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

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -9 -7 +17
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 394 238 419
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.95% 6.93% 8.11%
As % of the System Software category 51.44% 52.65% 54.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 242 175 285
10th Percentile £225 £200 £200
25th Percentile £325 £250 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -2.33% +53.57%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £608
90th Percentile £650 £700 £650
England median daily rate £450 £450 £450
% change year-on-year - - +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 4 21
10th Percentile £16.00 - £16.00
25th Percentile £26.80 £28.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £52.50 £30.39 £17.80
Median % change year-on-year +72.78% +70.70% -20.89%
75th Percentile £67.47 £64.58 £28.75
90th Percentile £77.50 £121.83 £50.00
England median hourly rate £37.71 £23.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +63.96% +29.80% -6.74%

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 766 452 764
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.57% 13.15% 14.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 536 315 488
10th Percentile £275 £206 £253
25th Percentile £414 £321 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £602 £600 £608
90th Percentile £700 £683 £651
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 11 48
10th Percentile £16.00 £28.00 £17.69
25th Percentile £33.70 £41.92 £17.80
Median hourly rate £51.25 £57.50 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -10.87% +4.78% +7.07%
75th Percentile £67.47 £82.00 £66.17
90th Percentile £77.50 £89.63 £70.00
England median hourly rate £55.00 £35.57 £21.50
% change year-on-year +54.61% +65.45% -46.47%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -2 214 £500 - 48
Hampshire -6 125 £538 -6.52% 29
Berkshire -9 89 £500 -23.08% 24
Oxfordshire +10 87 £350 +40.00% 14
Buckinghamshire -28 38 £590 +62.76% 11
Surrey -30 18 £413 +91.86% 9
Kent -4 15 £275 -36.05% 11
West Sussex -19 15 £575 +187.50% 13
East Sussex +6 7 £168 +1.52% 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 62 (15.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (8.12%) SharePoint
3 12 (3.05%) Confluence
4 7 (1.78%) Apache
4 7 (1.78%) nginx
5 5 (1.27%) IIS
6 3 (0.76%) Tomcat
Applications
1 15 (3.81%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.25%) SOLIDWORKS
3 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 16 (4.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.51%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 174 (44.16%) Azure
2 160 (40.61%) Entra ID
3 110 (27.92%) Microsoft 365
4 34 (8.63%) AWS
5 20 (5.08%) Power Platform
6 17 (4.31%) OneDrive
7 16 (4.06%) Azure Monitor
7 16 (4.06%) IaaS
8 14 (3.55%) GCP
9 11 (2.79%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (2.54%) PaaS
10 10 (2.54%) SaaS
11 9 (2.28%) Azure Logic Apps
11 9 (2.28%) Azure Sentinel
12 8 (2.03%) Azure AKS
12 8 (2.03%) Azure Key Vault
13 6 (1.52%) Azure App Service
13 6 (1.52%) Power Automate
14 5 (1.27%) Azure Storage
14 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 94 (23.86%) DNS
2 49 (12.44%) DHCP
3 43 (10.91%) Firewall
4 34 (8.63%) VPN
5 27 (6.85%) Wi-Fi
6 17 (4.31%) LAN
7 16 (4.06%) Network Security
8 15 (3.81%) SSL
9 14 (3.55%) SSH
9 14 (3.55%) TCP/IP
10 11 (2.79%) WAN
11 9 (2.28%) IPsec
11 9 (2.28%) SAN
12 8 (2.03%) FTP
13 7 (1.78%) Cisco ASA
13 7 (1.78%) Cisco Firepower
13 7 (1.78%) NAS
13 7 (1.78%) VLAN
14 5 (1.27%) SD-WAN
14 5 (1.27%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (11.68%) SQL Server
2 17 (4.31%) Power BI
3 7 (1.78%) Azure SQL Database
4 6 (1.52%) NoSQL
5 4 (1.02%) MySQL
6 3 (0.76%) Data Mining
7 2 (0.51%) Parquet
8 1 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 18 (4.57%) JIRA
2 4 (1.02%) Atlassian Bamboo
2 4 (1.02%) Bitbucket
2 4 (1.02%) Git
3 3 (0.76%) MSI
3 3 (0.76%) Robot Framework
4 2 (0.51%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.25%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.25%) GitLab
General
1 121 (30.71%) Social Skills
2 52 (13.20%) Public Sector
3 42 (10.66%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (10.15%) Documentation Skills
5 19 (4.82%) Military
6 13 (3.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (3.30%) Organisational Skills
7 11 (2.79%) Finance
8 10 (2.54%) Marketing
9 5 (1.27%) Legal
9 5 (1.27%) Police
10 4 (1.02%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.02%) Manufacturing
10 4 (1.02%) Retail
11 3 (0.76%) French Language
12 2 (0.51%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.25%) Advertising
13 1 (0.25%) Games
13 1 (0.25%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.25%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 60 (15.23%) Support Engineer
2 53 (13.45%) IT Support
3 49 (12.44%) Senior
4 48 (12.18%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 41 (10.41%) IT Engineer
6 35 (8.88%) IT Support Engineer
7 33 (8.38%) Architect
8 30 (7.61%) Analyst
9 23 (5.84%) Cloud Engineer
10 18 (4.57%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 18 (4.57%) Lead
11 16 (4.06%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 15 (3.81%) IAM Specialist
13 14 (3.55%) IT Analyst
14 13 (3.30%) Developer
14 13 (3.30%) IT Support Analyst
14 13 (3.30%) Support Analyst
15 10 (2.54%) 1st Line Support
15 10 (2.54%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (2.54%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (10.66%) LDAP
2 37 (9.39%) OAuth
2 37 (9.39%) SAML
3 36 (9.14%) OpenID
4 24 (6.09%) REST
5 22 (5.58%) OAuth2
6 21 (5.33%) SailPoint
7 18 (4.57%) Web Services
8 11 (2.79%) ARM Templates
9 10 (2.54%) .NET
10 9 (2.28%) Microsoft Graph
11 7 (1.78%) .NET Core
11 7 (1.78%) .NET Framework
11 7 (1.78%) Entity Framework
12 4 (1.02%) 802.1X
12 4 (1.02%) JSON
12 4 (1.02%) RESTful
13 3 (0.76%) FIDO
13 3 (0.76%) LAMP
13 3 (0.76%) LEMP Stack
Miscellaneous
1 60 (15.23%) Onboarding
2 38 (9.64%) PKI
3 26 (6.60%) Management Information System
4 16 (4.06%) Hybrid Cloud
5 12 (3.05%) Data Centre
6 11 (2.79%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.54%) Clustering
8 9 (2.28%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (2.03%) Operational Technology
9 8 (2.03%) Product Ownership
10 7 (1.78%) Driving Licence
10 7 (1.78%) Replication
10 7 (1.78%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.27%) ARM Cortex
11 5 (1.27%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.02%) CMDB
12 4 (1.02%) Fibre Optics
12 4 (1.02%) SCADA
13 3 (0.76%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 259 (65.74%) Windows
2 124 (31.47%) Windows Server
3 88 (22.34%) Linux
4 38 (9.64%) Windows 10
5 32 (8.12%) Unix
6 21 (5.33%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.03%) Mac OS
8 7 (1.78%) CentOS
9 6 (1.52%) Windows 7
10 5 (1.27%) Ubuntu
11 4 (1.02%) Apple iOS
11 4 (1.02%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 2 (0.51%) VMS
13 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (23.10%) Problem-Solving
2 84 (21.32%) ITSM
3 83 (21.07%) ITIL
4 65 (16.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 57 (14.47%) Cybersecurity
6 48 (12.18%) Agile
6 48 (12.18%) Customer Service
6 48 (12.18%) Runbook
7 47 (11.93%) SIEM
8 45 (11.42%) Privileged Access Management
8 45 (11.42%) RBAC
9 43 (10.91%) Information Security
10 39 (9.90%) Change Control
11 38 (9.64%) Technical Leadership
12 36 (9.14%) Computer Science
12 36 (9.14%) DevOps
12 36 (9.14%) Identity Access Management
13 35 (8.88%) Analytics
14 34 (8.63%) CI/CD
15 32 (8.12%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 151 (38.32%) PowerShell
2 70 (17.77%) Python
3 34 (8.63%) SQL
4 14 (3.55%) Bash
4 14 (3.55%) Bicep
5 13 (3.30%) JavaScript
6 11 (2.79%) C#
7 5 (1.27%) Java
8 4 (1.02%) C
9 2 (0.51%) BeanShell
10 1 (0.25%) Korn
10 1 (0.25%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 191 (48.48%) Security Cleared
2 100 (25.38%) SC Cleared
3 87 (22.08%) DV Cleared
4 61 (15.48%) Degree
5 32 (8.12%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (3.81%) Azure Certification
6 15 (3.81%) CISSP
7 14 (3.55%) CISM
8 12 (3.05%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (2.28%) CESG Certified Professional
9 9 (2.28%) MCSA
10 8 (2.03%) MCSE
11 7 (1.78%) CCA
11 7 (1.78%) Citrix Certification
12 6 (1.52%) Cisco Certification
13 5 (1.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 5 (1.27%) AWS Certification
13 5 (1.27%) CRISC
13 5 (1.27%) GIAC
13 5 (1.27%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (18.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 66 (16.75%) NIST
3 23 (5.84%) GDPR
4 11 (2.79%) SLA
5 10 (2.54%) NCSC
6 9 (2.28%) Cyber Essentials
6 9 (2.28%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.27%) ISO 31000
8 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 42001
8 3 (0.76%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.51%) GxP
9 2 (0.51%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.25%) GRC
10 1 (0.25%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.25%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.25%) QA
System Software
1 87 (22.08%) VMware Infrastructure
2 42 (10.66%) VMware ESXi
3 35 (8.88%) Hyper-V
4 26 (6.60%) VMware NSX
5 13 (3.30%) vCloud
6 12 (3.05%) Virtual Desktop
6 12 (3.05%) Virtual Machines
6 12 (3.05%) vSphere
7 7 (1.78%) Firmware
8 3 (0.76%) Dovecot
8 3 (0.76%) OpenAM
8 3 (0.76%) Postfix
9 2 (0.51%) BitLocker
9 2 (0.51%) Docker
9 2 (0.51%) UAG
10 1 (0.25%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 50 (12.69%) Microsoft Intune
2 38 (9.64%) Terraform
3 37 (9.39%) vCenter Server
4 29 (7.36%) SCCM
5 27 (6.85%) SCOM
6 18 (4.57%) Ansible
7 16 (4.06%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 13 (3.30%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (1.27%) Cisco CUCM
10 4 (1.02%) Clonezilla
10 4 (1.02%) Packer
10 4 (1.02%) WMI
11 3 (0.76%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.76%) Kubernetes
11 3 (0.76%) SCSM
12 2 (0.51%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.51%) vMotion
12 2 (0.51%) WSUS
13 1 (0.25%) Jamf Pro
13 1 (0.25%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 225 (57.11%) Microsoft
2 102 (25.89%) VMware
3 45 (11.42%) ServiceNow
4 39 (9.90%) CyberArk
5 37 (9.39%) BeyondTrust
6 23 (5.84%) Cisco
7 20 (5.08%) SolarWinds
8 19 (4.82%) Oracle
9 18 (4.57%) Meraki
9 18 (4.57%) Remedy
10 14 (3.55%) BMC
11 13 (3.30%) Citrix
12 12 (3.05%) Avaya
12 12 (3.05%) Mitel
13 11 (2.79%) Juniper
14 9 (2.28%) CrowdStrike
15 8 (2.03%) Palo Alto
16 6 (1.52%) Broadcom
16 6 (1.52%) Veeam
17 5 (1.27%) Red Hat