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 17 April 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
17 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 5 8
Rank change year-on-year -1 +3 -7
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 144 67 96
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 13.77% 13.19% 12.48%
As % of the Vendors category 30.64% 30.73% 30.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 49 56
10th Percentile £131 £170 £150
25th Percentile £199 £200 £177
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £394 £425 £400
Median % change year-on-year -7.35% +6.25% +6.67%
75th Percentile £475 £525 £621
90th Percentile £549 £550 £688
England median daily rate £492 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +3.58% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 4 20
10th Percentile £12.94 £13.57 £12.75
25th Percentile £13.25 £14.55 £13.69
Median hourly rate £14.88 £16.93 £14.14
Median % change year-on-year -12.13% +19.76% -14.33%
75th Percentile £24.09 £20.11 £19.06
90th Percentile £26.76 £21.84 £26.50
England median hourly rate £20.09 £21.23 £15.00
% change year-on-year -5.37% +41.53% -29.78%

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 470 218 312
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 44.93% 42.91% 40.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 295 153 194
10th Percentile £184 £236 £164
25th Percentile £359 £322 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £475 £483
Median % change year-on-year -5.89% -1.66% +7.33%
75th Percentile £540 £544 £600
90th Percentile £625 £629 £662
England median daily rate £500 £525 £520
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -3.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 12 27
10th Percentile £13.01 £13.76 £10.90
25th Percentile £14.96 £13.81 £12.52
Median hourly rate £16.35 £14.80 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.51% +5.68% -30.00%
75th Percentile £25.15 £20.11 £15.94
90th Percentile £74.00 £30.88 £24.84
England median hourly rate £29.50 £28.75 £22.50
% change year-on-year +2.61% +27.78% -41.56%

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 17 April 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 17 April 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 17 April 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 +1 50 £220 -54.87% 37
Northamptonshire +3 43 £436 -12.80% 43
Leicestershire +3 28 £131 -47.53% 32
Derbyshire -7 15 £425 +70.00% 26
Lincolnshire -14 5 £475 +163.89% 25
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 21 (14.58%) SharePoint
2 19 (13.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (3.47%) Confluence
4 3 (2.08%) Apache Superset
5 1 (0.69%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.69%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.69%) CMS
5 1 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2010
5 1 (0.69%) SAS
5 1 (0.69%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (11.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 16 (11.11%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (6.25%) Spreadsheet
3 5 (3.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (2.08%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (1.39%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.69%) FrameMaker
Business Applications
1 2 (1.39%) Maximo
2 1 (0.69%) assyst
2 1 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 44 (30.56%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (28.47%) Azure
3 20 (13.89%) Entra ID
4 17 (11.81%) Power Platform
5 12 (8.33%) AWS
6 10 (6.94%) PowerApps
7 9 (6.25%) GCP
8 8 (5.56%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (3.47%) Azure AKS
10 4 (2.78%) Azure Service Bus
10 4 (2.78%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (2.78%) Power Automate
10 4 (2.78%) Serverless
11 3 (2.08%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 3 (2.08%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (2.08%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 3 (2.08%) Azure Functions
11 3 (2.08%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (2.08%) OneDrive
11 3 (2.08%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (4.86%) Network Security
2 5 (3.47%) Firewall
2 5 (3.47%) VLAN
3 4 (2.78%) DNS
4 3 (2.08%) Reverse Proxy
5 2 (1.39%) DHCP
5 2 (1.39%) VPN
6 1 (0.69%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.69%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.86%) PostgreSQL
1 7 (4.86%) Power BI
2 5 (3.47%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (2.78%) Relational Database
3 4 (2.78%) SQL Server
3 4 (2.78%) Tableau
4 3 (2.08%) Metabase
4 3 (2.08%) Parquet
5 2 (1.39%) Big Data
5 2 (1.39%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (1.39%) Metadata
5 2 (1.39%) MongoDB
5 2 (1.39%) Power Query
6 1 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.69%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.69%) MySQL
6 1 (0.69%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.69%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.69%) VLDB
Development Applications
1 7 (4.86%) JIRA
2 4 (2.78%) Git
3 1 (0.69%) GitLab
General
1 46 (31.94%) Social Skills
2 21 (14.58%) Finance
3 13 (9.03%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (6.94%) Law
5 7 (4.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (2.78%) Banking
7 3 (2.08%) Legal
7 3 (2.08%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (2.08%) Public Sector
8 2 (1.39%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.39%) Marketing
9 1 (0.69%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.69%) Agriculture
9 1 (0.69%) Billing
9 1 (0.69%) Corporate Banking
9 1 (0.69%) Retail
9 1 (0.69%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 32 (22.22%) Analyst
2 19 (13.19%) Desktop Support
3 16 (11.11%) Architect
4 14 (9.72%) Service Analyst
4 14 (9.72%) Service Desk Analyst
5 13 (9.03%) Developer
5 13 (9.03%) Senior
6 11 (7.64%) Administrator
7 9 (6.25%) IT Support
8 8 (5.56%) Power Platform Developer
8 8 (5.56%) Support Engineer
9 7 (4.86%) Desktop Support Technician
9 7 (4.86%) Desktop Technician
9 7 (4.86%) Support Technician
10 6 (4.17%) Desktop Engineer
10 6 (4.17%) Desktop Support Engineer
10 6 (4.17%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (4.17%) Systems Administrator
11 5 (3.47%) Data Analyst
11 5 (3.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (7.64%) REST
2 5 (3.47%) .NET
3 3 (2.08%) Kafka
3 3 (2.08%) Middleware
3 3 (2.08%) Node.js
3 3 (2.08%) OAuth
3 3 (2.08%) OAuth2
3 3 (2.08%) OpenID
3 3 (2.08%) Plotly
3 3 (2.08%) SAML
4 2 (1.39%) Lightning Web Components
4 2 (1.39%) RabbitMQ
4 2 (1.39%) SOAP
4 2 (1.39%) Visualforce
5 1 (0.69%) Express.js
5 1 (0.69%) HTML
5 1 (0.69%) J2EE
5 1 (0.69%) Pandas
5 1 (0.69%) Web Services
5 1 (0.69%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (9.03%) Smartphone
2 10 (6.94%) Cloud Native
3 9 (6.25%) Product Ownership
4 5 (3.47%) Data Structures
4 5 (3.47%) Management Information System
5 4 (2.78%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (2.08%) Distributed Systems
6 3 (2.08%) Driving Licence
6 3 (2.08%) e-Learning
6 3 (2.08%) Onboarding
6 3 (2.08%) Web Conferencing
7 2 (1.39%) PMI
8 1 (0.69%) Device Driver
8 1 (0.69%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.69%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.69%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (0.69%) Mainframe
8 1 (0.69%) Replication
8 1 (0.69%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 54 (37.50%) Windows
2 29 (20.14%) Windows 10
3 8 (5.56%) Apple iOS
4 4 (2.78%) Windows 7
4 4 (2.78%) Windows 8
5 3 (2.08%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.39%) Linux
6 2 (1.39%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.69%) CentOS
7 1 (0.69%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.69%) MVS
7 1 (0.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.69%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 41 (28.47%) Problem-Solving
2 33 (22.92%) Customer Service
3 24 (16.67%) CI/CD
3 24 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
4 21 (14.58%) Continuous Improvement
4 21 (14.58%) Migration
5 20 (13.89%) DevOps
6 16 (11.11%) Infrastructure as Code
7 12 (8.33%) Digital Strategy
8 11 (7.64%) Agile
8 11 (7.64%) Analytics
8 11 (7.64%) Change Management
9 10 (6.94%) Asset Management
10 9 (6.25%) Collaborative Working
10 9 (6.25%) Data Migration
10 9 (6.25%) Project Delivery
11 8 (5.56%) BCP
11 8 (5.56%) Data Visualisation
11 8 (5.56%) Visualisation
12 7 (4.86%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 14 (9.72%) SQL
2 11 (7.64%) PowerShell
3 9 (6.25%) C#
3 9 (6.25%) Python
4 5 (3.47%) Bicep
5 3 (2.08%) Bash
5 3 (2.08%) MATLAB
5 3 (2.08%) R
5 3 (2.08%) Rust
6 2 (1.39%) Apex Code
6 2 (1.39%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.39%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.39%) VBA
7 1 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.69%) Java
7 1 (0.69%) JCL
7 1 (0.69%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.69%) REXX
7 1 (0.69%) SOQL
7 1 (0.69%) Swift
Qualifications
1 9 (6.25%) Degree
2 7 (4.86%) Microsoft Certification
3 4 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
3 4 (2.78%) Security Cleared
4 3 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
4 3 (2.08%) SC Cleared
5 2 (1.39%) Azure Certification
5 2 (1.39%) DV Cleared
5 2 (1.39%) Master's Degree
5 2 (1.39%) PMI Certification
5 2 (1.39%) PMP
6 1 (0.69%) AAT
6 1 (0.69%) ACCA
6 1 (0.69%) CIMA
6 1 (0.69%) IIBA
6 1 (0.69%) MBA
6 1 (0.69%) SAFe Agilist
6 1 (0.69%) VCAP
6 1 (0.69%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (6.94%) GDPR
2 5 (3.47%) GRC
2 5 (3.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (2.78%) PCI DSS
4 3 (2.08%) Data Quality
4 3 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 3 (2.08%) NIST
4 3 (2.08%) QA
4 3 (2.08%) SLA
4 3 (2.08%) SOC 2
5 2 (1.39%) PMO
6 1 (0.69%) Basel III
6 1 (0.69%) California Consumer Privacy Act
System Software
1 48 (33.33%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.78%) Docker
2 4 (2.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.39%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.69%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.69%) Firmware
4 1 (0.69%) Job Entry Subsystem
4 1 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.69%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.69%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 24 (16.67%) SCCM
2 20 (13.89%) Microsoft Intune
3 16 (11.11%) Terraform
4 6 (4.17%) Kubernetes
5 3 (2.08%) Ansible
5 3 (2.08%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.69%) Control-M
6 1 (0.69%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 6 (4.17%) HP
2 5 (3.47%) SAP
2 5 (3.47%) ServiceNow
3 4 (2.78%) Databricks
3 4 (2.78%) Google
3 4 (2.78%) Splunk
3 4 (2.78%) VMware
4 3 (2.08%) Citrix
4 3 (2.08%) Dynatrace
4 3 (2.08%) iManage
4 3 (2.08%) Oracle
4 3 (2.08%) Salesforce
5 2 (1.39%) Adobe
5 2 (1.39%) Tenable
6 1 (0.69%) Apple
6 1 (0.69%) BMC
6 1 (0.69%) Dell
6 1 (0.69%) Informatica
6 1 (0.69%) Intel
6 1 (0.69%) NetApp