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 17 September 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
17 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 14 5
Rank change year-on-year +11 -9 +5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 182 118 264
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Manchester 17.90% 10.02% 15.81%
As % of the Vendors category 37.07% 25.60% 40.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 82 209
10th Percentile £254 £363 £204
25th Percentile £351 £413 £257
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% +5.88%
75th Percentile £536 £638 £550
90th Percentile £612 £674 £625
North West median daily rate £437 £450 £450
% change year-on-year -2.89% - +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 7 14
10th Percentile £13.00 £18.40 £15.73
25th Percentile £19.07 £24.25 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.32 £30.00 £17.16
Median % change year-on-year -25.62% +74.83% +7.25%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £17.72
90th Percentile - £40.50 £19.93
North West median hourly rate £22.32 £30.00 £22.27
% change year-on-year -25.62% +34.74% +27.23%

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 491 461 649
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 48.28% 39.13% 38.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 318 273 455
10th Percentile £311 £363 £225
25th Percentile £400 £416 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £588
90th Percentile £727 £675 £686
North West median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 16 23
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.81 £15.73
25th Percentile £19.07 £19.21 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.32 £30.00 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -25.62% +69.30% -11.97%
75th Percentile £31.40 £44.06 £43.13
90th Percentile £55.49 £74.38 £53.38
North West median hourly rate £22.63 £35.36 £35.00
% change year-on-year -36.00% +1.03% +52.17%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

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

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft 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 17 September 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 17 September 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 17 September 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 - 16 £396 - 23
Stockport - 5 £400 - 19
Salford - 3 £400 - 10
Oldham -4 1 - - 10
Altrincham - 1 £525 - 6
Microsoft
North West

Microsoft
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Manchester 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 11 (6.04%) SharePoint
2 8 (4.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (3.85%) Confluence
4 4 (2.20%) CMS
4 4 (2.20%) JBoss
5 3 (1.65%) Apache
5 3 (1.65%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (1.65%) IIS
6 2 (1.10%) iPlanet
6 2 (1.10%) WebSphere
6 2 (1.10%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.55%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.55%) CICS
7 1 (0.55%) SAS
7 1 (0.55%) Tomcat
Applications
1 28 (15.38%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (12.09%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.65%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.65%) Sketch
4 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 7 (3.85%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (1.10%) Kondor
3 1 (0.55%) Advent Geneva
3 1 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.55%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 39 (21.43%) Azure
2 25 (13.74%) Microsoft 365
2 25 (13.74%) Power Platform
3 14 (7.69%) AWS
4 11 (6.04%) GCP
4 11 (6.04%) Power Automate
5 9 (4.95%) Dynamics 365
6 8 (4.40%) PowerApps
7 6 (3.30%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (3.30%) Entra ID
7 6 (3.30%) Figma
7 6 (3.30%) SaaS
8 4 (2.20%) Azure Data Factory
8 4 (2.20%) GitHub
8 4 (2.20%) Lucidchart
9 3 (1.65%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (1.65%) Azure Sentinel
9 3 (1.65%) Google Sheets
9 3 (1.65%) Google Tag Manager
9 3 (1.65%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.04%) Network Security
2 7 (3.85%) TCP/IP
3 6 (3.30%) VPN
4 5 (2.75%) DNS
4 5 (2.75%) Firewall
5 4 (2.20%) DHCP
6 3 (1.65%) SSL
7 2 (1.10%) Intrusion Detection
7 2 (1.10%) Kerberos
7 2 (1.10%) VoIP
8 1 (0.55%) IP Telephony
8 1 (0.55%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.55%) SSH
8 1 (0.55%) VLAN
8 1 (0.55%) WebEx
8 1 (0.55%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (7.69%) Power BI
2 10 (5.49%) SQL Server
3 6 (3.30%) Relational Database
4 4 (2.20%) Data Lake
4 4 (2.20%) MySQL
4 4 (2.20%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.65%) BigQuery
5 3 (1.65%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (1.65%) Looker
5 3 (1.65%) Oracle Database
5 3 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (1.10%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (1.10%) Big Data
6 2 (1.10%) Dremio
6 2 (1.10%) Metadata
6 2 (1.10%) MongoDB
6 2 (1.10%) NoSQL
6 2 (1.10%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.55%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.55%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 9 (4.95%) JIRA
2 6 (3.30%) Git
3 4 (2.20%) Visual Studio
4 3 (1.65%) Gradle
4 3 (1.65%) Jenkins
5 2 (1.10%) Bitbucket Server
5 2 (1.10%) CA Release Automation
5 2 (1.10%) Selenium
5 2 (1.10%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (1.10%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 2 (1.10%) Storybook
5 2 (1.10%) Subversion
5 2 (1.10%) Xcode
6 1 (0.55%) Browser DevTools
6 1 (0.55%) ERwin
6 1 (0.55%) GitLab
6 1 (0.55%) JUnit
6 1 (0.55%) Maven
General
1 63 (34.62%) Social Skills
2 50 (27.47%) Finance
3 39 (21.43%) Analytical Skills
4 21 (11.54%) Public Sector
5 8 (4.40%) Banking
5 8 (4.40%) Organisational Skills
6 5 (2.75%) Influencing Skills
7 4 (2.20%) Legal
7 4 (2.20%) Manufacturing
8 3 (1.65%) Aerospace
8 3 (1.65%) Aviation
8 3 (1.65%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.65%) French Language
8 3 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (1.65%) Retail
8 3 (1.65%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.10%) Back Office
9 2 (1.10%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.55%) Law
Job Titles
1 41 (22.53%) Analyst
2 22 (12.09%) Developer
3 17 (9.34%) Administrator
4 15 (8.24%) SAP Administrator
4 15 (8.24%) SAP Support
4 15 (8.24%) Support Analyst
5 14 (7.69%) Architect
6 13 (7.14%) Desktop Support
6 13 (7.14%) IT Support
7 10 (5.49%) Deskside Analyst
7 10 (5.49%) Deskside Support
7 10 (5.49%) Deskside Support Analyst
7 10 (5.49%) Technology Support Analyst
8 8 (4.40%) Business Analyst
8 8 (4.40%) Designer
9 7 (3.85%) IT Engineer
9 7 (3.85%) Senior
9 7 (3.85%) Support Engineer
10 6 (3.30%) Lead
10 6 (3.30%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (3.85%) .NET
2 6 (3.30%) REST
3 4 (2.20%) OAuth
3 4 (2.20%) SOAP
4 3 (1.65%) HTML
4 3 (1.65%) JSON
4 3 (1.65%) Kafka
4 3 (1.65%) LDAP
5 2 (1.10%) .NET Framework
5 2 (1.10%) D3.js
5 2 (1.10%) HTML5 Canvas
5 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Graph
5 2 (1.10%) OpenID
5 2 (1.10%) React Native
5 2 (1.10%) SAML
5 2 (1.10%) Spring
5 2 (1.10%) Spring Boot
5 2 (1.10%) SVG
6 1 (0.55%) PySpark
6 1 (0.55%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.49%) Onboarding
2 6 (3.30%) Cloud Native
3 5 (2.75%) Analytical Mindset
3 5 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
3 5 (2.75%) Management Information System
3 5 (2.75%) Mobile App
3 5 (2.75%) Product Ownership
4 4 (2.20%) Clustering
4 4 (2.20%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.65%) CMDB
5 3 (1.65%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 3 (1.65%) Low-Code
5 3 (1.65%) Security Operations Centre
5 3 (1.65%) Security Posture
6 2 (1.10%) Credit Derivative
6 2 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
6 2 (1.10%) Distributed Computing
6 2 (1.10%) Mainframe
6 2 (1.10%) Market Risk
6 2 (1.10%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 39 (21.43%) Windows
2 13 (7.14%) Linux
3 7 (3.85%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.30%) Unix
5 5 (2.75%) Android
5 5 (2.75%) Windows 10
6 4 (2.20%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.55%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (23.63%) Problem-Solving
2 31 (17.03%) Change Management
3 25 (13.74%) Agile
3 25 (13.74%) ITIL
4 24 (13.19%) Stakeholder Management
5 23 (12.64%) Service Management
6 22 (12.09%) ITSM
7 20 (10.99%) Customer Service
7 20 (10.99%) Cybersecurity
8 18 (9.89%) Analytics
9 16 (8.79%) Project Management
10 15 (8.24%) Business Intelligence
10 15 (8.24%) Data Analysis
10 15 (8.24%) DevOps
10 15 (8.24%) Workflow
11 14 (7.69%) Decision-Making
11 14 (7.69%) User Experience
12 13 (7.14%) Risk Management
13 11 (6.04%) Continuous Improvement
13 11 (6.04%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 18 (9.89%) SQL
2 10 (5.49%) Python
3 6 (3.30%) JavaScript
4 5 (2.75%) C#
4 5 (2.75%) Java
4 5 (2.75%) Kusto Query Language
4 5 (2.75%) PowerShell
5 4 (2.20%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.10%) C++
6 2 (1.10%) Groovy
6 2 (1.10%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.10%) T-SQL
6 2 (1.10%) VBA
7 1 (0.55%) CLIST
7 1 (0.55%) JCL
7 1 (0.55%) PHP
7 1 (0.55%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.55%) REXX
7 1 (0.55%) Scala
Qualifications
1 26 (14.29%) Security Cleared
2 21 (11.54%) Degree
3 18 (9.89%) SC Cleared
4 13 (7.14%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (5.49%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (2.75%) Azure Certification
7 4 (2.20%) CISSP
7 4 (2.20%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.65%) A+ Certification
8 3 (1.65%) CISM
9 2 (1.10%) AWS Certification
9 2 (1.10%) CISA
9 2 (1.10%) GCIA
9 2 (1.10%) GCIH
9 2 (1.10%) GSEC
9 2 (1.10%) MCT
9 2 (1.10%) PMI Certification
9 2 (1.10%) PMP
10 1 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
10 1 (0.55%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (6.59%) Accessibility
2 7 (3.85%) QA
3 6 (3.30%) Data Quality
4 5 (2.75%) GDPR
4 5 (2.75%) NIST
5 3 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (1.65%) PCI DSS
5 3 (1.65%) PMO
5 3 (1.65%) SLA
6 2 (1.10%) Basel III
6 2 (1.10%) HIPAA
6 2 (1.10%) MiFID
7 1 (0.55%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.55%) GRC
7 1 (0.55%) NCSC
7 1 (0.55%) PMBOK
7 1 (0.55%) PSD2
7 1 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 15 (8.24%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.20%) Docker
3 3 (1.65%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.65%) vSphere
4 2 (1.10%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.55%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.55%) Time Sharing Option
5 1 (0.55%) Tivoli Directory Server
Systems Management
1 15 (8.24%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (3.85%) SCCM
3 3 (1.65%) Ansible
3 3 (1.65%) Kubernetes
3 3 (1.65%) QRadar
4 2 (1.10%) CA Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.10%) CA Wily
4 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Clustering
5 1 (0.55%) AirWatch
5 1 (0.55%) CA Endevor
5 1 (0.55%) CASB
5 1 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.55%) Nessus
5 1 (0.55%) OMEGAMON
5 1 (0.55%) Progress Chef
5 1 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.55%) Terraform
5 1 (0.55%) Tivoli
5 1 (0.55%) WSUS
Vendors
1 18 (9.89%) SAP
2 13 (7.14%) Google
3 10 (5.49%) Oracle
4 9 (4.95%) ServiceNow
5 6 (3.30%) IBM
5 6 (3.30%) Splunk
5 6 (3.30%) VMware
6 4 (2.20%) Apple
6 4 (2.20%) Databricks
7 3 (1.65%) Hopewiser
7 3 (1.65%) Twitter
7 3 (1.65%) Veeam
8 2 (1.10%) AppDynamics
8 2 (1.10%) ArcSight
8 2 (1.10%) BMC
8 2 (1.10%) Broadcom
8 2 (1.10%) Cisco
8 2 (1.10%) Citrix
8 2 (1.10%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.10%) Sybase