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 20 February 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
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 +2 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 348 293 436
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 12.65% 16.00% 14.12%
As % of the Vendors category 36.10% 33.95% 33.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 199 295
10th Percentile £210 £190 £205
25th Percentile £365 £221 £310
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £470 £513
Median % change year-on-year +9.04% -8.29% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £618
90th Percentile £725 £725 £713
England median daily rate £485 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +2.11% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 9 49
10th Percentile £15.60 £12.29 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £18.20 £14.54
Median hourly rate £23.71 £27.13 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.60% -42.89% -26.92%
75th Percentile £44.06 £28.99 £48.72
90th Percentile £64.55 £37.00 £53.50
England median hourly rate £19.91 £23.80 £17.72
% change year-on-year -16.34% +34.31% -15.34%

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 964 863 1,300
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 35.03% 47.13% 42.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 611 537 823
10th Percentile £263 £215 £220
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - -0.94%
75th Percentile £600 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £690 £725
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 126 33 163
10th Percentile £18.87 £13.71 £14.54
25th Percentile £23.04 £25.26 £37.50
Median hourly rate £57.50 £62.50 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +28.28% -25.05%
75th Percentile £60.00 £68.75 £65.98
90th Percentile £74.22 £73.55 £70.52
England median hourly rate £23.83 £30.78 £27.14
% change year-on-year -22.60% +13.41% -18.99%

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 20 February 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 20 February 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 20 February 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
Wiltshire +1 114 £570 +3.64% 48
Bristol -12 72 £525 +44.83% 72
Gloucestershire +5 67 £425 - 58
Somerset 0 50 £475 +4.11% 60
Devon +11 26 £248 +28.57% 46
Dorset -12 9 £394 -21.15% 35
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 61 (17.53%) SharePoint
2 56 (16.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 21 (6.03%) Skype for Business
4 5 (1.44%) Confluence
5 4 (1.15%) Oracle Application Server
5 4 (1.15%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.57%) Apache
7 1 (0.29%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.29%) CMS
7 1 (0.29%) IIS
7 1 (0.29%) nginx
7 1 (0.29%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 37 (10.63%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (8.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (2.30%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (2.01%) Adobe Captivate
5 7 (2.01%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (1.44%) Spreadsheet
7 3 (0.86%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.29%) InDesign
8 1 (0.29%) PTC Creo
8 1 (0.29%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.29%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 8 (2.30%) Maximo
2 6 (1.72%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.57%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.57%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.57%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.29%) assyst
4 1 (0.29%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 105 (30.17%) Azure
2 91 (26.15%) Microsoft 365
3 38 (10.92%) Power Platform
4 37 (10.63%) Entra ID
5 32 (9.20%) AWS
6 26 (7.47%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (5.46%) Azure Sentinel
8 17 (4.89%) Power Automate
9 15 (4.31%) Azure Monitor
9 15 (4.31%) Dynamics 365
10 14 (4.02%) GitHub
11 13 (3.74%) PowerApps
12 11 (3.16%) Azure AKS
12 11 (3.16%) Azure Key Vault
12 11 (3.16%) OneDrive
13 10 (2.87%) GCP
13 10 (2.87%) SaaS
13 10 (2.87%) Serverless
14 9 (2.59%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (2.30%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 55 (15.80%) DNS
2 33 (9.48%) DHCP
3 30 (8.62%) Firewall
4 28 (8.05%) Skype
5 20 (5.75%) VPN
6 19 (5.46%) TCP/IP
7 10 (2.87%) Unified Communications
8 5 (1.44%) Network Security
9 4 (1.15%) LAN
9 4 (1.15%) VLAN
10 3 (0.86%) Kerberos
10 3 (0.86%) VoIP
10 3 (0.86%) WAN
11 2 (0.57%) Cisco IOS
11 2 (0.57%) H.323
11 2 (0.57%) HTTP
11 2 (0.57%) RTP
11 2 (0.57%) Wireless
12 1 (0.29%) MQTT
12 1 (0.29%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (8.33%) Power BI
2 17 (4.89%) SQL Server
3 13 (3.74%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (2.30%) Redis
5 7 (2.01%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.72%) Metadata
7 5 (1.44%) Star Schema
8 4 (1.15%) Oracle ODI
8 4 (1.15%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.86%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (0.86%) MySQL
10 2 (0.57%) Data Lake
10 2 (0.57%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.57%) Looker
10 2 (0.57%) Power Query
10 2 (0.57%) Tableau
11 1 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
11 1 (0.29%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.29%) Spatial Data
11 1 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 28 (8.05%) JIRA
2 8 (2.30%) Git
3 6 (1.72%) MSI
4 4 (1.15%) Artifactory
4 4 (1.15%) DBeaver
4 4 (1.15%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.86%) GitLab
6 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.29%) Eclipse
6 1 (0.29%) Maven
6 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.29%) Visual Studio
General
1 147 (42.24%) Social Skills
2 56 (16.09%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (11.49%) Finance
4 39 (11.21%) Public Sector
5 19 (5.46%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (4.02%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (2.87%) Manufacturing
7 10 (2.87%) Telecoms
8 9 (2.59%) Legal
8 9 (2.59%) Marketing
9 7 (2.01%) Military
10 6 (1.72%) Banking
10 6 (1.72%) Electronics
11 4 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.15%) Police
12 3 (0.86%) Back Office
13 2 (0.57%) Law
14 1 (0.29%) Advertising
14 1 (0.29%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.29%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 35 (10.06%) Support Engineer
2 34 (9.77%) Analyst
3 30 (8.62%) Architect
3 30 (8.62%) Developer
4 29 (8.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 21 (6.03%) Microsoft Engineer
6 19 (5.46%) Administrator
7 16 (4.60%) Azure Engineer
8 14 (4.02%) Desktop Engineer
8 14 (4.02%) Desktop Support
8 14 (4.02%) Desktop Support Engineer
8 14 (4.02%) Solutions Architect
9 13 (3.74%) Consultant
9 13 (3.74%) Data Engineer
10 11 (3.16%) IT Support
10 11 (3.16%) Senior
11 9 (2.59%) Backend Developer
11 9 (2.59%) Designer
11 9 (2.59%) Platform Engineer
11 9 (2.59%) Wintel Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (7.18%) OAuth
2 24 (6.90%) SAML
3 22 (6.32%) OAuth2
3 22 (6.32%) OpenID
4 17 (4.89%) REST
5 13 (3.74%) ARM Templates
6 8 (2.30%) CSS
6 8 (2.30%) FastAPI
6 8 (2.30%) Flask
6 8 (2.30%) GraphQL
6 8 (2.30%) gRPC
6 8 (2.30%) HTML
6 8 (2.30%) WebSockets
7 6 (1.72%) JSON
7 6 (1.72%) SOAP
8 5 (1.44%) .NET
8 5 (1.44%) JDO
8 5 (1.44%) LDAP
8 5 (1.44%) React
9 4 (1.15%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 23 (6.61%) Onboarding
2 22 (6.32%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (4.89%) PKI
4 14 (4.02%) Driving Licence
5 12 (3.45%) Cloud Native
6 11 (3.16%) Management Information System
6 11 (3.16%) Replication
7 10 (2.87%) Enterprise Software
7 10 (2.87%) Mobile App
8 7 (2.01%) Blackberry
8 7 (2.01%) Private Cloud
8 7 (2.01%) Product Ownership
9 5 (1.44%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (1.44%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.44%) Security Posture
10 4 (1.15%) Virtual Team
11 3 (0.86%) Data Structures
11 3 (0.86%) Legacy Applications
12 2 (0.57%) CMDB
12 2 (0.57%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 142 (40.80%) Windows
2 53 (15.23%) Windows Server
3 51 (14.66%) Windows 10
4 27 (7.76%) Linux
5 14 (4.02%) Apple iOS
6 13 (3.74%) Android
7 7 (2.01%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (1.44%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.86%) CentOS
11 2 (0.57%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.57%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.29%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (25.57%) Problem-Solving
2 48 (13.79%) ITIL
3 45 (12.93%) Agile
4 42 (12.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 37 (10.63%) Migration
5 37 (10.63%) RBAC
6 36 (10.34%) DevOps
7 35 (10.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 32 (9.20%) Analytics
8 32 (9.20%) Business Intelligence
9 30 (8.62%) Change Management
10 29 (8.33%) Stakeholder Management
11 27 (7.76%) Identity Access Management
12 26 (7.47%) CI/CD
12 26 (7.47%) Customer Service
12 26 (7.47%) Service Management
13 25 (7.18%) Knowledge Transfer
14 24 (6.90%) Continuous Improvement
15 21 (6.03%) Cloud Security
16 18 (5.17%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 90 (25.86%) PowerShell
2 48 (13.79%) SQL
3 36 (10.34%) Python
4 19 (5.46%) JavaScript
5 16 (4.60%) Bicep
6 8 (2.30%) Go
6 8 (2.30%) Java
7 6 (1.72%) C#
8 5 (1.44%) TypeScript
9 4 (1.15%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.86%) Perl
11 2 (0.57%) PHP
12 1 (0.29%) Bash
12 1 (0.29%) C++
12 1 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.29%) VBA
12 1 (0.29%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 189 (54.31%) Security Cleared
2 126 (36.21%) SC Cleared
3 82 (23.56%) DV Cleared
4 53 (15.23%) Microsoft Certification
5 26 (7.47%) Degree
6 20 (5.75%) Azure Certification
7 11 (3.16%) CISSP
7 11 (3.16%) MCSE
8 10 (2.87%) CISM
9 9 (2.59%) ITIL Certification
10 8 (2.30%) A+ Certification
10 8 (2.30%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 5 (1.44%) CCNA
11 5 (1.44%) CCNP
11 5 (1.44%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.44%) Master's Degree
12 3 (0.86%) ACCA
12 3 (0.86%) APMP
12 3 (0.86%) MCSA
13 2 (0.57%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (6.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 18 (5.17%) GDPR
3 13 (3.74%) NIST
4 11 (3.16%) Data Quality
4 11 (3.16%) PMO
5 8 (2.30%) Accessibility
5 8 (2.30%) NIST 800
6 4 (1.15%) NCSC
6 4 (1.15%) SLA
7 3 (0.86%) GAAP
7 3 (0.86%) IFRS
8 2 (0.57%) PSD2
8 2 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.57%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.29%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.29%) QA
9 1 (0.29%) WCAG
System Software
1 121 (34.77%) Active Directory
2 30 (8.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (4.31%) Hyper-V
4 11 (3.16%) Docker
4 11 (3.16%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (1.44%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 5 (1.44%) Virtual Servers
5 5 (1.44%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.86%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.29%) KVM
7 1 (0.29%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.29%) UAG
7 1 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 36 (10.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (10.06%) Single Sign-On
3 33 (9.48%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 26 (7.47%) SCCM
5 24 (6.90%) Terraform
6 23 (6.61%) Kubernetes
7 12 (3.45%) WSUS
8 10 (2.87%) vCenter Server
9 8 (2.30%) Grafana
9 8 (2.30%) Prometheus
10 7 (2.01%) Norton AntiVirus
11 5 (1.44%) Ansible
12 3 (0.86%) VxRail
13 2 (0.57%) CA Single Sign-On
13 2 (0.57%) Cisco CUCM
13 2 (0.57%) NetBackup
13 2 (0.57%) PingFederate
13 2 (0.57%) Puppet
13 2 (0.57%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.29%) Kibana
Vendors
1 47 (13.51%) VMware
2 24 (6.90%) Cisco
3 16 (4.60%) SAP
4 12 (3.45%) Red Hat
4 12 (3.45%) SolarWinds
4 12 (3.45%) Veeam
5 11 (3.16%) Adobe
6 10 (2.87%) Citrix
7 9 (2.59%) Oracle
8 8 (2.30%) IBM
9 7 (2.01%) McAfee
9 7 (2.01%) MobileIron
9 7 (2.01%) ServiceNow
9 7 (2.01%) Symantec
10 6 (1.72%) Blue Prism
10 6 (1.72%) Databricks
11 5 (1.44%) Google
11 5 (1.44%) Splunk
12 4 (1.15%) Atlassian
12 4 (1.15%) ForgeRock