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

6 months to
7 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 38 34
Rank change year-on-year -16 -4 -10
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,245 1,855 2,552
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.60% 5.34% 4.93%
As % of the System Software category 49.19% 45.02% 48.08%
Number of salaries quoted 1,614 1,367 1,492
10th Percentile £26,913 £26,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £29,625 £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 £48,750 £52,500
90th Percentile £65,000 £63,000 £62,500
UK median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year +6.67% -11.76% +6.25%

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 4,564 4,120 5,308
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.28% 11.86% 10.25%
Number of salaries quoted 3,296 2,225 3,017
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £27,750
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 £62,000 £64,750
90th Percentile £81,250 £75,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +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 7 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 7 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 0 527 £34,000 +4.62% 185
South East -16 520 £42,500 +13.33% 294
Midlands -30 381 £41,000 +17.14% 146
North West +63 290 £35,000 - 105
South West -39 288 £38,500 +18.46% 103
East of England -6 253 £35,000 +4.48% 108
West Midlands -28 195 £42,500 -5.56% 84
East Midlands -11 186 £38,500 +22.22% 62
Yorkshire -27 169 £31,000 +1.64% 58
Scotland +37 117 £32,500 +8.33% 48
Northern Ireland -11 109 £39,000 -25.71% 24
North East -63 68 £37,500 +20.97% 27
Wales -43 59 £45,000 +18.13% 17
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
1 666 (29.67%) Microsoft Exchange
2 511 (22.76%) SharePoint
3 51 (2.27%) IIS
4 17 (0.76%) Confluence
5 16 (0.71%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.27%) Apache
7 3 (0.13%) SAS
8 2 (0.089%) nginx
9 1 (0.045%) HCL Domino
9 1 (0.045%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.045%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.045%) Site Server
9 1 (0.045%) Tomcat
Applications
1 144 (6.41%) Microsoft Office
2 39 (1.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 3 (0.13%) Notion
6 2 (0.089%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.045%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.045%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.045%) Revit
7 1 (0.045%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
2 6 (0.27%) NetSuite
2 6 (0.27%) Raiser’s Edge
3 5 (0.22%) JDE EnterpriseOne
3 5 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
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 (0.045%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.045%) Sage 50
7 1 (0.045%) SAP EHS
7 1 (0.045%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,542 (68.69%) Microsoft 365
2 1,218 (54.25%) Azure
3 1,070 (47.66%) Entra ID
4 189 (8.42%) OneDrive
5 142 (6.33%) AWS
6 88 (3.92%) SaaS
7 61 (2.72%) Power Platform
8 59 (2.63%) IaaS
9 53 (2.36%) Mimecast
10 46 (2.05%) Azure DevOps
11 42 (1.87%) Microsoft Purview
12 41 (1.83%) Google Workspace
13 39 (1.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 37 (1.65%) PaaS
15 36 (1.60%) Power Automate
16 34 (1.51%) Serverless
17 27 (1.20%) Azure Monitor
18 26 (1.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
19 22 (0.98%) Azure Functions
19 22 (0.98%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 743 (33.10%) DNS
2 636 (28.33%) DHCP
3 551 (24.54%) Firewall
4 409 (18.22%) VPN
5 300 (13.36%) TCP/IP
6 239 (10.65%) VLAN
7 225 (10.02%) Wi-Fi
8 206 (9.18%) WAN
9 202 (9.00%) LAN
10 163 (7.26%) Wireless
11 139 (6.19%) VoIP
12 93 (4.14%) Network Security
13 68 (3.03%) SAN
14 36 (1.60%) Remote Desktop
14 36 (1.60%) SSL
15 28 (1.25%) Internet
16 23 (1.02%) NAS
17 21 (0.94%) WLAN
18 19 (0.85%) Cisco IOS
19 17 (0.76%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 108 (4.81%) SQL Server
2 88 (3.92%) Amazon RDS
3 30 (1.34%) Azure SQL Database
4 17 (0.76%) MySQL
4 17 (0.76%) Power BI
5 12 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (0.45%) Relational Database
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 (0.045%) Elasticsearch
11 1 (0.045%) Geospatial Data
11 1 (0.045%) Neo4j
11 1 (0.045%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.045%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.045%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.045%) SSDT
Development Applications
1 55 (2.45%) 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 (0.045%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.045%) Flyway
7 1 (0.045%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.045%) Selenium
7 1 (0.045%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.045%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 1,115 (49.67%) Social Skills
2 297 (13.23%) Analytical Skills
3 135 (6.01%) Legal
4 127 (5.66%) Finance
5 86 (3.83%) Manufacturing
5 86 (3.83%) Organisational Skills
6 75 (3.34%) Law
7 73 (3.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 65 (2.90%) Public Sector
9 55 (2.45%) Retail
10 49 (2.18%) Aerospace
11 43 (1.92%) Telecoms
12 36 (1.60%) Documentation Skills
13 21 (0.94%) Advertising
14 13 (0.58%) Automotive
15 11 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
16 10 (0.45%) Games
16 10 (0.45%) Local Government
17 7 (0.31%) Aviation
18 5 (0.22%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 839 (37.37%) IT Support
2 541 (24.10%) IT Engineer
3 535 (23.83%) Support Engineer
4 438 (19.51%) IT Support Engineer
5 409 (18.22%) Analyst
6 285 (12.69%) Senior
7 236 (10.51%) Support Analyst
8 226 (10.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 203 (9.04%) IT Technician
9 203 (9.04%) Support Technician
10 180 (8.02%) IT Support Technician
11 174 (7.75%) IT Analyst
12 154 (6.86%) IT Support Analyst
13 147 (6.55%) Systems Engineer
14 144 (6.41%) 2nd Line Support
15 106 (4.72%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 98 (4.37%) Architect
17 87 (3.88%) Administrator
18 86 (3.83%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 83 (3.70%) 3rd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 76 (3.39%) Terraform
2 63 (2.81%) LDAP
3 39 (1.74%) SAML
4 33 (1.47%) OpenID
5 31 (1.38%) OAuth
6 26 (1.16%) .NET
7 17 (0.76%) Microsoft Graph
8 16 (0.71%) Regular Expression
9 15 (0.67%) REST
10 14 (0.62%) ModSecurity
10 14 (0.62%) SailPoint
11 13 (0.58%) XMPP
12 12 (0.53%) ARM Templates
12 12 (0.53%) ASP.NET Web Forms
12 12 (0.53%) WinForms
13 11 (0.49%) HTML
14 9 (0.40%) OAuth2
15 8 (0.36%) Web Services
16 7 (0.31%) JSON
16 7 (0.31%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 317 (14.12%) Driving Licence
2 203 (9.04%) Onboarding
3 116 (5.17%) Self-Motivation
4 84 (3.74%) Legacy Systems
5 78 (3.47%) Hybrid Cloud
6 67 (2.98%) Data Centre
6 67 (2.98%) Management Information System
7 54 (2.41%) PKI
8 51 (2.27%) Security Posture
9 50 (2.23%) Enterprise Software
10 42 (1.87%) Cloud Native
11 40 (1.78%) Clustering
12 36 (1.60%) Replication
13 30 (1.34%) CCTV
14 29 (1.29%) iPhone
15 23 (1.02%) Public Cloud
16 20 (0.89%) iPad
17 19 (0.85%) Video Conferencing
18 17 (0.76%) Enterprise Storage
19 16 (0.71%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,583 (70.51%) Windows
2 908 (40.45%) Windows Server
3 256 (11.40%) Linux
4 252 (11.22%) Windows 10
5 151 (6.73%) Windows Server 2016
6 125 (5.57%) Mac OS
7 82 (3.65%) Windows Server 2019
8 74 (3.30%) Apple iOS
9 60 (2.67%) Android
10 31 (1.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 26 (1.16%) Ubuntu
12 23 (1.02%) VMS
13 19 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
14 8 (0.36%) Debian
14 8 (0.36%) Rocky
15 7 (0.31%) CentOS
16 5 (0.22%) CoreOS
17 4 (0.18%) Windows 7
18 2 (0.089%) Unix
18 2 (0.089%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 895 (39.87%) Problem-Solving
2 577 (25.70%) Customer Service
3 498 (22.18%) Cybersecurity
4 463 (20.62%) ITIL
5 462 (20.58%) Continuous Improvement
6 384 (17.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 283 (12.61%) Disaster Recovery
8 268 (11.94%) Mentoring
9 249 (11.09%) Identity Access Management
10 229 (10.20%) ITSM
11 207 (9.22%) Project Delivery
12 203 (9.04%) Migration
13 181 (8.06%) Service Delivery
14 163 (7.26%) Service Management
15 145 (6.46%) Collaborative Working
15 145 (6.46%) Customer Experience
16 139 (6.19%) Information Security
17 133 (5.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 131 (5.84%) AI
19 127 (5.66%) Identity Management
Programming Languages
1 353 (15.72%) PowerShell
2 190 (8.46%) SQL
3 69 (3.07%) Python
4 55 (2.45%) Bash
5 51 (2.27%) Bicep
6 29 (1.29%) Ruby
7 21 (0.94%) 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%) Korn
12 5 (0.22%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.18%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.18%) VB.NET
14 3 (0.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 3 (0.13%) PHP
14 3 (0.13%) VB
14 3 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 301 (13.41%) Security Cleared
2 201 (8.95%) SC Cleared
3 196 (8.73%) Degree
4 192 (8.55%) Microsoft Certification
5 130 (5.79%) Azure Certification
6 122 (5.43%) A+ Certification
7 105 (4.68%) Network+ Certification
8 87 (3.88%) DV Cleared
9 78 (3.47%) CISM
9 78 (3.47%) CISSP
10 67 (2.98%) DBS Check
11 65 (2.90%) Cisco Certification
12 48 (2.14%) CCNA
13 27 (1.20%) CompTIA Security+
14 26 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 25 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
16 19 (0.85%) Microsoft Certified Professional
17 18 (0.80%) AWS Certification
17 18 (0.80%) Computer Science Degree
18 15 (0.67%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 216 (9.62%) Cyber Essentials
2 126 (5.61%) SLA
3 114 (5.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 83 (3.70%) PCI DSS
5 57 (2.54%) GDPR
6 42 (1.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 33 (1.47%) NIST
8 19 (0.85%) Accessibility
8 19 (0.85%) QA
9 13 (0.58%) NCSC
10 12 (0.53%) Data Quality
11 5 (0.22%) SOC 2
12 4 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.13%) ISAE 3402
14 1 (0.045%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 1 (0.045%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 1 (0.045%) PMO
System Software
1 503 (22.41%) Hyper-V
2 412 (18.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 88 (3.92%) vSphere
4 82 (3.65%) Virtual Desktop
5 72 (3.21%) Terminal Server
6 67 (2.98%) Virtual Machines
7 33 (1.47%) VMware ESXi
8 27 (1.20%) Docker
9 25 (1.11%) Virtual Servers
10 22 (0.98%) Firmware
11 13 (0.58%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 10 (0.45%) BitLocker
12 10 (0.45%) NDS
13 9 (0.40%) VMware NSX
14 8 (0.36%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 5 (0.22%) DFS Replication
16 4 (0.18%) Squid
17 3 (0.13%) NFS
17 3 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
17 3 (0.13%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 620 (27.62%) Microsoft Intune
2 96 (4.28%) SCCM
3 62 (2.76%) Single Sign-On
4 36 (1.60%) FortiGate
4 36 (1.60%) Jamf Pro
5 33 (1.47%) Kubernetes
6 32 (1.43%) Ansible
7 23 (1.02%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 23 (1.02%) WSUS
8 19 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 16 (0.71%) Failover Clustering
9 16 (0.71%) Proxmox
10 14 (0.62%) vCenter Server
11 12 (0.53%) ZABBIX
12 11 (0.49%) Microsoft Clustering
13 6 (0.27%) Autotask
13 6 (0.27%) Backup Exec
13 6 (0.27%) Graylog
13 6 (0.27%) SCOM
13 6 (0.27%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,892 (84.28%) Microsoft
2 601 (26.77%) VMware
3 214 (9.53%) Veeam
4 205 (9.13%) Cisco
5 107 (4.77%) Meraki
6 95 (4.23%) SolarWinds
7 86 (3.83%) Splunk
8 81 (3.61%) CyberArk
9 78 (3.47%) Apple
10 75 (3.34%) Nimble Storage
11 72 (3.21%) Brocade
11 72 (3.21%) Tanium
12 68 (3.03%) Fortinet
13 62 (2.76%) SonicWALL
14 58 (2.58%) ServiceNow
15 54 (2.41%) Citrix
16 48 (2.14%) Google
17 44 (1.96%) HP
17 44 (1.96%) Palo Alto
18 43 (1.92%) Okta