Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the North West

Microsoft
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West requiring knowledge or experience of Microsoft products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Microsoft over the 6 months leading up to 6 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

6 months to
6 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 8
Rank change year-on-year -1 +4 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 580 391 272
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.59% 17.92% 11.32%
As % of the Vendors category 35.11% 35.13% 27.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 372 263 152
10th Percentile £190 £205 £214
25th Percentile £325 £350 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £438 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.34% -2.78% +5.88%
75th Percentile £536 £500 £575
90th Percentile £603 £604 £638
England median daily rate £490 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.16% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 59 21
10th Percentile £13.10 £12.96 £16.00
25th Percentile £14.21 £15.50 £24.18
Median hourly rate £24.16 £22.32 £31.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.27% -28.02% +37.59%
75th Percentile £30.00 £31.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £83.15 £63.40 -
England median hourly rate £18.50 £22.63 £17.00
% change year-on-year -18.25% +33.12% -24.55%

All Vendors
North West

Microsoft falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,652 1,113 999
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 41.55% 51.01% 41.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 970 723 513
10th Percentile £250 £305 £313
25th Percentile £400 £394 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £595 £604 £600
90th Percentile £657 £708 £675
England median daily rate £515 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +1.48% -3.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 85 48
10th Percentile £14.35 £13.00 £15.89
25th Percentile £18.35 £17.44 £23.64
Median hourly rate £29.00 £22.63 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +28.15% -36.00% +1.03%
75th Percentile £57.50 £47.12 £46.18
90th Percentile £86.00 £68.90 £55.79
England median hourly rate £25.92 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +3.06% -28.14% -20.16%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the North West

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the North West over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the North West over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
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 Microsoft within the North West region over the 6 months to 6 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 -6 254 £490 +8.89% 481
Cheshire +1 148 £452 +6.29% 105
Merseyside +3 65 £213 -48.48% 93
Cumbria +3 56 £485 +17.58% 17
Lancashire -5 50 £333 -28.11% 131
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
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
1 100 (17.24%) SharePoint
2 60 (10.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (2.76%) Skype for Business
4 15 (2.59%) SharePoint Server
5 8 (1.38%) Confluence
6 2 (0.34%) IIS
7 1 (0.17%) CMS
7 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.17%) Mendix
7 1 (0.17%) SharePoint 2010
7 1 (0.17%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.17%) WebSphere
Applications
1 80 (13.79%) Microsoft Office
2 48 (8.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (3.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (2.93%) MS Visio
5 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.86%) AutoCAD
7 4 (0.69%) Navisworks
7 4 (0.69%) ProjectWise
7 4 (0.69%) Revit
8 1 (0.17%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.17%) MicroStation
8 1 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (2.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.21%) Oracle Payables
2 7 (1.21%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.86%) Integrated Workplace Management System
4 4 (0.69%) Primavera
4 4 (0.69%) SAP MM
4 4 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.34%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.34%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.17%) Adobe Campaign
6 1 (0.17%) Cloudability
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Utilities
6 1 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.17%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.17%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 215 (37.07%) Azure
2 200 (34.48%) Microsoft 365
3 116 (20.00%) Power Platform
4 92 (15.86%) Entra ID
5 47 (8.10%) AWS
6 44 (7.59%) Microsoft Copilot
7 36 (6.21%) Azure DevOps
8 35 (6.03%) Power Automate
8 35 (6.03%) PowerApps
9 32 (5.52%) Dynamics 365
9 32 (5.52%) OneDrive
10 23 (3.97%) GCP
11 20 (3.45%) Azure AI
12 16 (2.76%) Azure Monitor
13 13 (2.24%) Azure Sentinel
14 12 (2.07%) SaaS
15 9 (1.55%) Microsoft Purview
15 9 (1.55%) Serverless
16 7 (1.21%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (1.21%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 33 (5.69%) VPN
2 31 (5.34%) DNS
3 24 (4.14%) Firewall
4 22 (3.79%) Skype
5 21 (3.62%) Network Security
6 20 (3.45%) DHCP
7 13 (2.24%) LAN
8 12 (2.07%) TCP/IP
8 12 (2.07%) VLAN
9 11 (1.90%) SSL
9 11 (1.90%) WAN
10 9 (1.55%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (1.38%) SAN
12 4 (0.69%) NAS
12 4 (0.69%) NetScaler
12 4 (0.69%) SMTP
13 3 (0.52%) PABX
13 3 (0.52%) SSH
13 3 (0.52%) VoIP
14 2 (0.34%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (12.24%) Power BI
2 47 (8.10%) SQL Server
3 30 (5.17%) MySQL
4 20 (3.45%) PostgreSQL
5 16 (2.76%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 10 (1.72%) Power Query
7 6 (1.03%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (1.03%) Metadata
8 4 (0.69%) Data Lake
8 4 (0.69%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.52%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.52%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.34%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.34%) EDMS
10 2 (0.34%) EDRMS
10 2 (0.34%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.34%) Oracle Database 12c
10 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 18 (3.10%) JIRA
2 10 (1.72%) Git
3 8 (1.38%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.21%) GitLab
4 7 (1.21%) MSI
5 2 (0.34%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.34%) MSTest
5 2 (0.34%) NUnit
5 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 2 (0.34%) Toad
6 1 (0.17%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 190 (32.76%) Social Skills
2 95 (16.38%) Finance
3 70 (12.07%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (5.17%) Public Sector
5 29 (5.00%) Banking
5 29 (5.00%) Manufacturing
6 25 (4.31%) Organisational Skills
7 19 (3.28%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (2.76%) Legal
9 12 (2.07%) Retail
10 8 (1.38%) Military
11 6 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
11 6 (1.03%) Local Government
11 6 (1.03%) Marketing
11 6 (1.03%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (0.86%) Games
12 5 (0.86%) Investment Banking
12 5 (0.86%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.52%) Advertising
13 3 (0.52%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 55 (9.48%) Support Engineer
2 54 (9.31%) IT Support
3 47 (8.10%) Analyst
4 42 (7.24%) Architect
5 39 (6.72%) Developer
6 38 (6.55%) IT Engineer
6 38 (6.55%) IT Support Engineer
7 37 (6.38%) DBA
8 36 (6.21%) Lead
9 35 (6.03%) Administrator
10 27 (4.66%) Consultant
11 24 (4.14%) Security Engineer
11 24 (4.14%) SQL DBA
12 22 (3.79%) Cloud Engineer
12 22 (3.79%) Service Analyst
13 21 (3.62%) Senior
14 19 (3.28%) Desktop Engineer
15 17 (2.93%) Service Desk Analyst
16 15 (2.59%) Coordinator
17 14 (2.41%) SharePoint Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (5.34%) Terraform
2 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Graph
3 9 (1.55%) SAML
4 8 (1.38%) Software Packaging
5 7 (1.21%) .NET
5 7 (1.21%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.03%) REST
7 5 (0.86%) Azure Blueprints
7 5 (0.86%) SailPoint
8 4 (0.69%) ADO
8 4 (0.69%) JSON
8 4 (0.69%) Kafka
9 3 (0.52%) A2A Protocol
9 3 (0.52%) HTML5 Canvas
9 3 (0.52%) Model Context Protocol
9 3 (0.52%) PySpark
9 3 (0.52%) React
10 2 (0.34%) LangChain
10 2 (0.34%) Next.js
10 2 (0.34%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 42 (7.24%) Onboarding
2 38 (6.55%) Management Information System
3 23 (3.97%) Clustering
3 23 (3.97%) Replication
4 20 (3.45%) Cloud Native
5 15 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (2.24%) CMDB
6 13 (2.24%) Security Posture
7 10 (1.72%) Data Centre
7 10 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (1.55%) Driving Licence
8 9 (1.55%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (1.55%) PKI
9 8 (1.38%) AI Agents
9 8 (1.38%) Product Ownership
10 7 (1.21%) Handset
11 6 (1.03%) Blackberry
11 6 (1.03%) Enterprise Cloud
12 5 (0.86%) Cyber Threat
12 5 (0.86%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 187 (32.24%) Windows
2 69 (11.90%) Windows 10
3 51 (8.79%) Windows Server
4 29 (5.00%) Linux
5 18 (3.10%) Solaris
5 18 (3.10%) Windows 7
6 16 (2.76%) Apple iOS
7 14 (2.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (2.24%) Android
8 13 (2.24%) Unix
9 9 (1.55%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.69%) AIX
10 4 (0.69%) VMS
10 4 (0.69%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.52%) HPUX
11 3 (0.52%) Oracle Linux
11 3 (0.52%) SUSE
11 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (18.62%) ITIL
1 108 (18.62%) Problem-Solving
2 83 (14.31%) Stakeholder Management
3 79 (13.62%) Customer Service
4 68 (11.72%) Continuous Improvement
5 65 (11.21%) Business Intelligence
6 62 (10.69%) Service Management
7 56 (9.66%) DevOps
8 53 (9.14%) Migration
9 50 (8.62%) Analytics
10 47 (8.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 46 (7.93%) User Experience
12 45 (7.76%) Agile
12 45 (7.76%) AI
13 44 (7.59%) ITSM
14 40 (6.90%) Infrastructure as Code
15 39 (6.72%) CI/CD
16 38 (6.55%) Cybersecurity
17 37 (6.38%) Change Management
18 34 (5.86%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 116 (20.00%) PowerShell
2 77 (13.28%) SQL
3 52 (8.97%) Python
4 20 (3.45%) T-SQL
5 19 (3.28%) VBScript
6 15 (2.59%) Bash
6 15 (2.59%) Bicep
6 15 (2.59%) VB
7 13 (2.24%) C#
8 10 (1.72%) Java
9 9 (1.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 7 (1.21%) JavaScript
11 5 (0.86%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (0.86%) Search Processing Language
12 3 (0.52%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.34%) Go
14 1 (0.17%) Google Apps Script
14 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 134 (23.10%) Security Cleared
2 107 (18.45%) SC Cleared
3 76 (13.10%) Degree
4 59 (10.17%) Microsoft Certification
5 54 (9.31%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (4.31%) Azure Certification
7 19 (3.28%) CISSP
8 14 (2.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 12 (2.07%) AWS Certification
10 11 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
11 10 (1.72%) DBS Check
12 9 (1.55%) MCSE
13 8 (1.38%) MCSA
13 8 (1.38%) VCAP
13 8 (1.38%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 7 (1.21%) A+ Certification
15 6 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
16 5 (0.86%) GCFA
16 5 (0.86%) GCIH
16 5 (0.86%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.66%) Data Quality
1 27 (4.66%) SLA
2 17 (2.93%) GDPR
3 12 (2.07%) PMO
4 8 (1.38%) GRC
4 8 (1.38%) NIST
5 7 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.21%) PCI DSS
6 6 (1.03%) Accessibility
7 5 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (0.86%) WCAG
8 4 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (0.69%) ISO 19650
8 4 (0.69%) QA
9 3 (0.52%) P3O
10 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.34%) NCSC
11 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.17%) ITGC
System Software
1 145 (25.00%) Active Directory
2 30 (5.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (3.97%) Virtual Machines
4 17 (2.93%) BitLocker
5 16 (2.76%) Virtual Desktop
6 14 (2.41%) Hyper-V
7 13 (2.24%) Docker
8 11 (1.90%) VMware ESXi
8 11 (1.90%) vSphere
9 6 (1.03%) Microsoft App-V
10 4 (0.69%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 4 (0.69%) Oracle RAC
11 3 (0.52%) NFS
12 2 (0.34%) GPFS
12 2 (0.34%) XenApp
12 2 (0.34%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.17%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 1 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.17%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 57 (9.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 55 (9.48%) SCCM
3 26 (4.48%) Ansible
4 18 (3.10%) Kubernetes
5 17 (2.93%) Progress Chef
6 14 (2.41%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (1.90%) SCOM
8 10 (1.72%) vCenter Server
9 5 (0.86%) CASB
9 5 (0.86%) Failover Clustering
10 4 (0.69%) Data Guard
10 4 (0.69%) SysTrack
11 3 (0.52%) Grafana
11 3 (0.52%) Microsoft Clustering
11 3 (0.52%) WSUS
12 2 (0.34%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 2 (0.34%) Nagios
12 2 (0.34%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.34%) vRealize
12 2 (0.34%) VxRail
Vendors
1 101 (17.41%) ServiceNow
2 37 (6.38%) VMware
3 32 (5.52%) Oracle
4 27 (4.66%) Cisco
5 25 (4.31%) BeyondTrust
5 25 (4.31%) Splunk
6 22 (3.79%) Google
7 19 (3.28%) SAP
8 16 (2.76%) iManage
9 15 (2.59%) Red Hat
10 11 (1.90%) CyberArk
10 11 (1.90%) Remedy
11 10 (1.72%) Databricks
12 9 (1.55%) Citrix
13 7 (1.21%) Apple
13 7 (1.21%) Ribbon
14 5 (0.86%) Bomgar
14 5 (0.86%) Okta
14 5 (0.86%) Perforce
14 5 (0.86%) Salesforce