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 24 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 36 35 23
Rank change year-on-year -1 -12 +24
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,906 2,399 2,735
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.53% 4.94% 8.55%
As % of the System Software category 51.10% 47.56% 48.78%
Number of salaries quoted 1,391 1,399 2,433
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +6.67% -
75th Percentile £48,750 £53,000 £52,500
90th Percentile £63,750 £62,500 £63,700
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,770
% change year-on-year -11.76% +4.24% -1.46%

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 3,730 5,044 5,607
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.83% 10.38% 17.52%
Number of salaries quoted 2,239 2,827 4,607
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £26,500
25th Percentile £30,500 £35,000 £33,468
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £49,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +2.04% -2.00%
75th Percentile £62,500 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £77,715
UK median annual salary £49,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -10.00% - -

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 24 October 2025.

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 24 October 2025. 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 +6 489 £37,500 -7.41% 307
North of England -11 467 £32,500 -18.75% 185
Midlands +14 336 £35,000 -12.50% 97
South West +13 287 £32,500 -9.72% 113
Yorkshire +6 247 £30,500 -32.22% 49
East of England -14 225 £33,500 -4.29% 72
West Midlands +6 178 £47,500 +18.75% 49
East Midlands +10 158 £29,000 -22.67% 48
North West -63 130 £35,000 -12.50% 103
North East +13 90 £31,000 -13.89% 42
Scotland -31 73 £30,000 -35.48% 42
Wales +3 36 £35,000 +5.26% 23
Northern Ireland +14 9 £55,000 +4.76% 1
Channel Islands +4 1 £45,000 -10.00%
South Coast - 1 £59,000 -
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
1 561 (29.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 301 (15.79%) SharePoint
3 50 (2.62%) IIS
4 40 (2.10%) Confluence
5 21 (1.10%) Skype for Business
6 16 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2003
7 13 (0.68%) Tomcat
8 8 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2013
9 5 (0.26%) Exchange Server 2007
9 5 (0.26%) Exchange Server 2010
10 4 (0.21%) CMS
11 3 (0.16%) Apache
11 3 (0.16%) BizTalk Server
11 3 (0.16%) JOnAS
11 3 (0.16%) Office Communications Server
11 3 (0.16%) SharePoint Server
11 3 (0.16%) WebLogic
11 3 (0.16%) WebLogic Portal
12 2 (0.10%) FactoryTalk
12 2 (0.10%) WinCC
Applications
1 221 (11.59%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (1.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.21%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.21%) CATIA
5 2 (0.10%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.052%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.052%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.052%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.052%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 29 (1.52%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.63%) Oracle ERP
3 9 (0.47%) Dynamics NAV
4 6 (0.31%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.31%) Sage 200
5 5 (0.26%) SAP Business One
6 4 (0.21%) Visualfiles
7 3 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
7 3 (0.16%) Primavera
8 2 (0.10%) Magento
8 2 (0.10%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.052%) Cognos Business Intelligence
9 1 (0.052%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.052%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 1,229 (64.48%) Microsoft 365
2 1,019 (53.46%) Azure
3 574 (30.12%) Entra ID
4 167 (8.76%) AWS
5 92 (4.83%) OneDrive
6 67 (3.52%) SaaS
7 54 (2.83%) IaaS
8 45 (2.36%) PaaS
9 43 (2.26%) Power Platform
10 39 (2.05%) Amazon EC2
11 33 (1.73%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 32 (1.68%) Amazon ELB
12 32 (1.68%) Amazon Glacier
12 32 (1.68%) Amazon S3
12 32 (1.68%) AWS KMS
12 32 (1.68%) GCP
12 32 (1.68%) PowerApps
12 32 (1.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 27 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
13 27 (1.42%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 591 (31.01%) DNS
2 549 (28.80%) Firewall
3 531 (27.86%) DHCP
4 274 (14.38%) TCP/IP
5 212 (11.12%) VPN
6 180 (9.44%) VLAN
7 165 (8.66%) WAN
8 164 (8.60%) LAN
9 132 (6.93%) Wi-Fi
10 110 (5.77%) SAN
11 93 (4.88%) Wireless
12 91 (4.77%) VoIP
13 54 (2.83%) Remote Desktop
14 39 (2.05%) Internet
15 34 (1.78%) SMTP
16 26 (1.36%) Network Security
16 26 (1.36%) SD-WAN
17 25 (1.31%) NAS
17 25 (1.31%) SSL
18 22 (1.15%) IP Telephony
Database & Business Intelligence
1 135 (7.08%) Amazon RDS
2 117 (6.14%) SQL Server
3 19 (1.00%) Oracle Database
4 16 (0.84%) Oracle Database 10g
4 16 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (0.63%) MySQL
6 11 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
6 11 (0.58%) Power BI
7 9 (0.47%) DTS
8 6 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (0.31%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 5 (0.26%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.16%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.16%) Oracle Discoverer
10 3 (0.16%) Oracle Reports
11 2 (0.10%) Data Mining
11 2 (0.10%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.052%) Cognos Connection
12 1 (0.052%) Cognos Event Studio
12 1 (0.052%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 75 (3.93%) JIRA
2 51 (2.68%) Git
3 50 (2.62%) Jenkins
4 32 (1.68%) Vagrant
5 15 (0.79%) Oracle Forms
6 9 (0.47%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.26%) GitLab
8 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
8 3 (0.16%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.10%) Octopus Deploy
9 2 (0.10%) Subversion
9 2 (0.10%) TeamCity
9 2 (0.10%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.052%) Artifactory
General
1 837 (43.91%) Social Skills
2 160 (8.39%) Analytical Skills
3 114 (5.98%) Manufacturing
4 104 (5.46%) Finance
5 87 (4.56%) Organisational Skills
6 72 (3.78%) Law
7 71 (3.73%) Retail
8 60 (3.15%) Public Sector
9 47 (2.47%) Advertising
10 46 (2.41%) Documentation Skills
10 46 (2.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 37 (1.94%) Legal
12 32 (1.68%) Telecoms
13 18 (0.94%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (0.79%) Aerospace
14 15 (0.79%) French Language
14 15 (0.79%) Swedish Language
15 14 (0.73%) Marketing
16 13 (0.68%) Pharmaceutical
17 10 (0.52%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 564 (29.59%) IT Support
2 387 (20.30%) Support Engineer
3 320 (16.79%) Analyst
4 279 (14.64%) IT Engineer
5 231 (12.12%) Support Analyst
6 210 (11.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 204 (10.70%) 2nd Line Support
8 182 (9.55%) IT Support Engineer
9 169 (8.87%) IT Analyst
10 138 (7.24%) Technical Support
11 128 (6.72%) IT Support Analyst
12 120 (6.30%) Support Technician
13 114 (5.98%) Systems Engineer
14 113 (5.93%) 3rd Line Support
14 113 (5.93%) Senior
15 101 (5.30%) Infrastructure Support
16 99 (5.19%) 1st Line Support
17 92 (4.83%) IT Technician
18 81 (4.25%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
19 74 (3.88%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (1.47%) LDAP
2 24 (1.26%) .NET
3 21 (1.10%) SOAP
4 19 (1.00%) JSON
4 19 (1.00%) XML
5 15 (0.79%) RESTful
6 13 (0.68%) ARM Templates
6 13 (0.68%) SAML
7 12 (0.63%) React
8 10 (0.52%) CSS
8 10 (0.52%) EDI
8 10 (0.52%) HTML
9 9 (0.47%) .NET Framework
9 9 (0.47%) REST
10 8 (0.42%) OAuth
10 8 (0.42%) OpenID
11 7 (0.37%) Web Services
12 6 (0.31%) 802.1X
12 6 (0.31%) OAuth2
13 5 (0.26%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 219 (11.49%) Driving Licence
2 175 (9.18%) Onboarding
3 84 (4.41%) Self-Motivation
4 76 (3.99%) Legacy Systems
5 73 (3.83%) NHS
6 67 (3.52%) Operational Technology
7 56 (2.94%) Data Centre
8 49 (2.57%) PKI
9 47 (2.47%) Enterprise Software
10 39 (2.05%) Management Information System
11 36 (1.89%) Cloud Native
12 35 (1.84%) Replication
13 31 (1.63%) Clustering
14 23 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
15 22 (1.15%) Video Conferencing
16 17 (0.89%) Product Ownership
16 17 (0.89%) Security Posture
17 15 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
18 13 (0.68%) LIMS
19 12 (0.63%) Client/Server
Operating Systems
1 1,378 (72.30%) Windows
2 788 (41.34%) Windows Server
3 272 (14.27%) Windows 10
4 243 (12.75%) Linux
5 137 (7.19%) Windows Server 2019
6 135 (7.08%) Windows Server 2016
7 129 (6.77%) Mac OS
8 61 (3.20%) Apple iOS
9 52 (2.73%) VMS
10 43 (2.26%) Android
11 39 (2.05%) Unix
12 32 (1.68%) Windows Server 2012
13 28 (1.47%) Windows Server 2008
14 25 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
15 23 (1.21%) Windows 7
16 21 (1.10%) Windows Server 2003
17 17 (0.89%) Amazon Linux
18 16 (0.84%) Solaris
19 15 (0.79%) HPUX
20 9 (0.47%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 599 (31.43%) Problem-Solving
2 512 (26.86%) Customer Service
3 380 (19.94%) ITIL
4 283 (14.85%) Cybersecurity
5 264 (13.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 184 (9.65%) Continuous Improvement
7 172 (9.02%) Mentoring
8 140 (7.35%) ITSM
9 138 (7.24%) Migration
10 109 (5.72%) Incident Management
11 103 (5.40%) DevOps
12 100 (5.25%) Kalman Filter
13 96 (5.04%) Disaster Recovery
13 96 (5.04%) Identity Management
14 91 (4.77%) Agile
15 90 (4.72%) Service Delivery
16 89 (4.67%) Web Filtering
17 81 (4.25%) Network Management
18 80 (4.20%) Coaching
19 77 (4.04%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 330 (17.31%) PowerShell
2 147 (7.71%) SQL
3 75 (3.93%) Python
4 38 (1.99%) Java
5 35 (1.84%) Groovy
6 32 (1.68%) Bash
7 30 (1.57%) Perl
8 22 (1.15%) JavaScript
9 17 (0.89%) VB
10 15 (0.79%) PL/SQL
11 14 (0.73%) Shell Script
12 13 (0.68%) C#
13 10 (0.52%) Bicep
13 10 (0.52%) VBA
14 9 (0.47%) Korn
15 2 (0.10%) Go
15 2 (0.10%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.10%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.052%) Kusto Query Language
16 1 (0.052%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 262 (13.75%) Degree
2 251 (13.17%) Security Cleared
3 203 (10.65%) SC Cleared
4 187 (9.81%) Microsoft Certification
5 110 (5.77%) DBS Check
6 72 (3.78%) DV Cleared
7 59 (3.10%) A+ Certification
8 48 (2.52%) Azure Certification
9 44 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
10 42 (2.20%) CCNA
11 38 (1.99%) MCP
12 36 (1.89%) MCSE
12 36 (1.89%) Network+ Certification
13 26 (1.36%) MCSA
14 23 (1.21%) AWS Certification
15 21 (1.10%) ITIL Certification
16 19 (1.00%) HND
17 18 (0.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
18 16 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
18 16 (0.84%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 106 (5.56%) SLA
2 103 (5.40%) Cyber Essentials
3 73 (3.83%) PCI DSS
4 66 (3.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 61 (3.20%) GDPR
6 20 (1.05%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 13 (0.68%) NIST
8 7 (0.37%) GxP
9 6 (0.31%) QA
10 5 (0.26%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.21%) Accessibility
11 4 (0.21%) NCSC
11 4 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.10%) Disclosure Scotland
12 2 (0.10%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.052%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.052%) IASME
13 1 (0.052%) SOC 2
System Software
1 361 (18.94%) Hyper-V
2 285 (14.95%) VMware Infrastructure
3 72 (3.78%) Virtual Servers
4 69 (3.62%) Terminal Server
5 57 (2.99%) vSphere
6 47 (2.47%) Docker
6 47 (2.47%) Virtual Desktop
6 47 (2.47%) VMware ESXi
7 30 (1.57%) Virtual Machines
8 20 (1.05%) DFS Replication
9 15 (0.79%) Firmware
10 11 (0.58%) Terminal Services
11 10 (0.52%) XenApp
12 9 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 4 (0.21%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.16%) ISA Server
14 3 (0.16%) VMware NSX
14 3 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
15 2 (0.10%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 458 (24.03%) Microsoft Intune
2 152 (7.97%) SCCM
3 73 (3.83%) Terraform
4 48 (2.52%) Ansible
5 41 (2.15%) Kubernetes
5 41 (2.15%) WSUS
6 36 (1.89%) Prometheus
7 34 (1.78%) Single Sign-On
8 33 (1.73%) vCenter Server
9 32 (1.68%) Grafana
10 27 (1.42%) Autotask
11 26 (1.36%) SCOM
12 21 (1.10%) Jamf Pro
13 20 (1.05%) FortiGate
14 15 (0.79%) Nagios
15 13 (0.68%) ZABBIX
16 11 (0.58%) Failover Clustering
17 8 (0.42%) PaperCut
17 8 (0.42%) SmoothWall
18 7 (0.37%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,430 (75.03%) Microsoft
2 472 (24.76%) VMware
3 178 (9.34%) Cisco
4 166 (8.71%) Veeam
5 91 (4.77%) SolarWinds
6 89 (4.67%) Apple
7 86 (4.51%) ServiceNow
8 75 (3.93%) Splunk
9 73 (3.83%) Tanium
10 69 (3.62%) Citrix
11 67 (3.52%) Nimble Storage
12 64 (3.36%) Brocade
13 63 (3.31%) Meraki
14 54 (2.83%) Google
15 47 (2.47%) HP
16 46 (2.41%) Oracle
17 43 (2.26%) Sophos
18 40 (2.10%) SonicWALL
19 37 (1.94%) Dell
20 35 (1.84%) Red Hat