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 25 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 30 23 20
Rank change year-on-year -7 -3 -4
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 283 290 401
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.39% 7.86% 8.05%
As % of the System Software category 52.80% 51.42% 49.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 220 251
10th Percentile £180 £187 £148
25th Percentile £242 £250 £171
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £436 £325
Median % change year-on-year +10.32% +34.23% -17.20%
75th Percentile £538 £638 £529
90th Percentile £619 £675 £608
England median daily rate £450 £420 £398
% change year-on-year +7.14% +5.66% +6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 1 22
10th Percentile £36.95 - £15.58
25th Percentile £63.72 - £19.25
Median hourly rate £87.00 £19.97 £33.50
Median % change year-on-year +335.65% -40.39% +81.08%
75th Percentile £101.38 - £56.05
90th Percentile £121.85 - £68.63
England median hourly rate £22.27 £22.09 £19.31
% change year-on-year +0.79% +14.41% +3.66%

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 536 564 803
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.11% 15.29% 16.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 394 391 500
10th Percentile £190 £200 £158
25th Percentile £313 £350 £225
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% - -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £613 £588
90th Percentile £640 £675 £638
England median daily rate £500 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 14 58
10th Percentile £45.83 £45.75 £19.16
25th Percentile £70.25 £54.94 £32.19
Median hourly rate £81.00 £59.88 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.28% -0.21% +135.29%
75th Percentile £88.72 £70.94 £71.42
90th Percentile £101.65 £80.25 £76.82
England median hourly rate £48.11 £29.50 £43.84
% change year-on-year +63.08% -32.71% +75.35%

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 25 December 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 25 December 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 25 December 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 -1 131 £473 -17.74% 72
Berkshire -8 93 £479 -23.30% 36
Hampshire -7 85 £500 +6.38% 43
Surrey -7 30 £275 -15.38% 19
Buckinghamshire +8 21 £450 +19.21% 19
Oxfordshire -7 17 £275 -33.33% 17
Kent +9 14 £168 +6.35% 26
East Sussex +6 11 £190 -62.93% 1
West Sussex -20 9 £281 +40.25% 6
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 41 (14.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (9.19%) SharePoint
3 15 (5.30%) Skype for Business
4 9 (3.18%) Exchange Server 2010
5 7 (2.47%) Exchange Server 2003
5 7 (2.47%) Exchange Server 2007
5 7 (2.47%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (2.47%) Mattermost
5 7 (2.47%) Office Communications Server
5 7 (2.47%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.71%) WordPress
Applications
1 33 (11.66%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.35%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.35%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 8 (2.83%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.35%) assyst
2 1 (0.35%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.35%) Remedy AR System
2 1 (0.35%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 96 (33.92%) Azure
1 96 (33.92%) Microsoft 365
2 63 (22.26%) Entra ID
3 37 (13.07%) AWS
4 25 (8.83%) GCP
5 16 (5.65%) OneDrive
6 8 (2.83%) GitHub
6 8 (2.83%) SaaS
7 7 (2.47%) IaaS
7 7 (2.47%) PaaS
7 7 (2.47%) Power Platform
8 5 (1.77%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.77%) Power Automate
9 4 (1.41%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.41%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (1.06%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (1.06%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.06%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (1.06%) Nutanix
11 2 (0.71%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 65 (22.97%) DNS
2 44 (15.55%) DHCP
3 34 (12.01%) Firewall
4 22 (7.77%) VPN
5 19 (6.71%) Cisco IOS
5 19 (6.71%) TCP/IP
6 17 (6.01%) Cisco Firepower
6 17 (6.01%) Cisco ISE
6 17 (6.01%) Junos
7 15 (5.30%) Wi-Fi
8 12 (4.24%) SAN
9 9 (3.18%) 4G
10 8 (2.83%) Skype
11 7 (2.47%) DDNS
11 7 (2.47%) Remote Desktop
12 6 (2.12%) FTP
12 6 (2.12%) VLAN
13 5 (1.77%) Unified Communications
14 4 (1.41%) SSL
14 4 (1.41%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (4.59%) SQL Server
2 4 (1.41%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.71%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (0.71%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 6 (2.12%) JIRA
2 3 (1.06%) Git
2 3 (1.06%) Robot Framework
2 3 (1.06%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.71%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.35%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.35%) Fiddler
General
1 115 (40.64%) Social Skills
2 22 (7.77%) Documentation Skills
3 21 (7.42%) Finance
4 16 (5.65%) Public Sector
5 10 (3.53%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (3.18%) Legal
7 6 (2.12%) Law
8 5 (1.77%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.06%) Games
9 3 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (1.06%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.71%) Back Office
10 2 (0.71%) Front Office
10 2 (0.71%) Military
10 2 (0.71%) Retail
11 1 (0.35%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.35%) Banking
11 1 (0.35%) Billing
11 1 (0.35%) Electronics
11 1 (0.35%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 58 (20.49%) Support Engineer
2 32 (11.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 31 (10.95%) IT Support
4 30 (10.60%) Architect
5 29 (10.25%) Analyst
6 24 (8.48%) IT Engineer
7 23 (8.13%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 19 (6.71%) IT Support Engineer
9 18 (6.36%) Senior
10 17 (6.01%) Network Engineer
11 16 (5.65%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
11 16 (5.65%) 3rd Line Support
11 16 (5.65%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
11 16 (5.65%) Cloud Engineer
11 16 (5.65%) Cloud Network Engineer
12 15 (5.30%) Deployment Engineer
12 15 (5.30%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 15 (5.30%) Network Support
12 15 (5.30%) Network Support Engineer
13 12 (4.24%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.77%) LDAP
2 10 (3.53%) SailPoint
3 9 (3.18%) OAuth
4 8 (2.83%) SAML
5 7 (2.47%) .NET
6 6 (2.12%) OpenID
7 5 (1.77%) OAuth2
8 3 (1.06%) .NET Core
8 3 (1.06%) .NET Framework
8 3 (1.06%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (1.06%) Middleware
9 2 (0.71%) ARM Templates
9 2 (0.71%) ASP.NET
9 2 (0.71%) GraphQL
9 2 (0.71%) Jinja
9 2 (0.71%) Kafka
9 2 (0.71%) REST
10 1 (0.35%) Entity Framework
10 1 (0.35%) Razor View Engine
10 1 (0.35%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 27 (9.54%) PKI
2 15 (5.30%) Onboarding
3 11 (3.89%) Fat Client
3 11 (3.89%) Thin Client
4 9 (3.18%) Replication
4 9 (3.18%) Video Conferencing
5 8 (2.83%) Self-Motivation
6 6 (2.12%) Data Centre
7 5 (1.77%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.41%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.41%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.41%) NHS
9 3 (1.06%) CMDB
9 3 (1.06%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.06%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.06%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.06%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.71%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.71%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.71%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 180 (63.60%) Windows
2 67 (23.67%) Windows Server
3 62 (21.91%) Windows 10
4 22 (7.77%) Linux
5 11 (3.89%) Mac OS
5 11 (3.89%) Windows 7
6 8 (2.83%) Windows Server 2012
6 8 (2.83%) Windows Server 2016
7 7 (2.47%) Windows Server 2003
8 5 (1.77%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (1.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.71%) Android
11 1 (0.35%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 60 (21.20%) Problem-Solving
2 53 (18.73%) ITIL
3 45 (15.90%) Cybersecurity
4 43 (15.19%) ITSM
5 38 (13.43%) DevOps
5 38 (13.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 30 (10.60%) CI/CD
7 27 (9.54%) Customer Service
8 26 (9.19%) Agile
9 25 (8.83%) Service Management
10 24 (8.48%) DevSecOps
10 24 (8.48%) SIEM
11 19 (6.71%) Identity Access Management
12 17 (6.01%) Infrastructure as Code
13 15 (5.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 14 (4.95%) Privileged Access Management
14 14 (4.95%) Prototyping
15 13 (4.59%) Migration
15 13 (4.59%) Validation
15 13 (4.59%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 78 (27.56%) PowerShell
2 43 (15.19%) Python
3 19 (6.71%) SQL
4 12 (4.24%) Java
5 11 (3.89%) Bash
6 8 (2.83%) BeanShell
7 3 (1.06%) C#
7 3 (1.06%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.71%) PHP
8 2 (0.71%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.35%) VB
Qualifications
1 133 (47.00%) Security Cleared
2 77 (27.21%) SC Cleared
3 51 (18.02%) DV Cleared
4 18 (6.36%) CISSP
5 17 (6.01%) CISM
6 15 (5.30%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (4.59%) Degree
8 7 (2.47%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (2.12%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 6 (2.12%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 5 (1.77%) DBS Check
11 4 (1.41%) AWS Certification
11 4 (1.41%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (1.06%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (1.06%) Azure Certification
13 2 (0.71%) A+ Certification
13 2 (0.71%) CCNP
13 2 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
13 2 (0.71%) Citrix Certification
13 2 (0.71%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (10.95%) GDPR
2 28 (9.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (8.48%) NIST
4 6 (2.12%) SLA
5 4 (1.41%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 2 (0.71%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.35%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.35%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.35%) NCSC
7 1 (0.35%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.35%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.35%) PMO
7 1 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 45 (15.90%) VMware Infrastructure
2 20 (7.07%) VMware NSX
3 14 (4.95%) Hyper-V
4 8 (2.83%) Terminal Services
4 8 (2.83%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (2.83%) vSphere
5 7 (2.47%) Brightmail
5 7 (2.47%) ISA Server
6 4 (1.41%) Docker
7 3 (1.06%) DFS Replication
7 3 (1.06%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (1.06%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.71%) NFS
9 1 (0.35%) Sendmail
9 1 (0.35%) UAG
Systems Management
1 46 (16.25%) SCCM
2 32 (11.31%) Microsoft Intune
3 23 (8.13%) vCenter Server
4 19 (6.71%) Terraform
5 13 (4.59%) SCOM
6 11 (3.89%) Ansible
6 11 (3.89%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (3.53%) WMI
8 7 (2.47%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (2.47%) HP SiteScope
8 7 (2.47%) Microsoft Clustering
9 6 (2.12%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (2.12%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.71%) logstash
10 2 (0.71%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.35%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.35%) Cisco UCCE
11 1 (0.35%) EMC NetWorker
11 1 (0.35%) Red Hat Satellite
11 1 (0.35%) WSUS
Vendors
1 161 (56.89%) Microsoft
2 68 (24.03%) VMware
3 32 (11.31%) Cisco
4 31 (10.95%) ServiceNow
5 26 (9.19%) CyberArk
6 23 (8.13%) Citrix
7 21 (7.42%) BeyondTrust
8 17 (6.01%) Juniper
8 17 (6.01%) SolarWinds
9 13 (4.59%) Splunk
10 9 (3.18%) Remedy
11 4 (1.41%) Google
11 4 (1.41%) McAfee
12 3 (1.06%) Dell
13 2 (0.71%) F5
13 2 (0.71%) NetApp
13 2 (0.71%) Oracle
13 2 (0.71%) Red Hat
13 2 (0.71%) SAP
13 2 (0.71%) Sophos