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

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 10 9
Rank change year-on-year +5 -1 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 418 227 366
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.91% 12.77% 11.12%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.58% 40.75% 44.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 177 287
10th Percentile £363 £313 £251
25th Percentile £427 £385 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £505 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.46% +1.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £615 £623 £590
90th Percentile £725 £704 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £540
% change year-on-year - -2.78% -3.57%
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 £35.00
% change year-on-year +16.75% +40.71% -44.44%

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 917 557 828
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.13% 31.34% 25.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 574 399 601
10th Percentile £301 £224 £215
25th Percentile £410 £357 £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 £686 £675
England median daily rate £513 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -0.49% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 37 47
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.13 £13.41
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% +27.54%
75th Percentile £58.75 £34.50 £70.00
90th Percentile - £50.00 -
England median hourly rate £41.06 £25.01 £21.50
% change year-on-year +64.17% +16.33% -38.21%

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 16 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 16 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 £523 +4.50% 48
Bristol +2 104 £550 +25.71% 80
Gloucestershire -4 59 £450 -21.74% 54
Wiltshire +1 49 £500 -15.79% 41
Devon +6 43 £513 -1.27% 41
Dorset +1 29 £675 +58.82% 26
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 20 (4.78%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.63%) IIS
3 9 (2.15%) Confluence
4 8 (1.91%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.44%) Apache
5 6 (1.44%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.72%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.48%) nginx
8 1 (0.24%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Coherence
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 4 (0.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.48%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.24%) InDesign
3 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.24%) PTC Creo
3 1 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.24%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.67%) Maximo
2 2 (0.48%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.24%) SAP EHS
3 1 (0.24%) SAP Hybris
3 1 (0.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 161 (38.52%) AWS
2 65 (15.55%) Azure DevOps
3 64 (15.31%) GCP
4 48 (11.48%) Entra ID
5 29 (6.94%) GitHub
5 29 (6.94%) Power Platform
6 27 (6.46%) Microsoft 365
7 20 (4.78%) Azure Data Factory
8 19 (4.55%) Azure Monitor
9 15 (3.59%) Azure Key Vault
9 15 (3.59%) Serverless
10 14 (3.35%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (3.11%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 13 (3.11%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 12 (2.87%) OpenShift
13 11 (2.63%) Azure AKS
13 11 (2.63%) Azure Sentinel
13 11 (2.63%) Cloud Computing
14 8 (1.91%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 8 (1.91%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.31%) Firewall
2 16 (3.83%) DNS
3 14 (3.35%) VPN
4 12 (2.87%) WAN
5 10 (2.39%) DHCP
6 6 (1.44%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.20%) BGP
8 4 (0.96%) SAN
9 3 (0.72%) LAN
9 3 (0.72%) NAS
9 3 (0.72%) Network Security
9 3 (0.72%) VLAN
10 2 (0.48%) Reverse Proxy
10 2 (0.48%) SD-WAN
11 1 (0.24%) AMQP
11 1 (0.24%) Calico
11 1 (0.24%) DMVPN
11 1 (0.24%) NGFW
11 1 (0.24%) Remote Desktop
11 1 (0.24%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (5.98%) Power BI
2 24 (5.74%) SQL Server
3 16 (3.83%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (3.11%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (2.63%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (1.91%) Data Lake
7 7 (1.67%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.44%) Delta Lake
8 6 (1.44%) NoSQL
9 5 (1.20%) Metadata
9 5 (1.20%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.96%) Big Data
10 4 (0.96%) Geospatial Data
10 4 (0.96%) Redis
10 4 (0.96%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.96%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.72%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.72%) GIS
11 3 (0.72%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 24 (5.74%) Git
2 22 (5.26%) JIRA
3 21 (5.02%) GitLab
4 13 (3.11%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.96%) MSI
6 3 (0.72%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.72%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.72%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.48%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.48%) MLflow
7 2 (0.48%) Spinnaker
7 2 (0.48%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.24%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.24%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.24%) Gradle
8 1 (0.24%) JUnit
8 1 (0.24%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.24%) NUnit
8 1 (0.24%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.24%) Selenium
General
1 66 (15.79%) Social Skills
2 27 (6.46%) Public Sector
3 23 (5.50%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (5.26%) Finance
5 14 (3.35%) Legal
6 7 (1.67%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.44%) Banking
7 6 (1.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (1.44%) Marketing
8 5 (1.20%) Military
8 5 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (0.96%) Local Government
10 3 (0.72%) Investment Banking
10 3 (0.72%) Retail
11 2 (0.48%) Advertising
11 2 (0.48%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.48%) Police
11 2 (0.48%) Publishing
12 1 (0.24%) Electronics
12 1 (0.24%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 65 (15.55%) Consultant
2 55 (13.16%) Architect
3 40 (9.57%) Implementation Consultant
4 29 (6.94%) Lead
5 28 (6.70%) Data Engineer
5 28 (6.70%) Developer
5 28 (6.70%) DevOps Engineer
6 27 (6.46%) Azure Engineer
6 27 (6.46%) Product Manager
7 24 (5.74%) Digital Product Manager
7 24 (5.74%) Senior
8 17 (4.07%) Technical Architect
9 16 (3.83%) Azure Specialist
10 15 (3.59%) Support Engineer
11 14 (3.35%) Analyst
11 14 (3.35%) Azure Architect
12 13 (3.11%) Data Architect
12 13 (3.11%) Desktop Support
12 13 (3.11%) Site Reliability Engineer
12 13 (3.11%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (7.89%) .NET
2 21 (5.02%) .NET Framework
3 16 (3.83%) REST
4 11 (2.63%) Kafka
4 11 (2.63%) React
4 11 (2.63%) RESTful
5 9 (2.15%) Node.js
5 9 (2.15%) SailPoint
6 8 (1.91%) GraphQL
6 8 (1.91%) LDAP
6 8 (1.91%) Playwright
6 8 (1.91%) Spring Boot
7 7 (1.67%) PySpark
7 7 (1.67%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (1.44%) .NET Core
8 6 (1.44%) ARM Templates
8 6 (1.44%) Spring
8 6 (1.44%) WebSockets
9 5 (1.20%) Flask
9 5 (1.20%) GeoJSON
Miscellaneous
1 41 (9.81%) Cloud Native
2 35 (8.37%) Legacy Systems
3 19 (4.55%) Hybrid Cloud
3 19 (4.55%) Product Ownership
3 19 (4.55%) Public Cloud
4 18 (4.31%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (3.35%) Onboarding
6 12 (2.87%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.63%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.44%) Legacy Code
9 4 (0.96%) Augmented Reality
9 4 (0.96%) Data Centre
9 4 (0.96%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (0.96%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (0.96%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (0.96%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.96%) Virtual Reality
9 4 (0.96%) Wiki
10 3 (0.72%) EPoS
10 3 (0.72%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 60 (14.35%) Windows
2 33 (7.89%) Linux
3 21 (5.02%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.83%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.44%) Android
7 5 (1.20%) Rocky
7 5 (1.20%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.96%) Debian
9 3 (0.72%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.72%) Unix
9 3 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.48%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.24%) CentOS
11 1 (0.24%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (27.27%) DevOps
2 101 (24.16%) Agile
3 90 (21.53%) CI/CD
4 53 (12.68%) Roadmaps
5 51 (12.20%) Infrastructure as Code
6 50 (11.96%) Analytics
7 47 (11.24%) ERP
8 45 (10.77%) Continuous Improvement
8 45 (10.77%) Data Modelling
8 45 (10.77%) Problem-Solving
9 43 (10.29%) Containerisation
10 42 (10.05%) Migration
11 41 (9.81%) PLM
12 35 (8.37%) Decision-Making
12 35 (8.37%) Stakeholder Management
13 34 (8.13%) Business Intelligence
13 34 (8.13%) Microservices
14 31 (7.42%) Data Pipeline
14 31 (7.42%) ETL
15 29 (6.94%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 66 (15.79%) SQL
2 62 (14.83%) Python
3 35 (8.37%) PowerShell
4 23 (5.50%) Java
5 18 (4.31%) Bash
5 18 (4.31%) C#
6 16 (3.83%) Go
7 14 (3.35%) JavaScript
8 13 (3.11%) Bicep
9 12 (2.87%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.96%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (0.96%) T-SQL
11 3 (0.72%) BeanShell
11 3 (0.72%) C++
11 3 (0.72%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.72%) R
12 2 (0.48%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.48%) Scala
12 2 (0.48%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.24%) Rust
Qualifications
1 170 (40.67%) Security Cleared
2 131 (31.34%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.53%) DV Cleared
4 21 (5.02%) Degree
5 19 (4.55%) Azure Certification
6 16 (3.83%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (2.87%) CISSP
8 9 (2.15%) CISM
9 8 (1.91%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.44%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.20%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 4 (0.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.96%) TOGAF Certification
14 3 (0.72%) ACSP
14 3 (0.72%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.72%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
15 2 (0.48%) AWS Certification
15 2 (0.48%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (5.98%) QA
2 22 (5.26%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.35%) GDPR
4 10 (2.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.15%) NCSC
5 9 (2.15%) NIST
6 7 (1.67%) NIST 800
7 6 (1.44%) SLA
8 4 (0.96%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.72%) ISO 9000
9 3 (0.72%) SNOMED CT
9 3 (0.72%) WCAG
10 2 (0.48%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.48%) HL7
11 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.24%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.24%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.24%) PMO
System Software
1 54 (12.92%) Active Directory
2 41 (9.81%) Docker
3 16 (3.83%) Virtual Desktop
4 10 (2.39%) Hyper-V
4 10 (2.39%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.72%) vSphere
7 2 (0.48%) KVM
7 2 (0.48%) VirtualBox
7 2 (0.48%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.24%) NFS
8 1 (0.24%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 63 (15.07%) Kubernetes
2 57 (13.64%) Terraform
3 25 (5.98%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (5.50%) Ansible
5 15 (3.59%) Grafana
6 14 (3.35%) Prometheus
7 10 (2.39%) Argo
8 9 (2.15%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (1.67%) SCCM
10 5 (1.20%) FortiGate
10 5 (1.20%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 4 (0.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (0.96%) Istio
12 3 (0.72%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.48%) Cilium
13 2 (0.48%) Data Guard
13 2 (0.48%) Kustomize
13 2 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
13 2 (0.48%) Podman
13 2 (0.48%) Puppet
Vendors
1 148 (35.41%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.57%) Siemens
3 22 (5.26%) Databricks
4 14 (3.35%) Google
4 14 (3.35%) Oracle
5 11 (2.63%) VMware
6 9 (2.15%) Red Hat
6 9 (2.15%) SAP
7 8 (1.91%) IBM
8 7 (1.67%) InterSystems
8 7 (1.67%) NetApp
8 7 (1.67%) Starlink
9 6 (1.44%) McAfee
10 5 (1.20%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.20%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.20%) Splunk
11 4 (0.96%) Apple
11 4 (0.96%) Cisco
11 4 (0.96%) MuleSoft
11 4 (0.96%) Zscaler