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

6 months to
29 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 41 29
Rank change year-on-year -18 -12 +13
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,774 1,411 4,395
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.15% 5.42% 6.99%
As % of the System Software category 59.79% 44.48% 50.72%
Number of salaries quoted 1,329 1,192 3,790
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £23,863
25th Percentile £28,500 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - -
75th Percentile £47,500 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £59,950 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% +5.26% -5.00%

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 2,967 3,172 8,666
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.27% 12.19% 13.77%
Number of salaries quoted 2,165 2,486 7,166
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,750 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £62,500 £69,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,000 £85,000 £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 29 March 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 29 March 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 +7 495 £36,000 -15.29% 175
North of England -28 393 £33,500 +1.52% 133
Midlands -30 277 £32,500 -7.14% 78
South West +3 269 £32,500 -9.72% 71
Yorkshire -22 179 £32,500 +8.33% 39
North West -22 174 £37,500 -6.25% 85
East of England -27 174 £40,000 +23.08% 61
East Midlands -21 144 £31,500 +5.00% 36
West Midlands -42 132 £32,500 -13.33% 42
Scotland +21 99 £29,500 -13.58% 26
Wales +11 43 £36,250 -26.18% 14
North East -9 40 £31,500 -5.11% 13
Northern Ireland -29 18 £32,000 -39.05% 2
Isle of Man +2 6 £45,000 +55.17% 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
1 498 (28.07%) Microsoft Exchange
2 343 (19.33%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.30%) Exchange Server 2003
4 14 (0.79%) IIS
5 13 (0.73%) Exchange Server 2013
6 12 (0.68%) Confluence
7 11 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2007
7 11 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2010
8 6 (0.34%) CMS
9 4 (0.23%) Apache
10 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 3 (0.17%) WordPress
11 2 (0.11%) Skype for Business
12 1 (0.056%) Drupal
12 1 (0.056%) nginx
12 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 250 (14.09%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.056%) CATIA
Business Applications
1 14 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.56%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.39%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.39%) Primavera
4 6 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
5 5 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
8 2 (0.11%) Shopify
9 1 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
9 1 (0.056%) Magento
9 1 (0.056%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.056%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.056%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,256 (70.80%) Microsoft 365
2 959 (54.06%) Azure
3 624 (35.17%) Entra ID
4 135 (7.61%) AWS
5 134 (7.55%) OneDrive
6 101 (5.69%) Google Workspace
7 87 (4.90%) SaaS
8 76 (4.28%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.20%) IaaS
10 35 (1.97%) PaaS
11 33 (1.86%) Azure Monitor
11 33 (1.86%) Nutanix
12 29 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
12 29 (1.63%) GCP
12 29 (1.63%) Mimecast
13 25 (1.41%) PowerApps
14 22 (1.24%) Microsoft Purview
15 18 (1.01%) OCI
16 17 (0.96%) Dynamics 365
17 16 (0.90%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 632 (35.63%) DNS
2 585 (32.98%) DHCP
3 414 (23.34%) Firewall
4 284 (16.01%) VPN
5 223 (12.57%) TCP/IP
6 191 (10.77%) WAN
7 186 (10.48%) LAN
7 186 (10.48%) VLAN
8 155 (8.74%) Wi-Fi
9 93 (5.24%) VoIP
10 79 (4.45%) Wireless
11 66 (3.72%) Network Security
12 61 (3.44%) Remote Desktop
13 47 (2.65%) Broadband
14 42 (2.37%) SAN
15 29 (1.63%) SD-WAN
16 19 (1.07%) NAS
17 16 (0.90%) Internet
17 16 (0.90%) SMTP
18 15 (0.85%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (5.13%) Amazon RDS
2 77 (4.34%) SQL Server
3 48 (2.71%) Power BI
4 26 (1.47%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.30%) Oracle Database 10g
6 22 (1.24%) PostgreSQL
7 21 (1.18%) MySQL
8 12 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
9 8 (0.45%) GIS
9 8 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
11 5 (0.28%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
14 2 (0.11%) Neo4j
15 1 (0.056%) Cognos Connection
15 1 (0.056%) Cognos Framework Manager
15 1 (0.056%) Redis
Development Applications
1 73 (4.11%) JIRA
2 14 (0.79%) Git
3 13 (0.73%) Oracle Forms
4 11 (0.62%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.39%) GitLab
6 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 4 (0.23%) Subversion
8 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.056%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.056%) Gatling
9 1 (0.056%) JMeter
9 1 (0.056%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.056%) Vagrant
9 1 (0.056%) Visual Studio
General
1 798 (44.98%) Social Skills
2 194 (10.94%) Analytical Skills
3 164 (9.24%) Organisational Skills
4 126 (7.10%) Finance
5 76 (4.28%) Manufacturing
6 61 (3.44%) Retail
7 58 (3.27%) Documentation Skills
8 57 (3.21%) Legal
9 55 (3.10%) Law
10 51 (2.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 42 (2.37%) Public Sector
12 39 (2.20%) Advertising
13 36 (2.03%) Games
14 31 (1.75%) Telecoms
15 21 (1.18%) Marketing
16 12 (0.68%) Local Government
17 8 (0.45%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.39%) Automotive
19 4 (0.23%) Banking
19 4 (0.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 716 (40.36%) IT Support
2 502 (28.30%) Support Engineer
3 418 (23.56%) IT Engineer
4 362 (20.41%) IT Support Engineer
5 229 (12.91%) Analyst
6 181 (10.20%) Support Technician
7 179 (10.09%) 2nd Line Support
8 169 (9.53%) Support Analyst
9 152 (8.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 146 (8.23%) IT Technician
11 136 (7.67%) IT Support Technician
11 136 (7.67%) Senior
12 120 (6.76%) IT Analyst
13 118 (6.65%) Systems Engineer
14 108 (6.09%) IT Support Analyst
15 102 (5.75%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 95 (5.36%) 3rd Line Support
17 91 (5.13%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 76 (4.28%) 1st Line Support
19 62 (3.49%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (2.82%) LDAP
2 48 (2.71%) SAML
2 48 (2.71%) SOAP
3 45 (2.54%) OAuth
3 45 (2.54%) OpenID
4 43 (2.42%) REST
5 38 (2.14%) GraphQL
6 21 (1.18%) JSON
6 21 (1.18%) XML
7 13 (0.73%) .NET
7 13 (0.73%) RESTful
8 9 (0.51%) ARM Templates
9 8 (0.45%) HTML
9 8 (0.45%) Regular Expression
10 7 (0.39%) .NET Framework
10 7 (0.39%) CSS
10 7 (0.39%) Web Services
11 6 (0.34%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.34%) React
12 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
Miscellaneous
1 273 (15.39%) Driving Licence
2 112 (6.31%) Onboarding
3 84 (4.74%) Self-Motivation
4 77 (4.34%) Legacy Systems
5 52 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
6 49 (2.76%) Hybrid Cloud
7 41 (2.31%) Cyberattack
8 40 (2.25%) Cyber Threat
9 33 (1.86%) Public Cloud
9 33 (1.86%) Replication
10 31 (1.75%) Data Centre
10 31 (1.75%) Management Information System
11 25 (1.41%) Cloud Native
12 20 (1.13%) Client/Server
13 18 (1.01%) CMDB
13 18 (1.01%) PKI
14 13 (0.73%) Clustering
14 13 (0.73%) iPad
14 13 (0.73%) Video Conferencing
15 12 (0.68%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,273 (71.76%) Windows
2 753 (42.45%) Windows Server
3 305 (17.19%) Windows 10
4 216 (12.18%) Linux
5 141 (7.95%) Windows Server 2016
6 91 (5.13%) Mac OS
7 82 (4.62%) Apple iOS
8 73 (4.11%) Android
9 54 (3.04%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.37%) Windows 7
11 35 (1.97%) Windows Server 2012
12 31 (1.75%) Windows Server 2008
13 29 (1.63%) Unix
14 23 (1.30%) HPUX
14 23 (1.30%) Solaris
14 23 (1.30%) Windows Server 2003
15 19 (1.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 12 (0.68%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
17 6 (0.34%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 639 (36.02%) Problem-Solving
2 513 (28.92%) Customer Service
3 430 (24.24%) ITIL
4 270 (15.22%) Cybersecurity
5 205 (11.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 203 (11.44%) Mentoring
7 189 (10.65%) Continuous Improvement
8 183 (10.32%) ITSM
9 159 (8.96%) Service Delivery
10 152 (8.57%) Disaster Recovery
11 125 (7.05%) Incident Management
12 124 (6.99%) Migration
13 119 (6.71%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 109 (6.14%) Coaching
15 100 (5.64%) Change Management
16 97 (5.47%) Kalman Filter
17 95 (5.36%) Web Filtering
18 94 (5.30%) Customer Experience
18 94 (5.30%) Identity Access Management
19 87 (4.90%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 295 (16.63%) PowerShell
2 129 (7.27%) SQL
3 80 (4.51%) Bash
4 51 (2.87%) Python
5 49 (2.76%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.24%) Perl
7 15 (0.85%) R
7 15 (0.85%) Shell Script
8 14 (0.79%) JavaScript
8 14 (0.79%) PL/SQL
9 11 (0.62%) Java
10 9 (0.51%) C#
11 8 (0.45%) VB
12 5 (0.28%) Bicep
12 5 (0.28%) VBA
13 3 (0.17%) PHP
14 2 (0.11%) C
15 1 (0.056%) Korn
15 1 (0.056%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 240 (13.53%) Security Cleared
2 179 (10.09%) SC Cleared
3 164 (9.24%) Degree
4 158 (8.91%) Microsoft Certification
5 82 (4.62%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.59%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.37%) Azure Certification
8 40 (2.25%) A+ Certification
9 37 (2.09%) Cisco Certification
10 34 (1.92%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.75%) CCNA
12 24 (1.35%) Network+ Certification
13 22 (1.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
15 19 (1.07%) MCSE
16 17 (0.96%) HNC
16 17 (0.96%) MCSA
17 15 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
18 13 (0.73%) HND
19 12 (0.68%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 170 (9.58%) SLA
2 145 (8.17%) Cyber Essentials
3 97 (5.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 84 (4.74%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.82%) NIST
6 39 (2.20%) NCSC
7 38 (2.14%) GDPR
8 25 (1.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (0.96%) QA
10 10 (0.56%) Data Quality
11 8 (0.45%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.28%) GRC
12 5 (0.28%) PMO
13 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.23%) GxP
13 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 4 (0.23%) ITGC
14 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 356 (20.07%) Hyper-V
2 253 (14.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.23%) Terminal Server
4 49 (2.76%) vSphere
5 38 (2.14%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
7 24 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
8 17 (0.96%) BitLocker
9 16 (0.90%) Docker
10 11 (0.62%) Firmware
10 11 (0.62%) VMware Workstation
11 10 (0.56%) VMware NSX
11 10 (0.56%) XenApp
12 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
14 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.17%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 3 (0.17%) Lustre
15 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 356 (20.07%) Microsoft Intune
2 133 (7.50%) SCCM
3 45 (2.54%) Single Sign-On
4 42 (2.37%) vCenter Server
5 37 (2.09%) Terraform
6 34 (1.92%) Jamf Pro
7 22 (1.24%) Ansible
8 21 (1.18%) FortiGate
9 20 (1.13%) WSUS
10 18 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 17 (0.96%) Autotask
12 13 (0.73%) SCOM
13 11 (0.62%) Kubernetes
14 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
15 8 (0.45%) ZABBIX
16 7 (0.39%) Proxmox
17 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
17 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
18 5 (0.28%) Prometheus
18 5 (0.28%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,284 (72.38%) Microsoft
2 462 (26.04%) VMware
3 157 (8.85%) Veeam
4 110 (6.20%) SolarWinds
5 100 (5.64%) Nimble Storage
6 96 (5.41%) Apple
7 95 (5.36%) Cisco
8 92 (5.19%) Citrix
9 88 (4.96%) Splunk
10 80 (4.51%) Google
11 79 (4.45%) ServiceNow
12 72 (4.06%) Brocade
12 72 (4.06%) Tanium
13 69 (3.89%) HP
14 58 (3.27%) Dell
15 43 (2.42%) Oracle
16 37 (2.09%) Meraki
17 28 (1.58%) Dell Compellent
18 26 (1.47%) McAfee
19 25 (1.41%) CrowdStrike