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 16 October 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
16 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -1 +1 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 444 340 390
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 11.93% 17.03% 15.51%
As % of the Vendors category 37.12% 39.17% 34.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 217 236
10th Percentile £229 £205 £189
25th Percentile £392 £278 £329
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £621 £575 £652
90th Percentile £730 £695 £775
England median daily rate £494 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +4.00% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 42 18
10th Percentile £12.80 £18.17 £12.50
25th Percentile £14.31 - £25.26
Median hourly rate £17.50 £18.87 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.26% -70.97% +33.42%
75th Percentile £25.75 £33.56 -
90th Percentile £57.00 £50.09 £71.00
England median hourly rate £18.25 £22.50 £20.00
% change year-on-year -18.89% +12.50% -13.04%

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 1,196 868 1,127
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 32.14% 43.49% 44.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 668 512 645
10th Percentile £325 £220 £235
25th Percentile £425 £362 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.04% -2.95% -
75th Percentile £613 £619 £638
90th Percentile £725 £675 £700
England median daily rate £519 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +2.27% -3.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 203 111 92
10th Percentile £14.16 £15.00 £26.03
25th Percentile £16.64 £18.87 £60.44
Median hourly rate £26.14 £22.63 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.51% -67.67% +27.27%
75th Percentile £55.31 £39.89 -
90th Percentile £76.75 £68.00 £74.00
England median hourly rate £25.28 £25.04 £35.00
% change year-on-year +0.98% -28.46% -21.35%

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 16 October 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 16 October 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 16 October 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 0 156 £525 +10.53% 55
Wiltshire -3 73 £600 +4.35% 29
Somerset -2 70 £498 +49.62% 36
Gloucestershire -1 68 £410 +2.50% 47
Devon 0 36 £450 +63.64% 34
Dorset -7 24 £515 +32.90% 26
Avon -1 4 - - 26
Cornwall - 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 54 (12.16%) SharePoint
2 27 (6.08%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (3.83%) Confluence
4 4 (0.90%) CMS
5 3 (0.68%) Sitecore CMS
6 2 (0.45%) Apache
6 2 (0.45%) Skype for Business
7 1 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.23%) Appian
7 1 (0.23%) ColdFusion
7 1 (0.23%) JBoss
7 1 (0.23%) Moodle
7 1 (0.23%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.23%) Totara
Applications
1 67 (15.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 58 (13.06%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (4.73%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (4.05%) Spreadsheet
5 13 (2.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (1.35%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.23%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 7 (1.58%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.35%) NetSuite
2 6 (1.35%) Oracle Payables
2 6 (1.35%) Oracle Receivables
3 5 (1.13%) SAP HR
4 4 (0.90%) SAP S/4HANA
5 3 (0.68%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.68%) Magento
5 3 (0.68%) SAP CRM
6 2 (0.45%) assyst
6 2 (0.45%) Primavera
6 2 (0.45%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.23%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.23%) SAP Hybris
7 1 (0.23%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.23%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.23%) Sonata
7 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 151 (34.01%) Azure
2 104 (23.42%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (12.84%) Entra ID
4 39 (8.78%) Power Platform
5 35 (7.88%) Azure DevOps
6 29 (6.53%) AWS
7 23 (5.18%) Dynamics 365
8 14 (3.15%) OneDrive
8 14 (3.15%) PowerApps
9 13 (2.93%) GitHub
9 13 (2.93%) Microsoft Copilot
9 13 (2.93%) SaaS
10 12 (2.70%) Microsoft Purview
10 12 (2.70%) Power Automate
11 11 (2.48%) Azure Functions
11 11 (2.48%) Serverless
12 10 (2.25%) Azure AKS
13 9 (2.03%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 9 (2.03%) Azure Key Vault
13 9 (2.03%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 24 (5.41%) DNS
2 22 (4.95%) WAN
3 20 (4.50%) Firewall
4 17 (3.83%) DHCP
5 12 (2.70%) LAN
6 10 (2.25%) Skype
6 10 (2.25%) VPN
7 9 (2.03%) TCP/IP
8 7 (1.58%) SAN
9 6 (1.35%) Wireless
10 5 (1.13%) BGP
10 5 (1.13%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (1.13%) Ethernet
10 5 (1.13%) Network Security
11 4 (0.90%) Kerberos
11 4 (0.90%) VoIP
12 3 (0.68%) VLAN
12 3 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.45%) Asterisk PBX
13 2 (0.45%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (5.63%) Power BI
2 20 (4.50%) SQL Server
3 13 (2.93%) Geospatial Data
3 13 (2.93%) Metadata
4 10 (2.25%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.03%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (1.58%) Data Lake
7 5 (1.13%) GIS
7 5 (1.13%) Oracle Database
7 5 (1.13%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.68%) Power Query
8 3 (0.68%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.45%) EDRMS
9 2 (0.45%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.45%) Spatial Data
9 2 (0.45%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 2 (0.45%) Star Schema
10 1 (0.23%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.23%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (8.11%) JIRA
2 27 (6.08%) Git
3 12 (2.70%) MSI
4 6 (1.35%) Visual Studio
5 5 (1.13%) GitLab
6 4 (0.90%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.45%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.45%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.45%) InstallShield
8 1 (0.23%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.23%) Jenkins
8 1 (0.23%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.23%) Selenium
General
1 180 (40.54%) Social Skills
2 51 (11.49%) Analytical Skills
3 50 (11.26%) Public Sector
4 47 (10.59%) Finance
5 40 (9.01%) Organisational Skills
6 25 (5.63%) Military
7 18 (4.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (3.83%) Aerospace
8 17 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
9 14 (3.15%) Retail
10 13 (2.93%) Local Government
11 10 (2.25%) Manufacturing
12 8 (1.80%) Legal
13 7 (1.58%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (1.35%) General Ledger
15 5 (1.13%) Marketing
15 5 (1.13%) Police
16 4 (0.90%) Banking
17 3 (0.68%) Aviation
18 2 (0.45%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 57 (12.84%) Architect
2 53 (11.94%) Consultant
3 44 (9.91%) Lead
4 38 (8.56%) Administrator
5 30 (6.76%) Analyst
6 27 (6.08%) Senior
7 23 (5.18%) Developer
8 20 (4.50%) Microsoft Consultant
9 19 (4.28%) IT Support
10 18 (4.05%) Azure Consultant
10 18 (4.05%) Solutions Architect
11 16 (3.60%) Support Engineer
12 15 (3.38%) DevOps Engineer
13 14 (3.15%) IT Engineer
14 13 (2.93%) Project Officer
15 12 (2.70%) Coordinator
15 12 (2.70%) Data Engineer
16 11 (2.48%) Azure Engineer
16 11 (2.48%) DBA
16 11 (2.48%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (9.23%) Terraform
2 29 (6.53%) .NET
3 20 (4.50%) .NET Framework
4 19 (4.28%) REST
5 17 (3.83%) .NET Core
6 16 (3.60%) HTML
7 14 (3.15%) RESTful
8 13 (2.93%) GeoJSON
9 11 (2.48%) ATL
9 11 (2.48%) COM
9 11 (2.48%) CSS
9 11 (2.48%) CSS3
9 11 (2.48%) HTML5
9 11 (2.48%) MFC
9 11 (2.48%) WPF
10 9 (2.03%) ARM Templates
10 9 (2.03%) LDAP
10 9 (2.03%) OAuth
11 8 (1.80%) SAML
12 6 (1.35%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 36 (8.11%) Onboarding
2 24 (5.41%) Management Information System
3 22 (4.95%) Product Ownership
4 21 (4.73%) Cloud Native
5 18 (4.05%) Virtual Team
6 17 (3.83%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (3.15%) Wiki
8 13 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
8 13 (2.93%) Hybrid Cloud
9 12 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
10 9 (2.03%) AI Agents
10 9 (2.03%) Driving Licence
11 8 (1.80%) EPoS
12 7 (1.58%) PKI
12 7 (1.58%) Replication
13 5 (1.13%) Clustering
13 5 (1.13%) Data Centre
13 5 (1.13%) Data Protection Act
13 5 (1.13%) Enterprise Cloud
13 5 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 101 (22.75%) Windows
2 37 (8.33%) Windows 10
3 26 (5.86%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.60%) Android
4 16 (3.60%) Linux
5 6 (1.35%) macOS
6 5 (1.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.68%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.45%) VMS
8 2 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.23%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (17.34%) Continuous Improvement
2 73 (16.44%) Stakeholder Management
3 69 (15.54%) Agile
4 67 (15.09%) Problem-Solving
5 55 (12.39%) DevOps
6 50 (11.26%) CI/CD
7 49 (11.04%) Customer Service
8 48 (10.81%) Project Delivery
9 46 (10.36%) Migration
9 46 (10.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 41 (9.23%) Infrastructure as Code
10 41 (9.23%) Technical Leadership
11 40 (9.01%) Validation
12 39 (8.78%) Decision-Making
13 37 (8.33%) ITIL
13 37 (8.33%) Roadmaps
14 30 (6.76%) Data Governance
15 29 (6.53%) Project Management
16 28 (6.31%) Analytics
16 28 (6.31%) Deployment Automation
Programming Languages
1 43 (9.68%) SQL
2 40 (9.01%) PowerShell
3 28 (6.31%) C#
4 26 (5.86%) Python
5 25 (5.63%) Bicep
6 20 (4.50%) JavaScript
7 14 (3.15%) Bash
8 12 (2.70%) TypeScript
9 7 (1.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 7 (1.58%) Java
10 5 (1.13%) BeanShell
10 5 (1.13%) C++
11 1 (0.23%) Ada
11 1 (0.23%) Ada 95
11 1 (0.23%) C
11 1 (0.23%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.23%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.23%) VB
11 1 (0.23%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 178 (40.09%) Security Cleared
2 120 (27.03%) SC Cleared
3 62 (13.96%) DV Cleared
4 18 (4.05%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (3.83%) Degree
6 13 (2.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (2.03%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.58%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (1.35%) ACCA
9 6 (1.35%) CIMA
9 6 (1.35%) CIPD
9 6 (1.35%) CISSP
9 6 (1.35%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 6 (1.35%) PMP
10 5 (1.13%) DBS Check
11 4 (0.90%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 4 (0.90%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 3 (0.68%) MCSE
12 3 (0.68%) TOGAF Certification
13 2 (0.45%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (7.88%) Data Quality
2 19 (4.28%) QA
2 19 (4.28%) SLA
3 18 (4.05%) GDPR
4 16 (3.60%) Accessibility
4 16 (3.60%) NCSC
5 15 (3.38%) PMO
6 11 (2.48%) WCAG
7 5 (1.13%) ISO 9000
8 4 (0.90%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.90%) NIST
9 3 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.23%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.23%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.23%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.23%) MIL-STD-1553
11 1 (0.23%) NIST 800
System Software
1 76 (17.12%) Active Directory
2 27 (6.08%) Docker
3 18 (4.05%) Virtual Desktop
4 15 (3.38%) Hyper-V
4 15 (3.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (1.13%) vSphere
7 2 (0.45%) BitLocker
7 2 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.23%) Firmware
8 1 (0.23%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 1 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.23%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.23%) zsh
Systems Management
1 29 (6.53%) Kubernetes
2 23 (5.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (5.18%) SCCM
3 7 (1.58%) Ansible
3 7 (1.58%) WSUS
4 5 (1.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 5 (1.13%) Failover Clustering
4 5 (1.13%) FortiGate
4 5 (1.13%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 5 (1.13%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.68%) Grafana
5 3 (0.68%) OPNET
5 3 (0.68%) VxRail
6 2 (0.45%) Argo
6 2 (0.45%) SCOM
7 1 (0.23%) CASB
7 1 (0.23%) Podman
7 1 (0.23%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.23%) PTC Integrity
7 1 (0.23%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 29 (6.53%) Oracle
2 19 (4.28%) SAP
2 19 (4.28%) VMware
3 18 (4.05%) Cisco
4 15 (3.38%) ServiceNow
5 13 (2.93%) Apple
6 12 (2.70%) Databricks
7 10 (2.25%) Google
7 10 (2.25%) HP
8 8 (1.80%) Red Hat
9 6 (1.35%) BiZZdesign
9 6 (1.35%) CyberArk
9 6 (1.35%) Informatica
9 6 (1.35%) Workday
9 6 (1.35%) Zscaler
10 5 (1.13%) Citrix
10 5 (1.13%) MuleSoft
11 4 (0.90%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.90%) InterSystems
11 4 (0.90%) McAfee