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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 44 30
Rank change year-on-year -8 -14 +7
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,014 1,693 4,465
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.89% 5.36% 5.82%
As % of the System Software category 53.21% 40.55% 51.54%
Number of salaries quoted 1,594 1,347 3,585
10th Percentile £26,500 £26,000 £23,750
25th Percentile £29,000 £28,000 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% - -4.11%
75th Percentile £48,750 £48,750 £48,500
90th Percentile £63,750 £61,600 £58,160
UK median annual salary £40,000 £38,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year +3.90% +2.67% -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 3,785 4,175 8,663
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.44% 13.21% 11.30%
Number of salaries quoted 2,923 2,464 6,776
10th Percentile £28,000 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £32,250 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £46,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% +2.22% -5.26%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £82,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £49,500
% change year-on-year - +6.06% -10.00%

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 1 July 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 1 July 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 -1 505 £40,000 - 174
North of England -1 489 £34,000 +6.25% 146
Midlands -30 337 £35,000 - 74
South West -18 267 £37,500 +8.70% 75
North West +52 242 £37,500 - 77
East of England +8 233 £35,000 +7.69% 56
Yorkshire -27 194 £32,500 +8.33% 59
East Midlands -4 175 £32,500 +3.17% 41
West Midlands -43 161 £38,250 -1.92% 33
Scotland +83 103 £28,500 -18.57% 32
Wales -6 64 £45,000 +18.13% 23
North East -51 53 £42,500 +32.81% 17
Northern Ireland -22 13 £32,000 -39.05% 12
Isle of Man +4 6 £45,000 +30.43%
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
1 567 (28.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 428 (21.25%) SharePoint
3 38 (1.89%) IIS
4 15 (0.74%) Confluence
5 11 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2010
7 8 (0.40%) Skype for Business
8 5 (0.25%) Apache
9 4 (0.20%) CMS
10 3 (0.15%) SAS
11 1 (0.050%) Drupal
11 1 (0.050%) nginx
11 1 (0.050%) Site Server
11 1 (0.050%) WordPress
Applications
1 212 (10.53%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.15%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.050%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.050%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.65%) Dynamics NAV
3 9 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.25%) NetSuite
4 5 (0.25%) Raiser’s Edge
5 4 (0.20%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.20%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.20%) Primavera
6 3 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.099%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.099%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 2 (0.099%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.050%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.050%) Magento
8 1 (0.050%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.050%) SAP EHS
8 1 (0.050%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,422 (70.61%) Microsoft 365
2 1,092 (54.22%) Azure
3 779 (38.68%) Entra ID
4 143 (7.10%) OneDrive
5 140 (6.95%) AWS
6 100 (4.97%) SaaS
7 83 (4.12%) Power Platform
8 65 (3.23%) Google Workspace
9 63 (3.13%) IaaS
10 55 (2.73%) PaaS
11 54 (2.68%) Mimecast
12 42 (2.09%) Azure DevOps
13 30 (1.49%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (1.49%) Microsoft Purview
13 30 (1.49%) Nutanix
14 28 (1.39%) Serverless
15 26 (1.29%) Azure Sentinel
16 25 (1.24%) PowerApps
17 22 (1.09%) Azure Functions
18 21 (1.04%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 678 (33.66%) DNS
2 569 (28.25%) DHCP
3 530 (26.32%) Firewall
4 342 (16.98%) VPN
5 230 (11.42%) TCP/IP
6 203 (10.08%) WAN
7 201 (9.98%) Wi-Fi
8 200 (9.93%) VLAN
9 198 (9.83%) LAN
10 121 (6.01%) VoIP
11 108 (5.36%) Wireless
12 83 (4.12%) Network Security
13 76 (3.77%) SAN
14 51 (2.53%) Remote Desktop
15 34 (1.69%) Broadband
16 29 (1.44%) NAS
17 25 (1.24%) Internet
18 18 (0.89%) SD-WAN
19 17 (0.84%) SSL
20 15 (0.74%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 117 (5.81%) SQL Server
2 93 (4.62%) Amazon RDS
3 46 (2.28%) Power BI
4 30 (1.49%) Azure SQL Database
4 30 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (1.34%) MySQL
6 9 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 6 (0.30%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.25%) GIS
8 5 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.20%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.15%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.099%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.099%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.099%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.099%) KNIME
11 2 (0.099%) Relational Database
12 1 (0.050%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.050%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.050%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 79 (3.92%) JIRA
2 23 (1.14%) Git
3 11 (0.55%) GitLab
4 5 (0.25%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.25%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.20%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.099%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.099%) Metasploit
6 2 (0.099%) Subversion
6 2 (0.099%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.050%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.050%) Gatling
7 1 (0.050%) JMeter
7 1 (0.050%) LabVIEW
7 1 (0.050%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.050%) Selenium
7 1 (0.050%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.050%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.050%) Vagrant
General
1 861 (42.75%) Social Skills
2 213 (10.58%) Analytical Skills
3 137 (6.80%) Organisational Skills
4 121 (6.01%) Finance
5 72 (3.57%) Legal
6 70 (3.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 70 (3.48%) Manufacturing
7 66 (3.28%) Law
8 64 (3.18%) Documentation Skills
9 60 (2.98%) Public Sector
10 46 (2.28%) Retail
11 42 (2.09%) Telecoms
12 27 (1.34%) Games
13 25 (1.24%) Advertising
14 21 (1.04%) Local Government
15 15 (0.74%) Aerospace
16 12 (0.60%) Automotive
17 9 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
17 9 (0.45%) Marketing
18 6 (0.30%) Banking
Job Titles
1 780 (38.73%) IT Support
2 537 (26.66%) Support Engineer
3 501 (24.88%) IT Engineer
4 415 (20.61%) IT Support Engineer
5 334 (16.58%) Analyst
6 225 (11.17%) Support Analyst
7 197 (9.78%) Senior
8 190 (9.43%) Support Technician
9 188 (9.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 182 (9.04%) IT Technician
11 165 (8.19%) 2nd Line Support
12 162 (8.04%) IT Support Technician
13 155 (7.70%) IT Analyst
13 155 (7.70%) Systems Engineer
14 139 (6.90%) IT Support Analyst
15 97 (4.82%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 83 (4.12%) 3rd Line Support
17 81 (4.02%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 79 (3.92%) Architect
19 77 (3.82%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (2.48%) LDAP
2 38 (1.89%) SAML
3 33 (1.64%) OpenID
4 30 (1.49%) OAuth
5 29 (1.44%) REST
6 24 (1.19%) GraphQL
6 24 (1.19%) SOAP
7 22 (1.09%) Regular Expression
8 18 (0.89%) XMPP
9 14 (0.70%) JSON
9 14 (0.70%) XML
10 11 (0.55%) .NET
10 11 (0.55%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.45%) HTML
11 9 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
11 9 (0.45%) Web Services
12 7 (0.35%) Middleware
13 6 (0.30%) JSON Schema
14 5 (0.25%) FreeSWITCH
15 4 (0.20%) boto
Miscellaneous
1 288 (14.30%) Driving Licence
2 144 (7.15%) Onboarding
3 121 (6.01%) Self-Motivation
4 88 (4.37%) Hybrid Cloud
5 86 (4.27%) Legacy Systems
6 68 (3.38%) Data Centre
7 63 (3.13%) Management Information System
8 45 (2.23%) PKI
9 43 (2.14%) Public Cloud
10 42 (2.09%) Clustering
11 37 (1.84%) Replication
12 31 (1.54%) Cyber Threat
12 31 (1.54%) Security Posture
13 30 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
14 28 (1.39%) CCTV
14 28 (1.39%) Cloud Native
14 28 (1.39%) Cyberattack
15 16 (0.79%) Client/Server
16 15 (0.74%) Data Structures
16 15 (0.74%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 1,461 (72.54%) Windows
2 872 (43.30%) Windows Server
3 315 (15.64%) Windows 10
4 261 (12.96%) Linux
5 160 (7.94%) Windows Server 2016
6 132 (6.55%) Mac OS
7 93 (4.62%) Windows Server 2019
8 75 (3.72%) Apple iOS
9 69 (3.43%) Android
10 38 (1.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 32 (1.59%) Windows Server 2012
12 26 (1.29%) VMS
13 15 (0.74%) Windows 7
14 12 (0.60%) Windows Server 2008
15 9 (0.45%) Ubuntu
16 7 (0.35%) Windows 8
17 5 (0.25%) CentOS
17 5 (0.25%) Debian
18 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.20%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 689 (34.21%) Problem-Solving
2 508 (25.22%) Customer Service
3 436 (21.65%) ITIL
4 336 (16.68%) Cybersecurity
5 326 (16.19%) Continuous Improvement
6 271 (13.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 220 (10.92%) Mentoring
8 217 (10.77%) Disaster Recovery
9 186 (9.24%) Service Delivery
10 179 (8.89%) ITSM
11 144 (7.15%) Migration
12 136 (6.75%) Project Delivery
13 122 (6.06%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 121 (6.01%) Change Management
15 114 (5.66%) Customer Experience
16 113 (5.61%) Kalman Filter
17 109 (5.41%) Incident Management
18 106 (5.26%) Web Filtering
19 104 (5.16%) Root Cause Analysis
20 102 (5.06%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 336 (16.68%) PowerShell
2 200 (9.93%) SQL
3 82 (4.07%) Bash
4 62 (3.08%) Python
5 36 (1.79%) T-SQL
6 35 (1.74%) Bicep
7 25 (1.24%) R
8 12 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
9 10 (0.50%) VBA
10 9 (0.45%) C#
11 7 (0.35%) VB
12 6 (0.30%) Korn
12 6 (0.30%) PHP
12 6 (0.30%) Shell Script
13 5 (0.25%) Java
13 5 (0.25%) JavaScript
14 3 (0.15%) Ruby
15 2 (0.099%) C
15 2 (0.099%) VB.NET
15 2 (0.099%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 274 (13.60%) Security Cleared
2 199 (9.88%) Degree
3 183 (9.09%) Microsoft Certification
4 181 (8.99%) SC Cleared
5 93 (4.62%) Azure Certification
6 85 (4.22%) DV Cleared
7 57 (2.83%) DBS Check
8 51 (2.53%) Cisco Certification
9 47 (2.33%) CCNA
10 46 (2.28%) A+ Certification
11 34 (1.69%) Network+ Certification
12 32 (1.59%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 21 (1.04%) MCSA
14 20 (0.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 19 (0.94%) Computer Science Degree
16 16 (0.79%) HNC
17 14 (0.70%) CompTIA Security+
17 14 (0.70%) ITIL Certification
18 13 (0.65%) MCSE
19 12 (0.60%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 194 (9.63%) Cyber Essentials
2 179 (8.89%) SLA
3 134 (6.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 88 (4.37%) PCI DSS
5 48 (2.38%) GDPR
6 47 (2.33%) NIST
7 44 (2.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 29 (1.44%) NCSC
9 22 (1.09%) QA
10 21 (1.04%) Data Quality
11 9 (0.45%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.30%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.25%) PMO
14 4 (0.20%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 4 (0.20%) GRC
14 4 (0.20%) GxP
14 4 (0.20%) ITGC
15 3 (0.15%) ISO 22301
16 2 (0.099%) ISAE 3402
16 2 (0.099%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 461 (22.89%) Hyper-V
2 355 (17.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 100 (4.97%) vSphere
4 74 (3.67%) Terminal Server
5 63 (3.13%) Virtual Desktop
6 51 (2.53%) VMware ESXi
7 48 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
8 34 (1.69%) Docker
9 17 (0.84%) VMware NSX
10 13 (0.65%) BitLocker
11 12 (0.60%) Firmware
12 11 (0.55%) Virtual Servers
13 9 (0.45%) DFS Replication
14 8 (0.40%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 7 (0.35%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 7 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
16 6 (0.30%) XenApp
17 4 (0.20%) Squid
18 3 (0.15%) VMware Server
19 2 (0.099%) Samba
Systems Management
1 435 (21.60%) Microsoft Intune
2 104 (5.16%) SCCM
3 49 (2.43%) Terraform
4 37 (1.84%) vCenter Server
5 34 (1.69%) Single Sign-On
6 30 (1.49%) Jamf Pro
7 29 (1.44%) FortiGate
8 27 (1.34%) WSUS
9 26 (1.29%) Ansible
10 24 (1.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 24 (1.19%) Kubernetes
11 22 (1.09%) Proxmox
12 18 (0.89%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 11 (0.55%) Failover Clustering
14 10 (0.50%) ZABBIX
15 9 (0.45%) Autotask
15 9 (0.45%) Backup Exec
15 9 (0.45%) SCOM
16 7 (0.35%) Microsoft Clustering
17 6 (0.30%) VxRail
Vendors
1 1,558 (77.36%) Microsoft
2 543 (26.96%) VMware
3 182 (9.04%) Veeam
4 125 (6.21%) Cisco
5 101 (5.01%) SolarWinds
6 91 (4.52%) Nimble Storage
7 87 (4.32%) Splunk
8 81 (4.02%) Citrix
9 76 (3.77%) Apple
9 76 (3.77%) ServiceNow
10 72 (3.57%) Brocade
10 72 (3.57%) Tanium
11 65 (3.23%) Meraki
12 64 (3.18%) Dell
13 62 (3.08%) HP
14 53 (2.63%) Google
15 40 (1.99%) CrowdStrike
16 36 (1.79%) McAfee
17 35 (1.74%) Ubiquiti
18 34 (1.69%) Red Hat