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

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 64 41 29
Rank change year-on-year -23 -12 +14
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,713 1,453 4,463
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.63% 5.32% 6.57%
As % of the System Software category 57.21% 41.79% 50.79%
Number of salaries quoted 1,301 1,227 3,767
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,625 £23,750
25th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -2.78%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,716
90th Percentile £62,642 £58,750 £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 2,994 3,477 8,788
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.60% 12.74% 12.93%
Number of salaries quoted 2,193 2,468 7,173
10th Percentile £27,500 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £63,750 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £83,900 £75,000
UK median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.55% +10.00% -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 30 April 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 30 April 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 -14 428 £36,500 -8.75% 134
North of England -13 412 £34,000 +4.62% 95
Midlands -46 293 £32,500 -4.41% 61
South West -4 236 £32,500 -4.41% 58
North West 0 205 £37,500 -2.60% 49
Yorkshire -25 178 £32,500 +8.33% 35
East of England -29 172 £40,000 +23.08% 49
East Midlands -29 153 £32,500 +3.17% 30
West Midlands -47 139 £32,500 -7.14% 31
Scotland +41 104 £29,000 -27.50% 17
Wales -4 44 £40,000 +5.00% 13
North East -25 29 £40,000 +22.70% 15
Northern Ireland -31 18 £32,000 -39.05% 20
Isle of Man +2 6 £45,000 +55.17%
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
1 427 (24.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 346 (20.20%) SharePoint
3 19 (1.11%) IIS
4 12 (0.70%) Confluence
5 11 (0.64%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.29%) CMS
7 5 (0.29%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.23%) Apache
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.058%) Drupal
10 1 (0.058%) Exchange Server 2003
10 1 (0.058%) nginx
Applications
1 213 (12.43%) Microsoft Office
2 37 (2.16%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.12%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.058%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (0.99%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.58%) Dynamics NAV
3 8 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
4 6 (0.35%) NetSuite
5 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.23%) Primavera
7 2 (0.12%) Alphatax
7 2 (0.12%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.12%) Shopify
8 1 (0.058%) Magento
8 1 (0.058%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.058%) Sage 200
8 1 (0.058%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,208 (70.52%) Microsoft 365
2 906 (52.89%) Azure
3 645 (37.65%) Entra ID
4 136 (7.94%) OneDrive
5 133 (7.76%) AWS
6 94 (5.49%) Google Workspace
7 90 (5.25%) Power Platform
7 90 (5.25%) SaaS
8 40 (2.34%) IaaS
9 38 (2.22%) Nutanix
10 35 (2.04%) PaaS
11 33 (1.93%) Azure DevOps
12 32 (1.87%) Mimecast
12 32 (1.87%) PowerApps
13 30 (1.75%) Azure Monitor
14 22 (1.28%) Microsoft Purview
15 21 (1.23%) GCP
16 19 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
16 19 (1.11%) Power Automate
17 16 (0.93%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 562 (32.81%) DNS
2 493 (28.78%) DHCP
3 407 (23.76%) Firewall
4 274 (16.00%) VPN
5 194 (11.33%) WAN
6 191 (11.15%) LAN
7 172 (10.04%) TCP/IP
8 152 (8.87%) VLAN
8 152 (8.87%) Wi-Fi
9 100 (5.84%) VoIP
10 85 (4.96%) Wireless
11 63 (3.68%) Network Security
12 62 (3.62%) Remote Desktop
13 55 (3.21%) SAN
14 47 (2.74%) Broadband
15 25 (1.46%) NAS
16 23 (1.34%) SD-WAN
17 18 (1.05%) Internet
18 15 (0.88%) SMTP
18 15 (0.88%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 90 (5.25%) SQL Server
2 63 (3.68%) Amazon RDS
3 52 (3.04%) Power BI
4 30 (1.75%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.52%) MySQL
6 14 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (0.47%) GIS
7 8 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 6 (0.35%) Data Warehouse
9 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.18%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.058%) Data Lake
11 1 (0.058%) InterSystems Cache
11 1 (0.058%) Metadata
11 1 (0.058%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.058%) Oracle Database
11 1 (0.058%) Oracle Database 10g
11 1 (0.058%) RDBMS
11 1 (0.058%) Redis
Development Applications
1 69 (4.03%) JIRA
2 8 (0.47%) Jenkins
2 8 (0.47%) Oracle Forms
3 7 (0.41%) Git
3 7 (0.41%) GitLab
4 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
5 4 (0.23%) Subversion
6 1 (0.058%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.058%) Gatling
6 1 (0.058%) JMeter
6 1 (0.058%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.058%) Vagrant
General
1 751 (43.84%) Social Skills
2 184 (10.74%) Analytical Skills
3 154 (8.99%) Organisational Skills
4 118 (6.89%) Finance
5 69 (4.03%) Manufacturing
6 64 (3.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 60 (3.50%) Legal
8 55 (3.21%) Documentation Skills
9 51 (2.98%) Retail
10 50 (2.92%) Law
11 48 (2.80%) Public Sector
12 37 (2.16%) Games
13 33 (1.93%) Advertising
14 29 (1.69%) Telecoms
15 16 (0.93%) Local Government
16 14 (0.82%) Marketing
17 12 (0.70%) Automotive
18 7 (0.41%) Aerospace
19 5 (0.29%) Influencing Skills
20 4 (0.23%) Police
Job Titles
1 677 (39.52%) IT Support
2 483 (28.20%) Support Engineer
3 418 (24.40%) IT Engineer
4 358 (20.90%) IT Support Engineer
5 248 (14.48%) Analyst
6 176 (10.27%) Support Analyst
7 166 (9.69%) Support Technician
8 162 (9.46%) 2nd Line Support
9 156 (9.11%) Senior
10 152 (8.87%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 141 (8.23%) IT Technician
12 129 (7.53%) IT Support Technician
13 114 (6.65%) IT Analyst
14 102 (5.95%) IT Support Analyst
15 98 (5.72%) Systems Engineer
16 91 (5.31%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 80 (4.67%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 74 (4.32%) 1st Line Support
19 70 (4.09%) 3rd Line Support
20 69 (4.03%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (2.92%) LDAP
2 47 (2.74%) SAML
3 46 (2.69%) SOAP
4 44 (2.57%) OAuth
4 44 (2.57%) OpenID
5 43 (2.51%) REST
6 38 (2.22%) GraphQL
7 20 (1.17%) JSON
7 20 (1.17%) XML
8 14 (0.82%) Regular Expression
9 10 (0.58%) RESTful
9 10 (0.58%) XMPP
10 6 (0.35%) Web Services
11 5 (0.29%) .NET
11 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
11 5 (0.29%) OAuth2
12 4 (0.23%) ARM Templates
12 4 (0.23%) JSON Schema
12 4 (0.23%) Middleware
12 4 (0.23%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 253 (14.77%) Driving Licence
2 110 (6.42%) Onboarding
3 76 (4.44%) Self-Motivation
4 54 (3.15%) Hybrid Cloud
5 53 (3.09%) Legacy Systems
6 44 (2.57%) Enterprise Software
7 43 (2.51%) Cyberattack
8 41 (2.39%) Management Information System
9 40 (2.34%) Data Centre
10 39 (2.28%) Cyber Threat
11 35 (2.04%) Public Cloud
12 34 (1.98%) Replication
13 27 (1.58%) Cloud Native
14 23 (1.34%) PKI
15 19 (1.11%) Client/Server
16 18 (1.05%) Clustering
17 17 (0.99%) CCTV
18 16 (0.93%) CMDB
19 15 (0.88%) iPad
20 13 (0.76%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 1,209 (70.58%) Windows
2 707 (41.27%) Windows Server
3 296 (17.28%) Windows 10
4 201 (11.73%) Linux
5 114 (6.65%) Windows Server 2016
6 91 (5.31%) Mac OS
7 82 (4.79%) Apple iOS
8 69 (4.03%) Android
9 54 (3.15%) Windows Server 2019
10 34 (1.98%) Windows Server 2012
11 29 (1.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 15 (0.88%) Windows 7
13 13 (0.76%) Windows Server 2008
14 8 (0.47%) VMS
14 8 (0.47%) Windows 8
15 6 (0.35%) Ubuntu
16 5 (0.29%) Debian
16 5 (0.29%) Unix
17 4 (0.23%) CentOS
17 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 571 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
2 454 (26.50%) Customer Service
3 417 (24.34%) ITIL
4 259 (15.12%) Cybersecurity
5 213 (12.43%) Continuous Improvement
6 204 (11.91%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 185 (10.80%) Mentoring
8 161 (9.40%) ITSM
9 154 (8.99%) Disaster Recovery
10 145 (8.46%) Service Delivery
11 116 (6.77%) Change Management
12 100 (5.84%) Coaching
13 99 (5.78%) Incident Management
14 98 (5.72%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 96 (5.60%) Migration
16 91 (5.31%) Time Management
17 90 (5.25%) Identity Access Management
18 85 (4.96%) Root Cause Analysis
19 84 (4.90%) ERP
20 82 (4.79%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 264 (15.41%) PowerShell
2 151 (8.81%) SQL
3 83 (4.85%) Bash
4 62 (3.62%) Python
5 48 (2.80%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.93%) R
7 12 (0.70%) Shell Script
8 10 (0.58%) Bicep
9 9 (0.53%) PL/SQL
10 8 (0.47%) Java
11 7 (0.41%) VB
12 6 (0.35%) Korn
13 5 (0.29%) JavaScript
14 3 (0.18%) C#
14 3 (0.18%) PHP
15 2 (0.12%) C
16 1 (0.058%) Perl
Qualifications
1 210 (12.26%) Security Cleared
2 174 (10.16%) Degree
3 154 (8.99%) Microsoft Certification
4 138 (8.06%) SC Cleared
5 71 (4.14%) DV Cleared
6 48 (2.80%) DBS Check
7 42 (2.45%) A+ Certification
8 39 (2.28%) Azure Certification
9 34 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
10 32 (1.87%) Network+ Certification
11 29 (1.69%) CCNA
11 29 (1.69%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 25 (1.46%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 20 (1.17%) Computer Science Degree
14 18 (1.05%) MCSE
15 17 (0.99%) HNC
15 17 (0.99%) ITIL Certification
16 12 (0.70%) MCSA
17 11 (0.64%) CCNP
18 10 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 159 (9.28%) SLA
2 126 (7.36%) Cyber Essentials
3 102 (5.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 59 (3.44%) PCI DSS
5 53 (3.09%) NIST
6 41 (2.39%) NCSC
7 35 (2.04%) GDPR
8 30 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 21 (1.23%) QA
10 19 (1.11%) Data Quality
11 11 (0.64%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.29%) GRC
12 5 (0.29%) 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
13 4 (0.23%) SOC 2
14 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 316 (18.45%) Hyper-V
2 256 (14.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 53 (3.09%) vSphere
4 51 (2.98%) Terminal Server
5 46 (2.69%) VMware ESXi
6 44 (2.57%) Virtual Desktop
7 32 (1.87%) Virtual Machines
8 28 (1.63%) Docker
9 17 (0.99%) BitLocker
10 11 (0.64%) VMware NSX
11 9 (0.53%) VMware Workstation
12 8 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 7 (0.41%) XenApp
14 6 (0.35%) DFS Replication
15 5 (0.29%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
17 3 (0.18%) Firmware
17 3 (0.18%) Lustre
17 3 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
17 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 333 (19.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 116 (6.77%) SCCM
3 40 (2.34%) Single Sign-On
3 40 (2.34%) vCenter Server
4 35 (2.04%) Terraform
5 31 (1.81%) Jamf Pro
6 26 (1.52%) Ansible
7 25 (1.46%) WSUS
8 23 (1.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 19 (1.11%) FortiGate
10 17 (0.99%) Kubernetes
11 14 (0.82%) SCOM
12 11 (0.64%) Autotask
13 10 (0.58%) Proxmox
14 9 (0.53%) Backup Exec
15 8 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
16 7 (0.41%) VxRail
17 5 (0.29%) SmoothWall
17 5 (0.29%) Tivoli Identity Manager
18 4 (0.23%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,226 (71.57%) Microsoft
2 412 (24.05%) VMware
3 122 (7.12%) Veeam
4 91 (5.31%) Cisco
5 89 (5.20%) Citrix
6 88 (5.14%) Apple
7 86 (5.02%) SolarWinds
8 75 (4.38%) Nimble Storage
9 73 (4.26%) ServiceNow
10 70 (4.09%) HP
11 69 (4.03%) Dell
12 68 (3.97%) Splunk
13 67 (3.91%) Google
14 48 (2.80%) Brocade
14 48 (2.80%) Tanium
15 45 (2.63%) Meraki
16 34 (1.98%) McAfee
17 29 (1.69%) CrowdStrike
18 28 (1.63%) Red Hat
19 27 (1.58%) Dell Compellent