Microsoft Certification Contracts

Microsoft Certification
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Microsoft Certification qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 237 277 356
Rank change year-on-year +40 +79 +26
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 332 372 404
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.14% 0.85% 0.68%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.69% 2.78% 2.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 190 248 304
10th Percentile £199 £175 £124
25th Percentile £250 £300 £341
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £478 £508
Median % change year-on-year +4.71% -5.91% +19.41%
75th Percentile £609 £575 £594
90th Percentile £716 £679 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £480
% change year-on-year +5.56% -6.25% +28.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 66 22
10th Percentile £14.99 £13.69 -
25th Percentile £15.33 £14.16 £15.25
Median hourly rate £18.22 £16.30 £15.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.78% +5.16% -
75th Percentile £23.13 £21.37 £18.75
90th Percentile £34.13 £21.46 £19.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.44 £16.30 £15.50
% change year-on-year +6.99% +5.16% -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 8,989 13,363 16,304
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.75% 30.65% 27.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,678 8,219 10,866
10th Percentile £288 £300 £325
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £535 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.87% -2.73% +4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £707 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £501 £530 £530
% change year-on-year -5.57% - +6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 516 1,077 849
10th Percentile £18.13 £13.87 £15.25
25th Percentile £22.00 £17.88 £20.00
Median hourly rate £40.72 £40.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.79% -25.93% +29.75%
75th Percentile £66.00 £61.60 £68.25
90th Percentile £80.34 £75.25 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £40.94 £49.57
% change year-on-year +9.92% -17.41% +55.44%

Microsoft Certification
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Microsoft Certification as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Microsoft Certification.

Daily rate trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft Certification over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Microsoft Certification.

Hourly rate trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft Certification over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Top 17 Contract Locations

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 UK over the 6 months to 30 April 2025. 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 +39 283 £500 - 315
UK excluding London +46 224 £475 +5.56% 257
Work from Home +61 97 £518 +0.98% 189
London +18 87 £500 - 80
North of England +50 63 £488 +21.88% 64
North West +39 57 £500 +31.15% 35
South East +50 46 £565 +32.94% 75
East of England +13 34 £500 +270.37% 24
South West +21 26 £550 +1.62% 33
Scotland +2 22 £350 +7.69% 16
Midlands +26 21 £224 -63.72% 42
West Midlands +25 20 £224 -63.65% 20
Wales - 10 £236 - 5
Yorkshire +12 3 £400 -8.57% 27
North East -2 3 £200 -57.89% 3
Northern Ireland -8 2 £200 - 6
East Midlands +3 1 - - 22

Microsoft Certification
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 39 (11.75%) SharePoint
2 34 (10.24%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.51%) Confluence
4 4 (1.20%) SharePoint Server
5 2 (0.60%) IBM Notes
5 2 (0.60%) IIS
5 2 (0.60%) OpenEdge
5 2 (0.60%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 31 (9.34%) Microsoft Office
1 31 (9.34%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 29 (8.73%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.71%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.30%) Trello
Business Applications
1 10 (3.01%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.60%) Alphatax
3 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
3 1 (0.30%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 155 (46.69%) Azure
2 124 (37.35%) Microsoft 365
3 52 (15.66%) Entra ID
4 49 (14.76%) AWS
5 26 (7.83%) Power Platform
6 25 (7.53%) GCP
7 24 (7.23%) IaaS
8 20 (6.02%) OneDrive
9 19 (5.72%) Microsoft Purview
10 16 (4.82%) Azure DevOps
10 16 (4.82%) PaaS
11 14 (4.22%) PowerApps
12 11 (3.31%) Dynamics 365
13 10 (3.01%) Azure Sentinel
13 10 (3.01%) Azure Service Bus
13 10 (3.01%) SaaS
14 9 (2.71%) Power Automate
15 8 (2.41%) Azure Data Factory
16 5 (1.51%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 5 (1.51%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 35 (10.54%) Firewall
2 33 (9.94%) Wi-Fi
3 30 (9.04%) VPN
4 20 (6.02%) Network Security
5 16 (4.82%) DNS
6 14 (4.22%) Intrusion Detection
7 13 (3.92%) Remote Desktop
7 13 (3.92%) SAN
7 13 (3.92%) VSAN
8 11 (3.31%) DHCP
8 11 (3.31%) LAN
9 10 (3.01%) TCP/IP
10 8 (2.41%) WAN
11 7 (2.11%) Skype
12 6 (1.81%) VLAN
13 5 (1.51%) BGP
13 5 (1.51%) iSCSI
13 5 (1.51%) MPLS
13 5 (1.51%) NAS
14 4 (1.20%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (10.24%) SQL Server
2 11 (3.31%) Relational Database
3 10 (3.01%) Power BI
4 9 (2.71%) Metadata
5 6 (1.81%) Azure SQL Database
6 5 (1.51%) Data Warehouse
6 5 (1.51%) Metadata Repository
6 5 (1.51%) MySQL
6 5 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.20%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.60%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.30%) Big Data
9 1 (0.30%) DTS
9 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Analysis Services
9 1 (0.30%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.30%) Power Query
9 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 12 (3.61%) JIRA
2 6 (1.81%) Git
3 2 (0.60%) MSI
4 1 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
4 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.30%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.30%) MLflow
4 1 (0.30%) NUnit
4 1 (0.30%) Octopus Deploy
4 1 (0.30%) Subversion
4 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
4 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio
General
1 153 (46.08%) Social Skills
2 57 (17.17%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (12.35%) Public Sector
4 30 (9.04%) Legal
5 26 (7.83%) Finance
6 20 (6.02%) Documentation Skills
6 20 (6.02%) Telecoms
7 19 (5.72%) Banking
8 9 (2.71%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (2.11%) Retail
10 6 (1.81%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.20%) French Language
12 3 (0.90%) Local Government
12 3 (0.90%) Military
13 2 (0.60%) Back Office
13 2 (0.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.60%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.60%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.60%) Publishing
13 2 (0.60%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 69 (20.78%) Analyst
2 61 (18.37%) Architect
3 31 (9.34%) Service Analyst
3 31 (9.34%) Service Desk Analyst
4 30 (9.04%) Support Engineer
5 27 (8.13%) Senior
6 23 (6.93%) Desktop Support
7 19 (5.72%) Solutions Architect
7 19 (5.72%) Technical Analyst
7 19 (5.72%) Technical Architect
8 18 (5.42%) Lead
8 18 (5.42%) Technical Services Analyst
9 17 (5.12%) IT Support
10 16 (4.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 15 (4.52%) Desktop Engineer
12 13 (3.92%) Support Analyst
13 12 (3.61%) 2nd Line Support
13 12 (3.61%) Consultant
13 12 (3.61%) Deployment Engineer
13 12 (3.61%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.52%) .NET
2 10 (3.01%) ASP.NET Web API
3 8 (2.41%) .NET Core
4 7 (2.11%) .NET Framework
4 7 (2.11%) REST
5 6 (1.81%) ASP.NET
5 6 (1.81%) Entity Framework
5 6 (1.81%) SailPoint
5 6 (1.81%) WCF
5 6 (1.81%) Web Services
6 5 (1.51%) ARM Templates
6 5 (1.51%) ASP.NET MVC
6 5 (1.51%) Autofac
6 5 (1.51%) Dapper ORM
6 5 (1.51%) StructureMap
7 4 (1.20%) HTML5 Canvas
7 4 (1.20%) Microsoft Graph
7 4 (1.20%) OAuth
8 3 (0.90%) ADO
8 3 (0.90%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 28 (8.43%) PKI
2 25 (7.53%) Management Information System
3 15 (4.52%) Hybrid Cloud
4 9 (2.71%) Data Centre
4 9 (2.71%) NHS
5 8 (2.41%) Device Driver
5 8 (2.41%) Insider Threat
5 8 (2.41%) Public Cloud
6 7 (2.11%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (1.81%) Security Operations Centre
7 6 (1.81%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (1.51%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.51%) N-Tier
9 4 (1.20%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.20%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 3 (0.90%) Cyber Defence
10 3 (0.90%) Driving Licence
10 3 (0.90%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 3 (0.90%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (0.90%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 139 (41.87%) Windows
2 56 (16.87%) Windows Server
3 36 (10.84%) Windows 10
4 21 (6.33%) Windows Server 2012
5 15 (4.52%) Linux
5 15 (4.52%) Windows Server 2019
6 13 (3.92%) Windows Server 2016
7 10 (3.01%) Mac OS
8 8 (2.41%) Windows Server 2003
9 5 (1.51%) Windows 8
9 5 (1.51%) Windows Server 2008
9 5 (1.51%) Windows XP
10 4 (1.20%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.20%) Unix
11 3 (0.90%) Android
11 3 (0.90%) VMS
11 3 (0.90%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (40.36%) Problem-Solving
2 111 (33.43%) ITIL
3 66 (19.88%) Customer Service
4 51 (15.36%) Computer Science
5 48 (14.46%) Cybersecurity
6 46 (13.86%) Agile
7 42 (12.65%) Incident Management
8 32 (9.64%) CI/CD
9 31 (9.34%) Analytics
9 31 (9.34%) DevOps
10 30 (9.04%) Service Delivery
11 25 (7.53%) Migration
11 25 (7.53%) Project Management
12 24 (7.23%) Information Security
12 24 (7.23%) Mathematics
13 23 (6.93%) Incident Response
13 23 (6.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 22 (6.63%) Collaborative Working
14 22 (6.63%) Infrastructure as Code
14 22 (6.63%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 70 (21.08%) PowerShell
2 32 (9.64%) SQL
3 22 (6.63%) Python
4 14 (4.22%) C#
5 8 (2.41%) JavaScript
5 8 (2.41%) Kusto Query Language
6 7 (2.11%) Bash
7 6 (1.81%) Java
7 6 (1.81%) T-SQL
8 4 (1.20%) Bicep
9 3 (0.90%) VBScript
10 2 (0.60%) Groovy
10 2 (0.60%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.60%) VB
11 1 (0.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.30%) Perl
11 1 (0.30%) Ruby
11 1 (0.30%) X++
Qualifications
1 104 (31.33%) Degree
2 79 (23.80%) Security Cleared
3 75 (22.59%) Azure Certification
4 67 (20.18%) SC Cleared
5 64 (19.28%) A+ Certification
6 58 (17.47%) MCSE
7 46 (13.86%) MCSA
8 35 (10.54%) AWS Certification
8 35 (10.54%) Computer Science Degree
9 25 (7.53%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 23 (6.93%) CISSP
11 19 (5.72%) MCP
12 16 (4.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 15 (4.52%) Master's Degree
14 14 (4.22%) Cisco Certification
15 13 (3.92%) CISM
16 10 (3.01%) DV Cleared
17 9 (2.71%) CCNP
18 7 (2.11%) CCNA
18 7 (2.11%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.02%) NIST
2 17 (5.12%) QA
3 16 (4.82%) NCSC
4 15 (4.52%) GDPR
5 11 (3.31%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (3.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (3.01%) HIPAA
7 9 (2.71%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 8 (2.41%) SOC 2
9 6 (1.81%) SLA
10 5 (1.51%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.60%) Disclosure Scotland
11 2 (0.60%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.30%) HL7
12 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 1 (0.30%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.30%) PMO
System Software
1 122 (36.75%) Active Directory
2 46 (13.86%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (4.52%) vSphere
4 13 (3.92%) VMware NSX
5 12 (3.61%) Hyper-V
5 12 (3.61%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (2.11%) Virtual Machines
7 6 (1.81%) Docker
8 4 (1.20%) Microsoft App-V
9 3 (0.90%) BitLocker
9 3 (0.90%) NFS
9 3 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.30%) Firmware
11 1 (0.30%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.30%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 44 (13.25%) SCCM
2 37 (11.14%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (4.22%) Kubernetes
4 12 (3.61%) vCenter Server
5 8 (2.41%) CASB
5 8 (2.41%) Terraform
5 8 (2.41%) WSUS
6 3 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.90%) Backup Exec
6 3 (0.90%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.90%) SCOM
6 3 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.60%) Grafana
7 2 (0.60%) Malwarebytes
7 2 (0.60%) OPNET
7 2 (0.60%) PowerCLI
8 1 (0.30%) Ansible
8 1 (0.30%) CSIRT
8 1 (0.30%) logstash
8 1 (0.30%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 304 (91.57%) Microsoft
2 60 (18.07%) VMware
3 48 (14.46%) ServiceNow
4 36 (10.84%) Citrix
5 30 (9.04%) Google
6 27 (8.13%) Cisco
7 12 (3.61%) Veeam
8 11 (3.31%) Palo Alto
9 10 (3.01%) Databricks
10 7 (2.11%) Dell
11 5 (1.51%) Canon
11 5 (1.51%) Cloudera
11 5 (1.51%) Oracle
11 5 (1.51%) Symantec
12 4 (1.20%) Apple
12 4 (1.20%) Atlassian
12 4 (1.20%) Okta
12 4 (1.20%) SolarWinds
12 4 (1.20%) Splunk
12 4 (1.20%) Tanium