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 February 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 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 4 3
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 149 63 117
As % of all contract jobs in Hertfordshire 21.13% 16.49% 15.66%
As % of the Vendors category 45.57% 40.91% 35.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 31 29 79
10th Percentile £190 £373 £305
25th Percentile £369 £475 £389
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -8.33% +9.09%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £738
90th Percentile £738 £668 £840
East of England median daily rate £413 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -8.33% -10.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 96 7 15
10th Percentile £16.35 £25.04 £14.26
25th Percentile £17.96 £45.63 £30.00
Median hourly rate £18.50 £65.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -71.54% +46.07% -31.54%
75th Percentile £20.09 £66.88 £46.75
90th Percentile £24.55 £70.75 £48.10
East of England median hourly rate £18.50 £16.23 £14.75
% change year-on-year +13.99% +10.03% -31.41%

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 327 154 332
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Hertfordshire 46.38% 40.31% 44.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 68 186
10th Percentile £330 £266 £281
25th Percentile £425 £409 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £531 £519
Median % change year-on-year -0.61% +2.41% -5.68%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £700
90th Percentile £766 £638 £775
East of England median daily rate £489 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.25% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 122 34 61
10th Percentile £16.35 £17.13 £26.00
25th Percentile £17.35 £62.19 £42.25
Median hourly rate £18.50 £75.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -75.33% +15.38% -
75th Percentile £20.35 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £65.00 £95.00 £84.36
East of England median hourly rate £19.91 £21.46 £25.00
% change year-on-year -7.22% -14.16% +13.64%

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 February 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 February 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 February 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
Hatfield +2 89 £438 -20.45% 9
Stevenage -5 35 £550 +4.76% 11
Hemel Hempstead -2 7 £450 -24.96% 9
Welwyn Garden City +5 6 £525 -16.00% 1
Watford - 5 £180 - 8
Hoddesdon -1 1 £200 - 4
St Albans -4 1 £375 - 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 2 (1.34%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.67%) Exchange Server 2010
2 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 48 (32.21%) Spreadsheet
2 26 (17.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (16.78%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (1.34%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (1.34%) Trello
5 1 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (2.01%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 15 (10.07%) Azure
2 12 (8.05%) Power Platform
3 5 (3.36%) Entra ID
3 5 (3.36%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (2.68%) Azure DevOps
5 3 (2.01%) AWS
5 3 (2.01%) Dynamics 365
5 3 (2.01%) PowerApps
6 2 (1.34%) Asana
6 2 (1.34%) GitHub
6 2 (1.34%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Cosmos DB
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Logic Apps
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Monitor
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.67%) GitHub Actions
7 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
7 1 (0.67%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 12 (8.05%) TCP/IP
2 10 (6.71%) Ethernet
3 5 (3.36%) DNS
4 4 (2.68%) DHCP
5 2 (1.34%) Firewall
5 2 (1.34%) SAN
6 1 (0.67%) LAN
6 1 (0.67%) WAN
6 1 (0.67%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (8.05%) Power BI
2 4 (2.68%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.68%) Tableau
3 1 (0.67%) MS Access
3 1 (0.67%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.67%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 10 (6.71%) Eclipse
1 10 (6.71%) Visual Studio
2 3 (2.01%) GitLab
3 1 (0.67%) Git
3 1 (0.67%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.67%) JIRA
3 1 (0.67%) Snyk
General
1 117 (78.52%) Social Skills
2 36 (24.16%) Organisational Skills
3 16 (10.74%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (8.05%) Legal
4 12 (8.05%) Presentation Skills
4 12 (8.05%) Public Sector
5 10 (6.71%) Finance
5 10 (6.71%) Military
6 5 (3.36%) Manufacturing
7 4 (2.68%) Telecoms
8 3 (2.01%) Banking
8 3 (2.01%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.34%) Aerospace
9 2 (1.34%) Electronics
9 2 (1.34%) Marketing
10 1 (0.67%) Billing
10 1 (0.67%) Law
10 1 (0.67%) Local Government
10 1 (0.67%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.67%) Retail
Job Titles
1 53 (35.57%) IT Support
2 19 (12.75%) Technical Support
3 14 (9.40%) Desktop Support
4 12 (8.05%) Administrator
4 12 (8.05%) Security Officer
5 9 (6.04%) IT Administrator
6 8 (5.37%) C# Software Engineer
6 8 (5.37%) Senior
6 8 (5.37%) Software Engineer
7 7 (4.70%) Lead
8 6 (4.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 5 (3.36%) Analyst
9 5 (3.36%) Architect
9 5 (3.36%) C++ Software Engineer
9 5 (3.36%) IT Engineer
9 5 (3.36%) Project Manager
9 5 (3.36%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 5 (3.36%) Solutions Architect
10 3 (2.01%) Consultant
10 3 (2.01%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (6.71%) Node.js
1 10 (6.71%) Web Services
2 5 (3.36%) Oracle Fusion
3 3 (2.01%) REST
4 1 (0.67%) LDAP
4 1 (0.67%) Middleware
4 1 (0.67%) Spring
4 1 (0.67%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 12 (8.05%) Insider Threat
2 4 (2.68%) Management Information System
2 4 (2.68%) Onboarding
3 3 (2.01%) PKI
3 3 (2.01%) Self-Motivation
4 2 (1.34%) Analytical Mindset
4 2 (1.34%) Data Centre
4 2 (1.34%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.67%) Cloud Security Posture
5 1 (0.67%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (0.67%) Linux Command Line
5 1 (0.67%) PDA
5 1 (0.67%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 24 (16.11%) Windows
2 16 (10.74%) Linux
3 7 (4.70%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.34%) VMS
4 2 (1.34%) Windows 10
4 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2016
4 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2019
5 1 (0.67%) Android
5 1 (0.67%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.67%) CentOS
5 1 (0.67%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.67%) Mac OS X
5 1 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (46.98%) Time Management
2 29 (19.46%) Customer Service
3 22 (14.77%) Agile
4 21 (14.09%) Problem-Solving
5 16 (10.74%) Asset Management
5 16 (10.74%) Continuous Improvement
5 16 (10.74%) Visualisation
6 15 (10.07%) ITIL
7 14 (9.40%) CI/CD
8 13 (8.72%) Business Intelligence
8 13 (8.72%) Kalman Filter
9 12 (8.05%) Data Protection
9 12 (8.05%) Information Security
10 11 (7.38%) Analytical Thinking
10 11 (7.38%) Continuous Integration
10 11 (7.38%) Validation
11 10 (6.71%) Digital Twin
11 10 (6.71%) Synthetic Environment
11 10 (6.71%) Unit Testing
11 10 (6.71%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 11 (7.38%) JavaScript
2 10 (6.71%) C#
2 10 (6.71%) C++
3 6 (4.03%) PowerShell
3 6 (4.03%) SQL
4 5 (3.36%) Python
5 1 (0.67%) Bash
5 1 (0.67%) Bicep
5 1 (0.67%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 1 (0.67%) Java
5 1 (0.67%) MATLAB
5 1 (0.67%) Shell Script
5 1 (0.67%) TypeScript
5 1 (0.67%) VB
Qualifications
1 45 (30.20%) Security Cleared
2 41 (27.52%) SC Cleared
3 14 (9.40%) DV Cleared
4 12 (8.05%) CTC Cleared
5 6 (4.03%) Degree
6 4 (2.68%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (2.01%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.34%) Azure Certification
8 2 (1.34%) CompTIA Security+
8 2 (1.34%) PMI Certification
8 2 (1.34%) PMP
9 1 (0.67%) ACCA
9 1 (0.67%) CCAB
9 1 (0.67%) CIMA
9 1 (0.67%) CIPFA
9 1 (0.67%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.67%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (45.64%) SLA
2 3 (2.01%) Actionable Recommendations
3 1 (0.67%) GMP
3 1 (0.67%) GxP
3 1 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.67%) NIST
3 1 (0.67%) PMO
System Software
1 15 (10.07%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.34%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.67%) Docker
4 1 (0.67%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 7 (4.70%) ServiceCenter
2 4 (2.68%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (2.68%) Terraform
3 3 (2.01%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (2.01%) PingFederate
3 3 (2.01%) SCCM
4 2 (1.34%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
4 2 (1.34%) TeamSite
4 2 (1.34%) vCenter Server
5 1 (0.67%) Ansible
5 1 (0.67%) Check_MK
5 1 (0.67%) Podman
5 1 (0.67%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 8 (5.37%) Apple
1 8 (5.37%) VMware
2 7 (4.70%) Dell
2 7 (4.70%) HP
2 7 (4.70%) Oracle
3 6 (4.03%) Salesforce
3 6 (4.03%) SAP
4 3 (2.01%) ServiceNow
5 2 (1.34%) Citrix
5 2 (1.34%) Google
5 2 (1.34%) Veeam
5 2 (1.34%) Wyse
6 1 (0.67%) Computacenter
6 1 (0.67%) Cribl.io
6 1 (0.67%) Databricks
6 1 (0.67%) Facebook
6 1 (0.67%) New Relic
6 1 (0.67%) Red Hat
6 1 (0.67%) Remedy
6 1 (0.67%) Splunk