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 9 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
9 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 4 7
Rank change year-on-year -6 +3 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 351 227 227
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.08% 16.77% 11.84%
As % of the Vendors category 24.44% 34.98% 27.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 155 154
10th Percentile £258 £166 £188
25th Percentile £363 £235 £281
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £400
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% - -11.11%
75th Percentile £540 £538 £575
90th Percentile £627 £600 £676
England median daily rate £495 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +4.21% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 10 22
10th Percentile £14.10 £12.18 £10.54
25th Percentile £19.34 £12.25 £11.08
Median hourly rate £25.00 £17.13 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +45.99% +22.32% -15.05%
75th Percentile £30.00 £23.75 £26.50
90th Percentile £70.12 £43.84 £53.38
England median hourly rate £20.20 £18.51 £15.00
% change year-on-year +9.10% +23.40% -28.45%

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 1,436 649 813
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 45.31% 47.93% 42.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 963 417 518
10th Percentile £306 £181 £250
25th Percentile £400 £325 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £488 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.79% +8.33% -10.00%
75th Percentile £550 £594 £611
90th Percentile £645 £680 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £520
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -2.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 21 53
10th Percentile £19.34 £12.25 £11.07
25th Percentile £23.13 £15.13 £13.25
Median hourly rate £33.99 £18.13 £16.82
Median % change year-on-year +87.45% +7.79% -14.19%
75th Percentile £53.75 £23.75 £26.98
90th Percentile £68.05 £31.76 £53.10
England median hourly rate £32.23 £26.45 £22.50
% change year-on-year +21.83% +17.56% -43.75%

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 9 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 9 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 9 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 +3 132 £450 +5.39% 84
Warwickshire -7 67 £500 +112.77% 23
Coventry -4 41 £450 +119.51% 13
Shropshire -30 31 £449 -0.99% 13
Worcestershire +2 16 £700 -22.22% 22
Staffordshire 0 12 £325 +26.21% 25
Solihull -13 10 £425 -17.56% 5
Herefordshire -3 9 £700 -22.22% 9
Dudley - 5 £400 - 3
Smethwick - 3 - -
West Bromwich - 3 - - 4
Brierley Hill - 2 £446 -
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 30 (8.55%) SharePoint
2 15 (4.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.56%) Confluence
4 5 (1.42%) SAS
5 4 (1.14%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.85%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.57%) IIS
7 2 (0.57%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.28%) Apache
8 1 (0.28%) Appian
8 1 (0.28%) CMS
8 1 (0.28%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 37 (10.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (8.83%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (4.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (3.99%) MS Visio
5 13 (3.70%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 16 (4.56%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (2.56%) Dynamics NAV
3 3 (0.85%) Maximo
4 2 (0.57%) Primavera
4 2 (0.57%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP EHS
5 1 (0.28%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 129 (36.75%) Azure
2 62 (17.66%) Power Platform
3 60 (17.09%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (11.11%) Entra ID
5 37 (10.54%) AWS
6 33 (9.40%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (7.41%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 25 (7.12%) Azure DevOps
9 20 (5.70%) Microsoft Purview
10 18 (5.13%) Azure Data Factory
11 16 (4.56%) Power Automate
12 13 (3.70%) PowerApps
13 12 (3.42%) OneDrive
13 12 (3.42%) Serverless
14 11 (3.13%) GitHub
15 10 (2.85%) GitHub Actions
16 9 (2.56%) Azure Sentinel
16 9 (2.56%) GCP
17 7 (1.99%) Azure Key Vault
17 7 (1.99%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 28 (7.98%) DNS
2 26 (7.41%) VPN
3 22 (6.27%) Firewall
4 16 (4.56%) DHCP
5 14 (3.99%) LAN
6 13 (3.70%) SSL
7 12 (3.42%) Network Security
8 10 (2.85%) WAN
9 9 (2.56%) HTTP
10 8 (2.28%) BIG-IP
10 8 (2.28%) HTTPS
10 8 (2.28%) TCP/IP
11 7 (1.99%) Cisco ASA
11 7 (1.99%) Cisco Nexus
11 7 (1.99%) Ethereal
11 7 (1.99%) IPsec
11 7 (1.99%) Wireless
11 7 (1.99%) Wireshark
12 5 (1.42%) Intrusion Detection
13 4 (1.14%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (11.11%) Power BI
2 27 (7.69%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (4.56%) SQL Server
4 14 (3.99%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.56%) Delta Lake
6 7 (1.99%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.99%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.99%) NoSQL
6 7 (1.99%) Relational Database
7 6 (1.71%) Metadata
7 6 (1.71%) Oracle Database
7 6 (1.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (1.42%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.42%) MySQL
8 5 (1.42%) Power Query
9 4 (1.14%) Redis
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.85%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.85%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (8.55%) JIRA
2 12 (3.42%) Git
3 9 (2.56%) GitLab
4 4 (1.14%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.14%) MLflow
4 4 (1.14%) MSI
5 3 (0.85%) Selenium
6 2 (0.57%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.57%) JMeter
6 2 (0.57%) WebDriver
7 1 (0.28%) AdminStudio
7 1 (0.28%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.28%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.28%) Maven
7 1 (0.28%) NUnit
7 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.28%) Zephyr
General
1 106 (30.20%) Social Skills
2 45 (12.82%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (11.40%) Finance
4 19 (5.41%) Public Sector
5 13 (3.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (3.70%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (2.56%) Manufacturing
7 8 (2.28%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (2.28%) Legal
8 7 (1.99%) Banking
8 7 (1.99%) Games
8 7 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.71%) Police
10 5 (1.42%) Law
11 4 (1.14%) Electronics
11 4 (1.14%) Local Government
11 4 (1.14%) Marketing
12 3 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (0.85%) Publishing
12 3 (0.85%) Retail
Job Titles
1 45 (12.82%) Analyst
2 35 (9.97%) Developer
3 34 (9.69%) Architect
4 33 (9.40%) Senior
5 22 (6.27%) Data Engineer
6 17 (4.84%) Administrator
7 15 (4.27%) Consultant
7 15 (4.27%) IT Support
8 14 (3.99%) Support Engineer
9 13 (3.70%) Lead
9 13 (3.70%) Solutions Architect
10 12 (3.42%) Business Analyst
11 11 (3.13%) Data Architect
11 11 (3.13%) IT Engineer
12 10 (2.85%) Azure Engineer
12 10 (2.85%) Network Engineer
13 9 (2.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 9 (2.56%) Project Manager
14 8 (2.28%) IT Support Engineer
14 8 (2.28%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.41%) PySpark
2 9 (2.56%) LDAP
2 9 (2.56%) SailPoint
2 9 (2.56%) SAML
3 8 (2.28%) .NET
4 7 (1.99%) FastAPI
5 5 (1.42%) REST
6 4 (1.14%) ADO
6 4 (1.14%) Flask
6 4 (1.14%) GraphQL
6 4 (1.14%) gRPC
6 4 (1.14%) JSON
6 4 (1.14%) Kafka
6 4 (1.14%) Middleware
6 4 (1.14%) OpenTelemetry
6 4 (1.14%) WebSockets
7 3 (0.85%) .NET Framework
7 3 (0.85%) YAML
8 2 (0.57%) RabbitMQ
8 2 (0.57%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 24 (6.84%) Cloud Native
1 24 (6.84%) Onboarding
2 10 (2.85%) Security Operations Centre
3 9 (2.56%) Enterprise Software
3 9 (2.56%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (2.56%) Security Posture
3 9 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (2.28%) SCADA
5 7 (1.99%) Operational Technology
6 5 (1.42%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.14%) CSOC
7 4 (1.14%) Data Centre
7 4 (1.14%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.14%) Driving Licence
7 4 (1.14%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.14%) PKI
8 3 (0.85%) CMDB
8 3 (0.85%) Cyber Threat
8 3 (0.85%) IoT
8 3 (0.85%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 64 (18.23%) Windows
2 25 (7.12%) Windows 10
3 20 (5.70%) Linux
3 20 (5.70%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.71%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.14%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.14%) Unix
6 3 (0.85%) CatOS
6 3 (0.85%) Windows 7
6 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
6 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.57%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.28%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (21.65%) Agile
2 69 (19.66%) Problem-Solving
3 66 (18.80%) CI/CD
4 53 (15.10%) Migration
5 50 (14.25%) Analytics
6 49 (13.96%) DevOps
7 42 (11.97%) AI
8 41 (11.68%) Business Intelligence
8 41 (11.68%) Continuous Improvement
9 34 (9.69%) Stakeholder Management
10 33 (9.40%) Cybersecurity
11 32 (9.12%) ETL
12 30 (8.55%) Containerisation
12 30 (8.55%) Data Modelling
12 30 (8.55%) ITIL
13 29 (8.26%) Customer Service
13 29 (8.26%) Infrastructure as Code
14 24 (6.84%) Change Management
15 23 (6.55%) Decision-Making
15 23 (6.55%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 61 (17.38%) SQL
2 42 (11.97%) Python
3 23 (6.55%) PowerShell
4 11 (3.13%) Bicep
5 9 (2.56%) Java
6 8 (2.28%) C#
6 8 (2.28%) Kusto Query Language
7 7 (1.99%) PL/SQL
8 6 (1.71%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 6 (1.71%) Go
9 5 (1.42%) JavaScript
10 4 (1.14%) R
10 4 (1.14%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.14%) VBScript
11 3 (0.85%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.85%) Scala
11 3 (0.85%) VB
12 2 (0.57%) Bash
12 2 (0.57%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.57%) VBA
Qualifications
1 59 (16.81%) Security Cleared
2 44 (12.54%) SC Cleared
3 38 (10.83%) Degree
4 22 (6.27%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (3.70%) CISSP
6 10 (2.85%) AWS Certification
6 10 (2.85%) DV Cleared
7 9 (2.56%) Azure Certification
7 9 (2.56%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (2.56%) CISM
8 7 (1.99%) ISTQB
9 5 (1.42%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (1.42%) CCNA
9 5 (1.42%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (1.42%) Master's Degree
10 4 (1.14%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (1.14%) DBS Check
10 4 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (1.14%) OCP
10 4 (1.14%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (6.27%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.70%) QA
3 13 (3.70%) GDPR
4 12 (3.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (2.28%) NIST
5 8 (2.28%) SLA
6 7 (1.99%) PMO
7 5 (1.42%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.14%) GRC
9 3 (0.85%) ISO 9001
9 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.57%) GxP
10 2 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.28%) FATCA
11 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.28%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 66 (18.80%) Active Directory
2 31 (8.83%) Docker
3 19 (5.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (1.99%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.71%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.14%) Snort
7 3 (0.85%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.85%) vSphere
8 2 (0.57%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.57%) XenApp
8 2 (0.57%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.28%) NFS
9 1 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 40 (11.40%) Kubernetes
2 27 (7.69%) Terraform
3 24 (6.84%) Microsoft Intune
4 12 (3.42%) SCCM
5 11 (3.13%) Ansible
5 11 (3.13%) Grafana
5 11 (3.13%) Prometheus
6 10 (2.85%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (1.14%) CSIRT
8 3 (0.85%) Control-M
8 3 (0.85%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.85%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.85%) Nessus
8 3 (0.85%) WSUS
9 2 (0.57%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.57%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.57%) Puppet
9 2 (0.57%) QRadar
9 2 (0.57%) SCOM
Vendors
1 31 (8.83%) ServiceNow
2 25 (7.12%) Oracle
3 24 (6.84%) Databricks
4 21 (5.98%) VMware
5 20 (5.70%) SAP
6 16 (4.56%) Cisco
7 10 (2.85%) Splunk
8 9 (2.56%) CheckPoint
9 8 (2.28%) F5
9 8 (2.28%) Informatica
10 7 (1.99%) Okta
10 7 (1.99%) Palo Alto
10 7 (1.99%) SolarWinds
11 5 (1.42%) Citrix
11 5 (1.42%) Tenable
12 4 (1.14%) Workday
13 3 (0.85%) HP
13 3 (0.85%) MobileIron
13 3 (0.85%) Veeam
14 2 (0.57%) Verint