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 18 September 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
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 4 4
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 138 93 100
As % of all contract jobs in Birmingham 15.12% 15.37% 13.91%
As % of the Vendors category 33.66% 29.52% 26.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 77 74
10th Percentile £212 £125 £190
25th Percentile £375 £263 £207
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £396 £450
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% -12.00% +5.88%
75th Percentile £625 £511 £525
90th Percentile £679 £609 £573
West Midlands median daily rate £430 £431 £425
% change year-on-year -0.23% +1.41% +4.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 2 3
10th Percentile £15.05 £21.89 £14.26
25th Percentile £16.66 £27.72 £18.50
Median hourly rate £19.34 £38.38 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year -49.60% +46.89% +41.22%
75th Percentile - £49.97 £40.84
90th Percentile - £56.36 £49.34
West Midlands median hourly rate £19.41 £30.00 £30.56
% change year-on-year -35.30% -1.84% +52.81%

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 410 315 372
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Birmingham 44.91% 52.07% 51.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 207 269
10th Percentile £290 £162 £207
25th Percentile £375 £315 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £638
90th Percentile £686 £633 £750
West Midlands median daily rate £469 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -6.20% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 3 7
10th Percentile £13.40 £20.46 £13.71
25th Percentile £15.32 £24.15 £19.61
Median hourly rate £19.34 £30.29 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year -36.15% +15.94% +33.97%
75th Percentile £43.27 £45.46 £50.25
90th Percentile £51.25 £54.56 £57.00
West Midlands median hourly rate £21.50 £30.00 £31.50
% change year-on-year -28.33% -4.76% +40.00%

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 18 September 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 (13.77%) SharePoint
2 16 (11.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.17%) Apache Spark
4 2 (1.45%) Apache
4 2 (1.45%) CloudStack
4 2 (1.45%) SAS
5 1 (0.72%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.72%) CMS
Applications
1 9 (6.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (3.62%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (2.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (2.17%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.72%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.72%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.72%) Navisworks
4 1 (0.72%) ProjectWise
4 1 (0.72%) Revit
Business Applications
1 3 (2.17%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.72%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 68 (49.28%) Azure
2 55 (39.86%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (28.26%) Entra ID
4 18 (13.04%) OneDrive
5 14 (10.14%) Dynamics 365
6 13 (9.42%) AWS
6 13 (9.42%) Power Platform
7 9 (6.52%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (5.80%) Azure Sentinel
8 8 (5.80%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (3.62%) Azure Data Factory
9 5 (3.62%) Power Automate
10 4 (2.90%) GCP
10 4 (2.90%) IaaS
11 3 (2.17%) Azure AKS
11 3 (2.17%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 2 (1.45%) OpenShift
12 2 (1.45%) PaaS
12 2 (1.45%) PowerApps
12 2 (1.45%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (10.14%) DNS
2 13 (9.42%) DHCP
3 11 (7.97%) VPN
4 8 (5.80%) Firewall
4 8 (5.80%) TCP/IP
5 4 (2.90%) SAN
5 4 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (2.17%) NAS
6 3 (2.17%) VLAN
6 3 (2.17%) Wireless
7 2 (1.45%) Network Security
7 2 (1.45%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (1.45%) Structured Cabling
7 2 (1.45%) Unified Communications
7 2 (1.45%) VoIP
8 1 (0.72%) iSCSI
8 1 (0.72%) LAN
8 1 (0.72%) Value-Added Service
8 1 (0.72%) WAN
8 1 (0.72%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (8.70%) Power BI
2 4 (2.90%) Data Lake
2 4 (2.90%) Data Warehouse
2 4 (2.90%) SQL Server
3 3 (2.17%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (2.17%) Metadata
4 1 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.72%) Amazon Redshift
4 1 (0.72%) Base SAS
4 1 (0.72%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.72%) Data Mining
4 1 (0.72%) Data Vault
4 1 (0.72%) Hadoop
4 1 (0.72%) Parquet
4 1 (0.72%) PowerPivot
4 1 (0.72%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.72%) SAS Enterprise Guide
4 1 (0.72%) Spark SQL
4 1 (0.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 2 (1.45%) Git
1 2 (1.45%) Jenkins
1 2 (1.45%) JIRA
2 1 (0.72%) Maven
2 1 (0.72%) SonarQube
2 1 (0.72%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 31 (22.46%) Social Skills
2 25 (18.12%) Finance
3 11 (7.97%) Legal
4 10 (7.25%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (6.52%) Banking
6 6 (4.35%) Public Sector
7 4 (2.90%) Retail
8 3 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (2.17%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (1.45%) Investment Banking
9 2 (1.45%) Law
9 2 (1.45%) Marketing
9 2 (1.45%) Publishing
10 1 (0.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.72%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.72%) Military
10 1 (0.72%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 20 (14.49%) Architect
2 16 (11.59%) Analyst
3 13 (9.42%) Solutions Architect
3 13 (9.42%) Support Engineer
4 12 (8.70%) Lead
5 11 (7.97%) Consultant
5 11 (7.97%) IT Support
6 10 (7.25%) Data Engineer
6 10 (7.25%) Senior
7 9 (6.52%) Azure Engineer
7 9 (6.52%) IT Engineer
8 7 (5.07%) IT Support Engineer
8 7 (5.07%) Security Consultant
9 6 (4.35%) Microsoft Consultant
9 6 (4.35%) Support Analyst
10 5 (3.62%) Cybersecurity Specialist
10 5 (3.62%) Developer
10 5 (3.62%) PowerShell Engineer
10 5 (3.62%) Security Engineer
10 5 (3.62%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (8.70%) Terraform
2 4 (2.90%) JSON
2 4 (2.90%) Microsoft Graph
3 3 (2.17%) REST
4 2 (1.45%) .NET
4 2 (1.45%) ADO
4 2 (1.45%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (1.45%) SailPoint
4 2 (1.45%) YAML
5 1 (0.72%) Apache Avro
5 1 (0.72%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.72%) ASP.NET
5 1 (0.72%) JSON Schema
5 1 (0.72%) Kafka
5 1 (0.72%) Loki
5 1 (0.72%) OpenTelemetry
5 1 (0.72%) Protocol Buffers
5 1 (0.72%) PySpark
5 1 (0.72%) SAML
5 1 (0.72%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 11 (7.97%) Onboarding
2 10 (7.25%) Management Information System
3 7 (5.07%) Hybrid Cloud
4 5 (3.62%) Security Operations Centre
4 5 (3.62%) Security Posture
5 4 (2.90%) Cyber Threat
5 4 (2.90%) iPhone
5 4 (2.90%) Mobile App
5 4 (2.90%) Public Cloud
6 3 (2.17%) Cloud Native
6 3 (2.17%) Data Centre
6 3 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (2.17%) Video Conferencing
7 2 (1.45%) Acoustics
7 2 (1.45%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.45%) Replication
7 2 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.45%) Virtual Team
8 1 (0.72%) CMDB
8 1 (0.72%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 38 (27.54%) Windows
2 13 (9.42%) Windows 10
3 9 (6.52%) Windows Server
4 7 (5.07%) Mac OS
5 3 (2.17%) Linux
6 2 (1.45%) Android
6 2 (1.45%) Apple iOS
6 2 (1.45%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 25 (18.12%) ITSM
2 24 (17.39%) DevOps
3 21 (15.22%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (14.49%) Migration
5 17 (12.32%) Customer Service
6 16 (11.59%) ITIL
7 14 (10.14%) Service Management
7 14 (10.14%) Stakeholder Management
8 13 (9.42%) Mentoring
8 13 (9.42%) Project Delivery
9 12 (8.70%) CI/CD
9 12 (8.70%) Cybersecurity
9 12 (8.70%) Security Operations
10 11 (7.97%) Continuous Improvement
10 11 (7.97%) Disaster Recovery
10 11 (7.97%) Information Security
10 11 (7.97%) Roadmaps
10 11 (7.97%) SIEM
10 11 (7.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 10 (7.25%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 13 (9.42%) Python
2 11 (7.97%) SQL
3 9 (6.52%) PowerShell
4 6 (4.35%) Kusto Query Language
5 3 (2.17%) Bash
5 3 (2.17%) Bicep
5 3 (2.17%) C#
5 3 (2.17%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.72%) Groovy
7 1 (0.72%) Java
7 1 (0.72%) Scala
7 1 (0.72%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.72%) VBA
Qualifications
1 13 (9.42%) Degree
2 10 (7.25%) CISSP
3 8 (5.80%) Security Cleared
4 6 (4.35%) CISM
4 6 (4.35%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (3.62%) SC Cleared
6 4 (2.90%) A+ Certification
6 4 (2.90%) AWS Certification
6 4 (2.90%) Network+ Certification
7 3 (2.17%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (1.45%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 2 (1.45%) Azure Certification
8 2 (1.45%) CCNP
8 2 (1.45%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (1.45%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 1 (0.72%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.72%) CRISC
9 1 (0.72%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.72%) GCIH
9 1 (0.72%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (8.70%) NIST
2 7 (5.07%) GDPR
2 7 (5.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 7 (5.07%) PCI DSS
3 6 (4.35%) SLA
4 4 (2.90%) GRC
4 4 (2.90%) QA
5 3 (2.17%) PMO
6 2 (1.45%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.72%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.72%) Basel III
7 1 (0.72%) ISO 19650
7 1 (0.72%) NCSC
7 1 (0.72%) P3O
System Software
1 33 (23.91%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.90%) Hyper-V
2 4 (2.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (2.17%) Docker
3 3 (2.17%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.45%) Firmware
4 2 (1.45%) vSphere
5 1 (0.72%) NFS
Systems Management
1 26 (18.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (5.07%) SCCM
3 6 (4.35%) Kubernetes
4 4 (2.90%) Ansible
4 4 (2.90%) Grafana
4 4 (2.90%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (2.90%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (2.17%) Prometheus
6 2 (1.45%) Check_MK
7 1 (0.72%) Argo
Vendors
1 23 (16.67%) ServiceNow
2 8 (5.80%) Splunk
3 7 (5.07%) Cisco
4 5 (3.62%) Samsung
5 4 (2.90%) Apple
5 4 (2.90%) Okta
5 4 (2.90%) VMware
6 3 (2.17%) Databricks
6 3 (2.17%) Palo Alto
6 3 (2.17%) Remedy
6 3 (2.17%) Ribbon
6 3 (2.17%) Veeam
7 2 (1.45%) Autodesk
7 2 (1.45%) BeyondTrust
7 2 (1.45%) Citrix
7 2 (1.45%) Commvault
7 2 (1.45%) CrowdStrike
7 2 (1.45%) CyberArk
7 2 (1.45%) Fortinet
7 2 (1.45%) Google