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

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 57 42 29
Rank change year-on-year -15 -13 +15
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,755 1,403 4,388
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.15% 5.48% 7.04%
As % of the System Software category 59.88% 44.38% 50.83%
Number of salaries quoted 1,308 1,183 3,791
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £24,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £27,875 £26,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £36,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% +2.86% -1.41%
75th Percentile £47,500 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £60,000 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% +5.26% -5.00%

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 2,931 3,161 8,633
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.26% 12.34% 13.85%
Number of salaries quoted 2,134 2,460 7,147
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £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 £69,563 £60,000
90th Percentile £76,250 £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 27 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 27 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 +7 493 £36,000 -15.29% 175
North of England -25 389 £33,500 +1.52% 133
Midlands -31 271 £32,500 -7.14% 78
South West +8 268 £32,500 -9.72% 71
Yorkshire -20 178 £32,500 +8.33% 39
North West -26 172 £37,500 -6.25% 85
East of England -28 171 £38,326 +17.93% 61
East Midlands -21 140 £31,500 +5.00% 36
West Midlands -38 130 £32,500 -13.33% 42
Scotland +22 97 £29,000 -15.04% 26
Wales +7 42 £35,000 -28.72% 14
North East -14 39 £31,500 -5.11% 13
Northern Ireland -29 18 £32,000 -39.05% 2
Isle of Man +1 6 £45,000 +55.17% 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
1 492 (28.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 339 (19.32%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.31%) Exchange Server 2003
4 14 (0.80%) IIS
5 13 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2013
6 12 (0.68%) Confluence
7 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2007
7 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2010
8 6 (0.34%) CMS
9 4 (0.23%) Apache
10 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 3 (0.17%) WordPress
11 1 (0.057%) Drupal
11 1 (0.057%) nginx
11 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.057%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 248 (14.13%) Microsoft Office
2 41 (2.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.057%) CATIA
Business Applications
1 14 (0.80%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.57%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.40%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.40%) Primavera
4 6 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
5 5 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
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%) Magento
9 1 (0.057%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.057%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,242 (70.77%) Microsoft 365
2 951 (54.19%) Azure
3 615 (35.04%) Entra ID
4 134 (7.64%) OneDrive
5 132 (7.52%) AWS
6 100 (5.70%) Google Workspace
7 85 (4.84%) SaaS
8 74 (4.22%) Power Platform
9 38 (2.17%) IaaS
10 34 (1.94%) PaaS
11 33 (1.88%) Azure Monitor
12 32 (1.82%) Nutanix
13 29 (1.65%) Azure DevOps
13 29 (1.65%) GCP
14 28 (1.60%) Mimecast
15 24 (1.37%) PowerApps
16 22 (1.25%) Microsoft Purview
17 18 (1.03%) OCI
18 17 (0.97%) Dynamics 365
19 16 (0.91%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 624 (35.56%) DNS
2 581 (33.11%) DHCP
3 410 (23.36%) Firewall
4 282 (16.07%) VPN
5 223 (12.71%) TCP/IP
6 187 (10.66%) WAN
7 186 (10.60%) VLAN
8 182 (10.37%) LAN
9 155 (8.83%) Wi-Fi
10 93 (5.30%) VoIP
11 78 (4.44%) Wireless
12 64 (3.65%) Network Security
13 61 (3.48%) Remote Desktop
14 47 (2.68%) Broadband
15 40 (2.28%) SAN
16 29 (1.65%) SD-WAN
17 18 (1.03%) NAS
18 16 (0.91%) SMTP
18 16 (0.91%) Unified Communications
19 15 (0.85%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (5.19%) Amazon RDS
2 77 (4.39%) SQL Server
3 46 (2.62%) Power BI
4 26 (1.48%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.31%) Oracle Database 10g
6 22 (1.25%) PostgreSQL
7 21 (1.20%) MySQL
8 11 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
9 8 (0.46%) GIS
9 8 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
11 5 (0.28%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
14 2 (0.11%) Neo4j
15 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
15 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
15 1 (0.057%) Redis
Development Applications
1 71 (4.05%) JIRA
2 14 (0.80%) Git
3 13 (0.74%) Oracle Forms
4 11 (0.63%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.40%) GitLab
6 5 (0.28%) 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%) Gatling
9 1 (0.057%) JMeter
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.057%) Vagrant
9 1 (0.057%) Visual Studio
General
1 790 (45.01%) Social Skills
2 192 (10.94%) Analytical Skills
3 163 (9.29%) Organisational Skills
4 128 (7.29%) Finance
5 76 (4.33%) Manufacturing
6 61 (3.48%) Retail
7 57 (3.25%) Documentation Skills
8 54 (3.08%) Legal
9 52 (2.96%) Law
10 49 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 41 (2.34%) Public Sector
12 39 (2.22%) Advertising
13 36 (2.05%) Games
14 31 (1.77%) Telecoms
15 21 (1.20%) Marketing
16 11 (0.63%) Local Government
17 8 (0.46%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.40%) Automotive
19 4 (0.23%) Banking
19 4 (0.23%) German Language
Job Titles
1 712 (40.57%) IT Support
2 494 (28.15%) Support Engineer
3 410 (23.36%) IT Engineer
4 356 (20.28%) IT Support Engineer
5 228 (12.99%) Analyst
6 184 (10.48%) Support Technician
7 177 (10.09%) 2nd Line Support
8 166 (9.46%) Support Analyst
9 151 (8.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 147 (8.38%) IT Technician
11 137 (7.81%) IT Support Technician
12 135 (7.69%) Senior
13 123 (7.01%) IT Analyst
14 116 (6.61%) Systems Engineer
15 109 (6.21%) IT Support Analyst
16 100 (5.70%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 94 (5.36%) 3rd Line Support
18 90 (5.13%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 73 (4.16%) 1st Line Support
20 63 (3.59%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (2.79%) LDAP
2 48 (2.74%) SAML
2 48 (2.74%) SOAP
3 45 (2.56%) OAuth
3 45 (2.56%) OpenID
4 43 (2.45%) REST
5 38 (2.17%) GraphQL
6 21 (1.20%) JSON
6 21 (1.20%) XML
7 13 (0.74%) .NET
7 13 (0.74%) RESTful
8 9 (0.51%) ARM Templates
9 8 (0.46%) HTML
10 7 (0.40%) .NET Framework
10 7 (0.40%) CSS
10 7 (0.40%) Regular Expression
10 7 (0.40%) Web Services
11 6 (0.34%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.34%) React
12 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
Miscellaneous
1 274 (15.61%) Driving Licence
2 112 (6.38%) Onboarding
3 83 (4.73%) Self-Motivation
4 77 (4.39%) Legacy Systems
5 52 (2.96%) Enterprise Software
6 47 (2.68%) Hybrid Cloud
7 41 (2.34%) Cyberattack
8 40 (2.28%) Cyber Threat
9 34 (1.94%) Replication
10 32 (1.82%) Public Cloud
11 30 (1.71%) Data Centre
12 29 (1.65%) Management Information System
13 25 (1.42%) Cloud Native
14 19 (1.08%) Client/Server
15 18 (1.03%) CMDB
16 17 (0.97%) PKI
17 13 (0.74%) iPad
17 13 (0.74%) Video Conferencing
18 12 (0.68%) Clustering
18 12 (0.68%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,260 (71.79%) Windows
2 742 (42.28%) Windows Server
3 303 (17.26%) Windows 10
4 213 (12.14%) Linux
5 140 (7.98%) Windows Server 2016
6 91 (5.19%) Mac OS
7 82 (4.67%) Apple iOS
8 74 (4.22%) Android
9 53 (3.02%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.39%) Windows 7
11 35 (1.99%) Windows Server 2012
12 31 (1.77%) Windows Server 2008
13 29 (1.65%) Unix
14 23 (1.31%) HPUX
14 23 (1.31%) Solaris
14 23 (1.31%) Windows Server 2003
15 18 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 12 (0.68%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
17 6 (0.34%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 634 (36.13%) Problem-Solving
2 514 (29.29%) Customer Service
3 425 (24.22%) ITIL
4 267 (15.21%) Cybersecurity
5 203 (11.57%) Mentoring
6 201 (11.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 185 (10.54%) Continuous Improvement
8 179 (10.20%) ITSM
9 159 (9.06%) Service Delivery
10 151 (8.60%) Disaster Recovery
11 125 (7.12%) Incident Management
11 125 (7.12%) Migration
12 119 (6.78%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 111 (6.32%) Coaching
14 97 (5.53%) Kalman Filter
15 96 (5.47%) Change Management
16 95 (5.41%) Web Filtering
17 94 (5.36%) Customer Experience
17 94 (5.36%) Identity Access Management
18 88 (5.01%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 293 (16.70%) PowerShell
2 126 (7.18%) SQL
3 80 (4.56%) Bash
4 51 (2.91%) Python
5 49 (2.79%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.25%) Perl
7 15 (0.85%) Shell Script
8 14 (0.80%) JavaScript
8 14 (0.80%) PL/SQL
9 13 (0.74%) R
10 11 (0.63%) Java
11 9 (0.51%) C#
12 8 (0.46%) VB
13 5 (0.28%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Bicep
15 3 (0.17%) PHP
16 2 (0.11%) C
17 1 (0.057%) Korn
17 1 (0.057%) TypeScript
17 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 236 (13.45%) Security Cleared
2 177 (10.09%) SC Cleared
3 160 (9.12%) Degree
4 159 (9.06%) Microsoft Certification
5 81 (4.62%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.62%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.39%) Azure Certification
8 40 (2.28%) A+ Certification
9 37 (2.11%) Cisco Certification
10 34 (1.94%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.77%) CCNA
12 24 (1.37%) Network+ Certification
13 21 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
13 21 (1.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 19 (1.08%) MCSE
15 17 (0.97%) HNC
15 17 (0.97%) MCSA
16 14 (0.80%) Computer Science Degree
17 13 (0.74%) HND
18 12 (0.68%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 168 (9.57%) SLA
2 145 (8.26%) Cyber Essentials
3 95 (5.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 84 (4.79%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.85%) NIST
6 39 (2.22%) NCSC
7 38 (2.17%) GDPR
8 25 (1.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (0.97%) QA
10 9 (0.51%) Data Quality
11 8 (0.46%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.28%) GRC
12 5 (0.28%) PMO
13 4 (0.23%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.23%) GxP
13 4 (0.23%) ISO 22301
13 4 (0.23%) ITGC
14 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 353 (20.11%) Hyper-V
2 250 (14.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.27%) Terminal Server
4 48 (2.74%) vSphere
5 38 (2.17%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (1.77%) Virtual Desktop
7 24 (1.37%) Virtual Machines
8 17 (0.97%) BitLocker
9 16 (0.91%) Docker
10 11 (0.63%) Firmware
10 11 (0.63%) VMware Workstation
11 10 (0.57%) VMware NSX
11 10 (0.57%) XenApp
12 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
14 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.17%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 3 (0.17%) Lustre
15 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 352 (20.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 134 (7.64%) SCCM
3 45 (2.56%) Single Sign-On
4 42 (2.39%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.99%) Terraform
6 34 (1.94%) Jamf Pro
7 21 (1.20%) FortiGate
8 20 (1.14%) Ansible
9 19 (1.08%) WSUS
10 18 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 17 (0.97%) Autotask
12 13 (0.74%) SCOM
13 11 (0.63%) Kubernetes
14 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
15 8 (0.46%) ZABBIX
16 7 (0.40%) Proxmox
17 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
17 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
18 5 (0.28%) Prometheus
18 5 (0.28%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,270 (72.36%) Microsoft
2 457 (26.04%) VMware
3 156 (8.89%) Veeam
4 110 (6.27%) SolarWinds
5 100 (5.70%) Nimble Storage
6 96 (5.47%) Apple
7 94 (5.36%) Cisco
8 92 (5.24%) Citrix
9 88 (5.01%) Splunk
10 79 (4.50%) Google
10 79 (4.50%) ServiceNow
11 72 (4.10%) Brocade
11 72 (4.10%) Tanium
12 69 (3.93%) HP
13 57 (3.25%) Dell
14 43 (2.45%) Oracle
15 37 (2.11%) Meraki
16 28 (1.60%) Dell Compellent
17 24 (1.37%) McAfee
18 23 (1.31%) CrowdStrike