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 16 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 25 25
Rank change year-on-year -9 0 -9
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 143 135 186
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.66% 6.50% 6.92%
As % of the System Software category 37.73% 52.94% 56.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 93 80 132
10th Percentile £133 £150 £164
25th Percentile £151 £183 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £300 £325 £325
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £435 £445 £453
90th Percentile £548 £524 £583
England median daily rate £450 £409 £400
% change year-on-year +10.09% +2.19% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 9 16
10th Percentile - £16.45 £16.25
25th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £16.47
Median hourly rate £19.00 £22.09 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.99% +22.72% -10.00%
75th Percentile £41.94 £24.18 £19.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £25.14 £22.63
England median hourly rate £22.27 £22.09 £19.00
% change year-on-year +0.79% +16.26% +2.70%

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 379 255 332
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 15.00% 12.28% 12.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 149 251
10th Percentile £151 £163 £188
25th Percentile £315 £250 £301
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £401 £440
Median % change year-on-year +6.12% -8.98% +0.57%
75th Percentile £505 £534 £538
90th Percentile £620 £586 £675
England median daily rate £500 £520 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% +4.00% -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 10 23
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.73 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.91 £17.44 £17.74
Median hourly rate £30.97 £22.09 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year +40.20% +13.28% -57.71%
75th Percentile £51.19 £24.18 £44.49
90th Percentile £74.26 £33.85 £60.38
England median hourly rate £41.94 £28.41 £50.00
% change year-on-year +47.62% -43.18% +47.06%

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 16 January 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 16 January 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 16 January 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 -8 49 £348 -8.07% 9
Merseyside -4 41 £138 -21.43% 10
Manchester -24 33 £383 +0.92% 27
Lancashire +6 18 £550 +120.00% 29
Cumbria -4 2 £513 -18.00% 2
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 (26.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (20.98%) SharePoint
3 13 (9.09%) IIS
4 11 (7.69%) Apache
5 10 (6.99%) iPlanet
5 10 (6.99%) JBoss
5 10 (6.99%) WebSphere
5 10 (6.99%) WebSphere Application Server
6 7 (4.90%) Exchange Server 2013
6 7 (4.90%) Skype for Business
7 5 (3.50%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.70%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 12 (8.39%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (4.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (4.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (4.90%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 89 (62.24%) Microsoft 365
2 63 (44.06%) Azure
3 33 (23.08%) Entra ID
4 18 (12.59%) AWS
5 15 (10.49%) OneDrive
6 8 (5.59%) OpenShift
6 8 (5.59%) SaaS
7 6 (4.20%) Power Platform
8 4 (2.80%) GCP
9 3 (2.10%) Azure Sentinel
9 3 (2.10%) Cloud Computing
9 3 (2.10%) Nutanix
10 2 (1.40%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (1.40%) Azure Monitor
11 1 (0.70%) Dynamics 365
11 1 (0.70%) Google Workspace
11 1 (0.70%) Mimecast
11 1 (0.70%) PowerApps
11 1 (0.70%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 17 (11.89%) DNS
2 15 (10.49%) Wi-Fi
3 13 (9.09%) Firewall
4 11 (7.69%) VLAN
5 10 (6.99%) Kerberos
5 10 (6.99%) TCP/IP
6 8 (5.59%) Internet
6 8 (5.59%) VPN
6 8 (5.59%) WebEx
7 7 (4.90%) Skype
8 6 (4.20%) Network Security
8 6 (4.20%) Unified Communications
8 6 (4.20%) WAN
9 5 (3.50%) DHCP
9 5 (3.50%) LAN
10 4 (2.80%) NetScaler
10 4 (2.80%) Wireless
11 3 (2.10%) BGP
11 3 (2.10%) Remote Desktop
11 3 (2.10%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (6.99%) Oracle Database
2 2 (1.40%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 10 (6.99%) Bitbucket Server
1 10 (6.99%) CA Release Automation
1 10 (6.99%) Git
1 10 (6.99%) Jenkins
2 8 (5.59%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (1.40%) JIRA
4 1 (0.70%) MSI
General
1 59 (41.26%) Social Skills
2 27 (18.88%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (13.99%) Legal
4 13 (9.09%) Finance
5 9 (6.29%) Public Sector
6 6 (4.20%) Manufacturing
6 6 (4.20%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (2.10%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.40%) Military
9 2 (1.40%) Retail
10 1 (0.70%) Banking
10 1 (0.70%) Electronics
10 1 (0.70%) Italian Language
10 1 (0.70%) Marketing
10 1 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.70%) Polish Language
10 1 (0.70%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 33 (23.08%) IT Support
2 31 (21.68%) Analyst
3 26 (18.18%) Support Engineer
4 22 (15.38%) Support Analyst
5 16 (11.19%) IT Engineer
5 16 (11.19%) IT Support Engineer
6 12 (8.39%) Platform Engineer
6 12 (8.39%) Senior
6 12 (8.39%) Support Technician
7 11 (7.69%) IT Analyst
7 11 (7.69%) Operations Analyst
8 10 (6.99%) 1st Line Support
8 10 (6.99%) IT Support Analyst
8 10 (6.99%) IT Technician
9 9 (6.29%) 2nd Line Support
10 8 (5.59%) Deployment Engineer
10 8 (5.59%) Server Engineer
11 7 (4.90%) Administrator
11 7 (4.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 7 (4.90%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (7.69%) OAuth
1 11 (7.69%) OpenID
1 11 (7.69%) SAML
2 10 (6.99%) LDAP
3 8 (5.59%) XMPP
4 2 (1.40%) JSON
5 1 (0.70%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.70%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.70%) Middleware
5 1 (0.70%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.89%) Onboarding
2 10 (6.99%) Product Ownership
3 9 (6.29%) Clustering
3 9 (6.29%) Driving Licence
3 9 (6.29%) Enterprise Software
4 6 (4.20%) Data Centre
4 6 (4.20%) Video Conferencing
5 5 (3.50%) Low-Code
6 4 (2.80%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (2.10%) Private Cloud
7 3 (2.10%) Replication
8 2 (1.40%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.40%) Fat Client
8 2 (1.40%) Management Information System
8 2 (1.40%) PKI
8 2 (1.40%) Public Cloud
8 2 (1.40%) Thin Client
9 1 (0.70%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.70%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 104 (72.73%) Windows
2 35 (24.48%) Windows Server
3 33 (23.08%) Windows 10
4 22 (15.38%) Linux
5 8 (5.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (5.59%) Unix
6 7 (4.90%) Mac OS
7 6 (4.20%) Apple iOS
7 6 (4.20%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.70%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 41 (28.67%) Customer Service
2 30 (20.98%) Problem-Solving
3 23 (16.08%) Identity Access Management
4 17 (11.89%) Cybersecurity
4 17 (11.89%) ITIL
5 16 (11.19%) Migration
5 16 (11.19%) Problem Management
6 13 (9.09%) Disaster Recovery
7 12 (8.39%) DevOps
7 12 (8.39%) ITSM
7 12 (8.39%) Platform Engineering
8 11 (7.69%) Continuous Improvement
8 11 (7.69%) User Experience
9 10 (6.99%) Asset Management
9 10 (6.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 10 (6.99%) Validation
10 9 (6.29%) CI/CD
10 9 (6.29%) Knowledge Management
10 9 (6.29%) Service Delivery
10 9 (6.29%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 32 (22.38%) PowerShell
2 12 (8.39%) Python
3 11 (7.69%) Bash
4 10 (6.99%) Groovy
5 8 (5.59%) Perl
5 8 (5.59%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.40%) Kusto Query Language
6 2 (1.40%) SQL
Qualifications
1 28 (19.58%) Security Cleared
2 25 (17.48%) Degree
3 19 (13.29%) SC Cleared
4 7 (4.90%) CCDP
4 7 (4.90%) CCNA
4 7 (4.90%) CCNP
4 7 (4.90%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (4.20%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (3.50%) AWS Certification
6 5 (3.50%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (2.80%) A+ Certification
7 4 (2.80%) CISM
7 4 (2.80%) CISSP
7 4 (2.80%) CompTIA Security+
7 4 (2.80%) DBS Check
8 3 (2.10%) Azure Certification
9 2 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.20%) GDPR
1 6 (4.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (1.40%) NIST
2 2 (1.40%) SLA
3 1 (0.70%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 14 (9.79%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (6.99%) Docker
3 8 (5.59%) Hyper-V
3 8 (5.59%) Tivoli Directory Server
4 4 (2.80%) vSphere
5 3 (2.10%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (1.40%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 37 (25.87%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (20.98%) SCCM
3 11 (7.69%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (6.99%) CA Single Sign-On
4 10 (6.99%) CA Wily
5 9 (6.29%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 8 (5.59%) Progress Chef
6 8 (5.59%) Tivoli
7 7 (4.90%) Ansible
7 7 (4.90%) Terraform
8 6 (4.20%) Microsoft Clustering
8 6 (4.20%) Nagios
9 3 (2.10%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (2.10%) Kubernetes
9 3 (2.10%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 100 (69.93%) Microsoft
2 28 (19.58%) ServiceNow
3 20 (13.99%) VMware
4 19 (13.29%) Citrix
5 15 (10.49%) Cisco
6 11 (7.69%) IBM
7 10 (6.99%) AppDynamics
7 10 (6.99%) Broadcom
7 10 (6.99%) Oracle
7 10 (6.99%) Splunk
8 9 (6.29%) SolarWinds
9 8 (5.59%) Bomgar
9 8 (5.59%) iManage
9 8 (5.59%) Red Hat
10 5 (3.50%) Apple
10 5 (3.50%) Meraki
11 4 (2.80%) Google
11 4 (2.80%) Veeam
12 3 (2.10%) Zscaler
13 2 (1.40%) Palo Alto