Active Directory Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Microsoft Active Directory
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Active Directory skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

	6 months to 21 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	71	65	47
Rank change year-on-year	-6	-18	-22
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory	169	162	212
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley	2.19%	4.24%	4.83%
As % of the System Software category	43.11%	48.36%	36.74%
Number of salaries quoted	126	139	149
10^th Percentile	£29,000	£28,560	£26,250
25^th Percentile	£36,375	£32,313	£31,250
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£45,000	£37,500	£38,000
Median % change year-on-year	+20.00%	-1.32%	-10.59%
75^th Percentile	£53,750	£50,500	£50,000
90^th Percentile	£68,750	£70,000	£59,750
South East median annual salary	£42,500	£37,500	£40,000
% change year-on-year	+13.33%	-6.25%	-2.44%

All System Software Skills
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

	6 months to 21 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills	392	335	577
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley	5.09%	8.77%	13.16%
Number of salaries quoted	268	218	352
10^th Percentile	£29,500	£31,250	£28,250
25^th Percentile	£38,500	£35,125	£37,313
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£50,000	£43,000	£56,252
Median % change year-on-year	+16.28%	-23.56%	+7.15%
75^th Percentile	£68,750	£62,500	£75,000
90^th Percentile	£75,000	£81,250	£87,350
South East median annual salary	£57,500	£41,500	£55,000
% change year-on-year	+38.55%	-24.55%	+10.00%

Active Directory Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

Active Directory Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Active Directory.

Active Directory Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Active Directory in the Thames Valley

Active Directory Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Active Directory within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 21 October 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
Berkshire	+26	89	£45,000	+11.11%	23
Buckinghamshire	-15	43	£42,500	+13.33%	12
Oxfordshire	-41	37	£47,166	+31.02%	15
Active Directory South East

Active Directory Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 21 October 2026, job vacancies citing Active Directory also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the Thames Valley region with a requirement for Active Directory.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Microsoft	81.1%	137
2	Windows	72.2%	122
3	Azure	61.5%	104
4	Microsoft 365	58.0%	98
5	DNS	56.8%	96
6	Entra ID	51.5%	87
7	Firewall	44.4%	75
8	DHCP	43.2%	73
9	Microsoft Exchange	37.3%	63
9	Microsoft Intune	37.3%	63
9	Problem-Solving	37.3%	63
9	Windows Server	37.3%	63
13	SharePoint	36.7%	62
14	VMware	35.5%	60
15	Customer Service	33.1%	56
16	PowerShell	32.5%	55
17	VPN	29.0%	49
18	Cybersecurity	26.6%	45
19	Infrastructure Engineering	25.4%	43
20	VLAN	23.7%	40
21	Wi-Fi	23.1%	39
22	Disaster Recovery	22.5%	38
22	Security Cleared	22.5%	38
24	Continuous Improvement	21.3%	36
25	Cyber Essentials	18.9%	32
25	Hyper-V	18.9%	32
25	Microsoft Certification	18.9%	32
28	Linux	18.3%	31
28	VMware Infrastructure	18.3%	31
30	Degree	17.2%	29

Active Directory Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

System Software

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Hyper-V	18.9%	32
2	VMware Infrastructure	18.3%	31
3	vSphere	12.4%	21
4	Virtual Machines	3.0%	5
5	Virtual Servers	2.4%	4
6	Docker	1.8%	3
7	Microsoft Virtual Server	1.2%	2
7	Virtual Desktop	1.2%	2
9	Citrix Hypervisor	0.6%	1
9	Firmware	0.6%	1