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 12 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 36 35
Rank change year-on-year -18 -1 -11
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,250 1,855 2,507
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.61% 5.39% 4.93%
As % of the System Software category 49.03% 45.64% 48.07%
Number of salaries quoted 1,592 1,363 1,454
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,050 £25,750
25th Percentile £29,750 £28,500 £30,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -12.50% +6.67%
75th Percentile £50,000 £47,875 £53,000
90th Percentile £65,000 £63,220 £62,500
UK median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year +6.67% -11.76% +6.15%

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 4,589 4,064 5,215
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.31% 11.81% 10.26%
Number of salaries quoted 3,273 2,217 2,937
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £30,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £42,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -15.00% -
75th Percentile £68,750 £62,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £76,750 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £49,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +12.24% -10.91% -

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 12 October 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 12 October 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
North of England -5 535 £34,000 +4.62% 148
South East -18 523 £42,500 +13.33% 184
Midlands -33 372 £42,000 +20.00% 121
North West +70 299 £35,000 - 82
South West -35 294 £39,000 +20.00% 102
East of England -6 252 £35,000 +4.48% 76
West Midlands -29 194 £42,500 +0.59% 66
East Midlands -8 178 £38,600 +28.67% 55
Yorkshire -30 167 £32,000 +4.92% 50
Scotland +36 115 £32,500 +8.33% 45
Northern Ireland -5 111 £38,500 -30.00% 31
North East -63 69 £37,500 +20.97% 20
Wales -44 57 £37,500 -9.74% 12
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
1 682 (30.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 510 (22.67%) SharePoint
3 50 (2.22%) IIS
4 16 (0.71%) Skype for Business
5 15 (0.67%) Confluence
6 9 (0.40%) Apache
7 3 (0.13%) nginx
7 3 (0.13%) SAS
8 1 (0.044%) HCL Domino
8 1 (0.044%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.044%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.044%) Site Server
8 1 (0.044%) Tomcat
Applications
1 139 (6.18%) Microsoft Office
2 41 (1.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 4 (0.18%) Notion
5 2 (0.089%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.044%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.044%) Revit
Business Applications
1 8 (0.36%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
2 6 (0.27%) NetSuite
2 6 (0.27%) Raiser’s Edge
2 6 (0.27%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.22%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 4 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
4 4 (0.18%) Shopify
5 3 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.089%) Sage 200
6 2 (0.089%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.044%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.044%) Sage 50
7 1 (0.044%) SAP EHS
7 1 (0.044%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,553 (69.02%) Microsoft 365
2 1,238 (55.02%) Azure
3 1,093 (48.58%) Entra ID
4 197 (8.76%) OneDrive
5 137 (6.09%) AWS
6 88 (3.91%) SaaS
7 61 (2.71%) IaaS
8 59 (2.62%) Power Platform
9 53 (2.36%) Mimecast
10 44 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
10 44 (1.96%) Google Workspace
10 44 (1.96%) Microsoft Purview
11 41 (1.82%) Azure Sentinel
12 36 (1.60%) Power Automate
13 35 (1.56%) PaaS
14 33 (1.47%) Serverless
15 28 (1.24%) Azure Monitor
16 26 (1.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
17 22 (0.98%) Dynamics 365
18 21 (0.93%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 750 (33.33%) DNS
2 645 (28.67%) DHCP
3 551 (24.49%) Firewall
4 413 (18.36%) VPN
5 316 (14.04%) TCP/IP
6 247 (10.98%) VLAN
7 228 (10.13%) Wi-Fi
8 201 (8.93%) WAN
9 200 (8.89%) LAN
10 161 (7.16%) Wireless
11 141 (6.27%) VoIP
12 94 (4.18%) Network Security
13 66 (2.93%) SAN
14 41 (1.82%) SSL
15 39 (1.73%) Remote Desktop
16 28 (1.24%) Internet
17 25 (1.11%) NAS
18 23 (1.02%) WLAN
19 21 (0.93%) Cisco IOS
20 17 (0.76%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 107 (4.76%) SQL Server
2 89 (3.96%) Amazon RDS
3 29 (1.29%) Azure SQL Database
4 15 (0.67%) MySQL
4 15 (0.67%) Power BI
5 11 (0.49%) Relational Database
6 9 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
7 6 (0.27%) Crystal Reports
8 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.13%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.13%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.089%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.089%) KNIME
11 1 (0.044%) Elasticsearch
11 1 (0.044%) Geospatial Data
11 1 (0.044%) Metadata
11 1 (0.044%) Neo4j
11 1 (0.044%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.044%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.044%) SSDT
Development Applications
1 54 (2.40%) JIRA
2 33 (1.47%) Git
3 9 (0.40%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.22%) GitLab
6 2 (0.089%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.089%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.089%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.089%) git-flow
6 2 (0.089%) Metasploit
6 2 (0.089%) NUnit
6 2 (0.089%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.044%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.044%) Flyway
7 1 (0.044%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.044%) Selenium
7 1 (0.044%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.044%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 1,125 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 307 (13.64%) Analytical Skills
3 136 (6.04%) Legal
4 126 (5.60%) Finance
5 85 (3.78%) Manufacturing
6 84 (3.73%) Organisational Skills
7 77 (3.42%) Law
8 73 (3.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 64 (2.84%) Public Sector
10 54 (2.40%) Retail
11 51 (2.27%) Aerospace
12 41 (1.82%) Telecoms
13 38 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
14 20 (0.89%) Advertising
15 12 (0.53%) Automotive
16 11 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
17 10 (0.44%) Games
17 10 (0.44%) Local Government
18 7 (0.31%) Aviation
19 5 (0.22%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 835 (37.11%) IT Support
2 534 (23.73%) IT Engineer
3 526 (23.38%) Support Engineer
4 432 (19.20%) IT Support Engineer
5 408 (18.13%) Analyst
6 291 (12.93%) Senior
7 235 (10.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 234 (10.40%) Support Analyst
9 206 (9.16%) IT Technician
10 202 (8.98%) Support Technician
11 180 (8.00%) IT Support Technician
12 178 (7.91%) IT Analyst
13 157 (6.98%) IT Support Analyst
14 144 (6.40%) Systems Engineer
15 139 (6.18%) 2nd Line Support
16 108 (4.80%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 99 (4.40%) Architect
18 90 (4.00%) Administrator
19 86 (3.82%) 3rd Line Support
20 85 (3.78%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 77 (3.42%) Terraform
2 64 (2.84%) LDAP
3 42 (1.87%) SAML
4 34 (1.51%) OpenID
5 32 (1.42%) OAuth
6 26 (1.16%) .NET
7 18 (0.80%) Microsoft Graph
8 16 (0.71%) Regular Expression
8 16 (0.71%) REST
9 15 (0.67%) ModSecurity
9 15 (0.67%) SailPoint
10 13 (0.58%) ARM Templates
10 13 (0.58%) XMPP
11 12 (0.53%) ASP.NET Web Forms
11 12 (0.53%) HTML
11 12 (0.53%) WinForms
12 10 (0.44%) OAuth2
13 8 (0.36%) Web Services
14 7 (0.31%) Middleware
14 7 (0.31%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 324 (14.40%) Driving Licence
2 202 (8.98%) Onboarding
3 117 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
4 84 (3.73%) Legacy Systems
5 76 (3.38%) Hybrid Cloud
6 66 (2.93%) Management Information System
7 63 (2.80%) Data Centre
8 53 (2.36%) PKI
9 52 (2.31%) Enterprise Software
9 52 (2.31%) Security Posture
10 42 (1.87%) Replication
11 39 (1.73%) Cloud Native
11 39 (1.73%) Clustering
12 31 (1.38%) iPhone
13 29 (1.29%) CCTV
14 22 (0.98%) iPad
14 22 (0.98%) Public Cloud
15 19 (0.84%) Enterprise Storage
15 19 (0.84%) Video Conferencing
16 16 (0.71%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,591 (70.71%) Windows
2 916 (40.71%) Windows Server
3 258 (11.47%) Linux
4 246 (10.93%) Windows 10
5 153 (6.80%) Windows Server 2016
6 126 (5.60%) macOS
7 81 (3.60%) Windows Server 2019
8 73 (3.24%) Apple iOS
9 62 (2.76%) Android
10 29 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 28 (1.24%) Ubuntu
12 23 (1.02%) VMS
13 18 (0.80%) Windows Server 2012
14 9 (0.40%) Rocky
15 8 (0.36%) Debian
16 7 (0.31%) CentOS
17 5 (0.22%) CoreOS
18 4 (0.18%) Windows 7
19 1 (0.044%) Unix
19 1 (0.044%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 903 (40.13%) Problem-Solving
2 582 (25.87%) Customer Service
3 505 (22.44%) Cybersecurity
4 472 (20.98%) ITIL
5 464 (20.62%) Continuous Improvement
6 397 (17.64%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 286 (12.71%) Disaster Recovery
8 268 (11.91%) Mentoring
9 250 (11.11%) Identity Access Management
10 227 (10.09%) ITSM
11 207 (9.20%) Migration
12 206 (9.16%) Project Delivery
13 173 (7.69%) Service Delivery
14 170 (7.56%) Service Management
15 148 (6.58%) Collaborative Working
15 148 (6.58%) Information Security
16 146 (6.49%) Customer Experience
17 135 (6.00%) Vulnerability Remediation
18 134 (5.96%) AI
19 131 (5.82%) Identity Management
Programming Languages
1 355 (15.78%) PowerShell
2 184 (8.18%) SQL
3 64 (2.84%) Python
4 54 (2.40%) Bash
5 51 (2.27%) Bicep
6 29 (1.29%) Ruby
7 21 (0.93%) C#
8 18 (0.80%) R
9 16 (0.71%) Kusto Query Language
10 12 (0.53%) VBA
11 7 (0.31%) Java
11 7 (0.31%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.22%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.18%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 4 (0.18%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.18%) PHP
13 4 (0.18%) TypeScript
13 4 (0.18%) VB.NET
14 3 (0.13%) VB
14 3 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 306 (13.60%) Security Cleared
2 203 (9.02%) SC Cleared
3 201 (8.93%) Microsoft Certification
4 192 (8.53%) Degree
5 134 (5.96%) Azure Certification
6 120 (5.33%) A+ Certification
7 102 (4.53%) Network+ Certification
8 88 (3.91%) DV Cleared
9 78 (3.47%) CISM
9 78 (3.47%) CISSP
10 70 (3.11%) Cisco Certification
11 67 (2.98%) DBS Check
12 53 (2.36%) CCNA
13 31 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
14 29 (1.29%) CompTIA Security+
15 24 (1.07%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 22 (0.98%) Microsoft Certified Professional
17 18 (0.80%) AWS Certification
17 18 (0.80%) MCSA
18 16 (0.71%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 214 (9.51%) Cyber Essentials
2 124 (5.51%) SLA
3 116 (5.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 83 (3.69%) PCI DSS
5 53 (2.36%) GDPR
6 40 (1.78%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 35 (1.56%) NIST
8 21 (0.93%) QA
9 18 (0.80%) Accessibility
10 13 (0.58%) NCSC
11 12 (0.53%) Data Quality
12 4 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.18%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.13%) ISAE 3402
14 1 (0.044%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 1 (0.044%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 1 (0.044%) PMO
14 1 (0.044%) SOC 1
System Software
1 503 (22.36%) Hyper-V
2 409 (18.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 86 (3.82%) vSphere
4 82 (3.64%) Virtual Desktop
5 72 (3.20%) Terminal Server
6 64 (2.84%) Virtual Machines
7 32 (1.42%) VMware ESXi
8 25 (1.11%) Virtual Servers
9 22 (0.98%) Docker
9 22 (0.98%) Firmware
10 13 (0.58%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 10 (0.44%) BitLocker
11 10 (0.44%) NDS
12 8 (0.36%) VMware NSX
13 6 (0.27%) DFS Replication
14 5 (0.22%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 4 (0.18%) Squid
16 3 (0.13%) NFS
16 3 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 3 (0.13%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 633 (28.13%) Microsoft Intune
2 102 (4.53%) SCCM
3 67 (2.98%) Single Sign-On
4 38 (1.69%) FortiGate
5 37 (1.64%) Jamf Pro
6 32 (1.42%) Ansible
7 29 (1.29%) Kubernetes
8 25 (1.11%) WSUS
9 23 (1.02%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 21 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 16 (0.71%) Failover Clustering
12 15 (0.67%) Proxmox
13 14 (0.62%) ZABBIX
14 13 (0.58%) vCenter Server
15 11 (0.49%) Microsoft Clustering
16 10 (0.44%) Autotask
17 8 (0.36%) SCVMM
18 6 (0.27%) Backup Exec
18 6 (0.27%) Graylog
19 5 (0.22%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,906 (84.71%) Microsoft
2 602 (26.76%) VMware
3 218 (9.69%) Veeam
4 213 (9.47%) Cisco
5 111 (4.93%) Meraki
6 99 (4.40%) SolarWinds
7 85 (3.78%) Splunk
8 82 (3.64%) CyberArk
9 81 (3.60%) Apple
10 75 (3.33%) Nimble Storage
11 72 (3.20%) Brocade
11 72 (3.20%) Tanium
12 66 (2.93%) Fortinet
13 62 (2.76%) SonicWALL
14 58 (2.58%) ServiceNow
15 56 (2.49%) Citrix
16 51 (2.27%) Google
17 50 (2.22%) Palo Alto
18 46 (2.04%) HP
19 44 (1.96%) Okta