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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 47 32
Rank change year-on-year -20 -15 +12
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,693 1,515 4,364
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.60% 5.29% 6.36%
As % of the System Software category 55.38% 37.79% 50.51%
Number of salaries quoted 1,281 1,215 3,688
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £23,750
25th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,738
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.11%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,531
90th Percentile £62,500 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £38,500 £40,000 £37,500
% change year-on-year -3.75% +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 3,057 4,009 8,640
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.70% 14.01% 12.59%
Number of salaries quoted 2,246 2,408 7,047
10th Percentile £27,625 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £63,750 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £83,750 £73,750
UK median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.55% +10.00% -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 May 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 May 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 +1 414 £34,000 +5.43% 112
South East -3 411 £40,000 - 146
Midlands -47 293 £32,875 -3.31% 76
South West -4 232 £32,500 -2.99% 77
North West +38 205 £37,500 - 63
Yorkshire -31 177 £32,500 +8.33% 37
East of England -10 174 £35,000 +7.69% 62
East Midlands -13 153 £32,500 +3.17% 36
West Midlands -54 139 £35,000 - 40
Scotland +60 101 £30,000 -40.00% 19
Wales -6 45 £45,000 +18.13% 15
North East -48 32 £35,000 +9.38% 14
Northern Ireland -27 17 £32,000 -37.56% 4
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +55.17%
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
1 436 (25.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 347 (20.50%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.36%) IIS
4 14 (0.83%) Confluence
5 11 (0.65%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.30%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.24%) Apache
8 4 (0.24%) CMS
9 1 (0.059%) Drupal
9 1 (0.059%) nginx
9 1 (0.059%) SAS
9 1 (0.059%) WordPress
Applications
1 211 (12.46%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.12%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.059%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (0.65%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.41%) Oracle ERP
4 6 (0.35%) NetSuite
5 5 (0.30%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.24%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.24%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.24%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.24%) Primavera
7 2 (0.12%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.12%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.12%) Shopify
8 1 (0.059%) Magento
8 1 (0.059%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.059%) Sage 200
8 1 (0.059%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,194 (70.53%) Microsoft 365
2 889 (52.51%) Azure
3 634 (37.45%) Entra ID
4 135 (7.97%) OneDrive
5 132 (7.80%) AWS
6 91 (5.38%) Power Platform
7 88 (5.20%) Google Workspace
8 84 (4.96%) SaaS
9 40 (2.36%) IaaS
10 38 (2.24%) Nutanix
11 36 (2.13%) PaaS
12 34 (2.01%) Mimecast
13 31 (1.83%) Azure DevOps
14 29 (1.71%) PowerApps
15 23 (1.36%) Azure Monitor
16 21 (1.24%) Microsoft Purview
17 20 (1.18%) Azure Sentinel
17 20 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
18 19 (1.12%) Power Automate
19 17 (1.00%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 551 (32.55%) DNS
2 473 (27.94%) DHCP
3 412 (24.34%) Firewall
4 268 (15.83%) VPN
5 187 (11.05%) WAN
6 185 (10.93%) LAN
7 166 (9.81%) TCP/IP
8 155 (9.16%) Wi-Fi
9 148 (8.74%) VLAN
10 96 (5.67%) VoIP
11 79 (4.67%) Wireless
12 63 (3.72%) Network Security
13 57 (3.37%) Remote Desktop
14 56 (3.31%) SAN
15 44 (2.60%) Broadband
16 27 (1.59%) NAS
17 21 (1.24%) SD-WAN
18 20 (1.18%) Internet
19 14 (0.83%) NetScaler
19 14 (0.83%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 95 (5.61%) SQL Server
2 64 (3.78%) Amazon RDS
3 48 (2.84%) Power BI
4 30 (1.77%) PostgreSQL
5 25 (1.48%) MySQL
6 12 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (0.47%) GIS
7 8 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 2 (0.12%) Crystal Reports
10 2 (0.12%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.059%) Data Lake
11 1 (0.059%) InterSystems Cache
11 1 (0.059%) Metadata
11 1 (0.059%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.059%) RDBMS
11 1 (0.059%) Redis
Development Applications
1 70 (4.13%) JIRA
2 8 (0.47%) GitLab
2 8 (0.47%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.41%) Oracle Forms
4 6 (0.35%) Git
5 5 (0.30%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.24%) LabVIEW
6 4 (0.24%) Subversion
7 1 (0.059%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.059%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.059%) Gatling
7 1 (0.059%) JMeter
7 1 (0.059%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.059%) Vagrant
General
1 722 (42.65%) Social Skills
2 170 (10.04%) Analytical Skills
3 137 (8.09%) Organisational Skills
4 120 (7.09%) Finance
5 68 (4.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 65 (3.84%) Manufacturing
7 58 (3.43%) Legal
8 50 (2.95%) Documentation Skills
9 49 (2.89%) Retail
10 48 (2.84%) Public Sector
11 46 (2.72%) Law
12 35 (2.07%) Games
13 33 (1.95%) Advertising
14 30 (1.77%) Telecoms
15 18 (1.06%) Local Government
16 12 (0.71%) Marketing
17 9 (0.53%) Automotive
17 9 (0.53%) Influencing Skills
18 6 (0.35%) Aerospace
19 4 (0.24%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 644 (38.04%) IT Support
2 459 (27.11%) Support Engineer
3 403 (23.80%) IT Engineer
4 338 (19.96%) IT Support Engineer
5 253 (14.94%) Analyst
6 173 (10.22%) Support Analyst
7 163 (9.63%) Senior
8 160 (9.45%) Support Technician
9 155 (9.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 151 (8.92%) 2nd Line Support
11 139 (8.21%) IT Technician
12 125 (7.38%) IT Support Technician
13 116 (6.85%) IT Analyst
14 104 (6.14%) Systems Engineer
15 99 (5.85%) IT Support Analyst
16 89 (5.26%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 77 (4.55%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 67 (3.96%) 1st Line Support
18 67 (3.96%) Lead
19 66 (3.90%) 3rd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.84%) LDAP
2 45 (2.66%) SAML
3 42 (2.48%) OpenID
3 42 (2.48%) SOAP
4 41 (2.42%) OAuth
5 40 (2.36%) REST
6 35 (2.07%) GraphQL
7 19 (1.12%) JSON
7 19 (1.12%) XML
8 16 (0.95%) Regular Expression
9 12 (0.71%) XMPP
10 9 (0.53%) RESTful
11 5 (0.30%) FreeSWITCH
11 5 (0.30%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (0.30%) OAuth2
11 5 (0.30%) Web Services
12 4 (0.24%) .NET
12 4 (0.24%) JSON Schema
12 4 (0.24%) Middleware
12 4 (0.24%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 233 (13.76%) Driving Licence
2 105 (6.20%) Onboarding
3 76 (4.49%) Self-Motivation
4 55 (3.25%) Hybrid Cloud
4 55 (3.25%) Legacy Systems
5 45 (2.66%) Management Information System
6 44 (2.60%) Data Centre
7 40 (2.36%) Enterprise Software
8 38 (2.24%) Cyberattack
9 36 (2.13%) Cyber Threat
9 36 (2.13%) Public Cloud
10 35 (2.07%) Replication
11 28 (1.65%) Cloud Native
12 26 (1.54%) Clustering
13 24 (1.42%) PKI
14 19 (1.12%) CCTV
15 16 (0.95%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.95%) CMDB
16 15 (0.89%) Data Structures
17 13 (0.77%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,201 (70.94%) Windows
2 690 (40.76%) Windows Server
3 283 (16.72%) Windows 10
4 204 (12.05%) Linux
5 113 (6.67%) Windows Server 2016
6 93 (5.49%) Mac OS
7 78 (4.61%) Apple iOS
8 68 (4.02%) Android
9 55 (3.25%) Windows Server 2019
10 34 (2.01%) Windows Server 2012
11 31 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 13 (0.77%) Windows 7
13 12 (0.71%) Windows Server 2008
14 10 (0.59%) VMS
15 7 (0.41%) Windows 8
16 6 (0.35%) Ubuntu
17 5 (0.30%) Debian
18 4 (0.24%) CentOS
18 4 (0.24%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.24%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 558 (32.96%) Problem-Solving
2 431 (25.46%) Customer Service
3 401 (23.69%) ITIL
4 265 (15.65%) Cybersecurity
5 222 (13.11%) Continuous Improvement
6 204 (12.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 175 (10.34%) Mentoring
8 159 (9.39%) ITSM
9 157 (9.27%) Disaster Recovery
10 141 (8.33%) Service Delivery
11 111 (6.56%) Change Management
12 100 (5.91%) Coaching
12 100 (5.91%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 96 (5.67%) Incident Management
13 96 (5.67%) Migration
14 91 (5.38%) Root Cause Analysis
15 86 (5.08%) Identity Access Management
15 86 (5.08%) Time Management
16 85 (5.02%) ERP
17 84 (4.96%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 268 (15.83%) PowerShell
2 156 (9.21%) SQL
3 82 (4.84%) Bash
4 63 (3.72%) Python
5 46 (2.72%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.95%) R
7 11 (0.65%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.53%) Bicep
9 8 (0.47%) Java
9 8 (0.47%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.41%) VB
11 6 (0.35%) Korn
12 5 (0.30%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.24%) C#
14 3 (0.18%) PHP
15 2 (0.12%) C
16 1 (0.059%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 217 (12.82%) Security Cleared
2 175 (10.34%) Degree
3 151 (8.92%) Microsoft Certification
4 142 (8.39%) SC Cleared
5 73 (4.31%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.72%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.54%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.42%) Azure Certification
9 32 (1.89%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 31 (1.83%) Cisco Certification
11 30 (1.77%) CCNA
11 30 (1.77%) Network+ Certification
12 21 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
12 21 (1.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 19 (1.12%) MCSE
14 17 (1.00%) HNC
14 17 (1.00%) ITIL Certification
15 14 (0.83%) MCSA
16 13 (0.77%) CompTIA Security+
17 8 (0.47%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 158 (9.33%) SLA
2 130 (7.68%) Cyber Essentials
3 105 (6.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 62 (3.66%) PCI DSS
5 55 (3.25%) NIST
6 38 (2.24%) NCSC
7 33 (1.95%) GDPR
8 32 (1.89%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 24 (1.42%) QA
10 21 (1.24%) Data Quality
11 12 (0.71%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.35%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.30%) GRC
13 5 (0.30%) PMO
14 4 (0.24%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 4 (0.24%) GxP
14 4 (0.24%) ISO 22301
14 4 (0.24%) ITGC
15 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 322 (19.02%) Hyper-V
2 260 (15.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 60 (3.54%) vSphere
4 51 (3.01%) Terminal Server
5 48 (2.84%) VMware ESXi
6 44 (2.60%) Virtual Desktop
7 29 (1.71%) Docker
7 29 (1.71%) Virtual Machines
8 17 (1.00%) BitLocker
9 12 (0.71%) VMware NSX
10 8 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 8 (0.47%) VMware Workstation
11 7 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.35%) DFS Replication
12 6 (0.35%) XenApp
13 5 (0.30%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.18%) Lustre
15 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 2 (0.12%) UAG
Systems Management
1 336 (19.85%) Microsoft Intune
2 117 (6.91%) SCCM
3 40 (2.36%) Single Sign-On
3 40 (2.36%) vCenter Server
4 31 (1.83%) Terraform
5 29 (1.71%) Jamf Pro
6 27 (1.59%) WSUS
7 26 (1.54%) Ansible
8 24 (1.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 19 (1.12%) FortiGate
10 17 (1.00%) Kubernetes
11 14 (0.83%) SCOM
12 11 (0.65%) Proxmox
13 10 (0.59%) Autotask
14 9 (0.53%) Backup Exec
14 9 (0.53%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 8 (0.47%) VxRail
16 6 (0.35%) ZABBIX
17 5 (0.30%) SmoothWall
17 5 (0.30%) Tivoli Identity Manager
Vendors
1 1,219 (72.00%) Microsoft
2 413 (24.39%) VMware
3 132 (7.80%) Veeam
4 89 (5.26%) Apple
5 87 (5.14%) Citrix
6 85 (5.02%) Cisco
7 80 (4.73%) SolarWinds
8 74 (4.37%) Nimble Storage
9 72 (4.25%) ServiceNow
10 68 (4.02%) Dell
10 68 (4.02%) HP
10 68 (4.02%) Splunk
11 63 (3.72%) Google
12 48 (2.84%) Brocade
12 48 (2.84%) Meraki
12 48 (2.84%) Tanium
13 34 (2.01%) McAfee
14 30 (1.77%) CrowdStrike
14 30 (1.77%) Red Hat
15 26 (1.54%) Dell Compellent