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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 36 24
Rank change year-on-year -15 -12 +17
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,754 1,872 3,493
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.88% 5.43% 7.48%
As % of the System Software category 62.40% 43.82% 48.63%
Number of salaries quoted 1,220 1,134 3,106
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £24,500
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £27,338
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £37,500 £35,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% +5.63% -2.74%
75th Percentile £45,875 £52,500 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,175 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +6.25% -1.72%

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 2,811 4,272 7,183
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.21% 12.39% 15.37%
Number of salaries quoted 1,968 2,407 6,037
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,500 £26,147
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 £60,750 £68,750 £61,949
90th Percentile £75,000 £83,750 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £52,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +10.58% -5.45%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 +11 471 £36,000 -15.29% 259
North of England -20 366 £33,000 -12.00% 135
South West +3 291 £32,500 -2.99% 89
Midlands -21 267 £31,000 -16.97% 82
East of England -17 190 £35,170 +8.22% 85
North West -9 168 £37,500 -6.25% 70
East Midlands +14 163 £28,500 -9.52% 42
Yorkshire -13 156 £32,500 - 53
Scotland +6 114 £29,000 -27.00% 45
West Midlands -52 103 £32,500 -18.75% 40
North East -10 42 £31,000 -13.89% 16
Wales +3 37 £34,500 -28.13% 18
Northern Ireland -10 19 £32,000 -39.05% 2
Isle of Man +8 1 £45,000 +91.49% 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
1 498 (28.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 314 (17.90%) SharePoint
3 24 (1.37%) Exchange Server 2003
4 15 (0.86%) IIS
5 14 (0.80%) Confluence
6 11 (0.63%) Skype for Business
7 8 (0.46%) Exchange Server 2013
8 6 (0.34%) Exchange Server 2007
8 6 (0.34%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) CMS
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 251 (14.31%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (2.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.057%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 20 (1.14%) Dynamics CRM
1 20 (1.14%) Oracle ERP
2 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
3 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
3 4 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.17%) Primavera
5 2 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
5 2 (0.11%) Shopify
6 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
6 1 (0.057%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 1,218 (69.44%) Microsoft 365
2 951 (54.22%) Azure
3 574 (32.73%) Entra ID
4 122 (6.96%) AWS
5 120 (6.84%) OneDrive
6 81 (4.62%) Google Workspace
6 81 (4.62%) SaaS
7 58 (3.31%) Power Platform
8 39 (2.22%) Azure DevOps
9 35 (2.00%) GCP
10 33 (1.88%) IaaS
11 32 (1.82%) Azure Monitor
12 31 (1.77%) PowerApps
13 30 (1.71%) GitHub
14 28 (1.60%) OCI
14 28 (1.60%) PaaS
15 26 (1.48%) Azure Logic Apps
16 22 (1.25%) Power Automate
17 21 (1.20%) Mimecast
18 18 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 648 (36.94%) DNS
2 615 (35.06%) DHCP
3 410 (23.38%) Firewall
4 258 (14.71%) VPN
5 243 (13.85%) TCP/IP
6 179 (10.21%) VLAN
7 166 (9.46%) LAN
8 163 (9.29%) WAN
9 134 (7.64%) Wi-Fi
10 85 (4.85%) Wireless
11 74 (4.22%) VoIP
12 52 (2.96%) SAN
13 51 (2.91%) Network Security
14 46 (2.62%) Remote Desktop
15 37 (2.11%) Broadband
16 26 (1.48%) Internet
17 22 (1.25%) SD-WAN
18 16 (0.91%) Unified Communications
19 15 (0.86%) Ethernet
19 15 (0.86%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 123 (7.01%) Amazon RDS
2 55 (3.14%) SQL Server
3 27 (1.54%) Oracle Database
4 24 (1.37%) Oracle Database 10g
4 24 (1.37%) Power BI
5 12 (0.68%) MySQL
6 11 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
8 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (0.34%) DTS
8 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
9 5 (0.29%) GIS
9 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
10 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
11 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
12 1 (0.057%) Cognos Event Studio
12 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 67 (3.82%) JIRA
2 28 (1.60%) Jenkins
3 24 (1.37%) Git
4 23 (1.31%) Oracle Forms
5 7 (0.40%) GitLab
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.057%) Vagrant
General
1 859 (48.97%) Social Skills
2 216 (12.31%) Analytical Skills
3 141 (8.04%) Finance
4 129 (7.35%) Organisational Skills
5 89 (5.07%) Manufacturing
6 64 (3.65%) Retail
7 59 (3.36%) Documentation Skills
8 58 (3.31%) Law
9 56 (3.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 39 (2.22%) Advertising
11 36 (2.05%) Legal
12 32 (1.82%) Public Sector
13 30 (1.71%) Games
14 22 (1.25%) Marketing
15 21 (1.20%) Telecoms
16 15 (0.86%) French Language
16 15 (0.86%) Swedish Language
17 10 (0.57%) Aerospace
18 5 (0.29%) Automotive
18 5 (0.29%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 646 (36.83%) IT Support
2 431 (24.57%) Support Engineer
3 351 (20.01%) IT Engineer
4 296 (16.88%) IT Support Engineer
5 228 (13.00%) Analyst
6 186 (10.60%) 2nd Line Support
7 164 (9.35%) Support Analyst
8 155 (8.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 153 (8.72%) Support Technician
10 139 (7.92%) Systems Engineer
11 128 (7.30%) IT Analyst
11 128 (7.30%) Senior
12 109 (6.21%) IT Support Analyst
13 108 (6.16%) IT Technician
14 102 (5.82%) IT Support Technician
15 97 (5.53%) 3rd Line Support
16 92 (5.25%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 91 (5.19%) 1st Line Support
18 82 (4.68%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 81 (4.62%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.02%) SOAP
2 46 (2.62%) LDAP
3 45 (2.57%) SAML
4 43 (2.45%) OAuth
4 43 (2.45%) OpenID
5 35 (2.00%) REST
6 33 (1.88%) GraphQL
7 25 (1.43%) RESTful
8 24 (1.37%) JSON
8 24 (1.37%) XML
9 20 (1.14%) .NET
10 15 (0.86%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.68%) CSS
11 12 (0.68%) HTML
11 12 (0.68%) React
12 10 (0.57%) OAuth2
13 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
14 5 (0.29%) EDI
14 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
15 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 260 (14.82%) Driving Licence
2 149 (8.49%) Onboarding
3 110 (6.27%) Legacy Systems
4 76 (4.33%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (3.71%) Enterprise Software
6 39 (2.22%) Data Centre
7 36 (2.05%) Cyberattack
8 35 (2.00%) Cloud Native
8 35 (2.00%) Cyber Threat
9 33 (1.88%) Management Information System
10 31 (1.77%) Hybrid Cloud
11 26 (1.48%) Replication
12 19 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
13 18 (1.03%) iPad
14 16 (0.91%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.91%) PKI
14 16 (0.91%) Public Cloud
15 15 (0.86%) CMDB
16 14 (0.80%) Analytical Mindset
16 14 (0.80%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 1,228 (70.01%) Windows
2 761 (43.39%) Windows Server
3 262 (14.94%) Windows 10
4 223 (12.71%) Linux
5 161 (9.18%) Windows Server 2016
6 87 (4.96%) Mac OS
7 72 (4.10%) Apple iOS
8 68 (3.88%) Windows Server 2019
9 64 (3.65%) Android
10 34 (1.94%) Windows 7
10 34 (1.94%) Windows Server 2008
11 31 (1.77%) Windows Server 2012
12 29 (1.65%) Unix
13 24 (1.37%) HPUX
13 24 (1.37%) Solaris
13 24 (1.37%) Windows Server 2003
14 13 (0.74%) VMS
15 8 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 7 (0.40%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 663 (37.80%) Problem-Solving
2 546 (31.13%) Customer Service
3 370 (21.09%) ITIL
4 233 (13.28%) Cybersecurity
5 230 (13.11%) Mentoring
6 205 (11.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 192 (10.95%) Continuous Improvement
8 175 (9.98%) Migration
9 167 (9.52%) ITSM
10 144 (8.21%) Service Delivery
11 130 (7.41%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 123 (7.01%) Coaching
13 119 (6.78%) Disaster Recovery
13 119 (6.78%) Incident Management
14 118 (6.73%) Kalman Filter
15 116 (6.61%) Web Filtering
16 113 (6.44%) Customer Experience
17 109 (6.21%) Asset Management
18 108 (6.16%) Email Filtering
19 106 (6.04%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 291 (16.59%) PowerShell
2 138 (7.87%) SQL
3 70 (3.99%) Bash
4 55 (3.14%) Python
5 39 (2.22%) T-SQL
6 23 (1.31%) Java
6 23 (1.31%) Perl
6 23 (1.31%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.25%) Shell Script
8 17 (0.97%) JavaScript
9 15 (0.86%) C#
10 11 (0.63%) VB
11 8 (0.46%) Bicep
12 5 (0.29%) VBA
13 4 (0.23%) R
14 3 (0.17%) Groovy
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.057%) PHP
16 1 (0.057%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 245 (13.97%) Security Cleared
2 202 (11.52%) SC Cleared
3 164 (9.35%) Microsoft Certification
4 154 (8.78%) Degree
5 65 (3.71%) DV Cleared
6 52 (2.96%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.45%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.34%) Azure Certification
9 40 (2.28%) Cisco Certification
10 33 (1.88%) CCNA
10 33 (1.88%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.77%) MCSE
12 26 (1.48%) Network+ Certification
13 20 (1.14%) HND
13 20 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
14 18 (1.03%) HNC
14 18 (1.03%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 14 (0.80%) MCSA
16 13 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
17 11 (0.63%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 157 (8.95%) Cyber Essentials
2 134 (7.64%) SLA
3 113 (6.44%) PCI DSS
4 84 (4.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 53 (3.02%) GDPR
6 46 (2.62%) NIST
7 33 (1.88%) NCSC
8 16 (0.91%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 12 (0.68%) QA
10 8 (0.46%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.29%) GxP
11 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.23%) Data Quality
12 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.057%) GRC
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 9001
14 1 (0.057%) PMO
System Software
1 360 (20.52%) Hyper-V
2 239 (13.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 106 (6.04%) Terminal Server
4 50 (2.85%) Virtual Desktop
5 45 (2.57%) vSphere
6 36 (2.05%) VMware ESXi
7 23 (1.31%) Virtual Machines
8 16 (0.91%) Docker
8 16 (0.91%) Firmware
9 8 (0.46%) BitLocker
10 7 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
10 7 (0.40%) VMware NSX
11 6 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
12 5 (0.29%) XenApp
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 1 (0.057%) DFS Replication
15 1 (0.057%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.057%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 368 (20.98%) Microsoft Intune
2 130 (7.41%) SCCM
3 55 (3.14%) Terraform
4 47 (2.68%) Single Sign-On
5 38 (2.17%) vCenter Server
6 25 (1.43%) WSUS
7 22 (1.25%) Jamf Pro
8 20 (1.14%) Ansible
9 19 (1.08%) Autotask
10 18 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 18 (1.03%) FortiGate
11 16 (0.91%) Kubernetes
11 16 (0.91%) SCOM
12 10 (0.57%) Nagios
12 10 (0.57%) ZABBIX
13 9 (0.51%) Failover Clustering
14 7 (0.40%) SCVMM
15 6 (0.34%) Backup Exec
15 6 (0.34%) McAfee ePO
15 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,308 (74.57%) Microsoft
2 473 (26.97%) VMware
3 188 (10.72%) Veeam
4 143 (8.15%) SolarWinds
5 120 (6.84%) Nimble Storage
6 118 (6.73%) Splunk
7 110 (6.27%) Tanium
8 109 (6.21%) Cisco
9 104 (5.93%) Brocade
10 85 (4.85%) Apple
11 73 (4.16%) Citrix
12 71 (4.05%) ServiceNow
13 66 (3.76%) Google
14 54 (3.08%) HP
15 50 (2.85%) Oracle
16 41 (2.34%) Dell
17 37 (2.11%) Meraki
18 25 (1.43%) Fortinet
18 25 (1.43%) SonicWALL
19 22 (1.25%) Red Hat