diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Abstractions/Ldap/LdapContracts.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Abstractions/Ldap/LdapContracts.cs
index f143205..95a2527 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Abstractions/Ldap/LdapContracts.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Abstractions/Ldap/LdapContracts.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,20 @@ namespace ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Abstractions.Ldap;
 
 public enum LdapTransport { Ldaps, StartTls, None }
 
+/// <summary>How <see cref="LdapOptions"/> authenticates a sign-in.</summary>
+public enum LdapBindMode
+{
+    /// <summary>Bind as the service account, search for the user, re-bind as the user (0.3.0 behaviour).</summary>
+    ServiceAccount,
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Bind as the signing-in user (identity built from <see cref="LdapOptions.UserBindTemplate"/>);
+    /// a successful bind authenticates them, and the same connection reads their own entry for groups.
+    /// No service account is used.
+    /// </summary>
+    User,
+}
+
 public sealed record LdapOptions
 {
     public bool Enabled { get; init; } = true;
@@ -19,6 +33,27 @@ public sealed record LdapOptions
     public string GroupAttribute { get; init; } = "memberOf";
     public int ConnectionTimeoutMs { get; init; } = 10_000;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Selects the authentication flow. <see cref="LdapBindMode.ServiceAccount"/> (the default) is the
+    /// 0.3.0 bind-then-search-then-bind flow; <see cref="LdapBindMode.User"/> binds as the user and needs
+    /// no <see cref="ServiceAccountDn"/> / <see cref="ServiceAccountPassword"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    public LdapBindMode BindMode { get; init; } = LdapBindMode.ServiceAccount;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// <see cref="LdapBindMode.User"/> only: the simple-bind identity, with <c>{0}</c> replaced by the
+    /// normalised login name — e.g. <c>{0}@example.com</c> (UPN) or <c>EXAMPLE\{0}</c>. Must contain
+    /// <c>{0}</c> exactly once.
+    /// </summary>
+    public string UserBindTemplate { get; init; } = "";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// <see cref="LdapBindMode.User"/> only: when <see langword="true"/> (default) a login typed as
+    /// <c>DOMAIN\name</c> or <c>name@suffix</c> is reduced to <c>name</c>; when <see langword="false"/>
+    /// such input is refused as bad credentials without contacting the directory.
+    /// </summary>
+    public bool AcceptDomainQualifiedNames { get; init; } = true;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Ordered fallback LDAP endpoints tried when the primary (and any earlier fallback)
     /// fails with a system-side error (connect/TLS, service-account bind, or search).
diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap/LdapOptionsValidator.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap/LdapOptionsValidator.cs
index c5fdf08..ed4c26f 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap/LdapOptionsValidator.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap/LdapOptionsValidator.cs
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ namespace ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap;
 /// <item><see cref="LdapOptions.Server"/> must be specified (no sane default host);</item>
 /// <item><see cref="LdapOptions.SearchBase"/> must be specified (the DN root every
 /// search runs against);</item>
-/// <item><see cref="LdapOptions.ServiceAccountDn"/> must be specified — an empty value
-/// would bind anonymously, defeating the search-then-bind authentication flow;</item>
+/// <item>in <see cref="LdapBindMode.ServiceAccount"/> mode <see cref="LdapOptions.ServiceAccountDn"/>
+/// must be specified — an empty value would bind anonymously, defeating the search-then-bind
+/// authentication flow; in <see cref="LdapBindMode.User"/> mode <see cref="LdapOptions.UserBindTemplate"/>
+/// must contain <c>{0}</c> exactly once instead;</item>
 /// <item>every <see cref="LdapOptions.FallbackServers"/> entry must parse as
 /// <c>"host"</c> or <c>"host:port"</c> — a typo'd backup DC must not lie dormant
 /// until the primary outage it exists to survive.</item>
@@ -63,7 +65,20 @@ public sealed class LdapOptionsValidator : IValidateOptions<LdapOptions>
                 "set it to the search-base DN (e.g. \"dc=example,dc=com\").");
         }
 
-        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(options.ServiceAccountDn))
+        if (options.BindMode == LdapBindMode.User)
+        {
+            // User mode binds as the signing-in user, so there is no service account to require.
+            // The template is the bind identity: without exactly one {0} every login would bind as
+            // the same fixed name (or as a name with the user spliced in twice).
+            if (CountPlaceholders(options.UserBindTemplate) != 1)
+            {
+                return ValidateOptionsResult.Fail(
+                    $"{nameof(LdapOptions.UserBindTemplate)} must contain {{0}} exactly once when " +
+                    $"{nameof(LdapOptions.BindMode)} is {nameof(LdapBindMode.User)} — e.g. \"{{0}}@example.com\" " +
+                    "or \"EXAMPLE\\{0}\".");
+            }
+        }
+        else if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(options.ServiceAccountDn))
         {
             return ValidateOptionsResult.Fail(
                 $"{nameof(LdapOptions.ServiceAccountDn)} is required but was empty or whitespace — " +
@@ -88,4 +103,16 @@ public sealed class LdapOptionsValidator : IValidateOptions<LdapOptions>
 
         return ValidateOptionsResult.Success;
     }
+
+    private static int CountPlaceholders(string? template)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(template))
+            return 0;
+
+        var count = 0;
+        for (var i = template.IndexOf("{0}", StringComparison.Ordinal); i >= 0;
+             i = template.IndexOf("{0}", i + 3, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            count++;
+        return count;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.AspNetCore.Tests/ServiceCollectionExtensionsTests.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.AspNetCore.Tests/ServiceCollectionExtensionsTests.cs
index e59fd30..cb2c958 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.AspNetCore.Tests/ServiceCollectionExtensionsTests.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.AspNetCore.Tests/ServiceCollectionExtensionsTests.cs
@@ -134,4 +134,30 @@ public class ServiceCollectionExtensionsTests
         await host.StartAsync();
         await host.StopAsync();
     }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void AddZbLdapAuth_BindsUserBindModeKeys()
+    {
+        IConfiguration config = new ConfigurationBuilder()
+            .AddInMemoryCollection(new Dictionary<string, string?>
+            {
+                [$"{LdapSection}:Server"] = LdapServer,
+                [$"{LdapSection}:SearchBase"] = "dc=example,dc=com",
+                [$"{LdapSection}:Transport"] = nameof(LdapTransport.Ldaps),
+                [$"{LdapSection}:BindMode"] = "User",
+                [$"{LdapSection}:UserBindTemplate"] = "{0}@corp.test",
+                [$"{LdapSection}:AcceptDomainQualifiedNames"] = "false",
+            })
+            .Build();
+        var services = new ServiceCollection();
+
+        services.AddZbLdapAuth(config, LdapSection);
+
+        using ServiceProvider provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
+        var options = provider.GetRequiredService<IOptions<LdapOptions>>().Value;
+
+        Assert.Equal(LdapBindMode.User, options.BindMode);
+        Assert.Equal("{0}@corp.test", options.UserBindTemplate);
+        Assert.False(options.AcceptDomainQualifiedNames);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap.Tests/LdapOptionsValidatorTests.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap.Tests/LdapOptionsValidatorTests.cs
index 144a64e..5b63af7 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap.Tests/LdapOptionsValidatorTests.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Auth.Ldap.Tests/LdapOptionsValidatorTests.cs
@@ -116,4 +116,38 @@ public class LdapOptionsValidatorTests
         Assert.False(new LdapOptionsValidator()
             .Validate(null, Opts() with { Enabled = false, FallbackServers = new[] { ":::" } })
             .Failed);
+
+    private static LdapOptions UserOpts() => Opts() with
+    {
+        BindMode = LdapBindMode.User,
+        UserBindTemplate = "{0}@corp.test",
+        ServiceAccountDn = "",
+        ServiceAccountPassword = "",
+    };
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Defaults_KeepServiceAccountMode()
+    {
+        var o = new LdapOptions();
+        Assert.Equal(LdapBindMode.ServiceAccount, o.BindMode);
+        Assert.Equal("", o.UserBindTemplate);
+        Assert.True(o.AcceptDomainQualifiedNames);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validator_UserMode_DoesNotRequireServiceAccount() =>
+        Assert.True(new LdapOptionsValidator().Validate(null, UserOpts()).Succeeded);
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("")]
+    [InlineData("   ")]
+    [InlineData("jdoe@corp.test")]
+    [InlineData("{0}{0}@corp.test")]
+    public void Validator_UserMode_RequiresExactlyOnePlaceholder(string template)
+    {
+        var result = new LdapOptionsValidator().Validate(null, UserOpts() with { UserBindTemplate = template });
+
+        Assert.True(result.Failed);
+        Assert.Contains(nameof(LdapOptions.UserBindTemplate), result.FailureMessage, StringComparison.Ordinal);
+    }
 }