Microsoft Contract Job Trends in County Antrim

Microsoft
Northern Ireland > County Antrim

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in County Antrim 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 30 October 2025, 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
30 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 4 6 4
Rank change year-on-year +2 -2 +7
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 50 35 27
As % of all contract jobs in County Antrim 20.83% 21.21% 19.57%
As % of the Vendors category 58.82% 47.30% 51.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 19 11 13
10th Percentile £170 £188 £132
25th Percentile £275 £206 £176
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £350 £475 £225
Median % change year-on-year -26.32% +111.11% -54.95%
75th Percentile £488 £613 £295
90th Percentile £545 £675 £478
Northern Ireland median daily rate £350 £475 £225
% change year-on-year -26.32% +111.11% -49.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 3 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £12.31 £21.19 -
Median hourly rate £13.59 £22.56 -
Median % change year-on-year -39.78% - -
75th Percentile £17.19 £23.94 -
90th Percentile £24.50 - -
Northern Ireland median hourly rate £13.60 £22.56 -
% change year-on-year -39.72% - -

All Vendors
County Antrim

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 County Antrim.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 85 74 52
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in County Antrim 35.42% 44.85% 37.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 40 33 22
10th Percentile £173 £129 £161
25th Percentile £313 £183 £203
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £373 £388 £400
Median % change year-on-year -3.87% -3.13% -20.00%
75th Percentile £500 £575 £500
90th Percentile £588 £650 £738
Northern Ireland median daily rate £373 £413 £425
% change year-on-year -9.70% -2.94% -14.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 13 1
10th Percentile £12.31 £21.19 -
25th Percentile £12.48 - £16.25
Median hourly rate £13.60 £24.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -43.76% +38.17% +45.99%
75th Percentile £16.75 - £18.75
90th Percentile £24.50 £37.04 -
Northern Ireland median hourly rate £13.60 £24.18 £17.50
% change year-on-year -43.76% +38.17% +45.99%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in County Antrim

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in County Antrim.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in County Antrim

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in County Antrim

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in County Antrim citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in County Antrim citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in County Antrim

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in County Antrim over the 6 months to 30 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in County Antrim

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in County Antrim

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in County Antrim citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in County Antrim citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in County Antrim

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in County Antrim over the 6 months to 30 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in County Antrim

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in County Antrim

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the County Antrim region over the 6 months to 30 October 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Belfast +2 47 £350 -26.32% 23
Newtownabbey - 1 - - 4
Larne - 1 - -
Microsoft
Northern Ireland

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in County Antrim 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 7 (14.00%) SharePoint
Applications
1 24 (48.00%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (42.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (30.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (8.00%) MS Visio
5 2 (4.00%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (2.00%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (4.00%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 5 (10.00%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (4.00%) WhatsApp
3 1 (2.00%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (14.00%) VoIP
2 6 (12.00%) Firewall
3 3 (6.00%) Cisco Wireless
3 3 (6.00%) LAN
3 3 (6.00%) MPLS
3 3 (6.00%) Wireless
3 3 (6.00%) WLAN
4 1 (2.00%) Internet
4 1 (2.00%) Intranet
4 1 (2.00%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.00%) GIS
General
1 35 (70.00%) Social Skills
2 13 (26.00%) Organisational Skills
2 13 (26.00%) Public Sector
3 11 (22.00%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (22.00%) Finance
4 4 (8.00%) Telecoms
5 3 (6.00%) Banking
5 3 (6.00%) Financial Institution
5 3 (6.00%) Front Office
5 3 (6.00%) Manufacturing
6 2 (4.00%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (4.00%) Legal
7 1 (2.00%) Back Office
7 1 (2.00%) Retail
Job Titles
1 14 (28.00%) Analyst
2 6 (12.00%) ICT Support
2 6 (12.00%) ICT Support Technician
2 6 (12.00%) ICT Technician
2 6 (12.00%) Information Governance Officer
2 6 (12.00%) Information Officer
2 6 (12.00%) Support Officer
2 6 (12.00%) Support Technician
3 4 (8.00%) IT Analyst
3 4 (8.00%) Support Analyst
4 3 (6.00%) Compliance Officer
4 3 (6.00%) IT Support
4 3 (6.00%) Network Engineer
4 3 (6.00%) Risk Analyst
4 3 (6.00%) Senior
4 3 (6.00%) Senior Network Engineer
4 3 (6.00%) Support Engineer
5 2 (4.00%) Desktop Engineer
5 2 (4.00%) Desktop Support Engineer
5 2 (4.00%) Remote Support Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 7 (14.00%) Smartphone
2 5 (10.00%) Virtual Team
3 4 (8.00%) Self-Motivation
4 3 (6.00%) Freedom of Information
5 2 (4.00%) Driving Licence
5 2 (4.00%) Management Information System
5 2 (4.00%) Onboarding
6 1 (2.00%) Fat Client
6 1 (2.00%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 16 (32.00%) Windows
2 2 (4.00%) Windows Server 2016
3 1 (2.00%) Apple iOS
3 1 (2.00%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (28.00%) Problem-Solving
2 12 (24.00%) Mathematics
3 10 (20.00%) Cybersecurity
4 8 (16.00%) Customer Service
5 7 (14.00%) Fault Analysis
5 7 (14.00%) IT Strategy
5 7 (14.00%) Project Delivery
6 6 (12.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 6 (12.00%) Data Protection
6 6 (12.00%) Data Security
6 6 (12.00%) Informatics
6 6 (12.00%) Information Governance
6 6 (12.00%) ITSM
6 6 (12.00%) Project Management
7 5 (10.00%) ITIL
7 5 (10.00%) Risk Management
7 5 (10.00%) Time Management
8 4 (8.00%) Service Delivery
9 3 (6.00%) Change Management
9 3 (6.00%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (4.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 18 (36.00%) Degree
2 8 (16.00%) HND
3 5 (10.00%) HNC
4 3 (6.00%) CCNA
4 3 (6.00%) CCNP
4 3 (6.00%) Cisco Certification
5 1 (2.00%) A+ Certification
5 1 (2.00%) AWS Certification
5 1 (2.00%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (2.00%) SC Cleared
5 1 (2.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (12.00%) GDPR
2 5 (10.00%) PMO
3 4 (8.00%) SLA
4 3 (6.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 2 (4.00%) QA
6 1 (2.00%) Data Quality
6 1 (2.00%) MiFID
System Software
1 9 (18.00%) Active Directory
2 7 (14.00%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 7 (14.00%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 7 (14.00%) Avaya
1 7 (14.00%) Citrix
2 3 (6.00%) Aruba
2 3 (6.00%) Cisco
2 3 (6.00%) Fortinet
3 1 (2.00%) Oracle
3 1 (2.00%) Salesforce
3 1 (2.00%) SAP
3 1 (2.00%) Workday