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 13 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 35 48 50
Rank change year-on-year +13 +2 -27
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 184 91 80
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.86% 4.12% 3.35%
As % of the System Software category 39.91% 36.69% 37.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 55 64
10th Percentile £144 £151 £191
25th Percentile £185 £203 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £325 £425
Median % change year-on-year - -23.53% +55.96%
75th Percentile £492 £470 £535
90th Percentile £588 £521 £643
England median daily rate £450 £447 £450
% change year-on-year +0.67% -0.67% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 0 4
10th Percentile £17.00 - £18.35
25th Percentile £46.09 - £18.89
Median hourly rate £172.50 - £23.34
75th Percentile £178.75 - £29.69
90th Percentile - - £31.38
England median hourly rate £47.54 £23.00 £17.90
% change year-on-year +106.70% +28.49% -5.79%

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 461 248 212
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.17% 11.23% 8.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 160 148
10th Percentile £185 £206 £213
25th Percentile £309 £347 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -10.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £542 £538 £602
90th Percentile £638 £627 £672
England median daily rate £500 £500 £515
% change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 1 6
10th Percentile £17.83 - £18.59
25th Percentile £61.81 £76.25 £20.95
Median hourly rate £74.26 £82.50 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year -9.99% +182.05% +56.00%
75th Percentile £178.75 £88.75 £70.79
90th Percentile - - £84.67
England median hourly rate £60.00 £38.75 £24.18
% change year-on-year +54.84% +60.26% -33.30%

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 13 August 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 13 August 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 13 August 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
Manchester +26 98 £450 -4.26% 59
Cheshire -15 33 £325 -2.55% 17
Merseyside 0 29 £148 -1.67% 15
Lancashire -7 14 £400 +128.57% 21
Cumbria -5 10 £450 +5.88%
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 (20.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (17.93%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.63%) IIS
Applications
1 11 (5.98%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.63%) Chatbot
2 3 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (2.72%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 117 (63.59%) Microsoft 365
2 76 (41.30%) Azure
3 70 (38.04%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.61%) GCP
5 13 (7.07%) OneDrive
6 12 (6.52%) Power Platform
7 11 (5.98%) AWS
8 9 (4.89%) Google Workspace
8 9 (4.89%) Power Automate
8 9 (4.89%) PowerApps
9 8 (4.35%) SaaS
10 7 (3.80%) Google Drive
11 6 (3.26%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (3.26%) Microsoft Copilot
12 5 (2.72%) Mimecast
13 4 (2.17%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (2.17%) IaaS
13 4 (2.17%) Serverless
14 3 (1.63%) Cloud Computing
14 3 (1.63%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.76%) DNS
2 22 (11.96%) VPN
3 14 (7.61%) DHCP
3 14 (7.61%) TCP/IP
4 10 (5.43%) Firewall
5 8 (4.35%) SAN
6 6 (3.26%) LAN
6 6 (3.26%) VLAN
7 4 (2.17%) NAS
7 4 (2.17%) Network Security
7 4 (2.17%) WAN
7 4 (2.17%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (1.63%) DKIM
8 3 (1.63%) DMARC
8 3 (1.63%) SSL
9 2 (1.09%) PABX
9 2 (1.09%) VoIP
9 2 (1.09%) WebEx
9 2 (1.09%) Wireless
10 1 (0.54%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.17%) Power BI
1 4 (2.17%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 10 (5.43%) JIRA
2 2 (1.09%) Git
2 2 (1.09%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
3 1 (0.54%) MSI
General
1 61 (33.15%) Social Skills
2 28 (15.22%) Legal
3 24 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (13.04%) Finance
4 18 (9.78%) Public Sector
5 8 (4.35%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (3.80%) Telecoms
7 6 (3.26%) Banking
8 5 (2.72%) Games
9 4 (2.17%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.63%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.63%) Retail
11 2 (1.09%) Advertising
11 2 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.54%) Military
Job Titles
1 43 (23.37%) IT Support
2 40 (21.74%) Support Engineer
3 31 (16.85%) IT Engineer
3 31 (16.85%) IT Support Engineer
4 29 (15.76%) Analyst
5 18 (9.78%) Service Analyst
5 18 (9.78%) Service Desk Analyst
6 12 (6.52%) Administrator
6 12 (6.52%) IT Analyst
7 11 (5.98%) 1st Line Support
8 10 (5.43%) 2nd Line Engineer
8 10 (5.43%) 2nd Line Support
9 9 (4.89%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
10 8 (4.35%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
10 8 (4.35%) Support Analyst
11 7 (3.80%) IT Support Analyst
11 7 (3.80%) Microsoft Engineer
11 7 (3.80%) Systems Engineer
12 6 (3.26%) 1st/2nd Line Support
12 6 (3.26%) 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.52%) SailPoint
2 11 (5.98%) SAML
3 9 (4.89%) OAuth
4 5 (2.72%) LDAP
4 5 (2.72%) REST
5 4 (2.17%) ARM Templates
5 4 (2.17%) JSON
6 3 (1.63%) JDBC
6 3 (1.63%) OpenID
6 3 (1.63%) Web Services
7 2 (1.09%) Azure Blueprints
7 2 (1.09%) ODBC
7 2 (1.09%) Software Packaging
7 2 (1.09%) XML
7 2 (1.09%) XMPP
8 1 (0.54%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Graph
8 1 (0.54%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 28 (15.22%) Onboarding
2 9 (4.89%) Driving Licence
3 8 (4.35%) Enterprise Software
3 8 (4.35%) Security Posture
4 6 (3.26%) Management Information System
5 5 (2.72%) Animation
5 5 (2.72%) PKI
6 4 (2.17%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.17%) Cloud Security Posture
6 4 (2.17%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.63%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.63%) CMDB
7 3 (1.63%) Freedom of Information
7 3 (1.63%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.09%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.09%) Fat Client
8 2 (1.09%) Handset
8 2 (1.09%) iPhone
8 2 (1.09%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.09%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 122 (66.30%) Windows
2 63 (34.24%) Windows 10
3 28 (15.22%) Windows Server
4 11 (5.98%) Linux
5 6 (3.26%) Windows Server 2003
6 5 (2.72%) Unix
6 5 (2.72%) Windows 7
7 4 (2.17%) Android
7 4 (2.17%) Mac OS
7 4 (2.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (2.17%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.63%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (1.09%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.54%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (34.24%) ITIL
2 51 (27.72%) Customer Service
3 43 (23.37%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (14.13%) Identity Access Management
5 25 (13.59%) Continuous Improvement
6 21 (11.41%) Migration
7 19 (10.33%) RBAC
8 18 (9.78%) Service Management
9 16 (8.70%) Knowledge Transfer
10 15 (8.15%) ITSM
11 14 (7.61%) Infrastructure as Code
12 12 (6.52%) Application Packaging
12 12 (6.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 11 (5.98%) Privileged Access Management
14 10 (5.43%) Cloud Security
14 10 (5.43%) Cybersecurity
14 10 (5.43%) Project Delivery
14 10 (5.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 9 (4.89%) Identity Management
15 9 (4.89%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (14.67%) PowerShell
2 9 (4.89%) Bicep
3 8 (4.35%) Python
4 4 (2.17%) Java
4 4 (2.17%) SQL
5 3 (1.63%) Bash
6 2 (1.09%) BeanShell
6 2 (1.09%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.54%) Google Apps Script
7 1 (0.54%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 32 (17.39%) Security Cleared
2 25 (13.59%) SC Cleared
3 21 (11.41%) Microsoft Certification
4 16 (8.70%) Degree
5 9 (4.89%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (4.35%) A+ Certification
7 7 (3.80%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (3.80%) Network+ Certification
8 6 (3.26%) Azure Certification
8 6 (3.26%) CISSP
9 5 (2.72%) DBS Check
9 5 (2.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 5 (2.72%) MCSE
10 4 (2.17%) CompTIA Security+
10 4 (2.17%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (2.17%) MCSA
11 2 (1.09%) AWS Certification
11 2 (1.09%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.54%) CCIE Security
12 1 (0.54%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (7.07%) SLA
2 7 (3.80%) NIST
3 4 (2.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.63%) GDPR
5 1 (0.54%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 9 (4.89%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (2.72%) Docker
2 5 (2.72%) Hyper-V
2 5 (2.72%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft App-V
4 1 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 37 (20.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (15.76%) SCCM
3 17 (9.24%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (5.98%) Terraform
5 5 (2.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (2.72%) Kubernetes
5 5 (2.72%) WSUS
6 4 (2.17%) Ansible
6 4 (2.17%) CASB
6 4 (2.17%) Nessus
7 3 (1.63%) McAfee ePO
8 2 (1.09%) AirWatch
8 2 (1.09%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (1.09%) Progress Chef
8 2 (1.09%) vCenter Server
8 2 (1.09%) WMI
9 1 (0.54%) CA Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.54%) NetApp OnCommand
9 1 (0.54%) vMotion
Vendors
1 135 (73.37%) Microsoft
2 47 (25.54%) ServiceNow
3 18 (9.78%) iManage
4 15 (8.15%) BeyondTrust
5 12 (6.52%) Google
5 12 (6.52%) VMware
6 10 (5.43%) Bomgar
7 9 (4.89%) CyberArk
7 9 (4.89%) Remedy
8 6 (3.26%) Cisco
8 6 (3.26%) Citrix
8 6 (3.26%) Okta
8 6 (3.26%) Perforce
9 5 (2.72%) Ivanti
9 5 (2.72%) Sophos
10 4 (2.17%) Tenable
11 3 (1.63%) McAfee
11 3 (1.63%) Red Hat
11 3 (1.63%) Splunk
11 3 (1.63%) Tanium