Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Staffordshire

Microsoft
West Midlands > Staffordshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Staffordshire 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 January 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 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 2 9
Rank change year-on-year 0 +7 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 18 14 15
As % of all contract jobs in Staffordshire 26.09% 15.38% 10.42%
As % of the Vendors category 48.65% 42.42% 23.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 11 8
10th Percentile £137 £160 £160
25th Percentile £140 £341 £349
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £203 £400 £475
Median % change year-on-year -49.38% -15.79% +156.76%
75th Percentile £240 £481 £500
90th Percentile £334 £488 £511
West Midlands median daily rate £490 £438 £425
% change year-on-year +12.00% +2.94% -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 5
Median hourly rate £30.00 - £23.00
West Midlands median hourly rate £18.00 £27.56 £18.50
% change year-on-year -34.69% +48.99% +23.33%

All Vendors
Staffordshire

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 Staffordshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 37 33 63
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Staffordshire 53.62% 36.26% 43.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 23 21 45
10th Percentile £140 £331 £176
25th Percentile £200 £374 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £425 £450
Median % change year-on-year -23.53% -5.56% -
75th Percentile £446 £488 £538
90th Percentile £575 £525 £590
West Midlands median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% -4.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 5
Median hourly rate £30.00 £47.50 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -36.84% +106.52% -53.54%
West Midlands median hourly rate £23.50 £23.60 £22.50
% change year-on-year -0.42% +4.89% +32.86%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Staffordshire

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Staffordshire

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Staffordshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Staffordshire citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Staffordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Staffordshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Staffordshire over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Staffordshire

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Staffordshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Staffordshire citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Staffordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Staffordshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Staffordshire region over the 6 months to 4 January 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
Uttoxeter 0 6 £189 +25.83%
Stoke-on-Trent +4 5 £260 -35.00% 17
Stafford +3 1 - - 4
Leek - 1 - -
Microsoft
West Midlands

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Staffordshire 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 1 (5.56%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 5 (27.78%) Microsoft Excel
1 5 (27.78%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (16.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (5.56%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 3 (16.67%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (5.56%) Azure
2 1 (5.56%) Azure Logic Apps
2 1 (5.56%) Azure Service Bus
2 1 (5.56%) Dynamics 365
2 1 (5.56%) IaaS
2 1 (5.56%) PaaS
2 1 (5.56%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (11.11%) Internet
1 2 (11.11%) TCP/IP
2 1 (5.56%) DHCP
2 1 (5.56%) DNS
2 1 (5.56%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (5.56%) PostgreSQL
1 1 (5.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 1 (5.56%) AdminStudio
1 1 (5.56%) InstallShield
1 1 (5.56%) JIRA
1 1 (5.56%) MSI
General
1 10 (55.56%) Social Skills
2 3 (16.67%) Legal
2 3 (16.67%) Organisational Skills
3 2 (11.11%) Finance
4 1 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
4 1 (5.56%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (5.56%) Environmental Health
4 1 (5.56%) Local Government
4 1 (5.56%) Manufacturing
4 1 (5.56%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 2 (11.11%) Deployment Engineer
1 2 (11.11%) Desktop Engineer
1 2 (11.11%) IT Engineer
1 2 (11.11%) Server Engineer
1 2 (11.11%) Support Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) 1st Line Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) 1st Line Support Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Build Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Desktop Support Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Finance Manager
2 1 (5.56%) Finance Systems Manager
2 1 (5.56%) IT Technician
2 1 (5.56%) Performance Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Project Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Project Support Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) SCCM Consultant
2 1 (5.56%) SCCM Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Service Desk Technician
2 1 (5.56%) Windows Deployment Engineer
2 1 (5.56%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (5.56%) .NET
1 1 (5.56%) ASP.NET Web API
1 1 (5.56%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 5 (27.78%) Driving Licence
2 3 (16.67%) Self-Motivation
3 1 (5.56%) Enterprise Software
3 1 (5.56%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 8 (44.44%) Windows
2 4 (22.22%) Windows 10
3 2 (11.11%) Windows Server
4 1 (5.56%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (33.33%) Migration
2 5 (27.78%) Problem-Solving
3 3 (16.67%) Business Continuity
3 3 (16.67%) CRM
3 3 (16.67%) Customer Service
3 3 (16.67%) Infrastructure Management
3 3 (16.67%) ITIL
3 3 (16.67%) Process Improvement
4 2 (11.11%) Business Strategy
4 2 (11.11%) Collaborative Working
4 2 (11.11%) Computer Science
4 2 (11.11%) Data Protection
4 2 (11.11%) Disaster Recovery
4 2 (11.11%) Server Management
5 1 (5.56%) Contract Management
5 1 (5.56%) DevOps
5 1 (5.56%) IT Asset Management
5 1 (5.56%) Mentoring
5 1 (5.56%) Thought Leadership
5 1 (5.56%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 2 (11.11%) PowerShell
1 2 (11.11%) SQL
2 1 (5.56%) C#
2 1 (5.56%) JavaScript
2 1 (5.56%) TypeScript
2 1 (5.56%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 2 (11.11%) Computer Science Degree
1 2 (11.11%) Degree
2 1 (5.56%) A+ Certification
2 1 (5.56%) CCAB
2 1 (5.56%) CIPFA
2 1 (5.56%) MCP
2 1 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (5.56%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (5.56%) COSHH
1 1 (5.56%) ISO 14001
1 1 (5.56%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 4 (22.22%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (27.78%) SCCM
2 1 (5.56%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (5.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 1 (5.56%) Lotus
1 1 (5.56%) ServiceNow