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

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 306 237 255
Rank change year-on-year -69 +18 +103
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 331 279 318
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.78% 1.14% 0.85%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.45% 3.64% 2.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 160 204
10th Percentile £158 £200 £183
25th Percentile £350 £268 £323
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -3.85%
75th Percentile £583 £625 £561
90th Percentile £675 £700 £675
UK median daily rate £474 £463 £480
% change year-on-year +2.38% -3.65% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 32 56
10th Percentile £21.95 - £13.69
25th Percentile £38.25 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £63.14 £16.87 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +274.24% +3.50% +5.16%
75th Percentile £178.75 £33.75 £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 13,514 7,657 11,448
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.69% 31.23% 30.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,068 4,820 7,093
10th Percentile £350 £281 £313
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £521 £525
% change year-on-year +0.82% -0.81% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,032 473 1,010
10th Percentile £17.87 £17.87 £14.00
25th Percentile £22.63 £21.30 £19.25
Median hourly rate £51.22 £32.00 £40.29
Median % change year-on-year +60.06% -20.57% -26.75%
75th Percentile £73.46 £65.75 £64.25
90th Percentile £85.35 £81.01 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £30.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +63.93% -23.75% -27.27%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 12 June 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 -29 129 £525 +5.00% 76
North of England -65 68 £483 +10.40% 70
North West -36 49 £475 +3.04% 37
South East -55 45 £275 -45.00% 70
South West -17 36 £450 -14.89% 28
East of England -30 26 £173 -23.33% 27
Midlands -65 23 £425 +58.88% 28
West Midlands -62 18 £425 +72.94% 13
Yorkshire -42 15 £650 +57.58% 24
East Midlands -20 5 £434 -13.25% 15
North East -33 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 (10.27%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (9.37%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.91%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.30%) Confluence
Applications
1 19 (5.74%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 8 (2.42%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 6 (1.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (1.51%) Maximo
4 3 (0.91%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.91%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 157 (47.43%) Azure
2 92 (27.79%) Microsoft 365
3 67 (20.24%) Entra ID
4 58 (17.52%) Power Platform
5 35 (10.57%) Azure DevOps
5 35 (10.57%) Microsoft Purview
6 32 (9.67%) Power Automate
7 29 (8.76%) PowerApps
8 23 (6.95%) Dynamics 365
9 22 (6.65%) GitHub
10 21 (6.34%) AWS
11 20 (6.04%) Azure Data Factory
11 20 (6.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 17 (5.14%) OneDrive
13 15 (4.53%) Microsoft Copilot
14 14 (4.23%) Azure Logic Apps
15 12 (3.63%) Azure Monitor
15 12 (3.63%) Azure Sentinel
16 10 (3.02%) Azure AKS
17 8 (2.42%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 40 (12.08%) SAN
2 28 (8.46%) Firewall
3 26 (7.85%) DNS
4 22 (6.65%) VPN
5 14 (4.23%) TCP/IP
6 13 (3.93%) LAN
7 9 (2.72%) DHCP
8 8 (2.42%) Wi-Fi
9 6 (1.81%) Network Security
10 5 (1.51%) Kerberos
10 5 (1.51%) NetScaler
11 4 (1.21%) DMZ
11 4 (1.21%) Internet
11 4 (1.21%) NGFW
11 4 (1.21%) SSL
11 4 (1.21%) VLAN
11 4 (1.21%) VoIP
11 4 (1.21%) WAN
12 3 (0.91%) NAS
12 3 (0.91%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (9.97%) Power BI
2 30 (9.06%) SQL Server
3 13 (3.93%) Data Lake
4 12 (3.63%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 9 (2.72%) Azure SQL Database
5 9 (2.72%) Data Warehouse
5 9 (2.72%) Metadata
6 8 (2.42%) PostgreSQL
7 7 (2.11%) MySQL
8 6 (1.81%) Spark SQL
9 5 (1.51%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.51%) Power Query
10 4 (1.21%) Metadata Repository
10 4 (1.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.91%) Big Data
11 3 (0.91%) Star Schema
12 2 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
12 2 (0.60%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.60%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (2.42%) Git
2 3 (0.91%) Visual Studio Code
3 2 (0.60%) GitLab
3 2 (0.60%) JDeveloper
3 2 (0.60%) Selenium
3 2 (0.60%) WebDriver
4 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.30%) JIRA
4 1 (0.30%) MLflow
4 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
4 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 108 (32.63%) Social Skills
2 72 (21.75%) Analytical Skills
3 46 (13.90%) Finance
4 39 (11.78%) Public Sector
5 20 (6.04%) Telecoms
6 14 (4.23%) Legal
7 9 (2.72%) Banking
7 9 (2.72%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.21%) Aerospace
9 4 (1.21%) Front Office
9 4 (1.21%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.21%) Investment Banking
9 4 (1.21%) Marketing
9 4 (1.21%) Military
9 4 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.91%) International Banking
10 3 (0.91%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.60%) Law
11 2 (0.60%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 43 (12.99%) Architect
2 42 (12.69%) IT Engineer
3 36 (10.88%) Field Engineer
3 36 (10.88%) Field Service Engineer
4 34 (10.27%) Analyst
5 33 (9.97%) Senior
6 29 (8.76%) IT Support
7 21 (6.34%) Administrator
8 20 (6.04%) Support Engineer
9 19 (5.74%) Wintel Engineer
10 18 (5.44%) IT Support Engineer
11 16 (4.83%) Developer
11 16 (4.83%) IT Analyst
11 16 (4.83%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
11 16 (4.83%) Support Analyst
12 14 (4.23%) Solutions Architect
12 14 (4.23%) Technical Support
13 13 (3.93%) Azure Engineer
13 13 (3.93%) Field Support Engineer
13 13 (3.93%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.53%) OAuth
2 13 (3.93%) LDAP
2 13 (3.93%) OpenID
2 13 (3.93%) SAML
3 12 (3.63%) .NET
4 10 (3.02%) OAuth2
5 9 (2.72%) ONVIF
6 8 (2.42%) ARM Templates
7 7 (2.11%) Microsoft Graph
8 6 (1.81%) SailPoint
8 6 (1.81%) Web Services
9 4 (1.21%) JSON
9 4 (1.21%) REST
10 3 (0.91%) Middleware
10 3 (0.91%) PySpark
11 2 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
11 2 (0.60%) OpenGL
11 2 (0.60%) XML
11 2 (0.60%) XSLT
11 2 (0.60%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 41 (12.39%) Data Centre
2 39 (11.78%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (8.16%) Onboarding
4 18 (5.44%) Clustering
4 18 (5.44%) Replication
5 15 (4.53%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (3.93%) Security Posture
7 11 (3.32%) BYOD
8 10 (3.02%) Hybrid Cloud
9 9 (2.72%) Cloud Native
9 9 (2.72%) Management Information System
9 9 (2.72%) Video\Live Streaming
10 8 (2.42%) Legacy Systems
11 6 (1.81%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.81%) Low-Code
11 6 (1.81%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.51%) AI Agents
12 5 (1.51%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.51%) PKI
13 4 (1.21%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 107 (32.33%) Windows
2 49 (14.80%) Windows Server
3 31 (9.37%) Windows 10
4 21 (6.34%) Linux
5 12 (3.63%) Android
6 10 (3.02%) Apple iOS
7 9 (2.72%) Windows Server 2003
8 8 (2.42%) Mac OS
8 8 (2.42%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.81%) Unix
10 5 (1.51%) VMS
10 5 (1.51%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.21%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.91%) 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
1 123 (37.16%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (19.03%) DevOps
3 61 (18.43%) Customer Service
4 58 (17.52%) ITIL
5 46 (13.90%) Analytics
5 46 (13.90%) Migration
6 44 (13.29%) CI/CD
7 38 (11.48%) Agile
8 36 (10.88%) Break/Fix
9 35 (10.57%) High Availability
10 34 (10.27%) Infrastructure as Code
10 34 (10.27%) Project Delivery
11 33 (9.97%) Business Intelligence
12 32 (9.67%) Data Governance
13 31 (9.37%) Disaster Recovery
13 31 (9.37%) Roadmaps
14 30 (9.06%) RBAC
15 28 (8.46%) AI
15 28 (8.46%) Computer Science
15 28 (8.46%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 99 (29.91%) PowerShell
2 38 (11.48%) SQL
3 32 (9.67%) Python
4 20 (6.04%) Bicep
5 15 (4.53%) C#
6 13 (3.93%) Bash
7 11 (3.32%) JavaScript
8 8 (2.42%) T-SQL
9 6 (1.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.91%) X++
11 2 (0.60%) Perl
11 2 (0.60%) R
12 1 (0.30%) Java
12 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.30%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.30%) VB
Qualifications
1 100 (30.21%) Security Cleared
2 99 (29.91%) MCSE
3 81 (24.47%) SC Cleared
4 80 (24.17%) Degree
5 63 (19.03%) Cisco Certification
6 58 (17.52%) Azure Certification
7 57 (17.22%) A+ Certification
8 52 (15.71%) CCNA
9 48 (14.50%) MCSA
10 47 (14.20%) Network+ Certification
11 26 (7.85%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 25 (7.55%) DV Cleared
13 22 (6.65%) Computer Science Degree
14 17 (5.14%) CISSP
15 16 (4.83%) VCAP
16 10 (3.02%) CCNP
17 9 (2.72%) AWS Certification
17 9 (2.72%) CISM
17 9 (2.72%) CompTIA Security+
18 8 (2.42%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (7.85%) NIST
2 25 (7.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (3.93%) Data Quality
4 11 (3.32%) GDPR
4 11 (3.32%) SLA
5 8 (2.42%) NIST 800
6 6 (1.81%) NCSC
7 5 (1.51%) Accessibility
7 5 (1.51%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (1.21%) QA
9 3 (0.91%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.91%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.60%) Solvency II
10 2 (0.60%) WCAG
11 1 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.30%) GRC
11 1 (0.30%) GxP
11 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 106 (32.02%) Active Directory
2 32 (9.67%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (7.25%) VMware ESXi
4 21 (6.34%) Virtual Desktop
5 20 (6.04%) vSphere
6 19 (5.74%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (3.02%) Docker
8 5 (1.51%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.60%) BitLocker
9 2 (0.60%) Firmware
9 2 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.60%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.60%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 41 (12.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 38 (11.48%) Terraform
3 32 (9.67%) Ansible
4 23 (6.95%) vCenter Server
5 19 (5.74%) SCCM
6 14 (4.23%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 14 (4.23%) Kubernetes
7 7 (2.11%) SCOM
8 6 (1.81%) CASB
8 6 (1.81%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (1.51%) Nessus
10 3 (0.91%) Podman
10 3 (0.91%) QRadar
10 3 (0.91%) WSUS
11 2 (0.60%) Packer
11 2 (0.60%) vMotion
12 1 (0.30%) Backup Exec
12 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
12 1 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 261 (78.85%) Microsoft
2 42 (12.69%) VMware
3 37 (11.18%) Dell
4 30 (9.06%) Cisco
5 16 (4.83%) ServiceNow
6 15 (4.53%) Oracle
7 14 (4.23%) Citrix
8 12 (3.63%) Apple
9 9 (2.72%) Databricks
9 9 (2.72%) Remedy
10 8 (2.42%) Splunk
11 7 (2.11%) CyberArk
11 7 (2.11%) Tenable
12 6 (1.81%) Palo Alto
12 6 (1.81%) SolarWinds
13 5 (1.51%) Foundry
13 5 (1.51%) IBM
13 5 (1.51%) NetApp
13 5 (1.51%) Red Hat
14 4 (1.21%) Reuters