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 27 June 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
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 6 2
Rank change year-on-year +4 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 90 43 70
As % of all contract jobs in South Wales 20.04% 17.48% 19.77%
As % of the Vendors category 43.06% 42.16% 48.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 53 31 57
10th Percentile £253 £181 £188
25th Percentile £305 £190 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £370 £300 £513
Median % change year-on-year +23.33% -41.46% -2.38%
75th Percentile £538 £480 £551
90th Percentile £567 £530 £634
Wales median daily rate £370 £300 £513
% change year-on-year +23.33% -41.46% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 8 8
10th Percentile £12.21 £12.21 £11.00
25th Percentile £18.25 £15.05 £11.11
Median hourly rate £19.50 £16.00 £49.68
Median % change year-on-year +21.88% -67.79% +125.51%
75th Percentile £21.25 £19.82 £87.80
90th Percentile - £23.75 £87.86
Wales median hourly rate £19.50 £16.00 £19.00
% change year-on-year +21.88% -15.79% -13.75%

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 209 102 143
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in South Wales 46.55% 41.46% 40.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 62 105
10th Percentile £275 £188 £185
25th Percentile £344 £250 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £355 £509
Median % change year-on-year +33.80% -30.19% +0.44%
75th Percentile £575 £475 £553
90th Percentile £775 £527 £625
Wales median daily rate £475 £368 £503
% change year-on-year +29.25% -26.87% +0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 12 12
10th Percentile £12.21 £12.59 £11.02
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.00 £13.56
Median hourly rate £19.50 £19.51 £56.25
Median % change year-on-year -0.03% -65.32% +181.25%
75th Percentile £21.25 £23.75 £86.45
90th Percentile £55.00 £39.50 £87.80
Wales median hourly rate £21.00 £20.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year +2.44% -59.00% +162.74%

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 27 June 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 27 June 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 27 June 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 65 £325 -18.75% 33
Newport - 8 £550 - 15
Glamorgan 0 7 - - 41
Bridgend - 5 £600 - 2
Neath Port Talbot - 4 - -
Caerphilly 0 1 - - 2
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 (6.67%) SharePoint
2 4 (4.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (2.22%) Exchange Server 2010
4 1 (1.11%) Apache
Applications
1 13 (14.44%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (7.78%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (2.22%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (2.22%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 50 (55.56%) Azure
2 27 (30.00%) Power Platform
3 15 (16.67%) Azure DevOps
3 15 (16.67%) PowerApps
4 13 (14.44%) Microsoft 365
5 8 (8.89%) Power Automate
6 7 (7.78%) Dynamics 365
6 7 (7.78%) GCP
7 4 (4.44%) Azure Service Bus
8 3 (3.33%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (3.33%) OneDrive
9 2 (2.22%) Azure AI
9 2 (2.22%) Azure Event Grid
9 2 (2.22%) Copilot Studio
9 2 (2.22%) Google Workspace
9 2 (2.22%) Microsoft Purview
10 1 (1.11%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (1.11%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (1.11%) Azure Storage
10 1 (1.11%) IBM Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 3 (3.33%) DNS
2 2 (2.22%) SAN
3 1 (1.11%) Firewall
3 1 (1.11%) VoIP
3 1 (1.11%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (10.00%) SQL Server
2 7 (7.78%) Azure SQL Database
3 5 (5.56%) Power BI
4 4 (4.44%) Data Mining
4 4 (4.44%) MS Access
5 1 (1.11%) Data Lake
5 1 (1.11%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (1.11%) Db2
5 1 (1.11%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 2 (2.22%) Git
1 2 (2.22%) JMeter
2 1 (1.11%) LoadRunner
2 1 (1.11%) Postman
2 1 (1.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 33 (36.67%) Social Skills
2 10 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (10.00%) Public Sector
4 6 (6.67%) Finance
5 3 (3.33%) Manufacturing
6 2 (2.22%) Legal
6 2 (2.22%) Military
7 1 (1.11%) Automotive
7 1 (1.11%) Law
7 1 (1.11%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 16 (17.78%) Developer
1 16 (17.78%) IT Support
2 11 (12.22%) Lead
3 10 (11.11%) Applications Developer
3 10 (11.11%) Power Apps Developer
4 8 (8.89%) Analyst
5 7 (7.78%) Senior
6 6 (6.67%) 1st Line Support
7 5 (5.56%) Azure Engineer
7 5 (5.56%) Support Engineer
8 4 (4.44%) 2nd Line Support
8 4 (4.44%) Applications Support
8 4 (4.44%) Architect
8 4 (4.44%) Data Scientist
8 4 (4.44%) IT Support Technician
8 4 (4.44%) IT Technician
8 4 (4.44%) Network Engineer
8 4 (4.44%) Support Technician
8 4 (4.44%) Technical Analyst
8 4 (4.44%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (15.56%) .NET
2 5 (5.56%) RESTful
3 3 (3.33%) .NET Core
3 3 (3.33%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (2.22%) ADO
4 2 (2.22%) HTML5 Canvas
4 2 (2.22%) YAML
5 1 (1.11%) AngularJS
5 1 (1.11%) ASP.NET Web API
5 1 (1.11%) React
5 1 (1.11%) Taurus
5 1 (1.11%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 13 (14.44%) NHS
2 9 (10.00%) Low-Code
3 4 (4.44%) Data Centre
4 3 (3.33%) Data Protection Act
5 2 (2.22%) AI Agents
5 2 (2.22%) PKI
6 1 (1.11%) Algorithms
6 1 (1.11%) Data Structures
6 1 (1.11%) Driving Licence
6 1 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (1.11%) Enterprise Storage
6 1 (1.11%) Fat Client
6 1 (1.11%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 1 (1.11%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (1.11%) Mobile App
6 1 (1.11%) Security Posture
6 1 (1.11%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 18 (20.00%) Windows
2 7 (7.78%) Windows Server
3 3 (3.33%) Android
4 2 (2.22%) Windows 10
4 2 (2.22%) Windows Server 2016
5 1 (1.11%) Linux
5 1 (1.11%) Windows 7
5 1 (1.11%) Windows Server 2012
5 1 (1.11%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (20.00%) DevOps
2 13 (14.44%) Migration
2 13 (14.44%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 12 (13.33%) Agile
4 11 (12.22%) Customer Service
4 11 (12.22%) Problem-Solving
5 10 (11.11%) CI/CD
6 9 (10.00%) Data Protection
7 8 (8.89%) ITIL
7 8 (8.89%) Scrum
7 8 (8.89%) Statistics
7 8 (8.89%) Technical Leadership
8 7 (7.78%) User Experience
8 7 (7.78%) Validation
9 6 (6.67%) Computer Science
9 6 (6.67%) ITSM
10 5 (5.56%) Business Intelligence
10 5 (5.56%) Disaster Recovery
10 5 (5.56%) Mentoring
10 5 (5.56%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 8 (8.89%) SQL
2 7 (7.78%) C#
3 6 (6.67%) PowerShell
3 6 (6.67%) Python
4 3 (3.33%) JavaScript
5 2 (2.22%) TypeScript
6 1 (1.11%) Bicep
6 1 (1.11%) C
6 1 (1.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 1 (1.11%) Java
6 1 (1.11%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 8 (8.89%) SC Cleared
1 8 (8.89%) Security Cleared
2 6 (6.67%) Computer Science Degree
2 6 (6.67%) Degree
3 2 (2.22%) MCSE
3 2 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
4 1 (1.11%) Azure Certification
4 1 (1.11%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (3.33%) SLA
2 1 (1.11%) Data Quality
2 1 (1.11%) GDPR
2 1 (1.11%) HMG Security Policy Framework
2 1 (1.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (1.11%) QA
System Software
1 12 (13.33%) Active Directory
2 5 (5.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (4.44%) Docker
4 3 (3.33%) Hyper-V
5 1 (1.11%) BitLocker
5 1 (1.11%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 13 (14.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (6.67%) SCCM
2 6 (6.67%) Terraform
3 4 (4.44%) Ansible
3 4 (4.44%) Kubernetes
4 2 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.11%) Forefront Identity Manager
5 1 (1.11%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (1.11%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
Vendors
1 9 (10.00%) Google
2 5 (5.56%) VMware
3 4 (4.44%) Databricks
4 3 (3.33%) NetApp
5 2 (2.22%) Apple
5 2 (2.22%) OpenAI
5 2 (2.22%) Oracle
6 1 (1.11%) Citrix
6 1 (1.11%) HP
6 1 (1.11%) IBM
6 1 (1.11%) McAfee
6 1 (1.11%) MobileIron
6 1 (1.11%) ServiceNow
6 1 (1.11%) Splunk