Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the Midlands

Microsoft
England > Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Midlands 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 21 December 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
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -3 +1 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 477 373 392
As % of all contract jobs in the Midlands 15.11% 16.12% 15.11%
As % of the Vendors category 29.55% 34.73% 29.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 350 260 288
10th Percentile £171 £185 £160
25th Percentile £301 £300 £262
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £425 £425
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% +0.03% -2.86%
75th Percentile £544 £550 £564
90th Percentile £640 £625 £688
England median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 22 27
10th Percentile £15.67 £12.25 £11.58
25th Percentile £16.25 £15.58 £15.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £17.66 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +42.41% -4.54% +19.35%
75th Percentile £25.62 £30.68 £23.00
90th Percentile £31.00 £35.00 £30.60
England median hourly rate £20.26 £22.27 £23.00
% change year-on-year -9.05% -3.17% +13.58%

All Vendors
Midlands

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 the Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,614 1,074 1,326
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Midlands 51.12% 46.41% 51.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,045 696 850
10th Percentile £250 £209 £220
25th Percentile £370 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +5.26% -2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £599
90th Percentile £638 £700 £688
England median daily rate £508 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.33% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 34 44
10th Percentile £15.75 £13.44 £12.30
25th Percentile £16.35 £15.67 £15.13
Median hourly rate £21.94 £18.23 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +20.36% -4.08% +8.20%
75th Percentile £25.15 £31.49 £28.19
90th Percentile £33.75 £44.63 £67.63
England median hourly rate £23.60 £30.52 £45.88
% change year-on-year -22.67% -33.48% +76.46%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the Midlands

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the Midlands

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the Midlands over the 6 months to 21 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the Midlands

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the Midlands over the 6 months to 21 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the Midlands

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Midlands region over the 6 months to 21 December 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
West Midlands -4 317 £478 +7.73% 214
East Midlands +3 157 £375 -6.25% 146
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands 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 34 (7.13%) SharePoint
2 20 (4.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.52%) Confluence
4 9 (1.89%) SAS
5 7 (1.47%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.84%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.63%) Apache
7 3 (0.63%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.42%) CMS
8 2 (0.42%) FileNet
8 2 (0.42%) IIS
9 1 (0.21%) Apache Pig
9 1 (0.21%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.21%) WebLogic
Applications
1 67 (14.05%) Microsoft Office
2 52 (10.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (4.19%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (3.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (2.94%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.21%) Adobe Captivate
7 1 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.21%) Maya
7 1 (0.21%) Moqups
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Smart View
7 1 (0.21%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (3.56%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (2.10%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (1.47%) Dynamics AX
4 4 (0.84%) Workday HCM
5 3 (0.63%) Maximo
6 2 (0.42%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.42%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.21%) assyst
7 1 (0.21%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.21%) MIS ActiveH
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.21%) Primavera
7 1 (0.21%) SAP BPC
7 1 (0.21%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.21%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 162 (33.96%) Azure
2 87 (18.24%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (14.68%) Power Platform
4 68 (14.26%) AWS
5 52 (10.90%) Dynamics 365
6 47 (9.85%) Entra ID
7 36 (7.55%) PowerApps
8 32 (6.71%) Power Automate
9 30 (6.29%) Azure DevOps
10 27 (5.66%) GCP
11 24 (5.03%) Serverless
12 21 (4.40%) Azure Data Factory
13 19 (3.98%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 16 (3.35%) GitHub
14 16 (3.35%) GitHub Actions
14 16 (3.35%) SaaS
15 15 (3.14%) Microsoft Purview
16 14 (2.94%) PaaS
17 11 (2.31%) Azure Key Vault
17 11 (2.31%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.45%) DNS
2 23 (4.82%) Firewall
3 19 (3.98%) VPN
4 18 (3.77%) DHCP
5 15 (3.14%) TCP/IP
6 10 (2.10%) Network Security
7 9 (1.89%) LAN
8 8 (1.68%) WAN
9 7 (1.47%) VoIP
9 7 (1.47%) Wireless
10 5 (1.05%) SSL
10 5 (1.05%) VLAN
10 5 (1.05%) Wireshark
11 4 (0.84%) HTTP
11 4 (0.84%) PuTTY
11 4 (0.84%) Unified Communications
12 3 (0.63%) Cisco Nexus
12 3 (0.63%) HTTPS
12 3 (0.63%) Internet
12 3 (0.63%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (8.18%) Power BI
2 17 (3.56%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (3.14%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (2.52%) SQL Server
5 8 (1.68%) Redis
6 7 (1.47%) Data Mining
7 6 (1.26%) Azure SQL Database
7 6 (1.26%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 6 (1.26%) SAS Visual Analytics
7 6 (1.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (1.05%) Data Lake
8 5 (1.05%) Metadata
8 5 (1.05%) Oracle Database
9 4 (0.84%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.84%) Power Query
9 4 (0.84%) SAS Data Integration Studio
9 4 (0.84%) Tableau
10 3 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.63%) Big Data
10 3 (0.63%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 26 (5.45%) JIRA
2 24 (5.03%) Git
3 14 (2.94%) GitLab
4 12 (2.52%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.84%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.63%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.63%) MSI
6 3 (0.63%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.42%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.42%) Liquibase
7 2 (0.42%) MLflow
7 2 (0.42%) Selenium
8 1 (0.21%) AdminStudio
8 1 (0.21%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.21%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.21%) Jaeger
8 1 (0.21%) Postman
8 1 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.21%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 178 (37.32%) Social Skills
2 75 (15.72%) Finance
3 59 (12.37%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (4.61%) Public Sector
5 21 (4.40%) Organisational Skills
6 17 (3.56%) Legal
7 14 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
8 13 (2.73%) Manufacturing
9 12 (2.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 11 (2.31%) Banking
11 9 (1.89%) Law
12 8 (1.68%) Influencing Skills
12 8 (1.68%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.26%) Aerospace
13 6 (1.26%) Retail
14 5 (1.05%) Marketing
15 3 (0.63%) Local Government
15 3 (0.63%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.42%) Aeronautics
16 2 (0.42%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 77 (16.14%) Analyst
2 51 (10.69%) Developer
3 36 (7.55%) Architect
4 31 (6.50%) Support Engineer
5 26 (5.45%) Administrator
6 23 (4.82%) Senior
7 20 (4.19%) IT Support
8 19 (3.98%) Lead
9 17 (3.56%) Desktop Support
10 16 (3.35%) Business Analyst
11 15 (3.14%) Consultant
11 15 (3.14%) IT Analyst
11 15 (3.14%) Support Analyst
12 13 (2.73%) 2nd Line Support
12 13 (2.73%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 13 (2.73%) IT Support Analyst
12 13 (2.73%) Project Manager
12 13 (2.73%) Service Analyst
13 12 (2.52%) Service Desk Analyst
14 11 (2.31%) Desktop Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (5.03%) REST
2 16 (3.35%) .NET
3 12 (2.52%) Flask
4 11 (2.31%) FastAPI
5 10 (2.10%) LDAP
6 9 (1.89%) HTML
7 8 (1.68%) GraphQL
7 8 (1.68%) WebSockets
8 7 (1.47%) gRPC
8 7 (1.47%) Middleware
9 6 (1.26%) CSS
9 6 (1.26%) OAuth
9 6 (1.26%) RESTful
9 6 (1.26%) SAML
10 5 (1.05%) Pandas
11 4 (0.84%) .NET Framework
11 4 (0.84%) NumPy
12 3 (0.63%) ASP.NET
12 3 (0.63%) RabbitMQ
12 3 (0.63%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 26 (5.45%) Onboarding
2 21 (4.40%) Driving Licence
3 17 (3.56%) Cloud Native
4 15 (3.14%) Security Posture
5 12 (2.52%) Data Centre
5 12 (2.52%) Management Information System
5 12 (2.52%) Product Ownership
6 10 (2.10%) Self-Motivation
6 10 (2.10%) Smartphone
7 7 (1.47%) Operational Technology
7 7 (1.47%) SCADA
8 6 (1.26%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.26%) Team-Oriented Environment
9 5 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.05%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.05%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.05%) PKI
9 5 (1.05%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (0.84%) Data Fabric
10 4 (0.84%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 120 (25.16%) Windows
2 41 (8.60%) Windows 10
3 24 (5.03%) Windows Server
4 22 (4.61%) Linux
5 13 (2.73%) Mac OS
6 9 (1.89%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.63%) Android
7 3 (0.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.63%) Windows 7
7 3 (0.63%) Windows 8
8 2 (0.42%) CatOS
8 2 (0.42%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.42%) Unix
8 2 (0.42%) Windows Server 2003
8 2 (0.42%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.21%) SUSE
9 1 (0.21%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (19.50%) Problem-Solving
2 79 (16.56%) DevOps
3 78 (16.35%) Migration
4 76 (15.93%) Agile
5 65 (13.63%) CI/CD
6 64 (13.42%) Analytics
7 61 (12.79%) ITIL
8 57 (11.95%) Continuous Improvement
9 53 (11.11%) Stakeholder Management
10 51 (10.69%) Customer Service
11 50 (10.48%) Change Management
12 44 (9.22%) Business Intelligence
13 41 (8.60%) Decision-Making
14 39 (8.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 34 (7.13%) Cybersecurity
16 32 (6.71%) Project Management
16 32 (6.71%) Service Management
17 30 (6.29%) Containerisation
18 28 (5.87%) Data Management
18 28 (5.87%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 73 (15.30%) SQL
2 47 (9.85%) Python
3 45 (9.43%) PowerShell
4 16 (3.35%) JavaScript
5 14 (2.94%) C#
5 14 (2.94%) Go
6 12 (2.52%) Bash
6 12 (2.52%) Java
7 9 (1.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 8 (1.68%) R
9 6 (1.26%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (1.26%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.84%) C++
10 4 (0.84%) Scala
10 4 (0.84%) T-SQL
11 3 (0.63%) VB
11 3 (0.63%) VBScript
11 3 (0.63%) X++
12 2 (0.42%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.42%) C
Qualifications
1 77 (16.14%) Security Cleared
2 65 (13.63%) SC Cleared
3 48 (10.06%) Degree
4 41 (8.60%) Microsoft Certification
5 17 (3.56%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (3.35%) Azure Certification
7 13 (2.73%) AWS Certification
7 13 (2.73%) DV Cleared
8 9 (1.89%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 7 (1.47%) Master's Degree
10 6 (1.26%) A+ Certification
10 6 (1.26%) CISSP
10 6 (1.26%) DBS Check
10 6 (1.26%) MCP
11 5 (1.05%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (1.05%) MCDST
11 5 (1.05%) MCSE
12 4 (0.84%) CCNP
12 4 (0.84%) Cisco Certification
12 4 (0.84%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.82%) GDPR
2 17 (3.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (3.14%) QA
4 8 (1.68%) Accessibility
4 8 (1.68%) Data Quality
4 8 (1.68%) PMO
5 7 (1.47%) SLA
6 6 (1.26%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (0.84%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.63%) GRC
8 3 (0.63%) NCSC
8 3 (0.63%) NIST
8 3 (0.63%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.42%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.42%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.21%) HL7
10 1 (0.21%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.21%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 96 (20.13%) Active Directory
2 35 (7.34%) Docker
3 23 (4.82%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.26%) Firmware
4 6 (1.26%) Hyper-V
4 6 (1.26%) vSphere
5 5 (1.05%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.42%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.42%) Microsoft App-V
6 2 (0.42%) Terminal Services
6 2 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.21%) HDFS
7 1 (0.21%) Snort
7 1 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 48 (10.06%) SCCM
2 38 (7.97%) Kubernetes
3 31 (6.50%) Microsoft Intune
4 22 (4.61%) Terraform
5 15 (3.14%) Prometheus
6 13 (2.73%) Grafana
7 12 (2.52%) Ansible
8 5 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.84%) QRadar
10 3 (0.63%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 3 (0.63%) vRealize
11 2 (0.42%) CSIRT
11 2 (0.42%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.42%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.42%) Puppet
11 2 (0.42%) SCOM
11 2 (0.42%) Tivoli Identity Manager
12 1 (0.21%) Hadoop YARN
12 1 (0.21%) Kibana
12 1 (0.21%) WSUS
Vendors
1 30 (6.29%) ServiceNow
2 25 (5.24%) VMware
3 22 (4.61%) Cisco
4 21 (4.40%) Oracle
5 16 (3.35%) Splunk
6 14 (2.94%) SAP
7 13 (2.73%) Citrix
8 10 (2.10%) Databricks
9 9 (1.89%) Dynatrace
9 9 (1.89%) IBM
9 9 (1.89%) iManage
10 8 (1.68%) AppDynamics
11 7 (1.47%) HP
11 7 (1.47%) Salesforce
12 6 (1.26%) Adobe
12 6 (1.26%) CyberArk
12 6 (1.26%) F5
12 6 (1.26%) Tenable
12 6 (1.26%) Workday
13 5 (1.05%) CheckPoint