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 28 September 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
28 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 8
Rank change year-on-year -1 +4 -5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 566 387 274
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.56% 17.87% 11.43%
As % of the Vendors category 34.66% 34.90% 27.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 364 259 154
10th Percentile £187 £206 £216
25th Percentile £317 £350 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £438 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.05% -2.67% +5.88%
75th Percentile £537 £500 £588
90th Percentile £602 £605 £650
England median daily rate £490 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 59 19
10th Percentile £13.10 £12.96 £15.90
25th Percentile £14.29 £16.44 £22.24
Median hourly rate £24.77 £22.32 £31.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.00% -28.02% +37.69%
75th Percentile £30.00 £31.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £82.82 £63.40 £46.69
England median hourly rate £18.58 £22.63 £16.52
% change year-on-year -17.92% +37.01% -26.69%

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 1,633 1,109 989
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 42.01% 51.20% 41.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 960 727 519
10th Percentile £248 £306 £313
25th Percentile £400 £393 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £604 £600
90th Percentile £663 £700 £675
England median daily rate £514 £507 £525
% change year-on-year +1.33% -3.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 128 83 46
10th Percentile £14.36 £13.00 £15.81
25th Percentile £18.86 £17.44 £22.83
Median hourly rate £29.48 £22.63 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +30.27% -36.00% +1.03%
75th Percentile £57.50 £49.81 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £67.25 £55.79
England median hourly rate £26.37 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +4.83% -28.14% -20.27%

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 28 September 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 28 September 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 28 September 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 -5 243 £488 +8.33% 398
Cheshire +2 152 £454 +7.02% 94
Merseyside +3 63 £213 -50.00% 77
Cumbria +4 53 £485 +17.58% 19
Lancashire -5 48 £333 -30.00% 92
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 93 (16.43%) SharePoint
2 58 (10.25%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (2.83%) Skype for Business
4 15 (2.65%) SharePoint Server
5 6 (1.06%) Confluence
6 2 (0.35%) CMS
6 2 (0.35%) IIS
7 1 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.18%) Mendix
7 1 (0.18%) SharePoint 2010
7 1 (0.18%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
Applications
1 77 (13.60%) Microsoft Office
2 47 (8.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (3.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (3.00%) MS Visio
5 9 (1.59%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.88%) AutoCAD
7 4 (0.71%) Navisworks
7 4 (0.71%) ProjectWise
7 4 (0.71%) Revit
8 2 (0.35%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 14 (2.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.59%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (1.24%) Oracle Payables
4 4 (0.71%) Integrated Workplace Management System
4 4 (0.71%) Primavera
4 4 (0.71%) SAP MM
4 4 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.35%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.35%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.18%) Adobe Campaign
6 1 (0.18%) Cloudability
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle Utilities
6 1 (0.18%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.18%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 206 (36.40%) Azure
2 194 (34.28%) Microsoft 365
3 114 (20.14%) Power Platform
4 89 (15.72%) Entra ID
5 47 (8.30%) AWS
6 45 (7.95%) Microsoft Copilot
7 34 (6.01%) Power Automate
8 33 (5.83%) Azure DevOps
8 33 (5.83%) PowerApps
9 31 (5.48%) Dynamics 365
10 29 (5.12%) OneDrive
11 22 (3.89%) GCP
12 20 (3.53%) Azure AI
13 16 (2.83%) Azure Monitor
14 13 (2.30%) Azure Sentinel
15 11 (1.94%) SaaS
16 9 (1.59%) Serverless
17 8 (1.41%) Microsoft Purview
18 7 (1.24%) Copilot Studio
18 7 (1.24%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 33 (5.83%) VPN
2 31 (5.48%) DNS
3 24 (4.24%) Firewall
4 22 (3.89%) Skype
5 21 (3.71%) Network Security
6 20 (3.53%) DHCP
7 13 (2.30%) LAN
8 12 (2.12%) TCP/IP
8 12 (2.12%) VLAN
9 11 (1.94%) SSL
9 11 (1.94%) WAN
10 9 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (1.41%) SAN
12 4 (0.71%) NAS
12 4 (0.71%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.53%) PABX
13 3 (0.53%) SSH
13 3 (0.53%) VoIP
14 2 (0.35%) BGP
14 2 (0.35%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (12.54%) Power BI
2 47 (8.30%) SQL Server
3 29 (5.12%) MySQL
4 19 (3.36%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (3.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 9 (1.59%) Power Query
7 6 (1.06%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (1.06%) Metadata
8 4 (0.71%) Data Lake
8 4 (0.71%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.53%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.53%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 3 (0.53%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.35%) EDMS
10 2 (0.35%) EDRMS
10 2 (0.35%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.35%) Oracle Database 12c
11 1 (0.18%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 15 (2.65%) JIRA
2 9 (1.59%) Git
3 8 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.24%) GitLab
4 7 (1.24%) MSI
5 2 (0.35%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.35%) MSTest
5 2 (0.35%) NUnit
5 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 2 (0.35%) Toad
6 1 (0.18%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 189 (33.39%) Social Skills
2 92 (16.25%) Finance
3 72 (12.72%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (5.30%) Public Sector
5 29 (5.12%) Banking
5 29 (5.12%) Manufacturing
6 24 (4.24%) Organisational Skills
7 18 (3.18%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (2.83%) Legal
9 11 (1.94%) Retail
10 8 (1.41%) Military
11 7 (1.24%) Local Government
12 6 (1.06%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.06%) Investment Banking
12 6 (1.06%) Marketing
12 6 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.88%) Games
13 5 (0.88%) Telecoms
14 3 (0.53%) Advertising
14 3 (0.53%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 56 (9.89%) IT Support
1 56 (9.89%) Support Engineer
2 47 (8.30%) Analyst
3 43 (7.60%) Architect
4 40 (7.07%) IT Engineer
4 40 (7.07%) IT Support Engineer
5 37 (6.54%) DBA
5 37 (6.54%) Developer
6 34 (6.01%) Administrator
7 32 (5.65%) Lead
8 25 (4.42%) Security Engineer
8 25 (4.42%) SQL DBA
9 23 (4.06%) Consultant
10 22 (3.89%) Cloud Engineer
10 22 (3.89%) Service Analyst
11 21 (3.71%) Senior
12 19 (3.36%) Desktop Engineer
13 17 (3.00%) Service Desk Analyst
14 14 (2.47%) Coordinator
15 13 (2.30%) SharePoint Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (5.48%) Terraform
2 10 (1.77%) Microsoft Graph
3 9 (1.59%) SAML
4 8 (1.41%) Software Packaging
5 7 (1.24%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.06%) REST
7 5 (0.88%) .NET
7 5 (0.88%) Azure Blueprints
7 5 (0.88%) SailPoint
8 4 (0.71%) JSON
9 3 (0.53%) A2A Protocol
9 3 (0.53%) HTML5 Canvas
9 3 (0.53%) Kafka
9 3 (0.53%) Model Context Protocol
9 3 (0.53%) PySpark
9 3 (0.53%) React
10 2 (0.35%) LangChain
10 2 (0.35%) Node.js
10 2 (0.35%) OAuth
10 2 (0.35%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 42 (7.42%) Onboarding
2 36 (6.36%) Management Information System
3 24 (4.24%) Clustering
3 24 (4.24%) Replication
4 20 (3.53%) Cloud Native
5 13 (2.30%) CMDB
5 13 (2.30%) Enterprise Software
5 13 (2.30%) Security Posture
6 9 (1.59%) Data Centre
6 9 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (1.59%) Driving Licence
6 9 (1.59%) PKI
7 8 (1.41%) AI Agents
7 8 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (1.24%) Handset
8 7 (1.24%) Product Ownership
9 6 (1.06%) Blackberry
9 6 (1.06%) Enterprise Cloud
10 5 (0.88%) Cyber Threat
10 5 (0.88%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 186 (32.86%) Windows
2 67 (11.84%) Windows 10
3 51 (9.01%) Windows Server
4 28 (4.95%) Linux
5 18 (3.18%) Windows 7
6 17 (3.00%) Solaris
7 14 (2.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (2.30%) Android
8 13 (2.30%) Apple iOS
8 13 (2.30%) Unix
9 10 (1.77%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.88%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.71%) AIX
11 4 (0.71%) VMS
12 3 (0.53%) HPUX
12 3 (0.53%) Oracle Linux
12 3 (0.53%) SUSE
12 3 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.53%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.35%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (19.43%) ITIL
2 100 (17.67%) Problem-Solving
3 78 (13.78%) Stakeholder Management
4 77 (13.60%) Customer Service
5 66 (11.66%) Continuous Improvement
6 65 (11.48%) Business Intelligence
7 63 (11.13%) Service Management
8 53 (9.36%) DevOps
9 52 (9.19%) Analytics
10 51 (9.01%) Migration
11 47 (8.30%) ITSM
12 44 (7.77%) AI
13 43 (7.60%) Agile
13 43 (7.60%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 40 (7.07%) Infrastructure as Code
14 40 (7.07%) User Experience
15 39 (6.89%) CI/CD
16 36 (6.36%) Cybersecurity
17 34 (6.01%) Change Management
18 33 (5.83%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 114 (20.14%) PowerShell
2 76 (13.43%) SQL
3 53 (9.36%) Python
4 21 (3.71%) T-SQL
5 19 (3.36%) VBScript
6 15 (2.65%) Bash
6 15 (2.65%) Bicep
6 15 (2.65%) VB
7 12 (2.12%) C#
8 10 (1.77%) Java
9 9 (1.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 8 (1.41%) JavaScript
11 5 (0.88%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (0.88%) Search Processing Language
12 2 (0.35%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.18%) Go
13 1 (0.18%) Google Apps Script
13 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 132 (23.32%) Security Cleared
2 106 (18.73%) SC Cleared
3 76 (13.43%) Degree
4 58 (10.25%) Microsoft Certification
5 51 (9.01%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (4.42%) Azure Certification
7 20 (3.53%) CISSP
8 14 (2.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 13 (2.30%) AWS Certification
10 11 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.59%) MCSE
12 8 (1.41%) DBS Check
12 8 (1.41%) MCSA
12 8 (1.41%) VCAP
12 8 (1.41%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (1.24%) A+ Certification
14 6 (1.06%) Cisco Certification
15 5 (0.88%) GCFA
15 5 (0.88%) GCIH
15 5 (0.88%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.77%) SLA
2 23 (4.06%) Data Quality
3 15 (2.65%) GDPR
4 10 (1.77%) PMO
5 8 (1.41%) GRC
5 8 (1.41%) NIST
6 7 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.24%) PCI DSS
7 5 (0.88%) Accessibility
7 5 (0.88%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.88%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (0.88%) WCAG
8 4 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (0.71%) ISO 19650
8 4 (0.71%) QA
9 2 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.35%) NCSC
9 2 (0.35%) P3O
10 1 (0.18%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.18%) ITGC
System Software
1 144 (25.44%) Active Directory
2 30 (5.30%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (4.06%) Virtual Machines
4 17 (3.00%) BitLocker
5 14 (2.47%) Hyper-V
6 13 (2.30%) Docker
7 12 (2.12%) Virtual Desktop
8 11 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
8 11 (1.94%) vSphere
9 6 (1.06%) Microsoft App-V
10 4 (0.71%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 4 (0.71%) Oracle RAC
11 3 (0.53%) NFS
12 2 (0.35%) GPFS
12 2 (0.35%) XenApp
12 2 (0.35%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.18%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 1 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.18%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 55 (9.72%) SCCM
2 54 (9.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 26 (4.59%) Ansible
4 18 (3.18%) Kubernetes
5 17 (3.00%) Progress Chef
6 14 (2.47%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (1.94%) SCOM
8 10 (1.77%) vCenter Server
9 5 (0.88%) CASB
9 5 (0.88%) Failover Clustering
10 4 (0.71%) Data Guard
10 4 (0.71%) SysTrack
11 3 (0.53%) Grafana
11 3 (0.53%) Microsoft Clustering
11 3 (0.53%) WSUS
12 2 (0.35%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 2 (0.35%) Nagios
12 2 (0.35%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.35%) vRealize
12 2 (0.35%) VxRail
Vendors
1 101 (17.84%) ServiceNow
2 36 (6.36%) VMware
3 31 (5.48%) Oracle
4 27 (4.77%) Cisco
5 26 (4.59%) BeyondTrust
5 26 (4.59%) Splunk
6 22 (3.89%) Google
7 18 (3.18%) SAP
8 16 (2.83%) iManage
9 15 (2.65%) Red Hat
10 13 (2.30%) Remedy
11 11 (1.94%) CyberArk
12 10 (1.77%) Databricks
13 9 (1.59%) Citrix
14 7 (1.24%) Ribbon
15 6 (1.06%) CrowdStrike
16 5 (0.88%) Bomgar
16 5 (0.88%) Cribl.io
16 5 (0.88%) Okta
16 5 (0.88%) UiPath