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 15 May 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
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 5 3
Rank change year-on-year +2 -2 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 71 40 64
As % of all contract jobs in South Wales 17.11% 16.74% 20.65%
As % of the Vendors category 38.59% 38.46% 53.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 40 30 50
10th Percentile £241 £174 £208
25th Percentile £290 £218 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £413 £514
Median % change year-on-year -21.21% -19.71% -2.14%
75th Percentile £465 £480 £616
90th Percentile £552 £554 £648
Wales median daily rate £325 £325 £513
% change year-on-year - -36.59% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 8 8
10th Percentile £12.21 £12.21 £11.00
25th Percentile £18.25 £15.05 £11.11
Median hourly rate £21.00 £16.00 £49.68
Median % change year-on-year +31.25% -67.79% +191.72%
75th Percentile £21.25 £19.82 £87.80
90th Percentile - £23.75 £87.86
Wales median hourly rate £20.25 £16.00 £19.00
% change year-on-year +26.56% -15.79% +11.57%

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 184 104 120
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in South Wales 44.34% 43.51% 38.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 67 87
10th Percentile £275 £180 £201
25th Percentile £338 £243 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £365 £513
Median % change year-on-year +30.14% -28.78% -2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £459 £563
90th Percentile £775 £543 £625
Wales median daily rate £475 £375 £511
% change year-on-year +26.67% -26.54% +2.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 13 10
10th Percentile £12.21 £12.97 £11.00
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.00 £11.95
Median hourly rate £21.25 £22.50 £72.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% -68.75% +119.65%
75th Percentile £39.51 £41.25 £87.35
90th Percentile £63.10 - £87.82
Wales median hourly rate £21.25 £21.76 £39.50
% change year-on-year -2.32% -44.92% +118.72%

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 15 May 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 15 May 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 15 May 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 +2 53 £325 -27.13% 39
Glamorgan +1 7 - - 47
Newport - 5 - - 11
Neath Port Talbot - 3 - - 5
Bridgend -5 2 - - 5
Caerphilly 0 1 - - 4
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 6 (8.45%) SharePoint
2 4 (5.63%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (1.41%) Apache
Applications
1 13 (18.31%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (7.04%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (2.82%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (2.82%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 38 (53.52%) Azure
2 20 (28.17%) Power Platform
3 13 (18.31%) Azure DevOps
4 12 (16.90%) PowerApps
5 11 (15.49%) Microsoft 365
6 10 (14.08%) Dynamics 365
7 8 (11.27%) Power Automate
8 5 (7.04%) GCP
9 4 (5.63%) Azure Service Bus
10 3 (4.23%) GitHub
10 3 (4.23%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (4.23%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (4.23%) OneDrive
11 2 (2.82%) Azure AI
11 2 (2.82%) Azure Event Grid
11 2 (2.82%) Copilot Studio
12 1 (1.41%) Azure Functions
12 1 (1.41%) Azure Logic Apps
12 1 (1.41%) Azure Sentinel
12 1 (1.41%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 3 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
2 1 (1.41%) DNS
2 1 (1.41%) Firewall
2 1 (1.41%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (8.45%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (7.04%) SQL Server
3 2 (2.82%) MS Access
3 2 (2.82%) Power BI
4 1 (1.41%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (1.41%) DB2
4 1 (1.41%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 4 (5.63%) Postman
2 3 (4.23%) Cucumber
3 2 (2.82%) Git
3 2 (2.82%) JMeter
4 1 (1.41%) LoadRunner
4 1 (1.41%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 29 (40.85%) Social Skills
2 9 (12.68%) Public Sector
3 5 (7.04%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (4.23%) Finance
4 3 (4.23%) Manufacturing
5 2 (2.82%) Legal
5 2 (2.82%) Military
6 1 (1.41%) Automotive
6 1 (1.41%) Law
6 1 (1.41%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 14 (19.72%) Developer
2 12 (16.90%) IT Support
3 11 (15.49%) Analyst
4 10 (14.08%) Applications Developer
4 10 (14.08%) Lead
4 10 (14.08%) Power Apps Developer
5 4 (5.63%) 1st Line Support
5 4 (5.63%) Applications Support
5 4 (5.63%) IT Support Technician
5 4 (5.63%) IT Technician
5 4 (5.63%) Support Analyst
5 4 (5.63%) Support Engineer
5 4 (5.63%) Support Technician
6 3 (4.23%) 1st/2nd Line Support
6 3 (4.23%) 2nd Line Support
6 3 (4.23%) Business Analyst
6 3 (4.23%) IT Support Engineer
6 3 (4.23%) Senior
6 3 (4.23%) Service Analyst
6 3 (4.23%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (16.90%) .NET
2 4 (5.63%) RESTful
3 3 (4.23%) Microsoft Graph
3 3 (4.23%) Playwright
4 2 (2.82%) .NET Core
4 2 (2.82%) HTML5 Canvas
5 1 (1.41%) ADO
5 1 (1.41%) ASP.NET Web API
5 1 (1.41%) Taurus
5 1 (1.41%) Web Services
5 1 (1.41%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (12.68%) Low-Code
2 8 (11.27%) NHS
3 3 (4.23%) Data Centre
3 3 (4.23%) Data Protection Act
3 3 (4.23%) Product Ownership
4 2 (2.82%) AI Agents
5 1 (1.41%) Algorithms
5 1 (1.41%) Driving Licence
5 1 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (1.41%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 1 (1.41%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 15 (21.13%) Windows
2 3 (4.23%) Android
3 2 (2.82%) Windows 10
3 2 (2.82%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.41%) Linux
4 1 (1.41%) Windows 7
4 1 (1.41%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (19.72%) Agile
1 14 (19.72%) DevOps
2 11 (15.49%) Customer Service
2 11 (15.49%) Migration
2 11 (15.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 10 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (14.08%) Scrum
4 9 (12.68%) CI/CD
5 8 (11.27%) ITIL
6 7 (9.86%) Data Protection
7 6 (8.45%) ITSM
8 5 (7.04%) Test Automation
9 4 (5.63%) AI
9 4 (5.63%) ERP
9 4 (5.63%) Regression Testing
9 4 (5.63%) Roadmaps
9 4 (5.63%) SDLC
9 4 (5.63%) Test Strategy
9 4 (5.63%) Ticket Management
9 4 (5.63%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 7 (9.86%) SQL
2 6 (8.45%) C#
3 3 (4.23%) Ruby
4 2 (2.82%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.41%) Bicep
5 1 (1.41%) C
5 1 (1.41%) Java
5 1 (1.41%) PowerShell
5 1 (1.41%) Python
5 1 (1.41%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 2 (2.82%) Computer Science Degree
1 2 (2.82%) Degree
1 2 (2.82%) SC Cleared
1 2 (2.82%) Security Cleared
2 1 (1.41%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (4.23%) QA
2 1 (1.41%) Data Quality
2 1 (1.41%) HMG Security Policy Framework
2 1 (1.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (1.41%) SLA
System Software
1 12 (16.90%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.82%) Docker
3 1 (1.41%) BitLocker
3 1 (1.41%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 9 (12.68%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (8.45%) SCCM
3 3 (4.23%) Terraform
4 2 (2.82%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.41%) Ansible
5 1 (1.41%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (1.41%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
Vendors
1 5 (7.04%) Google
2 4 (5.63%) Apple
3 3 (4.23%) HP
3 3 (4.23%) MobileIron
4 2 (2.82%) OpenAI
4 2 (2.82%) Oracle
5 1 (1.41%) Citrix
5 1 (1.41%) IBM
5 1 (1.41%) McAfee
5 1 (1.41%) ServiceNow
5 1 (1.41%) Splunk