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 27 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 35 28 32
Rank change year-on-year -7 +4 -8
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 171 123 155
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.57% 6.23% 6.01%
As % of the System Software category 48.17% 49.40% 37.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 94 106
10th Percentile £185 £200 £140
25th Percentile £319 £225 £221
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £325 £475
Median % change year-on-year +61.54% -31.58% -2.56%
75th Percentile £594 £538 £588
90th Percentile £724 £588 £675
England median daily rate £450 £425 £440
% change year-on-year +5.88% -3.41% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 2 4
10th Percentile £13.65 £57.90 -
25th Percentile £20.50 £58.50 £12.50
Median hourly rate £52.54 £64.00 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.91% +341.38% -15.84%
75th Percentile £98.82 £70.50 £35.50
90th Percentile £100.00 £71.70 £69.70
England median hourly rate £54.00 £23.00 £20.50
% change year-on-year +134.78% +12.20% +5.13%

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 355 249 415
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 9.49% 12.61% 16.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 191 279
10th Percentile £225 £213 £224
25th Percentile £413 £299 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £600
90th Percentile £725 £695 £675
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% +0.99%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 5 10
10th Percentile £19.50 £59.10 £12.50
25th Percentile £48.64 £61.50 £26.13
Median hourly rate £65.00 £80.00 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.75% - +33.33%
75th Percentile £82.00 £95.00 £85.00
90th Percentile £98.82 - £90.25
England median hourly rate £65.00 £34.50 £27.50
% change year-on-year +88.41% +25.45% -40.45%

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 27 September 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 27 September 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 27 September 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 56 £525 -2.33% 17
Bristol -2 40 £550 +4.76% 13
Somerset -20 30 £575 +130.00% 18
Gloucestershire -7 22 £213 -34.62% 17
Dorset -4 12 £540 +163.41% 12
Devon -23 2 £338 +22.73% 5
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 29 (16.96%) SharePoint
2 26 (15.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.17%) IIS
4 1 (0.58%) Confluence
4 1 (0.58%) Mattermost
Applications
1 5 (2.92%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.34%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (3.51%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.17%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 56 (32.75%) Azure
2 44 (25.73%) Entra ID
3 42 (24.56%) Microsoft 365
4 23 (13.45%) AWS
5 12 (7.02%) SaaS
6 7 (4.09%) Google Workspace
7 6 (3.51%) GCP
7 6 (3.51%) OneDrive
8 5 (2.92%) Google Drive
8 5 (2.92%) Power Platform
9 3 (1.75%) Asana
9 3 (1.75%) PowerApps
10 2 (1.17%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (1.17%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (1.17%) OpenShift
10 2 (1.17%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.58%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 1 (0.58%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.58%) Copilot Studio
11 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 59 (34.50%) DNS
2 46 (26.90%) DHCP
3 31 (18.13%) Firewall
4 24 (14.04%) TCP/IP
5 14 (8.19%) VSAN
6 11 (6.43%) VPN
7 8 (4.68%) SAN
8 7 (4.09%) WAN
9 6 (3.51%) LAN
10 5 (2.92%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (2.92%) Kerberos
10 5 (2.92%) Network Security
10 5 (2.92%) VoIP
10 5 (2.92%) Wi-Fi
10 5 (2.92%) Wireless
11 3 (1.75%) Cisco Nexus
11 3 (1.75%) DKIM
11 3 (1.75%) DMARC
11 3 (1.75%) NAS
11 3 (1.75%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.92%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.34%) Power BI
3 2 (1.17%) Oracle BI EE
3 2 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.58%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.58%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 12 (7.02%) JIRA
2 1 (0.58%) Git
General
1 60 (35.09%) Social Skills
2 24 (14.04%) Public Sector
3 15 (8.77%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (6.43%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (3.51%) Aerospace
5 6 (3.51%) Military
6 5 (2.92%) Legal
7 4 (2.34%) Finance
7 4 (2.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (2.34%) Police
8 2 (1.17%) Law
8 2 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.58%) Advertising
9 1 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 41 (23.98%) Architect
2 23 (13.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 16 (9.36%) Senior
4 13 (7.60%) Support Engineer
5 12 (7.02%) Administrator
6 11 (6.43%) Platform Engineer
7 10 (5.85%) Analyst
7 10 (5.85%) Consultant
7 10 (5.85%) IT Support
8 8 (4.68%) Principal Engineer
8 8 (4.68%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 7 (4.09%) Active Directory Consultant
9 7 (4.09%) IT Analyst
9 7 (4.09%) IT Consultant
9 7 (4.09%) IT Engineer
9 7 (4.09%) Service Analyst
9 7 (4.09%) Service Desk Analyst
9 7 (4.09%) Systems Administrator
10 6 (3.51%) 1st Line Support
10 6 (3.51%) Service Desk Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (20.47%) LDAP
2 18 (10.53%) Terraform
3 11 (6.43%) OAuth
4 8 (4.68%) SailPoint
4 8 (4.68%) SAML
5 5 (2.92%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (2.34%) OpenID
7 3 (1.75%) OAuth2
7 3 (1.75%) REST
8 2 (1.17%) HTML5 Canvas
8 2 (1.17%) JSON
9 1 (0.58%) .NET
9 1 (0.58%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 29 (16.96%) PKI
2 18 (10.53%) Data Centre
3 11 (6.43%) Onboarding
4 10 (5.85%) Enterprise Software
4 10 (5.85%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (5.26%) Management Information System
6 6 (3.51%) Driving Licence
7 5 (2.92%) Public Cloud
7 5 (2.92%) Replication
7 5 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (2.34%) Clustering
8 4 (2.34%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.75%) Augmented Reality
9 3 (1.75%) Enterprise Storage
9 3 (1.75%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.75%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.75%) Smartcard
9 3 (1.75%) Thin Client
9 3 (1.75%) Virtual Reality
9 3 (1.75%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 100 (58.48%) Windows
2 41 (23.98%) Linux
3 38 (22.22%) Windows Server
4 23 (13.45%) Windows 10
5 13 (7.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (3.51%) Android
7 5 (2.92%) Mac OS
8 3 (1.75%) CentOS
8 3 (1.75%) Data ONTAP
8 3 (1.75%) Ubuntu
9 2 (1.17%) Apple iOS
9 2 (1.17%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (1.17%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.58%) Rocky
10 1 (0.58%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (30.99%) Technical Leadership
2 48 (28.07%) Continuous Improvement
3 47 (27.49%) SIEM
4 44 (25.73%) Mentoring
5 39 (22.81%) DevSecOps
6 38 (22.22%) ITSM
7 34 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
8 31 (18.13%) Runbook
9 27 (15.79%) Stakeholder Management
10 26 (15.20%) Customer Engagement
10 26 (15.20%) Cybersecurity
10 26 (15.20%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 26 (15.20%) Security Architecture
11 24 (14.04%) GAP Analysis
11 24 (14.04%) ITIL
12 23 (13.45%) Secrets Management
13 21 (12.28%) Infrastructure as Code
13 21 (12.28%) Platform Engineering
14 19 (11.11%) Customer Service
15 18 (10.53%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 49 (28.65%) PowerShell
2 20 (11.70%) Python
3 19 (11.11%) Bash
4 6 (3.51%) Java
5 5 (2.92%) BeanShell
6 4 (2.34%) SQL
7 1 (0.58%) C#
Qualifications
1 115 (67.25%) Security Cleared
2 77 (45.03%) DV Cleared
3 44 (25.73%) SC Cleared
4 12 (7.02%) VCAP
5 7 (4.09%) AWS Certification
5 7 (4.09%) Cisco Certification
5 7 (4.09%) Degree
6 6 (3.51%) CISSP
6 6 (3.51%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (2.34%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (2.34%) CCNA
8 3 (1.75%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 3 (1.75%) CISM
9 2 (1.17%) A+ Certification
9 2 (1.17%) ACSP
9 2 (1.17%) Azure Certification
9 2 (1.17%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (1.17%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 1 (0.58%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.58%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (14.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (13.45%) NIST
3 7 (4.09%) SLA
4 3 (1.75%) NCSC
5 2 (1.17%) Accessibility
5 2 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.58%) JSP 440
System Software
1 41 (23.98%) VMware Infrastructure
2 33 (19.30%) Hyper-V
3 18 (10.53%) vSphere
4 17 (9.94%) VMware NSX
5 13 (7.60%) Docker
6 10 (5.85%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (5.26%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (1.75%) VMware Workstation
9 2 (1.17%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.58%) KVM
10 1 (0.58%) NFS
Systems Management
1 22 (12.87%) Kubernetes
2 19 (11.11%) Ansible
3 15 (8.77%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (8.19%) VxRail
5 9 (5.26%) WSUS
6 8 (4.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (4.09%) OPNET
8 6 (3.51%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (2.92%) SCCM
10 4 (2.34%) Proxmox
11 3 (1.75%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.58%) Grafana
12 1 (0.58%) McAfee ePO
12 1 (0.58%) Nagios
12 1 (0.58%) PingFederate
12 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
12 1 (0.58%) SCOM
12 1 (0.58%) SolarWinds Orion
12 1 (0.58%) WMI
12 1 (0.58%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 80 (46.78%) Microsoft
2 47 (27.49%) VMware
3 34 (19.88%) CyberArk
4 20 (11.70%) Cisco
5 9 (5.26%) Red Hat
6 7 (4.09%) Google
6 7 (4.09%) McAfee
7 6 (3.51%) Oracle
7 6 (3.51%) Remedy
7 6 (3.51%) ServiceNow
8 4 (2.34%) Clearswift
8 4 (2.34%) Tanium
8 4 (2.34%) Trend Micro
9 3 (1.75%) Apple
9 3 (1.75%) Meraki
9 3 (1.75%) NetApp
9 3 (1.75%) Starlink
9 3 (1.75%) Thales
10 2 (1.17%) Citrix
10 2 (1.17%) Juniper