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 28 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 12 7
Rank change year-on-year +5 -5 +1
Contract jobs citing Azure 312 221 386
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 13.08% 10.73% 13.10%
As % of the Cloud Services category 46.02% 36.53% 44.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 169 310
10th Percentile £324 £400 £313
25th Percentile £434 £425 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £524 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.19% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £639 £625 £675
90th Percentile £700 £775 £713
England median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -3.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 1
10th Percentile £67.45 - -
25th Percentile £76.38 £77.50 £14.93
Median hourly rate £92.50 £85.00 £15.35
Median % change year-on-year +8.82% +453.75% -78.07%
75th Percentile £93.75 £92.50 £15.78
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £46.00 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +31.43% -24.21% -14.08%

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 678 605 858
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 28.42% 29.38% 29.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 493 411 661
10th Percentile £251 £250 £216
25th Percentile £406 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% +1.47%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £700 £734 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 12 34
10th Percentile - £12.80 £14.28
25th Percentile £18.87 £18.75 £15.09
Median hourly rate £22.50 £27.13 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.05% +29.17% -63.64%
75th Percentile £51.21 £68.75 £33.00
90th Percentile £70.71 £69.88 £78.00
England median hourly rate £27.21 £29.00 £24.31
% change year-on-year -6.17% +19.32% +8.02%

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025. 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 +3 118 £475 -9.52% 240
Bristol -9 65 £510 -2.86% 186
Wiltshire +16 52 £550 +2.33% 114
Somerset +7 43 £525 -10.64% 134
Dorset 0 12 £500 -18.37% 112
Devon -1 10 £563 +36.36% 175
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 24 (7.69%) SharePoint
2 17 (5.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.96%) Apache
3 3 (0.96%) Apache Spark
3 3 (0.96%) Confluence
4 2 (0.64%) Documentum
4 2 (0.64%) nginx
5 1 (0.32%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.32%) CMS
5 1 (0.32%) IIS
5 1 (0.32%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 4 (1.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.64%) Microsoft Project
2 2 (0.64%) Windchill
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 6 (1.92%) Maximo
1 6 (1.92%) NEC Housing
2 3 (0.96%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.64%) Primavera
3 2 (0.64%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.32%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.32%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 104 (33.33%) AWS
2 82 (26.28%) Azure DevOps
3 48 (15.38%) Entra ID
3 48 (15.38%) GCP
3 48 (15.38%) GitHub
4 39 (12.50%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (7.05%) Azure Sentinel
6 19 (6.09%) Power Platform
7 16 (5.13%) Azure Data Factory
8 13 (4.17%) Azure Monitor
8 13 (4.17%) OpenShift
8 13 (4.17%) Serverless
9 12 (3.85%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (3.53%) Azure AKS
10 11 (3.53%) Azure Key Vault
10 11 (3.53%) Power Automate
11 8 (2.56%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (2.24%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 7 (2.24%) Azure Stack
12 7 (2.24%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 24 (7.69%) VPN
2 18 (5.77%) Firewall
3 10 (3.21%) Network Security
4 8 (2.56%) DHCP
5 7 (2.24%) DNS
5 7 (2.24%) HTTP
5 7 (2.24%) WAN
6 5 (1.60%) SD-WAN
7 4 (1.28%) LAN
8 3 (0.96%) Kerberos
8 3 (0.96%) TCP/IP
8 3 (0.96%) VLAN
9 2 (0.64%) SMTP
10 1 (0.32%) BGP
10 1 (0.32%) Intrusion Detection
10 1 (0.32%) OSPF
10 1 (0.32%) SAN
10 1 (0.32%) Wireless
10 1 (0.32%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.32%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (8.01%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (5.45%) Elasticsearch
3 15 (4.81%) Power BI
4 10 (3.21%) SQL Server
5 7 (2.24%) Redis
6 6 (1.92%) Metadata
6 6 (1.92%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.60%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (1.28%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.28%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.28%) MySQL
8 4 (1.28%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.96%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (0.96%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.96%) Tableau
10 2 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.64%) Big Data
10 2 (0.64%) ClickHouse
10 2 (0.64%) Looker
10 2 (0.64%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 31 (9.94%) Oracle APEX
2 23 (7.37%) Git
3 20 (6.41%) JIRA
4 16 (5.13%) SonarQube
5 11 (3.53%) Jenkins
6 8 (2.56%) GitLab
7 2 (0.64%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.64%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.32%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.32%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.32%) CMake
8 1 (0.32%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.32%) GoogleTest
8 1 (0.32%) Maven
8 1 (0.32%) Mocha
8 1 (0.32%) Postman
8 1 (0.32%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.32%) Snyk
8 1 (0.32%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.32%) TestNG
General
1 115 (36.86%) Social Skills
2 36 (11.54%) Public Sector
3 33 (10.58%) Finance
4 14 (4.49%) Analytical Skills
5 12 (3.85%) Documentation Skills
5 12 (3.85%) Telecoms
6 7 (2.24%) Manufacturing
7 5 (1.60%) Electronics
7 5 (1.60%) Marketing
7 5 (1.60%) Military
8 4 (1.28%) Back Office
8 4 (1.28%) Banking
9 3 (0.96%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.64%) Law
10 2 (0.64%) Local Government
10 2 (0.64%) Tech for Good
11 1 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.32%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.32%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 72 (23.08%) Developer
2 66 (21.15%) Senior
3 36 (11.54%) Architect
4 32 (10.26%) Senior Developer
5 28 (8.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 25 (8.01%) Data Engineer
7 20 (6.41%) Analyst
7 20 (6.41%) Azure Engineer
8 14 (4.49%) Senior Data Engineer
9 13 (4.17%) DevOps Engineer
9 13 (4.17%) DevSecOps Engineer
9 13 (4.17%) Support Engineer
10 12 (3.85%) Desktop Engineer
11 11 (3.53%) Cloud Engineer
11 11 (3.53%) Desktop Support
11 11 (3.53%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 10 (3.21%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.21%) Consultant
13 9 (2.88%) Azure Architect
13 9 (2.88%) Backend Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (5.77%) REST
2 17 (5.45%) ARM Templates
3 16 (5.13%) Kafka
4 15 (4.81%) React
4 15 (4.81%) SOAP
4 15 (4.81%) YAML
5 13 (4.17%) OAuth
6 12 (3.85%) AngularJS
6 12 (3.85%) Keycloak
7 11 (3.53%) Node.js
8 10 (3.21%) .NET
8 10 (3.21%) OAuth2
8 10 (3.21%) SAML
8 10 (3.21%) XML
9 9 (2.88%) Elastic Stack
9 9 (2.88%) OpenID
10 8 (2.56%) RESTful
11 7 (2.24%) Flask
11 7 (2.24%) HTML
11 7 (2.24%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 39 (12.50%) Hybrid Cloud
2 32 (10.26%) Cloud Native
3 12 (3.85%) Data Centre
3 12 (3.85%) Product Ownership
4 9 (2.88%) Onboarding
5 8 (2.56%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (2.24%) Security Posture
7 5 (1.60%) IoT
8 4 (1.28%) CMDB
8 4 (1.28%) Cyber Defence
8 4 (1.28%) FMCG
8 4 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (1.28%) Management Information System
9 3 (0.96%) Enterprise Cloud
9 3 (0.96%) iPad
9 3 (0.96%) iPhone
9 3 (0.96%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (0.96%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.64%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.64%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 54 (17.31%) Windows
2 22 (7.05%) Windows Server
3 20 (6.41%) Linux
4 11 (3.53%) Windows 10
5 6 (1.92%) Apple iOS
6 5 (1.60%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (1.28%) Android
7 4 (1.28%) Unix
7 4 (1.28%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (0.96%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.32%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 140 (44.87%) DevOps
2 96 (30.77%) Agile
3 66 (21.15%) CI/CD
4 54 (17.31%) Scrum
5 47 (15.06%) Problem-Solving
6 45 (14.42%) Infrastructure as Code
7 44 (14.10%) Containerisation
8 40 (12.82%) Validation
9 35 (11.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 32 (10.26%) Collaborative Working
10 32 (10.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 29 (9.29%) ITIL
12 28 (8.97%) Software Delivery
13 27 (8.65%) Migration
13 27 (8.65%) Requirements Analysis
13 27 (8.65%) Stakeholder Management
13 27 (8.65%) Web Application Development
14 25 (8.01%) Test Automation
15 24 (7.69%) DevSecOps
16 23 (7.37%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 74 (23.72%) SQL
2 65 (20.83%) Python
3 50 (16.03%) JavaScript
4 44 (14.10%) PowerShell
5 39 (12.50%) PL/SQL
6 21 (6.73%) Go
7 20 (6.41%) Bicep
8 15 (4.81%) TypeScript
9 14 (4.49%) Bash
10 13 (4.17%) Java
11 8 (2.56%) C#
12 3 (0.96%) Ruby
13 2 (0.64%) C
13 2 (0.64%) C++
13 2 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.64%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.32%) Apex Code
14 1 (0.32%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 180 (57.69%) Security Cleared
2 165 (52.88%) SC Cleared
3 42 (13.46%) Azure Certification
4 37 (11.86%) DV Cleared
5 13 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (3.85%) CISSP
7 11 (3.53%) Degree
8 10 (3.21%) AWS Certification
8 10 (3.21%) CISM
9 6 (1.92%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 6 (1.92%) Network+ Certification
10 4 (1.28%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 4 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.96%) BPSS Clearance
11 3 (0.96%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.64%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.64%) CompTIA Security+
12 2 (0.64%) OCA
12 2 (0.64%) OCP
12 2 (0.64%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (8.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (7.05%) NCSC
3 20 (6.41%) NIST
4 16 (5.13%) GDPR
5 12 (3.85%) QA
6 6 (1.92%) NIST 800
7 4 (1.28%) Data Quality
8 3 (0.96%) Government Security Classifications
8 3 (0.96%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.96%) PSD2
8 3 (0.96%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.64%) GRC
9 2 (0.64%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.32%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.32%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.32%) SLA
10 1 (0.32%) WCAG
System Software
1 63 (20.19%) Active Directory
2 51 (16.35%) Docker
3 12 (3.85%) Hyper-V
4 8 (2.56%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (2.56%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.64%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.32%) KVM
7 1 (0.32%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.32%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 57 (18.27%) Kubernetes
2 54 (17.31%) Terraform
3 26 (8.33%) Microsoft Intune
4 16 (5.13%) Single Sign-On
5 15 (4.81%) Grafana
6 14 (4.49%) Ansible
6 14 (4.49%) Prometheus
7 13 (4.17%) SCCM
8 6 (1.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (1.60%) Kibana
10 4 (1.28%) Puppet
11 3 (0.96%) Argo
11 3 (0.96%) logstash
12 2 (0.64%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.64%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.64%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.64%) PingFederate
12 2 (0.64%) Podman
13 1 (0.32%) CA Single Sign-On
13 1 (0.32%) WSUS
Vendors
1 110 (35.26%) Microsoft
2 46 (14.74%) Oracle
3 15 (4.81%) Databricks
4 14 (4.49%) ServiceNow
5 12 (3.85%) Google
6 11 (3.53%) VMware
7 10 (3.21%) Red Hat
8 8 (2.56%) Salesforce
9 7 (2.24%) NetApp
9 7 (2.24%) SAP
10 6 (1.92%) Blue Prism
10 6 (1.92%) IBM
10 6 (1.92%) NEC
11 5 (1.60%) Cisco
11 5 (1.60%) ForgeRock
11 5 (1.60%) Ping Identity
12 4 (1.28%) Splunk
12 4 (1.28%) Starlink
13 3 (0.96%) MuleSoft
13 3 (0.96%) Okta