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 30 June 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 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 8
Rank change year-on-year -4 +5 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 215 161 175
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 11.44% 17.24% 12.16%
As % of the Vendors category 31.48% 36.51% 33.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 116 123
10th Percentile £191 £205 £281
25th Percentile £364 £348 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £488
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -12.82% +2.63%
75th Percentile £538 £536 £594
90th Percentile £600 £612 £650
North West median daily rate £450 £425 £451
% change year-on-year +5.88% -5.82% -3.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 9 26
10th Percentile £24.45 - £11.79
25th Percentile £28.50 - £13.31
Median hourly rate £30.00 £13.00 £18.02
Median % change year-on-year +130.77% -27.87% +5.03%
75th Percentile £178.75 £22.63 £26.50
90th Percentile - £24.70 £33.75
North West median hourly rate £29.00 £25.86 £16.05
% change year-on-year +12.16% +61.14% -28.78%

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 683 441 521
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 36.35% 47.22% 36.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 405 300 353
10th Percentile £275 £288 £325
25th Percentile £388 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £459 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.54% -8.25% -
75th Percentile £581 £578 £594
90th Percentile £663 £700 £663
North West median daily rate £481 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +1.32% -5.00% +4.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 18 43
10th Percentile £22.64 £13.00 £11.83
25th Percentile £24.60 £13.30 £13.31
Median hourly rate £37.50 £22.63 £24.19
Median % change year-on-year +65.71% -6.45% +20.95%
75th Percentile £77.00 £60.00 £33.75
90th Percentile £93.50 £65.63 £60.00
North West median hourly rate £30.00 £32.00 £16.06
% change year-on-year -6.25% +99.25% -44.04%

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 30 June 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 30 June 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 30 June 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 -5 7 £400 +110.53% 11
Salford 0 3 £334 -52.32% 12
Oldham +2 2 £205 +2.50% 6
Bury - 1 - - 4
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 21 (9.77%) SharePoint
2 11 (5.12%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (4.65%) Confluence
4 2 (0.93%) Apache
4 2 (0.93%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.93%) CMS
4 2 (0.93%) IIS
5 1 (0.47%) CICS
5 1 (0.47%) SharePoint 2013
5 1 (0.47%) WebSphere
Applications
1 27 (12.56%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (10.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (5.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (5.12%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (3.26%) MS Visio
6 4 (1.86%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.47%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.47%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 6 (2.79%) Primavera
1 6 (2.79%) SAP MM
2 5 (2.33%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (1.86%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (1.40%) Elite 3E
5 2 (0.93%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.47%) Infor M3
6 1 (0.47%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 90 (41.86%) Azure
2 65 (30.23%) Microsoft 365
3 38 (17.67%) Power Platform
4 30 (13.95%) Microsoft Copilot
5 28 (13.02%) Entra ID
6 20 (9.30%) AWS
7 19 (8.84%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (8.84%) Power Automate
8 17 (7.91%) PowerApps
9 13 (6.05%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (4.65%) Microsoft Purview
11 9 (4.19%) GCP
12 8 (3.72%) Azure Monitor
12 8 (3.72%) Serverless
13 7 (3.26%) OneDrive
14 6 (2.79%) Azure AKS
14 6 (2.79%) OpenShift
15 5 (2.33%) Azure Logic Apps
16 4 (1.86%) Azure Functions
16 4 (1.86%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.05%) Firewall
2 7 (3.26%) Network Security
3 6 (2.79%) SSL
4 5 (2.33%) DNS
4 5 (2.33%) VPN
5 4 (1.86%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.40%) WAN
7 2 (0.93%) DHCP
7 2 (0.93%) LAN
7 2 (0.93%) NAS
7 2 (0.93%) SAN
7 2 (0.93%) VLAN
7 2 (0.93%) VSAN
7 2 (0.93%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.47%) BGP
8 1 (0.47%) Internet
8 1 (0.47%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.47%) Kerberos
8 1 (0.47%) NGFW
8 1 (0.47%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (10.23%) Power BI
2 16 (7.44%) SQL Server
3 11 (5.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 7 (3.26%) Relational Database
5 6 (2.79%) MySQL
5 6 (2.79%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.86%) MongoDB
7 3 (1.40%) Metadata
7 3 (1.40%) NoSQL
7 3 (1.40%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (1.40%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.93%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.93%) BusinessObjects
8 2 (0.93%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.93%) Power Query
8 2 (0.93%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.93%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.47%) DataStage
Development Applications
1 13 (6.05%) JIRA
2 7 (3.26%) Git
3 1 (0.47%) Jenkins
General
1 69 (32.09%) Social Skills
2 46 (21.40%) Finance
3 34 (15.81%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (11.63%) Public Sector
5 19 (8.84%) Banking
6 14 (6.51%) Manufacturing
7 12 (5.58%) Legal
8 9 (4.19%) Telecoms
9 8 (3.72%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (3.26%) Retail
11 4 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (1.40%) Marketing
13 2 (0.93%) Agriculture
13 2 (0.93%) Aviation
13 2 (0.93%) Games
13 2 (0.93%) Law
14 1 (0.47%) Billing
14 1 (0.47%) Military
14 1 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.47%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 32 (14.88%) Analyst
2 21 (9.77%) IT Support
3 19 (8.84%) Developer
4 18 (8.37%) Architect
5 15 (6.98%) Lead
6 13 (6.05%) Support Analyst
6 13 (6.05%) Support Engineer
7 12 (5.58%) Designer
7 12 (5.58%) IT Analyst
8 11 (5.12%) Content Designer
8 11 (5.12%) DBA
8 11 (5.12%) IT Engineer
8 11 (5.12%) IT Support Engineer
8 11 (5.12%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
9 9 (4.19%) IT Support Analyst
9 9 (4.19%) Microsoft Engineer
9 9 (4.19%) Security Engineer
10 8 (3.72%) Senior
10 8 (3.72%) SQL DBA
11 7 (3.26%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.19%) Spring
1 9 (4.19%) Spring Boot
2 8 (3.72%) REST
3 6 (2.79%) .NET
4 4 (1.86%) JSON
4 4 (1.86%) Kafka
4 4 (1.86%) Node.js
4 4 (1.86%) XML
5 3 (1.40%) Microsoft Graph
6 2 (0.93%) A2A Protocol
6 2 (0.93%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.93%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.93%) HTML5 Canvas
6 2 (0.93%) LDAP
6 2 (0.93%) Model Context Protocol
6 2 (0.93%) Next.js
6 2 (0.93%) OAuth
6 2 (0.93%) React
6 2 (0.93%) SailPoint
6 2 (0.93%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 18 (8.37%) Onboarding
2 14 (6.51%) Cloud Native
3 8 (3.72%) Management Information System
3 8 (3.72%) Security Posture
4 6 (2.79%) Clustering
4 6 (2.79%) Product Ownership
4 6 (2.79%) Replication
5 5 (2.33%) Analytical Mindset
5 5 (2.33%) Data Centre
5 5 (2.33%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.86%) Cloud Security Posture
6 4 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.86%) Linux Command Line
7 3 (1.40%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (1.40%) Life Science
8 2 (0.93%) Driving Licence
8 2 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.93%) Private Cloud
8 2 (0.93%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 43 (20.00%) Windows
2 27 (12.56%) Windows 10
3 12 (5.58%) Linux
4 10 (4.65%) Windows Server
5 5 (2.33%) Unix
6 4 (1.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (1.40%) VMS
8 2 (0.93%) AIX
8 2 (0.93%) Solaris
8 2 (0.93%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.47%) HPUX
9 1 (0.47%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.47%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (20.00%) DevOps
2 38 (17.67%) ITIL
3 35 (16.28%) Agile
4 34 (15.81%) Problem-Solving
5 33 (15.35%) CI/CD
6 27 (12.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 23 (10.70%) Stakeholder Management
8 22 (10.23%) Business Intelligence
8 22 (10.23%) Roadmaps
9 21 (9.77%) Customer Service
9 21 (9.77%) Migration
10 17 (7.91%) AI
11 16 (7.44%) Analytics
11 16 (7.44%) Change Management
12 14 (6.51%) Cloud Security
12 14 (6.51%) Containerisation
12 14 (6.51%) Data Loss Prevention
13 13 (6.05%) ERP
13 13 (6.05%) Infrastructure as Code
13 13 (6.05%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 36 (16.74%) SQL
2 27 (12.56%) Python
3 26 (12.09%) PowerShell
4 14 (6.51%) Java
5 9 (4.19%) T-SQL
6 8 (3.72%) C#
7 5 (2.33%) Bicep
7 5 (2.33%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.86%) Bash
9 3 (1.40%) TypeScript
9 3 (1.40%) VBScript
10 2 (0.93%) VBA
11 1 (0.47%) C++
11 1 (0.47%) COBOL
11 1 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 44 (20.47%) Degree
2 24 (11.16%) Microsoft Certification
3 23 (10.70%) Security Cleared
4 20 (9.30%) SC Cleared
5 13 (6.05%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (4.65%) A+ Certification
6 10 (4.65%) Azure Certification
6 10 (4.65%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (4.19%) Network+ Certification
8 5 (2.33%) CISSP
9 3 (1.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (1.40%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 3 (1.40%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.93%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.93%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.93%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (0.93%) Numerate Degree
10 2 (0.93%) PMP
10 2 (0.93%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 1 (0.47%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.05%) GDPR
2 11 (5.12%) Data Quality
3 6 (2.79%) Accessibility
3 6 (2.79%) PMO
4 5 (2.33%) NIST
4 5 (2.33%) WCAG
5 4 (1.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (1.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 4 (1.86%) SLA
6 3 (1.40%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.93%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 2 (0.93%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.47%) GRC
8 1 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 1 (0.47%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.47%) QA
8 1 (0.47%) SOC 2
System Software
1 51 (23.72%) Active Directory
2 19 (8.84%) Docker
3 7 (3.26%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (1.86%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.93%) GPFS
5 2 (0.93%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.93%) NFS
5 2 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.93%) vSphere
6 1 (0.47%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (8.84%) Kubernetes
2 18 (8.37%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (6.51%) Terraform
4 5 (2.33%) SCOM
5 4 (1.86%) Grafana
6 3 (1.40%) Ansible
7 2 (0.93%) AirWatch
7 2 (0.93%) CASB
7 2 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
7 2 (0.93%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.93%) SCCM
7 2 (0.93%) vRealize
7 2 (0.93%) VxRail
8 1 (0.47%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.47%) Nessus
8 1 (0.47%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 16 (7.44%) SAP
1 16 (7.44%) ServiceNow
2 7 (3.26%) Cisco
2 7 (3.26%) Oracle
2 7 (3.26%) Red Hat
3 6 (2.79%) Databricks
4 5 (2.33%) Google
4 5 (2.33%) IBM
4 5 (2.33%) Splunk
4 5 (2.33%) VMware
5 4 (1.86%) UiPath
6 3 (1.40%) CyberArk
6 3 (1.40%) HP
6 3 (1.40%) Remedy
6 3 (1.40%) Salesforce
7 2 (0.93%) Adobe
7 2 (0.93%) Bloomberg
7 2 (0.93%) Dynatrace
7 2 (0.93%) Perforce
7 2 (0.93%) Varonis