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 18 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Azure 336 218 388
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.52% 13.12% 12.06%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.28% 41.13% 46.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 177 305
10th Percentile £333 £342 £215
25th Percentile £428 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -12.97%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £613
90th Percentile £689 £700 £709
England median daily rate £523 £530 £540
% change year-on-year -1.32% -1.85% -4.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 2 1
10th Percentile - £30.37 -
25th Percentile £56.25 £38.43 £14.93
Median hourly rate £57.50 £51.85 £15.35
Median % change year-on-year +10.90% +237.79% -78.07%
75th Percentile £58.75 £65.28 £15.78
90th Percentile - £73.33 -
England median hourly rate £57.50 £53.50 £46.12
% change year-on-year +7.48% +16.01% -21.37%

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 742 530 834
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 25.44% 31.91% 25.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 496 399 633
10th Percentile £246 £250 £211
25th Percentile £400 £409 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £600 £629 £625
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 65 14 28
10th Percentile £18.87 £16.05 £13.45
25th Percentile £54.00 £18.51 £14.25
Median hourly rate £57.50 £26.81 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +114.45% +84.91% -72.82%
75th Percentile £58.75 £33.12 £16.42
90th Percentile £62.70 £68.75 £29.77
England median hourly rate £37.54 £26.81 £21.37
% change year-on-year +40.01% +25.47% -14.52%

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 18 March 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 18 March 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 18 March 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 +1 99 £475 -20.83% 63
Somerset +4 88 £525 -12.50% 44
Bristol -10 62 £525 - 75
Wiltshire +4 51 £525 -13.40% 27
Dorset -1 16 £613 +22.50% 21
Devon -8 12 £513 +24.24% 31
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 18 (5.36%) SharePoint
2 12 (3.57%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.98%) IIS
4 6 (1.79%) Apache
5 5 (1.49%) Confluence
6 3 (0.89%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.60%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.60%) Documentum
8 1 (0.30%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.30%) CMS
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.30%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.30%) InDesign
3 1 (0.30%) PTC Creo
3 1 (0.30%) Trello
Business Applications
1 9 (2.68%) Maximo
2 6 (1.79%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.60%) Primavera
3 2 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.30%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 97 (28.87%) AWS
2 84 (25.00%) Azure DevOps
3 44 (13.10%) Entra ID
3 44 (13.10%) GitHub
4 40 (11.90%) GCP
5 28 (8.33%) Microsoft 365
6 24 (7.14%) Azure Data Factory
7 22 (6.55%) Azure Monitor
7 22 (6.55%) Power Platform
8 15 (4.46%) Azure Sentinel
9 14 (4.17%) GitHub Actions
9 14 (4.17%) OpenShift
10 13 (3.87%) Azure Key Vault
11 11 (3.27%) Serverless
12 10 (2.98%) Azure AKS
13 9 (2.68%) Dynamics 365
14 7 (2.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 7 (2.08%) OneDrive
14 7 (2.08%) PaaS
15 6 (1.79%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 17 (5.06%) VPN
2 11 (3.27%) Firewall
3 9 (2.68%) DHCP
4 8 (2.38%) DNS
5 6 (1.79%) Network Security
6 4 (1.19%) LAN
6 4 (1.19%) WAN
7 3 (0.89%) HTTP
7 3 (0.89%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.60%) NAS
8 2 (0.60%) SAN
8 2 (0.60%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.60%) VLAN
9 1 (0.30%) 5G
9 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
9 1 (0.30%) Hyperconnected
9 1 (0.30%) NGFW
9 1 (0.30%) Radio Access Network
9 1 (0.30%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.30%) tcpdump
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (7.44%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (5.65%) Power BI
3 18 (5.36%) SQL Server
4 13 (3.87%) Data Warehouse
5 12 (3.57%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (2.38%) Metadata
6 8 (2.38%) Redis
7 6 (1.79%) Azure SQL Database
8 4 (1.19%) Delta Lake
8 4 (1.19%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.89%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.89%) GIS
9 3 (0.89%) MongoDB
9 3 (0.89%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.89%) Power Query
10 2 (0.60%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.60%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.60%) Spatial Data
11 1 (0.30%) CockroachDB
11 1 (0.30%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 28 (8.33%) Oracle APEX
2 23 (6.85%) Git
3 15 (4.46%) JIRA
4 10 (2.98%) GitLab
5 8 (2.38%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.38%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.89%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.89%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.60%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.60%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.30%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.30%) Mocha
8 1 (0.30%) MSI
8 1 (0.30%) Postman
8 1 (0.30%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.30%) Snyk
8 1 (0.30%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.30%) TestNG
8 1 (0.30%) webpack
General
1 90 (26.79%) Social Skills
2 29 (8.63%) Public Sector
3 25 (7.44%) Finance
4 14 (4.17%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (1.79%) Legal
5 6 (1.79%) Telecoms
6 5 (1.49%) Marketing
7 4 (1.19%) Back Office
7 4 (1.19%) Banking
7 4 (1.19%) Local Government
7 4 (1.19%) Military
8 3 (0.89%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.60%) Electronics
9 2 (0.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (0.60%) Retail
10 1 (0.30%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.30%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.30%) Publishing
10 1 (0.30%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 63 (18.75%) Developer
2 57 (16.96%) Senior
3 47 (13.99%) Consultant
4 40 (11.90%) Implementation Consultant
5 34 (10.12%) Architect
6 31 (9.23%) Data Engineer
7 29 (8.63%) Senior Developer
8 26 (7.74%) Azure Engineer
9 24 (7.14%) DevOps Engineer
10 19 (5.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 16 (4.76%) Analyst
12 15 (4.46%) Data Architect
13 12 (3.57%) Desktop Engineer
13 12 (3.57%) Desktop Support
13 12 (3.57%) Desktop Support Engineer
13 12 (3.57%) Lead
13 12 (3.57%) Senior Data Engineer
13 12 (3.57%) Support Engineer
14 10 (2.98%) Azure Architect
14 10 (2.98%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (6.25%) REST
2 19 (5.65%) .NET
3 17 (5.06%) Kafka
4 14 (4.17%) ARM Templates
5 12 (3.57%) Keycloak
6 10 (2.98%) .NET Framework
7 9 (2.68%) SOAP
8 8 (2.38%) FastAPI
8 8 (2.38%) Flask
8 8 (2.38%) GraphQL
8 8 (2.38%) gRPC
8 8 (2.38%) React
8 8 (2.38%) WebSockets
8 8 (2.38%) YAML
9 7 (2.08%) AngularJS
9 7 (2.08%) CSS
9 7 (2.08%) HTML
9 7 (2.08%) Node.js
9 7 (2.08%) OAuth
10 6 (1.79%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 32 (9.52%) Hybrid Cloud
2 26 (7.74%) Cloud Native
3 18 (5.36%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.57%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (3.27%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.68%) Onboarding
7 8 (2.38%) Public Cloud
8 6 (1.79%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.79%) Legacy Code
9 5 (1.49%) Data Centre
9 5 (1.49%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.49%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (1.19%) CMDB
10 4 (1.19%) FMCG
11 3 (0.89%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.89%) Legacy Applications
11 3 (0.89%) Management Information System
11 3 (0.89%) Private Cloud
11 3 (0.89%) Virtual Team
12 2 (0.60%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 49 (14.58%) Windows
2 23 (6.85%) Linux
3 22 (6.55%) Windows Server
4 7 (2.08%) Windows 10
5 4 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.19%) Windows Server 2016
6 3 (0.89%) Debian
6 3 (0.89%) Rocky
6 3 (0.89%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 142 (42.26%) DevOps
2 91 (27.08%) Agile
3 67 (19.94%) CI/CD
4 48 (14.29%) Scrum
5 46 (13.69%) Validation
6 45 (13.39%) ERP
7 44 (13.10%) Problem-Solving
8 40 (11.90%) PLM
9 38 (11.31%) Containerisation
10 37 (11.01%) Analytics
11 35 (10.42%) Infrastructure as Code
12 33 (9.82%) ETL
13 31 (9.23%) Collaborative Working
13 31 (9.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 30 (8.93%) ITIL
15 29 (8.63%) Migration
15 29 (8.63%) Software Delivery
16 28 (8.33%) Data Engineering
17 27 (8.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 27 (8.04%) Web Application Development
Programming Languages
1 75 (22.32%) SQL
2 65 (19.35%) Python
3 50 (14.88%) PowerShell
4 47 (13.99%) JavaScript
5 35 (10.42%) PL/SQL
6 24 (7.14%) Go
7 18 (5.36%) Bicep
8 12 (3.57%) Java
8 12 (3.57%) TypeScript
9 9 (2.68%) C#
10 7 (2.08%) Bash
11 4 (1.19%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 4 (1.19%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.89%) Ruby
13 1 (0.30%) C++
13 1 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 162 (48.21%) Security Cleared
2 147 (43.75%) SC Cleared
3 34 (10.12%) Azure Certification
4 27 (8.04%) DV Cleared
5 17 (5.06%) Degree
6 14 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (2.68%) Computer Science Degree
8 7 (2.08%) CISM
8 7 (2.08%) CISSP
8 7 (2.08%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 5 (1.49%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.89%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 3 (0.89%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.89%) ITIL Certification
11 2 (0.60%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.60%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 1 (0.30%) CBAP
12 1 (0.30%) CCNA
12 1 (0.30%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.30%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.65%) GDPR
2 18 (5.36%) QA
3 17 (5.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (4.46%) NIST
5 13 (3.87%) NCSC
6 11 (3.27%) Data Quality
7 8 (2.38%) NIST 800
8 3 (0.89%) Government Security Classifications
8 3 (0.89%) PSD2
8 3 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.60%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.60%) HL7
9 2 (0.60%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.60%) SLA
9 2 (0.60%) SNOMED CT
10 1 (0.30%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.30%) WCAG
System Software
1 57 (16.96%) Active Directory
2 43 (12.80%) Docker
3 11 (3.27%) Hyper-V
4 8 (2.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.49%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (1.19%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.60%) vSphere
8 1 (0.30%) KVM
8 1 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.30%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 58 (17.26%) Kubernetes
2 48 (14.29%) Terraform
3 23 (6.85%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (4.46%) Single Sign-On
5 12 (3.57%) Ansible
5 12 (3.57%) Grafana
6 11 (3.27%) SCCM
7 10 (2.98%) Prometheus
8 9 (2.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.89%) Argo
10 2 (0.60%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.60%) Puppet
11 1 (0.30%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.30%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.30%) Icinga
11 1 (0.30%) Kibana
11 1 (0.30%) logstash
11 1 (0.30%) WSUS
Vendors
1 103 (30.65%) Microsoft
2 42 (12.50%) Oracle
3 40 (11.90%) Siemens
4 20 (5.95%) Databricks
5 13 (3.87%) Google
6 11 (3.27%) Red Hat
7 10 (2.98%) VMware
8 9 (2.68%) IBM
8 9 (2.68%) ServiceNow
9 8 (2.38%) NEC
9 8 (2.38%) SAP
10 5 (1.49%) Cisco
11 4 (1.19%) NetApp
11 4 (1.19%) Starlink
12 3 (0.89%) ForgeRock
12 3 (0.89%) McAfee
12 3 (0.89%) Ping Identity
12 3 (0.89%) Salesforce
13 2 (0.60%) Broadcom
13 2 (0.60%) MuleSoft