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 21 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 445 212 344
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.58% 11.25% 11.26%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.55% 37.79% 43.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 282 164 262
10th Percentile £375 £322 £351
25th Percentile £431 £372 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £500 £503
Median % change year-on-year +7.55% -0.50% -8.64%
75th Percentile £620 £625 £590
90th Percentile £730 £700 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 4 1
10th Percentile - £27.40 -
25th Percentile £56.25 £46.75 £77.50
Median hourly rate £57.50 £70.00 £85.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.86% -17.65% +41.67%
75th Percentile £58.75 £77.80 £92.50
90th Percentile - £78.34 -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £45.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +27.78% +28.57% -41.57%

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 977 561 798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 27.63% 29.76% 26.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 607 400 568
10th Percentile £313 £225 £253
25th Percentile £413 £355 £422
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £593 £600
90th Percentile £702 £675 £675
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.34% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 39 47
10th Percentile £14.25 £18.13 £13.41
25th Percentile £17.75 £18.51 £30.00
Median hourly rate £57.50 £18.87 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +204.72% -73.04% +32.26%
75th Percentile £58.75 £29.13 -
90th Percentile - £37.50 -
England median hourly rate £39.27 £25.15 £22.00
% change year-on-year +56.14% +14.32% -36.96%

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 21 July 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 21 July 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 21 July 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 +5 135 £495 +0.25% 43
Bristol +4 112 £550 +26.44% 61
Gloucestershire 0 55 £500 -18.53% 52
Devon +8 48 £519 -0.15% 33
Wiltshire -11 43 £500 -15.79% 27
Dorset +4 28 £675 +63.64% 5
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 23 (5.17%) SharePoint
2 19 (4.27%) Confluence
3 11 (2.47%) IIS
4 10 (2.25%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.35%) Apache
6 4 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.45%) nginx
9 1 (0.22%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.22%) ColdFusion
9 1 (0.22%) JBoss
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle Coherence
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.22%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 4 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (0.90%) Trello
2 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.22%) InDesign
3 1 (0.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.22%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.45%) Maximo
1 2 (0.45%) Unit4 Business World
2 1 (0.22%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.22%) SAP EHS
2 1 (0.22%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 178 (40.00%) AWS
2 73 (16.40%) Azure DevOps
3 68 (15.28%) GCP
4 56 (12.58%) Entra ID
5 31 (6.97%) GitHub
6 30 (6.74%) Microsoft 365
7 27 (6.07%) Power Platform
8 19 (4.27%) Azure Data Factory
9 18 (4.04%) Azure Key Vault
10 17 (3.82%) Azure Monitor
11 16 (3.60%) Serverless
12 15 (3.37%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (2.47%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 11 (2.47%) Cloud Computing
13 11 (2.47%) PaaS
14 10 (2.25%) SaaS
15 9 (2.02%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 9 (2.02%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 9 (2.02%) Snowflake
16 8 (1.80%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.84%) Firewall
2 20 (4.49%) DNS
3 14 (3.15%) VPN
4 12 (2.70%) TCP/IP
4 12 (2.70%) WAN
5 11 (2.47%) DHCP
6 9 (2.02%) BGP
7 7 (1.57%) VLAN
8 5 (1.12%) VSAN
9 4 (0.90%) Network Security
9 4 (0.90%) OSPF
9 4 (0.90%) SAN
10 3 (0.67%) NAS
10 3 (0.67%) Software-Defined Networking
11 2 (0.45%) LAN
11 2 (0.45%) Reverse Proxy
11 2 (0.45%) SSL
12 1 (0.22%) HTTP
12 1 (0.22%) Kerberos
12 1 (0.22%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (6.74%) SQL Server
2 24 (5.39%) Power BI
3 16 (3.60%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (3.37%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (2.25%) Geospatial Data
6 9 (2.02%) Data Lake
7 8 (1.80%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (1.80%) Oracle Database
8 7 (1.57%) Metadata
8 7 (1.57%) MongoDB
9 6 (1.35%) Amazon RDS
9 6 (1.35%) NoSQL
10 5 (1.12%) Big Data
10 5 (1.12%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.90%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.90%) Star Schema
11 4 (0.90%) Tableau
12 3 (0.67%) GIS
12 3 (0.67%) Redis
12 3 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 32 (7.19%) Git
2 31 (6.97%) JIRA
3 20 (4.49%) GitLab
4 15 (3.37%) Jenkins
5 9 (2.02%) MSI
6 3 (0.67%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.67%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.67%) JUnit
6 3 (0.67%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 3 (0.67%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.45%) MLflow
7 2 (0.45%) Selenium
7 2 (0.45%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.45%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.22%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.22%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.22%) Gradle
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.22%) TestNG
8 1 (0.22%) WebDriver
General
1 71 (15.96%) Social Skills
2 42 (9.44%) Public Sector
3 29 (6.52%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (5.17%) Finance
5 16 (3.60%) Legal
6 9 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (1.80%) Military
8 7 (1.57%) Local Government
9 6 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.12%) Marketing
11 4 (0.90%) Banking
11 4 (0.90%) Police
12 3 (0.67%) Advertising
12 3 (0.67%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.67%) Retail
13 2 (0.45%) Aviation
13 2 (0.45%) Publishing
14 1 (0.22%) Influencing Skills
14 1 (0.22%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 64 (14.38%) Architect
2 62 (13.93%) Consultant
3 39 (8.76%) Developer
4 36 (8.09%) Implementation Consultant
5 35 (7.87%) Lead
6 28 (6.29%) Senior
7 27 (6.07%) Product Manager
8 25 (5.62%) Data Engineer
9 24 (5.39%) DevOps Engineer
9 24 (5.39%) Digital Product Manager
10 22 (4.94%) Azure Engineer
11 21 (4.72%) Technical Architect
12 16 (3.60%) Data Architect
13 15 (3.37%) Solutions Architect
14 14 (3.15%) Analyst
14 14 (3.15%) Azure Architect
14 14 (3.15%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 13 (2.92%) Azure Consultant
15 13 (2.92%) DBA
15 13 (2.92%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (9.66%) .NET
2 28 (6.29%) .NET Framework
3 24 (5.39%) REST
4 18 (4.04%) RESTful
5 14 (3.15%) .NET Core
6 13 (2.92%) Kafka
6 13 (2.92%) React
7 11 (2.47%) GeoJSON
7 11 (2.47%) SailPoint
8 10 (2.25%) Spring Boot
9 9 (2.02%) ATL
9 9 (2.02%) COM
9 9 (2.02%) LDAP
9 9 (2.02%) MFC
9 9 (2.02%) Node.js
10 8 (1.80%) CSS
10 8 (1.80%) HTML
10 8 (1.80%) HTML5
10 8 (1.80%) RabbitMQ
10 8 (1.80%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 48 (10.79%) Cloud Native
2 39 (8.76%) Legacy Systems
3 23 (5.17%) Onboarding
4 20 (4.49%) Product Ownership
5 18 (4.04%) Enterprise Software
6 14 (3.15%) Public Cloud
7 12 (2.70%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (2.47%) Data Structures
8 11 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (2.02%) Data Centre
10 8 (1.80%) Linux Command Line
11 6 (1.35%) Legacy Code
11 6 (1.35%) PKI
11 6 (1.35%) Wiki
12 4 (0.90%) Augmented Reality
12 4 (0.90%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.90%) Legacy Applications
12 4 (0.90%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.90%) Virtual Reality
13 3 (0.67%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 69 (15.51%) Windows
2 34 (7.64%) Linux
3 22 (4.94%) Windows Server
4 17 (3.82%) Windows 10
5 7 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.35%) Android
7 4 (0.90%) Rocky
7 4 (0.90%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.67%) Debian
8 3 (0.67%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.67%) Unix
9 2 (0.45%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.22%) CentOS
10 1 (0.22%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (29.21%) DevOps
2 128 (28.76%) Agile
3 108 (24.27%) CI/CD
4 69 (15.51%) Infrastructure as Code
5 55 (12.36%) Continuous Improvement
5 55 (12.36%) Roadmaps
6 52 (11.69%) Containerisation
7 50 (11.24%) Problem-Solving
8 48 (10.79%) Stakeholder Management
9 46 (10.34%) Analytics
10 45 (10.11%) Migration
11 43 (9.66%) ERP
12 41 (9.21%) Data Modelling
12 41 (9.21%) Microservices
13 40 (8.99%) Technical Leadership
14 39 (8.76%) Decision-Making
15 37 (8.31%) PLM
16 35 (7.87%) Data Pipeline
17 32 (7.19%) ETL
18 30 (6.74%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 73 (16.40%) Python
2 69 (15.51%) SQL
3 38 (8.54%) PowerShell
4 30 (6.74%) C#
4 30 (6.74%) Java
5 25 (5.62%) Bash
6 21 (4.72%) JavaScript
7 17 (3.82%) TypeScript
8 15 (3.37%) Bicep
9 14 (3.15%) Go
10 5 (1.12%) BeanShell
10 5 (1.12%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.90%) R
11 4 (0.90%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.67%) C++
13 2 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.45%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.45%) Scala
13 2 (0.45%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.22%) Rust
Qualifications
1 201 (45.17%) Security Cleared
2 148 (33.26%) SC Cleared
3 52 (11.69%) DV Cleared
4 22 (4.94%) Degree
5 14 (3.15%) Azure Certification
6 13 (2.92%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (2.47%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.02%) CISSP
9 8 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
10 6 (1.35%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.12%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 5 (1.12%) CCNA
12 4 (0.90%) CISM
12 4 (0.90%) ISTQB
12 4 (0.90%) ITIL Certification
12 4 (0.90%) TOGAF Certification
13 3 (0.67%) ACSP
13 3 (0.67%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 3 (0.67%) Master's Degree
14 2 (0.45%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.07%) QA
2 23 (5.17%) Data Quality
3 15 (3.37%) NCSC
4 13 (2.92%) GDPR
5 9 (2.02%) Accessibility
5 9 (2.02%) SLA
6 8 (1.80%) WCAG
7 7 (1.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.12%) ISO 9000
8 5 (1.12%) NIST
9 3 (0.67%) SNOMED CT
10 2 (0.45%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.45%) GRC
10 2 (0.45%) HL7
10 2 (0.45%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.22%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.22%) PMO
System Software
1 61 (13.71%) Active Directory
2 55 (12.36%) Docker
3 20 (4.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (4.04%) Virtual Desktop
5 14 (3.15%) Hyper-V
6 9 (2.02%) Virtual Machines
6 9 (2.02%) vSphere
7 6 (1.35%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.45%) KVM
8 2 (0.45%) VirtualBox
9 1 (0.22%) NFS
9 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 75 (16.85%) Kubernetes
2 72 (16.18%) Terraform
3 31 (6.97%) Ansible
4 23 (5.17%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (3.60%) Grafana
6 14 (3.15%) Prometheus
7 12 (2.70%) Argo
8 11 (2.47%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (1.57%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 6 (1.35%) FortiGate
11 5 (1.12%) OPNET
12 4 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.90%) Istio
12 4 (0.90%) Proxmox
12 4 (0.90%) SCCM
13 3 (0.67%) Progress Chef
14 2 (0.45%) Docker Swarm
14 2 (0.45%) Kustomize
14 2 (0.45%) Podman
14 2 (0.45%) VxRail
Vendors
1 155 (34.83%) Microsoft
2 36 (8.09%) Siemens
3 24 (5.39%) Oracle
4 21 (4.72%) Databricks
4 21 (4.72%) VMware
5 15 (3.37%) Google
6 10 (2.25%) CyberArk
7 7 (1.57%) Cisco
7 7 (1.57%) InterSystems
7 7 (1.57%) SAP
7 7 (1.57%) Starlink
8 6 (1.35%) McAfee
8 6 (1.35%) Red Hat
9 5 (1.12%) Dynatrace
9 5 (1.12%) NetApp
9 5 (1.12%) Splunk
9 5 (1.12%) Zscaler
10 4 (0.90%) Apple
10 4 (0.90%) IBM
10 4 (0.90%) MuleSoft