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 16 June 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 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 5 6
Rank change year-on-year -2 +1 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 714 489 812
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 11.73% 16.20% 14.17%
As % of the Vendors category 28.25% 30.45% 30.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 474 327 524
10th Percentile £203 £200 £200
25th Percentile £363 £281 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £455 £474
Median % change year-on-year +4.40% -4.08% +4.26%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £588
90th Percentile £650 £614 £675
England median daily rate £495 £475 £498
% change year-on-year +4.21% -4.52% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 31 76
10th Percentile £12.78 - £11.71
25th Percentile £16.25 £14.20 £12.00
Median hourly rate £29.07 £15.50 £23.82
Median % change year-on-year +87.55% -34.94% +16.38%
75th Percentile £53.75 £26.71 £58.74
90th Percentile £110.20 £32.05 £61.60
England median hourly rate £22.41 £19.00 £15.58
% change year-on-year +17.95% +21.99% -30.78%

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 2,527 1,606 2,660
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 41.52% 53.20% 46.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,672 1,060 1,563
10th Percentile £300 £220 £243
25th Percentile £414 £376 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% - -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £606
90th Percentile £688 £657 £690
England median daily rate £505 £513 £517
% change year-on-year -1.46% -0.87% -1.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 92 193
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.20 £12.05
25th Percentile £21.35 £15.47 £17.00
Median hourly rate £47.50 £24.66 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +92.62% -50.68% +1.01%
75th Percentile £85.00 £46.60 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £69.97 £70.00
England median hourly rate £33.99 £27.00 £24.00
% change year-on-year +25.89% +12.50% -39.32%

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 16 June 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 16 June 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 16 June 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 0 372 £486 +7.89% 272
Berkshire -3 201 £496 +4.47% 122
Hampshire -9 143 £550 +8.37% 140
Surrey +5 108 £438 +75.00% 80
Buckinghamshire -6 99 £500 - 80
Oxfordshire -2 72 £433 +73.00% 73
West Sussex -2 47 £460 +80.39% 40
Kent -3 23 £275 -18.22% 56
East Sussex -6 7 £358 -40.42% 24
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 80 (11.20%) SharePoint
2 64 (8.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (2.10%) Confluence
4 3 (0.42%) ArcGIS
4 3 (0.42%) MS Project Server
4 3 (0.42%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.28%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.14%) Apache
6 1 (0.14%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.14%) BizTalk Server
6 1 (0.14%) IIS
6 1 (0.14%) nginx
6 1 (0.14%) SharePoint 2010
6 1 (0.14%) SharePoint 2013
6 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
Applications
1 79 (11.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 76 (10.64%) Microsoft Office
3 33 (4.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 30 (4.20%) Microsoft Project
5 11 (1.54%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.28%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.14%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.14%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.14%) InDesign
7 1 (0.14%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.14%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (1.68%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.70%) NEC Housing
4 4 (0.56%) SAP Business One
5 3 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.14%) iTrent
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
6 1 (0.14%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 286 (40.06%) Azure
2 178 (24.93%) Microsoft 365
3 133 (18.63%) Entra ID
4 87 (12.18%) Power Platform
5 64 (8.96%) AWS
6 42 (5.88%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (5.32%) Dynamics 365
8 33 (4.62%) Power Automate
9 30 (4.20%) OneDrive
10 27 (3.78%) SaaS
11 23 (3.22%) PowerApps
12 22 (3.08%) Microsoft Purview
13 20 (2.80%) Azure Logic Apps
14 19 (2.66%) Serverless
15 18 (2.52%) Azure Functions
15 18 (2.52%) Azure Monitor
15 18 (2.52%) IaaS
15 18 (2.52%) Microsoft Copilot
16 17 (2.38%) GitHub
17 13 (1.82%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 66 (9.24%) DNS
2 48 (6.72%) DHCP
3 33 (4.62%) Wi-Fi
4 27 (3.78%) Firewall
5 24 (3.36%) LAN
5 24 (3.36%) VPN
6 18 (2.52%) WAN
7 14 (1.96%) TCP/IP
8 12 (1.68%) Kerberos
9 11 (1.54%) SD-WAN
9 11 (1.54%) Unified Communications
10 9 (1.26%) MPLS
11 6 (0.84%) FTP
11 6 (0.84%) Network Security
11 6 (0.84%) SSL
11 6 (0.84%) VLAN
12 5 (0.70%) BGP
12 5 (0.70%) Internet
12 5 (0.70%) SAN
12 5 (0.70%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (9.52%) Power BI
2 28 (3.92%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.82%) MySQL
4 12 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (1.54%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (0.98%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (0.84%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.84%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.84%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 6 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (0.70%) Metadata
9 3 (0.42%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.42%) GIS
9 3 (0.42%) MS Access
9 3 (0.42%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.42%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.28%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.28%) Oracle Reports
10 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 23 (3.22%) JIRA
2 11 (1.54%) Git
3 6 (0.84%) Android Studio
4 4 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (0.56%) Eclipse
4 4 (0.56%) Xcode
5 3 (0.42%) Gradle
5 3 (0.42%) JUnit
5 3 (0.42%) Maven
5 3 (0.42%) MSI
5 3 (0.42%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.28%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.28%) Subversion
7 1 (0.14%) ERwin
7 1 (0.14%) NUnit
7 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 211 (29.55%) Social Skills
2 71 (9.94%) Public Sector
3 66 (9.24%) Finance
4 63 (8.82%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (5.88%) Organisational Skills
6 27 (3.78%) Legal
7 21 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
8 20 (2.80%) Aerospace
9 16 (2.24%) Military
10 13 (1.82%) Telecoms
11 12 (1.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 11 (1.54%) Marketing
13 7 (0.98%) Local Government
13 7 (0.98%) Retail
14 6 (0.84%) Manufacturing
15 5 (0.70%) Arabic Language
15 5 (0.70%) Billing
15 5 (0.70%) French Language
15 5 (0.70%) General Ledger
15 5 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 80 (11.20%) Architect
2 73 (10.22%) IT Support
3 63 (8.82%) Analyst
4 56 (7.84%) Senior
5 50 (7.00%) Support Engineer
6 49 (6.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 45 (6.30%) IT Engineer
8 44 (6.16%) Lead
9 39 (5.46%) Consultant
10 37 (5.18%) IT Support Engineer
11 35 (4.90%) Developer
12 26 (3.64%) Solutions Architect
13 25 (3.50%) Azure Engineer
14 24 (3.36%) Administrator
15 23 (3.22%) Project Manager
16 22 (3.08%) IT Analyst
17 19 (2.66%) Cloud Engineer
17 19 (2.66%) Microsoft Engineer
18 18 (2.52%) Support Analyst
19 17 (2.38%) 3rd Line Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (4.34%) .NET
2 27 (3.78%) LDAP
3 24 (3.36%) OAuth
4 23 (3.22%) SAML
5 22 (3.08%) OpenID
6 17 (2.38%) OAuth2
6 17 (2.38%) Web Services
7 16 (2.24%) REST
8 14 (1.96%) SailPoint
9 13 (1.82%) Microsoft Graph
10 10 (1.40%) JSON
11 9 (1.26%) ARM Templates
11 9 (1.26%) React
12 8 (1.12%) AngularJS
12 8 (1.12%) CSS
12 8 (1.12%) XML
13 6 (0.84%) ADO
13 6 (0.84%) Middleware
13 6 (0.84%) Software Packaging
14 5 (0.70%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 48 (6.72%) Onboarding
2 27 (3.78%) Data Centre
2 27 (3.78%) PKI
3 26 (3.64%) Product Ownership
4 25 (3.50%) Cloud Native
5 18 (2.52%) Legacy Systems
6 17 (2.38%) Hybrid Cloud
7 16 (2.24%) Public Cloud
8 15 (2.10%) Replication
9 13 (1.82%) Operational Technology
10 11 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
11 10 (1.40%) Driving Licence
11 10 (1.40%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.26%) Data Structures
13 8 (1.12%) Cyber Defence
13 8 (1.12%) Security Posture
13 8 (1.12%) Virtual Team
14 7 (0.98%) Analytical Mindset
14 7 (0.98%) CMDB
14 7 (0.98%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 201 (28.15%) Windows
2 63 (8.82%) Windows Server
3 53 (7.42%) Linux
4 27 (3.78%) Windows 10
5 26 (3.64%) Mac OS
6 22 (3.08%) Apple iOS
7 15 (2.10%) Android
8 12 (1.68%) Unix
9 8 (1.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 8 (1.12%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.98%) Windows 7
11 6 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
12 5 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.42%) CentOS
13 3 (0.42%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.14%) OpenVMS
14 1 (0.14%) VMS
14 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (15.97%) Problem-Solving
2 88 (12.32%) DevOps
3 84 (11.76%) ITIL
4 83 (11.62%) Customer Service
5 81 (11.34%) Agile
6 75 (10.50%) Migration
7 73 (10.22%) CI/CD
8 72 (10.08%) Business Intelligence
9 71 (9.94%) Stakeholder Management
10 59 (8.26%) Cybersecurity
11 58 (8.12%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 58 (8.12%) ITSM
12 56 (7.84%) Analytics
13 55 (7.70%) Project Delivery
14 52 (7.28%) Project Management
15 48 (6.72%) User Experience
16 46 (6.44%) Decision-Making
16 46 (6.44%) Roadmaps
16 46 (6.44%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 44 (6.16%) AI
Programming Languages
1 105 (14.71%) PowerShell
2 63 (8.82%) SQL
3 62 (8.68%) Python
4 29 (4.06%) T-SQL
5 22 (3.08%) C#
6 17 (2.38%) JavaScript
7 16 (2.24%) Bash
8 12 (1.68%) Bicep
8 12 (1.68%) Java
9 9 (1.26%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 6 (0.84%) Kusto Query Language
10 6 (0.84%) X++
11 4 (0.56%) Perl
12 3 (0.42%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.28%) Korn
14 1 (0.14%) Google Apps Script
14 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.14%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 246 (34.45%) Security Cleared
2 176 (24.65%) SC Cleared
3 84 (11.76%) Degree
4 69 (9.66%) DV Cleared
5 29 (4.06%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (3.50%) Azure Certification
7 12 (1.68%) AWS Certification
7 12 (1.68%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
8 11 (1.54%) CISSP
9 9 (1.26%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (1.26%) CISM
9 9 (1.26%) DBS Check
9 9 (1.26%) GIAC
10 6 (0.84%) MCSA
10 6 (0.84%) MCSE
10 6 (0.84%) PMI Certification
10 6 (0.84%) PMP
11 5 (0.70%) ACCA
11 5 (0.70%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (4.62%) NIST
2 28 (3.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (3.92%) SLA
3 26 (3.64%) GDPR
4 23 (3.22%) NCSC
5 19 (2.66%) Cyber Essentials
5 19 (2.66%) PMO
6 18 (2.52%) Data Quality
7 14 (1.96%) QA
8 6 (0.84%) ISO 31000
9 5 (0.70%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.56%) Accessibility
10 4 (0.56%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 2 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.14%) GRC
13 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.14%) JSP 440
System Software
1 210 (29.41%) Active Directory
2 68 (9.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (3.78%) Hyper-V
4 19 (2.66%) vSphere
5 16 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (2.24%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (1.54%) Virtual Desktop
7 10 (1.40%) VMware NSX
8 9 (1.26%) Docker
9 5 (0.70%) Firmware
10 3 (0.42%) DFS Replication
11 2 (0.28%) UAG
12 1 (0.14%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.14%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.14%) Dovecot
12 1 (0.14%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.14%) Postfix
12 1 (0.14%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 68 (9.52%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (4.90%) Terraform
3 29 (4.06%) SCCM
4 23 (3.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 18 (2.52%) Single Sign-On
6 17 (2.38%) SCOM
7 14 (1.96%) Jamf Pro
7 14 (1.96%) vCenter Server
8 13 (1.82%) Ansible
9 11 (1.54%) Kubernetes
10 8 (1.12%) Avamar
11 4 (0.56%) Clonezilla
11 4 (0.56%) Puppet
11 4 (0.56%) QRadar
12 3 (0.42%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.42%) Progress Chef
12 3 (0.42%) SCSM
12 3 (0.42%) WMI
13 2 (0.28%) Nessus
13 2 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 81 (11.34%) VMware
2 35 (4.90%) Cisco
3 34 (4.76%) ServiceNow
4 32 (4.48%) SAP
5 18 (2.52%) Meraki
6 15 (2.10%) Citrix
7 14 (1.96%) Databricks
8 13 (1.82%) Dell
9 12 (1.68%) Oracle
9 12 (1.68%) Thales
10 11 (1.54%) Google
10 11 (1.54%) SolarWinds
11 10 (1.40%) Avaya
11 10 (1.40%) Fortinet
11 10 (1.40%) Splunk
12 9 (1.26%) Mitel
13 8 (1.12%) F5
13 8 (1.12%) Juniper
14 7 (0.98%) Red Hat
14 7 (0.98%) Veeam