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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 39 36
Rank change year-on-year -16 -3 -3
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,165 1,889 3,146
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.81% 5.44% 5.26%
As % of the System Software category 50.26% 43.26% 51.51%
Number of salaries quoted 1,660 1,514 2,355
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,000 £24,720
25th Percentile £29,500 £28,250 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -6.67% +2.74%
75th Percentile £50,111 £47,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £65,000 £60,000 £59,950
UK median annual salary £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% -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 4,308 4,367 6,108
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.58% 12.57% 10.21%
Number of salaries quoted 3,232 2,556 4,488
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £33,750 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £42,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -10.53% -2.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £73,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -11.50%

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 13 August 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 13 August 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 -7 510 £42,500 +6.25% 200
North of England -15 505 £33,475 +7.98% 134
Midlands -34 373 £38,500 +18.46% 79
South West -18 290 £37,500 +8.70% 73
North West +62 269 £35,000 - 80
East of England +3 243 £36,500 +8.96% 69
East Midlands -11 195 £37,500 +19.05% 31
West Midlands -39 178 £42,500 +11.84% 48
Yorkshire -36 176 £30,500 +1.67% 38
Scotland +80 110 £31,500 +1.61% 20
Wales -19 71 £42,500 +11.57% 10
Northern Ireland -14 67 £40,000 -27.27% 7
North East -60 60 £40,000 +29.03% 21
Isle of Man 0 3 £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
1 642 (29.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 461 (21.29%) SharePoint
3 51 (2.36%) IIS
4 18 (0.83%) Confluence
5 12 (0.55%) Skype for Business
6 7 (0.32%) Apache
7 4 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2013
8 3 (0.14%) nginx
8 3 (0.14%) SAS
9 2 (0.092%) CMS
9 2 (0.092%) Exchange Server 2007
9 2 (0.092%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.046%) Drupal
10 1 (0.046%) HCL Domino
10 1 (0.046%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.046%) Site Server
10 1 (0.046%) WordPress
Applications
1 154 (7.11%) Microsoft Office
2 44 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.092%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.046%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.046%) Revit
Business Applications
1 15 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.46%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.28%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.23%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 4 (0.18%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.18%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (0.18%) Primavera
6 4 (0.18%) Shopify
7 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.092%) Dynamics GP
8 2 (0.092%) Sage 200
8 2 (0.092%) SAP S/4HANA
8 2 (0.092%) Teamcenter
9 1 (0.046%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.046%) Magento
9 1 (0.046%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.046%) Sage 50
9 1 (0.046%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,495 (69.05%) Microsoft 365
2 1,221 (56.40%) Azure
3 942 (43.51%) Entra ID
4 162 (7.48%) AWS
5 155 (7.16%) OneDrive
6 103 (4.76%) SaaS
7 74 (3.42%) Power Platform
8 69 (3.19%) IaaS
9 62 (2.86%) Mimecast
10 54 (2.49%) PaaS
11 48 (2.22%) Azure DevOps
12 39 (1.80%) Microsoft Purview
13 36 (1.66%) Azure Sentinel
14 31 (1.43%) Power Automate
15 30 (1.39%) Serverless
16 27 (1.25%) Azure Monitor
16 27 (1.25%) GCP
17 25 (1.15%) PowerApps
18 24 (1.11%) Google Workspace
19 22 (1.02%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 699 (32.29%) DNS
2 582 (26.88%) DHCP
3 523 (24.16%) Firewall
4 366 (16.91%) VPN
5 255 (11.78%) TCP/IP
6 211 (9.75%) Wi-Fi
7 206 (9.52%) WAN
8 201 (9.28%) LAN
9 199 (9.19%) VLAN
10 133 (6.14%) Wireless
11 129 (5.96%) VoIP
12 90 (4.16%) Network Security
13 83 (3.83%) SAN
14 50 (2.31%) Remote Desktop
15 29 (1.34%) Internet
16 28 (1.29%) NAS
17 26 (1.20%) SSL
18 17 (0.79%) WLAN
19 16 (0.74%) Structured Cabling
19 16 (0.74%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (4.71%) SQL Server
2 100 (4.62%) Amazon RDS
3 32 (1.48%) Azure SQL Database
4 30 (1.39%) Power BI
5 21 (0.97%) PostgreSQL
6 20 (0.92%) MySQL
7 6 (0.28%) Crystal Reports
7 6 (0.28%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.092%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.092%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.092%) GIS
11 2 (0.092%) KNIME
12 1 (0.046%) Geospatial Data
12 1 (0.046%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.046%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.046%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 75 (3.46%) JIRA
2 28 (1.29%) Git
3 9 (0.42%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.28%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.23%) GitLab
6 2 (0.092%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.092%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.092%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.092%) git-flow
6 2 (0.092%) Metasploit
6 2 (0.092%) NUnit
6 2 (0.092%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.092%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.046%) Carbide.c++
7 1 (0.046%) JMeter
7 1 (0.046%) Ranorex
7 1 (0.046%) Selenium
7 1 (0.046%) Subversion
7 1 (0.046%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.046%) Vagrant
General
1 987 (45.59%) Social Skills
2 254 (11.73%) Analytical Skills
3 147 (6.79%) Legal
4 129 (5.96%) Finance
5 85 (3.93%) Organisational Skills
6 84 (3.88%) Law
7 80 (3.70%) Manufacturing
8 75 (3.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 64 (2.96%) Public Sector
10 57 (2.63%) Retail
11 48 (2.22%) Telecoms
12 41 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
13 31 (1.43%) Aerospace
14 30 (1.39%) Advertising
15 14 (0.65%) Automotive
15 14 (0.65%) Local Government
16 9 (0.42%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.32%) Games
18 6 (0.28%) Aviation
19 5 (0.23%) Banking
Job Titles
1 777 (35.89%) IT Support
2 532 (24.57%) Support Engineer
3 508 (23.46%) IT Engineer
4 416 (19.21%) IT Support Engineer
5 347 (16.03%) Analyst
6 264 (12.19%) Senior
7 223 (10.30%) Support Analyst
8 212 (9.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 201 (9.28%) IT Technician
10 199 (9.19%) Support Technician
11 177 (8.18%) IT Support Technician
12 162 (7.48%) Systems Engineer
13 146 (6.74%) 2nd Line Support
14 142 (6.56%) IT Analyst
15 126 (5.82%) IT Support Analyst
16 93 (4.30%) Architect
17 92 (4.25%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 85 (3.93%) 3rd Line Support
19 83 (3.83%) Administrator
20 77 (3.56%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.22%) LDAP
2 30 (1.39%) SAML
3 27 (1.25%) OpenID
4 25 (1.15%) OAuth
5 23 (1.06%) Regular Expression
6 19 (0.88%) XMPP
7 12 (0.55%) .NET
8 11 (0.51%) ARM Templates
8 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Graph
8 11 (0.51%) ModSecurity
9 10 (0.46%) HTML
9 10 (0.46%) REST
10 7 (0.32%) JSON
10 7 (0.32%) JSON Schema
10 7 (0.32%) OAuth2
10 7 (0.32%) Web Services
10 7 (0.32%) XML
11 6 (0.28%) Middleware
12 5 (0.23%) ODBC
12 5 (0.23%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 302 (13.95%) Driving Licence
2 182 (8.41%) Onboarding
3 123 (5.68%) Self-Motivation
4 95 (4.39%) Legacy Systems
5 82 (3.79%) Hybrid Cloud
6 69 (3.19%) Data Centre
7 66 (3.05%) Management Information System
8 48 (2.22%) PKI
9 45 (2.08%) Clustering
10 43 (1.99%) Cloud Native
11 42 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
12 41 (1.89%) Security Posture
13 37 (1.71%) Public Cloud
14 35 (1.62%) CCTV
15 34 (1.57%) Replication
16 18 (0.83%) CMDB
16 18 (0.83%) Social Media
17 16 (0.74%) Enterprise Storage
17 16 (0.74%) iPhone
17 16 (0.74%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,541 (71.18%) Windows
2 894 (41.29%) Windows Server
3 292 (13.49%) Windows 10
4 278 (12.84%) Linux
5 160 (7.39%) Windows Server 2016
6 145 (6.70%) Mac OS
7 86 (3.97%) Windows Server 2019
8 79 (3.65%) Apple iOS
9 63 (2.91%) Android
10 45 (2.08%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 23 (1.06%) VMS
12 18 (0.83%) Ubuntu
12 18 (0.83%) Windows Server 2012
13 8 (0.37%) CentOS
13 8 (0.37%) Windows 7
14 6 (0.28%) Debian
14 6 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
15 5 (0.23%) CoreOS
16 4 (0.18%) Mac OS X
16 4 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 738 (34.09%) Problem-Solving
2 530 (24.48%) Customer Service
3 493 (22.77%) ITIL
4 431 (19.91%) Continuous Improvement
5 406 (18.75%) Cybersecurity
6 337 (15.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 267 (12.33%) Mentoring
8 259 (11.96%) Disaster Recovery
9 205 (9.47%) ITSM
10 185 (8.55%) Project Delivery
10 185 (8.55%) Service Delivery
11 176 (8.13%) Identity Access Management
12 161 (7.44%) Migration
13 136 (6.28%) Customer Experience
14 132 (6.10%) Service Management
14 132 (6.10%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 130 (6.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 128 (5.91%) Collaborative Working
17 123 (5.68%) AI
18 118 (5.45%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 335 (15.47%) PowerShell
2 193 (8.91%) SQL
3 66 (3.05%) Python
4 59 (2.73%) Bash
5 48 (2.22%) Bicep
6 29 (1.34%) R
7 12 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
7 12 (0.55%) VBA
8 11 (0.51%) Ruby
9 8 (0.37%) C#
10 7 (0.32%) Java
10 7 (0.32%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.28%) Korn
11 6 (0.28%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.23%) PHP
13 3 (0.14%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.092%) C
14 2 (0.092%) VB
14 2 (0.092%) VBScript
15 1 (0.046%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 309 (14.27%) Security Cleared
2 216 (9.98%) SC Cleared
3 207 (9.56%) Degree
4 186 (8.59%) Microsoft Certification
5 117 (5.40%) Azure Certification
6 99 (4.57%) DV Cleared
7 92 (4.25%) A+ Certification
8 90 (4.16%) Network+ Certification
9 73 (3.37%) CISM
9 73 (3.37%) CISSP
10 63 (2.91%) Cisco Certification
11 57 (2.63%) DBS Check
12 56 (2.59%) CCNA
13 33 (1.52%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 24 (1.11%) Computer Science Degree
15 23 (1.06%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 19 (0.88%) AWS Certification
16 19 (0.88%) MCSA
17 17 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
18 15 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 219 (10.12%) Cyber Essentials
2 170 (7.85%) SLA
3 126 (5.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 96 (4.43%) PCI DSS
5 53 (2.45%) GDPR
6 49 (2.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 27 (1.25%) NIST
8 20 (0.92%) QA
9 13 (0.60%) Data Quality
10 12 (0.55%) Accessibility
11 11 (0.51%) NCSC
12 6 (0.28%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.18%) GRC
14 3 (0.14%) ISAE 3402
14 3 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 2 (0.092%) ITGC
15 2 (0.092%) PMO
16 1 (0.046%) ISO 9001
16 1 (0.046%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 506 (23.37%) Hyper-V
2 381 (17.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 91 (4.20%) vSphere
4 81 (3.74%) Terminal Server
5 67 (3.09%) Virtual Desktop
6 51 (2.36%) Virtual Machines
7 39 (1.80%) VMware ESXi
8 38 (1.76%) Docker
9 20 (0.92%) Firmware
10 17 (0.79%) Virtual Servers
11 13 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 12 (0.55%) VMware NSX
13 11 (0.51%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 10 (0.46%) BitLocker
15 6 (0.28%) DFS Replication
16 5 (0.23%) NDS
16 5 (0.23%) XenApp
17 4 (0.18%) Squid
18 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
18 3 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 571 (26.37%) Microsoft Intune
2 115 (5.31%) SCCM
3 71 (3.28%) Terraform
4 51 (2.36%) Single Sign-On
5 34 (1.57%) Ansible
6 33 (1.52%) Kubernetes
7 31 (1.43%) FortiGate
8 27 (1.25%) WSUS
9 26 (1.20%) Jamf Pro
10 23 (1.06%) vCenter Server
11 19 (0.88%) Proxmox
12 17 (0.79%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 16 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 15 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
15 13 (0.60%) ZABBIX
16 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
17 10 (0.46%) SCOM
18 6 (0.28%) Grafana
18 6 (0.28%) Prometheus
19 5 (0.23%) Packer
Vendors
1 1,764 (81.48%) Microsoft
2 562 (25.96%) VMware
3 198 (9.15%) Veeam
4 160 (7.39%) Cisco
5 103 (4.76%) SolarWinds
6 96 (4.43%) Splunk
7 91 (4.20%) Nimble Storage
8 80 (3.70%) Brocade
8 80 (3.70%) Tanium
9 75 (3.46%) Meraki
10 74 (3.42%) Apple
11 73 (3.37%) CyberArk
12 70 (3.23%) Citrix
13 69 (3.19%) ServiceNow
14 53 (2.45%) HP
15 51 (2.36%) Dell
16 48 (2.22%) SonicWALL
17 47 (2.17%) Fortinet
18 45 (2.08%) Red Hat
19 40 (1.85%) CrowdStrike