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 30 January 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
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 3 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 +2 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 131 122 113
As % of all contract jobs in Birmingham 16.21% 18.89% 15.33%
As % of the Vendors category 31.95% 33.98% 33.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 103 86
10th Percentile £160 £190 £200
25th Percentile £325 £300 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - +7.04%
75th Percentile £540 £567 £625
90th Percentile £625 £650 £688
West Midlands median daily rate £488 £444 £438
% change year-on-year +9.86% +1.43% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 5 8
10th Percentile - £17.09 £11.06
25th Percentile - £25.56 £11.11
Median hourly rate - £29.00 £16.73
Median % change year-on-year - +73.39% -75.49%
75th Percentile - £30.68 £26.50
90th Percentile - - -
West Midlands median hourly rate £16.34 £27.56 £18.50
% change year-on-year -40.72% +48.99% +15.84%

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 410 359 338
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham 50.74% 55.57% 45.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 253 264 195
10th Percentile £261 £202 £246
25th Percentile £386 £379 £353
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £487 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -7.24% +16.67% -
75th Percentile £589 £650 £594
90th Percentile £637 £725 £688
West Midlands median daily rate £500 £513 £465
% change year-on-year -2.44% +10.22% -5.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 7 15
10th Percentile £17.10 £19.91 £11.09
25th Percentile £18.27 £27.28 £16.60
Median hourly rate £20.25 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.50% +15.38% +73.33%
75th Percentile £30.50 £30.68 £28.75
90th Percentile £55.50 £42.41 £49.70
West Midlands median hourly rate £23.50 £23.60 £22.50
% change year-on-year -0.42% +4.89% +26.98%

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 30 January 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 7 (5.34%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.53%) Apache
2 2 (1.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Pig
3 1 (0.76%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.76%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (9.92%) Microsoft Excel
1 13 (9.92%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (4.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (1.53%) Spreadsheet
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 (8.40%) Dynamics NAV
2 4 (3.05%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.76%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.76%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 47 (35.88%) Azure
2 28 (21.37%) Power Platform
3 25 (19.08%) Dynamics 365
4 24 (18.32%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (12.98%) AWS
6 11 (8.40%) Azure DevOps
6 11 (8.40%) Entra ID
7 9 (6.87%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 8 (6.11%) Azure Data Factory
9 7 (5.34%) Azure Sentinel
9 7 (5.34%) Power Automate
9 7 (5.34%) SaaS
10 6 (4.58%) GCP
11 5 (3.82%) GitHub
11 5 (3.82%) PowerApps
12 4 (3.05%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (3.05%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (3.05%) Microsoft Purview
13 3 (2.29%) Azure AKS
13 3 (2.29%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 16 (12.21%) VPN
2 13 (9.92%) Firewall
3 11 (8.40%) DNS
4 10 (7.63%) TCP/IP
5 9 (6.87%) DHCP
6 7 (5.34%) Network Security
7 3 (2.29%) Unified Communications
8 2 (1.53%) SSL
8 2 (1.53%) Wireshark
9 1 (0.76%) Internet
9 1 (0.76%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.76%) SD-WAN
9 1 (0.76%) WAN
9 1 (0.76%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (14.50%) Power BI
2 8 (6.11%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (4.58%) Data Mining
4 4 (3.05%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (2.29%) Power Query
6 2 (1.53%) Apache Hive
6 2 (1.53%) Hadoop
6 2 (1.53%) NoSQL
6 2 (1.53%) SQL Server
6 2 (1.53%) Tableau
7 1 (0.76%) Amazon Redshift
7 1 (0.76%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.76%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.76%) HBase
7 1 (0.76%) Metadata
7 1 (0.76%) OLTP
7 1 (0.76%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.76%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 1 (0.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.76%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 7 (5.34%) JIRA
2 5 (3.82%) Git
2 5 (3.82%) Jenkins
3 3 (2.29%) GitLab
4 2 (1.53%) CircleCI
4 2 (1.53%) Liquibase
5 1 (0.76%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.76%) Jaeger
5 1 (0.76%) JMeter
5 1 (0.76%) Selenium
General
1 56 (42.75%) Social Skills
2 22 (16.79%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (15.27%) Finance
4 8 (6.11%) Legal
5 7 (5.34%) Public Sector
6 4 (3.05%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (3.05%) Manufacturing
6 4 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (3.05%) Presentation Skills
7 2 (1.53%) Banking
8 1 (0.76%) Automotive
8 1 (0.76%) Billing
8 1 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (0.76%) Law
Job Titles
1 21 (16.03%) Analyst
2 15 (11.45%) Architect
3 13 (9.92%) Developer
4 9 (6.87%) IT Support
5 8 (6.11%) Senior
6 7 (5.34%) Enterprise Architect
6 7 (5.34%) Project Manager
6 7 (5.34%) Support Engineer
7 6 (4.58%) 1st/2nd Line Support
7 6 (4.58%) 2nd Line Support
8 5 (3.82%) 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst
8 5 (3.82%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
8 5 (3.82%) Administrator
8 5 (3.82%) Azure Architect
8 5 (3.82%) Dynamics 365 Architect
8 5 (3.82%) IT Analyst
8 5 (3.82%) IT Engineer
8 5 (3.82%) IT Support Analyst
8 5 (3.82%) Lead
8 5 (3.82%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.82%) REST
2 4 (3.05%) Middleware
2 4 (3.05%) OpenTelemetry
3 3 (2.29%) .NET
3 3 (2.29%) RESTful
4 2 (1.53%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (1.53%) FastAPI
5 1 (0.76%) .NET Core
5 1 (0.76%) ADO
5 1 (0.76%) Azure Blueprints
5 1 (0.76%) EDI
5 1 (0.76%) OAuth
5 1 (0.76%) Oracle Fusion
5 1 (0.76%) Playwright
5 1 (0.76%) Spark Streaming
Miscellaneous
1 10 (7.63%) Security Posture
2 8 (6.11%) Self-Motivation
3 6 (4.58%) Onboarding
3 6 (4.58%) Team-Oriented Environment
4 4 (3.05%) Cloud Native
5 3 (2.29%) Driving Licence
5 3 (2.29%) Handset
5 3 (2.29%) Security Operations Centre
6 2 (1.53%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.53%) Cyber Defence
6 2 (1.53%) Data Centre
6 2 (1.53%) Distributed Systems
6 2 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.53%) Legacy Applications
6 2 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (1.53%) Life Science
6 2 (1.53%) PKI
6 2 (1.53%) Product Ownership
6 2 (1.53%) Public Cloud
7 1 (0.76%) Cyberattack
Operating Systems
1 23 (17.56%) Windows
2 10 (7.63%) Windows 10
3 7 (5.34%) Linux
3 7 (5.34%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.76%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (16.79%) Agile
1 22 (16.79%) Analytics
2 20 (15.27%) Business Intelligence
3 18 (13.74%) CI/CD
3 18 (13.74%) DevOps
3 18 (13.74%) Problem-Solving
4 15 (11.45%) Migration
5 13 (9.92%) Continuous Improvement
5 13 (9.92%) Decision-Making
6 12 (9.16%) Change Management
6 12 (9.16%) Customer Service
6 12 (9.16%) Data Modelling
6 12 (9.16%) ITIL
7 11 (8.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 10 (7.63%) Cloud Security
8 10 (7.63%) Containerisation
8 10 (7.63%) CRM
9 8 (6.11%) ITSM
9 8 (6.11%) Roadmaps
9 8 (6.11%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 19 (14.50%) Python
2 9 (6.87%) SQL
3 8 (6.11%) PowerShell
4 5 (3.82%) C#
4 5 (3.82%) Go
5 4 (3.05%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 4 (3.05%) R
6 3 (2.29%) Java
6 3 (2.29%) Kusto Query Language
6 3 (2.29%) Scala
7 2 (1.53%) JavaScript
7 2 (1.53%) Shell Script
7 2 (1.53%) VB
8 1 (0.76%) Bash
8 1 (0.76%) Perl
8 1 (0.76%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.76%) Search Processing Language
8 1 (0.76%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 11 (8.40%) Microsoft Certification
1 11 (8.40%) Security Cleared
2 10 (7.63%) SC Cleared
3 8 (6.11%) Degree
4 5 (3.82%) MCDST
4 5 (3.82%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 3 (2.29%) Azure Certification
5 3 (2.29%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.29%) CISSP
5 3 (2.29%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.53%) AWS Certification
6 2 (1.53%) CISM
7 1 (0.76%) ACCA
7 1 (0.76%) CIMA
7 1 (0.76%) GIAC
7 1 (0.76%) IIBA
7 1 (0.76%) ISTQB
7 1 (0.76%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (0.76%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.76%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (3.05%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (2.29%) GDPR
4 2 (1.53%) Data Quality
4 2 (1.53%) GxP
4 2 (1.53%) NCSC
4 2 (1.53%) NIST
4 2 (1.53%) PMO
4 2 (1.53%) SLA
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 20 (15.27%) Active Directory
2 8 (6.11%) Docker
3 1 (0.76%) HDFS
3 1 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (7.63%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (6.87%) Kubernetes
3 7 (5.34%) Terraform
4 6 (4.58%) SCCM
5 5 (3.82%) Grafana
5 5 (3.82%) Prometheus
6 4 (3.05%) Ansible
7 3 (2.29%) QRadar
8 2 (1.53%) Control-M
8 2 (1.53%) CSIRT
8 2 (1.53%) IBM Guardium
8 2 (1.53%) Nessus
9 1 (0.76%) Hadoop YARN
9 1 (0.76%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.76%) HP Quality Center
9 1 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 12 (9.16%) Splunk
2 8 (6.11%) ServiceNow
3 5 (3.82%) iManage
3 5 (3.82%) Mitel
4 4 (3.05%) Tenable
5 3 (2.29%) Cisco
5 3 (2.29%) Databricks
5 3 (2.29%) Google
5 3 (2.29%) Workday
6 2 (1.53%) Barracuda Networks
6 2 (1.53%) F5
6 2 (1.53%) Informatica
6 2 (1.53%) Oracle
6 2 (1.53%) Sage
6 2 (1.53%) SAP
7 1 (0.76%) AppDynamics
7 1 (0.76%) BeyondTrust
7 1 (0.76%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.76%) Palo Alto
7 1 (0.76%) Xero