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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 18 29
Rank change year-on-year -9 +11 -11
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 167 167 169
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 6.07% 9.12% 5.47%
As % of the System Software category 52.35% 47.18% 51.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 128 113
10th Percentile £157 £187 £136
25th Percentile £275 £213 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £512 £425 £300
Median % change year-on-year +20.35% +41.67% -35.14%
75th Percentile £588 £564 £625
90th Percentile £709 £649 £710
England median daily rate £450 £425 £388
% change year-on-year +5.88% +9.68% -6.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 3 19
10th Percentile - £13.03 £14.20
25th Percentile £12.43 £13.83 £17.02
Median hourly rate £63.00 £15.31 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +311.50% -61.73% -26.05%
75th Percentile £197.50 £39.98 £43.20
90th Percentile - £54.69 £69.62
England median hourly rate £22.27 £22.09 £18.00
% change year-on-year +0.79% +22.72% -6.49%

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 319 354 329
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 11.59% 19.33% 10.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 240 273 214
10th Percentile £220 £211 £176
25th Percentile £413 £413 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £519
Median % change year-on-year - +5.92% +1.32%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £663
90th Percentile £715 £725 £738
England median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 3 42
10th Percentile £14.11 £13.03 £15.34
25th Percentile £61.25 £13.83 £40.00
Median hourly rate £66.50 £15.31 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +334.36% -76.80% +9.97%
75th Percentile £69.90 £39.98 £74.85
90th Percentile £197.50 £54.69 £90.00
England median hourly rate £31.86 £29.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +9.86% -27.50% +1.91%

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 20 February 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 20 February 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 20 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
Wiltshire -6 53 £575 +9.52% 11
Gloucestershire -2 36 £200 -52.94% 11
Somerset 0 30 £481 +92.50% 14
Bristol -24 28 £525 +133.33% 18
Devon +12 17 £275 -15.38% 12
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 39 (23.35%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (16.77%) SharePoint
3 6 (3.59%) Skype for Business
4 5 (2.99%) Mattermost
5 4 (2.40%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (1.20%) Confluence
7 1 (0.60%) IIS
7 1 (0.60%) nginx
Applications
1 14 (8.38%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.60%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (2.99%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.60%) assyst
2 1 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.60%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 65 (38.92%) Azure
2 44 (26.35%) Microsoft 365
3 38 (22.75%) Entra ID
4 15 (8.98%) AWS
5 8 (4.79%) GCP
5 8 (4.79%) OneDrive
6 7 (4.19%) Azure Monitor
6 7 (4.19%) Azure Sentinel
7 6 (3.59%) Power Platform
7 6 (3.59%) ShareGate
8 5 (2.99%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (2.99%) OCI
8 5 (2.99%) PaaS
9 4 (2.40%) IaaS
9 4 (2.40%) SaaS
10 3 (1.80%) Azure AKS
10 3 (1.80%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (1.20%) Azure Logic Apps
11 2 (1.20%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (1.20%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 44 (26.35%) DNS
2 31 (18.56%) Firewall
3 22 (13.17%) DHCP
4 16 (9.58%) VPN
5 13 (7.78%) Skype
6 9 (5.39%) Network Security
7 6 (3.59%) LAN
8 5 (2.99%) TCP/IP
8 5 (2.99%) Unified Communications
9 4 (2.40%) VLAN
10 3 (1.80%) Kerberos
10 3 (1.80%) WAN
10 3 (1.80%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (1.20%) NAS
11 2 (1.20%) SAN
12 1 (0.60%) DKIM
12 1 (0.60%) DMARC
12 1 (0.60%) Remote Desktop
12 1 (0.60%) SMTP
12 1 (0.60%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (7.19%) SQL Server
2 6 (3.59%) Power BI
3 3 (1.80%) Metadata
4 2 (1.20%) Looker
4 2 (1.20%) Tableau
5 1 (0.60%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.60%) MySQL
5 1 (0.60%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 15 (8.98%) JIRA
2 3 (1.80%) Git
2 3 (1.80%) MSI
3 1 (0.60%) AdminStudio
3 1 (0.60%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.60%) GitLab
3 1 (0.60%) InstallShield
3 1 (0.60%) Jenkins
General
1 76 (45.51%) Social Skills
2 20 (11.98%) Analytical Skills
3 16 (9.58%) Documentation Skills
4 15 (8.98%) Public Sector
5 11 (6.59%) Finance
6 4 (2.40%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (1.80%) Aerospace
8 2 (1.20%) Electronics
8 2 (1.20%) Legal
8 2 (1.20%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.20%) Marketing
8 2 (1.20%) Military
8 2 (1.20%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.60%) Back Office
9 1 (0.60%) Law
Job Titles
1 19 (11.38%) Analyst
2 18 (10.78%) Architect
3 16 (9.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 16 (9.58%) Support Engineer
4 11 (6.59%) Desktop Engineer
4 11 (6.59%) Desktop Support
4 11 (6.59%) Desktop Support Engineer
5 10 (5.99%) Consultant
5 10 (5.99%) IT Support
6 9 (5.39%) Wintel Engineer
7 8 (4.79%) Field Engineer
7 8 (4.79%) IT Support Specialist
7 8 (4.79%) Platform Engineer
7 8 (4.79%) Support Specialist
8 7 (4.19%) IT Engineer
9 6 (3.59%) Service Analyst
9 6 (3.59%) Service Desk Analyst
9 6 (3.59%) Solutions Architect
9 6 (3.59%) Technical Architect
10 5 (2.99%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (16.17%) OAuth
1 27 (16.17%) SAML
2 25 (14.97%) OpenID
3 21 (12.57%) OAuth2
4 6 (3.59%) LDAP
5 4 (2.40%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.80%) .NET
6 3 (1.80%) SailPoint
7 2 (1.20%) Express.js
7 2 (1.20%) React
7 2 (1.20%) RESTful
7 2 (1.20%) YAML
8 1 (0.60%) AngularJS
8 1 (0.60%) Apache NiFi
8 1 (0.60%) ASP.NET Web API
8 1 (0.60%) Bootstrap
8 1 (0.60%) Next.js
8 1 (0.60%) Node.js
8 1 (0.60%) Software Packaging
8 1 (0.60%) WCF
Miscellaneous
1 17 (10.18%) PKI
2 16 (9.58%) Driving Licence
3 15 (8.98%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (4.19%) Private Cloud
4 7 (4.19%) Replication
5 6 (3.59%) Data Centre
6 4 (2.40%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.40%) Onboarding
6 4 (2.40%) Security Posture
7 3 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
7 3 (1.80%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.80%) Operational Technology
8 1 (0.60%) CMDB
8 1 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.60%) Device Driver
8 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.60%) Legacy Applications
8 1 (0.60%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 110 (65.87%) Windows
2 50 (29.94%) Windows Server
3 36 (21.56%) Windows 10
4 26 (15.57%) Linux
5 6 (3.59%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (2.99%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (2.40%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (1.80%) CentOS
9 2 (1.20%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.60%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (20.96%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (19.16%) ITIL
3 30 (17.96%) RBAC
4 25 (14.97%) Change Management
4 25 (14.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 24 (14.37%) Identity Access Management
6 22 (13.17%) Customer Service
7 21 (12.57%) DevOps
8 20 (11.98%) Service Management
9 19 (11.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 18 (10.78%) Agile
11 17 (10.18%) Migration
12 15 (8.98%) Infrastructure as Code
13 14 (8.38%) Technical Leadership
14 13 (7.78%) Load Balancing
15 12 (7.19%) Identity Management
15 12 (7.19%) Runbook
16 10 (5.99%) Continuous Improvement
16 10 (5.99%) Mentoring
16 10 (5.99%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 64 (38.32%) PowerShell
2 13 (7.78%) SQL
3 9 (5.39%) Bicep
4 8 (4.79%) Python
5 4 (2.40%) JavaScript
6 3 (1.80%) C#
6 3 (1.80%) TypeScript
7 2 (1.20%) VBScript
8 1 (0.60%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 98 (58.68%) Security Cleared
2 50 (29.94%) SC Cleared
3 40 (23.95%) DV Cleared
3 40 (23.95%) Microsoft Certification
4 11 (6.59%) Azure Certification
5 9 (5.39%) Degree
5 9 (5.39%) MCSE
6 8 (4.79%) ITIL Certification
7 7 (4.19%) A+ Certification
8 5 (2.99%) CCNA
8 5 (2.99%) CCNP
8 5 (2.99%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (2.99%) Master's Degree
9 2 (1.20%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (1.20%) CISM
9 2 (1.20%) CISSP
9 2 (1.20%) MCSA
10 1 (0.60%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.99%) GDPR
1 10 (5.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.40%) NCSC
3 2 (1.20%) NIST
3 2 (1.20%) PSD2
3 2 (1.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 2 (1.20%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.60%) Government Security Classifications
4 1 (0.60%) SLA
System Software
1 36 (21.56%) VMware Infrastructure
2 13 (7.78%) Hyper-V
3 10 (5.99%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (5.39%) VMware NSX
5 5 (2.99%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 5 (2.99%) Virtual Servers
6 4 (2.40%) Docker
7 2 (1.20%) Microsoft App-V
7 2 (1.20%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.20%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.60%) Firmware
8 1 (0.60%) UAG
8 1 (0.60%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (23.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 35 (20.96%) Single Sign-On
3 24 (14.37%) SCCM
4 22 (13.17%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (8.38%) Terraform
6 12 (7.19%) WSUS
7 10 (5.99%) vCenter Server
8 6 (3.59%) Kubernetes
9 4 (2.40%) Ansible
10 2 (1.20%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (1.20%) Kibana
10 2 (1.20%) NetBackup
10 2 (1.20%) PingFederate
10 2 (1.20%) Puppet
11 1 (0.60%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.60%) Grafana
11 1 (0.60%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.60%) logstash
11 1 (0.60%) SCOM
Vendors
1 121 (72.46%) Microsoft
2 46 (27.54%) VMware
3 19 (11.38%) Cisco
4 11 (6.59%) SolarWinds
4 11 (6.59%) Veeam
5 6 (3.59%) Remedy
6 5 (2.99%) Splunk
7 4 (2.40%) Citrix
7 4 (2.40%) ForgeRock
7 4 (2.40%) Ping Identity
8 3 (1.80%) Google
8 3 (1.80%) Red Hat
9 2 (1.20%) Atlassian
9 2 (1.20%) Commvault
9 2 (1.20%) Micro Focus
9 2 (1.20%) NetApp
9 2 (1.20%) NetIQ
9 2 (1.20%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.20%) SAP
9 2 (1.20%) Veritas