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

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 21 16
Rank change year-on-year -10 -5 +14
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 358 234 458
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.90% 7.80% 7.96%
As % of the System Software category 54.00% 52.82% 55.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 173 312
10th Percentile £200 £200 £196
25th Percentile £300 £250 £344
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +23.53%
75th Percentile £595 £623 £608
90th Percentile £700 £700 £638
England median daily rate £450 £450 £439
% change year-on-year - +2.45% +3.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 2 17
10th Percentile £16.00 - £14.32
25th Percentile £23.02 - £17.69
Median hourly rate £47.54 £28.00 £17.80
Median % change year-on-year +69.79% +57.30% -25.83%
75th Percentile £53.75 - -
90th Percentile £77.50 - £33.35
England median hourly rate £26.00 £19.27 £17.69
% change year-on-year +34.92% +8.93% -19.59%

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 663 443 830
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 10.93% 14.76% 14.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 496 315 528
10th Percentile £253 £208 £205
25th Percentile £406 £323 £406
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 £713 £683 £650
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 7 48
10th Percentile £16.00 £28.00 £17.69
25th Percentile £27.34 £39.53 £17.80
Median hourly rate £50.00 £57.50 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +4.78% -4.57%
75th Percentile £56.25 £59.44 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.38 £70.58 £70.00
England median hourly rate £53.00 £28.00 £22.30
% change year-on-year +89.29% +25.56% -55.40%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -6 188 £465 -7.00% 42
Hampshire -9 100 £575 - 45
Berkshire -12 90 £484 -15.91% 16
Oxfordshire +7 73 £250 - 12
Surrey -18 29 £525 +144.19% 11
Buckinghamshire -25 25 £548 +99.97% 14
Kent -2 21 £231 -46.22% 15
West Sussex -15 11 £600 +200.00% 8
East Sussex +2 8 £500 +81.82%
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 67 (18.72%) Microsoft Exchange
2 35 (9.78%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.40%) Confluence
3 5 (1.40%) IIS
4 3 (0.84%) Apache
4 3 (0.84%) nginx
4 3 (0.84%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (4.47%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.12%) 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 13 (3.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.56%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 175 (48.88%) Azure
2 150 (41.90%) Entra ID
3 109 (30.45%) Microsoft 365
4 31 (8.66%) AWS
5 19 (5.31%) Power Platform
6 15 (4.19%) IaaS
6 15 (4.19%) OneDrive
7 13 (3.63%) GCP
8 10 (2.79%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (2.79%) Azure Logic Apps
9 9 (2.51%) PaaS
10 8 (2.23%) SaaS
11 7 (1.96%) Power Automate
12 6 (1.68%) Azure Monitor
12 6 (1.68%) PowerApps
13 5 (1.40%) Azure Key Vault
13 5 (1.40%) Mimecast
14 4 (1.12%) GitHub
14 4 (1.12%) Nutanix
14 4 (1.12%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 87 (24.30%) DNS
2 55 (15.36%) DHCP
3 31 (8.66%) Firewall
4 25 (6.98%) Wi-Fi
5 23 (6.42%) VPN
6 16 (4.47%) LAN
7 13 (3.63%) Kerberos
8 12 (3.35%) FTP
8 12 (3.35%) SSL
9 11 (3.07%) SAN
9 11 (3.07%) WAN
10 9 (2.51%) Network Security
11 8 (2.23%) IPsec
11 8 (2.23%) SSH
12 7 (1.96%) NAS
12 7 (1.96%) SD-WAN
13 5 (1.40%) BIG-IP
13 5 (1.40%) Unified Communications
14 4 (1.12%) Cisco ASA
14 4 (1.12%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (10.89%) SQL Server
2 16 (4.47%) Power BI
3 5 (1.40%) 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 12 (3.35%) JIRA
2 5 (1.40%) Robot Framework
3 4 (1.12%) 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 (28.77%) Social Skills
2 52 (14.53%) Public Sector
3 37 (10.34%) Documentation Skills
4 26 (7.26%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (4.19%) Military
6 13 (3.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (3.63%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (2.79%) Marketing
8 7 (1.96%) Finance
8 7 (1.96%) Legal
9 6 (1.68%) Police
10 4 (1.12%) Retail
11 3 (0.84%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.56%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.56%) Games
13 1 (0.28%) Back Office
13 1 (0.28%) Front Office
13 1 (0.28%) Local Government
13 1 (0.28%) Publishing
13 1 (0.28%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 49 (13.69%) Support Engineer
2 46 (12.85%) IT Support
3 44 (12.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 38 (10.61%) IT Engineer
5 37 (10.34%) Senior
6 36 (10.06%) Architect
7 32 (8.94%) IT Support Engineer
8 31 (8.66%) Analyst
9 16 (4.47%) Lead
10 14 (3.91%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 14 (3.91%) Cloud Engineer
11 13 (3.63%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 11 (3.07%) IAM Specialist
12 11 (3.07%) Support Analyst
13 10 (2.79%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
13 10 (2.79%) IT Analyst
13 10 (2.79%) Product Owner
14 9 (2.51%) 3rd Line Support
14 9 (2.51%) Desktop Support
14 9 (2.51%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (11.73%) LDAP
2 24 (6.70%) OAuth
2 24 (6.70%) SAML
3 23 (6.42%) OpenID
4 17 (4.75%) OAuth2
5 16 (4.47%) SailPoint
6 15 (4.19%) REST
6 15 (4.19%) Web Services
7 6 (1.68%) Microsoft Graph
8 5 (1.40%) .NET
8 5 (1.40%) ADO
9 4 (1.12%) 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%) Entity Framework
11 2 (0.56%) SOAP
11 2 (0.56%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 43 (12.01%) Onboarding
2 31 (8.66%) PKI
3 16 (4.47%) Management Information System
3 16 (4.47%) Replication
4 13 (3.63%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.35%) Product Ownership
6 9 (2.51%) Driving Licence
6 9 (2.51%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (2.23%) Operational Technology
8 7 (1.96%) Clustering
8 7 (1.96%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.40%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (1.40%) Security Posture
11 4 (1.12%) Cyber Defence
11 4 (1.12%) SCADA
12 3 (0.84%) Cloud Native
13 2 (0.56%) CMDB
13 2 (0.56%) Public Cloud
13 2 (0.56%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 228 (63.69%) Windows
2 108 (30.17%) Windows Server
3 66 (18.44%) Linux
4 30 (8.38%) Windows 10
5 28 (7.82%) Unix
6 15 (4.19%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.23%) Mac OS
8 7 (1.96%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.68%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (1.40%) CentOS
10 5 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (1.40%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (1.12%) Apple iOS
12 3 (0.84%) Ubuntu
13 2 (0.56%) VMS
14 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (22.91%) Problem-Solving
2 66 (18.44%) ITSM
3 64 (17.88%) ITIL
4 56 (15.64%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 52 (14.53%) Cybersecurity
6 44 (12.29%) Customer Service
7 42 (11.73%) SIEM
8 41 (11.45%) DevOps
9 40 (11.17%) Runbook
10 36 (10.06%) Agile
11 35 (9.78%) Privileged Access Management
12 34 (9.50%) Change Control
12 34 (9.50%) Information Security
13 30 (8.38%) CI/CD
13 30 (8.38%) RBAC
14 28 (7.82%) Migration
15 27 (7.54%) Computer Science
15 27 (7.54%) Identity Access Management
16 26 (7.26%) High Availability
17 25 (6.98%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 131 (36.59%) PowerShell
2 61 (17.04%) Python
3 23 (6.42%) SQL
4 11 (3.07%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.68%) Bash
5 6 (1.68%) C#
5 6 (1.68%) Java
6 4 (1.12%) Bicep
7 2 (0.56%) BeanShell
8 1 (0.28%) C
8 1 (0.28%) Korn
8 1 (0.28%) PHP
Qualifications
1 179 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 110 (30.73%) SC Cleared
3 61 (17.04%) DV Cleared
4 43 (12.01%) Degree
5 20 (5.59%) CISSP
5 20 (5.59%) Microsoft Certification
6 19 (5.31%) CISM
7 9 (2.51%) Azure Certification
7 9 (2.51%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.23%) CESG Certified Professional
9 6 (1.68%) CCA
9 6 (1.68%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (1.68%) Citrix Certification
9 6 (1.68%) MCSA
9 6 (1.68%) MCSE
10 5 (1.40%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 5 (1.40%) CRISC
10 5 (1.40%) GIAC
10 5 (1.40%) SANS
11 4 (1.12%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (17.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 62 (17.32%) NIST
3 28 (7.82%) GDPR
4 12 (3.35%) NCSC
5 11 (3.07%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (3.07%) SLA
6 5 (1.40%) Data Quality
6 5 (1.40%) ISO 31000
6 5 (1.40%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.12%) NIST 800
8 3 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 42001
9 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.28%) GRC
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.28%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.28%) QA
System Software
1 78 (21.79%) VMware Infrastructure
2 29 (8.10%) Hyper-V
3 28 (7.82%) VMware ESXi
4 21 (5.87%) VMware NSX
5 15 (4.19%) vSphere
6 13 (3.63%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (2.79%) vCloud
7 10 (2.79%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (2.23%) Firmware
9 3 (0.84%) DFS Replication
9 3 (0.84%) Docker
9 3 (0.84%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.84%) Postfix
10 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.56%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.56%) UAG
11 1 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.28%) NFS
Systems Management
1 48 (13.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (6.98%) SCCM
3 24 (6.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 23 (6.42%) Terraform
5 20 (5.59%) vCenter Server
6 19 (5.31%) SCOM
7 15 (4.19%) Ansible
7 15 (4.19%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (1.40%) WMI
9 4 (1.12%) Clonezilla
9 4 (1.12%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (1.12%) Kubernetes
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%) McAfee ePO
12 1 (0.28%) Puppet
Vendors
1 210 (58.66%) Microsoft
2 88 (24.58%) VMware
3 36 (10.06%) BeyondTrust
4 33 (9.22%) CyberArk
5 32 (8.94%) ServiceNow
6 20 (5.59%) Cisco
6 20 (5.59%) Citrix
7 16 (4.47%) Oracle
8 14 (3.91%) Meraki
8 14 (3.91%) Remedy
9 11 (3.07%) SolarWinds
10 10 (2.79%) BMC
11 8 (2.23%) Avaya
11 8 (2.23%) Mitel
12 7 (1.96%) Juniper
13 6 (1.68%) F5
13 6 (1.68%) Red Hat
14 5 (1.40%) Palo Alto
14 5 (1.40%) Veeam
15 4 (1.12%) Becrypt