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 21 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 21 14
Rank change year-on-year -9 -7 +12
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 394 248 412
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.89% 7.04% 8.55%
As % of the System Software category 50.32% 54.03% 55.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 241 188 284
10th Percentile £225 £190 £200
25th Percentile £300 £250 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - +53.85%
75th Percentile £592 £600 £608
90th Percentile £638 £700 £650
England median daily rate £450 £435 £450
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 4 18
10th Percentile £16.00 - £14.74
25th Percentile £43.81 £28.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £52.50 £30.39 £17.80
Median % change year-on-year +72.78% +70.70% -16.22%
75th Percentile £67.47 £64.58 £28.25
90th Percentile £77.50 £121.83 £44.08
England median hourly rate £47.54 £23.00 £17.80
% change year-on-year +106.70% +29.21% -6.32%

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 783 459 741
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.71% 13.02% 15.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 531 326 482
10th Percentile £263 £200 £230
25th Percentile £414 £321 £400
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 £675 £663 £652
England median daily rate £500 £500 £515
% change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 12 44
10th Percentile £16.00 £28.48 £17.69
25th Percentile £43.81 £46.49 £21.14
Median hourly rate £52.50 £67.25 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -21.93% +22.55% +4.52%
75th Percentile £67.47 £81.50 £69.77
90th Percentile £77.50 £88.97 £70.00
England median hourly rate £60.33 £37.50 £23.99
% change year-on-year +60.88% +56.32% -39.42%

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 21 August 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 21 August 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 21 August 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 +3 205 £500 -4.76% 36
Hampshire -6 131 £538 -6.52% 46
Berkshire -1 85 £500 -23.08% 15
Oxfordshire +7 77 £400 +52.38% 7
Buckinghamshire -19 43 £592 +195.75% 14
Surrey -28 19 £444 +77.50% 15
West Sussex -15 17 £220 +10.00% 10
Kent -4 15 £275 +4.76% 18
East Sussex +3 7 £168 -11.84% 6
Home Counties - 1 - -
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 48 (12.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (7.61%) SharePoint
3 12 (3.05%) Confluence
4 8 (2.03%) Apache
4 8 (2.03%) nginx
5 6 (1.52%) IIS
6 3 (0.76%) Tomcat
Applications
1 21 (5.33%) 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
Business Applications
1 16 (4.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.51%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 183 (46.45%) Azure
2 146 (37.06%) Entra ID
3 110 (27.92%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (9.90%) AWS
5 18 (4.57%) GCP
6 17 (4.31%) Azure Monitor
7 15 (3.81%) Power Platform
8 14 (3.55%) IaaS
9 11 (2.79%) Azure Sentinel
9 11 (2.79%) OneDrive
10 9 (2.28%) SaaS
11 8 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
11 8 (2.03%) PaaS
12 7 (1.78%) Azure AKS
12 7 (1.78%) Azure Key Vault
12 7 (1.78%) Azure Logic Apps
13 5 (1.27%) Azure App Service
13 5 (1.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 4 (1.02%) Power Automate
14 4 (1.02%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 94 (23.86%) DNS
2 50 (12.69%) DHCP
3 47 (11.93%) Firewall
4 33 (8.38%) VPN
5 20 (5.08%) Wi-Fi
6 17 (4.31%) Network Security
6 17 (4.31%) TCP/IP
7 16 (4.06%) LAN
8 13 (3.30%) SSL
9 11 (2.79%) WAN
10 10 (2.54%) SSH
10 10 (2.54%) VLAN
11 8 (2.03%) SAN
12 7 (1.78%) Cisco ASA
12 7 (1.78%) Cisco Firepower
12 7 (1.78%) IPsec
12 7 (1.78%) NAS
13 5 (1.27%) FTP
13 5 (1.27%) Unified Communications
13 5 (1.27%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (11.42%) SQL Server
2 13 (3.30%) Power BI
3 10 (2.54%) Azure SQL Database
4 5 (1.27%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.76%) Data Mining
5 3 (0.76%) MySQL
6 1 (0.25%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 20 (5.08%) JIRA
2 5 (1.27%) Atlassian Bamboo
2 5 (1.27%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.76%) Git
3 3 (0.76%) MSI
3 3 (0.76%) Robot Framework
4 2 (0.51%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.25%) Browser DevTools
5 1 (0.25%) GitLab
5 1 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 122 (30.96%) Social Skills
2 49 (12.44%) Public Sector
3 47 (11.93%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (10.15%) Documentation Skills
5 15 (3.81%) Organisational Skills
6 13 (3.30%) Military
7 12 (3.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (2.79%) Finance
9 10 (2.54%) Marketing
10 4 (1.02%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.02%) French Language
10 4 (1.02%) Legal
10 4 (1.02%) Manufacturing
10 4 (1.02%) Police
10 4 (1.02%) Retail
11 2 (0.51%) Advertising
11 2 (0.51%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.25%) Games
12 1 (0.25%) Local Government
12 1 (0.25%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 61 (15.48%) Support Engineer
2 52 (13.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 48 (12.18%) Senior
4 46 (11.68%) IT Support
5 40 (10.15%) IT Engineer
6 35 (8.88%) Architect
7 30 (7.61%) IT Support Engineer
8 27 (6.85%) Analyst
8 27 (6.85%) Cloud Engineer
9 20 (5.08%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 18 (4.57%) Lead
11 16 (4.06%) IAM Specialist
12 15 (3.81%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 15 (3.81%) Technical Architect
13 12 (3.05%) 1st Line Support
13 12 (3.05%) Consultant
13 12 (3.05%) IT Analyst
14 11 (2.79%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
14 11 (2.79%) IT Support Analyst
14 11 (2.79%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (11.93%) LDAP
2 40 (10.15%) Terraform
3 36 (9.14%) OAuth
3 36 (9.14%) SAML
4 35 (8.88%) OpenID
5 23 (5.84%) OAuth2
6 22 (5.58%) SailPoint
7 21 (5.33%) REST
8 18 (4.57%) Web Services
9 14 (3.55%) ARM Templates
10 13 (3.30%) .NET
11 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Graph
12 6 (1.52%) .NET Framework
13 5 (1.27%) .NET Core
13 5 (1.27%) Entity Framework
14 4 (1.02%) 802.1X
14 4 (1.02%) OpenTofu
15 3 (0.76%) LEMP Stack
15 3 (0.76%) RESTful
15 3 (0.76%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 58 (14.72%) Onboarding
2 39 (9.90%) PKI
3 22 (5.58%) Management Information System
4 20 (5.08%) Hybrid Cloud
5 11 (2.79%) Data Centre
6 10 (2.54%) Clustering
7 9 (2.28%) Driving Licence
8 8 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (1.78%) ARM Cortex
9 7 (1.78%) Operational Technology
9 7 (1.78%) Security Posture
10 6 (1.52%) Replication
11 5 (1.27%) Cyber Defence
11 5 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
12 4 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.02%) Fibre Optics
12 4 (1.02%) Product Ownership
12 4 (1.02%) SCADA
13 3 (0.76%) CMDB
13 3 (0.76%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 257 (65.23%) Windows
2 128 (32.49%) Windows Server
3 85 (21.57%) Linux
4 42 (10.66%) Windows 10
5 27 (6.85%) Unix
6 24 (6.09%) Windows Server 2019
7 11 (2.79%) CentOS
8 10 (2.54%) Mac OS
9 9 (2.28%) Ubuntu
10 7 (1.78%) Windows 7
11 4 (1.02%) Apple iOS
11 4 (1.02%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.25%) VMS
13 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (24.37%) Problem-Solving
2 84 (21.32%) ITSM
3 83 (21.07%) ITIL
4 68 (17.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 58 (14.72%) Cybersecurity
6 50 (12.69%) Agile
7 47 (11.93%) Privileged Access Management
8 46 (11.68%) RBAC
8 46 (11.68%) SIEM
9 45 (11.42%) Customer Service
10 44 (11.17%) Runbook
11 42 (10.66%) Technical Leadership
12 40 (10.15%) Analytics
13 39 (9.90%) Information Security
14 36 (9.14%) Change Control
15 34 (8.63%) DevOps
16 33 (8.38%) Service Management
17 32 (8.12%) CI/CD
17 32 (8.12%) Computer Science
18 31 (7.87%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 146 (37.06%) PowerShell
2 65 (16.50%) Python
3 38 (9.64%) SQL
4 17 (4.31%) Bash
5 16 (4.06%) Bicep
6 12 (3.05%) JavaScript
7 8 (2.03%) C#
8 5 (1.27%) Java
9 4 (1.02%) C
10 2 (0.51%) BeanShell
11 1 (0.25%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 193 (48.98%) Security Cleared
2 99 (25.13%) SC Cleared
3 95 (24.11%) DV Cleared
4 59 (14.97%) Degree
5 28 (7.11%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (3.81%) CISSP
7 14 (3.55%) Azure Certification
7 14 (3.55%) CISM
8 10 (2.54%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (2.54%) MCSA
9 8 (2.03%) MCSE
10 7 (1.78%) CESG Certified Professional
11 5 (1.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 5 (1.27%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.27%) CCA
11 5 (1.27%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.27%) Citrix Certification
11 5 (1.27%) CRISC
11 5 (1.27%) SANS
11 5 (1.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (17.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 62 (15.74%) NIST
3 23 (5.84%) GDPR
4 13 (3.30%) SLA
5 11 (2.79%) 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%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.76%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.51%) GxP
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%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.25%) QA
System Software
1 79 (20.05%) VMware Infrastructure
2 43 (10.91%) VMware ESXi
3 30 (7.61%) Hyper-V
4 27 (6.85%) VMware NSX
5 14 (3.55%) vCloud
5 14 (3.55%) Virtual Desktop
6 12 (3.05%) vSphere
7 10 (2.54%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (1.78%) Firmware
9 3 (0.76%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.76%) OpenAM
9 3 (0.76%) Postfix
10 2 (0.51%) Docker
10 2 (0.51%) UAG
11 1 (0.25%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 48 (12.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 41 (10.41%) vCenter Server
3 31 (7.87%) SCCM
4 30 (7.61%) SCOM
5 17 (4.31%) Ansible
6 15 (3.81%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 13 (3.30%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (1.27%) Packer
9 4 (1.02%) Cisco CUCM
9 4 (1.02%) Clonezilla
9 4 (1.02%) WMI
10 3 (0.76%) Dell DRAC
10 3 (0.76%) HAProxy
10 3 (0.76%) Kubernetes
10 3 (0.76%) SCSM
10 3 (0.76%) WSUS
11 2 (0.51%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.51%) NetBackup
11 2 (0.51%) vMotion
12 1 (0.25%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 224 (56.85%) Microsoft
2 96 (24.37%) VMware
3 44 (11.17%) ServiceNow
4 42 (10.66%) CyberArk
5 32 (8.12%) BeyondTrust
6 23 (5.84%) Cisco
7 21 (5.33%) SolarWinds
8 19 (4.82%) Remedy
9 16 (4.06%) Oracle
10 14 (3.55%) Meraki
11 13 (3.30%) BMC
12 11 (2.79%) CrowdStrike
12 11 (2.79%) Juniper
13 10 (2.54%) Citrix
14 9 (2.28%) Avaya
14 9 (2.28%) Mitel
15 7 (1.78%) Palo Alto
15 7 (1.78%) Splunk
16 6 (1.52%) Broadcom
16 6 (1.52%) Veeam