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 27 April 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
27 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 18 16 7
Rank change year-on-year -2 -9 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 90 55 198
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 8.88% 9.34% 16.67%
As % of the Vendors category 16.85% 17.68% 34.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 63 39 158
10th Percentile £284 £310 £205
25th Percentile £400 £400 £225
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £529
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -10.21% -8.00%
75th Percentile £600 £559 £600
90th Percentile £695 £640 £608
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -7.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 0 12
10th Percentile £32.74 - £51.75
25th Percentile £54.94 - £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 £57.00 £32.05 £58.30
% change year-on-year +77.85% -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 534 311 576
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 52.66% 52.80% 48.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 360 210 361
10th Percentile £306 £350 £213
25th Percentile £448 £458 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £595 £550
Median % change year-on-year -7.56% +8.18% -6.14%
75th Percentile £636 £650 £638
90th Percentile £700 £700 £688
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £539 £513
% change year-on-year -7.24% +5.17% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 2 23
10th Percentile £54.38 £33.82 £52.90
25th Percentile £81.06 £41.05 £56.38
Median hourly rate £88.00 £53.10 £60.14
Median % change year-on-year +65.74% -11.71% +0.51%
75th Percentile - £65.14 £62.03
90th Percentile £96.75 £72.37 £64.66
Berkshire median hourly rate £85.00 £42.78 £58.30
% change year-on-year +98.71% -26.63% -0.77%

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 27 April 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 27 April 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 12 (13.33%) SharePoint
2 6 (6.67%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (3.33%) Confluence
4 1 (1.11%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (20.00%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (16.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (8.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (4.44%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (4.44%) MS Visio
5 1 (1.11%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (2.22%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (1.11%) iTrent
2 1 (1.11%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 25 (27.78%) Azure
2 15 (16.67%) Microsoft 365
3 12 (13.33%) AWS
3 12 (13.33%) Entra ID
3 12 (13.33%) SaaS
4 9 (10.00%) Microsoft Purview
5 8 (8.89%) Power Platform
6 5 (5.56%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (5.56%) Power Automate
7 4 (4.44%) AWS CloudFormation
7 4 (4.44%) OneDrive
8 3 (3.33%) GitHub
8 3 (3.33%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (3.33%) IaaS
8 3 (3.33%) PaaS
9 2 (2.22%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (2.22%) PowerApps
10 1 (1.11%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (1.11%) Azure Functions
10 1 (1.11%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 8 (8.89%) TCP/IP
2 7 (7.78%) Firewall
3 5 (5.56%) MPLS
3 5 (5.56%) SD-WAN
3 5 (5.56%) WAN
4 4 (4.44%) BGP
4 4 (4.44%) DHCP
4 4 (4.44%) DNS
4 4 (4.44%) IPsec
4 4 (4.44%) LAN
4 4 (4.44%) MQTT
4 4 (4.44%) SNMP
4 4 (4.44%) TACACS
4 4 (4.44%) Unified Communications
5 3 (3.33%) Wireless
6 2 (2.22%) Network Security
7 1 (1.11%) DMVPN
7 1 (1.11%) Skype
7 1 (1.11%) TETRA
7 1 (1.11%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (5.56%) Power BI
2 2 (2.22%) Metadata
2 2 (2.22%) Oracle Reports
2 2 (2.22%) SQL Server
3 1 (1.11%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 4 (4.44%) Jenkins
2 3 (3.33%) Android Studio
2 3 (3.33%) Bitbucket
2 3 (3.33%) JIRA
2 3 (3.33%) Subversion
General
1 26 (28.89%) Social Skills
2 14 (15.56%) Analytical Skills
3 8 (8.89%) Finance
4 7 (7.78%) Public Sector
5 6 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
6 3 (3.33%) Advertising
6 3 (3.33%) Legal
7 2 (2.22%) Police
7 2 (2.22%) Telecoms
8 1 (1.11%) Aerospace
8 1 (1.11%) Billing
8 1 (1.11%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 14 (15.56%) Architect
2 13 (14.44%) Senior
3 10 (11.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 9 (10.00%) Solutions Architect
5 8 (8.89%) Cybersecurity Architect
5 8 (8.89%) Security Architect
6 7 (7.78%) Security Solutions Architect
7 6 (6.67%) Consultant
7 6 (6.67%) E-Discovery Specialist
7 6 (6.67%) Lead
7 6 (6.67%) SIEM Engineer
8 4 (4.44%) Analyst
8 4 (4.44%) IP Specialist
8 4 (4.44%) PMO Lead
8 4 (4.44%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 4 (4.44%) Systems Engineer
9 3 (3.33%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 3 (3.33%) Delivery Manager
9 3 (3.33%) Operational Security Manager
9 3 (3.33%) Security Operations Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (4.44%) ADO
1 4 (4.44%) NETCONF
1 4 (4.44%) OpenConfig
1 4 (4.44%) RESTCONF
1 4 (4.44%) Software Packaging
1 4 (4.44%) YANG
2 3 (3.33%) Elastic Stack
3 2 (2.22%) .NET
3 2 (2.22%) XML
4 1 (1.11%) .NET Core
4 1 (1.11%) .NET Framework
4 1 (1.11%) ARM Templates
4 1 (1.11%) ASP.NET
4 1 (1.11%) GraphQL
4 1 (1.11%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (1.11%) OAuth
4 1 (1.11%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (1.11%) PySpark
4 1 (1.11%) SAML
4 1 (1.11%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 10 (11.11%) PKI
2 9 (10.00%) Operational Technology
3 7 (7.78%) Onboarding
4 6 (6.67%) Self-Motivation
5 5 (5.56%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (4.44%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (4.44%) Data Centre
7 3 (3.33%) Cyber Defence
7 3 (3.33%) Mobile App
7 3 (3.33%) Security Operations Centre
7 3 (3.33%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (2.22%) Cyber Security Posture
8 2 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (2.22%) Security Posture
9 1 (1.11%) Cloud Native
9 1 (1.11%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (1.11%) Data Structures
9 1 (1.11%) Linux Command Line
9 1 (1.11%) Management Information System
9 1 (1.11%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 15 (16.67%) Windows
2 10 (11.11%) Linux
3 8 (8.89%) Mac OS
4 3 (3.33%) Android
5 1 (1.11%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (24.44%) Cybersecurity
2 18 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
3 16 (17.78%) SIEM
4 11 (12.22%) DevOps
4 11 (12.22%) Validation
5 10 (11.11%) Continuous Improvement
5 10 (11.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 10 (11.11%) Risk Management
5 10 (11.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 9 (10.00%) Analytics
6 9 (10.00%) CI/CD
6 9 (10.00%) ITIL
7 8 (8.89%) Platform Engineering
7 8 (8.89%) PRINCE2
7 8 (8.89%) Project Management
7 8 (8.89%) Risk Assessment
7 8 (8.89%) Security Operations
7 8 (8.89%) Service Delivery
7 8 (8.89%) Stakeholder Management
7 8 (8.89%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 19 (21.11%) Python
2 16 (17.78%) PowerShell
3 6 (6.67%) Bash
4 5 (5.56%) SQL
5 2 (2.22%) C#
5 2 (2.22%) T-SQL
6 1 (1.11%) Java
6 1 (1.11%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.11%) PHP
Qualifications
1 30 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 24 (26.67%) SC Cleared
3 7 (7.78%) CISSP
3 7 (7.78%) DV Cleared
4 6 (6.67%) PMI Certification
4 6 (6.67%) PMP
5 5 (5.56%) AWS Certification
5 5 (5.56%) Cisco Certification
5 5 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (4.44%) Azure Certification
6 4 (4.44%) CCIE
6 4 (4.44%) Degree
6 4 (4.44%) JNCIE
6 4 (4.44%) TOGAF Certification
7 3 (3.33%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 3 (3.33%) CEH
7 3 (3.33%) CREST Certified
7 3 (3.33%) GIAC
7 3 (3.33%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 2 (2.22%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (7.78%) NIST
2 5 (5.56%) GDPR
2 5 (5.56%) PMO
2 5 (5.56%) SLA
3 4 (4.44%) NCSC
3 4 (4.44%) NIST 800
4 2 (2.22%) Accessibility
4 2 (2.22%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (2.22%) Data Quality
5 1 (1.11%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (1.11%) ISO 9001
5 1 (1.11%) QA
System Software
1 16 (17.78%) Active Directory
2 8 (8.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (6.67%) Hyper-V
4 4 (4.44%) Docker
5 3 (3.33%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (1.11%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 10 (11.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (8.89%) Ansible
2 8 (8.89%) SCCM
3 7 (7.78%) Terraform
4 4 (4.44%) Kubernetes
4 4 (4.44%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (3.33%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 10 (11.11%) VMware
2 9 (10.00%) Cisco
3 7 (7.78%) Fortinet
4 5 (5.56%) Citrix
4 5 (5.56%) ServiceNow
5 4 (4.44%) BiZZdesign
5 4 (4.44%) F5
5 4 (4.44%) Juniper
6 3 (3.33%) Atlassian
6 3 (3.33%) Coverity
6 3 (3.33%) Oracle
6 3 (3.33%) Tanium
6 3 (3.33%) Tenable
6 3 (3.33%) Thales
7 2 (2.22%) CheckPoint
7 2 (2.22%) Salesforce
7 2 (2.22%) SAP
8 1 (1.11%) Avaya
8 1 (1.11%) IBM
8 1 (1.11%) Polycom