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

6 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 73 31 31
Rank change year-on-year -42 0 +19
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 61 113 158
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 2.90% 5.46% 6.04%
As % of the System Software category 33.33% 45.56% 54.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 43 73 116
10th Percentile £186 £206 £183
25th Percentile £253 £275 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £500 £444
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +12.68% +16.39%
75th Percentile £581 £613 £569
90th Percentile £671 £686 £728
London median daily rate £500 £450 £415
% change year-on-year +11.11% +8.43% -2.35%
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% +52.44%
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 183 248 291
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 8.71% 11.99% 11.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 134 158 217
10th Percentile £254 £248 £223
25th Percentile £406 £413 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £559 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% +17.58% -13.64%
75th Percentile £626 £625 £619
90th Percentile £685 £725 £727
London median daily rate £525 £565 £500
% change year-on-year -7.08% +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% +95.12%
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile £46.02 - £46.15
London median hourly rate £25.15 £26.11 £25.00
% change year-on-year -3.66% +4.42% -26.47%

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 14 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 14 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 -29 53 £425 -15.00% 22
Camden - 3 - - 2
Kensington and Chelsea - 2 £575 -
Lambeth 0 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 (21.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (18.03%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (8.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (6.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (4.92%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (4.92%) MS Visio
4 1 (1.64%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (1.64%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (1.64%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 47 (77.05%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (62.30%) Azure
3 35 (57.38%) Entra ID
4 7 (11.48%) OneDrive
5 6 (9.84%) Microsoft Purview
6 5 (8.20%) Power Platform
7 4 (6.56%) AWS
7 4 (6.56%) PowerApps
8 3 (4.92%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (4.92%) Power Automate
9 2 (3.28%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (3.28%) Copilot Studio
9 2 (3.28%) Microsoft Copilot
10 1 (1.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (1.64%) Azure Logic Apps
10 1 (1.64%) GitHub
10 1 (1.64%) Google Workspace
10 1 (1.64%) IaaS
10 1 (1.64%) Mimecast
10 1 (1.64%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 12 (19.67%) DNS
1 12 (19.67%) Firewall
1 12 (19.67%) VPN
2 8 (13.11%) DHCP
3 4 (6.56%) Softphone
4 2 (3.28%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (1.64%) Extranet
5 1 (1.64%) IPv4
5 1 (1.64%) IPv6
5 1 (1.64%) Kerberos
5 1 (1.64%) LAN
5 1 (1.64%) MPLS
5 1 (1.64%) TCP/IP
5 1 (1.64%) Unified Communications
5 1 (1.64%) VSAN
5 1 (1.64%) WAN
5 1 (1.64%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (1.64%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.28%) SQL Server
1 2 (3.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 1 (1.64%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (1.64%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (4.92%) JIRA
2 1 (1.64%) Cypress.io
2 1 (1.64%) Oracle Forms
2 1 (1.64%) Selenium
2 1 (1.64%) SpecFlow
General
1 29 (47.54%) Social Skills
2 12 (19.67%) Finance
3 6 (9.84%) Banking
4 4 (6.56%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (4.92%) Public Sector
5 3 (4.92%) Telecoms
6 2 (3.28%) Legal
7 1 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (1.64%) French Language
7 1 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.64%) International Banking
7 1 (1.64%) Investment Banking
7 1 (1.64%) Law
7 1 (1.64%) Military
Job Titles
1 12 (19.67%) Support Engineer
2 10 (16.39%) IT Support
3 9 (14.75%) Analyst
4 8 (13.11%) IT Engineer
4 8 (13.11%) IT Support Engineer
5 7 (11.48%) Senior
6 4 (6.56%) 2nd Line Support
6 4 (6.56%) Consultant
6 4 (6.56%) Service Desk Engineer
7 3 (4.92%) 2nd Line Engineer
7 3 (4.92%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
7 3 (4.92%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 3 (4.92%) Architect
7 3 (4.92%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 3 (4.92%) Help Desk Analyst
7 3 (4.92%) Lead
7 3 (4.92%) Microsoft 365 Consultant
7 3 (4.92%) Programme Manager
7 3 (4.92%) Security Engineer
7 3 (4.92%) Security Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (3.28%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (3.28%) OAuth
1 2 (3.28%) OpenID
1 2 (3.28%) SailPoint
1 2 (3.28%) SAML
2 1 (1.64%) .NET
2 1 (1.64%) AngularJS
2 1 (1.64%) HTML
2 1 (1.64%) LangChain
2 1 (1.64%) LDAP
2 1 (1.64%) Playwright
2 1 (1.64%) REST
2 1 (1.64%) Semantic Kernel
2 1 (1.64%) SPFx
2 1 (1.64%) Web Services
2 1 (1.64%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (21.31%) Onboarding
2 4 (6.56%) BYOD
2 4 (6.56%) Security Posture
3 3 (4.92%) Management Information System
3 3 (4.92%) Video Conferencing
4 2 (3.28%) Cyber Threat
4 2 (3.28%) Hybrid Cloud
5 1 (1.64%) AI Agents
5 1 (1.64%) CMDB
5 1 (1.64%) Data Centre
5 1 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (1.64%) iPad
5 1 (1.64%) Low-Code
5 1 (1.64%) Security Operations Centre
5 1 (1.64%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 33 (54.10%) Windows
2 12 (19.67%) Windows 10
3 11 (18.03%) Windows Server
4 5 (8.20%) Mac OS
5 2 (3.28%) Android
5 2 (3.28%) Apple iOS
6 1 (1.64%) Linux
6 1 (1.64%) Mac OS X
6 1 (1.64%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (1.64%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (22.95%) ITIL
1 14 (22.95%) Problem-Solving
2 10 (16.39%) Change Management
3 9 (14.75%) Cybersecurity
3 9 (14.75%) Identity Access Management
4 8 (13.11%) Customer Service
4 8 (13.11%) Data Loss Prevention
4 8 (13.11%) ITSM
5 7 (11.48%) Cloud Security
5 7 (11.48%) Continuous Improvement
5 7 (11.48%) Migration
5 7 (11.48%) Service Delivery
6 6 (9.84%) User Experience
7 5 (8.20%) Change Control
7 5 (8.20%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 5 (8.20%) Performance Metrics
7 5 (8.20%) Security Operations
7 5 (8.20%) SIEM
7 5 (8.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 4 (6.56%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (22.95%) PowerShell
2 4 (6.56%) Java
2 4 (6.56%) Python
3 3 (4.92%) C#
3 3 (4.92%) SQL
4 1 (1.64%) BeanShell
4 1 (1.64%) Bicep
4 1 (1.64%) C++
4 1 (1.64%) Kusto Query Language
4 1 (1.64%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 10 (16.39%) Degree
1 10 (16.39%) Microsoft Certification
2 6 (9.84%) SC Cleared
2 6 (9.84%) Security Cleared
3 5 (8.20%) MCSE
4 4 (6.56%) CISSP
4 4 (6.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 3 (4.92%) CISM
5 3 (4.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 2 (3.28%) CISMP
6 2 (3.28%) CompTIA CySA+
6 2 (3.28%) CompTIA Security+
6 2 (3.28%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
6 2 (3.28%) MCSA
6 2 (3.28%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (1.64%) A+ Certification
7 1 (1.64%) Azure Certification
7 1 (1.64%) CCNA
7 1 (1.64%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (16.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 8 (13.11%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (11.48%) GDPR
4 4 (6.56%) NIST
5 2 (3.28%) NCSC
6 1 (1.64%) Accessibility
6 1 (1.64%) EU AI Act
6 1 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 42001
6 1 (1.64%) QA
System Software
1 5 (8.20%) Virtual Desktop
2 2 (3.28%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (3.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.64%) VMware NSX
3 1 (1.64%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 24 (39.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (16.39%) SCCM
3 2 (3.28%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
3 2 (3.28%) Terraform
4 1 (1.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 1 (1.64%) AirWatch
4 1 (1.64%) Ansible
4 1 (1.64%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (1.64%) Kubernetes
4 1 (1.64%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 48 (78.69%) Microsoft
2 7 (11.48%) Citrix
2 7 (11.48%) ServiceNow
3 5 (8.20%) VMware
4 4 (6.56%) Palo Alto
5 3 (4.92%) Altiris
5 3 (4.92%) CyberArk
6 2 (3.28%) Apple
6 2 (3.28%) Fortinet
6 2 (3.28%) Ivanti
6 2 (3.28%) LogRhythm
6 2 (3.28%) OpenAI
6 2 (3.28%) Symantec
7 1 (1.64%) Bomgar
7 1 (1.64%) CheckPoint
7 1 (1.64%) Dell
7 1 (1.64%) Polycom
7 1 (1.64%) Qualys
7 1 (1.64%) Remedy
7 1 (1.64%) Veeam