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 2 October 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
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 4 4
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 141 98 104
As % of all contract jobs in Birmingham 15.34% 15.91% 14.57%
As % of the Vendors category 35.07% 29.61% 27.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 101 82 77
10th Percentile £213 £128 £188
25th Percentile £375 £266 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £400 £425
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -5.88% -
75th Percentile £638 £543 £525
90th Percentile £684 £625 £573
West Midlands median daily rate £425 £440 £425
% change year-on-year -3.41% +3.53% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 2
10th Percentile £14.51 - £12.85
25th Percentile £15.32 - £14.97
Median hourly rate £16.72 £18.00 £18.78
Median % change year-on-year -7.10% -4.17% +2.92%
75th Percentile £18.06 - £22.88
90th Percentile £18.83 - £25.16
West Midlands median hourly rate £19.41 £30.00 £26.13
% change year-on-year -35.30% +14.83% +21.51%

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 402 331 378
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham 43.74% 53.73% 52.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 217 267
10th Percentile £265 £203 £200
25th Percentile £375 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +7.82%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £627
90th Percentile £688 £638 £750
West Midlands median daily rate £469 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -6.20% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 6
10th Percentile £13.28 £16.86 £13.33
25th Percentile £13.98 £17.39 £17.42
Median hourly rate £19.34 £17.85 £25.06
Median % change year-on-year +8.38% -28.80% -30.38%
75th Percentile £51.25 £21.07 £40.80
90th Percentile - £26.60 £52.75
West Midlands median hourly rate £20.62 £30.00 £26.13
% change year-on-year -31.28% +14.83% +13.59%

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 2 October 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 19 (13.48%) SharePoint
2 18 (12.77%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.13%) Apache Spark
4 2 (1.42%) Apache
4 2 (1.42%) CloudStack
4 2 (1.42%) SAS
5 1 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.71%) CMS
Applications
1 10 (7.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (4.26%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (2.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (2.13%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.71%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.71%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.71%) Navisworks
5 1 (0.71%) ProjectWise
5 1 (0.71%) Revit
Business Applications
1 3 (2.13%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.71%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 72 (51.06%) Azure
2 61 (43.26%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (29.08%) Entra ID
4 17 (12.06%) OneDrive
5 15 (10.64%) Dynamics 365
6 14 (9.93%) AWS
6 14 (9.93%) Power Platform
7 10 (7.09%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (6.38%) Microsoft Purview
9 8 (5.67%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (4.26%) IaaS
11 5 (3.55%) Azure Data Factory
11 5 (3.55%) GCP
11 5 (3.55%) PaaS
11 5 (3.55%) Power Automate
12 3 (2.13%) Azure AKS
12 3 (2.13%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 2 (1.42%) PowerApps
13 2 (1.42%) SaaS
14 1 (0.71%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 12 (8.51%) DNS
2 11 (7.80%) DHCP
2 11 (7.80%) Firewall
2 11 (7.80%) VPN
3 7 (4.96%) TCP/IP
4 5 (3.55%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.84%) Wireless
6 3 (2.13%) SAN
6 3 (2.13%) VLAN
7 2 (1.42%) NAS
7 2 (1.42%) Network Security
7 2 (1.42%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (1.42%) Structured Cabling
7 2 (1.42%) Unified Communications
7 2 (1.42%) VoIP
8 1 (0.71%) LAN
8 1 (0.71%) Value-Added Service
8 1 (0.71%) WAN
8 1 (0.71%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (7.09%) Power BI
2 4 (2.84%) Data Lake
3 3 (2.13%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (2.13%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (2.13%) Metadata
3 3 (2.13%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.71%) Amazon Redshift
4 1 (0.71%) Base SAS
4 1 (0.71%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.71%) Data Mining
4 1 (0.71%) Data Vault
4 1 (0.71%) Hadoop
4 1 (0.71%) Parquet
4 1 (0.71%) PowerPivot
4 1 (0.71%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.71%) SAS Enterprise Guide
4 1 (0.71%) Spark SQL
4 1 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 2 (1.42%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.71%) Git
2 1 (0.71%) JIRA
2 1 (0.71%) Maven
2 1 (0.71%) SonarQube
2 1 (0.71%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 32 (22.70%) Social Skills
2 28 (19.86%) Finance
3 12 (8.51%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (8.51%) Legal
4 8 (5.67%) Public Sector
5 7 (4.96%) Banking
6 4 (2.84%) Retail
7 3 (2.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (2.13%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (2.13%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.42%) Investment Banking
8 2 (1.42%) Law
8 2 (1.42%) Marketing
8 2 (1.42%) Publishing
9 1 (0.71%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.71%) Military
9 1 (0.71%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 20 (14.18%) Architect
2 17 (12.06%) Analyst
3 15 (10.64%) Solutions Architect
3 15 (10.64%) Support Engineer
4 13 (9.22%) Lead
5 11 (7.80%) Consultant
6 10 (7.09%) Azure Engineer
6 10 (7.09%) Data Engineer
6 10 (7.09%) IT Support
6 10 (7.09%) Senior
7 9 (6.38%) IT Engineer
8 8 (5.67%) IT Support Engineer
9 7 (4.96%) Security Consultant
10 6 (4.26%) Desktop Engineer
10 6 (4.26%) Microsoft Consultant
10 6 (4.26%) Security Engineer
11 5 (3.55%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 5 (3.55%) Cloud Engineer
11 5 (3.55%) Cybersecurity Specialist
11 5 (3.55%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (7.09%) Terraform
2 4 (2.84%) Microsoft Graph
3 3 (2.13%) JSON
3 3 (2.13%) REST
4 2 (1.42%) .NET
4 2 (1.42%) ADO
4 2 (1.42%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (1.42%) SailPoint
4 2 (1.42%) YAML
5 1 (0.71%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.71%) ASP.NET
5 1 (0.71%) Kafka
5 1 (0.71%) Node.js
5 1 (0.71%) OAuth
5 1 (0.71%) OpenID
5 1 (0.71%) OpenTelemetry
5 1 (0.71%) Protocol Buffers
5 1 (0.71%) PySpark
5 1 (0.71%) SAML
5 1 (0.71%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 12 (8.51%) Management Information System
1 12 (8.51%) Onboarding
2 6 (4.26%) Security Operations Centre
3 5 (3.55%) Hybrid Cloud
3 5 (3.55%) iPhone
3 5 (3.55%) Mobile App
3 5 (3.55%) Security Posture
4 4 (2.84%) Cyber Threat
4 4 (2.84%) Public Cloud
5 3 (2.13%) Cloud Native
5 3 (2.13%) Data Centre
5 3 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (2.13%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (1.42%) Acoustics
6 2 (1.42%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.42%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.71%) Algorithms
7 1 (0.71%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 39 (27.66%) Windows
2 10 (7.09%) Windows 10
2 10 (7.09%) Windows Server
3 8 (5.67%) Mac OS
4 3 (2.13%) Linux
5 2 (1.42%) Android
5 2 (1.42%) Apple iOS
5 2 (1.42%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (19.15%) ITSM
2 25 (17.73%) DevOps
3 20 (14.18%) Problem-Solving
4 18 (12.77%) Customer Service
4 18 (12.77%) ITIL
4 18 (12.77%) Migration
4 18 (12.77%) Service Management
5 15 (10.64%) Mentoring
6 14 (9.93%) Project Delivery
6 14 (9.93%) Stakeholder Management
7 13 (9.22%) Cybersecurity
7 13 (9.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 12 (8.51%) CI/CD
8 12 (8.51%) Continuous Improvement
8 12 (8.51%) Information Security
8 12 (8.51%) Roadmaps
9 11 (7.80%) Security Operations
10 10 (7.09%) AI
10 10 (7.09%) Analytics
10 10 (7.09%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 10 (7.09%) Python
1 10 (7.09%) SQL
2 8 (5.67%) PowerShell
3 6 (4.26%) Kusto Query Language
4 3 (2.13%) C#
5 2 (1.42%) Bash
5 2 (1.42%) Bicep
5 2 (1.42%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 2 (1.42%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.71%) Groovy
6 1 (0.71%) Java
6 1 (0.71%) Scala
6 1 (0.71%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 14 (9.93%) Degree
2 9 (6.38%) CISSP
2 9 (6.38%) Security Cleared
3 6 (4.26%) CISM
3 6 (4.26%) Microsoft Certification
3 6 (4.26%) SC Cleared
4 4 (2.84%) A+ Certification
4 4 (2.84%) AWS Certification
4 4 (2.84%) Network+ Certification
5 3 (2.13%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.13%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (1.42%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 2 (1.42%) Azure Certification
6 2 (1.42%) CCNP
6 2 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 1 (0.71%) CompTIA Security+
7 1 (0.71%) CRISC
7 1 (0.71%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.71%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (8.51%) NIST
2 8 (5.67%) PCI DSS
3 7 (4.96%) GDPR
3 7 (4.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (4.26%) GRC
4 6 (4.26%) SLA
5 4 (2.84%) Data Quality
5 4 (2.84%) PMO
5 4 (2.84%) QA
6 1 (0.71%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.71%) Basel III
6 1 (0.71%) ISO 19650
6 1 (0.71%) NCSC
6 1 (0.71%) P3O
System Software
1 32 (22.70%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (2.13%) Docker
3 3 (2.13%) Hyper-V
3 3 (2.13%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.42%) Firmware
4 2 (1.42%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 27 (19.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (4.96%) SCCM
3 5 (3.55%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (2.84%) Kubernetes
4 4 (2.84%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (2.13%) Grafana
5 3 (2.13%) Prometheus
6 2 (1.42%) Check_MK
7 1 (0.71%) Ansible
7 1 (0.71%) Argo
Vendors
1 24 (17.02%) ServiceNow
2 8 (5.67%) Splunk
3 7 (4.96%) Cisco
4 6 (4.26%) Samsung
5 5 (3.55%) Apple
5 5 (3.55%) Palo Alto
6 4 (2.84%) VMware
7 3 (2.13%) Databricks
7 3 (2.13%) Remedy
7 3 (2.13%) Ribbon
7 3 (2.13%) Veeam
8 2 (1.42%) Autodesk
8 2 (1.42%) BeyondTrust
8 2 (1.42%) CrowdStrike
8 2 (1.42%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.42%) LogRhythm
8 2 (1.42%) Nexthink
8 2 (1.42%) Okta
8 2 (1.42%) Rapid7
8 2 (1.42%) Snow