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 17 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 422 221 365
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.97% 12.51% 11.08%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.72% 40.33% 44.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 171 286
10th Percentile £363 £313 £245
25th Percentile £430 £375 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.93% +2.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £624 £590
90th Percentile £725 £710 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £540
% change year-on-year - -2.78% -3.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 5 0
10th Percentile - £18.70 -
25th Percentile £56.25 £25.00 -
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% - -
75th Percentile £58.75 £77.50 -
90th Percentile - £78.22 -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £53.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year +7.48% +52.86% -44.44%

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 923 548 828
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.18% 31.03% 25.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 579 391 601
10th Percentile £304 £225 £215
25th Percentile £411 £356 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.09% -5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £619 £600
90th Percentile £688 £685 £675
England median daily rate £513 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -0.49% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 37 47
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.13 £13.41
25th Percentile £17.75 £18.51 £14.25
Median hourly rate £57.50 £18.87 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year +204.72% -72.04% +27.54%
75th Percentile £58.75 £34.50 £70.00
90th Percentile - £50.00 -
England median hourly rate £41.06 £25.08 £21.50
% change year-on-year +63.72% +16.65% -38.21%

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 17 June 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
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 17 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
Somerset +3 119 £506 +1.20% 40
Bristol +1 103 £550 +25.71% 77
Gloucestershire -2 59 £450 -26.68% 54
Wiltshire -2 49 £500 -14.89% 36
Devon +6 43 £513 -1.27% 38
Dorset +1 30 £675 +54.29% 28
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 21 (4.98%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.61%) Confluence
2 11 (2.61%) IIS
3 8 (1.90%) Apache Spark
4 6 (1.42%) Apache
4 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.47%) nginx
7 1 (0.24%) Apache Superset
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Coherence
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 4 (0.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.71%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.24%) InDesign
3 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.24%) PTC Creo
3 1 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.24%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.66%) Maximo
2 2 (0.47%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.24%) SAP EHS
3 1 (0.24%) SAP Hybris
3 1 (0.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 161 (38.15%) AWS
2 68 (16.11%) Azure DevOps
3 64 (15.17%) GCP
4 49 (11.61%) Entra ID
5 29 (6.87%) GitHub
6 28 (6.64%) Microsoft 365
6 28 (6.64%) Power Platform
7 20 (4.74%) Azure Monitor
8 19 (4.50%) Azure Data Factory
9 16 (3.79%) Azure Key Vault
10 15 (3.55%) Serverless
11 14 (3.32%) GitHub Actions
12 13 (3.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 13 (3.08%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 12 (2.84%) OpenShift
14 11 (2.61%) Azure AKS
14 11 (2.61%) Azure Sentinel
14 11 (2.61%) Cloud Computing
15 8 (1.90%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 8 (1.90%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.27%) Firewall
2 16 (3.79%) DNS
3 14 (3.32%) VPN
4 11 (2.61%) WAN
5 10 (2.37%) DHCP
6 6 (1.42%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.18%) BGP
8 4 (0.95%) SAN
9 3 (0.71%) NAS
9 3 (0.71%) Network Security
9 3 (0.71%) VLAN
10 2 (0.47%) LAN
10 2 (0.47%) Reverse Proxy
11 1 (0.24%) HTTP
11 1 (0.24%) Kerberos
11 1 (0.24%) MPLS
11 1 (0.24%) OSPF
11 1 (0.24%) SMTP
11 1 (0.24%) SSL
11 1 (0.24%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (5.92%) Power BI
2 24 (5.69%) SQL Server
3 16 (3.79%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (3.08%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (2.84%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (1.90%) Data Lake
7 7 (1.66%) Geospatial Data
7 7 (1.66%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.42%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.42%) NoSQL
8 6 (1.42%) Oracle Database
9 5 (1.18%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.18%) Metadata
10 4 (0.95%) Big Data
10 4 (0.95%) Redis
10 4 (0.95%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.95%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.71%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.71%) GIS
11 3 (0.71%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (6.16%) Git
2 24 (5.69%) JIRA
3 21 (4.98%) GitLab
4 13 (3.08%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.42%) MSI
6 3 (0.71%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.71%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.71%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.47%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.47%) MLflow
7 2 (0.47%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.47%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.24%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.24%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.24%) Gradle
8 1 (0.24%) JUnit
8 1 (0.24%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.24%) NUnit
8 1 (0.24%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.24%) Selenium
General
1 68 (16.11%) Social Skills
2 28 (6.64%) Public Sector
3 24 (5.69%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (5.21%) Finance
5 14 (3.32%) Legal
6 9 (2.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (1.66%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.42%) Banking
8 6 (1.42%) Marketing
8 6 (1.42%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (1.18%) Military
10 4 (0.95%) Local Government
11 3 (0.71%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.71%) Retail
12 2 (0.47%) Advertising
12 2 (0.47%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.47%) Police
12 2 (0.47%) Publishing
13 1 (0.24%) Electronics
13 1 (0.24%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 65 (15.40%) Consultant
2 56 (13.27%) Architect
3 40 (9.48%) Implementation Consultant
4 30 (7.11%) Developer
4 30 (7.11%) Lead
5 28 (6.64%) DevOps Engineer
6 27 (6.40%) Azure Engineer
6 27 (6.40%) Data Engineer
6 27 (6.40%) Product Manager
7 25 (5.92%) Senior
8 24 (5.69%) Digital Product Manager
9 17 (4.03%) Technical Architect
10 16 (3.79%) Azure Specialist
10 16 (3.79%) Support Engineer
11 14 (3.32%) Analyst
11 14 (3.32%) Azure Architect
11 14 (3.32%) Solutions Architect
12 13 (3.08%) Data Architect
12 13 (3.08%) Desktop Engineer
12 13 (3.08%) Desktop Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (8.29%) .NET
2 23 (5.45%) .NET Framework
3 18 (4.27%) REST
4 14 (3.32%) RESTful
5 11 (2.61%) Kafka
5 11 (2.61%) React
6 9 (2.13%) Node.js
6 9 (2.13%) SailPoint
7 8 (1.90%) .NET Core
7 8 (1.90%) GeoJSON
7 8 (1.90%) GraphQL
7 8 (1.90%) LDAP
7 8 (1.90%) Playwright
7 8 (1.90%) Spring Boot
8 7 (1.66%) PySpark
8 7 (1.66%) RabbitMQ
9 6 (1.42%) ATL
9 6 (1.42%) COM
9 6 (1.42%) MFC
9 6 (1.42%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.43%) Cloud Native
2 36 (8.53%) Legacy Systems
3 20 (4.74%) Product Ownership
4 19 (4.50%) Hybrid Cloud
4 19 (4.50%) Public Cloud
5 18 (4.27%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (4.03%) Onboarding
7 11 (2.61%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.42%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.42%) Legacy Code
9 5 (1.18%) Linux Command Line
10 4 (0.95%) Augmented Reality
10 4 (0.95%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.95%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (0.95%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.95%) Virtual Reality
10 4 (0.95%) Wiki
11 3 (0.71%) EPoS
11 3 (0.71%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 64 (15.17%) Windows
2 34 (8.06%) Linux
3 21 (4.98%) Windows Server
4 17 (4.03%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.42%) Android
7 5 (1.18%) Rocky
7 5 (1.18%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.95%) Debian
9 3 (0.71%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.71%) Unix
9 3 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.47%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.24%) CentOS
11 1 (0.24%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 117 (27.73%) DevOps
2 105 (24.88%) Agile
3 92 (21.80%) CI/CD
4 54 (12.80%) Infrastructure as Code
5 53 (12.56%) Roadmaps
6 49 (11.61%) Analytics
7 47 (11.14%) ERP
8 46 (10.90%) Continuous Improvement
9 45 (10.66%) Containerisation
9 45 (10.66%) Problem-Solving
10 44 (10.43%) Data Modelling
11 42 (9.95%) Migration
12 41 (9.72%) PLM
13 36 (8.53%) Microservices
13 36 (8.53%) Stakeholder Management
14 35 (8.29%) Decision-Making
15 33 (7.82%) Business Intelligence
16 31 (7.35%) Data Pipeline
16 31 (7.35%) Technical Leadership
17 30 (7.11%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 66 (15.64%) SQL
2 63 (14.93%) Python
3 35 (8.29%) PowerShell
4 23 (5.45%) Java
5 20 (4.74%) C#
6 18 (4.27%) Bash
7 16 (3.79%) Bicep
7 16 (3.79%) Go
7 16 (3.79%) JavaScript
8 14 (3.32%) TypeScript
9 4 (0.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (0.95%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.71%) BeanShell
10 3 (0.71%) C++
10 3 (0.71%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.71%) R
11 2 (0.47%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.47%) Scala
11 2 (0.47%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.24%) Rust
Qualifications
1 174 (41.23%) Security Cleared
2 135 (31.99%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.43%) DV Cleared
4 21 (4.98%) Degree
5 19 (4.50%) Azure Certification
6 17 (4.03%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (2.84%) CISSP
8 9 (2.13%) CISM
9 8 (1.90%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.18%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 4 (0.95%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.95%) TOGAF Certification
14 3 (0.71%) ACSP
14 3 (0.71%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.71%) ITIL Certification
15 2 (0.47%) A+ Certification
15 2 (0.47%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (5.92%) QA
2 22 (5.21%) Data Quality
3 13 (3.08%) GDPR
4 12 (2.84%) NCSC
5 10 (2.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.13%) NIST
7 8 (1.90%) SLA
8 7 (1.66%) NIST 800
9 6 (1.42%) Accessibility
10 5 (1.18%) WCAG
11 3 (0.71%) ISO 9000
11 3 (0.71%) SNOMED CT
12 2 (0.47%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.47%) HL7
13 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.24%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.24%) Government Security Classifications
13 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.24%) PMO
System Software
1 56 (13.27%) Active Directory
2 43 (10.19%) Docker
3 16 (3.79%) Virtual Desktop
4 10 (2.37%) Hyper-V
4 10 (2.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (1.42%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.71%) vSphere
7 2 (0.47%) KVM
7 2 (0.47%) VirtualBox
7 2 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.24%) NFS
8 1 (0.24%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 66 (15.64%) Kubernetes
2 60 (14.22%) Terraform
3 26 (6.16%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (5.45%) Ansible
5 15 (3.55%) Grafana
6 14 (3.32%) Prometheus
7 10 (2.37%) Argo
8 9 (2.13%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (1.66%) SCCM
10 5 (1.18%) FortiGate
10 5 (1.18%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 4 (0.95%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (0.95%) Istio
12 3 (0.71%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.47%) CASB
13 2 (0.47%) Data Guard
13 2 (0.47%) Kustomize
13 2 (0.47%) OPNET
13 2 (0.47%) Oracle RMAN
13 2 (0.47%) Puppet
Vendors
1 151 (35.78%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.48%) Siemens
3 21 (4.98%) Databricks
4 15 (3.55%) Oracle
5 14 (3.32%) Google
6 11 (2.61%) VMware
7 9 (2.13%) Red Hat
7 9 (2.13%) SAP
8 8 (1.90%) IBM
9 7 (1.66%) InterSystems
9 7 (1.66%) NetApp
9 7 (1.66%) Starlink
10 6 (1.42%) McAfee
11 5 (1.18%) CyberArk
11 5 (1.18%) Dynatrace
11 5 (1.18%) Splunk
12 4 (0.95%) Apple
12 4 (0.95%) MuleSoft
12 4 (0.95%) Zscaler
13 3 (0.71%) Cisco