Microsoft Contracts in Cheshire

Microsoft
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Cheshire 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 1 May 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
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -3 +3 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 73 93 86
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Cheshire 16.26% 18.45% 16.23%
As % of the Vendors category 28.63% 35.23% 35.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 47 48 60
10th Percentile £230 £158 £200
25th Percentile £316 £190 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £488 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.26% +8.33% +5.88%
75th Percentile £505 £621 £585
90th Percentile £543 £689 £650
North West median daily rate £438 £450 £475
% change year-on-year -2.78% -5.26% +17.72%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 12 1
10th Percentile £14.67 £11.00 -
25th Percentile £17.46 £13.25 -
Median hourly rate £20.00 £17.11 £18.82
Median % change year-on-year +16.89% -9.09% +44.94%
75th Percentile £25.25 £17.72 -
90th Percentile £32.90 - -
North West median hourly rate £27.13 £14.50 £26.50
% change year-on-year +87.07% -45.28% +45.80%

All Vendors
Cheshire

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 Cheshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 255 264 244
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 56.79% 52.38% 46.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 167 169 163
10th Percentile £315 £267 £231
25th Percentile £381 £400 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £510 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.86% +13.33% +5.14%
75th Percentile £550 £582 £565
90th Percentile £639 £625 £648
North West median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - +7.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 15 5
10th Percentile £18.40 £11.00 £12.35
25th Percentile £30.10 £14.00 £14.00
Median hourly rate £50.00 £17.72 £18.82
Median % change year-on-year +182.17% -5.84% +22.93%
75th Percentile £86.00 - £22.41
90th Percentile - £23.11 £32.96
North West median hourly rate £32.50 £16.06 £37.50
% change year-on-year +102.37% -57.17% +97.73%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Job postings citing Microsoft as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft in Cheshire

Microsoft
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Microsoft in Cheshire.

Daily rate trend for Microsoft in Cheshire

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Cheshire over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Cheshire

Microsoft
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Microsoft in Cheshire.

Hourly rate trend for Microsoft in Cheshire

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Cheshire over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Cheshire

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 1 May 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Warrington -3 24 £356 +115.91% 30
Chester +7 16 £438 - 23
Knutsford -2 10 £473 -30.10% 3
Crewe -4 5 £550 -6.78% 5
Alderley Edge - 2 - - 1
Macclesfield +4 1 £400 +227.87% 6
Northwich 0 1 - -
Wilmslow -1 1 £200 -42.86% 4
Runcorn - 1 £210 - 8
Microsoft
North West

Microsoft
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Cheshire by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 25 (34.25%) SharePoint
2 15 (20.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (6.85%) Mattermost
3 5 (6.85%) Skype for Business
4 3 (4.11%) Confluence
4 3 (4.11%) IIS
5 1 (1.37%) BizTalk Server
5 1 (1.37%) JBoss
5 1 (1.37%) SharePoint Server
5 1 (1.37%) Tomcat
5 1 (1.37%) WebLogic
5 1 (1.37%) WebSphere
Applications
1 20 (27.40%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (9.59%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (8.22%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (5.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (4.11%) MS Visio
6 1 (1.37%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (5.48%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (1.37%) assyst
2 1 (1.37%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 29 (39.73%) Azure
2 27 (36.99%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (19.18%) Entra ID
4 9 (12.33%) SaaS
5 7 (9.59%) OneDrive
6 6 (8.22%) Microsoft Purview
7 5 (6.85%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (5.48%) Dynamics 365
8 4 (5.48%) Power Automate
8 4 (5.48%) Power Platform
8 4 (5.48%) PowerApps
9 3 (4.11%) Serverless
10 1 (1.37%) AWS
10 1 (1.37%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (1.37%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (1.37%) Azure Functions
10 1 (1.37%) Azure Pipelines
10 1 (1.37%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 9 (12.33%) Skype
2 8 (10.96%) DHCP
2 8 (10.96%) DNS
3 6 (8.22%) VPN
4 5 (6.85%) Softphone
4 5 (6.85%) Unified Communications
4 5 (6.85%) WebEx
5 3 (4.11%) LAN
5 3 (4.11%) TCP/IP
5 3 (4.11%) WAN
6 2 (2.74%) DMZ
6 2 (2.74%) Firewall
7 1 (1.37%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (5.48%) Power BI
2 2 (2.74%) SQL Server
3 1 (1.37%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (1.37%) DB2
3 1 (1.37%) GIS
3 1 (1.37%) MSDE
3 1 (1.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 4 (5.48%) Git
1 4 (5.48%) JIRA
2 3 (4.11%) GitLab
3 1 (1.37%) Bitbucket
3 1 (1.37%) Jenkins
3 1 (1.37%) MSI
3 1 (1.37%) Selenium
3 1 (1.37%) SonarQube
General
1 39 (53.42%) Social Skills
2 9 (12.33%) Banking
2 9 (12.33%) Finance
3 6 (8.22%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (8.22%) Public Sector
4 5 (6.85%) Organisational Skills
5 3 (4.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 3 (4.11%) Investment Banking
5 3 (4.11%) Marketing
6 2 (2.74%) Italian Language
6 2 (2.74%) Manufacturing
6 2 (2.74%) Pharmaceutical
6 2 (2.74%) Retail
6 2 (2.74%) Spanish Language
7 1 (1.37%) Aerospace
7 1 (1.37%) Automotive
7 1 (1.37%) Military
7 1 (1.37%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.37%) Publishing
7 1 (1.37%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 15 (20.55%) Analyst
2 12 (16.44%) Support Engineer
3 8 (10.96%) Architect
4 7 (9.59%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
4 7 (9.59%) Service Analyst
5 5 (6.85%) Change Manager
5 5 (6.85%) Messaging Engineer
5 5 (6.85%) Messaging Support
5 5 (6.85%) Messaging Support Engineer
5 5 (6.85%) Operations Engineer
5 5 (6.85%) Operations Support Engineer
6 4 (5.48%) Administrator
6 4 (5.48%) Consultant
6 4 (5.48%) Messaging Analyst
6 4 (5.48%) Messaging Support Analyst
6 4 (5.48%) Operational Change Manager
6 4 (5.48%) Operations Analyst
6 4 (5.48%) Operations Support Analyst
6 4 (5.48%) Service Desk Analyst
6 4 (5.48%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (6.85%) XMPP
2 2 (2.74%) .NET
2 2 (2.74%) ADO
2 2 (2.74%) REST
3 1 (1.37%) AngularJS
3 1 (1.37%) ASP.NET
3 1 (1.37%) CSS
3 1 (1.37%) EJB
3 1 (1.37%) HTML
3 1 (1.37%) J2EE
3 1 (1.37%) JSP
3 1 (1.37%) RAML
3 1 (1.37%) RESTful
3 1 (1.37%) Servlets
3 1 (1.37%) SOAP
3 1 (1.37%) Software Packaging
3 1 (1.37%) Spring
3 1 (1.37%) Spring Boot
3 1 (1.37%) Web Services
3 1 (1.37%) WSDL
Miscellaneous
1 6 (8.22%) Management Information System
2 2 (2.74%) Analytical Mindset
2 2 (2.74%) Hybrid Cloud
3 1 (1.37%) Cloud Native
3 1 (1.37%) Clustering
3 1 (1.37%) Data Centre
3 1 (1.37%) Mobile App
3 1 (1.37%) Private Cloud
3 1 (1.37%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 21 (28.77%) Windows
2 10 (13.70%) Windows Server
3 8 (10.96%) Windows 10
4 5 (6.85%) Linux
4 5 (6.85%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (5.48%) Windows Server 2016
6 3 (4.11%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (2.74%) Apple iOS
8 1 (1.37%) Android
8 1 (1.37%) Mac OS
8 1 (1.37%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (39.73%) Problem-Solving
2 20 (27.40%) ITIL
3 15 (20.55%) ITSM
4 14 (19.18%) Agile
5 11 (15.07%) DevOps
6 10 (13.70%) Data Loss Prevention
6 10 (13.70%) Problem Management
6 10 (13.70%) Stakeholder Management
7 9 (12.33%) Decision-Making
8 7 (9.59%) Matrix Management
8 7 (9.59%) Migration
8 7 (9.59%) Programme Management
9 6 (8.22%) Acceptance Criteria
9 6 (8.22%) CI/CD
9 6 (8.22%) Data Governance
9 6 (8.22%) Matrix Organization
9 6 (8.22%) Mentoring
9 6 (8.22%) Risk Management
9 6 (8.22%) Root Cause Analysis
9 6 (8.22%) Stakeholder and Relationship Management
Programming Languages
1 25 (34.25%) PowerShell
2 7 (9.59%) SQL
3 2 (2.74%) Bash
3 2 (2.74%) C#
3 2 (2.74%) Python
4 1 (1.37%) Java
4 1 (1.37%) JavaScript
4 1 (1.37%) Ruby
4 1 (1.37%) T-SQL
4 1 (1.37%) TypeScript
4 1 (1.37%) VB
4 1 (1.37%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 22 (30.14%) Security Cleared
2 20 (27.40%) SC Cleared
3 11 (15.07%) Degree
4 6 (8.22%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (6.85%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (2.74%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (1.37%) Azure Certification
7 1 (1.37%) MCP
7 1 (1.37%) MCSA
7 1 (1.37%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (9.59%) PMO
2 5 (6.85%) SLA
3 1 (1.37%) NCSC
System Software
1 28 (38.36%) Active Directory
2 6 (8.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (4.11%) Hyper-V
3 3 (4.11%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (4.11%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (2.74%) Docker
5 1 (1.37%) BitLocker
5 1 (1.37%) Microsoft App-V
5 1 (1.37%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (1.37%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (13.70%) Microsoft Intune
1 10 (13.70%) Single Sign-On
2 6 (8.22%) SCOM
3 4 (5.48%) WSUS
4 3 (4.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 3 (4.11%) Dell DRAC
4 3 (4.11%) Microsoft Clustering
4 3 (4.11%) NetApp OnCommand
4 3 (4.11%) vCenter Server
4 3 (4.11%) vMotion
5 2 (2.74%) Kubernetes
5 2 (2.74%) SCCM
6 1 (1.37%) Docker Swarm
6 1 (1.37%) Perfmon
6 1 (1.37%) Progress Chef
6 1 (1.37%) Terraform
6 1 (1.37%) VxRail
Vendors
1 9 (12.33%) Cisco
2 7 (9.59%) VMware
3 5 (6.85%) Red Hat
3 5 (6.85%) Splunk
4 4 (5.48%) Citrix
4 4 (5.48%) Dell
4 4 (5.48%) Remedy
5 3 (4.11%) ServiceNow
6 2 (2.74%) CyberArk
7 1 (1.37%) Apple
7 1 (1.37%) Logitech
7 1 (1.37%) McAfee
7 1 (1.37%) Oracle
7 1 (1.37%) SAP
7 1 (1.37%) Symantec