Microsoft Contract Job Trends in the South East

Microsoft
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East 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 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
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 7 6
Rank change year-on-year -3 -1 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 639 451 814
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 11.17% 15.06% 14.61%
As % of the Vendors category 25.87% 28.74% 30.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 444 305 546
10th Percentile £204 £220 £195
25th Percentile £375 £363 £303
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £491 £465
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% +5.48% -2.11%
75th Percentile £579 £588 £575
90th Percentile £671 £635 £675
England median daily rate £492 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +3.58% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 29 73
10th Percentile £12.29 - £11.71
25th Percentile £13.13 £14.20 £12.00
Median hourly rate £17.75 £15.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.33% -28.57% +3.78%
75th Percentile £37.00 £23.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £29.14 £61.36
England median hourly rate £20.09 £20.00 £15.00
% change year-on-year +0.45% +33.33% -29.31%

All Vendors
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 2,470 1,569 2,669
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 43.16% 52.40% 47.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,733 1,053 1,623
10th Percentile £306 £248 £213
25th Percentile £413 £406 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year - +2.50% -
75th Percentile £610 £613 £600
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £520
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -3.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 90 182
10th Percentile £13.18 £14.20 £12.00
25th Percentile £19.88 £16.95 £17.03
Median hourly rate £47.50 £24.66 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +92.62% -48.08% +5.56%
75th Percentile £85.63 £59.78 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £74.09 £65.00
England median hourly rate £30.00 £28.75 £22.50
% change year-on-year +4.35% +27.78% -43.75%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the South East

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Microsoft.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the South East over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the South East

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Microsoft.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft in the South East over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the South East

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the South East region over the 6 months to 21 April 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley -1 332 £475 -3.55% 199
Berkshire -8 174 £500 +1.21% 79
Hampshire -7 137 £550 +10.00% 122
Buckinghamshire -3 105 £475 -5.94% 80
Surrey +17 86 £438 -6.02% 81
Oxfordshire -2 53 £275 -26.67% 44
West Sussex -6 33 £445 +15.43% 33
Kent -1 27 £400 +52.38% 55
East Sussex -1 11 £600 +9.09% 18
Sussex +1 6 £463 -7.50% 3
Home Counties +1 4 - - 1
Microsoft
England

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 66 (10.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 61 (9.55%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.56%) Confluence
4 3 (0.47%) ArcGIS
4 3 (0.47%) MS Project Server
4 3 (0.47%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.31%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.16%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.16%) BizTalk Server
6 1 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2010
6 1 (0.16%) SharePoint 2010
6 1 (0.16%) SharePoint 2013
6 1 (0.16%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 103 (16.12%) Microsoft Office
2 87 (13.62%) Microsoft Excel
3 31 (4.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 30 (4.69%) Microsoft Project
5 12 (1.88%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.31%) SOLIDWORKS
6 2 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.16%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.16%) InDesign
7 1 (0.16%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.16%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.16%) Trello
Business Applications
1 6 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.63%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.63%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.16%) iTrent
3 1 (0.16%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.16%) Sage 50
Cloud Services
1 230 (35.99%) Azure
2 178 (27.86%) Microsoft 365
3 105 (16.43%) Entra ID
4 67 (10.49%) AWS
4 67 (10.49%) Power Platform
5 37 (5.79%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (4.23%) OneDrive
6 27 (4.23%) Power Automate
7 26 (4.07%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (4.07%) Microsoft Purview
8 22 (3.44%) PowerApps
9 21 (3.29%) SaaS
10 20 (3.13%) GitHub
11 18 (2.82%) Serverless
12 17 (2.66%) Azure Functions
13 16 (2.50%) IaaS
14 15 (2.35%) Azure Logic Apps
14 15 (2.35%) Microsoft Copilot
15 14 (2.19%) Azure Monitor
16 11 (1.72%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 57 (8.92%) DNS
2 41 (6.42%) DHCP
3 35 (5.48%) Firewall
4 32 (5.01%) Wi-Fi
5 20 (3.13%) VPN
6 16 (2.50%) LAN
7 14 (2.19%) WAN
8 13 (2.03%) Network Security
8 13 (2.03%) TCP/IP
8 13 (2.03%) Unified Communications
9 12 (1.88%) Kerberos
10 9 (1.41%) MPLS
10 9 (1.41%) Wireless
11 8 (1.25%) BGP
11 8 (1.25%) SSL
12 7 (1.10%) SD-WAN
13 6 (0.94%) SAN
13 6 (0.94%) SNMP
13 6 (0.94%) VLAN
14 5 (0.78%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (8.61%) Power BI
2 34 (5.32%) SQL Server
3 16 (2.50%) Azure SQL Database
4 13 (2.03%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (1.88%) MySQL
6 11 (1.72%) Relational Database
7 10 (1.56%) Metadata
8 7 (1.10%) Data Lake
8 7 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.10%) Oracle Database
9 6 (0.94%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
9 6 (0.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.63%) RDBMS
10 4 (0.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.47%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.47%) GIS
11 3 (0.47%) Oracle Reports
11 3 (0.47%) Star Schema
12 2 (0.31%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 17 (2.66%) JIRA
2 13 (2.03%) Git
3 8 (1.25%) Android Studio
3 8 (1.25%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
4 5 (0.78%) Eclipse
4 5 (0.78%) JUnit
4 5 (0.78%) Xcode
5 4 (0.63%) Gradle
5 4 (0.63%) MSI
6 3 (0.47%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.47%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.47%) Maven
6 3 (0.47%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.47%) Subversion
7 2 (0.31%) JMeter
7 2 (0.31%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.16%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.16%) GitLab
8 1 (0.16%) SonarQube
General
1 202 (31.61%) Social Skills
2 72 (11.27%) Finance
3 68 (10.64%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (9.23%) Organisational Skills
5 56 (8.76%) Public Sector
6 14 (2.19%) Legal
7 13 (2.03%) Documentation Skills
7 13 (2.03%) Manufacturing
7 13 (2.03%) Military
8 12 (1.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (1.25%) Telecoms
10 7 (1.10%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (0.78%) Marketing
11 5 (0.78%) Retail
12 4 (0.63%) Advertising
12 4 (0.63%) General Ledger
12 4 (0.63%) Police
13 3 (0.47%) Automotive
13 3 (0.47%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 93 (14.55%) Architect
2 58 (9.08%) IT Support
3 54 (8.45%) Analyst
3 54 (8.45%) Senior
4 50 (7.82%) Support Engineer
5 46 (7.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 39 (6.10%) IT Engineer
7 32 (5.01%) IT Support Engineer
8 31 (4.85%) Developer
8 31 (4.85%) Lead
9 25 (3.91%) Azure Engineer
10 24 (3.76%) Solutions Architect
11 22 (3.44%) Consultant
12 20 (3.13%) Administrator
13 17 (2.66%) DevOps Engineer
13 17 (2.66%) Infrastructure Architect
13 17 (2.66%) IT Analyst
14 15 (2.35%) Technical Architect
15 13 (2.03%) Project Manager
15 13 (2.03%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.76%) .NET
2 13 (2.03%) LDAP
2 13 (2.03%) REST
3 11 (1.72%) ARM Templates
4 10 (1.56%) OAuth
5 9 (1.41%) OpenID
5 9 (1.41%) SAML
6 8 (1.25%) CSS
6 8 (1.25%) React
7 7 (1.10%) ADO
7 7 (1.10%) GraphQL
7 7 (1.10%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.94%) Microsoft Graph
8 6 (0.94%) Spring
8 6 (0.94%) XML
9 5 (0.78%) .NET Core
9 5 (0.78%) .NET Framework
9 5 (0.78%) Ajax
9 5 (0.78%) PySpark
9 5 (0.78%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 42 (6.57%) Onboarding
2 32 (5.01%) PKI
3 20 (3.13%) Cloud Native
3 20 (3.13%) Product Ownership
4 17 (2.66%) Legacy Systems
5 16 (2.50%) Analytical Mindset
5 16 (2.50%) Replication
5 16 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
6 15 (2.35%) Data Centre
6 15 (2.35%) Hybrid Cloud
7 14 (2.19%) Public Cloud
8 12 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
9 11 (1.72%) Driving Licence
10 10 (1.56%) Operational Technology
11 8 (1.25%) Management Information System
11 8 (1.25%) Mobile App
12 6 (0.94%) Fat Client
12 6 (0.94%) Security Posture
12 6 (0.94%) Thin Client
13 5 (0.78%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 178 (27.86%) Windows
2 61 (9.55%) Linux
3 47 (7.36%) Windows Server
4 18 (2.82%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.50%) Mac OS
6 9 (1.41%) Android
6 9 (1.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 8 (1.25%) Windows 7
8 7 (1.10%) Unix
8 7 (1.10%) Windows Server 2012
9 6 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.63%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.47%) CentOS
13 1 (0.16%) Apple iOS
13 1 (0.16%) Debian
13 1 (0.16%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.16%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
2 79 (12.36%) Customer Service
3 77 (12.05%) DevOps
4 74 (11.58%) Agile
5 70 (10.95%) Migration
6 67 (10.49%) Cybersecurity
7 66 (10.33%) Business Intelligence
8 64 (10.02%) ITIL
9 60 (9.39%) CI/CD
10 55 (8.61%) Project Management
11 54 (8.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 51 (7.98%) Stakeholder Management
13 47 (7.36%) Project Delivery
14 42 (6.57%) Analytics
15 40 (6.26%) Time Management
16 37 (5.79%) Roadmaps
17 35 (5.48%) Infrastructure as Code
18 34 (5.32%) Continuous Improvement
19 33 (5.16%) SIEM
19 33 (5.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 93 (14.55%) PowerShell
2 66 (10.33%) Python
3 52 (8.14%) SQL
4 20 (3.13%) Bash
4 20 (3.13%) C#
5 17 (2.66%) JavaScript
6 14 (2.19%) Java
6 14 (2.19%) T-SQL
7 10 (1.56%) Bicep
8 7 (1.10%) Kusto Query Language
9 5 (0.78%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (0.78%) Perl
10 2 (0.31%) Korn
10 2 (0.31%) PHP
10 2 (0.31%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.31%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.31%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.31%) X++
11 1 (0.16%) Google Apps Script
11 1 (0.16%) VBA
Qualifications
1 219 (34.27%) Security Cleared
2 150 (23.47%) SC Cleared
3 69 (10.80%) DV Cleared
4 66 (10.33%) Degree
5 23 (3.60%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (2.19%) CISSP
7 13 (2.03%) Azure Certification
8 11 (1.72%) PMI Certification
8 11 (1.72%) PMP
9 9 (1.41%) Computer Science Degree
9 9 (1.41%) DBS Check
9 9 (1.41%) GIAC
10 8 (1.25%) Cisco Certification
11 7 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (1.10%) Master's Degree
12 6 (0.94%) A+ Certification
12 6 (0.94%) AWS Certification
12 6 (0.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 5 (0.78%) CCIE
13 5 (0.78%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.91%) NIST
2 23 (3.60%) PMO
3 20 (3.13%) SLA
4 17 (2.66%) GDPR
5 16 (2.50%) Data Quality
6 14 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 14 (2.19%) NCSC
7 13 (2.03%) Cyber Essentials
8 11 (1.72%) QA
9 6 (0.94%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.63%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 2 (0.31%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.31%) P3O
13 1 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.16%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.16%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 1 (0.16%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 190 (29.73%) Active Directory
2 58 (9.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (4.07%) Hyper-V
4 14 (2.19%) Docker
5 12 (1.88%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (1.41%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (1.41%) VMware NSX
6 9 (1.41%) vSphere
7 8 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.78%) Firmware
9 3 (0.47%) DFS Replication
10 2 (0.31%) UAG
11 1 (0.16%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.16%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.16%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.16%) Sendmail
11 1 (0.16%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 59 (9.23%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (5.48%) Terraform
3 33 (5.16%) SCCM
4 18 (2.82%) Ansible
4 18 (2.82%) Single Sign-On
5 17 (2.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 13 (2.03%) Kubernetes
7 10 (1.56%) Jamf Pro
8 8 (1.25%) WMI
9 5 (0.78%) SCOM
10 4 (0.63%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.47%) Grafana
11 3 (0.47%) Nessus
11 3 (0.47%) PaperCut
11 3 (0.47%) Puppet
11 3 (0.47%) SCSM
11 3 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 3 (0.47%) WSUS
12 2 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.31%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 72 (11.27%) VMware
2 30 (4.69%) Cisco
3 25 (3.91%) SAP
4 21 (3.29%) ServiceNow
5 17 (2.66%) Databricks
6 16 (2.50%) Oracle
7 15 (2.35%) Citrix
7 15 (2.35%) Meraki
8 12 (1.88%) Splunk
9 11 (1.72%) Fortinet
10 9 (1.41%) Avaya
10 9 (1.41%) Tenable
10 9 (1.41%) Thales
11 8 (1.25%) F5
11 8 (1.25%) Google
11 8 (1.25%) Mitel
12 7 (1.10%) Palo Alto
12 7 (1.10%) Red Hat
13 6 (0.94%) Juniper
14 5 (0.78%) CheckPoint