SharePoint Developer

SharePoint Developers build the digital workplaces of enterprise organizations — the intranet portals where companies publish news, the document management systems that track contract approvals, the team collaboration spaces that replace email chains, and the custom applications that automate workflows that previously required manual steps and tickets to an IT helpdesk.

The role divides broadly into two types of work. Configuration work — setting up sites, permissions, metadata schemas, document libraries, and content types — is the foundation of every SharePoint environment and requires thorough knowledge of SharePoint Online administration and governance. Development work — building custom web parts, workflows, and applications — requires programming skills in TypeScript, React, and the SharePoint Framework, plus integration knowledge for Microsoft Graph, Power Platform, and Azure.

The balance between configuration and development depends heavily on the organization. At large enterprises with dedicated SharePoint developers, the role skews toward SPFx development and complex integrations. At smaller companies or as a consultant, SharePoint developers often handle the full range from site architecture through custom code.

Migration work is a recurring source of engagement. Many organizations still run SharePoint on-premises (2016 or 2019) and are moving to SharePoint Online on various timelines. Migration projects require assessing the existing environment, cleaning up governance debt accumulated over years, running migration tools (ShareGate, Metalogix, Microsoft Migration Manager), and rebuilding custom solutions in modern SPFx.

Governance is the unglamorous but consequential dimension of the job. A SharePoint environment without governance — clear ownership of sites, defined permission models, lifecycle management for abandoned sites — becomes a security and compliance liability. Senior SharePoint developers advise on governance strategy, not just build features.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field is standard
• Many SharePoint developers are self-taught or trained through Microsoft learning paths; practical experience and certifications carry significant weight

Experience:

• 3–5 years of hands-on SharePoint development including at least one end-to-end SharePoint Online deployment
• Experience with SPFx development using TypeScript and React (for any role involving custom development)
• Track record of migrating or building SharePoint environments at an organizational level (50+ sites)

Technical skills:

• SharePoint Online: modern sites, Hub Sites, Viva Connections, SharePoint admin center
• SPFx: web part and extension development using TypeScript, React, and PnP libraries
• Power Platform: Power Apps (canvas and model-driven), Power Automate, Dataverse basics
• Microsoft Graph API: site, list, and user operations; authentication with MSAL
• Azure Active Directory: app registrations, service accounts, permissions, conditional access
• Scripting: PnP PowerShell or PnP.PowerShell for bulk administration and migration scripting

On-premises experience (valued):

• SharePoint 2016/2019 farm administration
• Classic web parts, feature deployment, and solution packages
• SharePoint Designer workflows (for migration/replacement scenarios)

Security and compliance:

• Microsoft Purview (formerly Compliance Center): sensitivity labels, DLP policies, retention
• SharePoint permission model: site collection administrators, permission levels, sharing policies

The SharePoint developer market in 2026 is healthy but bifurcated. Engineers who have kept up with the modern Microsoft 365 stack — SPFx, Power Platform, Microsoft Copilot extensibility, and Azure integration — are in genuine demand at enterprises and Microsoft partner firms. Engineers who specialize in legacy SharePoint (pre-2016 on-premises) are finding their market shrinking as migration projects complete and organizations move on.

Government and defense contracting is a particularly strong market segment for SharePoint developers. Federal agencies are major Microsoft customers, often running on-premises environments that require maintenance alongside cloud migrations, and many SharePoint roles in this sector require security clearances that reduce the candidate pool significantly — and push compensation meaningfully higher.

Microsoft Copilot is the most significant near-term development in the SharePoint space. Microsoft is positioning SharePoint as the knowledge base for Copilot queries — the structured data store from which AI answers pull context. SharePoint developers who understand how to configure content architecture, metadata schemas, and access policies to optimize Copilot responses are providing genuine business value that organizations are willing to pay for.

Microsoft partner consultancies have been a reliable employment channel for SharePoint developers and continue to be. The market for M365 deployment, customization, and governance advisory is large and fragmented across thousands of consulting firms. Developers who combine technical depth with the ability to explain solutions to business stakeholders are well-suited to the consulting model.

Career progression from SharePoint Developer leads to M365 Solution Architect, Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator, or Power Platform Architect for those who specialize in the low-code/no-code layer. Some experienced developers move toward technical sales engineering at Microsoft partners or Microsoft itself.

Dear Hiring Manager,

I'm applying for the SharePoint Developer position at [Company]. I've been building Microsoft 365 solutions for five years, with a focus on SharePoint Online and the Power Platform. My most recent role has been with [Company/Consultancy], where I've led SharePoint development for three enterprise clients with environments ranging from 2,000 to 15,000 users.

The project I'd most like to tell you about is a SharePoint intranet redesign I led for a regional healthcare system. The previous environment was a classic SharePoint 2016 farm with hundreds of outdated sites, inconsistent permissions, and no governance. I started with a full content audit and a stakeholder interviews round to understand what the organization actually needed, then designed a new SharePoint Online information architecture with Hub Sites for each service line, a consistent navigation and branding layer via Viva Connections, and a governance model with documented site request and decommission processes.

The technical centerpiece was a custom SPFx web part that surfaced staff announcements filtered by department and role, replacing a manual email distribution system that the communications team was spending 6–8 hours per week maintaining. The filter logic used Microsoft Graph to resolve group memberships and personalize the feed. The communications team's weekly effort dropped to about 30 minutes once the system was live.

I'm pursuing PL-400 certification and have been experimenting with the Microsoft Copilot extensibility model over the last three months — I think it's going to be a significant part of what enterprise SharePoint developers do over the next few years.

I'd welcome the chance to discuss the role and [Company]'s Microsoft 365 roadmap.

[Your Name]