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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 11 9
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure 432 212 360
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.11% 11.97% 10.98%
As % of the Cloud Services category 45.86% 38.90% 43.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 270 165 278
10th Percentile £363 £310 £293
25th Percentile £428 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.50% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £594
90th Percentile £726 £700 £675
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 £49.25 £38.50
% change year-on-year +16.75% +27.92% -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 942 545 832
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 26.40% 30.77% 25.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 589 389 593
10th Percentile £305 £224 £220
25th Percentile £413 £355 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £515
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -7.77% -6.36%
75th Percentile £613 £600 £600
90th Percentile £700 £675 £675
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 38 49
10th Percentile £14.50 £18.13 £13.63
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 £41.06 £25.15 £22.00
% change year-on-year +63.26% +14.32% -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 1 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 1 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 +3 118 £480 -4.00% 40
Bristol +2 110 £550 +25.71% 64
Gloucestershire -1 59 £450 -26.53% 66
Devon +5 48 £519 -0.15% 28
Wiltshire -2 45 £500 -12.09% 25
Dorset +2 31 £675 +61.19% 18
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 (5.09%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.01%) Confluence
3 11 (2.55%) IIS
4 8 (1.85%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.39%) 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 (0.93%) 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 4 (0.93%) Maximo
2 2 (0.46%) 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
1 167 (38.66%) AWS
2 67 (15.51%) Azure DevOps
3 62 (14.35%) GCP
4 55 (12.73%) Entra ID
5 29 (6.71%) GitHub
5 29 (6.71%) Microsoft 365
6 28 (6.48%) Power Platform
7 19 (4.40%) Azure Monitor
8 18 (4.17%) Azure Data Factory
9 17 (3.94%) Azure Key Vault
10 15 (3.47%) Serverless
11 14 (3.24%) GitHub Actions
12 12 (2.78%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 11 (2.55%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 11 (2.55%) Cloud Computing
14 10 (2.31%) Azure Sentinel
14 10 (2.31%) OpenShift
14 10 (2.31%) SaaS
15 9 (2.08%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 9 (2.08%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.63%) Firewall
2 16 (3.70%) DNS
3 13 (3.01%) VPN
3 13 (3.01%) WAN
4 7 (1.62%) DHCP
5 6 (1.39%) BGP
5 6 (1.39%) TCP/IP
6 5 (1.16%) SAN
7 4 (0.93%) NAS
7 4 (0.93%) VLAN
8 3 (0.69%) LAN
8 3 (0.69%) Network Security
9 2 (0.46%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.46%) 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 29 (6.71%) SQL Server
2 25 (5.79%) Power BI
3 15 (3.47%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (3.47%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (2.31%) Azure SQL Database
5 9 (2.08%) Geospatial Data
6 8 (1.85%) Data Lake
6 8 (1.85%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.62%) Oracle Database
8 6 (1.39%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.39%) NoSQL
9 5 (1.16%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.16%) Metadata
10 4 (0.93%) Big Data
10 4 (0.93%) Redis
10 4 (0.93%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.93%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.69%) GIS
11 3 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.69%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (6.48%) Git
2 26 (6.02%) JIRA
3 21 (4.86%) GitLab
4 13 (3.01%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.85%) 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%) 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%) 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 (15.28%) Social Skills
2 33 (7.64%) Public Sector
3 27 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (4.40%) Finance
5 15 (3.47%) Legal
6 9 (2.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (1.85%) Military
8 7 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.16%) Banking
10 5 (1.16%) Local Government
10 5 (1.16%) 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 (15.28%) Consultant
2 60 (13.89%) Architect
3 40 (9.26%) Implementation Consultant
4 35 (8.10%) Developer
5 32 (7.41%) Lead
6 27 (6.25%) Product Manager
7 26 (6.02%) DevOps Engineer
7 26 (6.02%) Senior
8 25 (5.79%) Data Engineer
9 24 (5.56%) Azure Engineer
9 24 (5.56%) Digital Product Manager
10 20 (4.63%) Technical Architect
11 15 (3.47%) Azure Specialist
11 15 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
11 15 (3.47%) Support Engineer
12 14 (3.24%) Azure Architect
13 13 (3.01%) Azure Consultant
13 13 (3.01%) Data Architect
13 13 (3.01%) Site Reliability Engineer
13 13 (3.01%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (9.26%) .NET
2 25 (5.79%) .NET Framework
3 20 (4.63%) REST
4 16 (3.70%) RESTful
5 13 (3.01%) React
6 11 (2.55%) .NET Core
6 11 (2.55%) Kafka
6 11 (2.55%) SailPoint
7 10 (2.31%) GeoJSON
7 10 (2.31%) LDAP
8 9 (2.08%) Node.js
8 9 (2.08%) Spring Boot
9 8 (1.85%) ATL
9 8 (1.85%) COM
9 8 (1.85%) GraphQL
9 8 (1.85%) MFC
9 8 (1.85%) Playwright
9 8 (1.85%) RabbitMQ
10 7 (1.62%) CSS
10 7 (1.62%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 47 (10.88%) Cloud Native
2 38 (8.80%) Legacy Systems
3 21 (4.86%) Onboarding
4 20 (4.63%) Enterprise Software
5 18 (4.17%) Product Ownership
5 18 (4.17%) Public Cloud
6 17 (3.94%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (2.55%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.55%) Self-Motivation
8 7 (1.62%) Linux Command Line
9 6 (1.39%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.39%) Legacy Code
10 4 (0.93%) Augmented Reality
10 4 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.93%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (0.93%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.93%) Virtual Reality
10 4 (0.93%) Wiki
11 3 (0.69%) EPoS
11 3 (0.69%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 68 (15.74%) Windows
2 33 (7.64%) Linux
3 21 (4.86%) Windows Server
4 17 (3.94%) Windows 10
5 8 (1.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.39%) Android
7 5 (1.16%) Rocky
7 5 (1.16%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.93%) 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
1 121 (28.01%) DevOps
2 112 (25.93%) Agile
3 97 (22.45%) CI/CD
4 60 (13.89%) Infrastructure as Code
5 54 (12.50%) Roadmaps
6 49 (11.34%) Containerisation
7 47 (10.88%) Continuous Improvement
7 47 (10.88%) ERP
8 46 (10.65%) Analytics
9 45 (10.42%) Problem-Solving
10 44 (10.19%) Migration
11 41 (9.49%) Data Modelling
11 41 (9.49%) PLM
12 40 (9.26%) Microservices
13 36 (8.33%) Stakeholder Management
14 33 (7.64%) Data Pipeline
14 33 (7.64%) Decision-Making
15 32 (7.41%) Technical Leadership
16 31 (7.18%) Business Intelligence
17 30 (6.94%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 68 (15.74%) SQL
2 65 (15.05%) Python
3 36 (8.33%) PowerShell
4 27 (6.25%) Java
5 25 (5.79%) C#
6 21 (4.86%) JavaScript
7 18 (4.17%) Bash
8 16 (3.70%) Go
8 16 (3.70%) TypeScript
9 15 (3.47%) Bicep
10 5 (1.16%) BeanShell
10 5 (1.16%) PL/SQL
10 5 (1.16%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.93%) R
12 3 (0.69%) C++
12 3 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.46%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.46%) Scala
13 2 (0.46%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.23%) Rust
Qualifications
1 180 (41.67%) Security Cleared
2 138 (31.94%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.19%) DV Cleared
4 22 (5.09%) Degree
5 16 (3.70%) Azure Certification
6 15 (3.47%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (2.55%) CISSP
8 10 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (1.85%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.62%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.39%) CISM
12 5 (1.16%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.93%) CCNA
13 4 (0.93%) TOGAF Certification
14 3 (0.69%) ACSP
14 3 (0.69%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.69%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
15 2 (0.46%) AWS Certification
15 2 (0.46%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (6.48%) QA
2 21 (4.86%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.24%) NCSC
4 13 (3.01%) GDPR
5 8 (1.85%) Accessibility
5 8 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (1.85%) SLA
6 7 (1.62%) WCAG
7 6 (1.39%) NIST
8 4 (0.93%) ISO 9000
8 4 (0.93%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.69%) SNOMED CT
10 2 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.46%) HL7
11 1 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.23%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.23%) PMO
System Software
1 59 (13.66%) Active Directory
2 47 (10.88%) Docker
3 18 (4.17%) Virtual Desktop
4 13 (3.01%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (2.08%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.85%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.93%) 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 (16.67%) Kubernetes
2 63 (14.58%) Terraform
3 26 (6.02%) Microsoft Intune
4 24 (5.56%) Ansible
5 16 (3.70%) Grafana
6 15 (3.47%) Prometheus
7 11 (2.55%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (2.31%) Argo
9 6 (1.39%) FortiGate
9 6 (1.39%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 4 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (0.93%) Istio
10 4 (0.93%) OPNET
10 4 (0.93%) SCCM
11 3 (0.69%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.69%) Proxmox
12 2 (0.46%) CASB
12 2 (0.46%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.46%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.46%) Puppet
Vendors
1 153 (35.42%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.26%) Siemens
3 20 (4.63%) Oracle
4 19 (4.40%) Databricks
5 14 (3.24%) VMware
6 12 (2.78%) Google
7 8 (1.85%) SAP
8 7 (1.62%) CyberArk
8 7 (1.62%) InterSystems
8 7 (1.62%) Red Hat
8 7 (1.62%) Starlink
9 6 (1.39%) McAfee
10 5 (1.16%) Cisco
10 5 (1.16%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.16%) IBM
10 5 (1.16%) NetApp
10 5 (1.16%) Splunk
10 5 (1.16%) Zscaler
11 4 (0.93%) Apple
11 4 (0.93%) MuleSoft