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 24 August 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
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 6 4
Rank change year-on-year -2 -2 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 424 273 268
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 12.32% 15.73% 14.05%
As % of the Vendors category 27.27% 32.54% 30.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 182 179
10th Percentile £250 £165 £164
25th Percentile £375 £266 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £403 £405
Median % change year-on-year +11.06% -0.62% -4.71%
75th Percentile £519 £541 £525
90th Percentile £619 £613 £638
England median daily rate £489 £475 £499
% change year-on-year +2.95% -4.81% -0.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 21 7
10th Percentile £13.98 £15.13 £13.70
25th Percentile £17.31 £27.21 £19.78
Median hourly rate £19.41 £30.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -35.30% -20.00% +97.37%
75th Percentile £21.75 £50.00 £55.63
90th Percentile £65.18 - £56.25
England median hourly rate £21.00 £22.50 £16.23
% change year-on-year -6.67% +38.63% -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 1,555 839 872
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 45.18% 48.36% 45.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,028 539 600
10th Percentile £316 £235 £255
25th Percentile £403 £362 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.26% - -
75th Percentile £560 £575 £625
90th Percentile £663 £638 £713
England median daily rate £513 £501 £525
% change year-on-year +2.40% -4.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 28 19
10th Percentile £13.50 £14.72 £13.85
25th Percentile £17.74 £24.92 £15.11
Median hourly rate £25.00 £30.00 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +14.83% +16.11%
75th Percentile £47.50 £44.94 £47.13
90th Percentile £61.40 £50.00 £56.25
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £29.00
% change year-on-year +29.22% -13.28% -28.24%

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 24 August 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 24 August 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 24 August 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 0 122 £450 +16.13% 115
Warwickshire -2 85 £450 +12.50% 39
Coventry 0 83 £425 +41.67% 29
Shropshire -25 47 £445 -13.59% 20
Staffordshire -5 16 £400 +185.71% 44
Worcestershire +2 11 £425 -26.09% 41
Solihull -22 9 £425 -22.73% 14
Herefordshire +5 7 £600 -33.33% 13
Dudley - 7 £400 - 6
Walsall +2 4 £600 - 4
West Bromwich - 3 - - 3
Halesowen - 1 - - 2
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 44 (10.38%) SharePoint
2 19 (4.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.18%) SAS
4 4 (0.94%) Apache Spark
4 4 (0.94%) Confluence
5 3 (0.71%) Apache
5 3 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.71%) IIS
6 2 (0.47%) CloudStack
6 2 (0.47%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.47%) Oracle Workflow
7 1 (0.24%) Appian
7 1 (0.24%) CMS
Applications
1 50 (11.79%) Microsoft Excel
2 41 (9.67%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (3.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (2.36%) MS Visio
5 9 (2.12%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.47%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.24%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.24%) Navisworks
7 1 (0.24%) ProjectWise
7 1 (0.24%) Revit
7 1 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (4.01%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.18%) SAP PSCD
3 3 (0.71%) Primavera
4 2 (0.47%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.24%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.24%) MIS ActiveH
5 1 (0.24%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 177 (41.75%) Azure
2 100 (23.58%) Microsoft 365
3 77 (18.16%) Power Platform
4 51 (12.03%) Azure DevOps
4 51 (12.03%) Entra ID
5 47 (11.08%) Dynamics 365
6 40 (9.43%) Power Automate
7 34 (8.02%) AWS
7 34 (8.02%) Microsoft Purview
8 33 (7.78%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 31 (7.31%) Azure Data Factory
10 27 (6.37%) OneDrive
11 26 (6.13%) PowerApps
12 18 (4.25%) Serverless
13 15 (3.54%) Microsoft Copilot
14 11 (2.59%) GCP
14 11 (2.59%) GitHub
14 11 (2.59%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (1.89%) Azure Functions
16 6 (1.42%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 34 (8.02%) DNS
2 27 (6.37%) DHCP
3 25 (5.90%) VPN
4 20 (4.72%) Firewall
5 11 (2.59%) LAN
5 11 (2.59%) TCP/IP
6 10 (2.36%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (1.89%) WAN
8 6 (1.42%) Cisco IOS
8 6 (1.42%) SSL
9 4 (0.94%) Network Security
9 4 (0.94%) SAN
9 4 (0.94%) SD-WAN
10 3 (0.71%) BIG-IP
10 3 (0.71%) NAS
10 3 (0.71%) SNMP
10 3 (0.71%) Structured Cabling
10 3 (0.71%) VLAN
10 3 (0.71%) VoIP
10 3 (0.71%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (10.38%) Power BI
2 31 (7.31%) SQL Server
3 28 (6.60%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (4.48%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (3.07%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (2.83%) Data Lake
7 10 (2.36%) Delta Lake
8 9 (2.12%) MySQL
9 7 (1.65%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 7 (1.65%) Metadata
9 7 (1.65%) NoSQL
9 7 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 6 (1.42%) Data Vault
11 5 (1.18%) Oracle Database
11 5 (1.18%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.94%) Redis
12 4 (0.94%) Tableau
13 3 (0.71%) Oracle Reports
13 3 (0.71%) SAP Data Services
13 3 (0.71%) SAS Enterprise Guide
Development Applications
1 20 (4.72%) JIRA
2 12 (2.83%) Team Foundation Server
3 11 (2.59%) Selenium
3 11 (2.59%) Visual Studio
3 11 (2.59%) WebDriver
4 9 (2.12%) Cypress.io
4 9 (2.12%) Postman
5 6 (1.42%) Cucumber
5 6 (1.42%) Git
6 4 (0.94%) MLflow
7 3 (0.71%) GitLab
7 3 (0.71%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.71%) Protractor
8 2 (0.47%) MSI
8 2 (0.47%) NUnit
9 1 (0.24%) CircleCI
9 1 (0.24%) Maven
9 1 (0.24%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.24%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.24%) Zephyr
General
1 144 (33.96%) Social Skills
2 61 (14.39%) Finance
3 43 (10.14%) Analytical Skills
4 42 (9.91%) Public Sector
5 34 (8.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 19 (4.48%) Organisational Skills
7 13 (3.07%) Manufacturing
8 12 (2.83%) Legal
9 10 (2.36%) Banking
10 7 (1.65%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.65%) Marketing
11 6 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (1.18%) Retail
13 4 (0.94%) Billing
13 4 (0.94%) Law
14 3 (0.71%) Electronics
15 2 (0.47%) Investment Banking
15 2 (0.47%) Local Government
15 2 (0.47%) Publishing
15 2 (0.47%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 55 (12.97%) Developer
2 54 (12.74%) Analyst
3 50 (11.79%) Senior
4 39 (9.20%) Data Engineer
5 33 (7.78%) Architect
6 27 (6.37%) Consultant
7 26 (6.13%) Lead
8 22 (5.19%) Azure Engineer
9 20 (4.72%) Administrator
10 17 (4.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 16 (3.77%) Solutions Architect
12 13 (3.07%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 13 (3.07%) Senior Data Engineer
12 13 (3.07%) Support Engineer
13 12 (2.83%) Data Architect
14 10 (2.36%) IT Support
14 10 (2.36%) Senior Analyst
14 10 (2.36%) Support Technician
14 10 (2.36%) Test Analyst
15 9 (2.12%) Junior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (4.95%) Terraform
2 20 (4.72%) PySpark
3 19 (4.48%) JSON
4 16 (3.77%) SOAP
5 14 (3.30%) XML
6 11 (2.59%) ActiveX
6 11 (2.59%) REST
7 10 (2.36%) .NET
8 9 (2.12%) Gherkin
9 7 (1.65%) Microsoft Graph
10 6 (1.42%) Kafka
11 5 (1.18%) JDBC
11 5 (1.18%) SAP PI
12 4 (0.94%) .NET Framework
12 4 (0.94%) GraphQL
12 4 (0.94%) IDoc
12 4 (0.94%) YAML
13 3 (0.71%) .NET Core
13 3 (0.71%) ADO
13 3 (0.71%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 22 (5.19%) Cloud Native
2 21 (4.95%) Onboarding
3 18 (4.25%) Management Information System
4 16 (3.77%) Hybrid Cloud
4 16 (3.77%) Product Ownership
5 13 (3.07%) SCADA
6 9 (2.12%) CMDB
7 7 (1.65%) Data Centre
7 7 (1.65%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (1.65%) Operational Technology
7 7 (1.65%) Smartphone
8 6 (1.42%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.42%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.42%) IoT
8 6 (1.42%) PKI
8 6 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.18%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.18%) Security Operations Centre
9 5 (1.18%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 86 (20.28%) Windows
2 27 (6.37%) Windows 10
3 26 (6.13%) Windows Server
4 22 (5.19%) Linux
5 12 (2.83%) Mac OS
6 8 (1.89%) Android
7 6 (1.42%) Ubuntu
8 5 (1.18%) SUSE
8 5 (1.18%) Unix
9 4 (0.94%) Apple iOS
10 3 (0.71%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.71%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.47%) CentOS
11 2 (0.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (19.81%) Problem-Solving
2 72 (16.98%) Agile
3 71 (16.75%) DevOps
4 56 (13.21%) CI/CD
5 55 (12.97%) Stakeholder Management
6 54 (12.74%) Continuous Improvement
7 52 (12.26%) Migration
8 50 (11.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 49 (11.56%) AI
10 48 (11.32%) Analytics
11 43 (10.14%) Business Intelligence
12 41 (9.67%) Customer Service
12 41 (9.67%) Data Modelling
13 39 (9.20%) Technical Leadership
14 37 (8.73%) ITIL
14 37 (8.73%) ITSM
15 36 (8.49%) Validation
16 33 (7.78%) ETL
17 31 (7.31%) Mentoring
18 28 (6.60%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 66 (15.57%) SQL
2 36 (8.49%) Python
3 24 (5.66%) JavaScript
4 23 (5.42%) C#
5 18 (4.25%) PowerShell
6 16 (3.77%) Java
7 13 (3.07%) VBA
8 11 (2.59%) VB
8 11 (2.59%) VB6
9 10 (2.36%) Bicep
10 6 (1.42%) T-SQL
11 5 (1.18%) ABAP
11 5 (1.18%) Kusto Query Language
12 4 (0.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.71%) Bash
13 3 (0.71%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.47%) Go
14 2 (0.47%) MATLAB
14 2 (0.47%) Scala
14 2 (0.47%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 69 (16.27%) Security Cleared
2 54 (12.74%) SC Cleared
3 33 (7.78%) Microsoft Certification
4 29 (6.84%) Degree
5 16 (3.77%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (3.07%) ISTQB
7 11 (2.59%) Azure Certification
8 9 (2.12%) CISSP
9 8 (1.89%) AWS Certification
10 7 (1.65%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.65%) OCP
10 7 (1.65%) Oracle Certification
11 6 (1.42%) CISM
12 5 (1.18%) DV Cleared
12 5 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.94%) CCNP
13 4 (0.94%) DBS Check
13 4 (0.94%) Master's Degree
13 4 (0.94%) PhD
14 3 (0.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.37%) Data Quality
2 26 (6.13%) Accessibility
3 20 (4.72%) GDPR
4 18 (4.25%) QA
5 17 (4.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 14 (3.30%) NIST
7 13 (3.07%) PMO
7 13 (3.07%) SLA
8 10 (2.36%) WCAG
9 5 (1.18%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.94%) GRC
11 2 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 12207
11 2 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 2 (0.47%) NCSC
12 1 (0.24%) Basel III
12 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.24%) HL7
12 1 (0.24%) ISO 14001
12 1 (0.24%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.24%) NIST 800
System Software
1 66 (15.57%) Active Directory
2 23 (5.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (4.48%) Docker
4 15 (3.54%) Hyper-V
5 12 (2.83%) vSphere
6 10 (2.36%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.94%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.47%) Firmware
8 2 (0.47%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.47%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.47%) XenApp
8 2 (0.47%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.24%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.24%) NFS
Systems Management
1 41 (9.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (6.13%) SCCM
3 24 (5.66%) Kubernetes
4 16 (3.77%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.42%) Grafana
6 5 (1.18%) Ansible
6 5 (1.18%) Jamf Pro
6 5 (1.18%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.71%) QRadar
8 2 (0.47%) Check_MK
8 2 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.47%) WMI
8 2 (0.47%) WSUS
9 1 (0.24%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.24%) Argo
9 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.24%) SCOM
Vendors
1 35 (8.25%) ServiceNow
2 31 (7.31%) Oracle
3 29 (6.84%) VMware
4 27 (6.37%) Databricks
5 25 (5.90%) Cisco
6 24 (5.66%) SAP
7 11 (2.59%) Splunk
8 10 (2.36%) UiPath
9 9 (2.12%) Informatica
10 8 (1.89%) Apple
10 8 (1.89%) Palo Alto
10 8 (1.89%) Red Hat
11 7 (1.65%) Fortinet
12 6 (1.42%) Canon
12 6 (1.42%) Citrix
13 5 (1.18%) F5
13 5 (1.18%) IBM
13 5 (1.18%) MathWorks
13 5 (1.18%) Siemens
13 5 (1.18%) webMethods