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 3 March 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
3 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 15 4
Rank change year-on-year +6 -11 +6
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 118 77 223
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 12.69% 10.72% 19.48%
As % of the Vendors category 21.89% 23.48% 38.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 94 57 194
10th Percentile £255 £351 £205
25th Percentile £316 £409 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% - -13.04%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £575
90th Percentile £613 £664 £608
Berkshire median daily rate £490 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -2.00% +5.26% -10.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 0 12
10th Percentile - - £51.75
25th Percentile £14.50 - £56.44
Median hourly rate £79.25 - £58.30
75th Percentile £89.75 - £60.69
90th Percentile £99.50 - £64.66
Berkshire median hourly rate £20.79 £56.75 £58.30
% change year-on-year -63.36% -2.67% +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 539 328 575
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 57.96% 45.68% 50.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 400 208 389
10th Percentile £303 £371 £213
25th Percentile £425 £499 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £584 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.35% +11.19% -8.30%
75th Percentile £624 £650 £616
90th Percentile £663 £688 £682
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -7.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 3 20
10th Percentile £30.80 £26.80 £52.74
25th Percentile £76.50 £27.63 £56.44
Median hourly rate £84.00 £29.00 £59.22
Median % change year-on-year +189.66% -51.03% -1.03%
75th Percentile £91.39 £53.10 £62.73
90th Percentile £99.00 £67.55 £63.46
Berkshire median hourly rate £79.70 £56.75 £58.30
% change year-on-year +40.45% -2.67% +6.00%

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 3 March 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 3 March 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 14 (11.86%) SharePoint
2 8 (6.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.54%) Confluence
4 1 (0.85%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (12.71%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (11.02%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (5.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (3.39%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (2.54%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.85%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.85%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 28 (23.73%) Azure
2 23 (19.49%) Microsoft 365
3 20 (16.95%) Entra ID
4 18 (15.25%) OneDrive
5 12 (10.17%) AWS
6 11 (9.32%) Power Platform
6 11 (9.32%) SaaS
7 10 (8.47%) Microsoft Purview
8 7 (5.93%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (5.93%) Power Automate
9 4 (3.39%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (3.39%) IaaS
9 4 (3.39%) PowerApps
10 3 (2.54%) PaaS
11 2 (1.69%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (1.69%) GitHub
11 2 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (1.69%) Slack
12 1 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
12 1 (0.85%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (11.02%) Unified Communications
2 9 (7.63%) 4G
2 9 (7.63%) Wi-Fi
3 8 (6.78%) Firewall
4 7 (5.93%) TCP/IP
5 6 (5.08%) DNS
6 5 (4.24%) DHCP
7 4 (3.39%) IPsec
7 4 (3.39%) MQTT
7 4 (3.39%) SD-WAN
7 4 (3.39%) WebEx
8 3 (2.54%) BGP
8 3 (2.54%) MPLS
8 3 (2.54%) Network Security
8 3 (2.54%) SNMP
8 3 (2.54%) TACACS
8 3 (2.54%) WAN
8 3 (2.54%) Wireless
9 1 (0.85%) H.323
9 1 (0.85%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (5.08%) Power BI
2 2 (1.69%) Metadata
2 2 (1.69%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.85%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (0.85%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.85%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.85%) GIS
3 1 (0.85%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.85%) MS Access
3 1 (0.85%) MySQL
3 1 (0.85%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.85%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.85%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.85%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.85%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.85%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 4 (3.39%) Jenkins
2 3 (2.54%) Android Studio
2 3 (2.54%) Bitbucket
2 3 (2.54%) JIRA
2 3 (2.54%) Subversion
General
1 43 (36.44%) Social Skills
2 11 (9.32%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (7.63%) Finance
3 9 (7.63%) Public Sector
4 7 (5.93%) Organisational Skills
5 2 (1.69%) Legal
5 2 (1.69%) Telecoms
6 1 (0.85%) Advertising
6 1 (0.85%) Aerospace
6 1 (0.85%) Billing
6 1 (0.85%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (0.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (0.85%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (0.85%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 16 (13.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 14 (11.86%) Architect
3 10 (8.47%) Senior
4 9 (7.63%) Analyst
4 9 (7.63%) Infrastructure Support
4 9 (7.63%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
4 9 (7.63%) Support Engineer
5 8 (6.78%) Cybersecurity Architect
5 8 (6.78%) Security Architect
5 8 (6.78%) Solutions Architect
6 7 (5.93%) Security Solutions Architect
7 6 (5.08%) E-Discovery Specialist
7 6 (5.08%) Lead
7 6 (5.08%) SIEM Engineer
7 6 (5.08%) Windows Engineer
7 6 (5.08%) Windows Infrastructure Engineer
7 6 (5.08%) Windows Support Engineer
8 5 (4.24%) Administrator
8 5 (4.24%) Consultant
8 5 (4.24%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.39%) ADO
1 4 (3.39%) Software Packaging
2 3 (2.54%) Elastic Stack
2 3 (2.54%) NETCONF
2 3 (2.54%) OpenConfig
2 3 (2.54%) RESTCONF
2 3 (2.54%) SailPoint
2 3 (2.54%) YANG
3 2 (1.69%) OAuth
3 2 (1.69%) OAuth2
3 2 (1.69%) OpenID
3 2 (1.69%) PySpark
3 2 (1.69%) SAML
4 1 (0.85%) .NET
4 1 (0.85%) .NET Framework
4 1 (0.85%) ASP.NET
4 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.85%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (0.85%) REST
4 1 (0.85%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 11 (9.32%) PKI
2 10 (8.47%) Operational Technology
3 7 (5.93%) Security Operations Centre
4 6 (5.08%) Onboarding
5 5 (4.24%) Driving Licence
5 5 (4.24%) Handset
5 5 (4.24%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (3.39%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (2.54%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (2.54%) Cyber Defence
7 3 (2.54%) Data Centre
7 3 (2.54%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (2.54%) Mobile App
7 3 (2.54%) Replication
7 3 (2.54%) Security Posture
8 2 (1.69%) Cyber Security Posture
8 2 (1.69%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (1.69%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (1.69%) Linux Command Line
8 2 (1.69%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 33 (27.97%) Windows
2 13 (11.02%) Linux
3 12 (10.17%) Windows 10
4 5 (4.24%) Mac OS
5 3 (2.54%) Android
6 2 (1.69%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (20.34%) Cybersecurity
2 21 (17.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 21 (17.80%) Problem-Solving
3 19 (16.10%) SIEM
4 14 (11.86%) Validation
5 12 (10.17%) Continuous Improvement
5 12 (10.17%) Security Operations
6 11 (9.32%) Analytics
6 11 (9.32%) DevOps
6 11 (9.32%) ITIL
6 11 (9.32%) Risk Management
6 11 (9.32%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 10 (8.47%) CI/CD
7 10 (8.47%) Project Management
8 9 (7.63%) Cyber Resilience
8 9 (7.63%) Platform Engineering
8 9 (7.63%) Roadmaps
9 8 (6.78%) Incident Response
9 8 (6.78%) PRINCE2
9 8 (6.78%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 23 (19.49%) PowerShell
2 22 (18.64%) Python
3 7 (5.93%) SQL
4 6 (5.08%) Bash
5 1 (0.85%) C#
5 1 (0.85%) Java
5 1 (0.85%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.85%) Perl
5 1 (0.85%) PHP
5 1 (0.85%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (44.92%) Security Cleared
2 42 (35.59%) SC Cleared
3 10 (8.47%) CISSP
4 9 (7.63%) Degree
5 8 (6.78%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (5.08%) Azure Certification
6 6 (5.08%) PMI Certification
6 6 (5.08%) PMP
7 5 (4.24%) AWS Certification
7 5 (4.24%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (4.24%) DV Cleared
8 4 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (3.39%) GIAC
8 4 (3.39%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (2.54%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.54%) CCIE
9 3 (2.54%) CREST Certified
9 3 (2.54%) GCFA
9 3 (2.54%) GCIA
9 3 (2.54%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (8.47%) NIST
2 8 (6.78%) GDPR
3 6 (5.08%) SLA
4 5 (4.24%) PMO
5 4 (3.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (3.39%) NCSC
5 4 (3.39%) NIST 800
6 2 (1.69%) Accessibility
6 2 (1.69%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (1.69%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.85%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.85%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.85%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.85%) QA
System Software
1 34 (28.81%) Active Directory
2 9 (7.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (3.39%) Docker
3 4 (3.39%) Hyper-V
4 3 (2.54%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 19 (16.10%) SCCM
2 12 (10.17%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (9.32%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (5.93%) Ansible
4 7 (5.93%) Terraform
5 4 (3.39%) Kubernetes
6 3 (2.54%) Cisco CUCM
6 3 (2.54%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 1 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
Vendors
1 17 (14.41%) ServiceNow
2 10 (8.47%) Cisco
3 9 (7.63%) VMware
4 5 (4.24%) Fortinet
5 4 (3.39%) BiZZdesign
5 4 (3.39%) Citrix
5 4 (3.39%) CrowdStrike
5 4 (3.39%) Databricks
6 3 (2.54%) Atlassian
6 3 (2.54%) Coverity
6 3 (2.54%) CyberArk
6 3 (2.54%) F5
6 3 (2.54%) Juniper
6 3 (2.54%) Splunk
6 3 (2.54%) Tanium
6 3 (2.54%) Tenable
6 3 (2.54%) Thales
7 2 (1.69%) ArcSight
7 2 (1.69%) CheckPoint
7 2 (1.69%) Salesforce