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

6 months to
16 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 267 238 319
Rank change year-on-year -29 +81 +60
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 315 287 241
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.99% 1.06% 0.67%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.88% 3.49% 2.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 220 164 167
10th Percentile £204 £203 £211
25th Percentile £309 £324 £277
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £498 £478 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.31% -4.50% +5.26%
75th Percentile £595 £585 £621
90th Percentile £700 £725 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 25 17
10th Percentile - £11.85 £14.67
25th Percentile £6.00 £18.50 £16.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £21.46 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.44% +19.22% +16.13%
75th Percentile £22.31 £35.00 £35.00
90th Percentile £25.47 £96.70 £39.66
UK median hourly rate £18.62 £21.46 £17.75
% change year-on-year -13.26% +20.90% +14.52%

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 10,954 8,225 11,192
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.41% 30.51% 30.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,257 5,016 7,024
10th Percentile £313 £300 £300
25th Percentile £419 £414 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 859 391 696
10th Percentile £15.84 £19.83 £14.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £25.38 £23.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -45.54% -7.64% +11.11%
75th Percentile £60.00 £68.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.95 £82.50 £78.36
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £39.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -36.33% -21.00% +11.11%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 +3 116 £525 +31.25% 71
South West +17 61 £550 -6.38% 32
Midlands -26 44 £275 -33.33% 48
South East -43 38 £447 -10.60% 92
West Midlands -23 34 £305 -28.24% 20
North of England -54 33 £450 -10.00% 79
North West -32 23 £450 -10.00% 36
East of England -22 19 £365 +94.67% 50
East Midlands -22 10 £210 -47.50% 27
Yorkshire -43 9 £396 - 36
North East -13 1 - - 9
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 42 (13.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 27 (8.57%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.90%) Skype for Business
4 4 (1.27%) Confluence
5 3 (0.95%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 20 (6.35%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (3.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (2.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (1.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 9 (2.86%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (2.54%) Maximo
3 7 (2.22%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 1 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 145 (46.03%) Azure
2 101 (32.06%) Microsoft 365
3 51 (16.19%) Power Platform
4 49 (15.56%) Entra ID
5 38 (12.06%) AWS
5 38 (12.06%) Azure DevOps
6 26 (8.25%) Power Automate
7 25 (7.94%) PowerApps
8 24 (7.62%) Dynamics 365
9 22 (6.98%) Microsoft Purview
10 21 (6.67%) Azure Data Factory
11 20 (6.35%) Azure Monitor
12 18 (5.71%) GitHub
13 16 (5.08%) Azure AKS
13 16 (5.08%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 15 (4.76%) Azure Sentinel
15 14 (4.44%) Azure Logic Apps
16 12 (3.81%) Azure Key Vault
17 11 (3.49%) Azure ExpressRoute
17 11 (3.49%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 55 (17.46%) DNS
2 36 (11.43%) Firewall
3 34 (10.79%) DHCP
4 27 (8.57%) VPN
5 22 (6.98%) TCP/IP
6 15 (4.76%) VLAN
7 9 (2.86%) Skype
8 8 (2.54%) LAN
8 8 (2.54%) Network Security
9 7 (2.22%) SAN
9 7 (2.22%) Unified Communications
9 7 (2.22%) Wi-Fi
10 5 (1.59%) Kerberos
10 5 (1.59%) SSL
11 4 (1.27%) DKIM
11 4 (1.27%) DMARC
11 4 (1.27%) Fibre Channel
11 4 (1.27%) iSCSI
12 3 (0.95%) NetScaler
12 3 (0.95%) S/MIME
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (8.25%) Power BI
2 22 (6.98%) SQL Server
3 16 (5.08%) Data Lake
4 11 (3.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 10 (3.17%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (2.54%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (1.90%) Metadata
8 5 (1.59%) Delta Lake
8 5 (1.59%) MySQL
8 5 (1.59%) Oracle Database
8 5 (1.59%) PostgreSQL
8 5 (1.59%) Spark SQL
9 4 (1.27%) Metadata Repository
10 3 (0.95%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.95%) NoSQL
11 2 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
11 2 (0.63%) Apache Cassandra
11 2 (0.63%) Power Query
11 2 (0.63%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.63%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 13 (4.13%) Git
2 7 (2.22%) JIRA
3 6 (1.90%) MSI
4 5 (1.59%) Jenkins
5 4 (1.27%) GitLab
6 3 (0.95%) AdminStudio
6 3 (0.95%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.95%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.63%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.63%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.63%) JDeveloper
General
1 132 (41.90%) Social Skills
2 54 (17.14%) Analytical Skills
3 35 (11.11%) Public Sector
4 30 (9.52%) Finance
5 20 (6.35%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (3.81%) Banking
7 9 (2.86%) Legal
8 7 (2.22%) Marketing
8 7 (2.22%) Military
9 5 (1.59%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.27%) International Banking
11 3 (0.95%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.95%) Polish Language
11 3 (0.95%) Retail
12 2 (0.63%) Advertising
12 2 (0.63%) Aeronautics
12 2 (0.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.63%) Law
13 1 (0.32%) Agriculture
13 1 (0.32%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 54 (17.14%) Architect
2 35 (11.11%) Analyst
3 25 (7.94%) Senior
4 24 (7.62%) Support Engineer
5 22 (6.98%) Solutions Architect
6 21 (6.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 19 (6.03%) Support Analyst
8 17 (5.40%) Administrator
8 17 (5.40%) Wintel Engineer
9 16 (5.08%) Azure Engineer
10 15 (4.76%) Lead
11 14 (4.44%) Developer
11 14 (4.44%) IT Analyst
12 13 (4.13%) Field Engineer
12 13 (4.13%) IT Support
12 13 (4.13%) Technical Support
13 11 (3.49%) Azure Architect
13 11 (3.49%) Consultant
13 11 (3.49%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
13 11 (3.49%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (10.16%) OAuth
2 27 (8.57%) OpenID
2 27 (8.57%) SAML
3 17 (5.40%) OAuth2
4 16 (5.08%) .NET
5 15 (4.76%) ARM Templates
6 12 (3.81%) Microsoft Graph
7 9 (2.86%) REST
8 6 (1.90%) JSON
8 6 (1.90%) LDAP
8 6 (1.90%) RESTful
9 4 (1.27%) PySpark
10 3 (0.95%) ASP.NET Web API
10 3 (0.95%) React
11 2 (0.63%) CSS
11 2 (0.63%) Jest
11 2 (0.63%) Next.js
11 2 (0.63%) SailPoint
11 2 (0.63%) Tailwind CSS
11 2 (0.63%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 22 (6.98%) PKI
2 17 (5.40%) Analytical Mindset
2 17 (5.40%) Enterprise Software
2 17 (5.40%) Replication
3 15 (4.76%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (4.76%) Onboarding
4 12 (3.81%) BYOD
5 10 (3.17%) Cloud Native
5 10 (3.17%) Driving Licence
6 9 (2.86%) Security Posture
7 8 (2.54%) Management Information System
7 8 (2.54%) NHS
8 7 (2.22%) Private Cloud
9 6 (1.90%) Clustering
9 6 (1.90%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.90%) Low-Code
10 5 (1.59%) Security Operations Centre
10 5 (1.59%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.59%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 4 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 142 (45.08%) Windows
2 65 (20.63%) Windows Server
3 38 (12.06%) Windows 10
4 24 (7.62%) Linux
5 11 (3.49%) Windows Server 2012
6 9 (2.86%) Mac OS
7 7 (2.22%) Windows Server 2003
8 6 (1.90%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (1.27%) Android
9 4 (1.27%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.95%) Apple iOS
10 3 (0.95%) CentOS
11 2 (0.63%) VMS
11 2 (0.63%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (28.89%) Problem-Solving
2 87 (27.62%) ITIL
3 55 (17.46%) DevOps
4 46 (14.60%) CI/CD
5 44 (13.97%) Migration
6 41 (13.02%) Agile
6 41 (13.02%) RBAC
7 40 (12.70%) Customer Service
8 39 (12.38%) Identity Access Management
9 38 (12.06%) Analytics
10 37 (11.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 36 (11.43%) Service Management
12 35 (11.11%) Disaster Recovery
13 32 (10.16%) Continuous Improvement
14 30 (9.52%) Computer Science
15 29 (9.21%) Cloud Security
16 28 (8.89%) Business Intelligence
17 26 (8.25%) Identity Management
17 26 (8.25%) Roadmaps
18 25 (7.94%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 99 (31.43%) PowerShell
2 44 (13.97%) SQL
3 28 (8.89%) Python
4 19 (6.03%) Bicep
5 12 (3.81%) C#
6 11 (3.49%) JavaScript
7 7 (2.22%) TypeScript
8 6 (1.90%) T-SQL
8 6 (1.90%) VBScript
9 4 (1.27%) Bash
10 2 (0.63%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.63%) R
11 1 (0.32%) Java
11 1 (0.32%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.32%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 112 (35.56%) Security Cleared
2 85 (26.98%) Degree
3 78 (24.76%) Azure Certification
4 76 (24.13%) SC Cleared
5 63 (20.00%) MCSE
6 35 (11.11%) DV Cleared
7 28 (8.89%) MCSA
8 26 (8.25%) A+ Certification
8 26 (8.25%) MCP
9 23 (7.30%) CISSP
9 23 (7.30%) Network+ Certification
10 22 (6.98%) Cisco Certification
11 20 (6.35%) Computer Science Degree
12 16 (5.08%) CCNA
13 14 (4.44%) AWS Certification
14 13 (4.13%) CISM
15 12 (3.81%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 11 (3.49%) ITIL Certification
16 11 (3.49%) Server+ Certification
17 10 (3.17%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (8.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 18 (5.71%) NIST
3 16 (5.08%) GDPR
4 8 (2.54%) NIST 800
5 6 (1.90%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (1.90%) SLA
6 5 (1.59%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.27%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.27%) NCSC
7 4 (1.27%) SOC 2
8 2 (0.63%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (0.63%) QA
8 2 (0.63%) WCAG
9 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.32%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.32%) PMO
System Software
1 144 (45.71%) Active Directory
2 39 (12.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (5.08%) Hyper-V
4 15 (4.76%) Docker
4 15 (4.76%) vSphere
5 9 (2.86%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (1.59%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (1.59%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (1.59%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (1.27%) Microsoft App-V
7 4 (1.27%) NFS
7 4 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.63%) Firmware
8 2 (0.63%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.32%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.32%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 35 (11.11%) SCCM
2 33 (10.48%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (9.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 30 (9.52%) Terraform
4 23 (7.30%) Kubernetes
5 21 (6.67%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (3.81%) Ansible
7 9 (2.86%) WSUS
8 8 (2.54%) SCOM
9 5 (1.59%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
10 2 (0.63%) PowerCLI
11 1 (0.32%) CSIRT
11 1 (0.32%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.32%) Jamf Pro
11 1 (0.32%) QRadar
Vendors
1 297 (94.29%) Microsoft
2 51 (16.19%) VMware
3 19 (6.03%) Cisco
4 16 (5.08%) ServiceNow
4 16 (5.08%) Veeam
5 15 (4.76%) Oracle
6 12 (3.81%) Databricks
6 12 (3.81%) Dell
7 11 (3.49%) Citrix
7 11 (3.49%) Red Hat
8 10 (3.17%) Splunk
9 9 (2.86%) IBM
9 9 (2.86%) SolarWinds
10 5 (1.59%) iManage
10 5 (1.59%) Mitel
11 4 (1.27%) NetApp
11 4 (1.27%) OpenAI
11 4 (1.27%) Tenable
12 3 (0.95%) CheckPoint
12 3 (0.95%) Google
337 Microsoft Certification jobs in England