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

6 months to
8 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 40 35
Rank change year-on-year -15 -5 -2
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,187 1,894 3,160
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.86% 5.50% 5.32%
As % of the System Software category 50.55% 43.18% 51.67%
Number of salaries quoted 1,684 1,508 2,393
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 £50,000 £47,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £65,000 £61,250 £59,850
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 4,326 4,386 6,116
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.67% 12.73% 10.30%
Number of salaries quoted 3,259 2,561 4,537
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £33,500 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £42,500 £46,000
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -7.61% -5.15%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £73,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -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 8 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 8 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
South East -10 517 £42,500 +6.25% 184
North of England -13 513 £34,000 +9.68% 133
Midlands -26 375 £37,500 +7.14% 74
South West -18 293 £37,500 +8.70% 72
North West +60 270 £35,000 - 82
East of England -2 244 £35,000 +4.48% 66
East Midlands -7 199 £37,500 +19.05% 32
Yorkshire -28 184 £31,000 +3.33% 41
West Midlands -44 176 £42,500 +11.84% 42
Scotland +83 110 £31,000 - 22
Wales -17 72 £45,000 +18.13% 10
Northern Ireland -14 66 £40,000 -27.27% 4
North East -54 59 £40,000 +29.03% 17
Isle of Man +1 4 £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
1 650 (29.72%) Microsoft Exchange
2 462 (21.12%) SharePoint
3 50 (2.29%) IIS
4 19 (0.87%) Confluence
5 11 (0.50%) Skype for Business
6 7 (0.32%) Apache
7 6 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
8 4 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
8 4 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.14%) CMS
9 3 (0.14%) nginx
9 3 (0.14%) SAS
10 1 (0.046%) Drupal
10 1 (0.046%) HCL Domino
10 1 (0.046%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.046%) Site Server
10 1 (0.046%) WordPress
Applications
1 173 (7.91%) Microsoft Office
2 45 (2.06%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (0.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.091%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.046%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.046%) Revit
Business Applications
1 16 (0.73%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.46%) Dynamics NAV
3 9 (0.41%) 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%) Dynamics GP
7 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.091%) Sage 200
8 2 (0.091%) SAP S/4HANA
8 2 (0.091%) 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 1,517 (69.36%) Microsoft 365
2 1,236 (56.52%) Azure
3 950 (43.44%) Entra ID
4 164 (7.50%) AWS
5 155 (7.09%) OneDrive
6 110 (5.03%) SaaS
7 79 (3.61%) Power Platform
8 69 (3.16%) IaaS
9 63 (2.88%) Mimecast
10 54 (2.47%) PaaS
11 47 (2.15%) Azure DevOps
12 39 (1.78%) Microsoft Purview
13 37 (1.69%) Azure Sentinel
14 30 (1.37%) Google Workspace
14 30 (1.37%) Power Automate
14 30 (1.37%) Serverless
15 28 (1.28%) Azure Monitor
16 27 (1.23%) GCP
17 26 (1.19%) PowerApps
18 25 (1.14%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 708 (32.37%) DNS
2 589 (26.93%) DHCP
3 527 (24.10%) Firewall
4 370 (16.92%) VPN
5 257 (11.75%) TCP/IP
6 212 (9.69%) WAN
7 211 (9.65%) Wi-Fi
8 205 (9.37%) LAN
9 202 (9.24%) VLAN
10 132 (6.04%) VoIP
11 131 (5.99%) Wireless
12 88 (4.02%) Network Security
13 82 (3.75%) SAN
14 52 (2.38%) Remote Desktop
15 29 (1.33%) Internet
15 29 (1.33%) NAS
16 27 (1.23%) SSL
17 17 (0.78%) SD-WAN
17 17 (0.78%) WLAN
18 16 (0.73%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 107 (4.89%) SQL Server
2 100 (4.57%) Amazon RDS
3 34 (1.55%) Power BI
4 32 (1.46%) Azure SQL Database
5 23 (1.05%) PostgreSQL
6 22 (1.01%) MySQL
7 6 (0.27%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.23%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.14%) GIS
10 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.14%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.091%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.091%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.091%) KNIME
12 1 (0.046%) Geospatial Data
12 1 (0.046%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.046%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 78 (3.57%) JIRA
2 28 (1.28%) Git
3 9 (0.41%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.32%) GitLab
5 6 (0.27%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.091%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.091%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.091%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.091%) git-flow
7 2 (0.091%) Metasploit
7 2 (0.091%) NUnit
7 2 (0.091%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.046%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.046%) Gatling
8 1 (0.046%) JMeter
8 1 (0.046%) Selenium
8 1 (0.046%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.046%) Subversion
8 1 (0.046%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 990 (45.27%) Social Skills
2 249 (11.39%) Analytical Skills
3 146 (6.68%) Legal
4 132 (6.04%) Finance
5 90 (4.12%) Organisational Skills
6 87 (3.98%) Law
7 77 (3.52%) Manufacturing
8 75 (3.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 64 (2.93%) Public Sector
10 59 (2.70%) Retail
11 47 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
11 47 (2.15%) Telecoms
12 29 (1.33%) Advertising
13 26 (1.19%) Aerospace
14 15 (0.69%) Local Government
15 14 (0.64%) Automotive
16 9 (0.41%) Games
16 9 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
17 6 (0.27%) Banking
18 5 (0.23%) Dutch Language
Job Titles
1 800 (36.58%) IT Support
2 547 (25.01%) Support Engineer
3 514 (23.50%) IT Engineer
4 427 (19.52%) IT Support Engineer
5 353 (16.14%) Analyst
6 263 (12.03%) Senior
7 225 (10.29%) Support Analyst
8 210 (9.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 201 (9.19%) IT Technician
9 201 (9.19%) Support Technician
10 177 (8.09%) IT Support Technician
11 162 (7.41%) Systems Engineer
12 148 (6.77%) 2nd Line Support
12 148 (6.77%) IT Analyst
13 132 (6.04%) IT Support Analyst
14 93 (4.25%) Architect
15 90 (4.12%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 87 (3.98%) 3rd Line Support
17 83 (3.80%) Administrator
18 75 (3.43%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (2.01%) LDAP
2 28 (1.28%) SAML
3 24 (1.10%) OpenID
4 23 (1.05%) Regular Expression
5 22 (1.01%) OAuth
6 19 (0.87%) XMPP
7 12 (0.55%) REST
8 11 (0.50%) .NET
8 11 (0.50%) ARM Templates
8 11 (0.50%) Microsoft Graph
9 9 (0.41%) HTML
9 9 (0.41%) JSON
9 9 (0.41%) XML
10 8 (0.37%) ModSecurity
11 7 (0.32%) JSON Schema
11 7 (0.32%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.32%) Web Services
12 6 (0.27%) Middleware
13 5 (0.23%) ODBC
13 5 (0.23%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 303 (13.85%) Driving Licence
2 177 (8.09%) Onboarding
3 124 (5.67%) Self-Motivation
4 95 (4.34%) Legacy Systems
5 86 (3.93%) Hybrid Cloud
6 71 (3.25%) Data Centre
7 67 (3.06%) Management Information System
8 50 (2.29%) PKI
9 47 (2.15%) Clustering
10 40 (1.83%) Cloud Native
10 40 (1.83%) Security Posture
11 39 (1.78%) Enterprise Software
11 39 (1.78%) Public Cloud
12 35 (1.60%) CCTV
12 35 (1.60%) Replication
13 18 (0.82%) CMDB
14 16 (0.73%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.73%) Enterprise Storage
14 16 (0.73%) Social Media
15 15 (0.69%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,563 (71.47%) Windows
2 904 (41.34%) Windows Server
3 306 (13.99%) Windows 10
4 281 (12.85%) Linux
5 159 (7.27%) Windows Server 2016
6 152 (6.95%) Mac OS
7 87 (3.98%) Windows Server 2019
8 79 (3.61%) Apple iOS
9 65 (2.97%) Android
10 44 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 23 (1.05%) VMS
12 19 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
13 17 (0.78%) Ubuntu
14 10 (0.46%) Windows 7
15 8 (0.37%) CentOS
16 7 (0.32%) Windows Server 2008
17 6 (0.27%) Debian
18 5 (0.23%) CoreOS
19 4 (0.18%) Unix
19 4 (0.18%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 737 (33.70%) Problem-Solving
2 540 (24.69%) Customer Service
3 507 (23.18%) ITIL
4 426 (19.48%) Continuous Improvement
5 411 (18.79%) Cybersecurity
6 329 (15.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 268 (12.25%) Mentoring
8 257 (11.75%) Disaster Recovery
9 211 (9.65%) ITSM
10 182 (8.32%) Service Delivery
11 180 (8.23%) Project Delivery
12 170 (7.77%) Identity Access Management
13 158 (7.22%) Migration
14 137 (6.26%) Customer Experience
15 135 (6.17%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 131 (5.99%) Service Management
17 125 (5.72%) Collaborative Working
18 124 (5.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 123 (5.62%) AI
20 121 (5.53%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 340 (15.55%) PowerShell
2 196 (8.96%) SQL
3 68 (3.11%) Python
4 62 (2.83%) Bash
5 48 (2.19%) Bicep
6 30 (1.37%) R
7 12 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
7 12 (0.55%) VBA
8 10 (0.46%) Ruby
9 9 (0.41%) C#
9 9 (0.41%) T-SQL
10 7 (0.32%) Java
10 7 (0.32%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.27%) Korn
12 5 (0.23%) PHP
13 3 (0.14%) VB
14 2 (0.091%) C
14 2 (0.091%) JavaScript
14 2 (0.091%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.091%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 310 (14.17%) Security Cleared
2 218 (9.97%) SC Cleared
3 207 (9.47%) Degree
4 184 (8.41%) Microsoft Certification
5 112 (5.12%) Azure Certification
6 99 (4.53%) DV Cleared
7 90 (4.12%) A+ Certification
8 89 (4.07%) Network+ Certification
9 68 (3.11%) CISM
9 68 (3.11%) CISSP
10 61 (2.79%) Cisco Certification
11 58 (2.65%) DBS Check
12 55 (2.51%) CCNA
13 31 (1.42%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 24 (1.10%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 23 (1.05%) Computer Science Degree
16 20 (0.91%) MCSA
17 18 (0.82%) AWS Certification
18 17 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
19 14 (0.64%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 220 (10.06%) Cyber Essentials
2 171 (7.82%) SLA
3 127 (5.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 96 (4.39%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.29%) GDPR
6 48 (2.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 28 (1.28%) NIST
8 20 (0.91%) QA
9 15 (0.69%) Data Quality
10 13 (0.59%) NCSC
11 11 (0.50%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.27%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.18%) GRC
14 3 (0.14%) ISAE 3402
14 3 (0.14%) ITGC
14 3 (0.14%) PMO
15 2 (0.091%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 1 (0.046%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 1 (0.046%) GxP
16 1 (0.046%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 509 (23.27%) Hyper-V
2 385 (17.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (4.25%) vSphere
4 81 (3.70%) Terminal Server
5 66 (3.02%) Virtual Desktop
6 52 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
7 44 (2.01%) VMware ESXi
8 38 (1.74%) Docker
9 19 (0.87%) Firmware
10 18 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
11 14 (0.64%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 14 (0.64%) VMware NSX
12 11 (0.50%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 10 (0.46%) BitLocker
14 7 (0.32%) DFS Replication
15 5 (0.23%) NDS
15 5 (0.23%) XenApp
16 4 (0.18%) Squid
16 4 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
17 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 576 (26.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 114 (5.21%) SCCM
3 71 (3.25%) Terraform
4 47 (2.15%) Single Sign-On
5 35 (1.60%) Ansible
6 32 (1.46%) Kubernetes
7 30 (1.37%) FortiGate
7 30 (1.37%) Jamf Pro
8 27 (1.23%) WSUS
9 26 (1.19%) vCenter Server
10 20 (0.91%) Proxmox
11 18 (0.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 18 (0.82%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 15 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
13 14 (0.64%) ZABBIX
14 11 (0.50%) Microsoft Clustering
15 9 (0.41%) SCOM
16 6 (0.27%) Autotask
16 6 (0.27%) Grafana
16 6 (0.27%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 1,767 (80.80%) Microsoft
2 574 (26.25%) VMware
3 200 (9.14%) Veeam
4 160 (7.32%) Cisco
5 105 (4.80%) SolarWinds
6 97 (4.44%) Splunk
7 93 (4.25%) Nimble Storage
8 80 (3.66%) Apple
8 80 (3.66%) Brocade
8 80 (3.66%) Tanium
9 76 (3.48%) Meraki
10 75 (3.43%) Citrix
11 71 (3.25%) CyberArk
11 71 (3.25%) ServiceNow
12 58 (2.65%) HP
13 56 (2.56%) Dell
14 45 (2.06%) SonicWALL
15 44 (2.01%) Fortinet
16 43 (1.97%) Red Hat
17 42 (1.92%) CrowdStrike