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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 36 29
Rank change year-on-year -18 -7 +12
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,822 1,666 3,886
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.53% 5.63% 7.19%
As % of the System Software category 61.95% 43.78% 49.53%
Number of salaries quoted 1,309 1,122 3,422
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £24,000
25th Percentile £28,250 £28,500 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £37,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.33% +7.14% -3.72%
75th Percentile £47,250 £52,250 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,250 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +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 2,941 3,805 7,846
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.70% 12.85% 14.51%
Number of salaries quoted 2,102 2,407 6,548
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,000 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £34,125 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £85,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -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 6 March 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 6 March 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 +8 522 £36,000 -15.29% 213
North of England -19 383 £33,500 -6.94% 122
Midlands -22 279 £32,000 -8.57% 73
South West 0 276 £32,500 -5.80% 63
Yorkshire -15 176 £32,500 +3.17% 39
East of England -23 175 £35,340 +8.74% 52
North West -24 166 £37,500 -6.25% 72
East Midlands -4 155 £29,750 -2.46% 35
West Midlands -50 123 £33,500 -16.25% 36
Scotland +14 116 £27,750 -25.00% 29
Wales +7 43 £35,000 -28.72% 10
North East -5 41 £31,500 -10.00% 17
Northern Ireland -21 22 £32,000 -39.05% 3
Isle of Man +10 6 £45,000 +91.49%
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
1 514 (28.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 345 (18.94%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.26%) Exchange Server 2003
4 14 (0.77%) Confluence
5 13 (0.71%) Exchange Server 2013
6 11 (0.60%) Exchange Server 2007
6 11 (0.60%) Exchange Server 2010
6 11 (0.60%) IIS
7 6 (0.33%) CMS
8 4 (0.22%) Skype for Business
9 3 (0.16%) Apache
9 3 (0.16%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 286 (15.70%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (2.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 3 (0.16%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.055%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
1 17 (0.93%) Oracle ERP
2 7 (0.38%) NetSuite
2 7 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.22%) Dynamics GP
4 4 (0.22%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.22%) Primavera
5 3 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) Shopify
7 1 (0.055%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.055%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.055%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.055%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,289 (70.75%) Microsoft 365
2 994 (54.56%) Azure
3 632 (34.69%) Entra ID
4 135 (7.41%) AWS
5 133 (7.30%) OneDrive
6 104 (5.71%) Google Workspace
7 90 (4.94%) SaaS
8 73 (4.01%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.14%) IaaS
10 37 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
11 36 (1.98%) GCP
12 35 (1.92%) Azure Monitor
13 31 (1.70%) PaaS
14 28 (1.54%) PowerApps
15 25 (1.37%) GitHub
15 25 (1.37%) Mimecast
15 25 (1.37%) Nutanix
15 25 (1.37%) OCI
16 23 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
17 21 (1.15%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 647 (35.51%) DNS
2 608 (33.37%) DHCP
3 431 (23.66%) Firewall
4 283 (15.53%) VPN
5 251 (13.78%) TCP/IP
6 195 (10.70%) VLAN
7 178 (9.77%) WAN
8 174 (9.55%) LAN
9 144 (7.90%) Wi-Fi
10 90 (4.94%) VoIP
11 73 (4.01%) Wireless
12 57 (3.13%) Remote Desktop
13 56 (3.07%) Network Security
14 47 (2.58%) Broadband
14 47 (2.58%) SAN
15 28 (1.54%) SD-WAN
16 19 (1.04%) Internet
17 18 (0.99%) Unified Communications
18 15 (0.82%) NAS
18 15 (0.82%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 98 (5.38%) Amazon RDS
2 66 (3.62%) SQL Server
3 38 (2.09%) Power BI
4 26 (1.43%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.26%) Oracle Database 10g
6 19 (1.04%) MySQL
7 18 (0.99%) PostgreSQL
8 12 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
9 9 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.44%) GIS
11 6 (0.33%) Data Warehouse
11 6 (0.33%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.22%) DTS
13 3 (0.16%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.16%) Oracle Discoverer
13 3 (0.16%) Oracle Reports
14 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
15 1 (0.055%) Cognos Connection
15 1 (0.055%) Cognos Framework Manager
15 1 (0.055%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 76 (4.17%) JIRA
2 22 (1.21%) Jenkins
3 21 (1.15%) Git
4 20 (1.10%) Oracle Forms
5 7 (0.38%) GitLab
6 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 4 (0.22%) LabVIEW
8 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
8 3 (0.16%) Subversion
9 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.055%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.055%) Metasploit
General
1 849 (46.60%) Social Skills
2 201 (11.03%) Analytical Skills
3 161 (8.84%) Organisational Skills
4 148 (8.12%) Finance
5 80 (4.39%) Manufacturing
6 68 (3.73%) Retail
7 65 (3.57%) Documentation Skills
8 58 (3.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 53 (2.91%) Law
10 46 (2.52%) Legal
11 40 (2.20%) Advertising
12 37 (2.03%) Games
13 35 (1.92%) Public Sector
14 29 (1.59%) Telecoms
15 20 (1.10%) Marketing
16 12 (0.66%) French Language
16 12 (0.66%) Swedish Language
17 10 (0.55%) Local Government
18 8 (0.44%) Aerospace
19 4 (0.22%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 719 (39.46%) IT Support
2 493 (27.06%) Support Engineer
3 401 (22.01%) IT Engineer
4 347 (19.05%) IT Support Engineer
5 243 (13.34%) Analyst
6 179 (9.82%) 2nd Line Support
7 178 (9.77%) Support Analyst
8 176 (9.66%) Support Technician
9 162 (8.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 143 (7.85%) Senior
11 137 (7.52%) IT Analyst
12 125 (6.86%) IT Technician
13 121 (6.64%) Systems Engineer
14 120 (6.59%) IT Support Analyst
15 119 (6.53%) IT Support Technician
16 103 (5.65%) 3rd Line Support
17 94 (5.16%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 92 (5.05%) 1st Line Support
19 85 (4.67%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
20 70 (3.84%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (3.13%) SOAP
2 53 (2.91%) SAML
3 49 (2.69%) OAuth
3 49 (2.69%) OpenID
4 48 (2.63%) LDAP
5 45 (2.47%) REST
6 40 (2.20%) GraphQL
7 27 (1.48%) JSON
7 27 (1.48%) XML
8 22 (1.21%) RESTful
9 18 (0.99%) .NET
10 13 (0.71%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.66%) CSS
11 12 (0.66%) HTML
11 12 (0.66%) React
12 9 (0.49%) .NET Framework
12 9 (0.49%) OAuth2
13 6 (0.33%) Web Services
14 5 (0.27%) FreeSWITCH
15 4 (0.22%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 285 (15.64%) Driving Licence
2 130 (7.14%) Onboarding
3 86 (4.72%) Legacy Systems
4 85 (4.67%) Self-Motivation
5 66 (3.62%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (2.36%) Cyberattack
7 42 (2.31%) Cyber Threat
8 41 (2.25%) Hybrid Cloud
9 34 (1.87%) Cloud Native
10 33 (1.81%) Management Information System
11 31 (1.70%) Data Centre
11 31 (1.70%) Replication
12 22 (1.21%) CMDB
12 22 (1.21%) Public Cloud
13 17 (0.93%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.88%) iPad
14 16 (0.88%) Video Conferencing
15 15 (0.82%) PKI
16 14 (0.77%) Clustering
16 14 (0.77%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 1,291 (70.86%) Windows
2 771 (42.32%) Windows Server
3 297 (16.30%) Windows 10
4 206 (11.31%) Linux
5 139 (7.63%) Windows Server 2016
6 97 (5.32%) Mac OS
7 75 (4.12%) Android
8 74 (4.06%) Apple iOS
9 59 (3.24%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.31%) Windows 7
11 34 (1.87%) Windows Server 2008
11 34 (1.87%) Windows Server 2012
12 28 (1.54%) Unix
13 23 (1.26%) HPUX
13 23 (1.26%) Solaris
13 23 (1.26%) Windows Server 2003
14 14 (0.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
15 12 (0.66%) Windows 8
16 9 (0.49%) VMS
17 8 (0.44%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 653 (35.84%) Problem-Solving
2 551 (30.24%) Customer Service
3 423 (23.22%) ITIL
4 262 (14.38%) Cybersecurity
5 226 (12.40%) Mentoring
6 210 (11.53%) Continuous Improvement
6 210 (11.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 184 (10.10%) ITSM
8 160 (8.78%) Service Delivery
9 146 (8.01%) Migration
10 142 (7.79%) Disaster Recovery
11 131 (7.19%) Coaching
12 125 (6.86%) Incident Management
13 119 (6.53%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 102 (5.60%) Kalman Filter
15 100 (5.49%) Web Filtering
16 99 (5.43%) Agile
16 99 (5.43%) Asset Management
17 98 (5.38%) Customer Experience
17 98 (5.38%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 311 (17.07%) PowerShell
2 133 (7.30%) SQL
3 84 (4.61%) Bash
4 59 (3.24%) Python
5 50 (2.74%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.21%) Perl
7 21 (1.15%) Shell Script
8 20 (1.10%) JavaScript
8 20 (1.10%) PL/SQL
9 19 (1.04%) Java
10 16 (0.88%) C#
11 8 (0.44%) R
11 8 (0.44%) VB
12 6 (0.33%) Bicep
13 5 (0.27%) VBA
14 2 (0.11%) C
14 2 (0.11%) Groovy
14 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.055%) Korn
15 1 (0.055%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 232 (12.73%) Security Cleared
2 181 (9.93%) SC Cleared
3 177 (9.71%) Degree
4 166 (9.11%) Microsoft Certification
5 73 (4.01%) DV Cleared
6 50 (2.74%) DBS Check
7 45 (2.47%) Azure Certification
8 40 (2.20%) Cisco Certification
9 37 (2.03%) A+ Certification
10 34 (1.87%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 33 (1.81%) CCNA
12 29 (1.59%) MCSE
13 22 (1.21%) Network+ Certification
14 21 (1.15%) ITIL Certification
15 19 (1.04%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 18 (0.99%) HNC
17 17 (0.93%) HND
18 15 (0.82%) MCSA
19 12 (0.66%) CCNP
20 11 (0.60%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 150 (8.23%) Cyber Essentials
2 149 (8.18%) SLA
3 88 (4.83%) PCI DSS
4 86 (4.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 53 (2.91%) NIST
6 45 (2.47%) GDPR
7 40 (2.20%) NCSC
8 24 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 15 (0.82%) QA
10 9 (0.49%) Accessibility
11 8 (0.44%) Data Quality
12 5 (0.27%) PMO
13 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.22%) GxP
13 4 (0.22%) ISO 22301
13 4 (0.22%) ITGC
13 4 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
15 1 (0.055%) GRC
15 1 (0.055%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 365 (20.03%) Hyper-V
2 251 (13.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 82 (4.50%) Terminal Server
4 45 (2.47%) vSphere
5 44 (2.41%) Virtual Desktop
6 40 (2.20%) VMware ESXi
7 23 (1.26%) Virtual Machines
8 15 (0.82%) BitLocker
8 15 (0.82%) Docker
9 11 (0.60%) Firmware
9 11 (0.60%) VMware Workstation
10 9 (0.49%) VMware NSX
11 8 (0.44%) XenApp
12 6 (0.33%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
14 4 (0.22%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.16%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 3 (0.16%) Lustre
15 3 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 2 (0.11%) Microsoft Virtual Server
Systems Management
1 376 (20.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 142 (7.79%) SCCM
3 47 (2.58%) Terraform
4 45 (2.47%) Single Sign-On
4 45 (2.47%) vCenter Server
5 32 (1.76%) Jamf Pro
6 20 (1.10%) Autotask
7 18 (0.99%) Ansible
8 17 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 17 (0.93%) FortiGate
9 16 (0.88%) WSUS
10 14 (0.77%) Kubernetes
11 12 (0.66%) ZABBIX
12 11 (0.60%) SCOM
13 9 (0.49%) Backup Exec
14 8 (0.44%) Failover Clustering
14 8 (0.44%) Nagios
15 7 (0.38%) Proxmox
15 7 (0.38%) SCVMM
16 6 (0.33%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 1,327 (72.83%) Microsoft
2 474 (26.02%) VMware
3 169 (9.28%) Veeam
4 124 (6.81%) SolarWinds
5 102 (5.60%) Nimble Storage
6 97 (5.32%) Cisco
7 95 (5.21%) Splunk
8 91 (4.99%) Apple
9 89 (4.88%) Citrix
10 85 (4.67%) Google
11 84 (4.61%) Tanium
12 80 (4.39%) Brocade
13 74 (4.06%) ServiceNow
14 62 (3.40%) HP
15 48 (2.63%) Oracle
16 47 (2.58%) Dell
17 34 (1.87%) Meraki
18 24 (1.32%) SonicWALL
19 22 (1.21%) Dell Compellent
19 22 (1.21%) Red Hat