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

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 298 247 262
Rank change year-on-year -51 +15 +82
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 375 294 299
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.82% 1.06% 0.90%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.59% 3.38% 2.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 171 183
10th Percentile £156 £200 £215
25th Percentile £306 £331 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £552 £625 £588
90th Percentile £650 £663 £650
UK median daily rate £450 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -9.18% -0.90% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 31 48
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £13.11
25th Percentile £25.84 £15.65 £14.16
Median hourly rate £55.00 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +215.37% +6.99% -6.86%
75th Percentile £77.50 £33.75 £21.37
90th Percentile £178.75 £83.00 £21.40
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £18.42 £15.76
% change year-on-year +198.63% +16.86% -9.94%

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 14,456 8,695 10,189
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.70% 31.46% 30.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,754 5,449 6,485
10th Percentile £350 £300 £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 £715 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,120 671 758
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.13 £15.10
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £21.37
Median hourly rate £55.00 £25.15 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.69% -47.05% -13.64%
75th Percentile £75.00 £56.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.65
UK median hourly rate £51.25 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +103.78% -41.51% -21.82%

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 14 August 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 14 August 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 14 August 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 -44 134 £520 +4.00% 119
North of England -51 69 £485 +14.12% 69
South East -52 66 £275 -54.17% 75
North West -34 54 £485 +8.50% 35
Midlands -24 42 £425 -13.62% 37
West Midlands -30 38 £425 +58.88% 23
South West -42 31 £425 -18.27% 28
East of England -30 26 £160 -57.33% 26
Yorkshire -33 12 £650 +62.50% 25
East Midlands -19 4 £431 -13.05% 14
North East -43 3 £363 +81.25% 10
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 (11.20%) SharePoint
2 31 (8.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.53%) Confluence
3 2 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
3 2 (0.53%) HCL Notes
3 2 (0.53%) Mendix
4 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.27%) Liferay
Applications
1 15 (4.00%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 12 (3.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.60%) Oracle Payables
2 6 (1.60%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.27%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.27%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 207 (55.20%) Azure
2 110 (29.33%) Microsoft 365
3 95 (25.33%) Entra ID
4 80 (21.33%) Power Platform
5 54 (14.40%) Azure DevOps
5 54 (14.40%) Power Automate
6 44 (11.73%) Dynamics 365
7 42 (11.20%) PowerApps
8 33 (8.80%) Microsoft Purview
9 28 (7.47%) AWS
10 25 (6.67%) OneDrive
11 24 (6.40%) GitHub
12 21 (5.60%) Microsoft Copilot
13 19 (5.07%) Azure Logic Apps
13 19 (5.07%) Serverless
14 17 (4.53%) Azure Functions
15 16 (4.27%) Azure Monitor
15 16 (4.27%) SaaS
16 11 (2.93%) IaaS
16 11 (2.93%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 42 (11.20%) DNS
2 34 (9.07%) SAN
3 27 (7.20%) Firewall
4 26 (6.93%) TCP/IP
4 26 (6.93%) VPN
5 25 (6.67%) DHCP
6 13 (3.47%) LAN
7 8 (2.13%) WAN
8 7 (1.87%) SSL
8 7 (1.87%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (1.87%) Wireless
9 6 (1.60%) NGFW
10 5 (1.33%) Kerberos
10 5 (1.33%) Network Security
11 4 (1.07%) Internet
12 3 (0.80%) DMZ
12 3 (0.80%) NetScaler
12 3 (0.80%) VLAN
13 2 (0.53%) DKIM
13 2 (0.53%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (11.73%) SQL Server
2 43 (11.47%) Power BI
3 26 (6.93%) MySQL
4 21 (5.60%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (2.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (1.87%) Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.87%) Power Query
7 6 (1.60%) Metadata
8 4 (1.07%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (1.07%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.80%) Big Data
10 2 (0.53%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.53%) Data Mart
10 2 (0.53%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.53%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.53%) Qlik Sense
10 2 (0.53%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.53%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 8 (2.13%) Git
1 8 (2.13%) Selenium
1 8 (2.13%) WebDriver
2 6 (1.60%) Cucumber
2 6 (1.60%) Cypress.io
2 6 (1.60%) JIRA
2 6 (1.60%) Postman
3 4 (1.07%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.53%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.27%) GitLab
General
1 167 (44.53%) Social Skills
2 95 (25.33%) Analytical Skills
3 65 (17.33%) Public Sector
4 47 (12.53%) Finance
5 23 (6.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 23 (6.13%) Telecoms
6 14 (3.73%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.67%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.67%) Legal
8 6 (1.60%) Banking
8 6 (1.60%) Military
8 6 (1.60%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (1.33%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (1.07%) Law
10 4 (1.07%) Local Government
11 3 (0.80%) Front Office
11 3 (0.80%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.80%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.53%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 49 (13.07%) Analyst
2 43 (11.47%) IT Engineer
3 40 (10.67%) Senior
4 38 (10.13%) Architect
5 36 (9.60%) IT Support
6 31 (8.27%) DBA
7 29 (7.73%) Developer
7 29 (7.73%) Field Engineer
7 29 (7.73%) Field Service Engineer
8 27 (7.20%) Lead
9 26 (6.93%) Administrator
10 24 (6.40%) Support Engineer
11 21 (5.60%) IT Support Engineer
12 20 (5.33%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 20 (5.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 20 (5.33%) Support Analyst
13 19 (5.07%) IT Analyst
14 16 (4.27%) SQL DBA
15 15 (4.00%) IT Support Analyst
16 13 (3.47%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (4.53%) .NET
2 16 (4.27%) OAuth
3 15 (4.00%) OpenID
4 13 (3.47%) JSON
4 13 (3.47%) ONVIF
4 13 (3.47%) SAML
5 12 (3.20%) LDAP
5 12 (3.20%) OAuth2
6 9 (2.40%) SailPoint
6 9 (2.40%) Web Services
7 8 (2.13%) Middleware
7 8 (2.13%) REST
8 7 (1.87%) ARM Templates
8 7 (1.87%) Microsoft Graph
9 6 (1.60%) Gherkin
10 4 (1.07%) HTML5 Canvas
11 3 (0.80%) Azure Blueprints
11 3 (0.80%) PySpark
12 2 (0.53%) Kafka
12 2 (0.53%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 35 (9.33%) Analytical Mindset
2 34 (9.07%) Data Centre
3 30 (8.00%) Management Information System
4 29 (7.73%) Onboarding
5 19 (5.07%) Replication
6 17 (4.53%) Cloud Native
6 17 (4.53%) Clustering
7 16 (4.27%) Security Posture
8 14 (3.73%) Enterprise Software
8 14 (3.73%) Product Ownership
9 13 (3.47%) Video\Live Streaming
10 12 (3.20%) Hybrid Cloud
11 11 (2.93%) Legacy Systems
12 10 (2.67%) PKI
13 9 (2.40%) Data Structures
14 8 (2.13%) AI Agents
14 8 (2.13%) Enterprise Cloud
15 7 (1.87%) BYOD
15 7 (1.87%) Mobile App
16 6 (1.60%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 108 (28.80%) Windows
2 51 (13.60%) Windows Server
3 33 (8.80%) Windows 10
4 21 (5.60%) Linux
5 19 (5.07%) Android
6 12 (3.20%) Apple iOS
6 12 (3.20%) Mac OS
7 8 (2.13%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (1.60%) Solaris
9 5 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (1.07%) VMS
10 4 (1.07%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.80%) Unix
11 3 (0.80%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.80%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.53%) Alpine Linux
12 2 (0.53%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.27%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (39.20%) Problem-Solving
2 84 (22.40%) DevOps
3 81 (21.60%) ITIL
4 77 (20.53%) Customer Service
5 72 (19.20%) Agile
6 57 (15.20%) Stakeholder Management
7 54 (14.40%) CI/CD
8 48 (12.80%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 43 (11.47%) Business Intelligence
9 43 (11.47%) Computer Science
9 43 (11.47%) Migration
10 42 (11.20%) Infrastructure as Code
10 42 (11.20%) Project Delivery
10 42 (11.20%) Technical Leadership
11 41 (10.93%) Analytics
12 40 (10.67%) AI
13 39 (10.40%) Continuous Improvement
13 39 (10.40%) ITSM
14 35 (9.33%) Data Governance
15 32 (8.53%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 97 (25.87%) PowerShell
2 44 (11.73%) SQL
3 41 (10.93%) Python
4 37 (9.87%) C#
5 33 (8.80%) JavaScript
6 22 (5.87%) Bicep
7 16 (4.27%) Bash
8 8 (2.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 8 (2.13%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.33%) X++
10 3 (0.80%) Java
10 3 (0.80%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.80%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.53%) Perl
11 2 (0.53%) R
12 1 (0.27%) VB
Qualifications
1 142 (37.87%) Security Cleared
2 120 (32.00%) SC Cleared
3 118 (31.47%) Degree
4 78 (20.80%) MCSE
5 70 (18.67%) Azure Certification
6 67 (17.87%) A+ Certification
7 61 (16.27%) Cisco Certification
8 53 (14.13%) CCNA
9 45 (12.00%) Network+ Certification
10 41 (10.93%) MCSA
11 28 (7.47%) DV Cleared
12 24 (6.40%) Computer Science Degree
13 22 (5.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 15 (4.00%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 13 (3.47%) AWS Certification
16 12 (3.20%) Oracle Certification
17 11 (2.93%) OCP
18 10 (2.67%) BPSS Clearance
18 10 (2.67%) CISSP
19 8 (2.13%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 23 (6.13%) NIST
2 20 (5.33%) Accessibility
3 19 (5.07%) Data Quality
4 15 (4.00%) GDPR
4 15 (4.00%) SLA
5 14 (3.73%) QA
6 8 (2.13%) WCAG
7 5 (1.33%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.33%) NCSC
8 3 (0.80%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.53%) GRC
9 2 (0.53%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.53%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.53%) Solvency II
10 1 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.27%) ITGC
System Software
1 121 (32.27%) Active Directory
2 34 (9.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (4.53%) Virtual Desktop
3 17 (4.53%) Virtual Machines
3 17 (4.53%) VMware ESXi
4 13 (3.47%) Docker
4 13 (3.47%) vSphere
5 7 (1.87%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.80%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.80%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.53%) Firmware
7 2 (0.53%) Microsoft App-V
7 2 (0.53%) Virtual Servers
7 2 (0.53%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.27%) NDS
8 1 (0.27%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 1 (0.27%) NFS
Systems Management
1 55 (14.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 43 (11.47%) Terraform
3 26 (6.93%) Ansible
4 21 (5.60%) SCCM
5 18 (4.80%) vCenter Server
6 14 (3.73%) Kubernetes
6 14 (3.73%) SCOM
7 9 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (1.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (1.33%) Podman
9 3 (0.80%) Dell DRAC
9 3 (0.80%) Grafana
9 3 (0.80%) QRadar
9 3 (0.80%) WSUS
10 2 (0.53%) CASB
10 2 (0.53%) Nessus
10 2 (0.53%) Packer
10 2 (0.53%) vMotion
11 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.27%) SELinux
Vendors
1 315 (84.00%) Microsoft
2 41 (10.93%) VMware
3 33 (8.80%) Dell
4 31 (8.27%) ServiceNow
5 27 (7.20%) Oracle
6 23 (6.13%) Cisco
7 11 (2.93%) Apple
7 11 (2.93%) Remedy
8 10 (2.67%) Citrix
9 8 (2.13%) Google
9 8 (2.13%) SolarWinds
10 7 (1.87%) OpenAI
10 7 (1.87%) Splunk
11 6 (1.60%) Foundry
12 5 (1.33%) Databricks
12 5 (1.33%) Dynatrace
12 5 (1.33%) NetApp
12 5 (1.33%) Okta
12 5 (1.33%) Red Hat
13 4 (1.07%) Atlassian