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

6 months to
25 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 43 50
Rank change year-on-year +6 +7 -27
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 198 100 79
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.06% 4.51% 3.23%
As % of the System Software category 41.08% 38.46% 36.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 150 58 62
10th Percentile £150 £152 £188
25th Percentile £185 £201 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £312 £329 £425
Median % change year-on-year -5.39% -22.53% +54.55%
75th Percentile £481 £450 £523
90th Percentile £538 £586 £643
England median daily rate £450 £438 £450
% change year-on-year +2.86% -2.78% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 3 4
10th Percentile £16.89 £17.67 £17.96
25th Percentile £32.01 £18.12 £18.75
Median hourly rate £172.50 £18.87 £23.34
Median % change year-on-year +814.15% -19.15% +24.48%
75th Percentile £178.75 - £29.69
90th Percentile - - £31.38
England median hourly rate £48.72 £23.00 £18.06
% change year-on-year +111.83% +27.35% -5.25%

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 482 260 214
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.31% 11.72% 8.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 324 162 147
10th Percentile £185 £205 £213
25th Percentile £304 £336 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £448 £450 £504
Median % change year-on-year -0.56% -10.71% +12.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £594
90th Percentile £635 £624 £672
England median daily rate £500 £500 £515
% change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 5 6
10th Percentile £17.83 £17.97 £18.31
25th Percentile £61.81 - £20.95
Median hourly rate £75.63 £18.87 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year +300.79% -35.49% +56.00%
75th Percentile £178.75 £67.25 £70.79
90th Percentile - £80.15 £84.67
England median hourly rate £60.92 £37.50 £23.80
% change year-on-year +62.44% +57.56% -45.60%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 +25 95 £425 -3.41% 29
Cheshire -7 41 £325 - 13
Merseyside 0 30 £165 +10.00% 7
Lancashire -1 22 £310 +18.10% 12
Cumbria -8 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 33 (16.67%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (15.15%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.52%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (6.57%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.01%) Chatbot
3 2 (1.01%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (2.53%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 119 (60.10%) Microsoft 365
2 77 (38.89%) Azure
3 72 (36.36%) Entra ID
4 16 (8.08%) GCP
5 13 (6.57%) AWS
6 9 (4.55%) Google Workspace
6 9 (4.55%) Power Platform
7 8 (4.04%) SaaS
8 7 (3.54%) Google Drive
8 7 (3.54%) OneDrive
9 6 (3.03%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (2.53%) Mimecast
11 4 (2.02%) AWS KMS
11 4 (2.02%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (2.02%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (2.02%) IaaS
11 4 (2.02%) Power Automate
11 4 (2.02%) PowerApps
11 4 (2.02%) Serverless
12 3 (1.52%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 26 (13.13%) DNS
2 24 (12.12%) VPN
3 15 (7.58%) DHCP
4 12 (6.06%) TCP/IP
5 8 (4.04%) SAN
6 7 (3.54%) Firewall
6 7 (3.54%) NetScaler
7 6 (3.03%) LAN
7 6 (3.03%) VLAN
8 5 (2.53%) Network Security
9 4 (2.02%) NAS
9 4 (2.02%) WAN
9 4 (2.02%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (1.52%) DKIM
10 3 (1.52%) DMARC
11 2 (1.01%) PABX
11 2 (1.01%) VoIP
11 2 (1.01%) Wireless
12 1 (0.51%) Kerberos
12 1 (0.51%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.02%) Power BI
1 4 (2.02%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (4.55%) JIRA
2 2 (1.01%) Git
2 2 (1.01%) MSI
2 2 (1.01%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 71 (35.86%) Social Skills
2 26 (13.13%) Analytical Skills
2 26 (13.13%) Legal
3 24 (12.12%) Finance
4 15 (7.58%) Public Sector
5 11 (5.56%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (3.54%) Banking
6 7 (3.54%) Telecoms
7 6 (3.03%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.53%) Games
9 3 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (1.01%) Advertising
10 2 (1.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.01%) Military
10 2 (1.01%) Retail
Job Titles
1 51 (25.76%) IT Support
2 48 (24.24%) Support Engineer
3 37 (18.69%) IT Engineer
3 37 (18.69%) IT Support Engineer
4 27 (13.64%) Analyst
5 17 (8.59%) Service Analyst
5 17 (8.59%) Service Desk Analyst
6 11 (5.56%) Administrator
6 11 (5.56%) IT Analyst
7 10 (5.05%) 1st Line Support
7 10 (5.05%) 2nd Line Engineer
7 10 (5.05%) 2nd Line Support
8 9 (4.55%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
9 8 (4.04%) Cloud Engineer
9 8 (4.04%) Support Analyst
10 7 (3.54%) Desktop Engineer
10 7 (3.54%) IT Support Analyst
10 7 (3.54%) Systems Engineer
11 6 (3.03%) 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer
11 6 (3.03%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (7.07%) SailPoint
2 13 (6.57%) SAML
3 12 (6.06%) Terraform
4 9 (4.55%) OAuth
5 5 (2.53%) REST
6 4 (2.02%) ARM Templates
6 4 (2.02%) JSON
7 3 (1.52%) Azure Blueprints
7 3 (1.52%) JDBC
7 3 (1.52%) OpenID
7 3 (1.52%) Web Services
8 2 (1.01%) Microsoft Graph
8 2 (1.01%) ODBC
8 2 (1.01%) Software Packaging
8 2 (1.01%) XML
9 1 (0.51%) 802.1X
9 1 (0.51%) LDAP
9 1 (0.51%) OAuth2
9 1 (0.51%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (14.65%) Onboarding
2 11 (5.56%) Enterprise Software
3 8 (4.04%) Driving Licence
3 8 (4.04%) Management Information System
4 6 (3.03%) PKI
5 5 (2.53%) Animation
5 5 (2.53%) CMDB
5 5 (2.53%) Security Posture
6 4 (2.02%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.02%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.02%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.52%) Freedom of Information
7 3 (1.52%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.01%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.01%) Handset
8 2 (1.01%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (1.01%) iPhone
8 2 (1.01%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.01%) Product Ownership
9 1 (0.51%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 135 (68.18%) Windows
2 69 (34.85%) Windows 10
3 36 (18.18%) Windows Server
4 9 (4.55%) Linux
5 8 (4.04%) Android
6 6 (3.03%) Mac OS
6 6 (3.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (3.03%) Windows Server 2003
7 5 (2.53%) Apple iOS
7 5 (2.53%) Windows 7
8 4 (2.02%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (1.52%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (1.01%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.51%) CentOS
11 1 (0.51%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.51%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (36.36%) ITIL
2 63 (31.82%) Customer Service
3 47 (23.74%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (13.13%) Continuous Improvement
5 24 (12.12%) RBAC
6 23 (11.62%) Identity Access Management
7 21 (10.61%) Service Management
8 20 (10.10%) User Experience
9 19 (9.60%) Migration
10 17 (8.59%) ITSM
10 17 (8.59%) Knowledge Transfer
11 15 (7.58%) Application Packaging
11 15 (7.58%) Privileged Access Management
12 14 (7.07%) Cybersecurity
12 14 (7.07%) Infrastructure as Code
13 13 (6.57%) Root Cause Analysis
14 12 (6.06%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 12 (6.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 10 (5.05%) Computer Science
15 10 (5.05%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 30 (15.15%) PowerShell
2 9 (4.55%) Bicep
2 9 (4.55%) Python
3 5 (2.53%) Bash
3 5 (2.53%) Java
4 4 (2.02%) SQL
5 2 (1.01%) BeanShell
5 2 (1.01%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.51%) Google Apps Script
6 1 (0.51%) Lisp
6 1 (0.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 40 (20.20%) Security Cleared
2 31 (15.66%) SC Cleared
3 16 (8.08%) Degree
3 16 (8.08%) Microsoft Certification
4 10 (5.05%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (4.04%) A+ Certification
6 7 (3.54%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (3.54%) Network+ Certification
7 6 (3.03%) Azure Certification
7 6 (3.03%) DBS Check
8 5 (2.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 4 (2.02%) CISSP
9 4 (2.02%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (1.52%) AWS Certification
10 3 (1.52%) Cisco Certification
11 1 (0.51%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 1 (0.51%) CCIE Security
11 1 (0.51%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 1 (0.51%) PMP
11 1 (0.51%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (8.59%) SLA
2 9 (4.55%) NIST
3 7 (3.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.52%) GDPR
5 2 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.51%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.51%) QA
6 1 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 16 (8.08%) VMware Infrastructure
2 12 (6.06%) Hyper-V
3 7 (3.54%) Citrix Hypervisor
4 5 (2.53%) Docker
4 5 (2.53%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (2.02%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.52%) XenApp
6 3 (1.52%) XenDesktop
7 2 (1.01%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.51%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 41 (20.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 34 (17.17%) SCCM
3 18 (9.09%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (3.03%) SysTrack
5 5 (2.53%) Ansible
5 5 (2.53%) Kubernetes
5 5 (2.53%) WSUS
6 4 (2.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (1.52%) McAfee ePO
7 3 (1.52%) Progress Chef
8 2 (1.01%) AirWatch
8 2 (1.01%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (1.01%) vCenter Server
8 2 (1.01%) WMI
9 1 (0.51%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.51%) NetApp OnCommand
9 1 (0.51%) QRadar
9 1 (0.51%) vMotion
Vendors
1 148 (74.75%) Microsoft
2 49 (24.75%) ServiceNow
3 19 (9.60%) iManage
3 19 (9.60%) VMware
4 17 (8.59%) BeyondTrust
5 14 (7.07%) Google
6 13 (6.57%) Citrix
7 9 (4.55%) Bomgar
8 6 (3.03%) Ivanti
8 6 (3.03%) Nexthink
8 6 (3.03%) Okta
8 6 (3.03%) Perforce
9 5 (2.53%) Cisco
9 5 (2.53%) CyberArk
9 5 (2.53%) Remedy
9 5 (2.53%) Sophos
9 5 (2.53%) Tanium
10 4 (2.02%) Red Hat
11 3 (1.52%) Apple
11 3 (1.52%) McAfee