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 6 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 22 17
Rank change year-on-year -9 -5 +14
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 359 227 450
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.97% 7.69% 7.97%
As % of the System Software category 53.50% 52.55% 55.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 171 309
10th Percentile £200 £200 £195
25th Percentile £300 £250 £315
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% +21.03%
75th Percentile £599 £623 £608
90th Percentile £700 £700 £639
England median daily rate £450 £450 £430
% change year-on-year - +4.65% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 2 17
10th Percentile £16.00 - £14.32
25th Percentile £26.26 - £17.69
Median hourly rate £48.13 £28.00 £17.80
Median % change year-on-year +71.89% +57.30% -15.24%
75th Percentile £53.75 - -
90th Percentile £77.50 - £33.35
England median hourly rate £26.00 £19.27 £17.60
% change year-on-year +34.92% +9.52% -12.03%

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 671 432 818
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.16% 14.63% 14.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 503 312 522
10th Percentile £251 £208 £205
25th Percentile £406 £324 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £533
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.10% +6.50%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £710 £686 £650
England median daily rate £500 £510 £500
% change year-on-year -1.96% +2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 8 46
10th Percentile £16.00 £28.00 £17.69
25th Percentile £35.85 £45.30 £17.80
Median hourly rate £50.00 £57.50 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +4.78% -4.57%
75th Percentile £57.50 £60.72 £63.44
90th Percentile £80.00 £69.63 £70.00
England median hourly rate £55.00 £28.46 £22.15
% change year-on-year +93.29% +28.47% -57.51%

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 6 June 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 6 June 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 6 June 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 -2.11% 59
Hampshire -6 101 £575 - 46
Berkshire -15 90 £475 -17.39% 23
Oxfordshire +5 71 £250 - 20
Surrey -12 30 £525 +144.19% 16
Buckinghamshire -25 25 £548 +131.25% 16
Kent -2 21 £231 -46.22% 16
West Sussex -14 11 £600 +200.00% 9
East Sussex +3 9 £550 +100.00% 2
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 69 (19.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 35 (9.75%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.39%) Confluence
3 5 (1.39%) IIS
4 3 (0.84%) Apache
4 3 (0.84%) nginx
4 3 (0.84%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (4.46%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.56%) 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 14 (3.90%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.28%) Remedy AR System
2 1 (0.28%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 176 (49.03%) Azure
2 150 (41.78%) Entra ID
3 112 (31.20%) Microsoft 365
4 31 (8.64%) AWS
5 19 (5.29%) Power Platform
6 15 (4.18%) IaaS
6 15 (4.18%) OneDrive
7 14 (3.90%) GCP
8 11 (3.06%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (2.51%) Azure Logic Apps
9 9 (2.51%) PaaS
9 9 (2.51%) SaaS
10 7 (1.95%) Power Automate
11 6 (1.67%) Azure Monitor
11 6 (1.67%) PowerApps
12 5 (1.39%) Azure Key Vault
12 5 (1.39%) Mimecast
13 4 (1.11%) GitHub
13 4 (1.11%) Nutanix
13 4 (1.11%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 86 (23.96%) DNS
2 54 (15.04%) DHCP
3 32 (8.91%) Firewall
4 26 (7.24%) Wi-Fi
5 25 (6.96%) VPN
6 15 (4.18%) LAN
7 13 (3.62%) Kerberos
8 11 (3.06%) FTP
8 11 (3.06%) SAN
9 10 (2.79%) SSL
9 10 (2.79%) WAN
10 9 (2.51%) IPsec
10 9 (2.51%) Network Security
11 8 (2.23%) SD-WAN
11 8 (2.23%) SSH
12 7 (1.95%) NAS
13 5 (1.39%) BIG-IP
13 5 (1.39%) Unified Communications
14 4 (1.11%) Cisco ASA
14 4 (1.11%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (10.31%) SQL Server
2 16 (4.46%) Power BI
3 5 (1.39%) MySQL
4 3 (0.84%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
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 14 (3.90%) JIRA
2 6 (1.67%) Robot Framework
3 5 (1.39%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.56%) Git
4 2 (0.56%) GitLab
4 2 (0.56%) MSI
5 1 (0.28%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.28%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.28%) Jenkins
General
1 103 (28.69%) Social Skills
2 50 (13.93%) Public Sector
3 35 (9.75%) Documentation Skills
4 25 (6.96%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (4.18%) Military
6 14 (3.90%) Organisational Skills
7 13 (3.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 10 (2.79%) Marketing
9 7 (1.95%) Legal
10 6 (1.67%) Finance
10 6 (1.67%) Police
11 4 (1.11%) Retail
12 3 (0.84%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.56%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.56%) Games
14 1 (0.28%) Back Office
14 1 (0.28%) Front Office
14 1 (0.28%) Health Technology
14 1 (0.28%) Local Government
14 1 (0.28%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 50 (13.93%) Support Engineer
2 46 (12.81%) IT Support
3 44 (12.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 38 (10.58%) IT Engineer
5 37 (10.31%) Architect
6 36 (10.03%) Senior
7 32 (8.91%) Analyst
7 32 (8.91%) IT Support Engineer
8 15 (4.18%) Lead
9 14 (3.90%) 3rd Line Engineer
9 14 (3.90%) Cloud Engineer
10 13 (3.62%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.06%) Support Analyst
12 10 (2.79%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (2.79%) IT Analyst
12 10 (2.79%) Product Owner
13 9 (2.51%) 3rd Line Support
13 9 (2.51%) Desktop Support
13 9 (2.51%) Infrastructure Architect
13 9 (2.51%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (10.86%) LDAP
2 21 (5.85%) OAuth
2 21 (5.85%) SAML
3 20 (5.57%) OpenID
4 15 (4.18%) OAuth2
4 15 (4.18%) REST
5 14 (3.90%) SailPoint
6 13 (3.62%) Web Services
7 6 (1.67%) ADO
8 5 (1.39%) .NET
8 5 (1.39%) Microsoft Graph
9 4 (1.11%) 802.1X
10 3 (0.84%) JSON
10 3 (0.84%) LAMP
10 3 (0.84%) LEMP Stack
10 3 (0.84%) YAML
11 2 (0.56%) .NET Framework
11 2 (0.56%) Middleware
11 2 (0.56%) SOAP
11 2 (0.56%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 44 (12.26%) Onboarding
2 33 (9.19%) PKI
3 16 (4.46%) Replication
4 15 (4.18%) Management Information System
5 13 (3.62%) Data Centre
6 12 (3.34%) Product Ownership
7 10 (2.79%) Driving Licence
8 9 (2.51%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.51%) Operational Technology
9 7 (1.95%) Clustering
9 7 (1.95%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.39%) Security Posture
12 4 (1.11%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.11%) SCADA
13 3 (0.84%) CMDB
14 2 (0.56%) Fat Client
14 2 (0.56%) Public Cloud
14 2 (0.56%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 231 (64.35%) Windows
2 107 (29.81%) Windows Server
3 64 (17.83%) Linux
4 33 (9.19%) Windows 10
5 26 (7.24%) Unix
6 14 (3.90%) Windows Server 2019
7 9 (2.51%) Mac OS
8 8 (2.23%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 6 (1.67%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (1.39%) CentOS
10 5 (1.39%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.11%) Apple iOS
12 3 (0.84%) Ubuntu
13 2 (0.56%) VMS
14 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 83 (23.12%) Problem-Solving
2 65 (18.11%) ITIL
3 64 (17.83%) ITSM
4 54 (15.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 53 (14.76%) Cybersecurity
6 47 (13.09%) Customer Service
7 42 (11.70%) DevOps
8 41 (11.42%) SIEM
9 39 (10.86%) Agile
10 36 (10.03%) Privileged Access Management
10 36 (10.03%) Runbook
11 32 (8.91%) Information Security
12 31 (8.64%) Change Control
13 30 (8.36%) CI/CD
14 29 (8.08%) Migration
15 28 (7.80%) RBAC
16 25 (6.96%) Identity Access Management
16 25 (6.96%) Roadmaps
16 25 (6.96%) Technical Leadership
17 24 (6.69%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 129 (35.93%) PowerShell
2 60 (16.71%) Python
3 23 (6.41%) SQL
4 11 (3.06%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.67%) Bash
5 6 (1.67%) C#
5 6 (1.67%) Java
6 4 (1.11%) Bicep
7 2 (0.56%) BeanShell
8 1 (0.28%) Korn
8 1 (0.28%) PHP
Qualifications
1 181 (50.42%) Security Cleared
2 110 (30.64%) SC Cleared
3 64 (17.83%) DV Cleared
4 40 (11.14%) Degree
5 21 (5.85%) CISSP
6 20 (5.57%) CISM
7 19 (5.29%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (2.51%) Azure Certification
9 8 (2.23%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.23%) CESG Certified Professional
10 6 (1.67%) CCA
10 6 (1.67%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (1.67%) Citrix Certification
10 6 (1.67%) MCSA
10 6 (1.67%) MCSE
11 5 (1.39%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 5 (1.39%) CRISC
11 5 (1.39%) GIAC
11 5 (1.39%) SANS
12 4 (1.11%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (16.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 60 (16.71%) NIST
2 29 (8.08%) GDPR
3 12 (3.34%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (3.34%) NCSC
4 11 (3.06%) SLA
5 5 (1.39%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.39%) ISO 31000
5 5 (1.39%) NIST 800
5 5 (1.39%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.28%) GRC
7 1 (0.28%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.28%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.28%) PMO
7 1 (0.28%) QA
System Software
1 77 (21.45%) VMware Infrastructure
2 27 (7.52%) Hyper-V
3 26 (7.24%) VMware ESXi
4 21 (5.85%) VMware NSX
5 14 (3.90%) vSphere
6 11 (3.06%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (2.79%) vCloud
8 9 (2.51%) Virtual Desktop
9 8 (2.23%) Firmware
10 3 (0.84%) DFS Replication
10 3 (0.84%) Docker
10 3 (0.84%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.84%) Postfix
11 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
11 2 (0.56%) Terminal Services
11 2 (0.56%) UAG
12 1 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.28%) NFS
Systems Management
1 49 (13.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (6.96%) SCCM
3 23 (6.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 23 (6.41%) Terraform
4 21 (5.85%) vCenter Server
5 20 (5.57%) SCOM
6 16 (4.46%) Ansible
7 15 (4.18%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.67%) WMI
9 4 (1.11%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (1.11%) Kubernetes
10 3 (0.84%) Clonezilla
10 3 (0.84%) HAProxy
10 3 (0.84%) SCSM
11 2 (0.56%) Cisco CUCM
11 2 (0.56%) Grafana
11 2 (0.56%) vMotion
11 2 (0.56%) WSUS
12 1 (0.28%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.28%) Puppet
Vendors
1 210 (58.50%) Microsoft
2 90 (25.07%) VMware
3 35 (9.75%) BeyondTrust
3 35 (9.75%) ServiceNow
4 32 (8.91%) CyberArk
5 20 (5.57%) Cisco
5 20 (5.57%) Citrix
6 15 (4.18%) Remedy
7 14 (3.90%) Meraki
7 14 (3.90%) Oracle
8 11 (3.06%) BMC
8 11 (3.06%) SolarWinds
9 8 (2.23%) Avaya
9 8 (2.23%) Mitel
10 7 (1.95%) Red Hat
11 6 (1.67%) F5
11 6 (1.67%) Juniper
12 5 (1.39%) Palo Alto
12 5 (1.39%) Veeam
13 4 (1.11%) Becrypt