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

6 months to
19 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 302 231 253
Rank change year-on-year -71 +22 +110
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 305 273 324
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.74% 1.12% 0.89%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.33% 3.56% 2.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 154 212
10th Percentile £161 £200 £200
25th Percentile £350 £254 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.30% - -3.15%
75th Percentile £588 £623 £561
90th Percentile £676 £700 £669
UK median daily rate £471 £475 £478
% change year-on-year -0.93% -0.52% -6.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 31 59
10th Percentile £21.35 - £13.69
25th Percentile £41.50 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £63.14 £16.30 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +287.33% - +5.16%
75th Percentile £178.75 £20.73 £21.37
90th Percentile - £37.50 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £17.44 £16.30
% change year-on-year +262.01% +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 13,098 7,669 11,228
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.92% 31.53% 30.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,823 4,882 6,959
10th Percentile £350 £285 £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 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £533
% change year-on-year - -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 944 436 971
10th Percentile £17.00 £18.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £22.27 £17.94
Median hourly rate £47.54 £39.66 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.87% -0.85% -23.81%
75th Percentile £72.50 £67.50 £61.60
90th Percentile £85.25 £81.35 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £47.80 £37.25 £40.00
% change year-on-year +28.31% -6.88% -27.25%

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 19 May 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 19 May 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 19 May 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 -34 113 £525 +5.00% 79
North of England -63 66 £471 +2.08% 66
North West -46 49 £471 -4.45% 33
South East -58 39 £256 -51.19% 64
South West -17 35 £438 -19.54% 23
Midlands -57 28 £425 +58.88% 30
East of England -39 22 £190 -5.00% 36
West Midlands -56 22 £425 +58.88% 15
Yorkshire -42 14 £484 +21.00% 21
East Midlands -25 6 £363 - 15
North East -21 3 - - 12
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 (11.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (9.84%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.98%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.33%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 20 (6.56%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.33%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.62%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 5 (1.64%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.64%) Maximo
3 2 (0.66%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.33%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 138 (45.25%) Azure
2 84 (27.54%) Microsoft 365
3 59 (19.34%) Entra ID
4 49 (16.07%) Power Platform
5 30 (9.84%) Azure DevOps
5 30 (9.84%) Microsoft Purview
6 27 (8.85%) Power Automate
7 26 (8.52%) PowerApps
8 22 (7.21%) Azure Data Factory
9 21 (6.89%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 20 (6.56%) AWS
10 20 (6.56%) GitHub
11 18 (5.90%) Dynamics 365
12 15 (4.92%) OneDrive
13 14 (4.59%) Azure Monitor
14 12 (3.93%) Microsoft Copilot
15 11 (3.61%) Azure Logic Apps
15 11 (3.61%) Azure Sentinel
16 10 (3.28%) Azure AKS
17 9 (2.95%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 41 (13.44%) SAN
2 27 (8.85%) Firewall
3 24 (7.87%) DNS
3 24 (7.87%) VPN
4 12 (3.93%) TCP/IP
5 10 (3.28%) LAN
6 7 (2.30%) DHCP
6 7 (2.30%) Network Security
6 7 (2.30%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (1.97%) Kerberos
8 5 (1.64%) VLAN
9 4 (1.31%) DMZ
9 4 (1.31%) NGFW
9 4 (1.31%) SSL
10 3 (0.98%) NAS
10 3 (0.98%) SMTP
10 3 (0.98%) VoIP
11 2 (0.66%) iSCSI
11 2 (0.66%) NetScaler
11 2 (0.66%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (9.51%) SQL Server
2 26 (8.52%) Power BI
3 14 (4.59%) Data Lake
4 12 (3.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 9 (2.95%) Azure SQL Database
5 9 (2.95%) Data Warehouse
5 9 (2.95%) Metadata
6 7 (2.30%) PostgreSQL
7 6 (1.97%) MySQL
7 6 (1.97%) Spark SQL
8 5 (1.64%) Delta Lake
8 5 (1.64%) Power Query
9 4 (1.31%) Metadata Repository
10 3 (0.98%) Big Data
10 3 (0.98%) Star Schema
11 2 (0.66%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.66%) Relational Database
11 2 (0.66%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.66%) Tableau
12 1 (0.33%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 11 (3.61%) Git
2 4 (1.31%) GitLab
3 3 (0.98%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.66%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.66%) JDeveloper
4 2 (0.66%) Selenium
4 2 (0.66%) WebDriver
5 1 (0.33%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.33%) MLflow
5 1 (0.33%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.33%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 98 (32.13%) Social Skills
2 69 (22.62%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (12.13%) Finance
4 34 (11.15%) Public Sector
5 16 (5.25%) Telecoms
6 13 (4.26%) Legal
7 8 (2.62%) Banking
7 8 (2.62%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (1.31%) Front Office
8 4 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (1.31%) Investment Banking
8 4 (1.31%) Marketing
8 4 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (0.98%) Aerospace
9 3 (0.98%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (0.98%) International Banking
9 3 (0.98%) Law
9 3 (0.98%) Military
9 3 (0.98%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.66%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 42 (13.77%) Architect
1 42 (13.77%) IT Engineer
2 37 (12.13%) Field Engineer
2 37 (12.13%) Field Service Engineer
3 31 (10.16%) Analyst
4 29 (9.51%) IT Support
4 29 (9.51%) Senior
5 20 (6.56%) Support Engineer
6 18 (5.90%) IT Support Engineer
6 18 (5.90%) Wintel Engineer
7 16 (5.25%) IT Analyst
7 16 (5.25%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
7 16 (5.25%) Support Analyst
8 14 (4.59%) Administrator
8 14 (4.59%) Developer
8 14 (4.59%) Solutions Architect
9 13 (4.26%) Field Support Engineer
10 12 (3.93%) Cloud Engineer
10 12 (3.93%) Lead
11 11 (3.61%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.92%) OAuth
2 13 (4.26%) OpenID
2 13 (4.26%) SAML
3 12 (3.93%) LDAP
4 11 (3.61%) .NET
5 9 (2.95%) OAuth2
6 8 (2.62%) ARM Templates
7 7 (2.30%) Microsoft Graph
8 5 (1.64%) ONVIF
9 4 (1.31%) REST
9 4 (1.31%) SailPoint
9 4 (1.31%) Web Services
10 3 (0.98%) React
11 2 (0.66%) CSS
11 2 (0.66%) Oracle Fusion
11 2 (0.66%) Qt
11 2 (0.66%) RESTful
11 2 (0.66%) XML
11 2 (0.66%) XSLT
11 2 (0.66%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 40 (13.11%) Analytical Mindset
1 40 (13.11%) Data Centre
2 25 (8.20%) Onboarding
3 19 (6.23%) Replication
4 17 (5.57%) Clustering
5 16 (5.25%) Enterprise Software
6 9 (2.95%) BYOD
6 9 (2.95%) Hybrid Cloud
7 8 (2.62%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.97%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.97%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (1.97%) Management Information System
9 5 (1.64%) Cloud Security Posture
9 5 (1.64%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.64%) Mobile App
9 5 (1.64%) Video\Live Streaming
10 4 (1.31%) Operational Technology
10 4 (1.31%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.31%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.98%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 97 (31.80%) Windows
2 44 (14.43%) Windows Server
3 30 (9.84%) Windows 10
4 18 (5.90%) Linux
5 10 (3.28%) Android
6 9 (2.95%) Windows Server 2003
7 8 (2.62%) Apple iOS
7 8 (2.62%) Windows 7
8 6 (1.97%) Mac OS
8 6 (1.97%) Unix
8 6 (1.97%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.64%) VMS
10 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.66%) AIX
12 1 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (36.07%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (19.34%) Customer Service
3 56 (18.36%) ITIL
4 53 (17.38%) DevOps
5 47 (15.41%) Analytics
6 46 (15.08%) Migration
7 43 (14.10%) CI/CD
8 37 (12.13%) Break/Fix
9 36 (11.80%) Agile
10 32 (10.49%) Disaster Recovery
10 32 (10.49%) High Availability
11 31 (10.16%) Infrastructure as Code
11 31 (10.16%) Project Delivery
12 28 (9.18%) Data Governance
12 28 (9.18%) Roadmaps
13 27 (8.85%) Computer Science
13 27 (8.85%) Identity Access Management
14 26 (8.52%) Business Intelligence
14 26 (8.52%) RBAC
15 24 (7.87%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 84 (27.54%) PowerShell
2 36 (11.80%) SQL
3 27 (8.85%) Python
4 17 (5.57%) Bicep
5 10 (3.28%) Bash
5 10 (3.28%) C#
6 7 (2.30%) T-SQL
7 6 (1.97%) JavaScript
8 5 (1.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (1.31%) R
10 2 (0.66%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.33%) Java
11 1 (0.33%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.33%) VB
11 1 (0.33%) X++
Qualifications
1 92 (30.16%) MCSE
2 89 (29.18%) Security Cleared
3 74 (24.26%) SC Cleared
4 73 (23.93%) Degree
5 59 (19.34%) Cisco Certification
6 53 (17.38%) Azure Certification
7 52 (17.05%) A+ Certification
8 49 (16.07%) CCNA
9 48 (15.74%) Network+ Certification
10 39 (12.79%) MCSA
11 23 (7.54%) Computer Science Degree
12 22 (7.21%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 21 (6.89%) DV Cleared
14 17 (5.57%) CISSP
15 15 (4.92%) VCAP
16 9 (2.95%) CCNP
16 9 (2.95%) Microsoft Certified Professional
17 7 (2.30%) AWS Certification
17 7 (2.30%) CISM
17 7 (2.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.56%) NIST
2 19 (6.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (3.61%) SLA
4 10 (3.28%) GDPR
5 8 (2.62%) Data Quality
5 8 (2.62%) NIST 800
6 6 (1.97%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.97%) NCSC
7 5 (1.64%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.31%) QA
8 4 (1.31%) WCAG
9 1 (0.33%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 1 (0.33%) GRC
9 1 (0.33%) GxP
9 1 (0.33%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 98 (32.13%) Active Directory
2 30 (9.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (6.56%) VMware ESXi
4 18 (5.90%) Virtual Desktop
5 16 (5.25%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (5.25%) vSphere
6 11 (3.61%) Docker
7 7 (2.30%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.66%) Firmware
8 2 (0.66%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (0.66%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.66%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.33%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 36 (11.80%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (10.82%) Terraform
3 29 (9.51%) Ansible
4 19 (6.23%) vCenter Server
5 17 (5.57%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 15 (4.92%) Kubernetes
6 15 (4.92%) SCCM
7 6 (1.97%) CASB
7 6 (1.97%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (1.64%) Nessus
9 4 (1.31%) SCOM
10 3 (0.98%) Podman
10 3 (0.98%) QRadar
10 3 (0.98%) WSUS
11 2 (0.66%) Packer
12 1 (0.33%) Backup Exec
12 1 (0.33%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.33%) Jamf Pro
12 1 (0.33%) Oracle RMAN
12 1 (0.33%) PaperCut
Vendors
1 241 (79.02%) Microsoft
2 40 (13.11%) VMware
3 38 (12.46%) Dell
4 28 (9.18%) Cisco
5 13 (4.26%) Oracle
6 12 (3.93%) Apple
7 11 (3.61%) Citrix
7 11 (3.61%) Databricks
7 11 (3.61%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.30%) CyberArk
9 6 (1.97%) Palo Alto
9 6 (1.97%) Remedy
9 6 (1.97%) Tenable
10 5 (1.64%) IBM
10 5 (1.64%) NetApp
10 5 (1.64%) Red Hat
10 5 (1.64%) Splunk
11 4 (1.31%) Bloomberg
11 4 (1.31%) Foundry
11 4 (1.31%) Reuters
267 Microsoft Certification jobs in England