MCSE Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley with a requirement for MCSE qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 31 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 89 132
Rank change year-on-year -39 +43 +23
Contract jobs citing MCSE 2 21 12
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.091% 1.24% 0.45%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.22% 3.36% 1.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 14 12
10th Percentile £570 £521 -
25th Percentile £582 £560 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £608 £624 £628
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% -0.60% +40.29%
75th Percentile £627 £715 £700
90th Percentile £635 £743 £739
South East median daily rate £640 £590 £500
% change year-on-year +8.47% +18.00% -3.85%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Thames Valley

MCSE 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 the Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 912 625 1,112
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 41.34% 36.96% 41.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 638 345 666
10th Percentile £255 £220 £205
25th Percentile £350 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £501 £512
Median % change year-on-year -5.09% -2.20% +2.35%
75th Percentile £560 £638 £618
90th Percentile £635 £686 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +0.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 32 83
10th Percentile £15.99 £19.84 £20.10
25th Percentile £19.38 £45.31 £45.73
Median hourly rate £25.15 £61.50 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year -59.10% +5.48% +6.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.96 £69.32
90th Percentile £95.00 £77.02 £84.14
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £57.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -55.88% -5.00% +33.33%

MCSE
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing MCSE relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

MCSE job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

MCSE
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing MCSE.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing MCSE

MCSE
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing MCSE.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing MCSE

MCSE
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCSE within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 31 January 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
Buckinghamshire -23 2 £608 -2.65% 2
MCSE
South East

MCSE
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (100.00%) AWS
1 2 (100.00%) Azure
General
1 1 (50.00%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 2 (100.00%) Architect
1 2 (100.00%) Technical Architect
2 1 (50.00%) Senior
2 1 (50.00%) Senior Architect
2 1 (50.00%) Senior Technical Architect
Miscellaneous
1 2 (100.00%) Public Cloud
2 1 (50.00%) Cloud Native
2 1 (50.00%) Private Cloud
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Agile
1 2 (100.00%) Containerisation
1 2 (100.00%) DevOps
1 2 (100.00%) Enterprise Architecture
1 2 (100.00%) Infrastructure as Code
1 2 (100.00%) IT Strategy
1 2 (100.00%) Microservices
1 2 (100.00%) Technology Strategy
1 2 (100.00%) TOGAF
2 1 (50.00%) CI/CD
2 1 (50.00%) Continuous Delivery
2 1 (50.00%) Cybersecurity
2 1 (50.00%) ITIL
2 1 (50.00%) Matrix Organization
2 1 (50.00%) Roadmaps
2 1 (50.00%) Stakeholder Management
2 1 (50.00%) Zachman Framework
Qualifications
1 2 (100.00%) CCNP
1 2 (100.00%) Cisco Certification
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (50.00%) DV Cleared
2 1 (50.00%) SC Cleared
2 1 (50.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (100.00%) NCSC
1 2 (100.00%) NIST
Vendors
1 2 (100.00%) VMware