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

6 months to
30 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 39 35 21
Rank change year-on-year -4 -14 +26
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,812 2,311 2,655
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.82% 5.07% 9.04%
As % of the System Software category 59.51% 46.00% 49.81%
Number of salaries quoted 1,360 1,405 2,386
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,000 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,489 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,750 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.63% +6.67% +1.35%
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% +2.44%

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 3,045 5,024 5,330
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.09% 11.01% 18.14%
Number of salaries quoted 2,201 2,862 4,456
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,750 £33,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.14% -4.89%
75th Percentile £62,500 £66,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,600
UK median annual salary £50,000 £55,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -9.91% +0.91% -

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 November 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 30 November 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 +11 493 £37,500 -11.76% 271
North of England -15 372 £32,500 -22.62% 113
Midlands +4 313 £32,500 -13.33% 112
South West +7 307 £33,000 -8.33% 72
East of England -5 206 £35,000 - 85
Yorkshire -8 168 £31,250 -26.90% 43
East Midlands +19 165 £28,750 -17.86% 47
West Midlands -9 148 £42,250 +5.63% 65
North West -13 145 £35,000 -15.66% 63
Scotland -19 80 £30,000 -24.48% 21
North East -1 59 £31,000 -17.33% 7
Wales +6 45 £35,000 +2.94% 16
Northern Ireland +3 13 £55,000 +4.76% 6
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
1 557 (30.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 308 (17.00%) SharePoint
3 34 (1.88%) IIS
4 28 (1.55%) Confluence
5 26 (1.43%) Exchange Server 2003
6 17 (0.94%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.33%) CMS
8 5 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2013
8 5 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2007
9 3 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.055%) Office Communications Server
11 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.055%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 226 (12.47%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (1.77%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 2 (0.11%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.055%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.055%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.055%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.055%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.71%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (0.94%) 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%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.055%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.055%) Markit EDM
8 1 (0.055%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,270 (70.09%) Microsoft 365
2 974 (53.75%) Azure
3 542 (29.91%) Entra ID
4 153 (8.44%) AWS
5 103 (5.68%) OneDrive
6 74 (4.08%) SaaS
7 57 (3.15%) Power Platform
8 51 (2.81%) IaaS
9 47 (2.59%) PaaS
10 39 (2.15%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.10%) GCP
12 34 (1.88%) Azure DevOps
13 33 (1.82%) Azure Logic Apps
14 30 (1.66%) Google Workspace
15 27 (1.49%) Amazon EC2
15 27 (1.49%) GitHub
16 26 (1.43%) Azure Monitor
17 24 (1.32%) Azure Sentinel
18 23 (1.27%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 23 (1.27%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 664 (36.64%) DNS
2 613 (33.83%) DHCP
3 460 (25.39%) Firewall
4 286 (15.78%) TCP/IP
5 245 (13.52%) VPN
6 185 (10.21%) VLAN
7 172 (9.49%) LAN
8 169 (9.33%) WAN
9 132 (7.28%) Wi-Fi
10 97 (5.35%) Wireless
11 91 (5.02%) VoIP
12 83 (4.58%) SAN
13 54 (2.98%) Remote Desktop
14 42 (2.32%) Internet
15 34 (1.88%) Network Security
16 29 (1.60%) SD-WAN
17 25 (1.38%) SMTP
18 20 (1.10%) SSL
19 18 (0.99%) Kerberos
20 16 (0.88%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 140 (7.73%) Amazon RDS
2 77 (4.25%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.60%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.43%) Oracle Database 10g
5 19 (1.05%) Power BI
6 12 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (0.66%) 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 4 (0.22%) 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 63 (3.48%) JIRA
2 44 (2.43%) Git
2 44 (2.43%) Jenkins
3 20 (1.10%) Oracle Forms
3 20 (1.10%) Vagrant
4 5 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
5 4 (0.22%) GitLab
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
7 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.11%) Subversion
7 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
7 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.055%) Artifactory
General
1 895 (49.39%) Social Skills
2 195 (10.76%) Analytical Skills
3 125 (6.90%) Finance
4 111 (6.13%) Manufacturing
5 96 (5.30%) Organisational Skills
6 73 (4.03%) Retail
7 65 (3.59%) Law
8 49 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
9 45 (2.48%) Advertising
10 44 (2.43%) Public Sector
11 42 (2.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 37 (2.04%) Legal
13 35 (1.93%) Telecoms
14 18 (0.99%) Marketing
15 16 (0.88%) 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
1 619 (34.16%) IT Support
2 430 (23.73%) Support Engineer
3 288 (15.89%) IT Engineer
4 283 (15.62%) Analyst
5 240 (13.25%) IT Support Engineer
6 207 (11.42%) Support Analyst
7 201 (11.09%) 2nd Line Support
8 185 (10.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 157 (8.66%) IT Analyst
10 141 (7.78%) Support Technician
11 129 (7.12%) Systems Engineer
11 129 (7.12%) Technical Support
12 125 (6.90%) IT Support Analyst
13 118 (6.51%) Senior
14 117 (6.46%) 3rd Line Support
15 115 (6.35%) IT Technician
16 96 (5.30%) 1st Line Support
17 89 (4.91%) IT Support Technician
18 73 (4.03%) Infrastructure Support
19 72 (3.97%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (1.66%) LDAP
2 25 (1.38%) .NET
3 22 (1.21%) SOAP
4 20 (1.10%) RESTful
5 17 (0.94%) JSON
5 17 (0.94%) XML
6 15 (0.83%) ARM Templates
7 13 (0.72%) EDI
8 12 (0.66%) React
9 11 (0.61%) OAuth
9 11 (0.61%) OpenID
9 11 (0.61%) SAML
10 10 (0.55%) CSS
10 10 (0.55%) HTML
11 9 (0.50%) .NET Framework
11 9 (0.50%) Web Services
12 6 (0.33%) OAuth2
13 5 (0.28%) 802.1X
13 5 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
13 5 (0.28%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 263 (14.51%) Driving Licence
2 180 (9.93%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.30%) Legacy Systems
4 80 (4.42%) Self-Motivation
5 52 (2.87%) Enterprise Software
6 49 (2.70%) Data Centre
7 41 (2.26%) Cloud Native
8 38 (2.10%) Management Information System
9 34 (1.88%) PKI
10 27 (1.49%) Hybrid Cloud
11 26 (1.43%) Replication
12 23 (1.27%) Clustering
13 16 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
13 16 (0.88%) Client/Server
13 16 (0.88%) FMCG
13 16 (0.88%) iPad
13 16 (0.88%) Security Posture
13 16 (0.88%) Video Conferencing
14 15 (0.83%) Product Ownership
15 14 (0.77%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1,335 (73.68%) Windows
2 820 (45.25%) Windows Server
3 286 (15.78%) Windows 10
4 244 (13.47%) Linux
5 153 (8.44%) Windows Server 2016
6 121 (6.68%) Windows Server 2019
7 110 (6.07%) Mac OS
8 61 (3.37%) Apple iOS
9 46 (2.54%) Android
10 37 (2.04%) Unix
11 36 (1.99%) VMS
12 35 (1.93%) Windows Server 2008
13 32 (1.77%) Windows 7
14 27 (1.49%) Windows Server 2003
15 26 (1.43%) Solaris
16 25 (1.38%) HPUX
17 24 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
18 21 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
19 12 (0.66%) Amazon Linux
20 8 (0.44%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 640 (35.32%) Problem-Solving
2 561 (30.96%) Customer Service
3 350 (19.32%) ITIL
4 242 (13.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 235 (12.97%) Cybersecurity
6 188 (10.38%) Continuous Improvement
7 179 (9.88%) Mentoring
8 164 (9.05%) Migration
9 159 (8.77%) ITSM
10 123 (6.79%) Incident Management
11 107 (5.91%) Disaster Recovery
11 107 (5.91%) Kalman Filter
11 107 (5.91%) Service Delivery
12 102 (5.63%) Web Filtering
13 100 (5.52%) DevOps
14 98 (5.41%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 97 (5.35%) Customer Experience
16 94 (5.19%) Email Filtering
17 93 (5.13%) Coaching
18 91 (5.02%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 303 (16.72%) PowerShell
2 138 (7.62%) SQL
3 71 (3.92%) Python
4 34 (1.88%) Perl
5 33 (1.82%) Bash
6 31 (1.71%) Java
7 24 (1.32%) Groovy
8 20 (1.10%) PL/SQL
9 19 (1.05%) Shell Script
10 18 (0.99%) VB
11 15 (0.83%) JavaScript
12 13 (0.72%) C#
13 11 (0.61%) Bicep
14 7 (0.39%) Korn
14 7 (0.39%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.28%) VBA
16 2 (0.11%) Go
16 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.055%) VB.NET
17 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 243 (13.41%) Security Cleared
2 204 (11.26%) SC Cleared
3 176 (9.71%) Microsoft Certification
4 175 (9.66%) Degree
5 64 (3.53%) DV Cleared
6 52 (2.87%) A+ Certification
7 50 (2.76%) Azure Certification
8 47 (2.59%) Cisco Certification
9 43 (2.37%) DBS Check
10 41 (2.26%) CCNA
11 34 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
12 31 (1.71%) MCP
12 31 (1.71%) MCSE
13 24 (1.32%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.10%) AWS Certification
15 19 (1.05%) ITIL Certification
15 19 (1.05%) MCSA
16 15 (0.83%) BPSS Clearance
16 15 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
16 15 (0.83%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 124 (6.84%) Cyber Essentials
2 123 (6.79%) SLA
3 98 (5.41%) PCI DSS
4 65 (3.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 63 (3.48%) GDPR
6 17 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 14 (0.77%) NIST
8 8 (0.44%) QA
9 7 (0.39%) GxP
10 6 (0.33%) NCSC
11 5 (0.28%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 5 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.17%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.055%) HIPAA
14 1 (0.055%) IASME
14 1 (0.055%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 377 (20.81%) Hyper-V
2 270 (14.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (5.08%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.81%) vSphere
5 49 (2.70%) Virtual Desktop
6 37 (2.04%) Docker
7 33 (1.82%) VMware ESXi
8 32 (1.77%) Virtual Machines
9 17 (0.94%) Firmware
10 15 (0.83%) Virtual Servers
11 12 (0.66%) DFS Replication
12 7 (0.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 7 (0.39%) 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 (23.07%) Microsoft Intune
2 149 (8.22%) SCCM
3 72 (3.97%) Terraform
4 36 (1.99%) WSUS
5 34 (1.88%) Kubernetes
6 33 (1.82%) Single Sign-On
7 30 (1.66%) Ansible
7 30 (1.66%) vCenter Server
8 25 (1.38%) Autotask
9 24 (1.32%) Prometheus
10 22 (1.21%) SCOM
11 20 (1.10%) Grafana
12 18 (0.99%) FortiGate
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%) PaperCut
17 7 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
18 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,388 (76.60%) Microsoft
2 476 (26.27%) VMware
3 174 (9.60%) Veeam
4 163 (9.00%) Cisco
5 122 (6.73%) SolarWinds
6 98 (5.41%) Splunk
7 97 (5.35%) Tanium
8 94 (5.19%) Nimble Storage
9 88 (4.86%) Brocade
10 86 (4.75%) Apple
11 77 (4.25%) ServiceNow
12 60 (3.31%) Citrix
13 53 (2.92%) Oracle
14 51 (2.81%) Google
15 48 (2.65%) HP
16 47 (2.59%) Meraki
17 39 (2.15%) Dell
18 36 (1.99%) Sophos
19 35 (1.93%) SonicWALL
20 32 (1.77%) Red Hat