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 28 December 2025, 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
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 7 4
Rank change year-on-year +1 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 620 527 817
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 14.04% 14.55% 16.33%
As % of the Vendors category 27.79% 28.91% 31.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 439 377 556
10th Percentile £200 £200 £163
25th Percentile £255 £338 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £465
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -3.22% +3.33%
75th Percentile £565 £588 £575
90th Percentile £640 £663 £650
England median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 16 30
10th Percentile £12.50 £16.60 £15.04
25th Percentile £14.75 £19.99 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.50 £27.71 £24.36
Median % change year-on-year -36.83% +13.74% +31.66%
75th Percentile £21.00 £54.72 £54.69
90th Percentile £87.45 £57.62 £60.54
England median hourly rate £20.00 £22.27 £22.50
% change year-on-year -10.19% -1.02% +9.92%

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 2,231 1,823 2,606
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 50.52% 50.35% 52.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,592 1,209 1,670
10th Percentile £222 £243 £205
25th Percentile £406 £403 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £510
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +0.59% +1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £610
90th Percentile £675 £685 £688
England median daily rate £507 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.43% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 144 50 124
10th Percentile £14.00 £20.00 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.36 £24.18 £24.32
Median hourly rate £22.00 £47.50 £55.53
Median % change year-on-year -53.68% -14.46% +112.64%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.69 £67.56
90th Percentile £89.63 £71.61 £77.21
England median hourly rate £23.54 £30.20 £45.55
% change year-on-year -22.06% -33.69% +75.17%

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025. 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 +1 302 £475 -1.04% 609
Berkshire 0 194 £480 -4.95% 333
Hampshire +1 141 £535 +7.00% 281
Surrey +7 73 £208 -35.16% 180
Buckinghamshire -1 70 £465 +8.14% 171
Oxfordshire +2 38 £275 -18.52% 105
West Sussex -5 36 £213 -50.40% 89
Kent 0 29 £450 +67.44% 194
East Sussex +6 24 £550 +4.76% 82
Sussex -1 11 £463 +5.11% 3
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 54 (8.71%) SharePoint
2 50 (8.06%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (2.42%) Skype for Business
4 9 (1.45%) Exchange Server 2010
5 8 (1.29%) Exchange Server 2013
5 8 (1.29%) SharePoint Server
6 7 (1.13%) Exchange Server 2003
6 7 (1.13%) Exchange Server 2007
6 7 (1.13%) Mattermost
6 7 (1.13%) Office Communications Server
7 5 (0.81%) Confluence
8 2 (0.32%) CMS
9 1 (0.16%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.16%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.16%) GeoServer
9 1 (0.16%) Headless CMS
9 1 (0.16%) MS Project Server
9 1 (0.16%) Smallworld
Applications
1 123 (19.84%) Microsoft Office
2 70 (11.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (3.87%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (2.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.45%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.16%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 11 (1.77%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.13%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.65%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.48%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.32%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.32%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.32%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.16%) iTrent
7 1 (0.16%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.16%) Sage 50
7 1 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.16%) SAP EWM
7 1 (0.16%) SAP HCM
7 1 (0.16%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.16%) SystmOne
7 1 (0.16%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 159 (25.65%) Azure
2 149 (24.03%) Microsoft 365
3 66 (10.65%) AWS
4 61 (9.84%) Entra ID
5 49 (7.90%) Power Platform
6 34 (5.48%) Dynamics 365
7 32 (5.16%) SaaS
8 23 (3.71%) Microsoft Purview
8 23 (3.71%) OneDrive
9 21 (3.39%) Sauce Labs
10 18 (2.90%) GCP
11 16 (2.58%) Google Workspace
11 16 (2.58%) PowerApps
12 14 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
12 14 (2.26%) Power Automate
13 10 (1.61%) IaaS
14 9 (1.45%) Azure Sentinel
14 9 (1.45%) GitHub
14 9 (1.45%) Serverless
15 8 (1.29%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 58 (9.35%) DNS
2 46 (7.42%) Firewall
3 44 (7.10%) DHCP
4 31 (5.00%) TCP/IP
5 27 (4.35%) Wireless
6 26 (4.19%) VPN
7 18 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
8 15 (2.42%) VLAN
9 13 (2.10%) SAN
10 12 (1.94%) Unified Communications
11 11 (1.77%) Network Security
12 9 (1.45%) 4G
12 9 (1.45%) Fibre Channel
13 8 (1.29%) Skype
14 7 (1.13%) DDNS
14 7 (1.13%) iSCSI
14 7 (1.13%) WebEx
15 6 (0.97%) VSAN
16 5 (0.81%) Remote Desktop
16 5 (0.81%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (7.10%) SQL Server
2 32 (5.16%) Relational Database
3 30 (4.84%) Power BI
4 25 (4.03%) MySQL
5 19 (3.06%) Oracle Database
6 9 (1.45%) Azure SQL Database
6 9 (1.45%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
6 9 (1.45%) Metadata
7 8 (1.29%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (1.29%) PostgreSQL
8 6 (0.97%) RDBMS
9 5 (0.81%) Data Lake
10 4 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.65%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
11 3 (0.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.32%) Apache Cassandra
12 2 (0.32%) Crystal Reports
12 2 (0.32%) GIS
12 2 (0.32%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 23 (3.71%) Android Studio
2 22 (3.55%) Browser DevTools
3 21 (3.39%) Eclipse
3 21 (3.39%) Xcode
4 14 (2.26%) JIRA
5 11 (1.77%) Jenkins
6 6 (0.97%) Git
7 3 (0.48%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.32%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.32%) JMeter
8 2 (0.32%) JUnit
8 2 (0.32%) MSI
8 2 (0.32%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.32%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.32%) Subversion
9 1 (0.16%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.16%) Gatling
9 1 (0.16%) Gradle
9 1 (0.16%) SoapUI
General
1 252 (40.65%) Social Skills
2 100 (16.13%) Finance
3 82 (13.23%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (10.16%) Organisational Skills
5 41 (6.61%) Public Sector
6 19 (3.06%) Manufacturing
7 16 (2.58%) Legal
8 10 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (1.61%) Retail
9 8 (1.29%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (1.29%) Marketing
10 6 (0.97%) Presentation Skills
10 6 (0.97%) Telecoms
11 5 (0.81%) Billing
11 5 (0.81%) Electronics
11 5 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (0.65%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.65%) Automotive
12 4 (0.65%) Banking
12 4 (0.65%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 89 (14.35%) Support Engineer
2 88 (14.19%) Architect
3 82 (13.23%) Analyst
4 56 (9.03%) IT Support
5 46 (7.42%) Senior
6 42 (6.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 27 (4.35%) Technical Support
8 26 (4.19%) IT Engineer
9 25 (4.03%) Technical Engineer
9 25 (4.03%) Technical Support Engineer
10 24 (3.87%) Developer
11 23 (3.71%) Consultant
11 23 (3.71%) Support Officer
12 22 (3.55%) UX Engineer
13 21 (3.39%) Infrastructure Architect
14 20 (3.23%) Infrastructure Support
14 20 (3.23%) IT Support Engineer
15 19 (3.06%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
15 19 (3.06%) Solutions Architect
16 18 (2.90%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.52%) React
2 24 (3.87%) GraphQL
3 22 (3.55%) Ajax
3 22 (3.55%) AngularJS
3 22 (3.55%) CSS
4 14 (2.26%) .NET
5 8 (1.29%) Middleware
5 8 (1.29%) OAuth
6 7 (1.13%) SAML
7 6 (0.97%) REST
8 5 (0.81%) OpenID
9 4 (0.65%) LDAP
9 4 (0.65%) OAuth2
9 4 (0.65%) SailPoint
9 4 (0.65%) Spring
10 3 (0.48%) ADO
10 3 (0.48%) ARM Templates
10 3 (0.48%) Kafka
10 3 (0.48%) Microsoft Graph
10 3 (0.48%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 33 (5.32%) PKI
2 31 (5.00%) Onboarding
3 29 (4.68%) Analytical Mindset
4 25 (4.03%) Mobile App
5 21 (3.39%) Management Information System
6 16 (2.58%) Enterprise Software
7 15 (2.42%) Security Operations Centre
7 15 (2.42%) Self-Motivation
8 13 (2.10%) Driving Licence
8 13 (2.10%) Fat Client
8 13 (2.10%) Thin Client
9 12 (1.94%) Replication
10 11 (1.77%) Data Centre
10 11 (1.77%) Operational Technology
11 10 (1.61%) Product Ownership
11 10 (1.61%) Video Conferencing
12 9 (1.45%) Cyber Threat
13 7 (1.13%) Cyber Defence
14 6 (0.97%) CMDB
14 6 (0.97%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 216 (34.84%) Windows
2 89 (14.35%) Linux
3 51 (8.23%) Windows 10
4 34 (5.48%) Windows Server
5 27 (4.35%) Android
5 27 (4.35%) Unix
6 19 (3.06%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.77%) Windows 7
7 11 (1.77%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (1.29%) Windows Server 2012
10 7 (1.13%) Windows Server 2003
11 3 (0.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.32%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.32%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.16%) CentOS
13 1 (0.16%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (19.03%) Problem-Solving
2 89 (14.35%) ITIL
3 83 (13.39%) Agile
4 67 (10.81%) Cybersecurity
5 66 (10.65%) Customer Service
6 52 (8.39%) Continuous Improvement
6 52 (8.39%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 52 (8.39%) Stakeholder Management
7 49 (7.90%) Migration
8 46 (7.42%) Business Intelligence
9 42 (6.77%) Project Management
10 41 (6.61%) Time Management
11 40 (6.45%) SIEM
12 37 (5.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 36 (5.81%) DevOps
14 35 (5.65%) ITSM
14 35 (5.65%) Project Delivery
14 35 (5.65%) User Experience
15 32 (5.16%) CI/CD
15 32 (5.16%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 79 (12.74%) PowerShell
2 76 (12.26%) Python
3 71 (11.45%) SQL
4 36 (5.81%) Java
5 31 (5.00%) JavaScript
6 23 (3.71%) Perl
7 14 (2.26%) Bash
8 11 (1.77%) C#
9 4 (0.65%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.65%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.65%) X++
10 2 (0.32%) Go
10 2 (0.32%) PHP
10 2 (0.32%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.16%) Bicep
11 1 (0.16%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.16%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.16%) VB
Qualifications
1 201 (32.42%) Security Cleared
2 126 (20.32%) SC Cleared
3 68 (10.97%) Degree
4 67 (10.81%) DV Cleared
5 48 (7.74%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (4.03%) CISSP
7 20 (3.23%) Azure Certification
8 14 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
9 11 (1.77%) A+ Certification
9 11 (1.77%) GCFA
9 11 (1.77%) GCIH
9 11 (1.77%) ITIL Certification
9 11 (1.77%) Network+ Certification
9 11 (1.77%) Server+ Certification
9 11 (1.77%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 10 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (1.61%) GIAC
10 10 (1.61%) Master's Degree
10 10 (1.61%) MCSE
11 9 (1.45%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (6.29%) GDPR
2 28 (4.52%) NIST
3 27 (4.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (3.23%) SLA
5 19 (3.06%) PMO
6 16 (2.58%) Data Quality
7 10 (1.61%) QA
8 7 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
9 4 (0.65%) Accessibility
9 4 (0.65%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.48%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.48%) P3O
10 3 (0.48%) RMADS
11 2 (0.32%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 2 (0.32%) NCSC
11 2 (0.32%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.16%) GRC
12 1 (0.16%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.16%) JSP 440
System Software
1 159 (25.65%) Active Directory
2 56 (9.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (3.71%) Hyper-V
4 16 (2.58%) vSphere
5 14 (2.26%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (1.29%) Docker
6 8 (1.29%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (1.13%) Brightmail
7 7 (1.13%) ISA Server
7 7 (1.13%) NFS
8 4 (0.65%) Terminal Services
9 3 (0.48%) DFS Replication
9 3 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.48%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.16%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 51 (8.23%) SCCM
2 44 (7.10%) Microsoft Intune
3 17 (2.74%) Single Sign-On
4 16 (2.58%) Ansible
5 14 (2.26%) Kubernetes
6 13 (2.10%) Terraform
7 12 (1.94%) WMI
8 11 (1.77%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 8 (1.29%) Microsoft Clustering
9 8 (1.29%) SCOM
9 8 (1.29%) vCenter Server
10 7 (1.13%) HP SiteScope
10 7 (1.13%) Jamf Pro
11 4 (0.65%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
12 3 (0.48%) Cisco CUCM
12 3 (0.48%) PaperCut
13 2 (0.32%) FTK
13 2 (0.32%) Grafana
13 2 (0.32%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.32%) Puppet
Vendors
1 75 (12.10%) VMware
2 59 (9.52%) ServiceNow
3 51 (8.23%) Oracle
3 51 (8.23%) Splunk
4 29 (4.68%) Cisco
5 25 (4.03%) SAP
6 20 (3.23%) Citrix
7 13 (2.10%) CrowdStrike
8 10 (1.61%) Databricks
9 8 (1.29%) NetApp
9 8 (1.29%) Palo Alto
9 8 (1.29%) Remedy
9 8 (1.29%) Veeam
10 7 (1.13%) CyberArk
10 7 (1.13%) Red Hat
10 7 (1.13%) Tenable
10 7 (1.13%) Thales
11 6 (0.97%) ArcSight
11 6 (0.97%) CheckPoint
11 6 (0.97%) LogRhythm