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

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 17 30
Rank change year-on-year -8 +13 -12
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 174 166 178
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 6.41% 8.87% 5.71%
As % of the System Software category 52.25% 47.43% 52.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 125 119
10th Percentile £159 £184 £134
25th Percentile £275 £213 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £425 £300
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% +41.67% -34.49%
75th Percentile £588 £555 £628
90th Percentile £702 £633 £713
England median daily rate £450 £421 £388
% change year-on-year +6.89% +8.65% -3.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 4 21
10th Percentile £12.43 - £14.25
25th Percentile £18.72 £12.50 £18.28
Median hourly rate £129.00 £14.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +789.66% -63.75% -26.05%
75th Percentile £197.50 £28.50 -
90th Percentile - £50.10 £69.62
England median hourly rate £22.24 £21.78 £18.30
% change year-on-year +2.12% +18.99% -6.15%

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 333 350 342
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 12.26% 18.71% 10.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 250 267 222
10th Percentile £213 £210 £174
25th Percentile £413 £409 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £538 £513
Median % change year-on-year +2.33% +4.78% +0.10%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £671
90th Percentile £715 £725 £738
England median daily rate £500 £525 £480
% change year-on-year -4.76% +9.38% -8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 4 45
10th Percentile £28.91 - £16.27
25th Percentile £61.25 £12.50 £40.00
Median hourly rate £66.50 £14.50 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +358.62% -78.02% +9.97%
75th Percentile £75.77 £28.50 £70.66
90th Percentile £197.50 £50.10 £90.00
England median hourly rate £34.00 £28.41 £40.00
% change year-on-year +19.68% -28.98% +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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -7 49 £575 +9.52% 13
Gloucestershire +4 46 £300 -29.41% 14
Somerset 0 33 £475 +90.00% 12
Bristol -22 28 £538 +138.89% 15
Devon +11 16 £275 -15.38% 13
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 (22.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (17.82%) SharePoint
3 7 (4.02%) Skype for Business
4 4 (2.30%) IIS
4 4 (2.30%) SharePoint Server
5 2 (1.15%) Confluence
6 1 (0.57%) nginx
Applications
1 14 (8.05%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.15%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (1.15%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.57%) assyst
2 1 (0.57%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 70 (40.23%) Azure
2 44 (25.29%) Microsoft 365
3 38 (21.84%) Entra ID
4 15 (8.62%) AWS
5 9 (5.17%) GCP
6 7 (4.02%) Azure Monitor
6 7 (4.02%) Azure Sentinel
6 7 (4.02%) OneDrive
7 6 (3.45%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (3.45%) Power Platform
7 6 (3.45%) ShareGate
8 4 (2.30%) Azure AKS
8 4 (2.30%) IaaS
8 4 (2.30%) PaaS
8 4 (2.30%) SaaS
9 3 (1.72%) Azure Key Vault
9 3 (1.72%) OCI
10 2 (1.15%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (1.15%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (1.15%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 46 (26.44%) DNS
2 31 (17.82%) Firewall
3 23 (13.22%) DHCP
4 19 (10.92%) VPN
5 14 (8.05%) Skype
6 9 (5.17%) Network Security
7 5 (2.87%) LAN
7 5 (2.87%) TCP/IP
7 5 (2.87%) Unified Communications
8 3 (1.72%) Kerberos
8 3 (1.72%) VLAN
8 3 (1.72%) WAN
9 2 (1.15%) NAS
9 2 (1.15%) SAN
9 2 (1.15%) SMTP
9 2 (1.15%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.57%) DKIM
10 1 (0.57%) DMARC
10 1 (0.57%) VoIP
10 1 (0.57%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (7.47%) SQL Server
2 6 (3.45%) Power BI
3 3 (1.72%) Metadata
4 2 (1.15%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (1.15%) Looker
4 2 (1.15%) MySQL
4 2 (1.15%) Tableau
5 1 (0.57%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 9 (5.17%) MSI
2 8 (4.60%) JIRA
3 5 (2.87%) AdminStudio
3 5 (2.87%) InstallShield
4 3 (1.72%) Git
5 1 (0.57%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.57%) GitLab
5 1 (0.57%) Jenkins
General
1 77 (44.25%) Social Skills
2 20 (11.49%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (10.92%) Public Sector
4 18 (10.34%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (6.32%) Finance
6 3 (1.72%) Aerospace
6 3 (1.72%) Organisational Skills
7 2 (1.15%) Electronics
7 2 (1.15%) Law
7 2 (1.15%) Legal
7 2 (1.15%) Manufacturing
7 2 (1.15%) Marketing
7 2 (1.15%) Military
7 2 (1.15%) Telecoms
8 1 (0.57%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 20 (11.49%) Support Engineer
2 18 (10.34%) Architect
3 16 (9.20%) Desktop Engineer
3 16 (9.20%) Desktop Support
3 16 (9.20%) Desktop Support Engineer
4 15 (8.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 14 (8.05%) Analyst
6 10 (5.75%) Consultant
7 9 (5.17%) Applications Engineer
7 9 (5.17%) Deployment Engineer
7 9 (5.17%) IT Support
8 8 (4.60%) Field Engineer
8 8 (4.60%) Platform Engineer
8 8 (4.60%) Wintel Engineer
9 7 (4.02%) IT Engineer
9 7 (4.02%) IT Support Specialist
9 7 (4.02%) Support Specialist
10 6 (3.45%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (3.45%) Technical Architect
11 5 (2.87%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (15.52%) OAuth
1 27 (15.52%) SAML
2 25 (14.37%) OpenID
3 21 (12.07%) OAuth2
4 6 (3.45%) LDAP
5 4 (2.30%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.72%) .NET
6 3 (1.72%) Express.js
6 3 (1.72%) React
6 3 (1.72%) SailPoint
7 2 (1.15%) Next.js
7 2 (1.15%) Node.js
7 2 (1.15%) RESTful
7 2 (1.15%) YAML
8 1 (0.57%) Apache NiFi
8 1 (0.57%) ASP.NET Web API
8 1 (0.57%) Middleware
8 1 (0.57%) Software Packaging
8 1 (0.57%) WCF
8 1 (0.57%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 16 (9.20%) PKI
2 15 (8.62%) Driving Licence
3 14 (8.05%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (4.02%) Private Cloud
4 7 (4.02%) Replication
5 6 (3.45%) Data Centre
6 5 (2.87%) Cloud Native
6 5 (2.87%) Legacy Applications
7 4 (2.30%) Onboarding
7 4 (2.30%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.72%) iPad
8 3 (1.72%) iPhone
8 3 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (1.72%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.57%) CMDB
9 1 (0.57%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.57%) Enterprise Software
9 1 (0.57%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.57%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 123 (70.69%) Windows
2 55 (31.61%) Windows Server
3 47 (27.01%) Windows 10
4 27 (15.52%) Linux
5 8 (4.60%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (3.45%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (2.30%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (1.72%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.72%) CentOS
9 2 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (22.99%) Problem-Solving
2 36 (20.69%) ITIL
3 30 (17.24%) RBAC
4 25 (14.37%) Change Management
5 24 (13.79%) Customer Service
5 24 (13.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 23 (13.22%) Identity Access Management
7 19 (10.92%) DevOps
7 19 (10.92%) Migration
7 19 (10.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 17 (9.77%) Root Cause Analysis
9 16 (9.20%) Agile
9 16 (9.20%) Infrastructure as Code
10 14 (8.05%) Service Management
10 14 (8.05%) Technical Leadership
11 13 (7.47%) Load Balancing
11 13 (7.47%) Runbook
12 11 (6.32%) Identity Management
13 10 (5.75%) Application Packaging
13 10 (5.75%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 67 (38.51%) PowerShell
2 13 (7.47%) SQL
3 10 (5.75%) Bicep
4 8 (4.60%) VBScript
5 7 (4.02%) Python
6 4 (2.30%) JavaScript
6 4 (2.30%) TypeScript
7 3 (1.72%) C#
8 1 (0.57%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 106 (60.92%) Security Cleared
2 61 (35.06%) SC Cleared
3 43 (24.71%) Microsoft Certification
4 35 (20.11%) DV Cleared
5 11 (6.32%) ITIL Certification
6 10 (5.75%) Azure Certification
7 9 (5.17%) Degree
7 9 (5.17%) MCSE
8 7 (4.02%) A+ Certification
9 5 (2.87%) CCNA
9 5 (2.87%) CCNP
9 5 (2.87%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (2.87%) Master's Degree
9 5 (2.87%) MCSA
10 2 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (1.15%) CISM
10 2 (1.15%) CISSP
11 1 (0.57%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.57%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.75%) GDPR
1 10 (5.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (2.30%) NCSC
3 3 (1.72%) SLA
4 2 (1.15%) NIST
4 2 (1.15%) PSD2
4 2 (1.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 2 (1.15%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.57%) Government Security Classifications
System Software
1 38 (21.84%) VMware Infrastructure
2 14 (8.05%) Hyper-V
3 12 (6.90%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (5.17%) VMware NSX
5 8 (4.60%) Microsoft App-V
6 5 (2.87%) Docker
6 5 (2.87%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (2.87%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (2.30%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.57%) Firmware
8 1 (0.57%) UAG
8 1 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 38 (21.84%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 35 (20.11%) Single Sign-On
3 30 (17.24%) SCCM
4 27 (15.52%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (8.62%) WSUS
6 14 (8.05%) Terraform
7 12 (6.90%) vCenter Server
8 7 (4.02%) Kubernetes
9 4 (2.30%) Ansible
10 3 (1.72%) Kibana
11 2 (1.15%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (1.15%) NetApp OnCommand
11 2 (1.15%) NetBackup
11 2 (1.15%) PingFederate
11 2 (1.15%) Puppet
11 2 (1.15%) SCOM
11 2 (1.15%) vMotion
12 1 (0.57%) CA Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.57%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.57%) logstash
Vendors
1 131 (75.29%) Microsoft
2 48 (27.59%) VMware
3 19 (10.92%) Cisco
4 11 (6.32%) SolarWinds
4 11 (6.32%) Veeam
5 5 (2.87%) Splunk
6 4 (2.30%) ForgeRock
6 4 (2.30%) Ping Identity
7 3 (1.72%) Citrix
7 3 (1.72%) Google
7 3 (1.72%) McAfee
7 3 (1.72%) Red Hat
7 3 (1.72%) Starlink
8 2 (1.15%) Commvault
8 2 (1.15%) NetApp
8 2 (1.15%) NetIQ
8 2 (1.15%) Oracle
8 2 (1.15%) Salesforce
8 2 (1.15%) SAP
8 2 (1.15%) Veritas