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 28 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 11 7
Rank change year-on-year +5 -4 0
Contract jobs citing Azure 321 224 410
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.34% 11.95% 13.28%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.66% 39.79% 46.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 242 173 338
10th Percentile £301 £365 £300
25th Percentile £425 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £512 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.57% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £634 £625 £675
90th Percentile £700 £700 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -3.51%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £56.25 - £14.93
Median hourly rate £57.50 £25.00 £15.35
Median % change year-on-year +130.00% +62.87% -78.07%
75th Percentile £59.69 - £15.78
90th Percentile £84.98 - -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +64.29% -24.21% -14.08%

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 703 563 887
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 27.02% 30.03% 28.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 504 381 680
10th Percentile £226 £225 £213
25th Percentile £405 £419 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £700 £700 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 11 35
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.50 £14.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.67 £14.36
Median hourly rate £57.50 £26.50 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +116.98% +39.47% -66.96%
75th Percentile £58.75 £28.99 £33.00
90th Percentile £64.50 £68.75 £78.00
England median hourly rate £32.50 £27.50 £23.22
% change year-on-year +18.18% +18.46% -3.27%

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 28 January 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 28 January 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 28 January 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
Gloucestershire +2 121 £475 -9.52% 65
Bristol -9 58 £517 -1.48% 84
Somerset +5 54 £525 -8.70% 40
Wiltshire +6 47 £525 -14.29% 43
Dorset +1 18 £650 +20.93% 49
Devon -4 11 £550 +33.33% 35
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 24 (7.48%) SharePoint
2 17 (5.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.25%) Apache
3 4 (1.25%) Confluence
4 3 (0.93%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.62%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.62%) Documentum
5 2 (0.62%) nginx
6 1 (0.31%) CMS
6 1 (0.31%) IIS
6 1 (0.31%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 4 (1.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Project
2 2 (0.62%) Windchill
3 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.31%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 8 (2.49%) Maximo
2 6 (1.87%) NEC Housing
3 3 (0.93%) NetSuite
3 3 (0.93%) Teamcenter
4 2 (0.62%) Primavera
4 2 (0.62%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.31%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 96 (29.91%) AWS
2 85 (26.48%) Azure DevOps
3 51 (15.89%) GitHub
4 44 (13.71%) Entra ID
5 39 (12.15%) GCP
6 38 (11.84%) Microsoft 365
7 24 (7.48%) Azure Sentinel
8 20 (6.23%) Power Platform
9 17 (5.30%) Azure Data Factory
10 16 (4.98%) OpenShift
11 15 (4.67%) Azure Monitor
12 14 (4.36%) GitHub Actions
12 14 (4.36%) Serverless
13 13 (4.05%) Azure AKS
14 12 (3.74%) Azure Key Vault
15 9 (2.80%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 8 (2.49%) Dynamics 365
17 7 (2.18%) OneDrive
18 6 (1.87%) Power Automate
18 6 (1.87%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 25 (7.79%) VPN
2 16 (4.98%) Firewall
3 9 (2.80%) DHCP
4 8 (2.49%) DNS
4 8 (2.49%) Network Security
5 6 (1.87%) WAN
6 5 (1.56%) LAN
7 4 (1.25%) TCP/IP
8 3 (0.93%) HTTP
8 3 (0.93%) Kerberos
8 3 (0.93%) SD-WAN
8 3 (0.93%) VLAN
9 2 (0.62%) NAS
9 2 (0.62%) SAN
9 2 (0.62%) SMTP
10 1 (0.31%) BGP
10 1 (0.31%) OSPF
10 1 (0.31%) tcpdump
10 1 (0.31%) WAAS
10 1 (0.31%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (8.10%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (5.30%) Power BI
3 16 (4.98%) Elasticsearch
4 11 (3.43%) SQL Server
5 8 (2.49%) Redis
6 6 (1.87%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.87%) Metadata
7 5 (1.56%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.56%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.25%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.25%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.93%) MySQL
10 2 (0.62%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.62%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.62%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.62%) Looker
10 2 (0.62%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.62%) Power Query
10 2 (0.62%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.62%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (9.35%) Oracle APEX
2 21 (6.54%) Git
3 17 (5.30%) JIRA
4 14 (4.36%) SonarQube
5 9 (2.80%) GitLab
5 9 (2.80%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.62%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.62%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.31%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.31%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.31%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.31%) JUnit
7 1 (0.31%) Maven
7 1 (0.31%) Mocha
7 1 (0.31%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.31%) Postman
7 1 (0.31%) REST Assured
7 1 (0.31%) Snyk
7 1 (0.31%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.31%) TestNG
General
1 111 (34.58%) Social Skills
2 32 (9.97%) Public Sector
3 28 (8.72%) Finance
4 14 (4.36%) Analytical Skills
5 12 (3.74%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (2.18%) Telecoms
7 5 (1.56%) Banking
8 4 (1.25%) Back Office
8 4 (1.25%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.25%) Military
9 3 (0.93%) Electronics
9 3 (0.93%) Marketing
10 2 (0.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.62%) Law
10 2 (0.62%) Legal
10 2 (0.62%) Local Government
11 1 (0.31%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.31%) Social Housing
11 1 (0.31%) Tech for Good
Job Titles
1 68 (21.18%) Developer
2 60 (18.69%) Senior
3 31 (9.66%) Senior Developer
4 28 (8.72%) Architect
5 25 (7.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 24 (7.48%) Data Engineer
7 21 (6.54%) Analyst
7 21 (6.54%) Azure Engineer
7 21 (6.54%) Consultant
8 19 (5.92%) DevOps Engineer
9 17 (5.30%) Support Engineer
10 16 (4.98%) Desktop Engineer
11 15 (4.67%) Desktop Support
11 15 (4.67%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 14 (4.36%) Senior Data Engineer
13 13 (4.05%) DevSecOps Engineer
14 11 (3.43%) Cloud Engineer
14 11 (3.43%) Implementation Consultant
15 10 (3.12%) Backend Developer
16 9 (2.80%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.92%) ARM Templates
1 19 (5.92%) REST
2 17 (5.30%) Kafka
3 14 (4.36%) YAML
4 13 (4.05%) OAuth
5 12 (3.74%) Keycloak
5 12 (3.74%) React
6 11 (3.43%) Node.js
6 11 (3.43%) SOAP
7 10 (3.12%) .NET
7 10 (3.12%) OAuth2
7 10 (3.12%) SAML
8 9 (2.80%) AngularJS
8 9 (2.80%) OpenID
9 8 (2.49%) FastAPI
9 8 (2.49%) Flask
9 8 (2.49%) GraphQL
9 8 (2.49%) gRPC
9 8 (2.49%) RESTful
9 8 (2.49%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 37 (11.53%) Hybrid Cloud
2 28 (8.72%) Cloud Native
3 15 (4.67%) Product Ownership
4 10 (3.12%) Enterprise Software
5 9 (2.80%) Data Centre
6 8 (2.49%) Onboarding
6 8 (2.49%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.18%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.56%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (1.25%) CMDB
9 4 (1.25%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.25%) FMCG
10 3 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
10 3 (0.93%) IoT
10 3 (0.93%) iPad
10 3 (0.93%) iPhone
10 3 (0.93%) Management Information System
10 3 (0.93%) Private Cloud
10 3 (0.93%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.93%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 59 (18.38%) Windows
2 22 (6.85%) Linux
2 22 (6.85%) Windows Server
3 11 (3.43%) Windows 10
4 5 (1.56%) Windows Server 2016
5 4 (1.25%) Unix
5 4 (1.25%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.93%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.31%) Debian
7 1 (0.31%) Rocky
7 1 (0.31%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 142 (44.24%) DevOps
2 90 (28.04%) Agile
3 65 (20.25%) CI/CD
4 50 (15.58%) Scrum
5 46 (14.33%) Problem-Solving
6 45 (14.02%) Infrastructure as Code
7 43 (13.40%) Containerisation
8 40 (12.46%) Validation
9 33 (10.28%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 32 (9.97%) Collaborative Working
11 31 (9.66%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 30 (9.35%) ITIL
13 29 (9.03%) Software Delivery
14 27 (8.41%) Migration
14 27 (8.41%) Requirements Analysis
14 27 (8.41%) Web Application Development
15 25 (7.79%) Analytics
15 25 (7.79%) RBAC
16 24 (7.48%) Stakeholder Management
17 22 (6.85%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 71 (22.12%) SQL
2 62 (19.31%) Python
3 50 (15.58%) JavaScript
4 44 (13.71%) PowerShell
5 36 (11.21%) PL/SQL
6 23 (7.17%) Go
7 21 (6.54%) Bicep
8 14 (4.36%) Java
8 14 (4.36%) TypeScript
9 10 (3.12%) Bash
10 7 (2.18%) C#
11 3 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.93%) Ruby
11 3 (0.93%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.62%) C
13 1 (0.31%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.31%) C++
13 1 (0.31%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 170 (52.96%) Security Cleared
2 162 (50.47%) SC Cleared
3 39 (12.15%) Azure Certification
4 34 (10.59%) DV Cleared
5 14 (4.36%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (3.74%) Degree
7 10 (3.12%) CISM
7 10 (3.12%) CISSP
8 8 (2.49%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 7 (2.18%) AWS Certification
10 5 (1.56%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.25%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 4 (1.25%) ITIL Certification
12 3 (0.93%) BPSS Clearance
13 2 (0.62%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 2 (0.62%) Network+ Certification
14 1 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
14 1 (0.31%) CSPO
14 1 (0.31%) GCIH
14 1 (0.31%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (7.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 19 (5.92%) NCSC
3 17 (5.30%) GDPR
3 17 (5.30%) NIST
4 9 (2.80%) QA
5 8 (2.49%) NIST 800
6 5 (1.56%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.93%) Government Security Classifications
7 3 (0.93%) PSD2
7 3 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.62%) GRC
8 2 (0.62%) SLA
8 2 (0.62%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.31%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.31%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.31%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.31%) WCAG
System Software
1 68 (21.18%) Active Directory
2 50 (15.58%) Docker
3 12 (3.74%) Hyper-V
4 9 (2.80%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (2.49%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (1.87%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.31%) KVM
7 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.31%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.31%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.31%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 63 (19.63%) Kubernetes
2 56 (17.45%) Terraform
3 27 (8.41%) Microsoft Intune
4 16 (4.98%) Single Sign-On
5 13 (4.05%) Ansible
5 13 (4.05%) Grafana
5 13 (4.05%) SCCM
6 11 (3.43%) Prometheus
7 6 (1.87%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (1.56%) Kibana
9 4 (1.25%) Puppet
10 3 (0.93%) Argo
10 3 (0.93%) logstash
11 2 (0.62%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.62%) PingFederate
11 2 (0.62%) Podman
12 1 (0.31%) CA Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.31%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.31%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.31%) Icinga
Vendors
1 114 (35.51%) Microsoft
2 42 (13.08%) Oracle
3 14 (4.36%) Databricks
4 12 (3.74%) Red Hat
4 12 (3.74%) VMware
5 11 (3.43%) Google
5 11 (3.43%) Siemens
6 10 (3.12%) ServiceNow
7 8 (2.49%) IBM
8 7 (2.18%) NetApp
9 6 (1.87%) Cisco
9 6 (1.87%) NEC
9 6 (1.87%) Salesforce
9 6 (1.87%) SAP
10 5 (1.56%) ForgeRock
10 5 (1.56%) Ping Identity
11 4 (1.25%) Starlink
12 3 (0.93%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.93%) McAfee
13 2 (0.62%) PTC