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

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 36 27
Rank change year-on-year -16 -9 +13
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,772 1,802 3,684
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.80% 5.46% 7.42%
As % of the System Software category 62.57% 43.41% 49.15%
Number of salaries quoted 1,224 1,097 3,274
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £24,250
25th Percentile £28,000 £29,750 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,750 £37,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +7.14% -4.11%
75th Percentile £47,500 £52,500 £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% -1.23%

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 2,832 4,151 7,495
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.07% 12.57% 15.09%
Number of salaries quoted 1,974 2,387 6,319
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,406 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £51,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -17.48% +14.44% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,750 £70,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £83,750 £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 10 February 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 10 February 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 +14 478 £36,000 -15.29% 243
North of England -24 370 £33,500 -10.67% 116
South West +2 294 £32,500 -2.99% 78
Midlands -19 268 £31,500 -14.86% 87
East of England -17 182 £34,420 +4.30% 71
North West -9 170 £37,500 -6.25% 53
East Midlands +7 160 £28,500 -9.52% 41
Yorkshire -16 160 £32,500 - 53
Scotland +5 120 £28,000 -27.49% 23
West Midlands -52 107 £32,500 -18.75% 46
Wales +8 40 £35,000 -27.08% 10
North East -12 40 £31,500 -12.50% 14
Northern Ireland -14 20 £32,000 -39.05% 3
Isle of Man +9 2 £45,000 +91.49% 1
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
1 510 (28.78%) Microsoft Exchange
2 320 (18.06%) SharePoint
3 24 (1.35%) Exchange Server 2003
4 13 (0.73%) Confluence
5 12 (0.68%) IIS
6 10 (0.56%) Exchange Server 2013
7 8 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2007
7 8 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2010
8 7 (0.40%) Skype for Business
9 3 (0.17%) CMS
9 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 265 (14.95%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.056%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.056%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 20 (1.13%) Oracle ERP
2 17 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.34%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.17%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) Shopify
7 1 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.056%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.056%) Dynamics GP
7 1 (0.056%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 1,242 (70.09%) Microsoft 365
2 976 (55.08%) Azure
3 591 (33.35%) Entra ID
4 126 (7.11%) OneDrive
5 124 (7.00%) AWS
6 95 (5.36%) Google Workspace
7 86 (4.85%) SaaS
8 64 (3.61%) Power Platform
9 38 (2.14%) Azure DevOps
10 33 (1.86%) Azure Monitor
10 33 (1.86%) GCP
10 33 (1.86%) IaaS
11 29 (1.64%) GitHub
11 29 (1.64%) PowerApps
12 28 (1.58%) OCI
12 28 (1.58%) PaaS
13 25 (1.41%) Azure Logic Apps
14 22 (1.24%) Power Automate
15 21 (1.19%) Mimecast
15 21 (1.19%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 657 (37.08%) DNS
2 624 (35.21%) DHCP
3 412 (23.25%) Firewall
4 261 (14.73%) VPN
5 242 (13.66%) TCP/IP
6 179 (10.10%) VLAN
7 164 (9.26%) WAN
8 163 (9.20%) LAN
9 128 (7.22%) Wi-Fi
10 81 (4.57%) VoIP
11 80 (4.51%) Wireless
12 51 (2.88%) Network Security
13 49 (2.77%) Remote Desktop
13 49 (2.77%) SAN
14 46 (2.60%) Broadband
15 25 (1.41%) SD-WAN
16 22 (1.24%) Internet
17 17 (0.96%) Unified Communications
18 16 (0.90%) Ethernet
19 15 (0.85%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 129 (7.28%) Amazon RDS
2 57 (3.22%) SQL Server
3 31 (1.75%) Power BI
4 27 (1.52%) Oracle Database
5 24 (1.35%) Oracle Database 10g
6 15 (0.85%) MySQL
7 11 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
8 10 (0.56%) PostgreSQL
9 8 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.34%) GIS
10 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.23%) DTS
12 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
13 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
14 1 (0.056%) Cognos Connection
14 1 (0.056%) Cognos Event Studio
14 1 (0.056%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 68 (3.84%) JIRA
2 26 (1.47%) Jenkins
3 23 (1.30%) Oracle Forms
4 22 (1.24%) Git
5 6 (0.34%) GitLab
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.056%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.056%) Metasploit
General
1 877 (49.49%) Social Skills
2 230 (12.98%) Analytical Skills
3 147 (8.30%) Finance
4 143 (8.07%) Organisational Skills
5 84 (4.74%) Manufacturing
6 64 (3.61%) Retail
7 60 (3.39%) Documentation Skills
8 59 (3.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 57 (3.22%) Law
10 39 (2.20%) Advertising
11 38 (2.14%) Legal
12 34 (1.92%) Games
13 33 (1.86%) Public Sector
14 22 (1.24%) Telecoms
15 21 (1.19%) Marketing
16 15 (0.85%) French Language
16 15 (0.85%) Swedish Language
17 10 (0.56%) Aerospace
18 6 (0.34%) Local Government
19 5 (0.28%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 669 (37.75%) IT Support
2 446 (25.17%) Support Engineer
3 370 (20.88%) IT Engineer
4 315 (17.78%) IT Support Engineer
5 226 (12.75%) Analyst
6 186 (10.50%) 2nd Line Support
7 163 (9.20%) Support Analyst
8 155 (8.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 154 (8.69%) Support Technician
10 149 (8.41%) Systems Engineer
11 134 (7.56%) Senior
12 133 (7.51%) IT Analyst
13 115 (6.49%) IT Support Analyst
14 105 (5.93%) IT Technician
15 103 (5.81%) IT Support Technician
16 99 (5.59%) 3rd Line Support
17 93 (5.25%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 91 (5.14%) 1st Line Support
19 83 (4.68%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
20 74 (4.18%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (3.33%) SOAP
2 51 (2.88%) SAML
3 49 (2.77%) OAuth
3 49 (2.77%) OpenID
4 48 (2.71%) LDAP
5 41 (2.31%) REST
6 39 (2.20%) GraphQL
7 27 (1.52%) JSON
7 27 (1.52%) XML
8 25 (1.41%) RESTful
9 19 (1.07%) .NET
10 14 (0.79%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.68%) CSS
11 12 (0.68%) HTML
11 12 (0.68%) React
12 10 (0.56%) OAuth2
13 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
14 5 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
14 5 (0.28%) Web Services
15 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 267 (15.07%) Driving Licence
2 134 (7.56%) Onboarding
3 118 (6.66%) Legacy Systems
4 81 (4.57%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (3.67%) Enterprise Software
6 42 (2.37%) Cyberattack
7 41 (2.31%) Cyber Threat
8 37 (2.09%) Hybrid Cloud
9 35 (1.98%) Cloud Native
10 34 (1.92%) Data Centre
10 34 (1.92%) Management Information System
11 28 (1.58%) Replication
12 19 (1.07%) Public Cloud
13 17 (0.96%) iPad
13 17 (0.96%) Video Conferencing
14 16 (0.90%) Client/Server
15 14 (0.79%) CMDB
15 14 (0.79%) Security Posture
16 13 (0.73%) Linux Command Line
16 13 (0.73%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 1,244 (70.20%) Windows
2 777 (43.85%) Windows Server
3 265 (14.95%) Windows 10
4 226 (12.75%) Linux
5 167 (9.42%) Windows Server 2016
6 87 (4.91%) Mac OS
7 72 (4.06%) Apple iOS
8 67 (3.78%) Android
9 63 (3.56%) Windows Server 2019
10 37 (2.09%) Windows 7
11 34 (1.92%) Windows Server 2012
12 33 (1.86%) Windows Server 2008
13 29 (1.64%) Unix
14 24 (1.35%) HPUX
14 24 (1.35%) Solaris
14 24 (1.35%) Windows Server 2003
15 12 (0.68%) VMS
16 9 (0.51%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
17 6 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 673 (37.98%) Problem-Solving
2 559 (31.55%) Customer Service
3 381 (21.50%) ITIL
4 240 (13.54%) Cybersecurity
4 240 (13.54%) Mentoring
5 204 (11.51%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 196 (11.06%) Continuous Improvement
7 184 (10.38%) Migration
8 170 (9.59%) ITSM
9 145 (8.18%) Service Delivery
10 143 (8.07%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 135 (7.62%) Coaching
12 128 (7.22%) Kalman Filter
13 126 (7.11%) Web Filtering
14 125 (7.05%) Customer Experience
15 124 (7.00%) Disaster Recovery
16 120 (6.77%) Incident Management
17 115 (6.49%) Email Filtering
18 114 (6.43%) Vulnerability Scanning
19 109 (6.15%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 298 (16.82%) PowerShell
2 138 (7.79%) SQL
3 75 (4.23%) Bash
4 56 (3.16%) Python
5 48 (2.71%) T-SQL
6 23 (1.30%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.24%) Java
7 22 (1.24%) Perl
7 22 (1.24%) Shell Script
8 18 (1.02%) JavaScript
9 15 (0.85%) C#
10 9 (0.51%) VB
11 6 (0.34%) Bicep
12 5 (0.28%) R
12 5 (0.28%) VBA
13 2 (0.11%) Groovy
13 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.056%) PHP
14 1 (0.056%) VB.NET
14 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 253 (14.28%) Security Cleared
2 209 (11.79%) SC Cleared
3 162 (9.14%) Microsoft Certification
4 158 (8.92%) Degree
5 64 (3.61%) DV Cleared
6 53 (2.99%) DBS Check
7 45 (2.54%) Azure Certification
8 41 (2.31%) A+ Certification
9 38 (2.14%) Cisco Certification
10 33 (1.86%) MCSE
11 31 (1.75%) CCNA
11 31 (1.75%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 26 (1.47%) Network+ Certification
13 20 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
14 18 (1.02%) HND
15 16 (0.90%) HNC
15 16 (0.90%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 14 (0.79%) MCSA
17 11 (0.62%) CCNP
17 11 (0.62%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (9.42%) Cyber Essentials
2 132 (7.45%) SLA
3 120 (6.77%) PCI DSS
4 86 (4.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 52 (2.93%) NIST
6 51 (2.88%) GDPR
7 39 (2.20%) NCSC
8 15 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (0.62%) QA
10 8 (0.45%) Accessibility
11 7 (0.40%) Data Quality
12 5 (0.28%) GxP
12 5 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.11%) ITGC
14 2 (0.11%) PMO
15 1 (0.056%) GRC
15 1 (0.056%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 376 (21.22%) Hyper-V
2 240 (13.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 114 (6.43%) Terminal Server
4 49 (2.77%) Virtual Desktop
5 43 (2.43%) vSphere
6 39 (2.20%) VMware ESXi
7 23 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
8 14 (0.79%) Docker
8 14 (0.79%) Firmware
9 11 (0.62%) BitLocker
10 8 (0.45%) Virtual Servers
10 8 (0.45%) VMware NSX
10 8 (0.45%) VMware Workstation
11 5 (0.28%) XenApp
12 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 3 (0.17%) Lustre
13 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 2 (0.11%) DFS Replication
14 2 (0.11%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.056%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 365 (20.60%) Microsoft Intune
2 128 (7.22%) SCCM
3 53 (2.99%) Terraform
4 48 (2.71%) Single Sign-On
5 41 (2.31%) vCenter Server
6 26 (1.47%) Jamf Pro
7 21 (1.19%) WSUS
8 20 (1.13%) Autotask
9 19 (1.07%) Ansible
10 18 (1.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 16 (0.90%) FortiGate
12 15 (0.85%) Kubernetes
13 14 (0.79%) SCOM
14 9 (0.51%) Failover Clustering
14 9 (0.51%) ZABBIX
15 8 (0.45%) Backup Exec
15 8 (0.45%) Nagios
16 7 (0.40%) SCVMM
17 6 (0.34%) McAfee ePO
17 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,312 (74.04%) Microsoft
2 484 (27.31%) VMware
3 197 (11.12%) Veeam
4 152 (8.58%) SolarWinds
5 131 (7.39%) Nimble Storage
6 127 (7.17%) Splunk
7 116 (6.55%) Tanium
8 112 (6.32%) Brocade
9 101 (5.70%) Cisco
10 83 (4.68%) Apple
11 73 (4.12%) Citrix
12 72 (4.06%) Google
13 71 (4.01%) ServiceNow
14 55 (3.10%) HP
15 50 (2.82%) Oracle
16 43 (2.43%) Dell
17 38 (2.14%) Meraki
18 23 (1.30%) SonicWALL
19 22 (1.24%) Fortinet
19 22 (1.24%) Okta