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 1 July 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
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -6 +4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 339 283 394
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 12.88% 14.46% 16.79%
As % of the Vendors category 31.74% 31.83% 37.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 240 181 309
10th Percentile £223 £263 £260
25th Percentile £425 £363 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -0.92%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £725 £750
London median daily rate £510 £514 £500
% change year-on-year -0.73% +2.75% -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 5 5
10th Percentile - £23.78 -
25th Percentile £19.50 £26.45 £12.75
Median hourly rate £21.00 £28.50 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.32% +67.65% -67.62%
75th Percentile £22.50 £30.25 £27.00
90th Percentile - £124.60 -
London median hourly rate £26.25 £23.00 £19.50
% change year-on-year +14.13% +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 1,068 889 1,040
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 40.58% 45.43% 44.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 707 556 761
10th Percentile £350 £308 £325
25th Percentile £450 £424 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £548 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.46% -0.45% -
75th Percentile £656 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £751 £775
London median daily rate £525 £530 £535
% change year-on-year -0.94% -0.93% -3.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 17 8
10th Percentile - £23.05 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.75 £15.19
Median hourly rate £22.08 £31.00 £21.75
Median % change year-on-year -28.77% +42.53% -13.00%
75th Percentile £41.69 £56.75 £27.00
90th Percentile £63.88 £79.34 £63.53
London median hourly rate £35.50 £27.78 £23.80
% change year-on-year +27.81% +16.70% -21.32%

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 1 July 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 1 July 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 +5 321 £538 +7.50% 220
West End of London -5 6 £550 +120.00% 50
City of Westminster -9 5 £543 -13.89% 42
Southwark -2 1 £188 - 1
Kensington and Chelsea -2 1 £600 - 2
Lambeth - 1 £350 -
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 40 (11.80%) SharePoint
2 21 (6.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.77%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.77%) Confluence
4 2 (0.59%) IIS
5 1 (0.29%) Apache
5 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 25 (7.37%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (5.60%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (3.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.06%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.47%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.29%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.29%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.29%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 14 (4.13%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (2.65%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.59%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.59%) SAP ERP
3 2 (0.59%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.59%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.29%) iTrent
4 1 (0.29%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.29%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP Oil and Gas
4 1 (0.29%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 125 (36.87%) Azure
2 78 (23.01%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (18.29%) Power Platform
4 43 (12.68%) Entra ID
5 29 (8.55%) Dynamics 365
6 27 (7.96%) AWS
7 21 (6.19%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (6.19%) Power Automate
8 19 (5.60%) Microsoft Purview
8 19 (5.60%) SaaS
9 18 (5.31%) PowerApps
10 16 (4.72%) GCP
10 16 (4.72%) Microsoft Copilot
11 11 (3.24%) GitHub
11 11 (3.24%) OneDrive
12 10 (2.95%) Serverless
13 9 (2.65%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (2.65%) Azure Logic Apps
14 8 (2.36%) Snowflake
15 7 (2.06%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 21 (6.19%) DNS
2 17 (5.01%) Firewall
3 16 (4.72%) DHCP
4 11 (3.24%) VPN
5 9 (2.65%) TCP/IP
6 7 (2.06%) Network Security
7 6 (1.77%) LAN
7 6 (1.77%) WAN
8 4 (1.18%) Unified Communications
9 3 (0.88%) Internet
9 3 (0.88%) Intranet
9 3 (0.88%) SMTP
10 2 (0.59%) DKIM
10 2 (0.59%) DMARC
10 2 (0.59%) Multicast
10 2 (0.59%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.59%) Wireshark
11 1 (0.29%) SD-WAN
11 1 (0.29%) Structured Cabling
11 1 (0.29%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (11.21%) Power BI
2 17 (5.01%) SQL Server
3 15 (4.42%) Data Warehouse
4 10 (2.95%) Metadata
5 7 (2.06%) Tableau
6 6 (1.77%) Relational Database
6 6 (1.77%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 5 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.47%) Data Lake
7 5 (1.47%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.18%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (1.18%) Amazon Redshift
8 4 (1.18%) Big Data
8 4 (1.18%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.18%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.88%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.88%) MySQL
9 3 (0.88%) Semantic Layer
10 2 (0.59%) Oracle Reports
10 2 (0.59%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 14 (4.13%) JIRA
2 7 (2.06%) Git
3 3 (0.88%) Artifactory
3 3 (0.88%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.88%) ERwin
3 3 (0.88%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.88%) JUnit
3 3 (0.88%) Visual Studio
4 2 (0.59%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.59%) GitLab
4 2 (0.59%) MSI
4 2 (0.59%) TeamCity
5 1 (0.29%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 1 (0.29%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.29%) Jasmine
5 1 (0.29%) Karma Test Runner
5 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 106 (31.27%) Social Skills
2 102 (30.09%) Finance
3 46 (13.57%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (8.26%) Banking
5 19 (5.60%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.24%) General Ledger
7 8 (2.36%) Investment Banking
8 7 (2.06%) Retail
8 7 (2.06%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.77%) Legal
10 5 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.47%) Front Office
10 5 (1.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.47%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.47%) Marketing
11 4 (1.18%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.18%) Law
11 4 (1.18%) Military
11 4 (1.18%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.88%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 48 (14.16%) Architect
2 43 (12.68%) Analyst
3 35 (10.32%) Consultant
4 34 (10.03%) Developer
5 31 (9.14%) Senior
6 22 (6.49%) Support Engineer
7 15 (4.42%) Data Architect
8 14 (4.13%) Data Engineer
8 14 (4.13%) Project Manager
9 13 (3.83%) Business Analyst
9 13 (3.83%) Solutions Architect
10 11 (3.24%) Dynamics 365 Developer
10 11 (3.24%) IT Support
10 11 (3.24%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
11 10 (2.95%) Cloud Engineer
11 10 (2.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (2.95%) IT Engineer
11 10 (2.95%) Lead
11 10 (2.95%) Microsoft Engineer
12 9 (2.65%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.24%) .NET
1 11 (3.24%) REST
2 9 (2.65%) Middleware
3 7 (2.06%) PySpark
4 6 (1.77%) HTML
4 6 (1.77%) JSON
4 6 (1.77%) SAML
5 5 (1.47%) .NET Framework
5 5 (1.47%) CSS
5 5 (1.47%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (1.47%) Spring
5 5 (1.47%) XML
6 4 (1.18%) OAuth
6 4 (1.18%) OpenID
6 4 (1.18%) RESTful
6 4 (1.18%) SOAP
7 3 (0.88%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.88%) GraphQL
7 3 (0.88%) Spring Boot
7 3 (0.88%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.72%) Onboarding
2 10 (2.95%) Cloud Native
2 10 (2.95%) Security Posture
3 9 (2.65%) PKI
4 8 (2.36%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (2.36%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (2.06%) AI Agents
6 6 (1.77%) Clustering
6 6 (1.77%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (1.77%) Equities
6 6 (1.77%) Management Information System
6 6 (1.77%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.47%) Fixed Income
7 5 (1.47%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 5 (1.47%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.18%) Cloud Security Posture
8 4 (1.18%) PMI
8 4 (1.18%) Reference Data
9 3 (0.88%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 53 (15.63%) Windows
2 13 (3.83%) Mac OS
3 11 (3.24%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.36%) Linux
5 5 (1.47%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.59%) Unix
6 2 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.29%) Android
7 1 (0.29%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.29%) SUSE
7 1 (0.29%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.29%) VMS
7 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (17.40%) Migration
2 55 (16.22%) Stakeholder Management
3 53 (15.63%) Analytics
4 51 (15.04%) Problem-Solving
5 46 (13.57%) DevOps
6 45 (13.27%) Agile
7 43 (12.68%) Business Intelligence
8 42 (12.39%) AI
9 41 (12.09%) CI/CD
10 38 (11.21%) Data Modelling
11 34 (10.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 29 (8.55%) Data Governance
13 27 (7.96%) Roadmaps
14 26 (7.67%) Data Engineering
15 25 (7.37%) Continuous Improvement
15 25 (7.37%) Decision-Making
16 24 (7.08%) Data Migration
16 24 (7.08%) Project Delivery
17 22 (6.49%) Asset Management
17 22 (6.49%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 50 (14.75%) SQL
2 34 (10.03%) Python
3 30 (8.85%) PowerShell
4 12 (3.54%) Java
5 11 (3.24%) C#
6 6 (1.77%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 6 (1.77%) JavaScript
6 6 (1.77%) Kusto Query Language
7 5 (1.47%) Bash
7 5 (1.47%) T-SQL
8 4 (1.18%) Bicep
8 4 (1.18%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.59%) C++
9 2 (0.59%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.29%) COBOL
10 1 (0.29%) Google Apps Script
10 1 (0.29%) RPG
10 1 (0.29%) X++
Qualifications
1 48 (14.16%) Security Cleared
2 30 (8.85%) SC Cleared
3 29 (8.55%) Degree
4 12 (3.54%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.95%) Microsoft Certification
6 7 (2.06%) Azure Certification
6 7 (2.06%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (1.77%) CISSP
7 6 (1.77%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.47%) CISM
8 5 (1.47%) DBS Check
8 5 (1.47%) PMI Certification
9 4 (1.18%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.88%) CCNP
10 3 (0.88%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (0.59%) CCNA
11 2 (0.59%) CompTIA CySA+
11 2 (0.59%) GIAC
11 2 (0.59%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.59%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.78%) Data Quality
2 17 (5.01%) GDPR
3 13 (3.83%) QA
4 10 (2.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.65%) PMO
6 8 (2.36%) NIST
7 7 (2.06%) Cyber Essentials
8 6 (1.77%) SLA
9 5 (1.47%) GRC
10 3 (0.88%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.88%) IFRS
10 3 (0.88%) NCSC
11 2 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.59%) P3O
11 2 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.29%) COBIT
12 1 (0.29%) GAAP
12 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 1 (0.29%) MiFID
12 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 47 (13.86%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.83%) Docker
3 7 (2.06%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.18%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.18%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.18%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.88%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.88%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.88%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.59%) IAG
7 1 (0.29%) zsh
Systems Management
1 32 (9.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (3.83%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.54%) Terraform
4 9 (2.65%) SCCM
5 8 (2.36%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.47%) Ansible
7 4 (1.18%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.18%) Puppet
8 3 (0.88%) Nagios
8 3 (0.88%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.88%) vMotion
9 2 (0.59%) Grafana
9 2 (0.59%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.29%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 1 (0.29%) Autotask
10 1 (0.29%) ITRS Geneos
10 1 (0.29%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.29%) Salt
10 1 (0.29%) WSUS
Vendors
1 22 (6.49%) Databricks
2 20 (5.90%) ServiceNow
3 14 (4.13%) Google
3 14 (4.13%) Oracle
4 13 (3.83%) Salesforce
4 13 (3.83%) SAP
5 10 (2.95%) Citrix
6 8 (2.36%) Apple
7 7 (2.06%) Cisco
8 6 (1.77%) Informatica
8 6 (1.77%) VMware
8 6 (1.77%) Workday
9 5 (1.47%) Foundry
9 5 (1.47%) HP
10 4 (1.18%) Bloomberg
10 4 (1.18%) Charles River
10 4 (1.18%) iManage
10 4 (1.18%) Okta
10 4 (1.18%) OpenAI
10 4 (1.18%) Sitecore