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 22 January 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 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 4 6
Rank change year-on-year 0 +2 -2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 157 76 103
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 16.47% 13.67% 13.73%
As % of the Vendors category 35.36% 31.40% 28.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 45 71
10th Percentile £157 £185 £158
25th Percentile £213 £205 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £400 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% -11.11% +6.51%
75th Percentile £475 £475 £550
90th Percentile £537 £538 £625
England median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 10 14
10th Percentile £12.94 £14.48 £10.76
25th Percentile £14.44 £15.58 £11.36
Median hourly rate £18.88 £17.00 £14.13
Median % change year-on-year +11.03% +20.35% -8.87%
75th Percentile £24.74 - £18.00
90th Percentile £25.20 £61.20 £25.67
England median hourly rate £19.71 £22.39 £19.04
% change year-on-year -11.97% +17.60% -9.36%

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 444 242 362
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 46.59% 43.53% 48.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 295 151 236
10th Percentile £163 £233 £207
25th Percentile £333 £356 £362
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -11.70% -1.05% +6.74%
75th Percentile £525 £545 £569
90th Percentile £619 £630 £675
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 11 23
10th Percentile £13.54 £14.65 £10.80
25th Percentile £16.17 £16.05 £11.52
Median hourly rate £16.35 £17.00 £14.25
Median % change year-on-year -3.82% +19.30% -18.57%
75th Percentile £24.49 £24.38 £19.38
90th Percentile £25.15 £55.00 £26.50
England median hourly rate £23.75 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -20.83% -14.29% +7.69%

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 22 January 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 22 January 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 22 January 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
Northamptonshire +2 64 £401 -5.79% 49
Nottinghamshire -2 34 £211 -55.53% 61
Leicestershire +4 23 £131 -46.46% 65
Derbyshire -2 20 £475 +11.76% 42
Lincolnshire 0 12 £625 +273.13% 34
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 20 (12.74%) SharePoint
2 15 (9.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (4.46%) Confluence
4 2 (1.27%) CMS
5 1 (0.64%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.64%) IIS
Applications
1 20 (12.74%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (8.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (5.10%) MS Visio
4 6 (3.82%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (2.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (1.91%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (4.46%) Dynamics AX
2 3 (1.91%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.27%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.64%) assyst
4 1 (0.64%) Maximo
4 1 (0.64%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 45 (28.66%) Azure
2 39 (24.84%) Microsoft 365
3 26 (16.56%) Entra ID
4 18 (11.46%) Power Platform
5 16 (10.19%) AWS
6 13 (8.28%) PowerApps
7 12 (7.64%) GCP
8 9 (5.73%) Dynamics 365
9 7 (4.46%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (4.46%) Power Automate
10 6 (3.82%) Microsoft Purview
11 5 (3.18%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (3.18%) Azure Service Bus
12 4 (2.55%) Azure Functions
12 4 (2.55%) Serverless
13 3 (1.91%) Azure Sentinel
13 3 (1.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 3 (1.91%) IaaS
13 3 (1.91%) OneDrive
13 3 (1.91%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.18%) Network Security
2 4 (2.55%) DNS
3 3 (1.91%) Firewall
4 2 (1.27%) DHCP
4 2 (1.27%) PuTTY
4 2 (1.27%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (1.27%) SSH
4 2 (1.27%) Telnet
4 2 (1.27%) VLAN
5 1 (0.64%) HTTP
5 1 (0.64%) PBX
5 1 (0.64%) SAN
5 1 (0.64%) SMTP
5 1 (0.64%) VPN
5 1 (0.64%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.46%) Power BI
2 4 (2.55%) Tableau
3 3 (1.91%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (1.91%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.27%) Big Data
4 2 (1.27%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.27%) EDMS
4 2 (1.27%) Electronic Patient Records
4 2 (1.27%) Metadata
5 1 (0.64%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.64%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.64%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.64%) Power Query
5 1 (0.64%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.64%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 11 (7.01%) JIRA
2 7 (4.46%) Git
3 1 (0.64%) Cucumber
3 1 (0.64%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.64%) JMeter
3 1 (0.64%) LoadRunner
3 1 (0.64%) Postman
3 1 (0.64%) Selenium
3 1 (0.64%) SonarQube
General
1 54 (34.39%) Social Skills
2 35 (22.29%) Finance
3 15 (9.55%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (4.46%) Banking
5 6 (3.82%) Aerospace
5 6 (3.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 6 (3.82%) Law
6 5 (3.18%) Influencing Skills
6 5 (3.18%) Manufacturing
7 4 (2.55%) Legal
8 3 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.91%) Retail
9 1 (0.64%) Agriculture
9 1 (0.64%) Billing
9 1 (0.64%) Digital Healthcare
9 1 (0.64%) Fire and Rescue
9 1 (0.64%) Local Government
9 1 (0.64%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.64%) Public Sector
9 1 (0.64%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 40 (25.48%) Analyst
2 17 (10.83%) Desktop Support
3 16 (10.19%) Developer
4 12 (7.64%) Service Analyst
4 12 (7.64%) Service Desk Analyst
5 11 (7.01%) Business Analyst
5 11 (7.01%) Support Engineer
6 9 (5.73%) IT Support
7 8 (5.10%) Architect
7 8 (5.10%) Lead
7 8 (5.10%) Power Platform Developer
8 7 (4.46%) Consultant
8 7 (4.46%) Desktop Support Technician
8 7 (4.46%) Desktop Technician
8 7 (4.46%) Support Technician
9 6 (3.82%) Desktop Engineer
9 6 (3.82%) Desktop Support Engineer
9 6 (3.82%) IT Analyst
9 6 (3.82%) Senior
10 5 (3.18%) Dynamics 365 Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.46%) REST
2 4 (2.55%) .NET
3 3 (1.91%) ASP.NET
3 3 (1.91%) CSS
3 3 (1.91%) HTML
3 3 (1.91%) OAuth
3 3 (1.91%) React
3 3 (1.91%) RESTful
3 3 (1.91%) SAML
4 2 (1.27%) .NET Framework
4 2 (1.27%) AngularJS
4 2 (1.27%) ASP.NET MVC
4 2 (1.27%) FHIR
4 2 (1.27%) Kafka
4 2 (1.27%) Lightning Web Components
4 2 (1.27%) Middleware
4 2 (1.27%) OAuth2
4 2 (1.27%) OpenID
4 2 (1.27%) Visualforce
5 1 (0.64%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 13 (8.28%) Smartphone
2 11 (7.01%) Management Information System
3 9 (5.73%) Driving Licence
3 9 (5.73%) Product Ownership
4 7 (4.46%) Onboarding
5 5 (3.18%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.55%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.91%) Data Fabric
7 3 (1.91%) e-Learning
7 3 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (1.91%) Web Conferencing
8 2 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
8 2 (1.27%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.27%) NHS
8 2 (1.27%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.27%) PMI
8 2 (1.27%) Security Posture
8 2 (1.27%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.27%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 57 (36.31%) Windows
2 28 (17.83%) Windows 10
3 8 (5.10%) Apple iOS
4 7 (4.46%) Mac OS
5 6 (3.82%) Windows Server
6 5 (3.18%) Windows 7
6 5 (3.18%) Windows 8
7 3 (1.91%) Linux
8 2 (1.27%) Windows Server 2003
8 2 (1.27%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.64%) Android
9 1 (0.64%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (28.03%) Problem-Solving
2 36 (22.93%) Stakeholder Management
3 31 (19.75%) Migration
4 28 (17.83%) Continuous Improvement
5 24 (15.29%) Customer Service
6 23 (14.65%) DevOps
7 19 (12.10%) Analytics
7 19 (12.10%) Change Management
8 17 (10.83%) Agile
9 16 (10.19%) CI/CD
9 16 (10.19%) Data Protection
9 16 (10.19%) User Experience
10 15 (9.55%) Data Migration
11 13 (8.28%) ITIL
11 13 (8.28%) Roadmaps
12 12 (7.64%) Project Delivery
12 12 (7.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 11 (7.01%) Incident Response
13 11 (7.01%) Workshop Facilitation
14 10 (6.37%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 25 (15.92%) SQL
2 17 (10.83%) PowerShell
3 10 (6.37%) Python
4 9 (5.73%) Bash
5 6 (3.82%) C#
6 3 (1.91%) JavaScript
6 3 (1.91%) R
6 3 (1.91%) T-SQL
6 3 (1.91%) X++
7 2 (1.27%) Apex Code
7 2 (1.27%) Bicep
7 2 (1.27%) C
7 2 (1.27%) C++
7 2 (1.27%) Java
7 2 (1.27%) VBA
8 1 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.64%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.64%) SOQL
8 1 (0.64%) Swift
Qualifications
1 17 (10.83%) Degree
2 10 (6.37%) Security Cleared
3 9 (5.73%) Microsoft Certification
4 6 (3.82%) SC Cleared
5 5 (3.18%) A+ Certification
5 5 (3.18%) Azure Certification
6 3 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.91%) Master's Degree
7 2 (1.27%) DV Cleared
7 2 (1.27%) MBA
7 2 (1.27%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.64%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.64%) CISA
8 1 (0.64%) CISSP
8 1 (0.64%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.64%) GIAC
8 1 (0.64%) MCSE
8 1 (0.64%) PMP
8 1 (0.64%) Server+ Certification
8 1 (0.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (10.19%) GDPR
2 11 (7.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (3.18%) SLA
4 4 (2.55%) GRC
4 4 (2.55%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.27%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 2 (1.27%) Data Quality
5 2 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 2 (1.27%) NIST
5 2 (1.27%) PMO
5 2 (1.27%) QA
5 2 (1.27%) SOC 2
6 1 (0.64%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.64%) Basel III
6 1 (0.64%) HIPAA
6 1 (0.64%) HL7
6 1 (0.64%) ISO 8583
6 1 (0.64%) PSD2
6 1 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 51 (32.48%) Active Directory
2 10 (6.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.91%) Docker
3 3 (1.91%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.27%) BitLocker
4 2 (1.27%) Firmware
4 2 (1.27%) Terminal Services
5 1 (0.64%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.64%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 29 (18.47%) SCCM
2 21 (13.38%) Microsoft Intune
3 10 (6.37%) Terraform
4 5 (3.18%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.27%) Prometheus
5 2 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.64%) Ansible
6 1 (0.64%) Kibana
Vendors
1 10 (6.37%) VMware
2 9 (5.73%) Citrix
3 7 (4.46%) Salesforce
4 5 (3.18%) Databricks
4 5 (3.18%) HP
5 4 (2.55%) Dynatrace
5 4 (2.55%) ServiceNow
5 4 (2.55%) Tenable
6 3 (1.91%) Google
6 3 (1.91%) iManage
6 3 (1.91%) Splunk
7 2 (1.27%) Cisco
7 2 (1.27%) Dell
7 2 (1.27%) Draytek
7 2 (1.27%) McAfee
7 2 (1.27%) Siemens
7 2 (1.27%) Workday
8 1 (0.64%) DocuSign
8 1 (0.64%) F5
8 1 (0.64%) Samsung