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 23 March 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
23 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -2 +2 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 436 380 402
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.25% 18.77% 14.31%
As % of the Vendors category 32.83% 35.19% 35.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 305 261 210
10th Percentile £151 £204 £169
25th Percentile £258 £326 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year -7.78% - -5.26%
75th Percentile £500 £538 £550
90th Percentile £607 £625 £650
England median daily rate £494 £475 £485
% change year-on-year +3.89% -2.06% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 28 110
10th Percentile £16.60 £20.43 £10.95
25th Percentile £19.75 £24.18 £11.07
Median hourly rate £25.38 £28.75 £15.27
Median % change year-on-year -11.72% +88.25% -42.37%
75th Percentile £62.70 £33.75 £17.72
90th Percentile £74.26 - £26.50
England median hourly rate £19.91 £23.80 £16.00
% change year-on-year -16.34% +48.75% -24.46%

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 1,328 1,080 1,138
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 43.40% 53.36% 40.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 841 684 703
10th Percentile £207 £250 £281
25th Percentile £367 £394 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £464 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.25% - +1.52%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £575
90th Percentile £653 £665 £686
England median daily rate £500 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -4.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 53 153
10th Percentile £18.75 £21.43 £10.95
25th Percentile £22.63 £25.26 £12.00
Median hourly rate £25.94 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year -20.18% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £61.33 £60.00 £26.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £86.00 £46.18
England median hourly rate £25.15 £30.00 £24.15
% change year-on-year -16.17% +24.25% -31.01%

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 23 March 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 23 March 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 23 March 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 -5 189 £425 -5.56% 170
Cheshire -7 100 £425 -7.61% 58
Merseyside +2 86 £140 -44.00% 43
Lancashire -5 31 £350 -30.00% 100
Cumbria -1 24 £494 +4.02% 15
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 64 (14.68%) SharePoint
2 54 (12.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (3.21%) Confluence
4 9 (2.06%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.92%) Apache
5 4 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.92%) CMS
6 2 (0.46%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.46%) IIS
7 1 (0.23%) CICS
7 1 (0.23%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.23%) SAS
7 1 (0.23%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 76 (17.43%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (6.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (2.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (2.75%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.61%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.92%) Chatbot
5 4 (0.92%) Trello
6 1 (0.23%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 10 (2.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 6 (1.38%) Advent Geneva
2 6 (1.38%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.92%) Primavera
4 3 (0.69%) SAP MM
5 2 (0.46%) NEC Housing
5 2 (0.46%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.23%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.23%) Infor M3
6 1 (0.23%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.23%) Maximo
6 1 (0.23%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.23%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 156 (35.78%) Azure
2 155 (35.55%) Microsoft 365
3 59 (13.53%) Entra ID
4 56 (12.84%) Power Platform
5 29 (6.65%) Dynamics 365
6 28 (6.42%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (6.19%) AWS
8 26 (5.96%) PowerApps
9 25 (5.73%) Power Automate
10 24 (5.50%) Microsoft Copilot
11 18 (4.13%) OneDrive
12 17 (3.90%) GCP
13 14 (3.21%) Microsoft Purview
14 13 (2.98%) Serverless
15 10 (2.29%) SaaS
16 9 (2.06%) Azure Logic Apps
16 9 (2.06%) GitHub
17 8 (1.83%) Azure AKS
18 7 (1.61%) Azure Functions
18 7 (1.61%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 28 (6.42%) VPN
2 25 (5.73%) Firewall
3 24 (5.50%) DNS
3 24 (5.50%) Wi-Fi
4 23 (5.28%) WAN
5 21 (4.82%) LAN
6 19 (4.36%) Skype
7 17 (3.90%) VLAN
8 13 (2.98%) DHCP
9 11 (2.52%) Network Security
9 11 (2.52%) WebEx
10 5 (1.15%) Unified Communications
11 4 (0.92%) Internet
12 3 (0.69%) Cisco ASA
12 3 (0.69%) SD-WAN
13 2 (0.46%) BGP
13 2 (0.46%) Cisco Nexus
13 2 (0.46%) MPLS
13 2 (0.46%) Software-Defined Networking
13 2 (0.46%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (5.73%) Power BI
2 21 (4.82%) SQL Server
3 14 (3.21%) Relational Database
4 11 (2.52%) MySQL
4 11 (2.52%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (1.38%) DB2
5 6 (1.38%) Looker
5 6 (1.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 5 (1.15%) BigQuery
6 5 (1.15%) Data Lake
6 5 (1.15%) Data Warehouse
6 5 (1.15%) MS Access
7 4 (0.92%) BusinessObjects
7 4 (0.92%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.92%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.92%) RDBMS
8 3 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.69%) Metadata
8 3 (0.69%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.69%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 22 (5.05%) JIRA
2 10 (2.29%) Git
3 6 (1.38%) GitLab
4 5 (1.15%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.46%) MSI
6 1 (0.23%) Axure RP
6 1 (0.23%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.23%) InstallShield
6 1 (0.23%) Octopus Deploy
6 1 (0.23%) Postman
General
1 164 (37.61%) Social Skills
2 92 (21.10%) Finance
3 60 (13.76%) Public Sector
4 55 (12.61%) Analytical Skills
5 53 (12.16%) Legal
6 46 (10.55%) Banking
7 23 (5.28%) Organisational Skills
8 15 (3.44%) Documentation Skills
9 12 (2.75%) Local Government
10 7 (1.61%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (1.61%) Retail
11 5 (1.15%) Billing
11 5 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.15%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.69%) Law
12 3 (0.69%) Military
12 3 (0.69%) Retail Banking
12 3 (0.69%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.46%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 57 (13.07%) Analyst
2 52 (11.93%) IT Support
3 37 (8.49%) Developer
4 33 (7.57%) 1st Line Support
5 32 (7.34%) Architect
6 31 (7.11%) Administrator
7 26 (5.96%) Support Engineer
8 24 (5.50%) IT Engineer
9 22 (5.05%) IT Support Engineer
10 21 (4.82%) Lead
11 19 (4.36%) Senior
12 18 (4.13%) Support Analyst
13 16 (3.67%) IT Analyst
14 15 (3.44%) IT Support Analyst
15 12 (2.75%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
15 12 (2.75%) Project Manager
15 12 (2.75%) Security Engineer
16 11 (2.52%) 2nd Line Support
16 11 (2.52%) Business Analyst
16 11 (2.52%) Microsoft Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (3.90%) .NET
2 11 (2.52%) JSON
2 11 (2.52%) XML
3 10 (2.29%) REST
3 10 (2.29%) XMPP
4 9 (2.06%) Spring
4 9 (2.06%) Spring Boot
5 8 (1.83%) HTML
6 7 (1.61%) HTML5 Canvas
6 7 (1.61%) OAuth
7 5 (1.15%) Kafka
8 4 (0.92%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (0.69%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.69%) LDAP
9 3 (0.69%) Oracle Fusion
9 3 (0.69%) RESTful
9 3 (0.69%) SAML
10 2 (0.46%) CSS
10 2 (0.46%) Node.js
10 2 (0.46%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 25 (5.73%) Onboarding
2 21 (4.82%) Product Ownership
3 15 (3.44%) Cloud Native
4 14 (3.21%) Driving Licence
5 13 (2.98%) Management Information System
6 9 (2.06%) Clustering
7 8 (1.83%) Replication
7 8 (1.83%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.38%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.38%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (1.38%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.15%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.15%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.15%) Thin Client
10 4 (0.92%) Cloud Security Posture
10 4 (0.92%) PKI
10 4 (0.92%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.69%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.69%) Handset
Operating Systems
1 145 (33.26%) Windows
2 79 (18.12%) Windows 10
3 24 (5.50%) Windows Server
4 21 (4.82%) Linux
5 13 (2.98%) Android
6 10 (2.29%) Apple iOS
7 9 (2.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (2.06%) Windows 7
8 6 (1.38%) Unix
9 5 (1.15%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.46%) Solaris
10 2 (0.46%) VMS
11 1 (0.23%) AIX
11 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (16.74%) Problem-Solving
2 66 (15.14%) Customer Service
3 60 (13.76%) Agile
4 51 (11.70%) DevOps
5 38 (8.72%) CI/CD
6 36 (8.26%) Migration
7 35 (8.03%) Change Management
7 35 (8.03%) Service Management
7 35 (8.03%) Stakeholder Management
8 34 (7.80%) ITIL
9 33 (7.57%) Identity Access Management
9 33 (7.57%) ITSM
10 32 (7.34%) Analytics
11 30 (6.88%) Business Intelligence
12 29 (6.65%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 29 (6.65%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 27 (6.19%) AI
14 26 (5.96%) Project Management
14 26 (5.96%) User Experience
15 25 (5.73%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 67 (15.37%) PowerShell
2 45 (10.32%) SQL
3 32 (7.34%) Python
4 17 (3.90%) Java
5 16 (3.67%) Bash
6 12 (2.75%) C#
7 11 (2.52%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.06%) VB
8 9 (2.06%) VBScript
9 8 (1.83%) Perl
10 7 (1.61%) Bicep
11 4 (0.92%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.69%) C++
12 3 (0.69%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.69%) VBA
13 2 (0.46%) COBOL
13 2 (0.46%) Kusto Query Language
14 1 (0.23%) CLIST
14 1 (0.23%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.23%) PHP
Qualifications
1 71 (16.28%) Security Cleared
2 60 (13.76%) SC Cleared
3 54 (12.39%) Degree
4 31 (7.11%) Microsoft Certification
5 21 (4.82%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.29%) Azure Certification
6 10 (2.29%) DV Cleared
6 10 (2.29%) MCSA
6 10 (2.29%) MCSE
7 8 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (1.83%) VCAP
7 8 (1.83%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 7 (1.61%) PMI Certification
9 6 (1.38%) CCNP
9 6 (1.38%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.15%) CCNA
10 5 (1.15%) CISSP
10 5 (1.15%) ITIL Certification
10 5 (1.15%) PMP
11 4 (0.92%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (4.13%) GDPR
2 14 (3.21%) QA
3 13 (2.98%) Accessibility
4 12 (2.75%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.61%) NIST
7 5 (1.15%) SLA
8 4 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (0.92%) PMO
8 4 (0.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.46%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.46%) NCSC
9 2 (0.46%) WCAG
10 1 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 1 (0.23%) P3O
10 1 (0.23%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.23%) SOC 2
System Software
1 114 (26.15%) Active Directory
2 21 (4.82%) Docker
3 14 (3.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (2.98%) Virtual Machines
5 9 (2.06%) BitLocker
5 9 (2.06%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (1.83%) vSphere
7 2 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.23%) ACF2
8 1 (0.23%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.23%) RACF
8 1 (0.23%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 30 (6.88%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (6.19%) SCCM
3 21 (4.82%) Kubernetes
4 12 (2.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 12 (2.75%) Terraform
5 10 (2.29%) Ansible
6 9 (2.06%) Single Sign-On
6 9 (2.06%) vCenter Server
7 5 (1.15%) Grafana
8 4 (0.92%) Norton AntiVirus
8 4 (0.92%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.69%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.46%) Argo
10 2 (0.46%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.46%) CASB
10 2 (0.46%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.46%) Istio
10 2 (0.46%) linkerd
11 1 (0.23%) Tivoli
11 1 (0.23%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 49 (11.24%) ServiceNow
2 37 (8.49%) Cisco
3 26 (5.96%) Citrix
4 19 (4.36%) VMware
5 16 (3.67%) Bomgar
5 16 (3.67%) iManage
6 15 (3.44%) Oracle
7 14 (3.21%) Google
8 12 (2.75%) Remedy
8 12 (2.75%) SAP
9 9 (2.06%) Red Hat
10 6 (1.38%) Advent
11 5 (1.15%) McAfee
11 5 (1.15%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.15%) Splunk
12 4 (0.92%) IBM
12 4 (0.92%) Salesforce
12 4 (0.92%) Symantec
13 3 (0.69%) Snow
13 3 (0.69%) Workday