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 14 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 21 26
Rank change year-on-year -12 +5 -7
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 164 164 171
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.50% 8.07% 6.02%
As % of the System Software category 38.50% 55.41% 55.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 112 123
10th Percentile £133 £146 £156
25th Percentile £151 £185 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £313 £350 £375
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% -6.67% -
75th Percentile £538 £469 £475
90th Percentile £635 £536 £617
England median daily rate £450 £450 £385
% change year-on-year - +16.88% -9.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 5 23
10th Percentile £15.50 - -
25th Percentile £19.75 £21.05 £15.50
Median hourly rate £41.94 £24.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +73.45% +38.17% -12.50%
75th Percentile £74.26 - £18.00
90th Percentile - £27.07 £19.65
England median hourly rate £22.36 £22.30 £17.72
% change year-on-year +0.30% +25.82% -9.13%

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 426 296 308
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 14.29% 14.57% 10.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 276 191 232
10th Percentile £143 £156 £182
25th Percentile £326 £250 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £450
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% -11.11% -6.23%
75th Percentile £572 £537 £550
90th Percentile £638 £580 £686
England median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 6 29
10th Percentile £15.85 £21.05 -
25th Percentile £40.13 £21.83 £15.50
Median hourly rate £68.13 £24.18 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +181.76% +36.46% -59.55%
75th Percentile £74.26 £27.80 £21.50
90th Percentile £77.18 £53.25 £46.18
England median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £22.50
% change year-on-year +29.05% +44.44% -41.56%

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 14 March 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 14 March 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 14 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
Merseyside -3 52 £138 -8.33% 11
Manchester -22 51 £400 +3.90% 34
Cheshire -23 38 £451 +14.76% 15
Lancashire -1 21 £550 +57.14% 26
Cumbria -11 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 39 (23.78%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (17.07%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.44%) IIS
4 2 (1.22%) Apache
5 1 (0.61%) iPlanet
5 1 (0.61%) JBoss
5 1 (0.61%) SharePoint Server
5 1 (0.61%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.61%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 3 (1.83%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.22%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 97 (59.15%) Microsoft 365
2 89 (54.27%) Azure
3 63 (38.41%) Entra ID
4 11 (6.71%) OneDrive
4 11 (6.71%) Power Platform
5 9 (5.49%) AWS
6 6 (3.66%) PowerApps
7 5 (3.05%) Microsoft Copilot
7 5 (3.05%) Nutanix
7 5 (3.05%) Power Automate
7 5 (3.05%) SaaS
8 4 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (2.44%) Azure Logic Apps
8 4 (2.44%) Azure Monitor
8 4 (2.44%) Azure Sentinel
9 3 (1.83%) Cloud Computing
9 3 (1.83%) GCP
9 3 (1.83%) GitHub
9 3 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (1.22%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 29 (17.68%) Firewall
2 27 (16.46%) DNS
3 15 (9.15%) TCP/IP
4 14 (8.54%) Wi-Fi
5 11 (6.71%) DHCP
6 10 (6.10%) VLAN
6 10 (6.10%) WebEx
7 9 (5.49%) Kerberos
7 9 (5.49%) Network Security
8 7 (4.27%) WAN
9 6 (3.66%) NetScaler
10 5 (3.05%) LAN
10 5 (3.05%) SSL
10 5 (3.05%) VPN
11 4 (2.44%) BGP
11 4 (2.44%) Internet
11 4 (2.44%) Wireless
12 3 (1.83%) Software-Defined Networking
12 3 (1.83%) Unified Communications
13 1 (0.61%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.61%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.61%) Power BI
1 1 (0.61%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.44%) Git
1 4 (2.44%) JIRA
2 1 (0.61%) Bitbucket Server
2 1 (0.61%) CA Release Automation
2 1 (0.61%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.61%) MSI
2 1 (0.61%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 52 (31.71%) Social Skills
2 27 (16.46%) Legal
3 25 (15.24%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (12.20%) Finance
5 14 (8.54%) Public Sector
6 4 (2.44%) Banking
6 4 (2.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (2.44%) Retail
7 3 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.83%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.22%) Military
8 2 (1.22%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 33 (20.12%) IT Support
2 28 (17.07%) Analyst
3 24 (14.63%) Support Engineer
4 17 (10.37%) IT Engineer
4 17 (10.37%) IT Support Engineer
4 17 (10.37%) Support Analyst
5 16 (9.76%) 1st Line Support
6 15 (9.15%) IT Analyst
7 14 (8.54%) Architect
8 13 (7.93%) IT Support Analyst
8 13 (7.93%) Platform Engineer
9 10 (6.10%) Administrator
10 8 (4.88%) Deployment Engineer
11 7 (4.27%) Senior
12 6 (3.66%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 6 (3.66%) IT Technician
12 6 (3.66%) Microsoft Engineer
12 6 (3.66%) Server Engineer
13 5 (3.05%) Service Analyst
13 5 (3.05%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (8.54%) LDAP
2 10 (6.10%) XMPP
3 3 (1.83%) ARM Templates
3 3 (1.83%) OAuth
3 3 (1.83%) SAML
4 2 (1.22%) JSON
4 2 (1.22%) OpenID
5 1 (0.61%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.61%) JDBC
5 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.61%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.61%) REST
5 1 (0.61%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.61%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.61%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 16 (9.76%) Onboarding
2 14 (8.54%) Product Ownership
3 11 (6.71%) Driving Licence
4 6 (3.66%) Clustering
4 6 (3.66%) Enterprise Software
4 6 (3.66%) Security Posture
5 5 (3.05%) Cloud Security Posture
5 5 (3.05%) Data Centre
5 5 (3.05%) Fat Client
5 5 (3.05%) Private Cloud
5 5 (3.05%) Thin Client
6 4 (2.44%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (2.44%) Public Cloud
7 3 (1.83%) Low-Code
7 3 (1.83%) PKI
7 3 (1.83%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.22%) AI Agents
8 2 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.22%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.61%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 109 (66.46%) Windows
2 46 (28.05%) Windows 10
3 31 (18.90%) Windows Server
4 20 (12.20%) Linux
5 9 (5.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (5.49%) Windows Server 2019
6 6 (3.66%) Unix
7 5 (3.05%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (2.44%) Mac OS
9 2 (1.22%) Apple iOS
9 2 (1.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (28.05%) Customer Service
2 39 (23.78%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (19.51%) Identity Access Management
4 26 (15.85%) ITIL
5 17 (10.37%) Platform Engineering
6 16 (9.76%) Cybersecurity
7 15 (9.15%) Service Management
8 13 (7.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 11 (6.71%) Acceptance Criteria
9 11 (6.71%) Continuous Improvement
9 11 (6.71%) Disaster Recovery
9 11 (6.71%) ITSM
9 11 (6.71%) User Experience
9 11 (6.71%) User Stories
10 10 (6.10%) Change Control
10 10 (6.10%) DevOps
10 10 (6.10%) Digital Transformation Programme
10 10 (6.10%) Knowledge Management
10 10 (6.10%) Migration
10 10 (6.10%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 54 (32.93%) PowerShell
2 15 (9.15%) Python
3 12 (7.32%) Bash
4 9 (5.49%) Perl
5 3 (1.83%) Bicep
5 3 (1.83%) SQL
6 2 (1.22%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.61%) BeanShell
7 1 (0.61%) Groovy
7 1 (0.61%) Java
7 1 (0.61%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 32 (19.51%) Security Cleared
2 25 (15.24%) SC Cleared
3 20 (12.20%) Degree
4 14 (8.54%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (5.49%) CISSP
5 9 (5.49%) CompTIA Security+
6 8 (4.88%) CCDP
6 8 (4.88%) CCNA
6 8 (4.88%) CCNP
6 8 (4.88%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (4.27%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (3.05%) Azure Certification
8 5 (3.05%) MCSA
8 5 (3.05%) MCSE
9 4 (2.44%) CISM
10 3 (1.83%) A+ Certification
10 3 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.83%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (1.22%) DBS Check
11 2 (1.22%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (3.66%) GDPR
1 6 (3.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.44%) SLA
3 3 (1.83%) NIST
System Software
1 15 (9.15%) VMware Infrastructure
2 9 (5.49%) Hyper-V
3 7 (4.27%) Docker
4 5 (3.05%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (3.05%) vSphere
5 3 (1.83%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.61%) Tivoli Directory Server
Systems Management
1 34 (20.73%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (11.59%) SCCM
3 16 (9.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 11 (6.71%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (6.10%) Terraform
6 7 (4.27%) Ansible
7 6 (3.66%) Kubernetes
7 6 (3.66%) Microsoft Clustering
7 6 (3.66%) Nagios
8 5 (3.05%) CASB
8 5 (3.05%) Nessus
9 3 (1.83%) CA Single Sign-On
9 3 (1.83%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.61%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.61%) CA Wily
10 1 (0.61%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.61%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 110 (67.07%) Microsoft
2 32 (19.51%) ServiceNow
3 21 (12.80%) VMware
4 20 (12.20%) Citrix
5 15 (9.15%) Bomgar
5 15 (9.15%) Cisco
5 15 (9.15%) iManage
6 9 (5.49%) Red Hat
7 7 (4.27%) SolarWinds
8 6 (3.66%) Remedy
9 5 (3.05%) CyberArk
9 5 (3.05%) Meraki
9 5 (3.05%) Splunk
9 5 (3.05%) Tenable
10 4 (2.44%) F5
10 4 (2.44%) Google
10 4 (2.44%) Veeam
11 2 (1.22%) LogRhythm
11 2 (1.22%) Palo Alto
12 1 (0.61%) QNAP