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

6 months to
16 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 320 247 264
Rank change year-on-year -73 +17 +75
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 375 299 301
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.80% 1.06% 0.94%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.47% 3.31% 3.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 264 204 176
10th Percentile £173 £195 £206
25th Percentile £350 £275 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.22% -5.26% -7.32%
75th Percentile £569 £588 £560
90th Percentile £650 £650 £638
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +5.56% - -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 23 18
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £11.75
25th Percentile £16.38 £16.15 £12.54
Median hourly rate £38.25 £21.25 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +80.00% +30.37% -11.89%
75th Percentile £62.52 £33.75 £35.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £88.30 £112.00
UK median hourly rate £38.25 £19.23 £15.00
% change year-on-year +98.91% +28.20% -21.05%

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 15,212 9,028 9,550
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.49% 32.01% 29.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,090 5,750 5,801
10th Percentile £350 £300 £313
25th Percentile £447 £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 £713 £734
UK median daily rate £533 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +1.43% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,351 763 495
10th Percentile £17.20 £17.87 £19.51
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.87 £30.11
Median hourly rate £47.54 £25.15 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +89.03% -52.10% -2.17%
75th Percentile £74.00 £43.00 £69.22
90th Percentile £91.00 £73.50 £75.34
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -47.05% -11.49%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -54 133 £509 +1.85% 130
North of England -24 73 £491 +15.51% 68
South East -55 62 £325 -32.78% 54
North West -13 60 £485 +14.12% 38
Midlands -27 53 £425 +80.85% 24
West Midlands -20 49 £425 +115.19% 18
East of England -38 23 £160 -46.67% 22
South West -56 19 £540 +3.35% 30
Yorkshire -28 10 £650 +62.50% 26
East Midlands -10 4 £363 -26.32% 6
North East - 3 £363 - 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 44 (11.73%) SharePoint
2 27 (7.20%) 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
4 2 (0.53%) SharePoint Server
5 1 (0.27%) Liferay
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
1 232 (61.87%) Azure
2 106 (28.27%) Power Platform
3 104 (27.73%) Microsoft 365
4 100 (26.67%) Entra ID
5 73 (19.47%) Azure DevOps
6 71 (18.93%) Power Automate
7 63 (16.80%) Dynamics 365
8 49 (13.07%) PowerApps
9 35 (9.33%) AWS
10 33 (8.80%) Serverless
11 29 (7.73%) Azure Functions
12 27 (7.20%) OneDrive
13 26 (6.93%) Microsoft Copilot
14 25 (6.67%) Azure Monitor
15 22 (5.87%) GitHub
16 20 (5.33%) 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%) Software-Defined Networking
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%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.80%) Azure SQL Database
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 82 (21.87%) Public Sector
3 77 (20.53%) Analytical Skills
4 46 (12.27%) 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
9 6 (1.60%) Pharmaceutical
10 5 (1.33%) Law
10 5 (1.33%) Local Government
10 5 (1.33%) Marketing
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%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 51 (13.60%) Analyst
2 45 (12.00%) Architect
3 41 (10.93%) Developer
3 41 (10.93%) Senior
4 36 (9.60%) DBA
4 36 (9.60%) Lead
5 32 (8.53%) Dynamics 365 Developer
6 30 (8.00%) Administrator
7 26 (6.93%) IT Engineer
7 26 (6.93%) IT Support
8 22 (5.87%) Cloud Engineer
9 20 (5.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 19 (5.07%) Support Engineer
11 17 (4.53%) SQL DBA
11 17 (4.53%) Support Analyst
12 15 (4.00%) IT Analyst
13 14 (3.73%) SC Cleared DBA
14 13 (3.47%) Field Engineer
14 13 (3.47%) Field Service Engineer
14 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%) Replication
4 22 (5.87%) Cloud Native
4 22 (5.87%) Security Posture
5 21 (5.60%) Clustering
6 18 (4.80%) Data Centre
7 15 (4.00%) Enterprise Software
7 15 (4.00%) Product Ownership
8 14 (3.73%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (3.47%) Video\Live Streaming
10 12 (3.20%) Driving Licence
10 12 (3.20%) PKI
11 11 (2.93%) Hybrid Cloud
12 10 (2.67%) Enterprise Cloud
13 9 (2.40%) AI Agents
13 9 (2.40%) Data Structures
13 9 (2.40%) Taxonomies
14 8 (2.13%) CMDB
14 8 (2.13%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 107 (28.53%) Windows
2 49 (13.07%) Windows Server
3 26 (6.93%) Windows 10
4 21 (5.60%) Linux
5 20 (5.33%) Android
6 16 (4.27%) Apple iOS
7 15 (4.00%) Solaris
8 9 (2.40%) macOS
9 8 (2.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 8 (2.13%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.07%) Unix
10 4 (1.07%) VMS
11 3 (0.80%) Alpine Linux
11 3 (0.80%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.53%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
2 104 (27.73%) DevOps
3 91 (24.27%) Agile
4 80 (21.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 79 (21.07%) ITIL
6 60 (16.00%) Customer Service
7 58 (15.47%) CI/CD
8 56 (14.93%) AI
8 56 (14.93%) Continuous Improvement
9 55 (14.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 55 (14.67%) Technical Leadership
10 52 (13.87%) Business Intelligence
11 51 (13.60%) ITSM
12 50 (13.33%) Analytics
13 45 (12.00%) Infrastructure as Code
14 44 (11.73%) Cybersecurity
14 44 (11.73%) Identity Access Management
14 44 (11.73%) Roadmaps
15 42 (11.20%) RBAC
16 40 (10.67%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 105 (28.00%) PowerShell
2 49 (13.07%) 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 89 (23.73%) Azure Certification
5 57 (15.20%) 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%) BPSS Clearance
12 19 (5.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 17 (4.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 16 (4.27%) CISSP
15 15 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (3.20%) Oracle Certification
17 11 (2.93%) OCP
18 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 55 (14.67%) 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%) FreeIPA
10 1 (0.27%) SELinux
10 1 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 339 (90.40%) 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%) Foundry
12 6 (1.60%) Databricks
12 6 (1.60%) Okta
13 5 (1.33%) Dynatrace
13 5 (1.33%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.33%) Salesforce
14 4 (1.07%) Apple
14 4 (1.07%) Citrix