Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Birmingham

Microsoft
West Midlands > Birmingham

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Birmingham requiring knowledge or experience of Microsoft products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Microsoft over the 6 months leading up to 13 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 2 5
Rank change year-on-year -1 +3 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 132 116 117
As % of all contract jobs in Birmingham 15.70% 19.37% 15.29%
As % of the Vendors category 31.28% 35.26% 33.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 101 100 90
10th Percentile £200 £190 £199
25th Percentile £325 £309 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year - +2.70% +4.23%
75th Percentile £540 £567 £605
90th Percentile £625 £653 £688
West Midlands median daily rate £475 £434 £438
% change year-on-year +9.39% -0.75% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 4 9
10th Percentile - £16.71 £11.06
25th Percentile - £24.61 £11.13
Median hourly rate £25.00 £29.73 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.90% +112.32% -1.72%
75th Percentile - £30.68 £26.50
90th Percentile - - -
West Midlands median hourly rate £23.50 £29.73 £18.25
% change year-on-year -20.94% +62.88% +17.82%

All Vendors
Birmingham

Microsoft falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services in Birmingham.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 422 329 348
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham 50.18% 54.92% 45.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 251 242 209
10th Percentile £263 £200 £221
25th Percentile £400 £375 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +16.67% -
75th Percentile £588 £638 £575
90th Percentile £633 £700 £688
West Midlands median daily rate £498 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -0.50% +5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 6 17
10th Percentile £17.33 £20.22 £11.10
25th Percentile £19.42 £29.25 £14.00
Median hourly rate £22.75 £30.23 £24.65
Median % change year-on-year -24.73% +22.62% +64.33%
75th Percentile £28.62 £30.68 £28.75
90th Percentile £46.80 £45.34 £47.05
West Midlands median hourly rate £25.00 £23.60 £21.23
% change year-on-year +5.93% +11.19% +19.78%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Birmingham

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Birmingham

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Birmingham

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Birmingham citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Birmingham citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Birmingham

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Birmingham over the 6 months to 13 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Birmingham

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Birmingham

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Birmingham citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Birmingham citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Birmingham 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 8 (6.06%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.52%) Apache
2 2 (1.52%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Pig
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.76%) Confluence
3 1 (0.76%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (9.85%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (9.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (4.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.76%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.76%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.76%) Oracle Smart View
4 1 (0.76%) Trello
Business Applications
1 11 (8.33%) Dynamics NAV
2 8 (6.06%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.76%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.76%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 48 (36.36%) Azure
2 29 (21.97%) Power Platform
3 28 (21.21%) Dynamics 365
4 24 (18.18%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (12.88%) AWS
6 12 (9.09%) Azure DevOps
6 12 (9.09%) Entra ID
7 10 (7.58%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 9 (6.82%) Azure Data Factory
9 7 (5.30%) Azure Sentinel
9 7 (5.30%) Power Automate
9 7 (5.30%) SaaS
10 6 (4.55%) GCP
11 5 (3.79%) GitHub
11 5 (3.79%) Microsoft Purview
11 5 (3.79%) PowerApps
12 4 (3.03%) Azure Key Vault
12 4 (3.03%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (3.03%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (2.27%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (11.36%) VPN
2 12 (9.09%) Firewall
3 10 (7.58%) DNS
3 10 (7.58%) TCP/IP
4 8 (6.06%) DHCP
5 7 (5.30%) Network Security
6 3 (2.27%) Unified Communications
7 2 (1.52%) SSL
7 2 (1.52%) Wireshark
8 1 (0.76%) Internet
8 1 (0.76%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (14.39%) Power BI
2 8 (6.06%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (4.55%) Data Mining
4 5 (3.79%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (2.27%) Power Query
6 2 (1.52%) Apache Hive
6 2 (1.52%) Hadoop
6 2 (1.52%) NoSQL
6 2 (1.52%) Relational Database
6 2 (1.52%) SQL Server
6 2 (1.52%) Tableau
7 1 (0.76%) Amazon Redshift
7 1 (0.76%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.76%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.76%) GIS
7 1 (0.76%) HBase
7 1 (0.76%) OLTP
7 1 (0.76%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 1 (0.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.76%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 9 (6.82%) JIRA
2 6 (4.55%) Git
3 5 (3.79%) Jenkins
4 3 (2.27%) GitLab
5 2 (1.52%) CircleCI
5 2 (1.52%) JMeter
5 2 (1.52%) Liquibase
6 1 (0.76%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.76%) Jaeger
6 1 (0.76%) Selenium
General
1 56 (42.42%) Social Skills
2 23 (17.42%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (15.15%) Finance
4 7 (5.30%) Legal
5 5 (3.79%) Public Sector
6 4 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (3.03%) Manufacturing
6 4 (3.03%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (2.27%) Games
8 2 (1.52%) Banking
9 1 (0.76%) Automotive
9 1 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.76%) Law
Job Titles
1 21 (15.91%) Analyst
2 14 (10.61%) Architect
2 14 (10.61%) Developer
3 9 (6.82%) IT Support
4 8 (6.06%) Senior
5 7 (5.30%) Enterprise Architect
5 7 (5.30%) Project Manager
5 7 (5.30%) Support Engineer
6 6 (4.55%) 1st/2nd Line Support
6 6 (4.55%) 2nd Line Support
6 6 (4.55%) Lead
7 5 (3.79%) 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst
7 5 (3.79%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
7 5 (3.79%) Administrator
7 5 (3.79%) Azure Architect
7 5 (3.79%) Business Analyst
7 5 (3.79%) Dynamics 365 Architect
7 5 (3.79%) IT Analyst
7 5 (3.79%) IT Engineer
7 5 (3.79%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.79%) OpenTelemetry
1 5 (3.79%) REST
2 3 (2.27%) FastAPI
2 3 (2.27%) Middleware
2 3 (2.27%) RESTful
3 2 (1.52%) .NET
3 2 (1.52%) ADO
3 2 (1.52%) Elastic Stack
4 1 (0.76%) .NET Core
4 1 (0.76%) Azure Blueprints
4 1 (0.76%) OAuth
4 1 (0.76%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (0.76%) Playwright
4 1 (0.76%) Spark Streaming
4 1 (0.76%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 10 (7.58%) Security Posture
2 8 (6.06%) Self-Motivation
3 6 (4.55%) Onboarding
3 6 (4.55%) Team-Oriented Environment
4 5 (3.79%) Cloud Native
5 3 (2.27%) Driving Licence
5 3 (2.27%) Handset
5 3 (2.27%) Security Operations Centre
6 2 (1.52%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.52%) Cyber Defence
6 2 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
6 2 (1.52%) e-Learning
6 2 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.52%) Legacy Applications
6 2 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (1.52%) Life Science
6 2 (1.52%) PKI
6 2 (1.52%) Public Cloud
7 1 (0.76%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.76%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 22 (16.67%) Windows
2 10 (7.58%) Windows 10
3 7 (5.30%) Linux
3 7 (5.30%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.76%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (18.18%) Agile
2 21 (15.91%) Analytics
3 20 (15.15%) Business Intelligence
3 20 (15.15%) CI/CD
3 20 (15.15%) DevOps
4 19 (14.39%) Problem-Solving
5 14 (10.61%) Continuous Improvement
5 14 (10.61%) CRM
5 14 (10.61%) Migration
6 13 (9.85%) Change Management
7 12 (9.09%) Customer Service
7 12 (9.09%) Data Modelling
7 12 (9.09%) Decision-Making
8 11 (8.33%) Containerisation
8 11 (8.33%) ITIL
8 11 (8.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 10 (7.58%) Cloud Security
10 8 (6.06%) Root Cause Analysis
10 8 (6.06%) SIEM
10 8 (6.06%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 21 (15.91%) Python
2 8 (6.06%) PowerShell
2 8 (6.06%) SQL
3 5 (3.79%) C#
3 5 (3.79%) Go
4 4 (3.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 4 (3.03%) Java
4 4 (3.03%) R
5 3 (2.27%) Kusto Query Language
5 3 (2.27%) Scala
5 3 (2.27%) VB
6 2 (1.52%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.52%) PL/SQL
6 2 (1.52%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.76%) Bash
7 1 (0.76%) Bicep
7 1 (0.76%) Perl
7 1 (0.76%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.76%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 11 (8.33%) Microsoft Certification
1 11 (8.33%) Security Cleared
2 10 (7.58%) Degree
2 10 (7.58%) SC Cleared
3 5 (3.79%) MCDST
3 5 (3.79%) Microsoft Certified Professional
4 3 (2.27%) Azure Certification
4 3 (2.27%) BPSS Clearance
4 3 (2.27%) CISSP
4 3 (2.27%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.52%) AWS Certification
5 2 (1.52%) CISM
5 2 (1.52%) ISTQB
5 2 (1.52%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
5 2 (1.52%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 1 (0.76%) ACCA
6 1 (0.76%) CIMA
6 1 (0.76%) GIAC
6 1 (0.76%) ITIL Certification
6 1 (0.76%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (3.03%) Cyber Essentials
2 4 (3.03%) GDPR
3 3 (2.27%) SLA
4 2 (1.52%) Data Quality
4 2 (1.52%) GxP
4 2 (1.52%) NCSC
4 2 (1.52%) NIST
4 2 (1.52%) PMO
5 1 (0.76%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.76%) ISO 22301
5 1 (0.76%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.76%) QA
System Software
1 19 (14.39%) Active Directory
2 9 (6.82%) Docker
3 1 (0.76%) HDFS
3 1 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (7.58%) Kubernetes
1 10 (7.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (6.06%) Terraform
3 6 (4.55%) Grafana
3 6 (4.55%) Prometheus
4 5 (3.79%) SCCM
5 4 (3.03%) Ansible
6 3 (2.27%) Control-M
6 3 (2.27%) IBM Guardium
6 3 (2.27%) Nessus
6 3 (2.27%) QRadar
7 2 (1.52%) CSIRT
7 2 (1.52%) HP ALM
7 2 (1.52%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.76%) Hadoop YARN
8 1 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 12 (9.09%) Splunk
2 8 (6.06%) ServiceNow
3 5 (3.79%) iManage
3 5 (3.79%) Mitel
3 5 (3.79%) Tenable
4 4 (3.03%) SAP
5 3 (2.27%) Cisco
5 3 (2.27%) Databricks
5 3 (2.27%) Google
5 3 (2.27%) Oracle
5 3 (2.27%) Workday
6 2 (1.52%) Barracuda Networks
6 2 (1.52%) F5
6 2 (1.52%) HP
6 2 (1.52%) Informatica
6 2 (1.52%) Sage
7 1 (0.76%) Atlassian
7 1 (0.76%) Cognos
7 1 (0.76%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.76%) IBM