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 1 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
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 6 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 870 549 653
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 13.04% 15.76% 12.95%
As % of the Vendors category 29.99% 29.76% 27.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 553 368 432
10th Percentile £203 £200 £200
25th Percentile £353 £261 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £473 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% +2.49%
75th Percentile £578 £578 £600
90th Percentile £674 £623 £675
England median daily rate £490 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 42 46
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.00 £11.71
25th Percentile £18.38 £14.20 £12.10
Median hourly rate £32.50 £16.68 £33.25
Median % change year-on-year +94.84% -49.83% +82.19%
75th Percentile £83.13 £32.05 £57.65
90th Percentile £110.75 £82.08 £61.60
England median hourly rate £23.54 £22.63 £16.23
% change year-on-year +4.02% +39.43% -26.23%

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 2,901 1,845 2,395
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 43.47% 52.97% 47.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,835 1,216 1,448
10th Percentile £282 £211 £255
25th Percentile £425 £375 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.99% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £690 £650 £700
England median daily rate £510 £510 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.86% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 220 117 142
10th Percentile £16.50 £14.20 £14.50
25th Percentile £30.05 £15.25 £22.29
Median hourly rate £57.63 £19.91 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +189.43% -65.28% +27.44%
75th Percentile £85.00 £38.42 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £76.65 £70.00
England median hourly rate £35.52 £25.15 £28.00
% change year-on-year +41.21% -10.18% -29.20%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 +1 463 £500 +11.11% 338
Berkshire +2 254 £500 +5.26% 163
Hampshire -4 181 £500 -7.41% 169
Surrey +5 118 £438 +59.09% 170
Buckinghamshire -5 115 £510 +10.27% 93
Oxfordshire 0 94 £415 +66.00% 86
West Sussex -4 55 £395 +79.55% 43
Kent -1 30 £350 +33.33% 83
East Sussex +1 9 £298 -53.33% 37
Middlesex - 3 - - 19
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 87 (10.00%) SharePoint
2 67 (7.70%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.72%) Confluence
4 2 (0.23%) ArcGIS
4 2 (0.23%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.11%) Apache
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
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 (12.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 94 (10.80%) Microsoft Office
3 47 (5.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 43 (4.94%) Microsoft Project
5 14 (1.61%) 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 (1.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.15%) 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
1 347 (39.89%) Azure
2 221 (25.40%) Microsoft 365
3 168 (19.31%) Entra ID
4 96 (11.03%) Power Platform
5 90 (10.34%) AWS
6 53 (6.09%) Dynamics 365
7 49 (5.63%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (3.91%) SaaS
9 32 (3.68%) OneDrive
10 31 (3.56%) GCP
11 28 (3.22%) Azure Monitor
11 28 (3.22%) Power Automate
12 27 (3.10%) IaaS
13 25 (2.87%) Azure Logic Apps
14 21 (2.41%) Microsoft Purview
15 17 (1.95%) PowerApps
16 16 (1.84%) Azure Sentinel
17 14 (1.61%) Azure Functions
17 14 (1.61%) Serverless
18 13 (1.49%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 77 (8.85%) DNS
2 50 (5.75%) Firewall
3 48 (5.52%) DHCP
4 39 (4.48%) TCP/IP
4 39 (4.48%) Wi-Fi
5 38 (4.37%) VPN
6 30 (3.45%) LAN
7 25 (2.87%) WAN
8 16 (1.84%) Network Security
8 16 (1.84%) VLAN
9 15 (1.72%) MPLS
10 14 (1.61%) SD-WAN
11 11 (1.26%) BGP
11 11 (1.26%) Unified Communications
12 10 (1.15%) Wireless
13 9 (1.03%) DNSSEC
14 7 (0.80%) Internet
14 7 (0.80%) IPsec
14 7 (0.80%) OSPF
15 6 (0.69%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (8.16%) Power BI
2 34 (3.91%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.49%) MySQL
3 13 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (1.26%) Azure SQL Database
4 11 (1.26%) Data Warehouse
5 8 (0.92%) Oracle Database
6 7 (0.80%) Metadata
7 6 (0.69%) NoSQL
7 6 (0.69%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (0.57%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.57%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.34%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.34%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.34%) MS Access
9 3 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 2 (0.23%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.23%) Geospatial Data
10 2 (0.23%) GIS
10 2 (0.23%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 28 (3.22%) JIRA
2 12 (1.38%) Git
3 5 (0.57%) MSI
4 4 (0.46%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.46%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (0.34%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.34%) Browser DevTools
5 3 (0.34%) Eclipse
5 3 (0.34%) GitLab
5 3 (0.34%) Robot Framework
5 3 (0.34%) Xcode
6 2 (0.23%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.23%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.11%) ERwin
7 1 (0.11%) JUnit
7 1 (0.11%) NUnit
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
General
1 287 (32.99%) Social Skills
2 119 (13.68%) Analytical Skills
3 89 (10.23%) Finance
4 86 (9.89%) Public Sector
5 58 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
6 33 (3.79%) Aerospace
6 33 (3.79%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.10%) Legal
8 23 (2.64%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 17 (1.95%) Marketing
10 17 (1.95%) Military
11 12 (1.38%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (1.38%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.03%) French Language
12 9 (1.03%) Retail
13 8 (0.92%) Aviation
13 8 (0.92%) Billing
13 8 (0.92%) Local Government
14 6 (0.69%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 93 (10.69%) Analyst
2 91 (10.46%) IT Support
3 87 (10.00%) Architect
4 73 (8.39%) Senior
5 63 (7.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 55 (6.32%) IT Engineer
7 54 (6.21%) Support Engineer
8 51 (5.86%) Consultant
8 51 (5.86%) Lead
9 43 (4.94%) Developer
10 42 (4.83%) IT Support Engineer
11 40 (4.60%) Cloud Engineer
12 38 (4.37%) Azure Engineer
13 34 (3.91%) IT Analyst
14 28 (3.22%) Project Manager
14 28 (3.22%) Support Analyst
15 27 (3.10%) Administrator
16 25 (2.87%) Solutions Architect
17 24 (2.76%) IT Support Analyst
18 23 (2.64%) Microsoft Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.37%) OAuth
2 36 (4.14%) OpenID
2 36 (4.14%) SAML
3 33 (3.79%) .NET
4 23 (2.64%) LDAP
4 23 (2.64%) OAuth2
4 23 (2.64%) REST
5 21 (2.41%) Web Services
6 19 (2.18%) SailPoint
7 18 (2.07%) Microsoft Graph
8 14 (1.61%) ARM Templates
8 14 (1.61%) JSON
9 11 (1.26%) .NET Framework
10 10 (1.15%) Entity Framework
10 10 (1.15%) React
10 10 (1.15%) XML
11 9 (1.03%) .NET Core
11 9 (1.03%) Middleware
12 8 (0.92%) RESTful
13 7 (0.80%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 80 (9.20%) Onboarding
2 38 (4.37%) Hybrid Cloud
3 32 (3.68%) Data Centre
3 32 (3.68%) PKI
4 31 (3.56%) Cloud Native
5 24 (2.76%) Product Ownership
6 21 (2.41%) Legacy Systems
7 20 (2.30%) Public Cloud
7 20 (2.30%) Security Posture
8 18 (2.07%) Operational Technology
9 17 (1.95%) Enterprise Software
10 16 (1.84%) Management Information System
11 13 (1.49%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 12 (1.38%) Data Structures
13 11 (1.26%) Analytical Mindset
14 10 (1.15%) Cyber Defence
14 10 (1.15%) Driving Licence
14 10 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
15 9 (1.03%) Private Cloud
16 8 (0.92%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 241 (27.70%) Windows
2 84 (9.66%) Windows Server
3 66 (7.59%) Linux
4 38 (4.37%) Windows 10
5 24 (2.76%) Mac OS
6 22 (2.53%) Apple iOS
7 15 (1.72%) Unix
8 14 (1.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 12 (1.38%) Android
10 7 (0.80%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (0.69%) Windows 7
12 5 (0.57%) CentOS
12 5 (0.57%) Ubuntu
12 5 (0.57%) Windows Server 2012
13 4 (0.46%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.11%) OpenVMS
14 1 (0.11%) VMS
14 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (20.34%) Problem-Solving
2 118 (13.56%) Agile
3 114 (13.10%) ITIL
4 110 (12.64%) Stakeholder Management
5 100 (11.49%) Customer Service
6 99 (11.38%) DevOps
7 95 (10.92%) Continuous Improvement
8 92 (10.57%) CI/CD
9 91 (10.46%) Cybersecurity
10 88 (10.11%) ITSM
11 85 (9.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 84 (9.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 80 (9.20%) Analytics
14 77 (8.85%) Business Intelligence
15 75 (8.62%) Decision-Making
16 73 (8.39%) Migration
17 66 (7.59%) Project Management
18 65 (7.47%) Project Delivery
19 62 (7.13%) AI
20 60 (6.90%) RBAC
Programming Languages
1 136 (15.63%) PowerShell
2 86 (9.89%) Python
3 79 (9.08%) SQL
4 32 (3.68%) Bash
5 28 (3.22%) T-SQL
6 25 (2.87%) Bicep
7 23 (2.64%) C#
8 19 (2.18%) JavaScript
9 15 (1.72%) Java
10 12 (1.38%) Kusto Query Language
11 9 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 8 (0.92%) X++
13 6 (0.69%) 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
1 310 (35.63%) Security Cleared
2 211 (24.25%) SC Cleared
3 126 (14.48%) Degree
4 103 (11.84%) DV Cleared
5 49 (5.63%) Microsoft Certification
6 40 (4.60%) Azure Certification
7 20 (2.30%) AWS Certification
8 19 (2.18%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (1.72%) PMI Certification
9 15 (1.72%) PMP
10 14 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
11 13 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
11 13 (1.49%) DBS Check
12 10 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 9 (1.03%) CCNP
13 9 (1.03%) MCSA
13 9 (1.03%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 8 (0.92%) CISSP
14 8 (0.92%) MCSE
15 7 (0.80%) CCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.71%) NIST
2 39 (4.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 31 (3.56%) PMO
4 30 (3.45%) Data Quality
5 29 (3.33%) GDPR
5 29 (3.33%) NCSC
5 29 (3.33%) SLA
6 24 (2.76%) QA
7 23 (2.64%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (0.80%) GRC
9 6 (0.69%) ISO 31000
10 4 (0.46%) Accessibility
10 4 (0.46%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.46%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 3 (0.34%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.11%) GAAP
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 222 (25.52%) Active Directory
2 74 (8.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 31 (3.56%) Hyper-V
4 25 (2.87%) Virtual Machines
5 18 (2.07%) vSphere
6 14 (1.61%) VMware ESXi
7 13 (1.49%) VMware NSX
8 12 (1.38%) Virtual Desktop
9 10 (1.15%) Docker
10 5 (0.57%) Firmware
11 3 (0.34%) OpenAM
12 2 (0.23%) UAG
13 1 (0.11%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 1 (0.11%) Dovecot
13 1 (0.11%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.11%) Postfix
13 1 (0.11%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 70 (8.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 62 (7.13%) Terraform
3 35 (4.02%) SCCM
4 28 (3.22%) Ansible
5 24 (2.76%) Kubernetes
6 22 (2.53%) SCOM
7 20 (2.30%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.61%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 14 (1.61%) Single Sign-On
9 13 (1.49%) Avamar
10 11 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
11 6 (0.69%) QRadar
12 5 (0.57%) FortiGate
12 5 (0.57%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.57%) Puppet
13 4 (0.46%) Clonezilla
13 4 (0.46%) WMI
14 3 (0.34%) Grafana
14 3 (0.34%) SCSM
15 2 (0.23%) vMotion
Vendors
1 93 (10.69%) VMware
2 58 (6.67%) ServiceNow
3 48 (5.52%) SAP
4 42 (4.83%) Cisco
5 30 (3.45%) Google
6 23 (2.64%) Oracle
7 22 (2.53%) Meraki
8 20 (2.30%) Dell
9 15 (1.72%) SolarWinds
10 14 (1.61%) Avaya
11 13 (1.49%) Databricks
11 13 (1.49%) Mitel
11 13 (1.49%) Thales
12 12 (1.38%) F5
13 11 (1.26%) Citrix
13 11 (1.26%) Splunk
14 10 (1.15%) Fortinet
14 10 (1.15%) Juniper
14 10 (1.15%) Palo Alto
15 9 (1.03%) Veeam