Active Directory Contract Job Trends in the North West

Microsoft Active Directory
England > North West

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

6 months to
6 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 35 22 24
Rank change year-on-year -13 +2 -9
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 150 157 194
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.68% 7.45% 6.77%
As % of the System Software category 37.88% 54.14% 59.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 96 96 134
10th Percentile £133 £150 £163
25th Percentile £151 £183 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £295 £325 £375
Median % change year-on-year -9.23% -13.33% -
75th Percentile £471 £456 £475
90th Percentile £563 £538 £584
England median daily rate £460 £423 £394
% change year-on-year +8.77% +7.33% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 9 28
10th Percentile - £16.45 -
25th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £15.50
Median hourly rate £19.00 £22.09 £17.61
Median % change year-on-year -13.99% +25.44% -11.95%
75th Percentile £41.94 £24.18 £18.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £25.14 £20.28
England median hourly rate £22.24 £21.78 £18.50
% change year-on-year +2.12% +17.70% -2.27%

All System Software Skills
North West

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 North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 396 290 324
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 14.99% 13.77% 11.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 176 240
10th Percentile £151 £163 £187
25th Percentile £325 £250 £302
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £435 £400 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.75% -11.11% -
75th Percentile £538 £538 £541
90th Percentile £614 £584 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £485
% change year-on-year -4.76% +8.25% -8.49%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 10 35
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.73 £15.50
25th Percentile £18.12 £17.44 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 £22.09 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +89.86% +24.66% -62.69%
75th Percentile £74.26 £24.18 £22.63
90th Percentile £76.85 £33.85 £46.18
England median hourly rate £34.00 £29.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +17.24% -27.50% +3.90%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the North West

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the North West over the 6 months to 6 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in the North West

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Active Directory in the North West over the 6 months to 6 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Active Directory in the North West

Active Directory
Contract Job Locations in the North West

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 North West region over the 6 months to 6 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
Cheshire -5 52 £388 +3.75% 19
Merseyside -3 48 £138 -15.38% 2
Manchester -32 30 £358 -5.68% 24
Lancashire +1 18 £550 +120.00% 15
Cumbria -14 2 £513 -2.38% 4
Active Directory
England

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 38 (25.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (19.33%) SharePoint
3 10 (6.67%) IIS
4 8 (5.33%) Apache
5 7 (4.67%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (4.67%) iPlanet
5 7 (4.67%) JBoss
5 7 (4.67%) Skype for Business
5 7 (4.67%) WebSphere
5 7 (4.67%) WebSphere Application Server
6 5 (3.33%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.67%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 12 (8.00%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (4.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (4.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (4.67%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 94 (62.67%) Microsoft 365
2 75 (50.00%) Azure
3 41 (27.33%) Entra ID
4 17 (11.33%) AWS
5 14 (9.33%) OneDrive
6 7 (4.67%) Power Platform
6 7 (4.67%) SaaS
7 6 (4.00%) OpenShift
8 5 (3.33%) Nutanix
9 4 (2.67%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (2.67%) GCP
10 3 (2.00%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (2.00%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (2.00%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.67%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.67%) Dynamics 365
11 1 (0.67%) Mimecast
11 1 (0.67%) PaaS
11 1 (0.67%) PowerApps
11 1 (0.67%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 23 (15.33%) Firewall
2 20 (13.33%) DNS
3 16 (10.67%) Wi-Fi
4 14 (9.33%) Kerberos
5 10 (6.67%) TCP/IP
5 10 (6.67%) VLAN
6 9 (6.00%) DHCP
7 8 (5.33%) Internet
8 7 (4.67%) Skype
8 7 (4.67%) VPN
8 7 (4.67%) WebEx
9 6 (4.00%) NetScaler
9 6 (4.00%) Network Security
9 6 (4.00%) Unified Communications
9 6 (4.00%) WAN
10 5 (3.33%) LAN
11 4 (2.67%) Wireless
12 3 (2.00%) BGP
12 3 (2.00%) Remote Desktop
12 3 (2.00%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.67%) Oracle Database
2 2 (1.33%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 8 (5.33%) Git
2 7 (4.67%) Bitbucket Server
2 7 (4.67%) CA Release Automation
2 7 (4.67%) Jenkins
3 6 (4.00%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (2.00%) JIRA
5 1 (0.67%) MSI
General
1 62 (41.33%) Social Skills
2 31 (20.67%) Analytical Skills
3 22 (14.67%) Legal
4 13 (8.67%) Finance
5 11 (7.33%) Public Sector
6 6 (4.00%) Manufacturing
6 6 (4.00%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (2.67%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (2.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (2.67%) Telecoms
8 3 (2.00%) Military
9 2 (1.33%) Retail
10 1 (0.67%) Banking
10 1 (0.67%) Electronics
10 1 (0.67%) Marketing
10 1 (0.67%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 36 (24.00%) IT Support
2 34 (22.67%) Analyst
3 25 (16.67%) Support Analyst
4 23 (15.33%) Support Engineer
5 16 (10.67%) IT Engineer
5 16 (10.67%) IT Support Engineer
6 14 (9.33%) IT Analyst
7 13 (8.67%) IT Support Analyst
7 13 (8.67%) Platform Engineer
8 12 (8.00%) Senior
8 12 (8.00%) Support Technician
9 11 (7.33%) 1st Line Support
9 11 (7.33%) Operations Analyst
10 10 (6.67%) IT Technician
11 9 (6.00%) 2nd Line Support
11 9 (6.00%) Architect
11 9 (6.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (5.33%) Deployment Engineer
13 7 (4.67%) Administrator
13 7 (4.67%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (9.33%) LDAP
2 8 (5.33%) OAuth
2 8 (5.33%) OpenID
2 8 (5.33%) SAML
3 7 (4.67%) XMPP
4 3 (2.00%) JSON
5 1 (0.67%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.67%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.67%) Middleware
5 1 (0.67%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.33%) Onboarding
2 10 (6.67%) Product Ownership
3 9 (6.00%) Driving Licence
3 9 (6.00%) Enterprise Software
4 7 (4.67%) Clustering
5 6 (4.00%) Data Centre
5 6 (4.00%) Video Conferencing
6 5 (3.33%) Low-Code
6 5 (3.33%) Private Cloud
7 4 (2.67%) Cyber Threat
7 4 (2.67%) Public Cloud
8 2 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.33%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.33%) Fat Client
8 2 (1.33%) Management Information System
8 2 (1.33%) PKI
8 2 (1.33%) Thin Client
9 1 (0.67%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.67%) IBM XIV
9 1 (0.67%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 103 (68.67%) Windows
2 36 (24.00%) Windows 10
3 33 (22.00%) Windows Server
4 20 (13.33%) Linux
5 9 (6.00%) Windows Server 2019
6 8 (5.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (4.67%) Mac OS
8 6 (4.00%) Apple iOS
8 6 (4.00%) Unix
9 4 (2.67%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (1.33%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.67%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (30.00%) Customer Service
2 41 (27.33%) Problem-Solving
3 26 (17.33%) ITIL
4 23 (15.33%) Identity Access Management
5 18 (12.00%) Migration
6 17 (11.33%) Cybersecurity
7 15 (10.00%) Problem Management
8 13 (8.67%) Disaster Recovery
8 13 (8.67%) ITSM
8 13 (8.67%) Platform Engineering
9 12 (8.00%) Continuous Improvement
9 12 (8.00%) DevOps
9 12 (8.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 11 (7.33%) Service Management
10 11 (7.33%) User Experience
10 11 (7.33%) Validation
11 10 (6.67%) Asset Management
11 10 (6.67%) Knowledge Management
12 9 (6.00%) Service Delivery
13 8 (5.33%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 41 (27.33%) PowerShell
2 12 (8.00%) Python
3 11 (7.33%) Bash
4 8 (5.33%) Perl
5 7 (4.67%) Groovy
6 6 (4.00%) Shell Script
7 3 (2.00%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (1.33%) SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (20.00%) Security Cleared
2 28 (18.67%) Degree
3 20 (13.33%) SC Cleared
4 7 (4.67%) CCDP
4 7 (4.67%) CCNA
4 7 (4.67%) CCNP
4 7 (4.67%) Cisco Certification
4 7 (4.67%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (3.33%) A+ Certification
6 4 (2.67%) CISM
6 4 (2.67%) CISSP
6 4 (2.67%) CompTIA Security+
7 3 (2.00%) Azure Certification
7 3 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (2.00%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (2.00%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (1.33%) AWS Certification
8 2 (1.33%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.00%) GDPR
1 6 (4.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (2.00%) NIST
2 3 (2.00%) SLA
3 1 (0.67%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 15 (10.00%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (6.67%) Docker
3 9 (6.00%) Hyper-V
4 6 (4.00%) Tivoli Directory Server
4 6 (4.00%) vSphere
5 5 (3.33%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 36 (24.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (22.00%) SCCM
3 13 (8.67%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 12 (8.00%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (5.33%) Ansible
5 8 (5.33%) CA Single Sign-On
5 8 (5.33%) Terraform
6 7 (4.67%) CA Wily
7 6 (4.00%) Microsoft Clustering
7 6 (4.00%) Nagios
7 6 (4.00%) Progress Chef
7 6 (4.00%) Tivoli
8 5 (3.33%) Kubernetes
9 3 (2.00%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (2.00%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 102 (68.00%) Microsoft
2 30 (20.00%) ServiceNow
3 21 (14.00%) VMware
4 19 (12.67%) Citrix
5 12 (8.00%) Cisco
6 10 (6.67%) Bomgar
6 10 (6.67%) iManage
7 8 (5.33%) IBM
7 8 (5.33%) Red Hat
8 7 (4.67%) AppDynamics
8 7 (4.67%) Broadcom
8 7 (4.67%) Oracle
8 7 (4.67%) SolarWinds
8 7 (4.67%) Splunk
9 5 (3.33%) Meraki
10 4 (2.67%) Apple
10 4 (2.67%) F5
10 4 (2.67%) Google
10 4 (2.67%) Veeam
11 3 (2.00%) LogRhythm