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 1 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 11 12
Rank change year-on-year +5 +1 -4
Contract jobs citing Azure 421 222 289
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.54% 11.47% 10.66%
As % of the Cloud Services category 43.40% 38.47% 40.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 293 167 217
10th Percentile £400 £311 £328
25th Percentile £450 £375 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +8.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £590
90th Percentile £737 £700 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £534
% change year-on-year - -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 4 1
10th Percentile £93.28 £27.40 -
25th Percentile £94.40 £46.75 £77.50
Median hourly rate £96.27 £70.00 £85.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.52% -17.65% +109.88%
75th Percentile £98.13 £77.80 £92.50
90th Percentile £99.25 £78.34 -
England median hourly rate £52.50 £37.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year +40.00% +7.14% -24.21%

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 970 577 718
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.59% 29.80% 26.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 629 394 492
10th Percentile £325 £213 £238
25th Percentile £425 £350 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £588 £600
90th Percentile £730 £675 £675
England median daily rate £525 £501 £525
% change year-on-year +4.90% -4.67% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 38 46
10th Percentile £13.93 £18.13 £12.63
25th Percentile £15.24 £18.51 £30.75
Median hourly rate £18.50 £18.87 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -73.04% +76.99%
75th Percentile £46.42 £34.50 -
90th Percentile £98.82 £37.50 -
England median hourly rate £34.13 £26.30 £30.00
% change year-on-year +29.75% -12.33% -9.09%

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 1 September 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 1 September 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 +3 112 £475 +8.57% 35
Bristol -1 108 £550 +25.71% 169
Devon +7 58 £534 +2.20% 49
Gloucestershire -3 49 £525 +5.00% 161
Wiltshire -8 38 £500 -14.89% 24
Dorset +6 30 £675 +63.64% 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 29 (6.89%) Confluence
2 24 (5.70%) SharePoint
3 10 (2.38%) IIS
4 9 (2.14%) Apache Spark
5 5 (1.19%) Apache
6 4 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
7 3 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.48%) nginx
9 1 (0.24%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.24%) ColdFusion
9 1 (0.24%) JBoss
9 1 (0.24%) Oracle Coherence
9 1 (0.24%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 5 (1.19%) MS Visio
2 3 (0.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.71%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.71%) Trello
3 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.48%) Unit4 Business World
2 1 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.24%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.24%) SAP EHS
2 1 (0.24%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 191 (45.37%) AWS
2 75 (17.81%) GCP
3 70 (16.63%) Azure DevOps
4 56 (13.30%) Entra ID
5 36 (8.55%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (8.08%) GitHub
7 26 (6.18%) Power Platform
8 16 (3.80%) Azure Key Vault
8 16 (3.80%) Azure Monitor
8 16 (3.80%) Serverless
9 15 (3.56%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (2.61%) Azure Data Factory
10 11 (2.61%) Cloud Computing
11 10 (2.38%) PaaS
11 10 (2.38%) SaaS
12 9 (2.14%) Azure AKS
12 9 (2.14%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 9 (2.14%) Azure Sentinel
12 9 (2.14%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 9 (2.14%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 32 (7.60%) Firewall
2 22 (5.23%) DNS
3 16 (3.80%) TCP/IP
4 13 (3.09%) DHCP
4 13 (3.09%) VPN
5 12 (2.85%) WAN
6 10 (2.38%) VLAN
7 9 (2.14%) BGP
8 8 (1.90%) VSAN
9 5 (1.19%) Network Security
10 4 (0.95%) OSPF
10 4 (0.95%) SAN
11 3 (0.71%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (0.71%) NAS
11 3 (0.71%) Software-Defined Networking
12 2 (0.48%) LAN
12 2 (0.48%) Reverse Proxy
12 2 (0.48%) SSL
13 1 (0.24%) Kerberos
13 1 (0.24%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (7.13%) SQL Server
2 22 (5.23%) Power BI
3 13 (3.09%) Geospatial Data
3 13 (3.09%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (2.61%) Data Warehouse
5 9 (2.14%) Data Lake
6 8 (1.90%) Oracle Database
7 7 (1.66%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (1.66%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (1.66%) Metadata
7 7 (1.66%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.43%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.43%) NoSQL
9 5 (1.19%) Big Data
9 5 (1.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.95%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.95%) Tableau
11 3 (0.71%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.71%) Delta Lake
11 3 (0.71%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 44 (10.45%) Git
2 40 (9.50%) JIRA
3 30 (7.13%) GitLab
4 26 (6.18%) Jenkins
5 11 (2.61%) MSI
6 3 (0.71%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.71%) Claude Code
6 3 (0.71%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.71%) JUnit
6 3 (0.71%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 3 (0.71%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.48%) MLflow
7 2 (0.48%) Selenium
7 2 (0.48%) Spinnaker
8 1 (0.24%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.24%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.24%) Gradle
8 1 (0.24%) TestNG
8 1 (0.24%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.24%) WebDriver
General
1 79 (18.76%) Social Skills
2 60 (14.25%) Public Sector
3 29 (6.89%) Analytical Skills
4 27 (6.41%) Finance
5 12 (2.85%) Legal
6 11 (2.61%) Local Government
7 10 (2.38%) Military
8 8 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (1.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.43%) Banking
9 6 (1.43%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.19%) Retail
11 4 (0.95%) Police
12 3 (0.71%) Advertising
12 3 (0.71%) Aviation
12 3 (0.71%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.48%) Marketing
14 1 (0.24%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.24%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.24%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 65 (15.44%) Architect
2 53 (12.59%) Developer
3 32 (7.60%) Lead
4 31 (7.36%) Senior
5 27 (6.41%) Product Manager
6 26 (6.18%) Consultant
7 24 (5.70%) Digital Product Manager
8 22 (5.23%) DevOps Engineer
9 20 (4.75%) Technical Architect
10 19 (4.51%) Data Engineer
11 18 (4.28%) Azure Engineer
11 18 (4.28%) Solutions Architect
12 16 (3.80%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 14 (3.33%) Azure Architect
14 13 (3.09%) Analyst
14 13 (3.09%) Azure Consultant
14 13 (3.09%) Data Architect
14 13 (3.09%) DBA
14 13 (3.09%) Site Engineer
14 13 (3.09%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 90 (21.38%) Terraform
2 46 (10.93%) .NET
3 31 (7.36%) .NET Framework
4 25 (5.94%) REST
5 20 (4.75%) RESTful
6 18 (4.28%) .NET Core
6 18 (4.28%) React
7 17 (4.04%) CSS
7 17 (4.04%) HTML
8 13 (3.09%) GeoJSON
9 12 (2.85%) Kafka
10 11 (2.61%) ATL
10 11 (2.61%) COM
10 11 (2.61%) CSS3
10 11 (2.61%) HTML5
10 11 (2.61%) MFC
10 11 (2.61%) SailPoint
10 11 (2.61%) WPF
11 10 (2.38%) Node.js
11 10 (2.38%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 57 (13.54%) Cloud Native
2 41 (9.74%) Legacy Systems
3 26 (6.18%) Onboarding
4 24 (5.70%) Product Ownership
5 19 (4.51%) Enterprise Software
6 12 (2.85%) Data Centre
6 12 (2.85%) Hybrid Cloud
6 12 (2.85%) Linux Command Line
6 12 (2.85%) Public Cloud
7 10 (2.38%) Wiki
8 9 (2.14%) Data Structures
8 9 (2.14%) Security Operations Centre
9 7 (1.66%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (1.43%) Enterprise Cloud
10 6 (1.43%) Legacy Code
10 6 (1.43%) PKI
11 4 (0.95%) Augmented Reality
11 4 (0.95%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.95%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 73 (17.34%) Windows
2 35 (8.31%) Linux
3 27 (6.41%) Windows Server
4 15 (3.56%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.43%) Android
6 6 (1.43%) Unix
7 4 (0.95%) Rocky
7 4 (0.95%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.71%) Debian
8 3 (0.71%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.48%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.24%) CentOS
10 1 (0.24%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (32.78%) DevOps
2 134 (31.83%) Agile
3 129 (30.64%) CI/CD
4 89 (21.14%) Infrastructure as Code
5 67 (15.91%) Containerisation
6 59 (14.01%) Roadmaps
7 57 (13.54%) Continuous Improvement
8 55 (13.06%) Stakeholder Management
9 51 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
10 46 (10.93%) DevSecOps
11 43 (10.21%) Technical Leadership
12 40 (9.50%) Microservices
13 39 (9.26%) Decision-Making
13 39 (9.26%) Test Automation
14 38 (9.03%) Migration
15 37 (8.79%) Analytics
16 36 (8.55%) Data Modelling
16 36 (8.55%) Deployment Automation
16 36 (8.55%) Software Engineering
17 33 (7.84%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 78 (18.53%) Python
2 62 (14.73%) SQL
3 40 (9.50%) PowerShell
4 38 (9.03%) C#
5 35 (8.31%) Java
6 32 (7.60%) Bash
7 28 (6.65%) JavaScript
8 24 (5.70%) TypeScript
9 20 (4.75%) Bicep
10 13 (3.09%) Go
11 5 (1.19%) BeanShell
12 4 (0.95%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.95%) R
12 4 (0.95%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.71%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.71%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.48%) C++
14 2 (0.48%) Kotlin
15 1 (0.24%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.24%) Rust
Qualifications
1 223 (52.97%) Security Cleared
2 163 (38.72%) SC Cleared
3 55 (13.06%) DV Cleared
4 21 (4.99%) Degree
5 16 (3.80%) CISSP
6 14 (3.33%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (3.09%) Azure Certification
8 12 (2.85%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (2.61%) CISM
10 8 (1.90%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (1.43%) CCNA
13 5 (1.19%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 5 (1.19%) TOGAF Certification
14 4 (0.95%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.71%) ACSP
15 3 (0.71%) VCAP
16 2 (0.48%) A+ Certification
16 2 (0.48%) ISTQB
16 2 (0.48%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (5.70%) QA
2 20 (4.75%) NCSC
3 19 (4.51%) Data Quality
4 13 (3.09%) Accessibility
5 11 (2.61%) SLA
5 11 (2.61%) WCAG
6 9 (2.14%) GDPR
7 6 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.19%) ISO 9000
8 5 (1.19%) NIST
9 3 (0.71%) SNOMED CT
10 2 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.48%) GRC
10 2 (0.48%) HL7
11 1 (0.24%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.24%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.24%) PMO
System Software
1 67 (15.91%) Docker
2 59 (14.01%) Active Directory
3 27 (6.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (4.28%) Hyper-V
5 17 (4.04%) Virtual Desktop
6 11 (2.61%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (2.38%) vSphere
8 7 (1.66%) VMware NSX
9 3 (0.71%) VirtualBox
10 2 (0.48%) KVM
11 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.24%) NFS
11 1 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.24%) zsh
Systems Management
1 94 (22.33%) Kubernetes
2 40 (9.50%) Ansible
3 21 (4.99%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (3.56%) Grafana
5 13 (3.09%) Argo
5 13 (3.09%) Prometheus
6 7 (1.66%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 7 (1.66%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.43%) FortiGate
8 5 (1.19%) OPNET
8 5 (1.19%) VxRail
9 4 (0.95%) Istio
9 4 (0.95%) Proxmox
9 4 (0.95%) SCCM
10 3 (0.71%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.48%) CASB
11 2 (0.48%) Data Guard
11 2 (0.48%) Kustomize
11 2 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
11 2 (0.48%) Podman
Vendors
1 158 (37.53%) Microsoft
2 28 (6.65%) VMware
3 22 (5.23%) Google
3 22 (5.23%) Oracle
4 21 (4.99%) Databricks
5 11 (2.61%) CyberArk
6 8 (1.90%) Cisco
6 8 (1.90%) Red Hat
7 7 (1.66%) InterSystems
7 7 (1.66%) Splunk
8 6 (1.43%) Dynatrace
8 6 (1.43%) MuleSoft
9 5 (1.19%) McAfee
9 5 (1.19%) NetApp
9 5 (1.19%) Starlink
9 5 (1.19%) Zscaler
10 4 (0.95%) Apple
10 4 (0.95%) SAP
11 3 (0.71%) Foundry
11 3 (0.71%) Thales