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

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 53 58 19
Rank change year-on-year +5 -39 +22
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 149 155 314
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.74% 4.48% 9.19%
As % of the System Software category 54.78% 29.47% 49.29%
Number of salaries quoted 121 121 273
10th Percentile £27,800 £25,750 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,375 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £36,000 £45,000 £42,796
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +5.15% +31.68%
75th Percentile £46,500 £56,252 £55,000
90th Percentile £67,500 £61,250 £56,525
South East median annual salary £36,000 £42,500 £41,500
% change year-on-year -15.29% +2.41% +18.57%

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 272 526 637
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 6.82% 15.21% 18.65%
Number of salaries quoted 165 335 523
10th Percentile £30,800 £31,250 £28,800
25th Percentile £33,500 £45,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £60,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year -37.50% +10.09% +21.11%
75th Percentile £58,750 £81,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £73,250 £95,000 £87,250
South East median annual salary £38,500 £57,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -33.04% +15.00% -

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 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 January 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 January 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 -15 56 £33,500 -33.00% 20
Oxfordshire +26 48 £35,000 +18.64% 11
Buckinghamshire 0 45 £37,500 - 13
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 24 (16.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 14 (9.40%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.68%) IIS
4 2 (1.34%) CMS
4 2 (1.34%) WordPress
Applications
1 45 (30.20%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.67%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 104 (69.80%) Microsoft 365
2 87 (58.39%) Azure
3 31 (20.81%) Entra ID
4 19 (12.75%) AWS
5 14 (9.40%) Google Workspace
6 12 (8.05%) GCP
7 7 (4.70%) Azure Key Vault
8 6 (4.03%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (4.03%) GitHub
8 6 (4.03%) GitHub Actions
9 5 (3.36%) Mimecast
10 4 (2.68%) SaaS
11 2 (1.34%) OneDrive
12 1 (0.67%) Azure AKS
12 1 (0.67%) Azure Monitor
12 1 (0.67%) IaaS
12 1 (0.67%) PaaS
12 1 (0.67%) Power Automate
12 1 (0.67%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 41 (27.52%) DHCP
1 41 (27.52%) DNS
2 34 (22.82%) Firewall
3 20 (13.42%) VPN
4 18 (12.08%) TCP/IP
4 18 (12.08%) WAN
5 17 (11.41%) LAN
6 14 (9.40%) VoIP
7 9 (6.04%) Wireless
8 6 (4.03%) SAN
9 5 (3.36%) VLAN
10 4 (2.68%) Wi-Fi
11 3 (2.01%) Ethernet
11 3 (2.01%) iSCSI
11 3 (2.01%) Remote Desktop
12 2 (1.34%) SSL
12 2 (1.34%) Unified Communications
13 1 (0.67%) Cisco ISE
13 1 (0.67%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (5.37%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.01%) Data Mining
2 3 (2.01%) MySQL
2 3 (2.01%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.67%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 6 (4.03%) Git
1 6 (4.03%) Jenkins
2 2 (1.34%) Subversion
3 1 (0.67%) JIRA
General
1 74 (49.66%) Social Skills
2 9 (6.04%) Organisational Skills
2 9 (6.04%) Telecoms
3 6 (4.03%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (3.36%) Retail
5 2 (1.34%) Finance
5 2 (1.34%) Legal
5 2 (1.34%) Manufacturing
6 1 (0.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 75 (50.34%) IT Support
2 29 (19.46%) 3rd Line Support
3 26 (17.45%) Support Engineer
4 24 (16.11%) Analyst
4 24 (16.11%) IT Engineer
5 22 (14.77%) Support Analyst
6 19 (12.75%) IT Support Engineer
7 18 (12.08%) IT Analyst
7 18 (12.08%) IT Support Technician
7 18 (12.08%) IT Technician
7 18 (12.08%) Support Technician
8 16 (10.74%) IT Support Analyst
8 16 (10.74%) Technical Support
9 14 (9.40%) 2nd Line Support
10 11 (7.38%) 3rd Line Technical Support
10 11 (7.38%) Consultant
10 11 (7.38%) Infrastructure Manager
11 10 (6.71%) IT Consultant
11 10 (6.71%) Support Consultant
12 9 (6.04%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (4.03%) ARM Templates
2 2 (1.34%) Web Services
3 1 (0.67%) Azure Blueprints
Miscellaneous
1 23 (15.44%) Driving Licence
2 16 (10.74%) Self-Motivation
3 8 (5.37%) Onboarding
3 8 (5.37%) Video Conferencing
4 6 (4.03%) Linux Command Line
5 5 (3.36%) Social Media
6 4 (2.68%) Cloud Native
7 3 (2.01%) Management Information System
8 2 (1.34%) Clustering
8 2 (1.34%) Data Centre
8 2 (1.34%) Fibre Optics
8 2 (1.34%) Replication
9 1 (0.67%) CMDB
9 1 (0.67%) FMCG
9 1 (0.67%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.67%) Legacy Systems
9 1 (0.67%) PKI
9 1 (0.67%) Smartphone
9 1 (0.67%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 118 (79.19%) Windows
2 62 (41.61%) Windows Server
3 18 (12.08%) Linux
4 15 (10.07%) Windows 10
5 13 (8.72%) Android
5 13 (8.72%) Apple iOS
6 12 (8.05%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (4.70%) Mac OS
8 6 (4.03%) VMS
9 4 (2.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (47.65%) Customer Service
2 47 (31.54%) Problem-Solving
3 37 (24.83%) ITIL
4 32 (21.48%) Cybersecurity
5 31 (20.81%) Mentoring
6 18 (12.08%) Customer-Centric Approach
6 18 (12.08%) Customer-Centricity
7 11 (7.38%) Coaching
7 11 (7.38%) ITSM
8 8 (5.37%) Disaster Recovery
8 8 (5.37%) Mobile Device Management
9 7 (4.70%) Data Protection
9 7 (4.70%) DevOps
9 7 (4.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 7 (4.70%) Network Management
9 7 (4.70%) Observability
10 6 (4.03%) Network Virtualisation
10 6 (4.03%) Project Delivery
10 6 (4.03%) Servant Leadership
10 6 (4.03%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 18 (12.08%) PowerShell
2 9 (6.04%) Bash
3 7 (4.70%) SQL
4 3 (2.01%) Korn
5 2 (1.34%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.67%) Python
Qualifications
1 18 (12.08%) Microsoft Certification
2 15 (10.07%) Degree
3 11 (7.38%) Security Cleared
4 10 (6.71%) MCP
5 9 (6.04%) DBS Check
6 8 (5.37%) A+ Certification
7 7 (4.70%) SC Cleared
8 3 (2.01%) MCSA
8 3 (2.01%) MCSE
9 2 (1.34%) Azure Certification
9 2 (1.34%) DV Cleared
10 1 (0.67%) CCNA
10 1 (0.67%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.67%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.67%) HND
10 1 (0.67%) ISTQB
10 1 (0.67%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 1 (0.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.67%) RHCE
10 1 (0.67%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.03%) Cyber Essentials
2 5 (3.36%) SLA
3 2 (1.34%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (1.34%) GDPR
3 2 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 33 (22.15%) Hyper-V
2 30 (20.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (8.05%) Docker
4 4 (2.68%) Virtual Servers
5 3 (2.01%) Citrix Hypervisor
5 3 (2.01%) vSphere
6 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.67%) Terminal Server
6 1 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 38 (25.50%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (13.42%) SCCM
3 10 (6.71%) Terraform
4 9 (6.04%) Kubernetes
5 5 (3.36%) Jamf Pro
5 5 (3.36%) SCOM
5 5 (3.36%) SmoothWall
6 3 (2.01%) Ansible
7 2 (1.34%) Failover Clustering
7 2 (1.34%) SCSM
8 1 (0.67%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.67%) WSUS
Vendors
1 131 (87.92%) Microsoft
2 40 (26.85%) VMware
3 22 (14.77%) Google
4 11 (7.38%) Cisco
5 8 (5.37%) Dell
6 5 (3.36%) Barracuda Networks
6 5 (3.36%) CheckPoint
6 5 (3.36%) HP
6 5 (3.36%) Meraki
6 5 (3.36%) Palo Alto
6 5 (3.36%) Sophos
6 5 (3.36%) Ubiquiti
7 4 (2.68%) Adobe
7 4 (2.68%) Atlassian
7 4 (2.68%) Juniper
7 4 (2.68%) Red Hat
7 4 (2.68%) ServiceNow
8 3 (2.01%) Splunk
8 3 (2.01%) Trend Micro
8 3 (2.01%) Veeam