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 2 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 44 55 22
Rank change year-on-year +11 -33 +8
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 156 124 467
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.15% 4.51% 7.37%
As % of the System Software category 59.54% 35.13% 45.34%
Number of salaries quoted 124 106 421
10th Percentile £27,750 £25,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £45,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% +5.88% +30.77%
75th Percentile £43,750 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £68,750 £66,750 £59,000
South East median annual salary £36,000 £42,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year -15.29% +13.33% +10.29%

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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 262 353 1,030
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 5.28% 12.84% 16.26%
Number of salaries quoted 174 262 844
10th Percentile £28,300 £31,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £31,375 £42,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £60,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -33.33% +14.29% +19.32%
75th Percentile £65,000 £81,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £79,250 £95,000 £87,500
South East median annual salary £42,500 £57,500 £46,000
% change year-on-year -26.09% +25.00% -3.16%

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 job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Active Directory
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

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

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 2 April 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 2 April 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 +11 64 £42,500 -10.53% 16
Oxfordshire +6 53 £34,000 -1.45% 12
Buckinghamshire -6 39 £36,000 -20.00% 9
Active Directory
South East

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 28 (17.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 19 (12.18%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.92%) Apache
4 2 (1.28%) CMS
4 2 (1.28%) IIS
4 2 (1.28%) WordPress
Applications
1 38 (24.36%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.64%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 94 (60.26%) Microsoft 365
2 75 (48.08%) Azure
3 34 (21.79%) Entra ID
4 20 (12.82%) AWS
5 17 (10.90%) Google Workspace
6 12 (7.69%) GCP
7 8 (5.13%) SaaS
8 5 (3.21%) OneDrive
9 2 (1.28%) Mimecast
10 1 (0.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.64%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.64%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 52 (33.33%) DNS
2 50 (32.05%) Firewall
3 32 (20.51%) DHCP
4 23 (14.74%) VPN
5 20 (12.82%) LAN
5 20 (12.82%) TCP/IP
6 19 (12.18%) WAN
7 14 (8.97%) VoIP
8 12 (7.69%) Wi-Fi
9 9 (5.77%) Remote Desktop
10 8 (5.13%) SAN
10 8 (5.13%) Wireless
11 7 (4.49%) NetScaler
12 5 (3.21%) VLAN
13 4 (2.56%) NAS
13 4 (2.56%) Network Security
13 4 (2.56%) Wireshark
14 3 (1.92%) Ethernet
14 3 (1.92%) iSCSI
15 2 (1.28%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (5.13%) SQL Server
2 6 (3.85%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (1.92%) Data Mining
3 3 (1.92%) MySQL
4 1 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.64%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 8 (5.13%) JIRA
2 3 (1.92%) Subversion
General
1 74 (47.44%) Social Skills
2 13 (8.33%) Organisational Skills
3 10 (6.41%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.77%) Telecoms
5 5 (3.21%) Retail
6 3 (1.92%) Games
6 3 (1.92%) Manufacturing
7 2 (1.28%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.28%) Finance
7 2 (1.28%) Legal
7 2 (1.28%) Local Government
8 1 (0.64%) Aviation
8 1 (0.64%) Health Technology
8 1 (0.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 82 (52.56%) IT Support
2 34 (21.79%) Support Engineer
3 29 (18.59%) IT Engineer
4 27 (17.31%) Analyst
4 27 (17.31%) Support Analyst
5 24 (15.38%) IT Support Engineer
6 21 (13.46%) IT Support Technician
6 21 (13.46%) IT Technician
6 21 (13.46%) Support Technician
7 18 (11.54%) IT Analyst
7 18 (11.54%) IT Support Analyst
8 14 (8.97%) Architect
9 13 (8.33%) 3rd Line Support
10 12 (7.69%) Technical Support
11 11 (7.05%) 2nd Line Support
12 10 (6.41%) Applications Architect
12 10 (6.41%) Senior
13 9 (5.77%) Microsoft Engineer
14 8 (5.13%) Linux Engineer
14 8 (5.13%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.77%) Regular Expression
2 8 (5.13%) LDAP
3 6 (3.85%) XMPP
4 3 (1.92%) JSON
4 3 (1.92%) JSON Schema
4 3 (1.92%) XML
5 2 (1.28%) Web Services
6 1 (0.64%) OAuth
6 1 (0.64%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 22 (14.10%) Driving Licence
2 17 (10.90%) Self-Motivation
3 10 (6.41%) Onboarding
4 9 (5.77%) Video Conferencing
5 6 (3.85%) PKI
6 5 (3.21%) Management Information System
6 5 (3.21%) Social Media
7 3 (1.92%) Linux Command Line
8 2 (1.28%) Fibre Optics
8 2 (1.28%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.64%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.64%) Clustering
9 1 (0.64%) Data Centre
9 1 (0.64%) Distributed Systems
9 1 (0.64%) Private Cloud
9 1 (0.64%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.64%) Renewable Energy
9 1 (0.64%) Replication
9 1 (0.64%) Security Posture
9 1 (0.64%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 114 (73.08%) Windows
2 66 (42.31%) Windows Server
3 36 (23.08%) Linux
4 16 (10.26%) Windows 10
5 15 (9.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (5.77%) Android
6 9 (5.77%) Apple iOS
6 9 (5.77%) Mac OS
7 5 (3.21%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.28%) CentOS
8 2 (1.28%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (41.03%) Customer Service
2 58 (37.18%) Problem-Solving
3 37 (23.72%) ITIL
4 22 (14.10%) Cybersecurity
5 12 (7.69%) Customer-Centric Approach
5 12 (7.69%) Customer-Centricity
5 12 (7.69%) ITSM
5 12 (7.69%) SIEM
6 11 (7.05%) Mentoring
7 10 (6.41%) Continuous Improvement
8 9 (5.77%) Data Protection
9 8 (5.13%) Application Security
9 8 (5.13%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 8 (5.13%) Mobile Device Management
9 8 (5.13%) Network Management
9 8 (5.13%) Root Cause Analysis
10 7 (4.49%) Architectural Design
10 7 (4.49%) Coaching
10 7 (4.49%) Server Management
11 6 (3.85%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 20 (12.82%) PowerShell
2 9 (5.77%) SQL
3 4 (2.56%) Bash
3 4 (2.56%) Python
4 3 (1.92%) Shell Script
5 2 (1.28%) C
5 2 (1.28%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.64%) Bicep
6 1 (0.64%) Korn
Qualifications
1 28 (17.95%) Security Cleared
2 21 (13.46%) Degree
3 18 (11.54%) DV Cleared
4 13 (8.33%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (5.13%) SC Cleared
6 6 (3.85%) A+ Certification
6 6 (3.85%) DBS Check
6 6 (3.85%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 4 (2.56%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 2 (1.28%) CCNA
8 2 (1.28%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (1.28%) ISTQB
8 2 (1.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 2 (1.28%) MCSA
8 2 (1.28%) MCSE
8 2 (1.28%) RHCE
8 2 (1.28%) RHCSA
9 1 (0.64%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.64%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (5.77%) SLA
2 5 (3.21%) Cyber Essentials
2 5 (3.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.64%) GDPR
3 1 (0.64%) QA
3 1 (0.64%) SOC 2
System Software
1 27 (17.31%) Hyper-V
2 21 (13.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (9.62%) vSphere
4 8 (5.13%) Docker
5 3 (1.92%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 2 (1.28%) Samba
6 2 (1.28%) Terminal Server
7 1 (0.64%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.64%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.64%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 27 (17.31%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (12.18%) SCCM
3 5 (3.21%) Jamf Pro
3 5 (3.21%) SCOM
3 5 (3.21%) SmoothWall
3 5 (3.21%) Terraform
4 4 (2.56%) Kubernetes
5 3 (1.92%) Ansible
6 2 (1.28%) SCSM
7 1 (0.64%) Autotask
7 1 (0.64%) Failover Clustering
7 1 (0.64%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.64%) Grafana
7 1 (0.64%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 119 (76.28%) Microsoft
2 35 (22.44%) VMware
3 25 (16.03%) Google
4 11 (7.05%) ServiceNow
5 10 (6.41%) Cisco
6 9 (5.77%) Citrix
6 9 (5.77%) Red Hat
7 8 (5.13%) McAfee
7 8 (5.13%) Meraki
8 6 (3.85%) Palo Alto
9 5 (3.21%) Atlassian
9 5 (3.21%) CheckPoint
10 4 (2.56%) Adobe
10 4 (2.56%) NetApp
10 4 (2.56%) Veeam
11 3 (1.92%) Dell
11 3 (1.92%) Oracle
11 3 (1.92%) Trend Micro
12 2 (1.28%) D-Link
12 2 (1.28%) Juniper