u/DAN-CCT

Hey r/SmallMSP,

I'm a Canadian MSP owner (Stellar IT Support + building Stella Unified for M365 compliance) heading to the UK to launch a Goveren AI ecosystem in collaboration with the Manchester Mayor's office / Greater Manchester area.

It'll take some time to get fully set up on the ground, so in the meantime I'm looking at potentially picking up T3/T4 level contract work to stay active and build local connections.

My hands-on experience includes:

Microsoft Azure

Intune

SharePoint

Defender / security

Server support

...and the usual MSP stack (M365 admin, compliance, troubleshooting, etc.)

For those of you who have done contracting in the UK (especially Manchester/North West, public sector, or government-adjacent), how realistic is it to land decent T3/T4 gigs?

Key things I'm curious about:

How competitive is the market right now for Azure/Intune/Defender specialists?

IR35, visas (Canadian), security clearances (BPSS/SC), and other gotchas for internationals?

Best ways to find opportunities (agencies, G-Cloud, local networks, etc.)?

Day rates for this level of work?

Any advice from MSPs who’ve bridged into UK contracts or public sector work?

Appreciate any insights from folks who’ve been there — thanks in advance

Hello

I need some advice, what is the going rate for a TIer 3 contractor with deep Azure (Entra, Virtual Machines and networking and so on) Microsoft 365 and intune knowledge, as well as On Prem

I’ll be honest my work is a bit all over the place because I tend to solve problems end-to-end instead of staying in a narrow lane.

Right now I have availability and I’m open to taking on:

Core work:

Server migrations (on-prem → cloud, hybrid, tenant-to-tenant)
Microsoft 365 / Azure issue resolution (identity, security, performance, weird edge cases)
Active Directory / Entra ID design, cleanup, and recovery
Intune + endpoint management (deployment, policy, remediation)
Security hardening aligned to CIS / NIST / CMMC

Automation + advanced work:

Automated remediation systems (fix issues before users notice)
AI-driven IT support workflows (reduce manual tickets drastically)
Compliance automation (CMMC, NIST 800-171, CIS evidence + enforcement)
Monitoring + alerting systems that actually mean something (not noise)
Custom scripting (PowerShell, APIs, orchestration layers)

Infrastructure & systems:

Azure architecture (secure, scalable, cost-aware)
Microsoft 365 tenant builds and restructures
Backup, DR, and business continuity planning
Network/security design and implementation

What makes me different:

I don’t just fix the issue I build systems so it doesn’t happen again.
Automation first. AI layered on top only where it makes sense.

If you’re:

An MSP that needs help behind the scenes
A business stuck with a messy tenant or migration
Dealing with compliance pressure (especially CMMC coming up)
Or just tired of recurring IT issues
Send me a DM with what you’re dealing with I’ll tell you straight if I can help or not.