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 27 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
27 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 4 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 +1 +5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 204 170 241
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 18.01% 14.46% 15.13%
As % of the Vendors category 37.57% 32.63% 36.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 149 115 191
10th Percentile £300 £313 £225
25th Percentile £353 £391 £260
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £455 £425
Median % change year-on-year -6.59% +7.06% -
75th Percentile £525 £579 £544
90th Percentile £614 £695 £619
North West median daily rate £425 £450 £400
% change year-on-year -5.56% +12.50% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 14 17
10th Percentile £19.07 £28.80 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.58 £30.31 £16.25
Median hourly rate £22.32 £32.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -31.34% +83.41% -4.22%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £20.00
90th Percentile - £34.63 £30.00
North West median hourly rate £22.32 £32.50 £26.27
% change year-on-year -31.34% +23.74% +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 543 521 657
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 47.93% 44.30% 41.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 373 300 475
10th Percentile £308 £347 £233
25th Percentile £381 £409 £366
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% -2.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £611 £575 £586
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
North West median daily rate £455 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -9.10% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 21 25
10th Percentile £18.99 £16.00 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.45 £29.50 £16.25
Median hourly rate £22.50 £32.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -30.77% +83.41% -11.69%
75th Percentile £31.40 £35.00 £42.50
90th Percentile £31.74 £48.75 £52.60
North West median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £34.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -4.41% +74.36%

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 27 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 27 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 27 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 - 14 £396 - 8
Oldham -2 2 £225 -43.75% 2
Rochdale - 1 - - 7
Stockport - 1 - - 10
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 (7.35%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.43%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (2.45%) CMS
3 5 (2.45%) Confluence
3 5 (2.45%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.96%) Apache
4 4 (1.96%) JBoss
5 3 (1.47%) IIS
6 2 (0.98%) iPlanet
6 2 (0.98%) SAS
6 2 (0.98%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.98%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.49%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.49%) CICS
7 1 (0.49%) Tomcat
Applications
1 35 (17.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (15.20%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (2.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.96%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (1.96%) MS Visio
5 3 (1.47%) Sketch
5 3 (1.47%) Trello
6 1 (0.49%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.49%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 7 (3.43%) Advent Geneva
2 6 (2.94%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.49%) Maximo
3 1 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.49%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 53 (25.98%) Azure
2 34 (16.67%) Power Platform
3 31 (15.20%) Microsoft 365
4 21 (10.29%) AWS
5 15 (7.35%) Power Automate
6 14 (6.86%) PowerApps
7 13 (6.37%) GCP
8 12 (5.88%) Dynamics 365
8 12 (5.88%) Entra ID
9 9 (4.41%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (3.92%) Google Tag Manager
11 7 (3.43%) GitHub
11 7 (3.43%) Google Analytics
12 6 (2.94%) Figma
12 6 (2.94%) SaaS
13 4 (1.96%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (1.96%) Lucidchart
13 4 (1.96%) Microsoft Copilot
14 3 (1.47%) Google Workspace
14 3 (1.47%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 9 (4.41%) Network Security
2 5 (2.45%) Firewall
3 3 (1.47%) SSL
3 3 (1.47%) VPN
4 2 (0.98%) DNS
4 2 (0.98%) Kerberos
4 2 (0.98%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.98%) VoIP
4 2 (0.98%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.49%) DHCP
5 1 (0.49%) HTTP
5 1 (0.49%) IP Telephony
5 1 (0.49%) LAN
5 1 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
5 1 (0.49%) SSH
5 1 (0.49%) VLAN
5 1 (0.49%) WAN
5 1 (0.49%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (11.27%) Power BI
2 13 (6.37%) SQL Server
3 12 (5.88%) Relational Database
4 10 (4.90%) MySQL
5 7 (3.43%) DB2
5 7 (3.43%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 6 (2.94%) BigQuery
6 6 (2.94%) Data Lake
6 6 (2.94%) Looker
7 4 (1.96%) Data Warehouse
8 3 (1.47%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.98%) BusinessObjects
9 2 (0.98%) Metadata
9 2 (0.98%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.98%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.98%) Power Query
9 2 (0.98%) Snowflake Schema
9 2 (0.98%) Tableau
10 1 (0.49%) Oracle Discoverer
10 1 (0.49%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 12 (5.88%) JIRA
2 7 (3.43%) Git
3 5 (2.45%) GitLab
4 4 (1.96%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.47%) Gradle
6 2 (0.98%) Bitbucket Server
6 2 (0.98%) CA Release Automation
6 2 (0.98%) Selenium
6 2 (0.98%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.98%) Storybook
6 2 (0.98%) Xcode
7 1 (0.49%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.49%) JUnit
7 1 (0.49%) Maven
7 1 (0.49%) MSI
7 1 (0.49%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 73 (35.78%) Social Skills
2 59 (28.92%) Finance
3 41 (20.10%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (14.71%) Public Sector
5 12 (5.88%) Documentation Skills
6 11 (5.39%) Banking
7 6 (2.94%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.45%) Retail
9 4 (1.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.47%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.47%) Aviation
10 3 (1.47%) Legal
10 3 (1.47%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.98%) Military
11 2 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.49%) Agriculture
12 1 (0.49%) Law
12 1 (0.49%) Publishing
12 1 (0.49%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 41 (20.10%) Analyst
2 28 (13.73%) Developer
3 25 (12.25%) Administrator
4 15 (7.35%) SAP Administrator
4 15 (7.35%) SAP Support
5 12 (5.88%) Senior
6 11 (5.39%) Lead
6 11 (5.39%) Support Analyst
7 10 (4.90%) Architect
8 8 (3.92%) Business Analyst
8 8 (3.92%) Consultant
8 8 (3.92%) Desktop Support
8 8 (3.92%) Microsoft Developer
9 7 (3.43%) Designer
9 7 (3.43%) Deskside Analyst
9 7 (3.43%) Deskside Support
9 7 (3.43%) Deskside Support Analyst
9 7 (3.43%) Technology Support Analyst
10 6 (2.94%) DevOps Engineer
10 6 (2.94%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (5.39%) .NET
2 6 (2.94%) HTML
2 6 (2.94%) HTML5 Canvas
2 6 (2.94%) JSON
3 5 (2.45%) Kafka
3 5 (2.45%) OAuth
4 4 (1.96%) REST
5 3 (1.47%) LDAP
5 3 (1.47%) OpenID
5 3 (1.47%) SAML
6 2 (0.98%) D3.js
6 2 (0.98%) ISPF
6 2 (0.98%) LangChain
6 2 (0.98%) Microsoft Graph
6 2 (0.98%) React Native
6 2 (0.98%) SOAP
6 2 (0.98%) Spring
6 2 (0.98%) Spring Boot
6 2 (0.98%) SVG
6 2 (0.98%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (7.84%) Onboarding
2 7 (3.43%) Virtual Team
3 5 (2.45%) Analytical Mindset
3 5 (2.45%) Cloud Native
3 5 (2.45%) Clustering
3 5 (2.45%) Data Centre
3 5 (2.45%) Data Protection Act
3 5 (2.45%) Mobile App
4 4 (1.96%) Low-Code
4 4 (1.96%) Product Ownership
5 3 (1.47%) CMDB
5 3 (1.47%) Mainframe
5 3 (1.47%) Security Operations Centre
5 3 (1.47%) Security Posture
5 3 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (0.98%) Distributed Computing
6 2 (0.98%) Driving Licence
6 2 (0.98%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (0.98%) Life Science
7 1 (0.49%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 31 (15.20%) Windows
2 17 (8.33%) Linux
3 7 (3.43%) Unix
4 5 (2.45%) Android
4 5 (2.45%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.96%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.96%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.49%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.49%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.49%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (21.08%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (15.69%) Change Management
3 28 (13.73%) Agile
4 27 (13.24%) Business Intelligence
5 26 (12.75%) Stakeholder Management
6 23 (11.27%) Analytics
6 23 (11.27%) ITIL
7 21 (10.29%) DevOps
8 18 (8.82%) Data Analysis
8 18 (8.82%) User Experience
9 17 (8.33%) Project Management
10 16 (7.84%) Service Management
11 15 (7.35%) CI/CD
11 15 (7.35%) Cybersecurity
11 15 (7.35%) ITSM
12 14 (6.86%) Actionable Insight
12 14 (6.86%) Continuous Improvement
12 14 (6.86%) Decision-Making
12 14 (6.86%) Validation
13 13 (6.37%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 30 (14.71%) SQL
2 12 (5.88%) Python
3 8 (3.92%) JavaScript
3 8 (3.92%) PowerShell
4 7 (3.43%) Java
5 5 (2.45%) Kusto Query Language
6 4 (1.96%) C#
6 4 (1.96%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.98%) CLIST
7 2 (0.98%) Groovy
7 2 (0.98%) JCL
7 2 (0.98%) PHP
7 2 (0.98%) PL/SQL
7 2 (0.98%) REXX
7 2 (0.98%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.98%) T-SQL
7 2 (0.98%) VBA
8 1 (0.49%) COBOL
8 1 (0.49%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.49%) Scala
Qualifications
1 23 (11.27%) Security Cleared
2 18 (8.82%) SC Cleared
3 17 (8.33%) Degree
4 11 (5.39%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (5.39%) Microsoft Certification
5 4 (1.96%) CISSP
5 4 (1.96%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.47%) Azure Certification
6 3 (1.47%) CISM
7 2 (0.98%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.98%) CISA
7 2 (0.98%) GCIA
7 2 (0.98%) GCIH
7 2 (0.98%) GSEC
7 2 (0.98%) MCSA
7 2 (0.98%) MCSE
7 2 (0.98%) MCT
7 2 (0.98%) PMI Certification
7 2 (0.98%) PMP
8 1 (0.49%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (8.82%) Accessibility
2 13 (6.37%) Data Quality
3 12 (5.88%) QA
4 7 (3.43%) GDPR
5 5 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (2.45%) NIST
6 3 (1.47%) PCI DSS
6 3 (1.47%) PMO
7 2 (0.98%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.49%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 1 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.49%) NCSC
8 1 (0.49%) PMBOK
8 1 (0.49%) PSD2
8 1 (0.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.49%) SLA
System Software
1 18 (8.82%) Active Directory
2 8 (3.92%) Docker
3 2 (0.98%) Time Sharing Option
3 2 (0.98%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.49%) ACF2
4 1 (0.49%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.49%) RACF
4 1 (0.49%) Tivoli Directory Server
4 1 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.49%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 17 (8.33%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (3.92%) Kubernetes
3 6 (2.94%) SCCM
4 4 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.47%) Ansible
5 3 (1.47%) QRadar
6 2 (0.98%) CA Endevor
6 2 (0.98%) CA Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.98%) CA Wily
6 2 (0.98%) Grafana
6 2 (0.98%) Microsoft Clustering
6 2 (0.98%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.98%) Terraform
6 2 (0.98%) Tivoli
7 1 (0.49%) CASB
7 1 (0.49%) Nessus
7 1 (0.49%) OMEGAMON
7 1 (0.49%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.49%) Tivoli Storage Manager
7 1 (0.49%) WSUS
Vendors
1 18 (8.82%) SAP
2 14 (6.86%) Google
3 10 (4.90%) Oracle
4 8 (3.92%) Splunk
5 7 (3.43%) Advent
6 6 (2.94%) IBM
7 5 (2.45%) Apple
7 5 (2.45%) ServiceNow
8 3 (1.47%) Citrix
8 3 (1.47%) Hopewiser
9 2 (0.98%) AppDynamics
9 2 (0.98%) ArcSight
9 2 (0.98%) BMC
9 2 (0.98%) Broadcom
9 2 (0.98%) Confluent
9 2 (0.98%) Zscaler
10 1 (0.49%) BiZZdesign
10 1 (0.49%) CrowdStrike
10 1 (0.49%) Databricks
10 1 (0.49%) Samsung