Systems Administrator Job Trends

System Administrator (Sysadmin)
UK

The median System Administrator (Sysadmin) salary in the UK is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 May 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
29 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 421 451 421
Rank change year-on-year +30 -30 +116
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 361 204 587
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.48% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.53% 0.62%
Number of salaries quoted 258 154 484
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £34,750 £33,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £49,000 £41,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% +18.07% -12.63%
75th Percentile £63,750 £57,500 £52,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £70,875 £60,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £49,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -18.37% +22.50% -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 87,064 38,294 94,653
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.44% 89.31% 94.72%
Number of salaries quoted 57,954 21,519 69,253
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,967 £50,000
% change year-on-year -1.90% +1.93% -6.54%

Systems Administrator
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Systems Administrator' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Systems Administrator job vacancy trend in the UK

Systems Administrator
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Systems Administrator job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Systems Administrator job vacancies in the UK

Systems Administrator
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Systems Administrator over the 6 months to 29 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Systems Administrator within the UK over the 6 months to 29 May 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
England +43 330 £45,000 -10.00% 55
UK excluding London +16 248 £40,000 -18.37% 56
London +43 98 £60,000 +9.09% 11
Work from Home +29 72 £55,000 +15.79% 24
Midlands +29 67 £32,500 -4.41% 12
North of England -26 48 £42,500 +10.39% 8
East Midlands +9 47 £32,500 -3.70% 7
East of England +5 43 £40,000 -30.43% 10
South East -25 39 £62,500 +27.55% 11
South West -86 30 £38,500 -23.00% 11
Yorkshire -36 29 £45,000 -14.29% 3
Scotland +12 21 - - 2
West Midlands -18 20 £45,000 +26.76% 5
North West -5 15 £36,500 -5.19% 4
North East - 4 £47,500 - 1

Systems Administrator Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 29 May 2026, Systems Administrator job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Systems Administrator in the job title.

1 82 (22.71%) Linux
2 74 (20.50%) Microsoft
3 57 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
4 56 (15.51%) DevOps
5 52 (14.40%) Microsoft 365
6 50 (13.85%) Windows
7 47 (13.02%) SQL
8 43 (11.91%) Azure
9 42 (11.63%) Red Hat
10 41 (11.36%) Active Directory
11 34 (9.42%) Entra ID
12 33 (9.14%) Firewall
13 32 (8.86%) Bash
13 32 (8.86%) VMware
14 29 (8.03%) Analytics
14 29 (8.03%) Continuous Improvement
15 28 (7.76%) AWS
16 27 (7.48%) CI/CD
16 27 (7.48%) ERP
16 27 (7.48%) Python
17 26 (7.20%) Process Improvement
18 24 (6.65%) Hyper-V
18 24 (6.65%) Security Cleared
18 24 (6.65%) Vulnerability Management
19 23 (6.37%) Microsoft Exchange
20 22 (6.09%) iTrent
20 22 (6.09%) Terraform
21 21 (5.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
21 21 (5.82%) VMware Infrastructure
22 20 (5.54%) Ansible

Systems Administrator Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 23 (6.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 20 (5.54%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.11%) WordPress
4 3 (0.83%) Apache
4 3 (0.83%) CMS
5 2 (0.55%) Confluence
5 2 (0.55%) nginx
5 2 (0.55%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.28%) Moodle
6 1 (0.28%) Site Server
Applications
1 13 (3.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.39%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 22 (6.09%) iTrent
2 7 (1.94%) Primavera
3 3 (0.83%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.55%) Shopify
5 1 (0.28%) HFM
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle 11i
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.28%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 52 (14.40%) Microsoft 365
2 43 (11.91%) Azure
3 34 (9.42%) Entra ID
4 28 (7.76%) AWS
5 20 (5.54%) Power Platform
6 16 (4.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 13 (3.60%) Power Automate
8 11 (3.05%) PowerApps
8 11 (3.05%) SaaS
9 9 (2.49%) Azure Logic Apps
9 9 (2.49%) GCP
10 8 (2.22%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (2.22%) GitHub
10 8 (2.22%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.22%) Intacct
10 8 (2.22%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.39%) Amazon ECR
11 5 (1.39%) Amazon ECS
11 5 (1.39%) Dynamics 365
12 3 (0.83%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 33 (9.14%) Firewall
2 20 (5.54%) DNS
3 15 (4.16%) LAN
4 13 (3.60%) VPN
5 12 (3.32%) TCP/IP
6 10 (2.77%) HTTP
7 9 (2.49%) Network Security
7 9 (2.49%) SAN
8 7 (1.94%) Internet
8 7 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (1.39%) WAN
10 3 (0.83%) NAS
10 3 (0.83%) SSH
10 3 (0.83%) VLAN
10 3 (0.83%) Wireless
11 2 (0.55%) DHCP
11 2 (0.55%) Multicast
11 2 (0.55%) VoIP
12 1 (0.28%) DKIM
12 1 (0.28%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.77%) MySQL
2 9 (2.49%) Power BI
3 5 (1.39%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.83%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.83%) GIS
5 2 (0.55%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.55%) SQL Server
6 1 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Database 12c
6 1 (0.28%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 13 (3.60%) Git
2 10 (2.77%) GitLab
3 5 (1.39%) JIRA
4 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
General
1 73 (20.22%) Finance
2 53 (14.68%) Social Skills
3 27 (7.48%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (5.54%) Banking
5 14 (3.88%) Manufacturing
5 14 (3.88%) Retail
6 11 (3.05%) Law
7 10 (2.77%) Billing
7 10 (2.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.22%) Legal
9 6 (1.66%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.83%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (0.83%) Games
10 3 (0.83%) Public Sector
11 1 (0.28%) Digital Health
11 1 (0.28%) Local Government
11 1 (0.28%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.28%) Police
11 1 (0.28%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.77%) WebSockets
2 7 (1.94%) Middleware
3 3 (0.83%) LAMP
4 2 (0.55%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.55%) Node.js
5 1 (0.28%) HTML
5 1 (0.28%) OpenID
5 1 (0.28%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.43%) Data Structures
2 13 (3.60%) Clustering
2 13 (3.60%) Data Centre
3 10 (2.77%) Management Information System
4 9 (2.49%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (2.22%) Private Cloud
6 4 (1.11%) Replication
7 3 (0.83%) Onboarding
7 3 (0.83%) Security Posture
7 3 (0.83%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.55%) Operational Technology
9 1 (0.28%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.28%) Distributed Computing
9 1 (0.28%) Driving Licence
9 1 (0.28%) FMCG
9 1 (0.28%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.28%) Life Science
9 1 (0.28%) Product Ownership
9 1 (0.28%) Video Conferencing
9 1 (0.28%) VLE
Operating Systems
1 82 (22.71%) Linux
2 50 (13.85%) Windows
3 21 (5.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 20 (5.54%) Mac OS
4 20 (5.54%) Windows Server
5 17 (4.71%) Android
5 17 (4.71%) Apple iOS
6 11 (3.05%) CentOS
7 9 (2.49%) Ubuntu
8 4 (1.11%) Debian
8 4 (1.11%) Rocky
9 3 (0.83%) Unix
10 1 (0.28%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
2 56 (15.51%) DevOps
3 29 (8.03%) Analytics
3 29 (8.03%) Continuous Improvement
4 27 (7.48%) CI/CD
4 27 (7.48%) ERP
5 26 (7.20%) Process Improvement
6 24 (6.65%) Vulnerability Management
7 20 (5.54%) Configuration Management
8 19 (5.26%) Infrastructure as Code
9 15 (4.16%) Release Management
9 15 (4.16%) Service Delivery
10 14 (3.88%) Change Control
10 14 (3.88%) Disaster Recovery
10 14 (3.88%) High Availability
10 14 (3.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 13 (3.60%) Identity Management
12 12 (3.32%) Mobile Device Management
12 12 (3.32%) Patch Management
13 11 (3.05%) Data Management
Programming Languages
1 47 (13.02%) SQL
2 32 (8.86%) Bash
3 27 (7.48%) Python
4 9 (2.49%) PowerShell
5 8 (2.22%) Go
6 3 (0.83%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.83%) PHP
6 3 (0.83%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.55%) VBA
8 1 (0.28%) Perl
8 1 (0.28%) R
8 1 (0.28%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (6.65%) Security Cleared
2 16 (4.43%) DV Cleared
3 14 (3.88%) CIPD
4 11 (3.05%) RHCSA
4 11 (3.05%) SC Cleared
5 8 (2.22%) AWS Certification
5 8 (2.22%) Degree
6 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.28%) BPSS Clearance
7 1 (0.28%) CCNA
7 1 (0.28%) CCNP
7 1 (0.28%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.28%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.28%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.28%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (0.28%) Linux+ Certification
7 1 (0.28%) MCSE
7 1 (0.28%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (4.71%) QA
2 15 (4.16%) GDPR
3 13 (3.60%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.28%) SOC 2
System Software
1 41 (11.36%) Active Directory
2 24 (6.65%) Hyper-V
3 21 (5.82%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (3.32%) Docker
5 4 (1.11%) iptables
6 3 (0.83%) Firmware
6 3 (0.83%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.28%) KVM
Systems Management
1 22 (6.09%) Terraform
2 20 (5.54%) Ansible
3 18 (4.99%) Kubernetes
3 18 (4.99%) Nagios
4 16 (4.43%) Grafana
4 16 (4.43%) Nessus
4 16 (4.43%) Proxmox
5 15 (4.16%) Microsoft Intune
6 12 (3.32%) Prometheus
7 7 (1.94%) Puppet
8 3 (0.83%) SCCM
8 3 (0.83%) systemd
9 2 (0.55%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.55%) Red Hat Satellite
10 1 (0.28%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.28%) Podman
10 1 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.28%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 74 (20.50%) Microsoft
2 42 (11.63%) Red Hat
3 32 (8.86%) VMware
4 13 (3.60%) SolarWinds
5 12 (3.32%) Salesforce
6 10 (2.77%) Veeam
7 8 (2.22%) Sage
7 8 (2.22%) SonicWALL
8 6 (1.66%) Cisco
8 6 (1.66%) ServiceNow
8 6 (1.66%) Splunk
9 5 (1.39%) Meraki
9 5 (1.39%) Rapid7
10 4 (1.11%) Concur
10 4 (1.11%) Databricks
10 4 (1.11%) SAP
11 3 (0.83%) Dell
11 3 (0.83%) Palo Alto
12 2 (0.55%) Atlassian
12 2 (0.55%) CrowdStrike