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 25 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
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 10 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -5 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 326 283 350
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 13.57% 15.16% 16.84%
As % of the Vendors category 32.80% 32.09% 38.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 185 270
10th Percentile £273 £281 £313
25th Percentile £450 £375 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £539
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -7.19% -2.05%
75th Percentile £670 £638 £650
90th Percentile £761 £725 £750
Central London median daily rate £550 £500 £530
% change year-on-year +10.00% -5.66% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 3 5
10th Percentile - £22.95 £14.05
25th Percentile £19.50 £24.38 £16.00
Median hourly rate £21.00 £28.50 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.32% +5.56% -48.57%
75th Percentile £22.50 £108.88 -
90th Percentile - £156.05 £66.30
Central London median hourly rate £28.00 £28.50 £27.00
% change year-on-year -1.75% +5.56% -48.57%

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 994 882 920
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 41.36% 47.24% 44.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 669 558 653
10th Percentile £355 £325 £350
25th Percentile £450 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £664 £679 £675
90th Percentile £750 £751 £774
Central London median daily rate £538 £550 £538
% change year-on-year -2.27% +2.23% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 14 11
10th Percentile - £22.53 £16.00
25th Percentile £18.75 £26.91 £19.50
Median hourly rate £19.50 £38.58 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -49.45% +42.87% -25.52%
75th Percentile £25.12 £63.75 £115.00
90th Percentile £42.13 £89.67 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £22.50 £32.83 £34.25
% change year-on-year -31.45% -4.16% +37.00%

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 25 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 37 (11.35%) SharePoint
2 20 (6.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.84%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.53%) Confluence
5 4 (1.23%) Apache
5 4 (1.23%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.61%) IIS
7 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 10 (3.07%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.92%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.61%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.61%) Remedy ITSM
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%) Oracle Retail
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
1 125 (38.34%) Azure
2 66 (20.25%) Microsoft 365
3 60 (18.40%) Power Platform
4 42 (12.88%) Entra ID
5 27 (8.28%) Azure DevOps
6 25 (7.67%) AWS
6 25 (7.67%) Dynamics 365
7 21 (6.44%) Microsoft Copilot
8 20 (6.13%) SaaS
9 19 (5.83%) Power Automate
10 17 (5.21%) GCP
11 16 (4.91%) Microsoft Purview
12 15 (4.60%) GitHub
13 14 (4.29%) PowerApps
14 12 (3.68%) Azure Data Factory
14 12 (3.68%) OneDrive
15 10 (3.07%) Azure AI
15 10 (3.07%) Serverless
16 9 (2.76%) Azure Logic Apps
16 9 (2.76%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 23 (7.06%) DNS
2 19 (5.83%) DHCP
3 15 (4.60%) Firewall
4 12 (3.68%) TCP/IP
4 12 (3.68%) VPN
5 5 (1.53%) LAN
5 5 (1.53%) WAN
6 4 (1.23%) Network Security
6 4 (1.23%) Unified Communications
7 3 (0.92%) Internet
7 3 (0.92%) SMTP
8 2 (0.61%) Intranet
8 2 (0.61%) Multicast
8 2 (0.61%) Reverse Proxy
8 2 (0.61%) Structured Cabling
8 2 (0.61%) VLAN
8 2 (0.61%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (0.61%) Wireshark
9 1 (0.31%) DKIM
9 1 (0.31%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (11.96%) Power BI
2 18 (5.52%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (4.60%) SQL Server
4 8 (2.45%) Metadata
5 6 (1.84%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (1.84%) Data Lake
6 5 (1.53%) Semantic Layer
6 5 (1.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
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%) Snowflake Schema
7 4 (1.23%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.92%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.92%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.61%) BigQuery
9 2 (0.61%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 14 (4.29%) 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%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.31%) ER Studio
6 1 (0.31%) Jasmine
6 1 (0.31%) Karma Test Runner
6 1 (0.31%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 101 (30.98%) Finance
2 97 (29.75%) Social Skills
3 48 (14.72%) Analytical Skills
4 31 (9.51%) Banking
5 17 (5.21%) Public Sector
6 10 (3.07%) General Ledger
7 9 (2.76%) Telecoms
8 7 (2.15%) Retail
9 6 (1.84%) Front Office
9 6 (1.84%) Investment Banking
9 6 (1.84%) Legal
10 5 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.53%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.53%) Law
11 4 (1.23%) Back Office
11 4 (1.23%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.23%) Marketing
12 3 (0.92%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.92%) Military
Job Titles
1 52 (15.95%) Architect
2 42 (12.88%) Analyst
3 31 (9.51%) Consultant
4 30 (9.20%) Developer
5 27 (8.28%) Senior
6 23 (7.06%) Support Engineer
7 19 (5.83%) Data Architect
8 15 (4.60%) Lead
8 15 (4.60%) Solutions Architect
9 14 (4.29%) Data Engineer
10 12 (3.68%) IT Support
11 11 (3.37%) Business Analyst
11 11 (3.37%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.07%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
13 9 (2.76%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 9 (2.76%) IT Engineer
14 8 (2.45%) Cloud Engineer
14 8 (2.45%) IT Support Engineer
14 8 (2.45%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (3.68%) REST
2 11 (3.37%) .NET
2 11 (3.37%) PySpark
3 10 (3.07%) Middleware
4 7 (2.15%) JSON
5 6 (1.84%) SAML
5 6 (1.84%) XML
6 5 (1.53%) .NET Framework
6 5 (1.53%) HTML
6 5 (1.53%) OAuth
6 5 (1.53%) SOAP
6 5 (1.53%) Spring
7 4 (1.23%) CSS
7 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Graph
7 4 (1.23%) OpenID
7 4 (1.23%) XSLT
8 3 (0.92%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.92%) Kafka
8 3 (0.92%) Playwright
8 3 (0.92%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 20 (6.13%) Onboarding
2 11 (3.37%) Cloud Native
3 10 (3.07%) AI Agents
4 9 (2.76%) PKI
4 9 (2.76%) Product Ownership
4 9 (2.76%) Video Conferencing
5 8 (2.45%) Distributed Systems
5 8 (2.45%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (2.15%) Data Structures
6 7 (2.15%) Management Information System
7 6 (1.84%) Clustering
7 6 (1.84%) Security Posture
7 6 (1.84%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.53%) Low-Code
9 4 (1.23%) Data Centre
9 4 (1.23%) Equities
9 4 (1.23%) PMI
9 4 (1.23%) Reference Data
10 3 (0.92%) Fixed Income
10 3 (0.92%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
Operating Systems
1 51 (15.64%) Windows
2 12 (3.68%) Mac OS
3 11 (3.37%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.45%) Linux
5 7 (2.15%) 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%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (17.79%) DevOps
2 54 (16.56%) Analytics
3 53 (16.26%) Stakeholder Management
4 52 (15.95%) Migration
4 52 (15.95%) Problem-Solving
5 48 (14.72%) Agile
6 47 (14.42%) CI/CD
7 46 (14.11%) Business Intelligence
8 45 (13.80%) AI
9 41 (12.58%) Data Modelling
10 34 (10.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 33 (10.12%) Data Governance
12 27 (8.28%) Continuous Improvement
12 27 (8.28%) Data Engineering
12 27 (8.28%) Roadmaps
13 24 (7.36%) Asset Management
13 24 (7.36%) CRM
13 24 (7.36%) Validation
14 23 (7.06%) Decision-Making
15 22 (6.75%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 51 (15.64%) SQL
2 34 (10.43%) Python
3 26 (7.98%) PowerShell
4 15 (4.60%) Java
5 11 (3.37%) C#
6 6 (1.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 6 (1.84%) JavaScript
6 6 (1.84%) T-SQL
7 5 (1.53%) Bicep
8 4 (1.23%) Bash
8 4 (1.23%) Kusto Query Language
8 4 (1.23%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.61%) C++
9 2 (0.61%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.31%) COBOL
10 1 (0.31%) Google Apps Script
10 1 (0.31%) R
10 1 (0.31%) RPG
10 1 (0.31%) X++
Qualifications
1 52 (15.95%) Security Cleared
2 37 (11.35%) 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%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.84%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.53%) CISM
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 25 (7.67%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.52%) QA
3 16 (4.91%) GDPR
4 9 (2.76%) NIST
5 7 (2.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (1.84%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.84%) SLA
7 5 (1.53%) GRC
7 5 (1.53%) PMO
8 4 (1.23%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.23%) NCSC
9 3 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.31%) COBIT
11 1 (0.31%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.31%) GAAP
11 1 (0.31%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.31%) MiFID
11 1 (0.31%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 51 (15.64%) 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%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.61%) IAG
6 2 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.31%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 30 (9.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (4.60%) Terraform
3 12 (3.68%) Kubernetes
4 10 (3.07%) SCCM
5 9 (2.76%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (2.15%) 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%) Autotask
9 1 (0.31%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.31%) ITRS Geneos
9 1 (0.31%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.31%) Salt
9 1 (0.31%) SELinux
9 1 (0.31%) WSUS
Vendors
1 22 (6.75%) ServiceNow
2 20 (6.13%) Databricks
3 16 (4.91%) Google
3 16 (4.91%) SAP
4 14 (4.29%) Oracle
5 11 (3.37%) Salesforce
6 10 (3.07%) Citrix
7 8 (2.45%) Cisco
8 7 (2.15%) Apple
8 7 (2.15%) OpenAI
8 7 (2.15%) VMware
8 7 (2.15%) Workday
9 6 (1.84%) Foundry
10 5 (1.53%) Bloomberg
10 5 (1.53%) HP
10 5 (1.53%) Informatica
11 4 (1.23%) iManage
11 4 (1.23%) Okta
11 4 (1.23%) Splunk
12 3 (0.92%) MuleSoft