Windows Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Microsoft Windows
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the West Midlands requiring Windows skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
10 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 13 10
Rank change year-on-year -24 -3 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 186 196 197
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 5.32% 10.81% 10.37%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.79% 73.68% 69.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 130 152 121
10th Percentile £163 £160 £163
25th Percentile £213 £211 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £402 £418 £400
Median % change year-on-year -3.71% +4.38% +6.67%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £575
90th Percentile £588 £588 £725
England median daily rate £420 £408 £425
% change year-on-year +3.07% -4.12% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 4 8
10th Percentile £16.01 £17.99 £14.63
25th Percentile £58.43 £22.28 £17.88
Median hourly rate £63.14 £24.83 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +154.27% +30.68% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £27.50 £23.10
90th Percentile £70.30 £32.00 £39.13
England median hourly rate £25.75 £21.28 £23.80
% change year-on-year +21.01% -10.59% -4.80%

All Operating Systems
West Midlands

Windows falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 301 266 285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 8.61% 14.67% 15.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 195 182
10th Percentile £200 £163 £190
25th Percentile £313 £241 £298
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% - +12.50%
75th Percentile £538 £543 £587
90th Percentile £588 £622 £718
England median daily rate £468 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.00% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 8
10th Percentile £16.01 £17.99 £14.63
25th Percentile £54.84 £22.28 £17.88
Median hourly rate £63.14 £24.83 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +154.27% +30.68% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.11 £27.50 £23.10
90th Percentile £70.59 £32.00 £39.13
England median hourly rate £34.68 £25.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +38.70% -52.38% +14.43%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Windows relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Windows job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Windows
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Windows.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Windows

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in the West Midlands

Windows
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Windows.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Windows

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Windows in the West Midlands

Windows
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 Windows within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 10 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
Warwickshire -6 52 £525 +16.67% 22
Birmingham -18 45 £263 -12.50% 30
Staffordshire -1 18 £200 -9.09% 16
Shropshire -57 17 £400 -22.33% 7
Coventry -19 16 £225 -2.81% 4
Worcestershire 0 10 £575 - 13
Herefordshire +7 9 - - 11
Solihull -21 6 £183 -51.33% 7
Wolverhampton -7 1 £250 -9.09% 1
Windows
England

Windows
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 15 (8.06%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (4.84%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.69%) Apache
4 3 (1.61%) IIS
4 3 (1.61%) WebLogic
5 2 (1.08%) CloudStack
5 2 (1.08%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.54%) Confluence
6 1 (0.54%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.54%) SAS
Applications
1 21 (11.29%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (8.06%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.61%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (1.61%) ResourceLink
2 2 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 76 (40.86%) Microsoft 365
2 70 (37.63%) Azure
3 49 (26.34%) Entra ID
4 23 (12.37%) AWS
5 20 (10.75%) OneDrive
6 5 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (2.69%) GCP
7 4 (2.15%) Amazon EC2
7 4 (2.15%) Amazon S3
7 4 (2.15%) AWS CloudFormation
7 4 (2.15%) Azure Sentinel
7 4 (2.15%) GitHub
7 4 (2.15%) Power Platform
7 4 (2.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 3 (1.61%) Power Automate
8 3 (1.61%) Tricentis Tosca
9 2 (1.08%) Amazon SQS
9 2 (1.08%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (1.08%) IaaS
9 2 (1.08%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 34 (18.28%) DNS
2 32 (17.20%) DHCP
3 21 (11.29%) VPN
4 18 (9.68%) Firewall
5 13 (6.99%) TCP/IP
6 12 (6.45%) Wi-Fi
7 11 (5.91%) LAN
8 8 (4.30%) SSL
9 7 (3.76%) Cisco IOS
9 7 (3.76%) SNMP
10 6 (3.23%) NetScaler
11 5 (2.69%) Network Security
11 5 (2.69%) SAN
11 5 (2.69%) WAN
12 4 (2.15%) Internet
12 4 (2.15%) SD-WAN
13 3 (1.61%) NAS
13 3 (1.61%) Skype
13 3 (1.61%) Structured Cabling
14 2 (1.08%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.84%) SQL Server
2 5 (2.69%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (2.15%) Oracle Reports
4 3 (1.61%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 3 (1.61%) Power Query
5 2 (1.08%) Power BI
6 1 (0.54%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.54%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 13 (6.99%) JIRA
2 3 (1.61%) Artifactory
2 3 (1.61%) Browser DevTools
2 3 (1.61%) GitLab
2 3 (1.61%) Toad
3 1 (0.54%) Git
3 1 (0.54%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.54%) Oracle Forms
3 1 (0.54%) Robot Framework
General
1 71 (38.17%) Social Skills
2 25 (13.44%) Analytical Skills
3 23 (12.37%) Finance
4 11 (5.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 9 (4.84%) Influencing Skills
6 7 (3.76%) Presentation Skills
7 6 (3.23%) Banking
8 5 (2.69%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.69%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.69%) Public Sector
9 4 (2.15%) Legal
10 3 (1.61%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.08%) Investment Banking
11 2 (1.08%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.54%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.54%) Billing
12 1 (0.54%) Law
12 1 (0.54%) Retail
Job Titles
1 31 (16.67%) Analyst
2 29 (15.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 26 (13.98%) Support Engineer
4 17 (9.14%) IT Support
5 15 (8.06%) IT Engineer
6 14 (7.53%) IT Support Engineer
7 12 (6.45%) Azure Engineer
7 12 (6.45%) Senior
8 10 (5.38%) Lead
9 9 (4.84%) Administrator
9 9 (4.84%) Business Analyst
10 8 (4.30%) Support Technician
11 7 (3.76%) 1st Line Support
11 7 (3.76%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 7 (3.76%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
11 7 (3.76%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 7 (3.76%) Service Analyst
11 7 (3.76%) Service Desk Analyst
11 7 (3.76%) Windows Engineer
12 6 (3.23%) Windows Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (8.60%) Terraform
2 9 (4.84%) REST
3 5 (2.69%) XML
4 4 (2.15%) SOAP
5 3 (1.61%) Apache NiFi
5 3 (1.61%) Microsoft Graph
5 3 (1.61%) Oracle Fusion
5 3 (1.61%) SAML
6 2 (1.08%) Elastic Stack
6 2 (1.08%) FIDO
6 2 (1.08%) YAML
7 1 (0.54%) .NET Framework
7 1 (0.54%) Fluent Bit
7 1 (0.54%) ISPF
7 1 (0.54%) JSON
7 1 (0.54%) Kafka
7 1 (0.54%) Middleware
7 1 (0.54%) OpenTelemetry
7 1 (0.54%) Software Packaging
7 1 (0.54%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 22 (11.83%) Onboarding
2 13 (6.99%) Hybrid Cloud
3 8 (4.30%) Smartphone
4 6 (3.23%) PKI
4 6 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
5 5 (2.69%) Data Centre
5 5 (2.69%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (2.69%) Enterprise Storage
5 5 (2.69%) Mobile App
6 4 (2.15%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.15%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (2.15%) iPhone
6 4 (2.15%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (2.15%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.61%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.61%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.61%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.61%) Reference Data
7 3 (1.61%) SCADA
7 3 (1.61%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 52 (27.96%) Windows Server
2 39 (20.97%) Linux
3 37 (19.89%) Windows 10
4 16 (8.60%) Mac OS
5 8 (4.30%) Android
6 7 (3.76%) Ubuntu
7 4 (2.15%) AIX
7 4 (2.15%) Apple iOS
7 4 (2.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (1.61%) CentOS
8 3 (1.61%) Windows 7
8 3 (1.61%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.61%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (1.08%) Unix
9 2 (1.08%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.54%) HPUX
10 1 (0.54%) VMS
10 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.54%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (25.27%) Problem-Solving
2 40 (21.51%) ITSM
3 35 (18.82%) Customer Service
4 31 (16.67%) ITIL
5 30 (16.13%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 23 (12.37%) Infrastructure as Code
6 23 (12.37%) Migration
7 18 (9.68%) Problem Management
7 18 (9.68%) Service Management
8 17 (9.14%) Root Cause Analysis
9 15 (8.06%) User Experience
9 15 (8.06%) Validation
10 14 (7.53%) Data Analysis
10 14 (7.53%) DevOps
10 14 (7.53%) Patch Management
11 12 (6.45%) Asset Management
11 12 (6.45%) Incident Management
12 11 (5.91%) Continuous Improvement
12 11 (5.91%) Data Modelling
13 10 (5.38%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 23 (12.37%) SQL
2 20 (10.75%) PowerShell
3 11 (5.91%) Python
4 6 (3.23%) PL/SQL
5 5 (2.69%) Bash
6 3 (1.61%) Java
7 1 (0.54%) Bicep
7 1 (0.54%) C#
7 1 (0.54%) JCL
7 1 (0.54%) REXX
7 1 (0.54%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.54%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 42 (22.58%) Security Cleared
2 29 (15.59%) SC Cleared
3 14 (7.53%) DV Cleared
4 10 (5.38%) Azure Certification
4 10 (5.38%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (4.30%) Degree
6 7 (3.76%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (3.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 5 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (2.69%) MCSE
9 4 (2.15%) A+ Certification
9 4 (2.15%) AWS Certification
9 4 (2.15%) CCNA
9 4 (2.15%) DBS Check
9 4 (2.15%) ISEB
9 4 (2.15%) ISTQB
9 4 (2.15%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 4 (2.15%) Network+ Certification
9 4 (2.15%) RHCA
10 2 (1.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.06%) SLA
2 14 (7.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (4.30%) NIST
4 5 (2.69%) Cyber Essentials
4 5 (2.69%) QA
5 4 (2.15%) Data Quality
6 2 (1.08%) GDPR
7 1 (0.54%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.54%) GMP
7 1 (0.54%) GxP
7 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 80 (43.01%) Active Directory
2 31 (16.67%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (10.22%) Hyper-V
4 14 (7.53%) vSphere
5 12 (6.45%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (2.15%) Docker
6 4 (2.15%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (2.15%) XenApp
6 4 (2.15%) XenDesktop
7 3 (1.61%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (1.08%) Firmware
9 1 (0.54%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.54%) etcd
9 1 (0.54%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 1 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 45 (24.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 39 (20.97%) SCCM
3 11 (5.91%) Kubernetes
4 10 (5.38%) Ansible
5 7 (3.76%) WMI
6 6 (3.23%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (2.15%) Podman
7 4 (2.15%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (1.61%) Prometheus
8 3 (1.61%) QRadar
9 2 (1.08%) AirWatch
9 2 (1.08%) Check_MK
9 2 (1.08%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (1.08%) Grafana
9 2 (1.08%) WSUS
10 1 (0.54%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.54%) Control-M
10 1 (0.54%) Fluentd
10 1 (0.54%) Iperf
10 1 (0.54%) SCOM
Vendors
1 100 (53.76%) Microsoft
2 40 (21.51%) VMware
3 32 (17.20%) ServiceNow
4 30 (16.13%) Cisco
5 19 (10.22%) Splunk
6 12 (6.45%) Oracle
6 12 (6.45%) SolarWinds
7 11 (5.91%) Fortinet
8 10 (5.38%) Citrix
9 8 (4.30%) Apple
9 8 (4.30%) F5
9 8 (4.30%) Palo Alto
10 7 (3.76%) Qualys
11 6 (3.23%) Canon
12 5 (2.69%) NetApp
12 5 (2.69%) Samsung
13 4 (2.15%) Atlassian
13 4 (2.15%) HP
13 4 (2.15%) SAP
14 3 (1.61%) webMethods
117 Windows jobs in the West Midlands