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

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 26 32
Rank change year-on-year -6 +6 -12
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 166 136 133
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.00% 7.01% 4.99%
As % of the System Software category 40.69% 54.40% 51.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 110 90 90
10th Percentile £133 £143 £143
25th Percentile £158 £200 £202
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £320 £350 £350
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% - -
75th Percentile £539 £438 £484
90th Percentile £639 £524 £644
England median daily rate £450 £450 £425
% change year-on-year - +5.88% -2.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 0 19
10th Percentile £17.46 - -
25th Percentile £41.94 - £15.50
Median hourly rate £74.26 - £17.29
75th Percentile £178.75 - £17.75
90th Percentile - - £18.84
England median hourly rate £26.00 £18.25 £17.39
% change year-on-year +42.47% +4.93% -8.46%

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 408 250 257
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.29% 12.89% 9.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 164 181
10th Percentile £156 £158 £179
25th Percentile £324 £272 £306
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £450
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £573 £537 £575
90th Percentile £638 £572 £675
England median daily rate £500 £520 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% +4.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 1 26
10th Percentile £22.24 - -
25th Percentile £41.94 £76.25 £15.50
Median hourly rate £74.26 £82.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -9.99% +365.58% -11.40%
75th Percentile £136.88 £88.75 £39.34
90th Percentile £178.75 - £46.18
England median hourly rate £52.75 £28.46 £22.00
% change year-on-year +85.38% +29.34% -57.80%

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 26 May 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 26 May 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 26 May 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 -12 69 £429 +18.34% 26
Merseyside +3 46 £140 -6.67% 7
Cheshire -9 37 £550 +53.42% 13
Lancashire -5 14 £343 -2.14% 13
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 40 (24.10%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (13.25%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.41%) IIS
Applications
1 9 (5.42%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.20%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 98 (59.04%) Microsoft 365
2 85 (51.20%) Azure
3 62 (37.35%) Entra ID
4 11 (6.63%) AWS
5 10 (6.02%) OneDrive
5 10 (6.02%) Power Platform
5 10 (6.02%) SaaS
6 9 (5.42%) GCP
7 8 (4.82%) Google Workspace
7 8 (4.82%) PowerApps
8 7 (4.22%) Google Drive
8 7 (4.22%) Power Automate
9 6 (3.61%) Microsoft Copilot
10 4 (2.41%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (2.41%) Nutanix
11 3 (1.81%) Asana
11 3 (1.81%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (1.81%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.81%) GitHub
11 3 (1.81%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 29 (17.47%) DNS
2 22 (13.25%) Firewall
3 15 (9.04%) TCP/IP
4 14 (8.43%) DHCP
5 10 (6.02%) Network Security
6 9 (5.42%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (4.82%) Kerberos
8 7 (4.22%) LAN
8 7 (4.22%) VLAN
9 6 (3.61%) WAN
10 5 (3.01%) SSL
10 5 (3.01%) VPN
11 4 (2.41%) NetScaler
11 4 (2.41%) Wireless
12 3 (1.81%) DKIM
12 3 (1.81%) DMARC
12 3 (1.81%) SAN
12 3 (1.81%) WebEx
13 2 (1.20%) Internet
14 1 (0.60%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.20%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.60%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 6 (3.61%) JIRA
2 3 (1.81%) Git
General
1 45 (27.11%) Social Skills
2 25 (15.06%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (14.46%) Finance
4 23 (13.86%) Legal
4 23 (13.86%) Public Sector
5 9 (5.42%) Telecoms
6 5 (3.01%) Banking
7 3 (1.81%) Retail
8 2 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (1.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.20%) Military
8 2 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.60%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 32 (19.28%) Analyst
2 29 (17.47%) IT Support
3 23 (13.86%) Support Analyst
4 20 (12.05%) IT Analyst
5 18 (10.84%) IT Support Analyst
6 17 (10.24%) 1st Line Support
7 15 (9.04%) Support Engineer
8 14 (8.43%) Administrator
9 13 (7.83%) Architect
10 10 (6.02%) IT Engineer
10 10 (6.02%) IT Support Engineer
11 8 (4.82%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
11 8 (4.82%) Microsoft Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) 2nd Line Support
12 6 (3.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) Platform Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) Server Engineer
13 5 (3.01%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 5 (3.01%) IT Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (7.83%) LDAP
2 8 (4.82%) SailPoint
3 7 (4.22%) OAuth
4 4 (2.41%) SAML
5 3 (1.81%) ARM Templates
5 3 (1.81%) JDBC
5 3 (1.81%) OpenID
5 3 (1.81%) REST
5 3 (1.81%) Web Services
5 3 (1.81%) XMPP
6 2 (1.20%) Software Packaging
7 1 (0.60%) 802.1X
7 1 (0.60%) JSON
7 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.60%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 26 (15.66%) Onboarding
2 6 (3.61%) Clustering
2 6 (3.61%) Security Posture
3 5 (3.01%) Cloud Security Posture
3 5 (3.01%) Management Information System
3 5 (3.01%) Product Ownership
4 4 (2.41%) Driving Licence
4 4 (2.41%) Private Cloud
4 4 (2.41%) Public Cloud
5 3 (1.81%) Cyber Threat
5 3 (1.81%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.81%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (1.81%) Fat Client
5 3 (1.81%) Freedom of Information
5 3 (1.81%) Thin Client
6 2 (1.20%) AI Agents
6 2 (1.20%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (1.20%) iPhone
6 2 (1.20%) Operational Technology
6 2 (1.20%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 101 (60.84%) Windows
2 52 (31.33%) Windows 10
3 27 (16.27%) Windows Server
4 13 (7.83%) Linux
5 10 (6.02%) Windows Server 2019
6 7 (4.22%) Windows Server 2012
7 5 (3.01%) Mac OS
7 5 (3.01%) Unix
8 2 (1.20%) Apple iOS
8 2 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (1.20%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.60%) Android
9 1 (0.60%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (25.90%) Customer Service
2 40 (24.10%) ITIL
3 36 (21.69%) Problem-Solving
4 30 (18.07%) Identity Access Management
5 17 (10.24%) Migration
6 15 (9.04%) Continuous Improvement
7 14 (8.43%) Cybersecurity
7 14 (8.43%) Project Delivery
7 14 (8.43%) Service Management
8 13 (7.83%) Change Management
9 12 (7.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 11 (6.63%) Roadmaps
10 11 (6.63%) Root Cause Analysis
11 10 (6.02%) Inventory Management
12 9 (5.42%) Conflict Resolution
12 9 (5.42%) Creative Problem-Solving
12 9 (5.42%) DevOps
12 9 (5.42%) Mentoring
12 9 (5.42%) Vulnerability Management
12 9 (5.42%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 43 (25.90%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.22%) Python
3 5 (3.01%) Bash
4 3 (1.81%) Bicep
4 3 (1.81%) SQL
5 2 (1.20%) BeanShell
5 2 (1.20%) Java
6 1 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.60%) Lisp
6 1 (0.60%) Perl
Qualifications
1 27 (16.27%) Security Cleared
2 22 (13.25%) Microsoft Certification
3 21 (12.65%) Degree
3 21 (12.65%) SC Cleared
4 10 (6.02%) A+ Certification
5 9 (5.42%) Computer Science Degree
5 9 (5.42%) Network+ Certification
6 8 (4.82%) CISSP
6 8 (4.82%) CompTIA Security+
7 6 (3.61%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (3.61%) DBS Check
8 5 (3.01%) Azure Certification
8 5 (3.01%) MCSA
8 5 (3.01%) MCSE
9 3 (1.81%) CISM
9 3 (1.81%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (1.20%) CCNP
10 2 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
11 1 (0.60%) CCDP
11 1 (0.60%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (3.61%) NIST
2 6 (3.61%) SLA
3 5 (3.01%) GDPR
4 1 (0.60%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.60%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 13 (7.83%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (6.02%) Hyper-V
3 7 (4.22%) Docker
3 7 (4.22%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (3.01%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (3.01%) vSphere
5 1 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
5 1 (0.60%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 32 (19.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (10.24%) SCCM
3 13 (7.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 13 (7.83%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (6.63%) Terraform
5 8 (4.82%) Ansible
6 7 (4.22%) Kubernetes
6 7 (4.22%) Microsoft Clustering
7 6 (3.61%) Nagios
8 5 (3.01%) CASB
8 5 (3.01%) Nessus
9 3 (1.81%) WSUS
10 2 (1.20%) AirWatch
10 2 (1.20%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (1.20%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (1.20%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.60%) Backup Exec
11 1 (0.60%) NetApp OnCommand
11 1 (0.60%) vMotion
Vendors
1 103 (62.05%) Microsoft
2 24 (14.46%) ServiceNow
3 17 (10.24%) Bomgar
3 17 (10.24%) iManage
3 17 (10.24%) VMware
4 11 (6.63%) Google
5 10 (6.02%) Citrix
6 8 (4.82%) CyberArk
7 7 (4.22%) Cisco
7 7 (4.22%) SolarWinds
8 6 (3.61%) Remedy
9 5 (3.01%) F5
9 5 (3.01%) Tenable
9 5 (3.01%) Veeam
10 4 (2.41%) Splunk
11 2 (1.20%) Apple
11 2 (1.20%) Bloomberg
11 2 (1.20%) HP
11 2 (1.20%) Meraki
11 2 (1.20%) Red Hat