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

6 months to
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 44 30
Rank change year-on-year -12 -14 +9
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,852 1,600 4,506
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.78% 5.40% 5.78%
As % of the System Software category 53.71% 39.56% 51.01%
Number of salaries quoted 1,445 1,243 3,638
10th Percentile £26,425 £25,750 £23,675
25th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,500 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% - -5.07%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £48,500
90th Percentile £64,200 £58,750 £58,750
UK median annual salary £40,000 £38,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year +3.90% +2.67% -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 3,448 4,045 8,834
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.17% 13.66% 11.34%
Number of salaries quoted 2,628 2,340 6,946
10th Percentile £27,750 £26,500 £25,688
25th Percentile £32,000 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £46,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year - +2.22% -5.26%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £82,751 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -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 13 June 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 13 June 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 -1 452 £35,000 +12.90% 99
South East -1 443 £40,000 - 175
Midlands -31 311 £33,500 -1.47% 73
South West -6 256 £35,000 +7.69% 64
North West +63 220 £37,500 - 56
East of England +6 211 £35,000 +7.69% 61
Yorkshire -33 185 £32,500 +8.33% 31
East Midlands +2 164 £32,500 +3.17% 32
West Midlands -48 146 £37,000 +5.71% 41
Scotland +84 102 £29,000 -38.95% 12
Wales -7 57 £45,000 +18.13% 6
North East -42 47 £42,500 +32.81% 15
Northern Ireland -20 14 £32,000 -37.56% 7
Isle of Man +4 6 £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
1 498 (26.89%) Microsoft Exchange
2 386 (20.84%) SharePoint
3 32 (1.73%) IIS
4 16 (0.86%) Confluence
5 11 (0.59%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2010
7 6 (0.32%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.22%) Apache
8 4 (0.22%) CMS
9 3 (0.16%) SAS
10 1 (0.054%) Drupal
10 1 (0.054%) nginx
10 1 (0.054%) Site Server
10 1 (0.054%) WordPress
Applications
1 207 (11.18%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.16%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.054%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.054%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.70%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.32%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.22%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.22%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.22%) Primavera
6 3 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.054%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.054%) Magento
8 1 (0.054%) Markit EDM
8 1 (0.054%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.054%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.054%) SAP EHS
8 1 (0.054%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,299 (70.14%) Microsoft 365
2 1,014 (54.75%) Azure
3 696 (37.58%) Entra ID
4 140 (7.56%) OneDrive
5 136 (7.34%) AWS
6 89 (4.81%) SaaS
7 84 (4.54%) Power Platform
8 81 (4.37%) Google Workspace
9 53 (2.86%) IaaS
10 45 (2.43%) PaaS
11 42 (2.27%) Mimecast
12 32 (1.73%) Azure DevOps
12 32 (1.73%) Nutanix
13 26 (1.40%) Azure Sentinel
14 25 (1.35%) Azure Monitor
14 25 (1.35%) PowerApps
15 24 (1.30%) Microsoft Purview
16 21 (1.13%) Dynamics 365
17 18 (0.97%) Serverless
18 16 (0.86%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 626 (33.80%) DNS
2 526 (28.40%) DHCP
3 479 (25.86%) Firewall
4 296 (15.98%) VPN
5 189 (10.21%) WAN
6 187 (10.10%) TCP/IP
7 184 (9.94%) LAN
8 174 (9.40%) Wi-Fi
9 162 (8.75%) VLAN
10 107 (5.78%) VoIP
11 86 (4.64%) Wireless
12 75 (4.05%) Network Security
12 75 (4.05%) SAN
13 54 (2.92%) Remote Desktop
14 41 (2.21%) Broadband
15 29 (1.57%) NAS
16 22 (1.19%) Internet
17 20 (1.08%) SD-WAN
18 17 (0.92%) SSL
19 13 (0.70%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 103 (5.56%) SQL Server
2 94 (5.08%) Amazon RDS
3 44 (2.38%) Power BI
4 30 (1.62%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.40%) MySQL
6 18 (0.97%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 8 (0.43%) GIS
9 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.22%) Crystal Reports
10 4 (0.22%) Neo4j
11 2 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.11%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.11%) Relational Database
12 1 (0.054%) Data Lake
12 1 (0.054%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.054%) KNIME
12 1 (0.054%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.054%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.054%) Redis
Development Applications
1 73 (3.94%) JIRA
2 14 (0.76%) Git
3 11 (0.59%) GitLab
4 5 (0.27%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.22%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.16%) LabVIEW
7 2 (0.11%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.11%) Metasploit
7 2 (0.11%) Subversion
7 2 (0.11%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.054%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.054%) Gatling
8 1 (0.054%) JMeter
8 1 (0.054%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.054%) Ranorex
8 1 (0.054%) Selenium
8 1 (0.054%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.054%) Vagrant
General
1 791 (42.71%) Social Skills
2 201 (10.85%) Analytical Skills
3 140 (7.56%) Organisational Skills
4 113 (6.10%) Finance
5 67 (3.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 62 (3.35%) Legal
6 62 (3.35%) Manufacturing
7 56 (3.02%) Documentation Skills
7 56 (3.02%) Law
8 55 (2.97%) Public Sector
9 43 (2.32%) Retail
10 34 (1.84%) Games
10 34 (1.84%) Telecoms
11 26 (1.40%) Advertising
12 20 (1.08%) Local Government
13 11 (0.59%) Aerospace
14 9 (0.49%) Automotive
14 9 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
14 9 (0.49%) Marketing
15 4 (0.22%) Portuguese Language
Job Titles
1 706 (38.12%) IT Support
2 486 (26.24%) Support Engineer
3 443 (23.92%) IT Engineer
4 367 (19.82%) IT Support Engineer
5 299 (16.14%) Analyst
6 203 (10.96%) Support Analyst
7 181 (9.77%) Senior
8 179 (9.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 178 (9.61%) Support Technician
10 165 (8.91%) IT Technician
11 151 (8.15%) 2nd Line Support
12 149 (8.05%) IT Support Technician
13 140 (7.56%) Systems Engineer
14 137 (7.40%) IT Analyst
15 121 (6.53%) IT Support Analyst
16 90 (4.86%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 75 (4.05%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 74 (4.00%) Architect
19 71 (3.83%) 1st Line Support
20 69 (3.73%) 3rd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (3.02%) LDAP
2 45 (2.43%) SAML
3 40 (2.16%) OpenID
4 39 (2.11%) OAuth
5 38 (2.05%) REST
6 34 (1.84%) SOAP
7 33 (1.78%) GraphQL
8 22 (1.19%) Regular Expression
9 18 (0.97%) XMPP
10 15 (0.81%) JSON
10 15 (0.81%) XML
11 10 (0.54%) .NET
12 9 (0.49%) ARM Templates
13 8 (0.43%) Microsoft Graph
14 7 (0.38%) Web Services
15 6 (0.32%) JSON Schema
15 6 (0.32%) Middleware
16 5 (0.27%) FreeSWITCH
17 4 (0.22%) boto
17 4 (0.22%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 258 (13.93%) Driving Licence
2 125 (6.75%) Onboarding
3 92 (4.97%) Self-Motivation
4 83 (4.48%) Legacy Systems
5 77 (4.16%) Hybrid Cloud
6 61 (3.29%) Data Centre
7 58 (3.13%) Management Information System
8 37 (2.00%) Cyber Threat
8 37 (2.00%) Public Cloud
9 36 (1.94%) Cyberattack
9 36 (1.94%) Replication
10 34 (1.84%) Clustering
11 33 (1.78%) PKI
12 26 (1.40%) Cloud Native
12 26 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
13 20 (1.08%) CCTV
14 18 (0.97%) Security Posture
15 16 (0.86%) Client/Server
16 15 (0.81%) Data Structures
17 13 (0.70%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 1,333 (71.98%) Windows
2 800 (43.20%) Windows Server
3 290 (15.66%) Windows 10
4 253 (13.66%) Linux
5 153 (8.26%) Windows Server 2016
6 114 (6.16%) Mac OS
7 89 (4.81%) Windows Server 2019
8 72 (3.89%) Apple iOS
9 63 (3.40%) Android
10 38 (2.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 34 (1.84%) Windows Server 2012
12 17 (0.92%) VMS
13 13 (0.70%) Windows 7
14 12 (0.65%) Windows Server 2008
15 8 (0.43%) Ubuntu
16 7 (0.38%) Windows 8
17 5 (0.27%) CentOS
17 5 (0.27%) Debian
18 4 (0.22%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.22%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 622 (33.59%) Problem-Solving
2 463 (25.00%) Customer Service
3 421 (22.73%) ITIL
4 304 (16.41%) Cybersecurity
5 280 (15.12%) Continuous Improvement
6 244 (13.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 196 (10.58%) Mentoring
8 188 (10.15%) Disaster Recovery
9 170 (9.18%) ITSM
10 165 (8.91%) Service Delivery
11 136 (7.34%) Migration
12 120 (6.48%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 110 (5.94%) Change Management
13 110 (5.94%) Kalman Filter
14 109 (5.89%) Customer Experience
15 107 (5.78%) Project Delivery
16 103 (5.56%) Web Filtering
17 98 (5.29%) Service Management
18 95 (5.13%) Incident Management
19 93 (5.02%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 312 (16.85%) PowerShell
2 173 (9.34%) SQL
3 85 (4.59%) Bash
4 58 (3.13%) Python
5 44 (2.38%) T-SQL
6 20 (1.08%) Bicep
7 18 (0.97%) R
8 9 (0.49%) C#
9 8 (0.43%) VBA
10 7 (0.38%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.38%) VB
11 6 (0.32%) Java
11 6 (0.32%) Korn
12 5 (0.27%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.22%) Kusto Query Language
13 4 (0.22%) PHP
14 2 (0.11%) C
14 2 (0.11%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.11%) VB.NET
15 1 (0.054%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 264 (14.25%) Security Cleared
2 187 (10.10%) Degree
3 173 (9.34%) SC Cleared
4 163 (8.80%) Microsoft Certification
5 80 (4.32%) DV Cleared
6 70 (3.78%) Azure Certification
7 58 (3.13%) DBS Check
8 47 (2.54%) A+ Certification
9 41 (2.21%) Cisco Certification
10 39 (2.11%) CCNA
11 38 (2.05%) Network+ Certification
12 32 (1.73%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 20 (1.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 19 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
15 17 (0.92%) ITIL Certification
15 17 (0.92%) MCSA
16 16 (0.86%) CompTIA Security+
16 16 (0.86%) HNC
17 14 (0.76%) MCSE
18 9 (0.49%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 177 (9.56%) Cyber Essentials
2 173 (9.34%) SLA
3 122 (6.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 89 (4.81%) PCI DSS
5 59 (3.19%) NIST
6 39 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 37 (2.00%) GDPR
7 37 (2.00%) NCSC
8 21 (1.13%) Data Quality
9 20 (1.08%) QA
10 10 (0.54%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.32%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.27%) PMO
13 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.22%) GRC
13 4 (0.22%) GxP
13 4 (0.22%) ITGC
14 3 (0.16%) ISO 22301
14 3 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 1 (0.054%) ISAE 3402
System Software
1 408 (22.03%) Hyper-V
2 315 (17.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 84 (4.54%) vSphere
4 74 (4.00%) Terminal Server
5 53 (2.86%) Virtual Desktop
6 49 (2.65%) VMware ESXi
7 36 (1.94%) Virtual Machines
8 33 (1.78%) Docker
9 17 (0.92%) VMware NSX
10 15 (0.81%) BitLocker
11 11 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
12 9 (0.49%) DFS Replication
13 8 (0.43%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 8 (0.43%) VMware Workstation
14 7 (0.38%) Firmware
14 7 (0.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 6 (0.32%) XenApp
16 4 (0.22%) Squid
17 2 (0.11%) Samba
17 2 (0.11%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 388 (20.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 106 (5.72%) SCCM
3 38 (2.05%) Terraform
4 37 (2.00%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.89%) Single Sign-On
6 31 (1.67%) Jamf Pro
7 29 (1.57%) WSUS
8 27 (1.46%) Ansible
9 25 (1.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 25 (1.35%) FortiGate
10 21 (1.13%) Proxmox
11 20 (1.08%) Kubernetes
12 13 (0.70%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 11 (0.59%) Autotask
14 9 (0.49%) Backup Exec
14 9 (0.49%) ZABBIX
15 8 (0.43%) SCOM
16 7 (0.38%) VxRail
17 5 (0.27%) Graylog
17 5 (0.27%) Tivoli Identity Manager
Vendors
1 1,392 (75.16%) Microsoft
2 508 (27.43%) VMware
3 176 (9.50%) Veeam
4 110 (5.94%) Cisco
5 101 (5.45%) SolarWinds
6 93 (5.02%) Nimble Storage
7 92 (4.97%) Splunk
8 83 (4.48%) Apple
8 83 (4.48%) Citrix
9 73 (3.94%) ServiceNow
10 72 (3.89%) Brocade
10 72 (3.89%) Tanium
11 61 (3.29%) Dell
11 61 (3.29%) HP
11 61 (3.29%) Meraki
12 60 (3.24%) Google
13 36 (1.94%) McAfee
13 36 (1.94%) Red Hat
14 31 (1.67%) CrowdStrike
15 29 (1.57%) Ubiquiti