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 23 February 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
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 2 7
Rank change year-on-year -7 +5 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 172 181 189
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 12.56% 17.85% 12.04%
As % of the Vendors category 33.27% 39.43% 32.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 135 137 131
10th Percentile £300 £213 £248
25th Percentile £325 £348 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% +5.88% -9.96%
75th Percentile £525 £525 £523
90th Percentile £586 £693 £606
North West median daily rate £414 £450 £403
% change year-on-year -8.00% +11.80% -15.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 8 33
10th Percentile £17.15 - £11.83
25th Percentile £19.75 £31.25 £12.84
Median hourly rate £29.00 £32.50 £16.05
Median % change year-on-year -10.77% +102.56% -17.72%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £25.25
90th Percentile - - £26.50
North West median hourly rate £29.30 £28.75 £16.28
% change year-on-year +1.91% +76.60% -18.60%

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 517 459 588
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 37.76% 45.27% 37.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 371 305 405
10th Percentile £311 £313 £281
25th Percentile £386 £395 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £468 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.64% -6.40% +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £688 £695
North West median daily rate £469 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -6.30% - +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 11 43
10th Percentile £16.41 - £11.83
25th Percentile £19.75 £31.25 £12.84
Median hourly rate £22.68 £32.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -30.22% +83.41% -45.64%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £26.50
90th Percentile £31.91 £60.00 £46.88
North West median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £17.72
% change year-on-year -8.92% +83.41% -40.24%

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 23 February 2026.

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 23 February 2026.

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 23 February 2026. 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 +1 4 - - 6
Oldham -2 3 £215 -46.25% 5
Stockport -2 2 £155 -61.25% 9
Salford +3 1 - - 9
Rochdale - 1 - - 1
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 15 (8.72%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.91%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (1.74%) CMS
5 2 (1.16%) Apache
5 2 (1.16%) Confluence
5 2 (1.16%) SAS
6 1 (0.58%) IIS
6 1 (0.58%) iPlanet
6 1 (0.58%) JBoss
6 1 (0.58%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.58%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 25 (14.53%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (9.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (2.91%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (2.91%) MS Visio
4 4 (2.33%) Trello
5 2 (1.16%) Chatbot
5 2 (1.16%) Sketch
6 1 (0.58%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 7 (4.07%) Advent Geneva
2 5 (2.91%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.16%) Primavera
3 2 (1.16%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.58%) Infor M3
4 1 (0.58%) Maximo
4 1 (0.58%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.58%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.58%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 66 (38.37%) Azure
2 38 (22.09%) Power Platform
3 35 (20.35%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (12.79%) Entra ID
5 18 (10.47%) AWS
5 18 (10.47%) Power Automate
6 17 (9.88%) PowerApps
7 15 (8.72%) GCP
8 14 (8.14%) Dynamics 365
9 12 (6.98%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (6.98%) Microsoft Copilot
10 9 (5.23%) Google Tag Manager
11 8 (4.65%) Google Analytics
12 7 (4.07%) Microsoft Purview
12 7 (4.07%) OneDrive
13 6 (3.49%) Azure AKS
14 5 (2.91%) Azure Logic Apps
14 5 (2.91%) Serverless
15 4 (2.33%) Azure Functions
15 4 (2.33%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 10 (5.81%) Firewall
2 6 (3.49%) Network Security
3 3 (1.74%) Wi-Fi
4 2 (1.16%) DNS
4 2 (1.16%) VPN
4 2 (1.16%) WAN
5 1 (0.58%) Cisco ISE
5 1 (0.58%) DHCP
5 1 (0.58%) HTTP
5 1 (0.58%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.58%) LAN
5 1 (0.58%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.58%) SSL
5 1 (0.58%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.58%) WebEx
5 1 (0.58%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (13.95%) Power BI
2 11 (6.40%) Relational Database
3 9 (5.23%) SQL Server
4 7 (4.07%) BigQuery
4 7 (4.07%) DB2
4 7 (4.07%) Looker
4 7 (4.07%) MySQL
4 7 (4.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 4 (2.33%) Data Lake
5 4 (2.33%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (1.74%) BusinessObjects
7 2 (1.16%) Metadata
7 2 (1.16%) NoSQL
7 2 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (1.16%) Snowflake Schema
8 1 (0.58%) Cognos Framework Manager
8 1 (0.58%) Cognos Report Studio
8 1 (0.58%) Cognos Transformer
8 1 (0.58%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.58%) OLAP Cube
Development Applications
1 6 (3.49%) JIRA
2 4 (2.33%) Git
2 4 (2.33%) GitLab
3 2 (1.16%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.58%) Bitbucket Server
4 1 (0.58%) Browser DevTools
4 1 (0.58%) CA Release Automation
4 1 (0.58%) MSI
4 1 (0.58%) Octopus Deploy
4 1 (0.58%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 62 (36.05%) Social Skills
2 40 (23.26%) Finance
3 33 (19.19%) Public Sector
4 28 (16.28%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (5.81%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (5.23%) Banking
7 8 (4.65%) Legal
8 5 (2.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (2.91%) Manufacturing
9 4 (2.33%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.74%) Retail
11 2 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (1.16%) Law
11 2 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.58%) Agriculture
12 1 (0.58%) Billing
12 1 (0.58%) Games
12 1 (0.58%) Marketing
12 1 (0.58%) Military
Job Titles
1 33 (19.19%) Analyst
1 33 (19.19%) Developer
2 16 (9.30%) Senior
3 14 (8.14%) Lead
4 11 (6.40%) Administrator
4 11 (6.40%) Support Analyst
5 8 (4.65%) Project Manager
5 8 (4.65%) Security Engineer
6 7 (4.07%) Architect
6 7 (4.07%) Business Analyst
7 6 (3.49%) Consultant
7 6 (3.49%) IT Support
7 6 (3.49%) Microsoft Developer
7 6 (3.49%) Microsoft Engineer
7 6 (3.49%) Performance Analyst
7 6 (3.49%) Senior Analyst
8 5 (2.91%) DevOps Engineer
8 5 (2.91%) Lead Developer
8 5 (2.91%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
8 5 (2.91%) Power Platform Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (7.56%) .NET
2 7 (4.07%) HTML5 Canvas
3 6 (3.49%) HTML
3 6 (3.49%) REST
3 6 (3.49%) Spring
3 6 (3.49%) Spring Boot
4 5 (2.91%) JSON
5 3 (1.74%) Kafka
5 3 (1.74%) LangChain
5 3 (1.74%) XML
6 2 (1.16%) LDAP
6 2 (1.16%) OAuth
6 2 (1.16%) OpenID
6 2 (1.16%) SAML
7 1 (0.58%) AngularJS
7 1 (0.58%) Hibernate
7 1 (0.58%) ISPF
7 1 (0.58%) JPA
7 1 (0.58%) Oracle Fusion
7 1 (0.58%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.72%) Onboarding
2 7 (4.07%) Virtual Team
3 6 (3.49%) Cloud Native
3 6 (3.49%) Data Protection Act
4 5 (2.91%) Security Posture
5 4 (2.33%) Low-Code
5 4 (2.33%) Product Ownership
6 3 (1.74%) Cloud Security Posture
6 3 (1.74%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.74%) Driving Licence
6 3 (1.74%) Management Information System
6 3 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (1.16%) Clustering
8 1 (0.58%) Distributed Computing
8 1 (0.58%) Legacy Applications
8 1 (0.58%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (0.58%) Reinsurance
8 1 (0.58%) Security Operations Centre
8 1 (0.58%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 21 (12.21%) Windows
2 12 (6.98%) Windows 10
3 10 (5.81%) Linux
4 5 (2.91%) Mac OS
4 5 (2.91%) Unix
5 1 (0.58%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.58%) Mac OS X
5 1 (0.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.58%) VMS
5 1 (0.58%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (15.70%) Business Intelligence
2 26 (15.12%) Agile
2 26 (15.12%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (14.53%) DevOps
4 23 (13.37%) Analytics
5 21 (12.21%) CI/CD
6 19 (11.05%) User Experience
7 18 (10.47%) ITIL
7 18 (10.47%) Stakeholder Management
8 15 (8.72%) Change Management
8 15 (8.72%) Data Analysis
9 14 (8.14%) Actionable Insight
9 14 (8.14%) Customer Service
9 14 (8.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 13 (7.56%) Migration
10 13 (7.56%) Validation
11 12 (6.98%) Data Modelling
12 11 (6.40%) Data Protection
12 11 (6.40%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 11 (6.40%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 29 (16.86%) SQL
2 14 (8.14%) PowerShell
2 14 (8.14%) Python
3 12 (6.98%) Java
4 9 (5.23%) JavaScript
5 6 (3.49%) C#
6 4 (2.33%) Bash
7 3 (1.74%) TypeScript
8 2 (1.16%) Bicep
8 2 (1.16%) PL/SQL
8 2 (1.16%) T-SQL
8 2 (1.16%) VBA
9 1 (0.58%) C++
9 1 (0.58%) CLIST
9 1 (0.58%) COBOL
9 1 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.58%) JCL
9 1 (0.58%) PHP
9 1 (0.58%) REXX
9 1 (0.58%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 15 (8.72%) Degree
2 11 (6.40%) Microsoft Certification
2 11 (6.40%) Security Cleared
3 9 (5.23%) SC Cleared
4 7 (4.07%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.74%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.74%) CISSP
6 3 (1.74%) Network+ Certification
6 3 (1.74%) PMI Certification
6 3 (1.74%) PMP
7 2 (1.16%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.16%) MCSA
7 2 (1.16%) MCSE
7 2 (1.16%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 1 (0.58%) APMG
8 1 (0.58%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.58%) CBAP
8 1 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.58%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (9.88%) Accessibility
2 14 (8.14%) Data Quality
3 11 (6.40%) QA
4 10 (5.81%) GDPR
5 8 (4.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (2.33%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.58%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.58%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.58%) WCAG
System Software
1 27 (15.70%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.98%) Docker
3 3 (1.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.58%) ACF2
4 1 (0.58%) RACF
4 1 (0.58%) Time Sharing Option
4 1 (0.58%) Tivoli Directory Server
4 1 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.58%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 14 (8.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (6.98%) Kubernetes
3 4 (2.33%) SCCM
3 4 (2.33%) Single Sign-On
3 4 (2.33%) Terraform
4 3 (1.74%) Progress Chef
5 2 (1.16%) Grafana
5 2 (1.16%) Tivoli
6 1 (0.58%) CA Endevor
6 1 (0.58%) CA Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.58%) CA Wily
6 1 (0.58%) CASB
6 1 (0.58%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.58%) Nessus
6 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.58%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 15 (8.72%) Google
2 7 (4.07%) Advent
2 7 (4.07%) Oracle
3 4 (2.33%) Cisco
3 4 (2.33%) Citrix
3 4 (2.33%) SAP
3 4 (2.33%) Splunk
4 3 (1.74%) Salesforce
4 3 (1.74%) ServiceNow
4 3 (1.74%) VMware
5 2 (1.16%) Apple
5 2 (1.16%) Confluent
5 2 (1.16%) Databricks
5 2 (1.16%) Hopewiser
5 2 (1.16%) IBM
5 2 (1.16%) Okta
5 2 (1.16%) Remedy
6 1 (0.58%) Avaya
6 1 (0.58%) Genesys
6 1 (0.58%) Juniper