Hybrid/Remote Active Directory Contract Job Trends

Microsoft Active Directory
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for remote or hybrid contract work requiring Active Directory skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 83 71 46
Rank change year-on-year -12 -25 -6
Contract jobs citing Active Directory 476 336 534
As % of all contract jobs with remote/hybrid work options 3.52% 3.46% 4.23%
As % of the System Software category 33.62% 31.05% 40.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 217 376
10th Percentile £200 £208 £186
25th Percentile £330 £356 £355
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £600 £573 £580
90th Percentile £663 £625 £650
UK median daily rate £450 £428 £438
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.29% +9.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 3 4
10th Percentile £15.81 £23.60 £13.22
25th Percentile £19.91 £26.00 £13.24
Median hourly rate £67.47 £30.00 £49.75
Median % change year-on-year +124.90% -39.70% +80.91%
75th Percentile £77.50 £40.63 £92.50
90th Percentile £95.00 £47.00 -
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £19.37 £20.00
% change year-on-year +151.59% -3.18% -

All System Software Skills
Work from Home

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 with remote or hybrid options requiring system software skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 1,416 1,082 1,308
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 10.46% 11.15% 10.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 963 709 927
10th Percentile £313 £313 £286
25th Percentile £425 £410 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £523
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.31% -0.48%
75th Percentile £600 £582 £610
90th Percentile £675 £638 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -0.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 15 14
10th Percentile £15.81 £29.40 £20.68
25th Percentile £55.00 £33.00 £50.31
Median hourly rate £65.00 £54.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +20.37% -22.86% +11.11%
75th Percentile £75.00 £67.00 £85.59
90th Percentile £90.65 £92.50 £91.75
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £34.00 £24.20
% change year-on-year +85.69% +40.50% -51.60%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Active Directory and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Active Directory job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Active Directory
Daily Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Active Directory.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Daily Rate Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Daily rate distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Active Directory over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Active Directory daily rate histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Active Directory.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Hourly Rate Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Hourly rate distribution for jobs with remote working options citing Active Directory over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Active Directory hourly rate histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid working options

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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 74 (15.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 66 (13.87%) SharePoint
3 15 (3.15%) Confluence
4 10 (2.10%) Apache
5 8 (1.68%) nginx
6 7 (1.47%) IIS
7 3 (0.63%) CMS
8 2 (0.42%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.21%) EPiServer
9 1 (0.21%) Tomcat
Applications
1 23 (4.83%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (4.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.21%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.21%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 3 (0.63%) Dynamics CRM
1 3 (0.63%) Payment Gateway
1 3 (0.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.42%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 280 (58.82%) Azure
2 255 (53.57%) Entra ID
3 162 (34.03%) Microsoft 365
4 73 (15.34%) AWS
5 50 (10.50%) OneDrive
6 30 (6.30%) GCP
7 29 (6.09%) SaaS
8 17 (3.57%) Azure Monitor
8 17 (3.57%) GitHub
9 14 (2.94%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (2.73%) Azure Sentinel
10 13 (2.73%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (2.73%) Power Platform
11 12 (2.52%) Azure Logic Apps
11 12 (2.52%) IaaS
12 11 (2.31%) PaaS
13 10 (2.10%) Google Workspace
13 10 (2.10%) Power Automate
13 10 (2.10%) Serverless
14 9 (1.89%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 76 (15.97%) DNS
2 60 (12.61%) DHCP
3 59 (12.39%) Firewall
4 40 (8.40%) VPN
5 23 (4.83%) TCP/IP
6 21 (4.41%) Wi-Fi
7 15 (3.15%) Network Security
8 13 (2.73%) Kerberos
9 11 (2.31%) LAN
9 11 (2.31%) SSL
9 11 (2.31%) WAN
10 8 (1.68%) Wireless
11 7 (1.47%) SSH
11 7 (1.47%) VLAN
12 6 (1.26%) Cisco IOS
12 6 (1.26%) NGFW
12 6 (1.26%) Remote Desktop
12 6 (1.26%) SAN
13 4 (0.84%) Internet
13 4 (0.84%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (6.09%) SQL Server
2 10 (2.10%) Power BI
3 6 (1.26%) Data Lake
4 5 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
5 4 (0.84%) Metadata
6 3 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.42%) Amazon Athena
7 2 (0.42%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.42%) Amazon Redshift
7 2 (0.42%) Delta Lake
7 2 (0.42%) MySQL
8 1 (0.21%) Big Data
8 1 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.21%) Db2
8 1 (0.21%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.21%) Redis
8 1 (0.21%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 21 (4.41%) JIRA
2 11 (2.31%) Git
2 11 (2.31%) GitLab
3 7 (1.47%) Bitbucket
4 5 (1.05%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 4 (0.84%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.42%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.42%) Claude Code
6 2 (0.42%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.21%) AdminStudio
7 1 (0.21%) InstallShield
7 1 (0.21%) Maven
7 1 (0.21%) MSI
7 1 (0.21%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 184 (38.66%) Social Skills
2 60 (12.61%) Finance
3 55 (11.55%) Public Sector
4 41 (8.61%) Documentation Skills
5 35 (7.35%) Analytical Skills
6 19 (3.99%) Banking
7 17 (3.57%) Legal
8 14 (2.94%) Military
9 11 (2.31%) Manufacturing
10 8 (1.68%) Retail
11 6 (1.26%) Aerospace
11 6 (1.26%) Financial Institution
12 5 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.05%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (0.84%) Police
14 3 (0.63%) Advertising
15 2 (0.42%) Back Office
15 2 (0.42%) Front Office
15 2 (0.42%) Law
Job Titles
1 77 (16.18%) Architect
2 49 (10.29%) Analyst
3 42 (8.82%) Consultant
4 38 (7.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 35 (7.35%) Senior
6 26 (5.46%) IT Support
7 25 (5.25%) Cloud Engineer
8 23 (4.83%) Support Analyst
9 21 (4.41%) IT Analyst
9 21 (4.41%) Service Analyst
9 21 (4.41%) Service Desk Analyst
10 18 (3.78%) Solutions Architect
11 17 (3.57%) Administrator
11 17 (3.57%) Azure Engineer
12 16 (3.36%) Lead
13 15 (3.15%) Active Directory Engineer
13 15 (3.15%) IT Support Analyst
13 15 (3.15%) Project Manager
14 14 (2.94%) Azure Architect
15 13 (2.73%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (16.39%) LDAP
2 55 (11.55%) Terraform
3 37 (7.77%) SailPoint
4 30 (6.30%) OAuth
5 29 (6.09%) OpenID
6 28 (5.88%) SAML
7 24 (5.04%) REST
8 20 (4.20%) OAuth2
9 10 (2.10%) .NET
9 10 (2.10%) Microsoft Graph
10 9 (1.89%) JSON
11 7 (1.47%) FIDO
12 6 (1.26%) ARM Templates
12 6 (1.26%) Keycloak
12 6 (1.26%) Web Services
13 5 (1.05%) 802.1X
14 4 (0.84%) ASP.NET
15 3 (0.63%) Kafka
15 3 (0.63%) SAP CAF
15 3 (0.63%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 50 (10.50%) Onboarding
2 41 (8.61%) PKI
3 40 (8.40%) Enterprise Software
4 21 (4.41%) Data Centre
5 20 (4.20%) Management Information System
6 17 (3.57%) Hybrid Cloud
7 12 (2.52%) CMDB
7 12 (2.52%) Security Posture
8 11 (2.31%) Product Ownership
9 8 (1.68%) Cloud Native
9 8 (1.68%) Driving Licence
9 8 (1.68%) Enterprise Cloud
9 8 (1.68%) Operational Technology
9 8 (1.68%) SCADA
10 7 (1.47%) Replication
11 6 (1.26%) Data Protection Act
11 6 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
11 6 (1.26%) Smartphone
12 5 (1.05%) Legacy Applications
12 5 (1.05%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 223 (46.85%) Windows
2 73 (15.34%) Windows Server
3 60 (12.61%) Linux
4 33 (6.93%) Windows 10
5 16 (3.36%) Android
6 15 (3.15%) Windows Server 2016
7 10 (2.10%) Mac OS
7 10 (2.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (2.10%) Unix
7 10 (2.10%) Windows Server 2019
8 7 (1.47%) Ubuntu
8 7 (1.47%) Windows Server 2012
9 6 (1.26%) Apple iOS
9 6 (1.26%) CentOS
10 3 (0.63%) VMS
11 1 (0.21%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.21%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (19.96%) Stakeholder Management
2 94 (19.75%) Problem-Solving
3 91 (19.12%) ITIL
4 81 (17.02%) Identity Access Management
4 81 (17.02%) Migration
5 68 (14.29%) ITSM
6 67 (14.08%) Runbook
6 67 (14.08%) SIEM
7 63 (13.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 60 (12.61%) Continuous Improvement
9 59 (12.39%) RBAC
10 57 (11.97%) Customer Service
10 57 (11.97%) Cybersecurity
11 52 (10.92%) Agile
12 50 (10.50%) CI/CD
13 48 (10.08%) Identity Management
14 46 (9.66%) DevOps
14 46 (9.66%) Privileged Access Management
14 46 (9.66%) Technical Leadership
14 46 (9.66%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 112 (23.53%) PowerShell
2 56 (11.76%) Python
3 24 (5.04%) Bash
4 21 (4.41%) Bicep
5 17 (3.57%) SQL
6 6 (1.26%) Java
7 5 (1.05%) C#
7 5 (1.05%) Shell Script
8 4 (0.84%) BeanShell
8 4 (0.84%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (0.63%) Go
10 2 (0.42%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.42%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.42%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.21%) Ada
11 1 (0.21%) Delphi
11 1 (0.21%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.21%) Korn
11 1 (0.21%) MATLAB
11 1 (0.21%) R
Qualifications
1 139 (29.20%) Security Cleared
2 95 (19.96%) SC Cleared
3 42 (8.82%) Microsoft Certification
4 40 (8.40%) DV Cleared
5 29 (6.09%) Azure Certification
5 29 (6.09%) Degree
6 17 (3.57%) CISSP
7 13 (2.73%) CISM
8 11 (2.31%) PMP
9 8 (1.68%) AWS Certification
9 8 (1.68%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 7 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (1.26%) A+ Certification
11 6 (1.26%) MCSE
12 5 (1.05%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (0.84%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (0.84%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (0.84%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (14.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 64 (13.45%) NIST
3 27 (5.67%) SLA
4 24 (5.04%) GDPR
5 12 (2.52%) Data Quality
6 8 (1.68%) Cyber Essentials
7 6 (1.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 5 (1.05%) GRC
8 5 (1.05%) NCSC
9 4 (0.84%) ITGC
9 4 (0.84%) NIST 800
9 4 (0.84%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.84%) QA
10 3 (0.63%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.42%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.21%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.21%) ISO 31000
12 1 (0.21%) PMO
12 1 (0.21%) PSD2
System Software
1 40 (8.40%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (6.30%) Virtual Desktop
3 18 (3.78%) Hyper-V
4 16 (3.36%) Docker
4 16 (3.36%) Virtual Machines
5 14 (2.94%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (1.68%) vSphere
7 7 (1.47%) VMware NSX
8 4 (0.84%) NFS
9 3 (0.63%) Microsoft App-V
10 2 (0.42%) OpenAM
10 2 (0.42%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.21%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.21%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.21%) Dovecot
11 1 (0.21%) Postfix
11 1 (0.21%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.21%) UAG
11 1 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.21%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 87 (18.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 49 (10.29%) SCCM
3 33 (6.93%) Single Sign-On
4 25 (5.25%) Kubernetes
5 19 (3.99%) Ansible
6 16 (3.36%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.89%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (1.47%) Grafana
8 7 (1.47%) Packer
8 7 (1.47%) Prometheus
9 5 (1.05%) SCOM
9 5 (1.05%) VxRail
10 4 (0.84%) Nessus
11 3 (0.63%) CA Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.63%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.42%) Argo
12 2 (0.42%) NetBackup
12 2 (0.42%) PingFederate
12 2 (0.42%) Puppet
12 2 (0.42%) WSUS
Vendors
1 289 (60.71%) Microsoft
2 69 (14.50%) CyberArk
3 60 (12.61%) VMware
4 51 (10.71%) ServiceNow
5 29 (6.09%) Cisco
6 22 (4.62%) Citrix
7 18 (3.78%) BeyondTrust
8 16 (3.36%) Google
9 15 (3.15%) Okta
10 14 (2.94%) Zscaler
11 12 (2.52%) Oracle
12 11 (2.31%) Splunk
13 10 (2.10%) SAP
14 9 (1.89%) Apple
14 9 (1.89%) HP
15 8 (1.68%) Meraki
15 8 (1.68%) Mitel
16 7 (1.47%) Avaya
16 7 (1.47%) Databricks
16 7 (1.47%) Ping Identity