Active Directory Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Microsoft Active Directory
North West > Manchester

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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 64 31 25
Rank change year-on-year -33 -6 -7
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 43 63 89
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 2.99% 6.05% 5.72%
As % of the System Software category 27.74% 45.32% 48.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 30 47 74
10th Percentile £166 £160 £208
25th Percentile £213 £193 £288
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £385 £400
Median % change year-on-year +3.90% -3.75% -5.88%
75th Percentile £610 £494 £475
90th Percentile £630 £540 £696
North West median daily rate £320 £350 £370
% change year-on-year -8.57% -5.41% -1.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 7
10th Percentile - - £14.55
25th Percentile - - £17.13
Median hourly rate £20.00 £29.00 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -31.03% +61.11% -21.74%
75th Percentile - - £18.88
90th Percentile - - £21.35
North West median hourly rate £41.94 £22.09 £17.61
% change year-on-year +89.86% +25.44% -11.95%

All System Software Skills
Manchester

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 Manchester.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 155 139 182
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 10.79% 13.35% 11.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 118 95 160
10th Percentile £309 £181 £273
25th Percentile £361 £361 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £456
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +4.11% -8.75%
75th Percentile £583 £563 £569
90th Percentile £638 £588 £700
North West median daily rate £450 £400 £450
% change year-on-year +12.43% -11.06% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 8
10th Percentile £35.75 - £14.98
25th Percentile £59.38 - £17.56
Median hourly rate £85.00 £29.00 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +193.10% +61.11% -70.85%
75th Percentile £95.00 - £20.75
90th Percentile - - £35.75
North West median hourly rate £42.69 £23.14 £17.72
% change year-on-year +84.50% +30.56% -59.55%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

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

Active Directory job vacancy trend in Manchester

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in Manchester over the 6 months to 6 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in Manchester

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Contract Job Locations in Manchester

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 Manchester region over the 6 months to 6 March 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
Bolton -3 3 - -
Oldham +2 2 £215 -
Ashton-under-Lyne - 1 - -
Active Directory
North West

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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 (32.56%) SharePoint
2 11 (25.58%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (6.98%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (4.65%) Chatbot
Cloud Services
1 30 (69.77%) Entra ID
2 29 (67.44%) Microsoft 365
3 28 (65.12%) Azure
4 9 (20.93%) OneDrive
5 6 (13.95%) Power Platform
5 6 (13.95%) PowerApps
6 5 (11.63%) Microsoft Copilot
6 5 (11.63%) Power Automate
7 3 (6.98%) AWS
7 3 (6.98%) GCP
8 2 (4.65%) Azure AKS
8 2 (4.65%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (4.65%) Azure Functions
8 2 (4.65%) Azure Logic Apps
8 2 (4.65%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (4.65%) Azure Storage
8 2 (4.65%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (4.65%) GitHub
8 2 (4.65%) GitHub Actions
8 2 (4.65%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 5 (11.63%) DNS
1 5 (11.63%) Firewall
2 4 (9.30%) TCP/IP
3 3 (6.98%) SSL
4 2 (4.65%) VPN
4 2 (4.65%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (2.33%) DHCP
5 1 (2.33%) IP Telephony
5 1 (2.33%) Kerberos
5 1 (2.33%) LAN
5 1 (2.33%) Network Security
5 1 (2.33%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.33%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (4.65%) Git
2 1 (2.33%) JIRA
2 1 (2.33%) MSI
General
1 15 (34.88%) Social Skills
2 9 (20.93%) Public Sector
3 7 (16.28%) Finance
4 4 (9.30%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (9.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 4 (9.30%) Retail
5 3 (6.98%) Telecoms
6 1 (2.33%) Military
6 1 (2.33%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 8 (18.60%) Analyst
2 7 (16.28%) Support Engineer
3 6 (13.95%) IT Support
4 5 (11.63%) IT Analyst
4 5 (11.63%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
4 5 (11.63%) Microsoft Engineer
4 5 (11.63%) Support Analyst
5 4 (9.30%) Architect
5 4 (9.30%) IT Support Analyst
6 3 (6.98%) 2nd Line Engineer
6 3 (6.98%) 2nd Line Support
6 3 (6.98%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
6 3 (6.98%) Administrator
7 2 (4.65%) Desktop Support
7 2 (4.65%) Infrastructure Analyst
7 2 (4.65%) IT Engineer
7 2 (4.65%) Lead
7 2 (4.65%) Microsoft 365 Administrator
7 2 (4.65%) Migration Engineer
7 2 (4.65%) Vulnerability Management Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (11.63%) LDAP
2 2 (4.65%) ARM Templates
3 1 (2.33%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (2.33%) OAuth
3 1 (2.33%) OAuth2
3 1 (2.33%) OpenID
3 1 (2.33%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 7 (16.28%) Onboarding
2 4 (9.30%) Cloud Security Posture
2 4 (9.30%) Driving Licence
2 4 (9.30%) Security Posture
3 3 (6.98%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (4.65%) AI Agents
4 2 (4.65%) Data Protection Act
5 1 (2.33%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 21 (48.84%) Windows
2 13 (30.23%) Windows 10
3 4 (9.30%) Linux
3 4 (9.30%) Mac OS
3 4 (9.30%) Unix
4 2 (4.65%) Apple iOS
5 1 (2.33%) Windows Server
5 1 (2.33%) Windows Server 2016
5 1 (2.33%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (27.91%) Identity Access Management
2 9 (20.93%) ITIL
2 9 (20.93%) Problem-Solving
3 6 (13.95%) Application Packaging
3 6 (13.95%) Customer Service
3 6 (13.95%) Identity Management
3 6 (13.95%) User Experience
4 5 (11.63%) Analytics
4 5 (11.63%) Business Strategy
4 5 (11.63%) Data Protection
4 5 (11.63%) Migration
4 5 (11.63%) Roadmaps
5 4 (9.30%) Cloud Security
5 4 (9.30%) Incident Response
5 4 (9.30%) Penetration Testing
5 4 (9.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 4 (9.30%) Validation
5 4 (9.30%) Vulnerability Assessment
5 4 (9.30%) Vulnerability Management
5 4 (9.30%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 14 (32.56%) PowerShell
2 3 (6.98%) Bash
3 2 (4.65%) Bicep
3 2 (4.65%) Python
4 1 (2.33%) SQL
Qualifications
1 13 (30.23%) Microsoft Certification
2 7 (16.28%) Degree
3 4 (9.30%) CISSP
3 4 (9.30%) CompTIA Security+
3 4 (9.30%) MCSA
3 4 (9.30%) MCSE
4 3 (6.98%) A+ Certification
4 3 (6.98%) Computer Science Degree
4 3 (6.98%) Network+ Certification
5 2 (4.65%) Azure Certification
5 2 (4.65%) Security Cleared
6 1 (2.33%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (11.63%) GDPR
1 5 (11.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 3 (6.98%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (4.65%) Docker
2 2 (4.65%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (2.33%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (44.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (13.95%) SCCM
3 4 (9.30%) CASB
3 4 (9.30%) Nessus
3 4 (9.30%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (6.98%) Jamf Pro
5 2 (4.65%) Kubernetes
5 2 (4.65%) Terraform
Vendors
1 31 (72.09%) Microsoft
2 4 (9.30%) Citrix
2 4 (9.30%) CyberArk
2 4 (9.30%) Remedy
2 4 (9.30%) Tenable
2 4 (9.30%) VMware
3 3 (6.98%) Cisco
3 3 (6.98%) Google
3 3 (6.98%) Meraki
3 3 (6.98%) Splunk
4 1 (2.33%) Apple
4 1 (2.33%) Ivanti
4 1 (2.33%) QNAP
4 1 (2.33%) ServiceNow