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

6 months to
17 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 63 39 29
Rank change year-on-year -24 -10 +15
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,753 1,441 4,555
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.81% 5.46% 6.79%
As % of the System Software category 58.03% 42.28% 51.02%
Number of salaries quoted 1,336 1,221 3,869
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £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 £48,750 £48,500
90th Percentile £62,500 £58,750 £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 3,021 3,408 8,928
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.85% 12.91% 13.31%
Number of salaries quoted 2,217 2,476 7,318
10th Percentile £27,250 £26,750 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £48,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.22% +7.78% -5.26%
75th Percentile £63,576 £68,250 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £84,375 £75,000
UK median annual salary £51,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -7.27% +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 17 April 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 17 April 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 -4 453 £36,250 -9.38% 148
North of England -14 404 £34,000 +2.72% 121
Midlands -47 294 £32,500 -7.14% 77
South West -1 257 £32,500 -7.14% 73
North West -7 194 £35,000 -12.50% 70
Yorkshire -30 179 £32,500 +8.33% 35
East of England -29 177 £40,000 +23.08% 55
East Midlands -27 152 £32,500 +6.56% 43
West Midlands -49 141 £32,500 -13.15% 34
Scotland +28 98 £29,500 -20.27% 26
Wales -3 46 £39,250 +3.03% 8
North East -31 31 £32,000 -3.61% 21
Northern Ireland -28 18 £32,000 -39.05% 6
Isle of Man +2 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
1 465 (26.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 352 (20.08%) SharePoint
3 18 (1.03%) IIS
4 17 (0.97%) Exchange Server 2003
5 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2013
6 10 (0.57%) Confluence
7 9 (0.51%) Exchange Server 2007
7 9 (0.51%) Exchange Server 2010
8 6 (0.34%) CMS
9 5 (0.29%) Skype for Business
10 4 (0.23%) Apache
11 3 (0.17%) WordPress
12 2 (0.11%) Tomcat
12 2 (0.11%) WebLogic
12 2 (0.11%) WebLogic Portal
13 1 (0.057%) Drupal
13 1 (0.057%) nginx
13 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 233 (13.29%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.40%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.11%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.057%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 19 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.46%) Dynamics NAV
2 8 (0.46%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.40%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.34%) Primavera
5 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
7 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.11%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.11%) Shopify
8 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.057%) Magento
8 1 (0.057%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
8 1 (0.057%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,232 (70.28%) Microsoft 365
2 927 (52.88%) Azure
3 633 (36.11%) Entra ID
4 137 (7.82%) OneDrive
5 130 (7.42%) AWS
6 98 (5.59%) Google Workspace
7 86 (4.91%) SaaS
8 85 (4.85%) Power Platform
9 42 (2.40%) IaaS
10 37 (2.11%) PaaS
11 36 (2.05%) Nutanix
12 34 (1.94%) Azure Monitor
13 33 (1.88%) Mimecast
14 31 (1.77%) Azure DevOps
15 30 (1.71%) PowerApps
16 25 (1.43%) GCP
17 22 (1.25%) Microsoft Purview
18 19 (1.08%) Dynamics 365
19 17 (0.97%) GitHub
19 17 (0.97%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 599 (34.17%) DNS
2 542 (30.92%) DHCP
3 404 (23.05%) Firewall
4 279 (15.92%) VPN
5 198 (11.29%) WAN
6 191 (10.90%) LAN
6 191 (10.90%) TCP/IP
7 161 (9.18%) VLAN
8 160 (9.13%) Wi-Fi
9 94 (5.36%) VoIP
10 83 (4.73%) Wireless
11 68 (3.88%) Network Security
12 62 (3.54%) Remote Desktop
13 47 (2.68%) SAN
14 46 (2.62%) Broadband
15 28 (1.60%) SD-WAN
16 20 (1.14%) NAS
17 16 (0.91%) Internet
17 16 (0.91%) SMTP
18 14 (0.80%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 83 (4.73%) SQL Server
2 82 (4.68%) Amazon RDS
3 53 (3.02%) Power BI
4 28 (1.60%) PostgreSQL
5 25 (1.43%) MySQL
6 19 (1.08%) Oracle Database
7 17 (0.97%) Oracle Database 10g
8 13 (0.74%) Azure SQL Database
9 8 (0.46%) GIS
9 8 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 4 (0.23%) Relational Database
12 3 (0.17%) Neo4j
13 2 (0.11%) Oracle Discoverer
13 2 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
14 1 (0.057%) Data Mining
14 1 (0.057%) OLAP
14 1 (0.057%) RDBMS
14 1 (0.057%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 69 (3.94%) JIRA
2 10 (0.57%) Git
2 10 (0.57%) Oracle Forms
3 8 (0.46%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.34%) GitLab
5 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
6 4 (0.23%) Subversion
7 2 (0.11%) Oracle APEX
8 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.057%) Gatling
8 1 (0.057%) JMeter
8 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.057%) Vagrant
General
1 780 (44.50%) Social Skills
2 195 (11.12%) Analytical Skills
3 164 (9.36%) Organisational Skills
4 120 (6.85%) Finance
5 73 (4.16%) Manufacturing
6 63 (3.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 61 (3.48%) Legal
8 59 (3.37%) Documentation Skills
9 53 (3.02%) Retail
10 51 (2.91%) Law
10 51 (2.91%) Public Sector
11 37 (2.11%) Advertising
11 37 (2.11%) Games
12 30 (1.71%) Telecoms
13 17 (0.97%) Marketing
14 15 (0.86%) Local Government
15 10 (0.57%) Automotive
16 8 (0.46%) Aerospace
17 4 (0.23%) Banking
17 4 (0.23%) Military
Job Titles
1 701 (39.99%) IT Support
2 497 (28.35%) Support Engineer
3 428 (24.42%) IT Engineer
4 369 (21.05%) IT Support Engineer
5 241 (13.75%) Analyst
6 176 (10.04%) Support Analyst
7 174 (9.93%) 2nd Line Support
8 173 (9.87%) Support Technician
9 152 (8.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 145 (8.27%) Senior
11 144 (8.21%) IT Technician
12 133 (7.59%) IT Support Technician
13 118 (6.73%) IT Analyst
14 114 (6.50%) Systems Engineer
15 107 (6.10%) IT Support Analyst
16 98 (5.59%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 89 (5.08%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 85 (4.85%) 3rd Line Support
19 80 (4.56%) 1st Line Support
20 64 (3.65%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.74%) LDAP
2 46 (2.62%) SAML
2 46 (2.62%) SOAP
3 43 (2.45%) OAuth
3 43 (2.45%) OpenID
3 43 (2.45%) REST
4 38 (2.17%) GraphQL
5 19 (1.08%) JSON
5 19 (1.08%) XML
6 10 (0.57%) RESTful
7 9 (0.51%) Regular Expression
8 7 (0.40%) .NET
8 7 (0.40%) Web Services
9 6 (0.34%) ARM Templates
9 6 (0.34%) XMPP
10 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
11 4 (0.23%) EDI
11 4 (0.23%) HTML
11 4 (0.23%) Middleware
11 4 (0.23%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 263 (15.00%) Driving Licence
2 108 (6.16%) Onboarding
3 80 (4.56%) Self-Motivation
4 68 (3.88%) Legacy Systems
5 54 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
6 46 (2.62%) Enterprise Software
7 43 (2.45%) Cyberattack
8 39 (2.22%) Cyber Threat
9 38 (2.17%) Management Information System
10 36 (2.05%) Data Centre
11 35 (2.00%) Public Cloud
12 34 (1.94%) Replication
13 25 (1.43%) Cloud Native
14 20 (1.14%) PKI
15 19 (1.08%) Client/Server
16 17 (0.97%) Clustering
16 17 (0.97%) CMDB
17 14 (0.80%) iPad
18 12 (0.68%) FMCG
18 12 (0.68%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,250 (71.31%) Windows
2 733 (41.81%) Windows Server
3 305 (17.40%) Windows 10
4 207 (11.81%) Linux
5 134 (7.64%) Windows Server 2016
6 90 (5.13%) Mac OS
7 86 (4.91%) Apple iOS
8 75 (4.28%) Android
9 55 (3.14%) Windows Server 2019
10 33 (1.88%) Windows Server 2012
11 32 (1.83%) Windows 7
12 27 (1.54%) Windows Server 2008
13 24 (1.37%) Unix
14 22 (1.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
15 17 (0.97%) HPUX
15 17 (0.97%) Solaris
15 17 (0.97%) Windows Server 2003
16 10 (0.57%) Windows 8
17 7 (0.40%) VMS
18 6 (0.34%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 605 (34.51%) Problem-Solving
2 492 (28.07%) Customer Service
3 434 (24.76%) ITIL
4 263 (15.00%) Cybersecurity
5 203 (11.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 192 (10.95%) Mentoring
7 191 (10.90%) Continuous Improvement
8 177 (10.10%) ITSM
9 157 (8.96%) Service Delivery
10 151 (8.61%) Disaster Recovery
11 118 (6.73%) Incident Management
12 114 (6.50%) Migration
13 113 (6.45%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 112 (6.39%) Change Management
15 101 (5.76%) Coaching
16 93 (5.31%) Identity Access Management
17 92 (5.25%) Customer Experience
18 88 (5.02%) Kalman Filter
19 87 (4.96%) Time Management
19 87 (4.96%) Web Filtering
Programming Languages
1 284 (16.20%) PowerShell
2 144 (8.21%) SQL
3 82 (4.68%) Bash
4 56 (3.19%) Python
5 49 (2.80%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.91%) Perl
6 16 (0.91%) R
7 12 (0.68%) Shell Script
8 11 (0.63%) PL/SQL
9 10 (0.57%) Bicep
10 8 (0.46%) Java
10 8 (0.46%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.46%) VB
11 4 (0.23%) C#
11 4 (0.23%) Korn
12 3 (0.17%) PHP
12 3 (0.17%) VBA
13 2 (0.11%) C
14 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 231 (13.18%) Security Cleared
2 173 (9.87%) Degree
3 170 (9.70%) SC Cleared
4 156 (8.90%) Microsoft Certification
5 80 (4.56%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.62%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.40%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.34%) Azure Certification
9 36 (2.05%) Cisco Certification
10 31 (1.77%) Network+ Certification
11 30 (1.71%) CCNA
12 29 (1.65%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 25 (1.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 18 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
14 18 (1.03%) MCSE
15 17 (0.97%) ITIL Certification
16 16 (0.91%) HNC
17 12 (0.68%) CCNP
17 12 (0.68%) MCSA
18 9 (0.51%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 172 (9.81%) SLA
2 139 (7.93%) Cyber Essentials
3 102 (5.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 75 (4.28%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.85%) NIST
6 39 (2.22%) NCSC
7 37 (2.11%) GDPR
8 27 (1.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (0.97%) QA
10 15 (0.86%) Data Quality
11 9 (0.51%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.29%) GRC
12 5 (0.29%) 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 3 (0.17%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 341 (19.45%) Hyper-V
2 259 (14.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 67 (3.82%) Terminal Server
4 48 (2.74%) vSphere
5 42 (2.40%) VMware ESXi
6 35 (2.00%) Virtual Desktop
7 31 (1.77%) Virtual Machines
8 23 (1.31%) Docker
9 17 (0.97%) BitLocker
10 11 (0.63%) VMware NSX
10 11 (0.63%) VMware Workstation
11 8 (0.46%) XenApp
12 6 (0.34%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.29%) Firmware
14 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
15 3 (0.17%) Lustre
15 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 339 (19.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 122 (6.96%) SCCM
3 42 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
4 38 (2.17%) vCenter Server
5 35 (2.00%) Terraform
6 32 (1.83%) Jamf Pro
7 25 (1.43%) Ansible
8 23 (1.31%) WSUS
9 21 (1.20%) FortiGate
10 20 (1.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 15 (0.86%) Kubernetes
11 15 (0.86%) SCOM
12 14 (0.80%) Autotask
13 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
13 9 (0.51%) Proxmox
14 7 (0.40%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 5 (0.29%) SCVMM
15 5 (0.29%) SmoothWall
15 5 (0.29%) VxRail
15 5 (0.29%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,255 (71.59%) Microsoft
2 444 (25.33%) VMware
3 139 (7.93%) Veeam
4 101 (5.76%) SolarWinds
5 92 (5.25%) Apple
5 92 (5.25%) Nimble Storage
6 90 (5.13%) Citrix
7 89 (5.08%) Cisco
8 83 (4.73%) Splunk
9 82 (4.68%) ServiceNow
10 74 (4.22%) Google
11 70 (3.99%) HP
12 65 (3.71%) Dell
13 64 (3.65%) Brocade
13 64 (3.65%) Tanium
14 39 (2.22%) Meraki
15 34 (1.94%) Oracle
16 32 (1.83%) McAfee
17 28 (1.60%) CrowdStrike
17 28 (1.60%) Dell Compellent