Active Directory Contract Job Trends in Central London

Microsoft Active Directory
London > Central London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Central London requiring Active Directory skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 49 34
Rank change year-on-year -21 -15 -3
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 80 90 135
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 3.07% 4.38% 5.81%
As % of the System Software category 37.04% 46.88% 49.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 60 57 104
10th Percentile £175 £205 £207
25th Percentile £206 £263 £347
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £403 £536 £425
Median % change year-on-year -24.91% +26.12% -10.05%
75th Percentile £602 £625 £541
90th Percentile £670 £684 £688
London median daily rate £460 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 4 3
10th Percentile - £23.34 -
25th Percentile £19.25 £25.34 -
Median hourly rate £19.50 £27.48 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.03% -31.31% +60.00%
75th Percentile £19.75 £69.56 £66.25
90th Percentile - £140.33 £82.00
London median hourly rate £24.71 £23.00 £24.18
% change year-on-year +7.41% -4.88% -51.64%

All System Software Skills
Central London

Active Directory falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring system software skills in Central London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 216 192 275
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 8.28% 9.35% 11.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 160 136 201
10th Percentile £218 £247 £258
25th Percentile £412 £393 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £536 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.05% +4.59% -10.87%
75th Percentile £617 £638 £675
90th Percentile £675 £689 £750
London median daily rate £525 £525 £513
% change year-on-year - +2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 3
10th Percentile £22.18 £23.34 -
25th Percentile £26.56 £25.34 -
Median hourly rate £32.50 £27.48 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.29% -31.31% +60.00%
75th Percentile £41.18 £69.56 £66.25
90th Percentile £52.31 £140.33 £82.00
London median hourly rate £48.75 £26.00 £23.80
% change year-on-year +87.50% +9.24% -60.33%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Active Directory relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Active Directory job vacancy trend in Central London

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in Central London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in Central London over the 6 months to 24 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in Central London

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Contract Job Locations in Central London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Active Directory within the Central London region over the 6 months to 24 July 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
City of London -20 68 £456 -14.88% 19
City of Westminster -13 3 £725 +11.54% 2
Southwark -6 1 £550 -
Lambeth - 1 £350 -
Active Directory
London

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central London 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:

Application Platforms
1 13 (16.25%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (11.25%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.50%) IIS
4 1 (1.25%) Apache Spark
4 1 (1.25%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (1.25%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (1.25%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (5.00%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (1.25%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 42 (52.50%) Entra ID
2 39 (48.75%) Azure
3 34 (42.50%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (11.25%) AWS
5 7 (8.75%) Azure DevOps
5 7 (8.75%) Power Platform
6 5 (6.25%) GitHub
7 4 (5.00%) OneDrive
8 3 (3.75%) GCP
8 3 (3.75%) IaaS
8 3 (3.75%) OpenShift
8 3 (3.75%) PaaS
8 3 (3.75%) Power Automate
8 3 (3.75%) PowerApps
8 3 (3.75%) Serverless
9 2 (2.50%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (2.50%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (2.50%) Azure Service Bus
9 2 (2.50%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (2.50%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 26 (32.50%) DNS
2 20 (25.00%) DHCP
3 14 (17.50%) VPN
4 9 (11.25%) Firewall
5 8 (10.00%) TCP/IP
6 4 (5.00%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (3.75%) SMTP
8 2 (2.50%) Cisco ISE
8 2 (2.50%) DMZ
8 2 (2.50%) LAN
8 2 (2.50%) Network Security
9 1 (1.25%) DKIM
9 1 (1.25%) DMARC
9 1 (1.25%) Internet
9 1 (1.25%) Reverse Proxy
9 1 (1.25%) SD-WAN
9 1 (1.25%) TACACS
9 1 (1.25%) WAN
9 1 (1.25%) Wireless
9 1 (1.25%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (7.50%) Power BI
2 5 (6.25%) SQL Server
3 4 (5.00%) Big Data
4 3 (3.75%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (3.75%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (3.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (1.25%) Amazon Athena
5 1 (1.25%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (1.25%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (1.25%) Delta Lake
5 1 (1.25%) NoSQL
5 1 (1.25%) Oracle BI EE
5 1 (1.25%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (1.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 1 (1.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 8 (10.00%) JIRA
2 2 (2.50%) Git
3 1 (1.25%) Artifactory
3 1 (1.25%) GitLab
3 1 (1.25%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 28 (35.00%) Social Skills
2 10 (12.50%) Finance
3 7 (8.75%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (3.75%) Presentation Skills
4 3 (3.75%) Telecoms
5 2 (2.50%) Front Office
5 2 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 2 (2.50%) Public Sector
5 2 (2.50%) Retail
6 1 (1.25%) Banking
6 1 (1.25%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.25%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.25%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.25%) Law
6 1 (1.25%) Mandarin Language
6 1 (1.25%) Manufacturing
6 1 (1.25%) Marketing
6 1 (1.25%) Military
6 1 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.25%) Police
Job Titles
1 22 (27.50%) Support Engineer
2 11 (13.75%) Analyst
2 11 (13.75%) IT Support
3 10 (12.50%) IT Engineer
3 10 (12.50%) IT Support Engineer
4 9 (11.25%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 6 (7.50%) Active Directory Engineer
5 6 (7.50%) Support Analyst
6 5 (6.25%) Architect
6 5 (6.25%) Desktop Support
6 5 (6.25%) Infrastructure Support
6 5 (6.25%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
6 5 (6.25%) Platform Engineer
7 3 (3.75%) 1st Line Support
7 3 (3.75%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 3 (3.75%) 3rd Line Support
7 3 (3.75%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
7 3 (3.75%) Network Engineer
7 3 (3.75%) Project Manager
7 3 (3.75%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (6.25%) OpenID
1 5 (6.25%) REST
1 5 (6.25%) SAML
2 3 (3.75%) 802.1X
3 2 (2.50%) .NET
3 2 (2.50%) LDAP
3 2 (2.50%) OAuth
3 2 (2.50%) SailPoint
4 1 (1.25%) .NET Core
4 1 (1.25%) ASP.NET
4 1 (1.25%) Bootstrap
4 1 (1.25%) CSS
4 1 (1.25%) HTML
4 1 (1.25%) HTML5 Canvas
4 1 (1.25%) Jakarta EE
4 1 (1.25%) JDBC
4 1 (1.25%) JSON
4 1 (1.25%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (1.25%) RESTful
4 1 (1.25%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 14 (17.50%) Onboarding
2 9 (11.25%) PKI
3 7 (8.75%) Video Conferencing
4 4 (5.00%) Clustering
4 4 (5.00%) Data Centre
4 4 (5.00%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (3.75%) IoT
5 3 (3.75%) iPhone
6 2 (2.50%) BYOD
6 2 (2.50%) Fat Client
6 2 (2.50%) FMCG
6 2 (2.50%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (2.50%) iPad
6 2 (2.50%) Operational Technology
6 2 (2.50%) Thin Client
6 2 (2.50%) Virtual Team
7 1 (1.25%) Cloud Native
7 1 (1.25%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (1.25%) NHS
7 1 (1.25%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 52 (65.00%) Windows
2 19 (23.75%) Windows Server
3 13 (16.25%) Mac OS
4 9 (11.25%) Windows 10
5 7 (8.75%) Linux
6 3 (3.75%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (2.50%) Android
8 1 (1.25%) Mac OS X
8 1 (1.25%) Ubuntu
8 1 (1.25%) VMS
8 1 (1.25%) Windows 7
8 1 (1.25%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (1.25%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (1.25%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
2 13 (16.25%) ITIL
3 12 (15.00%) Customer Service
3 12 (15.00%) DevOps
3 12 (15.00%) Identity Access Management
3 12 (15.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 11 (13.75%) Migration
5 10 (12.50%) Stakeholder Management
6 9 (11.25%) Continuous Improvement
6 9 (11.25%) High Availability
7 8 (10.00%) AI
7 8 (10.00%) CI/CD
7 8 (10.00%) Project Delivery
8 7 (8.75%) Agile
8 7 (8.75%) Identity Management
8 7 (8.75%) Service Delivery
9 6 (7.50%) Asset Management
9 6 (7.50%) Process Improvement
10 5 (6.25%) Enterprise Architecture
10 5 (6.25%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (20.00%) PowerShell
2 5 (6.25%) Bash
2 5 (6.25%) Python
3 4 (5.00%) SQL
4 2 (2.50%) C#
5 1 (1.25%) Bicep
5 1 (1.25%) Java
5 1 (1.25%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.25%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (1.25%) TypeScript
5 1 (1.25%) VB
Qualifications
1 14 (17.50%) Security Cleared
2 8 (10.00%) SC Cleared
3 6 (7.50%) Degree
4 5 (6.25%) DV Cleared
4 5 (6.25%) Microsoft Certification
5 4 (5.00%) Azure Certification
6 3 (3.75%) Cisco Certification
6 3 (3.75%) PMI Certification
6 3 (3.75%) PMP
7 2 (2.50%) CCNA
7 2 (2.50%) CCNP
7 2 (2.50%) CISM
7 2 (2.50%) CISSP
8 1 (1.25%) A+ Certification
8 1 (1.25%) CCIE
8 1 (1.25%) CESG Certified Professional
8 1 (1.25%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (1.25%) MCSE
8 1 (1.25%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (1.25%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (3.75%) QA
1 3 (3.75%) SLA
2 2 (2.50%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (2.50%) GRC
2 2 (2.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 1 (1.25%) Data Quality
3 1 (1.25%) GDPR
3 1 (1.25%) Government Security Classifications
3 1 (1.25%) HIPAA
3 1 (1.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (1.25%) NCSC
3 1 (1.25%) NIST
System Software
1 12 (15.00%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (12.50%) Virtual Desktop
3 9 (11.25%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (6.25%) Docker
4 5 (6.25%) Hyper-V
5 3 (3.75%) BitLocker
5 3 (3.75%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (3.75%) Terminal Services
5 3 (3.75%) vSphere
6 1 (1.25%) Firmware
6 1 (1.25%) UAG
6 1 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (1.25%) VMware NSX
6 1 (1.25%) zsh
Systems Management
1 22 (27.50%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (10.00%) SCCM
2 8 (10.00%) vCenter Server
3 7 (8.75%) Ansible
4 6 (7.50%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (7.50%) Terraform
5 5 (6.25%) Kubernetes
6 4 (5.00%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (5.00%) Puppet
7 3 (3.75%) Nagios
7 3 (3.75%) vMotion
8 2 (2.50%) FortiGate
8 2 (2.50%) Nessus
9 1 (1.25%) Grafana
9 1 (1.25%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (1.25%) Prometheus
9 1 (1.25%) Salt
9 1 (1.25%) SCOM
9 1 (1.25%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 56 (70.00%) Microsoft
2 15 (18.75%) VMware
3 12 (15.00%) Citrix
4 11 (13.75%) ServiceNow
5 7 (8.75%) Apple
6 6 (7.50%) Cisco
6 6 (7.50%) Zscaler
7 5 (6.25%) Google
8 4 (5.00%) Bloomberg
8 4 (5.00%) HP
8 4 (5.00%) Remedy
9 3 (3.75%) CyberArk
9 3 (3.75%) Symantec
10 2 (2.50%) BeyondTrust
10 2 (2.50%) Oracle
10 2 (2.50%) SAP
10 2 (2.50%) Tenable
11 1 (1.25%) Adobe
11 1 (1.25%) EMC
11 1 (1.25%) Juniper