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

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 298 243 264
Rank change year-on-year -55 +21 +79
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 359 299 310
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.80% 1.09% 0.91%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.53% 3.49% 2.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 173 188
10th Percentile £154 £201 £200
25th Percentile £306 £313 £348
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £560 £625 £588
90th Percentile £655 £650 £650
UK median daily rate £450 £486 £500
% change year-on-year -7.41% -2.80% -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 14,193 8,560 10,412
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.66% 31.12% 30.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,579 5,401 6,622
10th Percentile £350 £290 £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 £725 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,073 641 811
10th Percentile £18.20 £18.13 £14.48
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £21.37
Median hourly rate £55.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +118.69% -41.51% -21.82%
75th Percentile £75.00 £58.75 £67.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.79 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +108.75% -41.51% -23.30%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -42 126 £518 +3.50% 72
North of England -61 68 £491 +15.51% 61
South East -52 62 £288 -52.08% 69
North West -43 53 £485 +14.12% 27
Midlands -43 36 £425 -13.62% 33
West Midlands -43 32 £425 +58.88% 19
South West -33 31 £425 -19.62% 23
East of England -27 29 £160 -57.33% 26
Yorkshire -37 13 £650 +57.58% 23
East Midlands -12 4 £431 -13.05% 14
North East -47 2 £363 +81.25% 13
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 (11.42%) SharePoint
2 25 (6.96%) 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 (3.62%) 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 (2.79%) 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
1 192 (53.48%) Azure
2 100 (27.86%) Microsoft 365
3 88 (24.51%) Entra ID
4 69 (19.22%) Power Platform
5 47 (13.09%) Azure DevOps
6 46 (12.81%) Power Automate
7 39 (10.86%) Dynamics 365
8 36 (10.03%) PowerApps
9 30 (8.36%) AWS
9 30 (8.36%) Microsoft Purview
10 25 (6.96%) GitHub
11 24 (6.69%) OneDrive
12 20 (5.57%) Microsoft Copilot
13 18 (5.01%) Azure Logic Apps
14 15 (4.18%) Azure Monitor
14 15 (4.18%) SaaS
14 15 (4.18%) Serverless
15 13 (3.62%) Azure Functions
15 13 (3.62%) PaaS
16 11 (3.06%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 39 (10.86%) DNS
2 34 (9.47%) SAN
3 29 (8.08%) Firewall
4 26 (7.24%) TCP/IP
4 26 (7.24%) VPN
5 19 (5.29%) DHCP
6 13 (3.62%) LAN
7 9 (2.51%) SSL
8 8 (2.23%) WAN
8 8 (2.23%) Wi-Fi
8 8 (2.23%) Wireless
9 6 (1.67%) Network Security
10 5 (1.39%) NGFW
10 5 (1.39%) VLAN
11 4 (1.11%) Internet
11 4 (1.11%) Kerberos
12 3 (0.84%) DMZ
12 3 (0.84%) Intrusion Detection
12 3 (0.84%) NAS
12 3 (0.84%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (10.86%) SQL Server
2 36 (10.03%) Power BI
3 23 (6.41%) MySQL
4 19 (5.29%) 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 (0.84%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.84%) Big Data
9 2 (0.56%) BusinessObjects
9 2 (0.56%) Data Mart
9 2 (0.56%) Oracle Reports
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 (2.23%) Git
2 7 (1.95%) Selenium
2 7 (1.95%) WebDriver
3 5 (1.39%) Cucumber
3 5 (1.39%) Cypress.io
3 5 (1.39%) JIRA
3 5 (1.39%) Postman
4 3 (0.84%) Visual Studio Code
5 2 (0.56%) GitLab
6 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.28%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.28%) Visual Studio
General
1 149 (41.50%) Social Skills
2 85 (23.68%) Analytical Skills
3 59 (16.43%) Public Sector
4 52 (14.48%) Finance
5 22 (6.13%) Telecoms
6 19 (5.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (3.62%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.51%) Legal
9 7 (1.95%) Aerospace
10 6 (1.67%) Banking
10 6 (1.67%) Military
10 6 (1.67%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.11%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.84%) Front Office
12 3 (0.84%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.84%) Law
12 3 (0.84%) Local Government
12 3 (0.84%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.84%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.56%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 45 (12.53%) Analyst
2 43 (11.98%) IT Engineer
3 40 (11.14%) Architect
4 37 (10.31%) Senior
5 34 (9.47%) IT Support
6 30 (8.36%) Field Engineer
6 30 (8.36%) Field Service Engineer
7 28 (7.80%) DBA
8 25 (6.96%) Administrator
8 25 (6.96%) Lead
8 25 (6.96%) Support Engineer
9 23 (6.41%) Developer
10 22 (6.13%) IT Support Engineer
11 17 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 17 (4.74%) Support Analyst
12 16 (4.46%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 16 (4.46%) IT Analyst
13 15 (4.18%) Technical Support
14 14 (3.90%) SQL DBA
15 13 (3.62%) Field Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.18%) LDAP
1 15 (4.18%) OAuth
2 14 (3.90%) OpenID
3 13 (3.62%) .NET
3 13 (3.62%) ONVIF
3 13 (3.62%) SAML
4 11 (3.06%) OAuth2
5 10 (2.79%) JSON
6 9 (2.51%) SailPoint
6 9 (2.51%) Web Services
7 8 (2.23%) Microsoft Graph
8 7 (1.95%) REST
9 5 (1.39%) ARM Templates
9 5 (1.39%) Gherkin
9 5 (1.39%) Middleware
10 3 (0.84%) Azure Blueprints
10 3 (0.84%) PySpark
10 3 (0.84%) YAML
11 2 (0.56%) Node.js
11 2 (0.56%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 36 (10.03%) Data Centre
2 34 (9.47%) Analytical Mindset
3 29 (8.08%) Onboarding
4 27 (7.52%) Management Information System
5 18 (5.01%) Replication
5 18 (5.01%) Security Posture
6 16 (4.46%) Cloud Native
7 14 (3.90%) Clustering
8 13 (3.62%) Enterprise Software
8 13 (3.62%) Video\Live Streaming
9 12 (3.34%) Hybrid Cloud
10 11 (3.06%) Legacy Systems
10 11 (3.06%) Product Ownership
11 8 (2.23%) PKI
12 7 (1.95%) AI Agents
12 7 (1.95%) Data Structures
13 6 (1.67%) Enterprise Cloud
13 6 (1.67%) Mobile App
14 5 (1.39%) Cloud Security Posture
14 5 (1.39%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 105 (29.25%) Windows
2 44 (12.26%) Windows Server
3 29 (8.08%) Windows 10
4 24 (6.69%) Linux
5 16 (4.46%) Android
6 11 (3.06%) Mac OS
7 10 (2.79%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.67%) Unix
8 6 (1.67%) VMS
8 6 (1.67%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (1.39%) Windows Server 2003
10 4 (1.11%) Solaris
10 4 (1.11%) Windows 7
10 4 (1.11%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
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
1 134 (37.33%) Problem-Solving
2 77 (21.45%) DevOps
3 73 (20.33%) ITIL
4 70 (19.50%) Customer Service
5 63 (17.55%) Agile
6 50 (13.93%) CI/CD
7 49 (13.65%) Stakeholder Management
8 43 (11.98%) Migration
8 43 (11.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 42 (11.70%) Infrastructure as Code
10 40 (11.14%) Computer Science
10 40 (11.14%) Project Delivery
11 38 (10.58%) Analytics
12 37 (10.31%) AI
13 36 (10.03%) Business Intelligence
14 34 (9.47%) Continuous Improvement
15 33 (9.19%) Data Governance
15 33 (9.19%) ITSM
16 31 (8.64%) Technical Leadership
17 30 (8.36%) Break/Fix
Programming Languages
1 94 (26.18%) PowerShell
2 40 (11.14%) Python
3 38 (10.58%) SQL
4 30 (8.36%) C#
5 25 (6.96%) JavaScript
6 21 (5.85%) Bicep
7 16 (4.46%) Bash
8 7 (1.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 7 (1.95%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.39%) X++
10 3 (0.84%) 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
1 131 (36.49%) Security Cleared
2 111 (30.92%) SC Cleared
3 107 (29.81%) Degree
4 80 (22.28%) MCSE
5 65 (18.11%) A+ Certification
6 63 (17.55%) Cisco Certification
7 62 (17.27%) Azure Certification
8 55 (15.32%) CCNA
9 43 (11.98%) Network+ Certification
10 41 (11.42%) MCSA
11 27 (7.52%) DV Cleared
12 22 (6.13%) Computer Science Degree
13 21 (5.85%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (3.90%) AWS Certification
15 13 (3.62%) CISSP
16 12 (3.34%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 12 (3.34%) Oracle Certification
17 11 (3.06%) OCP
18 10 (2.79%) Microsoft Certified Professional
19 9 (2.51%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 23 (6.41%) NIST
2 18 (5.01%) Data Quality
3 16 (4.46%) Accessibility
4 15 (4.18%) SLA
5 13 (3.62%) GDPR
5 13 (3.62%) QA
6 7 (1.95%) WCAG
7 5 (1.39%) NCSC
8 4 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.84%) 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 (32.03%) Active Directory
2 31 (8.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (4.74%) Virtual Desktop
4 16 (4.46%) Virtual Machines
4 16 (4.46%) VMware ESXi
5 13 (3.62%) Docker
5 13 (3.62%) vSphere
6 7 (1.95%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.84%) Firmware
7 3 (0.84%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.56%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (0.56%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (0.56%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.28%) NDS
9 1 (0.28%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 1 (0.28%) NFS
Systems Management
1 47 (13.09%) Microsoft Intune
2 44 (12.26%) Terraform
3 27 (7.52%) Ansible
4 19 (5.29%) SCCM
5 16 (4.46%) vCenter Server
6 15 (4.18%) Kubernetes
7 12 (3.34%) SCOM
8 8 (2.23%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (1.67%) CASB
10 5 (1.39%) Nessus
10 5 (1.39%) Podman
11 3 (0.84%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 3 (0.84%) Grafana
11 3 (0.84%) QRadar
11 3 (0.84%) WSUS
12 2 (0.56%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.56%) Packer
12 2 (0.56%) vMotion
13 1 (0.28%) FreeIPA
13 1 (0.28%) VxRail
Vendors
1 296 (82.45%) Microsoft
2 39 (10.86%) VMware
3 32 (8.91%) Dell
4 26 (7.24%) ServiceNow
5 25 (6.96%) Oracle
6 24 (6.69%) Cisco
7 13 (3.62%) Remedy
8 11 (3.06%) Apple
9 10 (2.79%) Citrix
9 10 (2.79%) Splunk
10 9 (2.51%) SolarWinds
11 8 (2.23%) Google
12 7 (1.95%) 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