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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 303 245 270
Rank change year-on-year -58 +25 +83
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 339 274 322
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.77% 1.07% 0.87%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.45% 3.45% 2.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 161 202
10th Percentile £154 £200 £183
25th Percentile £300 £281 £320
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £572 £625 £575
90th Percentile £675 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £456 £465 £490
% change year-on-year -1.94% -5.10% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 29 55
10th Percentile £15.00 - £13.69
25th Percentile £22.25 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £57.82 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +231.52% +6.99% +5.16%
75th Percentile £178.75 £33.75 £21.37
90th Percentile - £37.50 -
UK median hourly rate £57.82 £17.44 £16.30
% change year-on-year +231.52% +6.99% +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 13,827 7,949 11,327
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.55% 31.01% 30.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,320 5,000 6,991
10th Percentile £350 £281 £313
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £645
90th Percentile £715 £715 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £525
% change year-on-year +0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,038 529 1,003
10th Percentile £17.87 £17.87 £14.16
25th Percentile £24.21 £20.00 £20.50
Median hourly rate £52.75 £28.60 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +84.44% -32.71% -22.73%
75th Percentile £73.68 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.40 £77.50 £77.40
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £28.00 £40.94
% change year-on-year +78.57% -31.61% -26.47%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -50 117 £523 +4.50% 76
North of England -55 75 £483 +13.65% 71
North West -27 59 £482 +13.41% 38
South East -50 51 £275 -49.07% 63
South West -22 34 £450 -9.55% 22
East of England -20 32 £173 -23.33% 27
Midlands -54 26 £425 +58.88% 37
West Midlands -51 20 £425 +72.94% 24
Yorkshire -43 12 £650 +57.58% 26
East Midlands -9 6 £431 -13.75% 13
North East -31 4 £363 +81.25% 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 34 (10.03%) SharePoint
2 27 (7.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.29%) Confluence
Applications
1 17 (5.01%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.77%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.77%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.47%) Oracle Payables
3 3 (0.88%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.88%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 2 (0.59%) Maximo
5 1 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 173 (51.03%) Azure
2 92 (27.14%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (21.53%) Entra ID
4 58 (17.11%) Power Platform
5 38 (11.21%) Azure DevOps
6 35 (10.32%) Power Automate
7 30 (8.85%) Microsoft Purview
7 30 (8.85%) PowerApps
8 26 (7.67%) AWS
9 24 (7.08%) Dynamics 365
10 22 (6.49%) GitHub
11 20 (5.90%) OneDrive
12 18 (5.31%) Azure Logic Apps
13 15 (4.42%) Azure Monitor
13 15 (4.42%) Microsoft Copilot
14 14 (4.13%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 13 (3.83%) Azure Data Factory
16 10 (2.95%) Azure Sentinel
16 10 (2.95%) PaaS
16 10 (2.95%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 38 (11.21%) SAN
2 33 (9.73%) DNS
3 30 (8.85%) Firewall
4 26 (7.67%) VPN
5 19 (5.60%) TCP/IP
6 15 (4.42%) LAN
7 12 (3.54%) DHCP
8 9 (2.65%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (2.36%) SSL
10 7 (2.06%) WAN
11 6 (1.77%) Network Security
12 5 (1.47%) NGFW
12 5 (1.47%) Wireless
13 4 (1.18%) Internet
13 4 (1.18%) Kerberos
13 4 (1.18%) NetScaler
14 3 (0.88%) DMZ
14 3 (0.88%) Intrusion Detection
14 3 (0.88%) NAS
14 3 (0.88%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (10.03%) SQL Server
2 33 (9.73%) Power BI
3 16 (4.72%) MySQL
4 13 (3.83%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (2.06%) Data Lake
6 7 (2.06%) Data Warehouse
7 5 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.47%) Metadata
7 5 (1.47%) Power Query
8 4 (1.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (1.18%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.88%) Big Data
9 3 (0.88%) Delta Lake
9 3 (0.88%) Spark SQL
10 2 (0.59%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.59%) Qlik Sense
10 2 (0.59%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.59%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 7 (2.06%) Git
2 4 (1.18%) Selenium
2 4 (1.18%) WebDriver
3 3 (0.88%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.59%) Cucumber
4 2 (0.59%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.59%) GitLab
4 2 (0.59%) JIRA
4 2 (0.59%) Postman
5 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.29%) MLflow
5 1 (0.29%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 117 (34.51%) Social Skills
2 82 (24.19%) Analytical Skills
3 46 (13.57%) Finance
3 46 (13.57%) Public Sector
4 23 (6.78%) Telecoms
5 12 (3.54%) Legal
6 11 (3.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 10 (2.95%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.77%) Banking
9 5 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (1.18%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.88%) Front Office
11 3 (0.88%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.88%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.88%) Military
11 3 (0.88%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.59%) Law
12 2 (0.59%) Local Government
13 1 (0.29%) International Banking
13 1 (0.29%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 43 (12.68%) Architect
2 42 (12.39%) IT Engineer
3 38 (11.21%) Analyst
4 34 (10.03%) Field Engineer
4 34 (10.03%) Field Service Engineer
5 33 (9.73%) Senior
6 32 (9.44%) IT Support
7 23 (6.78%) Administrator
8 22 (6.49%) Support Engineer
9 21 (6.19%) DBA
10 19 (5.60%) IT Support Engineer
10 19 (5.60%) Support Analyst
11 18 (5.31%) Lead
11 18 (5.31%) Technical Support
12 17 (5.01%) IT Analyst
13 16 (4.72%) Developer
13 16 (4.72%) Solutions Architect
14 15 (4.42%) Wintel Engineer
15 13 (3.83%) Cloud Engineer
15 13 (3.83%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.13%) OAuth
2 13 (3.83%) ONVIF
3 12 (3.54%) LDAP
3 12 (3.54%) OpenID
3 12 (3.54%) SAML
4 11 (3.24%) .NET
5 10 (2.95%) OAuth2
6 6 (1.77%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.77%) JSON
6 6 (1.77%) Microsoft Graph
6 6 (1.77%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.77%) Web Services
7 4 (1.18%) REST
8 3 (0.88%) Middleware
8 3 (0.88%) PySpark
9 2 (0.59%) Azure Blueprints
9 2 (0.59%) Gherkin
9 2 (0.59%) OpenGL
9 2 (0.59%) XML
9 2 (0.59%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 40 (11.80%) Data Centre
2 37 (10.91%) Analytical Mindset
3 28 (8.26%) Onboarding
4 17 (5.01%) Clustering
4 17 (5.01%) Replication
5 16 (4.72%) Security Posture
6 15 (4.42%) Management Information System
7 13 (3.83%) Cloud Native
7 13 (3.83%) Enterprise Software
7 13 (3.83%) Video\Live Streaming
8 10 (2.95%) Hybrid Cloud
9 9 (2.65%) Legacy Systems
10 7 (2.06%) PKI
11 6 (1.77%) BYOD
11 6 (1.77%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.77%) Enterprise Cloud
11 6 (1.77%) Low-Code
11 6 (1.77%) Mobile App
11 6 (1.77%) Product Ownership
12 5 (1.47%) Cloud Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 108 (31.86%) Windows
2 48 (14.16%) Windows Server
3 31 (9.14%) Windows 10
4 20 (5.90%) Linux
5 12 (3.54%) Android
6 10 (2.95%) Apple iOS
7 9 (2.65%) Mac OS
7 9 (2.65%) Windows Server 2003
8 8 (2.36%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.77%) Unix
9 6 (1.77%) VMS
10 5 (1.47%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.18%) Solaris
11 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.88%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.59%) AIX
13 2 (0.59%) Alpine Linux
13 2 (0.59%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 131 (38.64%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (20.35%) DevOps
3 66 (19.47%) Customer Service
4 64 (18.88%) ITIL
5 46 (13.57%) Agile
6 44 (12.98%) CI/CD
7 38 (11.21%) Analytics
7 38 (11.21%) Infrastructure as Code
8 37 (10.91%) Migration
9 36 (10.62%) Computer Science
10 34 (10.03%) Break/Fix
10 34 (10.03%) Project Delivery
11 33 (9.73%) Business Intelligence
12 31 (9.14%) Data Governance
13 30 (8.85%) Stakeholder Management
14 29 (8.55%) AI
14 29 (8.55%) RBAC
15 26 (7.67%) Data Loss Prevention
15 26 (7.67%) Roadmaps
15 26 (7.67%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 92 (27.14%) PowerShell
2 41 (12.09%) SQL
3 32 (9.44%) Python
4 21 (6.19%) Bicep
5 19 (5.60%) C#
6 16 (4.72%) JavaScript
7 13 (3.83%) Bash
8 8 (2.36%) T-SQL
9 6 (1.77%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.88%) X++
11 2 (0.59%) Perl
11 2 (0.59%) R
12 1 (0.29%) Java
12 1 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.29%) VB
Qualifications
1 111 (32.74%) Security Cleared
2 92 (27.14%) Degree
3 91 (26.84%) MCSE
4 90 (26.55%) SC Cleared
5 64 (18.88%) A+ Certification
6 63 (18.58%) Cisco Certification
7 62 (18.29%) Azure Certification
8 54 (15.93%) CCNA
9 46 (13.57%) MCSA
9 46 (13.57%) Network+ Certification
10 25 (7.37%) DV Cleared
11 23 (6.78%) Computer Science Degree
11 23 (6.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 13 (3.83%) CISSP
13 12 (3.54%) AWS Certification
13 12 (3.54%) VCAP
14 11 (3.24%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 10 (2.95%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 9 (2.65%) CCNP
16 9 (2.65%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.78%) NIST
2 21 (6.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (3.83%) Data Quality
4 11 (3.24%) SLA
5 9 (2.65%) Accessibility
5 9 (2.65%) GDPR
6 7 (2.06%) NCSC
6 7 (2.06%) QA
7 5 (1.47%) NIST 800
8 4 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (1.18%) WCAG
9 3 (0.88%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.59%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.59%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.29%) GRC
11 1 (0.29%) GxP
11 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 110 (32.45%) Active Directory
2 31 (9.14%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (5.90%) VMware ESXi
4 19 (5.60%) Virtual Desktop
4 19 (5.60%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (4.72%) vSphere
6 13 (3.83%) Docker
7 5 (1.47%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.88%) Firmware
8 3 (0.88%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.59%) BitLocker
9 2 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.59%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.29%) NFS
Systems Management
1 41 (12.09%) Terraform
2 40 (11.80%) Microsoft Intune
3 29 (8.55%) Ansible
4 19 (5.60%) vCenter Server
5 18 (5.31%) SCCM
6 14 (4.13%) Kubernetes
7 11 (3.24%) SCOM
8 8 (2.36%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 7 (2.06%) Single Sign-On
10 6 (1.77%) CASB
11 5 (1.47%) Nessus
12 3 (0.88%) Grafana
12 3 (0.88%) Podman
12 3 (0.88%) QRadar
12 3 (0.88%) WSUS
13 2 (0.59%) Packer
13 2 (0.59%) vMotion
14 1 (0.29%) Backup Exec
14 1 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
14 1 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 269 (79.35%) Microsoft
2 40 (11.80%) VMware
3 35 (10.32%) Dell
4 25 (7.37%) Cisco
5 21 (6.19%) Oracle
6 20 (5.90%) ServiceNow
7 12 (3.54%) Apple
7 12 (3.54%) Citrix
8 10 (2.95%) Splunk
9 9 (2.65%) Remedy
10 8 (2.36%) SolarWinds
11 7 (2.06%) CyberArk
11 7 (2.06%) Tenable
12 5 (1.47%) Databricks
12 5 (1.47%) Dynatrace
12 5 (1.47%) Foundry
12 5 (1.47%) NetApp
12 5 (1.47%) Palo Alto
13 4 (1.18%) Google
13 4 (1.18%) HP
272 Microsoft Certification jobs in England