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 18 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 38 38
Rank change year-on-year -16 0 -5
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,182 1,910 3,063
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.79% 5.50% 5.16%
As % of the System Software category 50.21% 44.09% 51.31%
Number of salaries quoted 1,675 1,531 2,283
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,000 £24,750
25th Percentile £29,500 £28,250 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -6.67% +1.35%
75th Percentile £51,000 £47,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £67,500 £59,000 £60,000
UK median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% -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 4,346 4,332 5,970
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.56% 12.46% 10.05%
Number of salaries quoted 3,267 2,544 4,363
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £33,750 £30,750 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £42,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -10.53% -3.24%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,302 £73,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +13.40% -3.00% -10.71%

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 18 August 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 18 August 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 -10 514 £33,738 +8.83% 117
South East -6 512 £42,500 +6.25% 192
Midlands -31 371 £38,800 +19.38% 77
South West -20 295 £38,500 +11.59% 60
North West +62 279 £35,000 - 63
East of England +3 251 £36,500 +8.96% 69
East Midlands -13 192 £37,500 +19.05% 25
West Midlands -41 179 £42,500 +11.84% 52
Yorkshire -30 177 £31,000 +3.33% 38
Scotland +65 110 £32,000 +3.23% 17
Northern Ireland -24 67 £40,000 -23.81% 1
Wales -24 67 £45,000 +18.13% 9
North East -61 58 £40,000 +29.03% 21
Isle of Man 0 3 £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
1 641 (29.38%) Microsoft Exchange
2 470 (21.54%) SharePoint
3 50 (2.29%) IIS
4 18 (0.82%) Confluence
5 13 (0.60%) Skype for Business
6 7 (0.32%) Apache
7 3 (0.14%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.14%) nginx
7 3 (0.14%) SAS
8 2 (0.092%) CMS
9 1 (0.046%) Drupal
9 1 (0.046%) Exchange Server 2007
9 1 (0.046%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.046%) HCL Domino
9 1 (0.046%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.046%) Site Server
9 1 (0.046%) WordPress
Applications
1 147 (6.74%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.092%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.046%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.046%) Revit
Business Applications
1 15 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.41%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.27%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.23%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 5 (0.23%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.18%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (0.18%) Primavera
6 4 (0.18%) Shopify
7 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.092%) Dynamics GP
8 2 (0.092%) Sage 200
8 2 (0.092%) SAP S/4HANA
8 2 (0.092%) Teamcenter
9 1 (0.046%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.046%) Magento
9 1 (0.046%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.046%) Sage 50
9 1 (0.046%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,509 (69.16%) Microsoft 365
2 1,227 (56.23%) Azure
3 959 (43.95%) Entra ID
4 157 (7.20%) AWS
5 154 (7.06%) OneDrive
6 105 (4.81%) SaaS
7 73 (3.35%) Power Platform
8 69 (3.16%) IaaS
9 63 (2.89%) Mimecast
10 54 (2.47%) PaaS
11 48 (2.20%) Azure DevOps
12 41 (1.88%) Microsoft Purview
13 38 (1.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 33 (1.51%) Power Automate
15 30 (1.37%) Serverless
16 29 (1.33%) Azure Monitor
17 25 (1.15%) GCP
17 25 (1.15%) PowerApps
18 24 (1.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
18 24 (1.10%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 705 (32.31%) DNS
2 585 (26.81%) DHCP
3 530 (24.29%) Firewall
4 369 (16.91%) VPN
5 260 (11.92%) TCP/IP
6 211 (9.67%) Wi-Fi
7 203 (9.30%) VLAN
7 203 (9.30%) WAN
8 198 (9.07%) LAN
9 136 (6.23%) Wireless
10 131 (6.00%) VoIP
11 94 (4.31%) Network Security
12 83 (3.80%) SAN
13 46 (2.11%) Remote Desktop
14 29 (1.33%) Internet
15 28 (1.28%) SSL
16 27 (1.24%) NAS
17 18 (0.82%) Structured Cabling
18 17 (0.78%) WLAN
19 16 (0.73%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (4.67%) SQL Server
2 99 (4.54%) Amazon RDS
3 33 (1.51%) Azure SQL Database
4 29 (1.33%) Power BI
5 21 (0.96%) PostgreSQL
6 20 (0.92%) MySQL
7 7 (0.32%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.27%) Crystal Reports
9 5 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.18%) Neo4j
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
12 2 (0.092%) BusinessObjects
12 2 (0.092%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.092%) KNIME
13 1 (0.046%) Geospatial Data
13 1 (0.046%) GIS
13 1 (0.046%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.046%) RDBMS
13 1 (0.046%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 73 (3.35%) JIRA
2 29 (1.33%) Git
3 9 (0.41%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.23%) GitLab
6 2 (0.092%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.092%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.092%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.092%) git-flow
6 2 (0.092%) Metasploit
6 2 (0.092%) NUnit
6 2 (0.092%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.046%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.046%) JMeter
7 1 (0.046%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.046%) Selenium
7 1 (0.046%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.046%) Subversion
7 1 (0.046%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.046%) Vagrant
General
1 996 (45.65%) Social Skills
2 257 (11.78%) Analytical Skills
3 148 (6.78%) Legal
4 131 (6.00%) Finance
5 84 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
6 83 (3.80%) Manufacturing
7 82 (3.76%) Law
8 75 (3.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 64 (2.93%) Public Sector
10 58 (2.66%) Retail
11 46 (2.11%) Telecoms
12 41 (1.88%) Documentation Skills
13 34 (1.56%) Aerospace
14 31 (1.42%) Advertising
15 14 (0.64%) Automotive
16 13 (0.60%) Local Government
17 9 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
18 8 (0.37%) Games
19 7 (0.32%) Aviation
20 5 (0.23%) Banking
Job Titles
1 777 (35.61%) IT Support
2 526 (24.11%) Support Engineer
3 506 (23.19%) IT Engineer
4 413 (18.93%) IT Support Engineer
5 353 (16.18%) Analyst
6 267 (12.24%) Senior
7 227 (10.40%) Support Analyst
8 216 (9.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 204 (9.35%) IT Technician
10 199 (9.12%) Support Technician
11 179 (8.20%) IT Support Technician
12 163 (7.47%) Systems Engineer
13 148 (6.78%) 2nd Line Support
14 146 (6.69%) IT Analyst
15 129 (5.91%) IT Support Analyst
16 95 (4.35%) Architect
17 94 (4.31%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 85 (3.90%) 3rd Line Support
18 85 (3.90%) Administrator
19 79 (3.62%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (2.25%) LDAP
2 31 (1.42%) SAML
3 28 (1.28%) OpenID
4 26 (1.19%) OAuth
5 23 (1.05%) Regular Expression
6 19 (0.87%) XMPP
7 13 (0.60%) .NET
7 13 (0.60%) Microsoft Graph
8 12 (0.55%) ModSecurity
9 11 (0.50%) ARM Templates
10 10 (0.46%) HTML
11 9 (0.41%) REST
12 7 (0.32%) JSON
12 7 (0.32%) JSON Schema
12 7 (0.32%) OAuth2
12 7 (0.32%) Web Services
12 7 (0.32%) XML
13 6 (0.27%) Middleware
14 5 (0.23%) ODBC
14 5 (0.23%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 301 (13.79%) Driving Licence
2 190 (8.71%) Onboarding
3 122 (5.59%) Self-Motivation
4 95 (4.35%) Legacy Systems
5 83 (3.80%) Hybrid Cloud
6 69 (3.16%) Data Centre
7 66 (3.02%) Management Information System
8 50 (2.29%) PKI
9 45 (2.06%) Clustering
10 43 (1.97%) Cloud Native
11 42 (1.92%) Enterprise Software
12 41 (1.88%) Security Posture
13 36 (1.65%) CCTV
13 36 (1.65%) Replication
14 34 (1.56%) Public Cloud
15 19 (0.87%) Social Media
16 17 (0.78%) CMDB
16 17 (0.78%) iPhone
16 17 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
17 16 (0.73%) Client/Server
Operating Systems
1 1,550 (71.04%) Windows
2 899 (41.20%) Windows Server
3 286 (13.11%) Windows 10
4 279 (12.79%) Linux
5 162 (7.42%) Windows Server 2016
6 140 (6.42%) Mac OS
7 85 (3.90%) Windows Server 2019
8 78 (3.57%) Apple iOS
9 61 (2.80%) Android
10 45 (2.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 24 (1.10%) VMS
12 20 (0.92%) Windows Server 2012
13 19 (0.87%) Ubuntu
14 8 (0.37%) CentOS
15 6 (0.27%) Windows 7
15 6 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
16 5 (0.23%) CoreOS
16 5 (0.23%) Debian
17 4 (0.18%) Mac OS X
17 4 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 753 (34.51%) Problem-Solving
2 536 (24.56%) Customer Service
3 493 (22.59%) ITIL
4 434 (19.89%) Continuous Improvement
5 414 (18.97%) Cybersecurity
6 348 (15.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 266 (12.19%) Mentoring
8 261 (11.96%) Disaster Recovery
9 205 (9.40%) ITSM
10 187 (8.57%) Project Delivery
11 185 (8.48%) Identity Access Management
12 182 (8.34%) Service Delivery
13 167 (7.65%) Migration
14 138 (6.32%) Customer Experience
14 138 (6.32%) Service Management
15 131 (6.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 130 (5.96%) Collaborative Working
16 130 (5.96%) Vulnerability Remediation
17 124 (5.68%) AI
18 118 (5.41%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 341 (15.63%) PowerShell
2 198 (9.07%) SQL
3 69 (3.16%) Python
4 60 (2.75%) Bash
5 51 (2.34%) Bicep
6 29 (1.33%) R
7 13 (0.60%) Ruby
8 12 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
8 12 (0.55%) VBA
9 9 (0.41%) C#
10 7 (0.32%) Java
10 7 (0.32%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.27%) Korn
11 6 (0.27%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.23%) PHP
13 3 (0.14%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.092%) C
14 2 (0.092%) VBScript
15 1 (0.046%) JavaScript
15 1 (0.046%) VB
Qualifications
1 315 (14.44%) Security Cleared
2 217 (9.95%) SC Cleared
3 205 (9.40%) Degree
4 188 (8.62%) Microsoft Certification
5 120 (5.50%) Azure Certification
6 104 (4.77%) DV Cleared
7 96 (4.40%) A+ Certification
8 95 (4.35%) Network+ Certification
9 75 (3.44%) CISM
9 75 (3.44%) CISSP
10 63 (2.89%) Cisco Certification
11 58 (2.66%) DBS Check
12 55 (2.52%) CCNA
13 35 (1.60%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 23 (1.05%) Computer Science Degree
15 22 (1.01%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 20 (0.92%) CompTIA Security+
17 19 (0.87%) AWS Certification
17 19 (0.87%) MCSA
18 15 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 224 (10.27%) Cyber Essentials
2 166 (7.61%) SLA
3 127 (5.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 96 (4.40%) PCI DSS
5 54 (2.47%) GDPR
6 50 (2.29%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 27 (1.24%) NIST
8 19 (0.87%) QA
9 14 (0.64%) Accessibility
10 13 (0.60%) Data Quality
11 11 (0.50%) NCSC
12 6 (0.27%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.18%) GRC
14 3 (0.14%) ISAE 3402
14 3 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 1 (0.046%) ISO 9001
15 1 (0.046%) ISO/IEC 42001
15 1 (0.046%) ITGC
15 1 (0.046%) PMO
System Software
1 507 (23.24%) Hyper-V
2 382 (17.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 91 (4.17%) vSphere
4 81 (3.71%) Terminal Server
5 70 (3.21%) Virtual Desktop
6 53 (2.43%) Virtual Machines
7 39 (1.79%) Docker
7 39 (1.79%) VMware ESXi
8 20 (0.92%) Firmware
9 19 (0.87%) Virtual Servers
10 14 (0.64%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 12 (0.55%) VMware NSX
12 11 (0.50%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 10 (0.46%) BitLocker
14 6 (0.27%) DFS Replication
15 5 (0.23%) NDS
16 4 (0.18%) Squid
16 4 (0.18%) XenApp
17 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
18 2 (0.092%) Xen
Systems Management
1 584 (26.76%) Microsoft Intune
2 115 (5.27%) SCCM
3 77 (3.53%) Terraform
4 54 (2.47%) Single Sign-On
5 37 (1.70%) Ansible
6 35 (1.60%) Kubernetes
7 32 (1.47%) FortiGate
8 27 (1.24%) Jamf Pro
9 26 (1.19%) WSUS
10 23 (1.05%) vCenter Server
11 18 (0.82%) Proxmox
12 17 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 16 (0.73%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
14 15 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
15 13 (0.60%) ZABBIX
16 11 (0.50%) Microsoft Clustering
17 10 (0.46%) SCOM
18 6 (0.27%) Grafana
18 6 (0.27%) Graylog
18 6 (0.27%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 1,787 (81.90%) Microsoft
2 565 (25.89%) VMware
3 201 (9.21%) Veeam
4 162 (7.42%) Cisco
5 103 (4.72%) SolarWinds
6 97 (4.45%) Splunk
7 88 (4.03%) Nimble Storage
8 80 (3.67%) Brocade
8 80 (3.67%) Tanium
9 76 (3.48%) Meraki
10 74 (3.39%) Apple
10 74 (3.39%) CyberArk
11 69 (3.16%) ServiceNow
12 67 (3.07%) Citrix
13 52 (2.38%) SonicWALL
14 51 (2.34%) Fortinet
15 48 (2.20%) HP
16 47 (2.15%) Dell
17 45 (2.06%) Red Hat
18 39 (1.79%) CrowdStrike