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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 305 246 269
Rank change year-on-year -59 +23 +82
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 335 279 326
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.76% 1.07% 0.87%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.42% 3.46% 2.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 165 205
10th Percentile £153 £200 £183
25th Percentile £300 £285 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £567 £613 £588
90th Percentile £675 £669 £675
UK median daily rate £451 £463 £493
% change year-on-year -2.59% -6.09% -6.19%
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 13,869 8,073 11,407
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.58% 30.94% 30.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,346 5,088 7,062
10th Percentile £350 £282 £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 £718 £717 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £523 £525
% change year-on-year +0.43% -0.43% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,044 535 994
10th Percentile £17.87 £17.87 £14.16
25th Percentile £24.19 £20.07 £20.50
Median hourly rate £53.00 £28.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +85.96% -32.94% -22.73%
75th Percentile £74.00 £63.13 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.40 £77.50 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £51.00 £27.94 £40.94
% change year-on-year +82.53% -31.75% -26.70%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -54 114 £520 +4.00% 70
North of England -50 76 £483 +13.65% 67
North West -28 60 £481 +13.18% 35
South East -48 51 £275 -49.07% 60
South West -20 32 £450 -9.55% 21
East of England -22 32 £173 -23.33% 26
Midlands -58 26 £425 +52.47% 34
West Midlands -61 20 £425 +72.94% 21
Yorkshire -45 12 £650 +57.58% 24
East Midlands -12 6 £431 -13.05% 13
North East -36 4 £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 35 (10.45%) SharePoint
2 25 (7.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.30%) Confluence
Applications
1 16 (4.78%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.49%) Oracle Payables
3 3 (0.90%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.60%) Veritas eDiscovery
5 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 171 (51.04%) Azure
2 91 (27.16%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (21.79%) Entra ID
4 58 (17.31%) Power Platform
5 36 (10.75%) Power Automate
6 35 (10.45%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (9.25%) PowerApps
8 29 (8.66%) Microsoft Purview
9 27 (8.06%) AWS
10 24 (7.16%) Dynamics 365
11 21 (6.27%) GitHub
12 20 (5.97%) OneDrive
13 18 (5.37%) Azure Logic Apps
14 15 (4.48%) Microsoft Copilot
15 13 (3.88%) Azure Monitor
16 12 (3.58%) Azure Data Factory
16 12 (3.58%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 10 (2.99%) PaaS
17 10 (2.99%) Serverless
18 9 (2.69%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 38 (11.34%) SAN
2 33 (9.85%) DNS
3 29 (8.66%) Firewall
4 24 (7.16%) VPN
5 19 (5.67%) TCP/IP
6 15 (4.48%) LAN
7 12 (3.58%) DHCP
8 9 (2.69%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (2.39%) SSL
10 7 (2.09%) WAN
11 5 (1.49%) Network Security
11 5 (1.49%) NGFW
11 5 (1.49%) Wireless
12 4 (1.19%) Internet
12 4 (1.19%) Kerberos
13 3 (0.90%) DMZ
13 3 (0.90%) Intrusion Detection
13 3 (0.90%) NAS
13 3 (0.90%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.90%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (9.85%) Power BI
2 32 (9.55%) SQL Server
3 16 (4.78%) MySQL
4 13 (3.88%) PostgreSQL
5 7 (2.09%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.79%) Power Query
6 6 (1.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 5 (1.49%) Data Lake
7 5 (1.49%) Metadata
8 4 (1.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (1.19%) Star Schema
9 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (0.90%) Big Data
10 2 (0.60%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.60%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.60%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.60%) Semantic Layer
10 2 (0.60%) Spark SQL
10 2 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (2.09%) Git
2 4 (1.19%) Selenium
2 4 (1.19%) WebDriver
3 3 (0.90%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.60%) Cucumber
4 2 (0.60%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.60%) GitLab
4 2 (0.60%) JIRA
4 2 (0.60%) Postman
5 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.30%) MLflow
5 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 117 (34.93%) Social Skills
2 82 (24.48%) Analytical Skills
3 47 (14.03%) Public Sector
4 46 (13.73%) Finance
5 23 (6.87%) Telecoms
6 12 (3.58%) Legal
7 11 (3.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 10 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.49%) Banking
9 5 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (1.19%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.90%) Front Office
11 3 (0.90%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.90%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.90%) Military
11 3 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.60%) Law
12 2 (0.60%) Local Government
13 1 (0.30%) Advertising
13 1 (0.30%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 43 (12.84%) Architect
2 42 (12.54%) IT Engineer
3 39 (11.64%) Analyst
4 34 (10.15%) Field Engineer
4 34 (10.15%) Field Service Engineer
5 32 (9.55%) IT Support
5 32 (9.55%) Senior
6 23 (6.87%) Administrator
7 22 (6.57%) Support Engineer
8 21 (6.27%) DBA
9 19 (5.67%) IT Support Engineer
9 19 (5.67%) Support Analyst
10 18 (5.37%) Lead
10 18 (5.37%) Technical Support
11 17 (5.07%) Developer
11 17 (5.07%) IT Analyst
12 16 (4.78%) Solutions Architect
13 15 (4.48%) Wintel Engineer
14 13 (3.88%) Field Support Engineer
14 13 (3.88%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.18%) OAuth
2 13 (3.88%) ONVIF
3 12 (3.58%) LDAP
3 12 (3.58%) OpenID
3 12 (3.58%) SAML
4 11 (3.28%) .NET
5 10 (2.99%) OAuth2
6 6 (1.79%) JSON
6 6 (1.79%) Microsoft Graph
6 6 (1.79%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.79%) Web Services
7 4 (1.19%) ARM Templates
7 4 (1.19%) REST
8 3 (0.90%) Middleware
8 3 (0.90%) PySpark
9 2 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
9 2 (0.60%) Gherkin
9 2 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.60%) Qt
9 2 (0.60%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 40 (11.94%) Data Centre
2 37 (11.04%) Analytical Mindset
3 28 (8.36%) Onboarding
4 17 (5.07%) Clustering
4 17 (5.07%) Replication
5 16 (4.78%) Security Posture
6 15 (4.48%) Management Information System
7 13 (3.88%) Cloud Native
7 13 (3.88%) Video\Live Streaming
8 11 (3.28%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
10 8 (2.39%) Hybrid Cloud
11 7 (2.09%) PKI
12 6 (1.79%) Data Structures
12 6 (1.79%) Enterprise Cloud
12 6 (1.79%) Low-Code
12 6 (1.79%) Mobile App
12 6 (1.79%) Product Ownership
13 5 (1.49%) AI Agents
13 5 (1.49%) Cloud Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 108 (32.24%) Windows
2 48 (14.33%) Windows Server
3 31 (9.25%) Windows 10
4 20 (5.97%) Linux
5 12 (3.58%) Android
6 10 (2.99%) Apple iOS
7 9 (2.69%) Mac OS
7 9 (2.69%) Windows Server 2003
8 8 (2.39%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.79%) Unix
9 6 (1.79%) VMS
10 5 (1.49%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.19%) Solaris
11 4 (1.19%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.90%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.60%) AIX
13 2 (0.60%) Alpine Linux
13 2 (0.60%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (38.81%) Problem-Solving
2 67 (20.00%) Customer Service
2 67 (20.00%) DevOps
3 62 (18.51%) ITIL
4 47 (14.03%) Agile
5 43 (12.84%) CI/CD
6 38 (11.34%) Infrastructure as Code
7 36 (10.75%) Computer Science
7 36 (10.75%) Migration
8 34 (10.15%) Analytics
8 34 (10.15%) Break/Fix
9 33 (9.85%) Business Intelligence
9 33 (9.85%) Project Delivery
10 31 (9.25%) Data Governance
10 31 (9.25%) Stakeholder Management
11 29 (8.66%) AI
12 26 (7.76%) Data Loss Prevention
12 26 (7.76%) RBAC
12 26 (7.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 26 (7.76%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 89 (26.57%) PowerShell
2 39 (11.64%) SQL
3 32 (9.55%) Python
4 19 (5.67%) Bicep
4 19 (5.67%) C#
5 16 (4.78%) JavaScript
6 13 (3.88%) Bash
7 7 (2.09%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 7 (2.09%) T-SQL
8 3 (0.90%) X++
9 2 (0.60%) Perl
9 2 (0.60%) R
10 1 (0.30%) Java
10 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.30%) VB
Qualifications
1 109 (32.54%) Security Cleared
2 92 (27.46%) Degree
3 90 (26.87%) MCSE
4 88 (26.27%) SC Cleared
5 64 (19.10%) A+ Certification
6 63 (18.81%) Cisco Certification
7 59 (17.61%) Azure Certification
8 54 (16.12%) CCNA
9 46 (13.73%) Network+ Certification
10 45 (13.43%) MCSA
11 23 (6.87%) Computer Science Degree
11 23 (6.87%) DV Cleared
11 23 (6.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 13 (3.88%) AWS Certification
13 12 (3.58%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 12 (3.58%) VCAP
14 11 (3.28%) CISSP
15 10 (2.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 9 (2.69%) CCNP
16 9 (2.69%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (6.27%) NIST
2 19 (5.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (3.88%) Data Quality
4 11 (3.28%) SLA
5 9 (2.69%) Accessibility
5 9 (2.69%) GDPR
6 7 (2.09%) NCSC
6 7 (2.09%) QA
7 4 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.19%) WCAG
8 3 (0.90%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.90%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.60%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.60%) Solvency II
10 1 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.30%) GRC
10 1 (0.30%) GxP
10 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 110 (32.84%) Active Directory
2 31 (9.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (5.97%) VMware ESXi
4 19 (5.67%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (5.07%) Virtual Desktop
6 16 (4.78%) vSphere
7 13 (3.88%) Docker
8 5 (1.49%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.90%) Firmware
9 3 (0.90%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.60%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (0.60%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.30%) NFS
Systems Management
1 39 (11.64%) Microsoft Intune
1 39 (11.64%) Terraform
2 29 (8.66%) Ansible
3 19 (5.67%) SCCM
3 19 (5.67%) vCenter Server
4 12 (3.58%) Kubernetes
5 11 (3.28%) SCOM
6 7 (2.09%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 7 (2.09%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.79%) CASB
8 5 (1.49%) Nessus
9 3 (0.90%) Grafana
9 3 (0.90%) Podman
9 3 (0.90%) QRadar
9 3 (0.90%) WSUS
10 2 (0.60%) Packer
10 2 (0.60%) vMotion
11 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
11 1 (0.30%) PaperCut
Vendors
1 266 (79.40%) Microsoft
2 40 (11.94%) VMware
3 35 (10.45%) Dell
4 25 (7.46%) Cisco
5 21 (6.27%) Oracle
6 20 (5.97%) ServiceNow
7 12 (3.58%) Apple
8 11 (3.28%) Citrix
9 10 (2.99%) Splunk
10 9 (2.69%) Remedy
11 8 (2.39%) SolarWinds
12 7 (2.09%) CyberArk
12 7 (2.09%) Tenable
13 5 (1.49%) Databricks
13 5 (1.49%) Dynatrace
13 5 (1.49%) Foundry
13 5 (1.49%) NetApp
14 4 (1.19%) Google
14 4 (1.19%) HP
14 4 (1.19%) Okta
252 Microsoft Certification jobs in England