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 24 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 36 38 20
Rank change year-on-year +2 -18 +26
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,849 2,361 2,690
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.01% 4.97% 9.02%
As % of the System Software category 59.34% 46.29% 50.05%
Number of salaries quoted 1,385 1,416 2,418
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,000 £25,338
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,500 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.75% +6.67% +1.35%
75th Percentile £48,750 £53,000 £51,500
90th Percentile £63,750 £61,500 £60,813
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £42,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +1.19% +2.29%

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 3,116 5,100 5,375
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.44% 10.74% 18.01%
Number of salaries quoted 2,244 2,884 4,490
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £35,938 £33,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.14% -4.89%
75th Percentile £62,500 £65,781 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% - -

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 24 November 2025.

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 24 November 2025. 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 +8 491 £37,500 -12.79% 298
North of England -13 402 £32,500 -23.08% 103
Midlands +8 318 £32,500 -18.75% 101
South West +8 312 £33,000 -7.04% 79
East of England -8 207 £35,000 - 79
Yorkshire +1 201 £31,000 -28.32% 45
East Midlands +24 163 £29,000 -17.14% 43
West Midlands -4 155 £47,500 +18.75% 58
North West -16 142 £35,000 -15.66% 51
Scotland -21 78 £30,000 -24.48% 27
North East +8 59 £31,000 -13.89% 7
Wales +8 44 £35,000 +2.94% 14
Northern Ireland +6 13 £55,000 +4.76% 9
Channel Islands -1 1 £45,000 -10.00%
South Coast - 1 £59,000 -
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
1 571 (30.88%) Microsoft Exchange
2 310 (16.77%) SharePoint
3 34 (1.84%) IIS
4 31 (1.68%) Confluence
5 26 (1.41%) Exchange Server 2003
6 17 (0.92%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.32%) CMS
8 5 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
8 5 (0.27%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2007
9 3 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.054%) Office Communications Server
11 1 (0.054%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.054%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 226 (12.22%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (1.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 2 (0.11%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.054%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.054%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.054%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.054%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.68%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (0.81%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.27%) Sage 200
5 4 (0.22%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.22%) Visualfiles
6 3 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.16%) Primavera
6 3 (0.16%) SAP Business One
7 2 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.11%) Magento
8 1 (0.054%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.054%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 1,279 (69.17%) Microsoft 365
2 981 (53.06%) Azure
3 538 (29.10%) Entra ID
4 157 (8.49%) AWS
5 101 (5.46%) OneDrive
6 72 (3.89%) SaaS
7 54 (2.92%) Power Platform
8 51 (2.76%) IaaS
9 47 (2.54%) PaaS
10 38 (2.06%) GCP
10 38 (2.06%) PowerApps
11 32 (1.73%) Azure Logic Apps
11 32 (1.73%) Google Workspace
12 31 (1.68%) Azure DevOps
13 30 (1.62%) Amazon EC2
14 26 (1.41%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 25 (1.35%) GitHub
16 24 (1.30%) Mimecast
17 23 (1.24%) Amazon Glacier
17 23 (1.24%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 664 (35.91%) DNS
2 611 (33.04%) DHCP
3 502 (27.15%) Firewall
4 293 (15.85%) TCP/IP
5 245 (13.25%) VPN
6 186 (10.06%) VLAN
7 173 (9.36%) LAN
8 169 (9.14%) WAN
9 134 (7.25%) Wi-Fi
10 98 (5.30%) Wireless
11 91 (4.92%) VoIP
12 89 (4.81%) SAN
13 56 (3.03%) Remote Desktop
14 41 (2.22%) Internet
15 33 (1.78%) Network Security
16 29 (1.57%) SD-WAN
17 26 (1.41%) SMTP
18 20 (1.08%) SSL
19 18 (0.97%) iSCSI
19 18 (0.97%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (7.90%) Amazon RDS
2 85 (4.60%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.57%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.41%) Oracle Database 10g
5 17 (0.92%) Power BI
6 14 (0.76%) MySQL
7 12 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
8 9 (0.49%) DTS
9 8 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (0.32%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 6 (0.32%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.16%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.16%) Data Warehouse
11 3 (0.16%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.16%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.054%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.054%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.054%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 68 (3.68%) JIRA
2 46 (2.49%) Git
3 45 (2.43%) Jenkins
4 23 (1.24%) Vagrant
5 18 (0.97%) Oracle Forms
6 5 (0.27%) GitLab
6 5 (0.27%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.054%) Artifactory
General
1 901 (48.73%) Social Skills
2 194 (10.49%) Analytical Skills
3 115 (6.22%) Finance
4 111 (6.00%) Manufacturing
5 94 (5.08%) Organisational Skills
6 70 (3.79%) Retail
7 67 (3.62%) Law
8 49 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
9 47 (2.54%) Public Sector
10 45 (2.43%) Advertising
11 39 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 38 (2.06%) Legal
13 36 (1.95%) Telecoms
14 18 (0.97%) Marketing
15 16 (0.87%) Aerospace
16 15 (0.81%) French Language
16 15 (0.81%) Swedish Language
17 13 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
18 11 (0.59%) Automotive
19 10 (0.54%) Games
Job Titles
1 619 (33.48%) IT Support
2 432 (23.36%) Support Engineer
3 309 (16.71%) IT Engineer
4 293 (15.85%) Analyst
5 236 (12.76%) IT Support Engineer
6 212 (11.47%) Support Analyst
7 203 (10.98%) 2nd Line Support
8 190 (10.28%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 160 (8.65%) IT Analyst
10 138 (7.46%) Support Technician
11 134 (7.25%) Technical Support
12 132 (7.14%) Systems Engineer
13 127 (6.87%) IT Support Analyst
14 119 (6.44%) 3rd Line Support
15 118 (6.38%) Senior
16 111 (6.00%) IT Technician
17 97 (5.25%) 1st Line Support
18 85 (4.60%) IT Support Technician
19 79 (4.27%) Infrastructure Support
20 74 (4.00%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (1.62%) LDAP
2 25 (1.35%) .NET
3 20 (1.08%) SOAP
4 18 (0.97%) RESTful
5 15 (0.81%) ARM Templates
5 15 (0.81%) JSON
5 15 (0.81%) XML
6 12 (0.65%) React
6 12 (0.65%) SAML
7 11 (0.59%) EDI
7 11 (0.59%) OAuth
7 11 (0.59%) OpenID
8 10 (0.54%) CSS
8 10 (0.54%) HTML
9 9 (0.49%) .NET Framework
9 9 (0.49%) Web Services
10 6 (0.32%) 802.1X
10 6 (0.32%) OAuth2
11 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (0.27%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 262 (14.17%) Driving Licence
2 183 (9.90%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.19%) Legacy Systems
4 81 (4.38%) Self-Motivation
5 51 (2.76%) Data Centre
6 48 (2.60%) Enterprise Software
7 40 (2.16%) Management Information System
8 38 (2.06%) Cloud Native
9 37 (2.00%) Operational Technology
10 35 (1.89%) PKI
11 28 (1.51%) Hybrid Cloud
11 28 (1.51%) Replication
12 21 (1.14%) Clustering
13 16 (0.87%) Analytical Mindset
13 16 (0.87%) Client/Server
13 16 (0.87%) Product Ownership
14 15 (0.81%) FMCG
14 15 (0.81%) iPad
14 15 (0.81%) Security Posture
14 15 (0.81%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,373 (74.26%) Windows
2 824 (44.56%) Windows Server
3 288 (15.58%) Windows 10
4 249 (13.47%) Linux
5 155 (8.38%) Windows Server 2016
6 125 (6.76%) Windows Server 2019
7 120 (6.49%) Mac OS
8 61 (3.30%) Apple iOS
9 45 (2.43%) Android
10 39 (2.11%) Unix
10 39 (2.11%) VMS
11 35 (1.89%) Windows Server 2008
12 31 (1.68%) Windows 7
13 27 (1.46%) Windows Server 2003
14 26 (1.41%) Solaris
15 25 (1.35%) HPUX
16 24 (1.30%) Windows Server 2012
17 22 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
18 13 (0.70%) Amazon Linux
19 8 (0.43%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 635 (34.34%) Problem-Solving
2 563 (30.45%) Customer Service
3 349 (18.88%) ITIL
4 266 (14.39%) Cybersecurity
5 246 (13.30%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 188 (10.17%) Continuous Improvement
7 186 (10.06%) Mentoring
8 163 (8.82%) Migration
9 161 (8.71%) ITSM
10 122 (6.60%) Incident Management
11 110 (5.95%) Kalman Filter
12 109 (5.90%) Service Delivery
13 103 (5.57%) Disaster Recovery
13 103 (5.57%) Web Filtering
14 98 (5.30%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 97 (5.25%) Customer Experience
15 97 (5.25%) DevOps
16 94 (5.08%) Email Filtering
17 91 (4.92%) Coaching
17 91 (4.92%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 310 (16.77%) PowerShell
2 140 (7.57%) SQL
3 71 (3.84%) Python
4 35 (1.89%) Perl
5 34 (1.84%) Bash
6 30 (1.62%) Java
7 27 (1.46%) Groovy
8 18 (0.97%) PL/SQL
8 18 (0.97%) VB
9 17 (0.92%) Shell Script
10 15 (0.81%) JavaScript
11 13 (0.70%) C#
12 11 (0.59%) Bicep
13 8 (0.43%) Korn
14 7 (0.38%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.27%) VBA
16 2 (0.11%) Go
16 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.054%) VB.NET
17 1 (0.054%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 246 (13.30%) Security Cleared
2 210 (11.36%) SC Cleared
3 181 (9.79%) Microsoft Certification
4 178 (9.63%) Degree
5 65 (3.52%) DV Cleared
6 53 (2.87%) A+ Certification
7 51 (2.76%) Azure Certification
8 47 (2.54%) Cisco Certification
9 43 (2.33%) DBS Check
10 41 (2.22%) CCNA
11 36 (1.95%) Network+ Certification
12 32 (1.73%) MCP
13 31 (1.68%) MCSE
14 24 (1.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 21 (1.14%) MCSA
16 19 (1.03%) AWS Certification
17 18 (0.97%) ITIL Certification
18 16 (0.87%) HND
19 15 (0.81%) BPSS Clearance
19 15 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 125 (6.76%) Cyber Essentials
2 122 (6.60%) SLA
3 96 (5.19%) PCI DSS
4 66 (3.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 62 (3.35%) GDPR
6 18 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 14 (0.76%) NIST
8 7 (0.38%) GxP
8 7 (0.38%) QA
9 6 (0.32%) NCSC
10 5 (0.27%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.22%) Accessibility
11 4 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.054%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.054%) IASME
13 1 (0.054%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 388 (20.98%) Hyper-V
2 277 (14.98%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (4.98%) Terminal Server
4 52 (2.81%) vSphere
5 50 (2.70%) Virtual Desktop
6 45 (2.43%) Virtual Servers
7 39 (2.11%) Docker
8 32 (1.73%) Virtual Machines
9 31 (1.68%) VMware ESXi
10 17 (0.92%) Firmware
11 14 (0.76%) DFS Replication
12 8 (0.43%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 8 (0.43%) Terminal Services
12 8 (0.43%) XenApp
13 4 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
15 2 (0.11%) BitLocker
15 2 (0.11%) VMware NSX
16 1 (0.054%) KVM
16 1 (0.054%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 425 (22.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 152 (8.22%) SCCM
3 72 (3.89%) Terraform
4 37 (2.00%) WSUS
5 35 (1.89%) Kubernetes
6 33 (1.78%) Ansible
7 30 (1.62%) Single Sign-On
8 28 (1.51%) vCenter Server
9 27 (1.46%) Prometheus
10 26 (1.41%) Autotask
11 23 (1.24%) Grafana
12 22 (1.19%) SCOM
13 20 (1.08%) FortiGate
14 17 (0.92%) Jamf Pro
15 13 (0.70%) Nagios
15 13 (0.70%) ZABBIX
16 10 (0.54%) Failover Clustering
17 8 (0.43%) PaperCut
18 7 (0.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
19 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,398 (75.61%) Microsoft
2 484 (26.18%) VMware
3 178 (9.63%) Veeam
4 165 (8.92%) Cisco
5 121 (6.54%) SolarWinds
6 98 (5.30%) Splunk
7 97 (5.25%) Tanium
8 94 (5.08%) Nimble Storage
9 88 (4.76%) Brocade
10 85 (4.60%) Apple
11 82 (4.43%) ServiceNow
12 63 (3.41%) Citrix
13 54 (2.92%) Google
14 51 (2.76%) Oracle
15 49 (2.65%) Meraki
16 47 (2.54%) HP
17 41 (2.22%) Dell
18 38 (2.06%) SonicWALL
19 37 (2.00%) Sophos
20 33 (1.78%) Red Hat