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 16 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
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 15 13
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 -6
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 156 65 134
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 14.21% 11.21% 12.12%
As % of the Vendors category 29.10% 18.90% 23.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 86 46 84
10th Percentile £236 £156 £255
25th Percentile £454 £374 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £506 £574
Median % change year-on-year +18.52% -11.76% +9.29%
75th Percentile £670 £587 £608
90th Percentile £713 £656 £675
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £469 £525
% change year-on-year +6.53% -10.60% +6.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 2 4
10th Percentile £31.16 £27.69 £47.30
25th Percentile £63.06 £29.10 £54.49
Median hourly rate £86.00 £32.89 £59.55
Median % change year-on-year +161.48% -44.76% +64.63%
75th Percentile £108.69 £36.38 £60.72
90th Percentile £110.75 £37.60 £60.92
Berkshire median hourly rate £63.48 £28.50 £58.17
% change year-on-year +122.74% -51.01% +5.77%

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 536 344 582
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 48.82% 59.31% 52.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 319 230 324
10th Percentile £358 £350 £350
25th Percentile £456 £450 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% +9.09%
75th Percentile £656 £625 £672
90th Percentile £785 £651 £764
Berkshire median daily rate £524 £525 £556
% change year-on-year -0.24% -5.62% +5.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 14 18
10th Percentile £30.64 - £14.50
25th Percentile £64.25 £14.75 £26.19
Median hourly rate £85.00 £18.13 £60.83
Median % change year-on-year +368.97% -70.20% -4.20%
75th Percentile £101.52 £36.38 £61.60
90th Percentile £110.75 £44.78 £75.50
Berkshire median hourly rate £71.43 £19.81 £58.49
% change year-on-year +260.58% -66.13% +0.79%

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 16 September 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 16 September 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 19 (12.18%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.92%) ArcGIS
3 2 (1.28%) Apache
3 2 (1.28%) Apache Superset
3 2 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.28%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.64%) Confluence
Applications
1 25 (16.03%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (14.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (8.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (3.85%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (2.56%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 12 (7.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.92%) Maximo
3 1 (0.64%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.64%) iTrent
3 1 (0.64%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 89 (57.05%) Azure
2 25 (16.03%) Power Platform
3 21 (13.46%) AWS
3 21 (13.46%) Azure DevOps
4 18 (11.54%) Microsoft 365
5 16 (10.26%) OpenShift
6 15 (9.62%) Entra ID
7 9 (5.77%) Azure Logic Apps
7 9 (5.77%) Azure Sentinel
8 7 (4.49%) OneDrive
9 6 (3.85%) Azure Monitor
9 6 (3.85%) GCP
10 4 (2.56%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (1.92%) Azure Data Factory
11 3 (1.92%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (1.92%) PowerApps
11 3 (1.92%) SaaS
12 2 (1.28%) AWS CloudFormation
12 2 (1.28%) GitHub
12 2 (1.28%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 16 (10.26%) TCP/IP
2 14 (8.97%) DHCP
2 14 (8.97%) DNS
3 8 (5.13%) Firewall
3 8 (5.13%) VPN
4 5 (3.21%) LAN
5 4 (2.56%) Internet
5 4 (2.56%) WAN
6 3 (1.92%) MPLS
6 3 (1.92%) Software-Defined Networking
7 2 (1.28%) BGP
7 2 (1.28%) SNMP
7 2 (1.28%) TACACS
7 2 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.64%) ISDN
8 1 (0.64%) Kerberos
8 1 (0.64%) Network Security
8 1 (0.64%) PBX
8 1 (0.64%) PSTN
8 1 (0.64%) TETRA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (11.54%) Power BI
2 4 (2.56%) SQL Server
3 3 (1.92%) GIS
3 3 (1.92%) Tableau
4 2 (1.28%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.28%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.64%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.64%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.64%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.64%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 4 (2.56%) Git
1 4 (2.56%) GitLab
1 4 (2.56%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.64%) JIRA
General
1 57 (36.54%) Social Skills
2 41 (26.28%) Aerospace
3 17 (10.90%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.77%) Finance
5 7 (4.49%) Influencing Skills
5 7 (4.49%) Public Sector
5 7 (4.49%) Telecoms
6 6 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (2.56%) Legal
8 2 (1.28%) Automotive
8 2 (1.28%) Aviation
8 2 (1.28%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (1.28%) Police
9 1 (0.64%) Marketing
9 1 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 29 (18.59%) Architect
2 27 (17.31%) Lead
3 16 (10.26%) Analyst
4 15 (9.62%) Solutions Architect
5 13 (8.33%) Senior
6 9 (5.77%) Business Analyst
6 9 (5.77%) Consultant
7 8 (5.13%) SIEM Engineer
7 8 (5.13%) Systems Engineer
8 7 (4.49%) Change Manager
8 7 (4.49%) Cloud Engineer
9 6 (3.85%) IT Support
10 5 (3.21%) Data Engineer
10 5 (3.21%) Lead Architect
10 5 (3.21%) Lead Solutions Architect
11 4 (2.56%) Enterprise Architect
11 4 (2.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 4 (2.56%) Senior Systems Engineer
11 4 (2.56%) Support Assistant
11 4 (2.56%) Systems Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (13.46%) Terraform
2 5 (3.21%) PySpark
2 5 (3.21%) Streamlit
3 4 (2.56%) 802.1X
3 4 (2.56%) ARM Templates
4 3 (1.92%) .NET
4 3 (1.92%) Microsoft Graph
4 3 (1.92%) OAuth
4 3 (1.92%) SAML
5 2 (1.28%) NETCONF
5 2 (1.28%) OpenConfig
5 2 (1.28%) OpenID
5 2 (1.28%) Oracle Fusion
5 2 (1.28%) RESTCONF
5 2 (1.28%) YANG
6 1 (0.64%) .NET Framework
6 1 (0.64%) Entity Framework
6 1 (0.64%) REST
6 1 (0.64%) RESTful
6 1 (0.64%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 25 (16.03%) Onboarding
2 17 (10.90%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (7.69%) Cloud Native
4 9 (5.77%) Data Centre
5 8 (5.13%) Operational Technology
6 6 (3.85%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (3.85%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (3.85%) Management Information System
7 5 (3.21%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.28%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (1.28%) CMDB
8 2 (1.28%) Distributed Architecture
8 2 (1.28%) Distributed Computing
8 2 (1.28%) Private Cloud
8 2 (1.28%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.64%) Cyber Threat
9 1 (0.64%) Enterprise Cloud
9 1 (0.64%) Fat Client
9 1 (0.64%) Video Conferencing
9 1 (0.64%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 26 (16.67%) Windows
2 15 (9.62%) Linux
3 9 (5.77%) Windows Server
4 8 (5.13%) Apple iOS
5 7 (4.49%) Mac OS
6 3 (1.92%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.64%) Android
7 1 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.64%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (31.41%) Stakeholder Management
2 45 (28.85%) DevOps
3 33 (21.15%) Roadmaps
4 30 (19.23%) Technical Leadership
5 27 (17.31%) Cybersecurity
5 27 (17.31%) Problem-Solving
6 26 (16.67%) CI/CD
7 23 (14.74%) Agile
7 23 (14.74%) Infrastructure as Code
7 23 (14.74%) ITIL
8 22 (14.10%) Digital Transformation Programme
8 22 (14.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 21 (13.46%) Enterprise Architecture
10 19 (12.18%) Analytics
11 18 (11.54%) Business Intelligence
11 18 (11.54%) Continuous Improvement
11 18 (11.54%) ITSM
12 17 (10.90%) Change Management
12 17 (10.90%) Project Management
12 17 (10.90%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (17.31%) Python
2 23 (14.74%) PowerShell
3 15 (9.62%) SQL
4 12 (7.69%) Bash
5 11 (7.05%) Kusto Query Language
6 5 (3.21%) Bicep
7 2 (1.28%) C#
Qualifications
1 82 (52.56%) Security Cleared
2 74 (47.44%) SC Cleared
3 30 (19.23%) Degree
4 28 (17.95%) Azure Certification
5 10 (6.41%) PMI Certification
5 10 (6.41%) PMP
6 7 (4.49%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (3.21%) AWS Certification
7 5 (3.21%) DV Cleared
8 3 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (1.92%) CISSP
8 3 (1.92%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.92%) TOGAF Certification
8 3 (1.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 2 (1.28%) CCIE
9 2 (1.28%) JNCIE
9 2 (1.28%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.64%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 1 (0.64%) APMG
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (4.49%) Data Quality
2 6 (3.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (2.56%) GRC
4 3 (1.92%) NIST
4 3 (1.92%) PMO
4 3 (1.92%) SLA
5 2 (1.28%) GDPR
5 2 (1.28%) NCSC
6 1 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.64%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.64%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.64%) QA
6 1 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 13 (8.33%) Active Directory
2 9 (5.77%) Docker
2 9 (5.77%) Hyper-V
3 7 (4.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.64%) Firmware
5 1 (0.64%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 19 (12.18%) Kubernetes
2 18 (11.54%) Ansible
3 16 (10.26%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (3.85%) Jamf Pro
5 5 (3.21%) Grafana
6 4 (2.56%) FortiGate
7 3 (1.92%) Istio
7 3 (1.92%) Progress Chef
7 3 (1.92%) Prometheus
7 3 (1.92%) Puppet
8 2 (1.28%) SCCM
9 1 (0.64%) QRadar
Vendors
1 23 (14.74%) SAP
2 18 (11.54%) ServiceNow
3 10 (6.41%) VMware
4 8 (5.13%) Google
5 7 (4.49%) Databricks
6 5 (3.21%) Oracle
7 4 (2.56%) IBM
8 3 (1.92%) Cisco
8 3 (1.92%) CyberArk
8 3 (1.92%) ESRI
8 3 (1.92%) Fortinet
8 3 (1.92%) Red Hat
9 2 (1.28%) Apple
9 2 (1.28%) Avaya
9 2 (1.28%) F5
9 2 (1.28%) Juniper
9 2 (1.28%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.28%) Splunk
9 2 (1.28%) Workday
10 1 (0.64%) Citrix