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 26 December 2025, 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
26 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 3 9
Rank change year-on-year 0 +6 -6
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 60 73 54
As % of all contract jobs in South Wales 17.39% 21.53% 14.84%
As % of the Vendors category 46.15% 56.15% 36.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 42 42 45
10th Percentile £181 £162 £162
25th Percentile £290 £176 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £308 £325 £320
Median % change year-on-year -5.38% +1.56% -24.71%
75th Percentile £509 £550 £575
90th Percentile £575 £593 £650
Wales median daily rate £295 £325 £317
% change year-on-year -9.23% +2.52% -25.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 3 1
10th Percentile £13.88 £23.12 -
25th Percentile £15.11 £24.05 £152.00
Median hourly rate £20.00 £25.60 £154.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.88% -83.38% +757.70%
75th Percentile £26.42 £26.55 £156.00
90th Percentile £31.50 £27.12 -
Wales median hourly rate £21.00 £25.60 £154.00
% change year-on-year -17.97% -83.38% +673.48%

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 130 130 147
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in South Wales 37.68% 38.35% 40.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 81 88 109
10th Percentile £241 £167 £188
25th Percentile £290 £210 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £500
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% -20.00% +9.89%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £621
90th Percentile £600 £650 £676
Wales median daily rate £400 £450 £423
% change year-on-year -11.11% +6.51% -6.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 8 4
10th Percentile £12.82 £24.67 -
25th Percentile £15.16 £25.60 £22.06
Median hourly rate £20.50 £32.50 £25.54
Median % change year-on-year -36.92% +27.25% +42.24%
75th Percentile £30.94 £43.44 £59.44
90th Percentile £86.25 £51.50 £117.37
Wales median hourly rate £21.00 £30.00 £25.54
% change year-on-year -30.00% +17.46% +28.28%

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 26 December 2025.

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 26 December 2025.

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 26 December 2025. 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 47 £308 -32.79% 55
Glamorgan - 6 - - 39
Newport +6 5 £550 +197.30% 39
Caerphilly +1 2 £160 - 6
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 (18.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (11.67%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.67%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 21 (35.00%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (8.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (6.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (6.67%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (3.33%) Dynamics AX
1 2 (3.33%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (3.33%) Odoo
Cloud Services
1 22 (36.67%) Azure
2 20 (33.33%) Microsoft 365
3 8 (13.33%) Power Platform
4 6 (10.00%) GitHub
5 4 (6.67%) Azure DevOps
5 4 (6.67%) Dynamics 365
5 4 (6.67%) Power Automate
5 4 (6.67%) PowerApps
6 3 (5.00%) GCP
6 3 (5.00%) GitHub Actions
6 3 (5.00%) Microsoft Purview
7 2 (3.33%) Azure Data Factory
7 2 (3.33%) Azure Sentinel
7 2 (3.33%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 1 (1.67%) Azure AI
8 1 (1.67%) Azure Functions
8 1 (1.67%) Azure Key Vault
8 1 (1.67%) Azure Logic Apps
8 1 (1.67%) Entra ID
8 1 (1.67%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 10 (16.67%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (5.00%) DNS
3 2 (3.33%) Network Security
4 1 (1.67%) DHCP
4 1 (1.67%) Firewall
4 1 (1.67%) TCP/IP
4 1 (1.67%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (8.33%) Power BI
2 3 (5.00%) Spotfire
2 3 (5.00%) SQL Server
2 3 (5.00%) Tableau
3 2 (3.33%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (3.33%) Data Lake
3 2 (3.33%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (3.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (1.67%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 3 (5.00%) Cucumber
1 3 (5.00%) Postman
2 2 (3.33%) Cypress.io
3 1 (1.67%) Git
3 1 (1.67%) JIRA
3 1 (1.67%) JMeter
3 1 (1.67%) MSTest
3 1 (1.67%) Selenium
3 1 (1.67%) Visual Studio
General
1 34 (56.67%) Social Skills
2 6 (10.00%) Analytical Skills
2 6 (10.00%) Organisational Skills
2 6 (10.00%) Public Sector
3 5 (8.33%) Manufacturing
4 4 (6.67%) Finance
5 3 (5.00%) Documentation Skills
5 3 (5.00%) Legal
6 2 (3.33%) Law
7 1 (1.67%) Aerospace
7 1 (1.67%) Influencing Skills
7 1 (1.67%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.67%) Welsh Language
Job Titles
1 21 (35.00%) Analyst
2 10 (16.67%) Support Analyst
3 5 (8.33%) 1st Line Support
3 5 (8.33%) Consultant
3 5 (8.33%) Lead
4 4 (6.67%) Data Analyst
4 4 (6.67%) IT Support
4 4 (6.67%) Senior
4 4 (6.67%) Support Engineer
5 3 (5.00%) Business Analyst
5 3 (5.00%) IT Engineer
5 3 (5.00%) IT Support Engineer
6 2 (3.33%) Developer
6 2 (3.33%) Project Manager
6 2 (3.33%) Quality Engineer
6 2 (3.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
6 2 (3.33%) Team Leader
6 2 (3.33%) Technical Consultant
6 2 (3.33%) Test Engineer
6 2 (3.33%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (5.00%) Playwright
1 3 (5.00%) React
1 3 (5.00%) SPFx
2 2 (3.33%) .NET
2 2 (3.33%) .NET Core
2 2 (3.33%) .NET Framework
2 2 (3.33%) ADO
2 2 (3.33%) Entity Framework
2 2 (3.33%) Jest
2 2 (3.33%) Next.js
2 2 (3.33%) REST
3 1 (1.67%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 10 (16.67%) NHS
2 4 (6.67%) Management Information System
3 3 (5.00%) Algorithms
3 3 (5.00%) Product Ownership
4 2 (3.33%) Data Structures
4 2 (3.33%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.67%) AI Agents
5 1 (1.67%) Client/Server
5 1 (1.67%) Cloud Security Posture
5 1 (1.67%) Cyber Defence
5 1 (1.67%) Driving Licence
5 1 (1.67%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (1.67%) Operational Technology
5 1 (1.67%) PKI
5 1 (1.67%) Reference Data
5 1 (1.67%) Security Posture
5 1 (1.67%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 21 (35.00%) Windows
2 3 (5.00%) Windows 10
3 2 (3.33%) Windows 7
3 2 (3.33%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.67%) Mac OS
4 1 (1.67%) Windows Server 2012
4 1 (1.67%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (1.67%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (18.33%) Problem-Solving
2 10 (16.67%) Agile
2 10 (16.67%) Mobile Device Management
3 9 (15.00%) Migration
4 7 (11.67%) CI/CD
4 7 (11.67%) DevOps
4 7 (11.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 5 (8.33%) Analytics
5 5 (8.33%) Change Management
5 5 (8.33%) Machine Learning
5 5 (8.33%) Scrum
5 5 (8.33%) Test Automation
5 5 (8.33%) Test Strategy
6 4 (6.67%) Business Intelligence
6 4 (6.67%) Case Management
6 4 (6.67%) Data Analysis
6 4 (6.67%) Data Science
6 4 (6.67%) ERP
6 4 (6.67%) Risk Management
7 3 (5.00%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 9 (15.00%) SQL
2 6 (10.00%) Python
3 4 (6.67%) PowerShell
4 3 (5.00%) R
4 3 (5.00%) Ruby
4 3 (5.00%) TypeScript
5 2 (3.33%) T-SQL
6 1 (1.67%) C#
6 1 (1.67%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 5 (8.33%) Degree
1 5 (8.33%) SC Cleared
1 5 (8.33%) Security Cleared
2 4 (6.67%) Master's Degree
3 1 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (1.67%) CISMP
3 1 (1.67%) CompTIA Security+
3 1 (1.67%) GSEC
3 1 (1.67%) HND
3 1 (1.67%) ISTQB
3 1 (1.67%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
3 1 (1.67%) Microsoft Certification
3 1 (1.67%) PMI Certification
3 1 (1.67%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (6.67%) QA
2 3 (5.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (3.33%) Accessibility
3 2 (3.33%) GDPR
3 2 (3.33%) NIST
3 2 (3.33%) WCAG
4 1 (1.67%) Data Quality
4 1 (1.67%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 1 (1.67%) PMO
System Software
1 13 (21.67%) Active Directory
2 3 (5.00%) Docker
3 2 (3.33%) BitLocker
3 2 (3.33%) Firmware
3 2 (3.33%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (1.67%) Hyper-V
4 1 (1.67%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 3 (5.00%) SCCM
2 2 (3.33%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (1.67%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
3 1 (1.67%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 11 (18.33%) Apple
1 11 (18.33%) HP
2 10 (16.67%) MobileIron
3 4 (6.67%) ServiceNow
4 3 (5.00%) Freshdesk
4 3 (5.00%) Google
4 3 (5.00%) TIBCO
5 2 (3.33%) McAfee
5 2 (3.33%) VMware
6 1 (1.67%) Foundry
6 1 (1.67%) Veeam