Private Cloud
5 1 (0.84%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 32 (26.89%) Windows
2 18 (15.13%) Windows Server
3 17 (14.29%) Linux
4 4 (3.36%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.84%) Debian
5 1 (0.84%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (62.18%) AI
2 43 (36.13%) Migration
3 42 (35.29%) Agile
3 42 (35.29%) Data Architecture
4 41 (34.45%) CI/CD
4 41 (34.45%) Data Engineering
5 40 (33.61%) Data Development
5 40 (33.61%) Data Governance
5 40 (33.61%) Line Management
5 40 (33.61%) Machine Learning
5 40 (33.61%) Regulatory Compliance
5 40 (33.61%) Roadmaps
6 35 (29.41%) Cloud Security
7 27 (22.69%) Security Architecture
8 26 (21.85%) Cybersecurity
8 26 (21.85%) DevSecOps
9 25 (21.01%) Application Security
9 25 (21.01%) SDLC
9 25 (21.01%) Security Testing
9 25 (21.01%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 60 (50.42%) SQL
2 24 (20.17%) PowerShell
3 12 (10.08%) Bicep
4 9 (7.56%) C#
5 7 (5.88%) Python
6 4 (3.36%) Bash
7 3 (2.52%) C
8 2 (1.68%) C++
8 2 (1.68%) Go
8 2 (1.68%) Java
9 1 (0.84%) Rust
9 1 (0.84%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 15 (12.61%) Degree
2 9 (7.56%) Azure Certification
3 7 (5.88%) Security Cleared
4 6 (5.04%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (4.20%) CCNA
5 5 (4.20%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (3.36%) HNC
6 4 (3.36%) HND
7 3 (2.52%) SC Cleared
8 2 (1.68%) BPSS Clearance
8 2 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (1.68%) DV Cleared
9 1 (0.84%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.84%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.84%) ISEB
9 1 (0.84%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.84%) MCSE
9 1 (0.84%) Network+ Certification
9 1 (0.84%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (21.01%) GRC
2 6 (5.04%) QA
3 4 (3.36%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (1.68%) AUTOSAR
4 2 (1.68%) MISRA
4 2 (1.68%) MISRA C
4 2 (1.68%) NIST
4 2 (1.68%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.84%) SLA
5 1 (0.84%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 30 (25.21%) Active Directory
2 20 (16.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (8.40%) Docker
4 9 (7.56%) Hyper-V
5 7 (5.88%) vSphere
6 4 (3.36%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.84%) Firmware
7 1 (0.84%) KVM
7 1 (0.84%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 14 (11.76%) Kubernetes
2 9 (7.56%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (4.20%) Grafana
3 5 (4.20%) Prometheus
4 2 (1.68%) SCCM
5 1 (0.84%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.84%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.84%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
5 1 (0.84%) Packer
5 1 (0.84%) Podman
5 1 (0.84%) SCOM
5 1 (0.84%) WSUS
Vendors
1 79 (66.39%) Microsoft
2 40 (33.61%) Databricks
3 28 (23.53%) Palo Alto
4 25 (21.01%) CrowdStrike
4 25 (21.01%) Tenable
5 20 (16.81%) VMware
6 8 (6.72%) Veeam
7 7 (5.88%) Synology
8 6 (5.04%) Cisco
9 4 (3.36%) Dell
9 4 (3.36%) Meraki
9 4 (3.36%) Salesforce
10 3 (2.52%) Acronis
10 3 (2.52%) Fortinet
10 3 (2.52%) Juniper
10 3 (2.52%) Sophos
10 3 (2.52%) WatchGuard
11 1 (0.84%) Apple
11 1 (0.84%) Commvault
11 1 (0.84%) Google