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

6 months to
14 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 37 36 22
Rank change year-on-year -1 -14 +26
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,924 2,374 2,718
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.23% 4.96% 8.93%
As % of the System Software category 59.22% 47.11% 49.44%
Number of salaries quoted 1,446 1,383 2,421
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,250 £25,200
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £28,750
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 £53,126 £51,500
90th Percentile £63,750 £62,450 £61,250
UK median annual salary £37,500 £43,000 £41,500
% change year-on-year -12.79% +3.61% +1.22%

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 3,249 5,039 5,498
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.83% 10.52% 18.07%
Number of salaries quoted 2,328 2,798 4,530
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,213 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £36,000 £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 £65,000 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £78,500
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 14 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 14 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 +6 506 £37,500 -16.67% 337
North of England -14 444 £32,500 -23.08% 147
Midlands +15 328 £35,000 -12.50% 147
South West +8 310 £33,000 -7.69% 124
Yorkshire +3 240 £30,500 -32.22% 55
East of England -6 218 £35,000 - 93
West Midlands +1 168 £48,550 +21.38% 81
East Midlands +18 160 £29,000 -16.78% 66
North West -17 142 £33,750 -17.42% 75
Scotland -29 80 £30,000 -25.00% 38
North East -3 62 £31,000 -13.89% 17
Wales +4 43 £35,000 +5.26% 16
Northern Ireland +6 11 £55,000 +4.76% 11
Channel Islands 0 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
1 586 (30.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 318 (16.53%) SharePoint
3 40 (2.08%) IIS
4 36 (1.87%) Confluence
5 26 (1.35%) Exchange Server 2003
6 18 (0.94%) Skype for Business
7 7 (0.36%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.31%) CMS
8 6 (0.31%) Exchange Server 2013
9 4 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2007
9 4 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2010
10 3 (0.16%) Apache
10 3 (0.16%) JOnAS
10 3 (0.16%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.16%) WebLogic Portal
11 2 (0.10%) BizTalk Server
11 2 (0.10%) Office Communications Server
11 2 (0.10%) SharePoint Server
11 2 (0.10%) WinCC
11 2 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 229 (11.90%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (1.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.21%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.21%) CATIA
5 2 (0.10%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.052%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.052%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.052%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.052%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.61%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.68%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.31%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.31%) Sage 200
4 4 (0.21%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.21%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.21%) SAP Business One
4 4 (0.21%) Visualfiles
5 3 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.16%) Primavera
6 2 (0.10%) Magento
7 1 (0.052%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.052%) Dynamics AX
Cloud Services
1 1,303 (67.72%) Microsoft 365
2 1,004 (52.18%) Azure
3 547 (28.43%) Entra ID
4 161 (8.37%) AWS
5 101 (5.25%) OneDrive
6 70 (3.64%) SaaS
7 53 (2.75%) IaaS
8 50 (2.60%) Power Platform
9 46 (2.39%) PaaS
10 37 (1.92%) PowerApps
11 36 (1.87%) GCP
12 35 (1.82%) Amazon EC2
13 33 (1.72%) Google Workspace
14 32 (1.66%) Azure Logic Apps
15 31 (1.61%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 28 (1.46%) Amazon ELB
16 28 (1.46%) Amazon Glacier
16 28 (1.46%) Amazon S3
16 28 (1.46%) Azure DevOps
16 28 (1.46%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 660 (34.30%) DNS
2 599 (31.13%) DHCP
3 553 (28.74%) Firewall
4 294 (15.28%) TCP/IP
5 242 (12.58%) VPN
6 189 (9.82%) VLAN
7 176 (9.15%) LAN
8 175 (9.10%) WAN
9 139 (7.22%) Wi-Fi
10 100 (5.20%) SAN
11 99 (5.15%) Wireless
12 90 (4.68%) VoIP
13 54 (2.81%) Remote Desktop
14 41 (2.13%) Internet
15 31 (1.61%) Network Security
15 31 (1.61%) SMTP
16 30 (1.56%) SD-WAN
17 22 (1.14%) SSL
18 21 (1.09%) NAS
19 19 (0.99%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 144 (7.48%) Amazon RDS
2 98 (5.09%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.51%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.35%) Oracle Database 10g
5 15 (0.78%) Power BI
6 13 (0.68%) MySQL
7 12 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
8 10 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
9 9 (0.47%) DTS
10 6 (0.31%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 6 (0.31%) 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 (0.10%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.052%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.052%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.052%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 74 (3.85%) JIRA
2 51 (2.65%) Git
3 48 (2.49%) Jenkins
4 28 (1.46%) Vagrant
5 16 (0.83%) Oracle Forms
6 5 (0.26%) GitLab
6 5 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.10%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.10%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.10%) Subversion
8 2 (0.10%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.10%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.052%) Artifactory
General
1 903 (46.93%) Social Skills
2 191 (9.93%) Analytical Skills
3 116 (6.03%) Manufacturing
4 112 (5.82%) Finance
5 98 (5.09%) Organisational Skills
6 71 (3.69%) Law
6 71 (3.69%) Retail
7 55 (2.86%) Public Sector
8 52 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
9 48 (2.49%) Advertising
10 41 (2.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (1.98%) Legal
12 35 (1.82%) Telecoms
13 17 (0.88%) Aerospace
13 17 (0.88%) Marketing
14 15 (0.78%) French Language
14 15 (0.78%) Swedish Language
15 13 (0.68%) Pharmaceutical
16 11 (0.57%) Automotive
16 11 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 625 (32.48%) IT Support
2 436 (22.66%) Support Engineer
3 325 (16.89%) IT Engineer
4 313 (16.27%) Analyst
5 231 (12.01%) IT Support Engineer
6 228 (11.85%) Support Analyst
7 211 (10.97%) 2nd Line Support
8 208 (10.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 168 (8.73%) IT Analyst
10 138 (7.17%) Technical Support
11 137 (7.12%) Support Technician
12 131 (6.81%) IT Support Analyst
13 126 (6.55%) Systems Engineer
14 122 (6.34%) Senior
15 119 (6.19%) 3rd Line Support
16 111 (5.77%) IT Technician
17 105 (5.46%) 1st Line Support
18 92 (4.78%) Infrastructure Support
19 83 (4.31%) IT Support Technician
20 75 (3.90%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (1.56%) LDAP
2 25 (1.30%) .NET
3 20 (1.04%) SOAP
4 16 (0.83%) RESTful
5 15 (0.78%) ARM Templates
5 15 (0.78%) JSON
5 15 (0.78%) XML
6 14 (0.73%) SAML
7 12 (0.62%) React
8 11 (0.57%) EDI
8 11 (0.57%) OAuth
8 11 (0.57%) OpenID
9 10 (0.52%) CSS
9 10 (0.52%) HTML
10 9 (0.47%) .NET Framework
10 9 (0.47%) Web Services
11 7 (0.36%) REST
12 6 (0.31%) 802.1X
12 6 (0.31%) OAuth2
13 5 (0.26%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 259 (13.46%) Driving Licence
2 185 (9.62%) Onboarding
3 88 (4.57%) Legacy Systems
4 83 (4.31%) Self-Motivation
5 66 (3.43%) Operational Technology
6 55 (2.86%) Data Centre
7 46 (2.39%) Enterprise Software
8 44 (2.29%) PKI
9 42 (2.18%) Management Information System
10 35 (1.82%) Cloud Native
11 33 (1.72%) Replication
12 26 (1.35%) Hybrid Cloud
13 24 (1.25%) Clustering
14 17 (0.88%) Product Ownership
14 17 (0.88%) Video Conferencing
15 16 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
15 16 (0.83%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.83%) Security Posture
16 14 (0.73%) Cyber Threat
16 14 (0.73%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 1,439 (74.79%) Windows
2 835 (43.40%) Windows Server
3 296 (15.38%) Windows 10
4 249 (12.94%) Linux
5 151 (7.85%) Windows Server 2016
6 132 (6.86%) Windows Server 2019
7 126 (6.55%) Mac OS
8 66 (3.43%) Apple iOS
9 49 (2.55%) Android
10 47 (2.44%) VMS
11 43 (2.23%) Unix
12 35 (1.82%) Windows Server 2008
13 33 (1.72%) Windows 7
14 28 (1.46%) Windows Server 2003
14 28 (1.46%) Windows Server 2012
15 26 (1.35%) Solaris
16 25 (1.30%) HPUX
17 22 (1.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
18 15 (0.78%) Amazon Linux
19 8 (0.42%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 655 (34.04%) Problem-Solving
2 560 (29.11%) Customer Service
3 349 (18.14%) ITIL
4 300 (15.59%) Cybersecurity
5 265 (13.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 194 (10.08%) Continuous Improvement
7 185 (9.62%) Mentoring
8 160 (8.32%) ITSM
9 159 (8.26%) Migration
10 122 (6.34%) Incident Management
11 112 (5.82%) Service Delivery
12 108 (5.61%) Kalman Filter
13 102 (5.30%) Disaster Recovery
14 101 (5.25%) DevOps
15 100 (5.20%) Web Filtering
16 91 (4.73%) Customer Experience
17 88 (4.57%) Vulnerability Remediation
18 87 (4.52%) Coaching
18 87 (4.52%) Email Filtering
19 85 (4.42%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 329 (17.10%) PowerShell
2 146 (7.59%) SQL
3 74 (3.85%) Python
4 37 (1.92%) Perl
5 34 (1.77%) Bash
6 32 (1.66%) Groovy
6 32 (1.66%) Java
7 18 (0.94%) VB
8 17 (0.88%) JavaScript
9 16 (0.83%) PL/SQL
10 15 (0.78%) Shell Script
11 13 (0.68%) C#
12 11 (0.57%) Bicep
13 8 (0.42%) Korn
14 7 (0.36%) T-SQL
14 7 (0.36%) VBA
15 2 (0.10%) Go
15 2 (0.10%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.052%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.052%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 261 (13.57%) Security Cleared
2 221 (11.49%) SC Cleared
3 192 (9.98%) Microsoft Certification
4 184 (9.56%) Degree
5 72 (3.74%) DV Cleared
6 58 (3.01%) A+ Certification
7 53 (2.75%) Azure Certification
8 49 (2.55%) Cisco Certification
9 43 (2.23%) CCNA
10 42 (2.18%) DBS Check
11 36 (1.87%) Network+ Certification
12 34 (1.77%) MCP
12 34 (1.77%) MCSE
13 24 (1.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 23 (1.20%) MCSA
15 20 (1.04%) ITIL Certification
16 19 (0.99%) AWS Certification
17 18 (0.94%) HND
18 17 (0.88%) BPSS Clearance
19 15 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 121 (6.29%) SLA
2 120 (6.24%) Cyber Essentials
3 88 (4.57%) PCI DSS
4 68 (3.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 62 (3.22%) GDPR
6 20 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 17 (0.88%) NIST
8 7 (0.36%) GxP
8 7 (0.36%) NCSC
9 6 (0.31%) QA
10 5 (0.26%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.21%) Accessibility
11 4 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.10%) Disclosure Scotland
12 2 (0.10%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.052%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.052%) IASME
System Software
1 387 (20.11%) Hyper-V
2 289 (15.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 85 (4.42%) Terminal Server
4 72 (3.74%) Virtual Servers
5 52 (2.70%) vSphere
6 51 (2.65%) Virtual Desktop
7 41 (2.13%) Docker
8 36 (1.87%) VMware ESXi
9 33 (1.72%) Virtual Machines
10 17 (0.88%) DFS Replication
10 17 (0.88%) Firmware
11 10 (0.52%) XenApp
12 8 (0.42%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 7 (0.36%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 4 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
15 2 (0.10%) BitLocker
15 2 (0.10%) ISA Server
15 2 (0.10%) VMware NSX
16 1 (0.052%) KVM
Systems Management
1 457 (23.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 156 (8.11%) SCCM
3 73 (3.79%) Terraform
4 38 (1.98%) Ansible
5 36 (1.87%) WSUS
6 35 (1.82%) Kubernetes
7 32 (1.66%) Prometheus
8 30 (1.56%) Single Sign-On
9 28 (1.46%) Autotask
9 28 (1.46%) Grafana
9 28 (1.46%) vCenter Server
10 23 (1.20%) SCOM
11 20 (1.04%) FortiGate
12 18 (0.94%) Jamf Pro
13 13 (0.68%) Nagios
13 13 (0.68%) ZABBIX
14 11 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
15 8 (0.42%) PaperCut
16 7 (0.36%) Active Directory Federation Services
17 5 (0.26%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,433 (74.48%) Microsoft
2 496 (25.78%) VMware
3 177 (9.20%) Veeam
4 173 (8.99%) Cisco
5 112 (5.82%) SolarWinds
6 93 (4.83%) ServiceNow
7 89 (4.63%) Apple
7 89 (4.63%) Splunk
7 89 (4.63%) Tanium
8 85 (4.42%) Nimble Storage
9 80 (4.16%) Brocade
10 65 (3.38%) Citrix
11 56 (2.91%) Google
12 54 (2.81%) Meraki
13 51 (2.65%) Oracle
14 46 (2.39%) HP
15 40 (2.08%) Sophos
16 39 (2.03%) Dell
16 39 (2.03%) SonicWALL
17 33 (1.72%) Red Hat