Windows Job Trends in the North West

Microsoft Windows
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Windows skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 18 24
Rank change year-on-year -14 +6 0
Permanent jobs citing Windows 303 417 316
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 4.76% 8.25% 7.06%
As % of the Operating Systems category 80.16% 65.77% 58.85%
Number of salaries quoted 280 258 275
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £26,000
25th Percentile £28,250 £31,063 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £42,317 £38,500
Median % change year-on-year -11.38% +9.91% +2.67%
75th Percentile £54,063 £52,875 £52,500
90th Percentile £62,500 £73,791 £68,750
England median annual salary £37,500 £45,000 £44,000
% change year-on-year -16.67% +2.27% -2.22%

All Operating Systems
North West

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

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 378 634 537
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 5.93% 12.54% 11.99%
Number of salaries quoted 329 345 420
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,300 £26,250
25th Percentile £29,000 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,500 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.71% -5.56% +5.88%
75th Percentile £57,500 £57,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £65,179 £74,041 £75,000
England median annual salary £44,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% - -4.76%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Windows job vacancy trend in the North West

Windows
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Windows.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Windows

Windows
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Windows in the North West over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Windows in the North West

Windows
Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Windows within the North West region over the 6 months to 14 January 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Manchester -15 153 £40,000 -5.88% 49
Lancashire +4 54 £27,500 -35.29% 27
Cheshire -24 39 £35,610 -10.98% 12
Merseyside -11 29 £30,000 -29.41% 10
Cumbria +28 26 £45,000 +63.64% 15
Windows
England

Windows
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 36 (11.88%) SharePoint
2 33 (10.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.65%) WordPress
4 2 (0.66%) Apache Solr
4 2 (0.66%) FactoryTalk
4 2 (0.66%) WinCC
5 1 (0.33%) Apache
5 1 (0.33%) IIS
5 1 (0.33%) JBoss
5 1 (0.33%) WebSphere
Applications
1 33 (10.89%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (4.95%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (2.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.33%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 1 (0.33%) Loan IQ
Cloud Services
1 153 (50.50%) Microsoft 365
2 88 (29.04%) Azure
3 45 (14.85%) Entra ID
4 33 (10.89%) AWS
5 21 (6.93%) Power Platform
6 12 (3.96%) IaaS
7 11 (3.63%) Cloud Computing
8 10 (3.30%) OneDrive
9 9 (2.97%) GCP
9 9 (2.97%) Google Workspace
10 7 (2.31%) Power Automate
11 6 (1.98%) Amazon EC2
11 6 (1.98%) Mimecast
11 6 (1.98%) SaaS
12 5 (1.65%) Dynamics 365
13 4 (1.32%) Amazon S3
13 4 (1.32%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (1.32%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 3 (0.99%) OpenShift
14 3 (0.99%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 51 (16.83%) Firewall
2 49 (16.17%) DNS
3 48 (15.84%) VPN
4 42 (13.86%) DHCP
5 33 (10.89%) VLAN
6 28 (9.24%) WAN
7 26 (8.58%) LAN
8 23 (7.59%) TCP/IP
9 13 (4.29%) Wireless
10 12 (3.96%) SSL
11 11 (3.63%) HTTP
12 10 (3.30%) Wi-Fi
13 7 (2.31%) Ethernet
14 5 (1.65%) DMZ
14 5 (1.65%) Remote Desktop
14 5 (1.65%) VoIP
15 4 (1.32%) ATM
15 4 (1.32%) STUN
16 3 (0.99%) SAN
16 3 (0.99%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (6.27%) Power BI
2 10 (3.30%) SQL Server
3 5 (1.65%) MySQL
4 4 (1.32%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.66%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.66%) Metadata
5 2 (0.66%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.33%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.33%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Git
1 4 (1.32%) GitLab
1 4 (1.32%) Jenkins
1 4 (1.32%) Visual Studio
2 2 (0.66%) Sonatype Nexus
3 1 (0.33%) Ant
3 1 (0.33%) Artifactory
3 1 (0.33%) Atlassian Bamboo
3 1 (0.33%) CA Release Automation
3 1 (0.33%) JIRA
3 1 (0.33%) Maven
3 1 (0.33%) TeamCity
General
1 147 (48.51%) Social Skills
2 40 (13.20%) Finance
3 20 (6.60%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (3.96%) Manufacturing
5 9 (2.97%) Law
5 9 (2.97%) Pharmaceutical
6 8 (2.64%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (1.65%) Marketing
9 4 (1.32%) Aerospace
9 4 (1.32%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.99%) Automotive
10 3 (0.99%) Retail
11 2 (0.66%) Banking
11 2 (0.66%) Dutch Language
11 2 (0.66%) French Language
11 2 (0.66%) Legal
11 2 (0.66%) Military
11 2 (0.66%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 121 (39.93%) IT Support
2 56 (18.48%) Support Engineer
3 47 (15.51%) Analyst
3 47 (15.51%) IT Engineer
4 42 (13.86%) IT Support Engineer
5 36 (11.88%) 2nd Line Support
6 26 (8.58%) IT Analyst
7 22 (7.26%) 1st/2nd Line Support
8 21 (6.93%) Desktop Support
8 21 (6.93%) Lead
8 21 (6.93%) Support Technician
9 19 (6.27%) Senior
10 17 (5.61%) Support Analyst
10 17 (5.61%) Technical Support
11 16 (5.28%) Infrastructure Manager
11 16 (5.28%) IT Support Analyst
12 15 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 14 (4.62%) Project Manager
13 14 (4.62%) Support Team Leader
13 14 (4.62%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.65%) .NET
1 5 (1.65%) HTML
1 5 (1.65%) Node.js
2 4 (1.32%) FreeSWITCH
2 4 (1.32%) Qt
2 4 (1.32%) STL
3 3 (0.99%) Middleware
3 3 (0.99%) QML
4 2 (0.66%) ASP.NET Web API
4 2 (0.66%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.66%) RabbitMQ
4 2 (0.66%) WCF
5 1 (0.33%) AngularJS
5 1 (0.33%) Kafka
5 1 (0.33%) Pyramid
Miscellaneous
1 52 (17.16%) Driving Licence
2 17 (5.61%) Management Information System
2 17 (5.61%) Social Media
3 15 (4.95%) Onboarding
4 11 (3.63%) Data Centre
5 6 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (1.65%) Analytical Mindset
6 5 (1.65%) Client/Server
6 5 (1.65%) Video Conferencing
6 5 (1.65%) Virtual Team
7 4 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.99%) CCTV
8 3 (0.99%) Cloud Native
8 3 (0.99%) CMDB
8 3 (0.99%) Cyberattack
8 3 (0.99%) Enterprise Storage
8 3 (0.99%) Home Automation
8 3 (0.99%) IoT
8 3 (0.99%) iPhone
9 2 (0.66%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 99 (32.67%) Windows Server
2 62 (20.46%) Windows 10
3 39 (12.87%) Linux
4 20 (6.60%) Mac OS
5 18 (5.94%) Android
6 16 (5.28%) Apple iOS
7 8 (2.64%) Windows 7
8 6 (1.98%) Mac OS X
9 4 (1.32%) Debian
9 4 (1.32%) Windows 8
10 3 (0.99%) VMS
10 3 (0.99%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.66%) Windows XP
12 1 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.33%) Unix
12 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (34.98%) Customer Service
2 84 (27.72%) Problem-Solving
3 57 (18.81%) ITIL
4 34 (11.22%) Continuous Improvement
4 34 (11.22%) Cybersecurity
4 34 (11.22%) Service Delivery
5 32 (10.56%) Mentoring
6 31 (10.23%) Agile
7 28 (9.24%) ITSM
8 26 (8.58%) Project Delivery
9 23 (7.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 21 (6.93%) Mobile Device Management
11 20 (6.60%) Business Intelligence
12 19 (6.27%) Coaching
12 19 (6.27%) Remote Monitoring and Management
13 18 (5.94%) Disaster Recovery
14 17 (5.61%) DevOps
14 17 (5.61%) Project Management
15 16 (5.28%) Business Development
15 16 (5.28%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 22 (7.26%) SQL
2 15 (4.95%) PowerShell
3 10 (3.30%) Python
4 9 (2.97%) Bash
5 7 (2.31%) PL/SQL
5 7 (2.31%) VBScript
6 5 (1.65%) C#
7 4 (1.32%) C++
7 4 (1.32%) Go
8 3 (0.99%) Elixir
8 3 (0.99%) Java
8 3 (0.99%) PHP
8 3 (0.99%) Ruby
9 2 (0.66%) JavaScript
10 1 (0.33%) C
10 1 (0.33%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 38 (12.54%) DBS Check
2 19 (6.27%) Degree
3 18 (5.94%) Security Cleared
4 17 (5.61%) SC Cleared
5 10 (3.30%) MCP
6 9 (2.97%) A+ Certification
7 7 (2.31%) CCNA
7 7 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (2.31%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (1.98%) ACCA
8 6 (1.98%) CIMA
8 6 (1.98%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (1.65%) Azure Certification
9 5 (1.65%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (1.65%) Network+ Certification
9 5 (1.65%) PMI Certification
9 5 (1.65%) PMP
10 3 (0.99%) NVQ Level 4
11 2 (0.66%) CISSP
11 2 (0.66%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.60%) Cyber Essentials
2 19 (6.27%) SLA
3 13 (4.29%) QA
4 9 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.32%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.99%) Accessibility
System Software
1 103 (33.99%) Active Directory
2 26 (8.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (6.60%) Hyper-V
4 10 (3.30%) Docker
5 7 (2.31%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (1.65%) Firmware
7 4 (1.32%) Kamailio
7 4 (1.32%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.32%) vSphere
8 3 (0.99%) VMware Workstation
9 2 (0.66%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.66%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 41 (13.53%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (5.61%) SCCM
3 11 (3.63%) Terraform
4 9 (2.97%) Ansible
4 9 (2.97%) Autotask
4 9 (2.97%) Kubernetes
5 8 (2.64%) Grafana
6 7 (2.31%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.32%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.66%) AssetCenter
9 2 (0.66%) BMC PATROL
9 2 (0.66%) Puppet
9 2 (0.66%) SmoothWall
10 1 (0.33%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.33%) EMC NetWorker
10 1 (0.33%) Podman
10 1 (0.33%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 157 (51.82%) Microsoft
2 38 (12.54%) VMware
3 23 (7.59%) Google
4 21 (6.93%) ServiceNow
5 13 (4.29%) Cisco
6 12 (3.96%) Apple
7 8 (2.64%) Veeam
8 7 (2.31%) Splunk
9 6 (1.98%) SolarWinds
9 6 (1.98%) Sophos
10 5 (1.65%) Sage
11 4 (1.32%) Citrix
11 4 (1.32%) ESET
11 4 (1.32%) Mitel
11 4 (1.32%) Salesforce
12 3 (0.99%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.99%) Meraki
13 2 (0.66%) iManage
13 2 (0.66%) MuleSoft
13 2 (0.66%) Ubiquiti