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 8 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 27 23 22
Rank change year-on-year -4 -1 -3
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 265 332 417
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.82% 8.02% 7.68%
As % of the System Software category 52.58% 50.23% 47.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 197 239 254
10th Percentile £167 £200 £148
25th Percentile £200 £262 £186
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £470 £313
Median % change year-on-year +1.06% +50.40% -14.38%
75th Percentile £565 £638 £525
90th Percentile £601 £673 £615
England median daily rate £446 £425 £400
% change year-on-year +4.94% +6.25% +6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 6 25
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% +5.41%

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 504 661 871
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.98% 15.96% 16.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 351 439 547
10th Percentile £190 £217 £170
25th Percentile £261 £360 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £594
90th Percentile £625 £673 £650
England median daily rate £500 £515 £500
% change year-on-year -2.91% +3.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 26 60
10th Percentile £35.17 £26.25 £18.61
25th Percentile £67.44 £53.41 £23.57
Median hourly rate £81.00 £60.50 £56.95
Median % change year-on-year +33.90% +6.22% +137.29%
75th Percentile £81.50 £70.00 £71.41
90th Percentile £88.97 - £76.63
England median hourly rate £30.00 £50.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year -40.00% +14.29% +86.17%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -8 118 £369 -39.05% 189
Hampshire -5 81 £500 -7.49% 78
Berkshire -11 69 £475 -24.00% 130
Buckinghamshire +16 33 £274 -27.55% 31
Surrey -8 31 £250 -3.85% 32
Oxfordshire -9 16 £275 -33.33% 33
Kent +5 12 £155 -3.75% 22
East Sussex +6 10 £180 -56.36% 9
West Sussex -18 10 £200 +2.56% 17
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 57 (21.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (9.81%) SharePoint
3 18 (6.79%) Skype for Business
4 11 (4.15%) Exchange Server 2010
5 10 (3.77%) Exchange Server 2003
5 10 (3.77%) Exchange Server 2007
5 10 (3.77%) Exchange Server 2013
5 10 (3.77%) Office Communications Server
5 10 (3.77%) SharePoint Server
6 8 (3.02%) Apache
7 7 (2.64%) Mattermost
8 4 (1.51%) IIS
9 2 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 33 (12.45%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.38%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 1 (0.38%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (2.64%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.38%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 114 (43.02%) Microsoft 365
2 70 (26.42%) Azure
3 57 (21.51%) Entra ID
4 19 (7.17%) AWS
5 16 (6.04%) GCP
6 15 (5.66%) OneDrive
7 10 (3.77%) GitHub
8 8 (3.02%) IaaS
9 7 (2.64%) PaaS
10 5 (1.89%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (1.89%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.89%) Power Platform
10 5 (1.89%) SaaS
11 4 (1.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 4 (1.51%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (1.13%) Microsoft Purview
12 3 (1.13%) PowerApps
13 2 (0.75%) Azure API Management
13 2 (0.75%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 46 (17.36%) DNS
2 39 (14.72%) Firewall
3 33 (12.45%) Cisco IOS
4 27 (10.19%) DHCP
5 24 (9.06%) VPN
6 17 (6.42%) Cisco Firepower
6 17 (6.42%) Cisco ISE
6 17 (6.42%) Junos
7 16 (6.04%) SAN
8 11 (4.15%) TCP/IP
8 11 (4.15%) Wi-Fi
9 10 (3.77%) DDNS
10 9 (3.40%) 4G
11 8 (3.02%) Skype
12 7 (2.64%) Remote Desktop
13 5 (1.89%) WebEx
14 4 (1.51%) LAN
14 4 (1.51%) SMTP
14 4 (1.51%) Unified Communications
14 4 (1.51%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.40%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.75%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (0.75%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (1.51%) MSI
1 4 (1.51%) Robot Framework
1 4 (1.51%) Sonatype Nexus
2 3 (1.13%) Git
3 2 (0.75%) Fiddler
3 2 (0.75%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.38%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.38%) JIRA
General
1 105 (39.62%) Social Skills
2 24 (9.06%) Finance
3 16 (6.04%) Games
4 11 (4.15%) Public Sector
5 9 (3.40%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (3.02%) Analytical Skills
7 7 (2.64%) Legal
8 6 (2.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (2.26%) Law
9 3 (1.13%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.13%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.13%) Retail
10 2 (0.75%) Marketing
10 2 (0.75%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.38%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.38%) Back Office
11 1 (0.38%) Electronics
11 1 (0.38%) French Language
11 1 (0.38%) Front Office
11 1 (0.38%) German Language
Job Titles
1 68 (25.66%) Support Engineer
2 32 (12.08%) IT Support
3 25 (9.43%) 3rd Line Engineer
3 25 (9.43%) Analyst
3 25 (9.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 24 (9.06%) IT Engineer
5 21 (7.92%) Architect
6 20 (7.55%) IT Support Engineer
7 19 (7.17%) 3rd Line Support
7 19 (7.17%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
7 19 (7.17%) Deployment Engineer
7 19 (7.17%) Platform Engineer
8 16 (6.04%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
8 16 (6.04%) Cloud Engineer
8 16 (6.04%) Cloud Network Engineer
8 16 (6.04%) Network Engineer
9 15 (5.66%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
9 15 (5.66%) Network Support
9 15 (5.66%) Network Support Engineer
10 14 (5.28%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.91%) SailPoint
2 11 (4.15%) LDAP
2 11 (4.15%) OAuth
3 8 (3.02%) SAML
4 6 (2.26%) OpenID
5 4 (1.51%) .NET
5 4 (1.51%) Microsoft Graph
5 4 (1.51%) OAuth2
5 4 (1.51%) YAML
6 3 (1.13%) .NET Core
6 3 (1.13%) .NET Framework
7 2 (0.75%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.75%) ASP.NET
7 2 (0.75%) GraphQL
7 2 (0.75%) Jinja
7 2 (0.75%) Kafka
7 2 (0.75%) Middleware
7 2 (0.75%) REST
8 1 (0.38%) Azure Blueprints
8 1 (0.38%) Blazor
Miscellaneous
1 16 (6.04%) PKI
2 12 (4.53%) Replication
3 11 (4.15%) Onboarding
4 9 (3.40%) Fat Client
4 9 (3.40%) Thin Client
5 8 (3.02%) Video Conferencing
6 6 (2.26%) Data Centre
7 5 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.51%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.51%) NHS
8 4 (1.51%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.51%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
9 3 (1.13%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.13%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.13%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.75%) Clustering
10 2 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.75%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 183 (69.06%) Windows
2 70 (26.42%) Windows 10
3 48 (18.11%) Windows Server
4 23 (8.68%) Linux
5 22 (8.30%) Mac OS
6 16 (6.04%) Android
7 10 (3.77%) Windows 7
7 10 (3.77%) Windows Server 2003
8 6 (2.26%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (2.26%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (1.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (1.89%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (1.51%) CentOS
11 2 (0.75%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.38%) Kali Linux
12 1 (0.38%) Rocky
12 1 (0.38%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (16.98%) Problem-Solving
2 44 (16.60%) ITIL
3 34 (12.83%) ITSM
4 33 (12.45%) DevOps
5 31 (11.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 29 (10.94%) Cybersecurity
7 26 (9.81%) Service Management
8 25 (9.43%) Customer Service
9 22 (8.30%) Identity Access Management
10 19 (7.17%) Agile
10 19 (7.17%) Migration
11 16 (6.04%) CI/CD
11 16 (6.04%) E-Commerce
12 15 (5.66%) Prototyping
13 14 (5.28%) High Availability
13 14 (5.28%) Infrastructure as Code
13 14 (5.28%) Validation
14 13 (4.91%) Architectural Design
14 13 (4.91%) Business Intelligence
14 13 (4.91%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 78 (29.43%) PowerShell
2 24 (9.06%) Python
3 11 (4.15%) Java
3 11 (4.15%) SQL
4 8 (3.02%) BeanShell
5 6 (2.26%) Bash
5 6 (2.26%) PHP
6 4 (1.51%) C#
6 4 (1.51%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.75%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.38%) Bicep
8 1 (0.38%) VB
Qualifications
1 100 (37.74%) Security Cleared
2 48 (18.11%) DV Cleared
3 47 (17.74%) SC Cleared
4 19 (7.17%) Degree
5 13 (4.91%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (3.77%) DBS Check
7 9 (3.40%) CISSP
8 8 (3.02%) CISM
8 8 (3.02%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (2.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (1.51%) Azure Certification
10 4 (1.51%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (1.13%) A+ Certification
11 3 (1.13%) Master's Degree
12 2 (0.75%) CCNP
12 2 (0.75%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.75%) Citrix Certification
12 2 (0.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 1 (0.38%) CEH
13 1 (0.38%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (7.55%) GDPR
2 18 (6.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (4.53%) NIST
4 8 (3.02%) SLA
5 2 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 2 (0.75%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.38%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.38%) Government Security Classifications
6 1 (0.38%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.38%) NCSC
6 1 (0.38%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 37 (13.96%) VMware Infrastructure
2 19 (7.17%) VMware NSX
3 11 (4.15%) Hyper-V
4 10 (3.77%) Brightmail
4 10 (3.77%) ISA Server
5 8 (3.02%) vSphere
6 6 (2.26%) Terminal Services
6 6 (2.26%) Virtual Desktop
7 5 (1.89%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (1.13%) DFS Replication
9 2 (0.75%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.38%) NFS
10 1 (0.38%) UAG
10 1 (0.38%) XenApp
10 1 (0.38%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 53 (20.00%) SCCM
2 45 (16.98%) Microsoft Intune
3 19 (7.17%) Terraform
4 18 (6.79%) vCenter Server
5 12 (4.53%) Ansible
6 10 (3.77%) Microsoft Clustering
6 10 (3.77%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (3.77%) WMI
7 9 (3.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (2.64%) HP SiteScope
8 7 (2.64%) SCOM
9 3 (1.13%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (1.13%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.75%) logstash
10 2 (0.75%) SCVMM
11 1 (0.38%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.38%) Cisco UCCE
11 1 (0.38%) EMC NetWorker
11 1 (0.38%) Nmap
11 1 (0.38%) VxRail
Vendors
1 172 (64.91%) Microsoft
2 53 (20.00%) VMware
3 48 (18.11%) Cisco
4 26 (9.81%) Splunk
5 23 (8.68%) ServiceNow
6 20 (7.55%) Citrix
7 17 (6.42%) Juniper
7 17 (6.42%) Meraki
7 17 (6.42%) SolarWinds
8 16 (6.04%) CyberArk
9 9 (3.40%) BeyondTrust
9 9 (3.40%) Remedy
10 6 (2.26%) Dell
11 5 (1.89%) Google
12 4 (1.51%) Wyse
13 3 (1.13%) Apple
13 3 (1.13%) McAfee
13 3 (1.13%) Veeam
14 2 (0.75%) Palo Alto
14 2 (0.75%) Sage