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 19 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
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 5 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 450 279 429
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.31% 14.68% 15.48%
As % of the Vendors category 37.22% 35.23% 35.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 284 164 278
10th Percentile £226 £184 £180
25th Percentile £363 £235 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £430 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.30% -14.00% -
75th Percentile £578 £575 £600
90th Percentile £730 £673 £728
England median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 43 32
10th Percentile £12.79 £18.13 £12.62
25th Percentile £14.00 £18.51 £13.69
Median hourly rate £17.50 £18.87 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.26% -60.27% +99.12%
75th Percentile £25.75 £28.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £64.13 £36.75 £83.00
England median hourly rate £21.50 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -4.99% +39.43% -26.23%

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 1,209 792 1,192
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 33.08% 41.66% 43.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 723 452 770
10th Percentile £301 £217 £231
25th Percentile £406 £355 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.39% -0.48% -
75th Percentile £605 £625 £638
90th Percentile £718 £688 £700
England median daily rate £513 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.49% -3.81% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 107 133
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.99 £13.72
25th Percentile £16.96 £18.51 £45.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £22.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +44.44% -67.86% +23.92%
75th Percentile £59.38 £65.50 -
90th Percentile £83.35 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £29.00
% change year-on-year +29.22% -13.28% -26.68%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 -2 130 £500 +33.33% 155
Somerset -1 88 £450 +63.64% 75
Gloucestershire +2 77 £410 +47.48% 145
Wiltshire +5 76 £550 - 51
Devon -2 42 £350 -12.50% 63
Dorset -2 23 £515 +21.18% 53
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 68 (15.11%) SharePoint
2 23 (5.11%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (3.56%) Confluence
4 4 (0.89%) CMS
4 4 (0.89%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.44%) Apache
5 2 (0.44%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.44%) Sitecore CMS
6 1 (0.22%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.22%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.22%) Appian
6 1 (0.22%) ColdFusion
6 1 (0.22%) IIS
6 1 (0.22%) JBoss
6 1 (0.22%) Moodle
6 1 (0.22%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.22%) Totara
6 1 (0.22%) Umbraco
Applications
1 63 (14.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 60 (13.33%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (6.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 19 (4.22%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (2.00%) MS Visio
6 8 (1.78%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.44%) InfoPath
8 1 (0.22%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 10 (2.22%) NetSuite
2 8 (1.78%) Oracle Payables
2 8 (1.78%) Oracle Receivables
3 7 (1.56%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.67%) Dynamics NAV
5 2 (0.44%) assyst
5 2 (0.44%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.44%) Magento
5 2 (0.44%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.44%) SAP CRM
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.22%) SAP Hybris
6 1 (0.22%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 164 (36.44%) Azure
2 100 (22.22%) Microsoft 365
3 51 (11.33%) Power Platform
4 50 (11.11%) Entra ID
5 31 (6.89%) Azure DevOps
6 29 (6.44%) AWS
7 24 (5.33%) Dynamics 365
8 23 (5.11%) GitHub
9 15 (3.33%) PowerApps
10 14 (3.11%) Power Automate
10 14 (3.11%) SaaS
11 13 (2.89%) Azure Key Vault
12 12 (2.67%) Serverless
13 11 (2.44%) Microsoft Purview
14 10 (2.22%) PaaS
15 9 (2.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 9 (2.00%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 9 (2.00%) Cloud Computing
15 9 (2.00%) Microsoft Copilot
15 9 (2.00%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.44%) WAN
2 18 (4.00%) DNS
3 16 (3.56%) Firewall
4 12 (2.67%) DHCP
5 11 (2.44%) Skype
5 11 (2.44%) VPN
6 10 (2.22%) TCP/IP
7 9 (2.00%) LAN
8 8 (1.78%) SAN
9 7 (1.56%) Ethernet
10 5 (1.11%) BGP
10 5 (1.11%) VoIP
10 5 (1.11%) Wi-Fi
11 3 (0.67%) Kerberos
11 3 (0.67%) VLAN
11 3 (0.67%) VSAN
12 2 (0.44%) NAS
12 2 (0.44%) SSL
13 1 (0.22%) S/MIME
13 1 (0.22%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (8.67%) Power BI
2 24 (5.33%) SQL Server
3 13 (2.89%) Geospatial Data
3 13 (2.89%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (2.44%) Metadata
5 8 (1.78%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (1.56%) GIS
7 6 (1.33%) Relational Database
8 5 (1.11%) Data Lake
8 5 (1.11%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.67%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.67%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.67%) Redis
9 3 (0.67%) Spatial Data
9 3 (0.67%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.67%) Tableau
10 2 (0.44%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.44%) Electronic Patient Records
10 2 (0.44%) MySQL
10 2 (0.44%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 36 (8.00%) JIRA
2 23 (5.11%) Git
3 12 (2.67%) MSI
4 10 (2.22%) Visual Studio
5 6 (1.33%) AdminStudio
5 6 (1.33%) Eclipse
5 6 (1.33%) GitLab
5 6 (1.33%) InstallShield
6 4 (0.89%) Visual Studio Code
7 1 (0.22%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.22%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.22%) HP UFT
7 1 (0.22%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.22%) Selenium
7 1 (0.22%) webpack
General
1 180 (40.00%) Social Skills
2 60 (13.33%) Analytical Skills
3 54 (12.00%) Finance
4 49 (10.89%) Public Sector
5 38 (8.44%) Organisational Skills
6 34 (7.56%) Military
7 16 (3.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 15 (3.33%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (3.33%) Legal
9 13 (2.89%) Local Government
10 11 (2.44%) Aerospace
10 11 (2.44%) Retail
11 9 (2.00%) General Ledger
12 8 (1.78%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.33%) Manufacturing
14 5 (1.11%) Marketing
15 3 (0.67%) Aviation
15 3 (0.67%) Influencing Skills
16 2 (0.44%) Investment Banking
16 2 (0.44%) Police
Job Titles
1 65 (14.44%) Architect
2 48 (10.67%) Lead
3 42 (9.33%) Consultant
4 36 (8.00%) Developer
5 31 (6.89%) Senior
6 29 (6.44%) Support Engineer
7 27 (6.00%) Analyst
8 21 (4.67%) IT Support
9 20 (4.44%) Administrator
10 17 (3.78%) Project Officer
10 17 (3.78%) Solutions Architect
11 15 (3.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 15 (3.33%) IT Engineer
12 14 (3.11%) Desktop Support
12 14 (3.11%) Microsoft Consultant
12 14 (3.11%) Technical Architect
13 13 (2.89%) Data Engineer
14 12 (2.67%) Azure Consultant
14 12 (2.67%) DBA
14 12 (2.67%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (7.78%) .NET
2 25 (5.56%) .NET Framework
3 24 (5.33%) REST
4 19 (4.22%) HTML
5 18 (4.00%) .NET Core
6 16 (3.56%) RESTful
7 14 (3.11%) CSS
7 14 (3.11%) GeoJSON
8 13 (2.89%) CSS3
8 13 (2.89%) HTML5
9 12 (2.67%) ATL
9 12 (2.67%) COM
9 12 (2.67%) MFC
10 11 (2.44%) WPF
11 9 (2.00%) LDAP
11 9 (2.00%) Web Services
12 8 (1.78%) SailPoint
13 7 (1.56%) JDO
13 7 (1.56%) OAuth
14 6 (1.33%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 35 (7.78%) Onboarding
2 28 (6.22%) Cloud Native
3 20 (4.44%) Product Ownership
4 19 (4.22%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (3.11%) Virtual Team
6 13 (2.89%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (2.89%) Management Information System
7 12 (2.67%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (2.44%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (2.22%) Wiki
10 9 (2.00%) EPoS
11 8 (1.78%) Blackberry
12 6 (1.33%) Clustering
12 6 (1.33%) Data Centre
12 6 (1.33%) Driving Licence
12 6 (1.33%) Legacy Applications
12 6 (1.33%) Low-Code
13 5 (1.11%) Data Protection Act
13 5 (1.11%) Data Structures
13 5 (1.11%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 116 (25.78%) Windows
2 44 (9.78%) Windows 10
3 29 (6.44%) Android
4 22 (4.89%) Windows Server
5 20 (4.44%) Linux
6 11 (2.44%) Apple iOS
7 6 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.67%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.44%) VMS
9 2 (0.44%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.44%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.22%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (21.33%) Problem-Solving
2 76 (16.89%) Continuous Improvement
3 70 (15.56%) Agile
4 64 (14.22%) Stakeholder Management
5 53 (11.78%) DevOps
6 52 (11.56%) CI/CD
6 52 (11.56%) Project Delivery
7 49 (10.89%) Migration
8 47 (10.44%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 41 (9.11%) ITIL
10 39 (8.67%) Customer Service
10 39 (8.67%) Technical Leadership
11 36 (8.00%) Decision-Making
11 36 (8.00%) Project Management
12 35 (7.78%) PRINCE2
13 33 (7.33%) Infrastructure as Code
14 31 (6.89%) Roadmaps
14 31 (6.89%) Validation
15 29 (6.44%) Analytics
15 29 (6.44%) Knowledge Transfer
Programming Languages
1 50 (11.11%) SQL
2 35 (7.78%) Python
3 34 (7.56%) C#
4 31 (6.89%) PowerShell
5 28 (6.22%) JavaScript
6 19 (4.22%) Bicep
7 12 (2.67%) Java
7 12 (2.67%) TypeScript
8 8 (1.78%) Bash
8 8 (1.78%) C++
9 7 (1.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.11%) BeanShell
11 3 (0.67%) Go
12 2 (0.44%) VB
13 1 (0.22%) C
13 1 (0.22%) PHP
13 1 (0.22%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.22%) VBA
13 1 (0.22%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 198 (44.00%) Security Cleared
2 141 (31.33%) SC Cleared
3 59 (13.11%) DV Cleared
4 37 (8.22%) Degree
5 17 (3.78%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (3.33%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (2.67%) Azure Certification
8 10 (2.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 9 (2.00%) PMP
10 8 (1.78%) ACCA
10 8 (1.78%) CIMA
11 5 (1.11%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.11%) DBS Check
12 4 (0.89%) CISSP
12 4 (0.89%) TOGAF Certification
13 3 (0.67%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 3 (0.67%) ACSP
14 2 (0.44%) A+ Certification
14 2 (0.44%) CCNA
14 2 (0.44%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (4.67%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.78%) Accessibility
3 16 (3.56%) QA
4 15 (3.33%) NCSC
4 15 (3.33%) SLA
5 14 (3.11%) PMO
6 12 (2.67%) GDPR
7 11 (2.44%) WCAG
8 5 (1.11%) ISO 9000
9 3 (0.67%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.44%) HL7
10 2 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 2 (0.44%) NIST
10 2 (0.44%) SNOMED CT
11 1 (0.22%) GRC
11 1 (0.22%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.22%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 80 (17.78%) Active Directory
2 25 (5.56%) Docker
3 16 (3.56%) Virtual Desktop
4 14 (3.11%) Hyper-V
5 12 (2.67%) VMware Infrastructure
6 7 (1.56%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.89%) VMware NSX
8 3 (0.67%) vSphere
9 2 (0.44%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.22%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.22%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.22%) zsh
Systems Management
1 39 (8.67%) Microsoft Intune
1 39 (8.67%) Terraform
2 26 (5.78%) Kubernetes
3 23 (5.11%) SCCM
4 7 (1.56%) Ansible
5 6 (1.33%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.11%) Failover Clustering
6 5 (1.11%) FortiGate
6 5 (1.11%) Grafana
6 5 (1.11%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 5 (1.11%) WSUS
7 4 (0.89%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.67%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.67%) VxRail
9 2 (0.44%) Argo
9 2 (0.44%) McAfee ePO
10 1 (0.22%) Podman
10 1 (0.22%) PTC Integrity
10 1 (0.22%) SELinux
10 1 (0.22%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 25 (5.56%) Oracle
1 25 (5.56%) VMware
2 16 (3.56%) Apple
2 16 (3.56%) ServiceNow
3 12 (2.67%) Cisco
3 12 (2.67%) HP
4 11 (2.44%) Google
4 11 (2.44%) McAfee
4 11 (2.44%) SAP
5 10 (2.22%) Databricks
6 9 (2.00%) Red Hat
7 8 (1.78%) Citrix
7 8 (1.78%) MobileIron
8 7 (1.56%) Starlink
9 6 (1.33%) BiZZdesign
10 5 (1.11%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.11%) Informatica
10 5 (1.11%) InterSystems
10 5 (1.11%) NetApp
10 5 (1.11%) Zscaler