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

6 months to
17 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 47 32
Rank change year-on-year -21 -15 +12
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,700 1,539 4,350
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.56% 5.27% 6.30%
As % of the System Software category 55.11% 38.10% 50.45%
Number of salaries quoted 1,297 1,238 3,673
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £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 - - -4.11%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,500
90th Percentile £62,500 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £39,000 £39,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year -1.27% +5.33% -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 3,085 4,039 8,623
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.65% 13.83% 12.48%
Number of salaries quoted 2,280 2,437 7,031
10th Percentile £27,750 £26,500 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £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 £83,750 £73,750
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 17 May 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 17 May 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 -4 418 £34,000 +6.25% 103
South East +3 412 £40,000 - 142
Midlands -46 299 £32,875 -3.31% 68
South West -8 226 £34,000 +3.03% 65
North West +42 210 £37,500 - 53
East of England -13 177 £35,000 +7.69% 53
Yorkshire -33 175 £32,500 +8.33% 37
East Midlands -5 156 £32,500 +3.17% 26
West Midlands -57 142 £35,000 - 42
Scotland +58 102 £30,000 -40.00% 20
Wales -8 44 £45,000 +18.13% 13
North East -49 33 £37,500 +17.19% 16
Northern Ireland -27 16 £32,000 -37.56% 4
Isle of Man +4 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
1 431 (25.35%) Microsoft Exchange
2 347 (20.41%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.35%) IIS
4 15 (0.88%) Confluence
5 11 (0.65%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.53%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.29%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.24%) Apache
8 4 (0.24%) CMS
9 1 (0.059%) Drupal
9 1 (0.059%) nginx
9 1 (0.059%) SAS
9 1 (0.059%) WordPress
Applications
1 212 (12.47%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (2.24%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.12%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.059%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 17 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.71%) Dynamics NAV
3 6 (0.35%) NetSuite
3 6 (0.35%) Oracle ERP
4 5 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
5 4 (0.24%) Dynamics GP
5 4 (0.24%) Exchequer
5 4 (0.24%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.24%) Primavera
6 2 (0.12%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.12%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.12%) Shopify
7 1 (0.059%) Magento
7 1 (0.059%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.059%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.059%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 1,192 (70.12%) Microsoft 365
2 895 (52.65%) Azure
3 641 (37.71%) Entra ID
4 135 (7.94%) OneDrive
5 133 (7.82%) AWS
6 91 (5.35%) Power Platform
7 89 (5.24%) Google Workspace
8 85 (5.00%) SaaS
9 41 (2.41%) IaaS
10 37 (2.18%) Nutanix
10 37 (2.18%) PaaS
11 34 (2.00%) Mimecast
12 30 (1.76%) Azure DevOps
13 29 (1.71%) PowerApps
14 24 (1.41%) Microsoft Purview
15 23 (1.35%) Azure Monitor
16 21 (1.24%) Azure Sentinel
17 20 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
18 19 (1.12%) Power Automate
19 17 (1.00%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 542 (31.88%) DNS
2 464 (27.29%) DHCP
3 414 (24.35%) Firewall
4 268 (15.76%) VPN
5 187 (11.00%) WAN
6 185 (10.88%) LAN
7 167 (9.82%) TCP/IP
8 156 (9.18%) Wi-Fi
9 147 (8.65%) VLAN
10 98 (5.76%) VoIP
11 80 (4.71%) Wireless
12 63 (3.71%) Network Security
13 58 (3.41%) SAN
14 56 (3.29%) Remote Desktop
15 44 (2.59%) Broadband
16 27 (1.59%) NAS
17 21 (1.24%) SD-WAN
18 20 (1.18%) Internet
19 14 (0.82%) NetScaler
19 14 (0.82%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 95 (5.59%) SQL Server
2 56 (3.29%) Amazon RDS
3 48 (2.82%) Power BI
4 30 (1.76%) PostgreSQL
5 25 (1.47%) MySQL
6 12 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
7 8 (0.47%) GIS
7 8 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 5 (0.29%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.18%) Neo4j
10 2 (0.12%) Crystal Reports
10 2 (0.12%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.059%) Data Lake
11 1 (0.059%) InterSystems Cache
11 1 (0.059%) Metadata
11 1 (0.059%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.059%) RDBMS
11 1 (0.059%) Redis
Development Applications
1 71 (4.18%) JIRA
2 9 (0.53%) GitLab
3 8 (0.47%) Git
3 8 (0.47%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.35%) Oracle Forms
5 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.24%) LabVIEW
6 4 (0.24%) Subversion
7 2 (0.12%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.12%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.12%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.059%) Gatling
8 1 (0.059%) JMeter
8 1 (0.059%) Vagrant
General
1 720 (42.35%) Social Skills
2 164 (9.65%) Analytical Skills
3 138 (8.12%) Organisational Skills
4 120 (7.06%) Finance
5 69 (4.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 65 (3.82%) Manufacturing
7 59 (3.47%) Legal
8 50 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
9 48 (2.82%) Public Sector
9 48 (2.82%) Retail
10 45 (2.65%) Law
11 35 (2.06%) Games
12 33 (1.94%) Advertising
13 30 (1.76%) Telecoms
14 18 (1.06%) Local Government
15 11 (0.65%) Marketing
16 9 (0.53%) Automotive
16 9 (0.53%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.41%) Aerospace
18 4 (0.24%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 654 (38.47%) IT Support
2 461 (27.12%) Support Engineer
3 408 (24.00%) IT Engineer
4 342 (20.12%) IT Support Engineer
5 255 (15.00%) Analyst
6 176 (10.35%) Support Analyst
7 166 (9.76%) Senior
8 163 (9.59%) Support Technician
9 158 (9.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 150 (8.82%) 2nd Line Support
11 142 (8.35%) IT Technician
12 128 (7.53%) IT Support Technician
13 119 (7.00%) IT Analyst
14 102 (6.00%) IT Support Analyst
15 96 (5.65%) Systems Engineer
16 88 (5.18%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 76 (4.47%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 68 (4.00%) 1st Line Support
19 67 (3.94%) Lead
20 65 (3.82%) 3rd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.82%) LDAP
2 46 (2.71%) SAML
3 43 (2.53%) OpenID
4 42 (2.47%) OAuth
5 41 (2.41%) SOAP
6 40 (2.35%) REST
7 35 (2.06%) GraphQL
8 18 (1.06%) JSON
8 18 (1.06%) XML
9 16 (0.94%) Regular Expression
10 12 (0.71%) XMPP
11 8 (0.47%) RESTful
12 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
12 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.29%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.29%) Web Services
13 4 (0.24%) .NET
13 4 (0.24%) JSON Schema
13 4 (0.24%) Middleware
13 4 (0.24%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 236 (13.88%) Driving Licence
2 107 (6.29%) Onboarding
3 77 (4.53%) Self-Motivation
4 56 (3.29%) Hybrid Cloud
5 47 (2.76%) Legacy Systems
6 46 (2.71%) Management Information System
7 45 (2.65%) Data Centre
8 39 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
9 38 (2.24%) Cyberattack
10 36 (2.12%) Cyber Threat
11 35 (2.06%) Public Cloud
11 35 (2.06%) Replication
12 27 (1.59%) Cloud Native
12 27 (1.59%) Clustering
13 24 (1.41%) PKI
14 19 (1.12%) CCTV
15 16 (0.94%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.94%) CMDB
16 15 (0.88%) Data Structures
17 13 (0.76%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,201 (70.65%) Windows
2 687 (40.41%) Windows Server
3 282 (16.59%) Windows 10
4 198 (11.65%) Linux
5 106 (6.24%) Windows Server 2016
6 95 (5.59%) Mac OS
7 78 (4.59%) Apple iOS
8 68 (4.00%) Android
9 59 (3.47%) Windows Server 2019
10 34 (2.00%) Windows Server 2012
11 32 (1.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 13 (0.76%) Windows 7
13 12 (0.71%) Windows Server 2008
14 10 (0.59%) VMS
15 7 (0.41%) Windows 8
16 6 (0.35%) Ubuntu
17 5 (0.29%) CentOS
17 5 (0.29%) Debian
18 4 (0.24%) Mac OS X
18 4 (0.24%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 556 (32.71%) Problem-Solving
2 425 (25.00%) Customer Service
3 403 (23.71%) ITIL
4 272 (16.00%) Cybersecurity
5 226 (13.29%) Continuous Improvement
6 208 (12.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 175 (10.29%) Mentoring
8 158 (9.29%) Disaster Recovery
8 158 (9.29%) ITSM
9 145 (8.53%) Service Delivery
10 112 (6.59%) Change Management
11 98 (5.76%) Coaching
12 96 (5.65%) Incident Management
13 91 (5.35%) Root Cause Analysis
13 91 (5.35%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 90 (5.29%) Migration
15 89 (5.24%) Time Management
16 86 (5.06%) ERP
16 86 (5.06%) Identity Access Management
16 86 (5.06%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 273 (16.06%) PowerShell
2 158 (9.29%) SQL
3 84 (4.94%) Bash
4 64 (3.76%) Python
5 46 (2.71%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.94%) R
7 10 (0.59%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.53%) Bicep
9 8 (0.47%) Java
10 7 (0.41%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.41%) VB
11 6 (0.35%) Korn
12 5 (0.29%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.24%) C#
14 3 (0.18%) PHP
15 2 (0.12%) C
16 1 (0.059%) VBA
16 1 (0.059%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 213 (12.53%) Security Cleared
2 177 (10.41%) Degree
3 155 (9.12%) Microsoft Certification
4 136 (8.00%) SC Cleared
5 75 (4.41%) DV Cleared
6 48 (2.82%) DBS Check
7 44 (2.59%) A+ Certification
7 44 (2.59%) Azure Certification
8 32 (1.88%) Cisco Certification
8 32 (1.88%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 31 (1.82%) CCNA
9 31 (1.82%) Network+ Certification
10 21 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
10 21 (1.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 19 (1.12%) MCSE
12 17 (1.00%) HNC
12 17 (1.00%) ITIL Certification
13 15 (0.88%) MCSA
14 14 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
15 9 (0.53%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 159 (9.35%) SLA
2 125 (7.35%) Cyber Essentials
3 107 (6.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 56 (3.29%) NIST
5 55 (3.24%) PCI DSS
6 38 (2.24%) NCSC
7 33 (1.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 33 (1.94%) GDPR
8 24 (1.41%) QA
9 21 (1.24%) Data Quality
10 12 (0.71%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.35%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.29%) GRC
12 5 (0.29%) PMO
13 4 (0.24%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.24%) GxP
13 4 (0.24%) ISO 22301
13 4 (0.24%) ITGC
14 2 (0.12%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 314 (18.47%) Hyper-V
2 263 (15.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 61 (3.59%) vSphere
4 48 (2.82%) VMware ESXi
5 44 (2.59%) Virtual Desktop
6 43 (2.53%) Terminal Server
7 30 (1.76%) Docker
8 29 (1.71%) Virtual Machines
9 17 (1.00%) BitLocker
10 13 (0.76%) VMware NSX
11 8 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 8 (0.47%) VMware Workstation
12 7 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
13 6 (0.35%) DFS Replication
13 6 (0.35%) XenApp
14 5 (0.29%) Terminal Services
15 4 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 3 (0.18%) Lustre
16 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
17 2 (0.12%) UAG
Systems Management
1 340 (20.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 117 (6.88%) SCCM
3 40 (2.35%) vCenter Server
4 39 (2.29%) Single Sign-On
5 32 (1.88%) Terraform
6 30 (1.76%) Jamf Pro
7 27 (1.59%) Ansible
7 27 (1.59%) WSUS
8 24 (1.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 19 (1.12%) FortiGate
10 18 (1.06%) Kubernetes
11 14 (0.82%) SCOM
12 11 (0.65%) Proxmox
13 10 (0.59%) Autotask
14 9 (0.53%) Backup Exec
14 9 (0.53%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 8 (0.47%) VxRail
16 7 (0.41%) ZABBIX
17 5 (0.29%) SmoothWall
17 5 (0.29%) Tivoli Identity Manager
Vendors
1 1,225 (72.06%) Microsoft
2 408 (24.00%) VMware
3 125 (7.35%) Veeam
4 91 (5.35%) Apple
5 86 (5.06%) Cisco
5 86 (5.06%) Citrix
6 72 (4.24%) ServiceNow
6 72 (4.24%) SolarWinds
7 67 (3.94%) Dell
7 67 (3.94%) HP
8 65 (3.82%) Nimble Storage
9 64 (3.76%) Google
10 61 (3.59%) Splunk
11 49 (2.88%) Meraki
12 40 (2.35%) Brocade
12 40 (2.35%) Tanium
13 35 (2.06%) McAfee
14 32 (1.88%) Red Hat
15 30 (1.76%) CrowdStrike
16 25 (1.47%) Dell Compellent