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

6 months to
22 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 38 46 52
Rank change year-on-year +8 +6 -31
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 197 98 76
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.03% 4.42% 3.12%
As % of the System Software category 40.79% 37.84% 36.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 150 56 60
10th Percentile £149 £151 £191
25th Percentile £185 £200 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £313 £325 £425
Median % change year-on-year -3.69% -23.53% +55.96%
75th Percentile £486 £458 £535
90th Percentile £538 £594 £644
England median daily rate £450 £435 £450
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% +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% +26.16%
75th Percentile £178.75 - £29.69
90th Percentile - - £31.38
England median hourly rate £48.13 £23.00 £18.06
% change year-on-year +109.26% +27.35% -4.95%

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 483 259 211
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.32% 11.68% 8.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 328 162 145
10th Percentile £185 £205 £213
25th Percentile £308 £336 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £505
Median % change year-on-year -0.11% -10.89% +12.22%
75th Percentile £538 £540 £600
90th Percentile £631 £643 £673
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% +58.11%
75th Percentile £178.75 £67.25 £70.79
90th Percentile - £80.15 £84.67
England median hourly rate £61.50 £37.50 £23.80
% change year-on-year +64.00% +57.56% -40.50%

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 22 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 22 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 22 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 +21 96 £450 -5.26% 39
Cheshire -13 39 £325 - 14
Merseyside +3 31 £150 - 12
Lancashire -1 21 £310 +18.10% 16
Cumbria -9 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 35 (17.77%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (15.74%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.52%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (6.60%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.02%) Chatbot
3 2 (1.02%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (2.54%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 121 (61.42%) Microsoft 365
2 79 (40.10%) Azure
3 73 (37.06%) Entra ID
4 16 (8.12%) GCP
5 13 (6.60%) AWS
6 11 (5.58%) Power Platform
7 9 (4.57%) Google Workspace
7 9 (4.57%) OneDrive
8 8 (4.06%) SaaS
9 7 (3.55%) Google Drive
10 6 (3.05%) Azure DevOps
10 6 (3.05%) Power Automate
10 6 (3.05%) PowerApps
11 5 (2.54%) Mimecast
12 4 (2.03%) AWS KMS
12 4 (2.03%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (2.03%) Azure Sentinel
12 4 (2.03%) IaaS
12 4 (2.03%) Serverless
13 3 (1.52%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 25 (12.69%) DNS
2 24 (12.18%) VPN
3 14 (7.11%) DHCP
4 11 (5.58%) TCP/IP
5 8 (4.06%) SAN
6 7 (3.55%) Firewall
7 6 (3.05%) LAN
7 6 (3.05%) NetScaler
7 6 (3.05%) VLAN
8 5 (2.54%) Network Security
9 4 (2.03%) NAS
9 4 (2.03%) WAN
9 4 (2.03%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (1.52%) DKIM
10 3 (1.52%) DMARC
11 2 (1.02%) PABX
11 2 (1.02%) VoIP
11 2 (1.02%) Wireless
12 1 (0.51%) Kerberos
12 1 (0.51%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.03%) Power BI
1 4 (2.03%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (4.57%) JIRA
2 2 (1.02%) Git
2 2 (1.02%) MSI
2 2 (1.02%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 69 (35.03%) Social Skills
2 27 (13.71%) Legal
3 26 (13.20%) Analytical Skills
4 24 (12.18%) Finance
5 17 (8.63%) Public Sector
6 11 (5.58%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (3.55%) Banking
7 7 (3.55%) Telecoms
8 6 (3.05%) Manufacturing
9 5 (2.54%) Games
10 3 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (1.02%) Advertising
11 2 (1.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (1.02%) Military
11 2 (1.02%) Retail
Job Titles
1 50 (25.38%) IT Support
2 46 (23.35%) Support Engineer
3 36 (18.27%) IT Engineer
3 36 (18.27%) IT Support Engineer
4 27 (13.71%) Analyst
5 17 (8.63%) Service Analyst
5 17 (8.63%) Service Desk Analyst
6 11 (5.58%) 1st Line Support
6 11 (5.58%) Administrator
6 11 (5.58%) IT Analyst
7 10 (5.08%) 2nd Line Engineer
7 10 (5.08%) 2nd Line Support
8 9 (4.57%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
9 8 (4.06%) Cloud Engineer
9 8 (4.06%) Support Analyst
10 7 (3.55%) IT Support Analyst
10 7 (3.55%) Systems Engineer
11 6 (3.05%) 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer
11 6 (3.05%) Desktop Engineer
11 6 (3.05%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (6.60%) SailPoint
1 13 (6.60%) SAML
2 12 (6.09%) Terraform
3 9 (4.57%) OAuth
4 5 (2.54%) REST
5 4 (2.03%) ARM Templates
5 4 (2.03%) JSON
6 3 (1.52%) Azure Blueprints
6 3 (1.52%) JDBC
6 3 (1.52%) OpenID
6 3 (1.52%) Web Services
7 2 (1.02%) Microsoft Graph
7 2 (1.02%) ODBC
7 2 (1.02%) Software Packaging
7 2 (1.02%) XML
8 1 (0.51%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.51%) LDAP
8 1 (0.51%) OAuth2
8 1 (0.51%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (14.72%) Onboarding
2 10 (5.08%) Enterprise Software
3 8 (4.06%) Driving Licence
3 8 (4.06%) Management Information System
4 6 (3.05%) PKI
5 5 (2.54%) Animation
5 5 (2.54%) CMDB
5 5 (2.54%) Security Posture
6 4 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.03%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.03%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.52%) Freedom of Information
8 2 (1.02%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.02%) Handset
8 2 (1.02%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (1.02%) iPhone
8 2 (1.02%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.02%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.02%) Video Conferencing
9 1 (0.51%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 134 (68.02%) Windows
2 69 (35.03%) Windows 10
3 35 (17.77%) Windows Server
4 9 (4.57%) Linux
5 6 (3.05%) Android
5 6 (3.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (3.05%) Windows Server 2003
6 5 (2.54%) Mac OS
6 5 (2.54%) Windows 7
7 4 (2.03%) Apple iOS
7 4 (2.03%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.52%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (1.02%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.51%) CentOS
10 1 (0.51%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.51%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (35.03%) ITIL
2 62 (31.47%) Customer Service
3 47 (23.86%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (13.20%) Continuous Improvement
5 25 (12.69%) Identity Access Management
6 24 (12.18%) RBAC
7 21 (10.66%) Service Management
8 20 (10.15%) Migration
9 18 (9.14%) Knowledge Transfer
9 18 (9.14%) User Experience
10 16 (8.12%) ITSM
11 15 (7.61%) Application Packaging
11 15 (7.61%) Privileged Access Management
12 14 (7.11%) Cybersecurity
12 14 (7.11%) Infrastructure as Code
13 13 (6.60%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 12 (6.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 12 (6.09%) Root Cause Analysis
15 10 (5.08%) Computer Science
15 10 (5.08%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 30 (15.23%) PowerShell
2 9 (4.57%) Bicep
2 9 (4.57%) Python
3 5 (2.54%) Bash
3 5 (2.54%) Java
4 4 (2.03%) SQL
5 2 (1.02%) BeanShell
5 2 (1.02%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.51%) Google Apps Script
6 1 (0.51%) Lisp
6 1 (0.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 39 (19.80%) Security Cleared
2 30 (15.23%) SC Cleared
3 18 (9.14%) Degree
3 18 (9.14%) Microsoft Certification
4 10 (5.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (4.06%) A+ Certification
6 7 (3.55%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (3.55%) Network+ Certification
7 6 (3.05%) Azure Certification
7 6 (3.05%) DBS Check
8 5 (2.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 4 (2.03%) CISSP
9 4 (2.03%) 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 16 (8.12%) SLA
2 9 (4.57%) NIST
3 7 (3.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.52%) GDPR
5 2 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.51%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.51%) QA
6 1 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 15 (7.61%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.58%) Hyper-V
3 6 (3.05%) Citrix Hypervisor
4 5 (2.54%) Docker
4 5 (2.54%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (2.03%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.52%) XenApp
6 3 (1.52%) XenDesktop
7 2 (1.02%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.51%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 40 (20.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (16.75%) SCCM
3 18 (9.14%) Single Sign-On
4 5 (2.54%) Ansible
4 5 (2.54%) Kubernetes
4 5 (2.54%) SysTrack
4 5 (2.54%) WSUS
5 4 (2.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (1.52%) McAfee ePO
6 3 (1.52%) Progress Chef
7 2 (1.02%) AirWatch
7 2 (1.02%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (1.02%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.02%) WMI
8 1 (0.51%) Backup Exec
8 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.51%) NetApp OnCommand
8 1 (0.51%) QRadar
8 1 (0.51%) vMotion
Vendors
1 149 (75.63%) Microsoft
2 50 (25.38%) ServiceNow
3 20 (10.15%) iManage
4 18 (9.14%) VMware
5 17 (8.63%) BeyondTrust
6 14 (7.11%) Google
7 12 (6.09%) Citrix
8 10 (5.08%) Bomgar
9 6 (3.05%) Ivanti
9 6 (3.05%) Okta
9 6 (3.05%) Perforce
10 5 (2.54%) Cisco
10 5 (2.54%) CyberArk
10 5 (2.54%) Nexthink
10 5 (2.54%) Remedy
10 5 (2.54%) Sophos
11 4 (2.03%) Red Hat
11 4 (2.03%) Tanium
12 3 (1.52%) Apple
12 3 (1.52%) McAfee