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 14 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
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 7 7
Rank change year-on-year +2 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 428 305 366
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 17.79% 15.96% 15.59%
As % of the Vendors category 38.28% 32.45% 36.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 310 228 251
10th Percentile £231 £279 £250
25th Percentile £402 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £627
90th Percentile £739 £725 £704
London median daily rate £520 £500 £504
% change year-on-year +4.00% -0.73% -4.06%
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 £22.29 £24.00 £27.00
% change year-on-year -7.13% -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 1,118 940 1,016
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 46.47% 49.19% 43.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 791 658 652
10th Percentile £313 £324 £332
25th Percentile £425 £414 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £650 £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% +21.43%
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% -13.58%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 +1 379 £525 +5.00% 289
City of Westminster -5 11 £335 -49.43% 51
Southwark +1 8 £600 +14.29% 1
West End of London -8 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 51 (11.92%) SharePoint
2 34 (7.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.80%) Confluence
4 6 (1.40%) Apache
4 6 (1.40%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.93%) IIS
6 3 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.47%) CMS
7 2 (0.47%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.23%) nginx
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 35 (8.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 32 (7.48%) Microsoft Office
3 17 (3.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.40%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.93%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.47%) 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 21 (4.91%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (1.87%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.70%) iTrent
3 3 (0.70%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.70%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.47%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.47%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.47%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.47%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.23%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.23%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.23%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.23%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.23%) Integrated Workplace Management System
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 FI-AR
5 1 (0.23%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 191 (44.63%) Azure
2 95 (22.20%) Microsoft 365
3 84 (19.63%) Power Platform
4 64 (14.95%) Entra ID
5 52 (12.15%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (8.88%) AWS
6 38 (8.88%) Dynamics 365
7 31 (7.24%) Azure Data Factory
8 28 (6.54%) Microsoft Copilot
9 26 (6.07%) Power Automate
10 25 (5.84%) PowerApps
10 25 (5.84%) SaaS
11 22 (5.14%) GCP
11 22 (5.14%) GitHub
11 22 (5.14%) Microsoft Purview
11 22 (5.14%) OneDrive
11 22 (5.14%) Serverless
12 19 (4.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 18 (4.21%) Azure Functions
14 15 (3.50%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 37 (8.64%) DNS
2 29 (6.78%) DHCP
3 18 (4.21%) TCP/IP
4 17 (3.97%) Firewall
4 17 (3.97%) VPN
5 8 (1.87%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (1.64%) Unified Communications
7 5 (1.17%) LAN
7 5 (1.17%) WAN
8 4 (0.93%) Internet
8 4 (0.93%) Network Security
8 4 (0.93%) SMTP
8 4 (0.93%) VLAN
9 3 (0.70%) Multicast
9 3 (0.70%) Reverse Proxy
9 3 (0.70%) Structured Cabling
10 2 (0.47%) DKIM
10 2 (0.47%) DMARC
10 2 (0.47%) Value-Added Service
10 2 (0.47%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 49 (11.45%) Power BI
2 23 (5.37%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (5.14%) SQL Server
4 15 (3.50%) Azure SQL Database
5 13 (3.04%) Metadata
6 12 (2.80%) Data Lake
6 12 (2.80%) Star Schema
7 8 (1.87%) Semantic Layer
8 7 (1.64%) Power Query
9 6 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
9 6 (1.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.17%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
10 5 (1.17%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.93%) Data Hub
11 4 (0.93%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.70%) BusinessObjects
12 3 (0.70%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.70%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 30 (7.01%) JIRA
2 10 (2.34%) Git
3 7 (1.64%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.40%) Selenium
4 6 (1.40%) Visual Studio
5 4 (0.93%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.70%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.70%) JDeveloper
6 3 (0.70%) JUnit
6 3 (0.70%) MSI
6 3 (0.70%) Postman
6 3 (0.70%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.47%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.47%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.47%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.47%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.47%) GitLab
7 2 (0.47%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.47%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.23%) WebDriver
General
1 140 (32.71%) Social Skills
2 127 (29.67%) Finance
3 53 (12.38%) Analytical Skills
4 43 (10.05%) Banking
5 27 (6.31%) Public Sector
6 16 (3.74%) Retail
7 12 (2.80%) General Ledger
7 12 (2.80%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (2.10%) Front Office
8 9 (2.10%) Legal
8 9 (2.10%) Marketing
9 8 (1.87%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.64%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.64%) Law
10 7 (1.64%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.40%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.93%) Back Office
12 4 (0.93%) Military
Job Titles
1 65 (15.19%) Architect
2 50 (11.68%) Developer
3 47 (10.98%) Analyst
4 36 (8.41%) Consultant
5 32 (7.48%) Senior
6 31 (7.24%) Support Engineer
7 26 (6.07%) Solutions Architect
8 23 (5.37%) Lead
9 22 (5.14%) IT Support
10 20 (4.67%) Data Architect
11 16 (3.74%) Dynamics 365 Developer
11 16 (3.74%) IT Engineer
12 15 (3.50%) Data Engineer
13 13 (3.04%) Business Analyst
13 13 (3.04%) IT Support Engineer
14 12 (2.80%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 12 (2.80%) Project Manager
15 9 (2.10%) Power BI Developer
15 9 (2.10%) Security Engineer
15 9 (2.10%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (6.07%) Terraform
2 24 (5.61%) .NET
3 21 (4.91%) PySpark
4 18 (4.21%) REST
5 12 (2.80%) JSON
6 10 (2.34%) Middleware
6 10 (2.34%) OAuth
6 10 (2.34%) SAML
7 9 (2.10%) .NET Framework
7 9 (2.10%) XML
8 8 (1.87%) HTML
8 8 (1.87%) OpenID
8 8 (1.87%) SOAP
8 8 (1.87%) Web Services
9 6 (1.40%) Microsoft Graph
10 5 (1.17%) ASP.NET Web API
10 5 (1.17%) Kafka
11 4 (0.93%) HTML5 Canvas
11 4 (0.93%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.93%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.28%) Onboarding
2 23 (5.37%) AI Agents
2 23 (5.37%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.74%) Video Conferencing
4 15 (3.50%) Management Information System
5 13 (3.04%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (3.04%) Enterprise Software
5 13 (3.04%) Legacy Systems
6 12 (2.80%) PKI
7 9 (2.10%) Product Ownership
8 8 (1.87%) Data Structures
8 8 (1.87%) Low-Code
9 7 (1.64%) Data Centre
10 6 (1.40%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.17%) CMDB
11 5 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (0.93%) Equities
12 4 (0.93%) Virtual Team
13 3 (0.70%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.70%) iPhone
Operating Systems
1 88 (20.56%) Windows
2 22 (5.14%) Windows Server
3 21 (4.91%) macOS
4 20 (4.67%) Windows 10
5 18 (4.21%) Linux
6 7 (1.64%) Android
7 5 (1.17%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.93%) Unix
8 4 (0.93%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.47%) 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 98 (22.90%) Stakeholder Management
2 88 (20.56%) DevOps
3 82 (19.16%) Problem-Solving
4 73 (17.06%) Agile
5 71 (16.59%) Migration
6 68 (15.89%) CI/CD
7 63 (14.72%) Analytics
8 60 (14.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 59 (13.79%) AI
10 53 (12.38%) Business Intelligence
11 50 (11.68%) Data Modelling
12 44 (10.28%) Data Governance
13 38 (8.88%) Continuous Improvement
13 38 (8.88%) Roadmaps
14 36 (8.41%) ITIL
15 34 (7.94%) Project Delivery
15 34 (7.94%) Validation
16 33 (7.71%) Customer Service
17 31 (7.24%) Infrastructure as Code
18 30 (7.01%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 71 (16.59%) SQL
2 59 (13.79%) Python
3 33 (7.71%) PowerShell
4 24 (5.61%) C#
5 19 (4.44%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 17 (3.97%) Java
7 14 (3.27%) JavaScript
8 12 (2.80%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.87%) Bicep
10 7 (1.64%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.93%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.70%) Bash
12 3 (0.70%) R
13 2 (0.47%) C++
13 2 (0.47%) Korn
13 2 (0.47%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.23%) C
14 1 (0.23%) COBOL
14 1 (0.23%) RPG
14 1 (0.23%) X++
Qualifications
1 79 (18.46%) Security Cleared
2 59 (13.79%) SC Cleared
3 29 (6.78%) Degree
4 16 (3.74%) DV Cleared
4 16 (3.74%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (2.34%) PMI Certification
6 7 (1.64%) A+ Certification
6 7 (1.64%) Azure Certification
6 7 (1.64%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.64%) PMP
7 6 (1.40%) DBS Check
8 5 (1.17%) CISSP
9 4 (0.93%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.70%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (0.70%) ITIL Certification
11 2 (0.47%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.47%) CompTIA CySA+
11 2 (0.47%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (0.47%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 2 (0.47%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (9.81%) Data Quality
2 23 (5.37%) QA
3 17 (3.97%) PMO
3 17 (3.97%) SLA
4 13 (3.04%) NIST
5 12 (2.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 11 (2.57%) GDPR
7 10 (2.34%) Accessibility
8 7 (1.64%) NCSC
9 5 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (1.17%) GRC
10 3 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.47%) GAAP
11 2 (0.47%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.47%) IFRS
11 2 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.47%) P3O
12 1 (0.23%) Def Stans
12 1 (0.23%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 19770
System Software
1 75 (17.52%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.04%) Docker
3 9 (2.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.17%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.17%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.93%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.93%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.70%) Terminal Services
6 3 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.47%) IAG
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.23%) vSphere
8 1 (0.23%) zsh
Systems Management
1 45 (10.51%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (4.44%) SCCM
3 15 (3.50%) Kubernetes
4 13 (3.04%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (2.57%) Ansible
6 6 (1.40%) Grafana
7 5 (1.17%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.70%) Nagios
8 3 (0.70%) Puppet
8 3 (0.70%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.70%) vMotion
8 3 (0.70%) WSUS
9 2 (0.47%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.23%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.23%) EnCase
10 1 (0.23%) FTK
10 1 (0.23%) NetBackup
10 1 (0.23%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.23%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.23%) SELinux
Vendors
1 44 (10.28%) ServiceNow
2 27 (6.31%) Databricks
3 22 (5.14%) Google
4 21 (4.91%) Oracle
5 19 (4.44%) SAP
6 13 (3.04%) VMware
7 12 (2.80%) Cisco
8 11 (2.57%) Apple
9 10 (2.34%) Bloomberg
10 9 (2.10%) Citrix
11 8 (1.87%) Foundry
12 7 (1.64%) Dynatrace
12 7 (1.64%) IBM
12 7 (1.64%) OpenAI
12 7 (1.64%) Salesforce
12 7 (1.64%) Splunk
12 7 (1.64%) Workday
13 5 (1.17%) HP
13 5 (1.17%) Informatica
13 5 (1.17%) Symantec