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 15 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 8 10
Rank change year-on-year -1 +2 -9
Contract jobs citing Azure 344 260 328
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.56% 12.43% 11.61%
As % of the Cloud Services category 37.23% 37.04% 33.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 267 184 249
10th Percentile £300 £230 £313
25th Percentile £381 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £465 £495
Median % change year-on-year -3.28% -6.01% -5.71%
75th Percentile £551 £575 £563
90th Percentile £632 £696 £638
England median daily rate £520 £535 £550
% change year-on-year -2.80% -2.73% -3.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 1 15
10th Percentile - - £16.85
25th Percentile £15.50 £72.50 £20.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £75.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -78.67% +62.41% -34.03%
75th Percentile £45.55 £77.50 -
90th Percentile £54.36 - -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +64.29% -24.21% -16.04%

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 924 702 968
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.75% 33.57% 34.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 656 495 716
10th Percentile £216 £230 £268
25th Percentile £358 £381 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £486
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -2.26% -2.80%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £550
90th Percentile £625 £650 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 10 61
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.94 £21.05 £16.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £24.18 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +88.01% +15.14% -58.00%
75th Percentile £75.13 £30.22 £46.18
90th Percentile £81.00 £78.50 £71.87
England median hourly rate £37.00 £27.50 £22.23
% change year-on-year +34.55% +23.73% -11.10%

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 15 February 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 15 February 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 15 February 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 -2 181 £460 -8.00% 188
Cheshire +12 101 £492 +38.20% 41
Merseyside -7 44 £138 -45.00% 32
Lancashire -12 14 £500 -4.76% 95
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 28 (8.14%) SharePoint
2 23 (6.69%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.62%) Confluence
4 7 (2.03%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (2.03%) SAS
4 7 (2.03%) Skype for Business
5 5 (1.45%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.87%) IIS
7 2 (0.58%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.29%) Apache
8 1 (0.29%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.29%) CMS
8 1 (0.29%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 18 (5.23%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.62%) MS Visio
3 8 (2.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.58%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (1.45%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (1.45%) Payment Gateway
2 2 (0.58%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.29%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 137 (39.83%) AWS
2 92 (26.74%) GCP
3 82 (23.84%) Microsoft 365
4 57 (16.57%) Power Platform
5 46 (13.37%) Entra ID
6 45 (13.08%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (7.85%) GitHub
8 17 (4.94%) Power Automate
8 17 (4.94%) PowerApps
9 16 (4.65%) Dynamics 365
10 13 (3.78%) AWS CloudFormation
10 13 (3.78%) GitHub Actions
11 12 (3.49%) Azure Logic Apps
11 12 (3.49%) OneDrive
12 11 (3.20%) Azure Data Factory
12 11 (3.20%) Google Tag Manager
13 10 (2.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 10 (2.91%) Google Analytics
13 10 (2.91%) OpenShift
13 10 (2.91%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 28 (8.14%) Firewall
2 18 (5.23%) DNS
3 14 (4.07%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (2.62%) Internet
5 7 (2.03%) DHCP
5 7 (2.03%) Kerberos
5 7 (2.03%) Skype
5 7 (2.03%) VLAN
5 7 (2.03%) VPN
6 6 (1.74%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.45%) Unified Communications
8 4 (1.16%) NetScaler
8 4 (1.16%) Network Security
9 3 (0.87%) WAN
10 2 (0.58%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.58%) Wireshark
11 1 (0.29%) IPsec
11 1 (0.29%) LAN
11 1 (0.29%) SSL
11 1 (0.29%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (7.85%) Power BI
2 18 (5.23%) Data Warehouse
3 10 (2.91%) Looker
4 9 (2.62%) SQL Server
5 8 (2.33%) BigQuery
6 6 (1.74%) Data Lake
6 6 (1.74%) Metadata
7 5 (1.45%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.45%) NoSQL
7 5 (1.45%) Relational Database
8 4 (1.16%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.16%) MySQL
9 3 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.58%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.58%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.58%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.58%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.29%) QGIS
11 1 (0.29%) Spark SQL
11 1 (0.29%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 31 (9.01%) JIRA
2 28 (8.14%) Git
3 16 (4.65%) GitLab
3 16 (4.65%) Jenkins
4 9 (2.62%) Postman
5 6 (1.74%) Selenium
6 5 (1.45%) Bitbucket
6 5 (1.45%) Cucumber
6 5 (1.45%) Snyk
6 5 (1.45%) SonarQube
7 4 (1.16%) Gradle
7 4 (1.16%) Storybook
7 4 (1.16%) Xcode
8 3 (0.87%) CircleCI
8 3 (0.87%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.87%) JMeter
9 2 (0.58%) Fiddler
9 2 (0.58%) git-flow
10 1 (0.29%) Mockito
10 1 (0.29%) MSI
General
1 112 (32.56%) Social Skills
2 74 (21.51%) Public Sector
3 61 (17.73%) Finance
4 41 (11.92%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (11.05%) Banking
6 17 (4.94%) Legal
7 10 (2.91%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.33%) Law
9 7 (2.03%) Retail
10 5 (1.45%) Games
10 5 (1.45%) Military
11 4 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (1.16%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.87%) Marketing
12 3 (0.87%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.58%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.29%) Advertising
14 1 (0.29%) Automotive
14 1 (0.29%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 74 (21.51%) Developer
2 57 (16.57%) Architect
3 35 (10.17%) Analyst
4 30 (8.72%) Senior
5 24 (6.98%) Lead
6 23 (6.69%) Java Developer
7 19 (5.52%) Azure Engineer
8 18 (5.23%) IT Support
9 16 (4.65%) Platform Engineer
9 16 (4.65%) Support Analyst
10 15 (4.36%) Azure Developer
10 15 (4.36%) Security Engineer
10 15 (4.36%) Solutions Architect
11 14 (4.07%) Data Engineer
11 14 (4.07%) DevOps Engineer
12 13 (3.78%) 1st Line Support
13 10 (2.91%) Data Scientist
13 10 (2.91%) Support Engineer
14 9 (2.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 9 (2.62%) Lead Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (10.17%) Spring Boot
2 34 (9.88%) Spring
3 29 (8.43%) REST
4 18 (5.23%) .NET
5 17 (4.94%) HTML
5 17 (4.94%) RESTful
6 16 (4.65%) React
7 15 (4.36%) JSON
8 10 (2.91%) JMS
8 10 (2.91%) Kafka
8 10 (2.91%) OAuth
9 9 (2.62%) Node.js
10 7 (2.03%) CSS
10 7 (2.03%) HTML5 Canvas
10 7 (2.03%) LDAP
10 7 (2.03%) PySpark
11 6 (1.74%) ARM Templates
11 6 (1.74%) Elastic Stack
11 6 (1.74%) XGBoost
12 5 (1.45%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 30 (8.72%) Onboarding
2 24 (6.98%) Cloud Native
3 14 (4.07%) Distributed Systems
4 13 (3.78%) Product Ownership
5 10 (2.91%) Private Cloud
5 10 (2.91%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 9 (2.62%) Low-Code
7 8 (2.33%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (2.33%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (2.03%) Credit Risk
8 7 (2.03%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (1.74%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.45%) e-Learning
10 5 (1.45%) NHS
10 5 (1.45%) Public Cloud
10 5 (1.45%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (1.45%) Virtual Team
11 4 (1.16%) Data Centre
11 4 (1.16%) Mobile App
12 3 (0.87%) Mobile Banking
Operating Systems
1 50 (14.53%) Windows
2 26 (7.56%) Windows 10
3 13 (3.78%) Linux
4 5 (1.45%) Apple iOS
4 5 (1.45%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (1.16%) Android
5 4 (1.16%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.16%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.29%) VMS
6 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 115 (33.43%) DevOps
2 96 (27.91%) CI/CD
3 89 (25.87%) Agile
4 76 (22.09%) Problem-Solving
5 50 (14.53%) Containerisation
6 49 (14.24%) Analytics
7 42 (12.21%) Microservices
8 38 (11.05%) User Experience
9 34 (9.88%) Continuous Improvement
9 34 (9.88%) Infrastructure as Code
10 33 (9.59%) Business Intelligence
10 33 (9.59%) Migration
11 31 (9.01%) Observability
12 29 (8.43%) Machine Learning
12 29 (8.43%) Mentoring
13 27 (7.85%) ITIL
14 26 (7.56%) Customer Service
15 25 (7.27%) Validation
16 24 (6.98%) Data Modelling
16 24 (6.98%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 67 (19.48%) Python
2 55 (15.99%) Java
3 51 (14.83%) SQL
4 33 (9.59%) PowerShell
5 30 (8.72%) JavaScript
6 26 (7.56%) C#
7 22 (6.40%) TypeScript
8 16 (4.65%) Bash
9 10 (2.91%) Go
10 7 (2.03%) R
11 6 (1.74%) Bicep
12 4 (1.16%) C++
13 3 (0.87%) Kusto Query Language
14 2 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 2 (0.58%) PHP
14 2 (0.58%) T-SQL
15 1 (0.29%) C
15 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
15 1 (0.29%) Ruby
15 1 (0.29%) Scala
Qualifications
1 45 (13.08%) Security Cleared
2 28 (8.14%) SC Cleared
3 27 (7.85%) Degree
4 20 (5.81%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (4.36%) Azure Certification
6 11 (3.20%) CISSP
7 10 (2.91%) AWS Certification
8 9 (2.62%) CISM
9 6 (1.74%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (1.45%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.16%) IBM Certification
12 2 (0.58%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 2 (0.58%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (0.58%) CCIE
12 2 (0.58%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.58%) DV Cleared
12 2 (0.58%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.58%) PMP
12 2 (0.58%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (6.98%) QA
2 23 (6.69%) Accessibility
3 20 (5.81%) Data Quality
4 18 (5.23%) ISO 20022
5 16 (4.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 12 (3.49%) NIST
6 12 (3.49%) PSD2
7 10 (2.91%) GDPR
7 10 (2.91%) SEPA
8 5 (1.45%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.58%) WCAG
11 1 (0.29%) GRC
11 1 (0.29%) HL7
11 1 (0.29%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.29%) SLA
11 1 (0.29%) SOC 2
System Software
1 85 (24.71%) Active Directory
2 55 (15.99%) Docker
3 13 (3.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.91%) vSphere
5 5 (1.45%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.29%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 57 (16.57%) Kubernetes
2 38 (11.05%) Terraform
3 34 (9.88%) Microsoft Intune
4 25 (7.27%) SCCM
5 11 (3.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 11 (3.20%) Ansible
5 11 (3.20%) Grafana
5 11 (3.20%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (2.91%) Prometheus
7 5 (1.45%) Fluentd
8 3 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.58%) CA Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.29%) Istio
Vendors
1 136 (39.53%) Microsoft
2 32 (9.30%) Google
3 30 (8.72%) ServiceNow
4 17 (4.94%) Oracle
5 15 (4.36%) VMware
6 13 (3.78%) Databricks
6 13 (3.78%) Virgin Media
7 12 (3.49%) Bomgar
7 12 (3.49%) iManage
8 8 (2.33%) F5
9 7 (2.03%) OpenAI
9 7 (2.03%) Pega
9 7 (2.03%) Splunk
10 6 (1.74%) Citrix
10 6 (1.74%) Foundry
11 5 (1.45%) Checkmarx
11 5 (1.45%) Cisco
11 5 (1.45%) Cribl.io
11 5 (1.45%) IBM
11 5 (1.45%) Veeam