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 21 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
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 5 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 0 -2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 424 272 262
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 12.34% 15.89% 13.75%
As % of the Vendors category 27.21% 33.25% 30.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 182 175
10th Percentile £250 £165 £162
25th Percentile £373 £266 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £445 £403 £415
Median % change year-on-year +10.56% -3.01% +2.15%
75th Percentile £519 £541 £525
90th Percentile £609 £613 £638
England median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 21 7
10th Percentile £13.74 £15.13 £13.70
25th Percentile £17.50 £27.21 £19.78
Median hourly rate £19.41 £30.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -35.30% -20.00% +102.70%
75th Percentile £21.75 £50.00 £55.63
90th Percentile £70.05 - £56.25
England median hourly rate £21.00 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -7.20% +39.43% -24.51%

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 1,558 818 872
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 45.36% 47.78% 45.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,039 527 602
10th Percentile £314 £231 £263
25th Percentile £401 £360 £361
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.11% - -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £625
90th Percentile £656 £638 £712
England median daily rate £513 £502 £525
% change year-on-year +2.07% -4.36% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 28 20
10th Percentile £13.50 £14.72 £13.93
25th Percentile £19.34 £24.92 £15.17
Median hourly rate £25.30 £30.00 £28.81
Median % change year-on-year -15.68% +4.12% +28.06%
75th Percentile £47.50 £44.94 £50.31
90th Percentile £63.05 £50.00 £57.38
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £29.00
% change year-on-year +29.22% -13.28% -26.68%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 +2 120 £450 +16.13% 111
Warwickshire -1 87 £450 +12.50% 38
Coventry 0 83 £425 +41.67% 29
Shropshire -24 47 £445 -13.59% 22
Staffordshire -5 16 £413 +194.64% 42
Worcestershire +2 11 £450 -21.74% 39
Solihull -23 9 £425 -22.73% 14
Herefordshire +4 8 £700 -22.22% 13
Dudley - 7 £400 - 9
Walsall +2 4 £600 - 5
West Bromwich - 3 - - 2
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 43 (10.14%) SharePoint
2 18 (4.25%) 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 49 (11.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 40 (9.43%) 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%) 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
1 178 (41.98%) Azure
2 97 (22.88%) Microsoft 365
3 77 (18.16%) Power Platform
4 52 (12.26%) Azure DevOps
5 50 (11.79%) Entra ID
6 46 (10.85%) Dynamics 365
7 40 (9.43%) Power Automate
8 35 (8.25%) Microsoft Purview
9 34 (8.02%) AWS
9 34 (8.02%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 32 (7.55%) Azure Data Factory
11 26 (6.13%) OneDrive
11 26 (6.13%) PowerApps
12 19 (4.48%) Serverless
13 15 (3.54%) Microsoft Copilot
14 12 (2.83%) GitHub
14 12 (2.83%) GitHub Actions
15 11 (2.59%) GCP
16 8 (1.89%) Azure Functions
17 6 (1.42%) Azure Sentinel
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 32 (7.55%) SQL Server
3 29 (6.84%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (4.95%) PostgreSQL
5 14 (3.30%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (2.83%) Data Lake
7 10 (2.36%) Delta Lake
7 10 (2.36%) MySQL
8 7 (1.65%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.65%) Metadata
8 7 (1.65%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (1.42%) Data Vault
9 6 (1.42%) Relational Database
10 5 (1.18%) Oracle Database
10 5 (1.18%) Redis
11 4 (0.94%) Tableau
12 3 (0.71%) Power Query
12 3 (0.71%) SAP Data Services
12 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
1 145 (34.20%) Social Skills
2 61 (14.39%) Finance
3 44 (10.38%) Analytical Skills
4 43 (10.14%) Public Sector
5 34 (8.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 18 (4.25%) Organisational Skills
7 13 (3.07%) Manufacturing
8 11 (2.59%) 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 57 (13.44%) Developer
2 54 (12.74%) Analyst
3 50 (11.79%) Senior
4 39 (9.20%) Data Engineer
5 32 (7.55%) 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 15 (3.54%) 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 22 (5.19%) Terraform
2 20 (4.72%) PySpark
3 19 (4.48%) JSON
4 16 (3.77%) SOAP
5 14 (3.30%) XML
6 12 (2.83%) REST
7 11 (2.59%) ActiveX
8 10 (2.36%) .NET
9 9 (2.12%) Gherkin
10 6 (1.42%) Kafka
10 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (1.18%) GraphQL
11 5 (1.18%) JDBC
11 5 (1.18%) SAP PI
12 4 (0.94%) .NET Framework
12 4 (0.94%) IDoc
12 4 (0.94%) YAML
13 3 (0.71%) .NET Core
13 3 (0.71%) FastAPI
13 3 (0.71%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 23 (5.42%) Cloud Native
2 21 (4.95%) Onboarding
3 17 (4.01%) 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 85 (20.05%) Problem-Solving
2 72 (16.98%) Agile
2 72 (16.98%) DevOps
3 58 (13.68%) CI/CD
4 56 (13.21%) Stakeholder Management
5 54 (12.74%) Continuous Improvement
6 52 (12.26%) Migration
7 51 (12.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 50 (11.79%) AI
9 48 (11.32%) Analytics
10 44 (10.38%) Business Intelligence
11 42 (9.91%) Data Modelling
12 41 (9.67%) Customer Service
13 39 (9.20%) Technical Leadership
14 37 (8.73%) ITIL
14 37 (8.73%) ITSM
15 36 (8.49%) Validation
16 34 (8.02%) ETL
17 31 (7.31%) Mentoring
18 29 (6.84%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 68 (16.04%) SQL
2 38 (8.96%) Python
3 24 (5.66%) JavaScript
4 23 (5.42%) C#
5 17 (4.01%) PowerShell
6 16 (3.77%) Java
7 13 (3.07%) VBA
8 11 (2.59%) Bicep
8 11 (2.59%) VB
8 11 (2.59%) VB6
9 6 (1.42%) T-SQL
10 5 (1.18%) ABAP
10 5 (1.18%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.18%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.71%) Bash
11 3 (0.71%) Go
11 3 (0.71%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.47%) MATLAB
12 2 (0.47%) Scala
12 2 (0.47%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 71 (16.75%) Security Cleared
2 56 (13.21%) SC Cleared
3 34 (8.02%) 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
9 8 (1.89%) OCP
9 8 (1.89%) Oracle Certification
10 7 (1.65%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (1.42%) CISM
11 6 (1.42%) 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 20 (4.72%) 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 25 (5.90%) Kubernetes
4 16 (3.77%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (1.65%) Grafana
6 6 (1.42%) Prometheus
7 5 (1.18%) Ansible
7 5 (1.18%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.71%) QRadar
9 2 (0.47%) Check_MK
9 2 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.47%) WMI
9 2 (0.47%) WSUS
10 1 (0.24%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.24%) Argo
10 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.24%) SCOM
Vendors
1 35 (8.25%) ServiceNow
2 32 (7.55%) Oracle
3 29 (6.84%) VMware
4 27 (6.37%) Databricks
5 25 (5.90%) SAP
6 24 (5.66%) Cisco
7 10 (2.36%) Splunk
7 10 (2.36%) UiPath
8 9 (2.12%) Informatica
9 8 (1.89%) Apple
9 8 (1.89%) Palo Alto
9 8 (1.89%) Red Hat
10 7 (1.65%) Fortinet
11 6 (1.42%) Canon
11 6 (1.42%) Citrix
12 5 (1.18%) IBM
12 5 (1.18%) MathWorks
12 5 (1.18%) Siemens
12 5 (1.18%) SolarWinds
12 5 (1.18%) webMethods