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

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 58 40 29
Rank change year-on-year -18 -11 +14
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,772 1,424 4,395
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.12% 5.49% 6.96%
As % of the System Software category 59.72% 44.94% 50.73%
Number of salaries quoted 1,330 1,204 3,792
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,500 £23,888
25th Percentile £28,500 £27,750 £26,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £34,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - -1.13%
75th Percentile £47,500 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £59,275 £57,500
UK median annual salary £37,500 £40,000 £38,000
% change year-on-year -6.25% +5.26% -5.00%

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 2,967 3,169 8,663
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 5.22% 12.21% 13.72%
Number of salaries quoted 2,170 2,487 7,172
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,750 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £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 £69,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £76,250 £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 31 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 31 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 +4 494 £36,000 -15.29% 175
North of England -29 391 £33,750 +2.27% 133
Midlands -36 277 £32,500 -7.14% 78
South West +4 269 £32,500 -7.14% 71
Yorkshire -23 179 £32,500 +8.33% 39
North West -23 173 £37,500 -6.25% 85
East of England -33 173 £40,000 +23.08% 61
East Midlands -24 143 £31,500 +5.00% 36
West Midlands -43 133 £32,500 -10.96% 42
Scotland +24 100 £30,000 -12.11% 26
Wales +8 44 £37,500 -23.63% 14
North East -6 39 £31,750 -4.36% 13
Northern Ireland -29 18 £32,000 -39.05% 2
Isle of Man +2 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
1 500 (28.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 342 (19.30%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.30%) Exchange Server 2003
4 14 (0.79%) IIS
5 13 (0.73%) Exchange Server 2013
6 12 (0.68%) Confluence
7 11 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2007
7 11 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2010
8 6 (0.34%) CMS
9 4 (0.23%) Apache
10 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.17%) WebLogic Portal
10 3 (0.17%) WordPress
11 2 (0.11%) Skype for Business
12 1 (0.056%) Drupal
12 1 (0.056%) nginx
12 1 (0.056%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 248 (14.00%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.17%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.056%) CATIA
Business Applications
1 14 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.56%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.40%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.40%) Primavera
4 6 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
5 5 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
6 4 (0.23%) Dynamics GP
6 4 (0.23%) Exchequer
6 4 (0.23%) Markit EDM
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
8 2 (0.11%) Shopify
9 1 (0.056%) Cognos Business Intelligence
9 1 (0.056%) Magento
9 1 (0.056%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.056%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.056%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 1,256 (70.88%) Microsoft 365
2 952 (53.72%) Azure
3 621 (35.05%) Entra ID
4 134 (7.56%) AWS
5 133 (7.51%) OneDrive
6 99 (5.59%) Google Workspace
7 88 (4.97%) SaaS
8 78 (4.40%) Power Platform
9 39 (2.20%) IaaS
10 34 (1.92%) PaaS
11 33 (1.86%) Azure Monitor
11 33 (1.86%) Nutanix
12 29 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
12 29 (1.64%) GCP
12 29 (1.64%) Mimecast
13 27 (1.52%) PowerApps
14 22 (1.24%) Microsoft Purview
15 18 (1.02%) OCI
16 17 (0.96%) Dynamics 365
17 15 (0.85%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 633 (35.72%) DNS
2 582 (32.84%) DHCP
3 416 (23.48%) Firewall
4 284 (16.03%) VPN
5 224 (12.64%) TCP/IP
6 191 (10.78%) WAN
7 185 (10.44%) LAN
8 184 (10.38%) VLAN
9 152 (8.58%) Wi-Fi
10 92 (5.19%) VoIP
11 79 (4.46%) Wireless
12 66 (3.72%) Network Security
13 61 (3.44%) Remote Desktop
14 47 (2.65%) Broadband
15 42 (2.37%) SAN
16 28 (1.58%) SD-WAN
17 19 (1.07%) NAS
18 16 (0.90%) Internet
18 16 (0.90%) SMTP
19 15 (0.85%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (5.14%) Amazon RDS
2 77 (4.35%) SQL Server
3 48 (2.71%) Power BI
4 26 (1.47%) Oracle Database
5 23 (1.30%) Oracle Database 10g
5 23 (1.30%) PostgreSQL
6 21 (1.19%) MySQL
7 12 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (0.45%) GIS
8 8 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 6 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
10 5 (0.28%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.17%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Discoverer
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
13 2 (0.11%) Neo4j
14 1 (0.056%) Cognos Connection
14 1 (0.056%) Cognos Framework Manager
14 1 (0.056%) Redis
Development Applications
1 74 (4.18%) JIRA
2 13 (0.73%) Git
2 13 (0.73%) Oracle Forms
3 11 (0.62%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.40%) GitLab
5 5 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.23%) LabVIEW
6 4 (0.23%) Subversion
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
8 1 (0.056%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.056%) Gatling
8 1 (0.056%) JMeter
8 1 (0.056%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.056%) Vagrant
8 1 (0.056%) Visual Studio
General
1 800 (45.15%) Social Skills
2 195 (11.00%) Analytical Skills
3 165 (9.31%) Organisational Skills
4 126 (7.11%) Finance
5 78 (4.40%) Manufacturing
6 60 (3.39%) Retail
7 59 (3.33%) Legal
8 57 (3.22%) Documentation Skills
9 55 (3.10%) Law
10 51 (2.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 43 (2.43%) Public Sector
12 39 (2.20%) Advertising
13 36 (2.03%) Games
14 31 (1.75%) Telecoms
15 21 (1.19%) Marketing
16 12 (0.68%) Local Government
17 8 (0.45%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.40%) Automotive
19 4 (0.23%) Banking
19 4 (0.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 720 (40.63%) IT Support
2 504 (28.44%) Support Engineer
3 420 (23.70%) IT Engineer
4 364 (20.54%) IT Support Engineer
5 228 (12.87%) Analyst
6 182 (10.27%) Support Technician
7 181 (10.21%) 2nd Line Support
8 169 (9.54%) Support Analyst
9 152 (8.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 148 (8.35%) IT Technician
11 139 (7.84%) Senior
12 137 (7.73%) IT Support Technician
13 119 (6.72%) IT Analyst
13 119 (6.72%) Systems Engineer
14 108 (6.09%) IT Support Analyst
15 103 (5.81%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 97 (5.47%) 3rd Line Support
17 92 (5.19%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 75 (4.23%) 1st Line Support
19 62 (3.50%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (2.88%) LDAP
2 48 (2.71%) SOAP
3 47 (2.65%) SAML
4 44 (2.48%) OAuth
4 44 (2.48%) OpenID
5 43 (2.43%) REST
6 38 (2.14%) GraphQL
7 21 (1.19%) JSON
7 21 (1.19%) XML
8 13 (0.73%) RESTful
9 10 (0.56%) .NET
10 9 (0.51%) Regular Expression
11 8 (0.45%) ARM Templates
12 7 (0.40%) HTML
12 7 (0.40%) Web Services
13 6 (0.34%) CSS
13 6 (0.34%) XMPP
14 5 (0.28%) .NET Framework
14 5 (0.28%) FreeSWITCH
14 5 (0.28%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 271 (15.29%) Driving Licence
2 114 (6.43%) Onboarding
3 84 (4.74%) Self-Motivation
4 76 (4.29%) Legacy Systems
5 52 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
6 48 (2.71%) Hybrid Cloud
7 41 (2.31%) Cyberattack
8 40 (2.26%) Cyber Threat
9 33 (1.86%) Public Cloud
9 33 (1.86%) Replication
10 32 (1.81%) Data Centre
11 30 (1.69%) Management Information System
12 24 (1.35%) Cloud Native
13 20 (1.13%) Client/Server
14 19 (1.07%) PKI
15 18 (1.02%) CMDB
16 13 (0.73%) Clustering
16 13 (0.73%) Video Conferencing
17 12 (0.68%) FMCG
17 12 (0.68%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 1,272 (71.78%) Windows
2 752 (42.44%) Windows Server
3 301 (16.99%) Windows 10
4 218 (12.30%) Linux
5 141 (7.96%) Windows Server 2016
6 90 (5.08%) Mac OS
7 81 (4.57%) Apple iOS
8 72 (4.06%) Android
9 54 (3.05%) Windows Server 2019
10 42 (2.37%) Windows 7
11 34 (1.92%) Windows Server 2012
12 31 (1.75%) Windows Server 2008
13 30 (1.69%) Unix
14 23 (1.30%) HPUX
14 23 (1.30%) Solaris
14 23 (1.30%) Windows Server 2003
15 20 (1.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 12 (0.68%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.34%) CentOS
17 6 (0.34%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 635 (35.84%) Problem-Solving
2 514 (29.01%) Customer Service
3 431 (24.32%) ITIL
4 269 (15.18%) Cybersecurity
5 205 (11.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 198 (11.17%) Mentoring
7 189 (10.67%) Continuous Improvement
8 180 (10.16%) ITSM
9 158 (8.92%) Service Delivery
10 153 (8.63%) Disaster Recovery
11 127 (7.17%) Incident Management
12 123 (6.94%) Migration
13 119 (6.72%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 107 (6.04%) Coaching
15 104 (5.87%) Change Management
16 97 (5.47%) Kalman Filter
17 95 (5.36%) Customer Experience
17 95 (5.36%) Web Filtering
18 94 (5.30%) Identity Access Management
19 89 (5.02%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 294 (16.59%) PowerShell
2 127 (7.17%) SQL
3 80 (4.51%) Bash
4 52 (2.93%) Python
5 49 (2.77%) T-SQL
6 22 (1.24%) Perl
7 16 (0.90%) R
8 15 (0.85%) Shell Script
9 14 (0.79%) PL/SQL
10 13 (0.73%) JavaScript
11 11 (0.62%) Java
12 8 (0.45%) VB
13 7 (0.40%) C#
14 6 (0.34%) Bicep
15 5 (0.28%) VBA
16 3 (0.17%) PHP
17 2 (0.11%) C
18 1 (0.056%) Groovy
18 1 (0.056%) Korn
18 1 (0.056%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 241 (13.60%) Security Cleared
2 178 (10.05%) SC Cleared
3 166 (9.37%) Degree
4 160 (9.03%) Microsoft Certification
5 84 (4.74%) DV Cleared
6 46 (2.60%) DBS Check
7 43 (2.43%) Azure Certification
8 41 (2.31%) A+ Certification
9 37 (2.09%) Cisco Certification
10 34 (1.92%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 31 (1.75%) CCNA
12 25 (1.41%) Network+ Certification
13 21 (1.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 20 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
15 19 (1.07%) MCSE
16 17 (0.96%) HNC
16 17 (0.96%) MCSA
17 16 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
18 13 (0.73%) HND
19 12 (0.68%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 169 (9.54%) SLA
2 145 (8.18%) Cyber Essentials
3 98 (5.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 84 (4.74%) PCI DSS
5 50 (2.82%) NIST
6 39 (2.20%) NCSC
7 38 (2.14%) GDPR
8 25 (1.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (0.96%) QA
10 10 (0.56%) Data Quality
11 7 (0.40%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.28%) GRC
12 5 (0.28%) 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 2 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 355 (20.03%) Hyper-V
2 256 (14.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.23%) Terminal Server
4 51 (2.88%) vSphere
5 38 (2.14%) VMware ESXi
6 30 (1.69%) Virtual Desktop
7 24 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
8 17 (0.96%) BitLocker
9 16 (0.90%) Docker
10 11 (0.62%) Firmware
10 11 (0.62%) VMware NSX
10 11 (0.62%) VMware Workstation
11 10 (0.56%) XenApp
12 6 (0.34%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
14 4 (0.23%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.17%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 3 (0.17%) Lustre
15 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 353 (19.92%) Microsoft Intune
2 129 (7.28%) SCCM
3 45 (2.54%) Single Sign-On
4 42 (2.37%) vCenter Server
5 36 (2.03%) Terraform
6 33 (1.86%) Jamf Pro
7 23 (1.30%) Ansible
8 21 (1.19%) FortiGate
8 21 (1.19%) WSUS
9 18 (1.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 16 (0.90%) Autotask
11 13 (0.73%) SCOM
12 11 (0.62%) Kubernetes
13 9 (0.51%) Backup Exec
14 8 (0.45%) ZABBIX
15 7 (0.40%) Proxmox
16 6 (0.34%) SmoothWall
16 6 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
17 5 (0.28%) Prometheus
17 5 (0.28%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 1,281 (72.29%) Microsoft
2 464 (26.19%) VMware
3 156 (8.80%) Veeam
4 109 (6.15%) SolarWinds
5 100 (5.64%) Nimble Storage
6 96 (5.42%) Cisco
7 95 (5.36%) Apple
8 92 (5.19%) Citrix
9 89 (5.02%) Splunk
10 78 (4.40%) Google
10 78 (4.40%) ServiceNow
11 72 (4.06%) Brocade
11 72 (4.06%) Tanium
12 68 (3.84%) HP
13 58 (3.27%) Dell
14 43 (2.43%) Oracle
15 37 (2.09%) Meraki
16 28 (1.58%) Dell Compellent
17 27 (1.52%) McAfee
18 26 (1.47%) CrowdStrike