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

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 37 27
Rank change year-on-year -14 -10 +14
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,813 1,765 3,677
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.73% 5.51% 7.34%
As % of the System Software category 62.13% 42.99% 49.12%
Number of salaries quoted 1,265 1,096 3,262
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £24,250
25th Percentile £28,000 £29,000 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £37,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.33% +7.14% -4.11%
75th Percentile £47,250 £52,500 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £61,875 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year -11.76% +6.25% -1.23%

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 2,918 4,106 7,486
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.00% 12.82% 14.95%
Number of salaries quoted 2,049 2,411 6,287
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £52,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.27% +15.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £76,250 £85,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,836 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.55% +15.67% -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 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 19 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 +12 495 £36,000 -15.29% 239
North of England -25 379 £33,750 -10.00% 126
South West +3 300 £32,500 -2.99% 71
Midlands -28 270 £31,500 -15.64% 77
East of England -21 181 £32,875 -1.87% 66
Yorkshire -8 169 £32,500 - 51
North West -14 168 £37,500 -6.25% 66
East Midlands +1 159 £29,000 -7.94% 31
Scotland +11 120 £27,750 -25.00% 32
West Midlands -54 110 £32,500 -19.25% 45
Wales +6 43 £35,000 -27.91% 8
North East -7 42 £31,500 -12.50% 15
Northern Ireland -17 21 £32,000 -39.05% 4
Isle of Man +9 4 £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
1 526 (29.01%) Microsoft Exchange
2 334 (18.42%) SharePoint
3 24 (1.32%) Exchange Server 2003
4 14 (0.77%) Confluence
4 14 (0.77%) IIS
5 12 (0.66%) Exchange Server 2013
6 10 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2007
6 10 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2010
7 4 (0.22%) CMS
7 4 (0.22%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
9 2 (0.11%) WinCC
9 2 (0.11%) WordPress
10 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 280 (15.44%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (2.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.22%) CATIA
5 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.055%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.055%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 19 (1.05%) Oracle ERP
2 16 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.33%) NetSuite
3 6 (0.33%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.22%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.22%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.11%) Shopify
7 1 (0.055%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.055%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 1,284 (70.82%) Microsoft 365
2 1,009 (55.65%) Azure
3 609 (33.59%) Entra ID
4 134 (7.39%) OneDrive
5 132 (7.28%) AWS
6 102 (5.63%) Google Workspace
7 89 (4.91%) SaaS
8 68 (3.75%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.15%) Azure DevOps
10 37 (2.04%) IaaS
11 36 (1.99%) GCP
12 35 (1.93%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (1.65%) PaaS
14 28 (1.54%) GitHub
14 28 (1.54%) PowerApps
15 27 (1.49%) OCI
16 24 (1.32%) Azure Logic Apps
16 24 (1.32%) Nutanix
17 22 (1.21%) Mimecast
18 21 (1.16%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 668 (36.85%) DNS
2 632 (34.86%) DHCP
3 423 (23.33%) Firewall
4 277 (15.28%) VPN
5 245 (13.51%) TCP/IP
6 185 (10.20%) VLAN
7 171 (9.43%) WAN
8 168 (9.27%) LAN
9 132 (7.28%) Wi-Fi
10 86 (4.74%) VoIP
11 77 (4.25%) Wireless
12 53 (2.92%) Network Security
12 53 (2.92%) Remote Desktop
13 47 (2.59%) SAN
14 46 (2.54%) Broadband
15 26 (1.43%) SD-WAN
16 22 (1.21%) Internet
17 17 (0.94%) Unified Communications
18 16 (0.88%) Ethernet
19 15 (0.83%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 130 (7.17%) Amazon RDS
2 59 (3.25%) SQL Server
3 34 (1.88%) Power BI
4 27 (1.49%) Oracle Database
5 24 (1.32%) Oracle Database 10g
6 16 (0.88%) MySQL
7 11 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
7 11 (0.61%) PostgreSQL
8 9 (0.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 7 (0.39%) GIS
10 6 (0.33%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.33%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.22%) DTS
12 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
13 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
14 1 (0.055%) FileMaker
14 1 (0.055%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 1 (0.055%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 72 (3.97%) JIRA
2 25 (1.38%) Jenkins
3 22 (1.21%) Git
3 22 (1.21%) Oracle Forms
4 7 (0.39%) GitLab
5 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.22%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 3 (0.17%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.055%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.055%) Metasploit
General
1 884 (48.76%) Social Skills
2 229 (12.63%) Analytical Skills
3 149 (8.22%) Finance
4 148 (8.16%) Organisational Skills
5 80 (4.41%) Manufacturing
6 65 (3.59%) Retail
7 63 (3.47%) Documentation Skills
8 59 (3.25%) Law
9 57 (3.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 41 (2.26%) Legal
11 38 (2.10%) Advertising
12 35 (1.93%) Games
12 35 (1.93%) Public Sector
13 25 (1.38%) Telecoms
14 22 (1.21%) Marketing
15 13 (0.72%) French Language
15 13 (0.72%) Swedish Language
16 8 (0.44%) Aerospace
16 8 (0.44%) Local Government
17 4 (0.22%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 695 (38.33%) IT Support
2 470 (25.92%) Support Engineer
3 387 (21.35%) IT Engineer
4 333 (18.37%) IT Support Engineer
5 235 (12.96%) Analyst
6 185 (10.20%) 2nd Line Support
7 171 (9.43%) Support Analyst
8 162 (8.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 158 (8.71%) Support Technician
10 151 (8.33%) Systems Engineer
11 139 (7.67%) IT Analyst
12 138 (7.61%) Senior
13 122 (6.73%) IT Support Analyst
14 106 (5.85%) IT Technician
15 104 (5.74%) IT Support Technician
16 101 (5.57%) 3rd Line Support
17 94 (5.18%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 92 (5.07%) 1st Line Support
19 85 (4.69%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
20 72 (3.97%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (3.25%) SOAP
2 53 (2.92%) SAML
3 50 (2.76%) OAuth
3 50 (2.76%) OpenID
4 48 (2.65%) LDAP
5 44 (2.43%) REST
6 40 (2.21%) GraphQL
7 27 (1.49%) JSON
7 27 (1.49%) XML
8 24 (1.32%) RESTful
9 19 (1.05%) .NET
10 14 (0.77%) ARM Templates
11 12 (0.66%) CSS
11 12 (0.66%) HTML
11 12 (0.66%) React
12 10 (0.55%) OAuth2
13 9 (0.50%) .NET Framework
14 6 (0.33%) Web Services
15 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
15 5 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 273 (15.06%) Driving Licence
2 129 (7.12%) Onboarding
3 117 (6.45%) Legacy Systems
4 83 (4.58%) Self-Motivation
5 67 (3.70%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (2.37%) Cyberattack
7 41 (2.26%) Cyber Threat
8 39 (2.15%) Hybrid Cloud
9 35 (1.93%) Cloud Native
10 34 (1.88%) Data Centre
11 32 (1.77%) Management Information System
12 30 (1.65%) Replication
13 22 (1.21%) Public Cloud
14 18 (0.99%) iPad
14 18 (0.99%) Video Conferencing
15 17 (0.94%) CMDB
16 16 (0.88%) Client/Server
17 15 (0.83%) Clustering
18 14 (0.77%) PKI
19 13 (0.72%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 1,280 (70.60%) Windows
2 795 (43.85%) Windows Server
3 274 (15.11%) Windows 10
4 230 (12.69%) Linux
5 167 (9.21%) Windows Server 2016
6 95 (5.24%) Mac OS
7 72 (3.97%) Apple iOS
8 70 (3.86%) Android
9 64 (3.53%) Windows Server 2019
10 39 (2.15%) Windows 7
11 34 (1.88%) Windows Server 2008
11 34 (1.88%) Windows Server 2012
12 29 (1.60%) Unix
13 24 (1.32%) HPUX
13 24 (1.32%) Solaris
13 24 (1.32%) Windows Server 2003
14 11 (0.61%) VMS
15 10 (0.55%) Windows 8
16 6 (0.33%) CentOS
16 6 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 678 (37.40%) Problem-Solving
2 569 (31.38%) Customer Service
3 397 (21.90%) ITIL
4 251 (13.84%) Cybersecurity
5 241 (13.29%) Mentoring
6 210 (11.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 204 (11.25%) Continuous Improvement
8 185 (10.20%) Migration
9 181 (9.98%) ITSM
10 151 (8.33%) Service Delivery
11 148 (8.16%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 136 (7.50%) Coaching
12 136 (7.50%) Disaster Recovery
13 130 (7.17%) Kalman Filter
14 128 (7.06%) Web Filtering
15 127 (7.00%) Customer Experience
16 122 (6.73%) Incident Management
17 116 (6.40%) Email Filtering
18 114 (6.29%) Vulnerability Scanning
19 106 (5.85%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 306 (16.88%) PowerShell
2 140 (7.72%) SQL
3 80 (4.41%) Bash
4 58 (3.20%) Python
5 50 (2.76%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.21%) Perl
6 22 (1.21%) PL/SQL
7 21 (1.16%) Java
7 21 (1.16%) Shell Script
8 20 (1.10%) JavaScript
9 16 (0.88%) C#
10 10 (0.55%) VB
11 6 (0.33%) Bicep
11 6 (0.33%) R
12 5 (0.28%) VBA
13 2 (0.11%) Groovy
13 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.055%) PHP
14 1 (0.055%) VB.NET
14 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 255 (14.07%) Security Cleared
2 209 (11.53%) SC Cleared
3 162 (8.94%) Degree
4 161 (8.88%) Microsoft Certification
5 67 (3.70%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.98%) DBS Check
7 46 (2.54%) Azure Certification
8 39 (2.15%) Cisco Certification
9 38 (2.10%) A+ Certification
10 32 (1.77%) CCNA
10 32 (1.77%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.71%) MCSE
12 22 (1.21%) Network+ Certification
13 21 (1.16%) ITIL Certification
14 18 (0.99%) HND
15 17 (0.94%) HNC
16 16 (0.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 13 (0.72%) MCSA
18 11 (0.61%) CCNP
19 10 (0.55%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 172 (9.49%) Cyber Essentials
2 136 (7.50%) SLA
3 120 (6.62%) PCI DSS
4 85 (4.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 52 (2.87%) NIST
6 50 (2.76%) GDPR
7 40 (2.21%) NCSC
8 17 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 13 (0.72%) QA
10 8 (0.44%) Accessibility
10 8 (0.44%) Data Quality
11 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.22%) GxP
11 4 (0.22%) ISO 22301
11 4 (0.22%) PMO
11 4 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.17%) ITGC
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.055%) GRC
14 1 (0.055%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 390 (21.51%) Hyper-V
2 247 (13.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 114 (6.29%) Terminal Server
4 46 (2.54%) Virtual Desktop
5 42 (2.32%) vSphere
6 41 (2.26%) VMware ESXi
7 23 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
8 14 (0.77%) Docker
9 13 (0.72%) Firmware
10 11 (0.61%) BitLocker
11 9 (0.50%) VMware NSX
11 9 (0.50%) VMware Workstation
12 6 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.33%) XenApp
13 4 (0.22%) DFS Replication
13 4 (0.22%) Terminal Services
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 1 (0.055%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.055%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 371 (20.46%) Microsoft Intune
2 133 (7.34%) SCCM
3 52 (2.87%) Terraform
4 46 (2.54%) Single Sign-On
5 44 (2.43%) vCenter Server
6 29 (1.60%) Jamf Pro
7 20 (1.10%) Autotask
8 19 (1.05%) Ansible
9 18 (0.99%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 18 (0.99%) WSUS
10 16 (0.88%) FortiGate
11 14 (0.77%) Kubernetes
12 11 (0.61%) SCOM
13 10 (0.55%) ZABBIX
14 9 (0.50%) Backup Exec
14 9 (0.50%) Failover Clustering
15 8 (0.44%) Nagios
16 7 (0.39%) SCVMM
17 6 (0.33%) McAfee ePO
17 6 (0.33%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,330 (73.36%) Microsoft
2 498 (27.47%) VMware
3 200 (11.03%) Veeam
4 153 (8.44%) SolarWinds
5 134 (7.39%) Nimble Storage
6 127 (7.00%) Splunk
7 116 (6.40%) Tanium
8 112 (6.18%) Brocade
9 101 (5.57%) Cisco
10 89 (4.91%) Apple
11 81 (4.47%) Google
12 79 (4.36%) Citrix
13 73 (4.03%) ServiceNow
14 62 (3.42%) HP
15 49 (2.70%) Oracle
16 46 (2.54%) Dell
17 36 (1.99%) Meraki
18 24 (1.32%) SonicWALL
19 22 (1.21%) Dell Compellent
19 22 (1.21%) Fortinet