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

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 6 12
Rank change year-on-year +1 +6 -9
Contract jobs citing Azure 449 267 289
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.18% 13.84% 10.56%
As % of the Cloud Services category 44.41% 40.89% 32.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 358 203 225
10th Percentile £313 £265 £317
25th Percentile £406 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £581 £580 £582
90th Percentile £643 £700 £650
England median daily rate £525 £525 £543
% change year-on-year - -3.23% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 3 2
10th Percentile £24.77 £67.75 £16.40
25th Percentile £25.38 £68.13 £16.63
Median hourly rate £34.03 £72.50 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -53.06% +302.78% -73.43%
75th Percentile £67.15 £76.88 £19.13
90th Percentile £90.00 £77.25 £19.20
England median hourly rate £57.50 £53.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year +7.48% +52.86% -35.39%

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 1,011 653 884
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 31.92% 33.85% 32.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 701 505 645
10th Percentile £230 £243 £290
25th Percentile £375 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £490
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
75th Percentile £575 £570 £563
90th Percentile £650 £648 £638
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 12 66
10th Percentile £22.38 - £13.00
25th Percentile £25.38 £26.88 -
Median hourly rate £62.50 £34.80 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +79.62% +116.66% -56.94%
75th Percentile £77.50 £73.44 £21.13
90th Percentile £95.00 £77.38 £43.75
England median hourly rate £43.61 £26.50 £20.77
% change year-on-year +64.57% +27.59% -24.47%

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 April 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 April 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 April 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 -3 239 £488 -7.00% 184
Cheshire +10 127 £538 +26.47% 36
Merseyside +8 55 £140 -60.00% 38
Lancashire -9 18 £500 - 85
Cumbria -12 3 £525 - 1
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 (6.90%) SharePoint
2 27 (6.01%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (4.23%) Confluence
4 5 (1.11%) OpenStack
4 5 (1.11%) SAS
5 4 (0.89%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.67%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.45%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.22%) CMS
8 1 (0.22%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.22%) IIS
8 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
Applications
1 7 (1.56%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.67%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.45%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.45%) Trello
5 1 (0.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.67%) Elite 3E
2 3 (0.67%) Payment Gateway
3 2 (0.45%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 188 (41.87%) AWS
2 102 (22.72%) GCP
3 84 (18.71%) Microsoft 365
4 71 (15.81%) Entra ID
5 65 (14.48%) Azure DevOps
6 59 (13.14%) Power Platform
7 28 (6.24%) GitHub
8 24 (5.35%) Dynamics 365
9 23 (5.12%) Azure Data Factory
9 23 (5.12%) Power Automate
10 21 (4.68%) PowerApps
11 19 (4.23%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (4.23%) Serverless
12 16 (3.56%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 16 (3.56%) OneDrive
13 14 (3.12%) Azure Logic Apps
14 13 (2.90%) Azure AKS
14 13 (2.90%) Azure Monitor
15 12 (2.67%) Microsoft Copilot
16 11 (2.45%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 48 (10.69%) Firewall
2 28 (6.24%) DNS
3 15 (3.34%) Network Security
4 14 (3.12%) VPN
5 10 (2.23%) Kerberos
6 9 (2.00%) TCP/IP
7 8 (1.78%) DHCP
7 8 (1.78%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (1.56%) VLAN
9 4 (0.89%) HTTP
9 4 (0.89%) NetScaler
9 4 (0.89%) WAN
9 4 (0.89%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.67%) BGP
10 3 (0.67%) Internet
10 3 (0.67%) OSPF
10 3 (0.67%) SD-WAN
11 2 (0.45%) LAN
11 2 (0.45%) SAN
11 2 (0.45%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (5.79%) Power BI
2 23 (5.12%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (4.45%) SQL Server
4 13 (2.90%) Metadata
4 13 (2.90%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.00%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.56%) MySQL
6 7 (1.56%) NoSQL
7 6 (1.34%) Azure SQL Database
7 6 (1.34%) MongoDB
8 5 (1.11%) Looker
8 5 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.89%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.89%) BigQuery
9 4 (0.89%) Snowflake Schema
10 3 (0.67%) Data Vault
10 3 (0.67%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.67%) Tableau
11 2 (0.45%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.45%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 41 (9.13%) JIRA
2 22 (4.90%) Git
3 16 (3.56%) GitLab
4 11 (2.45%) Jenkins
5 10 (2.23%) Postman
6 7 (1.56%) Cucumber
7 6 (1.34%) Selenium
8 3 (0.67%) JMeter
8 3 (0.67%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.45%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.45%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.45%) Fiddler
9 2 (0.45%) Snyk
10 1 (0.22%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.22%) JUnit
10 1 (0.22%) Mockito
10 1 (0.22%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.22%) Spinnaker
10 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 1 (0.22%) Visual Studio
General
1 109 (24.28%) Social Skills
2 85 (18.93%) Finance
3 83 (18.49%) Public Sector
4 47 (10.47%) Banking
5 42 (9.35%) Analytical Skills
6 25 (5.57%) Legal
7 12 (2.67%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (2.23%) Law
8 10 (2.23%) Retail
9 9 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.11%) Military
10 5 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.89%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (0.89%) Local Government
12 3 (0.67%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.45%) Games
13 2 (0.45%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.45%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.45%) Telecoms
14 1 (0.22%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 78 (17.37%) Architect
2 67 (14.92%) Developer
3 44 (9.80%) Senior
4 41 (9.13%) Analyst
5 40 (8.91%) Lead
6 31 (6.90%) Security Engineer
7 29 (6.46%) Azure Engineer
8 23 (5.12%) Java Developer
9 22 (4.90%) Data Engineer
10 21 (4.68%) Platform Engineer
11 19 (4.23%) Solutions Architect
12 17 (3.79%) 1st Line Support
12 17 (3.79%) DevOps Engineer
13 14 (3.12%) Azure Developer
14 12 (2.67%) Lead Developer
15 11 (2.45%) IT Support
15 11 (2.45%) Security Architect
15 11 (2.45%) Systems Analyst
16 10 (2.23%) .NET Developer
16 10 (2.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (8.24%) Spring
2 34 (7.57%) Spring Boot
3 32 (7.13%) REST
4 21 (4.68%) .NET
4 21 (4.68%) RESTful
5 20 (4.45%) React
6 19 (4.23%) OAuth
7 14 (3.12%) Node.js
8 12 (2.67%) Kafka
9 11 (2.45%) HTML
9 11 (2.45%) OpenID
10 10 (2.23%) JSON
10 10 (2.23%) PySpark
10 10 (2.23%) SAML
11 9 (2.00%) AngularJS
11 9 (2.00%) ARM Templates
11 9 (2.00%) LDAP
12 8 (1.78%) RabbitMQ
13 7 (1.56%) LangChain
13 7 (1.56%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 45 (10.02%) Cloud Native
2 30 (6.68%) Onboarding
3 15 (3.34%) Product Ownership
3 15 (3.34%) Security Posture
4 14 (3.12%) Distributed Systems
5 11 (2.45%) Data Centre
6 10 (2.23%) Enterprise Cloud
6 10 (2.23%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (2.23%) Private Cloud
7 9 (2.00%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (1.78%) Legacy Systems
8 8 (1.78%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.56%) Public Cloud
9 7 (1.56%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 6 (1.34%) Cloud Security Posture
11 5 (1.11%) Credit Risk
11 5 (1.11%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 5 (1.11%) Linux Command Line
11 5 (1.11%) Operational Technology
11 5 (1.11%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 58 (12.92%) Windows
2 30 (6.68%) Windows 10
3 21 (4.68%) Linux
4 9 (2.00%) Windows Server
5 7 (1.56%) VMS
6 6 (1.34%) Mac OS
6 6 (1.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (1.11%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.89%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (0.67%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.45%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.22%) Unix
11 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (32.07%) DevOps
2 124 (27.62%) CI/CD
3 116 (25.84%) Agile
4 81 (18.04%) Problem-Solving
5 66 (14.70%) Analytics
6 57 (12.69%) Containerisation
7 53 (11.80%) Microservices
8 52 (11.58%) Migration
9 51 (11.36%) Continuous Improvement
10 48 (10.69%) Infrastructure as Code
11 43 (9.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 40 (8.91%) Data Modelling
13 39 (8.69%) Observability
14 38 (8.46%) Roadmaps
14 38 (8.46%) Stakeholder Management
15 36 (8.02%) Cloud Security
16 35 (7.80%) Mentoring
17 33 (7.35%) ETL
17 33 (7.35%) Test Automation
18 31 (6.90%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 100 (22.27%) Python
2 66 (14.70%) Java
2 66 (14.70%) SQL
3 54 (12.03%) PowerShell
4 28 (6.24%) JavaScript
5 27 (6.01%) C#
6 23 (5.12%) Bash
7 19 (4.23%) Bicep
8 13 (2.90%) TypeScript
9 9 (2.00%) Go
10 5 (1.11%) R
10 5 (1.11%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.89%) C++
12 3 (0.67%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.45%) Kusto Query Language
13 2 (0.45%) Scala
14 1 (0.22%) PHP
14 1 (0.22%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.22%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 52 (11.58%) Security Cleared
2 30 (6.68%) Azure Certification
2 30 (6.68%) SC Cleared
3 24 (5.35%) Degree
4 21 (4.68%) BPSS Clearance
4 21 (4.68%) CISSP
5 20 (4.45%) Cisco Certification
6 19 (4.23%) AWS Certification
7 11 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (2.23%) CCNA
8 10 (2.23%) CISM
9 9 (2.00%) CCNP
10 5 (1.11%) ITIL Certification
10 5 (1.11%) PMI Certification
10 5 (1.11%) PMP
11 4 (0.89%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 4 (0.89%) CCIE
11 4 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (0.89%) GIAC
11 4 (0.89%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (6.68%) Data Quality
2 28 (6.24%) NIST
3 23 (5.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (4.45%) QA
5 17 (3.79%) GDPR
6 14 (3.12%) Accessibility
7 13 (2.90%) ISO 20022
8 8 (1.78%) PSD2
9 7 (1.56%) SEPA
10 5 (1.11%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 5 (1.11%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.67%) GRC
11 3 (0.67%) NCSC
11 3 (0.67%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.45%) SLA
12 2 (0.45%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.45%) WCAG
13 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 90 (20.04%) Active Directory
2 72 (16.04%) Docker
3 15 (3.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (2.67%) vSphere
5 9 (2.00%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (1.78%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.67%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.45%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.22%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 78 (17.37%) Kubernetes
2 61 (13.59%) Terraform
3 25 (5.57%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (3.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 14 (3.12%) Ansible
6 13 (2.90%) Grafana
6 13 (2.90%) Single Sign-On
7 12 (2.67%) Prometheus
8 10 (2.23%) SCCM
9 6 (1.34%) Argo
10 4 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.89%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.67%) Fluentd
11 3 (0.67%) Istio
11 3 (0.67%) vCenter Server
12 2 (0.45%) CA Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.45%) linkerd
12 2 (0.45%) PowerCLI
12 2 (0.45%) vMotion
12 2 (0.45%) vRealize
Vendors
1 156 (34.74%) Microsoft
2 35 (7.80%) Google
3 29 (6.46%) ServiceNow
4 18 (4.01%) Databricks
4 18 (4.01%) VMware
5 17 (3.79%) Bomgar
5 17 (3.79%) iManage
6 15 (3.34%) Oracle
7 14 (3.12%) Splunk
8 11 (2.45%) Infoblox
8 11 (2.45%) Virgin Media
9 8 (1.78%) Cisco
9 8 (1.78%) F5
9 8 (1.78%) IBM
10 7 (1.56%) SAP
11 6 (1.34%) CyberArk
11 6 (1.34%) Foundry
11 6 (1.34%) OpenAI
11 6 (1.34%) Red Hat
12 5 (1.11%) Varonis