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 3 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 24 15
Rank change year-on-year -3 -9 +3
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 305 241 455
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.65% 7.62% 8.23%
As % of the System Software category 56.07% 48.88% 55.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 184 290
10th Percentile £180 £193 £148
25th Percentile £255 £248 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £463 £365
Median % change year-on-year +6.38% +26.71% -14.12%
75th Percentile £563 £638 £575
90th Percentile £625 £671 £615
England median daily rate £453 £420 £394
% change year-on-year +7.86% +6.60% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 16
10th Percentile £34.32 - £16.25
25th Percentile £57.43 - £19.25
Median hourly rate £84.00 £19.97 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +320.63% -57.96% +156.76%
75th Percentile £97.50 - £65.91
90th Percentile £102.20 - £73.32
England median hourly rate £22.27 £21.78 £18.50
% change year-on-year +2.25% +17.70% -1.33%

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 544 493 825
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.85% 15.59% 14.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 411 341 513
10th Percentile £200 £200 £158
25th Percentile £350 £360 £225
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £465
Median % change year-on-year - +7.53% -7.01%
75th Percentile £569 £623 £575
90th Percentile £638 £675 £625
England median daily rate £500 £525 £488
% change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -8.02%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 14 53
10th Percentile £45.14 £45.75 £19.25
25th Percentile £56.75 £54.81 £46.25
Median hourly rate £81.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +40.87% -8.00% +19.62%
75th Percentile £86.00 £69.69 £70.00
90th Percentile £99.00 £80.25 £76.53
England median hourly rate £37.97 £29.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +30.93% -27.50% +8.84%

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 3 February 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 3 February 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 3 February 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 0 138 £471 -18.09% 55
Berkshire -3 105 £481 -23.00% 14
Hampshire -10 83 £500 +7.24% 39
Surrey +7 43 £500 +56.25% 21
Kent +6 19 £180 -15.29% 25
Buckinghamshire 0 17 £484 +28.93% 22
Oxfordshire -3 16 £275 -33.33% 19
East Sussex +1 12 £575 +15.00% 1
West Sussex -20 8 £588 +193.75% 9
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 45 (14.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (9.18%) SharePoint
3 10 (3.28%) Skype for Business
4 7 (2.30%) Mattermost
5 3 (0.98%) Exchange Server 2010
6 2 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.66%) Confluence
6 2 (0.66%) Exchange Server 2003
6 2 (0.66%) Exchange Server 2007
6 2 (0.66%) Exchange Server 2013
6 2 (0.66%) Office Communications Server
6 2 (0.66%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.66%) WordPress
Applications
1 27 (8.85%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.66%) SOLIDWORKS
3 1 (0.33%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.33%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.62%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.33%) assyst
2 1 (0.33%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.33%) Remedy AR System
2 1 (0.33%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 130 (42.62%) Azure
2 94 (30.82%) Entra ID
3 91 (29.84%) Microsoft 365
4 40 (13.11%) AWS
5 28 (9.18%) GCP
6 20 (6.56%) OneDrive
7 10 (3.28%) GitHub
7 10 (3.28%) Power Platform
7 10 (3.28%) SaaS
8 9 (2.95%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (2.62%) IaaS
10 7 (2.30%) PaaS
10 7 (2.30%) Power Automate
11 6 (1.97%) Azure Monitor
12 5 (1.64%) Nutanix
12 5 (1.64%) Serverless
13 4 (1.31%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (1.31%) Azure Functions
13 4 (1.31%) PowerApps
14 3 (0.98%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 70 (22.95%) DNS
2 55 (18.03%) DHCP
3 30 (9.84%) Firewall
4 20 (6.56%) Wi-Fi
5 17 (5.57%) Cisco Firepower
5 17 (5.57%) Cisco IOS
5 17 (5.57%) Cisco ISE
5 17 (5.57%) Junos
6 16 (5.25%) VPN
7 13 (4.26%) Kerberos
7 13 (4.26%) TCP/IP
8 10 (3.28%) FTP
9 9 (2.95%) 4G
10 8 (2.62%) Skype
11 7 (2.30%) SAN
12 6 (1.97%) VLAN
13 5 (1.64%) IPsec
13 5 (1.64%) LAN
13 5 (1.64%) SD-WAN
13 5 (1.64%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (4.26%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.64%) Power BI
3 4 (1.31%) Azure SQL Database
4 2 (0.66%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.33%) Amazon Athena
5 1 (0.33%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.33%) MariaDB
5 1 (0.33%) MySQL
5 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 8 (2.62%) JIRA
2 4 (1.31%) Git
2 4 (1.31%) Robot Framework
2 4 (1.31%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.66%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.33%) Artifactory
4 1 (0.33%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.33%) Fiddler
4 1 (0.33%) GitLab
General
1 119 (39.02%) Social Skills
2 27 (8.85%) Documentation Skills
3 21 (6.89%) Public Sector
4 19 (6.23%) Finance
5 10 (3.28%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (1.64%) Legal
6 5 (1.64%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (1.31%) Manufacturing
7 4 (1.31%) Military
8 2 (0.66%) Back Office
8 2 (0.66%) Front Office
8 2 (0.66%) Games
8 2 (0.66%) Retail
9 1 (0.33%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.33%) Banking
9 1 (0.33%) Electronics
9 1 (0.33%) Law
9 1 (0.33%) Publishing
9 1 (0.33%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 51 (16.72%) Support Engineer
2 37 (12.13%) Analyst
3 34 (11.15%) Architect
4 33 (10.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 25 (8.20%) IT Support
6 23 (7.54%) IT Engineer
7 21 (6.89%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 19 (6.23%) Senior
9 18 (5.90%) IT Support Engineer
10 17 (5.57%) Cloud Engineer
10 17 (5.57%) Network Engineer
11 16 (5.25%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
11 16 (5.25%) 3rd Line Support
11 16 (5.25%) Cloud Network Engineer
12 15 (4.92%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
12 15 (4.92%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 15 (4.92%) Network Support
12 15 (4.92%) Network Support Engineer
13 13 (4.26%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 13 (4.26%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (12.79%) LDAP
2 10 (3.28%) SailPoint
3 9 (2.95%) OAuth
4 8 (2.62%) SAML
5 7 (2.30%) .NET
6 6 (1.97%) OpenID
7 5 (1.64%) ADO
7 5 (1.64%) OAuth2
8 4 (1.31%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (0.98%) .NET Core
9 3 (0.98%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.98%) Middleware
9 3 (0.98%) REST
10 2 (0.66%) ARM Templates
10 2 (0.66%) ASP.NET
10 2 (0.66%) GraphQL
10 2 (0.66%) Jinja
10 2 (0.66%) Kafka
10 2 (0.66%) Unreal Engine
11 1 (0.33%) Blazor
Miscellaneous
1 31 (10.16%) PKI
2 16 (5.25%) Replication
3 15 (4.92%) Onboarding
4 11 (3.61%) Fat Client
4 11 (3.61%) Thin Client
5 8 (2.62%) Operational Technology
5 8 (2.62%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (2.62%) Video Conferencing
6 7 (2.30%) Driving Licence
7 4 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (1.31%) NHS
7 4 (1.31%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.31%) Security Posture
8 3 (0.98%) CMDB
8 3 (0.98%) Data Centre
8 3 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (0.98%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (0.98%) Private Cloud
8 3 (0.98%) Virtual Team
9 2 (0.66%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 176 (57.70%) Windows
2 72 (23.61%) Windows Server
3 49 (16.07%) Windows 10
4 25 (8.20%) Linux
5 11 (3.61%) Windows 7
6 9 (2.95%) Mac OS
7 6 (1.97%) Windows Server 2019
8 5 (1.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.31%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.66%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.33%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
2 51 (16.72%) Cybersecurity
3 48 (15.74%) DevOps
4 47 (15.41%) ITSM
5 46 (15.08%) ITIL
6 39 (12.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 36 (11.80%) CI/CD
8 35 (11.48%) Customer Service
9 30 (9.84%) DevSecOps
10 29 (9.51%) Agile
11 27 (8.85%) SIEM
12 25 (8.20%) Service Management
13 21 (6.89%) Migration
14 19 (6.23%) Identity Access Management
14 19 (6.23%) Infrastructure as Code
15 18 (5.90%) Privileged Access Management
16 16 (5.25%) Prototyping
17 14 (4.59%) Identity Management
17 14 (4.59%) Roadmaps
17 14 (4.59%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 95 (31.15%) PowerShell
2 51 (16.72%) Python
3 20 (6.56%) SQL
4 12 (3.93%) Java
5 10 (3.28%) Bash
6 8 (2.62%) BeanShell
7 4 (1.31%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.98%) C#
8 3 (0.98%) PHP
9 2 (0.66%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.33%) Bicep
10 1 (0.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 158 (51.80%) Security Cleared
2 97 (31.80%) SC Cleared
3 54 (17.70%) DV Cleared
4 23 (7.54%) CISSP
5 22 (7.21%) CISM
6 14 (4.59%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (3.28%) Degree
8 7 (2.30%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (1.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 5 (1.64%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (1.31%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.98%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (0.98%) Azure Certification
13 2 (0.66%) CCNP
13 2 (0.66%) Cisco Certification
13 2 (0.66%) MCSE
14 1 (0.33%) CCIE
14 1 (0.33%) CCNA
14 1 (0.33%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (10.49%) GDPR
2 31 (10.16%) NIST
3 29 (9.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (2.30%) SLA
5 4 (1.31%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (1.31%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.98%) NCSC
6 3 (0.98%) NIST 800
6 3 (0.98%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.33%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.33%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.33%) PMO
7 1 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 46 (15.08%) VMware Infrastructure
2 20 (6.56%) VMware NSX
3 10 (3.28%) Virtual Desktop
4 9 (2.95%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.97%) vSphere
6 5 (1.64%) Docker
7 4 (1.31%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.98%) DFS Replication
8 3 (0.98%) NFS
8 3 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.66%) Brightmail
9 2 (0.66%) ISA Server
9 2 (0.66%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.33%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.33%) Firmware
10 1 (0.33%) Sendmail
10 1 (0.33%) UAG
Systems Management
1 42 (13.77%) SCCM
2 37 (12.13%) Microsoft Intune
3 23 (7.54%) vCenter Server
4 22 (7.21%) Terraform
5 18 (5.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 15 (4.92%) Single Sign-On
7 13 (4.26%) Ansible
7 13 (4.26%) SCOM
8 11 (3.61%) WMI
9 8 (2.62%) Jamf Pro
10 7 (2.30%) HP SiteScope
10 7 (2.30%) Kubernetes
11 2 (0.66%) logstash
11 2 (0.66%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (0.66%) WhatsUp Gold
12 1 (0.33%) Avamar
12 1 (0.33%) Cisco UCCE
12 1 (0.33%) Prometheus
12 1 (0.33%) Puppet
12 1 (0.33%) VxRail
Vendors
1 175 (57.38%) Microsoft
2 71 (23.28%) VMware
3 35 (11.48%) ServiceNow
4 30 (9.84%) CyberArk
5 28 (9.18%) Cisco
6 26 (8.52%) BeyondTrust
7 21 (6.89%) Citrix
8 17 (5.57%) Juniper
8 17 (5.57%) SolarWinds
9 11 (3.61%) Splunk
10 8 (2.62%) Remedy
11 5 (1.64%) Google
12 4 (1.31%) McAfee
12 4 (1.31%) Red Hat
13 3 (0.98%) BiZZdesign
13 3 (0.98%) Broadcom
13 3 (0.98%) F5
13 3 (0.98%) Fortinet
13 3 (0.98%) Veeam
14 2 (0.66%) Palo Alto