Active Directory Job Trends in the North of England

Microsoft Active Directory
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Active Directory skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 63 39 26
Rank change year-on-year -24 -13 +27
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 370 401 880
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 3.03% 4.99% 7.12%
As % of the System Software category 52.33% 50.00% 50.23%
Number of salaries quoted 275 226 789
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,875 £23,500
25th Percentile £28,875 £29,000 £26,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £37,500 £33,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% +11.94% -11.84%
75th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £46,250
90th Percentile £56,500 £54,750 £57,500
England median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +6.25% -1.23%

All System Software Skills
North of England

Active Directory falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring system software skills in the North of England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 707 802 1,752
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 5.79% 9.98% 14.17%
Number of salaries quoted 524 498 1,511
10th Percentile £27,750 £28,200 £25,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £36,250 £31,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,500 £49,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -6.06% +10.00% -5.26%
75th Percentile £63,750 £69,313 £61,250
90th Percentile £77,500 £93,778 £73,250
England median annual salary £50,000 £58,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.79% +16.00% -9.09%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Active Directory relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the North of England

Active Directory
Salary Trend in the North of England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Active Directory.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Salary Histogram in the North of England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the North of England over the 6 months to 10 February 2026.

Salary histogram for Active Directory in the North of England

Active Directory
Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Active Directory within the North of England region over the 6 months to 10 February 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North West -9 170 £37,500 -6.25% 50
Yorkshire -16 160 £32,500 - 52
North East -12 40 £31,500 -12.50% 13
Active Directory
England

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England 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
1 107 (28.92%) Microsoft Exchange
2 84 (22.70%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.81%) Confluence
4 2 (0.54%) FactoryTalk
4 2 (0.54%) IIS
4 2 (0.54%) WinCC
Applications
1 66 (17.84%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.54%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 6 (1.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.27%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 282 (76.22%) Microsoft 365
2 202 (54.59%) Azure
3 120 (32.43%) Entra ID
4 32 (8.65%) SaaS
5 25 (6.76%) AWS
6 22 (5.95%) OneDrive
7 21 (5.68%) Google Workspace
8 17 (4.59%) Azure Monitor
9 12 (3.24%) Power Platform
10 11 (2.97%) Azure Sentinel
11 9 (2.43%) IaaS
11 9 (2.43%) Microsoft Purview
12 7 (1.89%) Mimecast
13 6 (1.62%) Cloud Computing
13 6 (1.62%) Google Docs
13 6 (1.62%) Google Sheets
14 5 (1.35%) Azure DevOps
14 5 (1.35%) OCI
15 4 (1.08%) Intacct
15 4 (1.08%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 122 (32.97%) Firewall
2 119 (32.16%) DNS
3 107 (28.92%) DHCP
4 89 (24.05%) VPN
5 73 (19.73%) TCP/IP
6 67 (18.11%) VLAN
7 63 (17.03%) WAN
8 54 (14.59%) LAN
9 34 (9.19%) Wi-Fi
10 22 (5.95%) VoIP
10 22 (5.95%) Wireless
11 14 (3.78%) Network Security
11 14 (3.78%) SAN
12 12 (3.24%) Remote Desktop
12 12 (3.24%) SD-WAN
13 8 (2.16%) Ethernet
14 6 (1.62%) DMZ
14 6 (1.62%) SSL
15 4 (1.08%) BGP
15 4 (1.08%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.41%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.62%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (1.35%) MySQL
4 4 (1.08%) Power BI
5 3 (0.81%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.54%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 10 (2.70%) JIRA
2 4 (1.08%) GitLab
3 3 (0.81%) Git
3 3 (0.81%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 181 (48.92%) Social Skills
2 42 (11.35%) Manufacturing
3 28 (7.57%) Analytical Skills
3 28 (7.57%) Finance
4 22 (5.95%) Organisational Skills
5 20 (5.41%) Documentation Skills
6 16 (4.32%) Advertising
7 15 (4.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (3.51%) Law
9 12 (3.24%) Retail
10 10 (2.70%) Legal
11 9 (2.43%) Public Sector
12 8 (2.16%) Marketing
13 6 (1.62%) Aerospace
14 4 (1.08%) Automotive
14 4 (1.08%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.81%) Tech for Good
16 2 (0.54%) Military
16 2 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
17 1 (0.27%) Police
Job Titles
1 160 (43.24%) IT Support
2 97 (26.22%) Support Engineer
3 84 (22.70%) IT Engineer
4 72 (19.46%) IT Support Engineer
5 62 (16.76%) Analyst
6 47 (12.70%) Support Technician
7 46 (12.43%) 2nd Line Support
8 44 (11.89%) IT Analyst
9 34 (9.19%) Support Analyst
10 33 (8.92%) IT Support Analyst
11 32 (8.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 27 (7.30%) Senior
13 25 (6.76%) IT Support Technician
13 25 (6.76%) IT Technician
13 25 (6.76%) Service Analyst
14 23 (6.22%) 1st Line Support
14 23 (6.22%) Infrastructure Support
15 22 (5.95%) Service Desk Analyst
16 20 (5.41%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 19 (5.14%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.16%) .NET
2 4 (1.08%) OpenTelemetry
3 3 (0.81%) FreeSWITCH
4 2 (0.54%) .NET Framework
4 2 (0.54%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.54%) EDI
4 2 (0.54%) Entity Framework
4 2 (0.54%) Middleware
4 2 (0.54%) Razor View Engine
4 2 (0.54%) React
4 2 (0.54%) REST
4 2 (0.54%) SAML
5 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.27%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 64 (17.30%) Driving Licence
2 29 (7.84%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (5.95%) Onboarding
4 19 (5.14%) Enterprise Software
4 19 (5.14%) Management Information System
5 15 (4.05%) Data Centre
6 11 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
7 8 (2.16%) iPad
7 8 (2.16%) Replication
8 7 (1.89%) Cloud Native
8 7 (1.89%) LIMS
9 6 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
9 6 (1.62%) Client/Server
10 5 (1.35%) Linux Command Line
10 5 (1.35%) PKI
11 4 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (1.08%) NHS
11 4 (1.08%) Public Cloud
12 3 (0.81%) CMDB
12 3 (0.81%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 257 (69.46%) Windows
2 155 (41.89%) Windows Server
3 85 (22.97%) Windows 10
4 32 (8.65%) Linux
5 25 (6.76%) Android
6 19 (5.14%) Mac OS
7 17 (4.59%) Apple iOS
8 11 (2.97%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (2.16%) Windows 7
9 8 (2.16%) Windows 8
10 7 (1.89%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (1.08%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.81%) Debian
13 1 (0.27%) CentOS
13 1 (0.27%) CoreOS
13 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 131 (35.41%) Problem-Solving
2 122 (32.97%) Customer Service
3 90 (24.32%) ITIL
4 47 (12.70%) Service Delivery
5 45 (12.16%) Continuous Improvement
6 43 (11.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 43 (11.62%) Mentoring
7 42 (11.35%) Cybersecurity
8 39 (10.54%) Disaster Recovery
9 38 (10.27%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 32 (8.65%) ITSM
11 29 (7.84%) Incident Management
12 28 (7.57%) Coaching
13 27 (7.30%) Migration
14 25 (6.76%) Project Delivery
15 24 (6.49%) Agile
16 21 (5.68%) Process Improvement
17 20 (5.41%) Patch Management
17 20 (5.41%) Time Management
18 19 (5.14%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 48 (12.97%) SQL
2 38 (10.27%) PowerShell
3 15 (4.05%) Bash
4 6 (1.62%) Python
5 4 (1.08%) Bicep
5 4 (1.08%) VBA
6 2 (0.54%) C#
6 2 (0.54%) Shell Script
6 2 (0.54%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 39 (10.54%) Degree
2 27 (7.30%) Security Cleared
3 24 (6.49%) Microsoft Certification
4 23 (6.22%) SC Cleared
5 14 (3.78%) DBS Check
6 13 (3.51%) Azure Certification
6 13 (3.51%) ITIL Certification
7 12 (3.24%) A+ Certification
7 12 (3.24%) CCNA
7 12 (3.24%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (3.24%) HNC
7 12 (3.24%) HND
8 10 (2.70%) Network+ Certification
9 6 (1.62%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 4 (1.08%) DV Cleared
11 2 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 2 (0.54%) MCSA
12 1 (0.27%) AWS Certification
12 1 (0.27%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (7.57%) SLA
2 14 (3.78%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (1.89%) GDPR
5 4 (1.08%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.27%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.27%) GxP
6 1 (0.27%) NIST
System Software
1 78 (21.08%) Hyper-V
2 74 (20.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (2.97%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (2.43%) Firmware
5 7 (1.89%) VMware Workstation
6 6 (1.62%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (1.62%) VMware ESXi
6 6 (1.62%) vSphere
7 5 (1.35%) Docker
8 4 (1.08%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.27%) XenApp
9 1 (0.27%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 98 (26.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (9.73%) SCCM
3 15 (4.05%) Single Sign-On
4 13 (3.51%) Autotask
4 13 (3.51%) Terraform
5 11 (2.97%) FortiGate
6 7 (1.89%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 6 (1.62%) Kubernetes
8 5 (1.35%) Ansible
8 5 (1.35%) Jamf Pro
8 5 (1.35%) WSUS
9 2 (0.54%) AssetCenter
9 2 (0.54%) Plesk
10 1 (0.27%) McAfee ePO
10 1 (0.27%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.27%) SCVMM
10 1 (0.27%) SmoothWall
10 1 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 291 (78.65%) Microsoft
2 101 (27.30%) VMware
3 36 (9.73%) Citrix
4 26 (7.03%) Apple
5 25 (6.76%) Cisco
6 22 (5.95%) ServiceNow
7 21 (5.68%) Google
8 18 (4.86%) Veeam
9 13 (3.51%) Datto
10 12 (3.24%) Splunk
11 11 (2.97%) Sage
11 11 (2.97%) SonicWALL
12 9 (2.43%) Freshdesk
13 8 (2.16%) ESET
13 8 (2.16%) New Relic
13 8 (2.16%) WatchGuard
14 7 (1.89%) Adobe
14 7 (1.89%) CyberArk
15 6 (1.62%) Dell
15 6 (1.62%) HP