Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the East Midlands

Microsoft
England > East Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the East Midlands 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 28 June 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
28 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 5 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 145 110 114
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 12.99% 15.85% 13.10%
As % of the Vendors category 29.59% 36.07% 31.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 94 77 66
10th Percentile £131 £165 £157
25th Percentile £261 £250 £253
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £375 £400
Median % change year-on-year +13.33% -6.25% +11.11%
75th Percentile £506 £450 £550
90th Percentile £600 £533 £663
England median daily rate £500 £475 £499
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.81% -0.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 9 21
10th Percentile £12.94 £16.10 -
25th Percentile £13.25 £18.38 £12.75
Median hourly rate £15.23 £23.00 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.80% +64.29% -30.00%
75th Percentile £26.88 £25.15 £15.00
90th Percentile £32.63 - £26.50
England median hourly rate £22.64 £22.41 £16.00
% change year-on-year +1.02% +40.05% -27.27%

All Vendors
East Midlands

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 East Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 490 305 359
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 43.91% 43.95% 41.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 284 204 218
10th Percentile £199 £228 £188
25th Percentile £380 £326 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £430 £475
Median % change year-on-year +10.47% -9.47% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £600
90th Percentile £642 £635 £640
England median daily rate £510 £513 £520
% change year-on-year -0.59% -1.44% -0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 26 28
10th Percentile £13.25 £13.81 £10.90
25th Percentile £13.54 £15.41 £12.60
Median hourly rate £17.87 £18.87 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.30% +34.79% -33.92%
75th Percentile £23.15 £25.11 £14.54
90th Percentile £74.00 £25.15 £26.50
England median hourly rate £35.00 £26.45 £24.65
% change year-on-year +32.33% +7.30% -34.27%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the East Midlands

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the East Midlands

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the East Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the East Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the East Midlands over the 6 months to 28 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the East Midlands

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the East Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the East Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the East Midlands over the 6 months to 28 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the East Midlands

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the East Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the East Midlands region over the 6 months to 28 June 2026. 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
Nottinghamshire +2 49 £423 +3.05% 45
Northamptonshire 0 33 £418 +1.33% 29
Leicestershire -2 27 £131 -47.53% 41
Derbyshire -2 22 £488 +62.50% 30
Lincolnshire -10 7 £488 +170.83% 46
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East Midlands 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 16 (11.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (7.59%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.76%) Confluence
4 3 (2.07%) Apache Superset
5 1 (0.69%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.69%) CMS
5 1 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2010
5 1 (0.69%) SAS
5 1 (0.69%) Tomcat
Applications
1 20 (13.79%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (13.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (6.21%) Spreadsheet
4 6 (4.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.69%) FrameMaker
5 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.69%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (3.45%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (2.07%) SAP CRM
3 2 (1.38%) Maximo
4 1 (0.69%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 51 (35.17%) Azure
2 27 (18.62%) Microsoft 365
3 19 (13.10%) Entra ID
4 12 (8.28%) Power Platform
5 11 (7.59%) AWS
6 8 (5.52%) Azure AKS
7 7 (4.83%) Azure DevOps
7 7 (4.83%) GCP
8 5 (3.45%) Azure Service Bus
8 5 (3.45%) Dynamics 365
8 5 (3.45%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 4 (2.76%) GitHub
9 4 (2.76%) OCI
9 4 (2.76%) Serverless
10 3 (2.07%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (2.07%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 3 (2.07%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 3 (2.07%) Azure Functions
10 3 (2.07%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 3 (2.07%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 10 (6.90%) Network Security
2 6 (4.14%) Firewall
2 6 (4.14%) VLAN
3 4 (2.76%) DNS
3 4 (2.76%) Reverse Proxy
4 3 (2.07%) DHCP
5 2 (1.38%) SAN
6 1 (0.69%) LAN
6 1 (0.69%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.69%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.69%) VPN
6 1 (0.69%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (5.52%) PostgreSQL
2 6 (4.14%) Azure SQL Database
2 6 (4.14%) Power BI
2 6 (4.14%) SQL Server
3 4 (2.76%) Relational Database
4 3 (2.07%) Metabase
4 3 (2.07%) Parquet
5 2 (1.38%) Data Lake
5 2 (1.38%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.69%) Big Data
6 1 (0.69%) Metadata
6 1 (0.69%) MySQL
6 1 (0.69%) Power Query
6 1 (0.69%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.69%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.69%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.69%) Tableau
6 1 (0.69%) VLDB
Development Applications
1 5 (3.45%) JIRA
2 2 (1.38%) Git
2 2 (1.38%) GitLab
General
1 47 (32.41%) Social Skills
2 16 (11.03%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (8.97%) Finance
4 9 (6.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 7 (4.83%) Law
5 7 (4.83%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (4.14%) Retail
7 5 (3.45%) Manufacturing
7 5 (3.45%) Public Sector
8 4 (2.76%) Banking
9 2 (1.38%) Aerospace
9 2 (1.38%) Automotive
9 2 (1.38%) Billing
9 2 (1.38%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.69%) Agriculture
10 1 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.69%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 32 (22.07%) Analyst
2 19 (13.10%) Architect
3 18 (12.41%) Developer
4 15 (10.34%) Administrator
5 11 (7.59%) .NET Developer
5 11 (7.59%) Senior
5 11 (7.59%) Service Analyst
5 11 (7.59%) Service Desk Analyst
6 9 (6.21%) IT Support
6 9 (6.21%) Lead
7 8 (5.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 8 (5.52%) Systems Administrator
8 7 (4.83%) Data Analyst
8 7 (4.83%) Desktop Support
9 6 (4.14%) .NET Software Developer
9 6 (4.14%) Consultant
9 6 (4.14%) Lead Developer
9 6 (4.14%) Senior Architect
9 6 (4.14%) Software Developer
9 6 (4.14%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (8.97%) .NET
2 9 (6.21%) REST
3 7 (4.83%) Node.js
4 4 (2.76%) Kafka
4 4 (2.76%) React
5 3 (2.07%) Middleware
5 3 (2.07%) OAuth
5 3 (2.07%) OAuth2
5 3 (2.07%) OpenID
5 3 (2.07%) Plotly
5 3 (2.07%) RabbitMQ
5 3 (2.07%) SAML
6 2 (1.38%) Lightning Web Components
6 2 (1.38%) SOAP
7 1 (0.69%) HTML
7 1 (0.69%) J2EE
7 1 (0.69%) RESTful
7 1 (0.69%) Visualforce
7 1 (0.69%) Web Services
7 1 (0.69%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (6.21%) Cloud Native
2 7 (4.83%) Product Ownership
3 5 (3.45%) Distributed Systems
3 5 (3.45%) Management Information System
4 4 (2.76%) Onboarding
4 4 (2.76%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (2.07%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (2.07%) Smartphone
6 2 (1.38%) Data Structures
6 2 (1.38%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (1.38%) Low-Code
6 2 (1.38%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.69%) CMDB
7 1 (0.69%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.69%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.69%) Device Driver
7 1 (0.69%) Enterprise Cloud
7 1 (0.69%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (0.69%) Mobile App
7 1 (0.69%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 41 (28.28%) Windows
2 18 (12.41%) Windows 10
3 7 (4.83%) Windows Server
4 5 (3.45%) Linux
5 3 (2.07%) Apple iOS
5 3 (2.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (2.07%) Windows 7
5 3 (2.07%) Windows 8
6 2 (1.38%) CentOS
7 1 (0.69%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.69%) MVS
7 1 (0.69%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.69%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (25.52%) Problem-Solving
2 28 (19.31%) CI/CD
3 22 (15.17%) DevOps
4 20 (13.79%) Customer Service
5 18 (12.41%) Stakeholder Management
6 16 (11.03%) Infrastructure as Code
7 15 (10.34%) Continuous Improvement
8 12 (8.28%) Agile
8 12 (8.28%) Asset Management
8 12 (8.28%) CRM
9 11 (7.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 11 (7.59%) Project Delivery
9 11 (7.59%) Validation
10 10 (6.90%) Decision-Making
11 9 (6.21%) Digital Strategy
11 9 (6.21%) Microservices
11 9 (6.21%) Migration
11 9 (6.21%) Performance Tuning
12 8 (5.52%) Analytics
12 8 (5.52%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 17 (11.72%) C#
2 11 (7.59%) SQL
3 10 (6.90%) PowerShell
4 8 (5.52%) JavaScript
5 5 (3.45%) Bicep
5 5 (3.45%) Python
6 4 (2.76%) Kusto Query Language
7 3 (2.07%) MATLAB
7 3 (2.07%) Rust
8 2 (1.38%) Apex Code
8 2 (1.38%) SOQL
8 2 (1.38%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.69%) Java
9 1 (0.69%) JCL
9 1 (0.69%) REXX
9 1 (0.69%) SOSL
9 1 (0.69%) VBA
Qualifications
1 6 (4.14%) Degree
1 6 (4.14%) Security Cleared
2 5 (3.45%) BPSS Clearance
2 5 (3.45%) Microsoft Certification
2 5 (3.45%) SC Cleared
3 3 (2.07%) Azure Certification
4 2 (1.38%) CISM
4 2 (1.38%) CISSP
4 2 (1.38%) Master's Degree
4 2 (1.38%) Oracle Certification
5 1 (0.69%) ACCA
5 1 (0.69%) CIMA
5 1 (0.69%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.69%) MCSA
5 1 (0.69%) MCSE
5 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 1 (0.69%) Network+ Certification
5 1 (0.69%) NVQ Level 3
5 1 (0.69%) PMI Certification
5 1 (0.69%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (3.45%) GDPR
2 4 (2.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.76%) NIST
2 4 (2.76%) PCI DSS
3 3 (2.07%) GRC
3 3 (2.07%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
3 3 (2.07%) PMO
3 3 (2.07%) SLA
3 3 (2.07%) SOC 2
4 2 (1.38%) QA
5 1 (0.69%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.69%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 35 (24.14%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.83%) Docker
3 2 (1.38%) Firmware
3 2 (1.38%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (1.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.69%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.69%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.69%) Job Entry Subsystem
4 1 (0.69%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 15 (10.34%) Terraform
2 12 (8.28%) Microsoft Intune
3 10 (6.90%) SCCM
4 8 (5.52%) Kubernetes
5 4 (2.76%) Ansible
5 4 (2.76%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.69%) Control-M
6 1 (0.69%) SCOM
6 1 (0.69%) VxRail
Vendors
1 11 (7.59%) SAP
2 9 (6.21%) Salesforce
3 6 (4.14%) Oracle
4 5 (3.45%) Databricks
4 5 (3.45%) HP
4 5 (3.45%) ServiceNow
5 4 (2.76%) Splunk
6 3 (2.07%) MuleSoft
7 2 (1.38%) Adobe
7 2 (1.38%) NetApp
7 2 (1.38%) SolarWinds
7 2 (1.38%) VMware
8 1 (0.69%) Apple
8 1 (0.69%) BMC
8 1 (0.69%) Citrix
8 1 (0.69%) Dell
8 1 (0.69%) Google
8 1 (0.69%) Intel
8 1 (0.69%) NEC
8 1 (0.69%) Sage