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

6 months to
3 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 357 332
Rank change year-on-year +66 -25 +103
Permanent jobs citing Virtual Machines 129 79 279
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.67% 0.53% 0.83%
As % of the System Software category 8.57% 3.55% 6.73%
Number of salaries quoted 94 61 253
10th Percentile £44,875 £42,500 £41,300
25th Percentile £65,438 £51,250 £53,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £112,500 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +104.55% -4.35% -10.20%
75th Percentile £127,500 £77,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £143,750 £127,500 £87,500
UK median annual salary £88,750 £57,836 £57,500
% change year-on-year +53.45% +0.58% -

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 1,505 2,225 4,146
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 7.85% 14.99% 12.35%
Number of salaries quoted 1,063 1,340 3,302
10th Percentile £32,500 £30,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £70,299
90th Percentile £97,500 £105,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -9.09%

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 3 June 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 5 (3.88%) Confluence
2 3 (2.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (2.33%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.78%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (4.65%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.78%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 89 (68.99%) Azure
2 55 (42.64%) Azure AI
2 55 (42.64%) Azure Machine Learning
2 55 (42.64%) Azure Synapse Analytics
2 55 (42.64%) Snowflake
3 27 (20.93%) Serverless
4 20 (15.50%) AWS
5 13 (10.08%) GCP
6 12 (9.30%) Microsoft 365
7 10 (7.75%) Amazon EKS
7 10 (7.75%) Entra ID
7 10 (7.75%) OpenShift
8 8 (6.20%) Amazon MSK
9 5 (3.88%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (3.88%) Azure Monitor
9 5 (3.88%) Figma
9 5 (3.88%) GitHub
10 3 (2.33%) Amazon EC2
10 3 (2.33%) Amazon S3
10 3 (2.33%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (6.20%) Firewall
2 4 (3.10%) Broadband
2 4 (3.10%) DNS
3 2 (1.55%) TCP/IP
3 2 (1.55%) VPN
4 1 (0.78%) DHCP
4 1 (0.78%) Network Security
4 1 (0.78%) SD-WAN
4 1 (0.78%) VLAN
4 1 (0.78%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 63 (48.84%) SQL Server
2 11 (8.53%) Azure SQL Database
3 5 (3.88%) MySQL
4 1 (0.78%) MS Access
4 1 (0.78%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 25 (19.38%) Snyk
2 7 (5.43%) Git
3 4 (3.10%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.55%) Terragrunt
5 1 (0.78%) Selenium
General
1 67 (51.94%) Finance
2 22 (17.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 18 (13.95%) Banking
4 14 (10.85%) Social Skills
5 3 (2.33%) Analytical Skills
6 2 (1.55%) Advertising
6 2 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 46 (35.66%) Senior
2 38 (29.46%) Architect
3 33 (25.58%) Data Manager
3 33 (25.58%) Engineering Manager
3 33 (25.58%) Finance Manager
4 25 (19.38%) Cloud Architect
4 25 (19.38%) Cloud Security Architect
4 25 (19.38%) Security Architect
4 25 (19.38%) Senior Architect
4 25 (19.38%) Senior Cloud Architect
4 25 (19.38%) Senior Security Architect
5 12 (9.30%) Azure Architect
5 12 (9.30%) Azure Data Architect
5 12 (9.30%) Data Architect
5 12 (9.30%) DevOps Engineer
6 10 (7.75%) AWS Engineer
6 10 (7.75%) Developer
6 10 (7.75%) Head of AI
6 10 (7.75%) Head of Finance
6 10 (7.75%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (6.98%) Django
1 9 (6.98%) React
2 8 (6.20%) Kafka
3 6 (4.65%) REST
4 5 (3.88%) Twisted
4 5 (3.88%) Web Services
4 5 (3.88%) WebSockets
5 4 (3.10%) ARM Templates
5 4 (3.10%) Model Context Protocol
6 2 (1.55%) LAMP
6 2 (1.55%) Middleware
7 1 (0.78%) .NET
7 1 (0.78%) COM
7 1 (0.78%) DCOM
7 1 (0.78%) LDAP
7 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 23 (17.83%) Data Centre
2 6 (4.65%) Self-Motivation
3 5 (3.88%) Product Ownership
3 5 (3.88%) Raspberry Pi
3 5 (3.88%) Video Conferencing
4 4 (3.10%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (1.55%) Hybrid Cloud
5 2 (1.55%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.78%) Analytical Mindset
6 1 (0.78%) Driving Licence
6 1 (0.78%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.78%) Mobile App
6 1 (0.78%) PKI
6 1 (0.78%) Public Cloud
6 1 (0.78%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 19 (14.73%) Linux
2 7 (5.43%) Ubuntu
2 7 (5.43%) Windows
3 6 (4.65%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.55%) CentOS
4 2 (1.55%) Debian
4 2 (1.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (1.55%) Unix
5 1 (0.78%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (68.99%) AI
2 59 (45.74%) Agile
2 59 (45.74%) Roadmaps
3 57 (44.19%) Data Architecture
4 56 (43.41%) Data Engineering
4 56 (43.41%) Migration
5 55 (42.64%) Data Development
5 55 (42.64%) Data Governance
5 55 (42.64%) Line Management
5 55 (42.64%) Machine Learning
5 55 (42.64%) Regulatory Compliance
6 35 (27.13%) CI/CD
7 27 (20.93%) Cloud Security
7 27 (20.93%) Cybersecurity
8 25 (19.38%) Application Security
8 25 (19.38%) DevSecOps
8 25 (19.38%) SDLC
8 25 (19.38%) Security Architecture
8 25 (19.38%) Security Testing
8 25 (19.38%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 74 (57.36%) SQL
2 19 (14.73%) Python
3 8 (6.20%) Go
3 8 (6.20%) PowerShell
4 5 (3.88%) JavaScript
4 5 (3.88%) TypeScript
5 3 (2.33%) C#
6 2 (1.55%) Bicep
6 2 (1.55%) Perl
7 1 (0.78%) Bash
Qualifications
1 8 (6.20%) Degree
2 5 (3.88%) HNC
2 5 (3.88%) HND
3 4 (3.10%) Azure Certification
4 3 (2.33%) Microsoft Certification
4 3 (2.33%) Security Cleared
5 2 (1.55%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.55%) SC Cleared
6 1 (0.78%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.78%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 1 (0.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (19.38%) GRC
2 5 (3.88%) QA
3 1 (0.78%) GDPR
3 1 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 17 (13.18%) Docker
2 14 (10.85%) Active Directory
3 9 (6.98%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (5.43%) vSphere
5 2 (1.55%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.78%) Firmware
6 1 (0.78%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.78%) KVM
6 1 (0.78%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.78%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 18 (13.95%) Terraform
2 15 (11.63%) Kubernetes
3 8 (6.20%) Istio
4 5 (3.88%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (3.10%) Ansible
6 2 (1.55%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.78%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.78%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 71 (55.04%) Microsoft
2 55 (42.64%) Databricks
3 25 (19.38%) CrowdStrike
3 25 (19.38%) Palo Alto
3 25 (19.38%) Tenable
4 9 (6.98%) VMware
5 8 (6.20%) Confluent
6 5 (3.88%) Cisco
6 5 (3.88%) Meraki
6 5 (3.88%) Synology
6 5 (3.88%) Veeam
7 2 (1.55%) Apple
7 2 (1.55%) Fortinet
8 1 (0.78%) Concur
8 1 (0.78%) Red Hat
8 1 (0.78%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.78%) SAP