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 14 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 46 34 20
Rank change year-on-year -12 -14 +24
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,785 2,139 2,593
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.32% 5.38% 9.09%
As % of the System Software category 60.14% 45.57% 49.48%
Number of salaries quoted 1,305 1,362 2,330
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,750 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.63% +6.67% +1.15%
75th Percentile £47,500 £52,500 £51,500
90th Percentile £61,250 £61,225 £60,000
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year -11.76% - +2.41%

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 2,968 4,694 5,240
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 7.18% 11.81% 18.36%
Number of salaries quoted 2,118 2,774 4,374
10th Percentile £26,675 £28,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £33,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.14% -2.45%
75th Percentile £62,500 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,710
UK median annual salary £50,000 £56,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -10.71% +1.82% -

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 14 December 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 14 December 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 +8 489 £37,500 -11.76% 359
North of England -21 366 £32,500 -18.75% 241
South West +3 294 £32,500 -9.72% 125
Midlands -9 289 £31,500 -16.00% 153
East of England -9 212 £35,000 - 146
East Midlands +10 160 £28,500 -17.02% 65
Yorkshire -11 159 £32,000 -14.67% 85
North West -15 154 £35,500 -14.18% 130
West Midlands -27 129 £38,000 -5.00% 82
Scotland -11 88 £30,000 -25.00% 45
North East -7 53 £31,000 -17.33% 29
Wales +5 45 £35,000 +2.94% 38
Northern Ireland 0 16 £55,000 +4.76% 15
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
1 542 (30.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 307 (17.20%) SharePoint
3 33 (1.85%) IIS
4 26 (1.46%) Exchange Server 2003
5 22 (1.23%) Confluence
6 16 (0.90%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.34%) CMS
8 5 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 4 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
11 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
11 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2007
11 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
11 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
11 2 (0.11%) WinCC
11 2 (0.11%) WordPress
12 1 (0.056%) JOnAS
12 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 223 (12.49%) Microsoft Office
2 34 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 1 (0.056%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.056%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 32 (1.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 19 (1.06%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.34%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.28%) Sage 200
5 4 (0.22%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.22%) Visualfiles
6 3 (0.17%) Markit EDM
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.17%) Primavera
7 2 (0.11%) Magento
8 1 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.056%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.056%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.056%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,242 (69.58%) Microsoft 365
2 947 (53.05%) Azure
3 548 (30.70%) Entra ID
4 141 (7.90%) AWS
5 102 (5.71%) OneDrive
6 74 (4.15%) SaaS
7 61 (3.42%) Power Platform
8 47 (2.63%) IaaS
9 44 (2.46%) PaaS
10 39 (2.18%) Azure DevOps
10 39 (2.18%) GCP
10 39 (2.18%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.13%) Google Workspace
12 32 (1.79%) Azure Logic Apps
13 29 (1.62%) GitHub
14 28 (1.57%) Azure Monitor
15 24 (1.34%) Power Automate
16 23 (1.29%) Azure Sentinel
17 22 (1.23%) OCI
18 21 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 657 (36.81%) DNS
2 611 (34.23%) DHCP
3 429 (24.03%) Firewall
4 279 (15.63%) TCP/IP
5 254 (14.23%) VPN
6 179 (10.03%) VLAN
7 170 (9.52%) LAN
8 169 (9.47%) WAN
9 129 (7.23%) Wi-Fi
10 94 (5.27%) Wireless
11 90 (5.04%) VoIP
12 73 (4.09%) SAN
13 61 (3.42%) Remote Desktop
14 42 (2.35%) Internet
15 35 (1.96%) Network Security
16 25 (1.40%) SD-WAN
16 25 (1.40%) SMTP
17 20 (1.12%) SSL
18 18 (1.01%) Kerberos
19 16 (0.90%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 127 (7.11%) Amazon RDS
2 66 (3.70%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.62%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.46%) Oracle Database 10g
5 20 (1.12%) Power BI
6 13 (0.73%) Azure SQL Database
7 10 (0.56%) MySQL
8 9 (0.50%) DTS
9 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
9 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 5 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.056%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.056%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.056%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 60 (3.36%) JIRA
2 38 (2.13%) Jenkins
3 36 (2.02%) Git
4 22 (1.23%) Oracle Forms
5 12 (0.67%) Vagrant
6 4 (0.22%) GitLab
6 4 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.056%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.056%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.056%) LabVIEW
9 1 (0.056%) Metasploit
General
1 887 (49.69%) Social Skills
2 191 (10.70%) Analytical Skills
3 131 (7.34%) Finance
4 107 (5.99%) Manufacturing
5 100 (5.60%) Organisational Skills
6 67 (3.75%) Retail
7 65 (3.64%) Law
8 47 (2.63%) Documentation Skills
9 46 (2.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 45 (2.52%) Advertising
11 40 (2.24%) Legal
12 33 (1.85%) Telecoms
13 32 (1.79%) Public Sector
14 19 (1.06%) Marketing
15 15 (0.84%) French Language
15 15 (0.84%) Pharmaceutical
15 15 (0.84%) Swedish Language
16 13 (0.73%) Aerospace
16 13 (0.73%) Games
17 8 (0.45%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 613 (34.34%) IT Support
2 424 (23.75%) Support Engineer
3 291 (16.30%) IT Engineer
4 265 (14.85%) Analyst
5 246 (13.78%) IT Support Engineer
6 200 (11.20%) 2nd Line Support
7 195 (10.92%) Support Analyst
8 169 (9.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 151 (8.46%) Support Technician
10 145 (8.12%) IT Analyst
11 128 (7.17%) Systems Engineer
12 120 (6.72%) IT Technician
13 118 (6.61%) IT Support Analyst
14 117 (6.55%) Technical Support
15 114 (6.39%) 3rd Line Support
15 114 (6.39%) Senior
16 97 (5.43%) IT Support Technician
17 91 (5.10%) 1st Line Support
18 74 (4.15%) 2nd Line Engineer
19 68 (3.81%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (1.79%) LDAP
2 27 (1.51%) SOAP
3 25 (1.40%) .NET
4 22 (1.23%) RESTful
5 19 (1.06%) JSON
5 19 (1.06%) XML
6 15 (0.84%) ARM Templates
6 15 (0.84%) OAuth
6 15 (0.84%) OpenID
6 15 (0.84%) SAML
7 14 (0.78%) EDI
8 12 (0.67%) React
9 10 (0.56%) CSS
9 10 (0.56%) HTML
10 9 (0.50%) .NET Framework
11 8 (0.45%) GraphQL
11 8 (0.45%) REST
12 7 (0.39%) OAuth2
12 7 (0.39%) Web Services
13 6 (0.34%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 254 (14.23%) Driving Licence
2 178 (9.97%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.38%) Legacy Systems
4 79 (4.43%) Self-Motivation
5 60 (3.36%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (2.58%) Data Centre
7 43 (2.41%) Cloud Native
8 35 (1.96%) Management Information System
9 30 (1.68%) PKI
10 29 (1.62%) Hybrid Cloud
11 22 (1.23%) Replication
12 21 (1.18%) Clustering
13 20 (1.12%) Video Conferencing
14 17 (0.95%) iPad
15 16 (0.90%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.90%) CMDB
15 16 (0.90%) FMCG
15 16 (0.90%) Security Posture
16 15 (0.84%) Analytical Mindset
17 13 (0.73%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1,313 (73.56%) Windows
2 805 (45.10%) Windows Server
3 288 (16.13%) Windows 10
4 228 (12.77%) Linux
5 150 (8.40%) Windows Server 2016
6 107 (5.99%) Windows Server 2019
7 97 (5.43%) Mac OS
8 65 (3.64%) Apple iOS
9 55 (3.08%) Android
10 34 (1.90%) Windows Server 2008
11 33 (1.85%) Unix
12 32 (1.79%) Windows 7
13 26 (1.46%) Solaris
13 26 (1.46%) Windows Server 2003
14 25 (1.40%) HPUX
14 25 (1.40%) VMS
15 22 (1.23%) Windows Server 2012
16 16 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 10 (0.56%) Amazon Linux
18 6 (0.34%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 635 (35.57%) Problem-Solving
2 553 (30.98%) Customer Service
3 355 (19.89%) ITIL
4 233 (13.05%) Cybersecurity
5 220 (12.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 190 (10.64%) Continuous Improvement
7 185 (10.36%) Mentoring
8 165 (9.24%) ITSM
9 157 (8.80%) Migration
10 121 (6.78%) Incident Management
11 118 (6.61%) Service Delivery
12 109 (6.11%) Disaster Recovery
13 103 (5.77%) DevOps
14 102 (5.71%) Agile
14 102 (5.71%) Kalman Filter
15 101 (5.66%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 100 (5.60%) Asset Management
17 99 (5.55%) Web Filtering
18 98 (5.49%) Coaching
19 97 (5.43%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 287 (16.08%) PowerShell
2 140 (7.84%) SQL
3 62 (3.47%) Python
4 37 (2.07%) Bash
5 32 (1.79%) Perl
6 31 (1.74%) Java
7 22 (1.23%) PL/SQL
8 21 (1.18%) Shell Script
9 18 (1.01%) VB
10 15 (0.84%) JavaScript
11 14 (0.78%) Groovy
12 13 (0.73%) C#
13 11 (0.62%) Bicep
14 10 (0.56%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.28%) Korn
15 5 (0.28%) VBA
16 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.056%) VB.NET
17 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 237 (13.28%) Security Cleared
2 202 (11.32%) SC Cleared
3 166 (9.30%) Microsoft Certification
4 162 (9.08%) Degree
5 66 (3.70%) DV Cleared
6 49 (2.75%) A+ Certification
7 45 (2.52%) Azure Certification
7 45 (2.52%) DBS Check
8 43 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
9 37 (2.07%) CCNA
10 34 (1.90%) MCP
11 32 (1.79%) MCSE
12 30 (1.68%) Network+ Certification
13 25 (1.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
15 17 (0.95%) AWS Certification
16 16 (0.90%) MCSA
17 15 (0.84%) CompTIA Security+
17 15 (0.84%) HND
18 12 (0.67%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 132 (7.39%) Cyber Essentials
2 126 (7.06%) SLA
3 97 (5.43%) PCI DSS
4 71 (3.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 59 (3.31%) GDPR
6 18 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 16 (0.90%) NIST
8 12 (0.67%) QA
9 9 (0.50%) NCSC
10 7 (0.39%) GxP
11 5 (0.28%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 5 (0.28%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.056%) GRC
13 1 (0.056%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.056%) IASME
13 1 (0.056%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.056%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 360 (20.17%) Hyper-V
2 258 (14.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (5.21%) Terminal Server
4 50 (2.80%) Virtual Desktop
5 48 (2.69%) vSphere
6 34 (1.90%) Docker
7 31 (1.74%) Virtual Machines
8 29 (1.62%) VMware ESXi
9 18 (1.01%) Firmware
10 15 (0.84%) Virtual Servers
11 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
11 6 (0.34%) Terminal Services
11 6 (0.34%) XenApp
12 5 (0.28%) BitLocker
12 5 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 4 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.17%) VMware NSX
14 3 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
15 2 (0.11%) Lustre
15 2 (0.11%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 413 (23.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 147 (8.24%) SCCM
3 66 (3.70%) Terraform
4 38 (2.13%) Single Sign-On
5 33 (1.85%) WSUS
6 31 (1.74%) Kubernetes
6 31 (1.74%) vCenter Server
7 24 (1.34%) Ansible
7 24 (1.34%) SCOM
8 19 (1.06%) Autotask
9 18 (1.01%) FortiGate
10 16 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
10 16 (0.90%) Prometheus
11 13 (0.73%) Nagios
11 13 (0.73%) ZABBIX
12 12 (0.67%) Grafana
13 11 (0.62%) Failover Clustering
14 7 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.39%) PaperCut
15 5 (0.28%) MaaS360
Vendors
1 1,366 (76.53%) Microsoft
2 465 (26.05%) VMware
3 170 (9.52%) Veeam
4 152 (8.52%) Cisco
5 127 (7.11%) SolarWinds
6 98 (5.49%) Nimble Storage
6 98 (5.49%) Splunk
7 97 (5.43%) Tanium
8 90 (5.04%) Apple
9 88 (4.93%) Brocade
10 72 (4.03%) ServiceNow
11 62 (3.47%) Citrix
12 54 (3.03%) Google
13 52 (2.91%) Oracle
14 47 (2.63%) HP
15 42 (2.35%) Meraki
16 39 (2.18%) Dell
17 33 (1.85%) SonicWALL
18 31 (1.74%) Red Hat
18 31 (1.74%) Sophos