Azure Contract Job Trends in the South West

Microsoft Azure
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Azure skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Azure 387 203 351
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.62% 11.86% 11.07%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.26% 40.28% 44.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 250 168 286
10th Percentile £336 £313 £213
25th Percentile £426 £414 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year - +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £588
90th Percentile £688 £700 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £545
% change year-on-year - -3.67% -2.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 3 0
10th Percentile - £16.60 -
25th Percentile £56.25 £19.75 -
Median hourly rate £57.50 £25.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +130.00% - -
75th Percentile £58.75 £51.85 -
90th Percentile - £67.96 -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £38.75 £35.00
% change year-on-year +48.39% +10.71% -40.32%

All Cloud Computing Skills
South West

Azure falls under the Cloud Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring cloud computing skills in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for cloud computing skills 855 504 789
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 25.68% 29.44% 24.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 560 373 599
10th Percentile £298 £235 £205
25th Percentile £405 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -9.09%
75th Percentile £606 £613 £594
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £509 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.00% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 28 30
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.13 £12.50
25th Percentile £17.75 £18.13 £14.06
Median hourly rate £57.50 £18.69 £15.20
Median % change year-on-year +207.65% +23.00% -71.52%
75th Percentile £58.75 £34.88 £70.00
90th Percentile - £46.88 -
England median hourly rate £45.00 £26.45 £21.00
% change year-on-year +70.13% +25.95% -34.98%

Azure
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

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

Azure job vacancy trend in the South West

Azure
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Azure.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Azure

Azure
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Azure in the South West over the 6 months to 10 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Azure in the South West

Azure
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Azure.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Azure

Azure
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Azure in the South West over the 6 months to 10 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Azure in the South West

Azure
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Azure within the South West region over the 6 months to 10 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
Somerset +5 106 £525 +2.44% 48
Bristol -2 76 £550 +22.63% 71
Gloucestershire +2 71 £450 -14.29% 45
Wiltshire +2 55 £500 -16.67% 34
Devon +6 34 £513 +2.68% 47
Dorset +5 30 £675 +20.00% 18
Azure
England

Azure
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South 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 17 (4.39%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.84%) IIS
3 6 (1.55%) Apache
4 5 (1.29%) Apache Spark
4 5 (1.29%) Confluence
5 4 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.78%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.52%) nginx
8 1 (0.26%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.26%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 4 (1.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.26%) InDesign
2 1 (0.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.26%) PTC Creo
2 1 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.81%) Maximo
2 6 (1.55%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.52%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.52%) Unit4 Business World
4 1 (0.26%) Primavera
4 1 (0.26%) SAP EHS
4 1 (0.26%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 131 (33.85%) AWS
2 75 (19.38%) Azure DevOps
3 54 (13.95%) GCP
4 35 (9.04%) Entra ID
5 31 (8.01%) GitHub
6 26 (6.72%) Power Platform
7 24 (6.20%) Azure Data Factory
8 19 (4.91%) Azure Monitor
9 17 (4.39%) Microsoft 365
10 12 (3.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 12 (3.10%) Serverless
11 11 (2.84%) GitHub Actions
11 11 (2.84%) OpenShift
11 11 (2.84%) PaaS
12 10 (2.58%) Azure AKS
12 10 (2.58%) Azure Key Vault
12 10 (2.58%) Azure Sentinel
13 9 (2.33%) Dynamics 365
14 7 (1.81%) IaaS
14 7 (1.81%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.13%) VPN
2 14 (3.62%) Firewall
3 9 (2.33%) DHCP
4 8 (2.07%) DNS
5 5 (1.29%) Network Security
6 4 (1.03%) LAN
7 3 (0.78%) WAN
8 2 (0.52%) HTTP
8 2 (0.52%) NAS
8 2 (0.52%) Reverse Proxy
8 2 (0.52%) SAN
8 2 (0.52%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.52%) VLAN
9 1 (0.26%) AMQP
9 1 (0.26%) Cisco ASA
9 1 (0.26%) Cisco ISE
9 1 (0.26%) Cisco Nexus
9 1 (0.26%) MQTT
9 1 (0.26%) tcpdump
9 1 (0.26%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (6.20%) Power BI
2 19 (4.91%) SQL Server
3 16 (4.13%) Data Warehouse
4 10 (2.58%) PostgreSQL
5 7 (1.81%) Metadata
5 7 (1.81%) MongoDB
6 6 (1.55%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.29%) Delta Lake
7 5 (1.29%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (1.29%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.03%) Redis
8 4 (1.03%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.78%) Big Data
9 3 (0.78%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.78%) GIS
9 3 (0.78%) Power Query
9 3 (0.78%) Tableau
10 2 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.52%) Data Vault
10 2 (0.52%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 22 (5.68%) Git
2 20 (5.17%) GitLab
3 17 (4.39%) JIRA
4 11 (2.84%) Jenkins
5 4 (1.03%) Oracle APEX
6 3 (0.78%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.78%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.78%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.52%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.52%) JUnit
7 2 (0.52%) MLflow
7 2 (0.52%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.52%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.26%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.26%) Mocha
8 1 (0.26%) MSI
8 1 (0.26%) Selenium
8 1 (0.26%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.26%) TestNG
General
1 67 (17.31%) Social Skills
2 30 (7.75%) Finance
3 24 (6.20%) Public Sector
4 21 (5.43%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (3.62%) Legal
6 7 (1.81%) Banking
6 7 (1.81%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.55%) Marketing
8 4 (1.03%) Back Office
8 4 (1.03%) Local Government
8 4 (1.03%) Military
8 4 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (0.78%) Investment Banking
9 3 (0.78%) Retail
10 2 (0.52%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.26%) Electronics
11 1 (0.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.26%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.26%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.26%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 49 (12.66%) Consultant
2 47 (12.14%) Architect
3 40 (10.34%) Implementation Consultant
4 34 (8.79%) Data Engineer
5 31 (8.01%) Developer
6 30 (7.75%) DevOps Engineer
7 28 (7.24%) Azure Engineer
7 28 (7.24%) Senior
8 20 (5.17%) Lead
8 20 (5.17%) Product Manager
9 17 (4.39%) Azure Architect
9 17 (4.39%) Digital Product Manager
10 16 (4.13%) Support Engineer
11 15 (3.88%) Data Architect
11 15 (3.88%) Desktop Engineer
11 15 (3.88%) Desktop Support
11 15 (3.88%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 14 (3.62%) Azure Specialist
13 13 (3.36%) Analyst
13 13 (3.36%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (7.24%) .NET
2 18 (4.65%) .NET Framework
3 16 (4.13%) Kafka
3 16 (4.13%) REST
4 9 (2.33%) ARM Templates
4 9 (2.33%) Node.js
4 9 (2.33%) React
5 8 (2.07%) GraphQL
5 8 (2.07%) RabbitMQ
6 7 (1.81%) Keycloak
6 7 (1.81%) Playwright
6 7 (1.81%) RESTful
7 6 (1.55%) PySpark
7 6 (1.55%) SailPoint
7 6 (1.55%) WebSockets
8 5 (1.29%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (1.29%) Flask
8 5 (1.29%) LDAP
8 5 (1.29%) OAuth
8 5 (1.29%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 30 (7.75%) Cloud Native
1 30 (7.75%) Legacy Systems
2 21 (5.43%) Hybrid Cloud
3 20 (5.17%) Product Ownership
4 17 (4.39%) Public Cloud
5 14 (3.62%) Enterprise Software
6 11 (2.84%) Data Structures
7 10 (2.58%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.55%) Legacy Code
9 4 (1.03%) Augmented Reality
9 4 (1.03%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (1.03%) FMCG
9 4 (1.03%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (1.03%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.03%) Virtual Reality
9 4 (1.03%) Wiki
10 3 (0.78%) Data Centre
10 3 (0.78%) EPoS
10 3 (0.78%) Low-Code
10 3 (0.78%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 51 (13.18%) Windows
2 28 (7.24%) Linux
3 20 (5.17%) Windows Server
4 13 (3.36%) Windows 10
5 8 (2.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (1.29%) Rocky
6 5 (1.29%) Ubuntu
7 4 (1.03%) Android
7 4 (1.03%) Debian
8 3 (0.78%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.52%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.26%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.26%) CentOS
10 1 (0.26%) SUSE
10 1 (0.26%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (33.33%) DevOps
2 95 (24.55%) Agile
3 85 (21.96%) CI/CD
4 48 (12.40%) Analytics
5 47 (12.14%) Problem-Solving
6 46 (11.89%) ERP
7 44 (11.37%) Infrastructure as Code
8 43 (11.11%) Continuous Improvement
9 41 (10.59%) Data Modelling
9 41 (10.59%) PLM
10 38 (9.82%) Roadmaps
11 35 (9.04%) Containerisation
12 33 (8.53%) Business Intelligence
13 32 (8.27%) Migration
14 31 (8.01%) Data Engineering
14 31 (8.01%) Data Pipeline
15 30 (7.75%) ETL
16 29 (7.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 28 (7.24%) ITIL
17 28 (7.24%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 65 (16.80%) Python
2 55 (14.21%) SQL
3 38 (9.82%) PowerShell
4 20 (5.17%) JavaScript
5 17 (4.39%) Bash
5 17 (4.39%) C#
5 17 (4.39%) Go
5 17 (4.39%) Java
6 16 (4.13%) Bicep
7 14 (3.62%) TypeScript
8 11 (2.84%) PL/SQL
9 4 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (1.03%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.78%) C++
11 2 (0.52%) R
12 1 (0.26%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.26%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.26%) Scala
12 1 (0.26%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 162 (41.86%) Security Cleared
2 136 (35.14%) SC Cleared
3 29 (7.49%) Azure Certification
4 27 (6.98%) DV Cleared
5 18 (4.65%) Degree
6 16 (4.13%) Microsoft Certification
7 7 (1.81%) CISM
7 7 (1.81%) CISSP
7 7 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.29%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.29%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 4 (1.03%) TOGAF Certification
10 3 (0.78%) ACSP
10 3 (0.78%) ISTQB
10 3 (0.78%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 3 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
11 2 (0.52%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.52%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 2 (0.52%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.26%) CCSK
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (5.68%) QA
2 19 (4.91%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.62%) GDPR
4 11 (2.84%) NIST
5 9 (2.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.81%) NIST 800
7 5 (1.29%) NCSC
8 3 (0.78%) SNOMED CT
9 2 (0.52%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.52%) HL7
9 2 (0.52%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.52%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.26%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.26%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 22301
10 1 (0.26%) PMO
10 1 (0.26%) SLA
System Software
1 50 (12.92%) Active Directory
2 39 (10.08%) Docker
3 10 (2.58%) Hyper-V
4 9 (2.33%) Virtual Desktop
5 8 (2.07%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.52%) KVM
8 1 (0.26%) NFS
8 1 (0.26%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.26%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 56 (14.47%) Kubernetes
2 50 (12.92%) Terraform
3 25 (6.46%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (4.91%) Ansible
5 14 (3.62%) Grafana
6 12 (3.10%) Prometheus
7 9 (2.33%) SCCM
8 6 (1.55%) Argo
8 6 (1.55%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.52%) CASB
10 2 (0.52%) Cilium
10 2 (0.52%) Podman
10 2 (0.52%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.52%) Puppet
11 1 (0.26%) Icinga
11 1 (0.26%) Kibana
11 1 (0.26%) logstash
11 1 (0.26%) Nagios
11 1 (0.26%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 117 (30.23%) Microsoft
2 40 (10.34%) Siemens
3 26 (6.72%) Databricks
4 15 (3.88%) Google
4 15 (3.88%) Oracle
5 10 (2.58%) SAP
6 9 (2.33%) VMware
7 8 (2.07%) NEC
7 8 (2.07%) Red Hat
8 7 (1.81%) IBM
8 7 (1.81%) Starlink
9 6 (1.55%) InterSystems
9 6 (1.55%) McAfee
9 6 (1.55%) NetApp
10 4 (1.03%) Apple
10 4 (1.03%) Cisco
11 3 (0.78%) MuleSoft
11 3 (0.78%) ServiceNow
11 3 (0.78%) Splunk
12 2 (0.52%) Palo Alto