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

6 months to
23 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 53 40 36
Rank change year-on-year -13 -4 -12
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,239 1,824 2,587
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.62% 5.35% 4.84%
As % of the System Software category 49.39% 44.08% 48.70%
Number of salaries quoted 1,659 1,378 1,599
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £29,500 £28,500 £30,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £39,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -10.26% +4.00%
75th Percentile £50,443 £48,750 £52,500
90th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £62,500
UK median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year +6.67% -11.76% +6.25%

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 4,533 4,138 5,312
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.30% 12.13% 9.93%
Number of salaries quoted 3,313 2,279 3,223
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £27,520
25th Percentile £34,000 £31,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £43,213 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.71% -13.57% +0.88%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £81,250 £75,000 £75,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £54,835
% change year-on-year +10.00% -8.82% -0.30%

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 23 September 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 23 September 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
North of England -3 529 £32,988 +1.50% 173
South East -12 515 £42,500 +13.33% 265
Midlands -36 378 £40,500 +15.71% 164
South West -33 297 £38,500 +18.46% 85
North West +77 289 £35,000 - 108
East of England +2 266 £35,000 +0.72% 130
East Midlands -17 191 £38,000 +20.63% 64
West Midlands -40 187 £42,500 -2.30% 100
Yorkshire -33 171 £31,000 +1.64% 47
Scotland +56 119 £32,500 +4.84% 55
Northern Ireland -23 83 £39,500 -24.76% 24
North East -61 69 £37,500 +20.97% 21
Wales -54 61 £45,000 +18.13% 13
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
1 659 (29.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 515 (23.00%) SharePoint
3 54 (2.41%) IIS
4 17 (0.76%) Confluence
5 16 (0.71%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.27%) Apache
7 3 (0.13%) SAS
8 2 (0.089%) Exchange Server 2013
8 2 (0.089%) nginx
9 1 (0.045%) HCL Domino
9 1 (0.045%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.045%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.045%) Site Server
9 1 (0.045%) Tomcat
Applications
1 145 (6.48%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 3 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.089%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.045%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.045%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.045%) Revit
Business Applications
1 12 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.36%) Dynamics NAV
3 6 (0.27%) Raiser’s Edge
4 5 (0.22%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 5 (0.22%) NetSuite
4 5 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
5 4 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (0.18%) Shopify
6 3 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.089%) Sage 200
7 2 (0.089%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.045%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.045%) Exchequer
8 1 (0.045%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.045%) Primavera
8 1 (0.045%) Sage 50
8 1 (0.045%) SAP EHS
8 1 (0.045%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,549 (69.18%) Microsoft 365
2 1,224 (54.67%) Azure
3 1,032 (46.09%) Entra ID
4 182 (8.13%) OneDrive
5 148 (6.61%) AWS
6 95 (4.24%) SaaS
7 65 (2.90%) Power Platform
8 60 (2.68%) IaaS
9 56 (2.50%) Mimecast
10 48 (2.14%) Azure DevOps
11 45 (2.01%) PaaS
12 41 (1.83%) Microsoft Purview
13 39 (1.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 38 (1.70%) Power Automate
15 36 (1.61%) Serverless
16 34 (1.52%) Google Workspace
17 27 (1.21%) Azure Monitor
18 26 (1.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
19 24 (1.07%) Dynamics 365
20 23 (1.03%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 736 (32.87%) DNS
2 621 (27.74%) DHCP
3 550 (24.56%) Firewall
4 404 (18.04%) VPN
5 294 (13.13%) TCP/IP
6 228 (10.18%) VLAN
7 226 (10.09%) Wi-Fi
8 212 (9.47%) WAN
9 206 (9.20%) LAN
10 158 (7.06%) Wireless
11 138 (6.16%) VoIP
12 96 (4.29%) Network Security
13 73 (3.26%) SAN
14 35 (1.56%) Remote Desktop
15 33 (1.47%) SSL
16 29 (1.30%) Internet
17 24 (1.07%) NAS
18 19 (0.85%) WLAN
19 18 (0.80%) Cisco IOS
20 16 (0.71%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 104 (4.64%) SQL Server
2 90 (4.02%) Amazon RDS
3 32 (1.43%) Azure SQL Database
4 18 (0.80%) MySQL
4 18 (0.80%) Power BI
5 12 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (0.45%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.27%) Crystal Reports
8 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.13%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.13%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.089%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.089%) KNIME
10 2 (0.089%) Neo4j
11 1 (0.045%) Elasticsearch
11 1 (0.045%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.045%) RDBMS
11 1 (0.045%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.045%) SSDT
Development Applications
1 61 (2.72%) JIRA
2 31 (1.38%) Git
3 9 (0.40%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.22%) GitLab
6 2 (0.089%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.089%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.089%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.089%) git-flow
6 2 (0.089%) Metasploit
6 2 (0.089%) NUnit
6 2 (0.089%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.045%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.045%) Flyway
7 1 (0.045%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.045%) Selenium
7 1 (0.045%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.045%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 1,083 (48.37%) Social Skills
2 274 (12.24%) Analytical Skills
3 139 (6.21%) Legal
4 125 (5.58%) Finance
5 87 (3.89%) Manufacturing
6 82 (3.66%) Organisational Skills
7 76 (3.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 76 (3.39%) Law
8 70 (3.13%) Public Sector
9 55 (2.46%) Retail
10 44 (1.97%) Aerospace
11 43 (1.92%) Telecoms
12 34 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
13 24 (1.07%) Advertising
14 14 (0.63%) Automotive
15 13 (0.58%) Local Government
16 11 (0.49%) Games
16 11 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.31%) Aviation
18 5 (0.22%) Dutch Language
Job Titles
1 840 (37.52%) IT Support
2 543 (24.25%) Support Engineer
3 541 (24.16%) IT Engineer
4 441 (19.70%) IT Support Engineer
5 386 (17.24%) Analyst
6 283 (12.64%) Senior
7 243 (10.85%) Support Analyst
8 228 (10.18%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 201 (8.98%) IT Technician
10 200 (8.93%) Support Technician
11 180 (8.04%) IT Support Technician
12 170 (7.59%) IT Analyst
13 155 (6.92%) 2nd Line Support
14 152 (6.79%) IT Support Analyst
15 148 (6.61%) Systems Engineer
16 108 (4.82%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 95 (4.24%) Architect
18 92 (4.11%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 92 (4.11%) Administrator
19 81 (3.62%) 3rd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (3.53%) Terraform
2 63 (2.81%) LDAP
3 34 (1.52%) SAML
4 30 (1.34%) OpenID
5 29 (1.30%) OAuth
6 23 (1.03%) .NET
7 18 (0.80%) Regular Expression
8 17 (0.76%) Microsoft Graph
9 16 (0.71%) XMPP
10 14 (0.63%) ModSecurity
11 13 (0.58%) REST
11 13 (0.58%) SailPoint
12 12 (0.54%) ARM Templates
13 11 (0.49%) HTML
14 10 (0.45%) ASP.NET Web Forms
14 10 (0.45%) WinForms
15 8 (0.36%) OAuth2
15 8 (0.36%) Web Services
16 6 (0.27%) JSON
16 6 (0.27%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 307 (13.71%) Driving Licence
2 201 (8.98%) Onboarding
3 122 (5.45%) Self-Motivation
4 85 (3.80%) Legacy Systems
5 79 (3.53%) Hybrid Cloud
6 71 (3.17%) Management Information System
7 67 (2.99%) Data Centre
8 50 (2.23%) PKI
9 45 (2.01%) Security Posture
10 44 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
11 41 (1.83%) Cloud Native
11 41 (1.83%) Clustering
12 34 (1.52%) Replication
13 33 (1.47%) CCTV
14 28 (1.25%) iPhone
15 25 (1.12%) Public Cloud
16 20 (0.89%) iPad
17 19 (0.85%) Video Conferencing
18 16 (0.71%) Enterprise Storage
18 16 (0.71%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,588 (70.92%) Windows
2 917 (40.96%) Windows Server
3 267 (11.92%) Linux
4 265 (11.84%) Windows 10
5 154 (6.88%) Windows Server 2016
6 130 (5.81%) Mac OS
7 88 (3.93%) Windows Server 2019
8 77 (3.44%) Apple iOS
9 58 (2.59%) Android
10 34 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 26 (1.16%) Ubuntu
12 25 (1.12%) VMS
13 24 (1.07%) Windows Server 2012
14 8 (0.36%) Debian
15 7 (0.31%) CentOS
15 7 (0.31%) Rocky
16 6 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
17 5 (0.22%) CoreOS
17 5 (0.22%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 839 (37.47%) Problem-Solving
2 576 (25.73%) Customer Service
3 482 (21.53%) ITIL
4 465 (20.77%) Cybersecurity
5 458 (20.46%) Continuous Improvement
6 384 (17.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 277 (12.37%) Disaster Recovery
8 263 (11.75%) Mentoring
9 225 (10.05%) ITSM
10 219 (9.78%) Identity Access Management
11 204 (9.11%) Project Delivery
12 190 (8.49%) Migration
13 189 (8.44%) Service Delivery
14 157 (7.01%) Service Management
15 139 (6.21%) Customer Experience
16 136 (6.07%) Collaborative Working
17 132 (5.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 128 (5.72%) AI
19 126 (5.63%) Vulnerability Remediation
20 118 (5.27%) Business Continuity
Programming Languages
1 351 (15.68%) PowerShell
2 195 (8.71%) SQL
3 71 (3.17%) Python
4 56 (2.50%) Bash
5 54 (2.41%) Bicep
6 25 (1.12%) Ruby
7 23 (1.03%) R
8 19 (0.85%) C#
9 15 (0.67%) Kusto Query Language
10 12 (0.54%) VBA
11 7 (0.31%) Java
11 7 (0.31%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.22%) Korn
12 5 (0.22%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.18%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.18%) VB.NET
14 3 (0.13%) PHP
14 3 (0.13%) VB
14 3 (0.13%) VBScript
15 2 (0.089%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 312 (13.93%) Security Cleared
2 210 (9.38%) Degree
3 207 (9.25%) SC Cleared
4 193 (8.62%) Microsoft Certification
5 128 (5.72%) Azure Certification
6 123 (5.49%) A+ Certification
7 109 (4.87%) Network+ Certification
8 95 (4.24%) DV Cleared
9 76 (3.39%) CISM
9 76 (3.39%) CISSP
10 65 (2.90%) DBS Check
11 63 (2.81%) Cisco Certification
12 49 (2.19%) CCNA
13 31 (1.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 27 (1.21%) CompTIA Security+
15 24 (1.07%) Computer Science Degree
16 18 (0.80%) AWS Certification
16 18 (0.80%) BPSS Clearance
17 17 (0.76%) Microsoft Certified Professional
18 14 (0.63%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 217 (9.69%) Cyber Essentials
2 134 (5.98%) SLA
3 121 (5.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 86 (3.84%) PCI DSS
5 57 (2.55%) GDPR
6 41 (1.83%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 30 (1.34%) NIST
8 19 (0.85%) QA
9 15 (0.67%) Accessibility
10 12 (0.54%) Data Quality
10 12 (0.54%) NCSC
11 7 (0.31%) SOC 2
12 4 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.13%) ISAE 3402
14 1 (0.045%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 1 (0.045%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 1 (0.045%) PMO
System Software
1 507 (22.64%) Hyper-V
2 414 (18.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 90 (4.02%) vSphere
4 79 (3.53%) Virtual Desktop
5 72 (3.22%) Terminal Server
6 64 (2.86%) Virtual Machines
7 39 (1.74%) VMware ESXi
8 30 (1.34%) Docker
9 22 (0.98%) Firmware
9 22 (0.98%) Virtual Servers
10 12 (0.54%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 11 (0.49%) VMware NSX
12 10 (0.45%) NDS
13 9 (0.40%) BitLocker
14 8 (0.36%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 4 (0.18%) Squid
16 3 (0.13%) DFS Replication
16 3 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 3 (0.13%) VMware Server
17 2 (0.089%) UAG
Systems Management
1 617 (27.56%) Microsoft Intune
2 100 (4.47%) SCCM
3 56 (2.50%) Single Sign-On
4 36 (1.61%) Ansible
5 34 (1.52%) Kubernetes
6 33 (1.47%) FortiGate
7 29 (1.30%) Jamf Pro
7 29 (1.30%) WSUS
8 19 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 19 (0.85%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 17 (0.76%) Proxmox
9 17 (0.76%) vCenter Server
10 15 (0.67%) Failover Clustering
11 12 (0.54%) ZABBIX
12 11 (0.49%) Microsoft Clustering
13 9 (0.40%) SCOM
14 6 (0.27%) Grafana
14 6 (0.27%) Graylog
14 6 (0.27%) Prometheus
15 5 (0.22%) VxRail
Vendors
1 1,866 (83.34%) Microsoft
2 600 (26.80%) VMware
3 210 (9.38%) Veeam
4 191 (8.53%) Cisco
5 99 (4.42%) Meraki
6 94 (4.20%) SolarWinds
7 88 (3.93%) Splunk
8 81 (3.62%) CyberArk
9 77 (3.44%) Apple
10 75 (3.35%) Nimble Storage
11 72 (3.22%) Brocade
11 72 (3.22%) Tanium
12 67 (2.99%) Fortinet
13 63 (2.81%) ServiceNow
14 61 (2.72%) SonicWALL
15 55 (2.46%) Citrix
16 48 (2.14%) HP
17 44 (1.97%) Palo Alto
18 43 (1.92%) Dell
19 41 (1.83%) Google