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 1 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 43 25 39
Rank change year-on-year -18 +14 -19
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 70 60 59
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 4.16% 6.48% 3.89%
As % of the System Software category 38.25% 45.11% 44.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 46 41 52
10th Percentile £166 £156 £210
25th Percentile £188 £200 £304
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £383 £450
Median % change year-on-year +7.70% -14.88% -4.00%
75th Percentile £601 £488 £558
90th Percentile £636 £510 £721
North West median daily rate £290 £350 £350
% change year-on-year -17.14% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £166.25 - -
Median hourly rate £172.50 £29.00 £12.00
Median % change year-on-year +494.83% +141.67% -40.00%
75th Percentile £178.75 - -
90th Percentile - - -
North West median hourly rate £74.26 £29.00 £17.39
% change year-on-year +156.07% +66.74% -13.04%

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 183 133 132
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 10.87% 14.36% 8.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 134 90 114
10th Percentile £202 £199 £281
25th Percentile £381 £364 £366
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year -0.53% +2.70% -7.50%
75th Percentile £575 £545 £596
90th Percentile £630 £575 £694
North West median daily rate £450 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 2 1
10th Percentile £62.00 £33.73 -
25th Percentile £83.75 £40.81 -
Median hourly rate £172.50 £55.75 £12.00
Median % change year-on-year +209.42% +364.58% -56.36%
75th Percentile £178.75 £73.81 -
90th Percentile - £82.78 -
North West median hourly rate £74.26 £55.75 £17.72
% change year-on-year +33.20% +214.62% -20.93%

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 1 May 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 1 May 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
Oldham +1 3 £205 -
Bolton -5 3 - - 1
Wigan +2 1 £450 +176.92%
Salford - 1 £168 - 2
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 19 (27.14%) SharePoint
2 18 (25.71%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (2.86%) IIS
Applications
1 9 (12.86%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.86%) Chatbot
3 1 (1.43%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 47 (67.14%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (51.43%) Entra ID
3 32 (45.71%) Azure
4 10 (14.29%) OneDrive
5 9 (12.86%) Power Platform
6 8 (11.43%) PowerApps
7 7 (10.00%) Power Automate
7 7 (10.00%) SaaS
8 6 (8.57%) AWS
8 6 (8.57%) GCP
8 6 (8.57%) Google Workspace
8 6 (8.57%) Microsoft Copilot
9 5 (7.14%) Google Drive
10 2 (2.86%) Asana
10 2 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (2.86%) Azure Functions
10 2 (2.86%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (2.86%) Azure Storage
10 2 (2.86%) GitHub
10 2 (2.86%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 9 (12.86%) DNS
2 6 (8.57%) Firewall
2 6 (8.57%) TCP/IP
3 3 (4.29%) DHCP
3 3 (4.29%) SSL
3 3 (4.29%) Wi-Fi
4 2 (2.86%) DKIM
4 2 (2.86%) DMARC
4 2 (2.86%) Kerberos
4 2 (2.86%) LAN
4 2 (2.86%) Network Security
4 2 (2.86%) WAN
5 1 (1.43%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.43%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (2.86%) Git
1 2 (2.86%) JIRA
General
1 31 (44.29%) Social Skills
2 15 (21.43%) Public Sector
3 12 (17.14%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (15.71%) Finance
5 9 (12.86%) Telecoms
6 4 (5.71%) Banking
6 4 (5.71%) Retail
7 3 (4.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (2.86%) Legal
8 2 (2.86%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (1.43%) Military
Job Titles
1 17 (24.29%) IT Support
2 13 (18.57%) Analyst
3 12 (17.14%) Support Engineer
4 10 (14.29%) IT Analyst
4 10 (14.29%) Support Analyst
5 9 (12.86%) Administrator
5 9 (12.86%) IT Support Analyst
6 7 (10.00%) IT Engineer
6 7 (10.00%) IT Support Engineer
6 7 (10.00%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
7 6 (8.57%) Architect
7 6 (8.57%) Microsoft Engineer
8 5 (7.14%) 2nd Line Engineer
8 5 (7.14%) 2nd Line Support
8 5 (7.14%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
9 4 (5.71%) SailPoint Engineer
10 3 (4.29%) Migration Engineer
10 3 (4.29%) Windows Engineer
11 2 (2.86%) Lead Architect
11 2 (2.86%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (8.57%) LDAP
2 4 (5.71%) SailPoint
3 3 (4.29%) JDBC
3 3 (4.29%) OAuth
3 3 (4.29%) REST
3 3 (4.29%) Web Services
4 2 (2.86%) ARM Templates
4 2 (2.86%) Software Packaging
5 1 (1.43%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (1.43%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (25.71%) Onboarding
2 4 (5.71%) Cloud Security Posture
2 4 (5.71%) Driving Licence
2 4 (5.71%) Security Posture
3 3 (4.29%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (2.86%) AI Agents
4 2 (2.86%) Freedom of Information
4 2 (2.86%) iPhone
4 2 (2.86%) Management Information System
5 1 (1.43%) Analytical Mindset
5 1 (1.43%) Cloud Native
5 1 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 36 (51.43%) Windows
2 28 (40.00%) Windows 10
3 4 (5.71%) Linux
3 4 (5.71%) Mac OS
3 4 (5.71%) Unix
4 3 (4.29%) Windows Server
5 2 (2.86%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (1.43%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (34.29%) ITIL
2 15 (21.43%) Identity Access Management
2 15 (21.43%) Problem-Solving
3 14 (20.00%) Customer Service
4 13 (18.57%) Migration
5 10 (14.29%) Inventory Management
6 9 (12.86%) Computer Science
6 9 (12.86%) Conflict Resolution
6 9 (12.86%) Continuous Improvement
6 9 (12.86%) Creative Problem-Solving
6 9 (12.86%) Knowledge Management
6 9 (12.86%) Service Management
7 8 (11.43%) Project Delivery
7 8 (11.43%) Roadmaps
8 7 (10.00%) Identity Management
8 7 (10.00%) Zero Trust
9 6 (8.57%) Cloud Security
9 6 (8.57%) Data Protection
9 6 (8.57%) Knowledge Transfer
9 6 (8.57%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 17 (24.29%) PowerShell
2 3 (4.29%) Bash
2 3 (4.29%) Bicep
3 2 (2.86%) BeanShell
3 2 (2.86%) Java
3 2 (2.86%) Python
3 2 (2.86%) SQL
Qualifications
1 21 (30.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 15 (21.43%) Degree
3 10 (14.29%) A+ Certification
4 9 (12.86%) Computer Science Degree
4 9 (12.86%) Network+ Certification
5 7 (10.00%) Security Cleared
6 4 (5.71%) CISSP
6 4 (5.71%) CompTIA Security+
6 4 (5.71%) DBS Check
6 4 (5.71%) MCSA
6 4 (5.71%) MCSE
6 4 (5.71%) SC Cleared
7 2 (2.86%) Azure Certification
7 2 (2.86%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (8.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (7.14%) GDPR
3 3 (4.29%) NIST
4 2 (2.86%) SLA
5 1 (1.43%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 3 (4.29%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (2.86%) Docker
2 2 (2.86%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (1.43%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 23 (32.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (10.00%) Single Sign-On
3 5 (7.14%) SCCM
4 4 (5.71%) CASB
4 4 (5.71%) Nessus
5 3 (4.29%) Terraform
6 2 (2.86%) AirWatch
6 2 (2.86%) Jamf Pro
6 2 (2.86%) Kubernetes
7 1 (1.43%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 50 (71.43%) Microsoft
2 9 (12.86%) Google
3 4 (5.71%) CyberArk
3 4 (5.71%) Remedy
3 4 (5.71%) Tenable
4 3 (4.29%) Cisco
4 3 (4.29%) Citrix
4 3 (4.29%) Meraki
4 3 (4.29%) ServiceNow
4 3 (4.29%) Splunk
4 3 (4.29%) VMware
5 2 (2.86%) Bloomberg
5 2 (2.86%) HP
6 1 (1.43%) Apple
6 1 (1.43%) Rapid7