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 28 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 308 240 266
Rank change year-on-year -68 +26 +63
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 360 300 312
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.80% 1.09% 0.91%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.52% 3.53% 2.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 174 189
10th Percentile £155 £201 £200
25th Percentile £306 £313 £340
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £564 £625 £588
90th Percentile £653 £650 £650
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 34 52
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £13.69
25th Percentile £25.84 £15.44 £14.16
Median hourly rate £55.00 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +215.37% +6.99% -1.21%
75th Percentile £77.50 £33.75 £21.37
90th Percentile £178.75 £79.85 -
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £17.44 £16.03
% change year-on-year +215.37% +8.80% -2.85%

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 14,278 8,494 10,497
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.67% 30.96% 30.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,622 5,357 6,681
10th Percentile £350 £289 £325
25th Percentile £431 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £722 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £523 £525
% change year-on-year +0.48% -0.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,083 634 820
10th Percentile £17.97 £18.13 £14.48
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £21.37
Median hourly rate £54.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +114.71% -41.51% -21.82%
75th Percentile £75.00 £58.75 £66.74
90th Percentile £88.00 £76.11 £77.55
UK median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +108.75% -41.51% -23.88%

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 28 July 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 28 July 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 28 July 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 -47 124 £518 +3.50% 71
North of England -61 68 £491 +15.51% 58
South East -50 66 £300 -50.00% 63
North West -41 53 £485 +14.12% 27
Midlands -38 36 £425 +46.55% 36
West Midlands -39 32 £425 +58.88% 20
South West -31 30 £418 -21.04% 19
East of England -29 29 £160 -57.33% 25
Yorkshire -34 13 £650 +57.58% 20
East Midlands -12 4 £431 -13.05% 16
North East -42 2 £363 +81.25% 12
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 41 (11.39%) SharePoint
2 24 (6.67%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.28%) Confluence
3 1 (0.28%) Liferay
3 1 (0.28%) Mendix
Applications
1 13 (3.61%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.28%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 10 (2.78%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.67%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (1.39%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.28%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.28%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 194 (53.89%) Azure
2 100 (27.78%) Microsoft 365
3 88 (24.44%) Entra ID
4 68 (18.89%) Power Platform
5 46 (12.78%) Azure DevOps
5 46 (12.78%) Power Automate
6 39 (10.83%) Dynamics 365
7 36 (10.00%) PowerApps
8 31 (8.61%) AWS
9 30 (8.33%) Microsoft Purview
10 24 (6.67%) GitHub
10 24 (6.67%) OneDrive
11 20 (5.56%) Microsoft Copilot
12 18 (5.00%) Azure Logic Apps
13 15 (4.17%) Azure Monitor
13 15 (4.17%) Serverless
14 14 (3.89%) SaaS
15 13 (3.61%) Azure Functions
16 12 (3.33%) PaaS
17 11 (3.06%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 38 (10.56%) DNS
2 34 (9.44%) SAN
3 29 (8.06%) Firewall
4 27 (7.50%) VPN
5 26 (7.22%) TCP/IP
6 18 (5.00%) DHCP
7 14 (3.89%) LAN
8 9 (2.50%) SSL
8 9 (2.50%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (2.22%) WAN
9 8 (2.22%) Wireless
10 6 (1.67%) Network Security
11 5 (1.39%) NGFW
11 5 (1.39%) VLAN
12 4 (1.11%) Internet
12 4 (1.11%) Kerberos
13 3 (0.83%) DMZ
13 3 (0.83%) Intrusion Detection
13 3 (0.83%) NAS
13 3 (0.83%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (10.83%) SQL Server
2 36 (10.00%) Power BI
3 23 (6.39%) MySQL
4 19 (5.28%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (1.67%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (1.67%) Power Query
5 6 (1.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 5 (1.39%) Metadata
7 4 (1.11%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.11%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 4 (1.11%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.83%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.83%) Big Data
9 2 (0.56%) Delta Lake
9 2 (0.56%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.56%) Qlik Sense
9 2 (0.56%) QlikView
9 2 (0.56%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.56%) Semantic Layer
9 2 (0.56%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (2.22%) Git
2 7 (1.94%) Selenium
2 7 (1.94%) WebDriver
3 5 (1.39%) Cucumber
3 5 (1.39%) Cypress.io
3 5 (1.39%) JIRA
3 5 (1.39%) Postman
4 3 (0.83%) Visual Studio Code
5 2 (0.56%) GitLab
6 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.28%) MLflow
6 1 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.28%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.28%) Visual Studio
General
1 147 (40.83%) Social Skills
2 84 (23.33%) Analytical Skills
3 60 (16.67%) Public Sector
4 51 (14.17%) Finance
5 22 (6.11%) Telecoms
6 19 (5.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.50%) Legal
9 7 (1.94%) Aerospace
10 6 (1.67%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.39%) Banking
11 5 (1.39%) Military
12 4 (1.11%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.83%) Front Office
13 3 (0.83%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.83%) Law
13 3 (0.83%) Local Government
13 3 (0.83%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.28%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 45 (12.50%) Analyst
2 44 (12.22%) IT Engineer
3 41 (11.39%) Architect
4 37 (10.28%) Senior
5 35 (9.72%) IT Support
6 30 (8.33%) Field Engineer
6 30 (8.33%) Field Service Engineer
7 28 (7.78%) DBA
8 26 (7.22%) Support Engineer
9 25 (6.94%) Administrator
10 24 (6.67%) Lead
11 23 (6.39%) Developer
11 23 (6.39%) IT Support Engineer
12 17 (4.72%) Support Analyst
13 16 (4.44%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 16 (4.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 16 (4.44%) IT Analyst
14 15 (4.17%) Technical Architect
14 15 (4.17%) Technical Support
15 14 (3.89%) SQL DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.17%) LDAP
1 15 (4.17%) OAuth
2 14 (3.89%) .NET
2 14 (3.89%) OpenID
3 13 (3.61%) ONVIF
3 13 (3.61%) SAML
4 11 (3.06%) OAuth2
5 10 (2.78%) JSON
6 9 (2.50%) SailPoint
6 9 (2.50%) Web Services
7 7 (1.94%) Microsoft Graph
7 7 (1.94%) REST
8 6 (1.67%) ARM Templates
9 5 (1.39%) Gherkin
9 5 (1.39%) Middleware
10 3 (0.83%) Azure Blueprints
10 3 (0.83%) PySpark
10 3 (0.83%) YAML
11 2 (0.56%) OpenGL
11 2 (0.56%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (10.00%) Data Centre
2 34 (9.44%) Analytical Mindset
3 29 (8.06%) Onboarding
4 27 (7.50%) Management Information System
5 18 (5.00%) Cloud Native
5 18 (5.00%) Replication
5 18 (5.00%) Security Posture
6 14 (3.89%) Clustering
6 14 (3.89%) Enterprise Software
7 13 (3.61%) Video\Live Streaming
8 11 (3.06%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (3.06%) Legacy Systems
8 11 (3.06%) Product Ownership
9 8 (2.22%) PKI
10 7 (1.94%) AI Agents
10 7 (1.94%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.67%) Enterprise Cloud
11 6 (1.67%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.39%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.39%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 104 (28.89%) Windows
2 43 (11.94%) Windows Server
3 29 (8.06%) Windows 10
4 23 (6.39%) Linux
5 16 (4.44%) Android
6 11 (3.06%) Mac OS
7 10 (2.78%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.67%) Unix
8 6 (1.67%) VMS
9 5 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (1.39%) Windows Server 2003
9 5 (1.39%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.11%) Solaris
10 4 (1.11%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.83%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.83%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.56%) Alpine Linux
12 2 (0.56%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.28%) AIX
13 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (36.67%) Problem-Solving
2 79 (21.94%) DevOps
3 71 (19.72%) Customer Service
3 71 (19.72%) ITIL
4 64 (17.78%) Agile
5 52 (14.44%) CI/CD
6 47 (13.06%) Stakeholder Management
7 44 (12.22%) Infrastructure as Code
8 43 (11.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 42 (11.67%) Migration
10 40 (11.11%) Computer Science
11 39 (10.83%) Project Delivery
12 38 (10.56%) AI
12 38 (10.56%) Analytics
13 36 (10.00%) Business Intelligence
14 34 (9.44%) Continuous Improvement
14 34 (9.44%) Data Governance
15 33 (9.17%) ITSM
16 30 (8.33%) Cybersecurity
16 30 (8.33%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 93 (25.83%) PowerShell
2 40 (11.11%) Python
3 38 (10.56%) SQL
4 30 (8.33%) C#
5 25 (6.94%) JavaScript
6 21 (5.83%) Bicep
7 16 (4.44%) Bash
8 7 (1.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 7 (1.94%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.39%) X++
10 3 (0.83%) Java
11 2 (0.56%) Perl
11 2 (0.56%) R
12 1 (0.28%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.28%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.28%) VB
Qualifications
1 130 (36.11%) Security Cleared
2 110 (30.56%) SC Cleared
3 107 (29.72%) Degree
4 81 (22.50%) MCSE
5 65 (18.06%) A+ Certification
6 64 (17.78%) Cisco Certification
7 62 (17.22%) Azure Certification
8 54 (15.00%) CCNA
9 43 (11.94%) Network+ Certification
10 41 (11.39%) MCSA
11 28 (7.78%) DV Cleared
12 21 (5.83%) Computer Science Degree
13 20 (5.56%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (3.89%) AWS Certification
15 13 (3.61%) CISSP
16 12 (3.33%) Oracle Certification
17 11 (3.06%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 11 (3.06%) OCP
18 10 (2.78%) Microsoft Certified Professional
19 9 (2.50%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (6.94%) NIST
2 23 (6.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (5.00%) Data Quality
4 16 (4.44%) Accessibility
5 15 (4.17%) SLA
6 13 (3.61%) GDPR
6 13 (3.61%) QA
7 7 (1.94%) NCSC
7 7 (1.94%) WCAG
8 4 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.83%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.56%) GRC
10 2 (0.56%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.56%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.56%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.28%) GxP
11 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.28%) ITGC
System Software
1 115 (31.94%) Active Directory
2 30 (8.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (4.72%) Virtual Desktop
4 16 (4.44%) Virtual Machines
4 16 (4.44%) VMware ESXi
5 13 (3.61%) Docker
6 12 (3.33%) vSphere
7 6 (1.67%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.83%) Firmware
8 3 (0.83%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
9 2 (0.56%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.56%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.28%) NDS
10 1 (0.28%) NetIQ eDirectory
10 1 (0.28%) NFS
10 1 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 46 (12.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 44 (12.22%) Terraform
3 26 (7.22%) Ansible
4 18 (5.00%) SCCM
5 16 (4.44%) vCenter Server
6 15 (4.17%) Kubernetes
7 12 (3.33%) SCOM
8 8 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (1.67%) CASB
10 5 (1.39%) Nessus
10 5 (1.39%) Podman
11 3 (0.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 3 (0.83%) Grafana
11 3 (0.83%) QRadar
11 3 (0.83%) WSUS
12 2 (0.56%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.56%) Packer
12 2 (0.56%) vMotion
13 1 (0.28%) Kubeflow
13 1 (0.28%) VxRail
Vendors
1 295 (81.94%) Microsoft
2 40 (11.11%) VMware
3 32 (8.89%) Dell
4 26 (7.22%) ServiceNow
5 24 (6.67%) Oracle
6 23 (6.39%) Cisco
7 13 (3.61%) Remedy
8 11 (3.06%) Apple
9 10 (2.78%) Citrix
9 10 (2.78%) Splunk
10 9 (2.50%) SolarWinds
11 8 (2.22%) Google
12 7 (1.94%) Tenable
13 6 (1.67%) CyberArk
13 6 (1.67%) OpenAI
14 5 (1.39%) Databricks
14 5 (1.39%) Dynatrace
14 5 (1.39%) Foundry
14 5 (1.39%) NetApp
14 5 (1.39%) Okta
239 Microsoft Certification jobs in England