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 22 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 48 36 19
Rank change year-on-year -12 -17 +23
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,747 2,056 2,574
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.16% 5.42% 9.21%
As % of the System Software category 60.01% 44.88% 49.55%
Number of salaries quoted 1,265 1,300 2,307
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,750 £25,500
25th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,750 £40,000 £37,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.63% +6.67% -
75th Percentile £47,500 £52,500 £51,250
90th Percentile £60,075 £61,250 £60,000
UK median annual salary £37,000 £42,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year -12.94% - +2.41%

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 2,911 4,581 5,195
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 6.93% 12.07% 18.59%
Number of salaries quoted 2,055 2,689 4,342
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,750 £27,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £32,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,557
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.14% -1.94%
75th Percentile £61,250 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £77,715
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.28% +3.64% -

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 22 December 2025.

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 22 December 2025. 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 +8 475 £36,500 -14.12% 219
North of England -18 350 £32,500 -18.75% 147
South West +3 288 £32,500 -9.72% 89
Midlands -9 281 £31,500 -14.86% 86
East of England -12 210 £35,000 - 80
East Midlands +8 158 £28,500 -16.18% 34
Yorkshire -8 153 £31,750 -9.29% 49
North West -18 148 £35,000 -13.04% 83
West Midlands -29 123 £37,500 -6.25% 52
Scotland -8 93 £30,000 -25.00% 30
North East -1 49 £31,000 -17.33% 19
Wales -4 44 £35,000 +2.94% 19
Northern Ireland +1 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
1 522 (29.88%) Microsoft Exchange
2 306 (17.52%) SharePoint
3 31 (1.77%) IIS
4 26 (1.49%) Exchange Server 2003
5 19 (1.09%) Confluence
6 16 (0.92%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.29%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 2 (0.11%) BizTalk Server
10 2 (0.11%) CMS
10 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2007
10 2 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
10 2 (0.11%) FactoryTalk
10 2 (0.11%) WinCC
10 2 (0.11%) WordPress
11 1 (0.057%) JOnAS
11 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 228 (13.05%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (2.06%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.23%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.23%) CATIA
5 1 (0.057%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 32 (1.83%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (1.14%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (0.34%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.23%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.23%) Visualfiles
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.17%) Primavera
6 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
6 1 (0.057%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.057%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.057%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,213 (69.43%) Microsoft 365
2 926 (53.01%) Azure
3 539 (30.85%) Entra ID
4 130 (7.44%) AWS
5 106 (6.07%) OneDrive
6 72 (4.12%) SaaS
7 61 (3.49%) Power Platform
8 42 (2.40%) IaaS
9 41 (2.35%) Google Workspace
10 40 (2.29%) Azure DevOps
11 39 (2.23%) GCP
11 39 (2.23%) PaaS
12 37 (2.12%) PowerApps
13 31 (1.77%) Azure Logic Apps
14 30 (1.72%) GitHub
15 29 (1.66%) Azure Monitor
16 24 (1.37%) Azure Sentinel
17 23 (1.32%) OCI
18 22 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
18 22 (1.26%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 646 (36.98%) DNS
2 605 (34.63%) DHCP
3 407 (23.30%) Firewall
4 269 (15.40%) TCP/IP
5 250 (14.31%) VPN
6 175 (10.02%) VLAN
7 169 (9.67%) LAN
8 167 (9.56%) WAN
9 126 (7.21%) Wi-Fi
10 93 (5.32%) Wireless
11 86 (4.92%) VoIP
12 74 (4.24%) SAN
13 62 (3.55%) Remote Desktop
14 42 (2.40%) Internet
15 38 (2.18%) Network Security
16 22 (1.26%) SD-WAN
16 22 (1.26%) SMTP
17 20 (1.14%) SSL
18 16 (0.92%) Kerberos
18 16 (0.92%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 120 (6.87%) Amazon RDS
2 60 (3.43%) SQL Server
3 29 (1.66%) Oracle Database
4 26 (1.49%) Oracle Database 10g
5 19 (1.09%) Power BI
6 12 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.52%) DTS
7 9 (0.52%) MySQL
8 7 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
9 6 (0.34%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
12 2 (0.11%) GIS
12 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
13 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 57 (3.26%) JIRA
2 35 (2.00%) Jenkins
3 32 (1.83%) Git
4 23 (1.32%) Oracle Forms
5 8 (0.46%) Vagrant
6 4 (0.23%) GitLab
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.11%) LabVIEW
8 2 (0.11%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.11%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.11%) Subversion
8 2 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.057%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
General
1 864 (49.46%) Social Skills
2 187 (10.70%) Analytical Skills
3 135 (7.73%) Finance
4 103 (5.90%) Manufacturing
5 100 (5.72%) Organisational Skills
6 66 (3.78%) Retail
7 63 (3.61%) Law
8 48 (2.75%) Documentation Skills
9 47 (2.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 42 (2.40%) Advertising
11 40 (2.29%) Legal
12 33 (1.89%) Telecoms
13 29 (1.66%) Public Sector
14 19 (1.09%) Marketing
15 15 (0.86%) French Language
15 15 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
15 15 (0.86%) Swedish Language
16 14 (0.80%) Games
17 11 (0.63%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.40%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 607 (34.75%) IT Support
2 418 (23.93%) Support Engineer
3 291 (16.66%) IT Engineer
4 258 (14.77%) Analyst
5 247 (14.14%) IT Support Engineer
6 194 (11.10%) 2nd Line Support
7 188 (10.76%) Support Analyst
8 158 (9.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 150 (8.59%) Support Technician
10 141 (8.07%) IT Analyst
11 125 (7.16%) Systems Engineer
12 120 (6.87%) IT Technician
13 114 (6.53%) IT Support Analyst
14 110 (6.30%) Senior
15 109 (6.24%) 3rd Line Support
16 108 (6.18%) Technical Support
17 99 (5.67%) IT Support Technician
18 90 (5.15%) 1st Line Support
19 77 (4.41%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 69 (3.95%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (1.77%) LDAP
2 29 (1.66%) SOAP
3 25 (1.43%) .NET
4 23 (1.32%) RESTful
5 20 (1.14%) JSON
5 20 (1.14%) XML
6 17 (0.97%) OAuth
6 17 (0.97%) OpenID
6 17 (0.97%) SAML
7 15 (0.86%) ARM Templates
8 14 (0.80%) EDI
9 12 (0.69%) React
10 10 (0.57%) CSS
10 10 (0.57%) HTML
11 9 (0.52%) .NET Framework
11 9 (0.52%) GraphQL
11 9 (0.52%) REST
12 8 (0.46%) OAuth2
13 6 (0.34%) Web Services
14 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 252 (14.42%) Driving Licence
2 173 (9.90%) Onboarding
3 96 (5.50%) Legacy Systems
4 73 (4.18%) Self-Motivation
5 63 (3.61%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (2.63%) Data Centre
7 41 (2.35%) Cloud Native
8 31 (1.77%) Management Information System
9 29 (1.66%) Hybrid Cloud
10 26 (1.49%) PKI
11 22 (1.26%) Clustering
12 21 (1.20%) Video Conferencing
13 20 (1.14%) Replication
14 19 (1.09%) iPad
15 16 (0.92%) Client/Server
15 16 (0.92%) CMDB
15 16 (0.92%) Security Posture
16 15 (0.86%) FMCG
17 13 (0.74%) Cyber Threat
17 13 (0.74%) LIMS
Operating Systems
1 1,282 (73.38%) Windows
2 780 (44.65%) Windows Server
3 281 (16.08%) Windows 10
4 221 (12.65%) Linux
5 143 (8.19%) Windows Server 2016
6 97 (5.55%) Windows Server 2019
7 92 (5.27%) Mac OS
8 69 (3.95%) Apple iOS
9 59 (3.38%) Android
10 34 (1.95%) Windows Server 2008
11 32 (1.83%) Unix
11 32 (1.83%) Windows 7
12 26 (1.49%) Solaris
12 26 (1.49%) Windows Server 2003
13 25 (1.43%) HPUX
14 23 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
15 20 (1.14%) VMS
16 14 (0.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 7 (0.40%) Amazon Linux
18 5 (0.29%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 622 (35.60%) Problem-Solving
2 548 (31.37%) Customer Service
3 360 (20.61%) ITIL
4 223 (12.76%) Cybersecurity
5 208 (11.91%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 186 (10.65%) Mentoring
7 184 (10.53%) Continuous Improvement
8 167 (9.56%) ITSM
9 155 (8.87%) Migration
10 122 (6.98%) Service Delivery
11 120 (6.87%) Incident Management
12 109 (6.24%) Disaster Recovery
13 102 (5.84%) Agile
13 102 (5.84%) Asset Management
13 102 (5.84%) Coaching
13 102 (5.84%) DevOps
14 101 (5.78%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 100 (5.72%) Kalman Filter
16 99 (5.67%) Service Management
17 98 (5.61%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 277 (15.86%) PowerShell
2 134 (7.67%) SQL
3 59 (3.38%) Python
4 37 (2.12%) Bash
5 29 (1.66%) Java
5 29 (1.66%) Perl
6 23 (1.32%) PL/SQL
7 22 (1.26%) Shell Script
8 16 (0.92%) VB
9 15 (0.86%) JavaScript
10 13 (0.74%) C#
11 11 (0.63%) Bicep
11 11 (0.63%) T-SQL
12 10 (0.57%) Groovy
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Korn
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.057%) VB.NET
16 1 (0.057%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 232 (13.28%) Security Cleared
2 200 (11.45%) SC Cleared
3 158 (9.04%) Degree
3 158 (9.04%) Microsoft Certification
4 62 (3.55%) DV Cleared
5 48 (2.75%) DBS Check
6 47 (2.69%) A+ Certification
7 42 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
8 40 (2.29%) Azure Certification
9 36 (2.06%) CCNA
10 35 (2.00%) MCP
11 31 (1.77%) MCSE
12 29 (1.66%) Network+ Certification
13 24 (1.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 21 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
15 16 (0.92%) MCSA
16 15 (0.86%) CompTIA Security+
16 15 (0.86%) HND
17 13 (0.74%) AWS Certification
17 13 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 130 (7.44%) Cyber Essentials
2 126 (7.21%) SLA
3 97 (5.55%) PCI DSS
4 63 (3.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 55 (3.15%) GDPR
6 17 (0.97%) NIST
7 16 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 12 (0.69%) QA
9 9 (0.52%) NCSC
10 7 (0.40%) GxP
11 6 (0.34%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.29%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.057%) GRC
14 1 (0.057%) IASME
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.057%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 349 (19.98%) Hyper-V
2 252 (14.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 91 (5.21%) Terminal Server
4 49 (2.80%) Virtual Desktop
5 46 (2.63%) vSphere
6 30 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
7 29 (1.66%) Docker
8 27 (1.55%) Virtual Machines
9 18 (1.03%) Firmware
10 14 (0.80%) Virtual Servers
11 6 (0.34%) XenApp
12 5 (0.29%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.23%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 4 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.23%) VMware NSX
13 4 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.17%) DFS Replication
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 403 (23.07%) Microsoft Intune
2 141 (8.07%) SCCM
3 65 (3.72%) Terraform
4 42 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
5 32 (1.83%) vCenter Server
5 32 (1.83%) WSUS
6 27 (1.55%) Kubernetes
7 23 (1.32%) Ansible
8 21 (1.20%) SCOM
9 18 (1.03%) Autotask
10 17 (0.97%) Jamf Pro
11 16 (0.92%) FortiGate
12 13 (0.74%) Nagios
12 13 (0.74%) ZABBIX
13 12 (0.69%) Prometheus
14 11 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
15 9 (0.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
16 8 (0.46%) Grafana
17 7 (0.40%) PaperCut
18 5 (0.29%) SmoothWall
Vendors
1 1,336 (76.47%) Microsoft
2 462 (26.45%) VMware
3 169 (9.67%) Veeam
4 143 (8.19%) Cisco
5 128 (7.33%) SolarWinds
6 100 (5.72%) Nimble Storage
7 99 (5.67%) Splunk
8 97 (5.55%) Tanium
9 90 (5.15%) Apple
10 88 (5.04%) Brocade
11 69 (3.95%) ServiceNow
12 66 (3.78%) Citrix
13 54 (3.09%) Google
14 52 (2.98%) Oracle
15 50 (2.86%) HP
16 41 (2.35%) Meraki
17 40 (2.29%) Dell
18 31 (1.77%) SonicWALL
19 29 (1.66%) Red Hat
20 27 (1.55%) Sophos