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

6 months to
3 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 46 31
Rank change year-on-year -20 -15 +10
Permanent jobs citing Active Directory 1,828 1,544 4,437
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.71% 5.31% 6.00%
As % of the System Software category 54.70% 38.89% 50.89%
Number of salaries quoted 1,412 1,190 3,646
10th Percentile £26,375 £25,750 £23,500
25th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,700
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.11%
75th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £47,716
90th Percentile £63,715 £58,750 £57,500
UK median annual salary £39,500 £38,500 £37,500
% change year-on-year +2.60% +2.67% -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 3,342 3,970 8,719
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 4.95% 13.65% 11.80%
Number of salaries quoted 2,524 2,291 6,975
10th Percentile £27,750 £26,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £31,938 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £46,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.23% +3.33% -5.26%
75th Percentile £64,063 £67,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £83,750 £72,500
UK median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -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 3 June 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 June 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
North of England -13 454 £35,000 +14.75% 101
South East +2 426 £40,000 - 176
Midlands -41 308 £33,500 +3.08% 71
South West -5 255 £35,000 +7.69% 64
North West +52 224 £37,500 - 55
East of England +3 207 £35,000 +7.69% 61
Yorkshire -37 185 £32,500 +8.33% 33
East Midlands +3 163 £32,500 +3.17% 34
West Midlands -60 144 £35,000 - 37
Scotland +65 103 £30,000 -40.00% 15
Wales -4 53 £45,000 +18.13% 9
North East -45 45 £42,500 +32.81% 15
Northern Ireland -25 16 £32,000 -37.56% 16
Isle of Man +4 6 £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
1 481 (26.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 380 (20.79%) SharePoint
3 29 (1.59%) IIS
4 18 (0.98%) Confluence
5 11 (0.60%) Exchange Server 2013
6 9 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2007
6 9 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (0.27%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.22%) Apache
8 4 (0.22%) CMS
9 3 (0.16%) SAS
10 1 (0.055%) Drupal
10 1 (0.055%) nginx
10 1 (0.055%) WordPress
Applications
1 210 (11.49%) Microsoft Office
2 43 (2.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.16%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.11%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.055%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 18 (0.98%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.71%) Dynamics NAV
3 7 (0.38%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
4 4 (0.22%) Dynamics GP
4 4 (0.22%) Exchequer
4 4 (0.22%) Primavera
5 3 (0.16%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 2 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.055%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.055%) Magento
7 1 (0.055%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.055%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.055%) SAP EHS
7 1 (0.055%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 1,284 (70.24%) Microsoft 365
2 991 (54.21%) Azure
3 680 (37.20%) Entra ID
4 142 (7.77%) AWS
5 141 (7.71%) OneDrive
6 88 (4.81%) Power Platform
7 87 (4.76%) Google Workspace
7 87 (4.76%) SaaS
8 49 (2.68%) IaaS
9 41 (2.24%) PaaS
10 38 (2.08%) Mimecast
11 35 (1.91%) Nutanix
12 31 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
13 26 (1.42%) PowerApps
14 25 (1.37%) Azure Sentinel
15 23 (1.26%) Azure Monitor
15 23 (1.26%) Microsoft Purview
16 21 (1.15%) Dynamics 365
17 17 (0.93%) Power Automate
18 15 (0.82%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 601 (32.88%) DNS
2 509 (27.84%) DHCP
3 462 (25.27%) Firewall
4 288 (15.75%) VPN
5 191 (10.45%) WAN
6 187 (10.23%) LAN
7 183 (10.01%) TCP/IP
8 171 (9.35%) Wi-Fi
9 157 (8.59%) VLAN
10 102 (5.58%) VoIP
11 83 (4.54%) Wireless
12 69 (3.77%) Network Security
13 67 (3.67%) SAN
14 58 (3.17%) Remote Desktop
15 43 (2.35%) Broadband
16 28 (1.53%) NAS
17 21 (1.15%) SD-WAN
18 19 (1.04%) Internet
19 15 (0.82%) SSL
20 14 (0.77%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 103 (5.63%) SQL Server
2 85 (4.65%) Amazon RDS
3 46 (2.52%) Power BI
4 30 (1.64%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.42%) MySQL
6 15 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 8 (0.44%) GIS
9 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.22%) Crystal Reports
10 4 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.22%) Neo4j
11 2 (0.11%) Relational Database
12 1 (0.055%) Data Lake
12 1 (0.055%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.055%) KNIME
12 1 (0.055%) Metadata
12 1 (0.055%) NoSQL
12 1 (0.055%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.055%) Redis
Development Applications
1 76 (4.16%) JIRA
2 11 (0.60%) Git
2 11 (0.60%) GitLab
3 7 (0.38%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (0.22%) Bitbucket
5 4 (0.22%) LabVIEW
6 3 (0.16%) Burp Suite
6 3 (0.16%) Metasploit
6 3 (0.16%) Oracle Forms
6 3 (0.16%) Subversion
7 2 (0.11%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.055%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.055%) Gatling
8 1 (0.055%) JMeter
8 1 (0.055%) Vagrant
General
1 777 (42.51%) Social Skills
2 192 (10.50%) Analytical Skills
3 143 (7.82%) Organisational Skills
4 119 (6.51%) Finance
5 68 (3.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 64 (3.50%) Manufacturing
7 59 (3.23%) Legal
8 53 (2.90%) Documentation Skills
8 53 (2.90%) Law
8 53 (2.90%) Public Sector
9 45 (2.46%) Retail
10 37 (2.02%) Games
11 30 (1.64%) Telecoms
12 29 (1.59%) Advertising
13 19 (1.04%) Local Government
14 11 (0.60%) Aerospace
14 11 (0.60%) Marketing
15 9 (0.49%) Automotive
15 9 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.22%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 697 (38.13%) IT Support
2 481 (26.31%) Support Engineer
3 433 (23.69%) IT Engineer
4 361 (19.75%) IT Support Engineer
5 286 (15.65%) Analyst
6 196 (10.72%) Support Analyst
7 182 (9.96%) Support Technician
8 180 (9.85%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 176 (9.63%) Senior
10 162 (8.86%) IT Technician
11 154 (8.42%) 2nd Line Support
12 147 (8.04%) IT Support Technician
13 130 (7.11%) IT Analyst
14 124 (6.78%) Systems Engineer
15 114 (6.24%) IT Support Analyst
16 91 (4.98%) 2nd Line Engineer
17 78 (4.27%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
18 72 (3.94%) Architect
19 71 (3.88%) 1st Line Support
20 69 (3.77%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (2.84%) LDAP
2 47 (2.57%) SAML
3 42 (2.30%) OpenID
4 41 (2.24%) OAuth
5 40 (2.19%) REST
6 38 (2.08%) SOAP
7 35 (1.91%) GraphQL
8 19 (1.04%) Regular Expression
9 15 (0.82%) JSON
9 15 (0.82%) XML
9 15 (0.82%) XMPP
10 8 (0.44%) .NET
10 8 (0.44%) Microsoft Graph
11 7 (0.38%) ARM Templates
12 6 (0.33%) Web Services
13 5 (0.27%) FreeSWITCH
13 5 (0.27%) Middleware
13 5 (0.27%) RESTful
14 4 (0.22%) boto
14 4 (0.22%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 247 (13.51%) Driving Licence
2 121 (6.62%) Onboarding
3 83 (4.54%) Self-Motivation
4 74 (4.05%) Legacy Systems
5 73 (3.99%) Hybrid Cloud
6 58 (3.17%) Data Centre
7 55 (3.01%) Management Information System
8 38 (2.08%) Cyberattack
8 38 (2.08%) Public Cloud
8 38 (2.08%) Replication
9 36 (1.97%) Cyber Threat
10 31 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
11 30 (1.64%) Clustering
12 29 (1.59%) PKI
13 27 (1.48%) Cloud Native
14 19 (1.04%) CCTV
15 16 (0.88%) Client/Server
16 15 (0.82%) Data Structures
16 15 (0.82%) Security Posture
17 14 (0.77%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 1,314 (71.88%) Windows
2 781 (42.72%) Windows Server
3 289 (15.81%) Windows 10
4 241 (13.18%) Linux
5 142 (7.77%) Windows Server 2016
6 107 (5.85%) Mac OS
7 81 (4.43%) Windows Server 2019
8 76 (4.16%) Apple iOS
9 67 (3.67%) Android
10 35 (1.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 35 (1.91%) Windows Server 2012
11 15 (0.82%) VMS
12 12 (0.66%) Windows 7
12 12 (0.66%) Windows Server 2008
13 8 (0.44%) Ubuntu
14 7 (0.38%) Windows 8
15 5 (0.27%) CentOS
15 5 (0.27%) Debian
16 4 (0.22%) Mac OS X
16 4 (0.22%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 607 (33.21%) Problem-Solving
2 455 (24.89%) Customer Service
3 415 (22.70%) ITIL
4 295 (16.14%) Cybersecurity
5 259 (14.17%) Continuous Improvement
6 237 (12.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 195 (10.67%) Mentoring
8 180 (9.85%) Disaster Recovery
9 170 (9.30%) ITSM
10 162 (8.86%) Service Delivery
11 125 (6.84%) Migration
12 116 (6.35%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 111 (6.07%) Change Management
14 100 (5.47%) Kalman Filter
14 100 (5.47%) Service Management
15 99 (5.42%) Customer Experience
16 98 (5.36%) Project Delivery
17 96 (5.25%) Incident Management
18 95 (5.20%) Root Cause Analysis
19 94 (5.14%) Web Filtering
Programming Languages
1 310 (16.96%) PowerShell
2 173 (9.46%) SQL
3 90 (4.92%) Bash
4 63 (3.45%) Python
5 46 (2.52%) T-SQL
6 16 (0.88%) R
7 15 (0.82%) Bicep
8 8 (0.44%) C#
9 7 (0.38%) Java
9 7 (0.38%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.38%) VB
10 6 (0.33%) Korn
10 6 (0.33%) VBA
11 5 (0.27%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.22%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.16%) PHP
14 2 (0.11%) C
14 2 (0.11%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.055%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 252 (13.79%) Security Cleared
2 180 (9.85%) Degree
3 168 (9.19%) SC Cleared
4 162 (8.86%) Microsoft Certification
5 84 (4.60%) DV Cleared
6 63 (3.45%) Azure Certification
7 53 (2.90%) DBS Check
8 44 (2.41%) A+ Certification
9 36 (1.97%) Cisco Certification
10 35 (1.91%) CCNA
11 34 (1.86%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 33 (1.81%) Network+ Certification
13 20 (1.09%) Computer Science Degree
13 20 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 17 (0.93%) HNC
15 16 (0.88%) CompTIA Security+
15 16 (0.88%) ITIL Certification
15 16 (0.88%) MCSA
15 16 (0.88%) MCSE
16 11 (0.60%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 169 (9.25%) SLA
2 162 (8.86%) Cyber Essentials
3 116 (6.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 79 (4.32%) PCI DSS
5 63 (3.45%) NIST
6 39 (2.13%) NCSC
7 36 (1.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 33 (1.81%) GDPR
9 22 (1.20%) QA
10 21 (1.15%) Data Quality
11 10 (0.55%) Accessibility
12 6 (0.33%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.27%) GRC
13 5 (0.27%) PMO
14 4 (0.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 4 (0.22%) GxP
14 4 (0.22%) ISO 22301
14 4 (0.22%) ITGC
15 2 (0.11%) ISO 9001
16 1 (0.055%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 384 (21.01%) Hyper-V
2 303 (16.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (4.10%) vSphere
4 67 (3.67%) Terminal Server
5 52 (2.84%) Virtual Desktop
6 48 (2.63%) VMware ESXi
7 35 (1.91%) Virtual Machines
8 33 (1.81%) Docker
9 17 (0.93%) BitLocker
9 17 (0.93%) VMware NSX
10 12 (0.66%) Virtual Servers
11 9 (0.49%) DFS Replication
12 8 (0.44%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 8 (0.44%) VMware Workstation
13 7 (0.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 6 (0.33%) XenApp
15 5 (0.27%) Firmware
16 4 (0.22%) Squid
17 3 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
17 3 (0.16%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 381 (20.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 116 (6.35%) SCCM
3 40 (2.19%) vCenter Server
4 38 (2.08%) Single Sign-On
5 36 (1.97%) Terraform
6 32 (1.75%) Jamf Pro
7 29 (1.59%) Ansible
8 27 (1.48%) WSUS
9 25 (1.37%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 24 (1.31%) FortiGate
11 21 (1.15%) Kubernetes
12 18 (0.98%) Proxmox
13 13 (0.71%) SCOM
14 12 (0.66%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
15 11 (0.60%) Autotask
16 9 (0.49%) Backup Exec
16 9 (0.49%) ZABBIX
17 7 (0.38%) VxRail
18 5 (0.27%) Nessus
18 5 (0.27%) Tivoli Identity Manager
Vendors
1 1,359 (74.34%) Microsoft
2 487 (26.64%) VMware
3 170 (9.30%) Veeam
4 106 (5.80%) Cisco
5 98 (5.36%) SolarWinds
6 92 (5.03%) Apple
7 88 (4.81%) Nimble Storage
8 87 (4.76%) Citrix
9 85 (4.65%) Splunk
10 73 (3.99%) ServiceNow
11 64 (3.50%) Brocade
11 64 (3.50%) Dell
11 64 (3.50%) HP
11 64 (3.50%) Tanium
12 62 (3.39%) Google
13 58 (3.17%) Meraki
14 38 (2.08%) McAfee
15 37 (2.02%) Red Hat
16 31 (1.70%) CrowdStrike
17 27 (1.48%) Ubiquiti