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 30 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
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 4
Rank change year-on-year -3 0 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 470 301 290
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 13.03% 16.39% 15.48%
As % of the Vendors category 29.73% 31.62% 32.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 331 218 196
10th Percentile £213 £165 £160
25th Percentile £359 £277 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £440 £425
Median % change year-on-year -3.41% +3.53% +6.25%
75th Percentile £501 £584 £538
90th Percentile £625 £650 £635
England median daily rate £490 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 21 3
10th Percentile £14.24 £18.00 £14.26
25th Percentile £17.48 £27.21 £18.50
Median hourly rate £19.48 £30.00 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year -35.07% +14.83% +30.63%
75th Percentile £21.75 £50.00 £30.84
90th Percentile £54.85 - £33.34
England median hourly rate £18.58 £22.63 £16.81
% change year-on-year -17.92% +34.66% -25.41%

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 1,581 952 898
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 43.84% 51.82% 47.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,035 623 584
10th Percentile £313 £243 £213
25th Percentile £403 £386 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.20% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £584 £614
90th Percentile £675 £650 £713
England median daily rate £514 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +1.28% -3.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 99 32 13
10th Percentile £13.50 £15.18 £14.40
25th Percentile £17.57 £17.97 £15.22
Median hourly rate £21.50 £30.00 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year -28.33% +14.83% +13.59%
75th Percentile £33.99 £35.63 £45.50
90th Percentile £53.75 £50.00 £57.75
England median hourly rate £26.14 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +3.94% -28.14% -20.16%

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 30 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 30 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 30 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 0 144 £500 +25.00% 185
Coventry 0 91 £425 +38.78% 39
Warwickshire -1 91 £450 +0.67% 59
Shropshire -20 56 £445 -13.38% 30
Staffordshire -4 23 £400 +185.71% 80
Herefordshire +8 12 £500 -23.08% 23
Worcestershire 0 12 £175 -69.57% 28
Solihull -30 5 £228 -60.43% 14
Walsall +2 4 £600 - 6
West Bromwich - 3 - - 1
Dudley - 2 £388 - 10
Halesowen - 1 - -
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 60 (12.77%) SharePoint
2 25 (5.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.85%) Apache Spark
3 4 (0.85%) SAS
4 3 (0.64%) Apache
4 3 (0.64%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.64%) IIS
4 3 (0.64%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.43%) CloudStack
5 2 (0.43%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.21%) Appian
6 1 (0.21%) CMS
6 1 (0.21%) Confluence
Applications
1 60 (12.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 50 (10.64%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (3.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.70%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (1.06%) Chatbot
5 5 (1.06%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.85%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.21%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.21%) Navisworks
7 1 (0.21%) ProjectWise
7 1 (0.21%) Revit
Business Applications
1 29 (6.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.06%) SAP PSCD
2 5 (1.06%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.85%) ResourceLink
4 3 (0.64%) Primavera
4 3 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.21%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.21%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.21%) MIS ActiveH
Cloud Services
1 210 (44.68%) Azure
2 138 (29.36%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (16.17%) Power Platform
4 73 (15.53%) Entra ID
5 60 (12.77%) Dynamics 365
6 57 (12.13%) Azure DevOps
7 56 (11.91%) Power Automate
8 40 (8.51%) AWS
9 30 (6.38%) OneDrive
9 30 (6.38%) PowerApps
10 29 (6.17%) Microsoft Purview
11 26 (5.53%) Serverless
12 25 (5.32%) Azure Data Factory
13 20 (4.26%) Azure Functions
13 20 (4.26%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 20 (4.26%) Microsoft Copilot
14 15 (3.19%) GCP
15 10 (2.13%) Azure Sentinel
16 9 (1.91%) Azure Logic Apps
16 9 (1.91%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 38 (8.09%) DNS
2 33 (7.02%) DHCP
3 27 (5.74%) Firewall
3 27 (5.74%) VPN
4 17 (3.62%) TCP/IP
5 13 (2.77%) Wi-Fi
6 12 (2.55%) LAN
7 9 (1.91%) Wireless
8 7 (1.49%) WAN
9 6 (1.28%) Cisco IOS
9 6 (1.28%) Network Security
9 6 (1.28%) SAN
9 6 (1.28%) Unified Communications
10 5 (1.06%) VLAN
11 4 (0.85%) Internet
11 4 (0.85%) SD-WAN
11 4 (0.85%) VoIP
12 3 (0.64%) DMZ
12 3 (0.64%) DNSSEC
12 3 (0.64%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (8.94%) SQL Server
2 34 (7.23%) Power BI
3 18 (3.83%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (2.98%) Data Warehouse
5 12 (2.55%) MySQL
6 10 (2.13%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (1.91%) Data Lake
8 7 (1.49%) Power Query
8 7 (1.49%) Relational Database
9 6 (1.28%) Metadata
9 6 (1.28%) Oracle Reports
9 6 (1.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.06%) Data Vault
10 5 (1.06%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.85%) Oracle BI Publisher
12 3 (0.64%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.64%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.64%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.64%) SAS Enterprise Guide
12 3 (0.64%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 16 (3.40%) JIRA
2 13 (2.77%) Git
3 12 (2.55%) Team Foundation Server
4 11 (2.34%) Cypress.io
4 11 (2.34%) Postman
4 11 (2.34%) Selenium
4 11 (2.34%) Visual Studio
4 11 (2.34%) WebDriver
5 8 (1.70%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.64%) GitLab
6 3 (0.64%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.64%) Protractor
7 2 (0.43%) NUnit
8 1 (0.21%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.21%) Maven
8 1 (0.21%) MLflow
8 1 (0.21%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.21%) Rational Rhapsody
8 1 (0.21%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.21%) Zephyr
General
1 186 (39.57%) Social Skills
2 65 (13.83%) Finance
3 59 (12.55%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (11.49%) Public Sector
5 37 (7.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 27 (5.74%) Organisational Skills
7 20 (4.26%) Legal
8 11 (2.34%) Manufacturing
9 9 (1.91%) Banking
9 9 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.70%) Billing
11 5 (1.06%) Marketing
11 5 (1.06%) Retail
12 4 (0.85%) Back Office
12 4 (0.85%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.64%) Law
14 2 (0.43%) General Ledger
14 2 (0.43%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.43%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 64 (13.62%) Analyst
2 57 (12.13%) Developer
3 54 (11.49%) Senior
4 34 (7.23%) Data Engineer
4 34 (7.23%) Lead
5 31 (6.60%) Architect
6 28 (5.96%) Administrator
6 28 (5.96%) Support Engineer
7 25 (5.32%) Consultant
8 24 (5.11%) Azure Engineer
9 21 (4.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (4.47%) IT Support
10 20 (4.26%) Solutions Architect
11 19 (4.04%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 15 (3.19%) IT Engineer
13 14 (2.98%) IT Support Engineer
14 12 (2.55%) Senior Analyst
14 12 (2.55%) Senior Data Engineer
14 12 (2.55%) Senior Developer
15 11 (2.34%) Junior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (6.38%) JSON
2 23 (4.89%) XML
3 21 (4.47%) SOAP
4 19 (4.04%) Terraform
5 18 (3.83%) REST
6 11 (2.34%) ActiveX
6 11 (2.34%) Gherkin
6 11 (2.34%) XSLT
7 9 (1.91%) Microsoft Graph
7 9 (1.91%) PySpark
8 7 (1.49%) .NET
9 6 (1.28%) OAuth
9 6 (1.28%) OpenID
10 5 (1.06%) JDBC
10 5 (1.06%) LangChain
10 5 (1.06%) Oracle Fusion
10 5 (1.06%) SAML
10 5 (1.06%) SAP PI
10 5 (1.06%) Semantic Kernel
11 4 (0.85%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 39 (8.30%) Management Information System
2 33 (7.02%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.04%) Cloud Native
4 15 (3.19%) Hybrid Cloud
4 15 (3.19%) Product Ownership
5 12 (2.55%) Enterprise Software
6 11 (2.34%) Data Structures
6 11 (2.34%) Taxonomies
7 10 (2.13%) Virtual Team
8 9 (1.91%) Cyber Threat
8 9 (1.91%) Smartphone
9 8 (1.70%) CMDB
9 8 (1.70%) SCADA
10 7 (1.49%) Operational Technology
11 6 (1.28%) AI Agents
11 6 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
11 6 (1.28%) PKI
11 6 (1.28%) Security Operations Centre
11 6 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (1.06%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 112 (23.83%) Windows
2 35 (7.45%) Windows Server
3 30 (6.38%) Windows 10
4 24 (5.11%) Linux
5 15 (3.19%) Mac OS
6 11 (2.34%) Android
7 8 (1.70%) Ubuntu
8 6 (1.28%) Apple iOS
9 5 (1.06%) SUSE
9 5 (1.06%) Unix
10 4 (0.85%) CentOS
10 4 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.64%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (21.28%) Problem-Solving
2 77 (16.38%) DevOps
3 73 (15.53%) Stakeholder Management
4 67 (14.26%) Agile
5 63 (13.40%) Continuous Improvement
6 60 (12.77%) AI
6 60 (12.77%) Migration
7 58 (12.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 53 (11.28%) Customer Service
9 48 (10.21%) CI/CD
9 48 (10.21%) ITSM
10 47 (10.00%) Data Modelling
10 47 (10.00%) Technical Leadership
11 42 (8.94%) Mentoring
12 41 (8.72%) ITIL
13 38 (8.09%) Business Intelligence
13 38 (8.09%) CRM
14 36 (7.66%) Analytics
15 35 (7.45%) Validation
16 33 (7.02%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 50 (10.64%) SQL
2 35 (7.45%) JavaScript
3 33 (7.02%) C#
4 29 (6.17%) Python
5 23 (4.89%) PowerShell
6 16 (3.40%) Java
7 13 (2.77%) VBA
8 11 (2.34%) VB
8 11 (2.34%) VB6
9 7 (1.49%) Kusto Query Language
10 6 (1.28%) Bicep
11 5 (1.06%) ABAP
11 5 (1.06%) PL/SQL
11 5 (1.06%) T-SQL
12 4 (0.85%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.64%) Bash
14 2 (0.43%) Search Processing Language
14 2 (0.43%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.21%) Groovy
15 1 (0.21%) Scala
Qualifications
1 75 (15.96%) Security Cleared
2 60 (12.77%) SC Cleared
3 45 (9.57%) Microsoft Certification
4 24 (5.11%) Degree
5 20 (4.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 16 (3.40%) Azure Certification
7 14 (2.98%) CISSP
8 12 (2.55%) ISTQB
9 9 (1.91%) OCP
9 9 (1.91%) Oracle Certification
10 8 (1.70%) DBS Check
11 7 (1.49%) CISM
12 6 (1.28%) A+ Certification
12 6 (1.28%) AWS Certification
12 6 (1.28%) Cisco Certification
13 5 (1.06%) CCNP
14 4 (0.85%) Network+ Certification
15 3 (0.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 3 (0.64%) ITIL Certification
16 2 (0.43%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (7.45%) Accessibility
2 29 (6.17%) GDPR
3 27 (5.74%) Data Quality
4 20 (4.26%) WCAG
5 19 (4.04%) NIST
5 19 (4.04%) QA
5 19 (4.04%) SLA
6 17 (3.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 15 (3.19%) PMO
8 10 (2.13%) GRC
9 9 (1.91%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.85%) ISO 19650
11 2 (0.43%) NCSC
12 1 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 17025
12 1 (0.21%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.21%) SOC 2
System Software
1 84 (17.87%) Active Directory
2 26 (5.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (3.40%) Hyper-V
3 16 (3.40%) vSphere
4 14 (2.98%) VMware ESXi
5 13 (2.77%) Docker
6 4 (0.85%) Firmware
6 4 (0.85%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.43%) XenApp
7 2 (0.43%) XenDesktop
8 1 (0.21%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.21%) NFS
8 1 (0.21%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 53 (11.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (5.53%) SCCM
3 19 (4.04%) Single Sign-On
4 15 (3.19%) Kubernetes
5 6 (1.28%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.85%) QRadar
7 3 (0.64%) Ansible
7 3 (0.64%) Grafana
7 3 (0.64%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.43%) Check_MK
8 2 (0.43%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.43%) WMI
8 2 (0.43%) WSUS
9 1 (0.21%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.21%) Argo
9 1 (0.21%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 45 (9.57%) ServiceNow
2 31 (6.60%) Oracle
2 31 (6.60%) VMware
3 27 (5.74%) Cisco
4 24 (5.11%) SAP
5 15 (3.19%) Splunk
6 12 (2.55%) Databricks
7 10 (2.13%) Palo Alto
8 9 (1.91%) OpenAI
8 9 (1.91%) UiPath
9 8 (1.70%) Apple
10 7 (1.49%) Adobe
10 7 (1.49%) Fortinet
10 7 (1.49%) Red Hat
11 6 (1.28%) Canon
11 6 (1.28%) Samsung
12 5 (1.06%) BeyondTrust
12 5 (1.06%) IBM
12 5 (1.06%) Snow
12 5 (1.06%) SolarWinds