Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the East of England

Microsoft
England > East of England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the East of England 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 7 August 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
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 3 2
Rank change year-on-year -1 -1 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 257 253 233
As % of all contract jobs in the East of England 11.72% 20.06% 14.43%
As % of the Vendors category 32.08% 39.29% 37.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 119 110 60
10th Percentile £163 £200 £175
25th Percentile £190 £296 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £500 £388
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +29.03% +3.33%
75th Percentile £511 £575 £500
90th Percentile £591 £638 £588
England median daily rate £490 £475 £499
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.81% -0.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 56 127
10th Percentile £14.53 £14.84 £14.16
25th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.48
Median hourly rate £18.50 £18.85 £16.23
Median % change year-on-year -1.86% +16.14% +10.78%
75th Percentile £25.63 £43.59 £16.85
90th Percentile £64.75 £65.00 £65.00
England median hourly rate £22.00 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year -2.78% +39.43% -27.87%

All Vendors
East of England

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 of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 801 644 625
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East of England 36.54% 51.07% 38.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 398 317 268
10th Percentile £190 £213 £204
25th Percentile £361 £413 £349
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £507 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.43% +5.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £575
90th Percentile £694 £685 £650
England median daily rate £510 £510 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.86% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 155 110 215
10th Percentile £15.40 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.50 £16.30 £15.00
Median hourly rate £22.68 £22.53 £16.23
Median % change year-on-year +0.67% +38.82% -32.86%
75th Percentile £62.88 £60.00 £46.50
90th Percentile £70.60 £67.50 £74.30
England median hourly rate £35.00 £25.15 £29.39
% change year-on-year +39.17% -14.41% -25.80%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the East of England

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the East of England

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the East of England

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

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

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the East of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the East of England over the 6 months to 7 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the East of England

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the East of England

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

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

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the East of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the East of England over the 6 months to 7 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the East of England

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the East of England

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 of England region over the 6 months to 7 August 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
Hertfordshire -9 72 £475 -13.64% 126
Essex +1 57 £375 +21.36% 94
Norfolk +8 46 £200 - 51
Cambridgeshire -6 35 £509 +51.71% 78
Suffolk -3 26 £450 +100.00% 38
Bedfordshire -12 18 £525 - 36
East Anglia - 3 £470 - 36
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East of England 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 19 (7.39%) SharePoint
2 9 (3.50%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.56%) OpenEdge
4 2 (0.78%) Confluence
4 2 (0.78%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.39%) Apache
5 1 (0.39%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 40 (15.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (11.67%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (5.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (5.45%) Spreadsheet
5 4 (1.56%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.78%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.39%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.39%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.39%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 15 (5.84%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (2.33%) Sage X3
3 3 (1.17%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (1.17%) TrackWise
4 2 (0.78%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.39%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.39%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.39%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.39%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.39%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 88 (34.24%) Microsoft 365
2 58 (22.57%) Azure
3 27 (10.51%) Entra ID
4 23 (8.95%) Power Platform
5 14 (5.45%) SaaS
6 13 (5.06%) Dynamics 365
7 10 (3.89%) Power Automate
8 8 (3.11%) PowerApps
9 7 (2.72%) Microsoft Copilot
9 7 (2.72%) OneDrive
10 6 (2.33%) AWS
11 5 (1.95%) Azure Data Factory
11 5 (1.95%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (1.56%) Google Workspace
12 4 (1.56%) Mimecast
12 4 (1.56%) Serverless
13 3 (1.17%) Azure Logic Apps
13 3 (1.17%) Azure Service Bus
13 3 (1.17%) OCI
13 3 (1.17%) Veeva
Communications & Networking
1 26 (10.12%) Firewall
2 21 (8.17%) VPN
3 20 (7.78%) Wi-Fi
4 15 (5.84%) TCP/IP
5 14 (5.45%) LAN
5 14 (5.45%) WAN
6 9 (3.50%) Network Security
6 9 (3.50%) Wireless
7 8 (3.11%) DNS
8 7 (2.72%) Ethernet
9 6 (2.33%) NAS
10 5 (1.95%) DHCP
10 5 (1.95%) IPsec
10 5 (1.95%) MPLS
11 4 (1.56%) Cisco ISE
11 4 (1.56%) VLAN
12 3 (1.17%) 4G
12 3 (1.17%) BGP
13 2 (0.78%) Intranet
13 2 (0.78%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.84%) Power BI
2 13 (5.06%) SQL Server
3 10 (3.89%) Power Query
4 9 (3.50%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (2.33%) ZAP BI
6 4 (1.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (1.17%) Data Lake
7 3 (1.17%) Metadata
7 3 (1.17%) Tableau
8 2 (0.78%) Crystal Reports
8 2 (0.78%) PowerPivot
8 2 (0.78%) Star Schema
9 1 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.39%) Big Data
9 1 (0.39%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.39%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.39%) QlikView
9 1 (0.39%) Snowflake Schema
9 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 10 (3.89%) JIRA
1 10 (3.89%) Visual Studio
2 8 (3.11%) Eclipse
3 3 (1.17%) Git
3 3 (1.17%) GitLab
4 2 (0.78%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.39%) LabVIEW
5 1 (0.39%) MSI
General
1 120 (46.69%) Social Skills
2 30 (11.67%) Finance
3 27 (10.51%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (8.56%) Organisational Skills
5 18 (7.00%) Manufacturing
6 11 (4.28%) Local Government
7 10 (3.89%) Presentation Skills
8 7 (2.72%) Military
8 7 (2.72%) Public Sector
9 6 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.95%) Legal
11 4 (1.56%) Pharmaceutical
11 4 (1.56%) Retail
12 3 (1.17%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (1.17%) Marketing
12 3 (1.17%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.78%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.78%) Automotive
14 1 (0.39%) Law
Job Titles
1 74 (28.79%) IT Support
2 37 (14.40%) Support Engineer
3 34 (13.23%) IT Engineer
4 30 (11.67%) IT Support Engineer
5 27 (10.51%) Analyst
6 18 (7.00%) Developer
7 17 (6.61%) Lead
8 16 (6.23%) Administrator
9 13 (5.06%) Consultant
10 12 (4.67%) IT Technician
11 11 (4.28%) Architect
12 10 (3.89%) Support Officer
13 9 (3.50%) IT Support Technician
13 9 (3.50%) Support Technician
13 9 (3.50%) Technical Support
14 8 (3.11%) Project Manager
14 8 (3.11%) Support Analyst
15 7 (2.72%) Business Intelligence Developer
15 7 (2.72%) SQL BI Developer
15 7 (2.72%) SQL Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.50%) Web Services
2 8 (3.11%) Node.js
3 5 (1.95%) CSS
4 4 (1.56%) .NET
5 2 (0.78%) 802.1X
5 2 (0.78%) LDAP
5 2 (0.78%) Middleware
5 2 (0.78%) NETCONF
5 2 (0.78%) OpenConfig
5 2 (0.78%) RESTCONF
5 2 (0.78%) SailPoint
5 2 (0.78%) YANG
6 1 (0.39%) ASP.NET Web API
6 1 (0.39%) Express.js
6 1 (0.39%) MERN Stack
6 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.39%) OAuth2
6 1 (0.39%) OpenID
6 1 (0.39%) React
6 1 (0.39%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 30 (11.67%) Onboarding
2 10 (3.89%) Driving Licence
3 9 (3.50%) Management Information System
4 6 (2.33%) Operational Technology
5 5 (1.95%) CMDB
5 5 (1.95%) Data Centre
5 5 (1.95%) Data Structures
5 5 (1.95%) NHS
5 5 (1.95%) SCADA
6 4 (1.56%) AI Agents
6 4 (1.56%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (1.56%) PKI
7 3 (1.17%) Life Science
7 3 (1.17%) Public Cloud
7 3 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.78%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.78%) BYOD
8 2 (0.78%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.78%) Private Cloud
8 2 (0.78%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 84 (32.68%) Windows
2 23 (8.95%) Windows 10
3 18 (7.00%) Linux
3 18 (7.00%) Windows Server
4 7 (2.72%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.56%) Android
6 2 (0.78%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.39%) CentOS
7 1 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.39%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.39%) VMS
7 1 (0.39%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (22.18%) ITIL
2 51 (19.84%) Problem-Solving
3 50 (19.46%) Customer Service
4 33 (12.84%) Continuous Improvement
5 31 (12.06%) Migration
6 29 (11.28%) Stakeholder Management
7 25 (9.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 25 (9.73%) Validation
8 22 (8.56%) Agile
9 21 (8.17%) Cybersecurity
10 20 (7.78%) ITSM
11 18 (7.00%) CRM
11 18 (7.00%) Project Delivery
12 17 (6.61%) Business Intelligence
13 16 (6.23%) Decision-Making
13 16 (6.23%) Service Delivery
14 15 (5.84%) Analytics
14 15 (5.84%) Service Management
15 14 (5.45%) Change Management
16 13 (5.06%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 23 (8.95%) SQL
2 16 (6.23%) PowerShell
3 12 (4.67%) C#
4 11 (4.28%) Python
5 9 (3.50%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.50%) VBA
6 8 (3.11%) C++
6 8 (3.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 2 (0.78%) R
7 2 (0.78%) X++
8 1 (0.39%) Bash
8 1 (0.39%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.39%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 33 (12.84%) Security Cleared
2 29 (11.28%) SC Cleared
3 22 (8.56%) Degree
4 11 (4.28%) Cisco Certification
5 10 (3.89%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (2.33%) CCNA
6 6 (2.33%) CCNP
6 6 (2.33%) DV Cleared
7 5 (1.95%) Azure Certification
7 5 (1.95%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 4 (1.56%) A+ Certification
8 4 (1.56%) CISSP
9 3 (1.17%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (1.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (1.17%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 2 (0.78%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 2 (0.78%) CCIE
10 2 (0.78%) CCSP
10 2 (0.78%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.78%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (6.23%) Data Quality
2 14 (5.45%) SLA
3 5 (1.95%) GDPR
3 5 (1.95%) GMP
3 5 (1.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (1.95%) PMO
4 4 (1.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 3 (1.17%) QA
6 2 (0.78%) Accessibility
6 2 (0.78%) GLP
6 2 (0.78%) GxP
6 2 (0.78%) ISA99
6 2 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 2 (0.78%) NCSC
6 2 (0.78%) P3O
7 1 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.39%) NIST
System Software
1 61 (23.74%) Active Directory
2 8 (3.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.78%) Hyper-V
3 2 (0.78%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.39%) Docker
4 1 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.39%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 30 (11.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (2.33%) Ansible
2 6 (2.33%) Terraform
3 4 (1.56%) ServiceCenter
3 4 (1.56%) vCenter Server
4 3 (1.17%) SCCM
5 1 (0.39%) Check_MK
5 1 (0.39%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.39%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.39%) Podman
5 1 (0.39%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.39%) SCOM
Vendors
1 20 (7.78%) ServiceNow
2 12 (4.67%) VMware
3 11 (4.28%) Cisco
4 7 (2.72%) SAP
5 6 (2.33%) Apple
5 6 (2.33%) Google
5 6 (2.33%) Oracle
5 6 (2.33%) Sage
6 5 (1.95%) Databricks
6 5 (1.95%) Meraki
6 5 (1.95%) Salesforce
7 4 (1.56%) Adobe
7 4 (1.56%) Citrix
7 4 (1.56%) Civica
7 4 (1.56%) Dell
7 4 (1.56%) Fortinet
7 4 (1.56%) HP
7 4 (1.56%) Sophos
7 4 (1.56%) Synology
7 4 (1.56%) Ubiquiti