Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Essex

Microsoft
East of England > Essex

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Essex 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 16 October 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 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	2	9	2
Rank change year-on-year	+7	-7	+7
Contract jobs citing Microsoft	55	12	28
As % of all contract jobs in Essex	14.71%	10.43%	21.88%
As % of the Vendors category	45.08%	30.77%	57.14%
Number of daily rates quoted	14	10	15
10^th Percentile	£331	£222	£168
25^th Percentile	£366	£225	£180
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£425	£303	£275
Median % change year-on-year	+40.50%	+10.00%	-41.49%
75^th Percentile	£488	£475	£334
90^th Percentile	£557	£511	£550
East of England median daily rate	£335	£500	£388
% change year-on-year	-33.00%	+29.03%	-13.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted	27	0	3
10^th Percentile	£13.69	-	£16.78
25^th Percentile	£15.99	-	£17.99
Median hourly rate	£18.25	-	£20.00
75^th Percentile	£20.69	-	£24.38
90^th Percentile	£27.20	-	£27.00
East of England median hourly rate	£17.12	£19.91	£16.23
% change year-on-year	-14.04%	+22.67%	-22.71%

All Vendors
Essex

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 Essex.

	6 months to 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services	122	39	49
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Essex	32.62%	33.91%	38.28%
Number of daily rates quoted	45	24	28
10^th Percentile	£326	£197	£171
25^th Percentile	£350	£225	£255
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£425	£388	£300
Median % change year-on-year	+9.68%	+29.17%	-33.33%
75^th Percentile	£500	£467	£350
90^th Percentile	£550	£520	£550
East of England median daily rate	£501	£525	£500
% change year-on-year	-4.67%	+5.00%	+2.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted	38	4	4
10^th Percentile	£13.49	£35.28	£17.19
25^th Percentile	£15.99	£36.06	£19.00
Median hourly rate	£18.25	£40.60	£23.75
Median % change year-on-year	-55.05%	+70.95%	-47.22%
75^th Percentile	£27.82	£51.15	£39.88
90^th Percentile	£70.50	£65.46	£59.90
East of England median hourly rate	£31.93	£20.75	£16.23
% change year-on-year	+53.86%	+27.85%	-63.53%

Microsoft Job Vacancy Trend in Essex

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

Microsoft Daily Rate Trend in Essex

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Essex citing Microsoft.

Microsoft Daily Rate Histogram in Essex

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Essex over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Essex

Microsoft Hourly Rate Trend in Essex

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Essex citing Microsoft.

Microsoft Hourly Rate Histogram in Essex

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Essex over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Essex

Microsoft Contract Job Locations in Essex

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Essex region over the 6 months to 16 October 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
Harlow	-	10	£425	-	8
Basildon	-3	7	£388	+30.25%	13
Rochford	-	7	-	-
Chelmsford	-7	6	£425	+88.89%	7
Southend-on-Sea	-	5	£150	-	7
Colchester	-	2	£492	-	4
Wickford	-	1	-	-	5
Microsoft East of England

Microsoft Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Essex

For the 6 months to 16 October 2026, contractor job vacancies citing Microsoft also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Essex region with a requirement for Microsoft.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Customer Service	38.2%	21
2	ITIL	36.4%	20
3	Problem-Solving	30.9%	17
4	Microsoft 365	18.2%	10
4	Microsoft Office	18.2%	10
6	CSS	14.5%	8
6	Microsoft Excel	14.5%	8
8	Active Directory	10.9%	6
8	Continuous Improvement	10.9%	6
8	Windows	10.9%	6
11	Azure	9.1%	5
11	Dynamics 365	9.1%	5
11	Microsoft PowerPoint	9.1%	5
11	Project Delivery	9.1%	5
11	Project Management	9.1%	5
16	Cybersecurity	7.3%	4
16	Data Protection	7.3%	4
16	LAN	7.3%	4
16	SC Cleared	7.3%	4
16	Security Cleared	7.3%	4
16	Stakeholder Engagement	7.3%	4
16	Stakeholder Management	7.3%	4
16	WAN	7.3%	4
16	Wi-Fi	7.3%	4
25	Agile	5.5%	3
25	Cisco	5.5%	3
25	Data Loss Prevention	5.5%	3
25	Decision-Making	5.5%	3
25	Document Management	5.5%	3
25	Entra ID	5.5%	3

Microsoft Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Essex by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Vendors

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Cisco	5.5%	3
2	F5	3.6%	2
2	Fortinet	3.6%	2
2	IBM	3.6%	2
2	Juniper	3.6%	2
6	Clearswift	1.8%	1
6	GoCardless	1.8%	1
6	JDA	1.8%	1
6	Meraki	1.8%	1
6	Oracle	1.8%	1
6	Proofpoint	1.8%	1