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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 38 35
Rank change year-on-year -16 -3 -2
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,174 1,895 3,074
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.78% 5.46% 5.16%
As % of the System Software category 50.16% 43.97% 51.44%
Number of salaries quoted 1,669 1,517 2,271
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,000 £24,750
25th Percentile £29,500 £28,500 £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 £51,250 £47,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £67,500 £60,100 £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 4,334 4,310 5,976
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.53% 12.43% 10.04%
Number of salaries quoted 3,259 2,522 4,342
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% -4.04%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,434 £73,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £49,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +12.24% -2.00% -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 20 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 20 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 -13 513 £33,475 +7.98% 108
South East -6 507 £42,500 +6.25% 210
Midlands -32 368 £39,750 +22.31% 86
South West -22 294 £38,250 +10.87% 66
North West +58 281 £35,000 - 57
East of England +2 253 £35,750 +3.62% 71
East Midlands -14 189 £37,500 +19.05% 29
West Midlands -38 179 £42,500 +11.84% 57
Yorkshire -31 175 £31,000 +3.33% 36
Scotland +66 112 £32,500 +4.84% 23
Wales -24 67 £45,000 +18.13% 7
Northern Ireland -24 66 £40,000 -23.81% 1
North East -63 57 £40,000 +29.03% 20
Isle of Man -1 2 £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
1 636 (29.25%) Microsoft Exchange
2 470 (21.62%) SharePoint
3 50 (2.30%) IIS
4 18 (0.83%) 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
1 145 (6.67%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (1.84%) 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 8 (0.37%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.28%) 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%) 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
9 1 (0.046%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,498 (68.91%) Microsoft 365
2 1,221 (56.16%) Azure
3 962 (44.25%) Entra ID
4 155 (7.13%) OneDrive
5 154 (7.08%) AWS
6 104 (4.78%) SaaS
7 71 (3.27%) Power Platform
8 67 (3.08%) IaaS
9 61 (2.81%) Mimecast
10 53 (2.44%) PaaS
11 47 (2.16%) Azure DevOps
12 40 (1.84%) Microsoft Purview
13 38 (1.75%) Azure Sentinel
14 33 (1.52%) Power Automate
15 31 (1.43%) Serverless
16 28 (1.29%) Azure Monitor
17 25 (1.15%) PowerApps
18 24 (1.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
18 24 (1.10%) GCP
18 24 (1.10%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 707 (32.52%) DNS
2 588 (27.05%) DHCP
3 528 (24.29%) Firewall
4 371 (17.07%) VPN
5 261 (12.01%) TCP/IP
6 208 (9.57%) Wi-Fi
7 202 (9.29%) VLAN
7 202 (9.29%) WAN
8 196 (9.02%) LAN
9 138 (6.35%) Wireless
10 131 (6.03%) VoIP
11 95 (4.37%) Network Security
12 80 (3.68%) SAN
13 45 (2.07%) Remote Desktop
14 28 (1.29%) Internet
14 28 (1.29%) SSL
15 27 (1.24%) NAS
16 18 (0.83%) Structured Cabling
17 17 (0.78%) WLAN
18 16 (0.74%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 100 (4.60%) SQL Server
2 99 (4.55%) Amazon RDS
3 33 (1.52%) Azure SQL Database
4 28 (1.29%) Power BI
5 19 (0.87%) MySQL
5 19 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (0.41%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.28%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.092%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.092%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.092%) KNIME
12 1 (0.046%) Geospatial Data
12 1 (0.046%) GIS
12 1 (0.046%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.046%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.046%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 72 (3.31%) JIRA
2 29 (1.33%) Git
3 9 (0.41%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.28%) 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%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.046%) Subversion
7 1 (0.046%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.046%) Vagrant
General
1 998 (45.91%) Social Skills
2 260 (11.96%) Analytical Skills
3 147 (6.76%) Legal
4 131 (6.03%) Finance
5 82 (3.77%) Law
5 82 (3.77%) Manufacturing
5 82 (3.77%) Organisational Skills
6 74 (3.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 63 (2.90%) Public Sector
8 57 (2.62%) Retail
9 46 (2.12%) Telecoms
10 41 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
11 34 (1.56%) Aerospace
12 30 (1.38%) Advertising
13 14 (0.64%) Automotive
14 13 (0.60%) Local Government
15 11 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
16 8 (0.37%) Games
17 7 (0.32%) Aviation
18 5 (0.23%) Banking
Job Titles
1 773 (35.56%) IT Support
2 525 (24.15%) Support Engineer
3 511 (23.51%) IT Engineer
4 414 (19.04%) IT Support Engineer
5 349 (16.05%) Analyst
6 268 (12.33%) Senior
7 223 (10.26%) Support Analyst
8 213 (9.80%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 201 (9.25%) IT Technician
10 195 (8.97%) Support Technician
11 176 (8.10%) IT Support Technician
12 162 (7.45%) Systems Engineer
13 148 (6.81%) 2nd Line Support
14 143 (6.58%) IT Analyst
15 126 (5.80%) IT Support Analyst
16 96 (4.42%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 95 (4.37%) Architect
18 85 (3.91%) 3rd Line Support
19 84 (3.86%) Administrator
20 80 (3.68%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 77 (3.54%) Terraform
2 52 (2.39%) LDAP
3 30 (1.38%) SAML
4 28 (1.29%) OpenID
5 26 (1.20%) OAuth
6 23 (1.06%) Regular Expression
7 19 (0.87%) XMPP
8 13 (0.60%) .NET
8 13 (0.60%) Microsoft Graph
9 12 (0.55%) HTML
9 12 (0.55%) ModSecurity
10 11 (0.51%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.41%) Web Services
12 8 (0.37%) REST
13 7 (0.32%) JSON
13 7 (0.32%) JSON Schema
13 7 (0.32%) OAuth2
13 7 (0.32%) XML
14 5 (0.23%) Middleware
14 5 (0.23%) ODBC
Miscellaneous
1 301 (13.85%) Driving Licence
2 191 (8.79%) Onboarding
3 122 (5.61%) Self-Motivation
4 95 (4.37%) Legacy Systems
5 84 (3.86%) Hybrid Cloud
6 69 (3.17%) Data Centre
7 65 (2.99%) Management Information System
8 50 (2.30%) PKI
9 44 (2.02%) Clustering
10 43 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
11 42 (1.93%) Security Posture
12 41 (1.89%) Cloud Native
13 36 (1.66%) CCTV
14 35 (1.61%) Replication
15 34 (1.56%) Public Cloud
16 19 (0.87%) Social Media
17 17 (0.78%) CMDB
17 17 (0.78%) iPhone
17 17 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
18 16 (0.74%) Client/Server
Operating Systems
1 1,540 (70.84%) Windows
2 900 (41.40%) Windows Server
3 280 (12.88%) Windows 10
4 276 (12.70%) Linux
5 162 (7.45%) Windows Server 2016
6 138 (6.35%) Mac OS
7 86 (3.96%) Windows Server 2019
8 79 (3.63%) Apple iOS
9 60 (2.76%) Android
10 43 (1.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 24 (1.10%) VMS
12 20 (0.92%) Ubuntu
12 20 (0.92%) Windows Server 2012
13 8 (0.37%) CentOS
14 6 (0.28%) Windows 7
14 6 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
15 5 (0.23%) CoreOS
15 5 (0.23%) Debian
16 4 (0.18%) Mac OS X
16 4 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 751 (34.54%) Problem-Solving
2 529 (24.33%) Customer Service
3 485 (22.31%) ITIL
4 438 (20.15%) Continuous Improvement
5 414 (19.04%) Cybersecurity
6 350 (16.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 267 (12.28%) Mentoring
8 263 (12.10%) Disaster Recovery
9 206 (9.48%) ITSM
10 191 (8.79%) Project Delivery
11 187 (8.60%) Service Delivery
12 186 (8.56%) Identity Access Management
13 168 (7.73%) Migration
14 138 (6.35%) Service Management
15 137 (6.30%) Customer Experience
16 133 (6.12%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 132 (6.07%) Collaborative Working
18 129 (5.93%) Vulnerability Remediation
19 125 (5.75%) AI
20 117 (5.38%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 341 (15.69%) PowerShell
2 197 (9.06%) SQL
3 68 (3.13%) Python
4 57 (2.62%) Bash
5 51 (2.35%) Bicep
6 28 (1.29%) 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 (0.28%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.23%) Korn
12 5 (0.23%) PHP
13 3 (0.14%) JavaScript
13 3 (0.14%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.092%) C
14 2 (0.092%) VB
14 2 (0.092%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 313 (14.40%) Security Cleared
2 214 (9.84%) SC Cleared
3 207 (9.52%) Degree
4 188 (8.65%) Microsoft Certification
5 120 (5.52%) Azure Certification
6 102 (4.69%) DV Cleared
7 96 (4.42%) A+ Certification
8 95 (4.37%) Network+ Certification
9 75 (3.45%) CISM
9 75 (3.45%) CISSP
10 62 (2.85%) Cisco Certification
11 59 (2.71%) DBS Check
12 54 (2.48%) CCNA
13 35 (1.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 24 (1.10%) 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
1 222 (10.21%) Cyber Essentials
2 163 (7.50%) SLA
3 125 (5.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 96 (4.42%) PCI DSS
5 54 (2.48%) GDPR
6 47 (2.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 26 (1.20%) NIST
8 19 (0.87%) QA
9 14 (0.64%) Accessibility
10 13 (0.60%) Data Quality
11 11 (0.51%) NCSC
12 6 (0.28%) 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
1 506 (23.28%) Hyper-V
2 382 (17.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 89 (4.09%) vSphere
4 81 (3.73%) Terminal Server
5 71 (3.27%) Virtual Desktop
6 54 (2.48%) Virtual Machines
7 38 (1.75%) Docker
7 38 (1.75%) 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 10 (0.46%) BitLocker
12 10 (0.46%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 5 (0.23%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.23%) NDS
14 4 (0.18%) Squid
14 4 (0.18%) XenApp
15 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
16 2 (0.092%) Xen
Systems Management
1 583 (26.82%) Microsoft Intune
2 112 (5.15%) SCCM
3 57 (2.62%) Single Sign-On
4 37 (1.70%) Ansible
5 34 (1.56%) Kubernetes
6 32 (1.47%) FortiGate
7 27 (1.24%) Jamf Pro
8 26 (1.20%) WSUS
9 22 (1.01%) vCenter Server
10 18 (0.83%) Proxmox
11 17 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 16 (0.74%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 15 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
14 13 (0.60%) ZABBIX
15 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
16 10 (0.46%) SCOM
17 6 (0.28%) Grafana
17 6 (0.28%) Graylog
17 6 (0.28%) Prometheus
18 5 (0.23%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 1,784 (82.06%) Microsoft
2 562 (25.85%) VMware
3 199 (9.15%) Veeam
4 160 (7.36%) Cisco
5 103 (4.74%) SolarWinds
6 97 (4.46%) Splunk
7 88 (4.05%) Nimble Storage
8 80 (3.68%) Brocade
8 80 (3.68%) Tanium
9 78 (3.59%) Meraki
10 74 (3.40%) Apple
11 73 (3.36%) CyberArk
12 71 (3.27%) ServiceNow
13 66 (3.04%) Citrix
14 52 (2.39%) SonicWALL
15 51 (2.35%) Fortinet
16 47 (2.16%) HP
17 46 (2.12%) Dell
18 43 (1.98%) Red Hat
19 38 (1.75%) CrowdStrike