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 4 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
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 6 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 878 547 637
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 13.26% 15.69% 12.83%
As % of the Vendors category 30.41% 29.78% 26.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 554 368 420
10th Percentile £203 £200 £200
25th Percentile £351 £256 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £473 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% +2.15%
75th Percentile £588 £578 £600
90th Percentile £675 £623 £670
England median daily rate £490 £475 £498
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.52% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 44 45
10th Percentile £14.50 £13.65 £11.71
25th Percentile £18.50 £14.20 £11.80
Median hourly rate £35.22 £16.68 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +111.15% -52.34% +94.44%
75th Percentile £83.06 £32.05 £58.49
90th Percentile £110.75 £80.23 £61.60
England median hourly rate £23.08 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year +1.99% +39.43% -27.87%

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 2,887 1,837 2,379
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 43.59% 52.68% 47.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,815 1,213 1,432
10th Percentile £280 £209 £255
25th Percentile £425 £375 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £606 £600 £625
90th Percentile £700 £650 £700
England median daily rate £511 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +0.10% -2.86% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 222 119 139
10th Percentile £16.93 £14.20 £14.50
25th Percentile £31.25 £15.00 £22.54
Median hourly rate £61.16 £19.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +221.89% -66.87% +27.44%
75th Percentile £83.46 £38.42 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.20 £70.00
England median hourly rate £35.53 £25.15 £29.00
% change year-on-year +41.27% -13.28% -26.77%

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 4 August 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 4 August 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 4 August 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 +1 462 £500 +11.11% 364
Berkshire +2 249 £500 +5.26% 172
Hampshire -2 191 £500 -9.09% 189
Surrey +4 119 £438 +75.00% 179
Buckinghamshire -5 116 £510 +13.33% 108
Oxfordshire 0 97 £450 +80.00% 89
West Sussex -5 54 £380 +72.73% 57
Kent -1 29 £350 +33.33% 84
East Sussex +2 9 £298 -53.33% 42
Middlesex - 3 - - 21
Home Counties +1 2 - -
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 92 (10.48%) SharePoint
2 67 (7.63%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.82%) Confluence
4 2 (0.23%) Apache
4 2 (0.23%) ArcGIS
4 2 (0.23%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Superset
5 1 (0.11%) IIS
5 1 (0.11%) nginx
5 1 (0.11%) SharePoint 2010
5 1 (0.11%) SharePoint 2013
5 1 (0.11%) Smallworld
5 1 (0.11%) Tomcat
Applications
1 110 (12.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 95 (10.82%) Microsoft Office
3 50 (5.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 42 (4.78%) Microsoft Project
5 15 (1.71%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.11%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.11%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.11%) InDesign
7 1 (0.11%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.11%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.11%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (1.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.03%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.57%) NEC Housing
3 5 (0.57%) SAP PSCD
4 4 (0.46%) Primavera
4 4 (0.46%) SAP Business One
5 3 (0.34%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.11%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.11%) iTrent
7 1 (0.11%) Maximo
7 1 (0.11%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Cash Management
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.11%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 359 (40.89%) Azure
2 227 (25.85%) Microsoft 365
3 173 (19.70%) Entra ID
4 99 (11.28%) Power Platform
5 90 (10.25%) AWS
6 53 (6.04%) Dynamics 365
7 50 (5.69%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (3.87%) SaaS
9 31 (3.53%) GCP
9 31 (3.53%) OneDrive
10 30 (3.42%) Azure Monitor
10 30 (3.42%) Power Automate
11 28 (3.19%) IaaS
12 26 (2.96%) Azure Logic Apps
13 22 (2.51%) Microsoft Purview
14 18 (2.05%) PowerApps
15 17 (1.94%) Azure Sentinel
16 15 (1.71%) Azure Functions
16 15 (1.71%) Serverless
17 13 (1.48%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 82 (9.34%) DNS
2 54 (6.15%) Firewall
3 51 (5.81%) DHCP
4 41 (4.67%) TCP/IP
4 41 (4.67%) VPN
5 39 (4.44%) Wi-Fi
6 31 (3.53%) LAN
7 26 (2.96%) WAN
8 16 (1.82%) Network Security
8 16 (1.82%) VLAN
9 15 (1.71%) MPLS
10 14 (1.59%) SD-WAN
11 11 (1.25%) BGP
11 11 (1.25%) Unified Communications
12 10 (1.14%) Wireless
13 9 (1.03%) DNSSEC
14 7 (0.80%) Internet
14 7 (0.80%) IPsec
14 7 (0.80%) OSPF
15 6 (0.68%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (8.43%) Power BI
2 35 (3.99%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.48%) MySQL
3 13 (1.48%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (1.25%) Azure SQL Database
4 11 (1.25%) Data Warehouse
5 8 (0.91%) Oracle Database
6 7 (0.80%) Metadata
7 6 (0.68%) NoSQL
7 6 (0.68%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.68%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 6 (0.68%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (0.46%) Data Lake
8 4 (0.46%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.34%) MS Access
9 3 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 2 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.23%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.23%) GIS
10 2 (0.23%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 29 (3.30%) JIRA
2 13 (1.48%) Git
3 6 (0.68%) MSI
4 5 (0.57%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.46%) GitLab
5 4 (0.46%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.34%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.34%) Browser DevTools
6 3 (0.34%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.34%) Robot Framework
6 3 (0.34%) Xcode
7 2 (0.23%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.23%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.11%) ERwin
8 1 (0.11%) JUnit
8 1 (0.11%) NUnit
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
General
1 292 (33.26%) Social Skills
2 126 (14.35%) Analytical Skills
3 87 (9.91%) Finance
4 85 (9.68%) Public Sector
5 59 (6.72%) Organisational Skills
6 37 (4.21%) Aerospace
7 33 (3.76%) Documentation Skills
8 26 (2.96%) Legal
9 23 (2.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 23 (2.62%) Telecoms
10 17 (1.94%) Marketing
10 17 (1.94%) Military
11 12 (1.37%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (1.37%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.03%) French Language
12 9 (1.03%) Retail
13 8 (0.91%) Aviation
13 8 (0.91%) Local Government
14 7 (0.80%) Billing
15 6 (0.68%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 91 (10.36%) Analyst
1 91 (10.36%) IT Support
2 90 (10.25%) Architect
3 76 (8.66%) Senior
4 64 (7.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 56 (6.38%) Support Engineer
6 55 (6.26%) IT Engineer
7 52 (5.92%) Consultant
7 52 (5.92%) Lead
8 44 (5.01%) Developer
9 42 (4.78%) Cloud Engineer
9 42 (4.78%) IT Support Engineer
10 40 (4.56%) Azure Engineer
11 34 (3.87%) IT Analyst
12 28 (3.19%) Project Manager
12 28 (3.19%) Support Analyst
13 26 (2.96%) Administrator
14 25 (2.85%) Microsoft Engineer
14 25 (2.85%) Solutions Architect
15 24 (2.73%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (4.44%) OAuth
2 37 (4.21%) SAML
3 36 (4.10%) OpenID
4 33 (3.76%) .NET
5 24 (2.73%) REST
6 23 (2.62%) LDAP
6 23 (2.62%) OAuth2
7 21 (2.39%) Web Services
8 19 (2.16%) Microsoft Graph
8 19 (2.16%) SailPoint
9 16 (1.82%) ARM Templates
10 14 (1.59%) JSON
11 11 (1.25%) .NET Framework
11 11 (1.25%) React
12 10 (1.14%) Entity Framework
12 10 (1.14%) XML
13 9 (1.03%) .NET Core
13 9 (1.03%) Middleware
14 8 (0.91%) RESTful
15 7 (0.80%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 81 (9.23%) Onboarding
2 44 (5.01%) Hybrid Cloud
3 32 (3.64%) Cloud Native
3 32 (3.64%) Data Centre
3 32 (3.64%) PKI
4 23 (2.62%) Product Ownership
5 21 (2.39%) Legacy Systems
6 20 (2.28%) Public Cloud
6 20 (2.28%) Security Posture
7 18 (2.05%) Operational Technology
8 17 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
8 17 (1.94%) Management Information System
9 13 (1.48%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 11 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
10 11 (1.25%) Data Structures
11 10 (1.14%) Cyber Defence
11 10 (1.14%) Driving Licence
11 10 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.03%) Cloud Security Posture
12 9 (1.03%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 246 (28.02%) Windows
2 88 (10.02%) Windows Server
3 70 (7.97%) Linux
4 41 (4.67%) Windows 10
5 22 (2.51%) Apple iOS
5 22 (2.51%) Mac OS
6 15 (1.71%) Unix
7 14 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (1.37%) Android
9 7 (0.80%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.68%) CentOS
10 6 (0.68%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.68%) Windows 7
11 5 (0.57%) Windows Server 2012
12 4 (0.46%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.11%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.11%) VMS
13 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (20.62%) Problem-Solving
2 122 (13.90%) Agile
3 116 (13.21%) Stakeholder Management
4 115 (13.10%) ITIL
5 102 (11.62%) DevOps
6 101 (11.50%) Customer Service
7 98 (11.16%) Continuous Improvement
8 93 (10.59%) CI/CD
9 91 (10.36%) Cybersecurity
10 89 (10.14%) ITSM
11 87 (9.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 85 (9.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 80 (9.11%) Analytics
13 80 (9.11%) Business Intelligence
14 73 (8.31%) Decision-Making
14 73 (8.31%) Migration
15 65 (7.40%) Project Delivery
16 64 (7.29%) Project Management
17 62 (7.06%) AI
18 60 (6.83%) RBAC
Programming Languages
1 144 (16.40%) PowerShell
2 90 (10.25%) Python
3 81 (9.23%) SQL
4 36 (4.10%) Bash
5 28 (3.19%) T-SQL
6 27 (3.08%) Bicep
7 23 (2.62%) C#
8 20 (2.28%) JavaScript
9 15 (1.71%) Java
10 12 (1.37%) Kusto Query Language
11 10 (1.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 8 (0.91%) X++
13 7 (0.80%) TypeScript
14 4 (0.46%) ABAP
15 3 (0.34%) Perl
16 2 (0.23%) Korn
16 2 (0.23%) VBA
17 1 (0.11%) Google Apps Script
17 1 (0.11%) Groovy
17 1 (0.11%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 318 (36.22%) Security Cleared
2 213 (24.26%) SC Cleared
3 128 (14.58%) Degree
4 111 (12.64%) DV Cleared
5 50 (5.69%) Microsoft Certification
6 42 (4.78%) Azure Certification
7 21 (2.39%) AWS Certification
8 19 (2.16%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (1.71%) PMI Certification
9 15 (1.71%) PMP
10 14 (1.59%) BPSS Clearance
10 14 (1.59%) Computer Science Degree
11 13 (1.48%) DBS Check
12 11 (1.25%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 9 (1.03%) CCNP
13 9 (1.03%) MCSA
13 9 (1.03%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 8 (0.91%) CISSP
14 8 (0.91%) MCSE
15 7 (0.80%) CCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.67%) NIST
2 39 (4.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 33 (3.76%) PMO
4 30 (3.42%) Data Quality
5 29 (3.30%) NCSC
6 28 (3.19%) GDPR
7 27 (3.08%) SLA
8 23 (2.62%) Cyber Essentials
9 22 (2.51%) QA
10 7 (0.80%) GRC
11 6 (0.68%) ISO 31000
12 4 (0.46%) PCI DSS
12 4 (0.46%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.34%) Accessibility
13 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.34%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.23%) JSP 440
15 1 (0.11%) GAAP
System Software
1 228 (25.97%) Active Directory
2 73 (8.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (3.76%) Hyper-V
4 26 (2.96%) Virtual Machines
5 18 (2.05%) vSphere
6 14 (1.59%) VMware ESXi
7 13 (1.48%) Docker
7 13 (1.48%) VMware NSX
8 9 (1.03%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.57%) Firmware
10 3 (0.34%) OpenAM
11 2 (0.23%) UAG
12 1 (0.11%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.11%) Dovecot
12 1 (0.11%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.11%) Postfix
12 1 (0.11%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 70 (7.97%) Microsoft Intune
2 67 (7.63%) Terraform
3 31 (3.53%) Ansible
4 30 (3.42%) SCCM
5 29 (3.30%) Kubernetes
6 22 (2.51%) SCOM
7 20 (2.28%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 13 (1.48%) Avamar
9 13 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
10 11 (1.25%) Jamf Pro
11 6 (0.68%) FortiGate
11 6 (0.68%) QRadar
11 6 (0.68%) WMI
12 5 (0.57%) Grafana
12 5 (0.57%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.57%) Puppet
13 4 (0.46%) Clonezilla
14 3 (0.34%) SCSM
14 3 (0.34%) WSUS
Vendors
1 92 (10.48%) VMware
2 56 (6.38%) ServiceNow
3 46 (5.24%) SAP
4 43 (4.90%) Cisco
5 32 (3.64%) Google
6 23 (2.62%) Oracle
7 22 (2.51%) Meraki
8 20 (2.28%) Dell
9 16 (1.82%) SolarWinds
10 15 (1.71%) Databricks
11 14 (1.59%) Avaya
12 13 (1.48%) Mitel
12 13 (1.48%) Thales
13 12 (1.37%) F5
13 12 (1.37%) Splunk
14 10 (1.14%) Fortinet
14 10 (1.14%) Juniper
14 10 (1.14%) Palo Alto
15 9 (1.03%) Infoblox
15 9 (1.03%) Veeam