Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Hertfordshire

Microsoft
East of England > Hertfordshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Hertfordshire 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 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
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -6 +2 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 83 101 78
As % of all contract jobs in Hertfordshire 9.25% 22.10% 12.83%
As % of the Vendors category 22.87% 46.33% 35.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 44 60 15
10th Percentile £185 £190 £118
25th Percentile £198 £463 £181
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £470
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +17.02% -6.00%
75th Percentile £607 £575 £525
90th Percentile £709 £693 £586
East of England median daily rate £335 £525 £325
% change year-on-year -36.19% +61.54% -18.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 27 30
10th Percentile £14.42 £16.51 £14.21
25th Percentile £14.84 £17.96 £15.18
Median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% - +94.03%
75th Percentile £65.00 - -
90th Percentile - - -
East of England median hourly rate £17.50 £18.85 £16.23
% change year-on-year -7.16% +16.14% -13.50%

All Vendors
Hertfordshire

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 Hertfordshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 363 218 220
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Hertfordshire 40.47% 47.70% 36.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 126 103
10th Percentile £210 £347 £251
25th Percentile £425 £463 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - +10.00%
75th Percentile £638 £588 £575
90th Percentile £750 £700 £600
East of England median daily rate £503 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.29% +5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 42 48
10th Percentile £17.51 £16.27 £13.86
25th Percentile £31.38 £16.98 £15.73
Median hourly rate £58.00 £22.60 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +156.69% -65.24% +23.81%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £70.63
90th Percentile £85.00 - £85.00
East of England median hourly rate £40.00 £22.50 £16.23
% change year-on-year +77.78% +38.63% -61.49%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Hertfordshire

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Hertfordshire

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Hertfordshire

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Hertfordshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Hertfordshire over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Hertfordshire

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Hertfordshire

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Hertfordshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Hertfordshire over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Hertfordshire

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Hertfordshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Hertfordshire region over the 6 months to 17 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
Stevenage -12 35 £516 -6.14% 52
Hemel Hempstead -2 16 £500 +33.33% 13
Hatfield -7 9 £475 -2.94% 17
Watford -13 4 £550 - 29
Kings Langley - 4 - - 11
Welwyn Garden City -5 1 £265 -49.52% 9
St Albans - 1 £400 - 11
Hertford - 1 £475 - 3
Microsoft
East of England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Hertfordshire 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 11 (13.25%) SharePoint
2 8 (9.64%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (2.41%) Confluence
4 1 (1.20%) Apache
4 1 (1.20%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 9 (10.84%) Spreadsheet
2 7 (8.43%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (4.82%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (3.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (2.41%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (1.20%) AutoCAD
6 1 (1.20%) MicroStation
6 1 (1.20%) MS Visio
6 1 (1.20%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 5 (6.02%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (1.20%) Oracle Applications
Cloud Services
1 30 (36.14%) Microsoft 365
2 18 (21.69%) Azure
3 10 (12.05%) Entra ID
4 9 (10.84%) Power Platform
5 5 (6.02%) AWS
5 5 (6.02%) Microsoft Copilot
5 5 (6.02%) Mimecast
6 4 (4.82%) Dynamics 365
6 4 (4.82%) OneDrive
6 4 (4.82%) Power Automate
6 4 (4.82%) PowerApps
6 4 (4.82%) SaaS
7 3 (3.61%) Microsoft Purview
8 2 (2.41%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (2.41%) Google Workspace
8 2 (2.41%) Serverless
9 1 (1.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 1 (1.20%) Copilot Studio
9 1 (1.20%) PaaS
9 1 (1.20%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 12 (14.46%) TCP/IP
2 11 (13.25%) Firewall
3 8 (9.64%) Ethernet
4 7 (8.43%) NAS
5 6 (7.23%) DNS
5 6 (7.23%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (4.82%) DHCP
7 2 (2.41%) iSCSI
7 2 (2.41%) SAN
7 2 (2.41%) VPN
7 2 (2.41%) WAN
8 1 (1.20%) LAN
8 1 (1.20%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (6.02%) Power BI
2 2 (2.41%) Data Warehouse
2 2 (2.41%) SQL Server
3 1 (1.20%) Data Lake
3 1 (1.20%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
3 1 (1.20%) Metadata
3 1 (1.20%) Snowflake Schema
3 1 (1.20%) Star Schema
3 1 (1.20%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (9.64%) Eclipse
1 8 (9.64%) Visual Studio
2 3 (3.61%) Git
3 2 (2.41%) GitLab
3 2 (2.41%) JIRA
4 1 (1.20%) Jenkins
General
1 27 (32.53%) Social Skills
2 8 (9.64%) Finance
2 8 (9.64%) Military
3 7 (8.43%) Presentation Skills
4 6 (7.23%) Documentation Skills
5 5 (6.02%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (4.82%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (3.61%) Aerospace
8 2 (2.41%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (2.41%) Law
8 2 (2.41%) Legal
8 2 (2.41%) Retail
Job Titles
1 11 (13.25%) Consultant
2 10 (12.05%) Analyst
2 10 (12.05%) Developer
3 7 (8.43%) Administrator
4 6 (7.23%) Lead
4 6 (7.23%) Support Engineer
5 5 (6.02%) C# Software Engineer
5 5 (6.02%) IT Support
5 5 (6.02%) Microsoft Consultant
5 5 (6.02%) Microsoft Developer
5 5 (6.02%) Project Manager
5 5 (6.02%) Service Analyst
5 5 (6.02%) Service Desk Analyst
5 5 (6.02%) Software Engineer
6 4 (4.82%) Applications Support
6 4 (4.82%) Architect
6 4 (4.82%) Business Consultant
6 4 (4.82%) Desktop Support
7 3 (3.61%) Business Developer
7 3 (3.61%) Desktop Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (10.84%) Web Services
2 8 (9.64%) Node.js
3 7 (8.43%) LDAP
4 3 (3.61%) SailPoint
5 2 (2.41%) Middleware
5 2 (2.41%) OAuth
5 2 (2.41%) REST
6 1 (1.20%) JSON
6 1 (1.20%) OAuth2
6 1 (1.20%) OpenID
6 1 (1.20%) Oracle Fusion
6 1 (1.20%) SAML
6 1 (1.20%) Terraform
6 1 (1.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 5 (6.02%) Onboarding
1 5 (6.02%) PKI
2 2 (2.41%) Management Information System
2 2 (2.41%) Product Ownership
3 1 (1.20%) Data Centre
3 1 (1.20%) Driving Licence
3 1 (1.20%) e-Learning
3 1 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
3 1 (1.20%) FMCG
3 1 (1.20%) Legacy Applications
3 1 (1.20%) LIMS
3 1 (1.20%) NHS
3 1 (1.20%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 36 (43.37%) Windows
2 18 (21.69%) Linux
3 13 (15.66%) Windows Server
4 5 (6.02%) Mac OS
4 5 (6.02%) Windows 10
5 4 (4.82%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (2.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (1.20%) Android
7 1 (1.20%) CentOS
7 1 (1.20%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (15.66%) Agile
1 13 (15.66%) Problem-Solving
2 12 (14.46%) Customer Service
2 12 (14.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 12 (14.46%) Stakeholder Management
3 11 (13.25%) ITIL
4 10 (12.05%) CI/CD
5 9 (10.84%) Analytics
6 8 (9.64%) Continuous Delivery
6 8 (9.64%) Continuous Integration
6 8 (9.64%) Digital Twin
6 8 (9.64%) Synthetic Environment
6 8 (9.64%) TDD
6 8 (9.64%) Unit Testing
7 7 (8.43%) Decision-Making
8 6 (7.23%) Cybersecurity
8 6 (7.23%) Validation
8 6 (7.23%) Verification and Validation
8 6 (7.23%) Visualisation
9 5 (6.02%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 8 (9.64%) C#
1 8 (9.64%) C++
1 8 (9.64%) JavaScript
2 7 (8.43%) PowerShell
3 3 (3.61%) Python
4 2 (2.41%) Bash
4 2 (2.41%) MATLAB
4 2 (2.41%) SQL
5 1 (1.20%) BeanShell
5 1 (1.20%) Java
5 1 (1.20%) R
5 1 (1.20%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 22 (26.51%) Security Cleared
2 17 (20.48%) SC Cleared
3 6 (7.23%) DV Cleared
4 5 (6.02%) Degree
5 2 (2.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 2 (2.41%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (2.41%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 1 (1.20%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 1 (1.20%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (1.20%) CCSP
6 1 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (1.20%) CISSP
6 1 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (1.20%) Master's Degree
6 1 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
6 1 (1.20%) PMI Certification
6 1 (1.20%) PMP
6 1 (1.20%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (8.43%) SLA
2 3 (3.61%) PMO
3 2 (2.41%) GDPR
4 1 (1.20%) Actionable Recommendations
4 1 (1.20%) Def Stans
4 1 (1.20%) GxP
4 1 (1.20%) ISO 9001
4 1 (1.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (1.20%) P3O
4 1 (1.20%) QA
4 1 (1.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 24 (28.92%) Active Directory
2 7 (8.43%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (3.61%) Hyper-V
4 2 (2.41%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (1.20%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (1.20%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 4 (4.82%) SCCM
2 3 (3.61%) Ansible
2 3 (3.61%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (3.61%) vCenter Server
3 2 (2.41%) SCOM
4 1 (1.20%) Check_MK
4 1 (1.20%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (1.20%) Podman
4 1 (1.20%) Red Hat Satellite
4 1 (1.20%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 8 (9.64%) VMware
2 6 (7.23%) Adobe
2 6 (7.23%) ServiceNow
3 5 (6.02%) Meraki
3 5 (6.02%) Sophos
3 5 (6.02%) Synology
3 5 (6.02%) Ubiquiti
4 3 (3.61%) Apple
4 3 (3.61%) CyberArk
4 3 (3.61%) Freshdesk
4 3 (3.61%) Google
4 3 (3.61%) Oracle
5 2 (2.41%) Citrix
5 2 (2.41%) Red Hat
5 2 (2.41%) SAP
6 1 (1.20%) Autodesk
6 1 (1.20%) Dell
6 1 (1.20%) HP
6 1 (1.20%) McAfee
6 1 (1.20%) Salesforce