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 21 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 38 23
Rank change year-on-year -10 -15 +17
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,704 1,903 3,029
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.92% 5.37% 7.51%
As % of the System Software category 61.54% 43.98% 48.00%
Number of salaries quoted 1,189 1,159 2,689
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £28,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £37,500 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% - +2.74%
75th Percentile £45,000 £52,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,250 £58,750
UK median annual salary £37,000 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -12.94% +6.25% -2.44%

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 2,769 4,327 6,310
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.36% 12.20% 15.65%
Number of salaries quoted 1,937 2,460 5,238
10th Percentile £26,750 £27,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £62,500 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £50,500 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.17% +9.52% -4.55%

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 21 January 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 21 January 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 +14 462 £36,000 -15.29% 262
North of England -23 343 £32,500 -18.75% 145
South West +3 285 £32,500 -2.99% 112
Midlands -18 266 £31,250 -12.59% 99
East of England -17 192 £35,000 +6.06% 93
East Midlands +17 163 £28,500 -9.52% 62
North West -14 159 £37,500 -6.25% 73
Yorkshire -16 143 £32,500 -1.52% 58
Scotland -3 106 £30,000 -25.00% 49
West Midlands -50 103 £32,500 -18.75% 36
North East -9 41 £31,000 -13.89% 17
Wales +5 36 £34,500 -1.43% 22
Northern Ireland -2 18 £47,750 -9.05% 4
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
1 484 (28.40%) Microsoft Exchange
2 298 (17.49%) SharePoint
3 26 (1.53%) Exchange Server 2003
4 17 (1.00%) IIS
5 15 (0.88%) Confluence
6 13 (0.76%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
8 3 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
8 3 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.18%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.18%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.12%) CMS
9 2 (0.12%) FactoryTalk
9 2 (0.12%) WinCC
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.059%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 228 (13.38%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.059%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.059%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 24 (1.41%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.17%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.18%) Primavera
6 2 (0.12%) Visualfiles
7 1 (0.059%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.059%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.059%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.059%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,175 (68.96%) Microsoft 365
2 909 (53.35%) Azure
3 535 (31.40%) Entra ID
4 118 (6.92%) AWS
5 112 (6.57%) OneDrive
6 71 (4.17%) Google Workspace
7 70 (4.11%) SaaS
8 54 (3.17%) Power Platform
9 40 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
10 37 (2.17%) GCP
11 33 (1.94%) Azure Monitor
11 33 (1.94%) IaaS
12 31 (1.82%) PowerApps
13 30 (1.76%) GitHub
14 29 (1.70%) Azure Logic Apps
14 29 (1.70%) PaaS
15 23 (1.35%) OCI
16 22 (1.29%) Power Automate
17 19 (1.12%) Nutanix
18 18 (1.06%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 625 (36.68%) DNS
2 593 (34.80%) DHCP
3 393 (23.06%) Firewall
4 245 (14.38%) VPN
5 240 (14.08%) TCP/IP
6 164 (9.62%) VLAN
7 159 (9.33%) LAN
8 158 (9.27%) WAN
9 126 (7.39%) Wi-Fi
10 84 (4.93%) Wireless
11 71 (4.17%) VoIP
12 60 (3.52%) SAN
13 54 (3.17%) Remote Desktop
14 47 (2.76%) Network Security
15 29 (1.70%) Broadband
15 29 (1.70%) Internet
16 20 (1.17%) SD-WAN
17 15 (0.88%) SMTP
17 15 (0.88%) SSL
17 15 (0.88%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (6.75%) Amazon RDS
2 52 (3.05%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.70%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.53%) Oracle Database 10g
5 17 (1.00%) Power BI
6 12 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.53%) MySQL
8 7 (0.41%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (0.41%) DTS
9 6 (0.35%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.23%) GIS
10 4 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.18%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.18%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
12 2 (0.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 2 (0.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 1 (0.059%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.059%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 65 (3.81%) JIRA
2 29 (1.70%) Jenkins
3 25 (1.47%) Git
4 23 (1.35%) Oracle Forms
5 6 (0.35%) GitLab
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.18%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.18%) Subversion
8 2 (0.12%) Vagrant
8 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.059%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.059%) Metasploit
General
1 840 (49.30%) Social Skills
2 200 (11.74%) Analytical Skills
3 137 (8.04%) Finance
4 112 (6.57%) Organisational Skills
5 93 (5.46%) Manufacturing
6 62 (3.64%) Retail
7 55 (3.23%) Law
8 54 (3.17%) Documentation Skills
9 53 (3.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 41 (2.41%) Advertising
11 34 (2.00%) Legal
12 24 (1.41%) Games
13 23 (1.35%) Public Sector
14 21 (1.23%) Marketing
14 21 (1.23%) Telecoms
15 15 (0.88%) French Language
15 15 (0.88%) Swedish Language
16 10 (0.59%) Aerospace
16 10 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
17 5 (0.29%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 607 (35.62%) IT Support
2 398 (23.36%) Support Engineer
3 306 (17.96%) IT Engineer
4 259 (15.20%) IT Support Engineer
5 232 (13.62%) Analyst
6 185 (10.86%) 2nd Line Support
7 171 (10.04%) Support Analyst
8 149 (8.74%) Support Technician
9 144 (8.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 130 (7.63%) IT Analyst
11 129 (7.57%) Systems Engineer
12 117 (6.87%) Senior
13 110 (6.46%) IT Technician
14 108 (6.34%) IT Support Analyst
15 101 (5.93%) IT Support Technician
16 95 (5.58%) 3rd Line Support
17 93 (5.46%) 1st Line Support
18 88 (5.16%) Technical Support
19 83 (4.87%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 74 (4.34%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.64%) SOAP
2 40 (2.35%) LDAP
3 35 (2.05%) OAuth
3 35 (2.05%) OpenID
3 35 (2.05%) SAML
4 25 (1.47%) GraphQL
4 25 (1.47%) REST
4 25 (1.47%) RESTful
5 21 (1.23%) .NET
6 20 (1.17%) JSON
6 20 (1.17%) XML
7 15 (0.88%) ARM Templates
8 12 (0.70%) CSS
8 12 (0.70%) HTML
8 12 (0.70%) React
9 10 (0.59%) OAuth2
10 9 (0.53%) .NET Framework
11 7 (0.41%) EDI
12 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
13 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 251 (14.73%) Driving Licence
2 151 (8.86%) Onboarding
3 104 (6.10%) Legacy Systems
4 74 (4.34%) Self-Motivation
5 60 (3.52%) Enterprise Software
6 42 (2.46%) Data Centre
7 37 (2.17%) Cloud Native
8 32 (1.88%) Hybrid Cloud
9 31 (1.82%) Management Information System
10 28 (1.64%) Cyberattack
11 27 (1.58%) Cyber Threat
12 23 (1.35%) Replication
13 20 (1.17%) Video Conferencing
14 18 (1.06%) iPad
15 17 (1.00%) Public Cloud
16 16 (0.94%) Client/Server
16 16 (0.94%) PKI
17 15 (0.88%) CMDB
18 14 (0.82%) Analytical Mindset
18 14 (0.82%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 1,209 (70.95%) Windows
2 738 (43.31%) Windows Server
3 261 (15.32%) Windows 10
4 214 (12.56%) Linux
5 149 (8.74%) Windows Server 2016
6 86 (5.05%) Mac OS
7 77 (4.52%) Windows Server 2019
8 70 (4.11%) Apple iOS
9 60 (3.52%) Android
10 33 (1.94%) Windows Server 2008
11 32 (1.88%) Windows 7
12 31 (1.82%) Unix
13 30 (1.76%) Windows Server 2012
14 26 (1.53%) Solaris
14 26 (1.53%) Windows Server 2003
15 25 (1.47%) HPUX
16 12 (0.70%) VMS
17 10 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
18 6 (0.35%) CentOS
18 6 (0.35%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 646 (37.91%) Problem-Solving
2 532 (31.22%) Customer Service
3 360 (21.13%) ITIL
4 215 (12.62%) Cybersecurity
5 209 (12.27%) Mentoring
6 192 (11.27%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 185 (10.86%) Continuous Improvement
8 169 (9.92%) ITSM
9 166 (9.74%) Migration
10 133 (7.81%) Service Delivery
11 119 (6.98%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 113 (6.63%) Coaching
12 113 (6.63%) Disaster Recovery
12 113 (6.63%) Incident Management
13 109 (6.40%) Kalman Filter
14 107 (6.28%) Web Filtering
15 105 (6.16%) Asset Management
16 104 (6.10%) Customer Experience
17 102 (5.99%) Agile
18 100 (5.87%) Email Filtering
Programming Languages
1 268 (15.73%) PowerShell
2 133 (7.81%) SQL
3 56 (3.29%) Bash
4 52 (3.05%) Python
5 27 (1.58%) T-SQL
6 24 (1.41%) Java
6 24 (1.41%) Perl
7 23 (1.35%) PL/SQL
8 22 (1.29%) Shell Script
9 17 (1.00%) JavaScript
10 15 (0.88%) C#
11 12 (0.70%) VB
12 9 (0.53%) Bicep
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Groovy
15 2 (0.12%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.059%) Korn
16 1 (0.059%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.059%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 232 (13.62%) Security Cleared
2 192 (11.27%) SC Cleared
3 162 (9.51%) Microsoft Certification
4 152 (8.92%) Degree
5 67 (3.93%) DV Cleared
6 51 (2.99%) DBS Check
7 45 (2.64%) A+ Certification
8 42 (2.46%) Cisco Certification
9 37 (2.17%) MCP
10 36 (2.11%) Azure Certification
11 35 (2.05%) CCNA
12 31 (1.82%) MCSE
13 24 (1.41%) Network+ Certification
14 20 (1.17%) HND
14 20 (1.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 19 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
16 18 (1.06%) HNC
17 15 (0.88%) MCSA
18 13 (0.76%) Computer Science Degree
19 11 (0.65%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (8.51%) Cyber Essentials
2 138 (8.10%) SLA
3 105 (6.16%) PCI DSS
4 72 (4.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 56 (3.29%) GDPR
6 38 (2.23%) NIST
7 25 (1.47%) NCSC
8 16 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 10 (0.59%) QA
10 7 (0.41%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.29%) GxP
11 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 3 (0.18%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
15 1 (0.059%) GRC
15 1 (0.059%) IASME
15 1 (0.059%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 341 (20.01%) Hyper-V
2 238 (13.97%) VMware Infrastructure
3 98 (5.75%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.99%) Virtual Desktop
5 43 (2.52%) vSphere
6 33 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
7 23 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
8 19 (1.12%) Docker
9 17 (1.00%) Firmware
10 8 (0.47%) BitLocker
10 8 (0.47%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.29%) VMware NSX
11 5 (0.29%) VMware Workstation
11 5 (0.29%) XenApp
12 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 3 (0.18%) Lustre
13 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 1 (0.059%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 1 (0.059%) KVM
14 1 (0.059%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 370 (21.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 134 (7.86%) SCCM
3 57 (3.35%) Terraform
4 44 (2.58%) Single Sign-On
5 35 (2.05%) vCenter Server
6 25 (1.47%) WSUS
7 20 (1.17%) Ansible
7 20 (1.17%) Jamf Pro
8 19 (1.12%) Autotask
9 18 (1.06%) FortiGate
9 18 (1.06%) Kubernetes
9 18 (1.06%) SCOM
10 13 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 11 (0.65%) Nagios
11 11 (0.65%) ZABBIX
12 10 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
13 7 (0.41%) SCVMM
14 6 (0.35%) McAfee ePO
14 6 (0.35%) Prometheus
14 6 (0.35%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,282 (75.23%) Microsoft
2 459 (26.94%) VMware
3 174 (10.21%) Veeam
4 136 (7.98%) SolarWinds
5 116 (6.81%) Cisco
6 113 (6.63%) Nimble Storage
7 109 (6.40%) Splunk
8 103 (6.04%) Tanium
9 96 (5.63%) Brocade
10 87 (5.11%) Apple
11 72 (4.23%) ServiceNow
12 66 (3.87%) Google
13 65 (3.81%) Citrix
14 52 (3.05%) HP
15 51 (2.99%) Oracle
16 40 (2.35%) Dell
17 37 (2.17%) Meraki
18 27 (1.58%) SonicWALL
19 26 (1.53%) Fortinet
20 25 (1.47%) Red Hat