Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for MCSA qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 17 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 622 701 787
Rank change year-on-year +79 +86 +137
Permanent jobs citing MCSA 108 201 184
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.19% 0.20% 0.18%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.39% 0.73% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 86 155 159
10th Percentile £26,875 £26,750 £27,850
25th Percentile £32,500 £34,750 £32,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £43,227 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.25% +1.71% -5.56%
75th Percentile £47,500 £55,000 £58,125
90th Percentile £51,125 £66,500 £65,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £41,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% -2.44% -4.09%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

MCSA falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 27,682 27,465 32,787
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 49.59% 27.55% 32.92%
Number of salaries quoted 11,447 17,245 14,744
10th Percentile £32,500 £28,500 £31,350
25th Percentile £44,000 £38,500 £41,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £54,000 £59,563
Median % change year-on-year +1.85% -9.34% +8.30%
75th Percentile £68,750 £71,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £87,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,000 £50,000 £52,000
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +4.00%

MCSA
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for MCSA in the UK

MCSA
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing MCSA.

Salary trend for MCSA in the UK

MCSA
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing MCSA over the 6 months to 17 May 2025.

Salary histogram for MCSA in the UK

MCSA
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing MCSA within the UK over the 6 months to 17 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +45 98 £37,500 -12.79% 50
UK excluding London +132 92 £37,500 -6.25% 36
Work from Home +154 39 £38,094 -11.87% 29
Midlands +79 34 £35,000 -19.03% 5
North of England +30 23 £28,750 -28.13% 12
West Midlands +68 21 £35,000 -19.03% 3
South East +40 19 £45,000 +15.38% 9
London +65 14 £47,000 +4.44% 15
Yorkshire +55 14 £28,500 -26.45% 2
East Midlands +26 13 £35,000 +3.70% 2
Wales - 8 £38,094 -
North West -4 7 £37,500 -16.67% 7
South West +109 6 £45,000 +36.36% 4
East of England +40 3 £52,500 +23.53% 4
North East +39 2 £37,500 +27.12% 4

MCSA
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 22 (20.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 20 (18.52%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.93%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 12 (11.11%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (3.70%) SAP Business One
2 1 (0.93%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 59 (54.63%) Azure
2 54 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
3 24 (22.22%) AWS
4 17 (15.74%) PaaS
4 17 (15.74%) SaaS
5 13 (12.04%) Entra ID
6 9 (8.33%) IaaS
7 4 (3.70%) Cloud Computing
7 4 (3.70%) OneDrive
8 2 (1.85%) GCP
8 2 (1.85%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.93%) Mimecast
9 1 (0.93%) Power Automate
9 1 (0.93%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 29 (26.85%) DNS
2 28 (25.93%) Firewall
3 22 (20.37%) LAN
4 20 (18.52%) WAN
5 19 (17.59%) DHCP
6 12 (11.11%) VPN
7 11 (10.19%) Cisco IOS
8 10 (9.26%) TCP/IP
8 10 (9.26%) Wireless
9 9 (8.33%) Wireshark
10 8 (7.41%) VLAN
11 5 (4.63%) Intrusion Detection
11 5 (4.63%) IPsec
11 5 (4.63%) SSL
12 4 (3.70%) Network Security
13 3 (2.78%) DMZ
13 3 (2.78%) SAN
13 3 (2.78%) VoIP
14 1 (0.93%) IPv4
14 1 (0.93%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (10.19%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.85%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.93%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (1.85%) JIRA
2 1 (0.93%) Git
General
1 41 (37.96%) Social Skills
2 11 (10.19%) Public Sector
3 10 (9.26%) Law
4 9 (8.33%) Finance
5 8 (7.41%) Welsh Language
6 6 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (5.56%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (5.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (5.56%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (5.56%) Telecoms
7 2 (1.85%) Legal
7 2 (1.85%) Manufacturing
7 2 (1.85%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (0.93%) Advertising
8 1 (0.93%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.93%) Aviation
8 1 (0.93%) Back Office
8 1 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.93%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 23 (21.30%) Analyst
2 22 (20.37%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 22 (20.37%) Support Engineer
3 20 (18.52%) IT Support
4 15 (13.89%) Infrastructure Support
4 15 (13.89%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
5 13 (12.04%) Senior
5 13 (12.04%) Server Engineer
5 13 (12.04%) Support Analyst
6 12 (11.11%) IT Engineer
7 9 (8.33%) Lead
8 8 (7.41%) 2nd Line Support
8 8 (7.41%) IT Analyst
9 7 (6.48%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
9 7 (6.48%) IT Support Analyst
9 7 (6.48%) Support Team Leader
9 7 (6.48%) Team Leader
9 7 (6.48%) Technical Support
10 6 (5.56%) Help Desk Support
10 6 (5.56%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.93%) SAML
1 1 (0.93%) Software Packaging
1 1 (0.93%) WSH
Miscellaneous
1 19 (17.59%) Management Information System
2 14 (12.96%) Self-Motivation
3 11 (10.19%) Driving Licence
4 8 (7.41%) IoT
5 6 (5.56%) Data Centre
6 4 (3.70%) Onboarding
6 4 (3.70%) Operational Technology
7 3 (2.78%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (1.85%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
9 1 (0.93%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 85 (78.70%) Windows
2 76 (70.37%) Windows Server
3 40 (37.04%) Linux
4 28 (25.93%) Windows 10
5 15 (13.89%) Mac OS X
6 13 (12.04%) Windows Server 2016
7 12 (11.11%) Mac OS
8 7 (6.48%) Android
9 6 (5.56%) CentOS
9 6 (5.56%) Ubuntu
10 4 (3.70%) Apple iOS
10 4 (3.70%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (2.78%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (42.59%) Problem-Solving
2 33 (30.56%) ITIL
3 27 (25.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 18 (16.67%) Service Delivery
5 16 (14.81%) Customer Service
6 15 (13.89%) Collaborative Working
6 15 (13.89%) Proactive Maintenance
6 15 (13.89%) Proactive Monitoring
7 14 (12.96%) Cybersecurity
8 13 (12.04%) Incident Management
9 12 (11.11%) Disaster Recovery
10 11 (10.19%) Information Security
11 10 (9.26%) Asset Management
11 10 (9.26%) Logistics
11 10 (9.26%) Problem Management
12 9 (8.33%) Business Continuity
12 9 (8.33%) Coaching
12 9 (8.33%) Mentoring
12 9 (8.33%) Performance Monitoring
13 8 (7.41%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 29 (26.85%) SQL
2 10 (9.26%) PowerShell
2 10 (9.26%) Python
3 2 (1.85%) VBScript
4 1 (0.93%) Bash
4 1 (0.93%) Java
4 1 (0.93%) VB
Qualifications
1 108 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 59 (54.63%) MCSE
3 41 (37.96%) MCP
4 35 (32.41%) Degree
5 33 (30.56%) Cisco Certification
6 25 (23.15%) CCNP
7 22 (20.37%) CCNA
8 17 (15.74%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 16 (14.81%) A+ Certification
10 15 (13.89%) Azure Certification
11 12 (11.11%) DBS Check
12 11 (10.19%) Network+ Certification
13 7 (6.48%) CompTIA Security+
14 6 (5.56%) Security Cleared
15 5 (4.63%) ACSP
15 5 (4.63%) CompTIA CySA+
15 5 (4.63%) Computer Science Degree
15 5 (4.63%) GIAC
15 5 (4.63%) HP AIS
15 5 (4.63%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (15.74%) SLA
2 11 (10.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (5.56%) NCSC
4 1 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.93%) GDPR
4 1 (0.93%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 70 (64.81%) Active Directory
2 31 (28.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (14.81%) Hyper-V
4 11 (10.19%) Virtual Desktop
5 7 (6.48%) vSphere
6 3 (2.78%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (1.85%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.93%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.93%) Docker
8 1 (0.93%) Firmware
8 1 (0.93%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.93%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.93%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.93%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 10 (9.26%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (7.41%) SCCM
3 7 (6.48%) PaperCut
4 3 (2.78%) Iperf
5 2 (1.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.85%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (1.85%) vCenter Server
6 1 (0.93%) Ansible
6 1 (0.93%) Kubernetes
6 1 (0.93%) PowerCLI
6 1 (0.93%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.93%) vRealize
6 1 (0.93%) VxRail
6 1 (0.93%) WSUS
Vendors
1 79 (73.15%) Microsoft
2 37 (34.26%) VMware
3 30 (27.78%) Cisco
4 8 (7.41%) Apple
4 8 (7.41%) HP
4 8 (7.41%) Veeam
5 7 (6.48%) Palo Alto
5 7 (6.48%) Red Hat
6 6 (5.56%) SonicWALL
7 4 (3.70%) Fortinet
7 4 (3.70%) SAP
8 3 (2.78%) Dell
8 3 (2.78%) Ruckus Wireless
8 3 (2.78%) Sophos
9 2 (1.85%) arcserve
9 2 (1.85%) Citrix
9 2 (1.85%) Juniper
10 1 (0.93%) Avaya
10 1 (0.93%) Bloomberg
10 1 (0.93%) Reuters