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

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 42 30
Rank change year-on-year -9 -12 +5
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,119 1,810 4,172
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.95% 5.36% 5.90%
As % of the System Software category 52.82% 41.56% 52.31%
Number of salaries quoted 1,646 1,444 3,335
10th Percentile £26,500 £26,000 £24,000
25th Percentile £29,000 £28,250 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £35,450
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -1.27% -3.85%
75th Percentile £49,500 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £63,750 £62,500 £58,750
UK median annual salary £40,000 £38,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -5.00%

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 4,012 4,355 7,975
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.58% 12.89% 11.27%
Number of salaries quoted 3,087 2,568 6,269
10th Percentile £28,000 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £32,500 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £45,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% - -5.26%
75th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £79,324 £80,000 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £51,398 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.15% +2.80% -9.09%

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 18 July 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 18 July 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 0 509 £42,500 +6.25% 163
North of England -12 487 £34,000 +6.25% 123
Midlands -28 362 £37,500 +7.14% 48
South West -17 286 £37,500 +8.70% 54
North West +54 243 £35,000 - 57
East of England +8 234 £35,000 +7.58% 49
East Midlands +2 192 £33,500 +6.35% 22
Yorkshire -26 190 £32,500 +8.33% 43
West Midlands -43 169 £39,500 +1.28% 26
Scotland +86 112 £29,000 -17.14% 23
Wales -11 72 £45,000 +18.13% 11
Northern Ireland -13 56 £35,500 -30.73% 3
North East -58 54 £42,500 +32.81% 30
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +30.43% 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
1 620 (29.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 440 (20.76%) SharePoint
3 41 (1.93%) IIS
4 15 (0.71%) Confluence
5 10 (0.47%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.42%) Skype for Business
7 8 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2007
7 8 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2010
8 7 (0.33%) Apache
9 4 (0.19%) CMS
10 3 (0.14%) SAS
11 1 (0.047%) Drupal
11 1 (0.047%) nginx
11 1 (0.047%) Site Server
11 1 (0.047%) WordPress
Applications
1 208 (9.82%) Microsoft Office
2 44 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.094%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.047%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.047%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.047%) Revit
Business Applications
1 17 (0.80%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.61%) Dynamics NAV
3 9 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.28%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.24%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 5 (0.24%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.19%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.19%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.19%) Primavera
7 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.094%) Alphatax
8 2 (0.094%) Sage 200
8 2 (0.094%) SAP S/4HANA
8 2 (0.094%) Shopify
9 1 (0.047%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.047%) Magento
9 1 (0.047%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.047%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.047%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,488 (70.22%) Microsoft 365
2 1,184 (55.88%) Azure
3 880 (41.53%) Entra ID
4 149 (7.03%) AWS
5 145 (6.84%) OneDrive
6 104 (4.91%) SaaS
7 85 (4.01%) Power Platform
8 63 (2.97%) IaaS
9 61 (2.88%) Mimecast
10 54 (2.55%) PaaS
11 48 (2.27%) Google Workspace
12 43 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
13 35 (1.65%) Microsoft Purview
14 31 (1.46%) Azure Sentinel
15 29 (1.37%) Azure Monitor
16 26 (1.23%) Serverless
17 25 (1.18%) Nutanix
17 25 (1.18%) PowerApps
18 22 (1.04%) Power Automate
19 20 (0.94%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 701 (33.08%) DNS
2 587 (27.70%) DHCP
3 527 (24.87%) Firewall
4 351 (16.56%) VPN
5 247 (11.66%) TCP/IP
6 207 (9.77%) WAN
7 204 (9.63%) Wi-Fi
8 202 (9.53%) LAN
9 198 (9.34%) VLAN
10 128 (6.04%) VoIP
11 125 (5.90%) Wireless
12 82 (3.87%) Network Security
13 76 (3.59%) SAN
14 49 (2.31%) Remote Desktop
15 30 (1.42%) NAS
16 28 (1.32%) Internet
17 26 (1.23%) Broadband
18 19 (0.90%) SD-WAN
19 16 (0.76%) SSL
20 15 (0.71%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 112 (5.29%) SQL Server
2 109 (5.14%) Amazon RDS
3 47 (2.22%) Power BI
4 32 (1.51%) Azure SQL Database
5 27 (1.27%) PostgreSQL
6 26 (1.23%) MySQL
7 9 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 6 (0.28%) Crystal Reports
9 5 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.19%) GIS
10 4 (0.19%) Neo4j
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.14%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.094%) BusinessObjects
12 2 (0.094%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.094%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.094%) KNIME
13 1 (0.047%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.047%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.047%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 76 (3.59%) JIRA
2 24 (1.13%) Git
3 9 (0.42%) GitLab
4 7 (0.33%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.24%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.19%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.094%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.094%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.094%) Metasploit
7 2 (0.094%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.047%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.047%) Gatling
8 1 (0.047%) JMeter
8 1 (0.047%) Ranorex
8 1 (0.047%) Selenium
8 1 (0.047%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.047%) Subversion
8 1 (0.047%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.047%) Vagrant
General
1 937 (44.22%) Social Skills
2 241 (11.37%) Analytical Skills
3 124 (5.85%) Legal
4 122 (5.76%) Finance
4 122 (5.76%) Organisational Skills
5 94 (4.44%) Law
6 69 (3.26%) Manufacturing
7 68 (3.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 65 (3.07%) Public Sector
9 58 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
10 47 (2.22%) Retail
11 46 (2.17%) Telecoms
12 27 (1.27%) Advertising
13 21 (0.99%) Games
14 20 (0.94%) Local Government
15 13 (0.61%) Aerospace
15 13 (0.61%) Automotive
16 9 (0.42%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (0.38%) Marketing
18 7 (0.33%) Banking
Job Titles
1 812 (38.32%) IT Support
2 566 (26.71%) Support Engineer
3 530 (25.01%) IT Engineer
4 443 (20.91%) IT Support Engineer
5 351 (16.56%) Analyst
6 237 (11.18%) Senior
7 230 (10.85%) Support Analyst
8 197 (9.30%) Support Technician
9 196 (9.25%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 188 (8.87%) IT Technician
11 172 (8.12%) Systems Engineer
12 168 (7.93%) IT Support Technician
13 163 (7.69%) 2nd Line Support
14 158 (7.46%) IT Analyst
15 142 (6.70%) IT Support Analyst
16 97 (4.58%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 86 (4.06%) 3rd Line Support
18 81 (3.82%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 79 (3.73%) Architect
20 75 (3.54%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.22%) LDAP
2 32 (1.51%) SAML
3 26 (1.23%) OpenID
4 23 (1.09%) OAuth
4 23 (1.09%) Regular Expression
5 21 (0.99%) REST
6 19 (0.90%) XMPP
7 16 (0.76%) GraphQL
7 16 (0.76%) SOAP
8 15 (0.71%) JSON
8 15 (0.71%) XML
9 11 (0.52%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.42%) .NET
10 9 (0.42%) HTML
10 9 (0.42%) Microsoft Graph
10 9 (0.42%) Web Services
11 7 (0.33%) JSON Schema
12 6 (0.28%) Middleware
13 5 (0.24%) FreeSWITCH
13 5 (0.24%) ODBC
Miscellaneous
1 294 (13.87%) Driving Licence
2 164 (7.74%) Onboarding
3 124 (5.85%) Self-Motivation
4 102 (4.81%) Legacy Systems
5 86 (4.06%) Hybrid Cloud
6 70 (3.30%) Data Centre
7 63 (2.97%) Management Information System
8 52 (2.45%) PKI
9 46 (2.17%) Clustering
10 37 (1.75%) Public Cloud
11 36 (1.70%) Replication
12 35 (1.65%) Enterprise Software
13 32 (1.51%) Security Posture
14 30 (1.42%) CCTV
15 29 (1.37%) Cloud Native
16 24 (1.13%) Cyber Threat
17 20 (0.94%) Cyberattack
18 16 (0.76%) Client/Server
19 15 (0.71%) Data Structures
20 14 (0.66%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 1,518 (71.64%) Windows
2 896 (42.28%) Windows Server
3 311 (14.68%) Windows 10
4 279 (13.17%) Linux
5 174 (8.21%) Windows Server 2016
6 143 (6.75%) Mac OS
7 86 (4.06%) Windows Server 2019
8 77 (3.63%) Apple iOS
9 70 (3.30%) Android
10 42 (1.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 28 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
12 25 (1.18%) VMS
13 14 (0.66%) Ubuntu
13 14 (0.66%) Windows 7
14 11 (0.52%) Windows Server 2008
15 7 (0.33%) Debian
16 6 (0.28%) CentOS
16 6 (0.28%) Windows 8
17 4 (0.19%) Mac OS X
17 4 (0.19%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 714 (33.70%) Problem-Solving
2 540 (25.48%) Customer Service
3 481 (22.70%) ITIL
4 391 (18.45%) Cybersecurity
5 383 (18.07%) Continuous Improvement
6 298 (14.06%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 260 (12.27%) Mentoring
8 221 (10.43%) Disaster Recovery
9 189 (8.92%) ITSM
9 189 (8.92%) Service Delivery
10 158 (7.46%) Migration
11 153 (7.22%) Project Delivery
12 137 (6.47%) Customer Experience
13 132 (6.23%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 131 (6.18%) Identity Access Management
15 128 (6.04%) Kalman Filter
16 124 (5.85%) Change Management
17 121 (5.71%) Web Filtering
18 118 (5.57%) Incident Management
19 110 (5.19%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 338 (15.95%) PowerShell
2 203 (9.58%) SQL
3 78 (3.68%) Bash
4 67 (3.16%) Python
5 38 (1.79%) Bicep
6 29 (1.37%) R
7 28 (1.32%) T-SQL
8 12 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
8 12 (0.57%) VBA
9 7 (0.33%) C#
9 7 (0.33%) Shell Script
10 6 (0.28%) Korn
10 6 (0.28%) PHP
10 6 (0.28%) Ruby
11 5 (0.24%) Java
12 4 (0.19%) VB
13 3 (0.14%) JavaScript
14 2 (0.094%) C
14 2 (0.094%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.094%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 291 (13.73%) Security Cleared
2 206 (9.72%) SC Cleared
3 198 (9.34%) Degree
4 179 (8.45%) Microsoft Certification
5 97 (4.58%) Azure Certification
6 85 (4.01%) A+ Certification
7 83 (3.92%) DV Cleared
8 78 (3.68%) Network+ Certification
9 57 (2.69%) Cisco Certification
10 53 (2.50%) DBS Check
11 52 (2.45%) CCNA
12 48 (2.27%) CISM
12 48 (2.27%) CISSP
13 27 (1.27%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 21 (0.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 21 (0.99%) MCSA
15 19 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
16 13 (0.61%) CompTIA Security+
16 13 (0.61%) ITIL Certification
17 12 (0.57%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 217 (10.24%) Cyber Essentials
2 172 (8.12%) SLA
3 130 (6.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 104 (4.91%) PCI DSS
5 45 (2.12%) GDPR
6 43 (2.03%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 39 (1.84%) NIST
8 23 (1.09%) QA
9 21 (0.99%) Data Quality
9 21 (0.99%) NCSC
10 8 (0.38%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.28%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.24%) PMO
13 4 (0.19%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.19%) GRC
13 4 (0.19%) GxP
13 4 (0.19%) ITGC
14 2 (0.094%) ISAE 3402
14 2 (0.094%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 1 (0.047%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 492 (23.22%) Hyper-V
2 357 (16.85%) VMware Infrastructure
3 99 (4.67%) vSphere
4 89 (4.20%) Terminal Server
5 62 (2.93%) Virtual Desktop
6 48 (2.27%) Virtual Machines
7 47 (2.22%) VMware ESXi
8 34 (1.60%) Docker
9 16 (0.76%) VMware NSX
10 13 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
11 12 (0.57%) Firmware
12 10 (0.47%) BitLocker
13 9 (0.42%) DFS Replication
13 9 (0.42%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 8 (0.38%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 6 (0.28%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.28%) XenApp
16 4 (0.19%) NDS
16 4 (0.19%) Squid
17 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 515 (24.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 105 (4.96%) SCCM
3 55 (2.60%) Terraform
4 35 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
5 33 (1.56%) vCenter Server
6 29 (1.37%) Ansible
6 29 (1.37%) Kubernetes
7 28 (1.32%) FortiGate
7 28 (1.32%) Jamf Pro
7 28 (1.32%) WSUS
8 21 (0.99%) Proxmox
9 18 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 18 (0.85%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 15 (0.71%) Failover Clustering
11 14 (0.66%) ZABBIX
12 11 (0.52%) Microsoft Clustering
13 8 (0.38%) Autotask
13 8 (0.38%) SCOM
14 7 (0.33%) Backup Exec
15 6 (0.28%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 1,674 (79.00%) Microsoft
2 559 (26.38%) VMware
3 200 (9.44%) Veeam
4 139 (6.56%) Cisco
5 116 (5.47%) SolarWinds
6 103 (4.86%) Splunk
7 101 (4.77%) Nimble Storage
8 88 (4.15%) Brocade
8 88 (4.15%) Tanium
9 82 (3.87%) Citrix
10 74 (3.49%) Meraki
11 72 (3.40%) Apple
12 71 (3.35%) ServiceNow
13 62 (2.93%) Dell
13 62 (2.93%) HP
14 61 (2.88%) CyberArk
15 45 (2.12%) Google
16 44 (2.08%) CrowdStrike
17 40 (1.89%) Ubiquiti
18 38 (1.79%) Red Hat