Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the South West

Microsoft
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South West requiring knowledge or experience of Microsoft products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Microsoft over the 6 months leading up to 8 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

6 months to
8 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 5 5
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 +2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 437 278 438
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.16% 14.71% 15.60%
As % of the Vendors category 37.10% 34.88% 35.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 280 165 287
10th Percentile £231 £186 £180
25th Percentile £367 £235 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £435 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.05% -13.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £730 £661 £724
England median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 43 35
10th Percentile £13.65 £18.13 £13.69
25th Percentile £14.00 £18.51 £21.38
Median hourly rate £17.50 £18.87 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.26% -60.27% +90.00%
75th Percentile £25.75 £28.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £59.82 £36.75 £77.00
England median hourly rate £22.46 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -0.77% +39.43% -27.87%

All Vendors
South West

Microsoft falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,178 797 1,221
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 32.79% 42.17% 43.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 699 466 783
10th Percentile £303 £220 £226
25th Percentile £406 £361 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
90th Percentile £711 £688 £700
England median daily rate £510 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +0.49% -3.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 100 149
10th Percentile £14.24 £14.31 £22.00
25th Percentile £17.72 £18.51 £43.75
Median hourly rate £36.93 £22.57 £67.25
Median % change year-on-year +63.65% -66.45% +19.05%
75th Percentile £58.75 £65.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.75 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £35.00 £25.15 £30.00
% change year-on-year +39.17% -16.17% -24.15%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the South West

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the South West over the 6 months to 8 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the South West

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the South West over the 6 months to 8 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the South West

Microsoft
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 Microsoft within the South West region over the 6 months to 8 August 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
Bristol -2 121 £500 +33.33% 136
Somerset 0 85 £450 +63.64% 80
Gloucestershire +1 77 £410 +17.14% 92
Wiltshire +4 76 £550 - 45
Devon 0 41 £398 -0.63% 55
Dorset -2 23 £515 +21.18% 39
Cornwall -3 2 £525 - 1
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
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 64 (14.65%) SharePoint
2 22 (5.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (3.66%) Confluence
4 4 (0.92%) CMS
4 4 (0.92%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.46%) Apache
5 2 (0.46%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.46%) Sitecore CMS
6 1 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.23%) Appian
6 1 (0.23%) ColdFusion
6 1 (0.23%) IIS
6 1 (0.23%) JBoss
6 1 (0.23%) Moodle
6 1 (0.23%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.23%) Totara
6 1 (0.23%) Umbraco
Applications
1 65 (14.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 57 (13.04%) Microsoft Office
3 26 (5.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 20 (4.58%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (2.29%) Spreadsheet
6 9 (2.06%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.46%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.46%) InfoPath
8 1 (0.23%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 10 (2.29%) NetSuite
2 8 (1.83%) Oracle Payables
2 8 (1.83%) Oracle Receivables
3 7 (1.60%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.69%) Dynamics NAV
5 2 (0.46%) assyst
5 2 (0.46%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.46%) Magento
5 2 (0.46%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.46%) SAP CRM
6 1 (0.23%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.23%) SAP Hybris
6 1 (0.23%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 165 (37.76%) Azure
2 98 (22.43%) Microsoft 365
3 49 (11.21%) Entra ID
3 49 (11.21%) Power Platform
4 29 (6.64%) AWS
5 28 (6.41%) Azure DevOps
6 23 (5.26%) GitHub
7 22 (5.03%) Dynamics 365
8 14 (3.20%) Power Automate
8 14 (3.20%) SaaS
9 13 (2.97%) Azure Key Vault
9 13 (2.97%) PowerApps
10 12 (2.75%) Serverless
11 11 (2.52%) PaaS
12 9 (2.06%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 9 (2.06%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 9 (2.06%) Cloud Computing
12 9 (2.06%) Microsoft Copilot
12 9 (2.06%) Microsoft Purview
12 9 (2.06%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.12%) WAN
2 16 (3.66%) DNS
2 16 (3.66%) Firewall
3 10 (2.29%) DHCP
3 10 (2.29%) TCP/IP
3 10 (2.29%) VPN
4 9 (2.06%) Skype
5 8 (1.83%) SAN
6 7 (1.60%) Ethernet
6 7 (1.60%) LAN
7 5 (1.14%) BGP
7 5 (1.14%) VoIP
7 5 (1.14%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.69%) VLAN
8 3 (0.69%) VSAN
9 2 (0.46%) NAS
9 2 (0.46%) SSL
10 1 (0.23%) HTTP
10 1 (0.23%) SMTP
10 1 (0.23%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (8.47%) Power BI
2 24 (5.49%) SQL Server
3 13 (2.97%) Geospatial Data
3 13 (2.97%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (2.52%) Metadata
5 8 (1.83%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (1.60%) GIS
7 6 (1.37%) Relational Database
8 5 (1.14%) Data Lake
8 5 (1.14%) Oracle Database
9 4 (0.92%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.69%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.69%) Redis
10 3 (0.69%) Spatial Data
10 3 (0.69%) Star Schema
10 3 (0.69%) Tableau
11 2 (0.46%) Delta Lake
11 2 (0.46%) Electronic Patient Records
11 2 (0.46%) MySQL
11 2 (0.46%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 39 (8.92%) JIRA
2 20 (4.58%) Git
3 12 (2.75%) MSI
4 10 (2.29%) Visual Studio
5 6 (1.37%) AdminStudio
5 6 (1.37%) Eclipse
5 6 (1.37%) GitLab
5 6 (1.37%) InstallShield
6 4 (0.92%) Visual Studio Code
7 1 (0.23%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.23%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.23%) HP UFT
7 1 (0.23%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.23%) Selenium
7 1 (0.23%) webpack
General
1 173 (39.59%) Social Skills
2 60 (13.73%) Analytical Skills
3 53 (12.13%) Finance
4 49 (11.21%) Public Sector
5 38 (8.70%) Organisational Skills
6 34 (7.78%) Military
7 16 (3.66%) Legal
8 13 (2.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.97%) Local Government
9 12 (2.75%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (2.06%) General Ledger
10 9 (2.06%) Retail
11 8 (1.83%) Aerospace
11 8 (1.83%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.60%) Marketing
13 5 (1.14%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.69%) Aviation
14 3 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.46%) Advertising
15 2 (0.46%) Police
Job Titles
1 61 (13.96%) Architect
2 47 (10.76%) Lead
3 37 (8.47%) Consultant
3 37 (8.47%) Developer
4 29 (6.64%) Support Engineer
5 28 (6.41%) Senior
6 26 (5.95%) Analyst
7 21 (4.81%) Administrator
8 19 (4.35%) IT Support
8 19 (4.35%) Project Officer
9 15 (3.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (3.43%) Solutions Architect
10 14 (3.20%) Data Engineer
10 14 (3.20%) Desktop Support
10 14 (3.20%) IT Engineer
10 14 (3.20%) Technical Architect
11 12 (2.75%) Azure Consultant
11 12 (2.75%) DBA
12 11 (2.52%) .NET Developer
12 11 (2.52%) Microsoft Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (8.01%) .NET
2 25 (5.72%) .NET Framework
3 24 (5.49%) REST
4 18 (4.12%) .NET Core
4 18 (4.12%) HTML
5 16 (3.66%) RESTful
6 14 (3.20%) CSS
6 14 (3.20%) GeoJSON
7 13 (2.97%) CSS3
7 13 (2.97%) HTML5
8 12 (2.75%) ATL
8 12 (2.75%) COM
8 12 (2.75%) MFC
9 11 (2.52%) WPF
10 9 (2.06%) Web Services
11 8 (1.83%) SailPoint
12 7 (1.60%) JDO
13 6 (1.37%) JSON
13 6 (1.37%) LDAP
13 6 (1.37%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.55%) Onboarding
2 28 (6.41%) Cloud Native
3 19 (4.35%) Legacy Systems
3 19 (4.35%) Product Ownership
4 15 (3.43%) Virtual Team
5 13 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
6 12 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
6 12 (2.75%) Management Information System
7 11 (2.52%) Blackberry
7 11 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
8 7 (1.60%) EPoS
8 7 (1.60%) Wiki
9 6 (1.37%) Clustering
9 6 (1.37%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.37%) Data Structures
9 6 (1.37%) Driving Licence
9 6 (1.37%) Legacy Applications
9 6 (1.37%) Low-Code
10 5 (1.14%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.14%) Freedom of Information
Operating Systems
1 113 (25.86%) Windows
2 41 (9.38%) Windows 10
3 30 (6.86%) Android
4 20 (4.58%) Windows Server
5 19 (4.35%) Linux
6 14 (3.20%) Apple iOS
7 6 (1.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.69%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.46%) VMS
9 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.23%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (21.74%) Problem-Solving
2 70 (16.02%) Agile
3 68 (15.56%) Continuous Improvement
4 63 (14.42%) Stakeholder Management
5 51 (11.67%) DevOps
6 50 (11.44%) CI/CD
6 50 (11.44%) Project Delivery
7 47 (10.76%) Migration
8 42 (9.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 40 (9.15%) ITIL
10 37 (8.47%) PRINCE2
10 37 (8.47%) Project Management
11 36 (8.24%) Technical Leadership
12 35 (8.01%) Decision-Making
13 34 (7.78%) Customer Service
14 31 (7.09%) Roadmaps
15 30 (6.86%) Analytics
15 30 (6.86%) Infrastructure as Code
16 29 (6.64%) Validation
17 26 (5.95%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 51 (11.67%) SQL
2 37 (8.47%) Python
3 34 (7.78%) C#
4 30 (6.86%) PowerShell
5 28 (6.41%) JavaScript
6 16 (3.66%) Bicep
7 13 (2.97%) Java
8 12 (2.75%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.83%) C++
10 6 (1.37%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 5 (1.14%) Bash
11 5 (1.14%) BeanShell
12 3 (0.69%) Go
13 2 (0.46%) VB
14 1 (0.23%) C
14 1 (0.23%) PHP
14 1 (0.23%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.23%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.23%) VBA
14 1 (0.23%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 192 (43.94%) Security Cleared
2 139 (31.81%) SC Cleared
3 54 (12.36%) DV Cleared
4 36 (8.24%) Degree
5 16 (3.66%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (3.43%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (2.75%) Azure Certification
8 10 (2.29%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 9 (2.06%) PMP
10 8 (1.83%) ACCA
10 8 (1.83%) CIMA
11 5 (1.14%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.14%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.69%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 3 (0.69%) ACSP
12 3 (0.69%) CISSP
12 3 (0.69%) TOGAF Certification
13 2 (0.46%) A+ Certification
13 2 (0.46%) CCNA
13 2 (0.46%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (4.81%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.89%) Accessibility
3 16 (3.66%) PMO
4 15 (3.43%) QA
5 13 (2.97%) NCSC
5 13 (2.97%) SLA
6 11 (2.52%) WCAG
7 10 (2.29%) GDPR
8 5 (1.14%) ISO 9000
9 3 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.69%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.46%) HL7
10 2 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 2 (0.46%) SNOMED CT
11 1 (0.23%) GRC
11 1 (0.23%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.23%) MIL-STD-1553
11 1 (0.23%) NIST
System Software
1 78 (17.85%) Active Directory
2 22 (5.03%) Docker
3 17 (3.89%) Virtual Desktop
4 14 (3.20%) Hyper-V
5 12 (2.75%) VMware Infrastructure
6 7 (1.60%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.92%) VMware NSX
8 3 (0.69%) vSphere
9 2 (0.46%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.23%) zsh
Systems Management
1 41 (9.38%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (8.24%) Terraform
3 23 (5.26%) Kubernetes
4 22 (5.03%) SCCM
5 9 (2.06%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (1.60%) Ansible
7 5 (1.14%) Failover Clustering
7 5 (1.14%) FortiGate
7 5 (1.14%) Grafana
7 5 (1.14%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 5 (1.14%) WSUS
8 4 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.69%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.69%) VxRail
10 2 (0.46%) Argo
10 2 (0.46%) McAfee ePO
11 1 (0.23%) CA Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.23%) Podman
11 1 (0.23%) PTC Integrity
11 1 (0.23%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 28 (6.41%) VMware
2 25 (5.72%) Oracle
3 15 (3.43%) ServiceNow
4 14 (3.20%) Apple
5 12 (2.75%) Citrix
5 12 (2.75%) SAP
6 11 (2.52%) Cisco
6 11 (2.52%) Google
6 11 (2.52%) McAfee
6 11 (2.52%) MobileIron
7 10 (2.29%) Databricks
7 10 (2.29%) HP
8 9 (2.06%) Red Hat
9 7 (1.60%) Starlink
10 6 (1.37%) BiZZdesign
11 5 (1.14%) CyberArk
11 5 (1.14%) Informatica
11 5 (1.14%) InterSystems
11 5 (1.14%) NetApp
11 5 (1.14%) Zscaler