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

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 29 27
Rank change year-on-year -5 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 174 116 175
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.66% 5.87% 6.55%
As % of the System Software category 46.77% 47.35% 39.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 88 125
10th Percentile £185 £200 £143
25th Percentile £291 £224 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £285 £470
Median % change year-on-year +84.21% -39.36% -3.59%
75th Percentile £588 £506 £600
90th Percentile £715 £588 £675
England median daily rate £450 £430 £448
% change year-on-year +4.65% -3.91% +11.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 1 3
10th Percentile £13.65 - £13.10
25th Percentile £19.25 £57.50 £14.00
Median hourly rate £52.54 £65.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.18% +306.25% -7.14%
75th Percentile £96.91 £72.50 £54.50
90th Percentile £99.76 - £77.30
England median hourly rate £52.54 £23.00 £19.18
% change year-on-year +128.41% +19.92% -1.64%

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 372 245 438
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 9.97% 12.39% 16.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 184 307
10th Percentile £221 £213 £195
25th Percentile £413 £300 £461
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +8.00% -6.98% +2.38%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £613
90th Percentile £725 £694 £672
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -0.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 5 10
10th Percentile £19.25 £65.98 £15.20
25th Percentile £47.25 £78.70 £52.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £80.00 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.75% - +33.33%
75th Percentile £75.50 £95.00 £85.00
90th Percentile £98.82 - £90.25
England median hourly rate £65.00 £36.00 £24.20
% change year-on-year +80.56% +48.76% -47.60%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 +11 50 £525 - 18
Bristol +5 41 £525 +7.69% 15
Somerset -21 32 £575 +130.00% 18
Gloucestershire -6 27 £238 -26.92% 11
Dorset -4 12 £540 +163.41% 9
Devon -21 3 £338 +22.73% 2
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 30 (17.24%) SharePoint
2 25 (14.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (2.30%) IIS
4 1 (0.57%) Confluence
4 1 (0.57%) Mattermost
Applications
1 5 (2.87%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.30%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (3.45%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.15%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 61 (35.06%) Azure
2 49 (28.16%) Entra ID
3 42 (24.14%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (12.64%) AWS
5 12 (6.90%) SaaS
6 7 (4.02%) Google Workspace
7 6 (3.45%) GCP
7 6 (3.45%) OneDrive
8 5 (2.87%) Google Drive
8 5 (2.87%) Power Platform
9 3 (1.72%) Asana
9 3 (1.72%) PowerApps
10 2 (1.15%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (1.15%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (1.15%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (1.15%) OpenShift
10 2 (1.15%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.57%) IaaS
11 1 (0.57%) PaaS
11 1 (0.57%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 58 (33.33%) DNS
2 43 (24.71%) DHCP
3 30 (17.24%) Firewall
4 24 (13.79%) TCP/IP
5 14 (8.05%) VSAN
6 12 (6.90%) VPN
7 8 (4.60%) SAN
8 6 (3.45%) WAN
9 5 (2.87%) LAN
9 5 (2.87%) VoIP
9 5 (2.87%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (2.30%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (2.30%) Kerberos
10 4 (2.30%) VLAN
10 4 (2.30%) Wireless
11 3 (1.72%) BGP
11 3 (1.72%) Cisco IOS
11 3 (1.72%) DKIM
11 3 (1.72%) NAS
11 3 (1.72%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.87%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.30%) Power BI
3 2 (1.15%) Oracle BI EE
3 2 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.57%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.57%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.57%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.57%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 12 (6.90%) JIRA
2 2 (1.15%) AdminStudio
2 2 (1.15%) InstallShield
3 1 (0.57%) Git
General
1 60 (34.48%) Social Skills
2 25 (14.37%) Public Sector
3 14 (8.05%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (6.32%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (3.45%) Legal
5 6 (3.45%) Military
6 5 (2.87%) Aerospace
7 4 (2.30%) Finance
7 4 (2.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (2.30%) Police
8 2 (1.15%) Law
8 2 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.57%) Advertising
9 1 (0.57%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 37 (21.26%) Architect
2 23 (13.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 17 (9.77%) Senior
4 16 (9.20%) Support Engineer
5 12 (6.90%) Administrator
5 12 (6.90%) IT Support
6 11 (6.32%) Platform Engineer
7 10 (5.75%) Consultant
8 9 (5.17%) Analyst
9 8 (4.60%) IT Engineer
9 8 (4.60%) Principal Engineer
9 8 (4.60%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 8 (4.60%) Service Desk Support
10 7 (4.02%) 1st Line Support
10 7 (4.02%) Active Directory Consultant
10 7 (4.02%) Desktop Engineer
10 7 (4.02%) Desktop Support Engineer
10 7 (4.02%) Service Analyst
10 7 (4.02%) Service Desk Analyst
10 7 (4.02%) Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (17.24%) LDAP
2 20 (11.49%) Terraform
3 10 (5.75%) OAuth
4 8 (4.60%) SailPoint
5 7 (4.02%) SAML
6 5 (2.87%) Elastic Stack
7 4 (2.30%) OpenID
8 3 (1.72%) OAuth2
9 2 (1.15%) HTML5 Canvas
9 2 (1.15%) JSON
9 2 (1.15%) REST
10 1 (0.57%) .NET
10 1 (0.57%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 29 (16.67%) PKI
2 18 (10.34%) Data Centre
3 12 (6.90%) Enterprise Software
3 12 (6.90%) Onboarding
4 9 (5.17%) Hybrid Cloud
4 9 (5.17%) Management Information System
5 6 (3.45%) Product Ownership
5 6 (3.45%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (2.87%) Driving Licence
6 5 (2.87%) Public Cloud
7 4 (2.30%) Augmented Reality
7 4 (2.30%) Clustering
7 4 (2.30%) Linux Command Line
7 4 (2.30%) Replication
7 4 (2.30%) Virtual Reality
8 3 (1.72%) Enterprise Storage
8 3 (1.72%) Fat Client
8 3 (1.72%) Freedom of Information
8 3 (1.72%) Smartcard
8 3 (1.72%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 109 (62.64%) Windows
2 43 (24.71%) Linux
3 40 (22.99%) Windows Server
4 28 (16.09%) Windows 10
5 13 (7.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 7 (4.02%) Android
7 5 (2.87%) Mac OS
8 3 (1.72%) CentOS
8 3 (1.72%) Data ONTAP
8 3 (1.72%) Ubuntu
9 2 (1.15%) Apple iOS
9 2 (1.15%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.57%) Rocky
10 1 (0.57%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (27.59%) Technical Leadership
2 47 (27.01%) Continuous Improvement
3 42 (24.14%) SIEM
4 41 (23.56%) Mentoring
5 39 (22.41%) Problem-Solving
6 35 (20.11%) DevSecOps
7 33 (18.97%) ITSM
8 28 (16.09%) ITIL
9 27 (15.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 27 (15.52%) Runbook
10 25 (14.37%) Cybersecurity
11 24 (13.79%) Stakeholder Management
12 23 (13.22%) Customer Service
12 23 (13.22%) Infrastructure as Code
13 22 (12.64%) Customer Engagement
13 22 (12.64%) Security Architecture
14 21 (12.07%) Platform Engineering
15 20 (11.49%) GAP Analysis
16 19 (10.92%) Secrets Management
17 18 (10.34%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 49 (28.16%) PowerShell
2 19 (10.92%) Bash
2 19 (10.92%) Python
3 6 (3.45%) Java
4 5 (2.87%) BeanShell
5 4 (2.30%) SQL
6 1 (0.57%) C#
Qualifications
1 115 (66.09%) Security Cleared
2 70 (40.23%) DV Cleared
3 51 (29.31%) SC Cleared
4 12 (6.90%) VCAP
5 7 (4.02%) AWS Certification
5 7 (4.02%) Cisco Certification
5 7 (4.02%) Degree
5 7 (4.02%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (3.45%) CISSP
7 5 (2.87%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (2.30%) CCNA
9 3 (1.72%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 3 (1.72%) ACSP
9 3 (1.72%) Azure Certification
9 3 (1.72%) CISM
10 2 (1.15%) A+ Certification
10 2 (1.15%) TOGAF Certification
10 2 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 1 (0.57%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (0.57%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (12.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 19 (10.92%) NIST
3 7 (4.02%) SLA
4 3 (1.72%) NCSC
5 2 (1.15%) Accessibility
5 2 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.57%) JSP 440
System Software
1 40 (22.99%) VMware Infrastructure
2 32 (18.39%) Hyper-V
3 17 (9.77%) VMware NSX
3 17 (9.77%) vSphere
4 13 (7.47%) Docker
5 10 (5.75%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (5.17%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (1.72%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (1.15%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.57%) KVM
9 1 (0.57%) NFS
Systems Management
1 22 (12.64%) Kubernetes
2 21 (12.07%) Ansible
2 21 (12.07%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (8.05%) VxRail
4 8 (4.60%) WSUS
5 7 (4.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 7 (4.02%) OPNET
5 7 (4.02%) SCCM
6 6 (3.45%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (2.30%) Proxmox
8 3 (1.72%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.57%) Grafana
9 1 (0.57%) Nagios
9 1 (0.57%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.57%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.57%) SCOM
9 1 (0.57%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 83 (47.70%) Microsoft
2 46 (26.44%) VMware
3 30 (17.24%) CyberArk
4 18 (10.34%) Cisco
5 9 (5.17%) Red Hat
6 8 (4.60%) McAfee
7 7 (4.02%) Google
8 6 (3.45%) Oracle
8 6 (3.45%) Remedy
8 6 (3.45%) ServiceNow
9 5 (2.87%) Starlink
10 4 (2.30%) Apple
10 4 (2.30%) Clearswift
10 4 (2.30%) Tanium
10 4 (2.30%) Trend Micro
11 3 (1.72%) NetApp
11 3 (1.72%) Thales
12 2 (1.15%) Juniper
12 2 (1.15%) Meraki
13 1 (0.57%) Citrix