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

6 months to
6 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 45 34 21
Rank change year-on-year -11 -13 +25
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,802 2,277 2,634
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.61% 5.25% 9.09%
As % of the System Software category 59.65% 45.96% 49.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,336 1,403 2,371
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,800 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,500 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +6.67% +0.72%
75th Percentile £48,750 £53,000 £51,500
90th Percentile £63,750 £61,250 £60,000
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £42,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +1.19% +1.20%

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 4,954 5,281
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 7.73% 11.42% 18.23%
Number of salaries quoted 2,173 2,848 4,430
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 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £62,500 £67,063 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,715
UK median annual salary £50,000 £56,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -10.71% +1.82% -1.79%

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 6 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 6 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 +11 494 £37,500 -11.76% 262
North of England -19 371 £32,500 -21.18% 162
South West +5 303 £33,000 -9.59% 75
Midlands -8 301 £32,500 -13.33% 100
East of England -7 207 £35,000 - 96
Yorkshire -9 162 £32,000 -20.00% 53
East Midlands +20 160 £28,500 -18.57% 39
North West -12 152 £35,000 -16.67% 91
West Midlands -23 141 £41,000 +2.50% 61
Scotland -21 82 £30,000 -24.48% 51
North East -3 57 £31,000 -17.33% 20
Wales +2 45 £35,000 +2.94% 25
Northern Ireland -1 14 £55,000 +4.76% 7
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
1 554 (30.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 309 (17.15%) SharePoint
3 33 (1.83%) IIS
4 26 (1.44%) Exchange Server 2003
5 25 (1.39%) Confluence
6 16 (0.89%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.33%) CMS
8 5 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 4 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
11 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
11 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2007
11 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
11 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
11 2 (0.11%) WinCC
11 2 (0.11%) WordPress
12 1 (0.055%) JOnAS
12 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 225 (12.49%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.28%) AutoCAD
5 4 (0.22%) CATIA
6 2 (0.11%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.055%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.055%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.055%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.055%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.72%) Dynamics CRM
2 18 (1.00%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.33%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.28%) Sage 200
5 4 (0.22%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.22%) Visualfiles
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.17%) Primavera
7 2 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.11%) Magento
7 2 (0.11%) Markit EDM
8 1 (0.055%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.055%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.055%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,260 (69.92%) Microsoft 365
2 967 (53.66%) Azure
3 548 (30.41%) Entra ID
4 148 (8.21%) AWS
5 104 (5.77%) OneDrive
6 75 (4.16%) SaaS
7 60 (3.33%) Power Platform
8 51 (2.83%) IaaS
9 48 (2.66%) PaaS
10 39 (2.16%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.11%) GCP
12 36 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
13 33 (1.83%) Azure Logic Apps
14 32 (1.78%) Google Workspace
15 28 (1.55%) GitHub
16 27 (1.50%) Azure Monitor
17 25 (1.39%) Azure Sentinel
18 23 (1.28%) Amazon EC2
18 23 (1.28%) Power Automate
19 22 (1.22%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 659 (36.57%) DNS
2 610 (33.85%) DHCP
3 445 (24.69%) Firewall
4 281 (15.59%) TCP/IP
5 249 (13.82%) VPN
6 182 (10.10%) VLAN
7 171 (9.49%) LAN
8 168 (9.32%) WAN
9 131 (7.27%) Wi-Fi
10 94 (5.22%) Wireless
11 92 (5.11%) VoIP
12 81 (4.50%) SAN
13 55 (3.05%) Remote Desktop
14 41 (2.28%) Internet
15 34 (1.89%) Network Security
16 27 (1.50%) SD-WAN
17 24 (1.33%) SMTP
18 20 (1.11%) SSL
19 18 (1.00%) Kerberos
20 16 (0.89%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 134 (7.44%) Amazon RDS
2 74 (4.11%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.61%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.44%) Oracle Database 10g
5 20 (1.11%) Power BI
6 12 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (0.67%) MySQL
7 9 (0.50%) DTS
8 7 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
9 6 (0.33%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 5 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) 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 61 (3.39%) JIRA
2 41 (2.28%) Jenkins
3 40 (2.22%) Git
4 21 (1.17%) Oracle Forms
5 16 (0.89%) Vagrant
6 4 (0.22%) GitLab
6 4 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.055%) Artifactory
General
1 887 (49.22%) Social Skills
2 190 (10.54%) Analytical Skills
3 131 (7.27%) Finance
4 112 (6.22%) Manufacturing
5 96 (5.33%) Organisational Skills
6 71 (3.94%) Retail
7 66 (3.66%) Law
8 48 (2.66%) Documentation Skills
9 46 (2.55%) Advertising
10 41 (2.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 40 (2.22%) Public Sector
12 39 (2.16%) Legal
13 35 (1.94%) Telecoms
14 18 (1.00%) Marketing
15 16 (0.89%) Aerospace
16 15 (0.83%) French Language
16 15 (0.83%) Swedish Language
17 13 (0.72%) Pharmaceutical
18 10 (0.55%) Automotive
18 10 (0.55%) Games
Job Titles
1 614 (34.07%) IT Support
2 425 (23.58%) Support Engineer
3 286 (15.87%) IT Engineer
4 275 (15.26%) Analyst
5 240 (13.32%) IT Support Engineer
6 203 (11.27%) Support Analyst
7 200 (11.10%) 2nd Line Support
8 179 (9.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 151 (8.38%) IT Analyst
10 147 (8.16%) Support Technician
11 129 (7.16%) Systems Engineer
12 124 (6.88%) Technical Support
13 123 (6.83%) IT Support Analyst
14 118 (6.55%) IT Technician
15 117 (6.49%) Senior
16 115 (6.38%) 3rd Line Support
17 94 (5.22%) 1st Line Support
18 93 (5.16%) IT Support Technician
19 69 (3.83%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 68 (3.77%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (1.61%) LDAP
2 25 (1.39%) .NET
3 23 (1.28%) SOAP
4 21 (1.17%) RESTful
5 18 (1.00%) JSON
5 18 (1.00%) XML
6 15 (0.83%) ARM Templates
7 14 (0.78%) EDI
8 12 (0.67%) OAuth
8 12 (0.67%) OpenID
8 12 (0.67%) React
8 12 (0.67%) SAML
9 10 (0.55%) CSS
9 10 (0.55%) HTML
10 9 (0.50%) .NET Framework
10 9 (0.50%) Web Services
11 7 (0.39%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.28%) 802.1X
12 5 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.28%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 257 (14.26%) Driving Licence
2 179 (9.93%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.33%) Legacy Systems
4 78 (4.33%) Self-Motivation
5 56 (3.11%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (2.55%) Data Centre
7 43 (2.39%) Cloud Native
8 38 (2.11%) Management Information System
9 33 (1.83%) PKI
10 27 (1.50%) Hybrid Cloud
11 22 (1.22%) Clustering
11 22 (1.22%) Replication
12 20 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
13 16 (0.89%) Client/Server
13 16 (0.89%) FMCG
13 16 (0.89%) iPad
13 16 (0.89%) Security Posture
14 15 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
15 14 (0.78%) CMDB
15 14 (0.78%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1,321 (73.31%) Windows
2 814 (45.17%) Windows Server
3 284 (15.76%) Windows 10
4 238 (13.21%) Linux
5 150 (8.32%) Windows Server 2016
6 117 (6.49%) Windows Server 2019
7 105 (5.83%) Mac OS
8 62 (3.44%) Apple iOS
9 47 (2.61%) Android
10 35 (1.94%) Unix
10 35 (1.94%) Windows Server 2008
11 32 (1.78%) VMS
11 32 (1.78%) Windows 7
12 26 (1.44%) Solaris
12 26 (1.44%) Windows Server 2003
13 25 (1.39%) HPUX
14 23 (1.28%) Windows Server 2012
15 21 (1.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 11 (0.61%) Amazon Linux
17 7 (0.39%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 633 (35.13%) Problem-Solving
2 556 (30.85%) Customer Service
3 352 (19.53%) ITIL
4 238 (13.21%) Cybersecurity
5 235 (13.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 189 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
7 181 (10.04%) Mentoring
8 164 (9.10%) Migration
9 161 (8.93%) ITSM
10 123 (6.83%) Incident Management
11 110 (6.10%) Disaster Recovery
12 109 (6.05%) Service Delivery
13 105 (5.83%) Kalman Filter
14 101 (5.60%) Web Filtering
15 99 (5.49%) DevOps
16 98 (5.44%) Vulnerability Remediation
17 96 (5.33%) Asset Management
17 96 (5.33%) Customer Experience
18 95 (5.27%) Agile
18 95 (5.27%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 298 (16.54%) PowerShell
2 140 (7.77%) SQL
3 67 (3.72%) Python
4 33 (1.83%) Bash
4 33 (1.83%) Perl
5 31 (1.72%) Java
6 21 (1.17%) PL/SQL
7 20 (1.11%) Groovy
7 20 (1.11%) Shell Script
8 18 (1.00%) VB
9 15 (0.83%) JavaScript
10 13 (0.72%) C#
11 11 (0.61%) Bicep
12 7 (0.39%) Korn
12 7 (0.39%) T-SQL
13 5 (0.28%) VBA
14 2 (0.11%) Go
14 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.055%) VB.NET
15 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 243 (13.49%) Security Cleared
2 203 (11.27%) SC Cleared
3 174 (9.66%) Degree
3 174 (9.66%) Microsoft Certification
4 64 (3.55%) DV Cleared
5 52 (2.89%) A+ Certification
6 49 (2.72%) Azure Certification
7 46 (2.55%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (2.44%) DBS Check
9 40 (2.22%) CCNA
10 33 (1.83%) MCP
10 33 (1.83%) MCSE
10 33 (1.83%) Network+ Certification
11 24 (1.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 20 (1.11%) AWS Certification
13 19 (1.05%) ITIL Certification
14 18 (1.00%) MCSA
15 15 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
15 15 (0.83%) HND
16 14 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 126 (6.99%) Cyber Essentials
2 123 (6.83%) SLA
3 97 (5.38%) PCI DSS
4 64 (3.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 61 (3.39%) GDPR
6 17 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 15 (0.83%) NIST
8 9 (0.50%) QA
9 7 (0.39%) GxP
10 6 (0.33%) NCSC
11 5 (0.28%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 5 (0.28%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.055%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.055%) IASME
13 1 (0.055%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 371 (20.59%) Hyper-V
2 266 (14.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (5.16%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.83%) vSphere
5 49 (2.72%) Virtual Desktop
6 36 (2.00%) Docker
7 32 (1.78%) VMware ESXi
8 31 (1.72%) Virtual Machines
9 17 (0.94%) Firmware
10 15 (0.83%) Virtual Servers
11 9 (0.50%) DFS Replication
12 7 (0.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 6 (0.33%) Terminal Services
13 6 (0.33%) XenApp
14 4 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.17%) VMware NSX
15 3 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
16 2 (0.11%) BitLocker
17 1 (0.055%) Dovecot
17 1 (0.055%) KVM
Systems Management
1 418 (23.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 152 (8.44%) SCCM
3 70 (3.88%) Terraform
4 36 (2.00%) Single Sign-On
4 36 (2.00%) WSUS
5 33 (1.83%) Kubernetes
6 31 (1.72%) vCenter Server
7 28 (1.55%) Ansible
8 24 (1.33%) SCOM
9 23 (1.28%) Autotask
10 20 (1.11%) Prometheus
11 17 (0.94%) FortiGate
12 16 (0.89%) Grafana
13 15 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
14 13 (0.72%) Nagios
14 13 (0.72%) ZABBIX
15 11 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
16 8 (0.44%) Active Directory Federation Services
16 8 (0.44%) PaperCut
17 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,384 (76.80%) Microsoft
2 470 (26.08%) VMware
3 171 (9.49%) Veeam
4 161 (8.93%) Cisco
5 123 (6.83%) SolarWinds
6 99 (5.49%) Splunk
7 97 (5.38%) Tanium
8 95 (5.27%) Nimble Storage
9 88 (4.88%) Brocade
10 83 (4.61%) Apple
11 75 (4.16%) ServiceNow
12 61 (3.39%) Citrix
13 54 (3.00%) Oracle
14 52 (2.89%) Google
15 47 (2.61%) HP
16 45 (2.50%) Meraki
17 39 (2.16%) Dell
18 34 (1.89%) SonicWALL
19 33 (1.83%) Red Hat
19 33 (1.83%) Sophos