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 20 November 2025, 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
20 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 3 2
Rank change year-on-year -2 -1 +5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 111 127 135
As % of all contract jobs in Birmingham 15.81% 17.79% 17.20%
As % of the Vendors category 28.46% 33.07% 31.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 93 99 106
10th Percentile £172 £174 £200
25th Percentile £300 £211 £351
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £415 £450
Median % change year-on-year +6.02% -7.78% +4.35%
75th Percentile £563 £538 £575
90th Percentile £625 £632 £688
West Midlands median daily rate £475 £448 £425
% change year-on-year +6.03% +5.41% -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 5 2
10th Percentile - £17.09 £17.23
25th Percentile - £25.56 £17.56
Median hourly rate £18.00 £29.00 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year -37.93% +58.90% -73.39%
75th Percentile - £30.68 £19.06
90th Percentile - - £19.48
West Midlands median hourly rate £30.00 £30.45 £21.50
% change year-on-year -1.48% +41.63% +46.46%

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 390 384 424
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham 55.56% 53.78% 54.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 273 274
10th Percentile £258 £190 £258
25th Percentile £369 £350 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +11.11% +1.81%
75th Percentile £600 £627 £600
90th Percentile £638 £750 £675
West Midlands median daily rate £507 £500 £465
% change year-on-year +1.40% +7.53% -6.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 8 4
10th Percentile £17.10 £14.09 £17.68
25th Percentile £17.77 £22.98 £18.69
Median hourly rate £19.25 £29.50 £37.25
Median % change year-on-year -34.75% -20.81% +96.05%
75th Percentile £27.91 £30.68 £58.44
90th Percentile £53.77 £39.47 £64.63
West Midlands median hourly rate £30.00 £30.45 £23.00
% change year-on-year -1.48% +32.39% +41.67%

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 20 November 2025.

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 10 (9.01%) SharePoint
2 4 (3.60%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.80%) Apache
3 2 (1.80%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (1.80%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.90%) Apache Pig
4 1 (0.90%) Confluence
4 1 (0.90%) IIS
Applications
1 19 (17.12%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (15.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (8.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (2.70%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (2.70%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.90%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.90%) Moqups
5 1 (0.90%) Oracle Smart View
5 1 (0.90%) Trello
Business Applications
1 4 (3.60%) Dynamics NAV
2 2 (1.80%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.90%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.90%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 35 (31.53%) Azure
2 20 (18.02%) Dynamics 365
2 20 (18.02%) Power Platform
3 19 (17.12%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (11.71%) AWS
5 12 (10.81%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (10.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 11 (9.91%) Azure Data Factory
7 8 (7.21%) SaaS
8 6 (5.41%) GCP
9 5 (4.50%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (4.50%) Entra ID
9 5 (4.50%) GitHub
9 5 (4.50%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (3.60%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (3.60%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (2.70%) Azure AKS
11 3 (2.70%) Azure API Management
11 3 (2.70%) Azure Key Vault
11 3 (2.70%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 13 (11.71%) TCP/IP
1 13 (11.71%) VPN
2 12 (10.81%) DNS
3 10 (9.01%) DHCP
3 10 (9.01%) Firewall
4 4 (3.60%) Network Security
5 3 (2.70%) Unified Communications
5 3 (2.70%) VoIP
5 3 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (1.80%) Wireshark
7 1 (0.90%) Internet
7 1 (0.90%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.90%) SD-WAN
7 1 (0.90%) SSH
7 1 (0.90%) WAN
7 1 (0.90%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (14.41%) Power BI
2 8 (7.21%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (6.31%) Data Mining
4 3 (2.70%) Hadoop
4 3 (2.70%) Metadata
4 3 (2.70%) NoSQL
4 3 (2.70%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (2.70%) SQL Server
5 2 (1.80%) Apache Hive
5 2 (1.80%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.90%) Big Data
6 1 (0.90%) Delta Lake
6 1 (0.90%) GIS
6 1 (0.90%) HBase
6 1 (0.90%) OLTP
6 1 (0.90%) Parquet
6 1 (0.90%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 1 (0.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.90%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (5.41%) Jenkins
1 6 (5.41%) JIRA
2 3 (2.70%) GitLab
3 2 (1.80%) CircleCI
3 2 (1.80%) Git
3 2 (1.80%) Liquibase
4 1 (0.90%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.90%) Jaeger
4 1 (0.90%) MLflow
4 1 (0.90%) Selenium
4 1 (0.90%) SonarQube
4 1 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
4 1 (0.90%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.90%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 45 (40.54%) Social Skills
2 18 (16.22%) Finance
3 17 (15.32%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (9.91%) Legal
5 9 (8.11%) Public Sector
6 7 (6.31%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (4.50%) Banking
8 4 (3.60%) Manufacturing
8 4 (3.60%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.90%) Advertising
11 1 (0.90%) Automotive
11 1 (0.90%) Billing
11 1 (0.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.90%) Law
Job Titles
1 22 (19.82%) Analyst
2 15 (13.51%) Architect
3 10 (9.01%) Project Manager
4 8 (7.21%) Enterprise Architect
4 8 (7.21%) IT Support
5 7 (6.31%) 2nd Line Support
5 7 (6.31%) Business Architect
5 7 (6.31%) IT Analyst
5 7 (6.31%) Senior
5 7 (6.31%) Support Analyst
6 6 (5.41%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
6 6 (5.41%) Azure Architect
6 6 (5.41%) Dynamics 365 Architect
6 6 (5.41%) IT Support Analyst
7 5 (4.50%) 1st/2nd Line Support
7 5 (4.50%) 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst
7 5 (4.50%) Data Engineer
7 5 (4.50%) TOGAF Architect
7 5 (4.50%) TOGAF Enterprise Architect
8 4 (3.60%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (4.50%) REST
2 4 (3.60%) .NET
2 4 (3.60%) Middleware
3 3 (2.70%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (1.80%) OpenTelemetry
4 2 (1.80%) RESTful
5 1 (0.90%) ASP.NET Web API
5 1 (0.90%) CSS
5 1 (0.90%) CSS3
5 1 (0.90%) EDI
5 1 (0.90%) Flask
5 1 (0.90%) HTML
5 1 (0.90%) HTML5
5 1 (0.90%) jQuery
5 1 (0.90%) NumPy
5 1 (0.90%) OAuth
5 1 (0.90%) Oracle Fusion
5 1 (0.90%) Pandas
5 1 (0.90%) Razor View Engine
5 1 (0.90%) Spark Streaming
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.21%) Security Posture
1 8 (7.21%) Self-Motivation
2 5 (4.50%) Team-Oriented Environment
3 4 (3.60%) Driving Licence
4 3 (2.70%) Cloud Native
4 3 (2.70%) Handset
4 3 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
4 3 (2.70%) Video Conferencing
5 2 (1.80%) Algorithms
5 2 (1.80%) Data Centre
5 2 (1.80%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (1.80%) Legacy Applications
5 2 (1.80%) Product Ownership
5 2 (1.80%) Public Cloud
6 1 (0.90%) Cyber Defence
6 1 (0.90%) Cyberattack
6 1 (0.90%) Data Structures
6 1 (0.90%) Mobile App
6 1 (0.90%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.90%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 20 (18.02%) Windows
2 8 (7.21%) Windows 10
3 7 (6.31%) Linux
4 4 (3.60%) Windows Server
5 2 (1.80%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.90%) Android
6 1 (0.90%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (19.82%) DevOps
2 19 (17.12%) ITIL
3 18 (16.22%) Agile
3 18 (16.22%) Analytics
3 18 (16.22%) Problem-Solving
4 15 (13.51%) Business Intelligence
5 13 (11.71%) Migration
6 12 (10.81%) Change Management
7 11 (9.91%) CI/CD
7 11 (9.91%) ITSM
7 11 (9.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 10 (9.01%) Continuous Improvement
8 10 (9.01%) Customer Service
9 9 (8.11%) Containerisation
9 9 (8.11%) Data Modelling
9 9 (8.11%) Project Management
9 9 (8.11%) Service Management
10 8 (7.21%) AI
10 8 (7.21%) Cloud Security
10 8 (7.21%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 13 (11.71%) Python
2 7 (6.31%) PowerShell
3 5 (4.50%) Go
3 5 (4.50%) SQL
4 4 (3.60%) JavaScript
5 3 (2.70%) C#
5 3 (2.70%) Kusto Query Language
5 3 (2.70%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.80%) Bash
6 2 (1.80%) Java
6 2 (1.80%) Scala
7 1 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.90%) Groovy
7 1 (0.90%) Perl
7 1 (0.90%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.90%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.90%) VB
Qualifications
1 13 (11.71%) Security Cleared
2 11 (9.91%) Microsoft Certification
2 11 (9.91%) SC Cleared
3 8 (7.21%) Degree
4 6 (5.41%) MCP
5 5 (4.50%) MCDST
6 3 (2.70%) Azure Certification
6 3 (2.70%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (2.70%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (2.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (1.80%) AWS Certification
7 2 (1.80%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.90%) CCNA
8 1 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.90%) CISSP
8 1 (0.90%) ISACA
8 1 (0.90%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.90%) MCSA
8 1 (0.90%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.90%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.50%) PMO
2 4 (3.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (2.70%) GDPR
4 2 (1.80%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.80%) NCSC
5 1 (0.90%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.90%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.90%) ISO 22301
5 1 (0.90%) NIST
5 1 (0.90%) QA
5 1 (0.90%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (17.12%) Active Directory
2 7 (6.31%) Docker
3 1 (0.90%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.90%) Firmware
3 1 (0.90%) HDFS
3 1 (0.90%) Snort
3 1 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 9 (8.11%) SCCM
2 7 (6.31%) Kubernetes
3 6 (5.41%) Terraform
4 4 (3.60%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (2.70%) Ansible
5 3 (2.70%) Grafana
5 3 (2.70%) Prometheus
5 3 (2.70%) QRadar
6 2 (1.80%) CSIRT
7 1 (0.90%) Argo
7 1 (0.90%) Hadoop YARN
7 1 (0.90%) Istio
7 1 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 10 (9.01%) Splunk
2 6 (5.41%) Cisco
3 5 (4.50%) iManage
3 5 (4.50%) Mitel
3 5 (4.50%) ServiceNow
4 2 (1.80%) Databricks
4 2 (1.80%) F5
4 2 (1.80%) Google
4 2 (1.80%) Oracle
5 1 (0.90%) Adobe
5 1 (0.90%) Apple
5 1 (0.90%) Aruba
5 1 (0.90%) Atlassian
5 1 (0.90%) HP
5 1 (0.90%) IBM
5 1 (0.90%) JD Edwards
5 1 (0.90%) McAfee
5 1 (0.90%) QAD
5 1 (0.90%) Sage
5 1 (0.90%) SAP