Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Oxfordshire

Microsoft
South East > Oxfordshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Oxfordshire 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 20 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
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 2 4
Rank change year-on-year -1 +2 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 94 41 20
As % of all contract jobs in Oxfordshire 20.57% 28.67% 12.05%
As % of the Vendors category 59.87% 52.56% 40.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 45 26 15
10th Percentile £203 £160 £160
25th Percentile £226 £184 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £238 £400
Median % change year-on-year +74.74% -40.63% +100.00%
75th Percentile £500 £475 £481
90th Percentile £538 £513 £585
South East median daily rate £475 £450 £463
% change year-on-year +5.56% -2.70% +1.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 4 1
10th Percentile £12.78 £76.59 -
25th Percentile £13.25 £84.97 -
Median hourly rate £29.07 £89.63 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -67.57% +460.19% -
75th Percentile £53.75 - -
90th Percentile £77.50 - -
South East median hourly rate £21.00 £17.60 £45.00
% change year-on-year +19.32% -60.89% +157.14%

All Vendors
Oxfordshire

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 Oxfordshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 157 78 50
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Oxfordshire 34.35% 54.55% 30.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 77 38 32
10th Percentile £209 £162 £160
25th Percentile £330 £222 £353
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £350 £470
Median % change year-on-year +42.86% -25.53% +4.44%
75th Percentile £575 £475 £500
90th Percentile £675 £583 £649
South East median daily rate £521 £500 £518
% change year-on-year +4.25% -3.39% +3.51%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 5 3
10th Percentile £13.25 £43.85 £17.30
25th Percentile £18.25 £71.00 £19.25
Median hourly rate £29.07 £89.63 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -67.57% +258.52% -22.60%
75th Percentile £53.75 - £60.63
90th Percentile £77.50 - £80.50
South East median hourly rate £38.25 £20.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year +91.25% -65.13% +9.24%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Oxfordshire

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Oxfordshire

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Oxfordshire

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Oxfordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Oxfordshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Oxfordshire over the 6 months to 20 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Oxfordshire

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Oxfordshire

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Oxfordshire citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Oxfordshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Oxfordshire over the 6 months to 20 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Oxfordshire

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in Oxfordshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Oxfordshire region over the 6 months to 20 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
Oxford -7 13 £513 +127.78% 48
Abingdon -7 11 £500 - 6
Kidlington +1 10 £328 -27.22% 5
Witney 0 7 - - 3
Carterton -2 6 - - 1
Wantage - 4 £250 - 4
Bicester - 1 £630 - 2
Microsoft
South East

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Oxfordshire 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 5 (5.32%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (2.13%) SharePoint
Applications
1 7 (7.45%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (7.45%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.06%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 45 (47.87%) Microsoft 365
2 44 (46.81%) Entra ID
3 43 (45.74%) Azure
4 10 (10.64%) SaaS
5 9 (9.57%) IaaS
6 7 (7.45%) Microsoft Purview
7 6 (6.38%) PaaS
8 4 (4.26%) Google Sheets
9 3 (3.19%) OneDrive
10 2 (2.13%) Azure Functions
10 2 (2.13%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (2.13%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (2.13%) Azure Storage
10 2 (2.13%) Azure Table
10 2 (2.13%) Google Workspace
10 2 (2.13%) Power Automate
10 2 (2.13%) Serverless
11 1 (1.06%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 3 (3.19%) VPN
2 2 (2.13%) DHCP
2 2 (2.13%) DNS
2 2 (2.13%) Firewall
2 2 (2.13%) HTTPS
2 2 (2.13%) TCP/IP
2 2 (2.13%) VLAN
3 1 (1.06%) Kerberos
3 1 (1.06%) LAN
3 1 (1.06%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (4.26%) MS Access
2 1 (1.06%) MySQL
2 1 (1.06%) Relational Database
2 1 (1.06%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (1.06%) JIRA
1 1 (1.06%) Visual Studio
General
1 32 (34.04%) Social Skills
2 21 (22.34%) Public Sector
3 18 (19.15%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (14.89%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (11.70%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (7.45%) Military
7 6 (6.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (5.32%) Aviation
9 4 (4.26%) Aerospace
9 4 (4.26%) Marketing
10 2 (2.13%) Finance
10 2 (2.13%) Retail
11 1 (1.06%) Legal
11 1 (1.06%) Manufacturing
11 1 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (1.06%) Police
11 1 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 18 (19.15%) IT Support
2 14 (14.89%) Analyst
2 14 (14.89%) IAM Specialist
2 14 (14.89%) Security Engineer
3 13 (13.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 12 (12.77%) IT Engineer
5 11 (11.70%) Senior
6 10 (10.64%) Cloud Engineer
7 9 (9.57%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
7 9 (9.57%) Support Engineer
8 8 (8.51%) IT Support Engineer
9 6 (6.38%) Administrator
9 6 (6.38%) Azure Engineer
9 6 (6.38%) Cybersecurity Specialist
9 6 (6.38%) IT Analyst
9 6 (6.38%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
9 6 (6.38%) IT Support Analyst
9 6 (6.38%) Security Specialist
9 6 (6.38%) Support Analyst
10 5 (5.32%) Microsoft Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (19.15%) SailPoint
2 16 (17.02%) OAuth
2 16 (17.02%) OAuth2
2 16 (17.02%) OpenID
2 16 (17.02%) SAML
3 15 (15.96%) Web Services
4 14 (14.89%) LDAP
5 5 (5.32%) XML
6 2 (2.13%) JSON
6 2 (2.13%) REST
7 1 (1.06%) .NET
7 1 (1.06%) Terraform
7 1 (1.06%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 12 (12.77%) Onboarding
2 8 (8.51%) Security Posture
3 7 (7.45%) Cloud Security Posture
3 7 (7.45%) Operational Technology
4 5 (5.32%) Cyber Defence
5 4 (4.26%) Management Information System
5 4 (4.26%) SCADA
6 2 (2.13%) Driving Licence
6 2 (2.13%) Replication
7 1 (1.06%) AI Agents
7 1 (1.06%) Biopharmaceutical
7 1 (1.06%) CMDB
7 1 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (1.06%) Microsoft Licensing
Operating Systems
1 25 (26.60%) Windows
2 9 (9.57%) Linux
3 8 (8.51%) Windows Server
4 7 (7.45%) Unix
5 6 (6.38%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (28.72%) ITSM
2 21 (22.34%) RBAC
3 20 (21.28%) Runbook
4 19 (20.21%) Change Control
4 19 (20.21%) Information Security
5 17 (18.09%) Cybersecurity
6 16 (17.02%) Customer Service
7 15 (15.96%) Analytics
7 15 (15.96%) API Integration
8 14 (14.89%) SIEM
9 13 (13.83%) Attestation
9 13 (13.83%) Computer Science
9 13 (13.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 13 (13.83%) Risk Analytics
10 12 (12.77%) Zero Trust
11 9 (9.57%) ITIL
11 9 (9.57%) Vulnerability Management
12 8 (8.51%) Identity Access Management
12 8 (8.51%) Problem-Solving
12 8 (8.51%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 32 (34.04%) PowerShell
2 15 (15.96%) Python
3 1 (1.06%) C#
Qualifications
1 30 (31.91%) Security Cleared
2 25 (26.60%) Degree
2 25 (26.60%) SC Cleared
3 17 (18.09%) Microsoft Certification
4 5 (5.32%) (ISC)2 CCSP
4 5 (5.32%) BPSS Clearance
4 5 (5.32%) CESG Certified Professional
4 5 (5.32%) Cisco Certification
4 5 (5.32%) CISM
4 5 (5.32%) CISSP
4 5 (5.32%) CRISC
4 5 (5.32%) GIAC
4 5 (5.32%) SANS
5 4 (4.26%) GSEC
5 4 (4.26%) SSCP
6 1 (1.06%) CAPM
6 1 (1.06%) CCSP
6 1 (1.06%) City & Guilds
6 1 (1.06%) PMI Certification
6 1 (1.06%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (24.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 23 (24.47%) NIST
2 6 (6.38%) Cyber Essentials
2 6 (6.38%) Data Quality
2 6 (6.38%) ISO 31000
3 4 (4.26%) NCSC
4 1 (1.06%) GDPR
4 1 (1.06%) GxP
4 1 (1.06%) SLA
System Software
1 40 (42.55%) Active Directory
2 3 (3.19%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (2.13%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (1.06%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 11 (11.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (6.38%) Single Sign-On
3 4 (4.26%) SCCM
4 2 (2.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (1.06%) Ansible
Vendors
1 10 (10.64%) ServiceNow
2 6 (6.38%) Google
3 4 (4.26%) OpenAI
4 3 (3.19%) BeyondTrust
5 2 (2.13%) Veeam
5 2 (2.13%) VMware
6 1 (1.06%) CrowdStrike
6 1 (1.06%) CyberArk
6 1 (1.06%) MuleSoft
6 1 (1.06%) Oracle
6 1 (1.06%) Salesforce
6 1 (1.06%) Snow