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 6 April 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
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 7
Rank change year-on-year -7 +4 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 350 232 234
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.73% 17.26% 12.20%
As % of the Vendors category 24.72% 35.58% 28.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 173 164
10th Percentile £258 £190 £198
25th Percentile £337 £235 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £425 £432
Median % change year-on-year +11.18% -1.62% -8.86%
75th Percentile £560 £567 £575
90th Percentile £642 £648 £654
England median daily rate £492 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +3.58% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 12 23
10th Percentile £14.10 £12.19 £10.59
25th Percentile £15.75 £12.25 £11.09
Median hourly rate £25.00 £24.50 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% +75.00% -12.34%
75th Percentile £30.00 £31.76 £26.50
90th Percentile £70.12 £41.28 £51.75
England median hourly rate £20.09 £21.78 £15.00
% change year-on-year -7.74% +45.17% -31.03%

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 1,416 652 818
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 47.45% 48.51% 42.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 943 439 526
10th Percentile £305 £200 £256
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -9.09%
75th Percentile £550 £600 £600
90th Percentile £639 £689 £698
England median daily rate £500 £525 £515
% change year-on-year -4.76% +1.94% -4.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 23 53
10th Percentile £15.89 £12.25 £11.07
25th Percentile £22.50 £16.68 £13.25
Median hourly rate £26.61 £19.00 £19.95
Median % change year-on-year +40.03% -4.76% +10.83%
75th Percentile £50.63 £30.34 £26.98
90th Percentile £70.35 £34.35 £55.00
England median hourly rate £26.61 £29.00 £22.79
% change year-on-year -8.26% +27.25% -40.03%

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 6 April 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 6 April 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 6 April 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 0 125 £463 +5.71% 82
Warwickshire -6 67 £500 -0.20% 26
Coventry -6 41 £450 +119.51% 19
Shropshire -31 34 £450 +31.96% 17
Worcestershire +4 21 £700 -22.22% 19
Staffordshire -3 13 £320 -14.67% 34
Herefordshire -8 11 £700 -22.22% 10
Solihull -9 10 £425 -9.67% 6
Dudley - 5 £400 - 5
Smethwick - 3 - -
Wolverhampton -2 2 £267 - 8
Brierley Hill - 2 £446 -
Walsall - 1 £160 - 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 23 (6.57%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.71%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.29%) Confluence
4 4 (1.14%) SAS
5 3 (0.86%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.57%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.57%) Oracle Workflow
7 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.29%) CMS
7 1 (0.29%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 36 (10.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 34 (9.71%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (3.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 13 (3.71%) MS Visio
4 10 (2.86%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (4.29%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (2.86%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (1.14%) Workday HCM
4 3 (0.86%) Maximo
5 2 (0.57%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.57%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.29%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.29%) Primavera
6 1 (0.29%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.29%) SAP EHS
6 1 (0.29%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.29%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 125 (35.71%) Azure
2 65 (18.57%) Power Platform
3 59 (16.86%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (12.29%) AWS
5 38 (10.86%) Entra ID
6 36 (10.29%) Dynamics 365
7 24 (6.86%) Azure DevOps
8 22 (6.29%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 19 (5.43%) Power Automate
10 17 (4.86%) Azure Data Factory
10 17 (4.86%) Serverless
11 16 (4.57%) Microsoft Purview
12 15 (4.29%) PowerApps
13 14 (4.00%) GitHub
14 13 (3.71%) GitHub Actions
15 11 (3.14%) OneDrive
16 10 (2.86%) Azure Key Vault
17 9 (2.57%) Azure Sentinel
17 9 (2.57%) GCP
18 8 (2.29%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 25 (7.14%) Firewall
1 25 (7.14%) VPN
2 23 (6.57%) DNS
3 16 (4.57%) Network Security
4 12 (3.43%) SSL
5 11 (3.14%) DHCP
6 10 (2.86%) LAN
7 9 (2.57%) TCP/IP
8 8 (2.29%) HTTP
8 8 (2.29%) WAN
9 7 (2.00%) BIG-IP
9 7 (2.00%) HTTPS
9 7 (2.00%) Wireless
10 6 (1.71%) Cisco ASA
10 6 (1.71%) Cisco Nexus
10 6 (1.71%) Ethereal
10 6 (1.71%) IPsec
10 6 (1.71%) Wireshark
11 5 (1.43%) Intrusion Detection
12 4 (1.14%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (11.14%) Power BI
2 26 (7.43%) Data Warehouse
3 17 (4.86%) PostgreSQL
4 15 (4.29%) SQL Server
5 8 (2.29%) Delta Lake
6 7 (2.00%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
6 7 (2.00%) NoSQL
6 7 (2.00%) Oracle Database
6 7 (2.00%) Relational Database
7 6 (1.71%) Redis
7 6 (1.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (1.43%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.43%) Data Lake
8 5 (1.43%) Metadata
8 5 (1.43%) MySQL
9 4 (1.14%) Power Query
10 3 (0.86%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.86%) Tableau
11 2 (0.57%) GIS
11 2 (0.57%) SAS Enterprise Guide
Development Applications
1 28 (8.00%) JIRA
2 13 (3.71%) Git
3 9 (2.57%) GitLab
4 5 (1.43%) Jenkins
4 5 (1.43%) MSI
5 4 (1.14%) MLflow
6 3 (0.86%) InstallShield
6 3 (0.86%) Selenium
7 2 (0.57%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.57%) JMeter
7 2 (0.57%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.29%) AdminStudio
8 1 (0.29%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.29%) Maven
8 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
General
1 114 (32.57%) Social Skills
2 42 (12.00%) Finance
3 41 (11.71%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (5.71%) Public Sector
5 13 (3.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (3.71%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (2.57%) Banking
7 8 (2.29%) Manufacturing
8 7 (2.00%) Games
8 7 (2.00%) Law
8 7 (2.00%) Legal
9 6 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.71%) Police
10 5 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (1.14%) Electronics
11 4 (1.14%) Local Government
11 4 (1.14%) Marketing
11 4 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.57%) Automotive
12 2 (0.57%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 44 (12.57%) Analyst
2 40 (11.43%) Architect
3 38 (10.86%) Developer
4 22 (6.29%) Senior
5 17 (4.86%) Administrator
6 16 (4.57%) Solutions Architect
7 14 (4.00%) Data Engineer
8 13 (3.71%) IT Support
8 13 (3.71%) Lead
9 12 (3.43%) Business Analyst
9 12 (3.43%) Consultant
10 11 (3.14%) Data Architect
10 11 (3.14%) Support Engineer
11 10 (2.86%) Network Engineer
11 10 (2.86%) Project Manager
11 10 (2.86%) Python Developer
12 9 (2.57%) IT Engineer
13 8 (2.29%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 8 (2.29%) Data Manager
13 8 (2.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.00%) PySpark
2 12 (3.43%) FastAPI
3 11 (3.14%) REST
3 11 (3.14%) SailPoint
4 9 (2.57%) Flask
5 8 (2.29%) LDAP
5 8 (2.29%) SAML
6 7 (2.00%) .NET
7 6 (1.71%) GraphQL
7 6 (1.71%) gRPC
7 6 (1.71%) WebSockets
8 5 (1.43%) Middleware
9 4 (1.14%) ADO
9 4 (1.14%) JSON
9 4 (1.14%) Kafka
9 4 (1.14%) NumPy
9 4 (1.14%) Pandas
10 3 (0.86%) OpenTelemetry
11 2 (0.57%) .NET Framework
11 2 (0.57%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.14%) Onboarding
2 21 (6.00%) Cloud Native
3 11 (3.14%) Security Posture
4 10 (2.86%) Hybrid Cloud
4 10 (2.86%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (2.57%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (2.29%) Driving Licence
6 8 (2.29%) Product Ownership
6 8 (2.29%) Security Operations Centre
7 7 (2.00%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.71%) SCADA
9 5 (1.43%) Data Centre
10 4 (1.14%) CSOC
10 4 (1.14%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.14%) Management Information System
11 3 (0.86%) CCTV
11 3 (0.86%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.86%) e-Learning
11 3 (0.86%) Handset
11 3 (0.86%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 64 (18.29%) Windows
2 23 (6.57%) Windows Server
3 22 (6.29%) Windows 10
4 20 (5.71%) Linux
5 4 (1.14%) Unix
6 3 (0.86%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.86%) CatOS
6 3 (0.86%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.29%) Android
8 1 (0.29%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (22.57%) Agile
2 64 (18.29%) CI/CD
3 63 (18.00%) Problem-Solving
4 51 (14.57%) Analytics
4 51 (14.57%) DevOps
5 49 (14.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 45 (12.86%) Migration
7 42 (12.00%) Business Intelligence
8 38 (10.86%) AI
9 33 (9.43%) Cybersecurity
9 33 (9.43%) ITIL
9 33 (9.43%) Stakeholder Management
10 31 (8.86%) Containerisation
11 29 (8.29%) Customer Service
11 29 (8.29%) Infrastructure as Code
12 27 (7.71%) ETL
13 26 (7.43%) Change Management
13 26 (7.43%) Decision-Making
14 25 (7.14%) Identity Access Management
14 25 (7.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 59 (16.86%) SQL
2 43 (12.29%) Python
3 25 (7.14%) PowerShell
4 9 (2.57%) Bicep
4 9 (2.57%) Go
4 9 (2.57%) Java
5 8 (2.29%) C#
6 7 (2.00%) Kusto Query Language
6 7 (2.00%) PL/SQL
7 6 (1.71%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 6 (1.71%) JavaScript
8 5 (1.43%) VBScript
9 4 (1.14%) R
9 4 (1.14%) Shell Script
9 4 (1.14%) VB
10 3 (0.86%) Bash
10 3 (0.86%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.86%) Scala
11 2 (0.57%) T-SQL
11 2 (0.57%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 68 (19.43%) Security Cleared
2 53 (15.14%) SC Cleared
3 38 (10.86%) Degree
4 29 (8.29%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (3.71%) AWS Certification
6 12 (3.43%) Azure Certification
6 12 (3.43%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.86%) CISSP
8 9 (2.57%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (2.57%) Cisco Certification
9 7 (2.00%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 7 (2.00%) CISM
10 6 (1.71%) ISTQB
11 5 (1.43%) CCNA
11 5 (1.43%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.43%) ITIL Certification
11 5 (1.43%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.14%) DBS Check
12 4 (1.14%) OCP
12 4 (1.14%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.43%) Data Quality
1 19 (5.43%) QA
2 12 (3.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (3.14%) GDPR
4 6 (1.71%) NIST
4 6 (1.71%) SLA
5 5 (1.43%) Accessibility
5 5 (1.43%) PMO
6 3 (0.86%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 12207
6 3 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 3 (0.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.57%) GRC
7 2 (0.57%) GxP
7 2 (0.57%) NCSC
8 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.29%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 62 (17.71%) Active Directory
2 31 (8.86%) Docker
3 16 (4.57%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.71%) VMware NSX
5 4 (1.14%) Microsoft App-V
5 4 (1.14%) Snort
5 4 (1.14%) vSphere
6 3 (0.86%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.57%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.29%) NFS
Systems Management
1 41 (11.71%) Kubernetes
2 27 (7.71%) Terraform
3 20 (5.71%) Microsoft Intune
4 12 (3.43%) Grafana
4 12 (3.43%) Prometheus
5 11 (3.14%) Ansible
5 11 (3.14%) SCCM
6 9 (2.57%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (1.14%) CSIRT
8 3 (0.86%) Control-M
8 3 (0.86%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.86%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.86%) Nessus
8 3 (0.86%) QRadar
8 3 (0.86%) vRealize
9 2 (0.57%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.57%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.57%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.57%) Puppet
9 2 (0.57%) SCOM
Vendors
1 31 (8.86%) ServiceNow
2 25 (7.14%) Oracle
3 22 (6.29%) Databricks
4 21 (6.00%) SAP
5 19 (5.43%) VMware
6 18 (5.14%) Cisco
7 11 (3.14%) Splunk
8 8 (2.29%) CheckPoint
9 7 (2.00%) F5
9 7 (2.00%) Informatica
9 7 (2.00%) SolarWinds
10 6 (1.71%) Okta
10 6 (1.71%) Palo Alto
10 6 (1.71%) Tenable
10 6 (1.71%) Workday
11 4 (1.14%) Citrix
12 3 (0.86%) CyberArk
12 3 (0.86%) HP
12 3 (0.86%) MobileIron
13 2 (0.57%) AppDynamics