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 29 August 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
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 9 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 355 289 363
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 15.28% 15.94% 17.53%
As % of the Vendors category 35.36% 32.73% 39.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 192 273
10th Percentile £282 £281 £261
25th Percentile £419 £363 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £656 £630 £656
90th Percentile £750 £723 £712
Central London median daily rate £535 £498 £539
% change year-on-year +7.48% -7.61% -1.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 2 4
10th Percentile £20.40 £22.48 £19.30
25th Percentile £21.75 £23.19 £24.25
Median hourly rate £24.00 £25.25 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.95% -6.48% -
75th Percentile £25.07 £28.19 £43.38
90th Percentile £25.70 £29.43 £72.85
Central London median hourly rate £25.07 £24.23 £27.00
% change year-on-year +3.47% -10.28% -

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 1,004 883 917
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 43.20% 48.70% 44.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 696 578 615
10th Percentile £353 £319 £344
25th Percentile £450 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £656 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £756
Central London median daily rate £538 £537 £550
% change year-on-year +0.14% -2.41% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 13 11
10th Percentile - £20.23 £16.00
25th Percentile £18.75 £23.75 £19.50
Median hourly rate £22.50 £34.65 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -35.06% +28.33% -25.52%
75th Percentile £28.57 £63.75 £115.00
90th Percentile £42.30 £65.21 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £23.58 £29.07 £27.00
% change year-on-year -18.89% +7.67% -25.52%

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 29 August 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 40 (11.27%) SharePoint
2 26 (7.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.25%) Confluence
4 6 (1.69%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.69%) Apache Spark
5 5 (1.41%) Apache
6 2 (0.56%) IIS
7 1 (0.28%) CMS
7 1 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.28%) nginx
7 1 (0.28%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.28%) Umbraco
Applications
1 31 (8.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (4.79%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (3.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.85%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.28%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.28%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.28%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.28%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 20 (5.63%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.69%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.56%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.56%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.28%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.28%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.28%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.28%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.28%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.28%) iTrent
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.28%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.28%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.28%) SAP FI-AR
5 1 (0.28%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 158 (44.51%) Azure
2 73 (20.56%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (19.44%) Power Platform
4 49 (13.80%) Entra ID
5 45 (12.68%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (10.70%) Dynamics 365
7 30 (8.45%) AWS
8 24 (6.76%) Power Automate
9 23 (6.48%) SaaS
10 22 (6.20%) Azure Data Factory
10 22 (6.20%) GCP
10 22 (6.20%) Microsoft Copilot
11 21 (5.92%) PowerApps
12 18 (5.07%) GitHub
12 18 (5.07%) Serverless
13 17 (4.79%) OneDrive
14 16 (4.51%) Microsoft Purview
15 14 (3.94%) Azure Logic Apps
16 12 (3.38%) Azure Functions
16 12 (3.38%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 28 (7.89%) DNS
2 21 (5.92%) DHCP
3 17 (4.79%) Firewall
4 13 (3.66%) TCP/IP
5 12 (3.38%) VPN
6 6 (1.69%) Unified Communications
7 5 (1.41%) LAN
7 5 (1.41%) Network Security
7 5 (1.41%) WAN
8 4 (1.13%) Internet
8 4 (1.13%) SMTP
9 3 (0.85%) Multicast
9 3 (0.85%) Structured Cabling
9 3 (0.85%) VLAN
10 2 (0.56%) BGP
10 2 (0.56%) Intranet
10 2 (0.56%) Reverse Proxy
10 2 (0.56%) Value-Added Service
10 2 (0.56%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.56%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (12.39%) Power BI
2 22 (6.20%) Data Warehouse
3 18 (5.07%) SQL Server
4 10 (2.82%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (2.82%) Metadata
5 8 (2.25%) Data Lake
5 8 (2.25%) Star Schema
6 6 (1.69%) Semantic Layer
7 5 (1.41%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (1.41%) Amazon Redshift
7 5 (1.41%) Power Query
7 5 (1.41%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 5 (1.41%) Tableau
8 4 (1.13%) Big Data
8 4 (1.13%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.85%) BigQuery
9 3 (0.85%) Data Hub
9 3 (0.85%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.85%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.85%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 21 (5.92%) JIRA
2 9 (2.54%) Git
3 7 (1.97%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.69%) Visual Studio
5 4 (1.13%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.13%) GitLab
5 4 (1.13%) Selenium
6 3 (0.85%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.85%) JUnit
6 3 (0.85%) MSI
6 3 (0.85%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.56%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.56%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.56%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.56%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.28%) ER Studio
8 1 (0.28%) MLflow
8 1 (0.28%) Postman
8 1 (0.28%) Rational Functional Tester
8 1 (0.28%) SOAtest
General
1 112 (31.55%) Finance
2 105 (29.58%) Social Skills
3 46 (12.96%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (10.14%) Banking
5 22 (6.20%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.10%) General Ledger
6 11 (3.10%) Retail
6 11 (3.10%) Telecoms
7 9 (2.54%) Legal
7 9 (2.54%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (2.25%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.25%) Investment Banking
8 8 (2.25%) Marketing
9 7 (1.97%) Front Office
9 7 (1.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.41%) Law
10 5 (1.41%) Military
11 4 (1.13%) Back Office
11 4 (1.13%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 56 (15.77%) Architect
2 42 (11.83%) Developer
3 39 (10.99%) Analyst
4 36 (10.14%) Consultant
5 29 (8.17%) Support Engineer
6 27 (7.61%) Senior
7 19 (5.35%) Data Architect
8 17 (4.79%) Lead
8 17 (4.79%) Solutions Architect
9 14 (3.94%) Dynamics 365 Developer
9 14 (3.94%) IT Support
10 12 (3.38%) Data Engineer
11 11 (3.10%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.10%) IT Engineer
11 11 (3.10%) Project Manager
12 10 (2.82%) IT Support Engineer
13 9 (2.54%) Business Analyst
13 9 (2.54%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
14 8 (2.25%) Cloud Engineer
14 8 (2.25%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.20%) Terraform
2 21 (5.92%) .NET
3 18 (5.07%) PySpark
4 17 (4.79%) REST
5 9 (2.54%) .NET Framework
5 9 (2.54%) HTML
5 9 (2.54%) Middleware
6 8 (2.25%) JSON
6 8 (2.25%) SOAP
6 8 (2.25%) XML
7 7 (1.97%) OAuth
7 7 (1.97%) SAML
8 6 (1.69%) CSS
9 5 (1.41%) ASP.NET Web API
9 5 (1.41%) OpenID
9 5 (1.41%) Web Services
10 4 (1.13%) HTML5 Canvas
10 4 (1.13%) Kafka
10 4 (1.13%) Spring
10 4 (1.13%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.04%) Onboarding
2 15 (4.23%) AI Agents
3 14 (3.94%) Cloud Native
4 13 (3.66%) Video Conferencing
5 10 (2.82%) PKI
6 9 (2.54%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (2.54%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (2.25%) Management Information System
7 8 (2.25%) Product Ownership
8 7 (1.97%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.97%) Data Structures
8 7 (1.97%) Low-Code
8 7 (1.97%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.41%) Clustering
10 4 (1.13%) Equities
10 4 (1.13%) PMI
11 3 (0.85%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.85%) Fixed Income
11 3 (0.85%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.85%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 62 (17.46%) Windows
2 15 (4.23%) Mac OS
2 15 (4.23%) Windows Server
3 11 (3.10%) Linux
4 10 (2.82%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.85%) Android
5 3 (0.85%) Unix
5 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.56%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.28%) OpenVMS
7 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.28%) SUSE
7 1 (0.28%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.28%) VMS
7 1 (0.28%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
7 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (22.82%) DevOps
2 71 (20.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 67 (18.87%) Problem-Solving
4 65 (18.31%) Agile
5 62 (17.46%) Analytics
6 60 (16.90%) CI/CD
6 60 (16.90%) Migration
7 48 (13.52%) AI
7 48 (13.52%) Business Intelligence
8 45 (12.68%) Data Modelling
8 45 (12.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 37 (10.42%) Data Governance
10 31 (8.73%) Continuous Improvement
11 27 (7.61%) CRM
11 27 (7.61%) Integration Patterns
11 27 (7.61%) Project Delivery
11 27 (7.61%) Roadmaps
12 26 (7.32%) Infrastructure as Code
12 26 (7.32%) Validation
13 25 (7.04%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 63 (17.75%) SQL
2 48 (13.52%) Python
3 27 (7.61%) PowerShell
4 19 (5.35%) C#
5 15 (4.23%) Java
6 12 (3.38%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 12 (3.38%) JavaScript
7 9 (2.54%) TypeScript
8 6 (1.69%) Bash
8 6 (1.69%) Bicep
9 4 (1.13%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (1.13%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.56%) C++
10 2 (0.56%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.56%) R
11 1 (0.28%) COBOL
11 1 (0.28%) Korn
11 1 (0.28%) RPG
11 1 (0.28%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.28%) XMLA
Qualifications
1 65 (18.31%) Security Cleared
2 43 (12.11%) SC Cleared
3 23 (6.48%) Degree
4 16 (4.51%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (3.10%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.97%) Azure Certification
6 7 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.97%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.41%) CISSP
7 5 (1.41%) DBS Check
8 4 (1.13%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (0.85%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.85%) CISM
9 3 (0.85%) PMP
10 2 (0.56%) CCNA
10 2 (0.56%) CCNP
10 2 (0.56%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Certification
10 2 (0.56%) SnowPro
10 2 (0.56%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (8.17%) Data Quality
2 19 (5.35%) QA
3 14 (3.94%) GDPR
4 10 (2.82%) PMO
5 9 (2.54%) NIST
6 8 (2.25%) Accessibility
6 8 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 7 (1.97%) SLA
8 5 (1.41%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (1.41%) GRC
9 4 (1.13%) NCSC
10 2 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.28%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.28%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.28%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.28%) IFRS
11 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 61 (17.18%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.94%) Docker
3 7 (1.97%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.41%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.41%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (1.13%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.85%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.85%) Terminal Services
6 3 (0.85%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.56%) IAG
7 2 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 33 (9.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (3.94%) Kubernetes
2 14 (3.94%) SCCM
3 10 (2.82%) Ansible
3 10 (2.82%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (1.13%) Grafana
4 4 (1.13%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (1.13%) Prometheus
4 4 (1.13%) Puppet
5 3 (0.85%) Nagios
5 3 (0.85%) vCenter Server
5 3 (0.85%) vMotion
5 3 (0.85%) WSUS
6 1 (0.28%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
6 1 (0.28%) Data Guard
6 1 (0.28%) NetBackup
6 1 (0.28%) PowerCLI
6 1 (0.28%) SCOM
6 1 (0.28%) SELinux
Vendors
1 29 (8.17%) ServiceNow
2 22 (6.20%) Databricks
3 19 (5.35%) Google
4 18 (5.07%) Oracle
4 18 (5.07%) SAP
5 11 (3.10%) Cisco
6 10 (2.82%) VMware
7 9 (2.54%) Apple
7 9 (2.54%) Citrix
8 8 (2.25%) Bloomberg
9 7 (1.97%) Salesforce
10 6 (1.69%) Foundry
10 6 (1.69%) Workday
11 5 (1.41%) HP
11 5 (1.41%) OpenAI
11 5 (1.41%) Symantec
12 4 (1.13%) IBM
12 4 (1.13%) iManage
12 4 (1.13%) Informatica
12 4 (1.13%) Okta