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 10 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 51 35
Rank change year-on-year -8 -16 -2
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 100 82 116
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 4.20% 4.31% 4.93%
As % of the System Software category 45.05% 44.32% 42.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 73 55 79
10th Percentile £173 £207 £188
25th Percentile £200 £309 £329
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £388 £488 £438
Median % change year-on-year -20.51% +11.43% -5.91%
75th Percentile £575 £601 £555
90th Percentile £666 £681 £688
London median daily rate £495 £465 £450
% change year-on-year +6.46% +3.22% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 2 3
10th Percentile £19.73 £22.48 £84.40
25th Percentile £20.44 £23.19 £94.75
Median hourly rate £21.75 £25.25 £112.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.86% -77.46% -
75th Percentile £22.94 £28.19 -
90th Percentile £23.58 £29.43 -
London median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £23.80
% change year-on-year +4.35% -3.36% -60.33%

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 222 185 274
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 9.32% 9.73% 11.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 165 132 183
10th Percentile £194 £275 £303
25th Percentile £380 £406 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £536 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.05% -2.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £608 £650 £681
90th Percentile £675 £688 £767
London median daily rate £532 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +1.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 3
10th Percentile £13.70 £22.48 £84.40
25th Percentile £19.25 £23.19 £94.75
Median hourly rate £24.00 £25.25 £112.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.95% -77.46% +208.97%
75th Percentile £31.00 £28.19 -
90th Percentile £33.40 £29.43 -
London median hourly rate £30.00 £24.00 £23.80
% change year-on-year +25.00% +0.84% -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 10 October 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 10 October 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 -12 79 £415 -16.25% 45
City of Westminster -7 9 £338 -48.08% 9
Kensington and Chelsea - 3 £150 -
Southwark -3 1 £550 -
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 26 (26.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (8.00%) SharePoint
3 4 (4.00%) IIS
4 3 (3.00%) Confluence
5 2 (2.00%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 6 (6.00%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.00%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (6.00%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 49 (49.00%) Entra ID
2 40 (40.00%) Azure
3 38 (38.00%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (8.00%) AWS
5 6 (6.00%) Power Platform
6 4 (4.00%) IaaS
6 4 (4.00%) OneDrive
6 4 (4.00%) PaaS
7 3 (3.00%) Azure DevOps
7 3 (3.00%) GCP
7 3 (3.00%) OpenShift
8 2 (2.00%) GitHub
8 2 (2.00%) Microsoft Purview
8 2 (2.00%) SaaS
9 1 (1.00%) Azure App Service
9 1 (1.00%) Azure Functions
9 1 (1.00%) Azure Service Bus
9 1 (1.00%) Power Automate
9 1 (1.00%) PowerApps
9 1 (1.00%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 38 (38.00%) DNS
2 28 (28.00%) DHCP
3 16 (16.00%) VPN
4 13 (13.00%) TCP/IP
5 10 (10.00%) Firewall
6 7 (7.00%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (4.00%) SMTP
8 3 (3.00%) LAN
9 2 (2.00%) Cisco ISE
9 2 (2.00%) DMZ
9 2 (2.00%) Network Security
9 2 (2.00%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (2.00%) SAN
9 2 (2.00%) SSL
9 2 (2.00%) WAN
10 1 (1.00%) DKIM
10 1 (1.00%) DMARC
10 1 (1.00%) SD-WAN
10 1 (1.00%) Unified Communications
10 1 (1.00%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (11.00%) SQL Server
2 6 (6.00%) Power BI
2 6 (6.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 3 (3.00%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (3.00%) Big Data
3 3 (3.00%) Elasticsearch
3 3 (3.00%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 3 (3.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 2 (2.00%) Relational Database
5 1 (1.00%) NoSQL
5 1 (1.00%) Oracle BI EE
5 1 (1.00%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 11 (11.00%) JIRA
2 1 (1.00%) Git
2 1 (1.00%) MSI
2 1 (1.00%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 38 (38.00%) Social Skills
2 19 (19.00%) Finance
3 12 (12.00%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (5.00%) Front Office
5 3 (3.00%) Banking
5 3 (3.00%) Public Sector
5 3 (3.00%) Telecoms
6 2 (2.00%) Financial Institution
6 2 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 2 (2.00%) Retail
7 1 (1.00%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (1.00%) Influencing Skills
7 1 (1.00%) Investment Banking
7 1 (1.00%) Mandarin Language
7 1 (1.00%) Marketing
7 1 (1.00%) Military
7 1 (1.00%) Organisational Skills
7 1 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 27 (27.00%) Support Engineer
2 15 (15.00%) IT Support
3 14 (14.00%) IT Engineer
4 13 (13.00%) IT Support Engineer
5 12 (12.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 11 (11.00%) Analyst
7 7 (7.00%) Active Directory Engineer
7 7 (7.00%) Support Analyst
7 7 (7.00%) Windows Engineer
8 6 (6.00%) Infrastructure Support
8 6 (6.00%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
9 5 (5.00%) Architect
9 5 (5.00%) Desktop Engineer
10 4 (4.00%) Azure Engineer
10 4 (4.00%) Deployment Engineer
10 4 (4.00%) Desktop Support
10 4 (4.00%) IT Analyst
11 3 (3.00%) Active Directory Support
11 3 (3.00%) Active Directory Support Engineer
11 3 (3.00%) Windows Deployment Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (10.00%) OpenID
1 10 (10.00%) SAML
2 7 (7.00%) OAuth
3 6 (6.00%) REST
4 4 (4.00%) Terraform
5 3 (3.00%) 802.1X
6 2 (2.00%) .NET
6 2 (2.00%) LDAP
6 2 (2.00%) OAuth2
6 2 (2.00%) SailPoint
7 1 (1.00%) ASP.NET
7 1 (1.00%) Bootstrap
7 1 (1.00%) CSS
7 1 (1.00%) HTML
7 1 (1.00%) HTML5 Canvas
7 1 (1.00%) Jakarta EE
7 1 (1.00%) JDBC
7 1 (1.00%) JSON
7 1 (1.00%) RESTful
7 1 (1.00%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 18 (18.00%) Onboarding
2 12 (12.00%) PKI
3 11 (11.00%) Video Conferencing
4 8 (8.00%) Data Centre
5 6 (6.00%) Clustering
6 5 (5.00%) Enterprise Software
7 4 (4.00%) iPhone
8 3 (3.00%) Fat Client
8 3 (3.00%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (3.00%) iPad
8 3 (3.00%) Management Information System
8 3 (3.00%) Thin Client
9 2 (2.00%) FMCG
9 2 (2.00%) IoT
9 2 (2.00%) Legacy Systems
9 2 (2.00%) Operational Technology
9 2 (2.00%) Virtual Team
10 1 (1.00%) Data Fabric
10 1 (1.00%) Life Science
10 1 (1.00%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 72 (72.00%) Windows
2 27 (27.00%) Windows Server
3 19 (19.00%) Windows 10
4 16 (16.00%) Mac OS
5 12 (12.00%) Linux
6 6 (6.00%) Android
7 5 (5.00%) Windows 7
8 4 (4.00%) Apple iOS
8 4 (4.00%) VMS
8 4 (4.00%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (3.00%) Windows Server 2008
9 3 (3.00%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (2.00%) OpenVMS
11 1 (1.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (1.00%) Ubuntu
11 1 (1.00%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (1.00%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
2 19 (19.00%) ITIL
3 17 (17.00%) Migration
4 15 (15.00%) Customer Service
4 15 (15.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 13 (13.00%) Stakeholder Management
6 12 (12.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 12 (12.00%) Service Management
7 11 (11.00%) High Availability
7 11 (11.00%) Identity Access Management
8 10 (10.00%) ITSM
9 9 (9.00%) Service Delivery
10 8 (8.00%) Incident Management
10 8 (8.00%) Project Delivery
11 7 (7.00%) Asset Management
11 7 (7.00%) DevOps
11 7 (7.00%) Identity Management
11 7 (7.00%) Process Improvement
11 7 (7.00%) Software Deployment
12 6 (6.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 16 (16.00%) PowerShell
2 10 (10.00%) SQL
3 3 (3.00%) Python
4 2 (2.00%) Bicep
4 2 (2.00%) Java
5 1 (1.00%) Bash
5 1 (1.00%) BeanShell
5 1 (1.00%) C#
5 1 (1.00%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.00%) Korn
5 1 (1.00%) TypeScript
5 1 (1.00%) VB
Qualifications
1 19 (19.00%) Security Cleared
2 12 (12.00%) SC Cleared
3 7 (7.00%) Degree
3 7 (7.00%) DV Cleared
4 4 (4.00%) A+ Certification
5 3 (3.00%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (3.00%) CISSP
5 3 (3.00%) PMI Certification
5 3 (3.00%) PMP
6 2 (2.00%) Azure Certification
6 2 (2.00%) CCNA
6 2 (2.00%) CCNP
6 2 (2.00%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (1.00%) CCIE
7 1 (1.00%) CESG Certified Professional
7 1 (1.00%) CHECK Team Member
7 1 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (1.00%) CREST Certified
7 1 (1.00%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (1.00%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (11.00%) SLA
2 4 (4.00%) GDPR
2 4 (4.00%) QA
3 3 (3.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (2.00%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (2.00%) GRC
4 2 (2.00%) NIST
5 1 (1.00%) Data Quality
5 1 (1.00%) Government Security Classifications
5 1 (1.00%) HIPAA
5 1 (1.00%) NCSC
5 1 (1.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (1.00%) SOC 2
System Software
1 19 (19.00%) VMware Infrastructure
2 9 (9.00%) Virtual Desktop
2 9 (9.00%) VMware ESXi
3 6 (6.00%) Hyper-V
4 4 (4.00%) Microsoft App-V
4 4 (4.00%) vSphere
5 3 (3.00%) BitLocker
5 3 (3.00%) Docker
5 3 (3.00%) Terminal Services
6 1 (1.00%) Firmware
6 1 (1.00%) UAG
6 1 (1.00%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (1.00%) Virtual Servers
6 1 (1.00%) VMware NSX
6 1 (1.00%) zsh
Systems Management
1 30 (30.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (18.00%) SCCM
3 10 (10.00%) Single Sign-On
4 8 (8.00%) vCenter Server
5 7 (7.00%) Ansible
6 4 (4.00%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (4.00%) SCOM
7 3 (3.00%) Kubernetes
7 3 (3.00%) Microsoft Clustering
7 3 (3.00%) Nagios
7 3 (3.00%) Puppet
7 3 (3.00%) vMotion
7 3 (3.00%) WSUS
8 2 (2.00%) FortiGate
8 2 (2.00%) Nessus
8 2 (2.00%) NetBackup
9 1 (1.00%) AirWatch
9 1 (1.00%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (1.00%) EMC NetWorker
9 1 (1.00%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 75 (75.00%) Microsoft
2 24 (24.00%) VMware
3 16 (16.00%) ServiceNow
4 11 (11.00%) Citrix
5 10 (10.00%) Apple
6 9 (9.00%) Cisco
7 7 (7.00%) Bloomberg
8 6 (6.00%) Remedy
9 5 (5.00%) HP
9 5 (5.00%) Zscaler
10 4 (4.00%) CyberArk
10 4 (4.00%) Google
10 4 (4.00%) Oracle
11 3 (3.00%) Altiris
11 3 (3.00%) BeyondTrust
11 3 (3.00%) BMC
11 3 (3.00%) Commvault
11 3 (3.00%) Refinitiv
11 3 (3.00%) Symantec
12 2 (2.00%) Tenable