Microsoft Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Microsoft
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley requiring knowledge or experience of Microsoft products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to the annual salaries offered in vacancies that cited Microsoft over the 6 months leading up to 18 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT labour market in general and are not representative of salaries within the Microsoft Corporation.

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 6 2
Rank change year-on-year +4 -4 +3
Permanent jobs citing Microsoft 951 605 1,021
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 13.98% 16.04% 19.83%
As % of the Vendors category 55.39% 38.96% 57.23%
Number of salaries quoted 693 366 570
10th Percentile £28,500 £27,800 £27,750
25th Percentile £37,500 £32,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £41,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +20.48% -7.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £66,250 £63,438 £57,854
90th Percentile £74,750 £70,000 £68,525
South East median annual salary £50,000 £41,250 £45,000
% change year-on-year +21.21% -8.33% -5.26%

All Vendors
Thames Valley

Microsoft falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 1,717 1,553 1,784
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 25.25% 41.18% 34.64%
Number of salaries quoted 1,223 667 1,011
10th Percentile £29,750 £28,500 £29,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £37,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £46,000 £47,750
Median % change year-on-year +19.57% -3.66% -8.17%
75th Percentile £71,250 £66,250 £61,250
90th Percentile £87,250 £75,300 £75,000
South East median annual salary £52,500 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.13% -8.00% -

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Microsoft relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Microsoft job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Microsoft
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Microsoft.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Microsoft

Microsoft
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Microsoft in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 18 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Microsoft in the Thames Valley

Microsoft
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 18 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Berkshire +11 392 £52,500 +31.25% 115
Buckinghamshire +6 335 £50,750 +6.84% 88
Oxfordshire +4 224 £41,500 - 71
Microsoft
South East

Microsoft
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 96 (10.09%) SharePoint
2 56 (5.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.37%) Apache
4 12 (1.26%) IIS
5 11 (1.16%) Confluence
6 10 (1.05%) nginx
7 2 (0.21%) WordPress
8 1 (0.11%) Jupyter
Applications
1 123 (12.93%) Microsoft Office
2 86 (9.04%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (2.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 19 (2.00%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (0.84%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.11%) Adobe XD
5 1 (0.11%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.11%) InDesign
5 1 (0.11%) Mathcad
5 1 (0.11%) OrCAD
5 1 (0.11%) Revit
5 1 (0.11%) SketchUp
5 1 (0.11%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 21 (2.21%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (1.68%) Primavera
3 13 (1.37%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.63%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.53%) Shopify
6 1 (0.11%) Dynamics GP
6 1 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.11%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.11%) SAP CRM
6 1 (0.11%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 440 (46.27%) Azure
2 244 (25.66%) Microsoft 365
3 127 (13.35%) Power Platform
4 81 (8.52%) AWS
5 70 (7.36%) Entra ID
6 44 (4.63%) Azure AI
7 40 (4.21%) SaaS
8 36 (3.79%) Power Automate
9 30 (3.15%) Dynamics 365
10 27 (2.84%) Azure DevOps
11 26 (2.73%) Azure Sentinel
12 23 (2.42%) GitHub
13 16 (1.68%) Google Workspace
14 14 (1.47%) Cloudflare
15 13 (1.37%) Azure Logic Apps
15 13 (1.37%) IaaS
15 13 (1.37%) Microsoft Copilot
16 12 (1.26%) Azure Data Factory
17 11 (1.16%) Google Analytics
17 11 (1.16%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 136 (14.30%) DNS
2 122 (12.83%) Firewall
3 81 (8.52%) VPN
4 70 (7.36%) DHCP
5 43 (4.52%) VLAN
6 36 (3.79%) Network Security
6 36 (3.79%) Wi-Fi
7 35 (3.68%) TCP/IP
8 34 (3.58%) SSL
8 34 (3.58%) WAN
9 25 (2.63%) LAN
10 21 (2.21%) HTTP
11 18 (1.89%) SD-WAN
12 16 (1.68%) SAN
12 16 (1.68%) VoIP
12 16 (1.68%) Wireless
13 15 (1.58%) Remote Desktop
14 13 (1.37%) BGP
15 11 (1.16%) Internet
15 11 (1.16%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (7.78%) Power BI
2 69 (7.26%) SQL Server
3 36 (3.79%) Azure SQL Database
4 34 (3.58%) Tableau
5 22 (2.31%) MongoDB
6 17 (1.79%) MySQL
7 13 (1.37%) Relational Database
8 12 (1.26%) Elasticsearch
9 9 (0.95%) Data Warehouse
9 9 (0.95%) PostgreSQL
10 7 (0.74%) Data Lake
11 4 (0.42%) Metadata
12 3 (0.32%) Snowflake Schema
12 3 (0.32%) Star Schema
13 2 (0.21%) Amazon QuickSight
13 2 (0.21%) DynamoDB
13 2 (0.21%) NoSQL
13 2 (0.21%) Power Query
13 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 19 (2.00%) JIRA
2 14 (1.47%) Git
3 8 (0.84%) Claude Code
3 8 (0.84%) Oracle Forms
3 8 (0.84%) Team Foundation Server
4 4 (0.42%) Cucumber
4 4 (0.42%) Postman
5 2 (0.21%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.11%) Axure RP
6 1 (0.11%) Balsamiq
6 1 (0.11%) MLflow
6 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 406 (42.69%) Social Skills
2 102 (10.73%) Analytical Skills
3 86 (9.04%) Finance
4 78 (8.20%) Organisational Skills
5 56 (5.89%) Retail
6 43 (4.52%) Marketing
7 34 (3.58%) Manufacturing
8 27 (2.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 22 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (2.21%) Telecoms
11 19 (2.00%) Advertising
12 15 (1.58%) Law
13 14 (1.47%) Public Sector
14 13 (1.37%) Documentation Skills
15 11 (1.16%) Local Government
16 10 (1.05%) Pharmaceutical
17 9 (0.95%) Legal
18 6 (0.63%) Electronics
18 6 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
19 3 (0.32%) Military
Job Titles
1 157 (16.51%) Analyst
2 94 (9.88%) IT Support
3 93 (9.78%) Senior
4 74 (7.78%) Junior
5 73 (7.68%) Developer
6 71 (7.47%) Consultant
7 69 (7.26%) Junior Analyst
8 63 (6.62%) Data Engineer
9 61 (6.41%) Support Engineer
10 55 (5.78%) Architect
10 55 (5.78%) IT Engineer
11 54 (5.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 52 (5.47%) Lead
13 51 (5.36%) Microsoft Engineer
14 49 (5.15%) Security Analyst
15 46 (4.84%) IT Support Engineer
16 42 (4.42%) .NET Developer
16 42 (4.42%) Cybersecurity Analyst
17 40 (4.21%) Azure Engineer
18 36 (3.79%) Ethical Hacker
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 68 (7.15%) .NET
2 43 (4.52%) ASP.NET
3 34 (3.58%) .NET Core
4 29 (3.05%) HTML
5 28 (2.94%) ASP.NET Core
6 27 (2.84%) CSS
7 20 (2.10%) Blazor
7 20 (2.10%) React
8 19 (2.00%) Node.js
9 18 (1.89%) Regular Expression
10 16 (1.68%) XMPP
11 15 (1.58%) .NET Framework
11 15 (1.58%) ASP.NET Web API
11 15 (1.58%) OAuth
12 14 (1.47%) LDAP
13 12 (1.26%) Entity Framework
14 11 (1.16%) SAML
15 10 (1.05%) Middleware
16 9 (0.95%) RESTful
16 9 (0.95%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 46 (4.84%) Driving Licence
1 46 (4.84%) Management Information System
2 42 (4.42%) Self-Motivation
3 37 (3.89%) Cyberattack
4 36 (3.79%) Onboarding
5 31 (3.26%) Cloud Native
6 20 (2.10%) Enterprise Software
6 20 (2.10%) Product Ownership
7 18 (1.89%) Security Operations Centre
8 16 (1.68%) PKI
9 14 (1.47%) Cyber Defence
9 14 (1.47%) Data Centre
10 12 (1.26%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.26%) Cyber Threat
10 12 (1.26%) Distributed Systems
10 12 (1.26%) Hybrid Cloud
10 12 (1.26%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.26%) Web Conferencing
11 10 (1.05%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 10 (1.05%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 218 (22.92%) Windows
2 95 (9.99%) Linux
3 93 (9.78%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.26%) Windows 10
5 30 (3.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 27 (2.84%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.05%) Windows Server 2012
8 8 (0.84%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.42%) Apple iOS
10 3 (0.32%) Android
11 2 (0.21%) CentOS
11 2 (0.21%) Rocky
11 2 (0.21%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 186 (19.56%) Problem-Solving
2 183 (19.24%) Cybersecurity
3 162 (17.03%) Continuous Improvement
4 110 (11.57%) Customer Service
5 97 (10.20%) AI
6 91 (9.57%) Agile
6 91 (9.57%) CRM
7 81 (8.52%) Analytics
7 81 (8.52%) ITIL
8 76 (7.99%) Business Intelligence
9 70 (7.36%) Decision-Making
9 70 (7.36%) Mentoring
10 66 (6.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 65 (6.83%) SIEM
12 63 (6.62%) DevOps
13 60 (6.31%) ERP
14 53 (5.57%) Platform Engineering
14 53 (5.57%) Stakeholder Management
15 51 (5.36%) Service Delivery
16 50 (5.26%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 123 (12.93%) SQL
2 100 (10.52%) PowerShell
3 91 (9.57%) Python
4 68 (7.15%) C#
5 31 (3.26%) JavaScript
6 22 (2.31%) Bash
7 20 (2.10%) TypeScript
8 15 (1.58%) Kusto Query Language
9 9 (0.95%) T-SQL
10 8 (0.84%) VB.NET
11 7 (0.74%) C
11 7 (0.74%) C++
11 7 (0.74%) Search Processing Language
12 6 (0.63%) Korn
13 5 (0.53%) Java
14 3 (0.32%) Bicep
14 3 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 2 (0.21%) Go
15 2 (0.21%) R
15 2 (0.21%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 140 (14.72%) Azure Certification
2 101 (10.62%) Degree
3 79 (8.31%) Security Cleared
4 65 (6.83%) CompTIA Security+
5 57 (5.99%) Microsoft Certification
6 46 (4.84%) SC Cleared
7 41 (4.31%) CEH
8 40 (4.21%) CompTIA CySA+
9 36 (3.79%) Cisco Certification
10 31 (3.26%) CCNA
11 30 (3.15%) Network+ Certification
12 28 (2.94%) DV Cleared
13 21 (2.21%) Computer Science Degree
14 19 (2.00%) DBS Check
15 16 (1.68%) GIAC
15 16 (1.68%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 13 (1.37%) GCIA
17 12 (1.26%) CCNP
18 11 (1.16%) ICAEW
19 10 (1.05%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.52%) Cyber Essentials
2 32 (3.36%) SLA
3 31 (3.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 25 (2.63%) GDPR
5 21 (2.21%) QA
6 20 (2.10%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 20 (2.10%) Data Quality
7 13 (1.37%) NIST
8 10 (1.05%) Accessibility
8 10 (1.05%) NCSC
9 6 (0.63%) PMO
10 5 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.42%) IFRS
12 3 (0.32%) ISO 9001
13 2 (0.21%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 2 (0.21%) ISO 22301
13 2 (0.21%) WCAG
14 1 (0.11%) GRC
14 1 (0.11%) PERC
14 1 (0.11%) SOC 2
System Software
1 132 (13.88%) Active Directory
2 53 (5.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 42 (4.42%) Hyper-V
4 29 (3.05%) vSphere
5 22 (2.31%) Docker
6 10 (1.05%) VMware ESXi
7 8 (0.84%) Citrix Hypervisor
7 8 (0.84%) KVM
8 7 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (0.53%) ClearTrust
9 5 (0.53%) Squid
9 5 (0.53%) VMware NSX
10 4 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.32%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.32%) Terminal Services
12 2 (0.21%) Samba
13 1 (0.11%) Firmware
13 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 64 (6.73%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (2.63%) Terraform
3 22 (2.31%) Kubernetes
4 14 (1.47%) FortiGate
4 14 (1.47%) Graylog
5 11 (1.16%) Jamf Pro
6 10 (1.05%) CASB
7 9 (0.95%) Kibana
8 8 (0.84%) Proxmox
8 8 (0.84%) ZABBIX
9 5 (0.53%) HAProxy
10 3 (0.32%) Single Sign-On
11 2 (0.21%) Autotask
12 1 (0.11%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.11%) MOM
12 1 (0.11%) SCCM
Vendors
1 99 (10.41%) VMware
2 87 (9.15%) ForeScout
3 59 (6.20%) Cisco
4 34 (3.58%) Google
5 32 (3.36%) Oracle
6 30 (3.15%) Veeam
7 24 (2.52%) Red Hat
8 19 (2.00%) Palo Alto
9 18 (1.89%) Apple
10 16 (1.68%) CrowdStrike
10 16 (1.68%) Salesforce
11 15 (1.58%) Fortinet
12 14 (1.47%) YouTube
13 12 (1.26%) Citrix
13 12 (1.26%) McAfee
14 11 (1.16%) Dell
14 11 (1.16%) SAP
14 11 (1.16%) Splunk
15 10 (1.05%) Datto
15 10 (1.05%) SonicWALL