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 5 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
5 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 104 107 87
As % of all contract jobs in Hertfordshire 11.10% 22.81% 14.87%
As % of the Vendors category 25.30% 46.32% 38.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 61 25
10th Percentile £185 £190 £166
25th Percentile £193 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £513
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +7.32% +2.50%
75th Percentile £638 £575 £588
90th Percentile £799 £650 £713
East of England median daily rate £325 £525 £375
% change year-on-year -38.10% +40.00% -14.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 31 30
10th Percentile £14.28 £16.55 £14.21
25th Percentile £14.48 £17.96 £15.73
Median hourly rate £60.00 £23.63 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +153.91% -63.65% +46.07%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 -
90th Percentile £65.50 - £65.25
East of England median hourly rate £17.50 £18.85 £16.23
% change year-on-year -7.16% +16.14% -22.71%

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 411 231 224
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Hertfordshire 43.86% 49.25% 38.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 133 110
10th Percentile £200 £350 £267
25th Percentile £425 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - +10.00%
75th Percentile £675 £600 £575
90th Percentile £800 £700 £626
East of England median daily rate £506 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -3.62% +5.00% +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 105 47 47
10th Percentile £16.55 £16.17 £13.86
25th Percentile £24.19 £16.92 £15.98
Median hourly rate £40.00 £19.10 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +109.48% -70.62% +23.81%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £82.50 - £89.00
East of England median hourly rate £35.27 £21.28 £16.23
% change year-on-year +65.72% +31.12% -61.81%

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 5 October 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 5 October 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 5 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
Stevenage -9 46 £600 +9.09% 47
Hemel Hempstead -1 14 £475 +26.67% 13
Hatfield -5 9 £263 -47.50% 20
Kings Langley - 9 - - 8
Watford -10 7 £538 -2.27% 36
Letchworth 0 2 £425 +25.93% 7
Welwyn Garden City -2 2 £265 -55.83% 11
St Albans - 1 £400 - 15
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 17 (16.35%) SharePoint
2 8 (7.69%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.92%) Confluence
4 1 (0.96%) Apache
4 1 (0.96%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 12 (11.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (8.65%) Spreadsheet
3 8 (7.69%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (4.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (1.92%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.96%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.96%) MicroStation
6 1 (0.96%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 7 (6.73%) Remedy ITSM
2 5 (4.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (2.88%) Integrated Workplace Management System
Cloud Services
1 40 (38.46%) Microsoft 365
2 22 (21.15%) Azure
3 21 (20.19%) Power Platform
4 11 (10.58%) Entra ID
5 9 (8.65%) Dynamics 365
6 8 (7.69%) Google Workspace
7 7 (6.73%) Microsoft Copilot
8 6 (5.77%) AWS
8 6 (5.77%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (4.81%) GCP
9 5 (4.81%) Mimecast
9 5 (4.81%) OneDrive
10 4 (3.85%) Power Automate
10 4 (3.85%) PowerApps
11 3 (2.88%) Copilot Studio
11 3 (2.88%) Google Docs
11 3 (2.88%) SaaS
12 2 (1.92%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (1.92%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (1.92%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (10.58%) TCP/IP
2 10 (9.62%) Firewall
3 8 (7.69%) Ethernet
4 6 (5.77%) NAS
4 6 (5.77%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (3.85%) DNS
6 3 (2.88%) DHCP
7 2 (1.92%) VPN
7 2 (1.92%) WAN
8 1 (0.96%) iSCSI
8 1 (0.96%) LAN
8 1 (0.96%) Network Security
8 1 (0.96%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (13.46%) Power BI
2 6 (5.77%) BigQuery
2 6 (5.77%) Looker
3 2 (1.92%) Metadata
3 2 (1.92%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.96%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.96%) Semantic Layer
4 1 (0.96%) Snowflake Schema
4 1 (0.96%) Star Schema
4 1 (0.96%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (7.69%) Eclipse
1 8 (7.69%) Visual Studio
2 3 (2.88%) Git
3 2 (1.92%) GitLab
3 2 (1.92%) JIRA
4 1 (0.96%) Jenkins
General
1 36 (34.62%) Social Skills
2 8 (7.69%) Documentation Skills
2 8 (7.69%) Military
3 7 (6.73%) Analytical Skills
3 7 (6.73%) Presentation Skills
4 6 (5.77%) Aerospace
4 6 (5.77%) Finance
4 6 (5.77%) Organisational Skills
5 3 (2.88%) Law
5 3 (2.88%) Legal
6 2 (1.92%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (1.92%) Manufacturing
6 2 (1.92%) Retail
6 2 (1.92%) Telecoms
7 1 (0.96%) Automotive
7 1 (0.96%) Banking
7 1 (0.96%) Electronics
7 1 (0.96%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 19 (18.27%) Developer
2 13 (12.50%) Lead
3 11 (10.58%) Consultant
4 10 (9.62%) Analyst
5 8 (7.69%) Applications Developer
5 8 (7.69%) Support Engineer
6 7 (6.73%) Administrator
6 7 (6.73%) Architect
6 7 (6.73%) Microsoft Developer
7 6 (5.77%) Desktop Support
7 6 (5.77%) Report Developer
8 5 (4.81%) Applications Specialist
8 5 (4.81%) Business Developer
8 5 (4.81%) Desktop Support Engineer
8 5 (4.81%) IT Support
8 5 (4.81%) Lead Architect
8 5 (4.81%) Microsoft Consultant
8 5 (4.81%) Project Manager
8 5 (4.81%) Service Desk Analyst
8 5 (4.81%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (8.65%) Web Services
2 8 (7.69%) Node.js
3 7 (6.73%) LDAP
4 5 (4.81%) REST
5 3 (2.88%) SailPoint
6 2 (1.92%) Middleware
6 2 (1.92%) OAuth
6 2 (1.92%) Terraform
7 1 (0.96%) ARM Templates
7 1 (0.96%) JSON
7 1 (0.96%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.96%) OAuth2
7 1 (0.96%) OpenID
7 1 (0.96%) SAML
7 1 (0.96%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 6 (5.77%) CMDB
2 5 (4.81%) Onboarding
2 5 (4.81%) PKI
3 2 (1.92%) AI Agents
3 2 (1.92%) FMCG
3 2 (1.92%) Management Information System
3 2 (1.92%) Product Ownership
3 2 (1.92%) Web Conferencing
4 1 (0.96%) Analytical Mindset
4 1 (0.96%) Data Centre
4 1 (0.96%) Driving Licence
4 1 (0.96%) e-Learning
4 1 (0.96%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (0.96%) Insider Threat
4 1 (0.96%) Legacy Applications
4 1 (0.96%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 36 (34.62%) Windows
2 17 (16.35%) Linux
3 11 (10.58%) Windows Server
4 8 (7.69%) Windows 10
5 5 (4.81%) Mac OS
6 4 (3.85%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (1.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.96%) Android
8 1 (0.96%) CentOS
8 1 (0.96%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (17.31%) ITIL
2 16 (15.38%) Customer Service
2 16 (15.38%) Stakeholder Management
3 15 (14.42%) Data Governance
3 15 (14.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 14 (13.46%) Analytics
4 14 (13.46%) Business Intelligence
5 13 (12.50%) Agile
5 13 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
6 11 (10.58%) CI/CD
6 11 (10.58%) Continuous Improvement
6 11 (10.58%) ITSM
6 11 (10.58%) Service Management
7 10 (9.62%) Data Modelling
7 10 (9.62%) Decision-Making
7 10 (9.62%) Validation
8 9 (8.65%) Cybersecurity
9 8 (7.69%) Continuous Delivery
9 8 (7.69%) Continuous Integration
9 8 (7.69%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 13 (12.50%) JavaScript
2 9 (8.65%) Python
3 8 (7.69%) C#
3 8 (7.69%) C++
3 8 (7.69%) SQL
4 7 (6.73%) PowerShell
5 4 (3.85%) Google Apps Script
6 2 (1.92%) Bash
6 2 (1.92%) MATLAB
7 1 (0.96%) BeanShell
7 1 (0.96%) Bicep
7 1 (0.96%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.96%) Java
7 1 (0.96%) R
7 1 (0.96%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 29 (27.88%) Security Cleared
2 23 (22.12%) SC Cleared
3 6 (5.77%) DV Cleared
4 5 (4.81%) Degree
5 1 (0.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
5 1 (0.96%) BPSS Clearance
5 1 (0.96%) CCSP
5 1 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
5 1 (0.96%) CISSP
5 1 (0.96%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.96%) CTC Cleared
5 1 (0.96%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 1 (0.96%) Master's Degree
5 1 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (0.96%) Network+ Certification
5 1 (0.96%) PMI Certification
5 1 (0.96%) PMP
5 1 (0.96%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
5 1 (0.96%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (10.58%) SLA
2 5 (4.81%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.88%) PMO
4 2 (1.92%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (1.92%) GDPR
5 1 (0.96%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.96%) ISO 9001
5 1 (0.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.96%) P3O
5 1 (0.96%) QA
5 1 (0.96%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 27 (25.96%) Active Directory
2 4 (3.85%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.96%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.96%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.96%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.96%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.96%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 4 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
1 4 (3.85%) SCCM
2 2 (1.92%) Ansible
2 2 (1.92%) SCOM
2 2 (1.92%) vCenter Server
3 1 (0.96%) Check_MK
3 1 (0.96%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.96%) Podman
3 1 (0.96%) Red Hat Satellite
3 1 (0.96%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 12 (11.54%) ServiceNow
2 11 (10.58%) Google
3 7 (6.73%) Remedy
4 6 (5.77%) Adobe
5 5 (4.81%) Apple
5 5 (4.81%) Meraki
5 5 (4.81%) Sophos
5 5 (4.81%) Synology
5 5 (4.81%) Ubiquiti
5 5 (4.81%) VMware
6 3 (2.88%) CyberArk
6 3 (2.88%) Freshdesk
6 3 (2.88%) Planon
7 2 (1.92%) Citrix
7 2 (1.92%) Red Hat
7 2 (1.92%) SAP
8 1 (0.96%) Dell
8 1 (0.96%) HP
8 1 (0.96%) IBM
8 1 (0.96%) Salesforce