Active Directory Contracts

Microsoft Active Directory
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring Active Directory skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Active Directory over the 6 months leading up to 1 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 35 32 30
Rank change year-on-year -3 -2 +18
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 1,575 2,321 3,774
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 5.42% 5.24% 5.99%
As % of the System Software category 41.53% 48.19% 44.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,064 1,602 2,739
10th Percentile £180 £158 £162
25th Percentile £230 £210 £225
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £425
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% -5.88% +4.94%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £678 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £375 £375
% change year-on-year +13.33% - +36.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 109 196
10th Percentile £15.14 £14.00 £13.14
25th Percentile £18.59 £14.48 £15.25
Median hourly rate £23.70 £17.72 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +33.72% -4.22% +7.25%
75th Percentile £33.94 £23.75 £50.08
90th Percentile £64.95 £40.00 £66.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.46 £17.60 £17.50
% change year-on-year +21.97% +0.54% +6.06%

All System Software Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 3,792 4,816 8,528
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 13.05% 10.88% 13.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,585 3,274 6,095
10th Percentile £213 £190 £206
25th Percentile £400 £325 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -7.14% -
75th Percentile £623 £600 £638
90th Percentile £702 £690 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £460 £480
% change year-on-year +3.26% -4.17% +9.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 226 325
10th Percentile £15.33 £14.06 £14.25
25th Percentile £21.46 £15.82 £17.47
Median hourly rate £29.00 £25.00 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year +16.00% -49.49% +164.00%
75th Percentile £66.00 £60.75 £66.00
90th Percentile £86.25 £70.66 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £26.08 £26.99
% change year-on-year +43.82% -3.39% +54.23%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Active Directory as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Active Directory in the UK

Active Directory
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Active Directory.

Daily rate trend for Active Directory in the UK

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Active Directory over the 6 months to 1 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Active Directory in the UK

Active Directory
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Active Directory.

Hourly rate trend for Active Directory in the UK

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Active Directory over the 6 months to 1 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Active Directory in the UK

Active Directory
Top 18 Contract Locations

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 UK over the 6 months to 1 April 2025. 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
England -2 1,354 £450 +12.50% 1,062
UK excluding London 0 955 £425 +13.33% 681
London -21 482 £500 +25.00% 467
Work from Home -6 424 £478 +2.80% 450
North of England +3 261 £350 +15.89% 149
South East -7 222 £537 +15.49% 204
North West +4 157 £350 - 71
South West +6 143 £450 +14.21% 72
Midlands -1 130 £425 +25.93% 132
West Midlands +4 99 £425 +21.43% 62
East of England +17 96 £350 +27.27% 90
Scotland -5 92 £440 -2.33% 31
Yorkshire +6 86 £400 +33.33% 54
East Midlands +3 31 £425 +89.00% 70
Wales +11 25 £400 +100.00% 26
North East -11 17 £263 +38.16% 32
Northern Ireland -4 7 £160 -62.35% 8
Channel Islands - 2 £298 - 1

Active Directory
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 342 (21.71%) Microsoft Exchange
2 233 (14.79%) SharePoint
3 43 (2.73%) IIS
4 34 (2.16%) Skype for Business
5 28 (1.78%) Confluence
6 18 (1.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 16 (1.02%) WebSphere
8 14 (0.89%) JBoss
9 13 (0.83%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
10 10 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2013
11 8 (0.51%) Exchange Server 2010
12 6 (0.38%) Apache
13 5 (0.32%) Exchange Server 2003
13 5 (0.32%) Exchange Server 2007
13 5 (0.32%) SharePoint Server
13 5 (0.32%) Tomcat
14 4 (0.25%) BizTalk Server
14 4 (0.25%) nginx
15 3 (0.19%) CMS
15 3 (0.19%) WebLogic
Applications
1 189 (12.00%) Microsoft Office
2 57 (3.62%) Microsoft Excel
3 38 (2.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 33 (2.10%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.063%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.063%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.063%) CANalyzer
6 1 (0.063%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.063%) Final Cut Pro
6 1 (0.063%) QuarkXPress
Business Applications
1 8 (0.51%) Remedy ITSM
2 7 (0.44%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.32%) Dynamics GP
4 3 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.13%) assyst
5 2 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.13%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.063%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 642 (40.76%) Azure
2 625 (39.68%) Microsoft 365
3 472 (29.97%) Entra ID
4 123 (7.81%) AWS
5 112 (7.11%) OneDrive
6 74 (4.70%) IaaS
7 60 (3.81%) SaaS
8 45 (2.86%) PaaS
9 44 (2.79%) GCP
9 44 (2.79%) Power Platform
10 35 (2.22%) Azure DevOps
11 29 (1.84%) GitHub
11 29 (1.84%) Serverless
12 24 (1.52%) Google Workspace
13 23 (1.46%) Azure Monitor
14 22 (1.40%) Power Automate
15 19 (1.21%) Azure Functions
15 19 (1.21%) Nutanix
16 18 (1.14%) Azure Logic Apps
16 18 (1.14%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 302 (19.17%) DNS
2 211 (13.40%) DHCP
3 199 (12.63%) Firewall
4 181 (11.49%) VPN
5 95 (6.03%) Wi-Fi
6 70 (4.44%) SMTP
7 68 (4.32%) LAN
7 68 (4.32%) Network Security
8 62 (3.94%) WAN
9 61 (3.87%) TCP/IP
10 49 (3.11%) Skype
11 42 (2.67%) VLAN
12 40 (2.54%) SAN
13 39 (2.48%) SSL
14 36 (2.29%) Remote Desktop
15 23 (1.46%) VoIP
16 20 (1.27%) HTTP
17 18 (1.14%) Cisco ISE
18 16 (1.02%) Wireless
19 15 (0.95%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 104 (6.60%) SQL Server
2 33 (2.10%) Relational Database
3 27 (1.71%) Oracle Database
4 22 (1.40%) RDBMS
5 19 (1.21%) Elasticsearch
6 15 (0.95%) DB2
7 14 (0.89%) Amazon RDS
8 12 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
9 11 (0.70%) NoSQL
10 8 (0.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 7 (0.44%) Power BI
12 6 (0.38%) Big Data
13 5 (0.32%) MongoDB
13 5 (0.32%) MySQL
13 5 (0.32%) PostgreSQL
14 4 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 3 (0.19%) BigQuery
15 3 (0.19%) Neo4j
16 2 (0.13%) IDMS
16 2 (0.13%) Sybase ASE
Development Applications
1 63 (4.00%) JIRA
2 39 (2.48%) Git
3 24 (1.52%) Jenkins
4 15 (0.95%) GitLab
4 15 (0.95%) SonarQube
4 15 (0.95%) TeamCity
5 14 (0.89%) Sonatype Nexus
6 12 (0.76%) MSI
7 10 (0.63%) Bitbucket Server
7 10 (0.63%) CA Release Automation
8 9 (0.57%) Selenium
9 8 (0.51%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.25%) Subversion
11 3 (0.19%) Hudson
11 3 (0.19%) JUnit
11 3 (0.19%) Oracle Forms
12 2 (0.13%) Maven
13 1 (0.063%) Moq
13 1 (0.063%) Serena SBM
13 1 (0.063%) Visual Studio
General
1 485 (30.79%) Social Skills
2 207 (13.14%) Finance
3 167 (10.60%) Public Sector
4 135 (8.57%) Analytical Skills
5 57 (3.62%) Telecoms
6 54 (3.43%) Legal
7 47 (2.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 42 (2.67%) Banking
9 41 (2.60%) Manufacturing
10 38 (2.41%) Marketing
11 35 (2.22%) Electronics
12 29 (1.84%) Documentation Skills
13 20 (1.27%) Law
14 16 (1.02%) Local Government
15 15 (0.95%) Retail
16 14 (0.89%) Military
17 9 (0.57%) Investment Banking
18 8 (0.51%) Pharmaceutical
19 7 (0.44%) Organisational Skills
20 6 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 212 (13.46%) Analyst
2 211 (13.40%) Support Engineer
3 188 (11.94%) Architect
4 176 (11.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 113 (7.17%) Service Analyst
6 112 (7.11%) Service Desk Analyst
7 99 (6.29%) Senior
8 89 (5.65%) IT Support
9 86 (5.46%) 2nd Line Support
10 84 (5.33%) Desktop Engineer
11 81 (5.14%) IT Engineer
12 79 (5.02%) Desktop Support
13 62 (3.94%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
14 61 (3.87%) Desktop Support Engineer
15 56 (3.56%) Developer
16 54 (3.43%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 54 (3.43%) Support Analyst
17 48 (3.05%) IT Support Engineer
17 48 (3.05%) Windows Engineer
18 47 (2.98%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (4.06%) LDAP
2 50 (3.17%) SAML
3 44 (2.79%) REST
3 44 (2.79%) SailPoint
4 42 (2.67%) OAuth
5 39 (2.48%) .NET
6 29 (1.84%) Middleware
7 26 (1.65%) OpenID
8 23 (1.46%) React
9 22 (1.40%) Microsoft Graph
10 21 (1.33%) AngularJS
11 19 (1.21%) HTML
12 18 (1.14%) Web Services
13 16 (1.02%) SOAP
14 14 (0.89%) JSON
15 13 (0.83%) CSS
15 13 (0.83%) Spring Boot
16 12 (0.76%) ASP.NET
17 11 (0.70%) XML
18 10 (0.63%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 103 (6.54%) PKI
2 86 (5.46%) Onboarding
3 62 (3.94%) Clustering
4 58 (3.68%) Data Centre
5 51 (3.24%) Management Information System
6 46 (2.92%) Video Conferencing
7 41 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
8 38 (2.41%) Hybrid Cloud
9 27 (1.71%) Security Posture
10 24 (1.52%) Product Ownership
11 23 (1.46%) Replication
12 22 (1.40%) Linux Command Line
13 21 (1.33%) Driving Licence
14 19 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
14 19 (1.21%) iPhone
15 18 (1.14%) NHS
16 17 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
16 17 (1.08%) iPad
17 16 (1.02%) Blackberry
18 14 (0.89%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 1,004 (63.75%) Windows
2 420 (26.67%) Windows Server
3 337 (21.40%) Windows 10
4 187 (11.87%) Linux
5 84 (5.33%) Windows Server 2012
6 77 (4.89%) Windows Server 2016
7 58 (3.68%) Apple iOS
8 54 (3.43%) Windows Server 2019
9 49 (3.11%) Android
10 48 (3.05%) Unix
11 37 (2.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 37 (2.35%) Windows 7
12 29 (1.84%) Mac OS
13 27 (1.71%) Windows Server 2003
14 22 (1.40%) Windows Server 2008
15 20 (1.27%) VMS
16 8 (0.51%) CentOS
17 6 (0.38%) Solaris
18 5 (0.32%) Windows XP
19 4 (0.25%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 351 (22.29%) Problem-Solving
2 294 (18.67%) ITIL
3 274 (17.40%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 241 (15.30%) Customer Service
5 197 (12.51%) Migration
6 180 (11.43%) Agile
7 161 (10.22%) Identity Access Management
8 145 (9.21%) ITSM
9 130 (8.25%) DevOps
10 99 (6.29%) Cybersecurity
11 98 (6.22%) RBAC
12 96 (6.10%) Incident Management
13 87 (5.52%) Identity Management
14 84 (5.33%) Project Delivery
15 82 (5.21%) Service Delivery
15 82 (5.21%) Service Management
16 74 (4.70%) High Availability
17 70 (4.44%) Roadmaps
18 69 (4.38%) Privileged Access Management
19 67 (4.25%) Multi-Factor Authentication
Programming Languages
1 410 (26.03%) PowerShell
2 156 (9.90%) SQL
3 96 (6.10%) Python
4 42 (2.67%) Bash
4 42 (2.67%) JavaScript
5 40 (2.54%) C#
6 38 (2.41%) Java
7 32 (2.03%) Perl
8 22 (1.40%) PL/SQL
9 18 (1.14%) Shell Script
10 10 (0.63%) Ruby
10 10 (0.63%) VBScript
11 9 (0.57%) Bicep
12 7 (0.44%) VB
13 6 (0.38%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.32%) BeanShell
15 4 (0.25%) VBA
16 3 (0.19%) C
17 2 (0.13%) ABAP
17 2 (0.13%) C++
Qualifications
1 436 (27.68%) Security Cleared
2 260 (16.51%) SC Cleared
3 175 (11.11%) DV Cleared
4 146 (9.27%) Degree
5 115 (7.30%) Microsoft Certification
6 58 (3.68%) Azure Certification
7 45 (2.86%) A+ Certification
8 36 (2.29%) Cisco Certification
9 31 (1.97%) ITIL Certification
10 29 (1.84%) CISSP
11 27 (1.71%) MCSA
12 25 (1.59%) MCSE
13 20 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
14 19 (1.21%) CISM
15 18 (1.14%) DBS Check
16 17 (1.08%) AWS Certification
17 16 (1.02%) CCNA
18 12 (0.76%) MCP
19 10 (0.63%) Network+ Certification
20 9 (0.57%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (3.94%) SLA
2 38 (2.41%) GDPR
3 24 (1.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 23 (1.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 22 (1.40%) QA
6 18 (1.14%) NIST
7 17 (1.08%) HIPAA
8 11 (0.70%) PCI DSS
9 8 (0.51%) NCSC
10 7 (0.44%) GxP
10 7 (0.44%) PMO
10 7 (0.44%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.32%) Data Quality
13 4 (0.25%) Government Security Classifications
14 3 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
14 3 (0.19%) GRC
15 2 (0.13%) Accessibility
15 2 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 1 (0.063%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 213 (13.52%) VMware Infrastructure
2 119 (7.56%) Hyper-V
3 97 (6.16%) VMware ESXi
4 60 (3.81%) vSphere
5 59 (3.75%) Microsoft App-V
6 58 (3.68%) BitLocker
7 57 (3.62%) Virtual Machines
8 36 (2.29%) Terminal Services
9 35 (2.22%) Docker
10 29 (1.84%) Virtual Desktop
11 22 (1.40%) VMware NSX
12 14 (0.89%) Virtual Servers
12 14 (0.89%) XenApp
12 14 (0.89%) XenDesktop
13 9 (0.57%) Firmware
13 9 (0.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 9 (0.57%) NFS
14 5 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
15 4 (0.25%) DFS Replication
16 3 (0.19%) Brightmail
Systems Management
1 277 (17.59%) Microsoft Intune
2 228 (14.48%) SCCM
3 86 (5.46%) Single Sign-On
4 82 (5.21%) vCenter Server
5 71 (4.51%) WSUS
6 66 (4.19%) Ansible
7 56 (3.56%) Terraform
8 49 (3.11%) Kubernetes
9 37 (2.35%) vMotion
10 33 (2.10%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 18 (1.14%) Microsoft Clustering
11 18 (1.14%) Progress Chef
12 15 (0.95%) Puppet
13 14 (0.89%) AppManager
13 14 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
14 12 (0.76%) Kibana
14 12 (0.76%) SCOM
15 9 (0.57%) AirWatch
15 9 (0.57%) vRealize
16 7 (0.44%) Failover Clustering
Vendors
1 917 (58.22%) Microsoft
2 348 (22.10%) VMware
3 151 (9.59%) ServiceNow
4 127 (8.06%) Citrix
5 111 (7.05%) Cisco
6 71 (4.51%) Oracle
7 68 (4.32%) CyberArk
8 50 (3.17%) SAP
9 46 (2.92%) Dell
9 46 (2.92%) Google
10 39 (2.48%) HP
11 38 (2.41%) Apple
12 35 (2.22%) Red Hat
13 25 (1.59%) SolarWinds
14 23 (1.46%) Meraki
15 22 (1.40%) Veeam
16 21 (1.33%) McAfee
16 21 (1.33%) Okta
16 21 (1.33%) Splunk
16 21 (1.33%) Zscaler