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 July 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 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 5 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 404 248 272
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.80% 15.76% 13.16%
As % of the Vendors category 26.22% 33.47% 29.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 307 156 185
10th Percentile £255 £181 £171
25th Percentile £363 £235 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £375 £420
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -10.71% -1.18%
75th Percentile £532 £538 £520
90th Percentile £620 £606 £648
England median daily rate £493 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.68% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 20 19
10th Percentile £18.27 £14.84 £10.50
25th Percentile £19.34 £28.55 £11.06
Median hourly rate £25.00 £31.94 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.73% +128.14% -22.22%
75th Percentile £70.00 £50.00 £26.50
90th Percentile £70.30 - £55.25
England median hourly rate £22.63 £22.50 £16.06
% change year-on-year +0.59% +40.10% -27.00%

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 1,541 741 913
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 44.99% 47.08% 44.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,055 465 614
10th Percentile £313 £200 £237
25th Percentile £400 £315 £351
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £460 £450
Median % change year-on-year +1.96% +2.22% -5.26%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £648 £675 £688
England median daily rate £510 £513 £515
% change year-on-year -0.49% -0.49% -1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 68 30 52
10th Percentile £17.87 £14.99 £11.08
25th Percentile £21.95 £24.75 £13.81
Median hourly rate £33.98 £30.00 £18.39
Median % change year-on-year +13.27% +63.18% -18.29%
75th Percentile £51.88 £42.93 £28.75
90th Percentile £66.03 £50.00 £56.13
England median hourly rate £35.50 £25.15 £25.00
% change year-on-year +41.15% +0.60% -30.56%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 +3 121 £450 +18.03% 75
Warwickshire 0 98 £500 +53.85% 26
Coventry -1 66 £425 +51.11% 11
Shropshire -29 39 £437 +1.63% 16
Worcestershire +3 15 £475 -47.22% 16
Staffordshire -3 11 £388 +176.79% 30
Solihull -19 11 £425 -9.67% 9
Herefordshire +3 9 £700 -22.22% 4
Dudley - 5 £400 - 8
Walsall +2 4 £600 -
West Bromwich - 3 - - 3
Brierley Hill - 2 £446 -
Wolverhampton -6 1 - - 9
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 36 (8.91%) SharePoint
2 15 (3.71%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.98%) Confluence
4 6 (1.49%) SAS
5 4 (0.99%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.74%) Apache
6 3 (0.74%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.74%) IIS
6 3 (0.74%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.50%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.50%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.25%) Appian
8 1 (0.25%) CMS
Applications
1 47 (11.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 42 (10.40%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (4.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (3.22%) MS Visio
5 11 (2.72%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.50%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 21 (5.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.24%) SAP PSCD
3 3 (0.74%) Primavera
4 2 (0.50%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.25%) SAP EHS
5 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 155 (38.37%) Azure
2 82 (20.30%) Microsoft 365
3 66 (16.34%) Power Platform
4 47 (11.63%) Entra ID
5 39 (9.65%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (9.41%) AWS
7 36 (8.91%) Dynamics 365
8 30 (7.43%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 27 (6.68%) Microsoft Purview
10 24 (5.94%) Azure Data Factory
11 23 (5.69%) Power Automate
12 19 (4.70%) OneDrive
13 15 (3.71%) Microsoft Copilot
14 13 (3.22%) PowerApps
14 13 (3.22%) Serverless
15 12 (2.97%) GCP
16 11 (2.72%) GitHub
17 10 (2.48%) GitHub Actions
18 6 (1.49%) Azure AKS
18 6 (1.49%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 32 (7.92%) DNS
2 29 (7.18%) VPN
3 24 (5.94%) Firewall
4 23 (5.69%) DHCP
5 13 (3.22%) LAN
6 10 (2.48%) Network Security
6 10 (2.48%) WAN
7 9 (2.23%) SSL
7 9 (2.23%) TCP/IP
7 9 (2.23%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (1.49%) Cisco IOS
8 6 (1.49%) HTTP
9 5 (1.24%) BIG-IP
9 5 (1.24%) HTTPS
9 5 (1.24%) Intrusion Detection
9 5 (1.24%) Wireless
10 4 (0.99%) IPsec
10 4 (0.99%) SAN
10 4 (0.99%) SMTP
10 4 (0.99%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (10.64%) Power BI
2 24 (5.94%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (5.69%) SQL Server
4 19 (4.70%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (3.22%) Azure SQL Database
6 10 (2.48%) Delta Lake
7 8 (1.98%) Data Lake
7 8 (1.98%) Metadata
7 8 (1.98%) MySQL
7 8 (1.98%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.73%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.73%) Relational Database
9 5 (1.24%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.99%) Redis
11 3 (0.74%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.74%) Power Query
11 3 (0.74%) SAP Data Services
11 3 (0.74%) SAS Enterprise Guide
11 3 (0.74%) Tableau
12 2 (0.50%) SAS Data Integration Studio
Development Applications
1 31 (7.67%) JIRA
2 8 (1.98%) Git
3 7 (1.73%) Selenium
3 7 (1.73%) Team Foundation Server
3 7 (1.73%) WebDriver
4 6 (1.49%) Visual Studio
5 5 (1.24%) Cypress.io
5 5 (1.24%) Postman
6 4 (0.99%) GitLab
6 4 (0.99%) MLflow
7 3 (0.74%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.50%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.50%) JMeter
8 2 (0.50%) MSI
8 2 (0.50%) NUnit
8 2 (0.50%) Protractor
9 1 (0.25%) CircleCI
9 1 (0.25%) Maven
9 1 (0.25%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.25%) Zephyr
General
1 128 (31.68%) Social Skills
2 57 (14.11%) Finance
3 46 (11.39%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (8.17%) Public Sector
5 21 (5.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (3.22%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (2.48%) Banking
7 10 (2.48%) Manufacturing
8 8 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.73%) Games
9 7 (1.73%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (1.73%) Legal
10 6 (1.49%) Marketing
10 6 (1.49%) Police
11 5 (1.24%) Law
11 5 (1.24%) Retail
12 4 (0.99%) Electronics
13 3 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.74%) Publishing
14 2 (0.50%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 59 (14.60%) Analyst
2 42 (10.40%) Developer
3 40 (9.90%) Senior
4 35 (8.66%) Architect
5 27 (6.68%) Data Engineer
6 25 (6.19%) Consultant
6 25 (6.19%) Lead
7 17 (4.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (3.47%) Azure Engineer
8 14 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
9 13 (3.22%) Administrator
9 13 (3.22%) Data Architect
10 12 (2.97%) Business Analyst
10 12 (2.97%) Support Engineer
11 10 (2.48%) IT Support
11 10 (2.48%) Senior Data Engineer
12 9 (2.23%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 9 (2.23%) Support Technician
13 8 (1.98%) Security Consultant
13 8 (1.98%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.95%) PySpark
2 12 (2.97%) JSON
3 11 (2.72%) SOAP
4 10 (2.48%) REST
4 10 (2.48%) XML
5 9 (2.23%) .NET
5 9 (2.23%) SailPoint
6 7 (1.73%) FastAPI
7 6 (1.49%) ActiveX
7 6 (1.49%) SAML
8 5 (1.24%) ADO
8 5 (1.24%) Gherkin
8 5 (1.24%) JDBC
8 5 (1.24%) Kafka
8 5 (1.24%) LDAP
8 5 (1.24%) SAP PI
9 4 (0.99%) .NET Framework
9 4 (0.99%) Flask
9 4 (0.99%) IDoc
9 4 (0.99%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 27 (6.68%) Cloud Native
1 27 (6.68%) Onboarding
2 17 (4.21%) Hybrid Cloud
3 10 (2.48%) Management Information System
3 10 (2.48%) Product Ownership
3 10 (2.48%) SCADA
3 10 (2.48%) Security Operations Centre
4 9 (2.23%) Enterprise Software
4 9 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (1.98%) Data Centre
6 7 (1.73%) Operational Technology
6 7 (1.73%) Smartphone
7 6 (1.49%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.24%) CMDB
8 5 (1.24%) Public Cloud
9 4 (0.99%) CSOC
9 4 (0.99%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (0.99%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (0.99%) IoT
9 4 (0.99%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 88 (21.78%) Windows
2 28 (6.93%) Linux
3 27 (6.68%) Windows 10
4 25 (6.19%) Windows Server
5 11 (2.72%) Mac OS
6 9 (2.23%) Unix
7 7 (1.73%) Android
8 5 (1.24%) Apple iOS
8 5 (1.24%) SUSE
8 5 (1.24%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.99%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.25%) CatOS
12 1 (0.25%) CentOS
12 1 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (21.29%) Problem-Solving
2 73 (18.07%) Agile
3 63 (15.59%) DevOps
4 61 (15.10%) CI/CD
5 55 (13.61%) AI
6 54 (13.37%) Continuous Improvement
6 54 (13.37%) Migration
7 49 (12.13%) Analytics
8 43 (10.64%) Business Intelligence
9 38 (9.41%) Stakeholder Management
10 33 (8.17%) Customer Service
11 32 (7.92%) Infrastructure as Code
11 32 (7.92%) ITIL
12 31 (7.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 31 (7.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 31 (7.67%) Validation
13 30 (7.43%) Data Modelling
13 30 (7.43%) ETL
14 28 (6.93%) CRM
14 28 (6.93%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 69 (17.08%) SQL
2 39 (9.65%) Python
3 20 (4.95%) PowerShell
4 16 (3.96%) Java
5 14 (3.47%) Bicep
6 13 (3.22%) C#
7 11 (2.72%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.23%) Kusto Query Language
9 8 (1.98%) VB
9 8 (1.98%) VBA
10 7 (1.73%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.49%) VB6
12 5 (1.24%) ABAP
12 5 (1.24%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 4 (0.99%) Go
14 3 (0.74%) MATLAB
14 3 (0.74%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.50%) Scala
15 2 (0.50%) Shell Script
15 2 (0.50%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 76 (18.81%) Security Cleared
2 61 (15.10%) SC Cleared
3 33 (8.17%) Degree
4 21 (5.20%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (3.22%) CISSP
6 12 (2.97%) ISTQB
7 11 (2.72%) AWS Certification
8 10 (2.48%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (2.23%) Azure Certification
9 9 (2.23%) DV Cleared
10 8 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
10 8 (1.98%) CISM
11 6 (1.49%) OCP
11 6 (1.49%) Oracle Certification
12 5 (1.24%) CCNA
12 5 (1.24%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 5 (1.24%) Master's Degree
13 4 (0.99%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.99%) PhD
14 3 (0.74%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (6.44%) Data Quality
2 19 (4.70%) QA
3 18 (4.46%) GDPR
3 18 (4.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (4.21%) Accessibility
5 14 (3.47%) SLA
6 13 (3.22%) NIST
6 13 (3.22%) PMO
7 6 (1.49%) WCAG
8 4 (0.99%) GRC
9 3 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.50%) NCSC
10 2 (0.50%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.25%) Basel III
11 1 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.25%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.25%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.25%) SOC 2
System Software
1 75 (18.56%) Active Directory
2 27 (6.68%) Docker
3 23 (5.69%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (2.97%) Hyper-V
5 10 (2.48%) vSphere
6 7 (1.73%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.99%) Snort
7 4 (0.99%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.99%) VMware NSX
8 3 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.50%) BitLocker
9 2 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.50%) XenApp
9 2 (0.50%) XenDesktop
10 1 (0.25%) Firmware
10 1 (0.25%) NFS
Systems Management
1 37 (9.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (8.91%) Kubernetes
3 24 (5.94%) Terraform
4 23 (5.69%) SCCM
5 14 (3.47%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (2.72%) Grafana
6 11 (2.72%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.99%) CSIRT
7 4 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.74%) Ansible
8 3 (0.74%) Control-M
8 3 (0.74%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.74%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.74%) Nessus
8 3 (0.74%) QRadar
9 2 (0.50%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.50%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.50%) SCOM
9 2 (0.50%) WMI
9 2 (0.50%) WSUS
Vendors
1 35 (8.66%) ServiceNow
2 32 (7.92%) Oracle
3 30 (7.43%) SAP
4 28 (6.93%) VMware
5 27 (6.68%) Databricks
6 25 (6.19%) Cisco
7 12 (2.97%) Splunk
8 9 (2.23%) UiPath
9 8 (1.98%) Red Hat
10 7 (1.73%) F5
10 7 (1.73%) Informatica
10 7 (1.73%) Okta
11 6 (1.49%) Apple
11 6 (1.49%) Canon
11 6 (1.49%) CheckPoint
11 6 (1.49%) Fortinet
11 6 (1.49%) Palo Alto
11 6 (1.49%) SolarWinds
12 5 (1.24%) MathWorks
12 5 (1.24%) webMethods