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 8 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 50 43 30
Rank change year-on-year -7 -13 +5
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,079 1,750 4,410
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.95% 5.32% 5.93%
As % of the System Software category 52.95% 41.03% 52.26%
Number of salaries quoted 1,626 1,398 3,538
10th Percentile £26,500 £26,000 £23,750
25th Percentile £29,000 £28,250 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% - -4.11%
75th Percentile £48,750 £48,750 £48,500
90th Percentile £62,500 £61,250 £58,750
UK median annual salary £40,000 £38,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year +3.90% +2.67% -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 3,926 4,265 8,438
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.57% 12.98% 11.34%
Number of salaries quoted 3,019 2,537 6,643
10th Percentile £28,000 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £32,500 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £46,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% +2.22% -5.26%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,250 £60,000
90th Percentile £78,750 £82,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £49,000
% change year-on-year - +7.14% -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 8 July 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 8 July 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 +4 517 £40,000 - 165
North of England -7 485 £34,000 +6.25% 143
Midlands -32 350 £37,000 +5.71% 65
South West -15 268 £37,500 +8.70% 61
North West +52 242 £35,000 -6.67% 65
East of England +8 237 £35,000 +7.69% 52
Yorkshire -28 192 £32,500 +8.33% 54
East Midlands -6 184 £33,500 +6.35% 38
West Midlands -36 165 £39,500 - 27
Scotland +82 111 £28,500 -21.38% 41
Wales -10 67 £45,000 +18.13% 14
North East -54 51 £42,500 +32.81% 33
Northern Ireland -24 41 £35,500 -32.38% 20
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +30.43%
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
1 582 (27.99%) Microsoft Exchange
2 437 (21.02%) SharePoint
3 39 (1.88%) IIS
4 15 (0.72%) Confluence
5 11 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.43%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.43%) Exchange Server 2010
7 8 (0.38%) Skype for Business
8 6 (0.29%) Apache
9 4 (0.19%) CMS
10 3 (0.14%) SAS
11 1 (0.048%) Drupal
11 1 (0.048%) nginx
11 1 (0.048%) Site Server
11 1 (0.048%) WordPress
Applications
1 214 (10.29%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.048%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.048%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.048%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.048%) Revit
Business Applications
1 17 (0.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.63%) Dynamics NAV
3 9 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.24%) NetSuite
4 5 (0.24%) Raiser’s Edge
5 4 (0.19%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.19%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.19%) Primavera
6 3 (0.14%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.096%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.096%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.048%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.048%) Magento
8 1 (0.048%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.048%) Sage 200
8 1 (0.048%) SAP EHS
8 1 (0.048%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,457 (70.08%) Microsoft 365
2 1,142 (54.93%) Azure
3 834 (40.12%) Entra ID
4 145 (6.97%) AWS
4 145 (6.97%) OneDrive
5 100 (4.81%) SaaS
6 84 (4.04%) Power Platform
7 65 (3.13%) Google Workspace
8 62 (2.98%) IaaS
9 56 (2.69%) Mimecast
10 55 (2.65%) PaaS
11 44 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
12 34 (1.64%) Microsoft Purview
13 30 (1.44%) Azure Sentinel
13 30 (1.44%) Nutanix
14 29 (1.39%) Azure Monitor
15 28 (1.35%) Serverless
16 25 (1.20%) PowerApps
17 22 (1.06%) Azure Functions
18 21 (1.01%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 688 (33.09%) DNS
2 575 (27.66%) DHCP
3 538 (25.88%) Firewall
4 351 (16.88%) VPN
5 238 (11.45%) TCP/IP
6 210 (10.10%) WAN
7 206 (9.91%) Wi-Fi
8 205 (9.86%) LAN
9 202 (9.72%) VLAN
10 126 (6.06%) VoIP
11 114 (5.48%) Wireless
12 80 (3.85%) Network Security
13 76 (3.66%) SAN
14 53 (2.55%) Remote Desktop
15 34 (1.64%) Broadband
16 29 (1.39%) NAS
17 26 (1.25%) Internet
18 19 (0.91%) SD-WAN
19 17 (0.82%) SSL
20 15 (0.72%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 116 (5.58%) SQL Server
2 94 (4.52%) Amazon RDS
3 46 (2.21%) Power BI
4 31 (1.49%) Azure SQL Database
5 28 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
6 26 (1.25%) MySQL
7 9 (0.43%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 6 (0.29%) Crystal Reports
9 5 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.19%) GIS
10 4 (0.19%) Neo4j
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
12 2 (0.096%) BusinessObjects
12 2 (0.096%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.096%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.096%) KNIME
12 2 (0.096%) Relational Database
13 1 (0.048%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.048%) RDBMS
13 1 (0.048%) Redis
Development Applications
1 79 (3.80%) JIRA
2 23 (1.11%) Git
3 11 (0.53%) GitLab
4 6 (0.29%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.24%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.19%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.096%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.096%) Metasploit
7 2 (0.096%) Subversion
7 2 (0.096%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.048%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.048%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.048%) Gatling
8 1 (0.048%) JMeter
8 1 (0.048%) Ranorex
8 1 (0.048%) Selenium
8 1 (0.048%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.048%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.048%) Vagrant
General
1 906 (43.58%) Social Skills
2 215 (10.34%) Analytical Skills
3 136 (6.54%) Organisational Skills
4 122 (5.87%) Finance
5 100 (4.81%) Legal
6 94 (4.52%) Law
7 71 (3.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 70 (3.37%) Manufacturing
9 63 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
10 60 (2.89%) Public Sector
11 46 (2.21%) Retail
12 45 (2.16%) Telecoms
13 27 (1.30%) Advertising
13 27 (1.30%) Games
14 21 (1.01%) Local Government
15 14 (0.67%) Aerospace
16 12 (0.58%) Automotive
17 9 (0.43%) Influencing Skills
17 9 (0.43%) Marketing
18 7 (0.34%) Banking
Job Titles
1 803 (38.62%) IT Support
2 556 (26.74%) Support Engineer
3 515 (24.77%) IT Engineer
4 429 (20.63%) IT Support Engineer
5 345 (16.59%) Analyst
6 232 (11.16%) Support Analyst
7 225 (10.82%) Senior
8 194 (9.33%) Support Technician
9 187 (8.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 185 (8.90%) IT Technician
11 169 (8.13%) 2nd Line Support
12 165 (7.94%) IT Support Technician
13 162 (7.79%) IT Analyst
14 155 (7.46%) Systems Engineer
15 145 (6.97%) IT Support Analyst
16 100 (4.81%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 86 (4.14%) 3rd Line Support
18 84 (4.04%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 81 (3.90%) 1st Line Support
20 76 (3.66%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (2.45%) LDAP
2 38 (1.83%) SAML
3 33 (1.59%) OpenID
4 30 (1.44%) OAuth
5 29 (1.39%) REST
6 24 (1.15%) GraphQL
6 24 (1.15%) SOAP
7 23 (1.11%) Regular Expression
8 19 (0.91%) XMPP
9 15 (0.72%) JSON
9 15 (0.72%) XML
10 11 (0.53%) .NET
10 11 (0.53%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.43%) HTML
11 9 (0.43%) Microsoft Graph
11 9 (0.43%) Web Services
12 7 (0.34%) JSON Schema
13 6 (0.29%) Middleware
14 5 (0.24%) FreeSWITCH
15 4 (0.19%) boto
Miscellaneous
1 294 (14.14%) Driving Licence
2 152 (7.31%) Onboarding
3 125 (6.01%) Self-Motivation
4 89 (4.28%) Hybrid Cloud
5 86 (4.14%) Legacy Systems
6 69 (3.32%) Data Centre
7 64 (3.08%) Management Information System
8 48 (2.31%) PKI
9 44 (2.12%) Clustering
10 43 (2.07%) Public Cloud
11 36 (1.73%) Replication
12 32 (1.54%) Cyber Threat
12 32 (1.54%) Security Posture
13 31 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
14 28 (1.35%) CCTV
14 28 (1.35%) Cloud Native
14 28 (1.35%) Cyberattack
15 16 (0.77%) Client/Server
16 15 (0.72%) Data Structures
16 15 (0.72%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 1,498 (72.05%) Windows
2 887 (42.66%) Windows Server
3 320 (15.39%) Windows 10
4 264 (12.70%) Linux
5 162 (7.79%) Windows Server 2016
6 139 (6.69%) Mac OS
7 93 (4.47%) Windows Server 2019
8 77 (3.70%) Apple iOS
9 70 (3.37%) Android
10 41 (1.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 31 (1.49%) Windows Server 2012
12 26 (1.25%) VMS
13 15 (0.72%) Windows 7
14 12 (0.58%) Windows Server 2008
15 11 (0.53%) Ubuntu
16 7 (0.34%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.29%) Debian
18 5 (0.24%) CentOS
19 4 (0.19%) Mac OS X
19 4 (0.19%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 702 (33.77%) Problem-Solving
2 519 (24.96%) Customer Service
3 467 (22.46%) ITIL
4 372 (17.89%) Cybersecurity
5 361 (17.36%) Continuous Improvement
6 276 (13.28%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 255 (12.27%) Mentoring
8 217 (10.44%) Disaster Recovery
9 193 (9.28%) Service Delivery
10 184 (8.85%) ITSM
11 144 (6.93%) Project Delivery
12 143 (6.88%) Migration
13 123 (5.92%) Change Management
14 121 (5.82%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 116 (5.58%) Customer Experience
16 114 (5.48%) Identity Access Management
17 113 (5.44%) Kalman Filter
18 111 (5.34%) Incident Management
19 107 (5.15%) Root Cause Analysis
20 106 (5.10%) Web Filtering
Programming Languages
1 335 (16.11%) PowerShell
2 204 (9.81%) SQL
3 81 (3.90%) Bash
4 63 (3.03%) Python
5 36 (1.73%) T-SQL
6 35 (1.68%) Bicep
7 25 (1.20%) R
8 12 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
9 11 (0.53%) VBA
10 9 (0.43%) C#
11 7 (0.34%) Shell Script
11 7 (0.34%) VB
12 6 (0.29%) Korn
12 6 (0.29%) PHP
13 5 (0.24%) Java
13 5 (0.24%) JavaScript
14 3 (0.14%) Ruby
15 2 (0.096%) C
15 2 (0.096%) VB.NET
15 2 (0.096%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 276 (13.28%) Security Cleared
2 202 (9.72%) Degree
3 187 (8.99%) Microsoft Certification
4 182 (8.75%) SC Cleared
5 97 (4.67%) Azure Certification
6 84 (4.04%) DV Cleared
7 73 (3.51%) A+ Certification
8 62 (2.98%) Network+ Certification
9 56 (2.69%) DBS Check
10 54 (2.60%) Cisco Certification
11 50 (2.41%) CCNA
12 32 (1.54%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 30 (1.44%) CISM
13 30 (1.44%) CISSP
14 21 (1.01%) MCSA
15 20 (0.96%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 19 (0.91%) Computer Science Degree
17 15 (0.72%) HNC
18 14 (0.67%) CompTIA Security+
19 13 (0.63%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 199 (9.57%) Cyber Essentials
2 183 (8.80%) SLA
3 131 (6.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 88 (4.23%) PCI DSS
5 46 (2.21%) GDPR
5 46 (2.21%) NIST
6 44 (2.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 29 (1.39%) NCSC
8 23 (1.11%) QA
9 21 (1.01%) Data Quality
10 9 (0.43%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.29%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.24%) PMO
13 4 (0.19%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.19%) GRC
13 4 (0.19%) GxP
13 4 (0.19%) ITGC
14 3 (0.14%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.096%) ISAE 3402
15 2 (0.096%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 473 (22.75%) Hyper-V
2 358 (17.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 101 (4.86%) vSphere
4 74 (3.56%) Terminal Server
5 63 (3.03%) Virtual Desktop
6 51 (2.45%) VMware ESXi
7 47 (2.26%) Virtual Machines
8 34 (1.64%) Docker
9 17 (0.82%) VMware NSX
10 13 (0.63%) BitLocker
11 12 (0.58%) Firmware
11 12 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
12 9 (0.43%) DFS Replication
13 8 (0.38%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 8 (0.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 7 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.29%) XenApp
16 4 (0.19%) Squid
17 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
18 2 (0.096%) Samba
Systems Management
1 478 (22.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 106 (5.10%) SCCM
3 50 (2.41%) Terraform
4 37 (1.78%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.68%) Single Sign-On
6 30 (1.44%) Jamf Pro
7 28 (1.35%) WSUS
8 27 (1.30%) Ansible
8 27 (1.30%) FortiGate
9 25 (1.20%) Kubernetes
10 24 (1.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 23 (1.11%) Proxmox
12 18 (0.87%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 13 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
14 11 (0.53%) ZABBIX
15 9 (0.43%) Autotask
15 9 (0.43%) Backup Exec
15 9 (0.43%) Microsoft Clustering
15 9 (0.43%) SCOM
16 6 (0.29%) VxRail
Vendors
1 1,623 (78.07%) Microsoft
2 543 (26.12%) VMware
3 184 (8.85%) Veeam
4 131 (6.30%) Cisco
5 101 (4.86%) SolarWinds
6 91 (4.38%) Nimble Storage
7 87 (4.18%) Splunk
8 83 (3.99%) Citrix
9 77 (3.70%) Apple
10 76 (3.66%) ServiceNow
11 72 (3.46%) Brocade
11 72 (3.46%) Tanium
12 71 (3.42%) Meraki
13 66 (3.17%) Dell
14 64 (3.08%) HP
15 54 (2.60%) Google
16 41 (1.97%) CrowdStrike
17 37 (1.78%) McAfee
17 37 (1.78%) Red Hat
17 37 (1.78%) SonicWALL