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 11 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
11 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 12 9
Rank change year-on-year -21 -3 +2
Contract jobs citing Windows 167 158 217
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 5.17% 10.90% 10.74%
As % of the Operating Systems category 54.40% 74.18% 75.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 117 139
10th Percentile £163 £145 £162
25th Percentile £213 £190 £209
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £300 £400
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% -25.00% -5.88%
75th Percentile £550 £500 £582
90th Percentile £619 £626 £725
England median daily rate £425 £425 £413
% change year-on-year - +3.03% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 11 15
10th Percentile £41.50 £15.22 £14.66
25th Percentile £58.43 £16.67 £17.25
Median hourly rate £63.14 £18.13 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +248.23% -17.59% +24.17%
75th Percentile £70.11 £19.01 £23.75
90th Percentile £70.37 £24.66 -
England median hourly rate £25.75 £18.82 £18.00
% change year-on-year +36.82% +4.56% -28.00%

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 307 213 287
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 9.50% 14.69% 14.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 150 189
10th Percentile £195 £150 £185
25th Percentile £381 £200 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £400 £438
Median % change year-on-year +14.75% -8.57% -5.41%
75th Percentile £537 £511 £575
90th Percentile £600 £638 £678
England median daily rate £455 £465 £475
% change year-on-year -2.15% -2.11% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 11 17
10th Percentile £44.22 £15.22 £14.99
25th Percentile £58.43 £16.67 £18.50
Median hourly rate £63.14 £18.13 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +248.23% -19.42% +23.29%
75th Percentile £70.23 £19.01 £23.75
90th Percentile £71.97 £24.66 £72.50
England median hourly rate £32.50 £18.94 £22.50
% change year-on-year +71.64% -15.84% -48.78%

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 11 June 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 11 June 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 11 June 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 -13 48 £525 +16.67% 9
Birmingham -28 42 £300 +9.09% 14
Coventry -17 21 £375 +70.45% 4
Shropshire -40 13 £469 +123.10% 2
Staffordshire +3 10 £183 -27.00% 11
Worcestershire -6 10 £175 +20.69% 10
Herefordshire - 6 - - 2
Solihull -25 3 £105 -72.00% 4
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 11 (6.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (4.79%) Confluence
3 7 (4.19%) Apache
3 7 (4.19%) SharePoint
3 7 (4.19%) WebLogic
4 4 (2.40%) Tuxedo
5 2 (1.20%) CloudStack
5 2 (1.20%) IIS
6 1 (0.60%) SAS
Applications
1 17 (10.18%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (5.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.20%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.20%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 65 (38.92%) Azure
2 53 (31.74%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (17.37%) Entra ID
4 25 (14.97%) AWS
5 14 (8.38%) OneDrive
6 7 (4.19%) Power Platform
7 6 (3.59%) GCP
8 5 (2.99%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (2.99%) GitHub
8 5 (2.99%) SaaS
9 3 (1.80%) Azure DevOps
9 3 (1.80%) IaaS
9 3 (1.80%) OpenShift
10 2 (1.20%) Lucidchart
11 1 (0.60%) Amazon ELB
11 1 (0.60%) AWS CloudTrail
11 1 (0.60%) CloudFront
11 1 (0.60%) PaaS
11 1 (0.60%) Route 53
11 1 (0.60%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 31 (18.56%) DNS
2 29 (17.37%) DHCP
2 29 (17.37%) VPN
3 20 (11.98%) Firewall
4 11 (6.59%) LAN
5 9 (5.39%) TCP/IP
5 9 (5.39%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (4.79%) SNMP
7 7 (4.19%) SSL
7 7 (4.19%) WAN
8 6 (3.59%) Network Security
9 5 (2.99%) Internet
9 5 (2.99%) NAS
9 5 (2.99%) SAN
10 4 (2.40%) Cisco IOS
10 4 (2.40%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (1.80%) SD-WAN
11 3 (1.80%) WAAS
12 2 (1.20%) NetScaler
12 2 (1.20%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.80%) Power BI
2 2 (1.20%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.60%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.60%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 15 (8.98%) JIRA
2 7 (4.19%) MSI
3 3 (1.80%) Chocolatey
3 3 (1.80%) GitLab
4 2 (1.20%) Artifactory
4 2 (1.20%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.60%) AppScan
5 1 (0.60%) Burp Suite
5 1 (0.60%) InstallShield
5 1 (0.60%) Metasploit
General
1 68 (40.72%) Social Skills
2 23 (13.77%) Analytical Skills
3 15 (8.98%) Finance
4 8 (4.79%) Banking
5 7 (4.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (3.59%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (3.59%) Public Sector
7 5 (2.99%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.40%) Investment Banking
9 3 (1.80%) Legal
9 3 (1.80%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.80%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.20%) Law
10 2 (1.20%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.60%) Billing
Job Titles
1 28 (16.77%) Analyst
2 22 (13.17%) Support Engineer
3 19 (11.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 16 (9.58%) IT Support
5 12 (7.19%) IT Engineer
6 11 (6.59%) IT Support Engineer
7 9 (5.39%) Service Analyst
7 9 (5.39%) Service Desk Analyst
8 8 (4.79%) Infrastructure Manager
9 7 (4.19%) Administrator
9 7 (4.19%) Architect
9 7 (4.19%) Business Analyst
9 7 (4.19%) Desktop Engineer
9 7 (4.19%) Infrastructure Project Manager
9 7 (4.19%) Network Engineer
9 7 (4.19%) Project Manager
9 7 (4.19%) Senior
9 7 (4.19%) Support Technician
10 6 (3.59%) IT Analyst
10 6 (3.59%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.80%) Middleware
1 3 (1.80%) REST
2 2 (1.20%) Apache NiFi
2 2 (1.20%) Elastic Stack
2 2 (1.20%) Fluent Bit
2 2 (1.20%) Kafka
2 2 (1.20%) OpenTelemetry
2 2 (1.20%) SAML
3 1 (0.60%) .NET
3 1 (0.60%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.60%) FIDO
3 1 (0.60%) ISPF
3 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.60%) Software Packaging
3 1 (0.60%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.98%) Hybrid Cloud
1 15 (8.98%) Onboarding
2 8 (4.79%) Data Centre
2 8 (4.79%) Enterprise Software
3 6 (3.59%) Cloud Native
3 6 (3.59%) Self-Motivation
3 6 (3.59%) Smartphone
4 5 (2.99%) Data Protection Act
5 4 (2.40%) Analytical Mindset
5 4 (2.40%) CSOC
5 4 (2.40%) Mainframe
5 4 (2.40%) Operational Technology
5 4 (2.40%) SCADA
5 4 (2.40%) Security Operations Centre
6 3 (1.80%) Cyber Threat
6 3 (1.80%) Management Information System
6 3 (1.80%) PKI
6 3 (1.80%) Public Cloud
6 3 (1.80%) Virtual Team
7 2 (1.20%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 50 (29.94%) Linux
2 45 (26.95%) Windows Server
3 33 (19.76%) Windows 10
4 12 (7.19%) Mac OS
5 11 (6.59%) Unix
6 5 (2.99%) Android
6 5 (2.99%) Apple iOS
7 4 (2.40%) Ubuntu
8 3 (1.80%) Windows 7
8 3 (1.80%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.80%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (1.20%) AIX
9 2 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (1.20%) Solaris
9 2 (1.20%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.60%) HPUX
10 1 (0.60%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.60%) VMS
10 1 (0.60%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (22.16%) Problem-Solving
2 27 (16.17%) ITSM
3 26 (15.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 25 (14.97%) Customer Service
5 22 (13.17%) ITIL
5 22 (13.17%) Migration
6 18 (10.78%) Infrastructure as Code
7 17 (10.18%) Agile
8 13 (7.78%) Incident Management
8 13 (7.78%) Patch Management
8 13 (7.78%) Problem Management
8 13 (7.78%) Service Management
9 12 (7.19%) CI/CD
9 12 (7.19%) Continuous Improvement
9 12 (7.19%) User Experience
10 11 (6.59%) Containerisation
10 11 (6.59%) DevOps
11 10 (5.99%) Stakeholder Management
11 10 (5.99%) Validation
12 9 (5.39%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 23 (13.77%) SQL
2 20 (11.98%) PowerShell
3 9 (5.39%) Python
4 4 (2.40%) Bash
4 4 (2.40%) Kusto Query Language
5 3 (1.80%) PL/SQL
5 3 (1.80%) VBScript
6 2 (1.20%) Bicep
6 2 (1.20%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.60%) JCL
7 1 (0.60%) Lisp
7 1 (0.60%) REXX
7 1 (0.60%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.60%) VB
Qualifications
1 45 (26.95%) Security Cleared
2 36 (21.56%) SC Cleared
3 14 (8.38%) Cisco Certification
4 11 (6.59%) CCNA
5 10 (5.99%) Degree
5 10 (5.99%) DV Cleared
6 9 (5.39%) AWS Certification
7 5 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (2.99%) MCSE
7 5 (2.99%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (2.99%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 4 (2.40%) Azure Certification
9 3 (1.80%) ITIL Certification
9 3 (1.80%) RHCA
10 2 (1.20%) CAPM
10 2 (1.20%) CCNP
10 2 (1.20%) CISSP
10 2 (1.20%) PMI Certification
10 2 (1.20%) PMP
10 2 (1.20%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (7.19%) NIST
3 9 (5.39%) SLA
4 3 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (1.80%) GDPR
4 3 (1.80%) QA
5 2 (1.20%) Data Quality
5 2 (1.20%) GMP
5 2 (1.20%) GxP
5 2 (1.20%) SOC 2
6 1 (0.60%) COBIT
6 1 (0.60%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 74 (44.31%) Active Directory
2 23 (13.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (6.59%) Hyper-V
4 10 (5.99%) vSphere
5 9 (5.39%) Docker
6 7 (4.19%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (2.99%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (2.40%) Snort
8 4 (2.40%) XenApp
8 4 (2.40%) XenDesktop
9 3 (1.80%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (1.20%) BitLocker
10 2 (1.20%) etcd
10 2 (1.20%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.60%) Job Entry Subsystem
11 1 (0.60%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 32 (19.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (18.56%) SCCM
3 23 (13.77%) Kubernetes
4 13 (7.78%) Terraform
5 8 (4.79%) Ansible
6 6 (3.59%) WMI
7 4 (2.40%) CSIRT
7 4 (2.40%) Prometheus
8 3 (1.80%) AirWatch
8 3 (1.80%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (1.80%) Podman
8 3 (1.80%) QRadar
8 3 (1.80%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (1.20%) Check_MK
9 2 (1.20%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (1.20%) Fluentd
9 2 (1.20%) Grafana
9 2 (1.20%) SCOM
9 2 (1.20%) WSUS
10 1 (0.60%) Nessus
Vendors
1 79 (47.31%) Microsoft
2 26 (15.57%) VMware
3 25 (14.97%) ServiceNow
4 22 (13.17%) Cisco
5 20 (11.98%) Splunk
6 10 (5.99%) Citrix
7 9 (5.39%) Fortinet
8 7 (4.19%) Oracle
8 7 (4.19%) SolarWinds
9 6 (3.59%) F5
9 6 (3.59%) Palo Alto
10 5 (2.99%) Canon
10 5 (2.99%) Qualys
10 5 (2.99%) Remedy
11 4 (2.40%) Fujitsu
11 4 (2.40%) HP
12 3 (1.80%) Apple
12 3 (1.80%) Atlassian
12 3 (1.80%) Dynatrace
12 3 (1.80%) NetApp
60 Windows jobs in the West Midlands