Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Microsoft
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands 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 May 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 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 5 7
Rank change year-on-year -6 +2 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 340 230 228
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 10.78% 16.51% 12.06%
As % of the Vendors category 24.39% 34.80% 29.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 240 154 159
10th Percentile £257 £166 £184
25th Percentile £363 £230 £269
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £420
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% -4.76% -6.67%
75th Percentile £550 £538 £559
90th Percentile £624 £600 £651
England median daily rate £500 £476 £488
% change year-on-year +5.15% -2.46% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 10 22
10th Percentile £14.10 £12.24 £10.54
25th Percentile £19.34 £12.97 £11.08
Median hourly rate £25.00 £19.50 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.21% +39.29% -16.21%
75th Percentile £30.00 £37.73 £26.50
90th Percentile £70.12 £51.06 £53.38
England median hourly rate £20.09 £18.76 £15.00
% change year-on-year +7.10% +25.05% -28.59%

All Vendors
West Midlands

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 West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,394 661 782
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 44.21% 47.45% 41.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 932 420 505
10th Percentile £307 £177 £222
25th Percentile £400 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £484 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.15% +7.61% -8.91%
75th Percentile £550 £589 £600
90th Percentile £645 £664 £700
England median daily rate £501 £525 £518
% change year-on-year -4.67% +1.35% -3.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 21 54
10th Percentile £19.47 £12.25 £11.08
25th Percentile £22.50 £15.22 £13.25
Median hourly rate £33.99 £18.51 £16.82
Median % change year-on-year +83.63% +10.05% -18.76%
75th Percentile £53.75 £24.66 £26.98
90th Percentile £67.84 £41.97 £52.15
England median hourly rate £32.11 £26.34 £22.50
% change year-on-year +21.94% +17.04% -40.00%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 19 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 19 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 19 May 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
Birmingham +3 126 £450 +4.90% 84
Warwickshire -7 68 £500 +112.77% 30
Coventry -4 37 £450 +114.29% 13
Shropshire -36 31 £444 -2.10% 22
Worcestershire 0 14 £700 -22.22% 28
Staffordshire 0 12 £388 +50.49% 25
Herefordshire -3 10 £625 -30.56% 6
Solihull -16 9 £425 -9.67% 8
Dudley - 5 £400 - 10
Smethwick - 3 - -
West Bromwich - 3 - - 3
Brierley Hill - 2 £446 - 1
Wolverhampton -4 1 - - 6
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 25 (7.35%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.65%) Confluence
4 5 (1.47%) SAS
5 4 (1.18%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.88%) Apache
6 3 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.88%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.59%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.59%) IIS
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.29%) Appian
8 1 (0.29%) CMS
Applications
1 36 (10.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (8.53%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (4.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (4.12%) MS Visio
5 12 (3.53%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 18 (5.29%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (2.35%) Dynamics NAV
3 3 (0.88%) Maximo
4 2 (0.59%) Primavera
4 2 (0.59%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.29%) SAP EHS
5 1 (0.29%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.29%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 122 (35.88%) Azure
2 66 (19.41%) Power Platform
3 56 (16.47%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (11.47%) AWS
5 35 (10.29%) Entra ID
6 32 (9.41%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (7.65%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 22 (6.47%) Azure DevOps
9 18 (5.29%) Azure Data Factory
9 18 (5.29%) Microsoft Purview
10 17 (5.00%) Power Automate
11 14 (4.12%) PowerApps
12 12 (3.53%) OneDrive
13 11 (3.24%) Serverless
14 10 (2.94%) GitHub
15 9 (2.65%) GCP
15 9 (2.65%) GitHub Actions
16 8 (2.35%) Azure Sentinel
17 7 (2.06%) Microsoft Copilot
18 6 (1.76%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 27 (7.94%) DNS
1 27 (7.94%) VPN
2 23 (6.76%) Firewall
3 17 (5.00%) DHCP
4 14 (4.12%) LAN
5 13 (3.82%) SSL
6 12 (3.53%) Network Security
7 10 (2.94%) WAN
8 9 (2.65%) HTTP
9 8 (2.35%) BIG-IP
9 8 (2.35%) HTTPS
10 7 (2.06%) Cisco ASA
10 7 (2.06%) Cisco Nexus
10 7 (2.06%) Ethereal
10 7 (2.06%) IPsec
10 7 (2.06%) TCP/IP
10 7 (2.06%) Wireless
10 7 (2.06%) Wireshark
11 5 (1.47%) Intrusion Detection
11 5 (1.47%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (11.76%) Power BI
2 26 (7.65%) Data Warehouse
3 14 (4.12%) PostgreSQL
3 14 (4.12%) SQL Server
4 9 (2.65%) Delta Lake
5 7 (2.06%) Data Lake
5 7 (2.06%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
5 7 (2.06%) NoSQL
5 7 (2.06%) Relational Database
6 6 (1.76%) Metadata
7 5 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.47%) MySQL
7 5 (1.47%) Oracle Database
7 5 (1.47%) Power Query
7 5 (1.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (1.18%) Redis
9 3 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.88%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.88%) SAP Data Services
9 3 (0.88%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (8.24%) JIRA
2 11 (3.24%) Git
3 8 (2.35%) GitLab
4 4 (1.18%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.18%) MLflow
5 2 (0.59%) JMeter
5 2 (0.59%) MSI
5 2 (0.59%) Selenium
5 2 (0.59%) WebDriver
6 1 (0.29%) CircleCI
6 1 (0.29%) Maven
6 1 (0.29%) NUnit
6 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.29%) Zephyr
General
1 102 (30.00%) Social Skills
2 41 (12.06%) Analytical Skills
3 39 (11.47%) Finance
4 19 (5.59%) Public Sector
5 12 (3.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 10 (2.94%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (2.65%) Manufacturing
8 8 (2.35%) Banking
9 7 (2.06%) Games
9 7 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (1.76%) Police
11 5 (1.47%) Law
11 5 (1.47%) Legal
12 4 (1.18%) Electronics
12 4 (1.18%) Local Government
12 4 (1.18%) Marketing
13 3 (0.88%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.88%) Publishing
13 3 (0.88%) Retail
Job Titles
1 44 (12.94%) Analyst
2 33 (9.71%) Developer
3 32 (9.41%) Architect
4 31 (9.12%) Senior
5 22 (6.47%) Data Engineer
6 18 (5.29%) Administrator
7 17 (5.00%) Consultant
8 13 (3.82%) Business Analyst
8 13 (3.82%) IT Support
8 13 (3.82%) Support Engineer
9 12 (3.53%) Lead
9 12 (3.53%) Solutions Architect
10 11 (3.24%) Data Architect
10 11 (3.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (2.94%) IT Engineer
11 10 (2.94%) Network Engineer
12 9 (2.65%) Azure Engineer
13 8 (2.35%) Project Manager
13 8 (2.35%) Security Consultant
13 8 (2.35%) Senior Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.59%) PySpark
2 9 (2.65%) LDAP
2 9 (2.65%) SailPoint
2 9 (2.65%) SAML
3 7 (2.06%) .NET
3 7 (2.06%) FastAPI
4 5 (1.47%) REST
5 4 (1.18%) ADO
5 4 (1.18%) Flask
5 4 (1.18%) GraphQL
5 4 (1.18%) gRPC
5 4 (1.18%) JSON
5 4 (1.18%) Kafka
5 4 (1.18%) Middleware
5 4 (1.18%) OpenTelemetry
5 4 (1.18%) WebSockets
6 3 (0.88%) .NET Framework
6 3 (0.88%) YAML
7 2 (0.59%) RabbitMQ
7 2 (0.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (7.06%) Cloud Native
2 23 (6.76%) Onboarding
3 11 (3.24%) Hybrid Cloud
4 9 (2.65%) Security Operations Centre
4 9 (2.65%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (2.35%) Enterprise Software
5 8 (2.35%) SCADA
6 7 (2.06%) Security Posture
7 6 (1.76%) Data Centre
7 6 (1.76%) Management Information System
8 5 (1.47%) Operational Technology
9 4 (1.18%) CSOC
9 4 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.18%) PKI
9 4 (1.18%) Product Ownership
10 3 (0.88%) CMDB
10 3 (0.88%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (0.88%) IoT
10 3 (0.88%) Public Cloud
10 3 (0.88%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 67 (19.71%) Windows
2 24 (7.06%) Linux
2 24 (7.06%) Windows 10
3 21 (6.18%) Windows Server
4 9 (2.65%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.47%) Apple iOS
6 4 (1.18%) Ubuntu
6 4 (1.18%) Unix
7 3 (0.88%) CatOS
7 3 (0.88%) Windows 7
7 3 (0.88%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (0.88%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.59%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.29%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (20.88%) Agile
2 67 (19.71%) Problem-Solving
3 62 (18.24%) CI/CD
4 51 (15.00%) Migration
5 49 (14.41%) Analytics
6 46 (13.53%) DevOps
7 42 (12.35%) Business Intelligence
8 41 (12.06%) AI
9 39 (11.47%) Continuous Improvement
10 32 (9.41%) Stakeholder Management
11 31 (9.12%) ETL
12 30 (8.82%) Customer Service
12 30 (8.82%) Data Modelling
13 29 (8.53%) Containerisation
14 28 (8.24%) Cybersecurity
14 28 (8.24%) Infrastructure as Code
14 28 (8.24%) ITIL
15 24 (7.06%) Validation
16 23 (6.76%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 22 (6.47%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 62 (18.24%) SQL
2 43 (12.65%) Python
3 19 (5.59%) PowerShell
4 11 (3.24%) Bicep
5 9 (2.65%) Java
6 7 (2.06%) C#
6 7 (2.06%) Kusto Query Language
6 7 (2.06%) PL/SQL
7 6 (1.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 6 (1.76%) Go
8 5 (1.47%) JavaScript
9 4 (1.18%) R
9 4 (1.18%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.88%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.88%) Scala
11 2 (0.59%) Bash
11 2 (0.59%) T-SQL
11 2 (0.59%) VB
11 2 (0.59%) VBA
11 2 (0.59%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 56 (16.47%) Security Cleared
2 40 (11.76%) SC Cleared
3 35 (10.29%) Degree
4 18 (5.29%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (4.12%) CISSP
6 12 (3.53%) AWS Certification
7 11 (3.24%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (2.94%) DV Cleared
9 9 (2.65%) Azure Certification
9 9 (2.65%) CISM
10 7 (2.06%) ISTQB
11 6 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (1.47%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 5 (1.47%) CCNA
12 5 (1.47%) Master's Degree
13 4 (1.18%) CCNP
13 4 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (1.18%) OCP
13 4 (1.18%) Oracle Certification
13 4 (1.18%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (6.47%) Data Quality
2 16 (4.71%) QA
3 13 (3.82%) GDPR
4 12 (3.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.65%) NIST
6 8 (2.35%) SLA
7 6 (1.76%) PMO
8 5 (1.47%) Accessibility
9 4 (1.18%) GRC
10 3 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 3 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 2 (0.59%) GxP
11 2 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.29%) FATCA
12 1 (0.29%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.29%) ISO 14001
12 1 (0.29%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.29%) WCAG
System Software
1 63 (18.53%) Active Directory
2 30 (8.82%) Docker
3 21 (6.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (2.06%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.76%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.76%) vSphere
6 4 (1.18%) Snort
7 3 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.59%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.59%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.59%) XenApp
8 2 (0.59%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.29%) NFS
Systems Management
1 41 (12.06%) Kubernetes
2 24 (7.06%) Terraform
3 23 (6.76%) Microsoft Intune
4 13 (3.82%) Grafana
4 13 (3.82%) Prometheus
4 13 (3.82%) SCCM
5 10 (2.94%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (2.35%) Ansible
7 4 (1.18%) CSIRT
8 3 (0.88%) Control-M
8 3 (0.88%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.88%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.88%) Nessus
9 2 (0.59%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.59%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.59%) Puppet
9 2 (0.59%) QRadar
9 2 (0.59%) SCOM
9 2 (0.59%) WMI
9 2 (0.59%) WSUS
Vendors
1 32 (9.41%) ServiceNow
2 24 (7.06%) Databricks
2 24 (7.06%) Oracle
3 23 (6.76%) VMware
4 22 (6.47%) Cisco
5 19 (5.59%) SAP
6 13 (3.82%) Splunk
7 10 (2.94%) F5
8 9 (2.65%) CheckPoint
8 9 (2.65%) Palo Alto
9 8 (2.35%) Informatica
9 8 (2.35%) SolarWinds
10 7 (2.06%) Okta
11 5 (1.47%) Fortinet
12 4 (1.18%) Citrix
12 4 (1.18%) Tenable
12 4 (1.18%) Veeam
13 3 (0.88%) BeyondTrust
13 3 (0.88%) CrowdStrike
13 3 (0.88%) MobileIron