Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Microsoft
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the City of 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 18 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
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -6 +2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 326 284 367
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 13.39% 15.24% 17.20%
As % of the Vendors category 32.47% 32.20% 38.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 188 282
10th Percentile £265 £279 £263
25th Percentile £453 £375 £427
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -6.98% -2.27%
75th Percentile £670 £638 £649
90th Percentile £762 £725 £750
Central London median daily rate £550 £500 £528
% change year-on-year +10.00% -5.21% -2.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 3 6
10th Percentile - £22.95 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.50 £24.38 £13.56
Median hourly rate £21.00 £28.50 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.32% +29.55% -58.10%
75th Percentile £22.50 £108.88 £27.00
90th Percentile - £156.05 £59.75
Central London median hourly rate £21.00 £28.50 £22.00
% change year-on-year -26.32% +29.55% -58.10%

All Vendors
City of 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 the City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,004 882 957
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 41.25% 47.34% 44.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 671 558 682
10th Percentile £358 £325 £326
25th Percentile £450 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £668 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £754 £775
Central London median daily rate £535 £550 £540
% change year-on-year -2.82% +1.85% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 14 11
10th Percentile - £22.53 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.91 £17.25
Median hourly rate £19.50 £38.58 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -49.45% +42.87% +20.00%
75th Percentile £25.12 £63.75 £76.88
90th Percentile £42.13 £89.67 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £21.75 £32.83 £27.00
% change year-on-year -33.74% +21.57% +13.68%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the City of London

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the City of London over the 6 months to 18 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the City of London

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of 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 36 (11.04%) SharePoint
2 18 (5.52%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.84%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.53%) Confluence
5 2 (0.61%) IIS
6 1 (0.31%) Apache
6 1 (0.31%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.31%) nginx
Applications
1 23 (7.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (3.99%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (2.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.23%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.31%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.31%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.31%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.31%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.31%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 13 (3.99%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (3.37%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.92%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.61%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.31%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.31%) iTrent
5 1 (0.31%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.31%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.31%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.31%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.31%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.31%) SAP FI-AR
5 1 (0.31%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.31%) SAP Oil and Gas
5 1 (0.31%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 123 (37.73%) Azure
2 66 (20.25%) Microsoft 365
3 61 (18.71%) Power Platform
4 42 (12.88%) Entra ID
5 26 (7.98%) AWS
5 26 (7.98%) Dynamics 365
6 22 (6.75%) Azure DevOps
6 22 (6.75%) Microsoft Copilot
6 22 (6.75%) SaaS
7 20 (6.13%) Power Automate
8 18 (5.52%) GCP
9 16 (4.91%) Microsoft Purview
10 14 (4.29%) GitHub
10 14 (4.29%) PowerApps
11 11 (3.37%) OneDrive
12 10 (3.07%) Azure AI
12 10 (3.07%) Serverless
13 9 (2.76%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (2.76%) Copilot Studio
13 9 (2.76%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 21 (6.44%) DNS
2 16 (4.91%) DHCP
2 16 (4.91%) Firewall
3 11 (3.37%) TCP/IP
3 11 (3.37%) VPN
4 5 (1.53%) LAN
4 5 (1.53%) Network Security
4 5 (1.53%) WAN
5 3 (0.92%) Internet
5 3 (0.92%) SMTP
5 3 (0.92%) Unified Communications
6 2 (0.61%) Intranet
6 2 (0.61%) Multicast
6 2 (0.61%) Reverse Proxy
6 2 (0.61%) Wireshark
7 1 (0.31%) iSCSI
7 1 (0.31%) OpenVPN
7 1 (0.31%) SAN
7 1 (0.31%) SSL
7 1 (0.31%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (12.27%) Power BI
2 18 (5.52%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (4.91%) SQL Server
4 8 (2.45%) Metadata
5 6 (1.84%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (1.84%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 5 (1.53%) Data Lake
6 5 (1.53%) Semantic Layer
6 5 (1.53%) Tableau
7 4 (1.23%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.23%) Amazon Redshift
7 4 (1.23%) Big Data
7 4 (1.23%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.23%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.23%) Snowflake Schema
7 4 (1.23%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.92%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.61%) SAP BW
9 2 (0.61%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 13 (3.99%) JIRA
2 8 (2.45%) Git
3 4 (1.23%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.92%) Artifactory
4 3 (0.92%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.92%) JUnit
4 3 (0.92%) Visual Studio
5 2 (0.61%) ERwin
5 2 (0.61%) Fiddler
5 2 (0.61%) GitLab
5 2 (0.61%) MSI
5 2 (0.61%) Selenium
5 2 (0.61%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.31%) Appium
6 1 (0.31%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.31%) ER Studio
6 1 (0.31%) Karma Test Runner
6 1 (0.31%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.31%) WebDriver
General
1 100 (30.67%) Finance
2 98 (30.06%) Social Skills
3 50 (15.34%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (8.59%) Banking
5 16 (4.91%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.37%) General Ledger
7 7 (2.15%) Influencing Skills
7 7 (2.15%) Investment Banking
7 7 (2.15%) Legal
7 7 (2.15%) Telecoms
8 6 (1.84%) Retail
9 5 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.53%) Front Office
9 5 (1.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.53%) Law
10 4 (1.23%) Back Office
10 4 (1.23%) Financial Institution
10 4 (1.23%) Marketing
11 3 (0.92%) Manufacturing
11 3 (0.92%) Military
Job Titles
1 51 (15.64%) Architect
2 43 (13.19%) Analyst
3 32 (9.82%) Consultant
4 30 (9.20%) Developer
5 28 (8.59%) Senior
6 21 (6.44%) Support Engineer
7 16 (4.91%) Data Architect
8 14 (4.29%) Lead
8 14 (4.29%) Project Manager
9 13 (3.99%) Data Engineer
9 13 (3.99%) Solutions Architect
10 12 (3.68%) Business Analyst
11 11 (3.37%) IT Support
12 10 (3.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.07%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
13 9 (2.76%) Cloud Engineer
13 9 (2.76%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 9 (2.76%) IT Engineer
14 8 (2.45%) Microsoft Engineer
14 8 (2.45%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.37%) .NET
1 11 (3.37%) REST
2 9 (2.76%) Middleware
3 7 (2.15%) PySpark
4 6 (1.84%) JSON
4 6 (1.84%) SAML
5 5 (1.53%) .NET Framework
5 5 (1.53%) HTML
5 5 (1.53%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (1.53%) OAuth
5 5 (1.53%) Spring
5 5 (1.53%) XML
6 4 (1.23%) CSS
6 4 (1.23%) OpenID
6 4 (1.23%) SOAP
7 3 (0.92%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.92%) Kafka
7 3 (0.92%) RESTful
7 3 (0.92%) Spring Boot
7 3 (0.92%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.21%) Onboarding
2 10 (3.07%) AI Agents
2 10 (3.07%) Cloud Native
3 9 (2.76%) PKI
4 8 (2.45%) Distributed Systems
4 8 (2.45%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (2.15%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (2.15%) Product Ownership
5 7 (2.15%) Security Posture
6 6 (1.84%) Clustering
6 6 (1.84%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.53%) Data Structures
7 5 (1.53%) Equities
7 5 (1.53%) Low-Code
8 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.23%) Data Centre
8 4 (1.23%) Fixed Income
8 4 (1.23%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.23%) PMI
8 4 (1.23%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 49 (15.03%) Windows
2 12 (3.68%) Mac OS
3 10 (3.07%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.45%) Linux
5 6 (1.84%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.61%) Android
6 2 (0.61%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.61%) Unix
6 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.31%) SUSE
7 1 (0.31%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.31%) VMS
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (17.48%) Stakeholder Management
2 53 (16.26%) Analytics
3 52 (15.95%) Migration
4 50 (15.34%) DevOps
5 49 (15.03%) Problem-Solving
6 48 (14.72%) AI
7 47 (14.42%) Agile
8 44 (13.50%) Business Intelligence
9 43 (13.19%) CI/CD
10 37 (11.35%) Data Modelling
11 35 (10.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 30 (9.20%) Data Governance
13 28 (8.59%) Roadmaps
14 27 (8.28%) Data Engineering
15 26 (7.98%) Asset Management
15 26 (7.98%) Continuous Improvement
16 25 (7.67%) Validation
17 23 (7.06%) CRM
17 23 (7.06%) Decision-Making
17 23 (7.06%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 49 (15.03%) SQL
2 31 (9.51%) Python
3 27 (8.28%) PowerShell
4 15 (4.60%) Java
5 11 (3.37%) C#
6 7 (2.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 6 (1.84%) JavaScript
7 6 (1.84%) T-SQL
8 5 (1.53%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (1.23%) Bash
9 4 (1.23%) Bicep
9 4 (1.23%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.61%) C++
10 2 (0.61%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.31%) COBOL
11 1 (0.31%) Google Apps Script
11 1 (0.31%) R
11 1 (0.31%) RPG
11 1 (0.31%) X++
Qualifications
1 50 (15.34%) Security Cleared
2 35 (10.74%) SC Cleared
3 26 (7.98%) Degree
4 13 (3.99%) DV Cleared
5 10 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (1.84%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.84%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (1.84%) CISSP
6 6 (1.84%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.53%) CISM
7 5 (1.53%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.23%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
9 3 (0.92%) CCNP
9 3 (0.92%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.61%) CCNA
10 2 (0.61%) CompTIA CySA+
10 2 (0.61%) GIAC
10 2 (0.61%) PMP
10 2 (0.61%) SnowPro
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (7.06%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.52%) QA
3 17 (5.21%) GDPR
4 9 (2.76%) NIST
5 7 (2.15%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (2.15%) PMO
6 6 (1.84%) GRC
6 6 (1.84%) SLA
7 4 (1.23%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.23%) NCSC
8 3 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.61%) IFRS
9 2 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 2 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.31%) COBIT
10 1 (0.31%) GAAP
10 1 (0.31%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.31%) MiFID
10 1 (0.31%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 46 (14.11%) Active Directory
2 11 (3.37%) Docker
3 6 (1.84%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.23%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.92%) BitLocker
5 3 (0.92%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.92%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.61%) IAG
7 1 (0.31%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 28 (8.59%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (3.99%) Terraform
3 12 (3.68%) Kubernetes
4 9 (2.76%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (2.45%) SCCM
6 6 (1.84%) Ansible
7 4 (1.23%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.23%) Puppet
8 3 (0.92%) Grafana
8 3 (0.92%) Nagios
8 3 (0.92%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.92%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.92%) vMotion
9 1 (0.31%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.31%) Autotask
9 1 (0.31%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.31%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.31%) Salt
9 1 (0.31%) SELinux
9 1 (0.31%) WSUS
Vendors
1 20 (6.13%) ServiceNow
2 19 (5.83%) Databricks
3 15 (4.60%) Google
3 15 (4.60%) SAP
4 13 (3.99%) Oracle
5 12 (3.68%) Salesforce
6 10 (3.07%) Citrix
7 7 (2.15%) Apple
7 7 (2.15%) Cisco
7 7 (2.15%) OpenAI
8 6 (1.84%) Foundry
8 6 (1.84%) Informatica
8 6 (1.84%) VMware
8 6 (1.84%) Workday
9 5 (1.53%) HP
10 4 (1.23%) Bloomberg
10 4 (1.23%) Charles River
10 4 (1.23%) MuleSoft
10 4 (1.23%) Sitecore
10 4 (1.23%) Splunk