Microsoft 365 Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Microsoft 365 (M365, Office 365, O365)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Microsoft 365 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 26 33
Rank change year-on-year -4 +7 +2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 345 219 227
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 5.45% 6.59% 4.88%
As % of the Cloud Services category 15.88% 19.85% 16.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 220 149 148
10th Percentile £133 £150 £143
25th Percentile £180 £188 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £350 £265 £258
Median % change year-on-year +32.08% +2.91% -16.60%
75th Percentile £523 £465 £425
90th Percentile £587 £540 £558
England median daily rate £425 £350 £350
% change year-on-year +21.43% - -7.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 12 31
10th Percentile £14.25 - £13.00
25th Percentile £17.75 £12.50 £13.13
Median hourly rate £25.38 £13.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +95.23% -18.75% -8.57%
75th Percentile - £30.63 £17.72
90th Percentile £178.75 - £19.25
England median hourly rate £19.00 £18.50 £16.30
% change year-on-year +2.70% +13.50% -11.89%

All Cloud Computing Skills
North of England

Microsoft 365 falls under the Cloud Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring cloud computing skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for cloud computing skills 2,173 1,103 1,381
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 34.36% 33.19% 29.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,462 815 980
10th Percentile £313 £256 £268
25th Percentile £400 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £475 £490
Median % change year-on-year +2.11% -2.96% -6.76%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £575
90th Percentile £650 £638 £650
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 113 26 79
10th Percentile £18.50 £12.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £16.18 £15.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £30.78 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +111.18% +91.66% -56.94%
75th Percentile £75.00 £69.38 £22.00
90th Percentile £94.00 £96.78 £44.24
England median hourly rate £41.78 £25.50 £21.37
% change year-on-year +63.84% +19.33% -37.15%

Microsoft 365
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft 365 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Microsoft 365 job vacancy trend in the North of England

Microsoft 365
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft 365 in the North of England over the 6 months to 18 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft 365 in the North of England

Microsoft 365
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft 365 in the North of England over the 6 months to 18 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft 365 in the North of England

Microsoft 365
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft 365 within the North of England region over the 6 months to 18 May 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
North West -4 173 £210 -30.00% 89
Yorkshire -8 166 £450 +77.34% 68
North East -27 10 £410 +36.67% 18
Microsoft 365
England

Microsoft 365
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North 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
1 131 (37.97%) SharePoint
2 90 (26.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (2.03%) Confluence
4 3 (0.87%) CMS
4 3 (0.87%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 36 (10.43%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (2.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.16%) Acrobat
5 2 (0.58%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 14 (4.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 114 (33.04%) Azure
2 78 (22.61%) Entra ID
3 67 (19.42%) OneDrive
4 47 (13.62%) Microsoft Purview
5 41 (11.88%) Microsoft Copilot
6 39 (11.30%) Power Platform
7 24 (6.96%) PowerApps
8 23 (6.67%) SaaS
9 18 (5.22%) AWS
9 18 (5.22%) Power Automate
10 15 (4.35%) Dynamics 365
11 12 (3.48%) GCP
12 11 (3.19%) Azure DevOps
12 11 (3.19%) Rubrik
13 10 (2.90%) Google Workspace
14 8 (2.32%) GitHub
14 8 (2.32%) GitHub Actions
15 7 (2.03%) Google Drive
15 7 (2.03%) PaaS
16 4 (1.16%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 28 (8.12%) Wi-Fi
2 23 (6.67%) LAN
3 22 (6.38%) WAN
4 20 (5.80%) VPN
5 16 (4.64%) DNS
6 10 (2.90%) Skype
7 9 (2.61%) TCP/IP
8 8 (2.32%) Firewall
8 8 (2.32%) VLAN
9 7 (2.03%) DHCP
10 6 (1.74%) Unified Communications
11 5 (1.45%) DKIM
11 5 (1.45%) DMARC
12 4 (1.16%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.87%) Kerberos
13 3 (0.87%) PSTN
13 3 (0.87%) VoIP
13 3 (0.87%) Wireless
14 2 (0.58%) SMTP
14 2 (0.58%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.77%) Power BI
2 3 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
2 3 (0.87%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.58%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.58%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.29%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 14 (4.06%) JIRA
2 3 (0.87%) Browser DevTools
2 3 (0.87%) Fiddler
2 3 (0.87%) MSI
3 2 (0.58%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.58%) Terragrunt
4 1 (0.29%) Postman
General
1 138 (40.00%) Social Skills
2 59 (17.10%) Finance
3 57 (16.52%) Legal
4 47 (13.62%) Public Sector
5 31 (8.99%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (6.38%) Documentation Skills
7 19 (5.51%) Banking
8 14 (4.06%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (2.61%) Local Government
9 9 (2.61%) Telecoms
10 7 (2.03%) Manufacturing
11 5 (1.45%) Retail
12 4 (1.16%) General Ledger
13 3 (0.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.58%) Law
14 2 (0.58%) Military
15 1 (0.29%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.29%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 64 (18.55%) IT Support
2 49 (14.20%) Analyst
3 47 (13.62%) Architect
4 39 (11.30%) Microsoft 365 Architect
5 34 (9.86%) Support Engineer
6 32 (9.28%) 1st Line Support
7 31 (8.99%) IT Engineer
8 28 (8.12%) IT Support Engineer
9 26 (7.54%) Support Analyst
10 24 (6.96%) IT Analyst
11 22 (6.38%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 20 (5.80%) IT Support Analyst
12 20 (5.80%) Senior
13 17 (4.93%) 2nd Line Support
14 12 (3.48%) Administrator
14 12 (3.48%) Business Analyst
15 11 (3.19%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 11 (3.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 11 (3.19%) IT Technician
15 11 (3.19%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (10.43%) Microsoft Graph
2 10 (2.90%) OAuth
3 6 (1.74%) .NET
3 6 (1.74%) OpenID
3 6 (1.74%) SAML
4 4 (1.16%) JSON
4 4 (1.16%) LDAP
5 3 (0.87%) .NET Framework
5 3 (0.87%) FIDO
5 3 (0.87%) OAuth2
5 3 (0.87%) REST
5 3 (0.87%) SOAP
5 3 (0.87%) Web Services
5 3 (0.87%) YAML
6 1 (0.29%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.29%) XML
6 1 (0.29%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 35 (10.14%) Onboarding
2 15 (4.35%) Enterprise Software
3 6 (1.74%) Mobile App
4 5 (1.45%) CMDB
4 5 (1.45%) Data Protection Act
4 5 (1.45%) Management Information System
5 4 (1.16%) Data Centre
5 4 (1.16%) Driving Licence
5 4 (1.16%) NHS
5 4 (1.16%) Private Cloud
5 4 (1.16%) Product Ownership
5 4 (1.16%) Public Cloud
6 3 (0.87%) Freedom of Information
6 3 (0.87%) Housing Association
6 3 (0.87%) IoT
6 3 (0.87%) Low-Code
7 2 (0.58%) CCTV
7 2 (0.58%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.29%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (0.29%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 173 (50.14%) Windows
2 89 (25.80%) Windows 10
3 17 (4.93%) Windows Server
4 16 (4.64%) Apple iOS
5 14 (4.06%) Android
6 7 (2.03%) Mac OS
7 4 (1.16%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.16%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (0.87%) Linux
8 3 (0.87%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.29%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (21.74%) Customer Service
2 54 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
3 43 (12.46%) Migration
4 41 (11.88%) ITIL
5 37 (10.72%) Data Loss Prevention
6 31 (8.99%) ITSM
7 30 (8.70%) E-Discovery
8 28 (8.12%) Records Management
9 25 (7.25%) Service Management
10 24 (6.96%) DevOps
10 24 (6.96%) Information Governance
10 24 (6.96%) Project Delivery
11 23 (6.67%) Agile
12 22 (6.38%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (6.38%) Identity Access Management
12 22 (6.38%) Stakeholder Management
13 21 (6.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 20 (5.80%) Data Governance
14 20 (5.80%) Data Protection
14 20 (5.80%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 60 (17.39%) PowerShell
2 15 (4.35%) Kusto Query Language
3 8 (2.32%) Python
4 4 (1.16%) SQL
5 3 (0.87%) Bash
5 3 (0.87%) C#
6 2 (0.58%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.58%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 41 (11.88%) Degree
2 32 (9.28%) Security Cleared
3 29 (8.41%) Microsoft Certification
4 28 (8.12%) SC Cleared
5 12 (3.48%) A+ Certification
6 11 (3.19%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (2.61%) Network+ Certification
8 5 (1.45%) DBS Check
9 3 (0.87%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.29%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.29%) CISM
10 1 (0.29%) CISSP
10 1 (0.29%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.29%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (10.43%) GDPR
2 12 (3.48%) FINRA
2 12 (3.48%) MiFID
3 9 (2.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
4 4 (1.16%) Data Quality
4 4 (1.16%) SLA
5 3 (0.87%) NIST
6 1 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 1 (0.29%) COBIT
6 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.29%) HIPAA
6 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.29%) PMO
6 1 (0.29%) QA
6 1 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.29%) SOC 2
System Software
1 139 (40.29%) Active Directory
2 12 (3.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (2.61%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (1.74%) Docker
5 5 (1.45%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.16%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (1.16%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 55 (15.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (4.06%) SCCM
3 12 (3.48%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (3.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 11 (3.19%) Jamf Pro
5 6 (1.74%) Kubernetes
6 5 (1.45%) Terraform
7 3 (0.87%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 2 (0.58%) WSUS
9 1 (0.29%) CA Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.29%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 268 (77.68%) Microsoft
2 29 (8.41%) ServiceNow
3 19 (5.51%) Cisco
4 17 (4.93%) Bomgar
4 17 (4.93%) iManage
5 16 (4.64%) Citrix
5 16 (4.64%) Google
6 15 (4.35%) VMware
7 14 (4.06%) Remedy
8 8 (2.32%) Apple
8 8 (2.32%) Veeam
9 6 (1.74%) Adobe
9 6 (1.74%) Meraki
10 4 (1.16%) F5
11 3 (0.87%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.58%) Nexthink
12 2 (0.58%) Okta
12 2 (0.58%) Red Hat
12 2 (0.58%) Tanium
13 1 (0.29%) Symantec