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 22 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
22 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 9 5
Rank change year-on-year +2 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 347 291 363
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 14.82% 15.93% 17.61%
As % of the Vendors category 34.49% 32.92% 39.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 193 275
10th Percentile £284 £281 £313
25th Percentile £425 £363 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £540
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -7.41% -1.82%
75th Percentile £656 £625 £650
90th Percentile £754 £703 £712
Central London median daily rate £545 £496 £533
% change year-on-year +9.99% -6.95% -1.39%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 2 4
10th Percentile £20.16 £22.48 £19.30
25th Percentile £21.16 £23.19 £24.25
Median hourly rate £23.57 £25.25 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% -6.48% -
75th Percentile £25.22 £28.19 £43.38
90th Percentile £25.77 £29.43 £72.85
Central London median hourly rate £26.13 £24.23 £27.00
% change year-on-year +7.86% -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 1,006 884 908
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 42.95% 48.39% 44.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 697 574 622
10th Percentile £363 £317 £350
25th Percentile £450 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £656 £675 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £750
Central London median daily rate £550 £536 £538
% change year-on-year +2.61% -0.37% -2.18%
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 £21.00 £34.65 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.39% +28.33% +20.00%
75th Percentile £28.57 £63.75 £115.00
90th Percentile £42.30 £65.21 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £22.83 £29.07 £27.00
% change year-on-year -21.47% +7.67% +20.00%

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 22 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 43 (12.39%) SharePoint
2 24 (6.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.73%) Apache Spark
3 6 (1.73%) Confluence
4 5 (1.44%) Apache
5 2 (0.58%) IIS
6 1 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.29%) nginx
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 30 (8.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (4.61%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (3.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.58%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.29%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.29%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.29%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 19 (5.48%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.73%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.58%) Dynamics NAV
4 2 (0.58%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.58%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.58%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.29%) Advent Moxy
5 1 (0.29%) Advent Portfolio Exchange
5 1 (0.29%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.29%) iTrent
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.29%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.29%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-AR
5 1 (0.29%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.29%) SAP Oil and Gas
5 1 (0.29%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 148 (42.65%) Azure
2 71 (20.46%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (20.17%) Power Platform
4 43 (12.39%) Entra ID
5 41 (11.82%) Azure DevOps
6 37 (10.66%) Dynamics 365
7 30 (8.65%) AWS
8 24 (6.92%) Power Automate
9 23 (6.63%) Microsoft Copilot
10 22 (6.34%) GCP
10 22 (6.34%) SaaS
11 21 (6.05%) Azure Data Factory
11 21 (6.05%) PowerApps
12 19 (5.48%) GitHub
13 17 (4.90%) OneDrive
14 16 (4.61%) Microsoft Purview
15 15 (4.32%) Serverless
16 12 (3.46%) Azure Logic Apps
16 12 (3.46%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 10 (2.88%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 26 (7.49%) DNS
2 19 (5.48%) DHCP
3 18 (5.19%) Firewall
4 12 (3.46%) TCP/IP
4 12 (3.46%) VPN
5 6 (1.73%) Unified Communications
6 5 (1.44%) LAN
6 5 (1.44%) Network Security
6 5 (1.44%) WAN
7 4 (1.15%) Internet
7 4 (1.15%) SMTP
8 3 (0.86%) Multicast
8 3 (0.86%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (0.86%) VLAN
9 2 (0.58%) BGP
9 2 (0.58%) Intranet
9 2 (0.58%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.58%) Value-Added Service
9 2 (0.58%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (0.58%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (12.97%) Power BI
2 22 (6.34%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (4.61%) SQL Server
4 10 (2.88%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (2.88%) Metadata
5 8 (2.31%) Data Lake
5 8 (2.31%) Star Schema
6 6 (1.73%) Semantic Layer
7 5 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (1.44%) Amazon Redshift
7 5 (1.44%) Power Query
7 5 (1.44%) Tableau
8 4 (1.15%) Big Data
8 4 (1.15%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
8 4 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.86%) BigQuery
9 3 (0.86%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.86%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.86%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.86%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 17 (4.90%) JIRA
2 9 (2.59%) Git
3 7 (2.02%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.73%) Visual Studio
5 4 (1.15%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.15%) GitLab
5 4 (1.15%) Selenium
6 3 (0.86%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.86%) JUnit
6 3 (0.86%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (0.58%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.58%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.58%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.58%) MSI
7 2 (0.58%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.29%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.29%) Rational Functional Tester
8 1 (0.29%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.29%) WebDriver
General
1 107 (30.84%) Finance
2 99 (28.53%) Social Skills
3 49 (14.12%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (10.09%) Banking
5 21 (6.05%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.17%) General Ledger
6 11 (3.17%) Retail
6 11 (3.17%) Telecoms
7 9 (2.59%) Legal
8 8 (2.31%) Marketing
8 8 (2.31%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (2.02%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (2.02%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.73%) Front Office
11 5 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.44%) Law
12 4 (1.15%) Back Office
12 4 (1.15%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.86%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 55 (15.85%) Architect
2 41 (11.82%) Developer
3 39 (11.24%) Analyst
4 34 (9.80%) Consultant
5 26 (7.49%) Support Engineer
6 25 (7.20%) Senior
7 20 (5.76%) Data Architect
8 16 (4.61%) Lead
8 16 (4.61%) Solutions Architect
9 13 (3.75%) Dynamics 365 Developer
10 12 (3.46%) Data Engineer
10 12 (3.46%) IT Support
11 11 (3.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.17%) Project Manager
12 10 (2.88%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 10 (2.88%) Platform Engineer
13 9 (2.59%) Business Analyst
13 9 (2.59%) IT Engineer
14 8 (2.31%) Data Analyst
14 8 (2.31%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.34%) Terraform
2 18 (5.19%) PySpark
3 17 (4.90%) .NET
4 16 (4.61%) REST
5 9 (2.59%) Middleware
6 8 (2.31%) .NET Framework
6 8 (2.31%) HTML
6 8 (2.31%) SOAP
7 7 (2.02%) JSON
7 7 (2.02%) SAML
7 7 (2.02%) XML
8 6 (1.73%) OAuth
9 5 (1.44%) CSS
9 5 (1.44%) OpenID
9 5 (1.44%) Web Services
10 4 (1.15%) ASP.NET Web API
10 4 (1.15%) HTML5 Canvas
10 4 (1.15%) Kafka
10 4 (1.15%) Spring
10 4 (1.15%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 23 (6.63%) Onboarding
2 15 (4.32%) AI Agents
3 13 (3.75%) Video Conferencing
4 12 (3.46%) Cloud Native
5 9 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
5 9 (2.59%) Management Information System
5 9 (2.59%) PKI
5 9 (2.59%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.02%) Data Structures
6 7 (2.02%) Distributed Systems
6 7 (2.02%) Low-Code
7 6 (1.73%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.44%) Clustering
8 5 (1.44%) Data Centre
9 4 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.15%) Equities
9 4 (1.15%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (1.15%) PMI
10 3 (0.86%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 3 (0.86%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 55 (15.85%) Windows
2 16 (4.61%) Mac OS
3 15 (4.32%) Windows Server
4 11 (3.17%) Linux
5 8 (2.31%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.86%) Android
6 3 (0.86%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.86%) Unix
6 3 (0.86%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.29%) OpenVMS
8 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.29%) SUSE
8 1 (0.29%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.29%) VMS
8 1 (0.29%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (22.48%) DevOps
2 65 (18.73%) Analytics
2 65 (18.73%) Stakeholder Management
3 64 (18.44%) Problem-Solving
4 61 (17.58%) Agile
5 60 (17.29%) CI/CD
6 56 (16.14%) Migration
7 49 (14.12%) Business Intelligence
8 48 (13.83%) AI
9 45 (12.97%) Data Modelling
10 42 (12.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 38 (10.95%) Data Governance
12 30 (8.65%) Continuous Improvement
13 26 (7.49%) CRM
13 26 (7.49%) Integration Patterns
14 25 (7.20%) Infrastructure as Code
14 25 (7.20%) Project Delivery
14 25 (7.20%) Roadmaps
14 25 (7.20%) Validation
15 24 (6.92%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 61 (17.58%) SQL
2 47 (13.54%) Python
3 26 (7.49%) PowerShell
4 15 (4.32%) C#
4 15 (4.32%) Java
5 11 (3.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 11 (3.17%) JavaScript
6 8 (2.31%) TypeScript
7 6 (1.73%) Bash
7 6 (1.73%) Bicep
8 4 (1.15%) Kusto Query Language
8 4 (1.15%) T-SQL
9 2 (0.58%) C++
9 2 (0.58%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.58%) R
10 1 (0.29%) COBOL
10 1 (0.29%) Korn
10 1 (0.29%) RPG
10 1 (0.29%) VB.NET
10 1 (0.29%) X++
Qualifications
1 64 (18.44%) Security Cleared
2 44 (12.68%) SC Cleared
3 22 (6.34%) Degree
4 15 (4.32%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (3.46%) DV Cleared
6 7 (2.02%) Azure Certification
7 6 (1.73%) PMI Certification
8 5 (1.44%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.44%) CISSP
8 5 (1.44%) DBS Check
9 4 (1.15%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (1.15%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (0.86%) CCNP
10 3 (0.86%) CISM
11 2 (0.58%) CCNA
11 2 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (0.58%) PMP
11 2 (0.58%) SnowPro
12 1 (0.29%) AWS Certification
12 1 (0.29%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (9.22%) Data Quality
2 21 (6.05%) QA
3 14 (4.03%) GDPR
4 9 (2.59%) NIST
4 9 (2.59%) PMO
5 8 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (2.02%) Accessibility
6 7 (2.02%) SLA
7 5 (1.44%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.44%) GRC
8 4 (1.15%) NCSC
9 2 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.29%) Def Stans
10 1 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.29%) IFRS
10 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 19770
10 1 (0.29%) P3O
10 1 (0.29%) UCITS
System Software
1 56 (16.14%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.32%) Docker
3 6 (1.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.15%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.86%) BitLocker
5 3 (0.86%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.86%) Terminal Services
5 3 (0.86%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.58%) IAG
6 2 (0.58%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 30 (8.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (4.32%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.46%) SCCM
4 10 (2.88%) Ansible
5 9 (2.59%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.44%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.15%) Grafana
7 4 (1.15%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.15%) Puppet
8 3 (0.86%) Nagios
8 3 (0.86%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.86%) vMotion
8 3 (0.86%) WSUS
9 1 (0.29%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.29%) ITRS Geneos
9 1 (0.29%) NetBackup
9 1 (0.29%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.29%) Salt
9 1 (0.29%) SELinux
Vendors
1 28 (8.07%) ServiceNow
2 21 (6.05%) Databricks
3 19 (5.48%) Google
4 18 (5.19%) Oracle
5 17 (4.90%) SAP
6 13 (3.75%) Cisco
7 10 (2.88%) Apple
8 9 (2.59%) VMware
9 8 (2.31%) Citrix
10 7 (2.02%) Bloomberg
10 7 (2.02%) Foundry
10 7 (2.02%) Salesforce
10 7 (2.02%) Workday
11 6 (1.73%) HP
11 6 (1.73%) OpenAI
12 5 (1.44%) Symantec
13 4 (1.15%) IBM
13 4 (1.15%) iManage
13 4 (1.15%) Informatica
13 4 (1.15%) Okta