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 4 July 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
4 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 6 5
Rank change year-on-year 0 -1 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 393 262 504
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.05% 14.44% 15.37%
As % of the Vendors category 35.31% 32.83% 36.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 257 157 330
10th Percentile £205 £200 £180
25th Percentile £355 £220 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £425 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.76% -15.04% -4.71%
75th Percentile £575 £581 £600
90th Percentile £717 £630 £725
England median daily rate £494 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 39 47
10th Percentile £13.65 £18.13 £12.50
25th Percentile £15.24 £18.51 £13.69
Median hourly rate £19.33 £18.87 £27.52
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -31.42% +6.85%
75th Percentile £37.50 £33.38 £52.13
90th Percentile £65.00 £37.50 £65.00
England median hourly rate £22.57 £22.41 £16.06
% change year-on-year +0.70% +39.52% -27.82%

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 1,113 798 1,381
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 31.30% 43.97% 42.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 646 477 877
10th Percentile £300 £217 £211
25th Percentile £400 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.39% -1.90% -
75th Percentile £600 £619 £638
90th Percentile £693 £675 £725
England median daily rate £510 £513 £517
% change year-on-year -0.49% -0.87% -1.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 165 92 194
10th Percentile £16.62 £18.13 £14.54
25th Percentile £19.93 £18.87 £37.50
Median hourly rate £51.00 £32.25 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +58.14% -42.91% -3.68%
75th Percentile £58.75 £67.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £70.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £35.00 £25.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year +37.25% +2.00% -30.56%

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 4 July 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 4 July 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 4 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
Bristol -4 107 £500 +78.57% 82
Somerset +1 75 £469 +67.50% 52
Gloucestershire +2 72 £410 +47.48% 77
Wiltshire -1 67 £550 - 33
Devon -2 40 £310 -38.10% 31
Dorset -7 19 £409 -3.76% 44
Cornwall -4 2 £525 - 7
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 50 (12.72%) SharePoint
2 15 (3.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (3.05%) Confluence
4 3 (0.76%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.51%) Apache
5 2 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.51%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.25%) Appian
6 1 (0.25%) CMS
6 1 (0.25%) ColdFusion
6 1 (0.25%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Umbraco
Applications
1 51 (12.98%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (12.47%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (6.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (3.31%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (1.53%) MS Visio
5 6 (1.53%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.76%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.51%) InfoPath
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.25%) InDesign
8 1 (0.25%) PTC Creo
8 1 (0.25%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 12 (3.05%) NetSuite
2 8 (2.04%) Oracle Payables
2 8 (2.04%) Oracle Receivables
3 5 (1.27%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.51%) assyst
4 2 (0.51%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.51%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.51%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle General Ledger
5 1 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP Hybris
5 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 154 (39.19%) Azure
2 81 (20.61%) Microsoft 365
3 46 (11.70%) Entra ID
4 43 (10.94%) Power Platform
5 28 (7.12%) AWS
6 27 (6.87%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (5.09%) GitHub
8 19 (4.83%) Dynamics 365
9 13 (3.31%) SaaS
10 12 (3.05%) Power Automate
11 11 (2.80%) Azure Key Vault
12 10 (2.54%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 10 (2.54%) Serverless
13 9 (2.29%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 9 (2.29%) Cloud Computing
13 9 (2.29%) PowerApps
14 8 (2.04%) Azure Monitor
14 8 (2.04%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (2.04%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (2.04%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.58%) DNS
2 17 (4.33%) Firewall
3 13 (3.31%) WAN
4 11 (2.80%) DHCP
4 11 (2.80%) TCP/IP
5 10 (2.54%) VPN
6 8 (2.04%) SAN
6 8 (2.04%) Skype
7 7 (1.78%) Ethernet
8 5 (1.27%) BGP
8 5 (1.27%) VoIP
9 4 (1.02%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.51%) LAN
10 2 (0.51%) NAS
10 2 (0.51%) Network Security
10 2 (0.51%) SSL
10 2 (0.51%) VLAN
11 1 (0.25%) HTTP
11 1 (0.25%) Unified Communications
11 1 (0.25%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (8.14%) Power BI
2 25 (6.36%) SQL Server
3 14 (3.56%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (2.29%) Geospatial Data
5 8 (2.04%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (1.53%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.27%) Oracle Database
8 4 (1.02%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.02%) GIS
8 4 (1.02%) Metadata
8 4 (1.02%) MySQL
8 4 (1.02%) Redis
8 4 (1.02%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.76%) Delta Lake
9 3 (0.76%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.51%) Electronic Patient Records
10 2 (0.51%) Spatial Data
10 2 (0.51%) Tableau
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 30 (7.63%) JIRA
2 13 (3.31%) Git
3 10 (2.54%) Visual Studio
4 8 (2.04%) MSI
5 6 (1.53%) AdminStudio
5 6 (1.53%) Eclipse
5 6 (1.53%) GitLab
5 6 (1.53%) InstallShield
6 4 (1.02%) Visual Studio Code
7 1 (0.25%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.25%) HP UFT
7 1 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.25%) Selenium
7 1 (0.25%) webpack
General
1 145 (36.90%) Social Skills
2 52 (13.23%) Analytical Skills
3 47 (11.96%) Finance
4 35 (8.91%) Public Sector
5 34 (8.65%) Organisational Skills
6 32 (8.14%) Military
7 17 (4.33%) Legal
8 14 (3.56%) Documentation Skills
9 11 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (2.29%) General Ledger
11 8 (2.04%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.78%) Aerospace
13 6 (1.53%) Marketing
14 5 (1.27%) Local Government
14 5 (1.27%) Manufacturing
14 5 (1.27%) Retail
15 3 (0.76%) Police
16 2 (0.51%) Advertising
16 2 (0.51%) Aviation
16 2 (0.51%) Banking
Job Titles
1 50 (12.72%) Architect
2 41 (10.43%) Lead
3 35 (8.91%) Consultant
4 32 (8.14%) Developer
5 29 (7.38%) Support Engineer
6 24 (6.11%) Senior
7 23 (5.85%) Analyst
8 19 (4.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 18 (4.58%) Administrator
10 16 (4.07%) Data Engineer
11 15 (3.82%) Project Officer
12 14 (3.56%) IT Support
13 13 (3.31%) IT Engineer
13 13 (3.31%) Solutions Architect
13 13 (3.31%) Technical Architect
14 12 (3.05%) Azure Consultant
14 12 (3.05%) DBA
14 12 (3.05%) Desktop Support
15 11 (2.80%) Desktop Engineer
15 11 (2.80%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (6.87%) .NET
2 17 (4.33%) .NET Framework
2 17 (4.33%) REST
3 13 (3.31%) HTML
4 12 (3.05%) CSS
4 12 (3.05%) RESTful
5 11 (2.80%) .NET Core
5 11 (2.80%) CSS3
5 11 (2.80%) HTML5
6 10 (2.54%) GeoJSON
7 9 (2.29%) Web Services
8 8 (2.04%) ATL
8 8 (2.04%) COM
8 8 (2.04%) JDO
8 8 (2.04%) MFC
8 8 (2.04%) SailPoint
9 7 (1.78%) WPF
10 6 (1.53%) LDAP
10 6 (1.53%) Node.js
11 5 (1.27%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 25 (6.36%) Onboarding
2 24 (6.11%) Cloud Native
3 16 (4.07%) Product Ownership
4 15 (3.82%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (3.56%) Blackberry
6 13 (3.31%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (2.80%) Enterprise Software
7 11 (2.80%) Management Information System
7 11 (2.80%) Self-Motivation
7 11 (2.80%) Virtual Team
8 8 (2.04%) Legacy Applications
9 7 (1.78%) Data Structures
9 7 (1.78%) Driving Licence
10 5 (1.27%) Data Centre
10 5 (1.27%) PKI
11 4 (1.02%) Augmented Reality
11 4 (1.02%) Clustering
11 4 (1.02%) Freedom of Information
11 4 (1.02%) Virtual Reality
11 4 (1.02%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 112 (28.50%) Windows
2 33 (8.40%) Windows 10
3 32 (8.14%) Android
4 23 (5.85%) Windows Server
5 18 (4.58%) Linux
6 17 (4.33%) Apple iOS
7 5 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.76%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (22.39%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (15.52%) Agile
3 54 (13.74%) Continuous Improvement
4 51 (12.98%) Stakeholder Management
5 44 (11.20%) DevOps
6 41 (10.43%) CI/CD
7 40 (10.18%) Project Delivery
8 35 (8.91%) ITIL
8 35 (8.91%) Migration
9 33 (8.40%) Analytics
9 33 (8.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 31 (7.89%) Decision-Making
10 31 (7.89%) PRINCE2
11 29 (7.38%) Project Management
12 28 (7.12%) Technical Leadership
13 25 (6.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 25 (6.36%) Roadmaps
13 25 (6.36%) Validation
14 24 (6.11%) Change Management
14 24 (6.11%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 52 (13.23%) SQL
2 34 (8.65%) PowerShell
3 32 (8.14%) Python
4 26 (6.62%) C#
5 24 (6.11%) JavaScript
6 16 (4.07%) Java
7 12 (3.05%) Bicep
8 8 (2.04%) C++
8 8 (2.04%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.27%) BeanShell
10 4 (1.02%) Go
11 3 (0.76%) Bash
12 2 (0.51%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.51%) VBA
13 1 (0.25%) Ada
13 1 (0.25%) C
13 1 (0.25%) PHP
13 1 (0.25%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.25%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.25%) VB
Qualifications
1 169 (43.00%) Security Cleared
2 120 (30.53%) SC Cleared
3 52 (13.23%) DV Cleared
4 34 (8.65%) Degree
5 17 (4.33%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (3.05%) Azure Certification
7 10 (2.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (2.54%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 9 (2.29%) PMP
9 8 (2.04%) ACCA
9 8 (2.04%) CIMA
10 4 (1.02%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (0.76%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 3 (0.76%) ACSP
11 3 (0.76%) CISSP
11 3 (0.76%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.76%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.51%) CBAP
12 2 (0.51%) DBS Check
12 2 (0.51%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (4.07%) Data Quality
2 13 (3.31%) Accessibility
3 12 (3.05%) PMO
3 12 (3.05%) QA
3 12 (3.05%) SLA
4 9 (2.29%) NCSC
5 7 (1.78%) GDPR
5 7 (1.78%) WCAG
6 5 (1.27%) ISO 9000
7 3 (0.76%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.51%) HL7
8 2 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.51%) SNOMED CT
9 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.25%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.25%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.25%) MIL-STD-1553
9 1 (0.25%) NIST
System Software
1 81 (20.61%) Active Directory
2 17 (4.33%) Docker
2 17 (4.33%) Virtual Desktop
3 15 (3.82%) Hyper-V
4 11 (2.80%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.76%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.76%) vSphere
7 1 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 43 (10.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (8.40%) Terraform
3 19 (4.83%) Kubernetes
4 15 (3.82%) Single Sign-On
5 14 (3.56%) SCCM
6 7 (1.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 7 (1.78%) Ansible
7 6 (1.53%) Grafana
8 5 (1.27%) FortiGate
8 5 (1.27%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 5 (1.27%) WSUS
9 4 (1.02%) Prometheus
9 4 (1.02%) VxRail
10 3 (0.76%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.51%) Argo
11 2 (0.51%) McAfee ePO
12 1 (0.25%) CA Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.25%) Puppet
12 1 (0.25%) SCOM
12 1 (0.25%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 34 (8.65%) VMware
2 27 (6.87%) Oracle
3 15 (3.82%) Citrix
4 14 (3.56%) MobileIron
4 14 (3.56%) SAP
5 13 (3.31%) Apple
5 13 (3.31%) ServiceNow
6 11 (2.80%) McAfee
7 10 (2.54%) Cisco
8 9 (2.29%) HP
9 8 (2.04%) Google
10 7 (1.78%) Starlink
11 6 (1.53%) Adobe
11 6 (1.53%) BiZZdesign
11 6 (1.53%) Databricks
11 6 (1.53%) Dell
11 6 (1.53%) Red Hat
12 5 (1.27%) InterSystems
12 5 (1.27%) NetApp
12 5 (1.27%) Zscaler