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

6 months to
19 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 299 236 271
Rank change year-on-year -63 +35 +92
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 324 271 300
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.82% 1.11% 0.81%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.49% 3.52% 2.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 216 153 200
10th Percentile £171 £200 £198
25th Percentile £374 £350 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £603 £638 £575
90th Percentile £711 £725 £689
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £469
% change year-on-year - +6.67% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 31 55
10th Percentile £10.43 £14.99 £13.69
25th Percentile £23.43 £15.22 £14.16
Median hourly rate £31.86 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +82.68% +6.99% +5.16%
75th Percentile £151.02 £21.46 £21.37
90th Percentile £178.75 £37.50 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £31.86 £20.00 £16.30
% change year-on-year +59.30% +22.70% +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 13,008 7,696 11,694
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.95% 31.43% 31.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,738 4,926 7,206
10th Percentile £340 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £623 £630 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £518 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.43% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 980 430 960
10th Percentile £17.00 £18.13 £13.99
25th Percentile £21.25 £24.54 £17.80
Median hourly rate £47.25 £50.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.50% +25.00% -20.00%
75th Percentile £71.50 £68.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.36 £82.25 £77.04
UK median hourly rate £45.46 £42.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +6.96% +6.25% -23.81%

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 April 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 April 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 April 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 -11 120 £525 +5.00% 75
North of England -79 56 £470 -6.00% 51
South West 0 51 £545 -3.11% 27
North West -56 40 £470 -6.93% 28
South East -53 38 £480 -15.04% 65
Midlands -53 37 £425 +89.73% 24
West Midlands -54 29 £425 +89.73% 15
East of England -43 18 £173 -54.90% 34
Yorkshire -46 13 £484 +21.00% 16
East Midlands -24 8 £220 - 9
North East -15 3 - - 8
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 43 (13.27%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (9.88%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.93%) Exchange Server 2013
4 2 (0.62%) Confluence
5 1 (0.31%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.31%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 19 (5.86%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.23%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (2.47%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 6 (1.85%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.85%) Maximo
3 2 (0.62%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 142 (43.83%) Azure
2 102 (31.48%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (19.14%) Entra ID
4 49 (15.12%) Power Platform
5 31 (9.57%) Microsoft Purview
6 29 (8.95%) Azure DevOps
7 25 (7.72%) Power Automate
8 24 (7.41%) AWS
8 24 (7.41%) PowerApps
9 23 (7.10%) Azure Data Factory
10 21 (6.48%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 18 (5.56%) Dynamics 365
12 17 (5.25%) GitHub
13 16 (4.94%) Microsoft Copilot
14 15 (4.63%) OneDrive
15 13 (4.01%) Azure Monitor
16 12 (3.70%) Azure AKS
16 12 (3.70%) Azure Logic Apps
17 11 (3.40%) Azure Sentinel
17 11 (3.40%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 36 (11.11%) DNS
1 36 (11.11%) Firewall
2 33 (10.19%) SAN
3 28 (8.64%) VPN
4 12 (3.70%) TCP/IP
5 9 (2.78%) LAN
6 8 (2.47%) DHCP
6 8 (2.47%) Network Security
7 7 (2.16%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (1.85%) SSL
9 5 (1.54%) VLAN
10 4 (1.23%) DMZ
10 4 (1.23%) NAS
11 3 (0.93%) DKIM
11 3 (0.93%) Kerberos
11 3 (0.93%) NetScaler
11 3 (0.93%) Skype
11 3 (0.93%) SMTP
11 3 (0.93%) Softphone
11 3 (0.93%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (9.26%) SQL Server
2 26 (8.02%) Power BI
3 16 (4.94%) Data Lake
4 12 (3.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 10 (3.09%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (2.78%) Azure SQL Database
6 9 (2.78%) MySQL
7 8 (2.47%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (2.47%) Metadata
8 6 (1.85%) Spark SQL
9 5 (1.54%) Delta Lake
9 5 (1.54%) Power Query
10 4 (1.23%) Metadata Repository
11 3 (0.93%) Big Data
11 3 (0.93%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.93%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.93%) Tableau
12 2 (0.62%) Relational Database
13 1 (0.31%) MongoDB
13 1 (0.31%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 14 (4.32%) Git
2 4 (1.23%) GitLab
2 4 (1.23%) JIRA
3 3 (0.93%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.93%) Visual Studio Code
4 2 (0.62%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.62%) JDeveloper
4 2 (0.62%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.62%) Selenium
4 2 (0.62%) WebDriver
5 1 (0.31%) AdminStudio
5 1 (0.31%) InstallShield
5 1 (0.31%) MLflow
5 1 (0.31%) MSI
5 1 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.31%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 118 (36.42%) Social Skills
2 61 (18.83%) Analytical Skills
3 38 (11.73%) Finance
4 29 (8.95%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (4.32%) Legal
7 12 (3.70%) Banking
8 9 (2.78%) Telecoms
9 5 (1.54%) Marketing
10 4 (1.23%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.23%) Front Office
10 4 (1.23%) International Banking
10 4 (1.23%) Investment Banking
10 4 (1.23%) Military
11 3 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.93%) Retail
12 2 (0.62%) Aeronautics
12 2 (0.62%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (0.62%) Law
Job Titles
1 51 (15.74%) Architect
2 35 (10.80%) IT Engineer
3 31 (9.57%) Analyst
4 29 (8.95%) Field Engineer
4 29 (8.95%) Field Service Engineer
4 29 (8.95%) Senior
5 27 (8.33%) IT Support
6 22 (6.79%) Administrator
7 21 (6.48%) Solutions Architect
8 19 (5.86%) Support Engineer
9 16 (4.94%) IT Support Engineer
9 16 (4.94%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
9 16 (4.94%) Support Analyst
10 15 (4.63%) IT Analyst
11 14 (4.32%) DBA
11 14 (4.32%) Lead
12 13 (4.01%) Cloud Engineer
13 12 (3.70%) Azure Engineer
13 12 (3.70%) Developer
13 12 (3.70%) Wintel Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (7.72%) OAuth
2 23 (7.10%) SAML
3 21 (6.48%) OpenID
4 18 (5.56%) OAuth2
5 11 (3.40%) .NET
6 10 (3.09%) LDAP
7 9 (2.78%) ARM Templates
8 8 (2.47%) Microsoft Graph
9 7 (2.16%) REST
10 3 (0.93%) JSON
10 3 (0.93%) React
10 3 (0.93%) YAML
11 2 (0.62%) A2A Protocol
11 2 (0.62%) CSS
11 2 (0.62%) Jest
11 2 (0.62%) Model Context Protocol
11 2 (0.62%) Next.js
11 2 (0.62%) PySpark
11 2 (0.62%) RESTful
11 2 (0.62%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 31 (9.57%) Analytical Mindset
2 30 (9.26%) Data Centre
3 19 (5.86%) Onboarding
3 19 (5.86%) Replication
4 17 (5.25%) Enterprise Software
5 13 (4.01%) Hybrid Cloud
6 11 (3.40%) BYOD
7 10 (3.09%) Clustering
8 9 (2.78%) Private Cloud
8 9 (2.78%) Security Posture
9 8 (2.47%) PKI
10 7 (2.16%) Cloud Native
10 7 (2.16%) Management Information System
11 6 (1.85%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (1.54%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.54%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.54%) Operational Technology
12 5 (1.54%) Security Operations Centre
13 4 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
13 4 (1.23%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 114 (35.19%) Windows
2 59 (18.21%) Windows Server
3 28 (8.64%) Windows 10
4 18 (5.56%) Linux
5 9 (2.78%) Windows Server 2003
5 9 (2.78%) Windows Server 2012
6 8 (2.47%) Android
7 7 (2.16%) Windows 7
7 7 (2.16%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (1.85%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.85%) Mac OS
8 6 (1.85%) Unix
9 3 (0.93%) VMS
9 3 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.62%) AIX
10 2 (0.62%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (31.79%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (18.83%) ITIL
3 52 (16.05%) Migration
4 51 (15.74%) Customer Service
5 49 (15.12%) DevOps
6 43 (13.27%) CI/CD
7 37 (11.42%) Analytics
7 37 (11.42%) RBAC
8 36 (11.11%) Agile
9 35 (10.80%) Identity Access Management
10 31 (9.57%) Disaster Recovery
11 29 (8.95%) Break/Fix
11 29 (8.95%) Computer Science
11 29 (8.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 29 (8.95%) Roadmaps
12 27 (8.33%) Business Intelligence
12 27 (8.33%) High Availability
12 27 (8.33%) Identity Management
12 27 (8.33%) Infrastructure as Code
13 26 (8.02%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 98 (30.25%) PowerShell
2 40 (12.35%) SQL
3 29 (8.95%) Python
4 15 (4.63%) Bicep
5 10 (3.09%) C#
6 7 (2.16%) T-SQL
7 6 (1.85%) Bash
8 5 (1.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (1.54%) JavaScript
9 4 (1.23%) R
9 4 (1.23%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.31%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.31%) VB
10 1 (0.31%) VBScript
10 1 (0.31%) X++
Qualifications
1 101 (31.17%) Security Cleared
2 87 (26.85%) MCSE
3 86 (26.54%) Degree
4 73 (22.53%) SC Cleared
5 59 (18.21%) Azure Certification
6 46 (14.20%) Cisco Certification
7 38 (11.73%) Network+ Certification
8 37 (11.42%) A+ Certification
9 36 (11.11%) CCNA
9 36 (11.11%) DV Cleared
10 30 (9.26%) MCSA
11 28 (8.64%) Computer Science Degree
12 24 (7.41%) CISSP
13 16 (4.94%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 16 (4.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 12 (3.70%) CompTIA Security+
15 11 (3.40%) CCNP
16 10 (3.09%) CISM
17 8 (2.47%) AWS Certification
17 8 (2.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (5.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 17 (5.25%) NIST
2 15 (4.63%) GDPR
3 8 (2.47%) SLA
4 7 (2.16%) Cyber Essentials
4 7 (2.16%) NCSC
4 7 (2.16%) NIST 800
5 6 (1.85%) Data Quality
6 4 (1.23%) Accessibility
6 4 (1.23%) QA
7 3 (0.93%) WCAG
8 1 (0.31%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 1 (0.31%) GxP
8 1 (0.31%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.31%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.31%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.31%) SOC 2
System Software
1 127 (39.20%) Active Directory
2 28 (8.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (4.32%) VMware ESXi
4 12 (3.70%) Virtual Desktop
5 11 (3.40%) Docker
6 10 (3.09%) vSphere
7 9 (2.78%) Virtual Machines
8 8 (2.47%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.93%) Firmware
10 2 (0.62%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.31%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 41 (12.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 34 (10.49%) Terraform
3 30 (9.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 22 (6.79%) Ansible
5 20 (6.17%) SCCM
6 19 (5.86%) Kubernetes
6 19 (5.86%) Single Sign-On
7 12 (3.70%) vCenter Server
8 6 (1.85%) CASB
8 6 (1.85%) WSUS
9 5 (1.54%) Nessus
10 3 (0.93%) SCOM
11 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
11 2 (0.62%) Podman
11 2 (0.62%) PowerCLI
12 1 (0.31%) Dell DRAC
12 1 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
12 1 (0.31%) Kubeflow
12 1 (0.31%) PaperCut
12 1 (0.31%) QRadar
Vendors
1 270 (83.33%) Microsoft
2 39 (12.04%) VMware
3 31 (9.57%) Dell
4 20 (6.17%) Cisco
5 18 (5.56%) Oracle
6 12 (3.70%) Citrix
6 12 (3.70%) ServiceNow
7 11 (3.40%) Apple
7 11 (3.40%) Databricks
8 9 (2.78%) Tenable
9 8 (2.47%) Red Hat
10 7 (2.16%) IBM
11 6 (1.85%) CyberArk
11 6 (1.85%) Remedy
11 6 (1.85%) Veeam
12 4 (1.23%) Atlassian
12 4 (1.23%) CheckPoint
12 4 (1.23%) Foundry
12 4 (1.23%) SolarWinds
12 4 (1.23%) Splunk