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

6 months to
15 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 301 231 251
Rank change year-on-year -70 +20 +91
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 348 299 336
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.78% 1.10% 0.92%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.46% 3.57% 3.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 178 210
10th Percentile £154 £202 £182
25th Percentile £306 £303 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £495
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +1.01% -5.71%
75th Percentile £565 £625 £556
90th Percentile £668 £671 £675
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £495
% change year-on-year -5.26% -4.04% -5.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 30 55
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £13.69
25th Percentile £20.75 £15.10 £14.16
Median hourly rate £52.50 £17.44 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +201.03% +6.99% -1.21%
75th Percentile £178.75 £33.75 £21.37
90th Percentile - £37.95 -
UK median hourly rate £52.50 £17.44 £16.30
% change year-on-year +201.03% +6.99% -1.21%

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 14,126 8,374 11,204
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.57% 30.86% 30.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,529 5,279 6,996
10th Percentile £350 £289 £313
25th Percentile £430 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £537
Median % change year-on-year - -2.16% -2.44%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £715 £716 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,056 595 976
10th Percentile £17.87 £18.13 £14.21
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.87 £20.98
Median hourly rate £54.25 £27.50 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +97.27% -36.05% -21.82%
75th Percentile £74.26 £61.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £87.56 £76.07 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £52.50 £26.81 £41.50
% change year-on-year +95.80% -35.39% -24.93%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 -53 115 £523 +4.50% 71
North of England -56 74 £484 +13.88% 68
South East -46 60 £275 -54.17% 72
North West -35 58 £483 +10.78% 32
East of England -27 31 £173 -54.00% 25
South West -29 31 £425 -18.27% 23
Midlands -48 31 £425 +46.55% 36
West Midlands -59 25 £425 +58.88% 17
Yorkshire -46 13 £650 +57.58% 24
East Midlands -10 6 £431 -13.05% 19
North East -39 3 £363 +81.25% 14
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 41 (11.78%) SharePoint
2 25 (7.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.29%) Confluence
3 1 (0.29%) Liferay
Applications
1 14 (4.02%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.30%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.44%) Oracle Payables
2 5 (1.44%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
3 1 (0.29%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.29%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 183 (52.59%) Azure
2 98 (28.16%) Microsoft 365
3 78 (22.41%) Entra ID
4 61 (17.53%) Power Platform
5 41 (11.78%) Power Automate
6 38 (10.92%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (9.48%) PowerApps
8 30 (8.62%) Microsoft Purview
9 29 (8.33%) AWS
9 29 (8.33%) Dynamics 365
10 24 (6.90%) OneDrive
11 21 (6.03%) GitHub
12 18 (5.17%) Microsoft Copilot
13 17 (4.89%) Azure Logic Apps
14 13 (3.74%) Azure Monitor
15 11 (3.16%) Serverless
16 10 (2.87%) Azure Functions
16 10 (2.87%) IaaS
16 10 (2.87%) PaaS
17 9 (2.59%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 37 (10.63%) SAN
2 36 (10.34%) DNS
3 28 (8.05%) Firewall
4 27 (7.76%) VPN
5 23 (6.61%) TCP/IP
6 15 (4.31%) DHCP
6 15 (4.31%) LAN
7 9 (2.59%) Wi-Fi
8 8 (2.30%) SSL
9 7 (2.01%) WAN
9 7 (2.01%) Wireless
10 6 (1.72%) Network Security
11 5 (1.44%) NGFW
12 4 (1.15%) Internet
12 4 (1.15%) Kerberos
12 4 (1.15%) VLAN
13 3 (0.86%) DMZ
13 3 (0.86%) Intrusion Detection
13 3 (0.86%) NAS
13 3 (0.86%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (10.06%) SQL Server
2 33 (9.48%) Power BI
3 20 (5.75%) MySQL
4 17 (4.89%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (1.72%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (1.72%) Power Query
6 5 (1.44%) Metadata
6 5 (1.44%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 4 (1.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 4 (1.15%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.86%) Big Data
8 3 (0.86%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.57%) BusinessObjects
9 2 (0.57%) Data Mart
9 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.57%) Qlik Sense
9 2 (0.57%) QlikView
9 2 (0.57%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.57%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 8 (2.30%) Git
2 5 (1.44%) Selenium
2 5 (1.44%) WebDriver
3 4 (1.15%) JIRA
4 3 (0.86%) Cucumber
4 3 (0.86%) Cypress.io
4 3 (0.86%) Postman
4 3 (0.86%) Visual Studio Code
5 2 (0.57%) GitLab
6 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.29%) MLflow
6 1 (0.29%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 132 (37.93%) Social Skills
2 85 (24.43%) Analytical Skills
3 50 (14.37%) Public Sector
4 45 (12.93%) Finance
5 21 (6.03%) Telecoms
6 16 (4.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 12 (3.45%) Legal
8 10 (2.87%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.44%) Aerospace
9 5 (1.44%) Banking
9 5 (1.44%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.86%) Front Office
10 3 (0.86%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.86%) Investment Banking
10 3 (0.86%) Military
10 3 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.57%) Law
11 2 (0.57%) Local Government
11 2 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.29%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 45 (12.93%) IT Engineer
2 41 (11.78%) Analyst
3 39 (11.21%) Architect
4 35 (10.06%) IT Support
4 35 (10.06%) Senior
5 33 (9.48%) Field Engineer
5 33 (9.48%) Field Service Engineer
6 26 (7.47%) Administrator
7 25 (7.18%) DBA
7 25 (7.18%) Support Engineer
8 22 (6.32%) IT Support Engineer
9 20 (5.75%) Developer
9 20 (5.75%) Lead
10 18 (5.17%) Support Analyst
11 17 (4.89%) IT Analyst
12 16 (4.60%) Technical Support
13 15 (4.31%) Wintel Engineer
14 13 (3.74%) Field Support Engineer
14 13 (3.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 13 (3.74%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.74%) ONVIF
2 12 (3.45%) .NET
2 12 (3.45%) LDAP
2 12 (3.45%) OAuth
3 10 (2.87%) OpenID
3 10 (2.87%) SAML
4 8 (2.30%) JSON
4 8 (2.30%) OAuth2
5 7 (2.01%) Microsoft Graph
6 6 (1.72%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.72%) Web Services
7 5 (1.44%) REST
8 4 (1.15%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.86%) Gherkin
9 3 (0.86%) Middleware
9 3 (0.86%) PySpark
9 3 (0.86%) YAML
10 2 (0.57%) Node.js
10 2 (0.57%) Oracle Fusion
10 2 (0.57%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 39 (11.21%) Data Centre
2 36 (10.34%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (7.76%) Onboarding
4 19 (5.46%) Replication
5 18 (5.17%) Management Information System
6 17 (4.89%) Clustering
6 17 (4.89%) Security Posture
7 16 (4.60%) Cloud Native
8 13 (3.74%) Video\Live Streaming
9 12 (3.45%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (3.16%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (2.87%) Hybrid Cloud
12 8 (2.30%) PKI
12 8 (2.30%) Product Ownership
13 7 (2.01%) AI Agents
14 6 (1.72%) Data Structures
14 6 (1.72%) Enterprise Cloud
14 6 (1.72%) Mobile App
15 5 (1.44%) Cloud Security Posture
15 5 (1.44%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 107 (30.75%) Windows
2 48 (13.79%) Windows Server
3 29 (8.33%) Windows 10
4 21 (6.03%) Linux
5 14 (4.02%) Android
6 10 (2.87%) Apple iOS
6 10 (2.87%) Mac OS
7 7 (2.01%) Windows Server 2003
8 6 (1.72%) Unix
8 6 (1.72%) VMS
8 6 (1.72%) Windows 7
9 5 (1.44%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (1.15%) Solaris
10 4 (1.15%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (1.15%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.57%) AIX
11 2 (0.57%) Alpine Linux
11 2 (0.57%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 131 (37.64%) Problem-Solving
2 72 (20.69%) Customer Service
3 70 (20.11%) DevOps
4 67 (19.25%) ITIL
5 54 (15.52%) Agile
6 44 (12.64%) CI/CD
7 39 (11.21%) Infrastructure as Code
8 37 (10.63%) Stakeholder Management
9 36 (10.34%) Computer Science
9 36 (10.34%) Project Delivery
10 35 (10.06%) Migration
11 33 (9.48%) Break/Fix
11 33 (9.48%) Business Intelligence
12 32 (9.20%) Analytics
12 32 (9.20%) Data Governance
12 32 (9.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 30 (8.62%) AI
14 28 (8.05%) ITSM
15 27 (7.76%) Continuous Improvement
15 27 (7.76%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 89 (25.57%) PowerShell
2 37 (10.63%) SQL
3 33 (9.48%) Python
4 23 (6.61%) C#
5 19 (5.46%) JavaScript
6 17 (4.89%) Bicep
7 14 (4.02%) Bash
8 7 (2.01%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 6 (1.72%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.86%) X++
11 2 (0.57%) Java
11 2 (0.57%) Perl
11 2 (0.57%) R
12 1 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.29%) VB
Qualifications
1 119 (34.20%) Security Cleared
2 98 (28.16%) SC Cleared
3 96 (27.59%) Degree
4 87 (25.00%) MCSE
5 66 (18.97%) A+ Certification
6 62 (17.82%) Cisco Certification
7 59 (16.95%) Azure Certification
8 53 (15.23%) CCNA
9 45 (12.93%) MCSA
9 45 (12.93%) Network+ Certification
10 25 (7.18%) DV Cleared
11 23 (6.61%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 21 (6.03%) Computer Science Degree
13 13 (3.74%) AWS Certification
14 12 (3.45%) VCAP
15 11 (3.16%) CISSP
15 11 (3.16%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 10 (2.87%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 10 (2.87%) Oracle Certification
17 9 (2.59%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (6.03%) NIST
2 19 (5.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (3.74%) Data Quality
3 13 (3.74%) SLA
4 12 (3.45%) Accessibility
5 11 (3.16%) QA
6 10 (2.87%) GDPR
7 7 (2.01%) NCSC
8 5 (1.44%) WCAG
9 3 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.86%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.86%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.57%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.57%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.29%) GRC
11 1 (0.29%) GxP
11 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.29%) ITGC
11 1 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 111 (31.90%) Active Directory
2 32 (9.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (5.75%) VMware ESXi
4 19 (5.46%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (4.89%) Virtual Desktop
6 16 (4.60%) vSphere
7 11 (3.16%) Docker
8 5 (1.44%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.86%) Firmware
9 3 (0.86%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.57%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.57%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (0.57%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.29%) NFS
11 1 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 41 (11.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 39 (11.21%) Terraform
3 30 (8.62%) Ansible
4 20 (5.75%) vCenter Server
5 18 (5.17%) SCCM
6 13 (3.74%) Kubernetes
7 11 (3.16%) SCOM
8 6 (1.72%) CASB
9 5 (1.44%) Nessus
9 5 (1.44%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (1.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.15%) Podman
11 3 (0.86%) Grafana
11 3 (0.86%) QRadar
11 3 (0.86%) WSUS
12 2 (0.57%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.57%) Packer
12 2 (0.57%) vMotion
13 1 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
13 1 (0.29%) VxRail
Vendors
1 280 (80.46%) Microsoft
2 41 (11.78%) VMware
3 35 (10.06%) Dell
4 25 (7.18%) Cisco
4 25 (7.18%) Oracle
5 23 (6.61%) ServiceNow
6 12 (3.45%) Apple
6 12 (3.45%) Remedy
7 11 (3.16%) Citrix
8 10 (2.87%) Splunk
9 8 (2.30%) SolarWinds
10 7 (2.01%) CyberArk
10 7 (2.01%) Tenable
11 5 (1.44%) Dynatrace
11 5 (1.44%) Google
11 5 (1.44%) NetApp
11 5 (1.44%) OpenAI
12 4 (1.15%) Databricks
12 4 (1.15%) HP
12 4 (1.15%) Palo Alto
265 Microsoft Certification jobs in England