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

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 41 31 37
Rank change year-on-year -10 +6 -15
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 164 116 120
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.47% 5.39% 4.45%
As % of the System Software category 37.70% 46.40% 45.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 115 72 88
10th Percentile £135 £147 £176
25th Percentile £185 £200 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £325 £425
Median % change year-on-year - -23.53% +31.78%
75th Percentile £539 £441 £504
90th Percentile £639 £538 £643
England median daily rate £450 £450 £450
% change year-on-year - - +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 0 17
10th Percentile £17.18 - -
25th Percentile - - £15.50
Median hourly rate £74.26 - £17.50
75th Percentile £178.75 - £18.00
90th Percentile - - £23.01
England median hourly rate £26.66 £23.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +15.91% +29.80% -11.40%

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 435 250 262
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 11.86% 11.62% 9.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 283 160 184
10th Percentile £185 £185 £211
25th Percentile £321 £313 £344
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £438 £488
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -10.26% +2.63%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £576
90th Percentile £642 £615 £670
England median daily rate £500 £500 £507
% change year-on-year - -1.38% -3.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 1 23
10th Percentile £22.35 - -
25th Percentile £65.00 £76.25 £15.50
Median hourly rate £74.26 £82.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -9.99% +365.58% +1.26%
75th Percentile £95.00 £88.75 £37.69
90th Percentile £178.75 - £46.18
England median hourly rate £55.00 £34.50 £22.15
% change year-on-year +59.42% +55.76% -50.64%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 +2 75 £425 +10.39% 44
Cheshire -10 41 £457 +30.48% 5
Merseyside -6 28 £140 -6.67% 9
Lancashire -8 15 £343 +24.55% 14
Cumbria -14 5 £400 -15.79% 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 36 (21.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (17.07%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.83%) IIS
Applications
1 9 (5.49%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.83%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.22%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 96 (58.54%) Microsoft 365
2 85 (51.83%) Azure
3 68 (41.46%) Entra ID
4 13 (7.93%) Power Platform
5 10 (6.10%) AWS
5 10 (6.10%) GCP
6 9 (5.49%) OneDrive
6 9 (5.49%) Power Automate
6 9 (5.49%) PowerApps
6 9 (5.49%) SaaS
7 8 (4.88%) Google Workspace
8 7 (4.27%) Google Drive
9 6 (3.66%) Microsoft Copilot
10 5 (3.05%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (2.44%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (2.44%) Mimecast
12 3 (1.83%) Asana
12 3 (1.83%) Azure Logic Apps
12 3 (1.83%) GitHub
12 3 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 31 (18.90%) DNS
2 19 (11.59%) Firewall
3 17 (10.37%) TCP/IP
4 15 (9.15%) DHCP
4 15 (9.15%) VPN
5 8 (4.88%) Kerberos
6 5 (3.05%) Network Security
6 5 (3.05%) SAN
6 5 (3.05%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (2.44%) LAN
7 4 (2.44%) SSL
7 4 (2.44%) VLAN
7 4 (2.44%) WAN
8 3 (1.83%) DKIM
8 3 (1.83%) DMARC
8 3 (1.83%) WebEx
9 2 (1.22%) BGP
9 2 (1.22%) NAS
9 2 (1.22%) NetScaler
9 2 (1.22%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.44%) Power BI
2 2 (1.22%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 11 (6.71%) JIRA
2 3 (1.83%) Git
General
1 53 (32.32%) Social Skills
2 27 (16.46%) Legal
3 24 (14.63%) Finance
4 22 (13.41%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (12.20%) Public Sector
6 7 (4.27%) Telecoms
7 6 (3.66%) Banking
8 3 (1.83%) Retail
9 2 (1.22%) Advertising
9 2 (1.22%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.22%) Games
9 2 (1.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (1.22%) Military
10 1 (0.61%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 31 (18.90%) IT Support
2 26 (15.85%) Support Engineer
3 25 (15.24%) Analyst
4 21 (12.80%) IT Engineer
4 21 (12.80%) IT Support Engineer
5 13 (7.93%) Administrator
5 13 (7.93%) IT Analyst
6 12 (7.32%) 1st Line Support
6 12 (7.32%) Service Analyst
6 12 (7.32%) Service Desk Analyst
7 11 (6.71%) Support Analyst
8 10 (6.10%) 2nd Line Engineer
8 10 (6.10%) 2nd Line Support
8 10 (6.10%) Architect
9 9 (5.49%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
9 9 (5.49%) IT Support Analyst
10 8 (4.88%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
10 8 (4.88%) Microsoft Engineer
11 6 (3.66%) 1st/2nd Line Support
11 6 (3.66%) 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (7.93%) LDAP
2 12 (7.32%) SailPoint
3 9 (5.49%) OAuth
4 5 (3.05%) REST
5 4 (2.44%) ARM Templates
5 4 (2.44%) SAML
6 3 (1.83%) JDBC
6 3 (1.83%) JSON
6 3 (1.83%) OpenID
6 3 (1.83%) Web Services
6 3 (1.83%) XMPP
7 2 (1.22%) Software Packaging
7 2 (1.22%) XML
8 1 (0.61%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.61%) Azure Blueprints
8 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Graph
8 1 (0.61%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 25 (15.24%) Onboarding
2 9 (5.49%) Security Posture
3 6 (3.66%) Driving Licence
4 5 (3.05%) Cloud Security Posture
4 5 (3.05%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (3.05%) Product Ownership
5 4 (2.44%) Management Information System
6 3 (1.83%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.83%) Fat Client
6 3 (1.83%) Freedom of Information
6 3 (1.83%) Thin Client
7 2 (1.22%) AI Agents
7 2 (1.22%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (1.22%) Animation
7 2 (1.22%) Cloud Native
7 2 (1.22%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (1.22%) iPhone
7 2 (1.22%) Operational Technology
7 2 (1.22%) Private Cloud
7 2 (1.22%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 96 (58.54%) Windows
2 55 (33.54%) Windows 10
3 21 (12.80%) Windows Server
4 11 (6.71%) Linux
5 5 (3.05%) Unix
5 5 (3.05%) Windows Server 2012
5 5 (3.05%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (1.83%) Android
6 3 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.22%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.61%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (34.15%) ITIL
2 43 (26.22%) Problem-Solving
3 41 (25.00%) Customer Service
4 28 (17.07%) Identity Access Management
5 23 (14.02%) Continuous Improvement
6 21 (12.80%) Migration
7 15 (9.15%) Service Management
8 13 (7.93%) Change Management
8 13 (7.93%) ITSM
9 12 (7.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 12 (7.32%) Project Delivery
10 11 (6.71%) Cybersecurity
10 11 (6.71%) RBAC
11 10 (6.10%) Infrastructure as Code
12 9 (5.49%) CI/CD
12 9 (5.49%) Cloud Security
12 9 (5.49%) Knowledge Transfer
12 9 (5.49%) Operational Stability
12 9 (5.49%) Root Cause Analysis
12 9 (5.49%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 33 (20.12%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.27%) Bicep
2 7 (4.27%) Python
3 3 (1.83%) Bash
3 3 (1.83%) Java
4 2 (1.22%) BeanShell
4 2 (1.22%) SQL
5 1 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (0.61%) Lisp
5 1 (0.61%) Perl
Qualifications
1 28 (17.07%) Security Cleared
2 22 (13.41%) SC Cleared
3 21 (12.80%) Microsoft Certification
4 18 (10.98%) Degree
5 8 (4.88%) A+ Certification
6 7 (4.27%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (4.27%) Network+ Certification
7 6 (3.66%) Azure Certification
7 6 (3.66%) MCSE
8 5 (3.05%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (3.05%) CISSP
8 5 (3.05%) CompTIA Security+
8 5 (3.05%) DBS Check
8 5 (3.05%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (3.05%) MCSA
9 2 (1.22%) CCNP
9 2 (1.22%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (1.22%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.61%) CCDP
10 1 (0.61%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.88%) NIST
1 8 (4.88%) SLA
2 4 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.83%) GDPR
4 1 (0.61%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 8 (4.88%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (3.66%) Docker
3 5 (3.05%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (2.44%) Hyper-V
4 4 (2.44%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.22%) vSphere
6 1 (0.61%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 37 (22.56%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (11.59%) SCCM
3 11 (6.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 11 (6.71%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (6.10%) Terraform
5 6 (3.66%) Kubernetes
6 5 (3.05%) Ansible
6 5 (3.05%) CASB
6 5 (3.05%) Nessus
7 3 (1.83%) McAfee ePO
7 3 (1.83%) WSUS
8 2 (1.22%) AirWatch
8 2 (1.22%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (1.22%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (1.22%) vCenter Server
8 2 (1.22%) WMI
9 1 (0.61%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.61%) NetApp OnCommand
9 1 (0.61%) vMotion
Vendors
1 111 (67.68%) Microsoft
2 37 (22.56%) ServiceNow
3 13 (7.93%) iManage
4 12 (7.32%) Bomgar
5 11 (6.71%) VMware
6 10 (6.10%) CyberArk
7 9 (5.49%) Google
8 7 (4.27%) Cisco
8 7 (4.27%) Remedy
9 6 (3.66%) Citrix
10 5 (3.05%) Tenable
11 4 (2.44%) BeyondTrust
11 4 (2.44%) Sophos
11 4 (2.44%) Splunk
12 3 (1.83%) F5
12 3 (1.83%) McAfee
12 3 (1.83%) Okta
12 3 (1.83%) Perforce
12 3 (1.83%) Red Hat
12 3 (1.83%) Veeam