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 24 September 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
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 9 6
Rank change year-on-year +4 -3 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 415 298 379
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 16.78% 15.36% 16.32%
As % of the Vendors category 37.32% 31.70% 37.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 309 206 269
10th Percentile £231 £275 £250
25th Percentile £408 £363 £444
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £498 £538
Median % change year-on-year +5.47% -7.40% -0.92%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £638
90th Percentile £750 £725 £710
London median daily rate £517 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +3.40% -2.44% -3.80%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 6
10th Percentile £20.85 £19.81 £21.50
25th Percentile £22.88 £21.22 £27.00
Median hourly rate £25.07 £24.23 £56.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.47% -56.74% -
75th Percentile £28.35 £27.40 £107.13
90th Percentile £32.34 £29.11 £112.00
London median hourly rate £23.08 £24.00 £27.00
% change year-on-year -3.83% -11.11% -14.96%

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 1,112 940 1,007
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 44.97% 48.45% 43.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 791 634 660
10th Percentile £313 £315 £330
25th Percentile £438 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -2.27% -
75th Percentile £650 £675 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £750
London median daily rate £525 £525 £537
% change year-on-year - -2.19% -2.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 15 15
10th Percentile £17.98 £19.24 £17.00
25th Percentile £19.25 £22.88 £22.95
Median hourly rate £24.00 £28.50 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year -15.79% -31.33% +100.00%
75th Percentile £41.25 £60.25 £112.00
90th Percentile £64.25 £64.84 £137.50
London median hourly rate £37.50 £26.30 £32.50
% change year-on-year +42.59% -19.08% -8.78%

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 24 September 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 24 September 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 24 September 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 +4 370 £533 +6.98% 326
City of Westminster -9 11 £335 -45.31% 54
Southwark 0 8 £600 +14.29% 6
West End of London -9 7 £475 +26.67% 22
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 51 (12.29%) SharePoint
2 36 (8.67%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.41%) Confluence
4 7 (1.69%) Apache Spark
5 6 (1.45%) Apache
6 3 (0.72%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.48%) CMS
7 2 (0.48%) IIS
7 2 (0.48%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.24%) nginx
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 36 (8.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (6.99%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (3.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.20%) 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 (4.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.69%) 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%) 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
5 1 (0.24%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.24%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 185 (44.58%) Azure
2 94 (22.65%) Microsoft 365
3 81 (19.52%) Power Platform
4 61 (14.70%) Entra ID
5 48 (11.57%) Azure DevOps
6 36 (8.67%) Dynamics 365
7 32 (7.71%) AWS
8 29 (6.99%) Azure Data Factory
9 25 (6.02%) Power Automate
10 24 (5.78%) Microsoft Copilot
10 24 (5.78%) PowerApps
10 24 (5.78%) SaaS
11 23 (5.54%) OneDrive
12 22 (5.30%) GitHub
12 22 (5.30%) Serverless
13 21 (5.06%) GCP
14 20 (4.82%) Microsoft Purview
15 18 (4.34%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 17 (4.10%) Azure Functions
17 14 (3.37%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 35 (8.43%) DNS
2 28 (6.75%) DHCP
3 19 (4.58%) Firewall
4 18 (4.34%) TCP/IP
5 17 (4.10%) VPN
6 6 (1.45%) Unified Communications
6 6 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
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%) SMTP
8 4 (0.96%) VLAN
9 3 (0.72%) Multicast
9 3 (0.72%) Structured Cabling
10 2 (0.48%) DKIM
10 2 (0.48%) DMARC
10 2 (0.48%) Reverse Proxy
10 2 (0.48%) Value-Added Service
10 2 (0.48%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 49 (11.81%) Power BI
2 22 (5.30%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (4.58%) SQL Server
4 14 (3.37%) Azure SQL Database
5 12 (2.89%) Data Lake
5 12 (2.89%) Metadata
6 11 (2.65%) Star Schema
7 9 (2.17%) Power Query
8 8 (1.93%) Semantic Layer
9 6 (1.45%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.20%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (1.20%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
11 4 (0.96%) Big Data
11 4 (0.96%) Data Hub
11 4 (0.96%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.72%) BusinessObjects
12 3 (0.72%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
12 3 (0.72%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 27 (6.51%) JIRA
2 10 (2.41%) Git
3 7 (1.69%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.45%) 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%) Jasmine
9 1 (0.24%) Karma Test Runner
General
1 134 (32.29%) Social Skills
2 122 (29.40%) Finance
3 54 (13.01%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (9.88%) Banking
5 27 (6.51%) Public Sector
6 16 (3.86%) Retail
7 11 (2.65%) General Ledger
7 11 (2.65%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.41%) Law
8 10 (2.41%) Legal
8 10 (2.41%) Telecoms
9 8 (1.93%) Front Office
9 8 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (1.93%) Marketing
10 7 (1.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.69%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.69%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.20%) Military
13 4 (0.96%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 63 (15.18%) Architect
2 47 (11.33%) Analyst
3 44 (10.60%) Developer
4 35 (8.43%) Consultant
5 33 (7.95%) Support Engineer
6 32 (7.71%) Senior
7 24 (5.78%) Lead
8 22 (5.30%) IT Support
8 22 (5.30%) Solutions Architect
9 20 (4.82%) Data Architect
10 16 (3.86%) IT Engineer
11 15 (3.61%) Data Engineer
12 14 (3.37%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 13 (3.13%) IT Support Engineer
14 12 (2.89%) Business Analyst
14 12 (2.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 12 (2.89%) Project Manager
15 10 (2.41%) Azure Engineer
16 9 (2.17%) Cloud Engineer
16 9 (2.17%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (6.51%) Terraform
2 22 (5.30%) .NET
3 21 (5.06%) PySpark
4 18 (4.34%) REST
5 11 (2.65%) JSON
6 10 (2.41%) Middleware
7 9 (2.17%) .NET Framework
7 9 (2.17%) HTML
7 9 (2.17%) XML
8 8 (1.93%) SAML
8 8 (1.93%) SOAP
9 7 (1.69%) OAuth
10 6 (1.45%) OpenID
10 6 (1.45%) Web Services
11 5 (1.20%) ASP.NET Web API
11 5 (1.20%) CSS
11 5 (1.20%) Kafka
11 5 (1.20%) Microsoft Graph
12 4 (0.96%) GraphQL
12 4 (0.96%) HTML5 Canvas
Miscellaneous
1 42 (10.12%) Onboarding
2 23 (5.54%) Cloud Native
3 17 (4.10%) AI Agents
4 16 (3.86%) Video Conferencing
5 15 (3.61%) Management Information System
6 11 (2.65%) Enterprise Software
6 11 (2.65%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.41%) Distributed Systems
7 10 (2.41%) PKI
7 10 (2.41%) Product Ownership
8 8 (1.93%) Data Structures
9 7 (1.69%) Data Centre
9 7 (1.69%) Low-Code
10 6 (1.45%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (0.96%) CMDB
12 4 (0.96%) Equities
12 4 (0.96%) PMI
13 3 (0.72%) Clustering
13 3 (0.72%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
Operating Systems
1 84 (20.24%) Windows
2 22 (5.30%) Mac OS
3 21 (5.06%) Windows Server
4 20 (4.82%) Windows 10
5 17 (4.10%) Linux
6 7 (1.69%) Android
7 5 (1.20%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.96%) Unix
8 4 (0.96%) Windows 7
9 2 (0.48%) 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 91 (21.93%) Stakeholder Management
2 85 (20.48%) DevOps
3 77 (18.55%) Problem-Solving
4 72 (17.35%) Agile
5 67 (16.14%) Migration
6 66 (15.90%) CI/CD
7 65 (15.66%) Analytics
8 58 (13.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 53 (12.77%) Business Intelligence
10 52 (12.53%) AI
11 49 (11.81%) Data Modelling
12 44 (10.60%) Data Governance
13 36 (8.67%) Continuous Improvement
13 36 (8.67%) ITIL
13 36 (8.67%) Roadmaps
14 32 (7.71%) Customer Service
15 31 (7.47%) Project Delivery
16 30 (7.23%) Infrastructure as Code
16 30 (7.23%) Integration Patterns
17 29 (6.99%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 68 (16.39%) SQL
2 55 (13.25%) Python
3 32 (7.71%) PowerShell
4 19 (4.58%) C#
5 18 (4.34%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 16 (3.86%) Java
7 11 (2.65%) JavaScript
8 7 (1.69%) Bicep
8 7 (1.69%) T-SQL
8 7 (1.69%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.20%) Bash
10 4 (0.96%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.72%) R
12 2 (0.48%) C++
12 2 (0.48%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.24%) C
13 1 (0.24%) COBOL
13 1 (0.24%) Korn
13 1 (0.24%) RPG
13 1 (0.24%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 77 (18.55%) Security Cleared
2 56 (13.49%) SC Cleared
3 27 (6.51%) Degree
4 18 (4.34%) DV Cleared
5 16 (3.86%) Microsoft Certification
6 9 (2.17%) Azure Certification
6 9 (2.17%) PMI Certification
7 7 (1.69%) A+ Certification
7 7 (1.69%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (1.45%) DBS Check
9 5 (1.20%) CISSP
9 5 (1.20%) PMP
10 4 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.48%) AWS Certification
12 2 (0.48%) CCNP
12 2 (0.48%) CompTIA Security+
12 2 (0.48%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 2 (0.48%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (9.16%) Data Quality
2 24 (5.78%) QA
3 18 (4.34%) PMO
4 16 (3.86%) SLA
5 13 (3.13%) NIST
6 12 (2.89%) GDPR
6 12 (2.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 10 (2.41%) Accessibility
8 7 (1.69%) 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%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.24%) IFRS
12 1 (0.24%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 1 (0.24%) UCITS
System Software
1 73 (17.59%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.37%) Docker
3 7 (1.69%) 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 46 (11.08%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (4.82%) SCCM
3 16 (3.86%) Kubernetes
4 11 (2.65%) Ansible
4 11 (2.65%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.45%) Grafana
6 5 (1.20%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (0.96%) Puppet
8 3 (0.72%) Nagios
8 3 (0.72%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.72%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.72%) vMotion
8 3 (0.72%) WSUS
9 1 (0.24%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.24%) NetBackup
9 1 (0.24%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.24%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.24%) Salt
9 1 (0.24%) SCOM
9 1 (0.24%) SELinux
Vendors
1 41 (9.88%) ServiceNow
2 28 (6.75%) Databricks
3 21 (5.06%) Google
4 20 (4.82%) Oracle
4 20 (4.82%) SAP
5 12 (2.89%) Cisco
6 11 (2.65%) Apple
6 11 (2.65%) VMware
7 10 (2.41%) Bloomberg
8 9 (2.17%) Citrix
9 6 (1.45%) Dynatrace
9 6 (1.45%) Foundry
9 6 (1.45%) IBM
9 6 (1.45%) OpenAI
9 6 (1.45%) Salesforce
9 6 (1.45%) Workday
10 5 (1.20%) HP
10 5 (1.20%) Splunk
10 5 (1.20%) Symantec
11 4 (0.96%) Informatica