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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 434 211 364
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.20% 11.75% 11.07%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.93% 38.72% 43.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 272 164 282
10th Percentile £364 £309 £301
25th Percentile £431 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £539 £503 £514
Median % change year-on-year +7.21% -2.19% -6.59%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £594
90th Percentile £730 £700 £699
England median daily rate £525 £525 £540
% change year-on-year - -2.78% -1.82%
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 £45.00 £38.50
% change year-on-year +27.78% +16.88% -37.75%

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 945 545 837
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.56% 30.35% 25.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 591 388 595
10th Percentile £305 £224 £220
25th Percentile £413 £355 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £520
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -8.65% -5.45%
75th Percentile £613 £600 £600
90th Percentile £700 £675 £683
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 38 50
10th Percentile £14.50 £18.13 £13.74
25th Percentile £17.75 £18.51 £14.25
Median hourly rate £57.50 £18.87 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +204.72% -73.04% +33.33%
75th Percentile £58.75 £32.69 -
90th Percentile - £37.50 -
England median hourly rate £40.53 £25.33 £22.00
% change year-on-year +60.04% +15.11% -31.89%

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 3 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
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 3 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 +3 120 £495 -1.00% 49
Bristol +4 111 £550 +25.71% 60
Gloucestershire -1 59 £450 -26.53% 67
Devon +5 48 £519 -0.15% 38
Wiltshire -2 43 £500 -12.09% 32
Dorset +4 32 £675 +61.19% 20
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 22 (5.07%) SharePoint
2 15 (3.46%) Confluence
3 11 (2.53%) IIS
4 8 (1.84%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.38%) Apache
6 3 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.46%) nginx
8 1 (0.23%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.23%) ColdFusion
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Coherence
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 4 (0.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.69%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.23%) InDesign
3 1 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.23%) PTC Creo
3 1 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.23%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.46%) Maximo
1 2 (0.46%) Unit4 Business World
2 1 (0.23%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.23%) SAP EHS
2 1 (0.23%) SAP Hybris
2 1 (0.23%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 172 (39.63%) AWS
2 65 (14.98%) Azure DevOps
3 64 (14.75%) GCP
4 55 (12.67%) Entra ID
5 31 (7.14%) GitHub
6 29 (6.68%) Microsoft 365
7 28 (6.45%) Power Platform
8 18 (4.15%) Azure Data Factory
9 17 (3.92%) Azure Key Vault
9 17 (3.92%) Azure Monitor
10 16 (3.69%) GitHub Actions
11 15 (3.46%) Serverless
12 12 (2.76%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 11 (2.53%) Cloud Computing
14 10 (2.30%) SaaS
15 9 (2.07%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 9 (2.07%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 9 (2.07%) PaaS
16 8 (1.84%) Azure Sentinel
17 7 (1.61%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.61%) Firewall
2 16 (3.69%) DNS
3 13 (3.00%) WAN
4 11 (2.53%) VPN
5 7 (1.61%) DHCP
6 6 (1.38%) BGP
6 6 (1.38%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.15%) SAN
8 4 (0.92%) NAS
8 4 (0.92%) VLAN
9 3 (0.69%) LAN
9 3 (0.69%) Network Security
10 2 (0.46%) Reverse Proxy
10 2 (0.46%) SSL
11 1 (0.23%) HTTP
11 1 (0.23%) IPsec
11 1 (0.23%) Kerberos
11 1 (0.23%) MPLS
11 1 (0.23%) OSPF
11 1 (0.23%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (6.91%) SQL Server
2 25 (5.76%) Power BI
3 16 (3.69%) PostgreSQL
4 15 (3.46%) Data Warehouse
5 10 (2.30%) Azure SQL Database
6 9 (2.07%) Geospatial Data
7 8 (1.84%) Data Lake
7 8 (1.84%) MongoDB
7 8 (1.84%) Oracle Database
8 6 (1.38%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.38%) NoSQL
9 5 (1.15%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.15%) Metadata
10 4 (0.92%) Big Data
10 4 (0.92%) Redis
10 4 (0.92%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.92%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.69%) GIS
11 3 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.69%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (6.45%) Git
2 26 (5.99%) JIRA
3 21 (4.84%) GitLab
4 14 (3.23%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.84%) MSI
6 3 (0.69%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.69%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.69%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 3 (0.69%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.46%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.46%) JUnit
7 2 (0.46%) MLflow
7 2 (0.46%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.46%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.23%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.23%) Gradle
8 1 (0.23%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.23%) NUnit
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.23%) Selenium
General
1 67 (15.44%) Social Skills
2 35 (8.06%) Public Sector
3 27 (6.22%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (4.38%) Finance
5 15 (3.46%) Legal
6 9 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (1.84%) Military
8 7 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.38%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.15%) Banking
10 5 (1.15%) Local Government
10 5 (1.15%) Marketing
11 3 (0.69%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.69%) Police
11 3 (0.69%) Retail
12 2 (0.46%) Advertising
12 2 (0.46%) Publishing
13 1 (0.23%) Aviation
13 1 (0.23%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.23%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 66 (15.21%) Consultant
2 60 (13.82%) Architect
3 40 (9.22%) Implementation Consultant
4 37 (8.53%) Developer
5 35 (8.06%) Lead
6 27 (6.22%) Product Manager
7 26 (5.99%) Senior
8 25 (5.76%) Data Engineer
8 25 (5.76%) DevOps Engineer
9 24 (5.53%) Digital Product Manager
10 22 (5.07%) Azure Engineer
11 20 (4.61%) Technical Architect
12 15 (3.46%) Azure Specialist
12 15 (3.46%) Solutions Architect
13 14 (3.23%) Azure Architect
13 14 (3.23%) Support Engineer
14 13 (3.00%) Analyst
14 13 (3.00%) Data Architect
14 13 (3.00%) DBA
14 13 (3.00%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (9.22%) .NET
2 25 (5.76%) .NET Framework
3 21 (4.84%) REST
4 17 (3.92%) RESTful
5 14 (3.23%) React
6 12 (2.76%) Kafka
7 11 (2.53%) .NET Core
7 11 (2.53%) SailPoint
7 11 (2.53%) Spring Boot
8 10 (2.30%) GeoJSON
8 10 (2.30%) LDAP
9 9 (2.07%) Node.js
9 9 (2.07%) Spring
10 8 (1.84%) ATL
10 8 (1.84%) COM
10 8 (1.84%) GraphQL
10 8 (1.84%) MFC
10 8 (1.84%) Playwright
10 8 (1.84%) RabbitMQ
11 7 (1.61%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 47 (10.83%) Cloud Native
2 38 (8.76%) Legacy Systems
3 21 (4.84%) Onboarding
4 19 (4.38%) Public Cloud
5 18 (4.15%) Enterprise Software
5 18 (4.15%) Product Ownership
6 14 (3.23%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (2.53%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.53%) Self-Motivation
8 7 (1.61%) Linux Command Line
9 6 (1.38%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.38%) Legacy Code
10 4 (0.92%) Augmented Reality
10 4 (0.92%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.92%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (0.92%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.92%) Virtual Reality
10 4 (0.92%) Wiki
11 3 (0.69%) EPoS
11 3 (0.69%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 67 (15.44%) Windows
2 33 (7.60%) Linux
3 21 (4.84%) Windows Server
4 17 (3.92%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.38%) Android
7 5 (1.15%) Rocky
7 5 (1.15%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.92%) Debian
9 3 (0.69%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.69%) Unix
10 2 (0.46%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.23%) CentOS
11 1 (0.23%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 120 (27.65%) DevOps
2 114 (26.27%) Agile
3 101 (23.27%) CI/CD
4 63 (14.52%) Infrastructure as Code
5 53 (12.21%) Roadmaps
6 51 (11.75%) Containerisation
7 47 (10.83%) Continuous Improvement
7 47 (10.83%) ERP
8 46 (10.60%) Problem-Solving
9 44 (10.14%) Analytics
9 44 (10.14%) Migration
10 41 (9.45%) Data Modelling
10 41 (9.45%) Microservices
10 41 (9.45%) PLM
11 38 (8.76%) Stakeholder Management
12 33 (7.60%) Data Pipeline
12 33 (7.60%) Decision-Making
12 33 (7.60%) Technical Leadership
13 31 (7.14%) Business Intelligence
14 30 (6.91%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 70 (16.13%) SQL
2 68 (15.67%) Python
3 35 (8.06%) PowerShell
4 29 (6.68%) Java
5 25 (5.76%) C#
6 21 (4.84%) Bash
6 21 (4.84%) JavaScript
7 16 (3.69%) Go
7 16 (3.69%) TypeScript
8 13 (3.00%) Bicep
9 5 (1.15%) BeanShell
9 5 (1.15%) PL/SQL
9 5 (1.15%) T-SQL
10 4 (0.92%) R
11 3 (0.69%) C++
11 3 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.46%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.46%) Scala
12 2 (0.46%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.23%) Rust
Qualifications
1 181 (41.71%) Security Cleared
2 137 (31.57%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.14%) DV Cleared
4 22 (5.07%) Degree
5 14 (3.23%) Azure Certification
6 13 (3.00%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (2.30%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.07%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (2.07%) CISSP
9 7 (1.61%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (1.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 4 (0.92%) CCNA
11 4 (0.92%) CISM
11 4 (0.92%) TOGAF Certification
12 3 (0.69%) ACSP
12 3 (0.69%) ISTQB
12 3 (0.69%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 3 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.46%) AWS Certification
13 2 (0.46%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (6.45%) QA
2 21 (4.84%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.23%) NCSC
4 13 (3.00%) GDPR
5 8 (1.84%) Accessibility
5 8 (1.84%) SLA
6 7 (1.61%) WCAG
7 6 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.15%) ISO 9000
9 4 (0.92%) NIST
10 3 (0.69%) SNOMED CT
11 2 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.46%) HL7
11 2 (0.46%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.23%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.23%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.23%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.23%) PMO
System Software
1 58 (13.36%) Active Directory
2 51 (11.75%) Docker
3 18 (4.15%) Virtual Desktop
4 13 (3.00%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (2.07%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.92%) vSphere
8 2 (0.46%) KVM
8 2 (0.46%) VirtualBox
8 2 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.23%) NFS
9 1 (0.23%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 72 (16.59%) Kubernetes
2 64 (14.75%) Terraform
3 25 (5.76%) Ansible
3 25 (5.76%) Microsoft Intune
4 18 (4.15%) Grafana
5 15 (3.46%) Prometheus
6 12 (2.76%) Argo
7 11 (2.53%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (1.61%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 6 (1.38%) FortiGate
10 4 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (0.92%) Istio
10 4 (0.92%) OPNET
10 4 (0.92%) SCCM
11 3 (0.69%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.69%) Proxmox
12 2 (0.46%) CASB
12 2 (0.46%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.46%) linkerd
12 2 (0.46%) Puppet
Vendors
1 153 (35.25%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.22%) Siemens
3 23 (5.30%) Oracle
4 19 (4.38%) Databricks
5 14 (3.23%) VMware
6 13 (3.00%) Google
7 8 (1.84%) SAP
8 7 (1.61%) CyberArk
8 7 (1.61%) InterSystems
8 7 (1.61%) Starlink
9 6 (1.38%) McAfee
10 5 (1.15%) Cisco
10 5 (1.15%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.15%) NetApp
10 5 (1.15%) Red Hat
10 5 (1.15%) Splunk
10 5 (1.15%) Zscaler
11 4 (0.92%) Apple
11 4 (0.92%) MuleSoft
12 3 (0.69%) ServiceNow