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 13 June 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
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 14 7
Rank change year-on-year -1 -7 +2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 101 59 190
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 9.81% 11.15% 15.72%
As % of the Vendors category 19.73% 19.67% 31.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 63 39 129
10th Percentile £201 £148 £205
25th Percentile £311 £373 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £469 £525
Median % change year-on-year +6.53% -10.60% -3.93%
75th Percentile £600 £550 £608
90th Percentile £670 £605 -
Berkshire median daily rate £496 £478 £500
% change year-on-year +3.93% -4.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 1 13
10th Percentile £27.15 - £52.25
25th Percentile £35.22 £26.75 £56.50
Median hourly rate £88.00 £28.50 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +208.77% -51.11% -14.50%
75th Percentile £110.75 £30.25 £60.60
90th Percentile - - £61.49
Berkshire median hourly rate £35.22 £32.05 £58.30
% change year-on-year +9.89% -45.03% +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 512 300 597
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 49.71% 56.71% 49.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 316 206 331
10th Percentile £303 £350 £213
25th Percentile £422 £455 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £700 £688
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £533 £513
% change year-on-year -6.10% +3.90% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 4 28
10th Percentile £31.25 £18.35 £14.50
25th Percentile £77.07 £23.75 £52.49
Median hourly rate £88.00 £36.75 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +139.46% -36.96% -9.86%
75th Percentile - £54.92 £61.60
90th Percentile £110.75 £68.28 -
Berkshire median hourly rate £85.00 £38.66 £58.30
% change year-on-year +119.89% -33.70% -7.46%

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 13 June 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 13 June 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 20 (19.80%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.98%) Confluence
2 2 (1.98%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 14 (13.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (9.90%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (5.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.98%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.99%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (6.93%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.98%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.99%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 37 (36.63%) Azure
2 14 (13.86%) Microsoft 365
3 12 (11.88%) Entra ID
4 10 (9.90%) AWS
4 10 (9.90%) OneDrive
4 10 (9.90%) Power Platform
5 8 (7.92%) Microsoft Purview
6 7 (6.93%) Azure DevOps
7 4 (3.96%) PowerApps
7 4 (3.96%) SaaS
8 3 (2.97%) Power Automate
9 2 (1.98%) GitHub
9 2 (1.98%) GitHub Actions
10 1 (0.99%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.99%) Azure Logic Apps
10 1 (0.99%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (0.99%) Datadog
10 1 (0.99%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.99%) SuccessFactors
10 1 (0.99%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 8 (7.92%) TCP/IP
2 6 (5.94%) DHCP
2 6 (5.94%) DNS
3 4 (3.96%) LAN
3 4 (3.96%) SD-WAN
4 3 (2.97%) IPsec
4 3 (2.97%) MPLS
4 3 (2.97%) MQTT
4 3 (2.97%) Unified Communications
4 3 (2.97%) WAN
4 3 (2.97%) Wireless
5 2 (1.98%) BGP
5 2 (1.98%) Internet
5 2 (1.98%) SNMP
5 2 (1.98%) TACACS
6 1 (0.99%) Firewall
6 1 (0.99%) PBX
6 1 (0.99%) PSTN
6 1 (0.99%) TETRA
6 1 (0.99%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (6.93%) Power BI
2 3 (2.97%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.98%) Oracle Reports
4 1 (0.99%) Metadata
4 1 (0.99%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 2 (1.98%) Android Studio
1 2 (1.98%) Bitbucket
1 2 (1.98%) Jenkins
1 2 (1.98%) Subversion
General
1 28 (27.72%) Social Skills
2 14 (13.86%) Aerospace
3 11 (10.89%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (8.91%) Finance
5 6 (5.94%) Legal
5 6 (5.94%) Public Sector
6 5 (4.95%) Telecoms
7 3 (2.97%) Advertising
7 3 (2.97%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (2.97%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.98%) Police
9 1 (0.99%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 16 (15.84%) Lead
2 15 (14.85%) Architect
3 10 (9.90%) Solutions Architect
4 8 (7.92%) Analyst
5 7 (6.93%) Consultant
5 7 (6.93%) Senior
6 6 (5.94%) E-Discovery Specialist
6 6 (5.94%) IT Support
7 5 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 5 (4.95%) Support Engineer
8 4 (3.96%) Business Analyst
8 4 (3.96%) Cloud Engineer
8 4 (3.96%) IT Engineer
8 4 (3.96%) Systems Engineer
9 3 (2.97%) Cybersecurity Architect
9 3 (2.97%) Developer
9 3 (2.97%) IT Support Engineer
9 3 (2.97%) Lead Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.97%) Security Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.97%) SIEM Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.96%) Software Packaging
2 3 (2.97%) ADO
3 2 (1.98%) 802.1X
3 2 (1.98%) Elastic Stack
3 2 (1.98%) NETCONF
3 2 (1.98%) OpenConfig
3 2 (1.98%) RESTCONF
3 2 (1.98%) XML
3 2 (1.98%) YANG
4 1 (0.99%) .NET
4 1 (0.99%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.99%) OAuth
4 1 (0.99%) OpenID
4 1 (0.99%) PySpark
4 1 (0.99%) SAML
4 1 (0.99%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 9 (8.91%) Data Centre
2 6 (5.94%) Operational Technology
3 5 (4.95%) Onboarding
4 4 (3.96%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (2.97%) Cloud Native
5 3 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (2.97%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (1.98%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (1.98%) CMDB
6 2 (1.98%) Cyber Security Posture
6 2 (1.98%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.98%) Mobile App
6 2 (1.98%) PKI
6 2 (1.98%) Product Ownership
6 2 (1.98%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.99%) Cyber Defence
7 1 (0.99%) Data Structures
7 1 (0.99%) iPad
7 1 (0.99%) iPhone
7 1 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 20 (19.80%) Windows
2 14 (13.86%) Mac OS
3 7 (6.93%) Apple iOS
3 7 (6.93%) Linux
4 2 (1.98%) Android
5 1 (0.99%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.99%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (17.82%) Cybersecurity
2 17 (16.83%) Digital Transformation Programme
3 16 (15.84%) Roadmaps
3 16 (15.84%) Stakeholder Management
4 14 (13.86%) Problem-Solving
5 13 (12.87%) User Experience
6 12 (11.88%) DevOps
6 12 (11.88%) Enterprise Architecture
6 12 (11.88%) ITIL
7 11 (10.89%) Architecture Roadmap
7 11 (10.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 11 (10.89%) Technical Leadership
8 10 (9.90%) ITSM
9 9 (8.91%) Agile
9 9 (8.91%) Data Protection
9 9 (8.91%) Validation
10 8 (7.92%) Analytics
10 8 (7.92%) Customer Service
11 7 (6.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 7 (6.93%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 11 (10.89%) PowerShell
1 11 (10.89%) Python
2 6 (5.94%) SQL
3 3 (2.97%) Bash
4 2 (1.98%) T-SQL
5 1 (0.99%) C#
Qualifications
1 38 (37.62%) Security Cleared
2 34 (33.66%) SC Cleared
3 9 (8.91%) Azure Certification
4 7 (6.93%) Degree
5 5 (4.95%) DV Cleared
6 3 (2.97%) AWS Certification
7 2 (1.98%) CCIE
7 2 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.98%) DBS Check
7 2 (1.98%) JNCIE
7 2 (1.98%) PMI Certification
7 2 (1.98%) PMP
8 1 (0.99%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.99%) CEH
8 1 (0.99%) CISSP
8 1 (0.99%) CREST Certified
8 1 (0.99%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (5.94%) SLA
2 4 (3.96%) NCSC
3 3 (2.97%) GDPR
3 3 (2.97%) NIST
3 3 (2.97%) NIST 800
4 2 (1.98%) PMO
5 1 (0.99%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.99%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.99%) GRC
5 1 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 9 (8.91%) Active Directory
2 4 (3.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (2.97%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.98%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.99%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 19 (18.81%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (5.94%) Jamf Pro
2 6 (5.94%) SCCM
3 4 (3.96%) Ansible
3 4 (3.96%) Terraform
4 3 (2.97%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (1.98%) FortiGate
5 2 (1.98%) Progress Chef
5 2 (1.98%) Puppet
5 2 (1.98%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 10 (9.90%) SAP
2 8 (7.92%) ServiceNow
3 6 (5.94%) Cisco
3 6 (5.94%) VMware
4 5 (4.95%) Citrix
5 3 (2.97%) BiZZdesign
5 3 (2.97%) Fortinet
5 3 (2.97%) Oracle
5 3 (2.97%) Salesforce
6 2 (1.98%) Atlassian
6 2 (1.98%) Avaya
6 2 (1.98%) Coverity
6 2 (1.98%) F5
6 2 (1.98%) Juniper
6 2 (1.98%) Tanium
6 2 (1.98%) Thales
7 1 (0.99%) Databricks
7 1 (0.99%) Okta
7 1 (0.99%) Ping Identity
7 1 (0.99%) Starlink