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 19 September 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
19 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 3 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 +2 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 210 143 110
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 15.66% 18.12% 13.75%
As % of the Vendors category 39.33% 41.81% 30.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 102 94 60
10th Percentile £133 £191 £169
25th Percentile £260 £253 £265
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £371 £383
Median % change year-on-year +14.56% -3.20% -14.83%
75th Percentile £533 £469 £481
90th Percentile £580 £525 £646
England median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 12 19
10th Percentile £12.83 £16.57 £12.75
25th Percentile £13.30 £23.49 £13.14
Median hourly rate £17.97 £25.15 £15.10
Median % change year-on-year -28.55% +66.56% +14.74%
75th Percentile £25.75 - £17.00
90th Percentile £33.75 - £25.78
England median hourly rate £19.33 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -14.58% +39.43% -26.23%

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 534 342 360
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 39.82% 43.35% 45.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 254 230 216
10th Percentile £225 £212 £263
25th Percentile £378 £331 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £420 £500
Median % change year-on-year +19.05% -16.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £579 £534 £588
90th Percentile £656 £645 £645
England median daily rate £514 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.78% -3.81% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 96 24 20
10th Percentile £13.28 £14.59 £12.75
25th Percentile £14.50 £18.51 £13.33
Median hourly rate £17.87 £23.19 £15.87
Median % change year-on-year -22.93% +46.16% -20.68%
75th Percentile £25.75 £25.15 £17.00
90th Percentile £57.50 - £43.89
England median hourly rate £29.96 £25.15 £33.50
% change year-on-year +19.13% -24.93% -23.62%

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 19 September 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 19 September 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 19 September 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
Derbyshire +1 50 £525 +28.05% 67
Nottinghamshire -2 43 £423 -3.15% 91
Northamptonshire +5 41 £375 -2.60% 79
Leicestershire -1 39 £275 +10.00% 83
Lincolnshire +1 31 £425 -19.43% 68
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 14 (6.67%) SharePoint
2 13 (6.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.90%) Oracle Workflow
4 3 (1.43%) Confluence
5 2 (0.95%) Apache Superset
6 1 (0.48%) CMS
6 1 (0.48%) SAS
Applications
1 42 (20.00%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (17.14%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (2.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.90%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.48%) FrameMaker
5 1 (0.48%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.48%) Trello
Business Applications
1 6 (2.86%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.43%) SAP CRM
2 3 (1.43%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.95%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.48%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 69 (32.86%) Azure
2 46 (21.90%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (13.81%) Entra ID
4 26 (12.38%) Power Platform
5 14 (6.67%) Dynamics 365
6 11 (5.24%) Azure DevOps
6 11 (5.24%) Microsoft Copilot
6 11 (5.24%) Power Automate
7 6 (2.86%) AWS
7 6 (2.86%) Azure AKS
8 5 (2.38%) Azure Service Bus
8 5 (2.38%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 4 (1.90%) Azure Data Factory
9 4 (1.90%) GCP
9 4 (1.90%) GitHub
9 4 (1.90%) PowerApps
10 3 (1.43%) Algolia
10 3 (1.43%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (1.43%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (1.43%) Intacct
Communications & Networking
1 11 (5.24%) DHCP
1 11 (5.24%) DNS
1 11 (5.24%) VPN
2 8 (3.81%) Firewall
2 8 (3.81%) Network Security
3 6 (2.86%) LAN
3 6 (2.86%) VLAN
3 6 (2.86%) WAN
4 5 (2.38%) SAN
5 4 (1.90%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.48%) BGP
6 1 (0.48%) Ethernet
6 1 (0.48%) IPsec
6 1 (0.48%) OSPF
6 1 (0.48%) Remote Desktop
6 1 (0.48%) Reverse Proxy
6 1 (0.48%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (9.52%) Power BI
2 11 (5.24%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.90%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (1.90%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.43%) Metadata
4 3 (1.43%) Power Query
5 2 (0.95%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.95%) Metabase
5 2 (0.95%) Parquet
5 2 (0.95%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.95%) Star Schema
6 1 (0.48%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.48%) Big Data
6 1 (0.48%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.48%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.48%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 5 (2.38%) JIRA
2 4 (1.90%) Oracle Forms
3 2 (0.95%) Git
3 2 (0.95%) GitLab
General
1 93 (44.29%) Social Skills
2 31 (14.76%) Organisational Skills
3 29 (13.81%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (10.95%) Finance
5 15 (7.14%) Public Sector
6 14 (6.67%) Manufacturing
7 13 (6.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (6.19%) Retail
8 9 (4.29%) Law
9 8 (3.81%) Police
10 6 (2.86%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (2.38%) Automotive
11 5 (2.38%) Banking
12 3 (1.43%) Electronics
13 2 (0.95%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.95%) Fire and Rescue
14 1 (0.48%) Agriculture
14 1 (0.48%) Billing
14 1 (0.48%) Influencing Skills
14 1 (0.48%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 30 (14.29%) Analyst
2 28 (13.33%) Developer
3 21 (10.00%) Administrator
4 18 (8.57%) Architect
5 13 (6.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 11 (5.24%) .NET Developer
6 11 (5.24%) Consultant
6 11 (5.24%) Data Analyst
6 11 (5.24%) Senior
7 10 (4.76%) IT Engineer
8 9 (4.29%) Coordinator
8 9 (4.29%) Lead
8 9 (4.29%) Solutions Architect
9 8 (3.81%) IT Support
9 8 (3.81%) Support Engineer
10 7 (3.33%) Cloud Engineer
10 7 (3.33%) Windows Engineer
11 6 (2.86%) Azure Developer
11 6 (2.86%) Deployment Engineer
11 6 (2.86%) Lead Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (7.14%) .NET
2 9 (4.29%) Terraform
3 6 (2.86%) REST
4 5 (2.38%) Node.js
4 5 (2.38%) React
5 4 (1.90%) Oracle Fusion
6 3 (1.43%) Kafka
6 3 (1.43%) RabbitMQ
6 3 (1.43%) XML
7 2 (0.95%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.95%) OAuth
7 2 (0.95%) Plotly
7 2 (0.95%) Software Packaging
8 1 (0.48%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.48%) AngularJS
8 1 (0.48%) Express.js
8 1 (0.48%) Lightning Web Components
8 1 (0.48%) MACH
8 1 (0.48%) MERN Stack
8 1 (0.48%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 14 (6.67%) Management Information System
2 13 (6.19%) Driving Licence
3 9 (4.29%) CMDB
4 6 (2.86%) Hybrid Cloud
4 6 (2.86%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.38%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.90%) Cloud Native
6 4 (1.90%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (1.90%) Legacy Systems
7 3 (1.43%) SCADA
7 3 (1.43%) Security Posture
7 3 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.95%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.95%) Data Structures
8 2 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.95%) Freedom of Information
8 2 (0.95%) Freedom of Information Act
8 2 (0.95%) Low-Code
8 2 (0.95%) Public Cloud
8 2 (0.95%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 54 (25.71%) Windows
2 19 (9.05%) Windows 10
3 15 (7.14%) Windows Server
4 5 (2.38%) Linux
5 3 (1.43%) Apple iOS
5 3 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.95%) CentOS
7 1 (0.48%) Android
7 1 (0.48%) MVS
7 1 (0.48%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.48%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (26.19%) Problem-Solving
2 33 (15.71%) Migration
3 31 (14.76%) Continuous Improvement
4 23 (10.95%) Decision-Making
5 20 (9.52%) Business Intelligence
5 20 (9.52%) CRM
5 20 (9.52%) Stakeholder Management
6 19 (9.05%) Customer Service
6 19 (9.05%) ERP
6 19 (9.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 18 (8.57%) CI/CD
7 18 (8.57%) DevOps
8 16 (7.62%) AI
8 16 (7.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 14 (6.67%) Asset Management
9 14 (6.67%) Data Modelling
9 14 (6.67%) Visualisation
10 13 (6.19%) Process Improvement
11 12 (5.71%) Logistics
11 12 (5.71%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 14 (6.67%) SQL
2 13 (6.19%) C#
3 9 (4.29%) PowerShell
4 8 (3.81%) JavaScript
5 5 (2.38%) Python
6 4 (1.90%) Kusto Query Language
7 2 (0.95%) ABAP
7 2 (0.95%) Bicep
7 2 (0.95%) MATLAB
7 2 (0.95%) Rust
8 1 (0.48%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.48%) JCL
8 1 (0.48%) REXX
8 1 (0.48%) SOQL
8 1 (0.48%) SOSL
8 1 (0.48%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.48%) X++
Qualifications
1 38 (18.10%) Security Cleared
2 30 (14.29%) SC Cleared
3 13 (6.19%) Degree
4 5 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
5 4 (1.90%) CISM
5 4 (1.90%) CISSP
5 4 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.43%) ACCA
6 3 (1.43%) CIMA
6 3 (1.43%) Master's Degree
7 2 (0.95%) Azure Certification
7 2 (0.95%) CRISC
7 2 (0.95%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 2 (0.95%) MCSA
7 2 (0.95%) MCSE
7 2 (0.95%) Oracle Certification
8 1 (0.48%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.48%) CREST Certified
8 1 (0.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.48%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (5.24%) Data Quality
2 7 (3.33%) QA
3 3 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.43%) PMO
4 2 (0.95%) GDPR
4 2 (0.95%) NIST
4 2 (0.95%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.95%) SLA
5 1 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.48%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 45 (21.43%) Active Directory
2 7 (3.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (2.86%) Docker
4 2 (0.95%) Firmware
4 2 (0.95%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.48%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.48%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.48%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.48%) NFS
5 1 (0.48%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 24 (11.43%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (7.14%) SCCM
3 4 (1.90%) Kubernetes
4 3 (1.43%) VxRail
5 2 (0.95%) Ansible
5 2 (0.95%) SCOM
5 2 (0.95%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.48%) Control-M
6 1 (0.48%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.48%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 21 (10.00%) SAP
2 12 (5.71%) Oracle
3 8 (3.81%) Salesforce
4 7 (3.33%) VMware
5 6 (2.86%) Apple
6 5 (2.38%) Databricks
7 4 (1.90%) Aruba
8 3 (1.43%) AVEVA
8 3 (1.43%) CheckPoint
8 3 (1.43%) MuleSoft
8 3 (1.43%) Sage
8 3 (1.43%) Samsung
8 3 (1.43%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.95%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.95%) Google
9 2 (0.95%) SolarWinds
10 1 (0.48%) Autodesk
10 1 (0.48%) Fortinet
10 1 (0.48%) NEC
10 1 (0.48%) Planview