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

6 months to
14 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 419 227 367
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.96% 12.82% 11.13%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.84% 40.83% 44.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 257 177 290
10th Percentile £358 £313 £215
25th Percentile £428 £385 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £505 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.44% +1.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £590
90th Percentile £710 £704 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £545
% change year-on-year - -3.67% -2.90%
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 £49.25 £35.00
% change year-on-year +16.75% +40.71% -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 914 556 826
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.10% 31.39% 25.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 573 399 602
10th Percentile £300 £224 £213
25th Percentile £410 £357 £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 £686 £675
England median daily rate £513 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -0.49% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 36 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 £34.71 £70.00
90th Percentile - £53.13 -
England median hourly rate £39.50 £25.33 £21.50
% change year-on-year +55.97% +17.79% -36.10%

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 14 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 14 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 +3 116 £524 +4.75% 50
Bristol +3 104 £550 +25.71% 51
Gloucestershire -3 59 £450 -21.74% 40
Wiltshire +4 48 £500 -15.79% 31
Devon +5 43 £513 -1.27% 35
Dorset +2 30 £675 +58.82% 21
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 (5.01%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.63%) IIS
3 9 (2.15%) Confluence
4 8 (1.91%) Apache Spark
5 7 (1.67%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (1.43%) Apache
7 3 (0.72%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.48%) nginx
9 1 (0.24%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.24%) Oracle Coherence
9 1 (0.24%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 4 (0.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.48%) 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 (1.67%) Maximo
2 2 (0.48%) 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 (38.42%) AWS
2 65 (15.51%) Azure DevOps
3 64 (15.27%) GCP
4 48 (11.46%) Entra ID
5 29 (6.92%) GitHub
6 28 (6.68%) Microsoft 365
6 28 (6.68%) Power Platform
7 20 (4.77%) Azure Data Factory
7 20 (4.77%) Azure Monitor
8 15 (3.58%) Azure Key Vault
8 15 (3.58%) Serverless
9 14 (3.34%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (3.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 13 (3.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 12 (2.86%) Azure Sentinel
11 12 (2.86%) OpenShift
12 11 (2.63%) Azure AKS
12 11 (2.63%) Cloud Computing
13 9 (2.15%) PaaS
14 7 (1.67%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 21 (5.01%) Firewall
2 17 (4.06%) DNS
3 16 (3.82%) VPN
4 12 (2.86%) WAN
5 11 (2.63%) DHCP
6 6 (1.43%) BGP
6 6 (1.43%) TCP/IP
7 4 (0.95%) LAN
7 4 (0.95%) Network Security
7 4 (0.95%) SAN
7 4 (0.95%) VLAN
8 3 (0.72%) NAS
9 2 (0.48%) OSPF
9 2 (0.48%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.48%) SD-WAN
10 1 (0.24%) Calico
10 1 (0.24%) MPLS
10 1 (0.24%) NGFW
10 1 (0.24%) Remote Desktop
10 1 (0.24%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (5.73%) Power BI
1 24 (5.73%) SQL Server
2 16 (3.82%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (2.86%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (2.63%) Azure SQL Database
5 8 (1.91%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.67%) MongoDB
7 6 (1.43%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (1.43%) Delta Lake
7 6 (1.43%) NoSQL
8 5 (1.19%) Metadata
9 4 (0.95%) Big Data
9 4 (0.95%) Geospatial Data
9 4 (0.95%) Oracle Database
9 4 (0.95%) Redis
9 4 (0.95%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.95%) Star Schema
10 3 (0.72%) Data Vault
10 3 (0.72%) GIS
10 3 (0.72%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (5.73%) Git
2 22 (5.25%) JIRA
3 21 (5.01%) GitLab
4 13 (3.10%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.95%) MSI
6 3 (0.72%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.72%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.72%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.48%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.48%) MLflow
7 2 (0.48%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.48%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.48%) Visual Studio
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 67 (15.99%) Social Skills
2 26 (6.21%) Public Sector
3 25 (5.97%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (5.25%) Finance
5 14 (3.34%) Legal
6 7 (1.67%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.43%) Banking
7 6 (1.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (1.43%) Marketing
8 5 (1.19%) Military
8 5 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (0.72%) Investment Banking
9 3 (0.72%) Local Government
9 3 (0.72%) Retail
10 2 (0.48%) Advertising
11 1 (0.24%) Back Office
11 1 (0.24%) Electronics
11 1 (0.24%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.24%) Publishing
11 1 (0.24%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 65 (15.51%) Consultant
2 56 (13.37%) Architect
3 40 (9.55%) Implementation Consultant
4 28 (6.68%) Data Engineer
4 28 (6.68%) Developer
4 28 (6.68%) DevOps Engineer
4 28 (6.68%) Lead
5 27 (6.44%) Azure Engineer
5 27 (6.44%) Product Manager
6 24 (5.73%) Digital Product Manager
6 24 (5.73%) Senior
7 17 (4.06%) Technical Architect
8 16 (3.82%) Azure Specialist
9 15 (3.58%) Support Engineer
10 14 (3.34%) Azure Architect
11 13 (3.10%) Analyst
11 13 (3.10%) Data Architect
11 13 (3.10%) Desktop Engineer
11 13 (3.10%) Desktop Support Engineer
11 13 (3.10%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (7.88%) .NET
2 21 (5.01%) .NET Framework
3 16 (3.82%) REST
4 11 (2.63%) Kafka
4 11 (2.63%) React
4 11 (2.63%) RESTful
5 9 (2.15%) Node.js
5 9 (2.15%) SailPoint
6 8 (1.91%) GraphQL
6 8 (1.91%) LDAP
6 8 (1.91%) Playwright
6 8 (1.91%) Spring Boot
7 7 (1.67%) PySpark
7 7 (1.67%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (1.43%) .NET Core
8 6 (1.43%) ARM Templates
8 6 (1.43%) Spring
8 6 (1.43%) WebSockets
9 5 (1.19%) Flask
9 5 (1.19%) GeoJSON
Miscellaneous
1 42 (10.02%) Cloud Native
2 35 (8.35%) Legacy Systems
3 19 (4.53%) Hybrid Cloud
3 19 (4.53%) Product Ownership
3 19 (4.53%) Public Cloud
4 18 (4.30%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (3.34%) Onboarding
6 12 (2.86%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.63%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.43%) Legacy Code
9 5 (1.19%) Data Centre
10 4 (0.95%) Augmented Reality
10 4 (0.95%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.95%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (0.95%) Linux Command Line
10 4 (0.95%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.95%) Virtual Reality
10 4 (0.95%) Wiki
11 3 (0.72%) EPoS
11 3 (0.72%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 61 (14.56%) Windows
2 33 (7.88%) Linux
3 22 (5.25%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.82%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.43%) Android
7 5 (1.19%) Rocky
7 5 (1.19%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.95%) Debian
9 3 (0.72%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.72%) Unix
9 3 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.48%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.24%) CentOS
11 1 (0.24%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (27.21%) DevOps
2 99 (23.63%) Agile
3 90 (21.48%) CI/CD
4 53 (12.65%) Roadmaps
5 51 (12.17%) Infrastructure as Code
6 50 (11.93%) Analytics
7 47 (11.22%) Problem-Solving
8 46 (10.98%) Continuous Improvement
8 46 (10.98%) ERP
9 45 (10.74%) Data Modelling
10 42 (10.02%) Containerisation
10 42 (10.02%) Migration
11 41 (9.79%) PLM
12 35 (8.35%) Decision-Making
13 34 (8.11%) Microservices
13 34 (8.11%) Stakeholder Management
14 33 (7.88%) Business Intelligence
15 31 (7.40%) Data Pipeline
15 31 (7.40%) ETL
16 28 (6.68%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 64 (15.27%) SQL
2 63 (15.04%) Python
3 36 (8.59%) PowerShell
4 23 (5.49%) Java
5 18 (4.30%) Bash
5 18 (4.30%) C#
6 16 (3.82%) Go
7 14 (3.34%) Bicep
7 14 (3.34%) JavaScript
8 12 (2.86%) TypeScript
9 4 (0.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (0.95%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.72%) BeanShell
10 3 (0.72%) C++
10 3 (0.72%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.72%) R
11 2 (0.48%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.48%) Scala
11 2 (0.48%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.24%) Rust
Qualifications
1 169 (40.33%) Security Cleared
2 131 (31.26%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.02%) DV Cleared
4 21 (5.01%) Degree
5 20 (4.77%) Azure Certification
6 16 (3.82%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (2.86%) CISSP
8 9 (2.15%) CISM
9 8 (1.91%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.43%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 4 (0.95%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.95%) TOGAF Certification
14 3 (0.72%) ACSP
14 3 (0.72%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.72%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
15 2 (0.48%) AWS Certification
15 2 (0.48%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (5.97%) QA
2 22 (5.25%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.34%) GDPR
4 11 (2.63%) NIST
5 10 (2.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.15%) NCSC
7 7 (1.67%) NIST 800
8 6 (1.43%) SLA
9 4 (0.95%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.72%) SNOMED CT
10 3 (0.72%) WCAG
11 2 (0.48%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.48%) HL7
11 2 (0.48%) ISO 9000
11 2 (0.48%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.24%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.24%) PMO
System Software
1 56 (13.37%) Active Directory
2 41 (9.79%) Docker
3 16 (3.82%) Virtual Desktop
4 12 (2.86%) Hyper-V
5 11 (2.63%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (1.43%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.72%) vSphere
8 2 (0.48%) KVM
8 2 (0.48%) VirtualBox
8 2 (0.48%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.24%) NFS
9 1 (0.24%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 62 (14.80%) Kubernetes
2 57 (13.60%) Terraform
3 25 (5.97%) Microsoft Intune
4 24 (5.73%) Ansible
5 15 (3.58%) Grafana
6 14 (3.34%) Prometheus
7 10 (2.39%) Argo
8 9 (2.15%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (1.67%) SCCM
10 5 (1.19%) FortiGate
11 4 (0.95%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (0.95%) Istio
11 4 (0.95%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 3 (0.72%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.48%) CASB
13 2 (0.48%) Cilium
13 2 (0.48%) Data Guard
13 2 (0.48%) Kustomize
13 2 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
13 2 (0.48%) Puppet
Vendors
1 149 (35.56%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.55%) Siemens
3 22 (5.25%) Databricks
4 14 (3.34%) Google
5 13 (3.10%) Oracle
6 12 (2.86%) VMware
7 9 (2.15%) Red Hat
7 9 (2.15%) SAP
8 8 (1.91%) IBM
9 7 (1.67%) InterSystems
9 7 (1.67%) NetApp
9 7 (1.67%) Starlink
10 6 (1.43%) McAfee
11 5 (1.19%) Cisco
11 5 (1.19%) CyberArk
11 5 (1.19%) Dynatrace
11 5 (1.19%) Splunk
12 4 (0.95%) Apple
12 4 (0.95%) MuleSoft
12 4 (0.95%) Zscaler