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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 23 14
Rank change year-on-year -7 -9 +18
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 352 227 443
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.93% 7.59% 8.16%
As % of the System Software category 53.17% 54.18% 57.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 175 301
10th Percentile £200 £200 £175
25th Percentile £300 £256 £310
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +17.65%
75th Percentile £599 £625 £608
90th Percentile £700 £700 £638
England median daily rate £450 £450 £421
% change year-on-year - +6.99% -1.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 3 18
10th Percentile £25.94 £21.58 £14.74
25th Percentile £43.81 £23.99 £16.61
Median hourly rate £52.50 £28.00 £17.69
Median % change year-on-year +87.50% +58.28% -4.38%
75th Percentile £73.75 - £18.51
90th Percentile £99.50 - £43.18
England median hourly rate £27.00 £19.97 £17.50
% change year-on-year +35.20% +14.11% -7.89%

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 662 419 768
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.16% 14.02% 14.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 497 310 486
10th Percentile £260 £208 £201
25th Percentile £406 £329 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £507 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.48% +1.30% -
75th Percentile £606 £603 £608
90th Percentile £700 £688 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 10 47
10th Percentile £27.23 £27.20 £17.11
25th Percentile £43.81 £32.25 £17.80
Median hourly rate £52.50 £56.25 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +2.51% +0.58%
75th Percentile £65.00 £61.91 £64.38
90th Percentile £96.50 £67.13 £70.00
England median hourly rate £56.25 £28.21 £21.00
% change year-on-year +99.43% +34.31% -58.00%

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 16 May 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 16 May 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 16 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
Thames Valley -4 186 £465 -11.43% 50
Berkshire -13 96 £481 -16.30% 26
Hampshire -13 88 £575 - 38
Oxfordshire +8 66 £275 +4.76% 10
Surrey +4 36 £513 +138.37% 5
Buckinghamshire -16 24 £560 +104.25% 14
Kent -3 22 £200 -23.81% 9
West Sussex -12 10 £600 +179.07% 1
East Sussex +1 9 £550 +10.00% 1
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 73 (20.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (9.38%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.42%) Confluence
4 2 (0.57%) IIS
4 2 (0.57%) WordPress
5 1 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 23 (6.53%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.14%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.28%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 10 (2.84%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.28%) Remedy AR System
Cloud Services
1 176 (50.00%) Azure
2 146 (41.48%) Entra ID
3 113 (32.10%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (10.80%) AWS
5 20 (5.68%) Power Platform
6 19 (5.40%) GCP
7 16 (4.55%) OneDrive
8 14 (3.98%) IaaS
9 12 (3.41%) SaaS
10 11 (3.13%) Azure DevOps
11 9 (2.56%) PaaS
12 8 (2.27%) Power Automate
13 7 (1.99%) Azure Logic Apps
14 6 (1.70%) Azure Monitor
14 6 (1.70%) PowerApps
15 5 (1.42%) Azure Key Vault
15 5 (1.42%) Nutanix
16 4 (1.14%) AWS CloudFormation
16 4 (1.14%) Mimecast
16 4 (1.14%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 84 (23.86%) DNS
2 61 (17.33%) DHCP
3 32 (9.09%) Firewall
4 28 (7.95%) Wi-Fi
5 21 (5.97%) VPN
6 15 (4.26%) FTP
7 13 (3.69%) Kerberos
8 12 (3.41%) TCP/IP
9 11 (3.13%) LAN
10 10 (2.84%) SAN
11 8 (2.27%) SD-WAN
11 8 (2.27%) WAN
12 7 (1.99%) SSH
12 7 (1.99%) SSL
13 6 (1.70%) IPsec
13 6 (1.70%) NAS
13 6 (1.70%) Network Security
13 6 (1.70%) Unified Communications
13 6 (1.70%) VLAN
14 4 (1.14%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (10.51%) SQL Server
2 14 (3.98%) Power BI
3 6 (1.70%) Azure SQL Database
4 3 (0.85%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.57%) MySQL
6 1 (0.28%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.28%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.28%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.28%) MariaDB
6 1 (0.28%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.28%) Parquet
6 1 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.28%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (4.83%) JIRA
2 7 (1.99%) Robot Framework
3 6 (1.70%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.57%) Git
4 2 (0.57%) GitLab
4 2 (0.57%) MSI
5 1 (0.28%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.28%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.28%) Jenkins
General
1 107 (30.40%) Social Skills
2 49 (13.92%) Public Sector
3 40 (11.36%) Documentation Skills
4 16 (4.55%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (3.98%) Military
6 13 (3.69%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (3.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 7 (1.99%) Legal
9 6 (1.70%) Finance
9 6 (1.70%) Marketing
9 6 (1.70%) Police
10 4 (1.14%) Retail
11 3 (0.85%) Games
11 3 (0.85%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.28%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.28%) Back Office
12 1 (0.28%) Front Office
12 1 (0.28%) Health Technology
12 1 (0.28%) Local Government
12 1 (0.28%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 44 (12.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
1 44 (12.50%) Support Engineer
2 42 (11.93%) IT Support
3 38 (10.80%) Architect
4 36 (10.23%) Analyst
4 36 (10.23%) IT Engineer
4 36 (10.23%) Senior
5 30 (8.52%) IT Support Engineer
6 17 (4.83%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 13 (3.69%) Lead
8 11 (3.13%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 11 (3.13%) Support Analyst
9 10 (2.84%) Wintel Analyst
10 9 (2.56%) Desktop Support
10 9 (2.56%) Infrastructure Architect
10 9 (2.56%) IT Analyst
10 9 (2.56%) IT Support Analyst
10 9 (2.56%) Senior Architect
10 9 (2.56%) Service Analyst
10 9 (2.56%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (11.36%) LDAP
2 15 (4.26%) OAuth
2 15 (4.26%) SAML
3 14 (3.98%) OpenID
4 13 (3.69%) REST
4 13 (3.69%) SailPoint
5 11 (3.13%) OAuth2
5 11 (3.13%) Web Services
6 7 (1.99%) .NET
7 6 (1.70%) ADO
8 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.85%) Unreal Engine
9 2 (0.57%) .NET Core
9 2 (0.57%) .NET Framework
9 2 (0.57%) 802.1X
9 2 (0.57%) Entity Framework
9 2 (0.57%) JSON
9 2 (0.57%) Middleware
10 1 (0.28%) RESTful
10 1 (0.28%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 43 (12.22%) Onboarding
2 35 (9.94%) PKI
3 16 (4.55%) Replication
4 13 (3.69%) Data Centre
5 10 (2.84%) Driving Licence
5 10 (2.84%) Management Information System
5 10 (2.84%) Product Ownership
6 9 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.56%) Operational Technology
7 6 (1.70%) Clustering
7 6 (1.70%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (1.42%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (1.42%) Security Posture
9 4 (1.14%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.14%) SCADA
9 4 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.85%) CMDB
10 3 (0.85%) Fat Client
10 3 (0.85%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 217 (61.65%) Windows
2 100 (28.41%) Windows Server
3 59 (16.76%) Linux
4 27 (7.67%) Windows 10
5 23 (6.53%) Unix
6 9 (2.56%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.27%) Mac OS
7 8 (2.27%) Windows 7
8 7 (1.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (1.14%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.14%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.85%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.57%) CentOS
11 2 (0.57%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (24.15%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (19.60%) ITIL
3 60 (17.05%) Cybersecurity
4 58 (16.48%) ITSM
5 54 (15.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 47 (13.35%) DevOps
6 47 (13.35%) SIEM
7 46 (13.07%) Customer Service
8 35 (9.94%) CI/CD
9 33 (9.38%) Agile
10 31 (8.81%) Privileged Access Management
11 30 (8.52%) Runbook
12 29 (8.24%) Change Control
13 28 (7.95%) Information Security
14 26 (7.39%) Roadmaps
15 25 (7.10%) DevSecOps
15 25 (7.10%) Migration
16 24 (6.82%) High Availability
17 23 (6.53%) RBAC
18 22 (6.25%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 124 (35.23%) PowerShell
2 65 (18.47%) Python
3 26 (7.39%) SQL
4 10 (2.84%) JavaScript
5 8 (2.27%) Bash
6 6 (1.70%) C#
7 4 (1.14%) Bicep
7 4 (1.14%) Java
8 2 (0.57%) BeanShell
9 1 (0.28%) Korn
9 1 (0.28%) PHP
Qualifications
1 176 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 114 (32.39%) SC Cleared
3 53 (15.06%) DV Cleared
4 34 (9.66%) Degree
5 23 (6.53%) CISM
5 23 (6.53%) CISSP
6 12 (3.41%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (2.27%) CESG Certified Professional
8 7 (1.99%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.99%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.70%) AWS Certification
9 6 (1.70%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.42%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 5 (1.42%) CRISC
10 5 (1.42%) GIAC
10 5 (1.42%) SANS
11 4 (1.14%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (1.14%) GSEC
11 4 (1.14%) SSCP
11 4 (1.14%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (17.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 58 (16.48%) NIST
3 31 (8.81%) GDPR
4 12 (3.41%) Cyber Essentials
5 10 (2.84%) SLA
6 9 (2.56%) NCSC
7 5 (1.42%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.42%) NIST 800
8 4 (1.14%) Data Quality
8 4 (1.14%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 2 (0.57%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.28%) PMO
11 1 (0.28%) QA
System Software
1 76 (21.59%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (8.52%) Hyper-V
3 16 (4.55%) VMware ESXi
4 13 (3.69%) VMware NSX
5 12 (3.41%) Virtual Desktop
6 10 (2.84%) vSphere
7 8 (2.27%) Firmware
7 8 (2.27%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (1.99%) Docker
9 6 (1.70%) vCloud
10 3 (0.85%) DFS Replication
11 2 (0.57%) NFS
11 2 (0.57%) Terminal Services
11 2 (0.57%) UAG
12 1 (0.28%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.28%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 50 (14.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (7.67%) SCCM
3 21 (5.97%) Terraform
4 17 (4.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 15 (4.26%) Ansible
5 15 (4.26%) Single Sign-On
6 13 (3.69%) SCOM
6 13 (3.69%) vCenter Server
7 7 (1.99%) Kubernetes
8 6 (1.70%) Jamf Pro
9 5 (1.42%) WMI
10 3 (0.85%) SCSM
10 3 (0.85%) WSUS
11 2 (0.57%) Grafana
11 2 (0.57%) WhatsUp Gold
12 1 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.28%) McAfee ePO
12 1 (0.28%) Puppet
12 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Satellite
12 1 (0.28%) Salt
Vendors
1 206 (58.52%) Microsoft
2 88 (25.00%) VMware
3 40 (11.36%) BeyondTrust
4 38 (10.80%) CyberArk
5 32 (9.09%) ServiceNow
6 22 (6.25%) Citrix
7 14 (3.98%) Meraki
8 13 (3.69%) Cisco
9 12 (3.41%) Oracle
10 11 (3.13%) Remedy
11 10 (2.84%) BMC
12 8 (2.27%) Avaya
12 8 (2.27%) Mitel
13 5 (1.42%) Fortinet
13 5 (1.42%) Red Hat
13 5 (1.42%) Veeam
14 4 (1.14%) BiZZdesign
14 4 (1.14%) F5
14 4 (1.14%) SolarWinds
15 3 (0.85%) Zscaler