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 11 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 35 28
Rank change year-on-year -21 -7 +16
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,750 1,605 4,221
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.35% 5.70% 7.28%
As % of the System Software category 61.51% 43.95% 50.46%
Number of salaries quoted 1,275 1,169 3,680
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £24,000
25th Percentile £28,353 £28,250 £27,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £37,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.33% +7.14% -2.78%
75th Percentile £47,250 £50,000 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £60,000 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £41,500 £39,000
% change year-on-year -9.64% +6.41% -2.50%

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 2,845 3,652 8,365
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.44% 12.97% 14.42%
Number of salaries quoted 2,055 2,484 6,980
10th Percentile £26,600 £26,750 £25,760
25th Percentile £30,500 £32,688 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £85,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -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 11 March 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 11 March 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 +9 504 £36,000 -15.29% 196
North of England -21 374 £33,000 -5.71% 129
Midlands -24 271 £32,500 -7.14% 72
South West +6 266 £32,500 -7.14% 60
Yorkshire -17 174 £32,500 +8.33% 40
East of England -23 167 £36,500 +12.31% 58
North West -28 158 £37,500 -6.25% 76
East Midlands -9 146 £31,500 +4.13% 35
West Midlands -44 124 £33,500 -16.25% 37
Scotland +6 102 £27,500 -21.43% 27
North East -7 42 £31,500 -10.00% 20
Wales +11 41 £35,000 -28.72% 10
Northern Ireland -20 19 £32,000 -39.05% 4
Isle of Man +6 6 £45,000 +55.17% 1
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
1 495 (28.29%) Microsoft Exchange
2 339 (19.37%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.31%) Exchange Server 2003
4 13 (0.74%) Confluence
4 13 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2013
5 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2007
5 11 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2010
5 11 (0.63%) IIS
6 6 (0.34%) CMS
7 3 (0.17%) Apache
7 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
8 2 (0.11%) Skype for Business
8 2 (0.11%) WordPress
9 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 264 (15.09%) Microsoft Office
2 39 (2.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
4 3 (0.17%) CATIA
5 1 (0.057%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 14 (0.80%) Oracle ERP
2 13 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.40%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.34%) Remedy ITSM
5 5 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
5 5 (0.29%) Primavera
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
8 2 (0.11%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.11%) Shopify
9 1 (0.057%) Cognos Business Intelligence
9 1 (0.057%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.057%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.057%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,240 (70.86%) Microsoft 365
2 956 (54.63%) Azure
3 614 (35.09%) Entra ID
4 132 (7.54%) OneDrive
5 131 (7.49%) AWS
6 102 (5.83%) Google Workspace
7 83 (4.74%) SaaS
8 70 (4.00%) Power Platform
9 37 (2.11%) IaaS
10 34 (1.94%) GCP
11 33 (1.89%) Azure Monitor
12 32 (1.83%) Azure DevOps
13 31 (1.77%) PaaS
14 28 (1.60%) Nutanix
15 26 (1.49%) Mimecast
16 24 (1.37%) PowerApps
17 22 (1.26%) OCI
18 20 (1.14%) GitHub
18 20 (1.14%) Microsoft Purview
19 19 (1.09%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 623 (35.60%) DNS
2 584 (33.37%) DHCP
3 417 (23.83%) Firewall
4 277 (15.83%) VPN
5 236 (13.49%) TCP/IP
6 192 (10.97%) VLAN
7 174 (9.94%) WAN
8 171 (9.77%) LAN
9 142 (8.11%) Wi-Fi
10 91 (5.20%) VoIP
11 74 (4.23%) Wireless
12 57 (3.26%) Network Security
12 57 (3.26%) Remote Desktop
13 46 (2.63%) Broadband
14 43 (2.46%) SAN
15 27 (1.54%) SD-WAN
16 18 (1.03%) Internet
17 17 (0.97%) Unified Communications
18 16 (0.91%) NAS
19 15 (0.86%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 90 (5.14%) Amazon RDS
2 68 (3.89%) SQL Server
3 40 (2.29%) Power BI
4 26 (1.49%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.31%) Oracle Database 10g
6 20 (1.14%) PostgreSQL
7 19 (1.09%) MySQL
8 10 (0.57%) Azure SQL Database
9 9 (0.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.46%) GIS
11 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
12 5 (0.29%) Relational Database
13 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
13 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
14 2 (0.11%) DTS
14 2 (0.11%) NoSQL
15 1 (0.057%) Cognos Connection
15 1 (0.057%) Cognos Event Studio
15 1 (0.057%) Cognos Framework Manager
Development Applications
1 69 (3.94%) JIRA
2 17 (0.97%) Git
2 17 (0.97%) Jenkins
2 17 (0.97%) Oracle Forms
3 7 (0.40%) GitLab
4 5 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
6 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
6 3 (0.17%) Subversion
7 2 (0.11%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.057%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.057%) Metasploit
General
1 801 (45.77%) Social Skills
2 187 (10.69%) Analytical Skills
3 160 (9.14%) Organisational Skills
4 140 (8.00%) Finance
5 75 (4.29%) Manufacturing
6 62 (3.54%) Retail
7 60 (3.43%) Documentation Skills
8 48 (2.74%) Law
9 46 (2.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 43 (2.46%) Legal
11 38 (2.17%) Advertising
12 37 (2.11%) Games
13 34 (1.94%) Public Sector
14 29 (1.66%) Telecoms
15 20 (1.14%) Marketing
16 10 (0.57%) Local Government
17 8 (0.46%) Aerospace
18 5 (0.29%) Automotive
19 4 (0.23%) Banking
19 4 (0.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 705 (40.29%) IT Support
2 481 (27.49%) Support Engineer
3 392 (22.40%) IT Engineer
4 340 (19.43%) IT Support Engineer
5 234 (13.37%) Analyst
6 177 (10.11%) 2nd Line Support
7 174 (9.94%) Support Technician
8 171 (9.77%) Support Analyst
9 152 (8.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 136 (7.77%) Senior
11 133 (7.60%) IT Analyst
12 129 (7.37%) IT Technician
13 123 (7.03%) IT Support Technician
14 116 (6.63%) IT Support Analyst
15 114 (6.51%) Systems Engineer
16 96 (5.49%) 3rd Line Support
17 94 (5.37%) 2nd Line Engineer
18 86 (4.91%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
19 79 (4.51%) 1st Line Support
20 62 (3.54%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.03%) SOAP
2 52 (2.97%) SAML
3 48 (2.74%) LDAP
3 48 (2.74%) OAuth
3 48 (2.74%) OpenID
4 44 (2.51%) REST
5 39 (2.23%) GraphQL
6 25 (1.43%) JSON
6 25 (1.43%) XML
7 19 (1.09%) RESTful
8 17 (0.97%) .NET
9 11 (0.63%) ARM Templates
10 10 (0.57%) CSS
10 10 (0.57%) HTML
10 10 (0.57%) React
11 9 (0.51%) .NET Framework
11 9 (0.51%) OAuth2
12 6 (0.34%) Web Services
13 5 (0.29%) FreeSWITCH
14 4 (0.23%) Razor View Engine
Miscellaneous
1 274 (15.66%) Driving Licence
2 116 (6.63%) Onboarding
3 79 (4.51%) Self-Motivation
4 78 (4.46%) Legacy Systems
5 59 (3.37%) Enterprise Software
6 42 (2.40%) Cyberattack
6 42 (2.40%) Hybrid Cloud
7 41 (2.34%) Cyber Threat
8 31 (1.77%) Management Information System
8 31 (1.77%) Replication
9 29 (1.66%) Cloud Native
9 29 (1.66%) Data Centre
10 25 (1.43%) Public Cloud
11 21 (1.20%) CMDB
12 17 (0.97%) Client/Server
13 16 (0.91%) PKI
14 15 (0.86%) Clustering
15 14 (0.80%) iPad
16 13 (0.74%) Linux Command Line
16 13 (0.74%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1,246 (71.20%) Windows
2 742 (42.40%) Windows Server
3 293 (16.74%) Windows 10
4 200 (11.43%) Linux
5 131 (7.49%) Windows Server 2016
6 92 (5.26%) Mac OS
7 76 (4.34%) Apple iOS
8 74 (4.23%) Android
9 53 (3.03%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.40%) Windows 7
11 33 (1.89%) Windows Server 2012
12 32 (1.83%) Windows Server 2008
13 28 (1.60%) Unix
14 23 (1.31%) HPUX
14 23 (1.31%) Solaris
14 23 (1.31%) Windows Server 2003
15 14 (0.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 12 (0.69%) Windows 8
17 7 (0.40%) VMS
18 6 (0.34%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 626 (35.77%) Problem-Solving
2 521 (29.77%) Customer Service
3 415 (23.71%) ITIL
4 260 (14.86%) Cybersecurity
5 214 (12.23%) Mentoring
6 200 (11.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 192 (10.97%) Continuous Improvement
8 176 (10.06%) ITSM
9 159 (9.09%) Service Delivery
10 145 (8.29%) Disaster Recovery
11 129 (7.37%) Migration
12 124 (7.09%) Incident Management
13 119 (6.80%) Coaching
14 114 (6.51%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 95 (5.43%) Kalman Filter
16 93 (5.31%) Asset Management
16 93 (5.31%) Identity Access Management
16 93 (5.31%) Web Filtering
17 91 (5.20%) Agile
17 91 (5.20%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 301 (17.20%) PowerShell
2 123 (7.03%) SQL
3 79 (4.51%) Bash
4 54 (3.09%) Python
5 49 (2.80%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.26%) Perl
7 19 (1.09%) Shell Script
8 18 (1.03%) JavaScript
9 17 (0.97%) PL/SQL
10 16 (0.91%) Java
11 14 (0.80%) C#
12 8 (0.46%) R
12 8 (0.46%) VB
13 5 (0.29%) VBA
14 4 (0.23%) Bicep
15 2 (0.11%) C
15 2 (0.11%) Groovy
15 2 (0.11%) TypeScript
16 1 (0.057%) Korn
16 1 (0.057%) PHP
Qualifications
1 226 (12.91%) Security Cleared
2 174 (9.94%) SC Cleared
3 163 (9.31%) Degree
4 155 (8.86%) Microsoft Certification
5 76 (4.34%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.63%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.46%) Azure Certification
8 37 (2.11%) Cisco Certification
9 36 (2.06%) A+ Certification
10 33 (1.89%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.77%) CCNA
12 22 (1.26%) Network+ Certification
13 21 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
13 21 (1.20%) MCSE
14 19 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 17 (0.97%) HNC
16 15 (0.86%) HND
16 15 (0.86%) MCSA
17 12 (0.69%) CCNP
18 11 (0.63%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 149 (8.51%) SLA
2 145 (8.29%) Cyber Essentials
3 85 (4.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 81 (4.63%) PCI DSS
5 52 (2.97%) NIST
6 43 (2.46%) GDPR
7 39 (2.23%) NCSC
8 26 (1.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 15 (0.86%) QA
10 9 (0.51%) Accessibility
11 8 (0.46%) Data Quality
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
14 3 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
15 2 (0.11%) GRC
16 1 (0.057%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 350 (20.00%) Hyper-V
2 246 (14.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 74 (4.23%) Terminal Server
4 44 (2.51%) vSphere
5 39 (2.23%) VMware ESXi
6 37 (2.11%) Virtual Desktop
7 23 (1.31%) Virtual Machines
8 15 (0.86%) BitLocker
8 15 (0.86%) Docker
9 11 (0.63%) Firmware
9 11 (0.63%) VMware Workstation
10 9 (0.51%) VMware NSX
11 8 (0.46%) XenApp
12 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
13 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.17%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 3 (0.17%) Lustre
14 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 2 (0.11%) Samba
Systems Management
1 362 (20.69%) Microsoft Intune
2 135 (7.71%) SCCM
3 44 (2.51%) Single Sign-On
3 44 (2.51%) vCenter Server
4 40 (2.29%) Terraform
5 33 (1.89%) Jamf Pro
6 18 (1.03%) Autotask
6 18 (1.03%) FortiGate
7 17 (0.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 17 (0.97%) Ansible
8 15 (0.86%) WSUS
9 12 (0.69%) Kubernetes
10 11 (0.63%) SCOM
11 10 (0.57%) ZABBIX
12 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
13 7 (0.40%) Proxmox
14 6 (0.34%) Failover Clustering
14 6 (0.34%) Nagios
14 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
14 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 1,262 (72.11%) Microsoft
2 458 (26.17%) VMware
3 158 (9.03%) Veeam
4 112 (6.40%) SolarWinds
5 97 (5.54%) Nimble Storage
6 94 (5.37%) Cisco
7 92 (5.26%) Apple
8 89 (5.09%) Citrix
9 87 (4.97%) Splunk
10 83 (4.74%) Google
11 76 (4.34%) ServiceNow
12 74 (4.23%) Tanium
13 72 (4.11%) Brocade
14 63 (3.60%) HP
15 49 (2.80%) Dell
16 46 (2.63%) Oracle
17 34 (1.94%) Meraki
18 25 (1.43%) Dell Compellent
18 25 (1.43%) SonicWALL
19 21 (1.20%) Fortinet