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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 44 39
Rank change year-on-year +11 -5 -17
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 206 101 90
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.25% 4.72% 3.80%
As % of the System Software category 43.37% 38.55% 43.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 54 58
10th Percentile £153 £177 £185
25th Percentile £190 £201 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £313 £347 £401
Median % change year-on-year -9.73% -13.58% +48.61%
75th Percentile £488 £481 £500
90th Percentile £549 £601 £643
England median daily rate £450 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 5 7
10th Percentile £16.79 - £15.90
25th Percentile £17.92 £15.50 £17.22
Median hourly rate £172.50 £17.75 £17.44
Median % change year-on-year +871.83% +1.78% -5.73%
75th Percentile £178.75 £18.87 £23.97
90th Percentile - - £30.25
England median hourly rate £52.54 £23.00 £19.59
% change year-on-year +128.41% +17.41% +0.46%

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 475 262 209
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.10% 12.23% 8.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 323 161 133
10th Percentile £185 £206 £213
25th Percentile £303 £350 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £449 £447 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.45% -10.60% +12.36%
75th Percentile £538 £514 £576
90th Percentile £636 £625 £670
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 7 9
10th Percentile £17.74 £15.50 £16.45
25th Percentile £63.13 £16.44 £17.44
Median hourly rate £77.00 £18.87 £19.18
Median % change year-on-year +308.06% -1.62% +3.68%
75th Percentile £178.75 £43.06 £32.50
90th Percentile - £75.85 £84.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £37.50 £24.20
% change year-on-year +73.33% +54.96% -49.44%

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 15 September 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 +15 89 £450 -4.46% 63
Cheshire -10 46 £325 - 13
Merseyside +7 30 £195 +4.00% 12
Lancashire -5 27 £305 +74.29% 9
Cumbria -8 13 £480 +12.94% 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 31 (15.05%) SharePoint
2 28 (13.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.97%) IIS
Applications
1 15 (7.28%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.94%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.97%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.49%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (2.43%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 118 (57.28%) Microsoft 365
2 77 (37.38%) Azure
3 73 (35.44%) Entra ID
4 17 (8.25%) GCP
5 13 (6.31%) AWS
6 12 (5.83%) Power Platform
7 9 (4.37%) Google Workspace
7 9 (4.37%) SaaS
8 7 (3.40%) Google Drive
8 7 (3.40%) OneDrive
9 5 (2.43%) AWS KMS
9 5 (2.43%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (2.43%) Mimecast
10 4 (1.94%) Amazon ECS
10 4 (1.94%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.94%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.94%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.94%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 4 (1.94%) Power Automate
10 4 (1.94%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 27 (13.11%) VPN
2 25 (12.14%) DNS
3 15 (7.28%) DHCP
4 13 (6.31%) TCP/IP
5 11 (5.34%) NetScaler
6 8 (3.88%) SAN
7 7 (3.40%) Firewall
8 6 (2.91%) VLAN
9 5 (2.43%) LAN
9 5 (2.43%) Network Security
10 4 (1.94%) NAS
10 4 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
11 3 (1.46%) DKIM
11 3 (1.46%) DMARC
11 3 (1.46%) WAN
12 2 (0.97%) PABX
12 2 (0.97%) VoIP
12 2 (0.97%) Wireless
13 1 (0.49%) Internet
13 1 (0.49%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.91%) Power BI
2 4 (1.94%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (4.37%) JIRA
2 2 (0.97%) MSI
2 2 (0.97%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
3 1 (0.49%) Git
General
1 80 (38.83%) Social Skills
2 30 (14.56%) Analytical Skills
3 25 (12.14%) Legal
4 22 (10.68%) Finance
5 13 (6.31%) Public Sector
6 11 (5.34%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (3.88%) Manufacturing
8 7 (3.40%) Telecoms
9 5 (2.43%) Games
10 4 (1.94%) Banking
11 2 (0.97%) Advertising
11 2 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.97%) Military
11 2 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.97%) Retail
Job Titles
1 54 (26.21%) IT Support
2 50 (24.27%) Support Engineer
3 38 (18.45%) IT Engineer
3 38 (18.45%) IT Support Engineer
4 27 (13.11%) Analyst
5 18 (8.74%) Service Analyst
5 18 (8.74%) Service Desk Analyst
6 13 (6.31%) Administrator
7 11 (5.34%) Desktop Engineer
7 11 (5.34%) IT Analyst
8 10 (4.85%) Cloud Engineer
9 9 (4.37%) 2nd Line Engineer
9 9 (4.37%) 2nd Line Support
10 8 (3.88%) 1st Line Support
10 8 (3.88%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
10 8 (3.88%) Security Engineer
10 8 (3.88%) Support Analyst
11 7 (3.40%) Desktop Support Engineer
11 7 (3.40%) IT Support Analyst
11 7 (3.40%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (6.80%) SailPoint
2 12 (5.83%) SAML
2 12 (5.83%) Terraform
3 8 (3.88%) OAuth
4 5 (2.43%) ARM Templates
5 4 (1.94%) Azure Blueprints
5 4 (1.94%) JSON
5 4 (1.94%) REST
6 3 (1.46%) OpenID
7 2 (0.97%) JDBC
7 2 (0.97%) Microsoft Graph
7 2 (0.97%) ODBC
7 2 (0.97%) Web Services
7 2 (0.97%) XML
8 1 (0.49%) .NET
8 1 (0.49%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.49%) OAuth2
8 1 (0.49%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 28 (13.59%) Onboarding
2 11 (5.34%) Enterprise Software
3 9 (4.37%) Management Information System
4 7 (3.40%) CMDB
4 7 (3.40%) Driving Licence
4 7 (3.40%) Security Posture
5 6 (2.91%) PKI
6 5 (2.43%) Animation
7 4 (1.94%) Cloud Native
7 4 (1.94%) Data Centre
7 4 (1.94%) Video Conferencing
8 3 (1.46%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.46%) Freedom of Information
9 2 (0.97%) Cloud Security Posture
9 2 (0.97%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (0.97%) Handset
9 2 (0.97%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (0.97%) Operational Technology
10 1 (0.49%) Cyber Security Posture
10 1 (0.49%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 139 (67.48%) Windows
2 68 (33.01%) Windows 10
3 39 (18.93%) Windows Server
4 11 (5.34%) Android
5 10 (4.85%) Linux
6 7 (3.40%) Mac OS
6 7 (3.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 7 (3.40%) Windows Server 2003
7 6 (2.91%) Apple iOS
7 6 (2.91%) Windows 7
8 3 (1.46%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.46%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.97%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.49%) CentOS
10 1 (0.49%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.49%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (37.38%) ITIL
2 69 (33.50%) Customer Service
3 55 (26.70%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (13.11%) Continuous Improvement
5 25 (12.14%) RBAC
5 25 (12.14%) User Experience
6 23 (11.17%) Identity Access Management
6 23 (11.17%) Service Management
7 19 (9.22%) ITSM
7 19 (9.22%) Migration
8 17 (8.25%) Knowledge Transfer
8 17 (8.25%) Privileged Access Management
9 16 (7.77%) Cybersecurity
9 16 (7.77%) Root Cause Analysis
10 15 (7.28%) Infrastructure as Code
10 15 (7.28%) Stakeholder Management
11 14 (6.80%) Application Packaging
12 12 (5.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 11 (5.34%) Computer Science
13 11 (5.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 28 (13.59%) PowerShell
2 10 (4.85%) Python
3 8 (3.88%) Bicep
4 6 (2.91%) Bash
5 5 (2.43%) Java
6 3 (1.46%) SQL
7 2 (0.97%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.49%) BeanShell
8 1 (0.49%) C#
8 1 (0.49%) Google Apps Script
8 1 (0.49%) Lisp
8 1 (0.49%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 47 (22.82%) Security Cleared
2 36 (17.48%) SC Cleared
3 19 (9.22%) Microsoft Certification
4 18 (8.74%) Degree
5 10 (4.85%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (3.88%) A+ Certification
7 7 (3.40%) Azure Certification
7 7 (3.40%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (3.40%) Network+ Certification
8 6 (2.91%) DBS Check
9 5 (2.43%) CISSP
9 5 (2.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (1.94%) AWS Certification
11 3 (1.46%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (1.46%) ITIL Certification
12 1 (0.49%) CCIE
12 1 (0.49%) CCNA
12 1 (0.49%) CCNP
12 1 (0.49%) PMI Certification
12 1 (0.49%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (9.71%) SLA
2 8 (3.88%) NIST
3 7 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.46%) GDPR
5 2 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.49%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.49%) QA
6 1 (0.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 21 (10.19%) VMware Infrastructure
2 16 (7.77%) Hyper-V
3 11 (5.34%) Citrix Hypervisor
4 6 (2.91%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (2.91%) XenApp
4 6 (2.91%) XenDesktop
5 5 (2.43%) Docker
6 3 (1.46%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.97%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 39 (18.93%) SCCM
2 37 (17.96%) Microsoft Intune
3 19 (9.22%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (3.40%) SysTrack
5 5 (2.43%) Ansible
5 5 (2.43%) Kubernetes
5 5 (2.43%) WSUS
6 4 (1.94%) Progress Chef
7 3 (1.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (1.46%) McAfee ePO
8 2 (0.97%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.97%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.97%) WMI
9 1 (0.49%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.49%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.49%) NetApp OnCommand
9 1 (0.49%) QRadar
9 1 (0.49%) vMotion
Vendors
1 151 (73.30%) Microsoft
2 49 (23.79%) ServiceNow
3 24 (11.65%) VMware
4 19 (9.22%) BeyondTrust
5 18 (8.74%) iManage
6 17 (8.25%) Citrix
7 15 (7.28%) Google
8 7 (3.40%) Bomgar
8 7 (3.40%) Ivanti
8 7 (3.40%) Nexthink
8 7 (3.40%) Okta
8 7 (3.40%) Tanium
9 6 (2.91%) Perforce
10 5 (2.43%) CyberArk
10 5 (2.43%) Red Hat
10 5 (2.43%) Remedy
10 5 (2.43%) Sophos
11 4 (1.94%) Cisco
12 3 (1.46%) Apple
12 3 (1.46%) McAfee