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 5 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 12 9
Rank change year-on-year +5 -3 -6
Contract jobs citing Azure 484 240 263
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.29% 10.96% 10.86%
As % of the Cloud Services category 40.07% 32.74% 35.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 318 176 169
10th Percentile £313 £343 £356
25th Percentile £421 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £575
90th Percentile £640 £638 £663
England median daily rate £530 £525 £540
% change year-on-year +0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 8 3
10th Percentile - - £32.84
25th Percentile £28.50 £15.50 £37.84
Median hourly rate £39.50 £16.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +146.88% -65.35% -
75th Percentile £56.73 £30.97 -
90th Percentile £66.66 £67.25 -
England median hourly rate £52.50 £33.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +57.26% -4.61% -24.21%

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 1,208 733 732
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 30.68% 33.49% 30.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 760 559 454
10th Percentile £230 £313 £311
25th Percentile £400 £375 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% -2.06%
75th Percentile £605 £537 £575
90th Percentile £694 £638 £650
England median daily rate £525 £503 £525
% change year-on-year +4.48% -4.29% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 28 14
10th Percentile £19.93 £12.82 £17.44
25th Percentile £28.87 £15.50 £21.83
Median hourly rate £60.00 £18.87 £41.09
Median % change year-on-year +217.97% -54.08% +17.40%
75th Percentile £76.00 £51.19 £66.81
90th Percentile £77.00 £68.51 £73.60
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +29.22% -28.14% +6.87%

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 5 October 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 5 October 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 5 October 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 +5 262 £502 +0.35% 459
Cheshire +12 103 £476 +3.15% 80
Lancashire +6 52 £519 +9.30% 121
Merseyside -4 36 £425 - 77
Cumbria -13 14 £418 - 11
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 46 (9.50%) SharePoint
2 25 (5.17%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (3.10%) SharePoint Server
4 9 (1.86%) Confluence
5 6 (1.24%) Apache
6 5 (1.03%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.83%) SAS
8 3 (0.62%) TIBCO ActiveMatrix
9 1 (0.21%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.21%) Apache Pulsar
9 1 (0.21%) CMS
9 1 (0.21%) Drupal
9 1 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.21%) Mendix
9 1 (0.21%) SharePoint 2010
9 1 (0.21%) SharePoint 2013
9 1 (0.21%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.21%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.21%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (1.24%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (1.24%) MS Visio
2 4 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 8 (1.65%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (1.03%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.62%) Adobe Campaign
4 3 (0.62%) BusinessWorks
5 2 (0.41%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.21%) Cloudability
6 1 (0.21%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.21%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.21%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.21%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 188 (38.84%) AWS
2 106 (21.90%) GCP
3 87 (17.98%) Power Platform
4 84 (17.36%) Azure DevOps
5 81 (16.74%) Microsoft 365
6 74 (15.29%) Entra ID
7 31 (6.40%) Power Automate
8 30 (6.20%) PowerApps
9 26 (5.37%) GitHub
10 24 (4.96%) Azure AI
10 24 (4.96%) Azure AKS
11 22 (4.55%) Microsoft Copilot
11 22 (4.55%) SaaS
12 21 (4.34%) Azure Monitor
12 21 (4.34%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 20 (4.13%) Azure Sentinel
13 20 (4.13%) Serverless
14 18 (3.72%) GitHub Actions
14 18 (3.72%) OneDrive
15 17 (3.51%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 48 (9.92%) Firewall
2 25 (5.17%) Network Security
3 23 (4.75%) VPN
4 20 (4.13%) WAN
5 18 (3.72%) SD-WAN
6 17 (3.51%) BGP
6 17 (3.51%) DNS
6 17 (3.51%) OSPF
7 14 (2.89%) SSL
8 13 (2.69%) Ethernet VPN
8 13 (2.69%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (2.48%) VXLAN
10 11 (2.27%) BIG-IP
10 11 (2.27%) WLAN
11 10 (2.07%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 6 (1.24%) SAN
13 5 (1.03%) Internet
13 5 (1.03%) Skype
14 4 (0.83%) TCP/IP
14 4 (0.83%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (10.33%) Power BI
2 34 (7.02%) SQL Server
3 21 (4.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 17 (3.51%) Data Warehouse
5 16 (3.31%) MySQL
6 15 (3.10%) Data Lake
7 7 (1.45%) Metadata
7 7 (1.45%) NoSQL
8 6 (1.24%) BigQuery
8 6 (1.24%) Relational Database
9 5 (1.03%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (1.03%) Oracle Database
9 5 (1.03%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.83%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.83%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (0.83%) Sybase ASE
11 3 (0.62%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.62%) RDBMS
11 3 (0.62%) Star Schema
12 2 (0.41%) PowerCenter
Development Applications
1 29 (5.99%) GitLab
2 26 (5.37%) Git
3 22 (4.55%) Jenkins
3 22 (4.55%) JIRA
4 8 (1.65%) Postman
4 8 (1.65%) REST Assured
5 7 (1.45%) Selenium
6 6 (1.24%) Cucumber
6 6 (1.24%) JUnit
7 4 (0.83%) ClearCase
7 4 (0.83%) TestNG
8 3 (0.62%) Claude Code
8 3 (0.62%) Gradle
8 3 (0.62%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.62%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.62%) TestRail
8 3 (0.62%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.41%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.41%) Gatling
9 2 (0.41%) Visual Studio Coded UI
General
1 121 (25.00%) Social Skills
2 100 (20.66%) Finance
3 44 (9.09%) Public Sector
4 42 (8.68%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (4.13%) Banking
6 19 (3.93%) Manufacturing
7 16 (3.31%) Retail
8 15 (3.10%) Documentation Skills
9 14 (2.89%) Legal
10 10 (2.07%) Military
11 5 (1.03%) Games
11 5 (1.03%) Marketing
12 4 (0.83%) Billing
12 4 (0.83%) Health Technology
12 4 (0.83%) Law
13 3 (0.62%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.62%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.41%) Advertising
14 2 (0.41%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.41%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 72 (14.88%) Architect
2 54 (11.16%) Senior
3 48 (9.92%) Security Engineer
4 44 (9.09%) Developer
5 41 (8.47%) Cloud Engineer
6 34 (7.02%) Lead
7 32 (6.61%) Analyst
8 24 (4.96%) Azure Engineer
9 22 (4.55%) DBA
9 22 (4.55%) Security Architect
10 20 (4.13%) Consultant
10 20 (4.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 19 (3.93%) Cloud Security Engineer
11 19 (3.93%) Data Engineer
12 18 (3.72%) DevOps Engineer
12 18 (3.72%) Solutions Architect
12 18 (3.72%) SQL DBA
13 13 (2.69%) Network Engineer
14 12 (2.48%) Administrator
14 12 (2.48%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 96 (19.83%) Terraform
2 26 (5.37%) REST
3 15 (3.10%) PySpark
4 12 (2.48%) Spring
5 11 (2.27%) Playwright
5 11 (2.27%) Spring Boot
6 10 (2.07%) .NET
6 10 (2.07%) JSON
7 9 (1.86%) Node.js
7 9 (1.86%) SailPoint
7 9 (1.86%) SAML
8 8 (1.65%) Kafka
8 8 (1.65%) LangChain
8 8 (1.65%) XML
9 7 (1.45%) ARM Templates
10 6 (1.24%) Middleware
10 6 (1.24%) React
11 5 (1.03%) OAuth
11 5 (1.03%) RESTful
11 5 (1.03%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 66 (13.64%) Cloud Native
2 27 (5.58%) Security Posture
3 26 (5.37%) Onboarding
4 23 (4.75%) Data Protection Act
5 22 (4.55%) Data Centre
6 21 (4.34%) Hybrid Cloud
6 21 (4.34%) Management Information System
7 19 (3.93%) Enterprise Software
8 18 (3.72%) Enterprise Cloud
9 16 (3.31%) Replication
10 15 (3.10%) AI Agents
11 14 (2.89%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (2.69%) Clustering
13 7 (1.45%) Cloud Security Posture
13 7 (1.45%) Low-Code
14 6 (1.24%) Blackberry
14 6 (1.24%) Product Ownership
14 6 (1.24%) Public Cloud
15 5 (1.03%) Handset
15 5 (1.03%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 93 (19.21%) Windows
2 42 (8.68%) Linux
3 33 (6.82%) Windows Server
4 20 (4.13%) Windows 10
5 19 (3.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 13 (2.69%) Apple iOS
7 11 (2.27%) Android
8 9 (1.86%) Unix
9 5 (1.03%) Mac OS
9 5 (1.03%) VMS
10 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.21%) CentOS
11 1 (0.21%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 156 (32.23%) DevOps
2 147 (30.37%) CI/CD
3 93 (19.21%) Infrastructure as Code
4 87 (17.98%) Agile
5 85 (17.56%) Migration
6 77 (15.91%) Stakeholder Management
7 68 (14.05%) Cloud Security
8 61 (12.60%) ITIL
9 56 (11.57%) AI
9 56 (11.57%) Business Intelligence
10 54 (11.16%) Problem-Solving
11 49 (10.12%) Analytics
12 46 (9.50%) Continuous Improvement
12 46 (9.50%) Roadmaps
13 45 (9.30%) Technical Leadership
14 42 (8.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 38 (7.85%) Containerisation
15 38 (7.85%) RBAC
16 37 (7.64%) Cybersecurity
16 37 (7.64%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 119 (24.59%) Python
2 89 (18.39%) SQL
3 82 (16.94%) PowerShell
4 47 (9.71%) Java
5 36 (7.44%) Bicep
6 34 (7.02%) Bash
7 21 (4.34%) T-SQL
8 15 (3.10%) JavaScript
9 14 (2.89%) C#
10 6 (1.24%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.03%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (1.03%) Search Processing Language
12 4 (0.83%) VB
12 4 (0.83%) VB6
13 3 (0.62%) Go
13 3 (0.62%) Shell Script
14 2 (0.41%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 2 (0.41%) Kotlin
14 2 (0.41%) PROC SQL
14 2 (0.41%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 109 (22.52%) Security Cleared
2 94 (19.42%) SC Cleared
3 63 (13.02%) Degree
4 46 (9.50%) Azure Certification
5 36 (7.44%) BPSS Clearance
6 35 (7.23%) CISSP
7 32 (6.61%) AWS Certification
8 28 (5.79%) Microsoft Certification
9 13 (2.69%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (2.07%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 7 (1.45%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 7 (1.45%) CCNP
11 7 (1.45%) GCIH
12 6 (1.24%) CCSP
12 6 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
13 5 (1.03%) GCFA
14 4 (0.83%) CCIE
14 4 (0.83%) DBS Check
14 4 (0.83%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 4 (0.83%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.40%) Data Quality
2 25 (5.17%) QA
3 15 (3.10%) GDPR
3 15 (3.10%) NIST
4 9 (1.86%) SLA
5 8 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (1.65%) PCI DSS
6 7 (1.45%) Accessibility
7 5 (1.03%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 3 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.62%) GxP
8 3 (0.62%) PMO
9 2 (0.41%) COBIT
9 2 (0.41%) WCAG
10 1 (0.21%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.21%) ITGC
10 1 (0.21%) NCSC
10 1 (0.21%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.21%) Solvency II
System Software
1 75 (15.50%) Active Directory
2 48 (9.92%) Docker
3 21 (4.34%) Virtual Desktop
4 18 (3.72%) VMware Infrastructure
5 14 (2.89%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (1.03%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.83%) Firmware
8 3 (0.62%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.41%) Apache ZooKeeper
10 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.21%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.21%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 73 (15.08%) Kubernetes
2 41 (8.47%) Ansible
3 33 (6.82%) Microsoft Intune
4 21 (4.34%) Progress Chef
5 17 (3.51%) SCCM
6 16 (3.31%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (2.27%) SCOM
8 10 (2.07%) CASB
8 10 (2.07%) Grafana
9 7 (1.45%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.83%) FortiGate
10 4 (0.83%) WSUS
11 3 (0.62%) Argo
11 3 (0.62%) Failover Clustering
11 3 (0.62%) Istio
12 2 (0.41%) WMI
13 1 (0.21%) Nagios
13 1 (0.21%) Network Intrusion Detection System
13 1 (0.21%) Puppet
13 1 (0.21%) QRadar
Vendors
1 211 (43.60%) Microsoft
2 49 (10.12%) ServiceNow
3 38 (7.85%) Google
4 24 (4.96%) Palo Alto
5 23 (4.75%) Databricks
5 23 (4.75%) Splunk
5 23 (4.75%) VMware
6 19 (3.93%) BeyondTrust
6 19 (3.93%) Salesforce
7 17 (3.51%) Cisco
7 17 (3.51%) Red Hat
8 15 (3.10%) Aruba
9 13 (2.69%) Arista
9 13 (2.69%) F5
9 13 (2.69%) SAP
10 12 (2.48%) Citrix
10 12 (2.48%) OpenAI
10 12 (2.48%) Oracle
10 12 (2.48%) Zscaler
11 11 (2.27%) Fortinet