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 14 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 319 251 257
Rank change year-on-year -68 +6 +74
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 375 300 295
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.80% 1.07% 0.92%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.47% 3.33% 3.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 265 205 172
10th Percentile £171 £190 £201
25th Percentile £350 £270 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -6.17%
75th Percentile £569 £575 £561
90th Percentile £650 £650 £638
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 23 17
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £11.75
25th Percentile £16.38 £16.15 £14.16
Median hourly rate £38.25 £21.25 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +80.00% +30.37% -11.89%
75th Percentile £64.29 £33.75 £35.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £88.30 £112.00
UK median hourly rate £38.25 £19.23 £15.65
% change year-on-year +98.91% +22.88% -17.63%

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 15,159 8,998 9,504
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.37% 31.99% 29.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,075 5,727 5,766
10th Percentile £353 £293 £313
25th Percentile £448 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.90% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £711 £732
UK median daily rate £533 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +1.43% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,324 751 494
10th Percentile £17.25 £17.87 £19.88
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.87 £30.62
Median hourly rate £48.83 £25.15 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +94.14% -52.10% -2.17%
75th Percentile £74.00 £43.00 £69.45
90th Percentile £90.00 £72.50 £75.35
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -47.05% -11.52%

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 14 October 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 14 October 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 14 October 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 -68 130 £510 +2.00% 168
North of England -30 74 £497 +20.44% 70
South East -59 63 £325 -31.58% 57
North West -17 60 £485 +14.12% 40
Midlands -30 54 £425 +69.15% 28
West Midlands -22 49 £425 +80.85% 19
East of England -38 24 £160 -46.67% 27
South West -55 19 £515 -1.44% 31
Yorkshire -28 11 £650 +79.43% 26
East Midlands -20 5 £431 -12.35% 9
North East - 3 £363 - 6
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 43 (11.47%) SharePoint
2 26 (6.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.80%) Confluence
4 2 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
4 2 (0.53%) HCL Notes
4 2 (0.53%) Mendix
5 1 (0.27%) Liferay
5 1 (0.27%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 12 (3.20%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.53%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 25 (6.67%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.60%) Oracle Payables
2 6 (1.60%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.53%) Dynamics AX
3 2 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.27%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 233 (62.13%) Azure
2 105 (28.00%) Power Platform
3 104 (27.73%) Microsoft 365
4 101 (26.93%) Entra ID
5 73 (19.47%) Azure DevOps
6 70 (18.67%) Power Automate
7 63 (16.80%) Dynamics 365
8 48 (12.80%) PowerApps
9 35 (9.33%) AWS
10 34 (9.07%) Serverless
11 30 (8.00%) Azure Functions
12 26 (6.93%) OneDrive
13 25 (6.67%) Azure Monitor
13 25 (6.67%) Microsoft Copilot
14 22 (5.87%) GitHub
15 21 (5.60%) Azure Logic Apps
16 20 (5.33%) Microsoft Purview
17 18 (4.80%) Azure Sentinel
17 18 (4.80%) SaaS
18 14 (3.73%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 47 (12.53%) DNS
2 34 (9.07%) DHCP
3 32 (8.53%) VPN
4 30 (8.00%) Firewall
5 29 (7.73%) TCP/IP
6 16 (4.27%) SAN
7 13 (3.47%) LAN
8 10 (2.67%) SSL
9 9 (2.40%) Kerberos
9 9 (2.40%) WAN
10 8 (2.13%) Internet
10 8 (2.13%) Network Security
10 8 (2.13%) NGFW
11 7 (1.87%) Wireless
12 5 (1.33%) VLAN
12 5 (1.33%) Wi-Fi
13 3 (0.80%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.80%) Remote Desktop
13 3 (0.80%) VoIP
14 2 (0.53%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (15.47%) SQL Server
2 52 (13.87%) Power BI
3 36 (9.60%) MySQL
4 27 (7.20%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (3.47%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (1.87%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (1.60%) Data Lake
7 6 (1.60%) Metadata
7 6 (1.60%) Power Query
8 5 (1.33%) Delta Lake
9 4 (1.07%) Azure SQL Database
9 4 (1.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.80%) Semantic Layer
11 2 (0.53%) Data Mart
11 2 (0.53%) Data Vault
11 2 (0.53%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.53%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.53%) Qlik Sense
11 2 (0.53%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 15 (4.00%) Git
2 8 (2.13%) Cucumber
2 8 (2.13%) Cypress.io
2 8 (2.13%) Postman
2 8 (2.13%) Selenium
2 8 (2.13%) WebDriver
3 7 (1.87%) JIRA
4 3 (0.80%) Visual Studio
4 3 (0.80%) Visual Studio Code
5 2 (0.53%) GitLab
6 1 (0.27%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.27%) MSI
General
1 187 (49.87%) Social Skills
2 81 (21.60%) Public Sector
3 78 (20.80%) Analytical Skills
4 47 (12.53%) Finance
5 35 (9.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (5.33%) Documentation Skills
6 20 (5.33%) Telecoms
7 11 (2.93%) Aerospace
8 9 (2.40%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (1.60%) Military
10 5 (1.33%) Law
10 5 (1.33%) Local Government
10 5 (1.33%) Marketing
10 5 (1.33%) Pharmaceutical
10 5 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.07%) Banking
11 4 (1.07%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (1.07%) Legal
12 2 (0.53%) Aviation
13 1 (0.27%) Agriculture
Job Titles
1 51 (13.60%) Analyst
2 46 (12.27%) Architect
3 42 (11.20%) Senior
4 41 (10.93%) Developer
5 36 (9.60%) DBA
5 36 (9.60%) Lead
6 32 (8.53%) Dynamics 365 Developer
7 30 (8.00%) Administrator
8 26 (6.93%) IT Engineer
9 24 (6.40%) IT Support
10 22 (5.87%) Cloud Engineer
11 20 (5.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 17 (4.53%) SQL DBA
12 17 (4.53%) Support Analyst
12 17 (4.53%) Support Engineer
13 15 (4.00%) IT Analyst
14 14 (3.73%) SC Cleared DBA
15 13 (3.47%) Field Service Engineer
15 13 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
15 13 (3.47%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (13.33%) Terraform
2 24 (6.40%) JSON
3 20 (5.33%) OAuth
4 19 (5.07%) .NET
5 18 (4.80%) OpenID
6 15 (4.00%) OAuth2
6 15 (4.00%) SAML
7 14 (3.73%) ARM Templates
8 13 (3.47%) ONVIF
9 11 (2.93%) LDAP
9 11 (2.93%) XML
10 10 (2.67%) REST
10 10 (2.67%) XSLT
11 9 (2.40%) SailPoint
12 8 (2.13%) Gherkin
12 8 (2.13%) Microsoft Graph
12 8 (2.13%) Middleware
12 8 (2.13%) Web Services
13 6 (1.60%) Azure Blueprints
14 5 (1.33%) HTML5 Canvas
Miscellaneous
1 49 (13.07%) Management Information System
2 26 (6.93%) Onboarding
3 23 (6.13%) Cloud Native
3 23 (6.13%) Replication
4 22 (5.87%) Security Posture
5 21 (5.60%) Clustering
6 18 (4.80%) Data Centre
7 15 (4.00%) Analytical Mindset
7 15 (4.00%) Enterprise Software
7 15 (4.00%) Product Ownership
8 13 (3.47%) Video\Live Streaming
9 12 (3.20%) Hybrid Cloud
9 12 (3.20%) PKI
10 11 (2.93%) Driving Licence
11 10 (2.67%) Enterprise Cloud
12 9 (2.40%) AI Agents
12 9 (2.40%) Data Structures
12 9 (2.40%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (2.40%) Taxonomies
13 8 (2.13%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 107 (28.53%) Windows
2 49 (13.07%) Windows Server
3 26 (6.93%) Windows 10
4 21 (5.60%) Android
4 21 (5.60%) Linux
5 17 (4.53%) Apple iOS
6 15 (4.00%) Solaris
7 9 (2.40%) macOS
8 8 (2.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 8 (2.13%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (1.07%) Unix
9 4 (1.07%) VMS
10 3 (0.80%) Alpine Linux
10 3 (0.80%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.53%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
11 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 127 (33.87%) Problem-Solving
2 105 (28.00%) DevOps
3 91 (24.27%) Agile
4 81 (21.60%) Stakeholder Management
5 79 (21.07%) ITIL
6 61 (16.27%) Customer Service
7 59 (15.73%) CI/CD
8 56 (14.93%) Continuous Improvement
8 56 (14.93%) Technical Leadership
9 55 (14.67%) AI
9 55 (14.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 52 (13.87%) Business Intelligence
11 51 (13.60%) Analytics
11 51 (13.60%) ITSM
12 45 (12.00%) Infrastructure as Code
12 45 (12.00%) Roadmaps
13 44 (11.73%) Cybersecurity
13 44 (11.73%) Identity Access Management
14 42 (11.20%) RBAC
15 40 (10.67%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 105 (28.00%) PowerShell
2 50 (13.33%) SQL
3 48 (12.80%) C#
4 47 (12.53%) Python
5 45 (12.00%) JavaScript
6 32 (8.53%) Bicep
7 15 (4.00%) Bash
8 11 (2.93%) T-SQL
9 6 (1.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.33%) Java
10 5 (1.33%) X++
11 4 (1.07%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.80%) Kusto Query Language
13 2 (0.53%) Perl
14 1 (0.27%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.27%) ActionScript 2.0
14 1 (0.27%) VB
Qualifications
1 149 (39.73%) Security Cleared
2 126 (33.60%) SC Cleared
3 116 (30.93%) Degree
4 90 (24.00%) Azure Certification
5 56 (14.93%) MCSE
6 53 (14.13%) A+ Certification
7 45 (12.00%) Cisco Certification
8 36 (9.60%) CCNA
8 36 (9.60%) MCSA
9 27 (7.20%) Network+ Certification
10 23 (6.13%) DV Cleared
11 20 (5.33%) AWS Certification
12 19 (5.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 17 (4.53%) BPSS Clearance
13 17 (4.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 16 (4.27%) CISSP
14 16 (4.27%) Computer Science Degree
15 12 (3.20%) Oracle Certification
16 11 (2.93%) OCP
17 9 (2.40%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (8.53%) Accessibility
2 26 (6.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (6.67%) GDPR
4 24 (6.40%) NIST
5 20 (5.33%) Data Quality
6 19 (5.07%) WCAG
7 17 (4.53%) SLA
8 14 (3.73%) QA
9 7 (1.87%) Cyber Essentials
10 6 (1.60%) NCSC
11 4 (1.07%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.80%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.80%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.53%) GMP
13 2 (0.53%) GRC
13 2 (0.53%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.53%) Solvency II
14 1 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 1 (0.27%) ITGC
System Software
1 114 (30.40%) Active Directory
2 33 (8.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (6.13%) Virtual Machines
4 15 (4.00%) Docker
5 13 (3.47%) Virtual Desktop
5 13 (3.47%) VMware ESXi
5 13 (3.47%) vSphere
6 7 (1.87%) Hyper-V
7 4 (1.07%) Firmware
8 3 (0.80%) BitLocker
8 3 (0.80%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.53%) NDS
9 2 (0.53%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 2 (0.53%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.53%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.27%) NFS
10 1 (0.27%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 56 (14.93%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (6.40%) Ansible
3 19 (5.07%) SCCM
4 17 (4.53%) SCOM
5 16 (4.27%) Kubernetes
5 16 (4.27%) vCenter Server
6 14 (3.73%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (1.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.80%) Dell DRAC
8 3 (0.80%) Grafana
8 3 (0.80%) Podman
8 3 (0.80%) Progress Chef
8 3 (0.80%) QRadar
9 2 (0.53%) Istio
9 2 (0.53%) Packer
9 2 (0.53%) vMotion
9 2 (0.53%) WSUS
10 1 (0.27%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.27%) OPNET
10 1 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 340 (90.67%) Microsoft
2 38 (10.13%) ServiceNow
3 36 (9.60%) VMware
4 32 (8.53%) Oracle
5 21 (5.60%) Cisco
6 17 (4.53%) Dell
7 13 (3.47%) Google
8 10 (2.67%) OpenAI
8 10 (2.67%) Splunk
9 9 (2.40%) Remedy
10 8 (2.13%) Red Hat
10 8 (2.13%) SolarWinds
11 7 (1.87%) Databricks
11 7 (1.87%) Foundry
12 6 (1.60%) Okta
13 5 (1.33%) Apple
13 5 (1.33%) Dynatrace
13 5 (1.33%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.33%) Salesforce
14 4 (1.07%) Qualys