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 26 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
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 5 7
Rank change year-on-year -5 +2 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 354 226 227
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.07% 16.51% 11.86%
As % of the Vendors category 24.72% 34.24% 28.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 255 152 157
10th Percentile £250 £166 £182
25th Percentile £363 £234 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £400
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% - -11.11%
75th Percentile £538 £538 £538
90th Percentile £600 £623 £653
England median daily rate £500 £479 £486
% change year-on-year +4.44% -1.54% -2.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 10 22
10th Percentile £14.10 £12.25 £10.54
25th Percentile £19.34 £15.97 £11.08
Median hourly rate £25.00 £22.50 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% +60.71% -16.21%
75th Percentile £30.00 £47.99 £26.50
90th Percentile £70.12 £51.06 £53.38
England median hourly rate £20.43 £18.85 £15.00
% change year-on-year +8.38% +25.67% -29.31%

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 1,432 660 799
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 44.79% 48.21% 41.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 959 424 523
10th Percentile £311 £183 £235
25th Percentile £400 £315 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £491 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.34% +9.17% -10.00%
75th Percentile £546 £594 £624
90th Percentile £645 £674 £700
England median daily rate £505 £525 £515
% change year-on-year -3.81% +1.94% -3.74%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 20 55
10th Percentile £20.31 £13.63 £11.09
25th Percentile £25.00 £17.40 £13.25
Median hourly rate £33.99 £18.76 £16.82
Median % change year-on-year +81.23% +11.50% -9.08%
75th Percentile £53.75 £26.69 £27.86
90th Percentile £67.84 £50.00 £55.75
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.50 £22.50
% change year-on-year +27.45% +13.33% -43.11%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 +2 124 £450 +5.88% 88
Warwickshire -6 73 £500 +112.77% 26
Coventry -3 40 £450 +106.90% 14
Shropshire -28 39 £425 -6.18% 17
Worcestershire +5 14 £588 -34.72% 23
Staffordshire 0 12 £388 +50.49% 23
Solihull -18 11 £425 -9.67% 7
Herefordshire -1 9 £700 -22.22% 4
Dudley - 5 £400 - 7
Smethwick - 3 - -
West Bromwich - 3 - - 1
Brierley Hill - 2 £446 - 1
Wolverhampton -4 1 - - 4
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 26 (7.34%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.67%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.54%) Confluence
4 5 (1.41%) SAS
5 4 (1.13%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.85%) Apache
6 3 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.85%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.56%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.56%) IIS
7 2 (0.56%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.28%) Appian
8 1 (0.28%) CMS
Applications
1 42 (11.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (9.32%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (4.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (3.95%) MS Visio
5 13 (3.67%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (4.80%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (1.13%) Dynamics NAV
3 3 (0.85%) Maximo
3 3 (0.85%) Primavera
4 2 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.28%) SAP EHS
5 1 (0.28%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 126 (35.59%) Azure
2 70 (19.77%) Power Platform
3 59 (16.67%) Microsoft 365
4 36 (10.17%) Entra ID
5 35 (9.89%) AWS
6 30 (8.47%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (7.34%) Azure DevOps
7 26 (7.34%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 21 (5.93%) Azure Data Factory
9 18 (5.08%) Microsoft Purview
10 16 (4.52%) Power Automate
11 14 (3.95%) OneDrive
12 13 (3.67%) PowerApps
13 10 (2.82%) GitHub
13 10 (2.82%) Serverless
14 9 (2.54%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (2.26%) Azure Sentinel
15 8 (2.26%) GCP
15 8 (2.26%) Microsoft Copilot
16 6 (1.69%) Azure Machine Learning
Communications & Networking
1 29 (8.19%) DNS
1 29 (8.19%) VPN
2 23 (6.50%) Firewall
3 19 (5.37%) DHCP
4 14 (3.95%) LAN
5 13 (3.67%) SSL
6 11 (3.11%) Network Security
7 10 (2.82%) WAN
8 9 (2.54%) HTTP
9 8 (2.26%) BIG-IP
9 8 (2.26%) HTTPS
9 8 (2.26%) TCP/IP
10 7 (1.98%) Cisco ASA
10 7 (1.98%) Cisco Nexus
10 7 (1.98%) Ethereal
10 7 (1.98%) IPsec
10 7 (1.98%) Wireless
10 7 (1.98%) Wireshark
11 6 (1.69%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (1.41%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (12.71%) Power BI
2 26 (7.34%) Data Warehouse
3 14 (3.95%) PostgreSQL
3 14 (3.95%) SQL Server
4 9 (2.54%) Delta Lake
5 8 (2.26%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (1.98%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.98%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.98%) NoSQL
7 6 (1.69%) Power Query
7 6 (1.69%) Relational Database
8 5 (1.41%) Metadata
8 5 (1.41%) MySQL
8 5 (1.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 4 (1.13%) Oracle Database
9 4 (1.13%) Redis
9 4 (1.13%) Tableau
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.85%) SAP Data Services
11 2 (0.56%) SAS Enterprise Guide
Development Applications
1 31 (8.76%) JIRA
2 11 (3.11%) Git
3 6 (1.69%) Team Foundation Server
3 6 (1.69%) Visual Studio
4 5 (1.41%) GitLab
5 4 (1.13%) MLflow
6 3 (0.85%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.56%) JMeter
7 2 (0.56%) MSI
7 2 (0.56%) NUnit
7 2 (0.56%) Selenium
7 2 (0.56%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.28%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.28%) Maven
8 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.28%) Zephyr
General
1 108 (30.51%) Social Skills
2 42 (11.86%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (11.58%) Finance
4 20 (5.65%) Public Sector
5 12 (3.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 11 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (2.26%) Banking
7 8 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (2.26%) Manufacturing
8 7 (1.98%) Games
8 7 (1.98%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.69%) Police
10 5 (1.41%) Law
11 4 (1.13%) Electronics
11 4 (1.13%) Legal
11 4 (1.13%) Local Government
11 4 (1.13%) Marketing
12 3 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (0.85%) Retail
13 2 (0.56%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 50 (14.12%) Analyst
2 38 (10.73%) Developer
3 32 (9.04%) Architect
3 32 (9.04%) Senior
4 25 (7.06%) Data Engineer
5 18 (5.08%) Administrator
5 18 (5.08%) Consultant
6 15 (4.24%) Business Analyst
7 14 (3.95%) Support Engineer
8 12 (3.39%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 12 (3.39%) IT Support
8 12 (3.39%) Lead
8 12 (3.39%) Solutions Architect
9 11 (3.11%) Data Architect
10 10 (2.82%) Azure Engineer
10 10 (2.82%) IT Engineer
10 10 (2.82%) Network Engineer
11 9 (2.54%) Security Consultant
12 8 (2.26%) Data Manager
12 8 (2.26%) Senior Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.37%) PySpark
2 9 (2.54%) .NET
2 9 (2.54%) LDAP
2 9 (2.54%) SailPoint
2 9 (2.54%) SAML
3 8 (2.26%) XML
4 7 (1.98%) FastAPI
5 6 (1.69%) ActiveX
5 6 (1.69%) SOAP
6 5 (1.41%) REST
7 4 (1.13%) .NET Framework
7 4 (1.13%) ADO
7 4 (1.13%) Flask
7 4 (1.13%) gRPC
7 4 (1.13%) JSON
7 4 (1.13%) Kafka
7 4 (1.13%) Middleware
7 4 (1.13%) OpenTelemetry
7 4 (1.13%) WebSockets
7 4 (1.13%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.06%) Cloud Native
1 25 (7.06%) Onboarding
2 11 (3.11%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (2.54%) Security Operations Centre
3 9 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (2.26%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (2.26%) SCADA
5 7 (1.98%) Security Posture
6 6 (1.69%) Data Centre
6 6 (1.69%) Management Information System
6 6 (1.69%) Operational Technology
7 4 (1.13%) CSOC
7 4 (1.13%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.13%) PKI
7 4 (1.13%) Product Ownership
8 3 (0.85%) CMDB
8 3 (0.85%) Cyber Threat
8 3 (0.85%) IoT
8 3 (0.85%) Public Cloud
8 3 (0.85%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 72 (20.34%) Windows
2 26 (7.34%) Windows 10
3 23 (6.50%) Linux
4 21 (5.93%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.54%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.41%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.13%) Ubuntu
7 4 (1.13%) Unix
8 3 (0.85%) Android
8 3 (0.85%) CatOS
8 3 (0.85%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.56%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (20.06%) Problem-Solving
2 70 (19.77%) Agile
3 60 (16.95%) CI/CD
4 52 (14.69%) Migration
5 49 (13.84%) Analytics
5 49 (13.84%) DevOps
6 47 (13.28%) Business Intelligence
7 45 (12.71%) AI
8 39 (11.02%) Continuous Improvement
9 35 (9.89%) Customer Service
9 35 (9.89%) Stakeholder Management
10 32 (9.04%) Data Modelling
11 31 (8.76%) ETL
12 28 (7.91%) Cybersecurity
12 28 (7.91%) Validation
13 27 (7.63%) Containerisation
13 27 (7.63%) ITIL
14 25 (7.06%) Infrastructure as Code
15 24 (6.78%) Decision-Making
15 24 (6.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 65 (18.36%) SQL
2 41 (11.58%) Python
3 19 (5.37%) PowerShell
4 12 (3.39%) Bicep
4 12 (3.39%) Java
5 9 (2.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 8 (2.26%) Kusto Query Language
6 8 (2.26%) VB
6 8 (2.26%) VBA
7 7 (1.98%) C#
7 7 (1.98%) PL/SQL
8 6 (1.69%) VB6
9 5 (1.41%) Go
10 4 (1.13%) JavaScript
10 4 (1.13%) R
11 3 (0.85%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.85%) Scala
11 3 (0.85%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.56%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.56%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 53 (14.97%) Security Cleared
2 38 (10.73%) SC Cleared
3 35 (9.89%) Degree
4 15 (4.24%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (3.95%) CISSP
6 11 (3.11%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (2.54%) AWS Certification
7 9 (2.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (2.54%) CISM
7 9 (2.54%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.98%) ISTQB
9 6 (1.69%) Azure Certification
10 5 (1.41%) CCNA
10 5 (1.41%) Master's Degree
11 4 (1.13%) CCNP
11 4 (1.13%) DBS Check
11 4 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (1.13%) OCP
11 4 (1.13%) Oracle Certification
11 4 (1.13%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.50%) Data Quality
2 16 (4.52%) QA
3 13 (3.67%) GDPR
4 12 (3.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (2.82%) PMO
5 10 (2.82%) SLA
6 9 (2.54%) NIST
7 6 (1.69%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.13%) GRC
9 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.56%) GxP
10 2 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.28%) FATCA
11 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.28%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.28%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 66 (18.64%) Active Directory
2 27 (7.63%) Docker
3 22 (6.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.26%) vSphere
5 7 (1.98%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.98%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.13%) Snort
6 4 (1.13%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.56%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.56%) XenApp
8 2 (0.56%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.28%) NFS
Systems Management
1 38 (10.73%) Kubernetes
2 25 (7.06%) Microsoft Intune
3 22 (6.21%) Terraform
4 15 (4.24%) SCCM
4 15 (4.24%) Single Sign-On
5 12 (3.39%) Grafana
5 12 (3.39%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.41%) Ansible
7 4 (1.13%) CSIRT
8 3 (0.85%) Control-M
8 3 (0.85%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.85%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.85%) Nessus
9 2 (0.56%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.56%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.56%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.56%) QRadar
9 2 (0.56%) SCOM
9 2 (0.56%) WMI
9 2 (0.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 31 (8.76%) ServiceNow
2 24 (6.78%) Cisco
2 24 (6.78%) Databricks
2 24 (6.78%) VMware
3 23 (6.50%) Oracle
4 19 (5.37%) SAP
5 13 (3.67%) Splunk
6 10 (2.82%) F5
7 9 (2.54%) CheckPoint
7 9 (2.54%) Palo Alto
8 8 (2.26%) Informatica
8 8 (2.26%) SolarWinds
9 7 (1.98%) Okta
10 5 (1.41%) Fortinet
11 4 (1.13%) Citrix
11 4 (1.13%) Veeam
12 3 (0.85%) Apple
12 3 (0.85%) CrowdStrike
12 3 (0.85%) HP
12 3 (0.85%) Remedy