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 15 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 43 42 25
Rank change year-on-year -1 -17 +8
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 162 150 445
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.47% 5.32% 7.36%
As % of the System Software category 63.04% 35.80% 43.93%
Number of salaries quoted 129 122 402
10th Percentile £27,750 £25,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,375 £28,375 £31,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £45,000 £41,750
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% +7.78% +28.46%
75th Percentile £42,500 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £64,276 £65,500 £58,753
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 257 419 1,013
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 5.51% 14.85% 16.75%
Number of salaries quoted 175 287 829
10th Percentile £30,200 £28,250 £27,750
25th Percentile £31,375 £42,500 £35,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £60,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -37.50% +14.29% +23.53%
75th Percentile £62,500 £81,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £73,250 £95,000 £91,250
South East median annual salary £40,000 £57,500 £46,000
% change year-on-year -30.43% +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 15 March 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 15 March 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 -4 64 £34,750 -30.50% 18
Oxfordshire +13 55 £34,000 +9.68% 12
Buckinghamshire -13 43 £36,500 -18.89% 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 31 (19.14%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (11.11%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.47%) IIS
4 3 (1.85%) Apache
5 2 (1.23%) CMS
5 2 (1.23%) WordPress
Applications
1 41 (25.31%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.62%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 106 (65.43%) Microsoft 365
2 84 (51.85%) Azure
3 40 (24.69%) Entra ID
4 19 (11.73%) AWS
5 15 (9.26%) Google Workspace
6 12 (7.41%) GCP
7 7 (4.32%) SaaS
8 4 (2.47%) OneDrive
9 2 (1.23%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (1.23%) Azure Key Vault
9 2 (1.23%) GitHub
9 2 (1.23%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (1.23%) Mimecast
10 1 (0.62%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.62%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 49 (30.25%) Firewall
2 48 (29.63%) DNS
3 34 (20.99%) DHCP
4 24 (14.81%) VPN
5 21 (12.96%) TCP/IP
6 20 (12.35%) LAN
7 19 (11.73%) WAN
8 14 (8.64%) VoIP
9 12 (7.41%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (5.56%) SAN
11 8 (4.94%) Wireless
12 6 (3.70%) Remote Desktop
12 6 (3.70%) VLAN
13 5 (3.09%) NetScaler
14 4 (2.47%) NAS
14 4 (2.47%) Wireshark
15 3 (1.85%) Ethernet
15 3 (1.85%) iSCSI
16 2 (1.23%) PBX
16 2 (1.23%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (6.17%) SQL Server
2 6 (3.70%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (1.85%) Data Mining
3 3 (1.85%) MySQL
4 1 (0.62%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.62%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 8 (4.94%) JIRA
2 3 (1.85%) Subversion
3 2 (1.23%) Git
3 2 (1.23%) Jenkins
General
1 81 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 13 (8.02%) Organisational Skills
3 10 (6.17%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.56%) Telecoms
5 5 (3.09%) Retail
6 3 (1.85%) Games
7 2 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.23%) Finance
7 2 (1.23%) Legal
7 2 (1.23%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.62%) Aviation
8 1 (0.62%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 89 (54.94%) IT Support
2 35 (21.60%) Support Engineer
3 30 (18.52%) IT Engineer
4 27 (16.67%) Analyst
4 27 (16.67%) Support Analyst
5 25 (15.43%) IT Support Engineer
6 21 (12.96%) IT Support Technician
6 21 (12.96%) IT Technician
6 21 (12.96%) Support Technician
7 19 (11.73%) 3rd Line Support
8 18 (11.11%) IT Analyst
8 18 (11.11%) IT Support Analyst
9 14 (8.64%) 2nd Line Support
9 14 (8.64%) Technical Support
10 11 (6.79%) Senior
11 9 (5.56%) 3rd Line Technical Support
11 9 (5.56%) Microsoft Engineer
12 8 (4.94%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
12 8 (4.94%) Linux Engineer
13 7 (4.32%) Support Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.09%) Regular Expression
2 4 (2.47%) LDAP
3 3 (1.85%) JSON
3 3 (1.85%) JSON Schema
3 3 (1.85%) XML
4 2 (1.23%) ARM Templates
4 2 (1.23%) Web Services
4 2 (1.23%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 24 (14.81%) Driving Licence
2 18 (11.11%) Self-Motivation
3 12 (7.41%) Onboarding
4 8 (4.94%) Video Conferencing
5 6 (3.70%) PKI
6 5 (3.09%) Linux Command Line
6 5 (3.09%) Social Media
7 3 (1.85%) Management Information System
8 2 (1.23%) Clustering
8 2 (1.23%) Data Centre
8 2 (1.23%) Fibre Optics
8 2 (1.23%) Replication
9 1 (0.62%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.62%) CMDB
9 1 (0.62%) FMCG
9 1 (0.62%) Security Posture
9 1 (0.62%) Smartphone
9 1 (0.62%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 119 (73.46%) Windows
2 72 (44.44%) Windows Server
3 33 (20.37%) Linux
4 17 (10.49%) Windows 10
5 11 (6.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (4.94%) Android
6 8 (4.94%) Apple iOS
6 8 (4.94%) Mac OS
7 7 (4.32%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (1.85%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (1.23%) CentOS
9 2 (1.23%) VMS
9 2 (1.23%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (44.44%) Customer Service
2 58 (35.80%) Problem-Solving
3 41 (25.31%) ITIL
4 25 (15.43%) Cybersecurity
5 18 (11.11%) Mentoring
6 14 (8.64%) Customer-Centric Approach
6 14 (8.64%) Customer-Centricity
6 14 (8.64%) ITSM
7 10 (6.17%) Continuous Improvement
8 9 (5.56%) Coaching
9 8 (4.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 8 (4.94%) Mobile Device Management
9 8 (4.94%) Network Management
9 8 (4.94%) SIEM
10 7 (4.32%) Data Protection
10 7 (4.32%) Disaster Recovery
10 7 (4.32%) Project Delivery
10 7 (4.32%) Service Delivery
11 6 (3.70%) Process Improvement
11 6 (3.70%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 22 (13.58%) PowerShell
2 9 (5.56%) SQL
3 5 (3.09%) Bash
4 3 (1.85%) Python
4 3 (1.85%) Shell Script
5 2 (1.23%) C
5 2 (1.23%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.62%) Bicep
6 1 (0.62%) Korn
Qualifications
1 22 (13.58%) Security Cleared
2 21 (12.96%) Degree
3 14 (8.64%) DV Cleared
3 14 (8.64%) Microsoft Certification
4 8 (4.94%) SC Cleared
5 7 (4.32%) DBS Check
5 7 (4.32%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 6 (3.70%) A+ Certification
7 4 (2.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.85%) MCSA
9 2 (1.23%) CCNA
9 2 (1.23%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (1.23%) ISTQB
9 2 (1.23%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 2 (1.23%) MCSE
9 2 (1.23%) RHCE
9 2 (1.23%) RHCSA
10 1 (0.62%) CCIE
10 1 (0.62%) HND
10 1 (0.62%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (5.56%) SLA
2 6 (3.70%) Cyber Essentials
2 6 (3.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (1.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.62%) GDPR
System Software
1 34 (20.99%) Hyper-V
2 21 (12.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (6.79%) vSphere
4 10 (6.17%) Docker
5 3 (1.85%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 2 (1.23%) Samba
6 2 (1.23%) Terminal Server
7 1 (0.62%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.62%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 32 (19.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (13.58%) SCCM
3 6 (3.70%) Terraform
4 5 (3.09%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (3.09%) Kubernetes
4 5 (3.09%) SCOM
4 5 (3.09%) SmoothWall
5 2 (1.23%) Ansible
5 2 (1.23%) Failover Clustering
5 2 (1.23%) SCSM
6 1 (0.62%) Autotask
6 1 (0.62%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 125 (77.16%) Microsoft
2 34 (20.99%) VMware
3 23 (14.20%) Google
4 11 (6.79%) Cisco
4 11 (6.79%) ServiceNow
5 8 (4.94%) Meraki
6 7 (4.32%) Citrix
7 6 (3.70%) Palo Alto
8 5 (3.09%) Atlassian
8 5 (3.09%) CheckPoint
8 5 (3.09%) Red Hat
9 4 (2.47%) Adobe
9 4 (2.47%) McAfee
9 4 (2.47%) NetApp
9 4 (2.47%) Veeam
10 3 (1.85%) Dell
10 3 (1.85%) Oracle
10 3 (1.85%) Trend Micro
11 2 (1.23%) D-Link
11 2 (1.23%) Juniper