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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 21 15
Rank change year-on-year -10 -6 +18
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 364 252 466
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.76% 7.81% 8.16%
As % of the System Software category 53.29% 54.66% 55.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 183 307
10th Percentile £202 £200 £200
25th Percentile £280 £250 £323
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +23.53%
75th Percentile £592 £623 £608
90th Percentile £698 £700 £641
England median daily rate £450 £450 £450
% change year-on-year - - +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 3 21
10th Percentile £16.00 - £16.00
25th Percentile £19.62 - £17.69
Median hourly rate £47.54 £28.00 £17.80
Median % change year-on-year +69.79% +57.30% -20.89%
75th Percentile £53.75 £30.39 £28.75
90th Percentile £77.50 £31.82 £50.00
England median hourly rate £25.75 £23.00 £17.71
% change year-on-year +11.96% +29.91% -15.69%

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 683 461 841
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 10.81% 14.29% 14.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 324 528
10th Percentile £256 £207 £207
25th Percentile £407 £318 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% +7.50%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £701 £675 £650
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 8 52
10th Percentile £16.00 £28.00 £17.69
25th Percentile £25.72 £31.58 £21.14
Median hourly rate £50.00 £56.19 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -11.01% +2.39% +7.07%
75th Percentile £55.00 £59.09 £66.17
90th Percentile £78.75 £66.39 £70.00
England median hourly rate £53.00 £29.50 £22.23
% change year-on-year +79.66% +32.73% -55.55%

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 3 July 2026.

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 3 July 2026.

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 3 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
Thames Valley -7 188 £465 -7.00% 44
Hampshire -10 109 £550 -4.35% 39
Berkshire -22 83 £475 -20.83% 23
Oxfordshire +6 76 £250 - 8
Buckinghamshire -29 29 £560 +104.25% 13
Surrey -18 27 £525 +144.19% 16
Kent -3 20 £200 -53.49% 7
West Sussex -15 11 £600 +200.00% 12
East Sussex +4 8 £500 +81.82% 4
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 66 (18.13%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (9.07%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.37%) IIS
4 3 (0.82%) Apache
4 3 (0.82%) Confluence
4 3 (0.82%) nginx
4 3 (0.82%) Tomcat
Applications
1 17 (4.67%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.55%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.27%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 13 (3.57%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.55%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 172 (47.25%) Azure
2 156 (42.86%) Entra ID
3 108 (29.67%) Microsoft 365
4 32 (8.79%) AWS
5 17 (4.67%) Power Platform
6 16 (4.40%) OneDrive
7 13 (3.57%) GCP
8 12 (3.30%) IaaS
9 9 (2.47%) Azure Logic Apps
10 8 (2.20%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (2.20%) SaaS
11 7 (1.92%) PaaS
12 6 (1.65%) Power Automate
13 5 (1.37%) Mimecast
14 4 (1.10%) Azure Monitor
14 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Purview
14 4 (1.10%) PowerApps
15 3 (0.82%) Azure AKS
15 3 (0.82%) Nutanix
15 3 (0.82%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 86 (23.63%) DNS
2 47 (12.91%) DHCP
3 29 (7.97%) Wi-Fi
4 28 (7.69%) Firewall
5 25 (6.87%) VPN
6 17 (4.67%) LAN
7 13 (3.57%) Kerberos
8 12 (3.30%) SSL
9 11 (3.02%) FTP
9 11 (3.02%) WAN
10 10 (2.75%) Network Security
11 9 (2.47%) SAN
12 8 (2.20%) IPsec
12 8 (2.20%) SSH
13 7 (1.92%) NAS
13 7 (1.92%) SD-WAN
14 5 (1.37%) TCP/IP
14 5 (1.37%) Unified Communications
15 4 (1.10%) BIG-IP
15 4 (1.10%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (10.99%) SQL Server
2 14 (3.85%) Power BI
3 5 (1.37%) MySQL
4 3 (0.82%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.27%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.27%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.27%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.27%) MariaDB
6 1 (0.27%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.27%) Parquet
6 1 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 12 (3.30%) JIRA
2 4 (1.10%) Robot Framework
3 3 (0.82%) MSI
3 3 (0.82%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.55%) Git
4 2 (0.55%) GitLab
5 1 (0.27%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.27%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.27%) Jenkins
General
1 109 (29.95%) Social Skills
2 51 (14.01%) Public Sector
3 38 (10.44%) Documentation Skills
4 32 (8.79%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (4.12%) Military
6 14 (3.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (3.57%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.75%) Marketing
9 9 (2.47%) Finance
10 7 (1.92%) Legal
11 6 (1.65%) Police
12 5 (1.37%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.10%) Retail
14 2 (0.55%) Aerospace
14 2 (0.55%) Games
14 2 (0.55%) Telecoms
15 1 (0.27%) French Language
15 1 (0.27%) Health Technology
15 1 (0.27%) Local Government
15 1 (0.27%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (14.56%) Support Engineer
2 48 (13.19%) IT Support
3 41 (11.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 40 (10.99%) Senior
5 37 (10.16%) IT Engineer
6 34 (9.34%) Architect
7 33 (9.07%) Analyst
8 31 (8.52%) IT Support Engineer
9 20 (5.49%) Cloud Engineer
10 16 (4.40%) Lead
11 14 (3.85%) 3rd Line Engineer
11 14 (3.85%) Support Analyst
12 13 (3.57%) IT Analyst
12 13 (3.57%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 12 (3.30%) IT Support Analyst
14 11 (3.02%) IAM Specialist
15 10 (2.75%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
16 9 (2.47%) 3rd Line Support
16 9 (2.47%) Desktop Engineer
16 9 (2.47%) Product Owner
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (13.19%) LDAP
2 27 (7.42%) OAuth
2 27 (7.42%) SAML
3 26 (7.14%) OpenID
4 17 (4.67%) OAuth2
5 16 (4.40%) SailPoint
6 15 (4.12%) REST
6 15 (4.12%) Web Services
7 8 (2.20%) Microsoft Graph
8 5 (1.37%) .NET
9 4 (1.10%) 802.1X
10 3 (0.82%) ADO
10 3 (0.82%) FIDO
10 3 (0.82%) JSON
10 3 (0.82%) LAMP
10 3 (0.82%) LEMP Stack
10 3 (0.82%) Software Packaging
10 3 (0.82%) YAML
11 2 (0.55%) .NET Framework
11 2 (0.55%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 45 (12.36%) Onboarding
2 36 (9.89%) PKI
3 19 (5.22%) Management Information System
4 16 (4.40%) Replication
5 12 (3.30%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.30%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.47%) Driving Licence
6 9 (2.47%) Product Ownership
7 8 (2.20%) Operational Technology
7 8 (2.20%) Security Posture
8 7 (1.92%) Clustering
8 7 (1.92%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.92%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.10%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.10%) CMDB
9 4 (1.10%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.10%) SCADA
10 3 (0.82%) Cloud Native
10 3 (0.82%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.55%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 229 (62.91%) Windows
2 102 (28.02%) Windows Server
3 72 (19.78%) Linux
4 30 (8.24%) Unix
5 29 (7.97%) Windows 10
6 16 (4.40%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (1.92%) Mac OS
7 7 (1.92%) Windows 7
8 5 (1.37%) CentOS
8 5 (1.37%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.10%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.82%) Ubuntu
10 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.55%) VMS
12 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (24.73%) Problem-Solving
2 72 (19.78%) ITSM
3 69 (18.96%) ITIL
4 56 (15.38%) Cybersecurity
5 54 (14.84%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 49 (13.46%) Customer Service
7 44 (12.09%) SIEM
8 42 (11.54%) Runbook
9 39 (10.71%) Agile
10 38 (10.44%) Privileged Access Management
11 37 (10.16%) Information Security
12 35 (9.62%) Change Control
12 35 (9.62%) DevOps
13 32 (8.79%) Technical Leadership
14 31 (8.52%) CI/CD
14 31 (8.52%) RBAC
15 29 (7.97%) Computer Science
15 29 (7.97%) Identity Access Management
15 29 (7.97%) Migration
16 25 (6.87%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 137 (37.64%) PowerShell
2 62 (17.03%) Python
3 26 (7.14%) SQL
4 11 (3.02%) JavaScript
5 7 (1.92%) Bash
6 6 (1.65%) C#
7 5 (1.37%) Bicep
7 5 (1.37%) Java
8 4 (1.10%) C
9 2 (0.55%) BeanShell
10 1 (0.27%) Korn
10 1 (0.27%) PHP
Qualifications
1 180 (49.45%) Security Cleared
2 110 (30.22%) SC Cleared
3 66 (18.13%) DV Cleared
4 49 (13.46%) Degree
5 23 (6.32%) Microsoft Certification
6 20 (5.49%) CISSP
7 19 (5.22%) CISM
8 11 (3.02%) Azure Certification
8 11 (3.02%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.20%) CESG Certified Professional
9 8 (2.20%) MCSA
9 8 (2.20%) MCSE
10 6 (1.65%) CCA
10 6 (1.65%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (1.65%) Citrix Certification
11 5 (1.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 5 (1.37%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.37%) CRISC
11 5 (1.37%) GIAC
11 5 (1.37%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (18.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 65 (17.86%) NIST
3 30 (8.24%) GDPR
4 12 (3.30%) NCSC
5 11 (3.02%) Cyber Essentials
6 9 (2.47%) SLA
7 5 (1.37%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.37%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.10%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.82%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.27%) GRC
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.27%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.27%) QA
System Software
1 77 (21.15%) VMware Infrastructure
2 33 (9.07%) VMware ESXi
3 32 (8.79%) Hyper-V
4 24 (6.59%) VMware NSX
5 13 (3.57%) vCloud
6 12 (3.30%) Virtual Machines
6 12 (3.30%) vSphere
7 10 (2.75%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (2.20%) Firmware
9 3 (0.82%) Docker
9 3 (0.82%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.82%) OpenAM
9 3 (0.82%) Postfix
10 2 (0.55%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.55%) UAG
11 1 (0.27%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.27%) NFS
Systems Management
1 48 (13.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (7.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 27 (7.42%) Terraform
3 25 (6.87%) vCenter Server
4 24 (6.59%) SCOM
5 21 (5.77%) SCCM
6 15 (4.12%) Ansible
7 14 (3.85%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (1.37%) WMI
9 4 (1.10%) Clonezilla
9 4 (1.10%) Kubernetes
10 3 (0.82%) HAProxy
10 3 (0.82%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.82%) SCSM
11 2 (0.55%) Cisco CUCM
11 2 (0.55%) Grafana
11 2 (0.55%) vMotion
11 2 (0.55%) WSUS
12 1 (0.27%) NetBackup
12 1 (0.27%) Salt
Vendors
1 213 (58.52%) Microsoft
2 89 (24.45%) VMware
3 38 (10.44%) BeyondTrust
4 36 (9.89%) CyberArk
5 33 (9.07%) ServiceNow
6 20 (5.49%) Cisco
7 17 (4.67%) Citrix
7 17 (4.67%) Meraki
7 17 (4.67%) Oracle
8 14 (3.85%) Remedy
8 14 (3.85%) SolarWinds
9 11 (3.02%) Avaya
9 11 (3.02%) Mitel
10 10 (2.75%) BMC
11 8 (2.20%) Juniper
12 6 (1.65%) Red Hat
13 5 (1.37%) Broadcom
13 5 (1.37%) F5
13 5 (1.37%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.37%) Veeam