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 3 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 38 26
Rank change year-on-year -13 -12 +13
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,762 1,853 3,639
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.87% 5.42% 7.45%
As % of the System Software category 62.64% 43.61% 48.92%
Number of salaries quoted 1,226 1,118 3,239
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £24,500
25th Percentile £28,000 £29,813 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £37,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% +7.14% -4.11%
75th Percentile £46,125 £52,500 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,250 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +6.25% -2.05%

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 2,813 4,249 7,438
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.18% 12.44% 15.23%
Number of salaries quoted 1,969 2,389 6,267
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £46,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +7.53% -2.11%
75th Percentile £60,750 £68,750 £61,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £83,750 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £50,500
% change year-on-year -13.04% +13.86% -8.18%

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 3 February 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 3 February 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 +14 475 £36,000 -15.29% 264
North of England -23 370 £33,000 -12.00% 135
South West +5 292 £32,500 -2.99% 86
Midlands -18 268 £31,000 -16.22% 89
East of England -18 188 £35,340 +8.74% 87
North West -12 169 £37,500 -6.25% 69
East Midlands +19 163 £28,500 -9.52% 43
Yorkshire -10 160 £32,500 +4.00% 54
Scotland +1 115 £28,000 -29.52% 51
West Midlands -51 104 £32,500 -18.75% 46
North East -11 41 £31,000 -13.89% 15
Wales +1 37 £34,500 -28.13% 17
Northern Ireland -11 18 £31,750 -39.52% 2
Isle of Man +8 1 £45,000 +91.49% 1
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
1 502 (28.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 318 (18.05%) SharePoint
3 24 (1.36%) Exchange Server 2003
4 15 (0.85%) IIS
5 14 (0.79%) Confluence
6 11 (0.62%) Skype for Business
7 8 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2013
8 6 (0.34%) Exchange Server 2007
8 6 (0.34%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) CMS
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 254 (14.42%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.04%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.057%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 20 (1.14%) Oracle ERP
2 19 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.28%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.11%) Shopify
7 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.057%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 1,227 (69.64%) Microsoft 365
2 952 (54.03%) Azure
3 576 (32.69%) Entra ID
4 123 (6.98%) OneDrive
5 121 (6.87%) AWS
6 85 (4.82%) Google Workspace
7 82 (4.65%) SaaS
8 63 (3.58%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.21%) Azure DevOps
10 35 (1.99%) GCP
11 33 (1.87%) Azure Monitor
12 32 (1.82%) IaaS
13 31 (1.76%) PowerApps
14 30 (1.70%) GitHub
15 28 (1.59%) OCI
15 28 (1.59%) PaaS
16 26 (1.48%) Azure Logic Apps
17 22 (1.25%) Power Automate
18 21 (1.19%) Mimecast
19 18 (1.02%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 649 (36.83%) DNS
2 615 (34.90%) DHCP
3 414 (23.50%) Firewall
4 260 (14.76%) VPN
5 242 (13.73%) TCP/IP
6 180 (10.22%) VLAN
7 166 (9.42%) LAN
8 165 (9.36%) WAN
9 133 (7.55%) Wi-Fi
10 84 (4.77%) Wireless
11 76 (4.31%) VoIP
12 51 (2.89%) Network Security
12 51 (2.89%) SAN
13 46 (2.61%) Remote Desktop
14 39 (2.21%) Broadband
15 26 (1.48%) Internet
16 23 (1.31%) SD-WAN
17 16 (0.91%) Unified Communications
18 15 (0.85%) Ethernet
18 15 (0.85%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (6.92%) Amazon RDS
2 56 (3.18%) SQL Server
3 28 (1.59%) Power BI
4 27 (1.53%) Oracle Database
5 24 (1.36%) Oracle Database 10g
6 13 (0.74%) MySQL
7 11 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
9 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
9 6 (0.34%) DTS
9 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 5 (0.28%) GIS
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 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Event Studio
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 68 (3.86%) JIRA
2 28 (1.59%) Jenkins
3 24 (1.36%) Git
4 23 (1.31%) Oracle Forms
5 7 (0.40%) GitLab
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.057%) Vagrant
General
1 859 (48.75%) Social Skills
2 218 (12.37%) Analytical Skills
3 144 (8.17%) Finance
4 131 (7.43%) Organisational Skills
5 89 (5.05%) Manufacturing
6 63 (3.58%) Retail
7 59 (3.35%) Documentation Skills
8 58 (3.29%) Law
9 57 (3.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 40 (2.27%) Advertising
11 37 (2.10%) Legal
12 32 (1.82%) Public Sector
13 29 (1.65%) Games
14 22 (1.25%) Marketing
15 21 (1.19%) Telecoms
16 15 (0.85%) French Language
16 15 (0.85%) Swedish Language
17 10 (0.57%) Aerospace
18 5 (0.28%) Automotive
18 5 (0.28%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 654 (37.12%) IT Support
2 436 (24.74%) Support Engineer
3 358 (20.32%) IT Engineer
4 303 (17.20%) IT Support Engineer
5 233 (13.22%) Analyst
6 187 (10.61%) 2nd Line Support
7 167 (9.48%) Support Analyst
8 156 (8.85%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 155 (8.80%) Support Technician
10 139 (7.89%) Systems Engineer
11 132 (7.49%) IT Analyst
12 129 (7.32%) Senior
13 113 (6.41%) IT Support Analyst
14 107 (6.07%) IT Technician
15 103 (5.85%) IT Support Technician
16 98 (5.56%) 3rd Line Support
17 92 (5.22%) 1st Line Support
18 91 (5.16%) 2nd Line Engineer
19 81 (4.60%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
20 79 (4.48%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.01%) SOAP
2 46 (2.61%) LDAP
3 45 (2.55%) SAML
4 43 (2.44%) OAuth
4 43 (2.44%) OpenID
5 35 (1.99%) REST
6 33 (1.87%) GraphQL
7 25 (1.42%) JSON
7 25 (1.42%) RESTful
7 25 (1.42%) XML
8 20 (1.14%) .NET
9 15 (0.85%) ARM Templates
10 12 (0.68%) CSS
10 12 (0.68%) HTML
10 12 (0.68%) React
11 10 (0.57%) OAuth2
12 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
13 5 (0.28%) EDI
13 5 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
13 5 (0.28%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 264 (14.98%) Driving Licence
2 148 (8.40%) Onboarding
3 110 (6.24%) Legacy Systems
4 76 (4.31%) Self-Motivation
5 64 (3.63%) Enterprise Software
6 38 (2.16%) Data Centre
7 36 (2.04%) Cyberattack
8 35 (1.99%) Cloud Native
8 35 (1.99%) Cyber Threat
8 35 (1.99%) Management Information System
9 31 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
10 26 (1.48%) Replication
11 19 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
12 18 (1.02%) iPad
13 16 (0.91%) Client/Server
13 16 (0.91%) CMDB
13 16 (0.91%) PKI
13 16 (0.91%) Public Cloud
14 14 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
14 14 (0.79%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 1,233 (69.98%) Windows
2 763 (43.30%) Windows Server
3 262 (14.87%) Windows 10
4 223 (12.66%) Linux
5 160 (9.08%) Windows Server 2016
6 88 (4.99%) Mac OS
7 73 (4.14%) Apple iOS
8 67 (3.80%) Windows Server 2019
9 64 (3.63%) Android
10 35 (1.99%) Windows 7
11 34 (1.93%) Windows Server 2008
12 33 (1.87%) Windows Server 2012
13 29 (1.65%) Unix
14 24 (1.36%) HPUX
14 24 (1.36%) Solaris
14 24 (1.36%) Windows Server 2003
15 13 (0.74%) VMS
16 8 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 8 (0.45%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 666 (37.80%) Problem-Solving
2 550 (31.21%) Customer Service
3 370 (21.00%) ITIL
4 233 (13.22%) Mentoring
5 231 (13.11%) Cybersecurity
6 205 (11.63%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 192 (10.90%) Continuous Improvement
8 177 (10.05%) Migration
9 168 (9.53%) ITSM
10 144 (8.17%) Service Delivery
11 131 (7.43%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 126 (7.15%) Coaching
13 120 (6.81%) Incident Management
14 119 (6.75%) Disaster Recovery
15 118 (6.70%) Kalman Filter
16 116 (6.58%) Web Filtering
17 114 (6.47%) Customer Experience
18 110 (6.24%) Asset Management
19 108 (6.13%) Email Filtering
20 106 (6.02%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 297 (16.86%) PowerShell
2 139 (7.89%) SQL
3 71 (4.03%) Bash
4 56 (3.18%) Python
5 40 (2.27%) T-SQL
6 23 (1.31%) Java
6 23 (1.31%) Perl
6 23 (1.31%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.25%) Shell Script
8 17 (0.96%) JavaScript
9 15 (0.85%) C#
10 12 (0.68%) VB
11 7 (0.40%) Bicep
12 5 (0.28%) VBA
13 4 (0.23%) R
14 3 (0.17%) Groovy
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.057%) PHP
16 1 (0.057%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 246 (13.96%) Security Cleared
2 203 (11.52%) SC Cleared
3 161 (9.14%) Microsoft Certification
4 155 (8.80%) Degree
5 65 (3.69%) DV Cleared
6 53 (3.01%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.38%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.33%) Azure Certification
9 40 (2.27%) Cisco Certification
10 33 (1.87%) CCNA
11 32 (1.82%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 31 (1.76%) MCSE
13 26 (1.48%) Network+ Certification
14 20 (1.14%) HND
14 20 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
15 18 (1.02%) HNC
15 18 (1.02%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 14 (0.79%) MCSA
17 12 (0.68%) Computer Science Degree
18 11 (0.62%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 157 (8.91%) Cyber Essentials
2 135 (7.66%) SLA
3 113 (6.41%) PCI DSS
4 84 (4.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 54 (3.06%) GDPR
6 46 (2.61%) NIST
7 33 (1.87%) NCSC
8 15 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 12 (0.68%) QA
10 8 (0.45%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.28%) Data Quality
11 5 (0.28%) GxP
11 5 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.11%) PMO
14 1 (0.057%) GRC
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 9001
14 1 (0.057%) ITGC
System Software
1 360 (20.43%) Hyper-V
2 237 (13.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 106 (6.02%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.89%) Virtual Desktop
5 45 (2.55%) vSphere
6 36 (2.04%) VMware ESXi
7 22 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
8 16 (0.91%) Docker
8 16 (0.91%) Firmware
9 10 (0.57%) BitLocker
10 7 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
10 7 (0.40%) VMware NSX
10 7 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
11 5 (0.28%) XenApp
12 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 3 (0.17%) Lustre
13 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 1 (0.057%) DFS Replication
14 1 (0.057%) VMware Server
14 1 (0.057%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 365 (20.72%) Microsoft Intune
2 132 (7.49%) SCCM
3 55 (3.12%) Terraform
4 48 (2.72%) Single Sign-On
5 38 (2.16%) vCenter Server
6 25 (1.42%) WSUS
7 23 (1.31%) Jamf Pro
8 20 (1.14%) Ansible
8 20 (1.14%) Autotask
9 17 (0.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 17 (0.96%) FortiGate
10 16 (0.91%) Kubernetes
10 16 (0.91%) SCOM
11 10 (0.57%) Nagios
11 10 (0.57%) ZABBIX
12 9 (0.51%) Failover Clustering
13 7 (0.40%) SCVMM
14 6 (0.34%) Backup Exec
14 6 (0.34%) McAfee ePO
14 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,311 (74.40%) Microsoft
2 472 (26.79%) VMware
3 187 (10.61%) Veeam
4 143 (8.12%) SolarWinds
5 120 (6.81%) Nimble Storage
6 118 (6.70%) Splunk
7 110 (6.24%) Tanium
8 107 (6.07%) Cisco
9 104 (5.90%) Brocade
10 86 (4.88%) Apple
11 73 (4.14%) Citrix
12 72 (4.09%) ServiceNow
13 70 (3.97%) Google
14 54 (3.06%) HP
15 50 (2.84%) Oracle
16 40 (2.27%) Dell
17 37 (2.10%) Meraki
18 24 (1.36%) Fortinet
18 24 (1.36%) SonicWALL
19 22 (1.25%) Red Hat