Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Central London

Microsoft
London > Central London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Central London 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 15 October 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
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 7 7
Rank change year-on-year +2 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 433 306 366
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 18.03% 16.05% 15.53%
As % of the Vendors category 38.59% 32.69% 35.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 229 251
10th Percentile £231 £280 £250
25th Percentile £404 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £641 £638 £633
90th Percentile £750 £725 £704
London median daily rate £523 £500 £506
% change year-on-year +4.50% -1.23% -3.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 5
10th Percentile £20.85 £19.50 -
25th Percentile £22.88 £20.44 £27.00
Median hourly rate £25.07 £22.00 £85.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.93% -74.12% -
75th Percentile £28.35 £26.13 £112.00
90th Percentile £32.34 £28.60 -
London median hourly rate £23.08 £24.00 £27.00
% change year-on-year -3.83% -11.11% -22.86%

All Vendors
Central London

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 Central London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,122 936 1,017
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 46.73% 49.08% 43.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 788 657 653
10th Percentile £313 £324 £333
25th Percentile £427 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £656 £675 £650
90th Percentile £750 £761 £738
London median daily rate £530 £525 £535
% change year-on-year +0.95% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 12 15
10th Percentile £18.75 £18.96 £19.30
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.08 £26.20
Median hourly rate £26.13 £26.33 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% -38.06% +88.89%
75th Percentile £43.00 £53.31 £112.00
90th Percentile £64.25 £63.05 £137.50
London median hourly rate £39.00 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +55.07% -28.14% -13.04%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Central London

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Central London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Central London over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Central London

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Central London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Central London over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Central London

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Central London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Central London region over the 6 months to 15 October 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
City of London +2 384 £525 +5.00% 94
City of Westminster -6 11 £335 -49.43% 13
Southwark +1 8 £600 +14.29% 1
West End of London -9 7 £475 +5.56% 9
Kensington and Chelsea - 7 £475 - 4
Lambeth - 1 - - 3
Microsoft
London

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central London 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 52 (12.01%) SharePoint
2 35 (8.08%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.77%) Confluence
4 6 (1.39%) Apache
4 6 (1.39%) Apache Spark
4 6 (1.39%) IIS
5 3 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.46%) CMS
6 2 (0.46%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.23%) nginx
7 1 (0.23%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 35 (8.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 32 (7.39%) Microsoft Office
3 17 (3.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.92%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.23%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
7 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.23%) Final Cut Pro
7 1 (0.23%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 20 (4.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (2.08%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.69%) iTrent
3 3 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.46%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.46%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.46%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.23%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.23%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.23%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.23%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.23%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.23%) Monis
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.23%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.23%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.23%) SAP FI-AR
5 1 (0.23%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 191 (44.11%) Azure
2 96 (22.17%) Microsoft 365
3 84 (19.40%) Power Platform
4 68 (15.70%) Entra ID
5 52 (12.01%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (8.78%) AWS
7 37 (8.55%) Dynamics 365
8 31 (7.16%) Azure Data Factory
9 28 (6.47%) Microsoft Copilot
10 25 (5.77%) Power Automate
10 25 (5.77%) SaaS
11 24 (5.54%) PowerApps
12 23 (5.31%) OneDrive
13 22 (5.08%) GCP
13 22 (5.08%) GitHub
13 22 (5.08%) Microsoft Purview
13 22 (5.08%) Serverless
14 19 (4.39%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 18 (4.16%) Azure Functions
16 14 (3.23%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 39 (9.01%) DNS
2 29 (6.70%) DHCP
3 18 (4.16%) TCP/IP
4 17 (3.93%) Firewall
4 17 (3.93%) VPN
5 8 (1.85%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (1.62%) Unified Communications
7 5 (1.15%) LAN
7 5 (1.15%) Reverse Proxy
7 5 (1.15%) WAN
8 4 (0.92%) Internet
8 4 (0.92%) Network Security
8 4 (0.92%) SMTP
8 4 (0.92%) SSL
8 4 (0.92%) VLAN
9 3 (0.69%) Multicast
9 3 (0.69%) Structured Cabling
10 2 (0.46%) BGP
10 2 (0.46%) VoIP
10 2 (0.46%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 49 (11.32%) Power BI
2 24 (5.54%) SQL Server
3 23 (5.31%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (3.46%) Azure SQL Database
5 13 (3.00%) Metadata
6 12 (2.77%) Data Lake
6 12 (2.77%) Star Schema
7 8 (1.85%) Semantic Layer
8 7 (1.62%) Power Query
8 7 (1.62%) Relational Database
9 6 (1.39%) Amazon RDS
9 6 (1.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.15%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.92%) Data Hub
11 4 (0.92%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.69%) BusinessObjects
12 3 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.69%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.69%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.69%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 30 (6.93%) JIRA
2 10 (2.31%) Git
3 7 (1.62%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.39%) Selenium
4 6 (1.39%) Visual Studio
5 4 (0.92%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.69%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.69%) JDeveloper
6 3 (0.69%) JUnit
6 3 (0.69%) MSI
6 3 (0.69%) Postman
6 3 (0.69%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.46%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.46%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.46%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.46%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.46%) GitLab
7 2 (0.46%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.46%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.23%) WebDriver
General
1 142 (32.79%) Social Skills
2 128 (29.56%) Finance
3 53 (12.24%) Analytical Skills
4 44 (10.16%) Banking
5 29 (6.70%) Public Sector
6 16 (3.70%) Retail
7 12 (2.77%) General Ledger
7 12 (2.77%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (2.08%) Front Office
8 9 (2.08%) Legal
8 9 (2.08%) Marketing
9 8 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (1.85%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.62%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.62%) Law
10 7 (1.62%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.39%) Telecoms
12 5 (1.15%) Military
13 4 (0.92%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 65 (15.01%) Architect
2 49 (11.32%) Developer
3 48 (11.09%) Analyst
4 37 (8.55%) Consultant
5 32 (7.39%) Senior
6 30 (6.93%) Support Engineer
7 26 (6.00%) Solutions Architect
8 24 (5.54%) Lead
9 22 (5.08%) IT Support
10 20 (4.62%) Data Architect
11 16 (3.70%) IT Engineer
12 15 (3.46%) Data Engineer
12 15 (3.46%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 14 (3.23%) Business Analyst
14 13 (3.00%) IT Support Engineer
14 13 (3.00%) Project Manager
15 12 (2.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 9 (2.08%) Data Analyst
16 9 (2.08%) Security Engineer
16 9 (2.08%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (6.00%) Terraform
2 23 (5.31%) .NET
3 21 (4.85%) PySpark
4 18 (4.16%) REST
5 13 (3.00%) OAuth
5 13 (3.00%) SAML
6 12 (2.77%) JSON
7 11 (2.54%) OpenID
8 10 (2.31%) Middleware
9 9 (2.08%) XML
10 8 (1.85%) .NET Framework
10 8 (1.85%) HTML
10 8 (1.85%) SOAP
10 8 (1.85%) Web Services
11 6 (1.39%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (1.15%) ASP.NET Web API
12 5 (1.15%) Kafka
12 5 (1.15%) OAuth2
13 4 (0.92%) GraphQL
13 4 (0.92%) HTML5 Canvas
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.16%) Onboarding
2 23 (5.31%) AI Agents
2 23 (5.31%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.70%) Video Conferencing
4 15 (3.46%) Enterprise Software
4 15 (3.46%) Management Information System
4 15 (3.46%) PKI
5 13 (3.00%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.08%) Product Ownership
7 8 (1.85%) Data Structures
7 8 (1.85%) Low-Code
8 7 (1.62%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.39%) Security Posture
10 5 (1.15%) CMDB
10 5 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (0.92%) Equities
11 4 (0.92%) Virtual Team
12 3 (0.69%) Clustering
12 3 (0.69%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 88 (20.32%) Windows
2 22 (5.08%) Windows Server
3 21 (4.85%) macOS
4 20 (4.62%) Windows 10
5 18 (4.16%) Linux
6 7 (1.62%) Android
7 5 (1.15%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.92%) Unix
8 4 (0.92%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.23%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.23%) SUSE
11 1 (0.23%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.23%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.23%) VMS
11 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 99 (22.86%) Stakeholder Management
2 87 (20.09%) DevOps
3 81 (18.71%) Problem-Solving
4 76 (17.55%) Migration
5 74 (17.09%) Agile
6 67 (15.47%) CI/CD
7 63 (14.55%) Analytics
8 60 (13.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 59 (13.63%) AI
10 53 (12.24%) Business Intelligence
11 49 (11.32%) Data Modelling
12 45 (10.39%) Data Governance
13 40 (9.24%) Roadmaps
14 38 (8.78%) Continuous Improvement
15 36 (8.31%) ITIL
15 36 (8.31%) Project Delivery
15 36 (8.31%) Validation
16 32 (7.39%) Customer Service
17 31 (7.16%) Infrastructure as Code
18 30 (6.93%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 73 (16.86%) SQL
2 59 (13.63%) Python
3 33 (7.62%) PowerShell
4 23 (5.31%) C#
5 19 (4.39%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 17 (3.93%) Java
7 14 (3.23%) JavaScript
8 12 (2.77%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.85%) Bicep
10 7 (1.62%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.92%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.69%) Bash
12 3 (0.69%) R
13 2 (0.46%) C++
13 2 (0.46%) Korn
13 2 (0.46%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.23%) C
14 1 (0.23%) COBOL
14 1 (0.23%) RPG
14 1 (0.23%) X++
Qualifications
1 81 (18.71%) Security Cleared
2 61 (14.09%) SC Cleared
3 28 (6.47%) Degree
4 16 (3.70%) DV Cleared
4 16 (3.70%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (2.31%) PMI Certification
6 7 (1.62%) A+ Certification
6 7 (1.62%) Azure Certification
6 7 (1.62%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.62%) DBS Check
6 7 (1.62%) PMP
7 5 (1.15%) CISSP
8 4 (0.92%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.69%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (0.46%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.46%) CAPM
10 2 (0.46%) CompTIA CySA+
10 2 (0.46%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.46%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (9.93%) Data Quality
2 24 (5.54%) QA
3 17 (3.93%) PMO
3 17 (3.93%) SLA
4 13 (3.00%) NIST
5 11 (2.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (2.31%) Accessibility
6 10 (2.31%) GDPR
7 7 (1.62%) NCSC
8 5 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (1.15%) GRC
9 3 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.46%) GAAP
10 2 (0.46%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.46%) IFRS
10 2 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.46%) P3O
11 1 (0.23%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.23%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 77 (17.78%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.00%) Docker
3 9 (2.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.15%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.92%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.92%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.69%) Terminal Services
6 3 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.69%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.46%) IAG
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.23%) vSphere
8 1 (0.23%) zsh
Systems Management
1 45 (10.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (4.39%) SCCM
3 15 (3.46%) Kubernetes
3 15 (3.46%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (2.54%) Ansible
5 6 (1.39%) Grafana
6 5 (1.15%) Jamf Pro
7 3 (0.69%) Nagios
7 3 (0.69%) Puppet
7 3 (0.69%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.69%) vMotion
7 3 (0.69%) WSUS
8 2 (0.46%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.23%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.23%) EMC NetWorker
9 1 (0.23%) EnCase
9 1 (0.23%) FTK
9 1 (0.23%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.23%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.23%) SCOM
Vendors
1 44 (10.16%) ServiceNow
2 27 (6.24%) Databricks
3 22 (5.08%) Google
4 21 (4.85%) Oracle
5 18 (4.16%) SAP
6 13 (3.00%) VMware
7 12 (2.77%) Cisco
8 11 (2.54%) Apple
9 10 (2.31%) Bloomberg
10 9 (2.08%) Citrix
11 8 (1.85%) Foundry
11 8 (1.85%) IBM
12 7 (1.62%) Dynatrace
12 7 (1.62%) OpenAI
12 7 (1.62%) Salesforce
12 7 (1.62%) Splunk
12 7 (1.62%) Workday
13 6 (1.39%) Informatica
14 5 (1.15%) HP
14 5 (1.15%) Symantec