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 11 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
11 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +4 -6 +4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 330 282 365
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 13.42% 15.13% 17.01%
As % of the Vendors category 32.26% 32.27% 38.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 186 283
10th Percentile £269 £275 £273
25th Percentile £426 £375 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £543
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -7.83% -1.36%
75th Percentile £656 £627 £650
90th Percentile £750 £725 £750
Central London median daily rate £550 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +10.00% -6.98% -0.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 3 5
10th Percentile - £22.95 -
25th Percentile £19.50 £24.38 £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 £108.88 £27.00
90th Percentile - £156.05 -
Central London median hourly rate £21.00 £28.50 £17.00
% change year-on-year -26.32% +67.65% -67.62%

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 1,023 874 955
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 41.60% 46.89% 44.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 680 551 689
10th Percentile £362 £315 £338
25th Percentile £450 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £551
Median % change year-on-year - -0.09% -2.13%
75th Percentile £668 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £784
Central London median daily rate £538 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -2.27% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 14 8
10th Percentile - £22.53 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.91 £15.19
Median hourly rate £19.50 £38.58 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -49.45% +92.88% -44.83%
75th Percentile £25.77 £63.75 £27.00
90th Percentile £41.95 £89.67 £63.53
Central London median hourly rate £22.50 £32.83 £21.00
% change year-on-year -31.45% +56.31% -16.00%

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 11 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 34 (10.30%) SharePoint
2 18 (5.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.82%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.82%) Confluence
4 2 (0.61%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 24 (7.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (4.55%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (3.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.12%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.91%) 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 13 (3.94%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (3.03%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.61%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.61%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.61%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.30%) iTrent
4 1 (0.30%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.30%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.30%) SAP CRM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP ERP
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%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 126 (38.18%) Azure
2 66 (20.00%) Microsoft 365
3 61 (18.48%) Power Platform
4 42 (12.73%) Entra ID
5 27 (8.18%) AWS
6 25 (7.58%) Dynamics 365
7 23 (6.97%) SaaS
8 20 (6.06%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (5.76%) Power Automate
10 18 (5.45%) GCP
10 18 (5.45%) Microsoft Copilot
11 17 (5.15%) Microsoft Purview
12 15 (4.55%) PowerApps
13 11 (3.33%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (3.33%) GitHub
14 10 (3.03%) OneDrive
14 10 (3.03%) Serverless
15 9 (2.73%) Azure Logic Apps
16 8 (2.42%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 8 (2.42%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 21 (6.36%) DNS
2 16 (4.85%) DHCP
2 16 (4.85%) Firewall
3 11 (3.33%) VPN
4 9 (2.73%) TCP/IP
5 6 (1.82%) Network Security
6 5 (1.52%) LAN
6 5 (1.52%) WAN
7 3 (0.91%) Internet
7 3 (0.91%) SMTP
7 3 (0.91%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.61%) Intranet
8 2 (0.61%) Multicast
8 2 (0.61%) Wireshark
9 1 (0.30%) BGP
9 1 (0.30%) DKIM
9 1 (0.30%) DMARC
9 1 (0.30%) SD-WAN
9 1 (0.30%) Structured Cabling
9 1 (0.30%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (12.12%) Power BI
2 17 (5.15%) Data Warehouse
2 17 (5.15%) SQL Server
3 11 (3.33%) Metadata
4 7 (2.12%) Tableau
5 6 (1.82%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (1.82%) Data Lake
5 6 (1.82%) Relational Database
5 6 (1.82%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 5 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.52%) Semantic Layer
7 4 (1.21%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.21%) Amazon Redshift
7 4 (1.21%) Big Data
7 4 (1.21%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.21%) Snowflake Schema
7 4 (1.21%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.91%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.91%) MySQL
9 2 (0.61%) OLAP
Development Applications
1 13 (3.94%) JIRA
2 7 (2.12%) 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%) JUnit
3 3 (0.91%) Visual Studio
4 2 (0.61%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.61%) GitLab
4 2 (0.61%) MSI
4 2 (0.61%) 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 (31.21%) Finance
2 99 (30.00%) Social Skills
3 52 (15.76%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (8.48%) Banking
5 18 (5.45%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.33%) General Ledger
7 8 (2.42%) Investment Banking
7 8 (2.42%) Telecoms
8 7 (2.12%) Legal
8 7 (2.12%) Retail
9 6 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.52%) Front Office
10 5 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.52%) Military
11 4 (1.21%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.21%) Law
11 4 (1.21%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.21%) Marketing
12 3 (0.91%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 51 (15.45%) Architect
2 43 (13.03%) Analyst
3 33 (10.00%) Consultant
4 30 (9.09%) Developer
4 30 (9.09%) Senior
5 21 (6.36%) Support Engineer
6 16 (4.85%) Data Architect
6 16 (4.85%) Data Engineer
7 14 (4.24%) Project Manager
8 13 (3.94%) Business Analyst
8 13 (3.94%) Solutions Architect
9 12 (3.64%) Lead
10 11 (3.33%) IT Support
11 10 (3.03%) Cloud Engineer
11 10 (3.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (3.03%) IT Engineer
11 10 (3.03%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 9 (2.73%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 8 (2.42%) Microsoft Engineer
14 7 (2.12%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.33%) .NET
1 11 (3.33%) REST
2 9 (2.73%) Middleware
3 8 (2.42%) PySpark
4 6 (1.82%) JSON
4 6 (1.82%) SAML
5 5 (1.52%) .NET Framework
5 5 (1.52%) HTML
5 5 (1.52%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (1.52%) OAuth
5 5 (1.52%) Spring
5 5 (1.52%) XML
6 4 (1.21%) CSS
6 4 (1.21%) OpenID
6 4 (1.21%) RESTful
6 4 (1.21%) SOAP
7 3 (0.91%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.91%) GraphQL
7 3 (0.91%) Kafka
7 3 (0.91%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.55%) Onboarding
2 11 (3.33%) Cloud Native
3 9 (2.73%) PKI
4 8 (2.42%) AI Agents
4 8 (2.42%) Security Posture
4 8 (2.42%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (2.12%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (2.12%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (1.82%) Clustering
6 6 (1.82%) Equities
6 6 (1.82%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.52%) Fixed Income
7 5 (1.52%) Low-Code
7 5 (1.52%) Management Information System
7 5 (1.52%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.21%) Cloud Security Posture
8 4 (1.21%) Data Centre
8 4 (1.21%) Data Structures
8 4 (1.21%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 47 (14.24%) Windows
2 12 (3.64%) Mac OS
3 10 (3.03%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.42%) Linux
5 5 (1.52%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.61%) Unix
6 2 (0.61%) 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 56 (16.97%) Migration
2 54 (16.36%) Stakeholder Management
3 53 (16.06%) Analytics
4 49 (14.85%) Problem-Solving
5 47 (14.24%) DevOps
6 45 (13.64%) Agile
6 45 (13.64%) AI
6 45 (13.64%) Business Intelligence
7 43 (13.03%) CI/CD
8 37 (11.21%) Data Modelling
9 34 (10.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 31 (9.39%) Data Governance
11 28 (8.48%) Data Engineering
11 28 (8.48%) Roadmaps
12 25 (7.58%) Continuous Improvement
12 25 (7.58%) Validation
13 24 (7.27%) Decision-Making
14 23 (6.97%) Asset Management
14 23 (6.97%) Data Migration
14 23 (6.97%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 53 (16.06%) SQL
2 36 (10.91%) Python
3 28 (8.48%) PowerShell
4 13 (3.94%) Java
5 11 (3.33%) C#
6 7 (2.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 6 (1.82%) JavaScript
7 6 (1.82%) T-SQL
8 5 (1.52%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (1.21%) Bash
9 4 (1.21%) Bicep
9 4 (1.21%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.61%) C++
10 2 (0.61%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.30%) COBOL
11 1 (0.30%) Google Apps Script
11 1 (0.30%) R
11 1 (0.30%) RPG
11 1 (0.30%) X++
Qualifications
1 52 (15.76%) Security Cleared
2 35 (10.61%) SC Cleared
3 27 (8.18%) Degree
4 13 (3.94%) DV Cleared
5 10 (3.03%) Microsoft Certification
6 7 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (1.82%) Azure Certification
7 6 (1.82%) CISSP
7 6 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (1.82%) PMI Certification
8 5 (1.52%) CISM
9 4 (1.21%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (1.21%) DBS Check
10 3 (0.91%) CCNP
10 3 (0.91%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (0.61%) CCNA
11 2 (0.61%) CompTIA CySA+
11 2 (0.61%) GIAC
11 2 (0.61%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.61%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (7.27%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.45%) GDPR
3 16 (4.85%) QA
4 9 (2.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (2.73%) NIST
5 8 (2.42%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.42%) PMO
6 5 (1.52%) GRC
6 5 (1.52%) SLA
7 4 (1.21%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.21%) NCSC
8 3 (0.91%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.91%) IFRS
9 2 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 2 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.30%) COBIT
10 1 (0.30%) GAAP
10 1 (0.30%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.30%) MiFID
10 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 46 (13.94%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.94%) Docker
3 6 (1.82%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.21%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.91%) BitLocker
5 3 (0.91%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.91%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.61%) IAG
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 29 (8.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (3.94%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.64%) Terraform
4 8 (2.42%) SCCM
4 8 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.52%) Ansible
6 4 (1.21%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.21%) Puppet
7 3 (0.91%) Grafana
7 3 (0.91%) Nagios
7 3 (0.91%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.91%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.91%) vMotion
8 1 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.30%) Autotask
8 1 (0.30%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.30%) ITRS Geneos
8 1 (0.30%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.30%) Salt
8 1 (0.30%) WSUS
Vendors
1 22 (6.67%) Databricks
2 18 (5.45%) ServiceNow
3 15 (4.55%) Google
4 14 (4.24%) Oracle
4 14 (4.24%) Salesforce
4 14 (4.24%) SAP
5 9 (2.73%) Citrix
6 7 (2.12%) Apple
6 7 (2.12%) Cisco
7 6 (1.82%) Foundry
7 6 (1.82%) Informatica
7 6 (1.82%) VMware
7 6 (1.82%) Workday
8 5 (1.52%) HP
8 5 (1.52%) OpenAI
9 4 (1.21%) Bloomberg
9 4 (1.21%) Charles River
9 4 (1.21%) Okta
9 4 (1.21%) Sitecore
9 4 (1.21%) Splunk