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 19 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 57 36 29
Rank change year-on-year -21 -7 +15
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,750 1,532 4,267
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.25% 5.63% 7.19%
As % of the System Software category 60.89% 44.37% 50.63%
Number of salaries quoted 1,287 1,192 3,709
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £24,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £28,000 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £37,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.11% +5.71% -2.78%
75th Percentile £47,500 £50,000 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £60,000 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £39,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% +2.56% -2.50%

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 2,874 3,453 8,427
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.35% 12.69% 14.19%
Number of salaries quoted 2,085 2,487 7,006
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £62,500 £69,000 £60,750
90th Percentile £75,000 £85,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -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 19 March 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 19 March 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 +8 502 £36,000 -15.29% 170
North of England -29 381 £33,250 -2.92% 125
Midlands -24 269 £32,500 -7.14% 72
South West -1 263 £32,500 -5.80% 67
Yorkshire -18 175 £32,500 +8.33% 39
East of England -26 171 £37,000 +13.85% 56
North West -25 166 £37,500 -6.25% 77
East Midlands -21 143 £31,500 +5.00% 31
West Midlands -41 125 £33,000 -14.84% 41
Scotland +14 99 £28,000 -22.22% 30
Wales +10 41 £35,000 -28.72% 12
North East -9 40 £31,500 -7.35% 16
Northern Ireland -27 18 £32,000 -39.05% 3
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +55.17% 2
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
1 493 (28.17%) Microsoft Exchange
2 342 (19.54%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.31%) Exchange Server 2003
4 13 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2013
4 13 (0.74%) IIS
5 12 (0.69%) Confluence
6 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2007
6 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2010
7 6 (0.34%) CMS
8 3 (0.17%) Apache
8 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.11%) WordPress
10 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.057%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 252 (14.40%) Microsoft Office
2 41 (2.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.11%) CATIA
6 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 13 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.69%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.40%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.34%) Primavera
5 5 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
5 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
7 3 (0.17%) Exchequer
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
8 2 (0.11%) Shopify
9 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
9 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.057%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,240 (70.86%) Microsoft 365
2 959 (54.80%) Azure
3 611 (34.91%) Entra ID
4 134 (7.66%) OneDrive
5 130 (7.43%) AWS
6 102 (5.83%) Google Workspace
7 82 (4.69%) SaaS
8 73 (4.17%) Power Platform
9 37 (2.11%) IaaS
10 33 (1.89%) Azure Monitor
11 32 (1.83%) PaaS
12 31 (1.77%) GCP
12 31 (1.77%) Nutanix
13 29 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
13 29 (1.66%) Mimecast
14 24 (1.37%) PowerApps
15 22 (1.26%) Microsoft Purview
16 20 (1.14%) OCI
17 19 (1.09%) Azure Logic Apps
18 18 (1.03%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 625 (35.71%) DNS
2 583 (33.31%) DHCP
3 413 (23.60%) Firewall
4 283 (16.17%) VPN
5 230 (13.14%) TCP/IP
6 192 (10.97%) VLAN
7 179 (10.23%) WAN
8 175 (10.00%) LAN
9 148 (8.46%) Wi-Fi
10 93 (5.31%) VoIP
11 79 (4.51%) Wireless
12 61 (3.49%) Remote Desktop
13 60 (3.43%) Network Security
14 47 (2.69%) Broadband
15 42 (2.40%) SAN
16 27 (1.54%) SD-WAN
17 17 (0.97%) Internet
17 17 (0.97%) NAS
18 16 (0.91%) Unified Communications
19 15 (0.86%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (5.20%) Amazon RDS
2 70 (4.00%) SQL Server
3 44 (2.51%) Power BI
4 26 (1.49%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.31%) Oracle Database 10g
6 21 (1.20%) PostgreSQL
7 20 (1.14%) MySQL
8 9 (0.51%) Azure SQL Database
9 8 (0.46%) GIS
9 8 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.23%) Relational Database
12 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 3 (0.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
14 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
14 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
14 1 (0.057%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 69 (3.94%) JIRA
2 16 (0.91%) Git
3 15 (0.86%) Oracle Forms
4 14 (0.80%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.40%) GitLab
6 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 4 (0.23%) Subversion
8 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.057%) Visual Studio
General
1 795 (45.43%) Social Skills
2 189 (10.80%) Analytical Skills
3 163 (9.31%) Organisational Skills
4 135 (7.71%) Finance
5 75 (4.29%) Manufacturing
6 63 (3.60%) Retail
7 59 (3.37%) Documentation Skills
8 47 (2.69%) Law
9 46 (2.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 46 (2.63%) Legal
10 39 (2.23%) Advertising
11 37 (2.11%) Games
12 36 (2.06%) Public Sector
13 32 (1.83%) Telecoms
14 21 (1.20%) Marketing
15 10 (0.57%) Local Government
16 8 (0.46%) Aerospace
17 6 (0.34%) Automotive
18 4 (0.23%) Banking
18 4 (0.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 705 (40.29%) IT Support
2 488 (27.89%) Support Engineer
3 401 (22.91%) IT Engineer
4 349 (19.94%) IT Support Engineer
5 232 (13.26%) Analyst
6 177 (10.11%) Support Technician
7 171 (9.77%) 2nd Line Support
8 166 (9.49%) Support Analyst
9 152 (8.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 138 (7.89%) Senior
11 135 (7.71%) IT Technician
12 128 (7.31%) IT Support Technician
13 127 (7.26%) IT Analyst
14 115 (6.57%) Systems Engineer
15 110 (6.29%) IT Support Analyst
16 97 (5.54%) 3rd Line Support
17 95 (5.43%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 86 (4.91%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 75 (4.29%) 1st Line Support
20 61 (3.49%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (2.91%) SOAP
2 50 (2.86%) SAML
3 49 (2.80%) LDAP
4 47 (2.69%) OAuth
4 47 (2.69%) OpenID
5 44 (2.51%) REST
6 39 (2.23%) GraphQL
7 23 (1.31%) JSON
7 23 (1.31%) XML
8 15 (0.86%) .NET
8 15 (0.86%) RESTful
9 10 (0.57%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
10 9 (0.51%) CSS
10 9 (0.51%) HTML
10 9 (0.51%) React
11 7 (0.40%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.40%) Web Services
12 6 (0.34%) Regular Expression
13 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
Miscellaneous
1 275 (15.71%) Driving Licence
2 115 (6.57%) Onboarding
3 81 (4.63%) Self-Motivation
4 78 (4.46%) Legacy Systems
5 55 (3.14%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (2.63%) Hybrid Cloud
7 42 (2.40%) Cyberattack
8 41 (2.34%) Cyber Threat
9 32 (1.83%) Replication
10 29 (1.66%) Data Centre
10 29 (1.66%) Management Information System
10 29 (1.66%) Public Cloud
11 27 (1.54%) Cloud Native
12 20 (1.14%) CMDB
13 17 (0.97%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.91%) PKI
15 13 (0.74%) Clustering
15 13 (0.74%) iPad
16 12 (0.69%) Linux Command Line
16 12 (0.69%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,252 (71.54%) Windows
2 745 (42.57%) Windows Server
3 299 (17.09%) Windows 10
4 205 (11.71%) Linux
5 136 (7.77%) Windows Server 2016
6 92 (5.26%) Mac OS
7 79 (4.51%) Apple iOS
8 74 (4.23%) Android
9 51 (2.91%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.40%) Windows 7
11 33 (1.89%) Windows Server 2012
12 31 (1.77%) Windows Server 2008
13 28 (1.60%) Unix
14 23 (1.31%) HPUX
14 23 (1.31%) Solaris
14 23 (1.31%) Windows Server 2003
15 17 (0.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 12 (0.69%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
17 6 (0.34%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 623 (35.60%) Problem-Solving
2 521 (29.77%) Customer Service
3 415 (23.71%) ITIL
4 264 (15.09%) Cybersecurity
5 213 (12.17%) Mentoring
6 201 (11.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 185 (10.57%) Continuous Improvement
8 175 (10.00%) ITSM
9 159 (9.09%) Service Delivery
10 149 (8.51%) Disaster Recovery
11 127 (7.26%) Incident Management
12 126 (7.20%) Migration
13 118 (6.74%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 117 (6.69%) Coaching
15 96 (5.49%) Kalman Filter
16 94 (5.37%) Identity Access Management
16 94 (5.37%) Web Filtering
17 91 (5.20%) Asset Management
17 91 (5.20%) Customer Experience
18 88 (5.03%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 294 (16.80%) PowerShell
2 123 (7.03%) SQL
3 79 (4.51%) Bash
4 51 (2.91%) Python
5 49 (2.80%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.26%) Perl
7 17 (0.97%) Shell Script
8 16 (0.91%) JavaScript
9 15 (0.86%) PL/SQL
10 13 (0.74%) Java
11 12 (0.69%) C#
12 11 (0.63%) R
13 8 (0.46%) VB
14 5 (0.29%) VBA
15 4 (0.23%) Bicep
16 2 (0.11%) C
16 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.057%) Groovy
17 1 (0.057%) PHP
17 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 232 (13.26%) Security Cleared
2 176 (10.06%) SC Cleared
3 158 (9.03%) Degree
4 156 (8.91%) Microsoft Certification
5 80 (4.57%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.63%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.40%) Azure Certification
8 37 (2.11%) A+ Certification
8 37 (2.11%) Cisco Certification
9 35 (2.00%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 31 (1.77%) CCNA
11 22 (1.26%) Network+ Certification
12 21 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
13 19 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 18 (1.03%) HNC
14 18 (1.03%) MCSE
15 17 (0.97%) MCSA
16 14 (0.80%) HND
17 12 (0.69%) CCNP
18 11 (0.63%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 160 (9.14%) SLA
2 144 (8.23%) Cyber Essentials
3 91 (5.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 83 (4.74%) PCI DSS
5 52 (2.97%) NIST
6 41 (2.34%) GDPR
7 39 (2.23%) NCSC
8 25 (1.43%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 16 (0.91%) QA
10 9 (0.51%) Accessibility
10 9 (0.51%) Data Quality
11 5 (0.29%) PMO
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.23%) GRC
12 4 (0.23%) GxP
12 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
12 4 (0.23%) ITGC
13 3 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 352 (20.11%) Hyper-V
2 246 (14.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.29%) Terminal Server
4 46 (2.63%) vSphere
5 38 (2.17%) VMware ESXi
6 35 (2.00%) Virtual Desktop
7 24 (1.37%) Virtual Machines
8 16 (0.91%) BitLocker
9 14 (0.80%) Docker
10 11 (0.63%) Firmware
10 11 (0.63%) VMware Workstation
11 10 (0.57%) XenApp
12 9 (0.51%) VMware NSX
13 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
14 5 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
15 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
16 3 (0.17%) Citrix Hypervisor
16 3 (0.17%) Lustre
16 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 359 (20.51%) Microsoft Intune
2 134 (7.66%) SCCM
3 43 (2.46%) vCenter Server
4 42 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
5 35 (2.00%) Jamf Pro
5 35 (2.00%) Terraform
6 21 (1.20%) FortiGate
7 18 (1.03%) Autotask
8 17 (0.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 16 (0.91%) Ansible
10 15 (0.86%) WSUS
11 11 (0.63%) Kubernetes
11 11 (0.63%) SCOM
12 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
12 9 (0.51%) ZABBIX
13 7 (0.40%) Proxmox
14 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
14 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 5 (0.29%) Nagios
15 5 (0.29%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,263 (72.17%) Microsoft
2 457 (26.11%) VMware
3 158 (9.03%) Veeam
4 110 (6.29%) SolarWinds
5 100 (5.71%) Nimble Storage
6 96 (5.49%) Cisco
7 93 (5.31%) Apple
8 91 (5.20%) Citrix
9 87 (4.97%) Splunk
10 81 (4.63%) Google
11 78 (4.46%) ServiceNow
12 73 (4.17%) Tanium
13 72 (4.11%) Brocade
14 66 (3.77%) HP
15 52 (2.97%) Dell
16 44 (2.51%) Oracle
17 36 (2.06%) Meraki
18 28 (1.60%) Dell Compellent
19 25 (1.43%) SonicWALL
20 22 (1.26%) CrowdStrike