Azure Contract Job Trends in the North West

Microsoft Azure
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Azure skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 8 10
Rank change year-on-year 0 +2 -8
Contract jobs citing Azure 370 269 315
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 13.17% 13.06% 11.17%
As % of the Cloud Services category 39.19% 38.54% 32.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 295 189 239
10th Percentile £303 £230 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £495
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% +1.01% -5.71%
75th Percentile £581 £575 £572
90th Percentile £638 £700 £638
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 1 11
10th Percentile - - £16.25
25th Percentile £15.50 £72.50 £18.50
Median hourly rate £16.00 £75.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -78.67% +62.41% -34.03%
75th Percentile £45.84 £77.50 -
90th Percentile £77.41 - -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +64.29% -24.21% -21.26%

All Cloud Computing Skills
North West

Azure falls under the Cloud Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring cloud computing skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for cloud computing skills 944 698 973
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.59% 33.90% 34.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 678 500 700
10th Percentile £218 £237 £268
25th Percentile £358 £400 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £487
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -2.46% -2.60%
75th Percentile £551 £575 £550
90th Percentile £634 £656 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 11 79
10th Percentile £16.20 £21.05 £15.00
25th Percentile £22.62 £22.61 £16.06
Median hourly rate £62.50 £28.75 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +117.39% +64.29% -64.70%
75th Percentile £77.50 £30.63 £26.50
90th Percentile £91.50 £77.50 £71.87
England median hourly rate £40.00 £27.50 £21.37
% change year-on-year +45.45% +28.69% -14.52%

Azure
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Azure relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Azure job vacancy trend in the North West

Azure
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Azure.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Azure

Azure
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Azure in the North West over the 6 months to 2 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Azure in the North West

Azure
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Azure.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Azure

Azure
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Azure in the North West over the 6 months to 2 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Azure in the North West

Azure
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Azure within the North West region over the 6 months to 2 March 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
Manchester -3 198 £500 - 193
Cheshire +10 105 £526 +31.48% 58
Merseyside -5 47 £138 -45.00% 52
Lancashire -15 15 £500 -2.44% 94
Azure
England

Azure
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 31 (8.38%) SharePoint
2 27 (7.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (4.05%) Confluence
4 7 (1.89%) SAS
5 5 (1.35%) OpenStack
6 4 (1.08%) Exchange Server 2013
6 4 (1.08%) Skype for Business
7 3 (0.81%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.54%) IIS
9 1 (0.27%) Apache
9 1 (0.27%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.27%) CMS
9 1 (0.27%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 14 (3.78%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.62%) MS Visio
4 5 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (1.35%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (1.35%) Payment Gateway
2 2 (0.54%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.27%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 155 (41.89%) AWS
2 100 (27.03%) GCP
3 88 (23.78%) Microsoft 365
4 63 (17.03%) Power Platform
5 51 (13.78%) Entra ID
6 46 (12.43%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (7.30%) GitHub
8 24 (6.49%) Power Automate
9 23 (6.22%) PowerApps
10 19 (5.14%) Dynamics 365
11 16 (4.32%) GitHub Actions
11 16 (4.32%) OpenShift
12 14 (3.78%) AWS CloudFormation
12 14 (3.78%) Azure Logic Apps
12 14 (3.78%) OneDrive
13 13 (3.51%) Azure Data Factory
13 13 (3.51%) Serverless
14 12 (3.24%) Azure AKS
14 12 (3.24%) SaaS
15 11 (2.97%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 38 (10.27%) Firewall
2 21 (5.68%) DNS
3 13 (3.51%) Wi-Fi
4 8 (2.16%) Internet
4 8 (2.16%) TCP/IP
4 8 (2.16%) VPN
5 7 (1.89%) DHCP
5 7 (1.89%) Kerberos
6 6 (1.62%) VLAN
7 5 (1.35%) Network Security
7 5 (1.35%) Unified Communications
8 4 (1.08%) HTTP
8 4 (1.08%) NetScaler
8 4 (1.08%) Skype
9 3 (0.81%) WAN
10 2 (0.54%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.54%) Wireshark
11 1 (0.27%) LAN
11 1 (0.27%) OSPF
11 1 (0.27%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (7.03%) Power BI
2 20 (5.41%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (4.05%) SQL Server
4 8 (2.16%) Data Lake
4 8 (2.16%) Looker
5 7 (1.89%) BigQuery
5 7 (1.89%) Metadata
6 5 (1.35%) Azure SQL Database
6 5 (1.35%) NoSQL
6 5 (1.35%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.08%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.08%) MySQL
7 4 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.54%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.54%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.54%) Snowflake Schema
8 2 (0.54%) Spark SQL
8 2 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 2 (0.54%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.27%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 33 (8.92%) JIRA
2 26 (7.03%) Git
3 17 (4.59%) GitLab
3 17 (4.59%) Jenkins
4 9 (2.43%) Postman
5 5 (1.35%) Bitbucket
5 5 (1.35%) Cucumber
5 5 (1.35%) Selenium
5 5 (1.35%) Snyk
5 5 (1.35%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.81%) CircleCI
6 3 (0.81%) JMeter
7 2 (0.54%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.54%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.54%) git-flow
8 1 (0.27%) JUnit
8 1 (0.27%) Mockito
8 1 (0.27%) MSI
8 1 (0.27%) Spinnaker
8 1 (0.27%) Visual Studio
General
1 109 (29.46%) Social Skills
2 71 (19.19%) Public Sector
3 67 (18.11%) Finance
4 42 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
5 35 (9.46%) Banking
6 19 (5.14%) Legal
7 10 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.16%) Law
8 8 (2.16%) Retail
9 4 (1.08%) Military
10 3 (0.81%) Games
10 3 (0.81%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (0.81%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.54%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.54%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.54%) Marketing
12 1 (0.27%) Local Government
12 1 (0.27%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 69 (18.65%) Developer
2 57 (15.41%) Architect
3 41 (11.08%) Senior
4 34 (9.19%) Security Engineer
5 30 (8.11%) Analyst
6 28 (7.57%) Lead
7 19 (5.14%) Java Developer
8 18 (4.86%) Azure Engineer
8 18 (4.86%) IT Support
9 17 (4.59%) Data Engineer
10 16 (4.32%) DevOps Engineer
10 16 (4.32%) Solutions Architect
11 15 (4.05%) 1st Line Support
12 14 (3.78%) Azure Developer
12 14 (3.78%) Platform Engineer
13 13 (3.51%) Support Analyst
14 10 (2.70%) Cloud Engineer
14 10 (2.70%) Support Engineer
15 9 (2.43%) Data Scientist
15 9 (2.43%) Lead Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (8.38%) Spring Boot
2 30 (8.11%) Spring
3 28 (7.57%) REST
4 22 (5.95%) .NET
5 20 (5.41%) React
6 19 (5.14%) RESTful
7 17 (4.59%) HTML
8 14 (3.78%) JSON
9 10 (2.70%) Kafka
10 9 (2.43%) AngularJS
10 9 (2.43%) Node.js
11 8 (2.16%) .NET Core
11 8 (2.16%) HTML5 Canvas
11 8 (2.16%) OAuth
12 7 (1.89%) ARM Templates
12 7 (1.89%) CSS
12 7 (1.89%) LangChain
12 7 (1.89%) LDAP
12 7 (1.89%) PySpark
12 7 (1.89%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 37 (10.00%) Cloud Native
2 30 (8.11%) Onboarding
3 14 (3.78%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (3.78%) Security Posture
4 13 (3.51%) Product Ownership
5 10 (2.70%) Private Cloud
6 9 (2.43%) Low-Code
7 8 (2.16%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.89%) Credit Risk
8 7 (1.89%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (1.89%) Hybrid Cloud
8 7 (1.89%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (1.89%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 6 (1.62%) Cloud Security Posture
9 6 (1.62%) Management Information System
10 5 (1.35%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 5 (1.35%) e-Learning
10 5 (1.35%) Public Cloud
10 5 (1.35%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 56 (15.14%) Windows
2 29 (7.84%) Windows 10
3 20 (5.41%) Linux
4 5 (1.35%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.35%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (1.08%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.08%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.08%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.27%) VMS
6 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (32.97%) DevOps
2 115 (31.08%) CI/CD
3 92 (24.86%) Agile
4 72 (19.46%) Problem-Solving
5 54 (14.59%) Analytics
5 54 (14.59%) Containerisation
6 45 (12.16%) Microservices
7 44 (11.89%) Infrastructure as Code
8 37 (10.00%) Observability
8 37 (10.00%) Roadmaps
9 36 (9.73%) Continuous Improvement
10 34 (9.19%) Migration
11 33 (8.92%) Business Intelligence
11 33 (8.92%) User Experience
12 32 (8.65%) Machine Learning
13 31 (8.38%) Customer Service
13 31 (8.38%) Data Modelling
13 31 (8.38%) Mentoring
14 29 (7.84%) DevSecOps
15 28 (7.57%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 90 (24.32%) Python
2 56 (15.14%) SQL
3 53 (14.32%) Java
4 44 (11.89%) PowerShell
5 30 (8.11%) JavaScript
6 28 (7.57%) C#
7 23 (6.22%) Bash
8 18 (4.86%) TypeScript
9 9 (2.43%) Bicep
10 8 (2.16%) Go
11 7 (1.89%) R
12 4 (1.08%) C++
13 2 (0.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
13 2 (0.54%) PHP
13 2 (0.54%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.54%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.27%) C
14 1 (0.27%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.27%) Scala
Qualifications
1 44 (11.89%) Security Cleared
2 29 (7.84%) Degree
3 26 (7.03%) SC Cleared
4 21 (5.68%) Azure Certification
5 19 (5.14%) BPSS Clearance
6 18 (4.86%) CISSP
7 17 (4.59%) AWS Certification
8 10 (2.70%) CISM
8 10 (2.70%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (1.62%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.35%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 5 (1.35%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (1.08%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.08%) IBM Certification
12 3 (0.81%) CCIE
12 3 (0.81%) GIAC
13 2 (0.54%) CCNP
13 2 (0.54%) DV Cleared
13 2 (0.54%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.54%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (5.68%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.41%) QA
3 16 (4.32%) Accessibility
3 16 (4.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (4.05%) ISO 20022
5 14 (3.78%) GDPR
6 13 (3.51%) NIST
7 8 (2.16%) PSD2
8 7 (1.89%) SEPA
9 5 (1.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 5 (1.35%) HIPAA
10 4 (1.08%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.81%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.27%) GRC
12 1 (0.27%) HL7
12 1 (0.27%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.27%) SLA
12 1 (0.27%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.27%) Solvency II
12 1 (0.27%) WCAG
System Software
1 88 (23.78%) Active Directory
2 65 (17.57%) Docker
3 12 (3.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.43%) vSphere
5 5 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 67 (18.11%) Kubernetes
2 49 (13.24%) Terraform
3 33 (8.92%) Microsoft Intune
4 21 (5.68%) SCCM
5 12 (3.24%) Grafana
6 11 (2.97%) Ansible
6 11 (2.97%) Prometheus
6 11 (2.97%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (2.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (1.35%) Fluentd
9 4 (1.08%) Progress Chef
10 3 (0.81%) Argo
10 3 (0.81%) Istio
10 3 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.54%) CA Single Sign-On
11 2 (0.54%) linkerd
Vendors
1 147 (39.73%) Microsoft
2 39 (10.54%) Google
3 32 (8.65%) ServiceNow
4 17 (4.59%) Databricks
5 15 (4.05%) Oracle
6 14 (3.78%) Bomgar
6 14 (3.78%) iManage
6 14 (3.78%) VMware
7 12 (3.24%) Virgin Media
8 11 (2.97%) Splunk
9 8 (2.16%) F5
9 8 (2.16%) IBM
10 7 (1.89%) Pega
11 6 (1.62%) OpenAI
12 5 (1.35%) Checkmarx
12 5 (1.35%) Cribl.io
12 5 (1.35%) Foundry
12 5 (1.35%) Varonis
12 5 (1.35%) Veeam
12 5 (1.35%) Veracode