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 21 August 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
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 17 12
Rank change year-on-year +6 -5 -5
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 144 60 137
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 12.98% 10.12% 12.39%
As % of the Vendors category 25.62% 16.48% 23.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 79 41 87
10th Percentile £201 £153 £213
25th Percentile £457 £403 £448
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £500 £575
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -13.04% +9.52%
75th Percentile £673 £575 £608
90th Percentile £723 £650 £663
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £484 £525
% change year-on-year +3.36% -7.86% +4.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 2 4
10th Percentile £30.73 £27.69 £47.30
25th Percentile £55.00 £29.10 £54.49
Median hourly rate £87.00 £32.89 £59.55
Median % change year-on-year +164.52% -44.76% +64.63%
75th Percentile £110.75 £36.38 £60.72
90th Percentile - £37.60 £60.92
Berkshire median hourly rate £60.24 £28.50 £55.08
% change year-on-year +111.37% -48.25% +120.30%

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 562 364 582
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 50.68% 61.38% 52.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 324 244 328
10th Percentile £319 £350 £350
25th Percentile £456 £450 £499
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £568 £550 £605
Median % change year-on-year +3.18% -9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £688
90th Percentile £770 £700 £765
Berkshire median daily rate £511 £536 £575
% change year-on-year -4.62% -6.78% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 72 14 19
10th Percentile £31.28 - £14.50
25th Percentile £74.58 £14.75 £31.63
Median hourly rate £88.00 £18.13 £61.06
Median % change year-on-year +385.52% -70.32% -5.59%
75th Percentile - £36.38 £61.60
90th Percentile £110.75 £44.78 £75.29
Berkshire median hourly rate £85.00 £20.75 £58.40
% change year-on-year +309.64% -64.47% +1.72%

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 21 August 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 21 August 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 18 (12.50%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.39%) ArcGIS
2 2 (1.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.39%) OpenStack
3 1 (0.69%) Apache
3 1 (0.69%) Apache Superset
3 1 (0.69%) Confluence
Applications
1 26 (18.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (16.67%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (10.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (4.17%) MS Visio
5 5 (3.47%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 12 (8.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.39%) Maximo
3 1 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.69%) iTrent
3 1 (0.69%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 73 (50.69%) Azure
2 19 (13.19%) Power Platform
3 18 (12.50%) AWS
4 17 (11.81%) Microsoft 365
5 16 (11.11%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (9.03%) Entra ID
7 12 (8.33%) OpenShift
8 7 (4.86%) Azure Logic Apps
8 7 (4.86%) Azure Sentinel
8 7 (4.86%) OneDrive
9 6 (4.17%) GCP
10 4 (2.78%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (2.78%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (2.08%) Azure Data Factory
11 3 (2.08%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (2.08%) GitHub
11 3 (2.08%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (2.08%) PowerApps
11 3 (2.08%) SaaS
12 2 (1.39%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 16 (11.11%) TCP/IP
2 12 (8.33%) DHCP
2 12 (8.33%) DNS
3 8 (5.56%) LAN
4 7 (4.86%) Firewall
5 6 (4.17%) VPN
5 6 (4.17%) WAN
6 5 (3.47%) MPLS
7 4 (2.78%) BGP
7 4 (2.78%) Internet
7 4 (2.78%) SNMP
7 4 (2.78%) TACACS
8 2 (1.39%) Software-Defined Networking
8 2 (1.39%) Wi-Fi
9 1 (0.69%) DNSSEC
9 1 (0.69%) PBX
9 1 (0.69%) PSTN
9 1 (0.69%) SD-WAN
9 1 (0.69%) TETRA
9 1 (0.69%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (8.33%) Power BI
2 6 (4.17%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.39%) GIS
3 2 (1.39%) Oracle Reports
4 1 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.69%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.69%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.69%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.69%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.69%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 4 (2.78%) Git
1 4 (2.78%) GitLab
1 4 (2.78%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.69%) JIRA
General
1 51 (35.42%) Social Skills
2 31 (21.53%) Aerospace
3 21 (14.58%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (7.64%) Finance
5 8 (5.56%) Public Sector
6 7 (4.86%) Influencing Skills
6 7 (4.86%) Telecoms
7 6 (4.17%) Legal
7 6 (4.17%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.39%) Advertising
8 2 (1.39%) Aviation
8 2 (1.39%) Police
9 1 (0.69%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.69%) Marketing
9 1 (0.69%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 25 (17.36%) Architect
1 25 (17.36%) Lead
2 15 (10.42%) Analyst
3 12 (8.33%) Solutions Architect
4 11 (7.64%) Consultant
4 11 (7.64%) Senior
5 8 (5.56%) Business Analyst
6 7 (4.86%) Change Manager
7 6 (4.17%) Cloud Engineer
7 6 (4.17%) IT Support
7 6 (4.17%) SIEM Engineer
7 6 (4.17%) Systems Engineer
8 5 (3.47%) Data Engineer
8 5 (3.47%) Lead Architect
8 5 (3.47%) Lead Solutions Architect
9 4 (2.78%) IT Engineer
9 4 (2.78%) Support Assistant
9 4 (2.78%) Systems Support
10 3 (2.08%) Azure Engineer
10 3 (2.08%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (12.50%) Terraform
2 5 (3.47%) PySpark
2 5 (3.47%) Streamlit
3 4 (2.78%) 802.1X
3 4 (2.78%) NETCONF
3 4 (2.78%) OpenConfig
3 4 (2.78%) RESTCONF
3 4 (2.78%) YANG
4 3 (2.08%) ARM Templates
4 3 (2.08%) Microsoft Graph
4 3 (2.08%) OAuth
4 3 (2.08%) SAML
5 2 (1.39%) .NET
5 2 (1.39%) OpenID
5 2 (1.39%) Oracle Fusion
5 2 (1.39%) XML
6 1 (0.69%) .NET Framework
6 1 (0.69%) Entity Framework
6 1 (0.69%) REST
6 1 (0.69%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 23 (15.97%) Onboarding
2 16 (11.11%) Hybrid Cloud
3 11 (7.64%) Cloud Native
3 11 (7.64%) Data Centre
4 8 (5.56%) Operational Technology
5 6 (4.17%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.78%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.78%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (2.08%) Management Information System
7 3 (2.08%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.39%) CMDB
8 2 (1.39%) Private Cloud
8 2 (1.39%) Public Cloud
8 2 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.39%) Video Conferencing
9 1 (0.69%) Cyber Threat
9 1 (0.69%) Enterprise Cloud
9 1 (0.69%) Fat Client
9 1 (0.69%) iPhone
9 1 (0.69%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 24 (16.67%) Windows
2 14 (9.72%) Linux
3 10 (6.94%) Mac OS
4 7 (4.86%) Apple iOS
5 6 (4.17%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.39%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.69%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (25.69%) DevOps
1 37 (25.69%) Stakeholder Management
2 27 (18.75%) Cybersecurity
3 26 (18.06%) Roadmaps
4 24 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
5 23 (15.97%) Technical Leadership
6 22 (15.28%) Digital Transformation Programme
6 22 (15.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 21 (14.58%) Agile
8 19 (13.19%) ITIL
9 18 (12.50%) Enterprise Architecture
9 18 (12.50%) Infrastructure as Code
9 18 (12.50%) ITSM
10 17 (11.81%) CI/CD
11 16 (11.11%) Analytics
12 15 (10.42%) Project Management
13 14 (9.72%) AI
13 14 (9.72%) Use Case
14 13 (9.03%) Continuous Improvement
14 13 (9.03%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 28 (19.44%) Python
2 21 (14.58%) PowerShell
3 16 (11.11%) SQL
4 11 (7.64%) Bash
5 9 (6.25%) Kusto Query Language
6 3 (2.08%) Bicep
7 2 (1.39%) C#
7 2 (1.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 72 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 64 (44.44%) SC Cleared
3 23 (15.97%) Degree
4 22 (15.28%) Azure Certification
5 10 (6.94%) PMI Certification
5 10 (6.94%) PMP
6 6 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (3.47%) AWS Certification
7 5 (3.47%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (2.78%) CCIE
8 4 (2.78%) DV Cleared
8 4 (2.78%) JNCIE
9 2 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.39%) DBS Check
9 2 (1.39%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (1.39%) Master's Degree
9 2 (1.39%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (1.39%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 1 (0.69%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 1 (0.69%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.17%) Data Quality
1 6 (4.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.78%) GRC
3 3 (2.08%) NIST
3 3 (2.08%) PMO
3 3 (2.08%) SLA
4 2 (1.39%) GDPR
4 2 (1.39%) NCSC
5 1 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.69%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.69%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.69%) QA
5 1 (0.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 12 (8.33%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.86%) Hyper-V
3 6 (4.17%) Docker
4 5 (3.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.69%) Firmware
5 1 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.69%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 17 (11.81%) Ansible
2 15 (10.42%) Microsoft Intune
3 13 (9.03%) Kubernetes
4 6 (4.17%) Jamf Pro
5 4 (2.78%) FortiGate
6 3 (2.08%) Grafana
6 3 (2.08%) Progress Chef
6 3 (2.08%) Puppet
7 2 (1.39%) Istio
7 2 (1.39%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.69%) QRadar
8 1 (0.69%) SCCM
Vendors
1 22 (15.28%) SAP
2 17 (11.81%) ServiceNow
3 8 (5.56%) Google
4 7 (4.86%) VMware
5 6 (4.17%) Cisco
5 6 (4.17%) Databricks
6 5 (3.47%) Fortinet
6 5 (3.47%) Oracle
7 4 (2.78%) F5
7 4 (2.78%) Juniper
8 3 (2.08%) IBM
9 2 (1.39%) Avaya
9 2 (1.39%) CyberArk
9 2 (1.39%) ESRI
9 2 (1.39%) Red Hat
9 2 (1.39%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.39%) Splunk
9 2 (1.39%) Workday
10 1 (0.69%) HubSpot
10 1 (0.69%) Ping Identity