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 20 February 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
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 6 3
Rank change year-on-year -1 -3 +3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 643 496 887
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 13.41% 15.63% 16.20%
As % of the Vendors category 28.05% 31.06% 32.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 456 331 623
10th Percentile £204 £210 £180
25th Percentile £275 £363 £215
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £480 £463
Median % change year-on-year -1.04% +3.78% -2.63%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £575
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
England median daily rate £485 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +2.11% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 16 61
10th Percentile £12.46 £15.13 £12.00
25th Percentile £13.13 £18.43 £14.00
Median hourly rate £17.50 £23.75 £23.22
Median % change year-on-year -26.32% +2.30% +16.08%
75th Percentile £23.75 £28.91 £56.40
90th Percentile £67.00 £57.62 £61.60
England median hourly rate £19.91 £23.80 £17.72
% change year-on-year -16.34% +34.31% -15.34%

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 2,292 1,597 2,711
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 47.79% 50.33% 49.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,625 1,024 1,699
10th Percentile £263 £250 £205
25th Percentile £411 £408 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -1.96%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £600
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 53 157
10th Percentile £12.50 £18.50 £13.05
25th Percentile £16.33 £24.18 £18.58
Median hourly rate £26.97 £29.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.00% -38.95% +5.56%
75th Percentile £65.63 £62.50 £63.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £74.25 £76.53
England median hourly rate £23.83 £30.78 £27.14
% change year-on-year -22.60% +13.41% -18.99%

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 20 February 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 20 February 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 20 February 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 0 324 £475 -3.85% 288
Berkshire 0 216 £485 -3.00% 130
Hampshire -3 141 £550 +10.00% 141
Surrey +8 82 £425 +41.67% 81
Buckinghamshire -3 71 £475 +10.47% 90
Oxfordshire -1 37 £275 +10.00% 70
West Sussex -6 34 £364 -16.15% 57
Kent 0 29 £425 -25.24% 54
East Sussex +7 19 £600 +14.29% 35
Sussex +2 11 £463 -7.50% 10
Home Counties - 3 - -
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 65 (10.11%) SharePoint
2 50 (7.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.40%) Confluence
4 5 (0.78%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.62%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.47%) MS Project Server
7 2 (0.31%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.31%) GeoServer
7 2 (0.31%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.16%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.16%) BizTalk Server
8 1 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.16%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 117 (18.20%) Microsoft Office
2 76 (11.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 28 (4.35%) Microsoft Project
4 25 (3.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.40%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.31%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.62%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.47%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.16%) iTrent
4 1 (0.16%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.16%) Sage 50
4 1 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.16%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.16%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 201 (31.26%) Azure
2 158 (24.57%) Microsoft 365
3 92 (14.31%) Entra ID
4 66 (10.26%) AWS
4 66 (10.26%) Power Platform
5 35 (5.44%) OneDrive
6 31 (4.82%) Dynamics 365
7 30 (4.67%) SaaS
8 28 (4.35%) Microsoft Purview
9 26 (4.04%) Azure DevOps
9 26 (4.04%) Power Automate
10 24 (3.73%) PowerApps
11 19 (2.95%) GitHub
12 16 (2.49%) Google Workspace
13 15 (2.33%) Serverless
14 14 (2.18%) Azure Functions
14 14 (2.18%) GCP
14 14 (2.18%) Sauce Labs
15 13 (2.02%) Microsoft Copilot
16 12 (1.87%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 58 (9.02%) DNS
2 45 (7.00%) DHCP
3 35 (5.44%) Firewall
4 28 (4.35%) Wi-Fi
5 22 (3.42%) TCP/IP
6 19 (2.95%) VPN
7 16 (2.49%) Wireless
8 15 (2.33%) VLAN
9 14 (2.18%) Unified Communications
10 13 (2.02%) Kerberos
11 9 (1.40%) 4G
11 9 (1.40%) Network Security
12 8 (1.24%) WebEx
13 7 (1.09%) VSAN
14 6 (0.93%) LAN
14 6 (0.93%) SAN
15 5 (0.78%) BGP
15 5 (0.78%) IPsec
15 5 (0.78%) VoIP
15 5 (0.78%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 49 (7.62%) Power BI
2 38 (5.91%) SQL Server
3 24 (3.73%) Relational Database
4 18 (2.80%) MySQL
5 15 (2.33%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (1.87%) Oracle Database
7 10 (1.56%) Data Warehouse
7 10 (1.56%) Metadata
8 8 (1.24%) PostgreSQL
9 7 (1.09%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
9 7 (1.09%) Data Lake
9 7 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 7 (1.09%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.93%) RDBMS
11 4 (0.62%) Amazon RDS
11 4 (0.62%) MongoDB
11 4 (0.62%) Oracle Reports
12 3 (0.47%) GIS
12 3 (0.47%) SQL Server Analysis Services
12 3 (0.47%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 17 (2.64%) Android Studio
2 15 (2.33%) Browser DevTools
3 14 (2.18%) Eclipse
3 14 (2.18%) JIRA
3 14 (2.18%) Xcode
4 13 (2.02%) Git
5 9 (1.40%) Jenkins
6 5 (0.78%) JUnit
7 4 (0.62%) Gradle
8 3 (0.47%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.47%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.47%) Maven
8 3 (0.47%) MSI
8 3 (0.47%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.47%) Subversion
9 2 (0.31%) JMeter
9 2 (0.31%) Oracle APEX
9 2 (0.31%) Oracle Forms
10 1 (0.16%) Fiddler
10 1 (0.16%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 231 (35.93%) Social Skills
2 91 (14.15%) Finance
3 74 (11.51%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (9.64%) Organisational Skills
5 55 (8.55%) Public Sector
6 16 (2.49%) Manufacturing
7 14 (2.18%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (1.71%) Legal
8 11 (1.71%) Military
8 11 (1.71%) Retail
9 9 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.09%) Marketing
10 7 (1.09%) Telecoms
11 6 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (0.78%) Billing
13 4 (0.62%) Banking
13 4 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (0.47%) Automotive
14 3 (0.47%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 100 (15.55%) Architect
2 76 (11.82%) Support Engineer
3 68 (10.58%) Analyst
4 61 (9.49%) IT Support
5 45 (7.00%) Senior
6 44 (6.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 35 (5.44%) IT Engineer
8 30 (4.67%) Developer
8 30 (4.67%) IT Support Engineer
9 24 (3.73%) Solutions Architect
10 22 (3.42%) Consultant
11 21 (3.27%) Infrastructure Support
11 21 (3.27%) Lead
12 20 (3.11%) Infrastructure Architect
12 20 (3.11%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
13 19 (2.95%) Administrator
13 19 (2.95%) Support Officer
14 18 (2.80%) Technical Support
15 17 (2.64%) Technical Engineer
15 17 (2.64%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.27%) .NET
2 18 (2.80%) CSS
2 18 (2.80%) React
3 17 (2.64%) GraphQL
4 15 (2.33%) Ajax
4 15 (2.33%) AngularJS
5 14 (2.18%) LDAP
6 11 (1.71%) REST
7 10 (1.56%) ARM Templates
8 7 (1.09%) ADO
8 7 (1.09%) OAuth
9 6 (0.93%) OpenID
9 6 (0.93%) SAML
9 6 (0.93%) Spring
10 5 (0.78%) PySpark
11 4 (0.62%) Microsoft Graph
11 4 (0.62%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.62%) SailPoint
11 4 (0.62%) Software Packaging
12 3 (0.47%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 35 (5.44%) Onboarding
2 32 (4.98%) PKI
3 28 (4.35%) Analytical Mindset
4 19 (2.95%) Mobile App
4 19 (2.95%) Product Ownership
5 18 (2.80%) Replication
6 17 (2.64%) Enterprise Software
7 15 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
8 14 (2.18%) Driving Licence
8 14 (2.18%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (2.02%) Management Information System
9 13 (2.02%) Operational Technology
10 12 (1.87%) Fat Client
10 12 (1.87%) Thin Client
11 11 (1.71%) Cloud Native
11 11 (1.71%) Video Conferencing
12 8 (1.24%) Data Centre
12 8 (1.24%) Security Operations Centre
13 7 (1.09%) Cyber Defence
14 6 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 196 (30.48%) Windows
2 83 (12.91%) Linux
3 37 (5.75%) Windows 10
4 34 (5.29%) Windows Server
5 19 (2.95%) Android
5 19 (2.95%) Unix
6 15 (2.33%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.56%) Windows 7
8 6 (0.93%) Windows Server 2012
8 6 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.62%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.31%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.16%) CentOS
12 1 (0.16%) Debian
12 1 (0.16%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (15.71%) Problem-Solving
2 81 (12.60%) Agile
3 78 (12.13%) Customer Service
4 74 (11.51%) Cybersecurity
5 68 (10.58%) ITIL
6 60 (9.33%) Migration
7 58 (9.02%) Business Intelligence
7 58 (9.02%) DevOps
8 56 (8.71%) Project Management
8 56 (8.71%) Stakeholder Management
9 53 (8.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 48 (7.47%) Project Delivery
11 46 (7.15%) Continuous Improvement
12 44 (6.84%) CI/CD
13 43 (6.69%) Time Management
14 39 (6.07%) Analytics
15 35 (5.44%) Roadmaps
16 34 (5.29%) SIEM
17 33 (5.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 33 (5.13%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 88 (13.69%) PowerShell
2 73 (11.35%) Python
3 61 (9.49%) SQL
4 25 (3.89%) Java
4 25 (3.89%) JavaScript
5 16 (2.49%) Bash
5 16 (2.49%) Perl
6 15 (2.33%) C#
7 5 (0.78%) Bicep
7 5 (0.78%) T-SQL
8 4 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
8 4 (0.62%) PL/SQL
8 4 (0.62%) X++
9 3 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.31%) PHP
10 2 (0.31%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.16%) VB
Qualifications
1 223 (34.68%) Security Cleared
2 146 (22.71%) SC Cleared
3 64 (9.95%) DV Cleared
4 61 (9.49%) Degree
5 42 (6.53%) Microsoft Certification
6 23 (3.58%) Azure Certification
7 20 (3.11%) CISSP
8 13 (2.02%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.71%) Network+ Certification
9 11 (1.71%) Server+ Certification
10 10 (1.56%) GIAC
10 10 (1.56%) PMP
11 9 (1.40%) CISM
11 9 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.40%) DBS Check
12 8 (1.24%) Cisco Certification
12 8 (1.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (1.09%) AWS Certification
13 7 (1.09%) ITIL Certification
13 7 (1.09%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.20%) PMO
2 26 (4.04%) NIST
3 24 (3.73%) GDPR
4 18 (2.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (2.80%) SLA
5 14 (2.18%) Data Quality
6 13 (2.02%) QA
7 10 (1.56%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (1.09%) NCSC
9 5 (0.78%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.62%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.47%) P3O
11 3 (0.47%) RMADS
12 2 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.31%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.16%) COSHH
13 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.16%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 177 (27.53%) Active Directory
2 57 (8.86%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (4.04%) Hyper-V
4 13 (2.02%) Virtual Desktop
5 11 (1.71%) vSphere
6 9 (1.40%) Docker
7 8 (1.24%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.78%) VMware NSX
9 3 (0.47%) DFS Replication
9 3 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.31%) NFS
11 1 (0.16%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.16%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 57 (8.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 45 (7.00%) SCCM
3 21 (3.27%) Single Sign-On
3 21 (3.27%) Terraform
4 18 (2.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 14 (2.18%) Ansible
6 13 (2.02%) WMI
7 10 (1.56%) Jamf Pro
8 9 (1.40%) Kubernetes
9 6 (0.93%) vCenter Server
10 5 (0.78%) SCOM
11 4 (0.62%) Cisco CUCM
11 4 (0.62%) HP SiteScope
12 3 (0.47%) Grafana
12 3 (0.47%) Nessus
12 3 (0.47%) PaperCut
12 3 (0.47%) Puppet
12 3 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 2 (0.31%) EnCase
13 2 (0.31%) FTK
Vendors
1 73 (11.35%) VMware
2 51 (7.93%) ServiceNow
3 34 (5.29%) Oracle
4 30 (4.67%) Splunk
5 23 (3.58%) Cisco
5 23 (3.58%) SAP
6 17 (2.64%) Citrix
6 17 (2.64%) Databricks
7 10 (1.56%) Tenable
8 9 (1.40%) CrowdStrike
8 9 (1.40%) Thales
9 7 (1.09%) CyberArk
9 7 (1.09%) Fortinet
10 6 (0.93%) Palo Alto
10 6 (0.93%) Red Hat
10 6 (0.93%) Virgin Media
11 5 (0.78%) F5
11 5 (0.78%) Informatica
11 5 (0.78%) Meraki
11 5 (0.78%) Salesforce