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

6 months to
28 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 38 36 21
Rank change year-on-year -2 -15 +26
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,831 2,355 2,654
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.89% 5.05% 9.03%
As % of the System Software category 58.97% 46.15% 49.85%
Number of salaries quoted 1,380 1,413 2,384
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,000 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £29,000
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 £53,000 £51,500
90th Percentile £64,526 £61,250 £60,000
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £42,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +1.19% +2.44%

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 3,105 5,103 5,324
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.30% 10.94% 18.12%
Number of salaries quoted 2,245 2,882 4,451
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £35,750 £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 £65,625 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,715
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 28 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 28 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 +10 499 £37,500 -11.76% 276
North of England -16 375 £32,500 -23.53% 118
Midlands +8 320 £32,500 -13.33% 114
South West +5 308 £33,000 -8.33% 77
East of England -7 209 £35,000 - 80
Yorkshire -4 170 £31,250 -26.90% 44
East Midlands +20 167 £28,500 -18.57% 49
West Midlands -6 153 £47,500 +18.75% 65
North West -17 145 £35,000 -17.65% 67
Scotland -20 78 £30,000 -22.31% 22
North East +2 60 £31,000 -17.33% 7
Wales +5 45 £35,000 +2.94% 16
Northern Ireland +3 13 £55,000 +4.76% 6
Channel Islands -1 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
1 565 (30.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 308 (16.82%) SharePoint
3 34 (1.86%) IIS
4 30 (1.64%) Confluence
5 26 (1.42%) Exchange Server 2003
6 17 (0.93%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.33%) CMS
8 5 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
8 5 (0.27%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2007
9 3 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.16%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.055%) Office Communications Server
11 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.055%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 226 (12.34%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 2 (0.11%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.055%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.055%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.055%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.055%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (0.82%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.33%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.27%) Sage 200
5 4 (0.22%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.22%) Visualfiles
6 3 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.16%) Primavera
7 2 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.11%) Magento
7 2 (0.11%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.055%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.055%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,286 (70.23%) Microsoft 365
2 984 (53.74%) Azure
3 544 (29.71%) Entra ID
4 154 (8.41%) AWS
5 102 (5.57%) OneDrive
6 74 (4.04%) SaaS
7 57 (3.11%) Power Platform
8 53 (2.89%) IaaS
9 49 (2.68%) PaaS
10 39 (2.13%) GCP
10 39 (2.13%) PowerApps
11 33 (1.80%) Azure Logic Apps
12 32 (1.75%) Azure DevOps
13 31 (1.69%) Google Workspace
14 29 (1.58%) Amazon EC2
15 26 (1.42%) Azure Monitor
16 25 (1.37%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 25 (1.37%) GitHub
17 24 (1.31%) Azure Sentinel
17 24 (1.31%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 668 (36.48%) DNS
2 618 (33.75%) DHCP
3 470 (25.67%) Firewall
4 289 (15.78%) TCP/IP
5 247 (13.49%) VPN
6 186 (10.16%) VLAN
7 173 (9.45%) LAN
8 170 (9.28%) WAN
9 132 (7.21%) Wi-Fi
10 97 (5.30%) Wireless
11 92 (5.02%) VoIP
12 87 (4.75%) SAN
13 55 (3.00%) Remote Desktop
14 42 (2.29%) Internet
15 34 (1.86%) Network Security
16 29 (1.58%) SD-WAN
17 26 (1.42%) SMTP
18 20 (1.09%) SSL
19 18 (0.98%) Kerberos
20 17 (0.93%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 142 (7.76%) Amazon RDS
2 83 (4.53%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.58%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.42%) Oracle Database 10g
5 19 (1.04%) Power BI
6 14 (0.76%) MySQL
7 12 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
8 9 (0.49%) DTS
9 8 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (0.33%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 6 (0.33%) 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 (0.11%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.055%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.055%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.055%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 67 (3.66%) JIRA
2 46 (2.51%) Git
3 44 (2.40%) Jenkins
4 22 (1.20%) Vagrant
5 18 (0.98%) Oracle Forms
6 5 (0.27%) GitLab
6 5 (0.27%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.055%) Artifactory
General
1 902 (49.26%) Social Skills
2 195 (10.65%) Analytical Skills
3 122 (6.66%) Finance
4 111 (6.06%) Manufacturing
5 96 (5.24%) Organisational Skills
6 74 (4.04%) Retail
7 66 (3.60%) Law
8 49 (2.68%) Documentation Skills
9 47 (2.57%) Public Sector
10 45 (2.46%) Advertising
11 42 (2.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 39 (2.13%) Legal
13 35 (1.91%) Telecoms
14 18 (0.98%) Marketing
15 17 (0.93%) Aerospace
16 15 (0.82%) French Language
16 15 (0.82%) Swedish Language
17 13 (0.71%) Pharmaceutical
18 11 (0.60%) Automotive
19 10 (0.55%) Games
Job Titles
1 622 (33.97%) IT Support
2 434 (23.70%) Support Engineer
3 292 (15.95%) IT Engineer
4 289 (15.78%) Analyst
5 240 (13.11%) IT Support Engineer
6 208 (11.36%) Support Analyst
7 203 (11.09%) 2nd Line Support
8 190 (10.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 160 (8.74%) IT Analyst
10 142 (7.76%) Support Technician
11 132 (7.21%) Systems Engineer
12 131 (7.15%) Technical Support
13 125 (6.83%) IT Support Analyst
14 120 (6.55%) 3rd Line Support
14 120 (6.55%) Senior
15 116 (6.34%) IT Technician
16 97 (5.30%) 1st Line Support
17 90 (4.92%) IT Support Technician
18 77 (4.21%) Infrastructure Support
19 72 (3.93%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (1.64%) LDAP
2 25 (1.37%) .NET
3 20 (1.09%) SOAP
4 18 (0.98%) RESTful
5 15 (0.82%) ARM Templates
5 15 (0.82%) JSON
5 15 (0.82%) XML
6 13 (0.71%) EDI
7 12 (0.66%) React
7 12 (0.66%) SAML
8 11 (0.60%) OAuth
8 11 (0.60%) OpenID
9 10 (0.55%) CSS
9 10 (0.55%) HTML
10 9 (0.49%) .NET Framework
10 9 (0.49%) Web Services
11 6 (0.33%) 802.1X
11 6 (0.33%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.27%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 266 (14.53%) Driving Licence
2 182 (9.94%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.24%) Legacy Systems
4 81 (4.42%) Self-Motivation
5 51 (2.79%) Data Centre
6 50 (2.73%) Enterprise Software
7 39 (2.13%) Cloud Native
7 39 (2.13%) Management Information System
8 36 (1.97%) PKI
9 28 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
9 28 (1.53%) Replication
10 23 (1.26%) Clustering
11 17 (0.93%) Video Conferencing
12 16 (0.87%) Analytical Mindset
12 16 (0.87%) Client/Server
12 16 (0.87%) FMCG
12 16 (0.87%) iPad
12 16 (0.87%) Security Posture
13 15 (0.82%) Product Ownership
14 14 (0.76%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1,353 (73.89%) Windows
2 833 (45.49%) Windows Server
3 287 (15.67%) Windows 10
4 250 (13.65%) Linux
5 155 (8.47%) Windows Server 2016
6 125 (6.83%) Windows Server 2019
7 116 (6.34%) Mac OS
8 60 (3.28%) Apple iOS
9 44 (2.40%) Android
10 38 (2.08%) VMS
11 37 (2.02%) Unix
12 35 (1.91%) Windows Server 2008
13 31 (1.69%) Windows 7
14 27 (1.47%) Windows Server 2003
15 26 (1.42%) Solaris
16 25 (1.37%) HPUX
17 24 (1.31%) Windows Server 2012
18 22 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
19 12 (0.66%) Amazon Linux
20 8 (0.44%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 644 (35.17%) Problem-Solving
2 566 (30.91%) Customer Service
3 354 (19.33%) ITIL
4 246 (13.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 238 (13.00%) Cybersecurity
6 189 (10.32%) Continuous Improvement
7 181 (9.89%) Mentoring
8 163 (8.90%) Migration
9 161 (8.79%) ITSM
10 123 (6.72%) Incident Management
11 109 (5.95%) Kalman Filter
11 109 (5.95%) Service Delivery
12 107 (5.84%) Disaster Recovery
13 103 (5.63%) Web Filtering
14 98 (5.35%) DevOps
14 98 (5.35%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 97 (5.30%) Customer Experience
16 94 (5.13%) Email Filtering
17 91 (4.97%) Coaching
17 91 (4.97%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 311 (16.99%) PowerShell
2 137 (7.48%) SQL
3 71 (3.88%) Python
4 34 (1.86%) Bash
4 34 (1.86%) Perl
5 29 (1.58%) Java
6 26 (1.42%) Groovy
7 18 (0.98%) PL/SQL
7 18 (0.98%) VB
8 17 (0.93%) Shell Script
9 15 (0.82%) JavaScript
10 13 (0.71%) C#
11 11 (0.60%) Bicep
12 8 (0.44%) Korn
13 7 (0.38%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.27%) VBA
15 2 (0.11%) Go
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.055%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 249 (13.60%) Security Cleared
2 207 (11.31%) SC Cleared
3 181 (9.89%) Microsoft Certification
4 177 (9.67%) Degree
5 66 (3.60%) DV Cleared
6 52 (2.84%) A+ Certification
7 51 (2.79%) Azure Certification
8 48 (2.62%) Cisco Certification
9 43 (2.35%) DBS Check
10 42 (2.29%) CCNA
11 34 (1.86%) Network+ Certification
12 32 (1.75%) MCP
12 32 (1.75%) MCSE
13 24 (1.31%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.09%) MCSA
15 19 (1.04%) AWS Certification
16 18 (0.98%) ITIL Certification
17 16 (0.87%) HND
18 15 (0.82%) BPSS Clearance
18 15 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 124 (6.77%) Cyber Essentials
2 122 (6.66%) SLA
3 98 (5.35%) PCI DSS
4 66 (3.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 64 (3.50%) GDPR
6 17 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 14 (0.76%) NIST
8 8 (0.44%) QA
9 7 (0.38%) GxP
10 6 (0.33%) NCSC
11 5 (0.27%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 5 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.22%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.055%) HIPAA
14 1 (0.055%) IASME
14 1 (0.055%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 386 (21.08%) Hyper-V
2 274 (14.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (5.02%) Terminal Server
4 52 (2.84%) vSphere
5 51 (2.79%) Virtual Desktop
6 38 (2.08%) Docker
7 33 (1.80%) VMware ESXi
8 32 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
9 17 (0.93%) Firmware
10 15 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
11 14 (0.76%) DFS Replication
12 8 (0.44%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 7 (0.38%) Terminal Services
13 7 (0.38%) XenApp
14 4 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.16%) VMware NSX
15 3 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
16 2 (0.11%) BitLocker
17 1 (0.055%) KVM
17 1 (0.055%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 426 (23.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 151 (8.25%) SCCM
3 72 (3.93%) Terraform
4 38 (2.08%) WSUS
5 35 (1.91%) Kubernetes
6 33 (1.80%) Ansible
7 31 (1.69%) Single Sign-On
8 30 (1.64%) vCenter Server
9 26 (1.42%) Prometheus
10 25 (1.37%) Autotask
11 22 (1.20%) Grafana
11 22 (1.20%) SCOM
12 19 (1.04%) FortiGate
13 18 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
14 13 (0.71%) Nagios
14 13 (0.71%) ZABBIX
15 11 (0.60%) Failover Clustering
16 8 (0.44%) PaperCut
17 7 (0.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
18 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,401 (76.52%) Microsoft
2 482 (26.32%) VMware
3 178 (9.72%) Veeam
4 165 (9.01%) Cisco
5 123 (6.72%) SolarWinds
6 99 (5.41%) Splunk
7 97 (5.30%) Tanium
8 94 (5.13%) Nimble Storage
9 88 (4.81%) Brocade
10 85 (4.64%) Apple
11 81 (4.42%) ServiceNow
12 62 (3.39%) Citrix
13 53 (2.89%) Google
14 51 (2.79%) Oracle
15 48 (2.62%) HP
15 48 (2.62%) Meraki
16 42 (2.29%) Dell
17 37 (2.02%) SonicWALL
18 36 (1.97%) Sophos
19 33 (1.80%) Red Hat