Azure Certification Contract Job Trends

Microsoft Azure Certification
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Azure Certification qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 8 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 295 277 362
Rank change year-on-year -18 +85 -2
Contract jobs citing Azure Certification 399 272 240
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.81% 0.93% 0.55%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.56% 3.00% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 274 194 159
10th Percentile £407 £355 £329
25th Percentile £463 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £650 £660 £635
90th Percentile £725 £709 £702
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -6.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 0 0
10th Percentile £90.38 - -
25th Percentile £100.25 - -
Median hourly rate £105.50 - -
75th Percentile £110.75 - -
90th Percentile £116.00 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £105.50 - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

Azure 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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 15,590 9,066 13,010
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.50% 30.98% 29.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,338 5,651 8,075
10th Percentile £350 £275 £310
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £619 £643
90th Percentile £713 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £505 £500 £530
% change year-on-year +0.95% -5.66% +0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,148 553 1,110
10th Percentile £17.01 £17.65 £13.87
25th Percentile £21.91 £22.27 £18.22
Median hourly rate £50.00 £32.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +56.25% -20.00% -27.27%
75th Percentile £72.50 £65.00 £62.50
90th Percentile £85.08 £76.25 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £31.49 £41.00
% change year-on-year +50.84% -23.20% -21.90%

Azure Certification
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Azure Certification relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Azure Certification job vacancy trend in the UK

Azure Certification
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Azure Certification.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Azure Certification

Azure Certification
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Azure Certification over the 6 months to 8 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Azure Certification in the UK

Azure Certification
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Azure Certification.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Azure Certification

Azure Certification
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Azure Certification over the 6 months to 8 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Azure Certification in the UK

Azure Certification
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Azure Certification within the UK over the 6 months to 8 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
England -11 363 £550 - 438
London +28 218 £575 -4.17% 129
Work from Home -1 149 £539 +0.23% 106
UK excluding London -79 145 £525 +5.00% 419
North of England -55 50 £534 -2.95% 95
South East -36 43 £531 -18.35% 120
North West -27 38 £538 +2.63% 39
Midlands -46 23 £550 +1.74% 42
South West -26 22 £450 +20.00% 60
West Midlands -52 19 £583 +6.00% 26
East of England -23 7 £710 +45.64% 52
Yorkshire -54 7 £528 -4.09% 33
North East - 5 £575 - 23
East Midlands -25 3 £525 +5.00% 16
Wales -29 3 £450 +3.81% 19
Scotland -23 1 £625 +8.70% 23

Azure Certification
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 17 (4.26%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.26%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (2.76%) Confluence
4 10 (2.51%) Apache Spark
5 5 (1.25%) Apache
6 4 (1.00%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.50%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.50%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.25%) Apache Synapse
8 1 (0.25%) Appian
8 1 (0.25%) Mendix
Applications
1 6 (1.50%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (1.50%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.50%) Chatbot
2 2 (0.50%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.50%) Maximo
2 4 (1.00%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.50%) DELMIA
4 1 (0.25%) OpenText VIM for SAP
4 1 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.25%) Oracle Receivables
4 1 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.25%) SAP CO
4 1 (0.25%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
4 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 398 (99.75%) Azure
2 134 (33.58%) AWS
3 115 (28.82%) Azure DevOps
4 69 (17.29%) Entra ID
5 58 (14.54%) GCP
6 53 (13.28%) PaaS
7 51 (12.78%) IaaS
8 50 (12.53%) GitHub
9 47 (11.78%) Azure Data Factory
10 45 (11.28%) Power Platform
11 44 (11.03%) Azure AKS
11 44 (11.03%) Azure Monitor
11 44 (11.03%) Microsoft 365
12 42 (10.53%) GitHub Actions
13 32 (8.02%) Serverless
14 27 (6.77%) SaaS
15 25 (6.27%) Azure Key Vault
15 25 (6.27%) Azure Sentinel
15 25 (6.27%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 21 (5.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 64 (16.04%) Firewall
2 36 (9.02%) VPN
3 31 (7.77%) Network Security
4 27 (6.77%) DNS
5 13 (3.26%) WAN
6 12 (3.01%) LAN
7 11 (2.76%) DHCP
8 10 (2.51%) TCP/IP
9 8 (2.01%) SD-WAN
9 8 (2.01%) VLAN
10 7 (1.75%) BGP
10 7 (1.75%) Internet
11 6 (1.50%) OSPF
11 6 (1.50%) SAN
11 6 (1.50%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (1.25%) NAS
12 5 (1.25%) SSL
12 5 (1.25%) Structured Cabling
12 5 (1.25%) VSAN
13 4 (1.00%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (8.52%) Power BI
2 24 (6.02%) Data Lake
3 23 (5.76%) Azure SQL Database
4 22 (5.51%) SQL Server
5 21 (5.26%) Delta Lake
6 19 (4.76%) Data Warehouse
7 13 (3.26%) PostgreSQL
8 11 (2.76%) Amazon RDS
9 10 (2.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 9 (2.26%) Metadata
10 9 (2.26%) Spark SQL
11 8 (2.01%) Amazon Aurora
11 8 (2.01%) NoSQL
12 7 (1.75%) Oracle Database
13 6 (1.50%) Relational Database
14 5 (1.25%) Big Data
14 5 (1.25%) DynamoDB
14 5 (1.25%) Parquet
15 4 (1.00%) Oracle Reports
15 4 (1.00%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 41 (10.28%) Git
2 32 (8.02%) Jenkins
3 23 (5.76%) JIRA
4 13 (3.26%) GitLab
5 7 (1.75%) SonarQube
6 5 (1.25%) DbUnit
6 5 (1.25%) jMock
6 5 (1.25%) JUnit
6 5 (1.25%) Maven
6 5 (1.25%) Mockito
7 3 (0.75%) Bitbucket Server
7 3 (0.75%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.75%) ERwin
7 3 (0.75%) Visual Studio Code
8 2 (0.50%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.50%) git-flow
8 2 (0.50%) JMeter
8 2 (0.50%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.25%) Hudson
9 1 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 123 (30.83%) Social Skills
2 72 (18.05%) Finance
3 57 (14.29%) Public Sector
4 31 (7.77%) Banking
5 30 (7.52%) Analytical Skills
6 19 (4.76%) Legal
7 16 (4.01%) Documentation Skills
8 14 (3.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 12 (3.01%) Investment Banking
10 10 (2.51%) Aerospace
11 7 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.50%) French Language
12 6 (1.50%) Law
13 5 (1.25%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.25%) Telecoms
14 4 (1.00%) Front Office
15 3 (0.75%) Billing
15 3 (0.75%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.75%) Health Technology
15 3 (0.75%) Retail
Job Titles
1 118 (29.57%) Architect
2 88 (22.06%) Azure Engineer
3 44 (11.03%) Cloud Engineer
4 42 (10.53%) DevOps Engineer
5 40 (10.03%) Senior
6 35 (8.77%) Lead
7 30 (7.52%) Solutions Architect
8 29 (7.27%) Azure Architect
9 27 (6.77%) Azure DevOps Engineer
10 26 (6.52%) Data Engineer
11 21 (5.26%) Security Engineer
12 20 (5.01%) Data Architect
12 20 (5.01%) Developer
13 18 (4.51%) Platform Engineer
14 13 (3.26%) Azure Platform Engineer
14 13 (3.26%) Cloud Platform Engineer
14 13 (3.26%) Technical Architect
15 12 (3.01%) Consultant
15 12 (3.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 11 (2.76%) Applications Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (9.52%) ARM Templates
2 23 (5.76%) .NET
2 23 (5.76%) REST
3 15 (3.76%) OAuth
4 14 (3.51%) JSON
4 14 (3.51%) React
5 13 (3.26%) PySpark
6 12 (3.01%) Middleware
6 12 (3.01%) Node.js
7 11 (2.76%) .NET Core
7 11 (2.76%) AngularJS
8 10 (2.51%) OAuth2
9 9 (2.26%) Kafka
9 9 (2.26%) OpenID
9 9 (2.26%) SOAP
9 9 (2.26%) Web Services
10 8 (2.01%) SAML
11 7 (1.75%) .NET Framework
12 6 (1.50%) Spring
12 6 (1.50%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 68 (17.04%) Cloud Native
2 28 (7.02%) Data Centre
3 22 (5.51%) Enterprise Software
4 19 (4.76%) Hybrid Cloud
4 19 (4.76%) Management Information System
5 16 (4.01%) Security Posture
6 15 (3.76%) Legacy Systems
7 11 (2.76%) Onboarding
8 10 (2.51%) Replication
9 9 (2.26%) AI Agents
9 9 (2.26%) Virtual Team
10 8 (2.01%) Distributed Systems
10 8 (2.01%) PKI
10 8 (2.01%) Public Cloud
11 7 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
11 7 (1.75%) Enterprise Cloud
11 7 (1.75%) Linux Command Line
12 6 (1.50%) Reinsurance
12 6 (1.50%) Self-Motivation
13 5 (1.25%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 56 (14.04%) Windows
2 41 (10.28%) Linux
3 18 (4.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 14 (3.51%) VMS
5 11 (2.76%) Windows Server
6 10 (2.51%) Windows 10
7 6 (1.50%) Windows 7
8 5 (1.25%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.75%) Amazon Linux
9 3 (0.75%) Android
9 3 (0.75%) Data ONTAP
9 3 (0.75%) SUSE
10 2 (0.50%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.25%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.25%) CoreOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (55.14%) DevOps
2 179 (44.86%) CI/CD
3 139 (34.84%) Infrastructure as Code
4 89 (22.31%) Agile
5 85 (21.30%) Migration
6 75 (18.80%) Roadmaps
7 74 (18.55%) Analytics
8 67 (16.79%) Cloud Security
9 65 (16.29%) Problem-Solving
9 65 (16.29%) Stakeholder Management
9 65 (16.29%) Technical Leadership
10 64 (16.04%) Containerisation
11 58 (14.54%) Continuous Improvement
12 54 (13.53%) TOGAF
13 49 (12.28%) ITIL
14 48 (12.03%) RBAC
15 46 (11.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 45 (11.28%) AI
16 45 (11.28%) Observability
17 44 (11.03%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 110 (27.57%) Python
2 88 (22.06%) PowerShell
3 76 (19.05%) SQL
4 59 (14.79%) Bicep
5 41 (10.28%) Bash
6 36 (9.02%) Java
7 17 (4.26%) C#
8 8 (2.01%) T-SQL
9 7 (1.75%) Kotlin
10 6 (1.50%) Scala
11 5 (1.25%) Go
11 5 (1.25%) JavaScript
12 4 (1.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (1.00%) Perl
12 4 (1.00%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.75%) Groovy
13 3 (0.75%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.50%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.50%) Ruby
15 1 (0.25%) C
Qualifications
1 138 (34.59%) Security Cleared
2 121 (30.33%) SC Cleared
3 95 (23.81%) AWS Certification
4 59 (14.79%) Microsoft Certification
5 56 (14.04%) Degree
6 39 (9.77%) CISSP
7 24 (6.02%) TOGAF Certification
8 23 (5.76%) Computer Science Degree
9 18 (4.51%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (3.51%) CISM
11 11 (2.76%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 10 (2.51%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (2.51%) DV Cleared
13 9 (2.26%) PMI Certification
13 9 (2.26%) PMP
14 8 (2.01%) CCNP
14 8 (2.01%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 7 (1.75%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 7 (1.75%) CCSP
15 7 (1.75%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (7.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 30 (7.52%) GDPR
2 30 (7.52%) NIST
3 25 (6.27%) Data Quality
4 11 (2.76%) NCSC
5 8 (2.01%) GRC
6 7 (1.75%) NIST 800
6 7 (1.75%) QA
7 5 (1.25%) SLA
8 4 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (1.00%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.50%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.50%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 2 (0.50%) PSD2
9 2 (0.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 1 (0.25%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 83 (20.80%) Docker
2 52 (13.03%) Active Directory
3 23 (5.76%) Virtual Desktop
4 20 (5.01%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (3.76%) Virtual Machines
6 8 (2.01%) Hyper-V
6 8 (2.01%) vSphere
7 6 (1.50%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (1.25%) Postfix
9 3 (0.75%) EMC RecoverPoint
9 3 (0.75%) Firmware
9 3 (0.75%) SRDF
10 2 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (0.50%) NFS
10 2 (0.50%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.25%) Ceph
11 1 (0.25%) OpenSSH
Systems Management
1 162 (40.60%) Terraform
2 111 (27.82%) Kubernetes
3 32 (8.02%) Ansible
4 24 (6.02%) Grafana
5 19 (4.76%) Microsoft Intune
5 19 (4.76%) Prometheus
6 15 (3.76%) Progress Chef
7 6 (1.50%) Argo
7 6 (1.50%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.50%) vCenter Server
8 5 (1.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (1.25%) Puppet
8 5 (1.25%) SCCM
9 4 (1.00%) QRadar
10 3 (0.75%) Data Guard
10 3 (0.75%) EMC VPLEX
10 3 (0.75%) Failover Clustering
10 3 (0.75%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.75%) Packer
10 3 (0.75%) SnapMirror
Vendors
1 186 (46.62%) Microsoft
2 46 (11.53%) Databricks
3 32 (8.02%) Google
4 23 (5.76%) Red Hat
5 21 (5.26%) Oracle
5 21 (5.26%) VMware
6 17 (4.26%) Cisco
7 15 (3.76%) SAP
8 11 (2.76%) IBM
8 11 (2.76%) Zscaler
9 10 (2.51%) Citrix
10 9 (2.26%) OpenAI
10 9 (2.26%) ServiceNow
11 8 (2.01%) NetApp
11 8 (2.01%) Palo Alto
12 7 (1.75%) Dell
12 7 (1.75%) iManage
12 7 (1.75%) Intapp
13 6 (1.50%) Fortinet
14 5 (1.25%) Atlassian