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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 426 221 370
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.00% 12.56% 11.18%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.86% 40.33% 44.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 263 172 290
10th Percentile £363 £313 £269
25th Percentile £426 £375 £426
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £516 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.69% +3.25% -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £590
90th Percentile £720 £709 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £543
% change year-on-year - -3.23% -3.13%
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 £38.50
% change year-on-year +16.75% +27.92% -38.89%

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 929 548 836
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.17% 31.15% 25.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 585 391 606
10th Percentile £305 £220 £214
25th Percentile £413 £355 £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 £681 £675
England median daily rate £514 £514 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.10% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 37 49
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.13 £13.63
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% +28.57%
75th Percentile £58.75 £34.50 £70.00
90th Percentile - £50.00 -
England median hourly rate £39.50 £25.15 £21.50
% change year-on-year +57.06% +16.98% -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 19 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 19 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 +3 115 £488 -2.50% 42
Bristol +4 106 £550 +25.71% 50
Gloucestershire -1 59 £450 -26.83% 50
Wiltshire +2 50 £500 -14.89% 30
Devon +7 47 £513 -1.27% 30
Dorset +1 30 £675 +54.29% 17
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 (5.16%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.58%) Confluence
2 11 (2.58%) IIS
3 8 (1.88%) Apache Spark
4 6 (1.41%) Apache
5 4 (0.94%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.47%) 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 (0.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.70%) 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 7 (1.64%) Maximo
2 2 (0.47%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.23%) SAP EHS
3 1 (0.23%) SAP Hybris
3 1 (0.23%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 160 (37.56%) AWS
2 68 (15.96%) Azure DevOps
3 61 (14.32%) GCP
4 51 (11.97%) Entra ID
5 29 (6.81%) GitHub
5 29 (6.81%) Power Platform
6 28 (6.57%) Microsoft 365
7 21 (4.93%) Azure Monitor
8 19 (4.46%) Azure Data Factory
9 16 (3.76%) Azure Key Vault
10 15 (3.52%) Serverless
11 14 (3.29%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 14 (3.29%) GitHub Actions
12 13 (3.05%) Azure Sentinel
12 13 (3.05%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 12 (2.82%) OpenShift
14 11 (2.58%) Azure AKS
14 11 (2.58%) Cloud Computing
15 8 (1.88%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 8 (1.88%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.69%) Firewall
2 16 (3.76%) DNS
2 16 (3.76%) VPN
3 13 (3.05%) WAN
4 8 (1.88%) DHCP
5 6 (1.41%) BGP
5 6 (1.41%) TCP/IP
6 5 (1.17%) SAN
7 4 (0.94%) NAS
7 4 (0.94%) VLAN
8 3 (0.70%) LAN
8 3 (0.70%) Network Security
9 2 (0.47%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.47%) SSL
10 1 (0.23%) AMQP
10 1 (0.23%) DMVPN
10 1 (0.23%) HTTP
10 1 (0.23%) Kerberos
10 1 (0.23%) MPLS
10 1 (0.23%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (6.10%) Power BI
2 25 (5.87%) SQL Server
3 15 (3.52%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (3.05%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (2.82%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (1.88%) Data Lake
7 7 (1.64%) Geospatial Data
7 7 (1.64%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.41%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.41%) NoSQL
8 6 (1.41%) Oracle Database
9 5 (1.17%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.17%) Metadata
10 4 (0.94%) Big Data
10 4 (0.94%) Redis
10 4 (0.94%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.94%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.70%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.70%) GIS
11 3 (0.70%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (6.10%) Git
2 24 (5.63%) JIRA
3 21 (4.93%) GitLab
4 13 (3.05%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.41%) MSI
6 3 (0.70%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.70%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.70%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.47%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.47%) MLflow
7 2 (0.47%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.47%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.47%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.23%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.23%) Gradle
8 1 (0.23%) JUnit
8 1 (0.23%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.23%) NUnit
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.23%) Selenium
General
1 66 (15.49%) Social Skills
2 29 (6.81%) Public Sector
3 26 (6.10%) Analytical Skills
4 21 (4.93%) Finance
5 14 (3.29%) Legal
6 9 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.41%) Banking
8 6 (1.41%) Marketing
8 6 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (1.17%) Military
10 4 (0.94%) Local Government
11 3 (0.70%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.70%) Retail
12 2 (0.47%) Advertising
12 2 (0.47%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.47%) Police
12 2 (0.47%) Publishing
13 1 (0.23%) Electronics
13 1 (0.23%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 66 (15.49%) Consultant
2 57 (13.38%) Architect
3 40 (9.39%) Implementation Consultant
4 33 (7.75%) Developer
5 30 (7.04%) Lead
6 29 (6.81%) DevOps Engineer
7 27 (6.34%) Azure Engineer
7 27 (6.34%) Data Engineer
7 27 (6.34%) Product Manager
8 24 (5.63%) Digital Product Manager
9 22 (5.16%) Senior
10 18 (4.23%) Technical Architect
11 16 (3.76%) Azure Specialist
11 16 (3.76%) Support Engineer
12 14 (3.29%) Azure Architect
12 14 (3.29%) Solutions Architect
13 13 (3.05%) Analyst
13 13 (3.05%) Data Architect
13 13 (3.05%) Desktop Engineer
13 13 (3.05%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (8.69%) .NET
2 23 (5.40%) .NET Framework
3 18 (4.23%) REST
4 14 (3.29%) RESTful
5 12 (2.82%) React
6 11 (2.58%) Kafka
7 10 (2.35%) SailPoint
8 9 (2.11%) .NET Core
8 9 (2.11%) LDAP
8 9 (2.11%) Node.js
9 8 (1.88%) GeoJSON
9 8 (1.88%) GraphQL
9 8 (1.88%) Playwright
9 8 (1.88%) Spring Boot
10 7 (1.64%) PySpark
10 7 (1.64%) RabbitMQ
11 6 (1.41%) ATL
11 6 (1.41%) COM
11 6 (1.41%) MFC
11 6 (1.41%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.33%) Cloud Native
2 36 (8.45%) Legacy Systems
3 20 (4.69%) Enterprise Software
3 20 (4.69%) Hybrid Cloud
4 19 (4.46%) Product Ownership
4 19 (4.46%) Public Cloud
5 18 (4.23%) Onboarding
6 11 (2.58%) Data Structures
6 11 (2.58%) Self-Motivation
7 6 (1.41%) Data Centre
7 6 (1.41%) Legacy Code
8 5 (1.17%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (0.94%) Augmented Reality
9 4 (0.94%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (0.94%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (0.94%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.94%) Virtual Reality
9 4 (0.94%) Wiki
10 3 (0.70%) EPoS
10 3 (0.70%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 64 (15.02%) Windows
2 31 (7.28%) Linux
3 20 (4.69%) Windows Server
4 17 (3.99%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.41%) Android
7 5 (1.17%) Rocky
7 5 (1.17%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.94%) Debian
9 3 (0.70%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.70%) Unix
9 3 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.47%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.23%) CentOS
11 1 (0.23%) SUSE
11 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (27.93%) DevOps
2 107 (25.12%) Agile
3 94 (22.07%) CI/CD
4 55 (12.91%) Infrastructure as Code
5 53 (12.44%) Roadmaps
6 50 (11.74%) Analytics
7 47 (11.03%) Continuous Improvement
7 47 (11.03%) ERP
8 45 (10.56%) Containerisation
8 45 (10.56%) Problem-Solving
9 43 (10.09%) Data Modelling
9 43 (10.09%) Migration
10 41 (9.62%) PLM
11 36 (8.45%) Microservices
12 35 (8.22%) Stakeholder Management
13 34 (7.98%) Decision-Making
14 33 (7.75%) Business Intelligence
15 31 (7.28%) Data Pipeline
15 31 (7.28%) Technical Leadership
16 30 (7.04%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 67 (15.73%) SQL
2 63 (14.79%) Python
3 35 (8.22%) PowerShell
4 24 (5.63%) Java
5 22 (5.16%) C#
6 18 (4.23%) Bash
6 18 (4.23%) JavaScript
7 16 (3.76%) Bicep
7 16 (3.76%) Go
8 14 (3.29%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.17%) T-SQL
10 4 (0.94%) BeanShell
10 4 (0.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (0.94%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.70%) C++
11 3 (0.70%) R
12 2 (0.47%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.47%) Scala
12 2 (0.47%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.23%) Rust
Qualifications
1 174 (40.85%) Security Cleared
2 135 (31.69%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.33%) DV Cleared
4 21 (4.93%) Degree
5 19 (4.46%) Azure Certification
6 17 (3.99%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (2.82%) CISSP
8 9 (2.11%) CISM
9 8 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 4 (0.94%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.94%) TOGAF Certification
14 3 (0.70%) ACSP
14 3 (0.70%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.70%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.70%) ITIL Certification
15 2 (0.47%) A+ Certification
15 2 (0.47%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.34%) QA
2 22 (5.16%) Data Quality
3 13 (3.05%) GDPR
4 12 (2.82%) NCSC
5 11 (2.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.11%) NIST
7 8 (1.88%) SLA
8 7 (1.64%) NIST 800
9 6 (1.41%) Accessibility
10 5 (1.17%) WCAG
11 3 (0.70%) ISO 9000
11 3 (0.70%) SNOMED CT
12 2 (0.47%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.47%) HL7
13 1 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
13 1 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.23%) PMO
System Software
1 56 (13.15%) Active Directory
2 43 (10.09%) Docker
3 18 (4.23%) Virtual Desktop
4 11 (2.58%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (1.88%) Hyper-V
6 6 (1.41%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.94%) vSphere
8 2 (0.47%) KVM
8 2 (0.47%) VirtualBox
8 2 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.23%) NFS
9 1 (0.23%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 67 (15.73%) Kubernetes
2 62 (14.55%) Terraform
3 27 (6.34%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (5.40%) Ansible
5 15 (3.52%) Grafana
6 14 (3.29%) Prometheus
7 10 (2.35%) Argo
7 10 (2.35%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.41%) FortiGate
9 5 (1.17%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 5 (1.17%) SCCM
10 4 (0.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (0.94%) Istio
11 3 (0.70%) Progress Chef
12 2 (0.47%) CASB
12 2 (0.47%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.47%) Kustomize
12 2 (0.47%) OPNET
12 2 (0.47%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.47%) Puppet
Vendors
1 152 (35.68%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.39%) Siemens
3 21 (4.93%) Databricks
4 15 (3.52%) Oracle
5 12 (2.82%) Google
5 12 (2.82%) VMware
6 9 (2.11%) Red Hat
6 9 (2.11%) SAP
7 8 (1.88%) IBM
8 7 (1.64%) InterSystems
8 7 (1.64%) Starlink
9 6 (1.41%) CyberArk
9 6 (1.41%) McAfee
9 6 (1.41%) NetApp
10 5 (1.17%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.17%) Splunk
10 5 (1.17%) Zscaler
11 4 (0.94%) Apple
11 4 (0.94%) Cisco
11 4 (0.94%) MuleSoft