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 2 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
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 9 6
Rank change year-on-year +4 -3 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 418 301 373
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 17.17% 15.57% 15.94%
As % of the Vendors category 37.76% 32.16% 36.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 309 219 258
10th Percentile £231 £275 £243
25th Percentile £408 £363 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £496 £526
Median % change year-on-year +5.95% -5.75% -3.53%
75th Percentile £650 £626 £635
90th Percentile £750 £725 £710
London median daily rate £523 £500 £510
% change year-on-year +4.65% -1.96% -3.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 6
10th Percentile £20.85 £19.50 £21.50
25th Percentile £22.88 £20.44 £27.00
Median hourly rate £25.07 £22.00 £56.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.93% -60.71% -
75th Percentile £28.35 £26.13 £107.13
90th Percentile £32.34 £28.60 £112.00
London median hourly rate £22.86 £24.00 £26.75
% change year-on-year -4.76% -10.28% -22.46%

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 1,107 936 1,019
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 45.48% 48.42% 43.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 786 640 653
10th Percentile £313 £315 £323
25th Percentile £435 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -2.27% -
75th Percentile £650 £675 £658
90th Percentile £750 £750 £750
London median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 14 16
10th Percentile £18.17 £19.14 £17.25
25th Percentile £19.31 £20.63 £24.17
Median hourly rate £25.07 £28.33 £42.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.51% -32.56% +102.41%
75th Percentile £42.56 £55.60 £112.00
90th Percentile £64.13 £65.03 £137.50
London median hourly rate £36.50 £25.58 £33.50
% change year-on-year +42.72% -23.66% -10.67%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 +3 373 £528 +6.51% 285
City of Westminster -6 11 £335 -41.74% 51
Southwark +2 8 £600 +14.29% 6
West End of London -8 7 £475 +26.67% 14
Kensington and Chelsea - 7 £475 - 4
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 50 (11.96%) SharePoint
2 36 (8.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (2.63%) Confluence
4 7 (1.67%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.44%) Apache
6 4 (0.96%) IIS
7 3 (0.72%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.48%) CMS
8 2 (0.48%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.24%) nginx
9 1 (0.24%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 35 (8.37%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (7.18%) Microsoft Office
3 17 (4.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.44%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.96%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.24%) Adobe Premiere
7 1 (0.24%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.24%) Final Cut Pro
7 1 (0.24%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 20 (4.78%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.67%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.72%) iTrent
3 3 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.48%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.48%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.48%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.24%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.24%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.24%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.24%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.24%) Monis
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.24%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.24%) SAP FI-AR
Cloud Services
1 184 (44.02%) Azure
2 94 (22.49%) Microsoft 365
3 81 (19.38%) Power Platform
4 66 (15.79%) Entra ID
5 50 (11.96%) Azure DevOps
6 35 (8.37%) Dynamics 365
7 33 (7.89%) AWS
8 30 (7.18%) Azure Data Factory
9 25 (5.98%) Microsoft Copilot
10 24 (5.74%) Power Automate
11 23 (5.50%) GitHub
11 23 (5.50%) OneDrive
11 23 (5.50%) PowerApps
11 23 (5.50%) SaaS
12 22 (5.26%) GCP
12 22 (5.26%) Microsoft Purview
12 22 (5.26%) Serverless
13 19 (4.55%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 17 (4.07%) Azure Functions
15 13 (3.11%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 37 (8.85%) DNS
2 28 (6.70%) DHCP
3 18 (4.31%) Firewall
3 18 (4.31%) TCP/IP
4 17 (4.07%) VPN
5 8 (1.91%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (1.67%) Unified Communications
7 5 (1.20%) LAN
7 5 (1.20%) WAN
8 4 (0.96%) Internet
8 4 (0.96%) Network Security
8 4 (0.96%) Reverse Proxy
8 4 (0.96%) SMTP
8 4 (0.96%) VLAN
9 3 (0.72%) Multicast
9 3 (0.72%) Structured Cabling
10 2 (0.48%) SAN
10 2 (0.48%) SSL
10 2 (0.48%) VoIP
10 2 (0.48%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (11.96%) Power BI
2 22 (5.26%) Data Warehouse
2 22 (5.26%) SQL Server
3 15 (3.59%) Azure SQL Database
4 12 (2.87%) Data Lake
4 12 (2.87%) Metadata
5 11 (2.63%) Star Schema
6 8 (1.91%) Semantic Layer
7 7 (1.67%) Power Query
8 6 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.44%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 5 (1.20%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 5 (1.20%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.96%) Big Data
10 4 (0.96%) Data Hub
10 4 (0.96%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.72%) BusinessObjects
11 3 (0.72%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 28 (6.70%) JIRA
2 11 (2.63%) Git
3 7 (1.67%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.44%) Visual Studio
5 5 (1.20%) Selenium
6 4 (0.96%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.72%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.72%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.72%) GitLab
7 3 (0.72%) JUnit
7 3 (0.72%) MSI
7 3 (0.72%) Visual Studio Code
8 2 (0.48%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.48%) Fiddler
8 2 (0.48%) Postman
8 2 (0.48%) SoapUI
8 2 (0.48%) TeamCity
9 1 (0.24%) Appium
9 1 (0.24%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.24%) Karma Test Runner
General
1 135 (32.30%) Social Skills
2 123 (29.43%) Finance
3 53 (12.68%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (9.81%) Banking
5 27 (6.46%) Public Sector
6 16 (3.83%) Retail
7 11 (2.63%) General Ledger
7 11 (2.63%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.39%) Law
8 10 (2.39%) Legal
9 9 (2.15%) Front Office
9 9 (2.15%) Marketing
10 8 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.67%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.67%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.44%) Telecoms
13 5 (1.20%) Military
14 4 (0.96%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 64 (15.31%) Architect
2 47 (11.24%) Analyst
3 46 (11.00%) Developer
4 33 (7.89%) Senior
4 33 (7.89%) Support Engineer
5 32 (7.66%) Consultant
6 23 (5.50%) Lead
6 23 (5.50%) Solutions Architect
7 22 (5.26%) IT Support
8 20 (4.78%) Data Architect
9 16 (3.83%) IT Engineer
10 15 (3.59%) Data Engineer
11 14 (3.35%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 13 (3.11%) Business Analyst
12 13 (3.11%) IT Support Engineer
13 12 (2.87%) Project Manager
14 11 (2.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (2.39%) Platform Engineer
16 9 (2.15%) Azure Engineer
16 9 (2.15%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (6.46%) Terraform
2 22 (5.26%) .NET
3 21 (5.02%) PySpark
4 19 (4.55%) REST
5 12 (2.87%) JSON
6 10 (2.39%) Middleware
6 10 (2.39%) OAuth
6 10 (2.39%) SAML
7 9 (2.15%) .NET Framework
7 9 (2.15%) XML
8 8 (1.91%) HTML
8 8 (1.91%) OpenID
8 8 (1.91%) SOAP
9 7 (1.67%) Web Services
10 6 (1.44%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (1.20%) ASP.NET Web API
11 5 (1.20%) Kafka
12 4 (0.96%) GraphQL
12 4 (0.96%) HTML5 Canvas
12 4 (0.96%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 43 (10.29%) Onboarding
2 24 (5.74%) Cloud Native
3 17 (4.07%) AI Agents
4 16 (3.83%) Video Conferencing
5 15 (3.59%) Management Information System
6 13 (3.11%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (3.11%) Legacy Systems
7 12 (2.87%) PKI
8 11 (2.63%) Distributed Systems
9 9 (2.15%) Product Ownership
10 8 (1.91%) Data Structures
11 7 (1.67%) Data Centre
11 7 (1.67%) Low-Code
12 6 (1.44%) Security Posture
13 5 (1.20%) PMI
13 5 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
14 4 (0.96%) CMDB
15 3 (0.72%) Clustering
15 3 (0.72%) Equities
15 3 (0.72%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 87 (20.81%) Windows
2 21 (5.02%) Mac OS
2 21 (5.02%) Windows Server
3 20 (4.78%) Windows 10
4 18 (4.31%) Linux
5 7 (1.67%) Android
6 5 (1.20%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.96%) Unix
7 4 (0.96%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.24%) OpenVMS
10 1 (0.24%) SUSE
10 1 (0.24%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.24%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.24%) VMS
10 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (22.01%) Stakeholder Management
2 86 (20.57%) DevOps
3 76 (18.18%) Problem-Solving
4 75 (17.94%) Agile
5 68 (16.27%) CI/CD
5 68 (16.27%) Migration
6 63 (15.07%) Analytics
7 57 (13.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 54 (12.92%) Business Intelligence
9 52 (12.44%) AI
10 49 (11.72%) Data Modelling
11 44 (10.53%) Data Governance
12 37 (8.85%) Roadmaps
13 36 (8.61%) Continuous Improvement
14 35 (8.37%) ITIL
15 33 (7.89%) Customer Service
16 31 (7.42%) Infrastructure as Code
16 31 (7.42%) Project Delivery
17 30 (7.18%) Integration Patterns
17 30 (7.18%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 70 (16.75%) SQL
2 56 (13.40%) Python
3 33 (7.89%) PowerShell
4 20 (4.78%) C#
5 18 (4.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 16 (3.83%) Java
7 11 (2.63%) JavaScript
8 8 (1.91%) Bicep
8 8 (1.91%) TypeScript
9 7 (1.67%) T-SQL
10 5 (1.20%) Bash
11 4 (0.96%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.72%) R
13 2 (0.48%) C++
13 2 (0.48%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.24%) C
14 1 (0.24%) COBOL
14 1 (0.24%) Korn
14 1 (0.24%) RPG
14 1 (0.24%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 79 (18.90%) Security Cleared
2 58 (13.88%) SC Cleared
3 28 (6.70%) Degree
4 17 (4.07%) DV Cleared
5 16 (3.83%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (2.39%) PMI Certification
7 8 (1.91%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.67%) A+ Certification
8 7 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.44%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.20%) CISSP
10 5 (1.20%) PMP
11 4 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.48%) CCNP
13 2 (0.48%) CompTIA CySA+
13 2 (0.48%) CompTIA Security+
13 2 (0.48%) PRINCE2 Certification
13 2 (0.48%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (9.57%) Data Quality
2 23 (5.50%) QA
3 18 (4.31%) PMO
4 17 (4.07%) SLA
5 13 (3.11%) NIST
6 12 (2.87%) GDPR
6 12 (2.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 10 (2.39%) Accessibility
8 7 (1.67%) NCSC
9 5 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (1.20%) GRC
10 3 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.48%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.48%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.48%) P3O
12 1 (0.24%) COBIT
12 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.24%) MiFID
12 1 (0.24%) UCITS
12 1 (0.24%) WCAG
System Software
1 77 (18.42%) Active Directory
2 15 (3.59%) Docker
3 8 (1.91%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.20%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.20%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.96%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.96%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.72%) Terminal Services
6 3 (0.72%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.72%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.48%) IAG
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.24%) zsh
Systems Management
1 45 (10.77%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (4.55%) SCCM
3 16 (3.83%) Kubernetes
4 13 (3.11%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (2.63%) Ansible
6 6 (1.44%) Grafana
7 5 (1.20%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (0.96%) Puppet
9 3 (0.72%) Nagios
9 3 (0.72%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.72%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.72%) vMotion
9 3 (0.72%) WSUS
10 1 (0.24%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.24%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.24%) EMC NetWorker
10 1 (0.24%) EnCase
10 1 (0.24%) FTK
10 1 (0.24%) NetBackup
10 1 (0.24%) SCOM
Vendors
1 43 (10.29%) ServiceNow
2 28 (6.70%) Databricks
3 23 (5.50%) Google
4 20 (4.78%) Oracle
5 19 (4.55%) SAP
6 13 (3.11%) Cisco
7 12 (2.87%) VMware
8 11 (2.63%) Apple
9 10 (2.39%) Bloomberg
10 9 (2.15%) Citrix
11 7 (1.67%) Salesforce
12 6 (1.44%) Dynatrace
12 6 (1.44%) Foundry
12 6 (1.44%) IBM
12 6 (1.44%) OpenAI
12 6 (1.44%) Splunk
12 6 (1.44%) Workday
13 5 (1.20%) HP
13 5 (1.20%) Informatica
13 5 (1.20%) Symantec