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 7 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
7 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 7 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 -2 0
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 650 452 836
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 11.55% 15.14% 14.89%
As % of the Vendors category 26.08% 28.77% 31.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 445 308 564
10th Percentile £204 £215 £200
25th Percentile £363 £363 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £465
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +7.53% -3.13%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £575
90th Percentile £675 £650 £671
England median daily rate £492 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +3.58% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 25 71
10th Percentile £12.46 £13.53 £11.71
25th Percentile £14.50 £14.20 £12.13
Median hourly rate £17.50 £15.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -28.57% +2.59%
75th Percentile £31.88 £20.00 £51.88
90th Percentile £67.00 £26.50 £61.60
England median hourly rate £20.09 £21.78 £15.00
% change year-on-year -7.74% +45.17% -29.78%

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 2,492 1,571 2,696
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 44.29% 52.61% 48.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,751 1,051 1,644
10th Percentile £306 £246 £213
25th Percentile £414 £408 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £608 £613 £600
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £515
% change year-on-year -4.76% +1.94% -4.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 170 87 185
10th Percentile £13.95 £14.20 £12.41
25th Percentile £17.56 £16.95 £18.00
Median hourly rate £37.00 £24.66 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +50.04% -48.08% +5.56%
75th Percentile £85.19 £62.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.88 £66.21
England median hourly rate £27.00 £29.00 £23.11
% change year-on-year -6.90% +25.50% -39.19%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +1 346 £475 -5.00% 240
Berkshire -4 197 £490 -2.00% 103
Hampshire -7 138 £550 +4.76% 139
Buckinghamshire -7 98 £475 +2.15% 88
Surrey +14 76 £463 -0.64% 87
Oxfordshire -1 51 £275 +10.00% 57
West Sussex -6 31 £445 +10.15% 42
Kent 0 28 £413 +35.25% 47
East Sussex +3 18 £600 +9.09% 29
Sussex +2 7 £463 -7.50% 11
Home Counties +1 4 - -
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 61 (9.38%) Microsoft Exchange
2 60 (9.23%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.54%) Confluence
4 3 (0.46%) ArcGIS
4 3 (0.46%) MS Project Server
4 3 (0.46%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.31%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.15%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.15%) BizTalk Server
6 1 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2010
6 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 101 (15.54%) Microsoft Office
2 84 (12.92%) Microsoft Excel
3 31 (4.77%) Microsoft Project
4 28 (4.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.54%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.31%) SOLIDWORKS
6 2 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.15%) InDesign
7 1 (0.15%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.15%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.15%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.15%) iTrent
2 1 (0.15%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.15%) Sage 50
2 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.15%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 218 (33.54%) Azure
2 181 (27.85%) Microsoft 365
3 104 (16.00%) Entra ID
4 64 (9.85%) Power Platform
5 63 (9.69%) AWS
6 34 (5.23%) Azure DevOps
7 30 (4.62%) OneDrive
8 29 (4.46%) Dynamics 365
9 27 (4.15%) Power Automate
10 24 (3.69%) Microsoft Purview
11 23 (3.54%) SaaS
12 22 (3.38%) PowerApps
13 21 (3.23%) GitHub
14 18 (2.77%) Serverless
15 17 (2.62%) Azure Functions
16 16 (2.46%) Microsoft Copilot
17 15 (2.31%) IaaS
18 14 (2.15%) Azure Logic Apps
19 13 (2.00%) Azure Monitor
20 12 (1.85%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 58 (8.92%) DNS
2 40 (6.15%) DHCP
3 37 (5.69%) Firewall
4 34 (5.23%) Wi-Fi
5 20 (3.08%) VPN
6 16 (2.46%) LAN
6 16 (2.46%) Unified Communications
7 14 (2.15%) TCP/IP
8 13 (2.00%) WAN
9 12 (1.85%) Kerberos
10 11 (1.69%) Network Security
10 11 (1.69%) Wireless
11 8 (1.23%) BGP
11 8 (1.23%) MPLS
12 7 (1.08%) SD-WAN
12 7 (1.08%) SSL
13 6 (0.92%) SAN
13 6 (0.92%) SNMP
13 6 (0.92%) VLAN
14 5 (0.77%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (7.69%) Power BI
2 35 (5.38%) SQL Server
3 15 (2.31%) Azure SQL Database
4 13 (2.00%) Relational Database
5 11 (1.69%) MySQL
6 10 (1.54%) Metadata
6 10 (1.54%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (1.23%) Oracle Database
8 7 (1.08%) Data Lake
8 7 (1.08%) Data Warehouse
9 6 (0.92%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
9 6 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.77%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (0.77%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 4 (0.62%) GIS
11 4 (0.62%) RDBMS
12 3 (0.46%) Amazon RDS
12 3 (0.46%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.46%) Star Schema
13 2 (0.31%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 16 (2.46%) JIRA
2 14 (2.15%) Git
3 10 (1.54%) Android Studio
4 9 (1.38%) Jenkins
5 7 (1.08%) Browser DevTools
5 7 (1.08%) Eclipse
5 7 (1.08%) Xcode
6 5 (0.77%) JUnit
7 4 (0.62%) Gradle
7 4 (0.62%) MSI
8 3 (0.46%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.46%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.46%) Maven
8 3 (0.46%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.46%) Subversion
9 2 (0.31%) JMeter
9 2 (0.31%) Oracle APEX
9 2 (0.31%) Oracle Forms
9 2 (0.31%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.15%) GitLab
General
1 218 (33.54%) Social Skills
2 70 (10.77%) Finance
3 65 (10.00%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (9.54%) Organisational Skills
5 56 (8.62%) Public Sector
6 15 (2.31%) Manufacturing
7 14 (2.15%) Legal
8 13 (2.00%) Military
9 12 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
9 12 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (1.38%) Retail
11 8 (1.23%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.08%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.77%) Marketing
14 4 (0.62%) Advertising
14 4 (0.62%) Billing
14 4 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.62%) Police
15 3 (0.46%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 96 (14.77%) Architect
2 64 (9.85%) IT Support
3 63 (9.69%) Analyst
4 56 (8.62%) Support Engineer
5 52 (8.00%) Senior
6 47 (7.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 41 (6.31%) IT Engineer
8 34 (5.23%) IT Support Engineer
9 31 (4.77%) Developer
9 31 (4.77%) Lead
10 25 (3.85%) Solutions Architect
11 23 (3.54%) Consultant
12 20 (3.08%) Administrator
12 20 (3.08%) Azure Engineer
13 18 (2.77%) Infrastructure Architect
14 17 (2.62%) IT Analyst
15 15 (2.31%) Project Manager
16 14 (2.15%) Support Analyst
16 14 (2.15%) Support Officer
16 14 (2.15%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (3.85%) .NET
2 13 (2.00%) LDAP
2 13 (2.00%) REST
3 11 (1.69%) ARM Templates
3 11 (1.69%) React
4 10 (1.54%) CSS
5 9 (1.38%) GraphQL
5 9 (1.38%) OAuth
6 8 (1.23%) OpenID
6 8 (1.23%) SAML
7 7 (1.08%) ADO
7 7 (1.08%) Ajax
7 7 (1.08%) AngularJS
8 6 (0.92%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.92%) Spring
8 6 (0.92%) XML
9 5 (0.77%) .NET Core
9 5 (0.77%) .NET Framework
9 5 (0.77%) Middleware
9 5 (0.77%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 36 (5.54%) Onboarding
1 36 (5.54%) PKI
2 20 (3.08%) Product Ownership
3 18 (2.77%) Cloud Native
4 17 (2.62%) Analytical Mindset
4 17 (2.62%) Legacy Systems
4 17 (2.62%) Replication
5 16 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
6 15 (2.31%) Hybrid Cloud
7 14 (2.15%) Data Centre
8 13 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.85%) Driving Licence
10 11 (1.69%) Operational Technology
11 10 (1.54%) Management Information System
11 10 (1.54%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.54%) Public Cloud
12 8 (1.23%) Fat Client
12 8 (1.23%) Thin Client
13 7 (1.08%) Security Operations Centre
14 6 (0.92%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 187 (28.77%) Windows
2 63 (9.69%) Linux
3 46 (7.08%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.85%) Windows 10
5 17 (2.62%) Mac OS
6 12 (1.85%) Android
7 9 (1.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 8 (1.23%) Unix
8 8 (1.23%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.08%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (0.92%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.62%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.46%) CentOS
13 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
13 1 (0.15%) Debian
13 1 (0.15%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.15%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (15.08%) Problem-Solving
2 84 (12.92%) Customer Service
3 75 (11.54%) DevOps
4 73 (11.23%) Agile
5 72 (11.08%) Cybersecurity
6 67 (10.31%) Migration
7 61 (9.38%) Business Intelligence
8 59 (9.08%) ITIL
9 57 (8.77%) CI/CD
9 57 (8.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 57 (8.77%) Project Management
10 53 (8.15%) Project Delivery
10 53 (8.15%) Stakeholder Management
11 44 (6.77%) Analytics
12 43 (6.62%) Time Management
13 36 (5.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 35 (5.38%) Continuous Improvement
14 35 (5.38%) Infrastructure as Code
14 35 (5.38%) Roadmaps
15 33 (5.08%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 91 (14.00%) PowerShell
2 70 (10.77%) Python
3 51 (7.85%) SQL
4 21 (3.23%) C#
5 20 (3.08%) JavaScript
6 18 (2.77%) Bash
7 17 (2.62%) Java
8 10 (1.54%) Bicep
8 10 (1.54%) T-SQL
9 8 (1.23%) Perl
10 7 (1.08%) Kusto Query Language
11 4 (0.62%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 4 (0.62%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.46%) X++
13 2 (0.31%) Korn
13 2 (0.31%) PHP
13 2 (0.31%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.31%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.15%) Google Apps Script
14 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 224 (34.46%) Security Cleared
2 149 (22.92%) SC Cleared
3 72 (11.08%) DV Cleared
4 67 (10.31%) Degree
5 23 (3.54%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (2.46%) CISSP
7 13 (2.00%) Azure Certification
8 11 (1.69%) DBS Check
8 11 (1.69%) PMI Certification
8 11 (1.69%) PMP
9 10 (1.54%) Computer Science Degree
10 9 (1.38%) GIAC
11 8 (1.23%) A+ Certification
11 8 (1.23%) Cisco Certification
12 7 (1.08%) BPSS Clearance
12 7 (1.08%) Master's Degree
13 6 (0.92%) AWS Certification
13 6 (0.92%) CISM
13 6 (0.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 5 (0.77%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.15%) NIST
2 24 (3.69%) PMO
3 20 (3.08%) SLA
4 18 (2.77%) GDPR
5 15 (2.31%) Data Quality
6 13 (2.00%) Cyber Essentials
6 13 (2.00%) NCSC
7 12 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (1.38%) QA
9 5 (0.77%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.62%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.46%) P3O
12 2 (0.31%) JSP 440
13 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.15%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.15%) GRC
13 1 (0.15%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.15%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 1 (0.15%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 191 (29.38%) Active Directory
2 55 (8.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (3.69%) Hyper-V
4 13 (2.00%) Docker
5 12 (1.85%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (1.38%) vSphere
7 8 (1.23%) VMware NSX
8 7 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (1.08%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.77%) Firmware
10 3 (0.46%) DFS Replication
11 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.15%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.15%) Sendmail
11 1 (0.15%) UAG
Systems Management
1 62 (9.54%) Microsoft Intune
2 39 (6.00%) SCCM
3 34 (5.23%) Terraform
4 20 (3.08%) Single Sign-On
5 19 (2.92%) Ansible
6 16 (2.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 14 (2.15%) Kubernetes
8 10 (1.54%) Jamf Pro
8 10 (1.54%) WMI
9 4 (0.62%) SCOM
10 3 (0.46%) Grafana
10 3 (0.46%) Nessus
10 3 (0.46%) PaperCut
10 3 (0.46%) Puppet
10 3 (0.46%) SCSM
10 3 (0.46%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 3 (0.46%) WSUS
11 2 (0.31%) Cisco CUCM
11 2 (0.31%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 71 (10.92%) VMware
2 30 (4.62%) Cisco
3 29 (4.46%) ServiceNow
4 20 (3.08%) SAP
5 19 (2.92%) Oracle
6 17 (2.62%) Databricks
6 17 (2.62%) Splunk
7 15 (2.31%) Citrix
8 13 (2.00%) Meraki
9 11 (1.69%) Fortinet
10 10 (1.54%) Tenable
11 9 (1.38%) Avaya
11 9 (1.38%) Thales
12 8 (1.23%) F5
12 8 (1.23%) Mitel
12 8 (1.23%) Red Hat
13 7 (1.08%) Palo Alto
14 6 (0.92%) CrowdStrike
14 6 (0.92%) Google
14 6 (0.92%) Juniper