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 8 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
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +2 -6 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 347 299 398
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 13.22% 14.76% 16.86%
As % of the Vendors category 32.13% 31.84% 38.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 189 311
10th Percentile £224 £263 £260
25th Percentile £425 £363 £426
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -0.46%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £725 £750
London median daily rate £501 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -2.34% +2.50% -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 £25.50 £23.23 £19.50
% change year-on-year +9.80% +19.10% -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 1,080 939 1,047
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 41.16% 46.35% 44.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 722 590 762
10th Percentile £350 £312 £313
25th Percentile £438 £424 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £656 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £775
London median daily rate £525 £530 £530
% change year-on-year -0.94% - -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 18 8
10th Percentile - £23.23 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.91 £15.19
Median hourly rate £22.50 £32.83 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -31.45% +64.13% -20.00%
75th Percentile £41.25 £62.00 £27.00
90th Percentile £63.75 £75.90 £63.53
London median hourly rate £35.50 £28.33 £24.52
% change year-on-year +25.33% +15.53% -20.27%

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 8 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 8 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 +4 329 £550 +10.00% 186
West End of London -5 6 £550 +120.00% 10
City of Westminster -11 5 £543 -13.89% 4
Southwark -2 1 £188 - 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 39 (11.24%) SharePoint
2 20 (5.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.73%) Confluence
4 2 (0.58%) IIS
5 1 (0.29%) Apache
5 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 26 (7.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (5.19%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (3.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.02%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.44%) 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 13 (3.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (2.88%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.58%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.58%) iTrent
3 2 (0.58%) SAP ERP
3 2 (0.58%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.29%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP CRM
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
1 132 (38.04%) Azure
2 76 (21.90%) Microsoft 365
3 63 (18.16%) Power Platform
4 46 (13.26%) Entra ID
5 28 (8.07%) AWS
5 28 (8.07%) Dynamics 365
6 23 (6.63%) SaaS
7 21 (6.05%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (6.05%) Power Automate
8 20 (5.76%) Microsoft Purview
9 18 (5.19%) GCP
9 18 (5.19%) Microsoft Copilot
9 18 (5.19%) PowerApps
10 11 (3.17%) GitHub
10 11 (3.17%) OneDrive
11 10 (2.88%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (2.88%) Serverless
12 9 (2.59%) Azure Logic Apps
13 8 (2.31%) dbt
13 8 (2.31%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 22 (6.34%) DNS
2 17 (4.90%) DHCP
3 16 (4.61%) Firewall
4 11 (3.17%) VPN
5 10 (2.88%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.73%) LAN
6 6 (1.73%) Network Security
6 6 (1.73%) WAN
7 3 (0.86%) Internet
7 3 (0.86%) SMTP
7 3 (0.86%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.58%) DKIM
8 2 (0.58%) DMARC
8 2 (0.58%) Intranet
8 2 (0.58%) Multicast
8 2 (0.58%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (0.58%) Wireshark
9 1 (0.29%) SD-WAN
9 1 (0.29%) Structured Cabling
9 1 (0.29%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (11.24%) Power BI
2 18 (5.19%) SQL Server
3 16 (4.61%) Data Warehouse
4 11 (3.17%) Metadata
5 7 (2.02%) Tableau
6 6 (1.73%) Data Lake
6 6 (1.73%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.44%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.44%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (1.44%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 4 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (1.15%) Amazon Redshift
8 4 (1.15%) Big Data
8 4 (1.15%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.15%) Semantic Layer
8 4 (1.15%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.86%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.86%) MySQL
9 3 (0.86%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 15 (4.32%) JIRA
2 7 (2.02%) Git
3 3 (0.86%) Artifactory
3 3 (0.86%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.86%) ERwin
3 3 (0.86%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.86%) JUnit
3 3 (0.86%) Visual Studio
4 2 (0.58%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.58%) GitLab
4 2 (0.58%) MSI
4 2 (0.58%) 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
1 109 (31.41%) Social Skills
2 104 (29.97%) Finance
3 51 (14.70%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (8.07%) Banking
5 20 (5.76%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.17%) General Ledger
7 8 (2.31%) Investment Banking
7 8 (2.31%) Retail
7 8 (2.31%) Telecoms
8 7 (2.02%) Legal
9 6 (1.73%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.44%) Front Office
10 5 (1.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.44%) Marketing
10 5 (1.44%) Military
11 4 (1.15%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.15%) Law
11 4 (1.15%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 51 (14.70%) Architect
2 45 (12.97%) Analyst
3 34 (9.80%) Consultant
3 34 (9.80%) Developer
4 31 (8.93%) Senior
5 23 (6.63%) Support Engineer
6 16 (4.61%) Data Architect
6 16 (4.61%) Data Engineer
7 15 (4.32%) Project Manager
8 13 (3.75%) Business Analyst
8 13 (3.75%) Solutions Architect
9 12 (3.46%) IT Support
9 12 (3.46%) Lead
10 11 (3.17%) IT Engineer
11 10 (2.88%) Cloud Engineer
11 10 (2.88%) Dynamics 365 Developer
11 10 (2.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (2.88%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 9 (2.59%) Microsoft Engineer
13 8 (2.31%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.17%) .NET
1 11 (3.17%) REST
2 9 (2.59%) Middleware
3 8 (2.31%) PySpark
4 6 (1.73%) HTML
4 6 (1.73%) JSON
4 6 (1.73%) SAML
5 5 (1.44%) .NET Framework
5 5 (1.44%) CSS
5 5 (1.44%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (1.44%) OAuth
5 5 (1.44%) Spring
5 5 (1.44%) XML
6 4 (1.15%) OpenID
6 4 (1.15%) RESTful
6 4 (1.15%) SOAP
7 3 (0.86%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.86%) HTML5 Canvas
7 3 (0.86%) Kafka
7 3 (0.86%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.61%) Onboarding
2 11 (3.17%) Cloud Native
3 9 (2.59%) PKI
3 9 (2.59%) Security Posture
4 8 (2.31%) AI Agents
4 8 (2.31%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (2.31%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (2.02%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (1.73%) Clustering
6 6 (1.73%) Equities
6 6 (1.73%) Management Information System
6 6 (1.73%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.44%) Fixed Income
7 5 (1.44%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 5 (1.44%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.15%) Cloud Security Posture
8 4 (1.15%) Low-Code
8 4 (1.15%) PMI
8 4 (1.15%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 54 (15.56%) Windows
2 14 (4.03%) Mac OS
3 11 (3.17%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.31%) Linux
5 6 (1.73%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.58%) Android
6 2 (0.58%) Unix
6 2 (0.58%) Windows Server 2012
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 (17.00%) Migration
2 56 (16.14%) Stakeholder Management
3 55 (15.85%) Analytics
4 53 (15.27%) Problem-Solving
5 48 (13.83%) DevOps
6 46 (13.26%) Agile
7 45 (12.97%) AI
8 44 (12.68%) Business Intelligence
8 44 (12.68%) CI/CD
9 40 (11.53%) Data Modelling
10 36 (10.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 31 (8.93%) Data Governance
12 28 (8.07%) Data Engineering
12 28 (8.07%) Roadmaps
13 26 (7.49%) Project Delivery
14 25 (7.20%) Continuous Improvement
14 25 (7.20%) Decision-Making
14 25 (7.20%) Validation
15 24 (6.92%) Data Migration
16 23 (6.63%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 53 (15.27%) SQL
2 36 (10.37%) Python
3 30 (8.65%) PowerShell
4 13 (3.75%) Java
5 11 (3.17%) C#
6 8 (2.31%) JavaScript
7 7 (2.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 6 (1.73%) Kusto Query Language
9 5 (1.44%) Bash
9 5 (1.44%) T-SQL
10 4 (1.15%) Bicep
10 4 (1.15%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.58%) C++
11 2 (0.58%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.29%) COBOL
12 1 (0.29%) Google Apps Script
12 1 (0.29%) R
12 1 (0.29%) RPG
12 1 (0.29%) X++
Qualifications
1 53 (15.27%) Security Cleared
2 34 (9.80%) SC Cleared
3 29 (8.36%) Degree
4 12 (3.46%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.88%) Microsoft Certification
6 7 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (1.73%) Azure Certification
7 6 (1.73%) CISSP
7 6 (1.73%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (1.73%) PMI Certification
8 5 (1.44%) CISM
8 5 (1.44%) DBS Check
9 4 (1.15%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.86%) CCNP
10 3 (0.86%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (0.86%) Network+ Certification
10 3 (0.86%) PMP
11 2 (0.58%) CCNA
11 2 (0.58%) CompTIA CySA+
11 2 (0.58%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (7.20%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.19%) GDPR
3 15 (4.32%) QA
4 11 (3.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (2.88%) NIST
6 9 (2.59%) PMO
7 8 (2.31%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (2.02%) SLA
9 5 (1.44%) Accessibility
9 5 (1.44%) GRC
10 4 (1.15%) NCSC
11 3 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.86%) IFRS
12 2 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.58%) P3O
12 2 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.29%) COBIT
13 1 (0.29%) GAAP
13 1 (0.29%) MiFID
13 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 50 (14.41%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.75%) Docker
3 6 (1.73%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.15%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.15%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.86%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.86%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.86%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.58%) IAG
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.29%) zsh
Systems Management
1 32 (9.22%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (3.75%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.46%) Terraform
4 9 (2.59%) SCCM
5 8 (2.31%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.44%) Ansible
6 5 (1.44%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.15%) Puppet
8 3 (0.86%) Grafana
8 3 (0.86%) Nagios
8 3 (0.86%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.86%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.86%) vMotion
9 1 (0.29%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.29%) Autotask
9 1 (0.29%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.29%) ITRS Geneos
9 1 (0.29%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.29%) Salt
9 1 (0.29%) WSUS
Vendors
1 22 (6.34%) Databricks
2 21 (6.05%) ServiceNow
3 17 (4.90%) Google
4 15 (4.32%) Oracle
4 15 (4.32%) SAP
5 14 (4.03%) Salesforce
6 10 (2.88%) Citrix
7 8 (2.31%) Apple
8 7 (2.02%) Cisco
9 6 (1.73%) Foundry
9 6 (1.73%) Informatica
9 6 (1.73%) VMware
9 6 (1.73%) Workday
10 5 (1.44%) HP
10 5 (1.44%) OpenAI
11 4 (1.15%) Bloomberg
11 4 (1.15%) Charles River
11 4 (1.15%) Okta
11 4 (1.15%) Sitecore
11 4 (1.15%) Zscaler