Active Directory Contract Job Trends in the South East

Microsoft Active Directory
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Active Directory skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 25 23 22
Rank change year-on-year -2 -1 -4
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 271 323 425
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.80% 7.94% 7.88%
As % of the System Software category 53.03% 50.31% 48.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 233 259
10th Percentile £179 £200 £148
25th Percentile £200 £263 £181
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £325
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% +38.46% -13.91%
75th Percentile £565 £625 £534
90th Percentile £600 £671 £615
England median daily rate £445 £425 £400
% change year-on-year +4.71% +6.25% +6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 6 24
10th Percentile £21.35 £22.33 £15.50
25th Percentile £25.64 £23.36 £19.25
Median hourly rate £32.77 £27.50 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.16% +1.85% +45.95%
75th Percentile £96.39 £46.94 £55.00
90th Percentile £134.55 £61.34 £68.63
England median hourly rate £22.00 £23.80 £19.50
% change year-on-year -7.56% +22.05% +4.70%

All System Software Skills
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 511 642 872
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.82% 15.78% 16.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 356 430 542
10th Percentile £190 £219 £165
25th Percentile £273 £360 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £575 £625 £588
90th Percentile £624 £675 £650
England median daily rate £500 £515 £500
% change year-on-year -2.91% +3.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 25 61
10th Percentile £35.17 £26.25 £19.25
25th Percentile £67.44 £53.00 £27.00
Median hourly rate £81.00 £58.49 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.49% +1.72% +43.75%
75th Percentile £81.50 £70.00 £71.25
90th Percentile £88.97 £70.75 £76.53
England median hourly rate £30.00 £50.00 £43.84
% change year-on-year -40.00% +14.06% +75.34%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Active Directory relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the South East

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the South East over the 6 months to 18 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in the South East

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Active Directory in the South East over the 6 months to 18 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Active Directory in the South East

Active Directory
Contract Job Locations in the South East

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 South East region over the 6 months to 18 November 2025. 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
Thames Valley -6 123 £425 -29.75% 96
Hampshire -2 85 £500 - 79
Berkshire -13 71 £475 -22.76% 56
Buckinghamshire +14 33 £274 -27.55% 21
Surrey -5 30 £235 -10.98% 29
Oxfordshire -5 19 £275 -33.33% 26
Kent +4 11 £155 -1.33% 26
East Sussex +4 10 £180 -62.11% 7
West Sussex -19 9 £201 +0.63% 12
Active Directory
England

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 55 (20.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (10.33%) SharePoint
3 18 (6.64%) Skype for Business
4 11 (4.06%) Exchange Server 2010
5 10 (3.69%) Exchange Server 2003
5 10 (3.69%) Exchange Server 2007
5 10 (3.69%) Exchange Server 2013
5 10 (3.69%) Office Communications Server
5 10 (3.69%) SharePoint Server
6 8 (2.95%) Apache
7 7 (2.58%) Mattermost
8 4 (1.48%) IIS
9 2 (0.74%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.74%) WordPress
Applications
1 31 (11.44%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.37%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 1 (0.37%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (2.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.37%) assyst
2 1 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.37%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 110 (40.59%) Microsoft 365
2 74 (27.31%) Azure
3 57 (21.03%) Entra ID
4 25 (9.23%) AWS
5 19 (7.01%) GCP
6 15 (5.54%) OneDrive
7 10 (3.69%) GitHub
8 8 (2.95%) IaaS
9 7 (2.58%) PaaS
10 5 (1.85%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (1.85%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.85%) Power Platform
10 5 (1.85%) SaaS
11 4 (1.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 4 (1.48%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.48%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (1.11%) Google Workspace
12 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Purview
12 3 (1.11%) PowerApps
13 2 (0.74%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 52 (19.19%) DNS
2 41 (15.13%) Firewall
3 33 (12.18%) Cisco IOS
4 31 (11.44%) DHCP
5 24 (8.86%) VPN
6 17 (6.27%) Cisco Firepower
6 17 (6.27%) Cisco ISE
6 17 (6.27%) Junos
7 16 (5.90%) SAN
8 13 (4.80%) TCP/IP
9 11 (4.06%) Wi-Fi
10 10 (3.69%) DDNS
11 9 (3.32%) 4G
12 8 (2.95%) Skype
13 7 (2.58%) Remote Desktop
14 4 (1.48%) SMTP
14 4 (1.48%) SSL
14 4 (1.48%) Unified Communications
14 4 (1.48%) VLAN
15 3 (1.11%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.58%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.74%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (0.74%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (1.48%) MSI
1 4 (1.48%) Robot Framework
1 4 (1.48%) Sonatype Nexus
2 3 (1.11%) Git
3 2 (0.74%) Fiddler
3 2 (0.74%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.37%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.37%) JIRA
General
1 111 (40.96%) Social Skills
2 21 (7.75%) Finance
3 16 (5.90%) Games
4 12 (4.43%) Documentation Skills
4 12 (4.43%) Public Sector
5 10 (3.69%) Analytical Skills
6 8 (2.95%) Legal
7 7 (2.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (2.21%) Law
9 4 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.11%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.11%) Retail
11 2 (0.74%) Marketing
11 2 (0.74%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.37%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.37%) Back Office
12 1 (0.37%) Electronics
12 1 (0.37%) French Language
12 1 (0.37%) Front Office
12 1 (0.37%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 65 (23.99%) Support Engineer
2 30 (11.07%) IT Support
3 27 (9.96%) 3rd Line Engineer
4 25 (9.23%) Analyst
5 24 (8.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 23 (8.49%) Architect
7 22 (8.12%) IT Engineer
8 19 (7.01%) 3rd Line Support
8 19 (7.01%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
8 19 (7.01%) Deployment Engineer
8 19 (7.01%) Platform Engineer
9 18 (6.64%) IT Support Engineer
10 16 (5.90%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
10 16 (5.90%) Cloud Engineer
10 16 (5.90%) Cloud Network Engineer
10 16 (5.90%) Network Engineer
11 15 (5.54%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
11 15 (5.54%) Network Support
11 15 (5.54%) Network Support Engineer
12 12 (4.43%) Desktop Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (5.17%) LDAP
2 13 (4.80%) SailPoint
3 11 (4.06%) OAuth
4 8 (2.95%) SAML
5 6 (2.21%) OpenID
6 4 (1.48%) .NET
6 4 (1.48%) Microsoft Graph
6 4 (1.48%) OAuth2
6 4 (1.48%) YAML
7 3 (1.11%) .NET Core
7 3 (1.11%) .NET Framework
8 2 (0.74%) ARM Templates
8 2 (0.74%) ASP.NET
8 2 (0.74%) GraphQL
8 2 (0.74%) Jinja
8 2 (0.74%) Kafka
8 2 (0.74%) REST
9 1 (0.37%) Azure Blueprints
9 1 (0.37%) Blazor
9 1 (0.37%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 21 (7.75%) PKI
2 12 (4.43%) Replication
3 10 (3.69%) Onboarding
4 9 (3.32%) Fat Client
4 9 (3.32%) Thin Client
5 8 (2.95%) Video Conferencing
6 6 (2.21%) Data Centre
6 6 (2.21%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.48%) Driving Licence
7 4 (1.48%) NHS
7 4 (1.48%) Operational Technology
7 4 (1.48%) Private Cloud
8 3 (1.11%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (1.11%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (1.11%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.11%) Virtual Team
9 2 (0.74%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (0.74%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 184 (67.90%) Windows
2 65 (23.99%) Windows 10
3 53 (19.56%) Windows Server
4 22 (8.12%) Linux
4 22 (8.12%) Mac OS
5 16 (5.90%) Android
6 10 (3.69%) Windows Server 2003
7 9 (3.32%) Windows 7
8 6 (2.21%) Windows Server 2012
8 6 (2.21%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (2.21%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (1.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (1.48%) CentOS
11 2 (0.74%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.37%) Kali Linux
12 1 (0.37%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (18.82%) Problem-Solving
2 44 (16.24%) ITIL
3 36 (13.28%) ITSM
4 35 (12.92%) DevOps
5 33 (12.18%) Cybersecurity
6 30 (11.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 25 (9.23%) Customer Service
7 25 (9.23%) Service Management
8 23 (8.49%) Agile
9 21 (7.75%) Identity Access Management
10 19 (7.01%) CI/CD
11 18 (6.64%) Migration
12 17 (6.27%) Prototyping
13 16 (5.90%) E-Commerce
14 14 (5.17%) Continuous Improvement
14 14 (5.17%) High Availability
14 14 (5.17%) Infrastructure as Code
14 14 (5.17%) SIEM
14 14 (5.17%) Validation
15 13 (4.80%) DevSecOps
Programming Languages
1 83 (30.63%) PowerShell
2 29 (10.70%) Python
3 14 (5.17%) SQL
4 11 (4.06%) Java
5 8 (2.95%) BeanShell
6 6 (2.21%) Bash
6 6 (2.21%) PHP
7 4 (1.48%) C#
7 4 (1.48%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.74%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.37%) Bicep
9 1 (0.37%) VB
Qualifications
1 109 (40.22%) Security Cleared
2 52 (19.19%) DV Cleared
2 52 (19.19%) SC Cleared
3 18 (6.64%) Degree
4 16 (5.90%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (4.43%) CISSP
6 11 (4.06%) CISM
7 9 (3.32%) DBS Check
8 7 (2.58%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (2.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (1.48%) Azure Certification
10 4 (1.48%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (1.11%) Master's Degree
11 3 (1.11%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 2 (0.74%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.74%) CCNP
12 2 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.74%) Citrix Certification
12 2 (0.74%) MCSE
13 1 (0.37%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (8.49%) GDPR
2 21 (7.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (5.54%) NIST
4 8 (2.95%) SLA
5 2 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 2 (0.74%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.37%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.37%) Government Security Classifications
6 1 (0.37%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.37%) NCSC
6 1 (0.37%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.37%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 40 (14.76%) VMware Infrastructure
2 19 (7.01%) VMware NSX
3 10 (3.69%) Brightmail
3 10 (3.69%) Hyper-V
3 10 (3.69%) ISA Server
4 8 (2.95%) vSphere
5 6 (2.21%) Terminal Services
6 5 (1.85%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (1.48%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (1.11%) DFS Replication
9 2 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.37%) NFS
10 1 (0.37%) UAG
Systems Management
1 56 (20.66%) SCCM
2 44 (16.24%) Microsoft Intune
3 20 (7.38%) vCenter Server
4 19 (7.01%) Terraform
5 12 (4.43%) Ansible
5 12 (4.43%) WMI
6 10 (3.69%) Microsoft Clustering
6 10 (3.69%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (3.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 9 (3.32%) SCOM
8 7 (2.58%) HP SiteScope
9 4 (1.48%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (1.11%) Kubernetes
11 2 (0.74%) logstash
12 1 (0.37%) Avamar
12 1 (0.37%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.37%) Cisco UCCE
12 1 (0.37%) EMC NetWorker
12 1 (0.37%) Nmap
12 1 (0.37%) VxRail
Vendors
1 171 (63.10%) Microsoft
2 59 (21.77%) VMware
3 47 (17.34%) Cisco
4 26 (9.59%) Splunk
5 22 (8.12%) ServiceNow
6 19 (7.01%) CyberArk
7 18 (6.64%) Citrix
8 17 (6.27%) Juniper
8 17 (6.27%) Meraki
8 17 (6.27%) SolarWinds
9 12 (4.43%) BeyondTrust
10 9 (3.32%) Remedy
11 6 (2.21%) Google
12 5 (1.85%) Dell
13 3 (1.11%) Apple
13 3 (1.11%) McAfee
13 3 (1.11%) Veeam
13 3 (1.11%) Wyse
14 2 (0.74%) Palo Alto
14 2 (0.74%) Thales