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 3 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 38 23
Rank change year-on-year -8 -15 +18
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,723 1,990 2,609
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.11% 5.39% 8.32%
As % of the System Software category 61.14% 44.73% 48.58%
Number of salaries quoted 1,226 1,226 2,315
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,063 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -16.25% +6.67% -
75th Percentile £45,563 £52,500 £51,250
90th Percentile £60,125 £61,750 £59,000
UK median annual salary £36,500 £43,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year -16.09% +2.35% +1.42%

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 2,818 4,449 5,371
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.72% 12.04% 17.13%
Number of salaries quoted 1,977 2,559 4,446
10th Percentile £26,750 £27,750 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £33,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,500 £50,000 £48,000
Median % change year-on-year -17.00% +4.17% -1.03%
75th Percentile £60,750 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% -1.03%

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 3 January 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 3 January 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 +10 459 £36,000 -16.28% 208
North of England -19 341 £32,500 -18.75% 126
South West +5 295 £32,500 -5.80% 92
Midlands -13 274 £31,500 -10.00% 77
East of England -12 207 £35,000 +1.81% 76
East Midlands +18 161 £29,000 -7.94% 36
North West -12 153 £36,000 -12.97% 68
Yorkshire -5 143 £31,750 -9.29% 44
West Midlands -44 113 £37,000 -4.52% 41
Scotland -2 99 £30,750 -23.13% 212
North East -8 45 £31,000 -17.33% 16
Wales +1 40 £35,000 -12.50% 19
Northern Ireland 0 16 £47,750 -9.05% 2
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
1 516 (29.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 306 (17.76%) SharePoint
3 26 (1.51%) Exchange Server 2003
4 25 (1.45%) IIS
5 16 (0.93%) Confluence
5 16 (0.93%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
6 4 (0.23%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
8 2 (0.12%) CMS
8 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2007
8 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.12%) FactoryTalk
8 2 (0.12%) WinCC
8 2 (0.12%) WordPress
9 1 (0.058%) BizTalk Server
9 1 (0.058%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 223 (12.94%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (2.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.058%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.058%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (1.80%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.16%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.35%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.29%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.23%) Visualfiles
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.17%) Primavera
7 1 (0.058%) Cognos Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.058%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.058%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.058%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,196 (69.41%) Microsoft 365
2 926 (53.74%) Azure
3 543 (31.51%) Entra ID
4 119 (6.91%) AWS
5 112 (6.50%) OneDrive
6 68 (3.95%) SaaS
7 61 (3.54%) Power Platform
8 53 (3.08%) Google Workspace
9 39 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
9 39 (2.26%) GCP
10 36 (2.09%) IaaS
10 36 (2.09%) PowerApps
11 32 (1.86%) PaaS
12 31 (1.80%) Azure Logic Apps
12 31 (1.80%) Azure Monitor
13 29 (1.68%) GitHub
14 23 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
14 23 (1.33%) OCI
15 22 (1.28%) Azure Sentinel
15 22 (1.28%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 635 (36.85%) DNS
2 597 (34.65%) DHCP
3 395 (22.93%) Firewall
4 253 (14.68%) TCP/IP
5 244 (14.16%) VPN
6 169 (9.81%) VLAN
7 161 (9.34%) LAN
8 159 (9.23%) WAN
9 123 (7.14%) Wi-Fi
10 88 (5.11%) Wireless
11 81 (4.70%) VoIP
12 70 (4.06%) SAN
13 58 (3.37%) Remote Desktop
14 44 (2.55%) Network Security
15 36 (2.09%) Internet
16 21 (1.22%) Broadband
16 21 (1.22%) SD-WAN
17 19 (1.10%) SMTP
18 17 (0.99%) SSL
19 16 (0.93%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 121 (7.02%) Amazon RDS
2 57 (3.31%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.68%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.51%) Oracle Database 10g
5 19 (1.10%) Power BI
6 12 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.52%) DTS
8 8 (0.46%) MySQL
9 7 (0.41%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.35%) Relational Database
11 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 4 (0.23%) GIS
13 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
13 3 (0.17%) PostgreSQL
14 2 (0.12%) NoSQL
15 1 (0.058%) Cognos Connection
15 1 (0.058%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 53 (3.08%) JIRA
2 31 (1.80%) Jenkins
3 27 (1.57%) Git
4 23 (1.33%) Oracle Forms
5 4 (0.23%) GitLab
5 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
5 4 (0.23%) Vagrant
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
7 2 (0.12%) Subversion
7 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.058%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.058%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.058%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.058%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.058%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.058%) TeamCity
General
1 851 (49.39%) Social Skills
2 196 (11.38%) Analytical Skills
3 137 (7.95%) Finance
4 108 (6.27%) Organisational Skills
5 96 (5.57%) Manufacturing
6 67 (3.89%) Retail
7 59 (3.42%) Law
8 50 (2.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 48 (2.79%) Documentation Skills
10 41 (2.38%) Advertising
11 37 (2.15%) Legal
12 28 (1.63%) Telecoms
13 24 (1.39%) Public Sector
14 20 (1.16%) Games
15 19 (1.10%) Marketing
16 15 (0.87%) French Language
16 15 (0.87%) Swedish Language
17 14 (0.81%) Pharmaceutical
18 10 (0.58%) Aerospace
19 5 (0.29%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 593 (34.42%) IT Support
2 405 (23.51%) Support Engineer
3 291 (16.89%) IT Engineer
4 247 (14.34%) Analyst
5 244 (14.16%) IT Support Engineer
6 187 (10.85%) 2nd Line Support
7 182 (10.56%) Support Analyst
8 159 (9.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 149 (8.65%) Support Technician
10 136 (7.89%) Systems Engineer
11 134 (7.78%) IT Analyst
12 115 (6.67%) Senior
13 114 (6.62%) IT Technician
14 110 (6.38%) IT Support Analyst
15 102 (5.92%) Technical Support
16 100 (5.80%) 3rd Line Support
17 97 (5.63%) IT Support Technician
18 90 (5.22%) 1st Line Support
19 77 (4.47%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 69 (4.00%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (2.15%) SOAP
2 35 (2.03%) LDAP
3 25 (1.45%) OAuth
3 25 (1.45%) OpenID
3 25 (1.45%) SAML
4 23 (1.33%) .NET
4 23 (1.33%) RESTful
5 20 (1.16%) JSON
5 20 (1.16%) XML
6 17 (0.99%) GraphQL
6 17 (0.99%) REST
7 15 (0.87%) ARM Templates
8 12 (0.70%) EDI
8 12 (0.70%) React
9 10 (0.58%) CSS
9 10 (0.58%) HTML
10 9 (0.52%) .NET Framework
11 8 (0.46%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
13 4 (0.23%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 247 (14.34%) Driving Licence
2 169 (9.81%) Onboarding
3 104 (6.04%) Legacy Systems
4 71 (4.12%) Self-Motivation
5 62 (3.60%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (2.50%) Data Centre
7 38 (2.21%) Cloud Native
8 30 (1.74%) Management Information System
9 27 (1.57%) Hybrid Cloud
10 22 (1.28%) Video Conferencing
11 20 (1.16%) Clustering
11 20 (1.16%) Cyberattack
11 20 (1.16%) PKI
12 19 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
12 19 (1.10%) iPad
13 18 (1.04%) Replication
14 16 (0.93%) Client/Server
14 16 (0.93%) CMDB
15 15 (0.87%) FMCG
16 14 (0.81%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 1,237 (71.79%) Windows
2 762 (44.23%) Windows Server
3 266 (15.44%) Windows 10
4 218 (12.65%) Linux
5 146 (8.47%) Windows Server 2016
6 90 (5.22%) Mac OS
7 87 (5.05%) Windows Server 2019
8 71 (4.12%) Apple iOS
9 61 (3.54%) Android
10 33 (1.92%) Windows Server 2008
11 31 (1.80%) Unix
11 31 (1.80%) Windows 7
12 27 (1.57%) Windows Server 2012
13 26 (1.51%) Solaris
13 26 (1.51%) Windows Server 2003
14 25 (1.45%) HPUX
15 13 (0.75%) VMS
16 11 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 5 (0.29%) Windows 8
18 4 (0.23%) Amazon Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 622 (36.10%) Problem-Solving
2 542 (31.46%) Customer Service
3 360 (20.89%) ITIL
4 215 (12.48%) Cybersecurity
5 208 (12.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 192 (11.14%) Mentoring
7 182 (10.56%) Continuous Improvement
8 165 (9.58%) ITSM
9 164 (9.52%) Migration
10 127 (7.37%) Service Delivery
11 115 (6.67%) Incident Management
12 111 (6.44%) Disaster Recovery
13 110 (6.38%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 107 (6.21%) Kalman Filter
15 105 (6.09%) Web Filtering
16 104 (6.04%) Customer Experience
17 102 (5.92%) Agile
17 102 (5.92%) Asset Management
18 101 (5.86%) Coaching
19 100 (5.80%) Email Filtering
Programming Languages
1 272 (15.79%) PowerShell
2 133 (7.72%) SQL
3 54 (3.13%) Python
4 45 (2.61%) Bash
5 26 (1.51%) Java
5 26 (1.51%) Perl
6 23 (1.33%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.28%) Shell Script
8 19 (1.10%) T-SQL
9 15 (0.87%) JavaScript
10 13 (0.75%) C#
11 12 (0.70%) VB
12 11 (0.64%) Bicep
13 6 (0.35%) Groovy
14 5 (0.29%) VBA
15 2 (0.12%) Korn
15 2 (0.12%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.058%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.058%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 232 (13.46%) Security Cleared
2 200 (11.61%) SC Cleared
3 155 (9.00%) Microsoft Certification
4 147 (8.53%) Degree
5 64 (3.71%) DV Cleared
6 52 (3.02%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.50%) A+ Certification
8 41 (2.38%) Cisco Certification
9 37 (2.15%) MCP
10 35 (2.03%) Azure Certification
10 35 (2.03%) CCNA
11 30 (1.74%) MCSE
12 27 (1.57%) Network+ Certification
13 23 (1.33%) ITIL Certification
13 23 (1.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 17 (0.99%) MCSA
15 15 (0.87%) HND
16 13 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
16 13 (0.75%) HNC
17 12 (0.70%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (8.42%) Cyber Essentials
2 125 (7.25%) SLA
3 105 (6.09%) PCI DSS
4 72 (4.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 54 (3.13%) GDPR
6 31 (1.80%) NIST
7 18 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 17 (0.99%) NCSC
9 11 (0.64%) QA
10 7 (0.41%) GxP
11 6 (0.35%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.29%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.058%) GRC
14 1 (0.058%) IASME
14 1 (0.058%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.058%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 346 (20.08%) Hyper-V
2 251 (14.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 99 (5.75%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.96%) Virtual Desktop
5 44 (2.55%) vSphere
6 32 (1.86%) VMware ESXi
7 27 (1.57%) Virtual Machines
8 23 (1.33%) Docker
9 17 (0.99%) Firmware
10 11 (0.64%) Virtual Servers
11 6 (0.35%) BitLocker
12 5 (0.29%) XenApp
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.23%) VMware NSX
13 4 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 2 (0.12%) Citrix Hypervisor
16 1 (0.058%) KVM
Systems Management
1 402 (23.33%) Microsoft Intune
2 140 (8.13%) SCCM
3 61 (3.54%) Terraform
4 41 (2.38%) Single Sign-On
5 33 (1.92%) vCenter Server
6 29 (1.68%) WSUS
7 22 (1.28%) Kubernetes
8 21 (1.22%) Ansible
9 19 (1.10%) Autotask
9 19 (1.10%) Jamf Pro
9 19 (1.10%) SCOM
10 18 (1.04%) FortiGate
11 13 (0.75%) Nagios
11 13 (0.75%) ZABBIX
12 10 (0.58%) Failover Clustering
13 9 (0.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 8 (0.46%) Prometheus
15 7 (0.41%) SmoothWall
16 6 (0.35%) PaperCut
17 5 (0.29%) MaaS360
Vendors
1 1,311 (76.09%) Microsoft
2 474 (27.51%) VMware
3 178 (10.33%) Veeam
4 138 (8.01%) SolarWinds
5 136 (7.89%) Cisco
6 109 (6.33%) Splunk
7 107 (6.21%) Nimble Storage
8 105 (6.09%) Tanium
9 96 (5.57%) Brocade
10 91 (5.28%) Apple
11 64 (3.71%) Citrix
12 63 (3.66%) ServiceNow
13 58 (3.37%) Google
14 51 (2.96%) HP
14 51 (2.96%) Oracle
15 41 (2.38%) Meraki
16 36 (2.09%) Dell
17 29 (1.68%) SonicWALL
18 27 (1.57%) Red Hat
19 24 (1.39%) Sophos