Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for MCSE qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 15 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 558 607 668
Rank change year-on-year +49 +61 +50
Permanent jobs citing MCSE 147 312 318
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.27% 0.32% 0.32%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.54% 1.14% 0.96%
Number of salaries quoted 89 238 278
10th Percentile £27,000 £30,000 £23,750
25th Percentile £32,500 £33,125 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £45,000 £41,500
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +8.43% -7.78%
75th Percentile £47,500 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £55,000 £70,000 £67,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £40,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% - -5.88%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

MCSE 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 27,209 27,402 32,956
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 49.33% 27.67% 32.84%
Number of salaries quoted 11,307 17,265 14,877
10th Percentile £32,500 £28,500 £31,277
25th Percentile £44,000 £38,500 £41,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £54,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.85% -10.00% +9.09%
75th Percentile £68,568 £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%

MCSE
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Salary Trend

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

Salary trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing MCSE over the 6 months to 15 May 2025.

Salary histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing MCSE within the UK over the 6 months to 15 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 +4 135 £35,000 -18.60% 140
UK excluding London +67 127 £35,000 -12.50% 136
Midlands +92 65 £35,000 -22.22% 28
West Midlands +79 49 £35,000 -30.00% 15
Work from Home +106 37 £38,094 -9.30% 34
South East +35 26 £42,500 +21.43% 44
London +58 17 £52,500 -19.23% 17
East Midlands +41 16 £35,000 -20.86% 11
North of England +24 15 £36,250 -19.44% 28
South West +106 11 £28,000 -24.32% 12
Wales - 8 £38,094 - 2
Yorkshire +48 6 - - 13
North West -10 6 £35,000 -22.22% 13
North East +36 3 £37,500 -11.24% 2
East of England +16 2 £52,500 +31.25% 21
Scotland +101 1 £25,500 -59.20% 5

MCSE
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 13 (8.84%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (6.80%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.68%) SharePoint 2010
3 1 (0.68%) SharePoint 2013
3 1 (0.68%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 15 (10.20%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (9.52%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (2.72%) SAP Business One
2 3 (2.04%) Sage 50
3 1 (0.68%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 59 (40.14%) Azure
2 41 (27.89%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (19.73%) AWS
4 19 (12.93%) SaaS
5 18 (12.24%) PaaS
6 14 (9.52%) Google Workspace
7 10 (6.80%) IaaS
8 9 (6.12%) Entra ID
9 3 (2.04%) OneDrive
9 3 (2.04%) Power Platform
10 2 (1.36%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (1.36%) GCP
11 1 (0.68%) Mimecast
11 1 (0.68%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 42 (28.57%) WLAN
2 40 (27.21%) DNS
3 32 (21.77%) Network Security
4 30 (20.41%) DHCP
5 28 (19.05%) Internet
6 26 (17.69%) Firewall
7 25 (17.01%) TCP/IP
8 19 (12.93%) LAN
8 19 (12.93%) WAN
9 15 (10.20%) VLAN
10 14 (9.52%) BGP
10 14 (9.52%) OSPF
11 6 (4.08%) Wireshark
12 4 (2.72%) SAN
13 3 (2.04%) VoIP
14 2 (1.36%) VSAN
15 1 (0.68%) Cisco IOS
15 1 (0.68%) IPv4
15 1 (0.68%) NAS
15 1 (0.68%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (6.80%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.04%) Power BI
3 1 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 2 (1.36%) JIRA
General
1 63 (42.86%) Social Skills
2 19 (12.93%) Finance
3 17 (11.56%) Automotive
4 14 (9.52%) Retail
5 12 (8.16%) Public Sector
6 10 (6.80%) Banking
7 8 (5.44%) Analytical Skills
7 8 (5.44%) Welsh Language
8 6 (4.08%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (3.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (3.40%) Manufacturing
10 3 (2.04%) Legal
10 3 (2.04%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.36%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.68%) Advertising
12 1 (0.68%) Back Office
12 1 (0.68%) Law
12 1 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.68%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 48 (32.65%) IT Engineer
2 43 (29.25%) IT Support
3 42 (28.57%) Support Engineer
4 31 (21.09%) IT Support Engineer
5 16 (10.88%) Systems Engineer
6 15 (10.20%) Analyst
7 14 (9.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (7.48%) Infrastructure Support
8 11 (7.48%) Lead
8 11 (7.48%) Support Analyst
9 9 (6.12%) Support Team Leader
9 9 (6.12%) Team Leader
9 9 (6.12%) Wintel Engineer
10 8 (5.44%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
10 8 (5.44%) Server Engineer
10 8 (5.44%) Technical Support
11 6 (4.08%) NOC Engineer
11 6 (4.08%) Software Analyst
11 6 (4.08%) Software Support Analyst
11 6 (4.08%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.76%) .NET
2 6 (4.08%) ASP.NET
2 6 (4.08%) WPF
3 1 (0.68%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 41 (27.89%) Driving Licence
2 33 (22.45%) Management Information System
3 16 (10.88%) Smartphone
4 9 (6.12%) Data Centre
5 8 (5.44%) IoT
5 8 (5.44%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.72%) Operational Technology
7 3 (2.04%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (1.36%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.68%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.68%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.68%) Onboarding
9 1 (0.68%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 112 (76.19%) Windows
2 70 (47.62%) Linux
3 65 (44.22%) Windows Server
4 26 (17.69%) Windows Server 2016
4 26 (17.69%) Windows Server 2019
5 22 (14.97%) Windows 10
6 20 (13.61%) Ubuntu
7 14 (9.52%) Mac OS X
8 9 (6.12%) Mac OS
8 9 (6.12%) Windows Server 2012
9 6 (4.08%) CentOS
10 3 (2.04%) Windows 7
10 3 (2.04%) Windows 8
11 2 (1.36%) Android
11 2 (1.36%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (44.22%) ITIL
2 63 (42.86%) Problem-Solving
3 50 (34.01%) Computer Science
4 38 (25.85%) Mentoring
5 34 (23.13%) Asset Management
6 28 (19.05%) IT Asset Management
6 28 (19.05%) Network Management
7 25 (17.01%) Collaborative Working
8 19 (12.93%) Proactive Monitoring
9 18 (12.24%) Incident Management
9 18 (12.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 14 (9.52%) Business Case
10 14 (9.52%) Coaching
10 14 (9.52%) Performance Tuning
10 14 (9.52%) Process Improvement
10 14 (9.52%) Systems Engineering
11 13 (8.84%) Root Cause Analysis
12 11 (7.48%) Information Security
13 10 (6.80%) Cost Optimisation
13 10 (6.80%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 36 (24.49%) PowerShell
2 35 (23.81%) SQL
3 7 (4.76%) C#
4 4 (2.72%) VB
5 2 (1.36%) Python
5 2 (1.36%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.68%) Bash
6 1 (0.68%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 147 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 69 (46.94%) MCP
3 67 (45.58%) Degree
4 59 (40.14%) Cisco Certification
5 58 (39.46%) CCNA
5 58 (39.46%) MCSA
6 49 (33.33%) Computer Science Degree
7 46 (31.29%) CCNP
8 28 (19.05%) LPIC
9 24 (16.33%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 20 (13.61%) Azure Certification
11 14 (9.52%) HNC
11 14 (9.52%) HND
12 11 (7.48%) Network+ Certification
13 9 (6.12%) A+ Certification
13 9 (6.12%) DBS Check
14 8 (5.44%) Security Cleared
15 5 (3.40%) DV Cleared
15 5 (3.40%) MCITP
16 4 (2.72%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (14.97%) SLA
2 5 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (2.04%) ISO 9001
4 2 (1.36%) GDPR
4 2 (1.36%) NCSC
5 1 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.68%) NIST
5 1 (0.68%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 63 (42.86%) Active Directory
2 32 (21.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (16.33%) Hyper-V
4 13 (8.84%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (3.40%) vSphere
6 2 (1.36%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (1.36%) VMware NSX
6 2 (1.36%) XenApp
7 1 (0.68%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.68%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.68%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 17 (11.56%) SCCM
2 16 (10.88%) Microsoft Intune
3 9 (6.12%) NetBackup
3 9 (6.12%) SCOM
4 7 (4.76%) PaperCut
5 3 (2.04%) WMI
6 2 (1.36%) vCenter Server
6 2 (1.36%) vRealize
7 1 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.68%) Ansible
7 1 (0.68%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.68%) Puppet
7 1 (0.68%) VxRail
Vendors
1 119 (80.95%) Microsoft
2 64 (43.54%) Cisco
3 34 (23.13%) VMware
4 20 (13.61%) Dell
5 17 (11.56%) Fortinet
6 15 (10.20%) Google
7 14 (9.52%) Apple
7 14 (9.52%) Ubiquiti
8 13 (8.84%) ServiceNow
9 11 (7.48%) Veeam
10 10 (6.80%) SolarWinds
11 7 (4.76%) Palo Alto
12 6 (4.08%) Red Hat
12 6 (4.08%) SAP
13 4 (2.72%) Citrix
14 3 (2.04%) Kaseya
14 3 (2.04%) Remedy
14 3 (2.04%) Sage
14 3 (2.04%) SonicWALL
14 3 (2.04%) WatchGuard