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 7 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 74 35 29
Rank change year-on-year -39 -6 +21
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 63 112 154
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 3.06% 5.31% 5.91%
As % of the System Software category 35.39% 44.27% 53.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 46 72 112
10th Percentile £186 £202 £187
25th Percentile £266 £274 £286
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% +16.13%
75th Percentile £584 £613 £571
90th Percentile £680 £680 £730
London median daily rate £500 £450 £425
% change year-on-year +11.11% +5.88% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 4
10th Percentile £22.22 £39.40 -
25th Percentile £24.31 £66.63 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.47 £112.00 £31.25
Median % change year-on-year -77.26% +258.40% +47.06%
75th Percentile - - £40.00
90th Percentile - - -
London median hourly rate £24.58 £23.80 £23.74
% change year-on-year +3.26% +0.27% -5.06%

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 178 253 288
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 8.65% 11.98% 11.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 127 161 214
10th Percentile £255 £244 £227
25th Percentile £400 £413 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £552 £478
Median % change year-on-year -4.89% +15.60% -13.18%
75th Percentile £626 £625 £619
90th Percentile £685 £708 £729
London median daily rate £536 £565 £500
% change year-on-year -5.13% +13.00% -13.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 3 5
10th Percentile £22.68 £39.40 -
25th Percentile - £66.63 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.47 £112.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -77.26% +180.00% +88.24%
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile £46.02 - £46.15
London median hourly rate £25.15 £26.11 £25.75
% change year-on-year -3.66% +1.38% -16.26%

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 7 February 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 7 February 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 -28 56 £425 -15.00% 30
Camden - 3 - - 2
Kensington and Chelsea - 2 £575 -
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 14 (22.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (19.05%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (7.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (6.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (4.76%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (4.76%) MS Visio
4 1 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (1.59%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (1.59%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 48 (76.19%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (60.32%) Azure
3 34 (53.97%) Entra ID
4 8 (12.70%) OneDrive
5 6 (9.52%) Power Platform
6 5 (7.94%) Microsoft Purview
6 5 (7.94%) PowerApps
7 4 (6.35%) AWS
7 4 (6.35%) Power Automate
8 3 (4.76%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (3.17%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (3.17%) Copilot Studio
9 2 (3.17%) IaaS
9 2 (3.17%) Microsoft Copilot
9 2 (3.17%) Mimecast
10 1 (1.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (1.59%) Azure DevOps
10 1 (1.59%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (1.59%) GitHub
10 1 (1.59%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 14 (22.22%) Firewall
2 12 (19.05%) VPN
3 11 (17.46%) DNS
4 8 (12.70%) DHCP
5 4 (6.35%) Softphone
6 2 (3.17%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (1.59%) Extranet
7 1 (1.59%) IPv4
7 1 (1.59%) IPv6
7 1 (1.59%) Kerberos
7 1 (1.59%) LAN
7 1 (1.59%) MPLS
7 1 (1.59%) TCP/IP
7 1 (1.59%) Unified Communications
7 1 (1.59%) VSAN
7 1 (1.59%) WAN
7 1 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (1.59%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (4.76%) SQL Server
2 2 (3.17%) Power BI
2 2 (3.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (1.59%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 2 (3.17%) JIRA
2 1 (1.59%) Cypress.io
2 1 (1.59%) Oracle Forms
2 1 (1.59%) Selenium
2 1 (1.59%) SpecFlow
General
1 30 (47.62%) Social Skills
2 13 (20.63%) Finance
3 5 (7.94%) Banking
4 4 (6.35%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (4.76%) Public Sector
5 3 (4.76%) Telecoms
6 2 (3.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 2 (3.17%) Law
6 2 (3.17%) Legal
7 1 (1.59%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (1.59%) French Language
7 1 (1.59%) International Banking
7 1 (1.59%) Investment Banking
7 1 (1.59%) Military
Job Titles
1 11 (17.46%) Support Engineer
2 9 (14.29%) Analyst
2 9 (14.29%) IT Support
3 8 (12.70%) IT Engineer
4 7 (11.11%) IT Support Engineer
4 7 (11.11%) Senior
5 5 (7.94%) Consultant
6 4 (6.35%) 2nd Line Support
6 4 (6.35%) Architect
6 4 (6.35%) Microsoft 365 Consultant
6 4 (6.35%) Service Desk Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) 2nd Line Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 3 (4.76%) Help Desk Analyst
7 3 (4.76%) Lead
7 3 (4.76%) Programme Manager
7 3 (4.76%) Security Manager
8 2 (3.17%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (4.76%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (3.17%) OAuth
2 2 (3.17%) OpenID
2 2 (3.17%) SailPoint
2 2 (3.17%) SAML
3 1 (1.59%) .NET
3 1 (1.59%) AngularJS
3 1 (1.59%) HTML
3 1 (1.59%) LangChain
3 1 (1.59%) LDAP
3 1 (1.59%) Playwright
3 1 (1.59%) REST
3 1 (1.59%) Semantic Kernel
3 1 (1.59%) SPFx
3 1 (1.59%) Web Services
3 1 (1.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (20.63%) Onboarding
2 3 (4.76%) BYOD
2 3 (4.76%) Management Information System
2 3 (4.76%) Security Posture
2 3 (4.76%) Video Conferencing
3 2 (3.17%) Cyber Threat
3 2 (3.17%) Data Centre
3 2 (3.17%) Hybrid Cloud
4 1 (1.59%) AI Agents
4 1 (1.59%) CMDB
4 1 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (1.59%) iPad
4 1 (1.59%) Low-Code
4 1 (1.59%) Security Operations Centre
4 1 (1.59%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 34 (53.97%) Windows
2 13 (20.63%) Windows 10
3 12 (19.05%) Windows Server
4 5 (7.94%) Mac OS
5 2 (3.17%) Android
5 2 (3.17%) Apple iOS
5 2 (3.17%) Linux
6 1 (1.59%) Mac OS X
6 1 (1.59%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (1.59%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (26.98%) ITIL
2 15 (23.81%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (15.87%) Change Management
4 9 (14.29%) Identity Access Management
5 8 (12.70%) Cybersecurity
5 8 (12.70%) ITSM
6 7 (11.11%) Cloud Security
6 7 (11.11%) Continuous Improvement
6 7 (11.11%) Customer Service
6 7 (11.11%) Data Loss Prevention
6 7 (11.11%) Migration
6 7 (11.11%) Service Delivery
7 6 (9.52%) Identity Management
7 6 (9.52%) User Experience
8 5 (7.94%) Change Control
8 5 (7.94%) Performance Metrics
8 5 (7.94%) Roadmaps
8 5 (7.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 5 (7.94%) Technical Leadership
9 4 (6.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 16 (25.40%) PowerShell
2 5 (7.94%) Java
2 5 (7.94%) Python
3 2 (3.17%) C#
3 2 (3.17%) SQL
4 1 (1.59%) BeanShell
4 1 (1.59%) Bicep
4 1 (1.59%) C++
4 1 (1.59%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 12 (19.05%) Microsoft Certification
2 11 (17.46%) Degree
3 7 (11.11%) SC Cleared
3 7 (11.11%) Security Cleared
4 5 (7.94%) MCSE
5 4 (6.35%) CISSP
5 4 (6.35%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 3 (4.76%) CISM
6 3 (4.76%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (3.17%) CISMP
7 2 (3.17%) CompTIA CySA+
7 2 (3.17%) CompTIA Security+
7 2 (3.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 2 (3.17%) MCSA
7 2 (3.17%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (1.59%) A+ Certification
8 1 (1.59%) Azure Certification
8 1 (1.59%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (1.59%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (1.59%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (17.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 8 (12.70%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (11.11%) GDPR
4 4 (6.35%) NIST
5 2 (3.17%) NCSC
6 1 (1.59%) Accessibility
6 1 (1.59%) EU AI Act
6 1 (1.59%) ISO/IEC 42001
6 1 (1.59%) QA
6 1 (1.59%) SLA
System Software
1 4 (6.35%) Virtual Desktop
2 2 (3.17%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (3.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.59%) VMware NSX
3 1 (1.59%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 24 (38.10%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (17.46%) SCCM
3 3 (4.76%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
4 2 (3.17%) Terraform
5 1 (1.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (1.59%) AirWatch
5 1 (1.59%) Ansible
5 1 (1.59%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (1.59%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.59%) SCOM
5 1 (1.59%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 48 (76.19%) Microsoft
2 7 (11.11%) Citrix
2 7 (11.11%) VMware
3 6 (9.52%) ServiceNow
4 4 (6.35%) Altiris
4 4 (6.35%) CyberArk
4 4 (6.35%) Palo Alto
5 3 (4.76%) Ivanti
5 3 (4.76%) Symantec
6 2 (3.17%) Apple
6 2 (3.17%) Fortinet
6 2 (3.17%) LogRhythm
6 2 (3.17%) OpenAI
6 2 (3.17%) Oracle
7 1 (1.59%) Datto
7 1 (1.59%) Google
7 1 (1.59%) Logitech
7 1 (1.59%) Okta
7 1 (1.59%) SAP
7 1 (1.59%) Tenable