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

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 46 32
Rank change year-on-year -21 -14 +11
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,809 1,539 4,420
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.68% 5.33% 6.12%
As % of the System Software category 54.39% 38.84% 50.86%
Number of salaries quoted 1,395 1,186 3,651
10th Percentile £26,375 £25,750 £23,500
25th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,700
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.41%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,670
90th Percentile £63,750 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £39,500 £39,000 £37,500
% change year-on-year +1.28% +4.00% -6.25%

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 3,326 3,962 8,690
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.94% 13.71% 12.03%
Number of salaries quoted 2,508 2,286 6,982
10th Percentile £27,750 £26,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £32,000 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £46,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.23% +3.33% -5.26%
75th Percentile £64,750 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £83,750 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -2.78% +8.00% -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 30 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 30 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 -14 455 £35,000 +12.90% 103
South East +3 421 £40,000 - 149
Midlands -41 306 £33,500 +3.08% 58
South West -3 247 £35,000 +7.69% 52
North West +51 228 £37,500 - 57
East of England -2 204 £35,000 +7.69% 52
Yorkshire -33 184 £32,500 +8.33% 35
East Midlands 0 159 £32,500 +3.17% 30
West Midlands -60 146 £35,000 - 28
Scotland +67 103 £30,500 -39.00% 12
Wales +1 51 £45,000 +18.13% 9
North East -41 43 £40,000 +25.00% 13
Northern Ireland -28 16 £32,000 -37.56% 2
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +30.43%
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
1 472 (26.09%) Microsoft Exchange
2 379 (20.95%) SharePoint
3 28 (1.55%) IIS
4 16 (0.88%) Confluence
5 11 (0.61%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.50%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.50%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.28%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.22%) Apache
8 4 (0.22%) CMS
9 3 (0.17%) SAS
10 1 (0.055%) Drupal
10 1 (0.055%) nginx
10 1 (0.055%) WordPress
Applications
1 210 (11.61%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.11%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.055%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 18 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.72%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.39%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.39%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.22%) Dynamics GP
4 4 (0.22%) Exchequer
4 4 (0.22%) Primavera
5 3 (0.17%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.055%) Magento
7 1 (0.055%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.055%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.055%) SAP EHS
7 1 (0.055%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,269 (70.15%) Microsoft 365
2 977 (54.01%) Azure
3 676 (37.37%) Entra ID
4 143 (7.90%) OneDrive
5 141 (7.79%) AWS
6 89 (4.92%) Power Platform
7 88 (4.86%) Google Workspace
7 88 (4.86%) SaaS
8 48 (2.65%) IaaS
9 40 (2.21%) PaaS
10 38 (2.10%) Mimecast
11 36 (1.99%) Nutanix
12 30 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
13 26 (1.44%) PowerApps
14 23 (1.27%) Azure Sentinel
14 23 (1.27%) Microsoft Purview
15 21 (1.16%) Azure Monitor
15 21 (1.16%) Dynamics 365
16 17 (0.94%) Power Automate
17 15 (0.83%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 590 (32.61%) DNS
2 500 (27.64%) DHCP
3 455 (25.15%) Firewall
4 285 (15.75%) VPN
5 192 (10.61%) WAN
6 187 (10.34%) LAN
7 184 (10.17%) TCP/IP
8 169 (9.34%) Wi-Fi
9 155 (8.57%) VLAN
10 102 (5.64%) VoIP
11 83 (4.59%) Wireless
12 68 (3.76%) Network Security
13 66 (3.65%) SAN
14 59 (3.26%) Remote Desktop
15 43 (2.38%) Broadband
16 28 (1.55%) NAS
17 21 (1.16%) SD-WAN
18 19 (1.05%) Internet
19 14 (0.77%) SSL
19 14 (0.77%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 101 (5.58%) SQL Server
2 77 (4.26%) Amazon RDS
3 46 (2.54%) Power BI
4 30 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
5 25 (1.38%) MySQL
6 12 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 8 (0.44%) GIS
9 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.22%) Crystal Reports
10 4 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.22%) Neo4j
11 2 (0.11%) Relational Database
12 1 (0.055%) Data Lake
12 1 (0.055%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.055%) KNIME
12 1 (0.055%) Metadata
12 1 (0.055%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.055%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.055%) Redis
Development Applications
1 75 (4.15%) JIRA
2 10 (0.55%) GitLab
3 8 (0.44%) Git
4 6 (0.33%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.22%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.17%) Burp Suite
7 3 (0.17%) Metasploit
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle Forms
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) Terragrunt
9 1 (0.055%) Carbide.c++
9 1 (0.055%) Gatling
9 1 (0.055%) JMeter
9 1 (0.055%) Vagrant
General
1 764 (42.23%) Social Skills
2 181 (10.01%) Analytical Skills
3 142 (7.85%) Organisational Skills
4 123 (6.80%) Finance
5 67 (3.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 66 (3.65%) Manufacturing
7 62 (3.43%) Legal
8 53 (2.93%) Documentation Skills
9 52 (2.87%) Public Sector
10 51 (2.82%) Law
11 45 (2.49%) Retail
12 37 (2.05%) Games
13 31 (1.71%) Advertising
14 30 (1.66%) Telecoms
15 19 (1.05%) Local Government
16 11 (0.61%) Marketing
17 10 (0.55%) Aerospace
18 9 (0.50%) Automotive
18 9 (0.50%) Influencing Skills
19 4 (0.22%) Police
Job Titles
1 687 (37.98%) IT Support
2 476 (26.31%) Support Engineer
3 426 (23.55%) IT Engineer
4 355 (19.62%) IT Support Engineer
5 284 (15.70%) Analyst
6 195 (10.78%) Support Analyst
7 180 (9.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 178 (9.84%) Support Technician
9 172 (9.51%) Senior
10 157 (8.68%) IT Technician
11 156 (8.62%) 2nd Line Support
12 142 (7.85%) IT Support Technician
13 129 (7.13%) IT Analyst
14 115 (6.36%) Systems Engineer
15 113 (6.25%) IT Support Analyst
16 92 (5.09%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 80 (4.42%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 72 (3.98%) Architect
19 70 (3.87%) 1st Line Support
19 70 (3.87%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (2.82%) LDAP
2 48 (2.65%) SAML
3 43 (2.38%) OpenID
4 42 (2.32%) OAuth
5 40 (2.21%) REST
6 38 (2.10%) SOAP
7 35 (1.93%) GraphQL
8 18 (1.00%) Regular Expression
9 15 (0.83%) JSON
9 15 (0.83%) XML
10 14 (0.77%) XMPP
11 8 (0.44%) Microsoft Graph
12 7 (0.39%) .NET
12 7 (0.39%) ARM Templates
13 6 (0.33%) Web Services
14 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
14 5 (0.28%) Middleware
14 5 (0.28%) OAuth2
14 5 (0.28%) RESTful
15 4 (0.22%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 244 (13.49%) Driving Licence
2 122 (6.74%) Onboarding
3 80 (4.42%) Self-Motivation
4 72 (3.98%) Hybrid Cloud
5 66 (3.65%) Legacy Systems
6 56 (3.10%) Data Centre
7 55 (3.04%) Management Information System
8 38 (2.10%) Cyberattack
8 38 (2.10%) Replication
9 37 (2.05%) Public Cloud
10 36 (1.99%) Cyber Threat
11 34 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
12 30 (1.66%) Clustering
13 28 (1.55%) PKI
14 27 (1.49%) Cloud Native
15 19 (1.05%) CCTV
16 16 (0.88%) Client/Server
17 15 (0.83%) Data Structures
17 15 (0.83%) Video Conferencing
18 14 (0.77%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 1,294 (71.53%) Windows
2 764 (42.23%) Windows Server
3 289 (15.98%) Windows 10
4 228 (12.60%) Linux
5 132 (7.30%) Windows Server 2016
6 105 (5.80%) Mac OS
7 79 (4.37%) Apple iOS
8 78 (4.31%) Windows Server 2019
9 70 (3.87%) Android
10 35 (1.93%) Windows Server 2012
11 34 (1.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 13 (0.72%) VMS
13 12 (0.66%) Windows 7
13 12 (0.66%) Windows Server 2008
14 7 (0.39%) Ubuntu
14 7 (0.39%) Windows 8
15 5 (0.28%) CentOS
15 5 (0.28%) Debian
16 4 (0.22%) Mac OS X
16 4 (0.22%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 594 (32.84%) Problem-Solving
2 447 (24.71%) Customer Service
3 417 (23.05%) ITIL
4 291 (16.09%) Cybersecurity
5 256 (14.15%) Continuous Improvement
6 235 (12.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 192 (10.61%) Mentoring
8 178 (9.84%) Disaster Recovery
9 169 (9.34%) ITSM
10 160 (8.84%) Service Delivery
11 115 (6.36%) Change Management
12 114 (6.30%) Migration
13 109 (6.03%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 97 (5.36%) Service Management
15 94 (5.20%) Project Delivery
16 93 (5.14%) Coaching
16 93 (5.14%) Incident Management
17 92 (5.09%) Root Cause Analysis
18 91 (5.03%) Customer Experience
19 90 (4.98%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 303 (16.75%) PowerShell
2 166 (9.18%) SQL
3 86 (4.75%) Bash
4 62 (3.43%) Python
5 46 (2.54%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.88%) R
7 13 (0.72%) Bicep
8 7 (0.39%) C#
8 7 (0.39%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.39%) VB
9 6 (0.33%) Java
9 6 (0.33%) Korn
10 5 (0.28%) JavaScript
10 5 (0.28%) VBA
11 4 (0.22%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.17%) PHP
13 2 (0.11%) C
14 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 242 (13.38%) Security Cleared
2 179 (9.89%) Degree
3 160 (8.84%) SC Cleared
4 159 (8.79%) Microsoft Certification
5 83 (4.59%) DV Cleared
6 58 (3.21%) Azure Certification
7 52 (2.87%) DBS Check
8 45 (2.49%) A+ Certification
9 34 (1.88%) Cisco Certification
9 34 (1.88%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 33 (1.82%) CCNA
11 32 (1.77%) Network+ Certification
12 21 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
13 20 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 18 (1.00%) MCSE
15 17 (0.94%) HNC
16 16 (0.88%) ITIL Certification
16 16 (0.88%) MCSA
17 15 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
18 10 (0.55%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (9.18%) SLA
2 151 (8.35%) Cyber Essentials
3 115 (6.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 70 (3.87%) PCI DSS
5 62 (3.43%) NIST
6 39 (2.16%) NCSC
7 35 (1.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 33 (1.82%) GDPR
9 23 (1.27%) QA
10 21 (1.16%) Data Quality
11 12 (0.66%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.33%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.28%) GRC
13 5 (0.28%) PMO
14 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 4 (0.22%) GxP
14 4 (0.22%) ISO 22301
14 4 (0.22%) ITGC
15 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
16 1 (0.055%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 372 (20.56%) Hyper-V
2 298 (16.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 70 (3.87%) vSphere
4 59 (3.26%) Terminal Server
5 49 (2.71%) Virtual Desktop
6 48 (2.65%) VMware ESXi
7 33 (1.82%) Virtual Machines
8 32 (1.77%) Docker
9 17 (0.94%) BitLocker
10 16 (0.88%) VMware NSX
11 12 (0.66%) Virtual Servers
12 9 (0.50%) DFS Replication
13 8 (0.44%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 8 (0.44%) VMware Workstation
14 7 (0.39%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 6 (0.33%) XenApp
16 4 (0.22%) Firmware
17 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
17 3 (0.17%) Squid
17 3 (0.17%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 377 (20.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 117 (6.47%) SCCM
3 40 (2.21%) Single Sign-On
3 40 (2.21%) vCenter Server
4 34 (1.88%) Terraform
5 31 (1.71%) Jamf Pro
6 28 (1.55%) Ansible
7 26 (1.44%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 26 (1.44%) WSUS
8 23 (1.27%) FortiGate
9 20 (1.11%) Kubernetes
10 16 (0.88%) Proxmox
11 13 (0.72%) SCOM
12 11 (0.61%) Autotask
12 11 (0.61%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 9 (0.50%) Backup Exec
14 8 (0.44%) ZABBIX
15 7 (0.39%) VxRail
16 5 (0.28%) Nessus
16 5 (0.28%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,338 (73.96%) Microsoft
2 473 (26.15%) VMware
3 158 (8.73%) Veeam
4 103 (5.69%) Cisco
5 90 (4.98%) Apple
5 90 (4.98%) SolarWinds
6 87 (4.81%) Citrix
7 81 (4.48%) Nimble Storage
8 76 (4.20%) Splunk
9 75 (4.15%) ServiceNow
10 65 (3.59%) Dell
10 65 (3.59%) HP
11 63 (3.48%) Google
12 57 (3.15%) Meraki
13 56 (3.10%) Brocade
13 56 (3.10%) Tanium
14 37 (2.05%) McAfee
15 35 (1.93%) Red Hat
16 30 (1.66%) CrowdStrike
17 26 (1.44%) Ubiquiti