Active Directory Contract Job Trends in the South West

Microsoft Active Directory
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Active Directory skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 17 31
Rank change year-on-year -12 +14 -14
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 163 156 164
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 5.62% 9.00% 5.16%
As % of the System Software category 51.26% 46.02% 52.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 128 113
10th Percentile £156 £187 £136
25th Percentile £313 £223 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £512 £425 £350
Median % change year-on-year +20.35% +21.43% -25.53%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £588
90th Percentile £711 £675 £700
England median daily rate £450 £425 £380
% change year-on-year +5.85% +11.88% -9.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 16
10th Percentile - £13.30 £14.13
25th Percentile £12.43 £14.49 £14.82
Median hourly rate £22.27 £16.78 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.69% -58.05% -25.02%
75th Percentile £197.50 £29.91 -
90th Percentile - £50.66 £58.01
England median hourly rate £22.29 £22.30 £17.76
% change year-on-year -0.02% +25.53% -8.92%

All System Software Skills
South West

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 West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 318 339 314
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 10.97% 19.56% 9.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 238 271 208
10th Percentile £218 £213 £172
25th Percentile £413 £411 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £500
Median % change year-on-year - +10.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £612 £625 £674
90th Percentile £715 £725 £746
England median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 4 36
10th Percentile £12.43 £13.30 £14.71
25th Percentile £61.25 £14.49 £40.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £16.78 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +287.37% -74.57% +9.97%
75th Percentile £67.25 £29.91 £76.25
90th Percentile £197.50 £50.66 £90.00
England median hourly rate £32.93 £32.50 £27.38
% change year-on-year +1.32% +18.69% -28.88%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Active Directory relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the South West

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the South West over the 6 months to 6 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in the South West

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Active Directory in the South West over the 6 months to 6 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Active Directory in the South West

Active Directory
Contract Job Locations in the South West

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 West region over the 6 months to 6 March 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
Wiltshire -7 50 £575 +4.55% 9
Gloucestershire -1 37 £195 -54.12% 17
Bristol -28 30 £525 +133.33% 15
Somerset -1 26 £488 +95.00% 12
Devon +7 16 £275 -15.38% 7
Active Directory
England

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 38 (23.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (15.95%) SharePoint
3 6 (3.68%) Skype for Business
4 5 (3.07%) Mattermost
5 3 (1.84%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (1.23%) Confluence
7 1 (0.61%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (7.98%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.84%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (3.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.61%) assyst
2 1 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 64 (39.26%) Azure
2 43 (26.38%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (23.93%) Entra ID
4 15 (9.20%) AWS
5 8 (4.91%) GCP
5 8 (4.91%) OneDrive
5 8 (4.91%) Power Platform
6 7 (4.29%) Azure Monitor
6 7 (4.29%) Azure Sentinel
7 6 (3.68%) ShareGate
8 5 (3.07%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (3.07%) OCI
8 5 (3.07%) PaaS
9 4 (2.45%) IaaS
9 4 (2.45%) SaaS
10 3 (1.84%) Azure AKS
10 3 (1.84%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (1.23%) Azure Logic Apps
11 2 (1.23%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (1.23%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 38 (23.31%) DNS
2 32 (19.63%) Firewall
3 20 (12.27%) DHCP
4 17 (10.43%) VPN
5 12 (7.36%) Skype
6 8 (4.91%) Network Security
7 6 (3.68%) LAN
8 5 (3.07%) TCP/IP
9 4 (2.45%) Unified Communications
9 4 (2.45%) VLAN
9 4 (2.45%) WAN
9 4 (2.45%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (1.84%) Kerberos
11 2 (1.23%) NAS
11 2 (1.23%) SAN
12 1 (0.61%) DKIM
12 1 (0.61%) DMARC
12 1 (0.61%) Remote Desktop
12 1 (0.61%) SD-WAN
12 1 (0.61%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (6.13%) SQL Server
2 8 (4.91%) Power BI
3 4 (2.45%) Metadata
4 2 (1.23%) Looker
4 2 (1.23%) Tableau
5 1 (0.61%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.61%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.61%) Oracle BI EE
5 1 (0.61%) Power Query
5 1 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.61%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 17 (10.43%) JIRA
2 3 (1.84%) Git
2 3 (1.84%) MSI
3 1 (0.61%) AdminStudio
3 1 (0.61%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.61%) GitLab
3 1 (0.61%) InstallShield
3 1 (0.61%) Jenkins
General
1 74 (45.40%) Social Skills
2 19 (11.66%) Analytical Skills
3 15 (9.20%) Documentation Skills
4 14 (8.59%) Public Sector
5 11 (6.75%) Finance
6 5 (3.07%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (1.84%) Aerospace
8 2 (1.23%) Legal
8 2 (1.23%) Military
9 1 (0.61%) Back Office
9 1 (0.61%) Electronics
9 1 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.61%) Law
9 1 (0.61%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.61%) Marketing
9 1 (0.61%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 20 (12.27%) Analyst
2 18 (11.04%) Support Engineer
3 17 (10.43%) Architect
4 14 (8.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 12 (7.36%) Desktop Engineer
5 12 (7.36%) Desktop Support
5 12 (7.36%) Desktop Support Engineer
6 11 (6.75%) IT Support
7 10 (6.13%) Consultant
7 10 (6.13%) Wintel Engineer
8 9 (5.52%) IT Support Specialist
8 9 (5.52%) Support Specialist
9 7 (4.29%) Platform Engineer
10 6 (3.68%) IT Engineer
10 6 (3.68%) Service Analyst
10 6 (3.68%) Service Desk Analyst
10 6 (3.68%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (3.68%) Technical Architect
11 5 (3.07%) 2nd Line Support
11 5 (3.07%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (16.56%) OAuth
1 27 (16.56%) SAML
2 25 (15.34%) OpenID
3 21 (12.88%) OAuth2
4 6 (3.68%) LDAP
5 4 (2.45%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.84%) .NET
6 3 (1.84%) SailPoint
7 2 (1.23%) Express.js
7 2 (1.23%) React
7 2 (1.23%) RESTful
7 2 (1.23%) YAML
8 1 (0.61%) AngularJS
8 1 (0.61%) Apache NiFi
8 1 (0.61%) ASP.NET Web API
8 1 (0.61%) Bootstrap
8 1 (0.61%) Next.js
8 1 (0.61%) Node.js
8 1 (0.61%) REST
8 1 (0.61%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 15 (9.20%) Hybrid Cloud
2 14 (8.59%) Driving Licence
3 13 (7.98%) PKI
4 7 (4.29%) Private Cloud
4 7 (4.29%) Replication
5 6 (3.68%) Data Centre
6 5 (3.07%) Onboarding
7 4 (2.45%) Cloud Native
7 4 (2.45%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.84%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (1.84%) Operational Technology
9 2 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (1.23%) Management Information System
9 2 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
10 1 (0.61%) CMDB
10 1 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.61%) Device Driver
10 1 (0.61%) iPad
10 1 (0.61%) iPhone
10 1 (0.61%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 104 (63.80%) Windows
2 48 (29.45%) Windows Server
3 30 (18.40%) Windows 10
4 21 (12.88%) Linux
5 7 (4.29%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (3.07%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (1.84%) CentOS
8 2 (1.23%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.61%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 33 (20.25%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (19.63%) ITIL
3 31 (19.02%) RBAC
4 26 (15.95%) Change Management
5 23 (14.11%) Identity Access Management
5 23 (14.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 21 (12.88%) Customer Service
6 21 (12.88%) DevOps
7 18 (11.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 17 (10.43%) Agile
8 17 (10.43%) Service Management
9 16 (9.82%) Migration
10 15 (9.20%) Infrastructure as Code
10 15 (9.20%) Technical Leadership
11 13 (7.98%) Load Balancing
12 12 (7.36%) Identity Management
13 10 (6.13%) Configuration Management
13 10 (6.13%) ITSM
13 10 (6.13%) Knowledge Transfer
13 10 (6.13%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 65 (39.88%) PowerShell
2 12 (7.36%) SQL
3 9 (5.52%) Bicep
3 9 (5.52%) Python
4 4 (2.45%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.84%) C#
5 3 (1.84%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.23%) VBScript
7 1 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.61%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 93 (57.06%) Security Cleared
2 49 (30.06%) SC Cleared
3 39 (23.93%) DV Cleared
4 37 (22.70%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (6.75%) Azure Certification
6 9 (5.52%) Degree
7 8 (4.91%) ITIL Certification
7 8 (4.91%) MCSE
8 4 (2.45%) A+ Certification
8 4 (2.45%) CCNA
8 4 (2.45%) CCNP
8 4 (2.45%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (2.45%) Master's Degree
9 3 (1.84%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (1.23%) CISM
10 2 (1.23%) CISSP
10 2 (1.23%) MCSA
11 1 (0.61%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (6.13%) GDPR
1 10 (6.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.45%) NCSC
3 2 (1.23%) NIST
3 2 (1.23%) PSD2
3 2 (1.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 2 (1.23%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.61%) Government Security Classifications
4 1 (0.61%) SLA
System Software
1 34 (20.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 14 (8.59%) Hyper-V
3 9 (5.52%) VMware NSX
4 8 (4.91%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (2.45%) Docker
5 4 (2.45%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 4 (2.45%) Virtual Servers
6 2 (1.23%) Microsoft App-V
6 2 (1.23%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (1.23%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.61%) Firmware
7 1 (0.61%) UAG
7 1 (0.61%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (22.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 34 (20.86%) Single Sign-On
3 24 (14.72%) Microsoft Intune
3 24 (14.72%) SCCM
4 14 (8.59%) Terraform
5 11 (6.75%) WSUS
6 7 (4.29%) vCenter Server
7 6 (3.68%) Kubernetes
8 4 (2.45%) Ansible
9 2 (1.23%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (1.23%) Kibana
9 2 (1.23%) McAfee ePO
9 2 (1.23%) NetBackup
9 2 (1.23%) PingFederate
9 2 (1.23%) Puppet
10 1 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.61%) Grafana
10 1 (0.61%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.61%) logstash
10 1 (0.61%) SCOM
Vendors
1 115 (70.55%) Microsoft
2 43 (26.38%) VMware
3 15 (9.20%) Cisco
4 8 (4.91%) SolarWinds
4 8 (4.91%) Veeam
5 6 (3.68%) Remedy
6 4 (2.45%) Citrix
6 4 (2.45%) ForgeRock
6 4 (2.45%) McAfee
6 4 (2.45%) Ping Identity
6 4 (2.45%) Splunk
7 3 (1.84%) Google
7 3 (1.84%) Red Hat
8 2 (1.23%) Atlassian
8 2 (1.23%) Commvault
8 2 (1.23%) Micro Focus
8 2 (1.23%) NetApp
8 2 (1.23%) NetIQ
8 2 (1.23%) Salesforce
8 2 (1.23%) Veritas