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

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 54 41 35
Rank change year-on-year -13 -6 -2
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 2,166 1,876 3,198
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.85% 5.45% 5.33%
As % of the System Software category 50.81% 42.85% 51.64%
Number of salaries quoted 1,673 1,497 2,428
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,000 £24,750
25th Percentile £29,500 £28,250 £28,290
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £35,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -6.67% +1.35%
75th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £65,000 £61,250 £59,875
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 4,263 4,378 6,193
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.62% 12.73% 10.33%
Number of salaries quoted 3,230 2,559 4,615
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £33,500 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £43,000 £46,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.28% -6.52% -4.17%
75th Percentile £66,250 £63,750 £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% - -9.91%

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 6 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 6 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 -8 516 £42,500 +6.25% 178
North of England -15 501 £33,738 +8.83% 132
Midlands -28 372 £37,500 +7.14% 84
South West -19 289 £37,500 +8.70% 69
North West +58 262 £35,000 - 79
East of England +1 239 £35,000 +4.48% 63
East Midlands -7 197 £37,500 +19.05% 40
Yorkshire -32 180 £31,000 +3.33% 40
West Midlands -41 175 £42,500 +11.84% 44
Scotland +88 112 £30,500 -1.61% 20
Wales -13 73 £42,500 +11.57% 14
Northern Ireland -15 66 £40,000 -27.27% 5
North East -53 59 £40,000 +26.98% 20
Isle of Man +1 4 £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
1 644 (29.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 462 (21.33%) SharePoint
3 48 (2.22%) IIS
4 17 (0.78%) Confluence
5 11 (0.51%) Skype for Business
6 7 (0.32%) Apache
6 7 (0.32%) Exchange Server 2013
7 5 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2007
7 5 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.14%) CMS
8 3 (0.14%) SAS
9 2 (0.092%) nginx
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
1 174 (8.03%) Microsoft Office
2 45 (2.08%) 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 16 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (0.51%) Dynamics NAV
3 9 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.28%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.23%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 5 (0.23%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.18%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (0.18%) Primavera
6 4 (0.18%) Shopify
7 3 (0.14%) Dynamics GP
7 3 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
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 1,505 (69.48%) Microsoft 365
2 1,222 (56.42%) Azure
3 936 (43.21%) Entra ID
4 164 (7.57%) AWS
5 156 (7.20%) OneDrive
6 108 (4.99%) SaaS
7 77 (3.55%) Power Platform
8 68 (3.14%) IaaS
9 63 (2.91%) Mimecast
10 53 (2.45%) PaaS
11 46 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
12 39 (1.80%) Microsoft Purview
13 37 (1.71%) Azure Sentinel
14 30 (1.39%) Google Workspace
15 29 (1.34%) Serverless
16 28 (1.29%) Azure Monitor
17 27 (1.25%) Power Automate
18 25 (1.15%) GCP
18 25 (1.15%) Nutanix
19 24 (1.11%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 711 (32.83%) DNS
2 592 (27.33%) DHCP
3 529 (24.42%) Firewall
4 368 (16.99%) VPN
5 258 (11.91%) TCP/IP
6 214 (9.88%) WAN
7 211 (9.74%) Wi-Fi
8 208 (9.60%) LAN
9 203 (9.37%) VLAN
10 132 (6.09%) VoIP
11 131 (6.05%) Wireless
12 87 (4.02%) Network Security
13 82 (3.79%) SAN
14 52 (2.40%) Remote Desktop
15 29 (1.34%) Internet
15 29 (1.34%) NAS
16 27 (1.25%) SSL
17 17 (0.78%) SD-WAN
17 17 (0.78%) WLAN
18 16 (0.74%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 107 (4.94%) SQL Server
2 99 (4.57%) Amazon RDS
3 34 (1.57%) Power BI
4 32 (1.48%) Azure SQL Database
5 23 (1.06%) PostgreSQL
6 22 (1.02%) MySQL
7 6 (0.28%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.23%) 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%) GIS
10 3 (0.14%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.14%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.092%) BusinessObjects
11 2 (0.092%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.092%) KNIME
12 1 (0.046%) Geospatial Data
12 1 (0.046%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.046%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 77 (3.55%) JIRA
2 27 (1.25%) Git
3 8 (0.37%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.32%) GitLab
5 5 (0.23%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.092%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.092%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.092%) Metasploit
7 2 (0.092%) NUnit
7 2 (0.092%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.046%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.046%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.046%) Gatling
8 1 (0.046%) git-flow
8 1 (0.046%) JMeter
8 1 (0.046%) Selenium
8 1 (0.046%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.046%) Subversion
8 1 (0.046%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 976 (45.06%) Social Skills
2 247 (11.40%) Analytical Skills
3 143 (6.60%) Legal
4 129 (5.96%) Finance
5 91 (4.20%) Organisational Skills
6 88 (4.06%) Law
7 75 (3.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 74 (3.42%) Manufacturing
9 62 (2.86%) Public Sector
10 57 (2.63%) Retail
11 48 (2.22%) Telecoms
12 46 (2.12%) Documentation Skills
13 29 (1.34%) Advertising
14 25 (1.15%) Aerospace
15 17 (0.78%) Local Government
16 13 (0.60%) Automotive
17 9 (0.42%) Games
17 9 (0.42%) Influencing Skills
18 6 (0.28%) Banking
18 6 (0.28%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 799 (36.89%) IT Support
2 550 (25.39%) Support Engineer
3 515 (23.78%) IT Engineer
4 430 (19.85%) IT Support Engineer
5 348 (16.07%) Analyst
6 257 (11.87%) Senior
7 223 (10.30%) Support Analyst
8 210 (9.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 202 (9.33%) Support Technician
10 199 (9.19%) IT Technician
11 177 (8.17%) IT Support Technician
12 160 (7.39%) Systems Engineer
13 150 (6.93%) 2nd Line Support
14 146 (6.74%) IT Analyst
15 130 (6.00%) IT Support Analyst
16 92 (4.25%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 90 (4.16%) Architect
18 87 (4.02%) 3rd Line Support
19 83 (3.83%) Administrator
20 77 (3.55%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (1.94%) LDAP
2 27 (1.25%) SAML
3 23 (1.06%) OpenID
3 23 (1.06%) Regular Expression
4 21 (0.97%) OAuth
5 19 (0.88%) XMPP
6 12 (0.55%) REST
7 11 (0.51%) .NET
7 11 (0.51%) ARM Templates
7 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Graph
8 9 (0.42%) HTML
8 9 (0.42%) JSON
8 9 (0.42%) XML
9 7 (0.32%) JSON Schema
9 7 (0.32%) ModSecurity
9 7 (0.32%) OAuth2
9 7 (0.32%) Web Services
10 6 (0.28%) Middleware
11 5 (0.23%) ODBC
11 5 (0.23%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 304 (14.04%) Driving Licence
2 177 (8.17%) Onboarding
3 126 (5.82%) Self-Motivation
4 95 (4.39%) Legacy Systems
5 86 (3.97%) Hybrid Cloud
6 71 (3.28%) Data Centre
7 65 (3.00%) Management Information System
8 49 (2.26%) PKI
9 47 (2.17%) Clustering
10 39 (1.80%) Public Cloud
11 38 (1.75%) Cloud Native
11 38 (1.75%) Enterprise Software
12 37 (1.71%) Security Posture
13 35 (1.62%) Replication
14 33 (1.52%) CCTV
15 16 (0.74%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.74%) Enterprise Storage
16 15 (0.69%) Social Media
16 15 (0.69%) Video Conferencing
17 14 (0.65%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 1,552 (71.65%) Windows
2 902 (41.64%) Windows Server
3 306 (14.13%) Windows 10
4 281 (12.97%) Linux
5 160 (7.39%) Windows Server 2016
6 154 (7.11%) Mac OS
7 86 (3.97%) Windows Server 2019
8 79 (3.65%) Apple iOS
9 66 (3.05%) Android
10 44 (2.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 23 (1.06%) VMS
12 20 (0.92%) Windows Server 2012
13 17 (0.78%) Ubuntu
14 10 (0.46%) Windows 7
15 8 (0.37%) CentOS
15 8 (0.37%) Windows Server 2008
16 6 (0.28%) Debian
17 5 (0.23%) CoreOS
18 4 (0.18%) Unix
18 4 (0.18%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 730 (33.70%) Problem-Solving
2 534 (24.65%) Customer Service
3 502 (23.18%) ITIL
4 421 (19.44%) Continuous Improvement
5 407 (18.79%) Cybersecurity
6 329 (15.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 267 (12.33%) Mentoring
8 252 (11.63%) Disaster Recovery
9 205 (9.46%) ITSM
10 182 (8.40%) Service Delivery
11 179 (8.26%) Project Delivery
12 163 (7.53%) Identity Access Management
13 157 (7.25%) Migration
14 136 (6.28%) Customer Experience
15 135 (6.23%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 125 (5.77%) Service Management
17 124 (5.72%) Collaborative Working
18 122 (5.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 121 (5.59%) Kalman Filter
20 120 (5.54%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 332 (15.33%) PowerShell
2 194 (8.96%) SQL
3 67 (3.09%) Python
4 61 (2.82%) Bash
5 45 (2.08%) Bicep
6 30 (1.39%) R
7 12 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
7 12 (0.55%) VBA
8 9 (0.42%) C#
8 9 (0.42%) Ruby
8 9 (0.42%) T-SQL
9 7 (0.32%) Shell Script
10 6 (0.28%) Java
10 6 (0.28%) Korn
11 5 (0.23%) PHP
12 2 (0.092%) C
12 2 (0.092%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.092%) VB
12 2 (0.092%) VB.NET
12 2 (0.092%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 301 (13.90%) Security Cleared
2 211 (9.74%) SC Cleared
3 206 (9.51%) Degree
4 183 (8.45%) Microsoft Certification
5 109 (5.03%) Azure Certification
6 96 (4.43%) DV Cleared
7 89 (4.11%) A+ Certification
7 89 (4.11%) Network+ Certification
8 67 (3.09%) CISM
8 67 (3.09%) CISSP
9 61 (2.82%) Cisco Certification
10 57 (2.63%) DBS Check
11 55 (2.54%) CCNA
12 29 (1.34%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 24 (1.11%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 23 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
15 20 (0.92%) MCSA
16 17 (0.78%) AWS Certification
16 17 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
17 14 (0.65%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 219 (10.11%) Cyber Essentials
2 172 (7.94%) SLA
3 126 (5.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 96 (4.43%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.31%) GDPR
6 47 (2.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 28 (1.29%) NIST
8 20 (0.92%) QA
9 15 (0.69%) Data Quality
10 13 (0.60%) NCSC
11 11 (0.51%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.28%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.18%) GRC
14 3 (0.14%) ISAE 3402
14 3 (0.14%) ITGC
14 3 (0.14%) PMO
15 2 (0.092%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 1 (0.046%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 1 (0.046%) GxP
16 1 (0.046%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 508 (23.45%) Hyper-V
2 378 (17.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (4.29%) vSphere
4 81 (3.74%) Terminal Server
5 65 (3.00%) Virtual Desktop
6 52 (2.40%) Virtual Machines
7 44 (2.03%) VMware ESXi
8 37 (1.71%) Docker
9 18 (0.83%) Firmware
10 16 (0.74%) Virtual Servers
11 14 (0.65%) VMware NSX
12 12 (0.55%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 10 (0.46%) BitLocker
14 9 (0.42%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 7 (0.32%) DFS Replication
16 5 (0.23%) NDS
16 5 (0.23%) XenApp
17 4 (0.18%) Squid
17 4 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
18 3 (0.14%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 567 (26.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 109 (5.03%) SCCM
3 67 (3.09%) Terraform
4 44 (2.03%) Single Sign-On
5 33 (1.52%) Ansible
6 31 (1.43%) Kubernetes
7 30 (1.39%) FortiGate
7 30 (1.39%) Jamf Pro
8 27 (1.25%) WSUS
9 26 (1.20%) vCenter Server
10 20 (0.92%) Proxmox
11 18 (0.83%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 15 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
13 14 (0.65%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 14 (0.65%) ZABBIX
14 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
15 9 (0.42%) SCOM
16 6 (0.28%) Autotask
16 6 (0.28%) Grafana
16 6 (0.28%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 1,750 (80.79%) Microsoft
2 565 (26.08%) VMware
3 200 (9.23%) Veeam
4 157 (7.25%) Cisco
5 105 (4.85%) SolarWinds
6 95 (4.39%) Splunk
7 93 (4.29%) Nimble Storage
8 80 (3.69%) Brocade
8 80 (3.69%) Tanium
9 78 (3.60%) Apple
10 76 (3.51%) Meraki
11 73 (3.37%) Citrix
12 71 (3.28%) CyberArk
13 69 (3.19%) ServiceNow
14 59 (2.72%) HP
15 57 (2.63%) Dell
16 45 (2.08%) SonicWALL
17 43 (1.99%) Fortinet
18 42 (1.94%) CrowdStrike
18 42 (1.94%) Red Hat