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 26 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 46 37 22
Rank change year-on-year -9 -15 +20
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,754 2,049 2,600
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.11% 5.42% 8.51%
As % of the System Software category 60.30% 44.89% 49.03%
Number of salaries quoted 1,256 1,289 2,314
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -16.25% +6.67% +0.24%
75th Percentile £47,250 £52,500 £51,250
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,250 £59,700
UK median annual salary £36,500 £42,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year -14.12% - +1.80%

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 2,909 4,564 5,303
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.82% 12.07% 17.35%
Number of salaries quoted 2,041 2,671 4,405
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,750 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £33,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -16.00% +5.14% -1.94%
75th Percentile £60,750 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £77,620
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.28% +3.64% -

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 26 December 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 26 December 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 +10 473 £36,000 -15.29% 227
North of England -23 347 £32,500 -18.75% 163
South West +5 299 £32,500 -9.72% 82
Midlands -11 279 £31,500 -14.29% 87
East of England -15 209 £35,000 - 82
East Midlands +9 159 £28,500 -16.18% 38
North West -17 151 £35,000 -14.36% 92
Yorkshire -9 147 £31,500 -10.00% 55
West Midlands -35 120 £37,500 -6.25% 48
Scotland -11 97 £30,250 -24.38% 21
North East -2 49 £31,000 -17.33% 21
Wales +6 44 £35,000 +1.45% 23
Northern Ireland -4 16 £47,750 -9.05% 3
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
1 529 (30.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 309 (17.62%) SharePoint
3 30 (1.71%) IIS
4 26 (1.48%) Exchange Server 2003
5 18 (1.03%) Confluence
6 16 (0.91%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.29%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
10 2 (0.11%) CMS
10 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2007
10 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 227 (12.94%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (2.17%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.057%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 32 (1.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.14%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.34%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.23%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.23%) Visualfiles
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
6 1 (0.057%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.057%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.057%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,219 (69.50%) Microsoft 365
2 937 (53.42%) Azure
3 544 (31.01%) Entra ID
4 126 (7.18%) AWS
5 109 (6.21%) OneDrive
6 71 (4.05%) SaaS
7 62 (3.53%) Power Platform
8 49 (2.79%) Google Workspace
9 40 (2.28%) Azure DevOps
9 40 (2.28%) IaaS
10 39 (2.22%) GCP
11 37 (2.11%) PaaS
11 37 (2.11%) PowerApps
12 31 (1.77%) Azure Logic Apps
13 30 (1.71%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (1.71%) GitHub
14 24 (1.37%) Azure Sentinel
15 23 (1.31%) OCI
16 22 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
16 22 (1.25%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 648 (36.94%) DNS
2 608 (34.66%) DHCP
3 406 (23.15%) Firewall
4 264 (15.05%) TCP/IP
5 249 (14.20%) VPN
6 173 (9.86%) VLAN
7 168 (9.58%) LAN
8 165 (9.41%) WAN
9 124 (7.07%) Wi-Fi
10 92 (5.25%) Wireless
11 87 (4.96%) VoIP
12 72 (4.10%) SAN
13 61 (3.48%) Remote Desktop
14 41 (2.34%) Network Security
15 40 (2.28%) Internet
16 21 (1.20%) SMTP
17 20 (1.14%) SD-WAN
18 19 (1.08%) Broadband
18 19 (1.08%) SSL
19 16 (0.91%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 127 (7.24%) Amazon RDS
2 61 (3.48%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.65%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.48%) Oracle Database 10g
5 19 (1.08%) Power BI
6 12 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.51%) DTS
7 9 (0.51%) MySQL
8 7 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
9 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.11%) GIS
12 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 56 (3.19%) JIRA
2 34 (1.94%) Jenkins
3 31 (1.77%) Git
4 23 (1.31%) Oracle Forms
5 7 (0.40%) Vagrant
6 4 (0.23%) GitLab
7 3 (0.17%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) Sonatype Nexus
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 (0.057%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
General
1 870 (49.60%) Social Skills
2 196 (11.17%) Analytical Skills
3 136 (7.75%) Finance
4 109 (6.21%) Organisational Skills
5 101 (5.76%) Manufacturing
6 66 (3.76%) Retail
7 61 (3.48%) Law
8 49 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 47 (2.68%) Documentation Skills
10 42 (2.39%) Advertising
11 37 (2.11%) Legal
12 31 (1.77%) Telecoms
13 27 (1.54%) Public Sector
14 19 (1.08%) Marketing
15 18 (1.03%) Games
16 15 (0.86%) French Language
16 15 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
16 15 (0.86%) Swedish Language
17 11 (0.63%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.40%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 605 (34.49%) IT Support
2 416 (23.72%) Support Engineer
3 296 (16.88%) IT Engineer
4 256 (14.60%) Analyst
5 248 (14.14%) IT Support Engineer
6 192 (10.95%) 2nd Line Support
7 187 (10.66%) Support Analyst
8 160 (9.12%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 150 (8.55%) Support Technician
10 139 (7.92%) IT Analyst
11 136 (7.75%) Systems Engineer
12 119 (6.78%) IT Technician
13 115 (6.56%) Senior
14 113 (6.44%) IT Support Analyst
15 106 (6.04%) 3rd Line Support
15 106 (6.04%) Technical Support
16 98 (5.59%) IT Support Technician
17 92 (5.25%) 1st Line Support
18 76 (4.33%) 2nd Line Engineer
19 69 (3.93%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (2.05%) LDAP
2 35 (2.00%) SOAP
3 25 (1.43%) .NET
4 23 (1.31%) OAuth
4 23 (1.31%) OpenID
4 23 (1.31%) RESTful
4 23 (1.31%) SAML
5 20 (1.14%) JSON
5 20 (1.14%) XML
6 15 (0.86%) ARM Templates
6 15 (0.86%) GraphQL
6 15 (0.86%) REST
7 14 (0.80%) EDI
8 12 (0.68%) React
9 10 (0.57%) CSS
9 10 (0.57%) HTML
10 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
11 8 (0.46%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.29%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 250 (14.25%) Driving Licence
2 172 (9.81%) Onboarding
3 104 (5.93%) Legacy Systems
4 72 (4.10%) Self-Motivation
5 64 (3.65%) Enterprise Software
6 45 (2.57%) Data Centre
7 40 (2.28%) Cloud Native
8 31 (1.77%) Management Information System
9 28 (1.60%) Hybrid Cloud
10 24 (1.37%) PKI
11 21 (1.20%) Clustering
11 21 (1.20%) Video Conferencing
12 20 (1.14%) Replication
13 19 (1.08%) Cyber Threat
13 19 (1.08%) iPad
14 18 (1.03%) Cyberattack
15 16 (0.91%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.91%) CMDB
15 16 (0.91%) Security Posture
16 15 (0.86%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 1,278 (72.86%) Windows
2 783 (44.64%) Windows Server
3 275 (15.68%) Windows 10
4 227 (12.94%) Linux
5 149 (8.49%) Windows Server 2016
6 95 (5.42%) Windows Server 2019
7 92 (5.25%) Mac OS
8 69 (3.93%) Apple iOS
9 59 (3.36%) Android
10 33 (1.88%) Windows Server 2008
11 31 (1.77%) Unix
11 31 (1.77%) Windows 7
12 26 (1.48%) Solaris
12 26 (1.48%) Windows Server 2003
13 25 (1.43%) HPUX
14 24 (1.37%) Windows Server 2012
15 18 (1.03%) VMS
16 13 (0.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 6 (0.34%) Amazon Linux
18 5 (0.29%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 627 (35.75%) Problem-Solving
2 555 (31.64%) Customer Service
3 360 (20.52%) ITIL
4 228 (13.00%) Cybersecurity
5 209 (11.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 191 (10.89%) Mentoring
7 184 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
8 167 (9.52%) ITSM
9 165 (9.41%) Migration
10 123 (7.01%) Service Delivery
11 120 (6.84%) Incident Management
12 112 (6.39%) Disaster Recovery
13 109 (6.21%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 107 (6.10%) Kalman Filter
15 105 (5.99%) Customer Experience
15 105 (5.99%) Web Filtering
16 103 (5.87%) Agile
17 102 (5.82%) Asset Management
17 102 (5.82%) DevOps
18 101 (5.76%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 276 (15.74%) PowerShell
2 137 (7.81%) SQL
3 57 (3.25%) Python
4 44 (2.51%) Bash
5 28 (1.60%) Java
5 28 (1.60%) Perl
6 23 (1.31%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.25%) Shell Script
8 17 (0.97%) T-SQL
9 15 (0.86%) JavaScript
9 15 (0.86%) VB
10 13 (0.74%) C#
11 11 (0.63%) Bicep
12 9 (0.51%) Groovy
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Korn
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.057%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 239 (13.63%) Security Cleared
2 205 (11.69%) SC Cleared
3 158 (9.01%) Microsoft Certification
4 153 (8.72%) Degree
5 64 (3.65%) DV Cleared
6 50 (2.85%) DBS Check
7 45 (2.57%) A+ Certification
8 42 (2.39%) Cisco Certification
9 40 (2.28%) Azure Certification
10 36 (2.05%) CCNA
10 36 (2.05%) MCP
11 31 (1.77%) MCSE
12 29 (1.65%) Network+ Certification
13 24 (1.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 22 (1.25%) ITIL Certification
15 17 (0.97%) MCSA
16 15 (0.86%) HND
17 14 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
18 12 (0.68%) AWS Certification
18 12 (0.68%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 141 (8.04%) Cyber Essentials
2 126 (7.18%) SLA
3 105 (5.99%) PCI DSS
4 69 (3.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 54 (3.08%) GDPR
6 26 (1.48%) NIST
7 17 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 15 (0.86%) NCSC
9 12 (0.68%) QA
10 7 (0.40%) GxP
11 6 (0.34%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.29%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.057%) GRC
14 1 (0.057%) IASME
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 353 (20.13%) Hyper-V
2 254 (14.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 99 (5.64%) Terminal Server
4 50 (2.85%) Virtual Desktop
5 46 (2.62%) vSphere
6 30 (1.71%) VMware ESXi
7 28 (1.60%) Docker
7 28 (1.60%) Virtual Machines
8 18 (1.03%) Firmware
9 13 (0.74%) Virtual Servers
10 6 (0.34%) XenApp
11 5 (0.29%) BitLocker
12 4 (0.23%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
12 4 (0.23%) VMware NSX
12 4 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
13 3 (0.17%) DFS Replication
13 3 (0.17%) Lustre
13 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 403 (22.98%) Microsoft Intune
2 140 (7.98%) SCCM
3 65 (3.71%) Terraform
4 41 (2.34%) Single Sign-On
5 32 (1.82%) vCenter Server
6 31 (1.77%) WSUS
7 26 (1.48%) Kubernetes
8 23 (1.31%) Ansible
9 20 (1.14%) SCOM
10 19 (1.08%) Jamf Pro
11 18 (1.03%) Autotask
12 17 (0.97%) FortiGate
13 13 (0.74%) Nagios
13 13 (0.74%) ZABBIX
14 11 (0.63%) Prometheus
15 10 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
16 9 (0.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
17 7 (0.40%) Grafana
17 7 (0.40%) PaperCut
17 7 (0.40%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,337 (76.23%) Microsoft
2 474 (27.02%) VMware
3 178 (10.15%) Veeam
4 145 (8.27%) Cisco
5 136 (7.75%) SolarWinds
6 110 (6.27%) Splunk
7 107 (6.10%) Nimble Storage
8 105 (5.99%) Tanium
9 96 (5.47%) Brocade
10 91 (5.19%) Apple
11 67 (3.82%) ServiceNow
12 65 (3.71%) Citrix
13 56 (3.19%) Google
14 51 (2.91%) Oracle
15 50 (2.85%) HP
16 43 (2.45%) Meraki
17 40 (2.28%) Dell
18 30 (1.71%) SonicWALL
19 29 (1.65%) Red Hat
20 26 (1.48%) Sophos