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 26 June 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
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +2 -6 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 331 282 393
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 12.70% 14.51% 16.53%
As % of the Vendors category 31.34% 31.79% 37.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 179 309
10th Percentile £223 £263 £257
25th Percentile £425 £363 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +6.50% -6.98% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £725 £750
London median daily rate £510 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -0.49% +2.50% -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 5 5
10th Percentile - £23.78 -
25th Percentile - £26.45 £12.75
Median hourly rate - £28.50 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year - +67.65% -67.62%
75th Percentile - £30.25 £27.00
90th Percentile - £124.60 -
London median hourly rate £27.50 £23.00 £19.50
% change year-on-year +19.57% +17.95% -24.58%

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 1,056 887 1,040
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 40.52% 45.63% 43.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 695 552 762
10th Percentile £357 £304 £319
25th Percentile £450 £419 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.92% -0.91% -
75th Percentile £656 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £751 £775
London median daily rate £525 £533 £537
% change year-on-year -1.55% -0.78% -2.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 17 9
10th Percentile - £23.05 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.75 £16.00
Median hourly rate £23.16 £31.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.29% +37.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £42.13 £56.75 £27.00
90th Percentile £64.00 £79.34 £51.35
London median hourly rate £35.50 £28.55 £23.80
% change year-on-year +24.34% +19.96% -12.66%

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 26 June 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
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 26 June 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 +4 313 £550 +10.00% 138
West End of London -6 6 £550 +120.00% 11
City of Westminster -8 5 £543 -13.89% 6
Kensington and Chelsea -1 2 £588 - 2
Southwark -2 1 £188 - 2
Lambeth - 1 £350 - 1
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 39 (11.78%) SharePoint
2 21 (6.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.81%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.81%) Confluence
4 2 (0.60%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 25 (7.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 20 (6.04%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (3.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.11%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.51%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.30%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.30%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.30%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 11 (3.32%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (2.72%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.60%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.60%) SAP ERP
3 2 (0.60%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.30%) iTrent
4 1 (0.30%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.30%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.30%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP Oil and Gas
4 1 (0.30%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 1 (0.30%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 127 (38.37%) Azure
2 78 (23.56%) Microsoft 365
3 63 (19.03%) Power Platform
4 42 (12.69%) Entra ID
5 27 (8.16%) AWS
5 27 (8.16%) Dynamics 365
6 21 (6.34%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (6.34%) Power Automate
7 19 (5.74%) Microsoft Purview
8 18 (5.44%) PowerApps
8 18 (5.44%) SaaS
9 16 (4.83%) GCP
9 16 (4.83%) Microsoft Copilot
10 11 (3.32%) GitHub
11 10 (3.02%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (3.02%) OneDrive
11 10 (3.02%) Serverless
12 8 (2.42%) Azure Logic Apps
12 8 (2.42%) Snowflake
13 7 (2.11%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 21 (6.34%) DNS
2 16 (4.83%) DHCP
2 16 (4.83%) Firewall
3 10 (3.02%) VPN
4 8 (2.42%) TCP/IP
5 7 (2.11%) LAN
5 7 (2.11%) Network Security
5 7 (2.11%) WAN
6 5 (1.51%) Unified Communications
7 3 (0.91%) Internet
7 3 (0.91%) Intranet
7 3 (0.91%) SMTP
7 3 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (0.60%) Multicast
8 2 (0.60%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.60%) Wireshark
9 1 (0.30%) DKIM
9 1 (0.30%) DMARC
9 1 (0.30%) Reverse Proxy
9 1 (0.30%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (11.78%) Power BI
2 17 (5.14%) SQL Server
3 15 (4.53%) Data Warehouse
4 11 (3.32%) Metadata
5 7 (2.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 7 (2.11%) Tableau
6 6 (1.81%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.51%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.51%) Data Lake
7 5 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.21%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (1.21%) Amazon Redshift
8 4 (1.21%) Big Data
8 4 (1.21%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.21%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.91%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.91%) MySQL
9 3 (0.91%) Semantic Layer
10 2 (0.60%) Oracle Reports
10 2 (0.60%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 13 (3.93%) JIRA
2 7 (2.11%) Git
3 3 (0.91%) Artifactory
3 3 (0.91%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.91%) ERwin
3 3 (0.91%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.91%) Visual Studio
4 2 (0.60%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.60%) GitLab
4 2 (0.60%) JUnit
4 2 (0.60%) MSI
4 2 (0.60%) TeamCity
5 1 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 1 (0.30%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.30%) Jasmine
5 1 (0.30%) Karma Test Runner
5 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 103 (31.12%) Social Skills
2 98 (29.61%) Finance
3 45 (13.60%) Analytical Skills
4 27 (8.16%) Banking
5 19 (5.74%) Public Sector
6 10 (3.02%) General Ledger
7 8 (2.42%) Investment Banking
8 7 (2.11%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.81%) Legal
9 6 (1.81%) Retail
10 5 (1.51%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.51%) Front Office
10 5 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.51%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.51%) Marketing
11 4 (1.21%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.21%) Military
11 4 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.91%) Law
12 3 (0.91%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 47 (14.20%) Architect
2 43 (12.99%) Analyst
3 33 (9.97%) Consultant
4 32 (9.67%) Senior
5 31 (9.37%) Developer
6 20 (6.04%) Support Engineer
7 15 (4.53%) Data Architect
7 15 (4.53%) Data Engineer
8 14 (4.23%) Project Manager
9 13 (3.93%) Business Analyst
10 12 (3.63%) Solutions Architect
11 11 (3.32%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 10 (3.02%) Cloud Engineer
12 10 (3.02%) IT Support
12 10 (3.02%) Lead
13 9 (2.72%) Microsoft Engineer
13 9 (2.72%) Security Consultant
14 8 (2.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 8 (2.42%) IT Engineer
14 8 (2.42%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.32%) .NET
2 10 (3.02%) REST
3 9 (2.72%) Middleware
4 8 (2.42%) PySpark
5 6 (1.81%) HTML
5 6 (1.81%) JSON
5 6 (1.81%) SAML
6 5 (1.51%) .NET Framework
6 5 (1.51%) CSS
6 5 (1.51%) XML
7 4 (1.21%) Microsoft Graph
7 4 (1.21%) OAuth
7 4 (1.21%) OpenID
7 4 (1.21%) RESTful
7 4 (1.21%) SOAP
7 4 (1.21%) Spring
8 3 (0.91%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.91%) HTML5 Canvas
8 3 (0.91%) Kafka
8 3 (0.91%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.83%) Onboarding
2 10 (3.02%) Cloud Native
2 10 (3.02%) Security Posture
3 9 (2.72%) PKI
4 7 (2.11%) AI Agents
4 7 (2.11%) Enterprise Software
4 7 (2.11%) Management Information System
5 6 (1.81%) Clustering
5 6 (1.81%) Equities
5 6 (1.81%) Video Conferencing
5 6 (1.81%) Virtual Team
6 5 (1.51%) Distributed Systems
6 5 (1.51%) Fixed Income
6 5 (1.51%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 5 (1.51%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (1.21%) Cloud Security Posture
7 4 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (1.21%) PMI
7 4 (1.21%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 49 (14.80%) Windows
2 12 (3.63%) Mac OS
3 11 (3.32%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.42%) Linux
5 5 (1.51%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.60%) Unix
6 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.30%) Android
7 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.30%) SUSE
7 1 (0.30%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.30%) VMS
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (16.62%) Migration
2 53 (16.01%) Analytics
2 53 (16.01%) Stakeholder Management
3 50 (15.11%) Problem-Solving
4 47 (14.20%) Agile
5 45 (13.60%) DevOps
6 44 (13.29%) Business Intelligence
7 42 (12.69%) AI
8 40 (12.08%) CI/CD
9 38 (11.48%) Data Modelling
10 34 (10.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 30 (9.06%) Data Governance
12 27 (8.16%) Data Engineering
13 26 (7.85%) Roadmaps
14 25 (7.55%) Decision-Making
15 24 (7.25%) Continuous Improvement
16 23 (6.95%) Data Migration
17 22 (6.65%) Validation
18 21 (6.34%) Project Delivery
19 20 (6.04%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 51 (15.41%) SQL
2 33 (9.97%) Python
3 29 (8.76%) PowerShell
4 11 (3.32%) C#
4 11 (3.32%) Java
5 6 (1.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 6 (1.81%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.81%) Kusto Query Language
6 5 (1.51%) Bash
6 5 (1.51%) T-SQL
7 4 (1.21%) Bicep
7 4 (1.21%) TypeScript
8 2 (0.60%) C++
8 2 (0.60%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.30%) COBOL
9 1 (0.30%) Google Apps Script
9 1 (0.30%) RPG
9 1 (0.30%) X++
Qualifications
1 46 (13.90%) Security Cleared
2 29 (8.76%) Degree
2 29 (8.76%) SC Cleared
3 12 (3.63%) DV Cleared
4 10 (3.02%) Microsoft Certification
5 7 (2.11%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.81%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (1.81%) CISSP
6 6 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.81%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.51%) CISM
7 5 (1.51%) DBS Check
8 4 (1.21%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.91%) CCNP
9 3 (0.91%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (0.91%) PMP
10 2 (0.60%) CCNA
10 2 (0.60%) GIAC
10 2 (0.60%) Network+ Certification
10 2 (0.60%) SnowPro
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (7.25%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.44%) GDPR
3 13 (3.93%) QA
4 12 (3.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.72%) NIST
5 9 (2.72%) PMO
6 7 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.51%) GRC
7 5 (1.51%) SLA
8 4 (1.21%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.91%) IFRS
9 3 (0.91%) NCSC
9 3 (0.91%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.60%) P3O
11 1 (0.30%) COBIT
11 1 (0.30%) ISO 20022
11 1 (0.30%) MiFID
11 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.30%) UCITS
System Software
1 48 (14.50%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.93%) Docker
3 8 (2.42%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.21%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.21%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.91%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.91%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.60%) IAG
6 2 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.30%) zsh
Systems Management
1 30 (9.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (3.93%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.63%) Terraform
4 8 (2.42%) SCCM
4 8 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.51%) Ansible
6 4 (1.21%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.21%) Puppet
7 3 (0.91%) Nagios
7 3 (0.91%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.91%) vMotion
8 2 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.60%) Grafana
8 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.30%) Autotask
9 1 (0.30%) Salt
9 1 (0.30%) WSUS
Vendors
1 24 (7.25%) Databricks
2 17 (5.14%) ServiceNow
3 14 (4.23%) Google
4 13 (3.93%) Oracle
4 13 (3.93%) Salesforce
4 13 (3.93%) SAP
5 10 (3.02%) Citrix
6 7 (2.11%) Apple
6 7 (2.11%) Cisco
6 7 (2.11%) VMware
7 6 (1.81%) Informatica
7 6 (1.81%) Workday
8 5 (1.51%) Foundry
8 5 (1.51%) HP
9 4 (1.21%) Bloomberg
9 4 (1.21%) Charles River
9 4 (1.21%) iManage
9 4 (1.21%) OpenAI
9 4 (1.21%) Palo Alto
9 4 (1.21%) Sitecore