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Freedom251 › Blog › AI infrastructure

Data Centre Hiring in Europe: Where Postings Are Growing and Why Advertised Pay Is Higher

By Freedom251 Team · · 6 min read

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As of August 2026, data-centre job postings were above their pre-pandemic level in all ten European economies that Indeed analysed, according to figures reported by Euronews on 2 October 2026. Measured against that baseline, the strongest growth was in Spain, Italy and Ireland. Advertised salaries for data-centre roles were higher than for comparable roles in 28 of the 29 country-occupation comparisons reported, although the size of the gap differs widely by country and job type. The figures describe job advertisements, not completed hires or total employment, so the sections below separate what the data shows from what it cannot show.

Where data-centre postings are growing

The headline measure is an index. Indeed sets the average level for December 2019 to February 2020 at 100, and each later reading shows how many postings existed relative to that reference period. A reading of 260 therefore means 2.6 times the baseline level, not 260 jobs.

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Countries with an indexed reading

Country Posting index, August 2026 (100 = Dec 2019 to Feb 2020 average) Multiple of pre-pandemic baseline
Spain 260 2.6 times
Italy 237 2.4 times (rounded)
Ireland 210 2.1 times
Netherlands 138 1.4 times (rounded)
Poland 134 1.3 times (rounded)
Switzerland 133 1.3 times (rounded)

Countries reported with a percentage increase

For Belgium, France, Germany and the UK, the coverage reviewed reports a percentage increase rather than a published index value. Those figures are not directly comparable with the index table above, so they are shown separately.

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Country Reported increase in data-centre postings (Indeed data via Euronews, 2026)
Belgium 9%
France 13%
Germany 25%
United Kingdom 24%

Spain’s reading also implies a rise of 160% on the same baseline. Keep the two forms distinct: an index of 260 is a level, and 160% is the change from that level’s starting point.

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Growth in data-centre roles compared with the wider tech market

Data-centre postings are not simply lifting all technology hiring. In nine of the ten countries, general tech postings excluding data-centre roles remained below the pre-pandemic benchmark. Spain was the exception, sitting one index point above it. The data-centre share of postings also differs sharply. In Ireland, data-centre mentions accounted for nearly 5% of Indeed postings, while the reported share was around 1% or less in most other countries.

Why Spain and Italy stand out

Indeed economist Aubrey Woessner and Pawel Adrjan, the company’s director of research, describe Spain and Italy as growing from a lower base than established hubs. They point to new AI-oriented development, including campuses in Aragón and projects around Milan, in contrast with long-standing clusters near Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin. This is the economists’ explanation as quoted in coverage, not an independently verified estimate of cause.

What posting data does not show

  • It is not a count of hires. A higher index means more postings than the baseline period, not that the same number of people were recruited or started work.
  • It is not a vacancy total. The index does not give absolute numbers of open roles, and postings can be re-listed or closed without a hire.
  • It does not show long-term employment growth. A rise in advertised roles can reflect project timing, which may change as construction schedules shift.
  • Demand is not evenly spread across regions. The index shows relative change by country, not how postings are distributed inside each country.

The figures come from Indeed posting data as reported by Euronews on 2 October 2026. The full dataset and methodology were not available in the coverage reviewed, so readers should treat the numbers as reported values rather than audited counts.

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How concentrated the hiring is

Europe’s data-centre hiring is spread across a large number of employers. Euronews reports that more than 500 companies account for 70% of postings across the ten analysed countries. In the United States, by contrast, ten large technology companies account for 71% of postings in the same reporting. These figures describe how concentrated postings are within each market; they say nothing about the total number of jobs in either market.

Which jobs make up the postings

Five occupation groups represent between 50% and 60% of European data-centre postings in the Euronews account:

  • IT infrastructure, operations and support
  • Software development
  • Management
  • Installation and maintenance
  • Project management

This mix reflects two demands that run at the same time.

Keeping existing facilities staffed

Operations, infrastructure support and maintenance roles are needed to run data centres that are already in service. These jobs are required on a continuing basis, whatever happens to new construction.

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Building new capacity for AI demand

Installation, project management and management roles are linked to new builds and expansions, which are being driven largely by AI-related demand. CBRE’s European outlook, discussed below, ties these roles to the pace of construction and commissioning.

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Why advertised pay is higher

The clearest comparison in the reporting is advertised pay by country and occupation. Data-centre roles showed higher advertised salaries in 28 of 29 country-occupation pairs. The one exception was IT infrastructure, operations and support in France, where the reported difference was -1%.

The largest premiums reported were:

Country and occupation Advertised pay for data-centre roles compared with comparable-sector roles
Italy, management 65% higher
Italy, installation and maintenance 50% higher
UK, management 49% higher
Germany, installation and maintenance 36% higher

These are advertised salaries from Indeed data as reported by Euronews, 2026. They do not measure what people are paid after hiring, and each figure applies only to the stated country and occupation.

What the economists say drives the gap

The reporting offers several explanations. The first is competition. Data-centre employers are competing for technicians and infrastructure specialists who are also needed by industries going through digital and green transitions.

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The second is skill requirements. Woessner and Adrjan said:

“Postings related to data centre roles ask for more skills, on average, than other postings in the same field.”

They also said that:

“Concrete technical and digital skills – including knowledge of IT systems, software, and cybersecurity – as well as English language requirements are also over-represented in data centre-related roles compared with other roles in the same occupation.”

The third is timing. The economists said higher pay helps employers attract workers quickly enough to keep projects on schedule. Source for both quotations: Euronews Business, 2 October 2026.

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The coverage presents these as reasons rather than as a measured breakdown. It does not split the premium into the share attributable to each factor.

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What the premium is not

The premium is not a fixed uplift across Europe. It varies by country and by occupation, and it can be negative, as the French IT infrastructure figure shows. It also should not be read as a promise of higher pay to any individual candidate, because a job advertisement reflects the employer’s offer for a specific role, location and skill set.

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The infrastructure behind the demand

CBRE’s European Real Estate Market Outlook 2026 provides the physical backdrop. It identifies AI adoption and broader digitisation as drivers of demand, while electrical-grid bottlenecks limit how quickly new capacity can be brought online. CBRE forecasts a vacancy rate of 6.5% by the end of 2026 and more than 750 MW of European capacity additions during 2026. These are forecasts from the 2026 outlook, not measured outcomes.

The outlook helps explain why construction, commissioning, power and operations roles may stay in demand. It does not measure employment, so it cannot confirm how many of those roles will be filled.

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Talent supply and why people move

DataX Connect’s 2026 salary survey drew on more than 1,700 data-centre professionals across the UK, Europe and the US. It is a survey from a recruitment-sector source rather than a representative census of data-centre workers, so its findings describe respondents only.

  • 38.8% of permanent European respondents planned to change companies within the coming 12 months.
  • 36.0% of European respondents cited career development as the main reason for considering a move.
  • 41.7% of European respondents had previously worked in energy or in semiconductor or pharmaceutical roles before entering data centres. This points to adjacent fields as a possible source of transferable skills.

Andy Davis, Director of DataX Connect and Data eXec and host of the Inside Data Centre Podcast, summarised the survey’s message:

“The biggest takeaway from this year’s Salary Survey is that there isn’t one simple answer to the talent challenge. Pay is important, but so is career progression, the benefits people value and, increasingly, where the skills we need actually exist.” Source: DataX Connect, 14 September 2026.

How to compare pay across countries or roles

If you are comparing locations or job offers, the following checks keep the comparison meaningful:

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  1. Compare the same occupation within the same country. A premium for management in one market says little about installation work in another.
  2. Use the same date and baseline. Index readings and percentage increases from different reports cannot be placed side by side.
  3. Remember that advertised salary is not the same as paid salary, and that figures describe the advertisement, not the individual outcome.
  4. Account for job family, seniority, working pattern, local cost of living and career progression. The sources reviewed do not provide a harmonised salary table that covers all of these factors together.

Career progression matters for retention as well as for pay. The DataX Connect findings above suggest that a higher advertised salary is only one part of what keeps people in a role.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

AI infrastructuredata centre careersData CentresEurope jobssalary comparisontech hiring

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