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 12 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 241 262 358
Rank change year-on-year +21 +96 +24
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 323 386 387
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.10% 0.90% 0.67%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.56% 2.95% 2.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 188 255 293
10th Percentile £192 £180 £124
25th Percentile £236 £313 £322
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.59% -2.50% +17.65%
75th Percentile £586 £575 £588
90th Percentile £700 £683 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £450 £475
% change year-on-year -5.56% -5.26% +26.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 65 20
10th Percentile - £13.69 -
25th Percentile £14.99 £14.16 £15.25
Median hourly rate £17.44 £16.30 £15.50
Median % change year-on-year +6.99% +5.16% -
75th Percentile £23.00 £21.37 £18.75
90th Percentile £35.25 - £20.65
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 9,076 13,063 15,734
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.03% 30.38% 27.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,699 8,068 10,486
10th Percentile £285 £308 £330
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 £623 £650 £650
90th Percentile £700 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £534 £525
% change year-on-year -6.28% +1.62% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 514 1,068 807
10th Percentile £18.13 £13.80 £15.25
25th Percentile £21.46 £17.80 £20.22
Median hourly rate £39.18 £40.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.05% -25.93% +24.38%
75th Percentile £65.46 £61.60 £67.50
90th Percentile £80.07 £75.55 £79.19
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.66 £40.94 £49.94
% change year-on-year -3.13% -18.02% +42.68%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 May 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 +37 273 £500 - 540
UK excluding London +24 217 £425 -5.56% 467
Work from Home +47 92 £500 -0.25% 279
London +9 85 £500 - 142
North of England +41 62 £461 +15.25% 106
North West +38 56 £475 +20.63% 48
South East +46 39 £525 +15.07% 137
East of England +3 34 £200 +48.15% 61
South West +18 26 £544 +1.16% 60
Scotland +3 23 £338 +3.85% 36
Midlands +17 21 £224 -56.34% 73
West Midlands +34 20 £224 -64.16% 42
Wales - 10 £236 - 6
Yorkshire +12 3 £400 +23.08% 43
North East -8 3 £200 -57.89% 17
Northern Ireland -8 2 £200 - 9
East Midlands -5 1 - - 27

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 40 (12.38%) SharePoint
2 37 (11.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.86%) Confluence
4 4 (1.24%) SharePoint Server
5 3 (0.93%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.62%) IIS
6 2 (0.62%) OpenEdge
7 1 (0.31%) IBM Notes
Applications
1 30 (9.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 29 (8.98%) Microsoft Office
3 28 (8.67%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (2.79%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.31%) Trello
Business Applications
1 10 (3.10%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.62%) Alphatax
3 1 (0.31%) Dynamics AX
3 1 (0.31%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 153 (47.37%) Azure
2 123 (38.08%) Microsoft 365
3 50 (15.48%) Entra ID
4 49 (15.17%) AWS
5 27 (8.36%) Power Platform
6 25 (7.74%) GCP
7 21 (6.50%) OneDrive
8 19 (5.88%) Microsoft Purview
9 17 (5.26%) Azure DevOps
9 17 (5.26%) IaaS
10 14 (4.33%) PowerApps
11 11 (3.41%) Dynamics 365
12 10 (3.10%) Azure Service Bus
12 10 (3.10%) Power Automate
13 8 (2.48%) Azure Data Factory
13 8 (2.48%) Azure Sentinel
14 7 (2.17%) PaaS
15 6 (1.86%) Azure Monitor
16 5 (1.55%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 5 (1.55%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 36 (11.15%) Firewall
2 32 (9.91%) Wi-Fi
3 30 (9.29%) VPN
4 20 (6.19%) Network Security
5 16 (4.95%) DNS
6 14 (4.33%) Intrusion Detection
6 14 (4.33%) SAN
7 13 (4.02%) Remote Desktop
8 11 (3.41%) DHCP
8 11 (3.41%) LAN
9 10 (3.10%) TCP/IP
10 8 (2.48%) Skype
10 8 (2.48%) WAN
11 7 (2.17%) VSAN
12 6 (1.86%) iSCSI
12 6 (1.86%) NAS
12 6 (1.86%) VLAN
13 5 (1.55%) BGP
13 5 (1.55%) MPLS
14 4 (1.24%) Fibre Channel
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (9.60%) SQL Server
2 11 (3.41%) Power BI
2 11 (3.41%) Relational Database
3 9 (2.79%) Metadata
4 7 (2.17%) Azure SQL Database
5 5 (1.55%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (1.55%) Metadata Repository
5 5 (1.55%) MySQL
5 5 (1.55%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.24%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.62%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.31%) Big Data
8 1 (0.31%) DTS
8 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 1 (0.31%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.31%) Power Query
8 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.02%) JIRA
2 5 (1.55%) Git
3 2 (0.62%) MSI
4 1 (0.31%) Atlassian Bamboo
4 1 (0.31%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.31%) NUnit
4 1 (0.31%) Octopus Deploy
4 1 (0.31%) Subversion
4 1 (0.31%) Team Foundation Server
4 1 (0.31%) Visual Studio
General
1 153 (47.37%) Social Skills
2 55 (17.03%) Analytical Skills
3 39 (12.07%) Public Sector
4 34 (10.53%) Legal
5 26 (8.05%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (7.74%) Finance
7 20 (6.19%) Banking
7 20 (6.19%) Telecoms
8 9 (2.79%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (2.17%) Retail
10 6 (1.86%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.24%) French Language
11 4 (1.24%) Military
12 3 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.93%) Local Government
13 2 (0.62%) Back Office
13 2 (0.62%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.62%) Publishing
13 2 (0.62%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 66 (20.43%) Analyst
2 55 (17.03%) Architect
3 30 (9.29%) Service Analyst
3 30 (9.29%) Service Desk Analyst
3 30 (9.29%) Support Engineer
4 21 (6.50%) Deployment Engineer
4 21 (6.50%) Senior
5 19 (5.88%) Desktop Support
5 19 (5.88%) Solutions Architect
5 19 (5.88%) Technical Analyst
6 18 (5.57%) IT Support
6 18 (5.57%) Lead
6 18 (5.57%) Technical Services Analyst
7 16 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 15 (4.64%) Desktop Engineer
9 13 (4.02%) Technical Architect
10 12 (3.72%) Azure Engineer
10 12 (3.72%) Consultant
10 12 (3.72%) Developer
10 12 (3.72%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.95%) .NET
2 10 (3.10%) ASP.NET Web API
3 9 (2.79%) .NET Core
4 7 (2.17%) .NET Framework
4 7 (2.17%) REST
5 6 (1.86%) ARM Templates
5 6 (1.86%) ASP.NET
5 6 (1.86%) Entity Framework
5 6 (1.86%) SailPoint
5 6 (1.86%) WCF
5 6 (1.86%) Web Services
6 5 (1.55%) ASP.NET MVC
6 5 (1.55%) Autofac
6 5 (1.55%) Dapper ORM
6 5 (1.55%) StructureMap
7 4 (1.24%) ADO
7 4 (1.24%) HTML5 Canvas
7 4 (1.24%) OAuth
8 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.93%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 24 (7.43%) Management Information System
2 22 (6.81%) PKI
3 9 (2.79%) Data Centre
3 9 (2.79%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (2.79%) NHS
4 8 (2.48%) Device Driver
4 8 (2.48%) Insider Threat
4 8 (2.48%) Public Cloud
5 7 (2.17%) Security Operations Centre
6 6 (1.86%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (1.55%) Cyber Threat
7 5 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (1.55%) N-Tier
8 4 (1.24%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.24%) Team-Oriented Environment
9 3 (0.93%) Cloud Native
9 3 (0.93%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 3 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
9 3 (0.93%) Onboarding
9 3 (0.93%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 143 (44.27%) Windows
2 59 (18.27%) Windows Server
3 35 (10.84%) Windows 10
4 22 (6.81%) Windows Server 2012
5 16 (4.95%) Windows Server 2019
6 14 (4.33%) Linux
7 13 (4.02%) Windows Server 2016
8 10 (3.10%) Mac OS
9 8 (2.48%) Windows Server 2003
10 5 (1.55%) Windows 8
10 5 (1.55%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (1.55%) Windows XP
11 4 (1.24%) Apple iOS
11 4 (1.24%) Unix
11 4 (1.24%) VMS
12 3 (0.93%) Android
13 2 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 2 (0.62%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (41.49%) Problem-Solving
2 100 (30.96%) ITIL
3 61 (18.89%) Customer Service
4 51 (15.79%) Computer Science
5 46 (14.24%) Agile
6 44 (13.62%) Cybersecurity
7 42 (13.00%) Incident Management
8 31 (9.60%) DevOps
9 29 (8.98%) Service Delivery
10 28 (8.67%) Analytics
11 27 (8.36%) Migration
12 25 (7.74%) CI/CD
12 25 (7.74%) Information Security
12 25 (7.74%) Project Management
13 23 (7.12%) Mathematics
14 22 (6.81%) Collaborative Working
14 22 (6.81%) High Availability
14 22 (6.81%) Incident Response
14 22 (6.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 22 (6.81%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 70 (21.67%) PowerShell
2 33 (10.22%) SQL
3 22 (6.81%) Python
4 15 (4.64%) C#
5 8 (2.48%) JavaScript
5 8 (2.48%) Kusto Query Language
6 7 (2.17%) Bash
7 6 (1.86%) T-SQL
8 5 (1.55%) Bicep
8 5 (1.55%) Java
9 3 (0.93%) VBScript
10 2 (0.62%) Groovy
10 2 (0.62%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.62%) VB
11 1 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.31%) X++
Qualifications
1 98 (30.34%) Degree
2 74 (22.91%) Azure Certification
3 72 (22.29%) Security Cleared
4 62 (19.20%) A+ Certification
5 60 (18.58%) SC Cleared
6 53 (16.41%) MCSE
7 46 (14.24%) MCSA
8 35 (10.84%) AWS Certification
8 35 (10.84%) Computer Science Degree
9 21 (6.50%) CISSP
9 21 (6.50%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 18 (5.57%) MCP
11 16 (4.95%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 15 (4.64%) Master's Degree
13 14 (4.33%) Cisco Certification
14 12 (3.72%) CISM
15 9 (2.79%) CCNP
16 7 (2.17%) CCNA
16 7 (2.17%) DV Cleared
17 5 (1.55%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (5.26%) QA
2 15 (4.64%) GDPR
3 14 (4.33%) NIST
4 11 (3.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (3.10%) HIPAA
5 10 (3.10%) NCSC
6 9 (2.79%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 8 (2.48%) SOC 2
8 5 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (1.55%) Data Quality
8 5 (1.55%) SLA
9 2 (0.62%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.31%) HL7
10 1 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 1 (0.31%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.31%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.31%) PMO
System Software
1 120 (37.15%) Active Directory
2 43 (13.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (4.95%) vSphere
4 13 (4.02%) Hyper-V
4 13 (4.02%) VMware ESXi
5 7 (2.17%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (2.17%) VMware NSX
6 5 (1.55%) Docker
7 4 (1.24%) Microsoft App-V
7 4 (1.24%) NFS
8 3 (0.93%) BitLocker
8 3 (0.93%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.62%) Firmware
9 2 (0.62%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.31%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.31%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 48 (14.86%) SCCM
2 36 (11.15%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (4.33%) Kubernetes
4 12 (3.72%) vCenter Server
5 9 (2.79%) Terraform
6 8 (2.48%) CASB
6 8 (2.48%) WSUS
7 3 (0.93%) Backup Exec
7 3 (0.93%) Grafana
7 3 (0.93%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.93%) SCOM
7 3 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.62%) Malwarebytes
8 2 (0.62%) OPNET
8 2 (0.62%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.31%) Ansible
9 1 (0.31%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.31%) logstash
9 1 (0.31%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 302 (93.50%) Microsoft
2 57 (17.65%) VMware
3 43 (13.31%) ServiceNow
4 35 (10.84%) Citrix
5 30 (9.29%) Google
6 21 (6.50%) Cisco
7 14 (4.33%) Veeam
8 10 (3.10%) Databricks
9 6 (1.86%) Dell
10 5 (1.55%) Canon
10 5 (1.55%) Cloudera
10 5 (1.55%) Oracle
10 5 (1.55%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.55%) Splunk
10 5 (1.55%) Symantec
11 4 (1.24%) Apple
11 4 (1.24%) NetApp
11 4 (1.24%) Okta
11 4 (1.24%) SolarWinds
11 4 (1.24%) Zscaler