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 May 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 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 11 5
Rank change year-on-year +3 -6 +7
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 294 237 352
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 12.69% 14.04% 16.26%
As % of the Vendors category 31.01% 31.10% 37.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 212 151 272
10th Percentile £308 £263 £260
25th Percentile £425 £358 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £651 £631 £670
90th Percentile £786 £711 £763
Central London median daily rate £525 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% +0.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 4
10th Percentile - £36.05 -
25th Percentile £20.82 £57.13 £12.75
Median hourly rate £22.27 £98.50 £15.25
Median % change year-on-year -77.40% +545.90% -70.95%
75th Percentile £23.71 £146.13 £20.25
90th Percentile - £170.95 £24.30
Central London median hourly rate £22.27 £27.76 £15.25
% change year-on-year -19.79% +82.03% -70.95%

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 948 762 935
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 40.93% 45.14% 43.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 613 463 689
10th Percentile £356 £310 £313
25th Percentile £430 £431 £432
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £550 £551
Median % change year-on-year -2.82% -0.18% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £681
90th Percentile £775 £760 £790
Central London median daily rate £535 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -2.82% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 9 6
10th Percentile - £23.40 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.75 £27.39 £13.56
Median hourly rate £19.50 £34.65 £19.75
Median % change year-on-year -43.72% +75.44% -5.95%
75th Percentile £23.43 £63.75 £23.75
90th Percentile £25.77 £117.50 £25.38
Central London median hourly rate £19.50 £30.04 £19.75
% change year-on-year -35.08% +52.08% -5.95%

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 May 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 25 (8.50%) SharePoint
2 9 (3.06%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.72%) Confluence
4 5 (1.70%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.34%) Apache
5 1 (0.34%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.34%) SAS
Applications
1 24 (8.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (7.48%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (4.42%) MS Visio
4 12 (4.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (1.02%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.34%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.34%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.34%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.34%) Trello
Business Applications
1 9 (3.06%) Aladdin
2 8 (2.72%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.68%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.68%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.34%) BASE24
4 1 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.34%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.34%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.34%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.34%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.34%) SAP Oil and Gas
4 1 (0.34%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 1 (0.34%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 111 (37.76%) Azure
2 60 (20.41%) Microsoft 365
3 59 (20.07%) Power Platform
4 24 (8.16%) Dynamics 365
4 24 (8.16%) Entra ID
5 19 (6.46%) AWS
6 18 (6.12%) Microsoft Purview
6 18 (6.12%) Power Automate
7 17 (5.78%) Azure DevOps
8 15 (5.10%) Microsoft Copilot
8 15 (5.10%) PowerApps
9 13 (4.42%) GitHub
9 13 (4.42%) SaaS
10 12 (4.08%) GCP
11 11 (3.74%) Azure Data Factory
12 9 (3.06%) Azure AI
13 8 (2.72%) Snowflake
14 7 (2.38%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 7 (2.38%) OneDrive
14 7 (2.38%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 12 (4.08%) DNS
2 7 (2.38%) Firewall
2 7 (2.38%) VPN
3 5 (1.70%) DHCP
3 5 (1.70%) Network Security
4 3 (1.02%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.68%) Intranet
5 2 (0.68%) LAN
5 2 (0.68%) Multicast
5 2 (0.68%) Unified Communications
5 2 (0.68%) WAN
6 1 (0.34%) IPsec
6 1 (0.34%) iSCSI
6 1 (0.34%) Reverse Proxy
6 1 (0.34%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.34%) SSL
6 1 (0.34%) Structured Cabling
6 1 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.34%) Wireless
6 1 (0.34%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (12.24%) Power BI
2 13 (4.42%) Data Warehouse
2 13 (4.42%) Metadata
3 11 (3.74%) SQL Server
4 8 (2.72%) Tableau
5 6 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.70%) Snowflake Schema
7 4 (1.36%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.36%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (1.02%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (1.02%) MySQL
8 3 (1.02%) Semantic Layer
9 2 (0.68%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.68%) Metadata Repository
9 2 (0.68%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.68%) Power Query
9 2 (0.68%) Star Schema
10 1 (0.34%) Amazon QuickSight
10 1 (0.34%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 13 (4.42%) JIRA
2 6 (2.04%) Git
3 3 (1.02%) GitLab
3 3 (1.02%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.68%) ERwin
4 2 (0.68%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.34%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.34%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.34%) Cucumber
5 1 (0.34%) Fiddler
5 1 (0.34%) MSI
5 1 (0.34%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.34%) Postman
5 1 (0.34%) PowerBuilder
5 1 (0.34%) Selenium
5 1 (0.34%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.34%) SpecFlow
5 1 (0.34%) Terragrunt
5 1 (0.34%) TestRail
5 1 (0.34%) Zephyr
General
1 86 (29.25%) Finance
2 83 (28.23%) Social Skills
3 48 (16.33%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (8.50%) Banking
5 18 (6.12%) Public Sector
6 10 (3.40%) Investment Banking
7 9 (3.06%) Legal
8 7 (2.38%) Front Office
8 7 (2.38%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.04%) Retail
9 6 (2.04%) Telecoms
10 5 (1.70%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (1.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.70%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (1.36%) General Ledger
11 4 (1.36%) Military
11 4 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (1.02%) Back Office
12 3 (1.02%) Law
12 3 (1.02%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 46 (15.65%) Architect
2 44 (14.97%) Analyst
3 36 (12.24%) Senior
4 24 (8.16%) Developer
5 23 (7.82%) Consultant
6 21 (7.14%) Business Analyst
7 14 (4.76%) Data Architect
7 14 (4.76%) Data Engineer
8 12 (4.08%) Support Engineer
9 11 (3.74%) Azure Engineer
9 11 (3.74%) Lead
9 11 (3.74%) Project Manager
9 11 (3.74%) Solutions Architect
10 9 (3.06%) Cloud Engineer
10 9 (3.06%) IT Support
11 8 (2.72%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 8 (2.72%) Microsoft Engineer
12 7 (2.38%) IT Engineer
12 7 (2.38%) Senior Manager
12 7 (2.38%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.38%) Middleware
2 6 (2.04%) JSON
2 6 (2.04%) PySpark
3 5 (1.70%) .NET
3 5 (1.70%) Kafka
3 5 (1.70%) REST
4 3 (1.02%) CSS
4 3 (1.02%) HTML
4 3 (1.02%) Microsoft Graph
4 3 (1.02%) Playwright
4 3 (1.02%) RESTful
4 3 (1.02%) XML
5 2 (0.68%) .NET Framework
5 2 (0.68%) Django
5 2 (0.68%) FIX Protocol
5 2 (0.68%) OAuth
5 2 (0.68%) SAML
5 2 (0.68%) Spring
5 2 (0.68%) WPF
5 2 (0.68%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 11 (3.74%) Cloud Native
2 10 (3.40%) Onboarding
3 9 (3.06%) Security Posture
4 8 (2.72%) AI Agents
5 6 (2.04%) Equities
5 6 (2.04%) Product Ownership
6 5 (1.70%) Data Structures
6 5 (1.70%) Distributed Systems
6 5 (1.70%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.36%) Cloud Security Posture
7 4 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
7 4 (1.36%) Fixed Income
7 4 (1.36%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 4 (1.36%) PMI
7 4 (1.36%) Reference Data
7 4 (1.36%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.02%) Clustering
8 3 (1.02%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (1.02%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 31 (10.54%) Windows
2 6 (2.04%) Mac OS
2 6 (2.04%) Windows 10
3 4 (1.36%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.02%) Linux
5 1 (0.34%) Android
5 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.34%) SUSE
5 1 (0.34%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
5 1 (0.34%) VMS
5 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (15.99%) Analytics
2 43 (14.63%) Migration
3 42 (14.29%) AI
3 42 (14.29%) Business Intelligence
3 42 (14.29%) Stakeholder Management
4 38 (12.93%) Agile
4 38 (12.93%) CI/CD
5 37 (12.59%) Problem-Solving
6 35 (11.90%) DevOps
7 32 (10.88%) Data Governance
7 32 (10.88%) Data Modelling
8 31 (10.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 27 (9.18%) Roadmaps
10 22 (7.48%) Data Engineering
11 21 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
11 21 (7.14%) Decision-Making
11 21 (7.14%) Validation
12 19 (6.46%) User Acceptance Testing
13 18 (6.12%) ETL
14 17 (5.78%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 47 (15.99%) SQL
2 33 (11.22%) Python
3 21 (7.14%) PowerShell
4 11 (3.74%) Java
5 9 (3.06%) C#
6 6 (2.04%) Kusto Query Language
7 4 (1.36%) Bash
7 4 (1.36%) Bicep
7 4 (1.36%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 4 (1.36%) T-SQL
8 2 (0.68%) C
8 2 (0.68%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.34%) C++
9 1 (0.34%) COBOL
9 1 (0.34%) Google Apps Script
9 1 (0.34%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.34%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.34%) ProC
9 1 (0.34%) VB
9 1 (0.34%) XPath
Qualifications
1 43 (14.63%) Security Cleared
2 31 (10.54%) SC Cleared
3 20 (6.80%) Degree
4 9 (3.06%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (2.72%) DV Cleared
6 6 (2.04%) Azure Certification
6 6 (2.04%) CISSP
6 6 (2.04%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.70%) CISM
8 4 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (1.36%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (1.02%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (1.02%) DBS Check
10 2 (0.68%) CCNP
10 2 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.68%) CompTIA CySA+
10 2 (0.68%) GIAC
10 2 (0.68%) Network+ Certification
10 2 (0.68%) PMP
10 2 (0.68%) SnowPro
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (7.82%) Data Quality
2 18 (6.12%) GDPR
3 11 (3.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (3.74%) QA
4 9 (3.06%) PMO
5 8 (2.72%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.72%) NIST
6 4 (1.36%) SLA
7 3 (1.02%) Accessibility
7 3 (1.02%) GRC
7 3 (1.02%) IFRS
7 3 (1.02%) MiFID
7 3 (1.02%) NCSC
7 3 (1.02%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.68%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.34%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.34%) IFRS 17
9 1 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 1 (0.34%) NIST 800
System Software
1 27 (9.18%) Active Directory
2 12 (4.08%) Docker
3 5 (1.70%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.34%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 21 (7.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (4.08%) Terraform
3 11 (3.74%) Kubernetes
4 7 (2.38%) SCCM
5 3 (1.02%) Ansible
5 3 (1.02%) Jamf Pro
6 2 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (0.68%) Grafana
6 2 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.34%) Autotask
7 1 (0.34%) Kibana
7 1 (0.34%) Opsgenie
7 1 (0.34%) Puppet
7 1 (0.34%) Salt
7 1 (0.34%) WSUS
Vendors
1 25 (8.50%) Databricks
2 12 (4.08%) Salesforce
3 10 (3.40%) Oracle
3 10 (3.40%) SAP
3 10 (3.40%) ServiceNow
4 9 (3.06%) Google
5 7 (2.38%) Foundry
5 7 (2.38%) Workday
6 6 (2.04%) Citrix
6 6 (2.04%) Informatica
7 5 (1.70%) Charles River
8 4 (1.36%) Cisco
8 4 (1.36%) iManage
8 4 (1.36%) OpenAI
9 3 (1.02%) Anaplan
9 3 (1.02%) Bloomberg
9 3 (1.02%) MuleSoft
9 3 (1.02%) Splunk
9 3 (1.02%) Trend Micro
10 2 (0.68%) Apple