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

6 months to
7 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 48 31
Rank change year-on-year -19 -17 +12
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,707 1,456 4,433
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.58% 5.10% 6.49%
As % of the System Software category 56.56% 39.66% 50.62%
Number of salaries quoted 1,297 1,230 3,745
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,625 £23,750
25th Percentile £28,750 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -2.78%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,716
90th Percentile £62,945 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £38,000 £40,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% +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 3,018 3,671 8,758
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.55% 12.86% 12.83%
Number of salaries quoted 2,211 2,462 7,145
10th Percentile £27,500 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,440 £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 £75,000
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 7 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 7 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 -3 417 £34,000 +4.62% 123
South East -5 414 £37,500 -6.25% 166
Midlands -43 294 £32,500 -2.26% 71
South West -8 237 £32,500 -2.99% 70
North West +23 209 £37,500 -1.32% 66
Yorkshire -20 177 £32,500 +8.33% 47
East of England -13 175 £40,000 +23.08% 54
East Midlands -21 154 £32,500 +3.17% 29
West Midlands -51 139 £33,500 -4.29% 42
Scotland +49 101 £30,000 -29.41% 18
Wales -3 45 £45,000 +18.13% 15
North East -19 31 £37,500 +15.04% 14
Northern Ireland -26 18 £32,000 -39.05% 6
Isle of Man +3 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
1 435 (25.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 351 (20.56%) SharePoint
3 20 (1.17%) IIS
4 13 (0.76%) Confluence
5 11 (0.64%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.29%) CMS
7 5 (0.29%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.23%) Apache
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.059%) Drupal
10 1 (0.059%) nginx
Applications
1 211 (12.36%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.12%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.059%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.059%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (0.64%) Dynamics NAV
3 8 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
4 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
4 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
5 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.23%) Primavera
6 2 (0.12%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.12%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.12%) Shopify
7 1 (0.059%) Magento
7 1 (0.059%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.059%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.059%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.059%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,208 (70.77%) Microsoft 365
2 897 (52.55%) Azure
3 642 (37.61%) Entra ID
4 135 (7.91%) OneDrive
5 132 (7.73%) AWS
6 90 (5.27%) Google Workspace
6 90 (5.27%) Power Platform
7 88 (5.16%) SaaS
8 40 (2.34%) IaaS
9 39 (2.28%) Nutanix
10 35 (2.05%) PaaS
11 33 (1.93%) Mimecast
12 32 (1.87%) Azure DevOps
13 30 (1.76%) PowerApps
14 27 (1.58%) Azure Monitor
15 23 (1.35%) Microsoft Purview
16 19 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
16 19 (1.11%) Power Automate
17 18 (1.05%) Azure Sentinel
17 18 (1.05%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 554 (32.45%) DNS
2 480 (28.12%) DHCP
3 414 (24.25%) Firewall
4 268 (15.70%) VPN
5 192 (11.25%) WAN
6 188 (11.01%) LAN
7 166 (9.72%) TCP/IP
8 153 (8.96%) VLAN
9 152 (8.90%) Wi-Fi
10 101 (5.92%) VoIP
11 81 (4.75%) Wireless
12 63 (3.69%) Network Security
13 59 (3.46%) Remote Desktop
14 56 (3.28%) SAN
15 44 (2.58%) Broadband
16 26 (1.52%) NAS
17 22 (1.29%) SD-WAN
18 21 (1.23%) Internet
19 16 (0.94%) Wireshark
20 14 (0.82%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 92 (5.39%) SQL Server
2 63 (3.69%) Amazon RDS
3 50 (2.93%) Power BI
4 30 (1.76%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.52%) MySQL
6 13 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (0.47%) GIS
7 8 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 6 (0.35%) Data Warehouse
9 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.18%) Neo4j
11 2 (0.12%) Relational Database
12 1 (0.059%) Data Lake
12 1 (0.059%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.059%) Metadata
12 1 (0.059%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.059%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.059%) Redis
Development Applications
1 69 (4.04%) JIRA
2 8 (0.47%) Jenkins
2 8 (0.47%) Oracle Forms
3 7 (0.41%) GitLab
4 5 (0.29%) Git
4 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
5 4 (0.23%) Subversion
6 1 (0.059%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.059%) Gatling
6 1 (0.059%) JMeter
6 1 (0.059%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.059%) Vagrant
General
1 738 (43.23%) Social Skills
2 181 (10.60%) Analytical Skills
3 141 (8.26%) Organisational Skills
4 119 (6.97%) Finance
5 69 (4.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 69 (4.04%) Manufacturing
6 58 (3.40%) Legal
7 53 (3.10%) Documentation Skills
8 49 (2.87%) Law
8 49 (2.87%) Public Sector
8 49 (2.87%) Retail
9 34 (1.99%) Games
10 33 (1.93%) Advertising
11 30 (1.76%) Telecoms
12 17 (1.00%) Local Government
13 12 (0.70%) Marketing
14 10 (0.59%) Automotive
15 6 (0.35%) Aerospace
15 6 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.23%) Police
Job Titles
1 663 (38.84%) IT Support
2 471 (27.59%) Support Engineer
3 414 (24.25%) IT Engineer
4 350 (20.50%) IT Support Engineer
5 252 (14.76%) Analyst
6 176 (10.31%) Support Analyst
7 161 (9.43%) Support Technician
8 159 (9.31%) Senior
9 155 (9.08%) 2nd Line Support
10 153 (8.96%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 138 (8.08%) IT Technician
12 125 (7.32%) IT Support Technician
13 116 (6.80%) IT Analyst
14 102 (5.98%) IT Support Analyst
14 102 (5.98%) Systems Engineer
15 91 (5.33%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 79 (4.63%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
17 73 (4.28%) 1st Line Support
18 69 (4.04%) 3rd Line Support
18 69 (4.04%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.81%) LDAP
2 45 (2.64%) SAML
3 43 (2.52%) SOAP
4 42 (2.46%) OpenID
5 41 (2.40%) OAuth
6 40 (2.34%) REST
7 35 (2.05%) GraphQL
8 20 (1.17%) JSON
8 20 (1.17%) XML
9 16 (0.94%) Regular Expression
10 12 (0.70%) XMPP
11 10 (0.59%) RESTful
12 6 (0.35%) Web Services
13 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
13 5 (0.29%) OAuth2
14 4 (0.23%) .NET
14 4 (0.23%) JSON Schema
14 4 (0.23%) Middleware
14 4 (0.23%) OpenTelemetry
15 3 (0.18%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 242 (14.18%) Driving Licence
2 108 (6.33%) Onboarding
3 76 (4.45%) Self-Motivation
4 54 (3.16%) Hybrid Cloud
4 54 (3.16%) Legacy Systems
5 43 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
5 43 (2.52%) Management Information System
6 41 (2.40%) Data Centre
7 40 (2.34%) Cyberattack
8 36 (2.11%) Cyber Threat
8 36 (2.11%) Public Cloud
9 34 (1.99%) Replication
10 28 (1.64%) Cloud Native
11 24 (1.41%) PKI
12 21 (1.23%) Clustering
13 19 (1.11%) CCTV
14 17 (1.00%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.94%) CMDB
16 14 (0.82%) Data Structures
16 14 (0.82%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 1,204 (70.53%) Windows
2 700 (41.01%) Windows Server
3 294 (17.22%) Windows 10
4 204 (11.95%) Linux
5 114 (6.68%) Windows Server 2016
6 92 (5.39%) Mac OS
7 80 (4.69%) Apple iOS
8 68 (3.98%) Android
9 55 (3.22%) Windows Server 2019
10 34 (1.99%) Windows Server 2012
11 31 (1.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 14 (0.82%) Windows 7
13 12 (0.70%) Windows Server 2008
14 10 (0.59%) VMS
15 8 (0.47%) Windows 8
16 6 (0.35%) Ubuntu
17 5 (0.29%) Debian
18 4 (0.23%) CentOS
18 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.23%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 563 (32.98%) Problem-Solving
2 442 (25.89%) Customer Service
3 406 (23.78%) ITIL
4 257 (15.06%) Cybersecurity
5 217 (12.71%) Continuous Improvement
6 202 (11.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 179 (10.49%) Mentoring
8 163 (9.55%) ITSM
9 154 (9.02%) Disaster Recovery
10 141 (8.26%) Service Delivery
11 114 (6.68%) Change Management
12 100 (5.86%) Coaching
12 100 (5.86%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 99 (5.80%) Incident Management
14 97 (5.68%) Migration
15 91 (5.33%) Time Management
16 88 (5.16%) Identity Access Management
16 88 (5.16%) Root Cause Analysis
17 86 (5.04%) ERP
18 82 (4.80%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 260 (15.23%) PowerShell
2 156 (9.14%) SQL
3 82 (4.80%) Bash
4 62 (3.63%) Python
5 46 (2.69%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.94%) R
7 12 (0.70%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.53%) Bicep
8 9 (0.53%) PL/SQL
9 8 (0.47%) Java
10 7 (0.41%) VB
11 6 (0.35%) Korn
12 5 (0.29%) JavaScript
13 3 (0.18%) C#
13 3 (0.18%) PHP
14 2 (0.12%) C
Qualifications
1 213 (12.48%) Security Cleared
2 173 (10.13%) Degree
3 149 (8.73%) Microsoft Certification
4 139 (8.14%) SC Cleared
5 72 (4.22%) DV Cleared
6 48 (2.81%) DBS Check
7 41 (2.40%) A+ Certification
8 40 (2.34%) Azure Certification
9 35 (2.05%) Cisco Certification
10 30 (1.76%) CCNA
10 30 (1.76%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 30 (1.76%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (1.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 21 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
13 18 (1.05%) MCSE
14 17 (1.00%) HNC
15 16 (0.94%) ITIL Certification
16 12 (0.70%) CompTIA Security+
16 12 (0.70%) MCSA
17 10 (0.59%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 161 (9.43%) SLA
2 128 (7.50%) Cyber Essentials
3 103 (6.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 61 (3.57%) PCI DSS
5 52 (3.05%) NIST
6 38 (2.23%) NCSC
7 33 (1.93%) GDPR
8 31 (1.82%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 23 (1.35%) QA
10 20 (1.17%) Data Quality
11 12 (0.70%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.35%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.29%) GRC
13 5 (0.29%) PMO
14 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 4 (0.23%) GxP
14 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
14 4 (0.23%) ITGC
15 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 320 (18.75%) Hyper-V
2 254 (14.88%) VMware Infrastructure
3 57 (3.34%) vSphere
4 51 (2.99%) Terminal Server
5 47 (2.75%) Virtual Desktop
5 47 (2.75%) VMware ESXi
6 30 (1.76%) Virtual Machines
7 28 (1.64%) Docker
8 17 (1.00%) BitLocker
9 11 (0.64%) VMware NSX
10 9 (0.53%) VMware Workstation
11 8 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 6 (0.35%) DFS Replication
12 6 (0.35%) Terminal Services
12 6 (0.35%) XenApp
13 4 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.18%) Lustre
14 3 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 2 (0.12%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 335 (19.63%) Microsoft Intune
2 120 (7.03%) SCCM
3 41 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
4 40 (2.34%) vCenter Server
5 34 (1.99%) Terraform
6 31 (1.82%) Jamf Pro
7 26 (1.52%) Ansible
8 25 (1.46%) WSUS
9 23 (1.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 19 (1.11%) FortiGate
11 17 (1.00%) Kubernetes
12 14 (0.82%) SCOM
13 11 (0.64%) Autotask
13 11 (0.64%) Proxmox
14 9 (0.53%) Backup Exec
14 9 (0.53%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 7 (0.41%) VxRail
16 5 (0.29%) SmoothWall
16 5 (0.29%) Tivoli Identity Manager
17 4 (0.23%) Grafana
Vendors
1 1,226 (71.82%) Microsoft
2 410 (24.02%) VMware
3 124 (7.26%) Veeam
4 91 (5.33%) Apple
5 89 (5.21%) Cisco
5 89 (5.21%) Citrix
6 85 (4.98%) SolarWinds
7 75 (4.39%) Nimble Storage
8 73 (4.28%) ServiceNow
9 69 (4.04%) Dell
10 68 (3.98%) HP
10 68 (3.98%) Splunk
11 65 (3.81%) Google
12 48 (2.81%) Brocade
12 48 (2.81%) Tanium
13 45 (2.64%) Meraki
14 35 (2.05%) McAfee
15 30 (1.76%) CrowdStrike
15 30 (1.76%) Red Hat
16 27 (1.58%) Dell Compellent