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 12 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
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 9 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 407 310 393
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 16.27% 15.65% 17.01%
As % of the Vendors category 36.87% 32.39% 39.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 304 206 287
10th Percentile £241 £275 £262
25th Percentile £412 £355 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £543
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -7.83% -1.36%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £639
90th Percentile £750 £715 £710
London median daily rate £515 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +3.00% -2.44% -5.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 4
10th Percentile £20.85 £19.81 £19.30
25th Percentile £22.88 £21.22 £24.25
Median hourly rate £25.07 £24.23 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.47% -10.28% -
75th Percentile £28.35 £27.40 £43.38
90th Percentile £32.34 £29.11 £72.85
London median hourly rate £24.00 £24.00 £23.80
% change year-on-year - +0.84% -25.44%

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 1,104 957 1,002
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 44.14% 48.31% 43.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 786 636 661
10th Percentile £313 £313 £340
25th Percentile £425 £412 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £536 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.28% -2.55% -
75th Percentile £650 £675 £660
90th Percentile £750 £750 £750
London median daily rate £525 £525 £535
% change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 17 13
10th Percentile £18.75 £19.42 £16.50
25th Percentile £19.25 £23.75 £20.50
Median hourly rate £24.00 £29.07 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.44% +7.67% -25.52%
75th Percentile £41.25 £56.75 £92.50
90th Percentile £64.25 £64.48 £137.50
London median hourly rate £36.00 £26.38 £30.80
% change year-on-year +36.49% -14.35% -17.88%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 +4 367 £545 +9.00% 235
City of Westminster -10 9 £175 -71.43% 43
Southwark 0 8 £600 +14.29% 3
Kensington and Chelsea - 6 £313 - 4
West End of London -10 5 £475 +26.67% 23
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 (12.53%) SharePoint
2 37 (9.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.21%) Confluence
4 6 (1.47%) Apache
4 6 (1.47%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.98%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.49%) CMS
6 2 (0.49%) IIS
6 2 (0.49%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.25%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.25%) nginx
7 1 (0.25%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 36 (8.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (6.63%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (3.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.23%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.74%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.25%) Adobe Premiere
7 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.25%) Final Cut Pro
7 1 (0.25%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 20 (4.91%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.23%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.74%) iTrent
3 3 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.49%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.49%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.49%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.49%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.25%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.25%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.25%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.25%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.25%) Monis
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.25%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP FI-AR
5 1 (0.25%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 185 (45.45%) Azure
2 92 (22.60%) Microsoft 365
3 79 (19.41%) Power Platform
4 59 (14.50%) Entra ID
5 47 (11.55%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (9.34%) Dynamics 365
7 30 (7.37%) AWS
7 30 (7.37%) Azure Data Factory
8 25 (6.14%) Power Automate
9 24 (5.90%) SaaS
10 23 (5.65%) Microsoft Copilot
10 23 (5.65%) OneDrive
10 23 (5.65%) PowerApps
11 21 (5.16%) GCP
12 20 (4.91%) Microsoft Purview
13 19 (4.67%) Serverless
14 18 (4.42%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 18 (4.42%) GitHub
15 15 (3.69%) Azure Functions
16 14 (3.44%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 35 (8.60%) DNS
2 28 (6.88%) DHCP
3 19 (4.67%) Firewall
4 18 (4.42%) TCP/IP
5 17 (4.18%) VPN
6 6 (1.47%) Unified Communications
7 5 (1.23%) LAN
7 5 (1.23%) Network Security
7 5 (1.23%) WAN
7 5 (1.23%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (0.98%) Internet
8 4 (0.98%) SMTP
8 4 (0.98%) VLAN
9 3 (0.74%) Multicast
9 3 (0.74%) Structured Cabling
10 2 (0.49%) BGP
10 2 (0.49%) DKIM
10 2 (0.49%) DMARC
10 2 (0.49%) Intranet
10 2 (0.49%) Value-Added Service
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (11.79%) Power BI
2 26 (6.39%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (4.91%) SQL Server
4 15 (3.69%) Azure SQL Database
5 12 (2.95%) Data Lake
5 12 (2.95%) Metadata
6 11 (2.70%) Star Schema
7 9 (2.21%) Power Query
8 7 (1.72%) Semantic Layer
9 6 (1.47%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.23%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (1.23%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.98%) Amazon Redshift
11 4 (0.98%) Big Data
11 4 (0.98%) Data Hub
11 4 (0.98%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.74%) BusinessObjects
12 3 (0.74%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.74%) PostgreSQL
12 3 (0.74%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 25 (6.14%) JIRA
2 9 (2.21%) Git
3 6 (1.47%) Jenkins
3 6 (1.47%) Visual Studio
4 4 (0.98%) Bitbucket
4 4 (0.98%) Selenium
5 3 (0.74%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.74%) GitLab
5 3 (0.74%) JUnit
5 3 (0.74%) MSI
5 3 (0.74%) Visual Studio Code
6 2 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.49%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.49%) Fiddler
6 2 (0.49%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.25%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.25%) Rational Functional Tester
7 1 (0.25%) SilkTest
7 1 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.25%) WebDriver
General
1 128 (31.45%) Social Skills
2 121 (29.73%) Finance
3 50 (12.29%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (9.34%) Banking
5 26 (6.39%) Public Sector
6 14 (3.44%) Retail
7 11 (2.70%) General Ledger
7 11 (2.70%) Telecoms
8 10 (2.46%) Law
8 10 (2.46%) Legal
8 10 (2.46%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
9 9 (2.21%) Marketing
10 8 (1.97%) Front Office
11 7 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.72%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.72%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.23%) Military
13 4 (0.98%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 63 (15.48%) Architect
2 46 (11.30%) Developer
3 42 (10.32%) Analyst
4 38 (9.34%) Consultant
5 33 (8.11%) Support Engineer
6 31 (7.62%) Senior
7 24 (5.90%) Lead
8 21 (5.16%) IT Support
9 20 (4.91%) Data Architect
10 19 (4.67%) Solutions Architect
11 16 (3.93%) IT Engineer
12 14 (3.44%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 13 (3.19%) Data Engineer
13 13 (3.19%) IT Support Engineer
13 13 (3.19%) Project Manager
14 12 (2.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (2.46%) Azure Engineer
16 9 (2.21%) Cloud Engineer
16 9 (2.21%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
16 9 (2.21%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (5.65%) Terraform
2 22 (5.41%) .NET
3 19 (4.67%) PySpark
4 17 (4.18%) REST
5 9 (2.21%) .NET Framework
5 9 (2.21%) HTML
5 9 (2.21%) JSON
6 8 (1.97%) Middleware
6 8 (1.97%) SAML
6 8 (1.97%) SOAP
6 8 (1.97%) XML
7 7 (1.72%) OAuth
8 6 (1.47%) CSS
8 6 (1.47%) OpenID
9 5 (1.23%) ASP.NET Web API
9 5 (1.23%) Web Services
10 4 (0.98%) HTML5 Canvas
10 4 (0.98%) Kafka
10 4 (0.98%) XSLT
11 3 (0.74%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 36 (8.85%) Onboarding
2 23 (5.65%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.93%) AI Agents
3 16 (3.93%) Video Conferencing
4 15 (3.69%) Management Information System
5 11 (2.70%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
5 11 (2.70%) PKI
6 9 (2.21%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (2.21%) Product Ownership
7 7 (1.72%) Data Centre
7 7 (1.72%) Data Structures
7 7 (1.72%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.47%) Low-Code
9 4 (0.98%) Clustering
9 4 (0.98%) Equities
9 4 (0.98%) PMI
9 4 (0.98%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.74%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 3 (0.74%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 83 (20.39%) Windows
2 22 (5.41%) Mac OS
3 21 (5.16%) Windows Server
4 20 (4.91%) Windows 10
5 15 (3.69%) Linux
6 7 (1.72%) Android
7 5 (1.23%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.98%) Unix
8 4 (0.98%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.25%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.25%) SUSE
11 1 (0.25%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.25%) VMS
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (20.88%) DevOps
1 85 (20.88%) Stakeholder Management
2 74 (18.18%) Problem-Solving
3 70 (17.20%) Agile
4 65 (15.97%) Analytics
4 65 (15.97%) Migration
5 64 (15.72%) CI/CD
6 52 (12.78%) Business Intelligence
6 52 (12.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 51 (12.53%) Data Modelling
8 50 (12.29%) AI
9 44 (10.81%) Data Governance
10 34 (8.35%) Continuous Improvement
10 34 (8.35%) ITIL
10 34 (8.35%) Roadmaps
11 32 (7.86%) Customer Service
12 31 (7.62%) Integration Patterns
12 31 (7.62%) Project Delivery
13 29 (7.13%) Validation
14 28 (6.88%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 68 (16.71%) SQL
2 50 (12.29%) Python
3 30 (7.37%) PowerShell
4 21 (5.16%) C#
5 17 (4.18%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 15 (3.69%) Java
7 12 (2.95%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.21%) TypeScript
9 7 (1.72%) Bicep
9 7 (1.72%) T-SQL
10 5 (1.23%) Bash
11 4 (0.98%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.74%) R
13 2 (0.49%) C++
13 2 (0.49%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.25%) COBOL
14 1 (0.25%) Korn
14 1 (0.25%) RPG
14 1 (0.25%) VB.NET
14 1 (0.25%) X++
Qualifications
1 77 (18.92%) Security Cleared
2 54 (13.27%) SC Cleared
3 27 (6.63%) Degree
4 19 (4.67%) DV Cleared
5 17 (4.18%) Microsoft Certification
6 9 (2.21%) PMI Certification
7 8 (1.97%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.47%) A+ Certification
9 6 (1.47%) CISSP
9 6 (1.47%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.23%) PMP
11 4 (0.98%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.98%) CISM
12 3 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
13 2 (0.49%) CompTIA Security+
13 2 (0.49%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.49%) Network+ Certification
13 2 (0.49%) PRINCE2 Certification
13 2 (0.49%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (9.34%) Data Quality
2 23 (5.65%) QA
3 16 (3.93%) PMO
4 15 (3.69%) SLA
5 13 (3.19%) GDPR
6 12 (2.95%) NIST
7 11 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 10 (2.46%) Accessibility
9 7 (1.72%) NCSC
10 6 (1.47%) Cyber Essentials
11 5 (1.23%) GRC
12 3 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 2 (0.49%) P3O
14 1 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.25%) IFRS
14 1 (0.25%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 19770
14 1 (0.25%) UCITS
System Software
1 74 (18.18%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.95%) Docker
3 7 (1.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.23%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.23%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.98%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.98%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.74%) Terminal Services
6 3 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.74%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.49%) IAG
8 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.25%) zsh
Systems Management
1 46 (11.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (5.16%) SCCM
3 14 (3.44%) Kubernetes
4 11 (2.70%) Ansible
4 11 (2.70%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.47%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.98%) Grafana
6 4 (0.98%) Puppet
7 3 (0.74%) Nagios
7 3 (0.74%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.74%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.74%) vMotion
7 3 (0.74%) WSUS
8 1 (0.25%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.25%) ITRS Geneos
8 1 (0.25%) NetBackup
8 1 (0.25%) Salt
8 1 (0.25%) SCOM
8 1 (0.25%) SCOrch
8 1 (0.25%) SELinux
Vendors
1 38 (9.34%) ServiceNow
2 25 (6.14%) Databricks
3 22 (5.41%) Oracle
4 21 (5.16%) Google
4 21 (5.16%) SAP
5 12 (2.95%) Apple
5 12 (2.95%) Cisco
6 11 (2.70%) VMware
7 10 (2.46%) Bloomberg
8 9 (2.21%) Citrix
9 7 (1.72%) Salesforce
10 6 (1.47%) Workday
11 5 (1.23%) Foundry
11 5 (1.23%) HP
11 5 (1.23%) OpenAI
11 5 (1.23%) Symantec
12 4 (0.98%) Dynatrace
12 4 (0.98%) IBM
12 4 (0.98%) iManage
12 4 (0.98%) Informatica