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

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 46 33 20
Rank change year-on-year -13 -13 +25
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,799 2,236 2,641
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.53% 5.22% 9.09%
As % of the System Software category 59.79% 45.70% 49.84%
Number of salaries quoted 1,334 1,393 2,378
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £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% +0.24%
75th Percentile £47,938 £52,500 £51,500
90th Percentile £63,645 £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 3,009 4,893 5,299
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 7.58% 11.43% 18.23%
Number of salaries quoted 2,164 2,841 4,445
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £35,500 £32,760
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 £66,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,715
UK median annual salary £50,000 £55,762 £55,000
% change year-on-year -10.33% +1.39% -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 7 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 7 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 +14 493 £37,500 -11.76% 311
North of England -18 372 £32,500 -20.47% 197
South West +2 302 £33,000 -8.97% 104
Midlands -6 299 £31,500 -16.00% 133
East of England -10 207 £35,000 - 124
Yorkshire -11 163 £32,000 -17.42% 69
East Midlands +19 159 £28,500 -18.57% 54
North West -14 152 £35,000 -15.66% 110
West Midlands -22 140 £41,000 +2.50% 77
Scotland -22 82 £30,000 -24.48% 61
North East -7 57 £31,000 -17.33% 20
Wales +2 45 £35,000 +2.94% 34
Northern Ireland 0 14 £55,000 +4.76% 11
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
1 552 (30.68%) Microsoft Exchange
2 308 (17.12%) SharePoint
3 33 (1.83%) IIS
4 26 (1.45%) Exchange Server 2003
5 24 (1.33%) 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 (0.056%) JOnAS
12 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 226 (12.56%) 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 (0.056%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.056%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.056%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.056%) 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 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.056%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.056%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.056%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,260 (70.04%) Microsoft 365
2 968 (53.81%) Azure
3 549 (30.52%) Entra ID
4 146 (8.12%) AWS
5 104 (5.78%) OneDrive
6 75 (4.17%) SaaS
7 60 (3.34%) Power Platform
8 51 (2.83%) IaaS
9 48 (2.67%) PaaS
10 39 (2.17%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.11%) GCP
12 36 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
13 33 (1.83%) Azure Logic Apps
13 33 (1.83%) Google Workspace
14 28 (1.56%) GitHub
15 27 (1.50%) Azure Monitor
16 25 (1.39%) Azure Sentinel
17 23 (1.28%) Power Automate
18 22 (1.22%) Amazon EC2
18 22 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 660 (36.69%) DNS
2 611 (33.96%) DHCP
3 442 (24.57%) Firewall
4 282 (15.68%) TCP/IP
5 250 (13.90%) VPN
6 182 (10.12%) VLAN
7 169 (9.39%) LAN
8 166 (9.23%) WAN
9 130 (7.23%) Wi-Fi
10 94 (5.23%) Wireless
11 92 (5.11%) VoIP
12 80 (4.45%) SAN
13 54 (3.00%) 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
1 133 (7.39%) Amazon RDS
2 73 (4.06%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.61%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.45%) Oracle Database 10g
5 20 (1.11%) Power BI
6 12 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
7 11 (0.61%) MySQL
8 9 (0.50%) DTS
9 6 (0.33%) 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 (0.056%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.056%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.056%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 61 (3.39%) JIRA
2 40 (2.22%) Jenkins
3 39 (2.17%) Git
4 21 (1.17%) Oracle Forms
5 15 (0.83%) 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 (0.056%) Artifactory
General
1 887 (49.31%) Social Skills
2 191 (10.62%) Analytical Skills
3 132 (7.34%) Finance
4 112 (6.23%) Manufacturing
5 97 (5.39%) Organisational Skills
6 71 (3.95%) Retail
7 66 (3.67%) Law
8 49 (2.72%) Documentation Skills
9 46 (2.56%) Advertising
10 41 (2.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 40 (2.22%) Legal
12 38 (2.11%) Public Sector
13 35 (1.95%) Telecoms
14 18 (1.00%) Marketing
15 15 (0.83%) French Language
15 15 (0.83%) Swedish Language
16 14 (0.78%) Aerospace
17 13 (0.72%) Pharmaceutical
18 10 (0.56%) Games
19 9 (0.50%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 616 (34.24%) IT Support
2 421 (23.40%) Support Engineer
3 286 (15.90%) IT Engineer
4 276 (15.34%) Analyst
5 240 (13.34%) IT Support Engineer
6 204 (11.34%) Support Analyst
7 199 (11.06%) 2nd Line Support
8 176 (9.78%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 152 (8.45%) IT Analyst
10 147 (8.17%) Support Technician
11 129 (7.17%) Systems Engineer
12 124 (6.89%) IT Support Analyst
12 124 (6.89%) Technical Support
13 118 (6.56%) IT Technician
14 115 (6.39%) 3rd Line Support
14 115 (6.39%) Senior
15 94 (5.23%) 1st Line Support
16 93 (5.17%) IT Support Technician
17 69 (3.84%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 68 (3.78%) Technical Engineer
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 (0.56%) CSS
9 10 (0.56%) HTML
10 9 (0.50%) .NET Framework
10 9 (0.50%) Web Services
11 7 (0.39%) OAuth2
12 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Graph
13 5 (0.28%) 802.1X
13 5 (0.28%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 257 (14.29%) Driving Licence
2 179 (9.95%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.34%) Legacy Systems
4 78 (4.34%) Self-Motivation
5 56 (3.11%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (2.56%) Data Centre
7 42 (2.33%) Cloud Native
8 37 (2.06%) Management Information System
9 32 (1.78%) PKI
10 27 (1.50%) Hybrid Cloud
11 22 (1.22%) Clustering
12 21 (1.17%) Replication
13 20 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
14 17 (0.94%) FMCG
15 16 (0.89%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.89%) iPad
15 16 (0.89%) Security Posture
16 15 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
17 14 (0.78%) CMDB
17 14 (0.78%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1,316 (73.15%) Windows
2 812 (45.14%) Windows Server
3 284 (15.79%) Windows 10
4 235 (13.06%) Linux
5 149 (8.28%) Windows Server 2016
6 115 (6.39%) Windows Server 2019
7 103 (5.73%) Mac OS
8 62 (3.45%) Apple iOS
9 47 (2.61%) Android
10 35 (1.95%) Unix
10 35 (1.95%) Windows Server 2008
11 32 (1.78%) Windows 7
12 31 (1.72%) VMS
13 26 (1.45%) Solaris
13 26 (1.45%) Windows Server 2003
14 25 (1.39%) HPUX
15 23 (1.28%) Windows Server 2012
16 20 (1.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 11 (0.61%) Amazon Linux
18 7 (0.39%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 633 (35.19%) Problem-Solving
2 556 (30.91%) Customer Service
3 351 (19.51%) ITIL
4 237 (13.17%) Cybersecurity
5 232 (12.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 190 (10.56%) Continuous Improvement
7 182 (10.12%) Mentoring
8 163 (9.06%) Migration
9 162 (9.01%) ITSM
10 123 (6.84%) Incident Management
11 110 (6.11%) Service Delivery
12 109 (6.06%) Disaster Recovery
13 105 (5.84%) Kalman Filter
14 101 (5.61%) Web Filtering
15 98 (5.45%) DevOps
15 98 (5.45%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 96 (5.34%) Customer Experience
17 95 (5.28%) Agile
17 95 (5.28%) Asset Management
17 95 (5.28%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 297 (16.51%) PowerShell
2 140 (7.78%) SQL
3 66 (3.67%) Python
4 33 (1.83%) Perl
5 32 (1.78%) Bash
6 31 (1.72%) Java
7 21 (1.17%) PL/SQL
8 20 (1.11%) Shell Script
9 19 (1.06%) Groovy
10 18 (1.00%) VB
11 15 (0.83%) JavaScript
12 13 (0.72%) C#
13 11 (0.61%) Bicep
14 7 (0.39%) T-SQL
15 6 (0.33%) Korn
16 5 (0.28%) VBA
17 2 (0.11%) Go
17 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
18 1 (0.056%) VB.NET
18 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 241 (13.40%) Security Cleared
2 203 (11.28%) SC Cleared
3 172 (9.56%) Degree
3 172 (9.56%) Microsoft Certification
4 63 (3.50%) DV Cleared
5 52 (2.89%) A+ Certification
6 49 (2.72%) Azure Certification
7 45 (2.50%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (2.45%) DBS Check
9 39 (2.17%) CCNA
10 32 (1.78%) MCP
10 32 (1.78%) MCSE
10 32 (1.78%) Network+ Certification
11 24 (1.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 20 (1.11%) AWS Certification
13 19 (1.06%) ITIL Certification
14 17 (0.94%) MCSA
15 15 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
15 15 (0.83%) HND
16 14 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 126 (7.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 123 (6.84%) SLA
3 97 (5.39%) PCI DSS
4 65 (3.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 62 (3.45%) 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 (0.056%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.056%) IASME
13 1 (0.056%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 371 (20.62%) Hyper-V
2 265 (14.73%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (5.17%) Terminal Server
4 50 (2.78%) Virtual Desktop
4 50 (2.78%) vSphere
5 35 (1.95%) Docker
6 31 (1.72%) Virtual Machines
6 31 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
7 17 (0.94%) Firmware
8 15 (0.83%) Virtual Servers
9 8 (0.44%) DFS Replication
10 6 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 6 (0.33%) Terminal Services
10 6 (0.33%) XenApp
11 4 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 3 (0.17%) VMware NSX
12 3 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
13 2 (0.11%) BitLocker
14 1 (0.056%) Dovecot
14 1 (0.056%) KVM
Systems Management
1 419 (23.29%) Microsoft Intune
2 152 (8.45%) SCCM
3 69 (3.84%) Terraform
4 36 (2.00%) Single Sign-On
4 36 (2.00%) WSUS
5 32 (1.78%) Kubernetes
6 30 (1.67%) vCenter Server
7 27 (1.50%) Ansible
8 24 (1.33%) SCOM
9 23 (1.28%) Autotask
10 19 (1.06%) Prometheus
11 18 (1.00%) FortiGate
12 15 (0.83%) Grafana
12 15 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
13 13 (0.72%) Nagios
13 13 (0.72%) ZABBIX
14 11 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
15 8 (0.44%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 8 (0.44%) PaperCut
16 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 1,383 (76.88%) Microsoft
2 470 (26.13%) VMware
3 171 (9.51%) Veeam
4 159 (8.84%) Cisco
5 123 (6.84%) SolarWinds
6 98 (5.45%) Splunk
7 97 (5.39%) Tanium
8 95 (5.28%) Nimble Storage
9 88 (4.89%) Brocade
10 83 (4.61%) Apple
11 74 (4.11%) ServiceNow
12 62 (3.45%) Citrix
13 54 (3.00%) Oracle
14 53 (2.95%) Google
15 47 (2.61%) HP
16 45 (2.50%) Meraki
17 38 (2.11%) Dell
18 34 (1.89%) SonicWALL
19 33 (1.83%) Sophos
20 32 (1.78%) Red Hat