Microsoft Contract Job Trends in Reading

Microsoft
Berkshire > Reading

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Reading 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 2 July 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
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 12 8
Rank change year-on-year -3 -4 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 110 64 181
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 10.21% 11.70% 14.78%
As % of the Vendors category 20.22% 19.94% 29.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 67 42 119
10th Percentile £201 £159 £205
25th Percentile £311 £369 £383
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £472 £533
Median % change year-on-year +5.89% -11.41% -3.09%
75th Percentile £619 £564 £608
90th Percentile £685 £630 -
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £478 £513
% change year-on-year +4.71% -6.83% -2.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 2 12
10th Percentile £27.69 £27.69 £56.28
25th Percentile £35.22 £29.10 £56.50
Median hourly rate £92.62 £32.89 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +181.59% -43.58% +6.00%
75th Percentile £110.75 £36.38 £60.72
90th Percentile - £37.60 £61.55
Berkshire median hourly rate £44.61 £28.50 £58.30
% change year-on-year +56.53% -51.11% +133.20%

All Vendors
Reading

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 Reading.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 544 321 619
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 50.51% 58.68% 50.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 324 216 333
10th Percentile £303 £350 £213
25th Percentile £429 £455 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £545 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year -0.91% -4.35% +0.44%
75th Percentile £638 £641 £651
90th Percentile £718 £700 £735
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £532 £525
% change year-on-year -6.06% +1.38% -1.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 11 28
10th Percentile £31.25 - £14.50
25th Percentile £78.34 £14.75 £52.90
Median hourly rate £88.00 £28.50 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +208.77% -51.11% -9.86%
75th Percentile - £42.96 £61.60
90th Percentile £110.75 £55.00 £63.75
Berkshire median hourly rate £86.08 £30.28 £58.30
% change year-on-year +184.33% -48.07% +6.43%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

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

Microsoft job vacancy trend in Reading

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in Reading

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in Reading over the 6 months to 2 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in Reading

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in Reading

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in Reading over the 6 months to 2 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in Reading

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading 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 (15.45%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.91%) Confluence
3 1 (0.91%) OpenStack
Applications
1 19 (17.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (11.82%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (7.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (2.73%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.91%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (7.27%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (2.73%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.91%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 46 (41.82%) Azure
2 14 (12.73%) Microsoft 365
3 12 (10.91%) AWS
3 12 (10.91%) Power Platform
4 11 (10.00%) Entra ID
5 10 (9.09%) OneDrive
6 8 (7.27%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (4.55%) Microsoft Purview
7 5 (4.55%) PowerApps
7 5 (4.55%) SaaS
8 3 (2.73%) Power Automate
9 2 (1.82%) Azure Data Factory
9 2 (1.82%) GCP
9 2 (1.82%) GitHub
9 2 (1.82%) GitHub Actions
10 1 (0.91%) Datadog
10 1 (0.91%) OpenShift
10 1 (0.91%) Route 53
10 1 (0.91%) SuccessFactors
10 1 (0.91%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 10 (9.09%) TCP/IP
2 7 (6.36%) DHCP
2 7 (6.36%) DNS
3 5 (4.55%) LAN
4 4 (3.64%) MPLS
4 4 (3.64%) SD-WAN
4 4 (3.64%) WAN
5 3 (2.73%) BGP
5 3 (2.73%) Internet
5 3 (2.73%) IPsec
5 3 (2.73%) MQTT
5 3 (2.73%) SNMP
5 3 (2.73%) TACACS
5 3 (2.73%) Unified Communications
5 3 (2.73%) Wireless
6 2 (1.82%) Firewall
7 1 (0.91%) PBX
7 1 (0.91%) TETRA
7 1 (0.91%) VPN
7 1 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (7.27%) Power BI
2 5 (4.55%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.82%) Oracle Reports
4 1 (0.91%) Metadata
4 1 (0.91%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 1 (0.91%) Android Studio
1 1 (0.91%) Bitbucket
1 1 (0.91%) Jenkins
1 1 (0.91%) JIRA
1 1 (0.91%) Subversion
General
1 35 (31.82%) Social Skills
2 18 (16.36%) Aerospace
3 13 (11.82%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (10.00%) Finance
5 10 (9.09%) Public Sector
6 7 (6.36%) Legal
6 7 (6.36%) Telecoms
7 3 (2.73%) Advertising
7 3 (2.73%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (2.73%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.82%) Police
9 1 (0.91%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.91%) Local Government
9 1 (0.91%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 20 (18.18%) Architect
2 19 (17.27%) Lead
3 13 (11.82%) Solutions Architect
4 9 (8.18%) Consultant
5 8 (7.27%) Analyst
6 7 (6.36%) Senior
7 6 (5.45%) IT Support
8 4 (3.64%) Business Analyst
8 4 (3.64%) Cloud Engineer
8 4 (3.64%) IT Engineer
8 4 (3.64%) Lead Architect
8 4 (3.64%) Lead Solutions Architect
8 4 (3.64%) Systems Engineer
9 3 (2.73%) Cybersecurity Architect
9 3 (2.73%) Data Engineer
9 3 (2.73%) Power Platform Consultant
9 3 (2.73%) SIEM Engineer
9 3 (2.73%) Support Assistant
9 3 (2.73%) Support Engineer
9 3 (2.73%) Systems Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.64%) Software Packaging
2 3 (2.73%) 802.1X
2 3 (2.73%) ADO
2 3 (2.73%) NETCONF
2 3 (2.73%) OpenConfig
2 3 (2.73%) PySpark
2 3 (2.73%) RESTCONF
2 3 (2.73%) Streamlit
2 3 (2.73%) YANG
3 2 (1.82%) Elastic Stack
3 2 (1.82%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.82%) XML
4 1 (0.91%) .NET
4 1 (0.91%) OAuth
4 1 (0.91%) OpenID
4 1 (0.91%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 10 (9.09%) Data Centre
2 7 (6.36%) Onboarding
2 7 (6.36%) Operational Technology
3 5 (4.55%) Hybrid Cloud
4 4 (3.64%) Cloud Native
4 4 (3.64%) Data Protection Act
4 4 (3.64%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (2.73%) Analytical Mindset
5 3 (2.73%) Product Ownership
5 3 (2.73%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (1.82%) CMDB
6 2 (1.82%) Cyber Security Posture
6 2 (1.82%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.91%) Cyber Defence
7 1 (0.91%) Digital Media
7 1 (0.91%) iPad
7 1 (0.91%) iPhone
7 1 (0.91%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.91%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.91%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 22 (20.00%) Windows
2 14 (12.73%) Mac OS
3 7 (6.36%) Apple iOS
3 7 (6.36%) Linux
4 1 (0.91%) Android
4 1 (0.91%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.91%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (19.09%) Roadmaps
1 21 (19.09%) Stakeholder Management
2 20 (18.18%) Cybersecurity
3 19 (17.27%) Digital Transformation Programme
4 18 (16.36%) Problem-Solving
5 17 (15.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 16 (14.55%) DevOps
7 15 (13.64%) Enterprise Architecture
8 14 (12.73%) Technical Leadership
8 14 (12.73%) User Experience
9 13 (11.82%) Agile
9 13 (11.82%) Architecture Roadmap
9 13 (11.82%) ITIL
10 12 (10.91%) Decision-Making
11 11 (10.00%) Data Protection
12 10 (9.09%) Analytics
12 10 (9.09%) ITSM
12 10 (9.09%) Risk Management
13 8 (7.27%) AI
13 8 (7.27%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 16 (14.55%) Python
2 13 (11.82%) PowerShell
3 11 (10.00%) SQL
4 3 (2.73%) Bash
5 2 (1.82%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.91%) C#
Qualifications
1 42 (38.18%) Security Cleared
2 39 (35.45%) SC Cleared
3 12 (10.91%) Azure Certification
4 9 (8.18%) Degree
5 3 (2.73%) AWS Certification
5 3 (2.73%) CCIE
5 3 (2.73%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (2.73%) DV Cleared
5 3 (2.73%) JNCIE
5 3 (2.73%) PMI Certification
5 3 (2.73%) PMP
6 2 (1.82%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.91%) BPSS Clearance
7 1 (0.91%) CEH
7 1 (0.91%) CISA
7 1 (0.91%) CISSP
7 1 (0.91%) CREST Certified
7 1 (0.91%) GIAC
7 1 (0.91%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (3.64%) NCSC
1 4 (3.64%) SLA
2 3 (2.73%) GDPR
2 3 (2.73%) NIST
2 3 (2.73%) NIST 800
2 3 (2.73%) PMO
3 2 (1.82%) Data Quality
3 2 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.91%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.91%) GRC
4 1 (0.91%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 10 (9.09%) Active Directory
2 4 (3.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (2.73%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.82%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.91%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 18 (16.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (5.45%) Jamf Pro
2 6 (5.45%) SCCM
3 5 (4.55%) Ansible
3 5 (4.55%) Terraform
4 3 (2.73%) FortiGate
5 2 (1.82%) Progress Chef
5 2 (1.82%) Puppet
6 1 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.91%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 12 (10.91%) SAP
2 9 (8.18%) ServiceNow
3 7 (6.36%) Cisco
4 6 (5.45%) VMware
5 5 (4.55%) Citrix
6 4 (3.64%) Fortinet
6 4 (3.64%) Salesforce
7 3 (2.73%) BiZZdesign
7 3 (2.73%) Databricks
7 3 (2.73%) F5
7 3 (2.73%) Google
7 3 (2.73%) Juniper
7 3 (2.73%) Oracle
8 2 (1.82%) Avaya
8 2 (1.82%) Tanium
9 1 (0.91%) Apple
9 1 (0.91%) IBM
9 1 (0.91%) McAfee
9 1 (0.91%) Mitel
9 1 (0.91%) Splunk