Microsoft Certification Contract Job Trends in England

Microsoft Certification
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for Microsoft Certification qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 20 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 304 249 271
Rank change year-on-year -55 +22 +81
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 333 274 319
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.77% 1.10% 0.85%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.44% 3.53% 2.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 158 203
10th Percentile £156 £200 £183
25th Percentile £334 £264 £309
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £488 £488
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% - -6.25%
75th Percentile £583 £609 £566
90th Percentile £675 £690 £675
UK median daily rate £472 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.89% -5.26% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 33 56
10th Percentile £19.03 - £13.69
25th Percentile £38.25 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £63.14 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +262.01% +6.99% +5.16%
75th Percentile £178.75 £33.75 £21.37
90th Percentile - £37.50 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £17.44 £16.30
% change year-on-year +262.01% +6.99% +5.16%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
England

Microsoft Certification falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in England.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 13,650 7,760 11,510
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.60% 31.16% 30.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,203 4,893 7,098
10th Percentile £350 £280 £313
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £645
90th Percentile £721 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £525
% change year-on-year +0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,034 496 1,021
10th Percentile £17.87 £17.87 £14.00
25th Percentile £23.00 £20.18 £20.25
Median hourly rate £52.50 £30.27 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year +73.44% -27.06% -24.55%
75th Percentile £73.75 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.39 £80.50 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £30.00 £40.25
% change year-on-year +66.67% -25.47% -27.24%

Microsoft Certification
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft Certification relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Microsoft Certification job vacancy trend in England

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Microsoft Certification.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Microsoft Certification

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft Certification in England over the 6 months to 20 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in England

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Microsoft Certification.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Microsoft Certification

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft Certification in England over the 6 months to 20 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in England

Microsoft Certification
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the England region over the 6 months to 20 June 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
London -42 126 £525 +5.00% 61
North of England -68 68 £483 +13.65% 59
North West -45 52 £481 +9.94% 35
South East -44 48 £275 -45.00% 70
South West -18 36 £438 -12.06% 20
East of England -39 28 £173 -23.33% 27
Midlands -58 23 £425 +58.88% 25
West Midlands -61 18 £425 +72.94% 14
Yorkshire -52 12 £650 +57.58% 16
East Midlands -15 5 £500 - 11
North East -34 4 £363 +81.25% 9
Microsoft Certification
UK

Microsoft Certification
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 32 (9.61%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (9.31%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.30%) Confluence
Applications
1 20 (6.01%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 8 (2.40%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 5 (1.50%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.50%) Maximo
2 5 (1.50%) Oracle Payables
3 3 (0.90%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 165 (49.55%) Azure
2 93 (27.93%) Microsoft 365
3 68 (20.42%) Entra ID
4 56 (16.82%) Power Platform
5 37 (11.11%) Azure DevOps
6 33 (9.91%) Power Automate
7 29 (8.71%) Microsoft Purview
7 29 (8.71%) PowerApps
8 24 (7.21%) AWS
8 24 (7.21%) GitHub
9 22 (6.61%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (5.41%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 17 (5.11%) Azure Data Factory
11 17 (5.11%) OneDrive
12 16 (4.80%) Azure Logic Apps
13 15 (4.50%) Microsoft Copilot
14 13 (3.90%) Azure Monitor
15 11 (3.30%) Azure Sentinel
16 10 (3.00%) Azure AKS
17 9 (2.70%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 38 (11.41%) SAN
2 30 (9.01%) Firewall
3 29 (8.71%) DNS
4 24 (7.21%) VPN
5 17 (5.11%) TCP/IP
6 13 (3.90%) LAN
7 10 (3.00%) DHCP
8 8 (2.40%) Wi-Fi
9 7 (2.10%) Network Security
10 6 (1.80%) WAN
11 5 (1.50%) NetScaler
11 5 (1.50%) NGFW
12 4 (1.20%) DMZ
12 4 (1.20%) Internet
12 4 (1.20%) Kerberos
12 4 (1.20%) SSL
13 3 (0.90%) Intrusion Detection
13 3 (0.90%) NAS
13 3 (0.90%) VLAN
14 2 (0.60%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (9.91%) SQL Server
2 32 (9.61%) Power BI
3 13 (3.90%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (3.60%) MySQL
5 11 (3.30%) Data Lake
6 10 (3.00%) Data Warehouse
6 10 (3.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 9 (2.70%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (2.40%) Metadata
9 5 (1.50%) Power Query
10 4 (1.20%) Delta Lake
10 4 (1.20%) Metadata Repository
10 4 (1.20%) Spark SQL
10 4 (1.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (1.20%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.90%) Big Data
12 2 (0.60%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.60%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (2.10%) Git
2 3 (0.90%) Selenium
2 3 (0.90%) Visual Studio Code
2 3 (0.90%) WebDriver
3 2 (0.60%) GitLab
3 2 (0.60%) JIRA
4 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
4 1 (0.30%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.30%) MLflow
4 1 (0.30%) Postman
4 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
4 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 114 (34.23%) Social Skills
2 75 (22.52%) Analytical Skills
3 46 (13.81%) Finance
4 43 (12.91%) Public Sector
5 21 (6.31%) Telecoms
6 12 (3.60%) Legal
7 9 (2.70%) Banking
7 9 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (2.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.50%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (1.20%) Front Office
10 4 (1.20%) Investment Banking
10 4 (1.20%) Military
11 3 (0.90%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.90%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.90%) International Banking
11 3 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.60%) Law
12 2 (0.60%) Local Government
12 2 (0.60%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 41 (12.31%) Architect
1 41 (12.31%) IT Engineer
2 35 (10.51%) Analyst
2 35 (10.51%) Senior
3 34 (10.21%) Field Engineer
3 34 (10.21%) Field Service Engineer
4 30 (9.01%) IT Support
5 22 (6.61%) Administrator
6 21 (6.31%) Support Engineer
7 18 (5.41%) IT Support Engineer
8 17 (5.11%) DBA
8 17 (5.11%) IT Analyst
8 17 (5.11%) Support Analyst
9 16 (4.80%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
9 16 (4.80%) Technical Support
10 15 (4.50%) Developer
10 15 (4.50%) Lead
10 15 (4.50%) Solutions Architect
10 15 (4.50%) Wintel Engineer
11 13 (3.90%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.20%) OAuth
2 12 (3.60%) LDAP
2 12 (3.60%) OpenID
2 12 (3.60%) SAML
3 11 (3.30%) .NET
3 11 (3.30%) ONVIF
4 10 (3.00%) OAuth2
5 9 (2.70%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.80%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.80%) Web Services
7 5 (1.50%) JSON
7 5 (1.50%) Microsoft Graph
8 4 (1.20%) REST
9 3 (0.90%) Middleware
9 3 (0.90%) PySpark
10 2 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
10 2 (0.60%) OpenGL
10 2 (0.60%) XML
10 2 (0.60%) XSLT
10 2 (0.60%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 40 (12.01%) Data Centre
2 37 (11.11%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (8.11%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.50%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (4.20%) Clustering
5 14 (4.20%) Replication
5 14 (4.20%) Security Posture
6 12 (3.60%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (3.30%) BYOD
7 11 (3.30%) Management Information System
7 11 (3.30%) Video\Live Streaming
8 10 (3.00%) Cloud Native
9 9 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
10 7 (2.10%) PKI
11 6 (1.80%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.80%) Low-Code
11 6 (1.80%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.50%) AI Agents
12 5 (1.50%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.50%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 106 (31.83%) Windows
2 46 (13.81%) Windows Server
3 32 (9.61%) Windows 10
4 20 (6.01%) Linux
5 12 (3.60%) Android
6 10 (3.00%) Apple iOS
7 9 (2.70%) Windows Server 2003
8 8 (2.40%) Mac OS
8 8 (2.40%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.80%) Unix
10 5 (1.50%) VMS
10 5 (1.50%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.20%) Solaris
11 4 (1.20%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.90%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.60%) AIX
13 2 (0.60%) Alpine Linux
13 2 (0.60%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (37.84%) Problem-Solving
2 66 (19.82%) DevOps
3 61 (18.32%) Customer Service
4 60 (18.02%) ITIL
5 45 (13.51%) CI/CD
6 43 (12.91%) Analytics
7 42 (12.61%) Agile
8 41 (12.31%) Migration
9 36 (10.81%) Infrastructure as Code
10 34 (10.21%) Break/Fix
11 33 (9.91%) Project Delivery
12 32 (9.61%) Business Intelligence
12 32 (9.61%) Computer Science
12 32 (9.61%) High Availability
13 31 (9.31%) Data Governance
13 31 (9.31%) RBAC
13 31 (9.31%) Roadmaps
14 28 (8.41%) AI
14 28 (8.41%) Identity Access Management
15 27 (8.11%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 93 (27.93%) PowerShell
2 41 (12.31%) SQL
3 31 (9.31%) Python
4 22 (6.61%) Bicep
5 17 (5.11%) C#
6 14 (4.20%) JavaScript
7 13 (3.90%) Bash
8 6 (1.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.50%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.90%) X++
11 2 (0.60%) Perl
11 2 (0.60%) R
12 1 (0.30%) Java
12 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.30%) VB
Qualifications
1 107 (32.13%) Security Cleared
2 95 (28.53%) MCSE
3 88 (26.43%) SC Cleared
4 86 (25.83%) Degree
5 60 (18.02%) Azure Certification
5 60 (18.02%) Cisco Certification
6 59 (17.72%) A+ Certification
7 51 (15.32%) CCNA
8 49 (14.71%) MCSA
9 45 (13.51%) Network+ Certification
10 28 (8.41%) DV Cleared
11 23 (6.91%) Computer Science Degree
11 23 (6.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 16 (4.80%) CISSP
13 12 (3.60%) AWS Certification
13 12 (3.60%) VCAP
14 9 (2.70%) CCNP
14 9 (2.70%) CompTIA Security+
14 9 (2.70%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 8 (2.40%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (7.81%) NIST
2 24 (7.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.20%) Data Quality
4 12 (3.60%) SLA
5 8 (2.40%) GDPR
5 8 (2.40%) NIST 800
6 7 (2.10%) Accessibility
6 7 (2.10%) NCSC
7 5 (1.50%) QA
8 4 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.90%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.90%) WCAG
10 2 (0.60%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.60%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.30%) GRC
11 1 (0.30%) GxP
11 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 111 (33.33%) Active Directory
2 30 (9.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (6.31%) Virtual Desktop
4 20 (6.01%) VMware ESXi
5 16 (4.80%) vSphere
6 15 (4.50%) Virtual Machines
7 11 (3.30%) Docker
8 5 (1.50%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.90%) Firmware
9 3 (0.90%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.60%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (0.60%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 42 (12.61%) Microsoft Intune
2 41 (12.31%) Terraform
3 29 (8.71%) Ansible
4 19 (5.71%) SCCM
4 19 (5.71%) vCenter Server
5 15 (4.50%) Kubernetes
6 13 (3.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (2.10%) SCOM
7 7 (2.10%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.80%) CASB
9 5 (1.50%) Nessus
10 3 (0.90%) Podman
10 3 (0.90%) QRadar
10 3 (0.90%) WSUS
11 2 (0.60%) Grafana
11 2 (0.60%) Packer
11 2 (0.60%) vMotion
12 1 (0.30%) Backup Exec
12 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 264 (79.28%) Microsoft
2 39 (11.71%) VMware
3 35 (10.51%) Dell
4 24 (7.21%) Cisco
5 20 (6.01%) Oracle
6 17 (5.11%) ServiceNow
7 14 (4.20%) Citrix
8 12 (3.60%) Apple
9 9 (2.70%) Remedy
9 9 (2.70%) Splunk
10 8 (2.40%) SolarWinds
11 7 (2.10%) CyberArk
11 7 (2.10%) Tenable
12 6 (1.80%) Databricks
12 6 (1.80%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.50%) Foundry
13 5 (1.50%) IBM
13 5 (1.50%) NetApp
13 5 (1.50%) Red Hat
14 4 (1.20%) HP
226 Microsoft Certification jobs in England