Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Microsoft
North West > Manchester

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Manchester 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 6 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
6 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 4 4
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 +5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 192 152 245
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 17.94% 12.82% 15.30%
As % of the Vendors category 37.72% 29.69% 38.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 104 197
10th Percentile £269 £320 £225
25th Percentile £353 £400 £257
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £466 £425
Median % change year-on-year -4.13% +9.71% -
75th Percentile £528 £588 £538
90th Percentile £615 £675 £619
North West median daily rate £438 £455 £406
% change year-on-year -3.79% +12.00% -9.72%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 9 17
10th Percentile £18.63 £26.00 £15.74
25th Percentile £19.07 £29.50 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.32 £32.50 £17.70
Median % change year-on-year -31.34% +83.62% -9.23%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.49 £37.75 £30.00
North West median hourly rate £22.63 £30.00 £26.27
% change year-on-year -24.57% +14.22% +50.09%

All Vendors
Manchester

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 Manchester.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 509 512 644
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 47.57% 43.17% 40.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 343 292 472
10th Percentile £307 £363 £225
25th Percentile £394 £413 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.63% -2.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £613 £575 £577
90th Percentile £723 £675 £675
North West median daily rate £473 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.40% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 18 24
10th Percentile £18.63 £15.89 £15.73
25th Percentile £19.07 £23.63 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.57 £31.75 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -28.93% +79.18% -72.74%
75th Percentile £31.40 £41.56 £33.13
90th Percentile £35.25 £64.13 £52.56
North West median hourly rate £25.15 £33.75 £34.00
% change year-on-year -25.48% -0.74% +43.49%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Manchester

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Manchester over the 6 months to 6 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Manchester

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Manchester

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Manchester over the 6 months to 6 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Manchester

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Manchester

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Manchester region over the 6 months to 6 November 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
Bolton - 15 £396 - 71
Oldham -5 1 - - 10
Rochdale - 1 - - 3
Microsoft
North West

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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 14 (7.29%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.65%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (2.60%) CMS
3 5 (2.60%) Confluence
3 5 (2.60%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (2.08%) JBoss
5 3 (1.56%) Apache
5 3 (1.56%) IIS
6 2 (1.04%) iPlanet
6 2 (1.04%) WebSphere
6 2 (1.04%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.52%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.52%) CICS
7 1 (0.52%) SAS
7 1 (0.52%) Tomcat
Applications
1 33 (17.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (13.54%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (3.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (2.08%) MS Visio
5 3 (1.56%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (1.56%) Sketch
6 2 (1.04%) Trello
7 1 (0.52%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 7 (3.65%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (2.08%) Advent Geneva
3 2 (1.04%) Kondor
4 1 (0.52%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.52%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 47 (24.48%) Azure
2 31 (16.15%) Microsoft 365
3 30 (15.63%) Power Platform
4 19 (9.90%) AWS
5 16 (8.33%) Power Automate
6 15 (7.81%) PowerApps
7 11 (5.73%) Dynamics 365
8 9 (4.69%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (4.69%) Entra ID
8 9 (4.69%) GCP
9 7 (3.65%) GitHub
10 6 (3.13%) Figma
10 6 (3.13%) SaaS
11 4 (2.08%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (2.08%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (2.08%) Google Tag Manager
11 4 (2.08%) Lucidchart
11 4 (2.08%) Microsoft Copilot
12 3 (1.56%) Google Workspace
12 3 (1.56%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 8 (4.17%) Network Security
2 4 (2.08%) Firewall
2 4 (2.08%) VPN
3 3 (1.56%) SSL
4 2 (1.04%) DNS
4 2 (1.04%) Kerberos
4 2 (1.04%) TCP/IP
4 2 (1.04%) VoIP
4 2 (1.04%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.52%) DHCP
5 1 (0.52%) IP Telephony
5 1 (0.52%) LAN
5 1 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
5 1 (0.52%) SSH
5 1 (0.52%) VLAN
5 1 (0.52%) WAN
5 1 (0.52%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (9.90%) Power BI
2 11 (5.73%) SQL Server
3 10 (5.21%) Relational Database
4 7 (3.65%) MySQL
5 5 (2.60%) Data Lake
6 4 (2.08%) BigQuery
6 4 (2.08%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (2.08%) DB2
6 4 (2.08%) Looker
6 4 (2.08%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (1.56%) Oracle Database
8 2 (1.04%) Power Query
8 2 (1.04%) Snowflake Schema
8 2 (1.04%) Tableau
9 1 (0.52%) BusinessObjects
9 1 (0.52%) Metadata
9 1 (0.52%) OLAP
9 1 (0.52%) Oracle Discoverer
9 1 (0.52%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (5.21%) JIRA
2 7 (3.65%) Git
3 5 (2.60%) GitLab
4 4 (2.08%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.56%) Gradle
6 2 (1.04%) Bitbucket Server
6 2 (1.04%) CA Release Automation
6 2 (1.04%) Selenium
6 2 (1.04%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (1.04%) Storybook
6 2 (1.04%) Xcode
7 1 (0.52%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.52%) JUnit
7 1 (0.52%) Maven
7 1 (0.52%) MSI
General
1 64 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 52 (27.08%) Finance
3 41 (21.35%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (14.58%) Public Sector
5 7 (3.65%) Banking
5 7 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (3.13%) Influencing Skills
6 6 (3.13%) Manufacturing
7 5 (2.60%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.08%) Retail
9 3 (1.56%) Aerospace
9 3 (1.56%) Aviation
9 3 (1.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (1.56%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (1.04%) Back Office
10 2 (1.04%) Financial Institution
10 2 (1.04%) Legal
10 2 (1.04%) Military
11 1 (0.52%) Publishing
11 1 (0.52%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 39 (20.31%) Analyst
2 27 (14.06%) Developer
3 20 (10.42%) Administrator
4 15 (7.81%) SAP Administrator
4 15 (7.81%) SAP Support
4 15 (7.81%) Support Analyst
5 13 (6.77%) Desktop Support
6 11 (5.73%) Architect
7 10 (5.21%) Deskside Analyst
7 10 (5.21%) Deskside Support
7 10 (5.21%) Deskside Support Analyst
7 10 (5.21%) IT Support
7 10 (5.21%) Lead
7 10 (5.21%) Technology Support Analyst
8 9 (4.69%) Senior
9 8 (4.17%) Business Analyst
9 8 (4.17%) Designer
9 8 (4.17%) Microsoft Developer
10 6 (3.13%) Consultant
10 6 (3.13%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.69%) .NET
2 6 (3.13%) HTML
2 6 (3.13%) HTML5 Canvas
2 6 (3.13%) REST
3 5 (2.60%) JSON
3 5 (2.60%) OAuth
4 4 (2.08%) SOAP
5 3 (1.56%) Kafka
5 3 (1.56%) LDAP
5 3 (1.56%) OpenID
5 3 (1.56%) SAML
6 2 (1.04%) .NET Framework
6 2 (1.04%) D3.js
6 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Graph
6 2 (1.04%) React Native
6 2 (1.04%) Spring
6 2 (1.04%) Spring Boot
6 2 (1.04%) SVG
7 1 (0.52%) PySpark
7 1 (0.52%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 14 (7.29%) Onboarding
2 6 (3.13%) Cloud Native
3 5 (2.60%) Analytical Mindset
3 5 (2.60%) Clustering
3 5 (2.60%) Data Centre
3 5 (2.60%) Low-Code
3 5 (2.60%) Mobile App
4 4 (2.08%) Product Ownership
4 4 (2.08%) Virtual Team
5 3 (1.56%) CMDB
5 3 (1.56%) Data Protection Act
5 3 (1.56%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 3 (1.56%) Security Operations Centre
5 3 (1.56%) Security Posture
6 2 (1.04%) Credit Derivative
6 2 (1.04%) Derivative
6 2 (1.04%) Life Science
6 2 (1.04%) Mainframe
6 2 (1.04%) Market Risk
6 2 (1.04%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 33 (17.19%) Windows
2 16 (8.33%) Linux
3 7 (3.65%) Unix
4 5 (2.60%) Android
4 5 (2.60%) Windows 10
4 5 (2.60%) Windows Server
5 4 (2.08%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.52%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.52%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.52%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (20.83%) Problem-Solving
2 31 (16.15%) Change Management
3 27 (14.06%) ITIL
4 26 (13.54%) Agile
5 23 (11.98%) Stakeholder Management
6 22 (11.46%) Business Intelligence
7 21 (10.94%) DevOps
8 20 (10.42%) ITSM
8 20 (10.42%) Service Management
9 18 (9.38%) Analytics
9 18 (9.38%) Customer Service
10 16 (8.33%) Data Analysis
11 15 (7.81%) Cybersecurity
11 15 (7.81%) Project Management
11 15 (7.81%) User Experience
12 14 (7.29%) CI/CD
12 14 (7.29%) Continuous Improvement
13 13 (6.77%) Decision-Making
13 13 (6.77%) Workflow
14 12 (6.25%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 25 (13.02%) SQL
2 11 (5.73%) Python
3 7 (3.65%) JavaScript
4 5 (2.60%) Java
4 5 (2.60%) Kusto Query Language
5 4 (2.08%) C#
5 4 (2.08%) PowerShell
5 4 (2.08%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.04%) Groovy
6 2 (1.04%) PL/SQL
6 2 (1.04%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.04%) VBA
7 1 (0.52%) CLIST
7 1 (0.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.52%) JCL
7 1 (0.52%) PHP
7 1 (0.52%) REXX
7 1 (0.52%) Scala
7 1 (0.52%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 28 (14.58%) Security Cleared
2 21 (10.94%) SC Cleared
3 18 (9.38%) Degree
4 12 (6.25%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (5.21%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (2.08%) CISSP
6 4 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (1.56%) Azure Certification
7 3 (1.56%) CISM
8 2 (1.04%) AWS Certification
8 2 (1.04%) CISA
8 2 (1.04%) GCIA
8 2 (1.04%) GCIH
8 2 (1.04%) GSEC
8 2 (1.04%) MCT
8 2 (1.04%) PMI Certification
8 2 (1.04%) PMP
9 1 (0.52%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (0.52%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.52%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (8.33%) Accessibility
2 9 (4.69%) Data Quality
3 8 (4.17%) QA
4 6 (3.13%) GDPR
5 5 (2.60%) NIST
6 4 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.56%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.56%) PMO
7 3 (1.56%) SLA
8 2 (1.04%) Basel III
8 2 (1.04%) HIPAA
8 2 (1.04%) MiFID
9 1 (0.52%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 1 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.52%) NCSC
9 1 (0.52%) PMBOK
9 1 (0.52%) PSD2
9 1 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 17 (8.85%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.60%) Docker
3 2 (1.04%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.52%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.52%) Time Sharing Option
4 1 (0.52%) Tivoli Directory Server
4 1 (0.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.52%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 16 (8.33%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (3.65%) SCCM
3 5 (2.60%) Kubernetes
4 3 (1.56%) Ansible
4 3 (1.56%) QRadar
5 2 (1.04%) CA Single Sign-On
5 2 (1.04%) CA Wily
5 2 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
5 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Clustering
5 2 (1.04%) Progress Chef
5 2 (1.04%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (1.04%) Terraform
6 1 (0.52%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.52%) CA Endevor
6 1 (0.52%) Grafana
6 1 (0.52%) Nessus
6 1 (0.52%) OMEGAMON
6 1 (0.52%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.52%) Tivoli
6 1 (0.52%) WSUS
Vendors
1 18 (9.38%) SAP
2 11 (5.73%) Oracle
3 10 (5.21%) Google
4 7 (3.65%) Splunk
5 6 (3.13%) IBM
5 6 (3.13%) ServiceNow
6 5 (2.60%) Apple
7 4 (2.08%) Advent
8 3 (1.56%) Citrix
8 3 (1.56%) Hopewiser
9 2 (1.04%) AppDynamics
9 2 (1.04%) ArcSight
9 2 (1.04%) BMC
9 2 (1.04%) Broadcom
9 2 (1.04%) Cisco
9 2 (1.04%) Sybase
9 2 (1.04%) Zscaler
10 1 (0.52%) BiZZdesign
10 1 (0.52%) CrowdStrike
10 1 (0.52%) Databricks