Active Directory Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Microsoft Active Directory
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Active Directory skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 39 23
Rank change year-on-year -9 -16 +19
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,706 1,910 2,769
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.96% 5.34% 7.47%
As % of the System Software category 61.61% 44.06% 47.53%
Number of salaries quoted 1,191 1,166 2,452
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,250 £37,500 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -11.33% - +2.74%
75th Percentile £45,000 £52,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,750 £58,750
UK median annual salary £36,500 £42,500 £42,000
% change year-on-year -14.12% +1.19% +1.20%

All System Software Skills
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 2,769 4,335 5,826
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.42% 12.12% 15.71%
Number of salaries quoted 1,935 2,469 4,797
10th Percentile £26,750 £27,500 £26,500
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.14% +0.12%
75th Percentile £61,748 £67,500 £62,833
90th Percentile £77,500 £81,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £54,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +6.48% -1.82%

Active Directory
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Active Directory job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Active Directory
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Active Directory.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Active Directory

Active Directory
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Active Directory in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 17 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Active Directory in the UK excluding London

Active Directory
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Active Directory within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 17 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
South East +15 466 £36,000 -15.29% 249
North of England -20 341 £32,500 -18.75% 139
South West +3 284 £32,500 -4.41% 106
Midlands -17 267 £31,500 -14.29% 94
East of England -13 194 £35,000 +6.87% 86
East Midlands +18 163 £29,000 -7.94% 60
North West -18 155 £36,000 -10.00% 68
Yorkshire -11 144 £32,500 -1.52% 56
Scotland -2 105 £30,250 -24.38% 47
West Midlands -40 104 £33,750 -15.63% 33
North East -10 42 £31,000 -13.89% 18
Wales +2 35 £35,000 - 22
Northern Ireland -1 18 £47,750 -9.05% 5
Active Directory
UK

Active Directory
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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
1 489 (28.66%) Microsoft Exchange
2 300 (17.58%) SharePoint
3 26 (1.52%) Exchange Server 2003
4 17 (1.00%) IIS
5 15 (0.88%) Confluence
6 14 (0.82%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
8 3 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
8 3 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.18%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.18%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.12%) CMS
9 2 (0.12%) FactoryTalk
9 2 (0.12%) WinCC
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.059%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 229 (13.42%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (2.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 3 (0.18%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.059%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.059%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 25 (1.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.17%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.18%) Primavera
6 2 (0.12%) Visualfiles
7 1 (0.059%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.059%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.059%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.059%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,179 (69.11%) Microsoft 365
2 915 (53.63%) Azure
3 537 (31.48%) Entra ID
4 117 (6.86%) AWS
5 112 (6.57%) OneDrive
6 70 (4.10%) SaaS
7 66 (3.87%) Google Workspace
8 56 (3.28%) Power Platform
9 40 (2.34%) Azure DevOps
10 38 (2.23%) GCP
11 34 (1.99%) IaaS
12 32 (1.88%) Azure Monitor
12 32 (1.88%) PowerApps
13 30 (1.76%) Azure Logic Apps
13 30 (1.76%) GitHub
13 30 (1.76%) PaaS
14 23 (1.35%) OCI
15 22 (1.29%) Power Automate
16 20 (1.17%) Azure Sentinel
17 19 (1.11%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 628 (36.81%) DNS
2 596 (34.94%) DHCP
3 392 (22.98%) Firewall
4 248 (14.54%) VPN
5 241 (14.13%) TCP/IP
6 165 (9.67%) VLAN
7 160 (9.38%) LAN
8 158 (9.26%) WAN
9 124 (7.27%) Wi-Fi
10 83 (4.87%) Wireless
11 75 (4.40%) VoIP
12 61 (3.58%) SAN
13 56 (3.28%) Remote Desktop
14 46 (2.70%) Network Security
15 30 (1.76%) Internet
16 28 (1.64%) Broadband
17 19 (1.11%) SD-WAN
18 16 (0.94%) SSL
19 15 (0.88%) SMTP
19 15 (0.88%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 116 (6.80%) Amazon RDS
2 53 (3.11%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.70%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.52%) Oracle Database 10g
5 17 (1.00%) Power BI
6 12 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.53%) MySQL
8 8 (0.47%) DTS
9 7 (0.41%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.35%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.23%) GIS
11 4 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
12 3 (0.18%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.18%) Oracle Discoverer
12 3 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
12 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
14 1 (0.059%) Cognos Connection
14 1 (0.059%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 63 (3.69%) JIRA
2 29 (1.70%) Jenkins
3 23 (1.35%) Git
3 23 (1.35%) Oracle Forms
4 6 (0.35%) GitLab
5 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle APEX
6 3 (0.18%) Subversion
7 2 (0.12%) Vagrant
7 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.059%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.059%) Metasploit
General
1 844 (49.47%) Social Skills
2 201 (11.78%) Analytical Skills
3 135 (7.91%) Finance
4 110 (6.45%) Organisational Skills
5 92 (5.39%) Manufacturing
6 62 (3.63%) Retail
7 55 (3.22%) Documentation Skills
7 55 (3.22%) Law
8 54 (3.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 41 (2.40%) Advertising
10 35 (2.05%) Legal
11 24 (1.41%) Games
11 24 (1.41%) Telecoms
12 23 (1.35%) Public Sector
13 20 (1.17%) Marketing
14 15 (0.88%) French Language
14 15 (0.88%) Swedish Language
15 12 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
16 10 (0.59%) Aerospace
17 5 (0.29%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 603 (35.35%) IT Support
2 396 (23.21%) Support Engineer
3 300 (17.58%) IT Engineer
4 253 (14.83%) IT Support Engineer
5 231 (13.54%) Analyst
6 186 (10.90%) 2nd Line Support
7 171 (10.02%) Support Analyst
8 151 (8.85%) Support Technician
9 146 (8.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 130 (7.62%) Systems Engineer
11 128 (7.50%) IT Analyst
12 116 (6.80%) Senior
13 115 (6.74%) IT Technician
14 107 (6.27%) IT Support Analyst
15 102 (5.98%) IT Support Technician
16 97 (5.69%) 3rd Line Support
17 92 (5.39%) Technical Support
18 89 (5.22%) 1st Line Support
19 82 (4.81%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 73 (4.28%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (2.58%) SOAP
2 39 (2.29%) LDAP
3 34 (1.99%) OAuth
3 34 (1.99%) OpenID
3 34 (1.99%) SAML
4 25 (1.47%) RESTful
5 24 (1.41%) GraphQL
5 24 (1.41%) REST
6 22 (1.29%) .NET
7 20 (1.17%) JSON
7 20 (1.17%) XML
8 15 (0.88%) ARM Templates
9 12 (0.70%) CSS
9 12 (0.70%) HTML
9 12 (0.70%) React
10 10 (0.59%) OAuth2
11 9 (0.53%) .NET Framework
12 7 (0.41%) EDI
13 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
14 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 248 (14.54%) Driving Licence
2 157 (9.20%) Onboarding
3 104 (6.10%) Legacy Systems
4 75 (4.40%) Self-Motivation
5 61 (3.58%) Enterprise Software
6 42 (2.46%) Data Centre
7 37 (2.17%) Cloud Native
8 31 (1.82%) Hybrid Cloud
8 31 (1.82%) Management Information System
9 27 (1.58%) Cyberattack
10 26 (1.52%) Cyber Threat
11 23 (1.35%) Replication
12 21 (1.23%) Video Conferencing
13 18 (1.06%) iPad
14 17 (1.00%) Public Cloud
15 16 (0.94%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.94%) CMDB
15 16 (0.94%) PKI
16 14 (0.82%) Clustering
16 14 (0.82%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 1,214 (71.16%) Windows
2 740 (43.38%) Windows Server
3 259 (15.18%) Windows 10
4 212 (12.43%) Linux
5 147 (8.62%) Windows Server 2016
6 88 (5.16%) Mac OS
7 74 (4.34%) Windows Server 2019
8 71 (4.16%) Apple iOS
9 59 (3.46%) Android
10 33 (1.93%) Windows Server 2008
11 31 (1.82%) Unix
12 30 (1.76%) Windows 7
13 28 (1.64%) Windows Server 2012
14 26 (1.52%) Solaris
14 26 (1.52%) Windows Server 2003
15 25 (1.47%) HPUX
16 12 (0.70%) VMS
17 8 (0.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
18 5 (0.29%) Windows 8
19 4 (0.23%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 641 (37.57%) Problem-Solving
2 532 (31.18%) Customer Service
3 359 (21.04%) ITIL
4 216 (12.66%) Cybersecurity
5 207 (12.13%) Mentoring
6 194 (11.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 183 (10.73%) Continuous Improvement
8 168 (9.85%) ITSM
9 166 (9.73%) Migration
10 131 (7.68%) Service Delivery
11 118 (6.92%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 114 (6.68%) Disaster Recovery
13 113 (6.62%) Coaching
14 112 (6.57%) Incident Management
15 108 (6.33%) Kalman Filter
16 106 (6.21%) Web Filtering
17 104 (6.10%) Asset Management
17 104 (6.10%) Customer Experience
18 103 (6.04%) Agile
19 100 (5.86%) Email Filtering
Programming Languages
1 268 (15.71%) PowerShell
2 132 (7.74%) SQL
3 52 (3.05%) Bash
4 50 (2.93%) Python
5 26 (1.52%) T-SQL
6 24 (1.41%) Java
6 24 (1.41%) Perl
7 23 (1.35%) PL/SQL
8 22 (1.29%) Shell Script
9 17 (1.00%) JavaScript
10 15 (0.88%) C#
11 11 (0.64%) VB
12 10 (0.59%) Bicep
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Groovy
15 2 (0.12%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.059%) Korn
16 1 (0.059%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.059%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 234 (13.72%) Security Cleared
2 193 (11.31%) SC Cleared
3 159 (9.32%) Microsoft Certification
4 151 (8.85%) Degree
5 67 (3.93%) DV Cleared
6 51 (2.99%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.52%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
9 36 (2.11%) MCP
10 35 (2.05%) Azure Certification
10 35 (2.05%) CCNA
11 31 (1.82%) MCSE
12 25 (1.47%) Network+ Certification
13 21 (1.23%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
15 18 (1.06%) HND
16 16 (0.94%) HNC
17 15 (0.88%) MCSA
18 13 (0.76%) Computer Science Degree
19 12 (0.70%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (8.50%) Cyber Essentials
2 134 (7.85%) SLA
3 105 (6.15%) PCI DSS
4 72 (4.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 55 (3.22%) GDPR
6 37 (2.17%) NIST
7 24 (1.41%) NCSC
8 17 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (0.64%) QA
10 7 (0.41%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.35%) GxP
11 6 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 3 (0.18%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
15 1 (0.059%) GRC
15 1 (0.059%) IASME
15 1 (0.059%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 341 (19.99%) Hyper-V
2 241 (14.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 98 (5.74%) Terminal Server
4 52 (3.05%) Virtual Desktop
5 44 (2.58%) vSphere
6 32 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
7 24 (1.41%) Virtual Machines
8 19 (1.11%) Docker
9 17 (1.00%) Firmware
10 9 (0.53%) Virtual Servers
11 8 (0.47%) BitLocker
12 5 (0.29%) VMware NSX
12 5 (0.29%) XenApp
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.18%) Lustre
14 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 1 (0.059%) KVM
16 1 (0.059%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 380 (22.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 134 (7.85%) SCCM
3 57 (3.34%) Terraform
4 43 (2.52%) Single Sign-On
5 35 (2.05%) vCenter Server
6 25 (1.47%) WSUS
7 22 (1.29%) Jamf Pro
8 20 (1.17%) Ansible
9 18 (1.06%) Autotask
9 18 (1.06%) Kubernetes
9 18 (1.06%) SCOM
10 17 (1.00%) FortiGate
11 13 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 12 (0.70%) Nagios
12 12 (0.70%) ZABBIX
13 10 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
14 7 (0.41%) SmoothWall
15 6 (0.35%) Prometheus
16 5 (0.29%) SCVMM
17 4 (0.23%) MaaS360
Vendors
1 1,291 (75.67%) Microsoft
2 462 (27.08%) VMware
3 174 (10.20%) Veeam
4 136 (7.97%) SolarWinds
5 120 (7.03%) Cisco
6 113 (6.62%) Nimble Storage
7 109 (6.39%) Splunk
8 104 (6.10%) Tanium
9 96 (5.63%) Brocade
10 90 (5.28%) Apple
11 67 (3.93%) ServiceNow
12 65 (3.81%) Citrix
13 63 (3.69%) Google
14 52 (3.05%) HP
15 51 (2.99%) Oracle
16 39 (2.29%) Dell
16 39 (2.29%) Meraki
17 28 (1.64%) SonicWALL
18 26 (1.52%) Fortinet
19 24 (1.41%) Red Hat