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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 50 37 24
Rank change year-on-year -13 -13 +17
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,728 1,880 3,315
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.87% 5.39% 7.45%
As % of the System Software category 62.18% 43.86% 48.57%
Number of salaries quoted 1,200 1,139 2,949
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £24,500
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,125 £37,500 £36,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.67% +4.17% -1.37%
75th Percentile £45,000 £52,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,050 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +6.25% -2.44%

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 2,779 4,286 6,825
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.23% 12.28% 15.33%
Number of salaries quoted 1,938 2,422 5,709
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £61,874 £68,125 £62,500
90th Percentile £76,250 £83,750 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,500 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.17% +9.52% -4.55%

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 28 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 28 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 +13 470 £36,000 -15.29% 263
North of England -18 357 £33,000 -12.00% 120
South West +5 284 £32,500 -2.99% 92
Midlands -18 268 £31,500 -15.82% 78
East of England -20 186 £35,000 +7.69% 80
East Midlands +18 165 £28,750 -10.16% 43
North West -15 163 £36,750 -8.13% 60
Yorkshire -6 153 £32,500 - 50
Scotland +2 112 £30,000 -24.48% 43
West Midlands -54 102 £32,500 -18.75% 35
North East -15 41 £30,000 -16.67% 15
Wales +3 35 £34,000 -18.07% 16
Northern Ireland -7 18 £47,750 -9.05% 1
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
1 487 (28.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 303 (17.53%) SharePoint
3 26 (1.50%) Exchange Server 2003
4 15 (0.87%) Confluence
4 15 (0.87%) IIS
5 11 (0.64%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2013
7 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2007
7 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.12%) CMS
9 2 (0.12%) FactoryTalk
9 2 (0.12%) WinCC
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.058%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 239 (13.83%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.058%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.058%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 22 (1.27%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.16%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 1 (0.058%) Cognos Business Intelligence
6 1 (0.058%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.058%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.058%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.058%) Shopify
6 1 (0.058%) Visualfiles
Cloud Services
1 1,193 (69.04%) Microsoft 365
2 923 (53.41%) Azure
3 555 (32.12%) Entra ID
4 120 (6.94%) AWS
5 116 (6.71%) OneDrive
6 81 (4.69%) Google Workspace
7 76 (4.40%) SaaS
8 55 (3.18%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
10 35 (2.03%) GCP
11 33 (1.91%) Azure Monitor
12 32 (1.85%) IaaS
13 30 (1.74%) GitHub
13 30 (1.74%) PowerApps
14 28 (1.62%) PaaS
15 27 (1.56%) OCI
16 26 (1.50%) Azure Logic Apps
17 22 (1.27%) Power Automate
18 21 (1.22%) Mimecast
19 18 (1.04%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 633 (36.63%) DNS
2 600 (34.72%) DHCP
3 397 (22.97%) Firewall
4 250 (14.47%) VPN
5 241 (13.95%) TCP/IP
6 171 (9.90%) VLAN
7 161 (9.32%) LAN
8 159 (9.20%) WAN
9 130 (7.52%) Wi-Fi
10 86 (4.98%) Wireless
11 72 (4.17%) VoIP
12 54 (3.13%) SAN
13 50 (2.89%) Network Security
14 48 (2.78%) Remote Desktop
15 37 (2.14%) Broadband
16 26 (1.50%) Internet
17 21 (1.22%) SD-WAN
18 17 (0.98%) SMTP
19 16 (0.93%) Unified Communications
20 15 (0.87%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (6.66%) Amazon RDS
2 53 (3.07%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.68%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.50%) Oracle Database 10g
5 21 (1.22%) Power BI
6 12 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
7 11 (0.64%) MySQL
8 6 (0.35%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (0.35%) DTS
8 6 (0.35%) PostgreSQL
8 6 (0.35%) Relational Database
9 5 (0.29%) GIS
10 4 (0.23%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.058%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.058%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.058%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 67 (3.88%) JIRA
2 29 (1.68%) Jenkins
3 25 (1.45%) Git
4 23 (1.33%) Oracle Forms
5 6 (0.35%) GitLab
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.12%) Vagrant
8 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.058%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.058%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.058%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 842 (48.73%) Social Skills
2 204 (11.81%) Analytical Skills
3 138 (7.99%) Finance
4 126 (7.29%) Organisational Skills
5 90 (5.21%) Manufacturing
6 62 (3.59%) Retail
7 57 (3.30%) Law
8 55 (3.18%) Documentation Skills
8 55 (3.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 41 (2.37%) Advertising
10 35 (2.03%) Legal
11 30 (1.74%) Public Sector
12 29 (1.68%) Games
13 21 (1.22%) Marketing
14 20 (1.16%) Telecoms
15 15 (0.87%) French Language
15 15 (0.87%) Swedish Language
16 10 (0.58%) Aerospace
17 7 (0.41%) Pharmaceutical
18 5 (0.29%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 628 (36.34%) IT Support
2 418 (24.19%) Support Engineer
3 334 (19.33%) IT Engineer
4 281 (16.26%) IT Support Engineer
5 229 (13.25%) Analyst
6 188 (10.88%) 2nd Line Support
7 168 (9.72%) Support Analyst
8 151 (8.74%) Support Technician
9 149 (8.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 130 (7.52%) Systems Engineer
11 129 (7.47%) IT Analyst
12 124 (7.18%) Senior
13 110 (6.37%) IT Support Analyst
14 107 (6.19%) IT Technician
15 101 (5.84%) IT Support Technician
16 95 (5.50%) 3rd Line Support
17 92 (5.32%) 1st Line Support
18 88 (5.09%) 2nd Line Engineer
19 83 (4.80%) Technical Support
20 79 (4.57%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.07%) SOAP
2 46 (2.66%) LDAP
3 45 (2.60%) SAML
4 43 (2.49%) OAuth
4 43 (2.49%) OpenID
5 35 (2.03%) REST
6 33 (1.91%) GraphQL
7 25 (1.45%) RESTful
8 23 (1.33%) JSON
8 23 (1.33%) XML
9 20 (1.16%) .NET
10 15 (0.87%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.69%) CSS
11 12 (0.69%) HTML
11 12 (0.69%) React
12 10 (0.58%) OAuth2
13 9 (0.52%) .NET Framework
14 6 (0.35%) EDI
15 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
16 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 257 (14.87%) Driving Licence
2 148 (8.56%) Onboarding
3 104 (6.02%) Legacy Systems
4 75 (4.34%) Self-Motivation
5 64 (3.70%) Enterprise Software
6 41 (2.37%) Data Centre
7 36 (2.08%) Cloud Native
7 36 (2.08%) Cyberattack
8 35 (2.03%) Cyber Threat
9 32 (1.85%) Management Information System
10 31 (1.79%) Hybrid Cloud
11 26 (1.50%) Replication
12 19 (1.10%) Video Conferencing
13 18 (1.04%) iPad
14 16 (0.93%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.93%) Public Cloud
15 15 (0.87%) CMDB
15 15 (0.87%) PKI
16 14 (0.81%) Analytical Mindset
16 14 (0.81%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 1,211 (70.08%) Windows
2 741 (42.88%) Windows Server
3 262 (15.16%) Windows 10
4 217 (12.56%) Linux
5 152 (8.80%) Windows Server 2016
6 86 (4.98%) Mac OS
7 72 (4.17%) Apple iOS
8 71 (4.11%) Windows Server 2019
9 63 (3.65%) Android
10 33 (1.91%) Windows 7
10 33 (1.91%) Windows Server 2008
11 31 (1.79%) Unix
11 31 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
12 26 (1.50%) Solaris
12 26 (1.50%) Windows Server 2003
13 25 (1.45%) HPUX
14 13 (0.75%) VMS
15 8 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 7 (0.41%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.35%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 651 (37.67%) Problem-Solving
2 532 (30.79%) Customer Service
3 364 (21.06%) ITIL
4 227 (13.14%) Cybersecurity
5 224 (12.96%) Mentoring
6 198 (11.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 187 (10.82%) Continuous Improvement
8 168 (9.72%) ITSM
9 167 (9.66%) Migration
10 139 (8.04%) Service Delivery
11 121 (7.00%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 119 (6.89%) Coaching
13 118 (6.83%) Incident Management
14 117 (6.77%) Disaster Recovery
15 109 (6.31%) Kalman Filter
16 107 (6.19%) Asset Management
16 107 (6.19%) Web Filtering
17 105 (6.08%) Customer Experience
18 101 (5.84%) Agile
19 100 (5.79%) Email Filtering
Programming Languages
1 282 (16.32%) PowerShell
2 136 (7.87%) SQL
3 68 (3.94%) Bash
4 54 (3.13%) Python
5 38 (2.20%) T-SQL
6 24 (1.39%) Java
6 24 (1.39%) Perl
7 23 (1.33%) PL/SQL
8 22 (1.27%) Shell Script
9 17 (0.98%) JavaScript
10 15 (0.87%) C#
11 11 (0.64%) VB
12 9 (0.52%) Bicep
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Groovy
15 3 (0.17%) R
16 2 (0.12%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.058%) VB.NET
17 1 (0.058%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 237 (13.72%) Security Cleared
2 195 (11.28%) SC Cleared
3 164 (9.49%) Microsoft Certification
4 153 (8.85%) Degree
5 66 (3.82%) DV Cleared
6 53 (3.07%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.43%) A+ Certification
8 40 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
9 37 (2.14%) Azure Certification
10 35 (2.03%) MCP
11 33 (1.91%) CCNA
12 31 (1.79%) MCSE
13 24 (1.39%) Network+ Certification
14 20 (1.16%) HND
14 20 (1.16%) ITIL Certification
15 18 (1.04%) HNC
15 18 (1.04%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 15 (0.87%) MCSA
17 13 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
18 11 (0.64%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 148 (8.56%) Cyber Essentials
2 134 (7.75%) SLA
3 105 (6.08%) PCI DSS
4 82 (4.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 56 (3.24%) GDPR
6 46 (2.66%) NIST
7 33 (1.91%) NCSC
8 17 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (0.64%) QA
10 7 (0.41%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.29%) GxP
11 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 3 (0.17%) Data Quality
14 2 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
15 1 (0.058%) GRC
15 1 (0.058%) ISO 9001
15 1 (0.058%) PMO
System Software
1 346 (20.02%) Hyper-V
2 235 (13.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 98 (5.67%) Terminal Server
4 49 (2.84%) Virtual Desktop
5 42 (2.43%) vSphere
6 34 (1.97%) VMware ESXi
7 21 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
8 18 (1.04%) Docker
9 17 (0.98%) Firmware
10 8 (0.46%) BitLocker
11 7 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.35%) VMware NSX
12 6 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.23%) XenApp
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 1 (0.058%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.058%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 361 (20.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 130 (7.52%) SCCM
3 57 (3.30%) Terraform
4 46 (2.66%) Single Sign-On
5 36 (2.08%) vCenter Server
6 24 (1.39%) WSUS
7 21 (1.22%) Jamf Pro
8 20 (1.16%) Autotask
9 19 (1.10%) Ansible
10 18 (1.04%) FortiGate
11 17 (0.98%) SCOM
12 16 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 16 (0.93%) Kubernetes
13 10 (0.58%) Nagios
13 10 (0.58%) ZABBIX
14 9 (0.52%) Failover Clustering
15 7 (0.41%) SCVMM
16 6 (0.35%) McAfee ePO
16 6 (0.35%) Prometheus
16 6 (0.35%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,289 (74.59%) Microsoft
2 458 (26.50%) VMware
3 178 (10.30%) Veeam
4 135 (7.81%) SolarWinds
5 112 (6.48%) Nimble Storage
6 111 (6.42%) Cisco
7 109 (6.31%) Splunk
8 102 (5.90%) Tanium
9 96 (5.56%) Brocade
10 87 (5.03%) Apple
11 70 (4.05%) ServiceNow
12 66 (3.82%) Citrix
12 66 (3.82%) Google
13 53 (3.07%) HP
14 52 (3.01%) Oracle
15 40 (2.31%) Dell
16 39 (2.26%) Meraki
17 25 (1.45%) SonicWALL
18 24 (1.39%) Fortinet
19 22 (1.27%) Red Hat