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 8 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 287 226 276
Rank change year-on-year -61 +50 +96
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 328 273 296
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.84% 1.12% 0.79%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.52% 3.58% 2.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 158 200
10th Percentile £217 £210 £198
25th Percentile £400 £328 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.50% - -
75th Percentile £606 £636 £582
90th Percentile £712 £725 £702
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £450
% change year-on-year - +11.11% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 28 52
10th Percentile £6.00 £14.99 £13.69
25th Percentile £16.00 £15.33 £14.16
Median hourly rate £25.47 £19.99 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +27.45% +22.61% +5.16%
75th Percentile £67.84 £23.20 £21.37
90th Percentile £178.75 £37.50 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £25.47 £21.46 £16.30
% change year-on-year +18.69% +31.66% +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 13,027 7,627 11,707
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.32% 31.32% 31.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,717 4,896 7,252
10th Percentile £340 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £743
UK median daily rate £518 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.43% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,001 426 929
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.50 £13.99
25th Percentile £20.50 £24.66 £17.72
Median hourly rate £39.50 £50.00 £38.75
Median % change year-on-year -21.00% +29.03% -25.48%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.36 £82.25 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £38.95
% change year-on-year -16.67% +15.53% -27.43%

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 8 April 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 8 April 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 8 April 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 -36 122 £525 +5.00% 73
North of England -66 53 £470 -7.01% 40
South West -3 52 £555 -3.48% 30
North West -43 40 £470 -7.01% 24
Midlands -47 38 £425 +89.73% 39
South East -58 36 £480 -4.00% 70
West Midlands -55 31 £425 +89.73% 27
East of England -36 22 £173 -54.90% 27
Yorkshire -43 10 £484 -19.33% 11
East Midlands -24 7 £215 - 12
North East -18 3 - - 5
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 46 (14.02%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (10.06%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.91%) Exchange Server 2013
4 2 (0.61%) Confluence
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.30%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (5.49%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.22%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (2.44%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 7 (2.13%) Maximo
3 6 (1.83%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.61%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.30%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 150 (45.73%) Azure
2 104 (31.71%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (19.51%) Entra ID
4 52 (15.85%) Power Platform
5 34 (10.37%) Azure DevOps
6 31 (9.45%) Microsoft Purview
7 26 (7.93%) AWS
7 26 (7.93%) Power Automate
7 26 (7.93%) PowerApps
8 22 (6.71%) Azure Data Factory
8 22 (6.71%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 19 (5.79%) Azure Monitor
9 19 (5.79%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (5.49%) GitHub
11 16 (4.88%) Microsoft Copilot
12 15 (4.57%) OneDrive
13 14 (4.27%) Azure AKS
14 13 (3.96%) Azure Sentinel
15 12 (3.66%) Azure Logic Apps
16 11 (3.35%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 38 (11.59%) DNS
1 38 (11.59%) Firewall
2 30 (9.15%) VPN
3 28 (8.54%) SAN
4 12 (3.66%) TCP/IP
5 10 (3.05%) LAN
6 9 (2.74%) DHCP
6 9 (2.74%) Network Security
6 9 (2.74%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (1.83%) SSL
8 5 (1.52%) VLAN
9 4 (1.22%) DKIM
9 4 (1.22%) DMARC
9 4 (1.22%) NAS
9 4 (1.22%) Skype
10 3 (0.91%) Kerberos
10 3 (0.91%) NetScaler
10 3 (0.91%) RS-232
10 3 (0.91%) SMTP
10 3 (0.91%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (9.15%) SQL Server
2 26 (7.93%) Power BI
3 17 (5.18%) Data Lake
4 12 (3.66%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 10 (3.05%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (2.74%) MySQL
7 8 (2.44%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (2.44%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (2.44%) Metadata
8 6 (1.83%) Spark SQL
9 5 (1.52%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.52%) Power Query
10 4 (1.22%) Metadata Repository
11 3 (0.91%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.91%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.91%) Tableau
12 2 (0.61%) Big Data
12 2 (0.61%) Relational Database
13 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database 12c
13 1 (0.30%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 14 (4.27%) Git
2 4 (1.22%) GitLab
2 4 (1.22%) JIRA
3 3 (0.91%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.91%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.91%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.61%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.61%) JDeveloper
4 2 (0.61%) Selenium
4 2 (0.61%) WebDriver
5 1 (0.30%) AdminStudio
5 1 (0.30%) CircleCI
5 1 (0.30%) InstallShield
5 1 (0.30%) MLflow
5 1 (0.30%) MSI
5 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 121 (36.89%) Social Skills
2 57 (17.38%) Analytical Skills
3 33 (10.06%) Finance
4 32 (9.76%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.57%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (4.27%) Legal
7 12 (3.66%) Banking
8 8 (2.44%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.83%) Marketing
10 4 (1.22%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.22%) International Banking
10 4 (1.22%) Military
11 3 (0.91%) Front Office
11 3 (0.91%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.91%) Retail
12 2 (0.61%) Aeronautics
12 2 (0.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (0.61%) Law
Job Titles
1 52 (15.85%) Architect
2 34 (10.37%) Analyst
3 30 (9.15%) IT Engineer
3 30 (9.15%) Senior
4 24 (7.32%) Field Engineer
4 24 (7.32%) Field Service Engineer
4 24 (7.32%) IT Support
5 23 (7.01%) Administrator
6 21 (6.40%) Solutions Architect
7 19 (5.79%) Support Engineer
8 17 (5.18%) Support Analyst
9 16 (4.88%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
10 15 (4.57%) Azure Engineer
10 15 (4.57%) IT Support Engineer
11 14 (4.27%) DBA
11 14 (4.27%) IT Analyst
11 14 (4.27%) Lead
11 14 (4.27%) Wintel Engineer
12 13 (3.96%) Cloud Engineer
12 13 (3.96%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (7.62%) OAuth
2 23 (7.01%) SAML
3 21 (6.40%) OpenID
4 18 (5.49%) OAuth2
5 12 (3.66%) .NET
5 12 (3.66%) ARM Templates
6 10 (3.05%) LDAP
7 9 (2.74%) Microsoft Graph
8 7 (2.13%) REST
9 3 (0.91%) YAML
10 2 (0.61%) ASP.NET Web API
10 2 (0.61%) CSS
10 2 (0.61%) Jest
10 2 (0.61%) JSON
10 2 (0.61%) Model Context Protocol
10 2 (0.61%) Next.js
10 2 (0.61%) PySpark
10 2 (0.61%) React
10 2 (0.61%) RESTful
10 2 (0.61%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.93%) Analytical Mindset
2 25 (7.62%) Data Centre
3 19 (5.79%) Enterprise Software
3 19 (5.79%) Replication
4 18 (5.49%) Onboarding
5 16 (4.88%) Hybrid Cloud
6 11 (3.35%) BYOD
6 11 (3.35%) PKI
7 10 (3.05%) Clustering
7 10 (3.05%) Security Posture
8 9 (2.74%) Private Cloud
9 7 (2.13%) Cloud Native
9 7 (2.13%) Management Information System
10 6 (1.83%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (1.52%) Cloud Security Posture
11 5 (1.52%) NHS
11 5 (1.52%) Operational Technology
11 5 (1.52%) Security Operations Centre
12 4 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
12 4 (1.22%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 117 (35.67%) Windows
2 61 (18.60%) Windows Server
3 29 (8.84%) Windows 10
4 19 (5.79%) Linux
5 13 (3.96%) Windows Server 2012
6 12 (3.66%) Windows Server 2003
7 7 (2.13%) Android
7 7 (2.13%) Windows 7
7 7 (2.13%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (1.83%) Unix
9 5 (1.52%) Mac OS
10 4 (1.22%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.22%) VMS
11 3 (0.91%) CentOS
12 2 (0.61%) AIX
12 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (29.27%) Problem-Solving
2 67 (20.43%) ITIL
3 55 (16.77%) Migration
4 52 (15.85%) DevOps
5 50 (15.24%) Customer Service
6 47 (14.33%) CI/CD
7 43 (13.11%) RBAC
8 40 (12.20%) Analytics
9 39 (11.89%) Identity Access Management
10 36 (10.98%) Agile
11 32 (9.76%) Disaster Recovery
12 31 (9.45%) Infrastructure as Code
13 30 (9.15%) Cloud Security
14 29 (8.84%) Identity Management
14 29 (8.84%) Roadmaps
15 28 (8.54%) Business Intelligence
15 28 (8.54%) Computer Science
15 28 (8.54%) Continuous Improvement
15 28 (8.54%) Data Loss Prevention
16 27 (8.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 102 (31.10%) PowerShell
2 42 (12.80%) SQL
3 31 (9.45%) Python
4 18 (5.49%) Bicep
5 10 (3.05%) C#
6 8 (2.44%) Bash
7 7 (2.13%) T-SQL
8 5 (1.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (1.52%) JavaScript
9 4 (1.22%) R
9 4 (1.22%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.30%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.30%) VBScript
10 1 (0.30%) X++
Qualifications
1 107 (32.62%) Security Cleared
2 88 (26.83%) Degree
3 84 (25.61%) MCSE
4 79 (24.09%) SC Cleared
5 63 (19.21%) Azure Certification
6 40 (12.20%) Cisco Certification
7 37 (11.28%) DV Cleared
8 34 (10.37%) A+ Certification
9 32 (9.76%) Network+ Certification
10 30 (9.15%) CCNA
10 30 (9.15%) MCSA
11 27 (8.23%) Computer Science Degree
12 25 (7.62%) CISSP
13 20 (6.10%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 16 (4.88%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 12 (3.66%) CompTIA Security+
16 11 (3.35%) CCNP
16 11 (3.35%) CISM
17 9 (2.74%) AWS Certification
18 8 (2.44%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 19 (5.79%) NIST
3 15 (4.57%) GDPR
4 9 (2.74%) NCSC
5 8 (2.44%) NIST 800
6 7 (2.13%) Cyber Essentials
7 6 (1.83%) Data Quality
7 6 (1.83%) SLA
8 4 (1.22%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.22%) QA
9 2 (0.61%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (0.61%) WCAG
10 1 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.30%) GxP
10 1 (0.30%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.30%) PMO
10 1 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.30%) SOC 2
System Software
1 135 (41.16%) Active Directory
2 27 (8.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.96%) Docker
3 13 (3.96%) VMware ESXi
4 12 (3.66%) Virtual Desktop
5 10 (3.05%) vSphere
6 9 (2.74%) Virtual Machines
7 8 (2.44%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.61%) Firmware
8 2 (0.61%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.30%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 40 (12.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 39 (11.89%) Terraform
3 30 (9.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 22 (6.71%) Kubernetes
5 21 (6.40%) Ansible
6 20 (6.10%) SCCM
7 19 (5.79%) Single Sign-On
8 11 (3.35%) vCenter Server
9 6 (1.83%) CASB
9 6 (1.83%) WSUS
10 5 (1.52%) Nessus
11 4 (1.22%) SCOM
12 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
12 2 (0.61%) Podman
12 2 (0.61%) PowerCLI
13 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
13 1 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
13 1 (0.30%) Kubeflow
13 1 (0.30%) PaperCut
13 1 (0.30%) QRadar
Vendors
1 278 (84.76%) Microsoft
2 39 (11.89%) VMware
3 26 (7.93%) Dell
4 20 (6.10%) Cisco
5 18 (5.49%) Oracle
6 14 (4.27%) ServiceNow
7 13 (3.96%) Citrix
8 10 (3.05%) Databricks
8 10 (3.05%) Red Hat
9 9 (2.74%) Tenable
10 8 (2.44%) IBM
11 7 (2.13%) Apple
12 6 (1.83%) CyberArk
12 6 (1.83%) Veeam
13 5 (1.52%) Remedy
14 4 (1.22%) Atlassian
14 4 (1.22%) CheckPoint
14 4 (1.22%) Foundry
14 4 (1.22%) SolarWinds
14 4 (1.22%) Splunk
254 Microsoft Certification jobs in England