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 20 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 7 12
Rank change year-on-year +1 +5 -9
Contract jobs citing Azure 429 274 297
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.16% 13.65% 10.55%
As % of the Cloud Services category 42.64% 40.47% 32.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 348 203 236
10th Percentile £312 £250 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £582 £580 £577
90th Percentile £640 £700 £650
England median daily rate £525 £531 £540
% change year-on-year -1.11% -1.74% -4.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 3 7
10th Percentile £15.50 £67.75 £17.15
25th Percentile £22.32 £68.13 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.38 £72.50 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -64.99% +222.22% -67.86%
75th Percentile £60.05 £76.88 £46.18
90th Percentile £90.00 £77.25 -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £53.50 £46.12
% change year-on-year +7.48% +16.01% -21.37%

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 1,006 677 927
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.21% 33.73% 32.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 713 511 681
10th Percentile £220 £230 £300
25th Percentile £369 £393 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £489
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -2.86% -2.20%
75th Percentile £570 £575 £550
90th Percentile £639 £650 £638
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 15 73
10th Percentile £18.50 £22.30 £15.50
25th Percentile £25.38 £25.53 £16.06
Median hourly rate £62.00 £28.75 £17.29
Median % change year-on-year +115.65% +66.33% -67.38%
75th Percentile £76.00 £43.39 £26.50
90th Percentile £90.00 £74.75 £46.18
England median hourly rate £37.50 £26.50 £21.19
% change year-on-year +41.51% +25.09% -16.10%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 -2 223 £476 -7.49% 159
Cheshire +7 131 £526 +27.81% 57
Merseyside +1 54 £138 -45.00% 37
Lancashire -13 14 £500 - 81
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 33 (7.69%) SharePoint
2 27 (6.29%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (4.20%) Confluence
4 7 (1.63%) SAS
5 5 (1.17%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.93%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.47%) IIS
8 1 (0.23%) Apache
8 1 (0.23%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.23%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.23%) CMS
8 1 (0.23%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 8 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.17%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.47%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.47%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.23%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (1.17%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.47%) Elite 3E
3 2 (0.47%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.23%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 177 (41.26%) AWS
2 102 (23.78%) GCP
3 90 (20.98%) Microsoft 365
4 69 (16.08%) Entra ID
5 66 (15.38%) Azure DevOps
6 62 (14.45%) Power Platform
7 33 (7.69%) GitHub
8 25 (5.83%) Power Automate
9 24 (5.59%) PowerApps
10 22 (5.13%) Dynamics 365
10 22 (5.13%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (4.43%) Serverless
12 17 (3.96%) Azure Data Factory
13 15 (3.50%) OneDrive
14 14 (3.26%) AWS CloudFormation
14 14 (3.26%) Azure Logic Apps
14 14 (3.26%) OpenShift
15 13 (3.03%) Azure Monitor
15 13 (3.03%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 12 (2.80%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 48 (11.19%) Firewall
2 26 (6.06%) DNS
3 14 (3.26%) Network Security
4 13 (3.03%) VPN
5 10 (2.33%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (2.10%) Kerberos
6 9 (2.10%) TCP/IP
7 8 (1.86%) DHCP
8 7 (1.63%) VLAN
9 5 (1.17%) Internet
10 4 (0.93%) HTTP
10 4 (0.93%) NetScaler
10 4 (0.93%) WAN
10 4 (0.93%) Wireshark
11 3 (0.70%) BGP
11 3 (0.70%) OSPF
11 3 (0.70%) SD-WAN
12 2 (0.47%) LAN
12 2 (0.47%) tcpdump
12 2 (0.47%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (6.06%) Power BI
2 23 (5.36%) Data Warehouse
3 18 (4.20%) SQL Server
4 10 (2.33%) Metadata
4 10 (2.33%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (1.86%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.63%) MySQL
6 7 (1.63%) NoSQL
7 6 (1.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 6 (1.40%) Looker
7 6 (1.40%) MongoDB
8 5 (1.17%) BigQuery
9 3 (0.70%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.70%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.70%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.47%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.47%) RDBMS
10 2 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 2 (0.47%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 38 (8.86%) JIRA
2 26 (6.06%) Git
3 18 (4.20%) GitLab
3 18 (4.20%) Jenkins
4 10 (2.33%) Postman
5 6 (1.40%) Cucumber
5 6 (1.40%) SonarQube
6 5 (1.17%) Bitbucket
6 5 (1.17%) Selenium
6 5 (1.17%) Snyk
7 3 (0.70%) CircleCI
7 3 (0.70%) JMeter
8 2 (0.47%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.47%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.23%) JUnit
9 1 (0.23%) Mockito
9 1 (0.23%) MSI
9 1 (0.23%) Spinnaker
9 1 (0.23%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.23%) Visual Studio
General
1 115 (26.81%) Social Skills
2 78 (18.18%) Finance
2 78 (18.18%) Public Sector
3 46 (10.72%) Banking
4 40 (9.32%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (5.36%) Legal
6 13 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (2.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 9 (2.10%) Law
7 9 (2.10%) Retail
8 5 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.70%) Games
10 3 (0.70%) Local Government
10 3 (0.70%) Military
11 2 (0.47%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.47%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.47%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.23%) Electronics
12 1 (0.23%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 73 (17.02%) Architect
2 70 (16.32%) Developer
3 42 (9.79%) Senior
4 37 (8.62%) Analyst
5 32 (7.46%) Lead
5 32 (7.46%) Security Engineer
6 26 (6.06%) Azure Engineer
7 22 (5.13%) Java Developer
8 21 (4.90%) Data Engineer
9 20 (4.66%) DevOps Engineer
10 19 (4.43%) Platform Engineer
10 19 (4.43%) Solutions Architect
11 17 (3.96%) 1st Line Support
12 15 (3.50%) Azure Developer
12 15 (3.50%) IT Support
13 11 (2.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 10 (2.33%) .NET Developer
14 10 (2.33%) Senior Developer
14 10 (2.33%) Support Engineer
15 9 (2.10%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (7.93%) Spring
1 34 (7.93%) Spring Boot
2 30 (6.99%) REST
3 22 (5.13%) .NET
4 20 (4.66%) React
4 20 (4.66%) RESTful
5 14 (3.26%) HTML
6 13 (3.03%) JSON
6 13 (3.03%) OAuth
7 12 (2.80%) Kafka
8 10 (2.33%) AngularJS
9 9 (2.10%) ARM Templates
9 9 (2.10%) LDAP
9 9 (2.10%) Node.js
10 8 (1.86%) .NET Core
10 8 (1.86%) RabbitMQ
11 7 (1.63%) HTML5 Canvas
11 7 (1.63%) LangChain
11 7 (1.63%) PySpark
12 6 (1.40%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 43 (10.02%) Cloud Native
2 31 (7.23%) Onboarding
3 14 (3.26%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (3.26%) Product Ownership
3 14 (3.26%) Security Posture
4 10 (2.33%) Private Cloud
5 9 (2.10%) Data Centre
6 8 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
6 8 (1.86%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (1.63%) Credit Risk
7 7 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
7 7 (1.63%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 6 (1.40%) Cloud Security Posture
8 6 (1.40%) Enterprise Cloud
8 6 (1.40%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.40%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.17%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 5 (1.17%) e-Learning
9 5 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.17%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 59 (13.75%) Windows
2 32 (7.46%) Windows 10
3 22 (5.13%) Linux
4 7 (1.63%) Windows Server
5 5 (1.17%) VMS
5 5 (1.17%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.93%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.93%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.23%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.23%) Unix
7 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (33.57%) DevOps
2 124 (28.90%) CI/CD
3 112 (26.11%) Agile
4 75 (17.48%) Problem-Solving
5 60 (13.99%) Analytics
6 59 (13.75%) Containerisation
7 50 (11.66%) Infrastructure as Code
8 49 (11.42%) Microservices
9 48 (11.19%) Continuous Improvement
10 44 (10.26%) Migration
11 38 (8.86%) Data Modelling
11 38 (8.86%) Observability
12 36 (8.39%) Mentoring
12 36 (8.39%) Roadmaps
13 34 (7.93%) Cloud Security
13 34 (7.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 33 (7.69%) Test Automation
15 32 (7.46%) DevSecOps
15 32 (7.46%) ETL
16 31 (7.23%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 98 (22.84%) Python
2 62 (14.45%) SQL
3 60 (13.99%) Java
4 52 (12.12%) PowerShell
5 27 (6.29%) C#
5 27 (6.29%) JavaScript
6 26 (6.06%) Bash
7 18 (4.20%) Bicep
8 14 (3.26%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.86%) Go
10 7 (1.63%) R
11 4 (0.93%) C++
12 3 (0.70%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.70%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.47%) Kusto Query Language
13 2 (0.47%) Scala
14 1 (0.23%) PHP
14 1 (0.23%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.23%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 44 (10.26%) Security Cleared
2 25 (5.83%) Degree
3 24 (5.59%) Azure Certification
3 24 (5.59%) SC Cleared
4 20 (4.66%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (3.96%) Cisco Certification
6 16 (3.73%) AWS Certification
6 16 (3.73%) CISSP
7 11 (2.56%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (2.10%) CCNA
8 9 (2.10%) CCNP
9 8 (1.86%) CISM
10 5 (1.17%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 5 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.93%) CCIE
11 4 (0.93%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (0.93%) IBM Certification
12 3 (0.70%) GIAC
12 3 (0.70%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.70%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (5.36%) Data Quality
2 22 (5.13%) QA
3 21 (4.90%) NIST
4 17 (3.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (3.73%) Accessibility
5 16 (3.73%) GDPR
6 15 (3.50%) ISO 20022
7 8 (1.86%) PSD2
8 7 (1.63%) SEPA
9 5 (1.17%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 5 (1.17%) HIPAA
10 4 (0.93%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.70%) NCSC
12 2 (0.47%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.47%) WCAG
13 1 (0.23%) HL7
13 1 (0.23%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.23%) SLA
System Software
1 93 (21.68%) Active Directory
2 73 (17.02%) Docker
3 13 (3.03%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.33%) vSphere
5 9 (2.10%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (1.40%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.70%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.23%) Firmware
8 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 76 (17.72%) Kubernetes
2 62 (14.45%) Terraform
3 28 (6.53%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (3.50%) Grafana
5 14 (3.26%) Ansible
5 14 (3.26%) Prometheus
5 14 (3.26%) SCCM
6 13 (3.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 13 (3.03%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.40%) Argo
8 4 (0.93%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.70%) Fluentd
9 3 (0.70%) Istio
9 3 (0.70%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.47%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.47%) linkerd
11 1 (0.23%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 156 (36.36%) Microsoft
2 37 (8.62%) Google
3 31 (7.23%) ServiceNow
4 18 (4.20%) Databricks
5 16 (3.73%) Bomgar
5 16 (3.73%) iManage
5 16 (3.73%) VMware
6 14 (3.26%) Oracle
7 12 (2.80%) Splunk
7 12 (2.80%) Virgin Media
8 8 (1.86%) F5
8 8 (1.86%) IBM
8 8 (1.86%) Infoblox
9 7 (1.63%) Cisco
9 7 (1.63%) Pega
10 6 (1.40%) Foundry
10 6 (1.40%) OpenAI
10 6 (1.40%) Red Hat
11 5 (1.17%) Checkmarx
11 5 (1.17%) Veracode