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 9 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 37 29
Rank change year-on-year -22 -8 +16
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,779 1,439 4,462
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.97% 5.57% 6.83%
As % of the System Software category 58.62% 45.70% 50.64%
Number of salaries quoted 1,347 1,218 3,830
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £23,750
25th Percentile £28,500 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -2.78%
75th Percentile £47,500 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £61,124 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% +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 3,035 3,149 8,812
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.08% 12.19% 13.48%
Number of salaries quoted 2,224 2,504 7,263
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,750 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £63,619 £68,750 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £85,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £51,375 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -6.59% +10.00% -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 9 April 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 9 April 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 +4 482 £36,000 -12.73% 175
North of England -29 400 £33,500 +3.08% 133
Midlands -40 286 £32,500 -7.14% 78
South West +3 268 £32,500 -6.47% 71
North West -20 184 £37,500 -6.25% 85
Yorkshire -25 182 £32,500 +8.33% 39
East of England -29 178 £40,000 +23.08% 61
East Midlands -23 148 £31,500 +3.28% 36
West Midlands -47 137 £32,500 -12.96% 42
Scotland +36 95 £30,000 -14.29% 26
Wales +1 46 £38,500 -21.59% 14
North East -23 34 £31,750 -4.36% 13
Northern Ireland -31 18 £32,000 -39.05% 2
Isle of Man +2 6 £45,000 +55.17% 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 (27.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 346 (19.45%) SharePoint
3 20 (1.12%) Exchange Server 2003
4 17 (0.96%) IIS
5 12 (0.67%) Exchange Server 2013
6 10 (0.56%) Exchange Server 2007
6 10 (0.56%) Exchange Server 2010
7 8 (0.45%) Confluence
8 6 (0.34%) CMS
9 4 (0.22%) Apache
10 3 (0.17%) Skype for Business
10 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 3 (0.17%) WordPress
11 1 (0.056%) Drupal
11 1 (0.056%) nginx
11 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 243 (13.66%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
4 3 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.056%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.45%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.39%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.39%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.39%) Primavera
4 5 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
5 4 (0.22%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.22%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.22%) Markit EDM
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.11%) Shopify
8 1 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.056%) Magento
8 1 (0.056%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.056%) Sage 200
8 1 (0.056%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,257 (70.66%) Microsoft 365
2 951 (53.46%) Azure
3 628 (35.30%) Entra ID
4 134 (7.53%) AWS
5 133 (7.48%) OneDrive
6 100 (5.62%) Google Workspace
7 85 (4.78%) Power Platform
8 83 (4.67%) SaaS
9 42 (2.36%) IaaS
10 37 (2.08%) PaaS
11 35 (1.97%) Nutanix
12 33 (1.85%) Azure Monitor
13 31 (1.74%) PowerApps
14 30 (1.69%) Azure DevOps
14 30 (1.69%) Mimecast
15 28 (1.57%) GCP
16 22 (1.24%) Microsoft Purview
17 19 (1.07%) Dynamics 365
18 16 (0.90%) GitHub
18 16 (0.90%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 623 (35.02%) DNS
2 570 (32.04%) DHCP
3 407 (22.88%) Firewall
4 285 (16.02%) VPN
5 206 (11.58%) TCP/IP
6 198 (11.13%) WAN
7 190 (10.68%) LAN
8 171 (9.61%) VLAN
9 155 (8.71%) Wi-Fi
10 93 (5.23%) VoIP
11 83 (4.67%) Wireless
12 66 (3.71%) Network Security
13 62 (3.49%) Remote Desktop
14 47 (2.64%) Broadband
15 45 (2.53%) SAN
16 29 (1.63%) SD-WAN
17 20 (1.12%) NAS
18 16 (0.90%) SMTP
19 15 (0.84%) Ethernet
20 14 (0.79%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 92 (5.17%) Amazon RDS
2 81 (4.55%) SQL Server
3 52 (2.92%) Power BI
4 26 (1.46%) PostgreSQL
5 23 (1.29%) MySQL
5 23 (1.29%) Oracle Database
6 20 (1.12%) Oracle Database 10g
7 11 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (0.45%) GIS
8 8 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
10 5 (0.28%) Relational Database
10 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Neo4j
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 1 (0.056%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.056%) OLAP
12 1 (0.056%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 69 (3.88%) JIRA
2 12 (0.67%) Git
3 11 (0.62%) Oracle Forms
4 9 (0.51%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.39%) GitLab
6 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 4 (0.22%) LabVIEW
7 4 (0.22%) Subversion
8 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.056%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.056%) Gatling
9 1 (0.056%) JMeter
9 1 (0.056%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.056%) Vagrant
General
1 802 (45.08%) Social Skills
2 203 (11.41%) Analytical Skills
3 167 (9.39%) Organisational Skills
4 126 (7.08%) Finance
5 75 (4.22%) Manufacturing
6 59 (3.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 59 (3.32%) Legal
7 57 (3.20%) Documentation Skills
8 55 (3.09%) Retail
9 51 (2.87%) Public Sector
10 50 (2.81%) Law
11 37 (2.08%) Advertising
11 37 (2.08%) Games
12 31 (1.74%) Telecoms
13 19 (1.07%) Marketing
14 14 (0.79%) Local Government
15 9 (0.51%) Automotive
16 8 (0.45%) Aerospace
17 4 (0.22%) General Ledger
17 4 (0.22%) Military
Job Titles
1 719 (40.42%) IT Support
2 504 (28.33%) Support Engineer
3 431 (24.23%) IT Engineer
4 372 (20.91%) IT Support Engineer
5 232 (13.04%) Analyst
6 183 (10.29%) 2nd Line Support
7 175 (9.84%) Support Technician
8 170 (9.56%) Support Analyst
9 159 (8.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 145 (8.15%) IT Technician
11 142 (7.98%) Senior
12 134 (7.53%) IT Support Technician
13 120 (6.75%) Systems Engineer
14 118 (6.63%) IT Analyst
15 108 (6.07%) IT Support Analyst
16 104 (5.85%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 93 (5.23%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 90 (5.06%) 3rd Line Support
19 76 (4.27%) 1st Line Support
20 63 (3.54%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (2.75%) LDAP
2 46 (2.59%) SAML
2 46 (2.59%) SOAP
3 43 (2.42%) OAuth
3 43 (2.42%) OpenID
3 43 (2.42%) REST
4 38 (2.14%) GraphQL
5 19 (1.07%) JSON
5 19 (1.07%) XML
6 10 (0.56%) RESTful
7 9 (0.51%) Regular Expression
8 8 (0.45%) .NET
9 7 (0.39%) ARM Templates
9 7 (0.39%) Web Services
10 6 (0.34%) XMPP
11 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
11 5 (0.28%) HTML
12 4 (0.22%) CSS
12 4 (0.22%) EDI
12 4 (0.22%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 270 (15.18%) Driving Licence
2 111 (6.24%) Onboarding
3 81 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
4 76 (4.27%) Legacy Systems
5 52 (2.92%) Hybrid Cloud
6 46 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
7 43 (2.42%) Cyberattack
8 39 (2.19%) Cyber Threat
9 35 (1.97%) Management Information System
10 34 (1.91%) Data Centre
10 34 (1.91%) Public Cloud
10 34 (1.91%) Replication
11 24 (1.35%) Cloud Native
12 20 (1.12%) Client/Server
13 19 (1.07%) PKI
14 18 (1.01%) CMDB
15 14 (0.79%) Clustering
16 13 (0.73%) iPad
17 12 (0.67%) FMCG
17 12 (0.67%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,272 (71.50%) Windows
2 749 (42.10%) Windows Server
3 305 (17.14%) Windows 10
4 223 (12.54%) Linux
5 143 (8.04%) Windows Server 2016
6 87 (4.89%) Mac OS
7 86 (4.83%) Apple iOS
8 75 (4.22%) Android
9 57 (3.20%) Windows Server 2019
10 36 (2.02%) Windows 7
11 35 (1.97%) Windows Server 2012
12 29 (1.63%) Unix
12 29 (1.63%) Windows Server 2008
13 22 (1.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14 20 (1.12%) HPUX
14 20 (1.12%) Solaris
14 20 (1.12%) Windows Server 2003
15 10 (0.56%) Windows 8
16 7 (0.39%) VMS
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 630 (35.41%) Problem-Solving
2 513 (28.84%) Customer Service
3 436 (24.51%) ITIL
4 269 (15.12%) Cybersecurity
5 211 (11.86%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 196 (11.02%) Mentoring
7 189 (10.62%) Continuous Improvement
8 176 (9.89%) ITSM
9 164 (9.22%) Service Delivery
10 152 (8.54%) Disaster Recovery
11 121 (6.80%) Incident Management
11 121 (6.80%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 120 (6.75%) Migration
13 107 (6.01%) Change Management
14 102 (5.73%) Coaching
15 98 (5.51%) Customer Experience
16 96 (5.40%) Kalman Filter
17 95 (5.34%) Web Filtering
18 92 (5.17%) Identity Access Management
19 86 (4.83%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 294 (16.53%) PowerShell
2 133 (7.48%) SQL
3 81 (4.55%) Bash
4 55 (3.09%) Python
5 49 (2.75%) T-SQL
6 19 (1.07%) Perl
7 16 (0.90%) R
8 12 (0.67%) PL/SQL
8 12 (0.67%) Shell Script
9 10 (0.56%) JavaScript
10 9 (0.51%) Bicep
11 8 (0.45%) Java
11 8 (0.45%) VB
12 5 (0.28%) C#
13 4 (0.22%) VBA
14 3 (0.17%) Korn
14 3 (0.17%) PHP
15 2 (0.11%) C
16 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 242 (13.60%) Security Cleared
2 180 (10.12%) SC Cleared
3 169 (9.50%) Degree
4 159 (8.94%) Microsoft Certification
5 84 (4.72%) DV Cleared
6 50 (2.81%) DBS Check
7 45 (2.53%) Azure Certification
8 43 (2.42%) A+ Certification
9 37 (2.08%) Cisco Certification
10 31 (1.74%) CCNA
10 31 (1.74%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 28 (1.57%) Network+ Certification
12 22 (1.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 19 (1.07%) MCSE
14 18 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
14 18 (1.01%) ITIL Certification
15 15 (0.84%) HNC
16 14 (0.79%) MCSA
17 12 (0.67%) CCNP
18 10 (0.56%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 172 (9.67%) SLA
2 149 (8.38%) Cyber Essentials
3 105 (5.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 84 (4.72%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.81%) NIST
6 41 (2.30%) GDPR
7 39 (2.19%) NCSC
8 27 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (0.96%) QA
10 13 (0.73%) Data Quality
11 9 (0.51%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.28%) GRC
12 5 (0.28%) PMO
13 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.22%) GxP
13 4 (0.22%) ISO 22301
13 4 (0.22%) ITGC
14 3 (0.17%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 354 (19.90%) Hyper-V
2 259 (14.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.22%) Terminal Server
4 49 (2.75%) vSphere
5 42 (2.36%) VMware ESXi
6 29 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
7 28 (1.57%) Virtual Machines
8 21 (1.18%) Docker
9 17 (0.96%) BitLocker
10 12 (0.67%) VMware NSX
11 11 (0.62%) VMware Workstation
12 9 (0.51%) Firmware
12 9 (0.51%) XenApp
13 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
14 5 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 5 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
15 4 (0.22%) Terminal Services
16 3 (0.17%) Lustre
16 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 350 (19.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 129 (7.25%) SCCM
3 42 (2.36%) Single Sign-On
4 41 (2.30%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.97%) Terraform
6 34 (1.91%) Jamf Pro
7 25 (1.41%) Ansible
8 23 (1.29%) WSUS
9 21 (1.18%) FortiGate
10 19 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 15 (0.84%) SCOM
12 14 (0.79%) Autotask
12 14 (0.79%) Kubernetes
13 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
14 8 (0.45%) Proxmox
15 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
15 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 6 (0.34%) ZABBIX
16 5 (0.28%) SCVMM
16 5 (0.28%) VxRail
Vendors
1 1,279 (71.89%) Microsoft
2 458 (25.74%) VMware
3 152 (8.54%) Veeam
4 108 (6.07%) SolarWinds
5 100 (5.62%) Nimble Storage
6 95 (5.34%) Cisco
7 93 (5.23%) Apple
8 91 (5.12%) Citrix
8 91 (5.12%) Splunk
9 81 (4.55%) ServiceNow
10 77 (4.33%) Google
11 72 (4.05%) Brocade
11 72 (4.05%) Tanium
12 70 (3.93%) HP
13 62 (3.49%) Dell
14 38 (2.14%) Oracle
15 37 (2.08%) Meraki
16 29 (1.63%) McAfee
17 28 (1.57%) Dell Compellent
18 27 (1.52%) CrowdStrike