Active Directory Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Microsoft Active Directory
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring Active Directory skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 58 43
Rank change year-on-year -8 -15 -4
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 77 62 96
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 3.46% 3.59% 4.59%
As % of the System Software category 42.54% 43.06% 39.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 58 40 68
10th Percentile £175 £258 £241
25th Percentile £263 £391 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £536 £444
Median % change year-on-year -11.15% +20.79% -6.58%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £576
90th Percentile £671 £685 £700
Central London median daily rate £415 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -17.00% +11.11% -1.64%
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 -
Central London median hourly rate £21.75 £26.45 £112.00
% change year-on-year -17.77% -76.38% -

All System Software Skills
City of 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 the City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 181 144 246
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 8.12% 8.34% 11.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 131 100 168
10th Percentile £235 £282 £346
25th Percentile £410 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £559 £560
Median % change year-on-year -6.04% -0.22% +1.82%
75th Percentile £638 £668 £678
90th Percentile £679 £688 £741
Central London median daily rate £525 £536 £550
% change year-on-year -2.05% -2.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 2 3
10th Percentile £12.78 £22.48 £84.40
25th Percentile £16.94 £23.19 £94.75
Median hourly rate £21.75 £25.25 £112.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.86% -77.46% +208.97%
75th Percentile £25.75 £28.19 -
90th Percentile £28.90 £29.43 -
Central London median hourly rate £24.00 £26.45 £112.00
% change year-on-year -9.26% -76.38% +208.97%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

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

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the City of London

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the City of London over the 6 months to 22 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in the City of London

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of 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 17 (22.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (6.49%) SharePoint
3 3 (3.90%) Confluence
4 2 (2.60%) Exchange Server 2013
4 2 (2.60%) IIS
5 1 (1.30%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 2 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (6.49%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (1.30%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 38 (49.35%) Entra ID
2 33 (42.86%) Azure
3 28 (36.36%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (11.69%) AWS
5 8 (10.39%) Power Platform
6 4 (5.19%) Azure DevOps
6 4 (5.19%) GitHub
6 4 (5.19%) OneDrive
7 3 (3.90%) GCP
7 3 (3.90%) IaaS
7 3 (3.90%) OpenShift
7 3 (3.90%) PaaS
7 3 (3.90%) Serverless
8 2 (2.60%) Azure Functions
8 2 (2.60%) Azure Key Vault
8 2 (2.60%) Azure Logic Apps
8 2 (2.60%) Azure Service Bus
8 2 (2.60%) Dynamics 365
8 2 (2.60%) Power Automate
8 2 (2.60%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 29 (37.66%) DNS
2 22 (28.57%) DHCP
3 15 (19.48%) VPN
4 10 (12.99%) Firewall
5 8 (10.39%) TCP/IP
6 4 (5.19%) SMTP
6 4 (5.19%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (2.60%) Cisco ISE
7 2 (2.60%) DMZ
7 2 (2.60%) LAN
7 2 (2.60%) Network Security
8 1 (1.30%) BGP
8 1 (1.30%) Internet
8 1 (1.30%) MPLS
8 1 (1.30%) OSPF
8 1 (1.30%) SD-WAN
8 1 (1.30%) TACACS
8 1 (1.30%) Unified Communications
8 1 (1.30%) WAN
8 1 (1.30%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (10.39%) SQL Server
2 7 (9.09%) Power BI
3 6 (7.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 4 (5.19%) Big Data
5 3 (3.90%) Amazon RDS
5 3 (3.90%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (3.90%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 3 (3.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (1.30%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (1.30%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (1.30%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (1.30%) Delta Lake
6 1 (1.30%) NoSQL
6 1 (1.30%) Oracle BI EE
6 1 (1.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (12.99%) JIRA
2 2 (2.60%) Git
3 1 (1.30%) Artifactory
3 1 (1.30%) GitLab
3 1 (1.30%) MSI
3 1 (1.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 28 (36.36%) Social Skills
2 16 (20.78%) Finance
3 9 (11.69%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (6.49%) Front Office
5 4 (5.19%) Public Sector
6 3 (3.90%) Telecoms
7 2 (2.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 2 (2.60%) Military
7 2 (2.60%) Organisational Skills
7 2 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (1.30%) Banking
8 1 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (1.30%) Financial Institution
8 1 (1.30%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (1.30%) Investment Banking
8 1 (1.30%) Law
8 1 (1.30%) Mandarin Language
8 1 (1.30%) Marketing
8 1 (1.30%) Police
Job Titles
1 21 (27.27%) Support Engineer
2 11 (14.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 11 (14.29%) IT Support
3 9 (11.69%) Analyst
3 9 (11.69%) IT Engineer
3 9 (11.69%) IT Support Engineer
4 7 (9.09%) Active Directory Engineer
5 6 (7.79%) Architect
5 6 (7.79%) Infrastructure Support
5 6 (7.79%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
6 5 (6.49%) Support Analyst
7 4 (5.19%) IT Analyst
8 3 (3.90%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 3 (3.90%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
8 3 (3.90%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Support
8 3 (3.90%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
8 3 (3.90%) Active Directory Support
8 3 (3.90%) Active Directory Support Engineer
8 3 (3.90%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
8 3 (3.90%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (10.39%) OpenID
1 8 (10.39%) SAML
2 6 (7.79%) REST
3 5 (6.49%) OAuth
4 4 (5.19%) Terraform
5 3 (3.90%) 802.1X
6 2 (2.60%) .NET
6 2 (2.60%) LDAP
6 2 (2.60%) OAuth2
6 2 (2.60%) SailPoint
7 1 (1.30%) ASP.NET
7 1 (1.30%) Bootstrap
7 1 (1.30%) CSS
7 1 (1.30%) HTML
7 1 (1.30%) HTML5 Canvas
7 1 (1.30%) Jakarta EE
7 1 (1.30%) JDBC
7 1 (1.30%) JSON
7 1 (1.30%) RESTful
7 1 (1.30%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 13 (16.88%) Onboarding
2 10 (12.99%) PKI
3 8 (10.39%) Video Conferencing
4 7 (9.09%) Data Centre
5 6 (7.79%) Clustering
6 4 (5.19%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (3.90%) Fat Client
7 3 (3.90%) Thin Client
8 2 (2.60%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (2.60%) iPad
8 2 (2.60%) iPhone
8 2 (2.60%) Virtual Team
9 1 (1.30%) BYOD
9 1 (1.30%) Data Fabric
9 1 (1.30%) IoT
9 1 (1.30%) Life Science
9 1 (1.30%) NHS
9 1 (1.30%) Product Ownership
9 1 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 51 (66.23%) Windows
2 20 (25.97%) Windows Server
3 12 (15.58%) Mac OS
4 9 (11.69%) Windows 10
5 6 (7.79%) Linux
6 4 (5.19%) VMS
6 4 (5.19%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (3.90%) Windows Server 2008
7 3 (3.90%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (2.60%) Android
8 2 (2.60%) OpenVMS
8 2 (2.60%) Windows 7
9 1 (1.30%) Apple iOS
9 1 (1.30%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (1.30%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (35.06%) Problem-Solving
2 14 (18.18%) Migration
3 13 (16.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 11 (14.29%) High Availability
5 10 (12.99%) Customer Service
5 10 (12.99%) ITIL
6 9 (11.69%) Identity Access Management
6 9 (11.69%) Service Delivery
6 9 (11.69%) Stakeholder Management
7 8 (10.39%) Agile
7 8 (10.39%) AI
7 8 (10.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 8 (10.39%) DevOps
7 8 (10.39%) Identity Management
7 8 (10.39%) Incident Management
8 7 (9.09%) Asset Management
8 7 (9.09%) Process Improvement
8 7 (9.09%) Project Delivery
9 6 (7.79%) CI/CD
9 6 (7.79%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 13 (16.88%) PowerShell
2 8 (10.39%) SQL
3 5 (6.49%) Python
4 2 (2.60%) Bash
4 2 (2.60%) Java
5 1 (1.30%) BeanShell
5 1 (1.30%) Bicep
5 1 (1.30%) C#
5 1 (1.30%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.30%) Korn
5 1 (1.30%) TypeScript
5 1 (1.30%) VB
Qualifications
1 16 (20.78%) Security Cleared
2 9 (11.69%) SC Cleared
3 7 (9.09%) Degree
4 6 (7.79%) DV Cleared
5 3 (3.90%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (3.90%) CISSP
6 2 (2.60%) CCNA
6 2 (2.60%) CCNP
7 1 (1.30%) CCIE
7 1 (1.30%) CESG Certified Professional
7 1 (1.30%) CISM
7 1 (1.30%) GIAC
7 1 (1.30%) GPEN
7 1 (1.30%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (1.30%) MCSE
7 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (1.30%) OSCP
7 1 (1.30%) PMI Certification
7 1 (1.30%) PMP
7 1 (1.30%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (6.49%) QA
2 4 (5.19%) GDPR
3 3 (3.90%) SLA
4 2 (2.60%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (2.60%) GRC
4 2 (2.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (1.30%) Data Quality
5 1 (1.30%) Government Security Classifications
5 1 (1.30%) HIPAA
5 1 (1.30%) NIST
5 1 (1.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (1.30%) SOC 2
System Software
1 15 (19.48%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (9.09%) VMware ESXi
3 6 (7.79%) Hyper-V
4 5 (6.49%) Docker
4 5 (6.49%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (5.19%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (3.90%) BitLocker
6 3 (3.90%) Terminal Services
7 2 (2.60%) vSphere
8 1 (1.30%) Firmware
8 1 (1.30%) UAG
8 1 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (1.30%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 21 (27.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (16.88%) SCCM
3 8 (10.39%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (9.09%) Ansible
5 6 (7.79%) vCenter Server
6 5 (6.49%) Kubernetes
7 4 (5.19%) Puppet
7 4 (5.19%) SCOM
8 3 (3.90%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (3.90%) Microsoft Clustering
8 3 (3.90%) Nagios
8 3 (3.90%) vMotion
8 3 (3.90%) WSUS
9 2 (2.60%) FortiGate
9 2 (2.60%) Nessus
9 2 (2.60%) NetBackup
10 1 (1.30%) AirWatch
10 1 (1.30%) Salt
10 1 (1.30%) SCOrch
10 1 (1.30%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 59 (76.62%) Microsoft
2 18 (23.38%) VMware
3 11 (14.29%) Citrix
4 10 (12.99%) ServiceNow
5 8 (10.39%) Apple
6 7 (9.09%) Bloomberg
6 7 (9.09%) Cisco
7 5 (6.49%) HP
7 5 (6.49%) Oracle
7 5 (6.49%) Remedy
8 4 (5.19%) Google
9 3 (3.90%) BMC
9 3 (3.90%) Commvault
9 3 (3.90%) CyberArk
9 3 (3.90%) Refinitiv
9 3 (3.90%) Symantec
9 3 (3.90%) Zscaler
10 2 (2.60%) SAP
10 2 (2.60%) Tenable
10 2 (2.60%) Veritas