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 18 September 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
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 6 4
Rank change year-on-year -1 -2 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 456 296 284
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 12.99% 16.16% 14.84%
As % of the Vendors category 29.34% 31.42% 31.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 322 211 188
10th Percentile £233 £165 £167
25th Percentile £363 £275 £255
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £430 £431 £425
Median % change year-on-year -0.23% +1.41% +4.62%
75th Percentile £501 £575 £538
90th Percentile £625 £633 £635
England median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 21 4
10th Percentile £13.99 £20.50 £15.68
25th Percentile £17.37 £29.00 £22.03
Median hourly rate £19.41 £30.00 £30.56
Median % change year-on-year -35.30% -1.84% +52.81%
75th Percentile £21.75 £50.00 £40.00
90th Percentile £44.10 - £49.00
England median hourly rate £19.33 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -14.58% +39.43% -26.23%

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 1,554 942 890
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 44.27% 51.42% 46.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,011 615 590
10th Percentile £313 £238 £250
25th Percentile £405 £381 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.20% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £581 £625
90th Percentile £675 £650 £725
England median daily rate £514 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.78% -3.81% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 98 28 13
10th Percentile £13.50 £14.72 £14.40
25th Percentile £17.57 £26.66 £15.22
Median hourly rate £21.50 £30.00 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.33% -4.76% +40.00%
75th Percentile £33.99 £44.94 £48.75
90th Percentile £53.75 £50.00 £59.00
England median hourly rate £29.96 £25.15 £33.50
% change year-on-year +19.13% -24.93% -23.62%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 18 September 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 +1 138 £450 +13.64% 215
Coventry +2 94 £425 +38.78% 46
Warwickshire +2 90 £450 +3.45% 67
Shropshire -18 57 £445 -13.38% 19
Staffordshire -5 20 £413 +194.64% 59
Worcestershire +1 11 £300 -47.83% 37
Herefordshire +6 7 £500 -23.08% 19
Solihull -33 5 £228 -59.56% 20
Walsall +2 4 £600 - 4
West Bromwich - 3 - - 2
Dudley - 2 £388 - 10
Halesowen - 1 - - 4
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 54 (11.84%) SharePoint
2 21 (4.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.88%) Apache Spark
3 4 (0.88%) SAS
4 3 (0.66%) Apache
4 3 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.66%) IIS
4 3 (0.66%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.44%) CloudStack
5 2 (0.44%) CMS
5 2 (0.44%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.22%) Appian
6 1 (0.22%) Confluence
Applications
1 59 (12.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (10.75%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (3.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.75%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (1.54%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.88%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.88%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.22%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.22%) Navisworks
7 1 (0.22%) ProjectWise
7 1 (0.22%) Revit
Business Applications
1 28 (6.14%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.10%) SAP PSCD
3 4 (0.88%) ResourceLink
3 4 (0.88%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.66%) Primavera
4 3 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.22%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.22%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.22%) MIS ActiveH
Cloud Services
1 206 (45.18%) Azure
2 127 (27.85%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (16.01%) Power Platform
4 67 (14.69%) Entra ID
5 56 (12.28%) Azure DevOps
5 56 (12.28%) Dynamics 365
6 52 (11.40%) Power Automate
7 37 (8.11%) AWS
8 29 (6.36%) PowerApps
9 28 (6.14%) Microsoft Purview
10 27 (5.92%) Azure Data Factory
10 27 (5.92%) OneDrive
11 24 (5.26%) Serverless
12 23 (5.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 19 (4.17%) Microsoft Copilot
14 18 (3.95%) Azure Functions
15 13 (2.85%) GCP
16 9 (1.97%) Azure Sentinel
17 8 (1.75%) GitHub
18 7 (1.54%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 37 (8.11%) DNS
2 32 (7.02%) DHCP
3 24 (5.26%) VPN
4 23 (5.04%) Firewall
5 15 (3.29%) TCP/IP
6 12 (2.63%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (2.19%) LAN
8 7 (1.54%) WAN
8 7 (1.54%) Wireless
9 6 (1.32%) Cisco IOS
9 6 (1.32%) Network Security
9 6 (1.32%) SAN
10 5 (1.10%) Unified Communications
10 5 (1.10%) VLAN
11 4 (0.88%) SD-WAN
11 4 (0.88%) SSL
11 4 (0.88%) VoIP
12 3 (0.66%) DMZ
12 3 (0.66%) SNMP
12 3 (0.66%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (9.21%) SQL Server
2 35 (7.68%) Power BI
3 17 (3.73%) PostgreSQL
4 16 (3.51%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (2.41%) MySQL
6 10 (2.19%) Azure SQL Database
6 10 (2.19%) Data Lake
7 7 (1.54%) Power Query
8 6 (1.32%) Metadata
8 6 (1.32%) Oracle Reports
8 6 (1.32%) Relational Database
8 6 (1.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 5 (1.10%) Data Vault
9 5 (1.10%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.88%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 4 (0.88%) Tableau
11 3 (0.66%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.66%) SAS Enterprise Guide
12 2 (0.44%) MongoDB
12 2 (0.44%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 19 (4.17%) JIRA
2 14 (3.07%) Git
3 12 (2.63%) Team Foundation Server
4 11 (2.41%) Visual Studio
5 10 (2.19%) Cypress.io
5 10 (2.19%) Postman
5 10 (2.19%) Selenium
5 10 (2.19%) WebDriver
6 7 (1.54%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.66%) GitLab
7 3 (0.66%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.66%) Protractor
8 2 (0.44%) NUnit
9 1 (0.22%) CircleCI
9 1 (0.22%) Maven
9 1 (0.22%) MLflow
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.22%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.22%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.22%) Zephyr
General
1 178 (39.04%) Social Skills
2 61 (13.38%) Finance
3 54 (11.84%) Analytical Skills
4 49 (10.75%) Public Sector
5 35 (7.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 24 (5.26%) Organisational Skills
7 19 (4.17%) Legal
8 11 (2.41%) Manufacturing
9 9 (1.97%) Banking
10 8 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (1.54%) Billing
12 5 (1.10%) Marketing
12 5 (1.10%) Retail
13 4 (0.88%) Law
13 4 (0.88%) Telecoms
14 3 (0.66%) Back Office
15 2 (0.44%) Investment Banking
15 2 (0.44%) Publishing
16 1 (0.22%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 60 (13.16%) Analyst
2 57 (12.50%) Developer
3 54 (11.84%) Senior
4 35 (7.68%) Data Engineer
5 33 (7.24%) Lead
6 32 (7.02%) Architect
7 28 (6.14%) Administrator
8 25 (5.48%) Consultant
9 23 (5.04%) Azure Engineer
9 23 (5.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 23 (5.04%) Support Engineer
10 19 (4.17%) Dynamics 365 Developer
10 19 (4.17%) IT Support
11 18 (3.95%) Solutions Architect
12 14 (3.07%) IT Engineer
13 13 (2.85%) Senior Data Engineer
14 12 (2.63%) IT Support Engineer
14 12 (2.63%) Senior Developer
15 11 (2.41%) Business Analyst
15 11 (2.41%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (6.36%) JSON
2 23 (5.04%) XML
3 21 (4.61%) SOAP
4 20 (4.39%) Terraform
5 17 (3.73%) REST
6 11 (2.41%) ActiveX
6 11 (2.41%) XSLT
7 10 (2.19%) Gherkin
7 10 (2.19%) PySpark
8 8 (1.75%) Microsoft Graph
9 7 (1.54%) .NET
10 6 (1.32%) OAuth
10 6 (1.32%) OpenID
11 5 (1.10%) JDBC
11 5 (1.10%) Oracle Fusion
11 5 (1.10%) SAML
11 5 (1.10%) SAP PI
12 4 (0.88%) IDoc
12 4 (0.88%) Semantic Kernel
12 4 (0.88%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.24%) Management Information System
2 31 (6.80%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.17%) Cloud Native
4 16 (3.51%) Hybrid Cloud
5 15 (3.29%) Product Ownership
6 13 (2.85%) Enterprise Software
7 11 (2.41%) Data Structures
7 11 (2.41%) Taxonomies
8 10 (2.19%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.97%) CMDB
9 9 (1.97%) SCADA
10 8 (1.75%) Cyber Threat
11 7 (1.54%) Operational Technology
11 7 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
11 7 (1.54%) Smartphone
12 6 (1.32%) Data Centre
12 6 (1.32%) PKI
13 5 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
13 5 (1.10%) Reference Data
13 5 (1.10%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 107 (23.46%) Windows
2 35 (7.68%) Windows Server
3 32 (7.02%) Windows 10
4 24 (5.26%) Linux
5 13 (2.85%) Mac OS
6 9 (1.97%) Android
7 8 (1.75%) Ubuntu
8 5 (1.10%) SUSE
8 5 (1.10%) Unix
9 4 (0.88%) Apple iOS
9 4 (0.88%) CentOS
10 3 (0.66%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.66%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.44%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 99 (21.71%) Problem-Solving
2 76 (16.67%) DevOps
3 70 (15.35%) Stakeholder Management
4 65 (14.25%) Agile
5 64 (14.04%) Continuous Improvement
6 58 (12.72%) Migration
7 55 (12.06%) AI
8 54 (11.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 49 (10.75%) Customer Service
10 48 (10.53%) CI/CD
10 48 (10.53%) Data Modelling
11 45 (9.87%) Technical Leadership
12 43 (9.43%) ITSM
13 39 (8.55%) Mentoring
14 38 (8.33%) Analytics
14 38 (8.33%) Business Intelligence
14 38 (8.33%) ITIL
15 37 (8.11%) CRM
15 37 (8.11%) Validation
16 33 (7.24%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 52 (11.40%) SQL
2 33 (7.24%) JavaScript
3 32 (7.02%) C#
4 30 (6.58%) Python
5 22 (4.82%) PowerShell
6 16 (3.51%) Java
7 13 (2.85%) VBA
8 11 (2.41%) VB
8 11 (2.41%) VB6
9 7 (1.54%) Bicep
9 7 (1.54%) Kusto Query Language
10 6 (1.32%) PL/SQL
11 5 (1.10%) ABAP
11 5 (1.10%) T-SQL
12 4 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.66%) Bash
14 2 (0.44%) Search Processing Language
14 2 (0.44%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.22%) Groovy
15 1 (0.22%) Scala
Qualifications
1 74 (16.23%) Security Cleared
2 59 (12.94%) SC Cleared
3 43 (9.43%) Microsoft Certification
4 26 (5.70%) Degree
5 19 (4.17%) BPSS Clearance
6 16 (3.51%) Azure Certification
7 15 (3.29%) CISSP
8 11 (2.41%) ISTQB
9 9 (1.97%) DBS Check
9 9 (1.97%) OCP
9 9 (1.97%) Oracle Certification
10 7 (1.54%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.54%) CISM
11 6 (1.32%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.10%) CCNP
13 4 (0.88%) A+ Certification
13 4 (0.88%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.88%) Network+ Certification
14 3 (0.66%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 2 (0.44%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (7.46%) Accessibility
2 28 (6.14%) GDPR
3 25 (5.48%) Data Quality
4 20 (4.39%) QA
5 19 (4.17%) WCAG
6 18 (3.95%) NIST
7 16 (3.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 16 (3.51%) SLA
8 13 (2.85%) PMO
9 8 (1.75%) GRC
9 8 (1.75%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.44%) ISO 19650
10 2 (0.44%) NCSC
11 1 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 1 (0.22%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 81 (17.76%) Active Directory
2 26 (5.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (3.73%) Hyper-V
4 15 (3.29%) vSphere
5 13 (2.85%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (2.63%) Docker
7 4 (0.88%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.66%) Firmware
9 2 (0.44%) XenApp
9 2 (0.44%) XenDesktop
10 1 (0.22%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.22%) NFS
10 1 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.22%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 48 (10.53%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (5.70%) SCCM
3 19 (4.17%) Single Sign-On
4 15 (3.29%) Kubernetes
5 5 (1.10%) Ansible
5 5 (1.10%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.88%) Grafana
7 3 (0.66%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.66%) QRadar
8 2 (0.44%) Check_MK
8 2 (0.44%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.44%) WMI
8 2 (0.44%) WSUS
9 1 (0.22%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.22%) Argo
9 1 (0.22%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.22%) SCOM
Vendors
1 42 (9.21%) ServiceNow
2 32 (7.02%) Oracle
2 32 (7.02%) VMware
3 26 (5.70%) Cisco
4 23 (5.04%) SAP
5 14 (3.07%) Splunk
6 12 (2.63%) Databricks
7 9 (1.97%) UiPath
8 8 (1.75%) OpenAI
8 8 (1.75%) Palo Alto
8 8 (1.75%) Red Hat
9 7 (1.54%) Adobe
9 7 (1.54%) Apple
9 7 (1.54%) Fortinet
10 6 (1.32%) Canon
11 5 (1.10%) BeyondTrust
11 5 (1.10%) Citrix
11 5 (1.10%) IBM
11 5 (1.10%) Samsung
11 5 (1.10%) SolarWinds