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

6 months to
9 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 24 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -9 +17
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 350 230 446
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.94% 7.65% 8.09%
As % of the System Software category 53.35% 53.74% 57.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 178 300
10th Percentile £200 £204 £175
25th Percentile £300 £256 £308
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +17.65%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £608
90th Percentile £700 £700 £638
England median daily rate £450 £450 £413
% change year-on-year - +9.09% -2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 3 18
10th Percentile £27.88 £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 £80.00 - £18.51
90th Percentile £100.00 - £43.18
England median hourly rate £27.69 £20.72 £17.50
% change year-on-year +33.67% +18.37% -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 656 428 774
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.13% 14.24% 14.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 491 318 487
10th Percentile £256 £250 £200
25th Percentile £406 £350 £353
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year - +2.50% -
75th Percentile £606 £611 £608
90th Percentile £700 £689 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 11 48
10th Percentile £37.44 £28.00 £17.26
25th Percentile £44.34 £36.50 £17.80
Median hourly rate £52.50 £57.50 £53.19
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +8.11% -2.52%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £64.06
90th Percentile £97.00 £71.25 £70.00
England median hourly rate £57.77 £28.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year +106.30% +33.33% -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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -1 184 £465 -11.43% 62
Berkshire -11 99 £478 -20.97% 25
Hampshire -11 88 £600 +6.67% 30
Oxfordshire +8 61 £275 +4.76% 16
Surrey -1 37 £500 +6.38% 7
Buckinghamshire -11 24 £560 +104.25% 21
Kent -5 21 £200 -42.24% 12
West Sussex -11 10 £600 +78.57% 1
East Sussex -1 9 £550 +4.76% 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 72 (20.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (8.86%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.43%) Confluence
4 2 (0.57%) IIS
4 2 (0.57%) WordPress
5 1 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 23 (6.57%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.14%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.57%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.29%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.57%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.29%) assyst
2 1 (0.29%) Remedy AR System
Cloud Services
1 177 (50.57%) Azure
2 142 (40.57%) Entra ID
3 111 (31.71%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (12.29%) AWS
5 22 (6.29%) GCP
6 19 (5.43%) Power Platform
7 15 (4.29%) OneDrive
8 14 (4.00%) IaaS
9 12 (3.43%) SaaS
10 10 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
11 9 (2.57%) PaaS
12 8 (2.29%) Power Automate
13 7 (2.00%) Azure Logic Apps
14 6 (1.71%) PowerApps
15 5 (1.43%) Azure Monitor
15 5 (1.43%) Nutanix
16 4 (1.14%) Azure Key Vault
16 4 (1.14%) GitHub
16 4 (1.14%) Mimecast
16 4 (1.14%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 83 (23.71%) DNS
2 62 (17.71%) DHCP
3 34 (9.71%) Firewall
4 27 (7.71%) Wi-Fi
5 20 (5.71%) VPN
6 15 (4.29%) FTP
7 13 (3.71%) Kerberos
8 12 (3.43%) TCP/IP
9 11 (3.14%) LAN
10 10 (2.86%) SAN
11 9 (2.57%) SSL
12 8 (2.29%) SD-WAN
12 8 (2.29%) WAN
13 7 (2.00%) SSH
14 6 (1.71%) IPsec
14 6 (1.71%) NAS
14 6 (1.71%) Network Security
14 6 (1.71%) Unified Communications
14 6 (1.71%) VLAN
15 4 (1.14%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (10.00%) SQL Server
2 13 (3.71%) Power BI
3 6 (1.71%) Azure SQL Database
4 3 (0.86%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.57%) MySQL
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.29%) MariaDB
6 1 (0.29%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.29%) Parquet
6 1 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (4.86%) JIRA
2 7 (2.00%) Robot Framework
3 6 (1.71%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.57%) Git
4 2 (0.57%) MSI
5 1 (0.29%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.29%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.29%) GitLab
General
1 111 (31.71%) Social Skills
2 48 (13.71%) Public Sector
3 42 (12.00%) Documentation Skills
4 18 (5.14%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (4.29%) Military
6 14 (4.00%) Organisational Skills
7 13 (3.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.29%) Legal
9 6 (1.71%) Finance
9 6 (1.71%) Police
10 4 (1.14%) Marketing
10 4 (1.14%) Retail
11 3 (0.86%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.57%) Games
13 1 (0.29%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.29%) Back Office
13 1 (0.29%) Front Office
13 1 (0.29%) Health Technology
13 1 (0.29%) Local Government
13 1 (0.29%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 42 (12.00%) Architect
2 41 (11.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 40 (11.43%) Support Engineer
4 39 (11.14%) IT Support
5 35 (10.00%) Analyst
6 34 (9.71%) IT Engineer
6 34 (9.71%) Senior
7 28 (8.00%) IT Support Engineer
8 16 (4.57%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (3.71%) Lead
10 11 (3.14%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 11 (3.14%) Support Analyst
11 10 (2.86%) Service Analyst
11 10 (2.86%) Service Desk Analyst
11 10 (2.86%) Wintel Analyst
12 9 (2.57%) Desktop Support
12 9 (2.57%) Infrastructure Architect
12 9 (2.57%) IT Analyst
12 9 (2.57%) IT Support Analyst
12 9 (2.57%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (12.29%) LDAP
2 15 (4.29%) OAuth
2 15 (4.29%) SAML
3 14 (4.00%) OpenID
4 12 (3.43%) REST
4 12 (3.43%) SailPoint
5 11 (3.14%) OAuth2
6 10 (2.86%) Web Services
7 7 (2.00%) .NET
8 6 (1.71%) ADO
9 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.57%) .NET Core
10 2 (0.57%) .NET Framework
10 2 (0.57%) 802.1X
10 2 (0.57%) Entity Framework
10 2 (0.57%) JSON
10 2 (0.57%) Middleware
10 2 (0.57%) Unreal Engine
11 1 (0.29%) Laravel
11 1 (0.29%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 42 (12.00%) Onboarding
2 39 (11.14%) PKI
3 16 (4.57%) Replication
4 13 (3.71%) Data Centre
5 10 (2.86%) Driving Licence
5 10 (2.86%) Management Information System
5 10 (2.86%) Product Ownership
6 9 (2.57%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.57%) Operational Technology
7 7 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (1.43%) Clustering
8 5 (1.43%) Fat Client
8 5 (1.43%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.43%) Thin Client
9 4 (1.14%) CMDB
9 4 (1.14%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.14%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.14%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 212 (60.57%) Windows
2 98 (28.00%) Windows Server
3 57 (16.29%) Linux
4 27 (7.71%) Windows 10
5 22 (6.29%) Unix
6 9 (2.57%) Windows 7
6 9 (2.57%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.29%) Mac OS
8 7 (2.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (1.43%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (1.14%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.86%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.57%) CentOS
12 2 (0.57%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (24.57%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (19.71%) ITIL
3 63 (18.00%) Cybersecurity
4 54 (15.43%) ITSM
5 51 (14.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 49 (14.00%) DevOps
6 49 (14.00%) SIEM
7 46 (13.14%) Customer Service
8 37 (10.57%) Agile
8 37 (10.57%) CI/CD
9 29 (8.29%) Privileged Access Management
10 28 (8.00%) Change Control
10 28 (8.00%) DevSecOps
10 28 (8.00%) Runbook
11 26 (7.43%) Information Security
11 26 (7.43%) Roadmaps
12 24 (6.86%) High Availability
12 24 (6.86%) Migration
13 23 (6.57%) RBAC
14 21 (6.00%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 121 (34.57%) PowerShell
2 67 (19.14%) Python
3 23 (6.57%) SQL
4 9 (2.57%) JavaScript
5 8 (2.29%) Bash
6 6 (1.71%) C#
7 4 (1.14%) Java
8 3 (0.86%) Bicep
9 2 (0.57%) BeanShell
10 1 (0.29%) Korn
10 1 (0.29%) PHP
Qualifications
1 181 (51.71%) Security Cleared
2 117 (33.43%) SC Cleared
3 54 (15.43%) DV Cleared
4 32 (9.14%) Degree
5 26 (7.43%) CISM
5 26 (7.43%) CISSP
6 15 (4.29%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (2.29%) CESG Certified Professional
8 7 (2.00%) Azure Certification
8 7 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.71%) AWS Certification
9 6 (1.71%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.43%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 5 (1.43%) CRISC
10 5 (1.43%) GIAC
10 5 (1.43%) SANS
10 5 (1.43%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (1.14%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (1.14%) GSEC
11 4 (1.14%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (17.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 60 (17.14%) NIST
3 34 (9.71%) GDPR
4 12 (3.43%) Cyber Essentials
5 10 (2.86%) SLA
6 9 (2.57%) NCSC
7 5 (1.43%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.43%) NIST 800
8 4 (1.14%) Data Quality
8 4 (1.14%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 2 (0.57%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.29%) PMO
11 1 (0.29%) QA
System Software
1 73 (20.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (8.57%) Hyper-V
3 12 (3.43%) VMware ESXi
4 11 (3.14%) Virtual Desktop
5 10 (2.86%) VMware NSX
6 8 (2.29%) Firmware
6 8 (2.29%) vSphere
7 6 (1.71%) Docker
7 6 (1.71%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.86%) DFS Replication
8 3 (0.86%) vCloud
9 2 (0.57%) NFS
9 2 (0.57%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.57%) UAG
10 1 (0.29%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.29%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.29%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 49 (14.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 28 (8.00%) SCCM
3 20 (5.71%) Terraform
4 17 (4.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 15 (4.29%) Ansible
5 15 (4.29%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (3.43%) SCOM
6 12 (3.43%) vCenter Server
7 7 (2.00%) Jamf Pro
7 7 (2.00%) Kubernetes
7 7 (2.00%) WMI
8 3 (0.86%) SCSM
8 3 (0.86%) WSUS
9 2 (0.57%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.29%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.29%) McAfee ePO
10 1 (0.29%) Puppet
10 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Satellite
10 1 (0.29%) Salt
Vendors
1 206 (58.86%) Microsoft
2 89 (25.43%) VMware
3 42 (12.00%) BeyondTrust
4 40 (11.43%) CyberArk
5 31 (8.86%) ServiceNow
6 21 (6.00%) Citrix
7 13 (3.71%) Meraki
8 12 (3.43%) Cisco
8 12 (3.43%) Oracle
9 10 (2.86%) Remedy
10 9 (2.57%) BMC
11 8 (2.29%) Avaya
11 8 (2.29%) Mitel
12 5 (1.43%) Fortinet
12 5 (1.43%) Red Hat
12 5 (1.43%) Veeam
13 4 (1.14%) BiZZdesign
13 4 (1.14%) F5
13 4 (1.14%) SolarWinds
14 3 (0.86%) Zscaler