MCSE Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
England > West Midlands

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

6 months to
6 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 164 118 110
Rank change year-on-year -46 -8 +13
Contract jobs citing MCSE 4 4 3
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 0.11% 0.22% 0.16%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.32% 0.60% 0.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 4 3
10th Percentile - £157 -
25th Percentile £121 £159 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £123 £160 £117
Median % change year-on-year -23.44% +36.75% -64.00%
75th Percentile £124 £191 £134
90th Percentile - £247 £143
England median daily rate £483 £600 £450
% change year-on-year -19.50% +33.33% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £58.43 - -
Median hourly rate £63.14 - -
75th Percentile £67.84 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £63.14 £21.25 £13.50
% change year-on-year +197.11% +57.41% -22.86%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
West Midlands

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 West Midlands.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,266 662 604
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 35.52% 35.94% 31.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 891 433 387
10th Percentile £350 £250 £308
25th Percentile £413 £402 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £581 £588 £631
90th Percentile £665 £650 £725
England median daily rate £535 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +1.90% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 53 13
10th Percentile £14.30 £18.35 £20.65
25th Percentile £19.67 £18.87 £23.60
Median hourly rate £33.99 £30.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.30% -14.29% +12.90%
75th Percentile £65.25 £43.25 £50.00
90th Percentile £70.59 £52.00 £56.30
England median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £52.50
% change year-on-year +98.81% -52.10% -2.36%

MCSE
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

MCSE job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

MCSE
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing MCSE.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing MCSE

MCSE
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing MCSE.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing MCSE

MCSE
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCSE within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 6 October 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
Herefordshire - 3 - -
Birmingham - 1 £123 - 1
MCSE
England

MCSE
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 3 (75.00%) GitHub
1 3 (75.00%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 1 (25.00%) SAN
General
1 4 (100.00%) Analytical Skills
2 3 (75.00%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 3 (75.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 1 (25.00%) Field Engineer
2 1 (25.00%) Field Service Engineer
2 1 (25.00%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (75.00%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 4 (100.00%) Analytical Mindset
2 1 (25.00%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 3 (75.00%) Linux
1 3 (75.00%) Windows
1 3 (75.00%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
2 3 (75.00%) Containerisation
2 3 (75.00%) Information Security
2 3 (75.00%) Infrastructure as Code
2 3 (75.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 3 (75.00%) Problem Management
2 3 (75.00%) Strategic Thinking
2 3 (75.00%) User Experience
3 1 (25.00%) Break/Fix
3 1 (25.00%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 3 (75.00%) Bash
1 3 (75.00%) PowerShell
1 3 (75.00%) Python
Qualifications
1 4 (100.00%) CCNA
1 4 (100.00%) Cisco Certification
1 4 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 3 (75.00%) DV Cleared
2 3 (75.00%) RHCA
2 3 (75.00%) SC Cleared
2 3 (75.00%) Security Cleared
2 3 (75.00%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
3 1 (25.00%) A+ Certification
3 1 (25.00%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (75.00%) Cyber Essentials
1 3 (75.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 3 (75.00%) Docker
1 3 (75.00%) Hyper-V
1 3 (75.00%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 3 (75.00%) Ansible
1 3 (75.00%) Kubernetes
1 3 (75.00%) Podman
Vendors
1 3 (75.00%) Atlassian
1 3 (75.00%) Cisco
1 3 (75.00%) VMware
2 1 (25.00%) Dell