Microsoft Contract Job Trends in South Wales

Microsoft
Wales > South Wales

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in South Wales 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 8 February 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
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 5 3
Rank change year-on-year +2 -2 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 65 55 64
As % of all contract jobs in South Wales 17.62% 17.30% 17.88%
As % of the Vendors category 46.43% 45.83% 50.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 50 38 53
10th Percentile £272 £167 £193
25th Percentile £290 £218 £305
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £348 £454 £509
Median % change year-on-year -23.42% -10.77% +1.70%
75th Percentile £492 £550 £588
90th Percentile £575 £594 £641
Wales median daily rate £308 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -31.67% -10.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 6
10th Percentile £12.21 - £11.08
25th Percentile £12.96 £21.25 £11.95
Median hourly rate £18.22 £22.50 £51.08
Median % change year-on-year -19.03% -55.95% +199.94%
75th Percentile £27.63 £23.75 £87.95
90th Percentile £31.88 - £122.00
Wales median hourly rate £21.00 £26.25 £51.08
% change year-on-year -20.00% -48.61% +182.83%

All Vendors
South Wales

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 South Wales.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 140 120 128
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in South Wales 37.94% 37.74% 35.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 92 86 100
10th Percentile £275 £185 £189
25th Percentile £292 £227 £312
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £405 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.25% -19.10% +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £591
90th Percentile £650 £650 £627
Wales median daily rate £414 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -8.00% -10.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 6 10
10th Percentile £12.21 £23.75 £11.14
25th Percentile £12.82 £28.13 £16.29
Median hourly rate £16.44 £37.50 £25.54
Median % change year-on-year -56.17% +46.83% +49.97%
75th Percentile £31.88 £41.25 £87.35
90th Percentile £86.50 £43.13 £94.80
Wales median hourly rate £20.50 £37.28 £25.54
% change year-on-year -45.01% +45.97% +49.97%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in South Wales

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in South Wales

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in South Wales

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in South Wales citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in South Wales citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in South Wales

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in South Wales over the 6 months to 8 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in South Wales

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in South Wales

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in South Wales citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in South Wales citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in South Wales

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in South Wales over the 6 months to 8 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in South Wales

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in South Wales

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the South Wales region over the 6 months to 8 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
Cardiff +1 54 £348 -34.43% 44
Newport +7 6 £550 +201.37% 13
Caerphilly - 3 £160 - 5
Glamorgan - 2 - - 56
Microsoft
Wales

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in South Wales 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 11 (16.92%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (15.38%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.54%) Apache
3 1 (1.54%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 16 (24.62%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (9.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (6.15%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (4.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (3.08%) Dynamics AX
1 2 (3.08%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (3.08%) Odoo
Cloud Services
1 31 (47.69%) Azure
2 19 (29.23%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (21.54%) Power Platform
4 11 (16.92%) Power Automate
5 10 (15.38%) Azure DevOps
6 9 (13.85%) PowerApps
7 6 (9.23%) GitHub
8 5 (7.69%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (6.15%) GCP
10 3 (4.62%) Azure AI
10 3 (4.62%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (4.62%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (4.62%) OneDrive
11 2 (3.08%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (3.08%) Azure Functions
11 2 (3.08%) Azure Logic Apps
11 2 (3.08%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (3.08%) Copilot Studio
11 2 (3.08%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (3.08%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 9 (13.85%) Wi-Fi
2 2 (3.08%) DNS
3 1 (1.54%) DHCP
3 1 (1.54%) Firewall
3 1 (1.54%) Network Security
3 1 (1.54%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (7.69%) SQL Server
2 4 (6.15%) Azure SQL Database
2 4 (6.15%) Power BI
3 3 (4.62%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (3.08%) Data Lake
4 2 (3.08%) Spotfire
4 2 (3.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 2 (3.08%) Tableau
5 1 (1.54%) DB2
5 1 (1.54%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 3 (4.62%) Cucumber
1 3 (4.62%) Postman
2 2 (3.08%) JMeter
3 1 (1.54%) Git
3 1 (1.54%) MSTest
3 1 (1.54%) Selenium
3 1 (1.54%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
3 1 (1.54%) Visual Studio
General
1 31 (47.69%) Social Skills
2 9 (13.85%) Public Sector
3 5 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (7.69%) Finance
4 4 (6.15%) Manufacturing
4 4 (6.15%) Organisational Skills
5 3 (4.62%) Documentation Skills
5 3 (4.62%) Legal
6 2 (3.08%) Law
7 1 (1.54%) Aerospace
7 1 (1.54%) Influencing Skills
7 1 (1.54%) Military
7 1 (1.54%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.54%) Welsh Language
Job Titles
1 18 (27.69%) Analyst
2 9 (13.85%) Developer
2 9 (13.85%) Support Analyst
3 7 (10.77%) Lead
4 5 (7.69%) Consultant
4 5 (7.69%) Senior
5 4 (6.15%) Applications Developer
5 4 (6.15%) IT Support
5 4 (6.15%) Power Apps Developer
6 3 (4.62%) Business Analyst
6 3 (4.62%) Data Engineer
6 3 (4.62%) Tester
7 2 (3.08%) 1st Line Support
7 2 (3.08%) ERP Consultant
7 2 (3.08%) IT Support Engineer
7 2 (3.08%) Project Manager
7 2 (3.08%) Quality Engineer
7 2 (3.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 2 (3.08%) Support Engineer
7 2 (3.08%) Technical Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (10.77%) .NET
2 3 (4.62%) Playwright
2 3 (4.62%) SPFx
3 2 (3.08%) ADO
3 2 (3.08%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (3.08%) REST
3 2 (3.08%) RESTful
3 2 (3.08%) Web Services
4 1 (1.54%) .NET Core
4 1 (1.54%) HTML5 Canvas
4 1 (1.54%) React
4 1 (1.54%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (20.00%) NHS
2 4 (6.15%) Low-Code
2 4 (6.15%) Management Information System
3 3 (4.62%) AI Agents
3 3 (4.62%) Product Ownership
4 2 (3.08%) Algorithms
4 2 (3.08%) Data Structures
5 1 (1.54%) Cloud Security Posture
5 1 (1.54%) Data Centre
5 1 (1.54%) Driving Licence
5 1 (1.54%) Greenfield Project
5 1 (1.54%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.54%) PKI
5 1 (1.54%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 19 (29.23%) Windows
2 4 (6.15%) Windows Server
3 2 (3.08%) Windows 10
3 2 (3.08%) Windows 7
3 2 (3.08%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (1.54%) Linux
4 1 (1.54%) Mac OS
4 1 (1.54%) Windows Server 2012
4 1 (1.54%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 15 (23.08%) Agile
2 12 (18.46%) DevOps
3 11 (16.92%) Migration
4 10 (15.38%) Scrum
4 10 (15.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 9 (13.85%) Mobile Device Management
6 8 (12.31%) Problem-Solving
7 7 (10.77%) CI/CD
8 6 (9.23%) Analytics
9 5 (7.69%) AI
9 5 (7.69%) Change Management
9 5 (7.69%) ITIL
9 5 (7.69%) Test Automation
10 4 (6.15%) Asset Management
10 4 (6.15%) Business Intelligence
10 4 (6.15%) Data Governance
10 4 (6.15%) ERP
10 4 (6.15%) Machine Learning
10 4 (6.15%) Regression Testing
10 4 (6.15%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 8 (12.31%) SQL
2 5 (7.69%) PowerShell
2 5 (7.69%) Python
3 4 (6.15%) C#
4 3 (4.62%) Ruby
5 2 (3.08%) JavaScript
5 2 (3.08%) R
5 2 (3.08%) T-SQL
5 2 (3.08%) TypeScript
6 1 (1.54%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 5 (7.69%) Degree
1 5 (7.69%) SC Cleared
1 5 (7.69%) Security Cleared
2 3 (4.62%) Master's Degree
3 1 (1.54%) CompTIA Security+
3 1 (1.54%) Computer Science Degree
3 1 (1.54%) HND
3 1 (1.54%) ISTQB
3 1 (1.54%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
3 1 (1.54%) Microsoft Certification
3 1 (1.54%) PMI Certification
3 1 (1.54%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (4.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 3 (4.62%) QA
2 2 (3.08%) HMG Security Policy Framework
3 1 (1.54%) Data Quality
3 1 (1.54%) NIST
3 1 (1.54%) PMO
3 1 (1.54%) SLA
System Software
1 14 (21.54%) Active Directory
2 2 (3.08%) Docker
2 2 (3.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.54%) BitLocker
3 1 (1.54%) Firmware
3 1 (1.54%) Hyper-V
3 1 (1.54%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 3 (4.62%) SCCM
2 2 (3.08%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (1.54%) Ansible
3 1 (1.54%) Kubernetes
3 1 (1.54%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
3 1 (1.54%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
3 1 (1.54%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (1.54%) Terraform
Vendors
1 10 (15.38%) Apple
2 9 (13.85%) HP
2 9 (13.85%) MobileIron
3 4 (6.15%) Google
4 2 (3.08%) OpenAI
4 2 (3.08%) Oracle
4 2 (3.08%) ServiceNow
4 2 (3.08%) TIBCO
4 2 (3.08%) VMware
5 1 (1.54%) Foundry
5 1 (1.54%) Freshdesk
5 1 (1.54%) IBM
5 1 (1.54%) McAfee
5 1 (1.54%) Splunk
5 1 (1.54%) Veeam