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 15 October 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 373 469 359
Rank change year-on-year +96 -110 +70
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 544 189 495
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.38% 0.70%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.43% 0.73%
Number of salaries quoted 329 102 341
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £30,000 £35,520
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - -10.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £58,750 £57,500 £53,818
90th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £70,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,200 £45,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year -10.67% - +9.13%

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 109,883 44,162 67,664
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.51% 89.77% 95.35%
Number of salaries quoted 74,751 25,776 38,845
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,000 £35,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £53,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.35% -2.73% -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

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 15 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Top 16 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 15 October 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 +83 470 £45,000 - 130
UK excluding London +59 420 £40,200 -10.67% 64
London -13 105 £57,500 +4.55% 63
South East +17 94 £45,000 - 19
Work from Home -45 84 £55,000 +25.71% 41
South West -59 83 £35,000 -22.22% 16
North of England 0 76 £45,000 +2.86% 12
Midlands +8 69 £45,000 +26.76% 10
Scotland - 51 £43,500 - 1
West Midlands -7 42 £50,000 +17.65% 10
Yorkshire +2 40 £45,000 +5.88% 7
East of England -21 39 £40,000 -11.11% 3
North West -3 29 £40,000 -11.11% 5
East Midlands -14 27 £41,000 +36.67%
Wales -59 8 £50,000 - 3
North East - 7 £39,250 -

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

For the 6 months to 15 October 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 97 (17.83%) Linux
1 97 (17.83%) Microsoft
2 79 (14.52%) Windows
3 69 (12.68%) Active Directory
4 62 (11.40%) DevOps
5 60 (11.03%) Azure
5 60 (11.03%) Entra ID
6 58 (10.66%) Microsoft 365
7 56 (10.29%) Problem-Solving
8 49 (9.01%) Windows Server
9 47 (8.64%) Firewall
10 46 (8.46%) Ansible
10 46 (8.46%) Continuous Improvement
11 45 (8.27%) CI/CD
12 43 (7.90%) Bash
13 42 (7.72%) Security Cleared
14 40 (7.35%) DNS
15 39 (7.17%) AWS
15 39 (7.17%) Python
15 39 (7.17%) Red Hat
16 37 (6.80%) Microsoft Exchange
17 36 (6.62%) SaaS
18 34 (6.25%) Kubernetes
18 34 (6.25%) SQL
19 32 (5.88%) DV Cleared
19 32 (5.88%) Vulnerability Management
20 30 (5.51%) Terraform
20 30 (5.51%) VPN
21 29 (5.33%) Hyper-V
22 28 (5.15%) Infrastructure Engineering

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 37 (6.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (5.15%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.47%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.74%) IIS
5 1 (0.18%) Apache
5 1 (0.18%) Confluence
5 1 (0.18%) JBoss
5 1 (0.18%) Moodle
5 1 (0.18%) nginx
Applications
1 18 (3.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (1.65%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (4.60%) Primavera
2 5 (0.92%) Infor CloudSuite
3 2 (0.37%) Dynamics NAV
3 2 (0.37%) iTrent
4 1 (0.18%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.18%) Shopify
4 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 60 (11.03%) Azure
1 60 (11.03%) Entra ID
2 58 (10.66%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (7.17%) AWS
4 36 (6.62%) SaaS
5 28 (5.15%) OpenShift
6 22 (4.04%) Power Platform
7 21 (3.86%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 21 (3.86%) Power Automate
8 13 (2.39%) GitHub
8 13 (2.39%) PaaS
8 13 (2.39%) PowerApps
9 11 (2.02%) GitHub Actions
10 10 (1.84%) GCP
10 10 (1.84%) Mimecast
11 9 (1.65%) Amazon ECR
11 9 (1.65%) Amazon ECS
11 9 (1.65%) Azure Logic Apps
11 9 (1.65%) Intacct
12 8 (1.47%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 47 (8.64%) Firewall
2 40 (7.35%) DNS
3 30 (5.51%) VPN
4 24 (4.41%) TCP/IP
5 23 (4.23%) DHCP
6 12 (2.21%) LAN
7 7 (1.29%) WAN
8 6 (1.10%) SAN
8 6 (1.10%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (0.92%) HTTP
9 5 (0.92%) Network Security
10 4 (0.74%) VLAN
10 4 (0.74%) VSAN
11 3 (0.55%) Internet
11 3 (0.55%) Wireless
12 2 (0.37%) Fibre Channel
12 2 (0.37%) Unified Communications
13 1 (0.18%) DKIM
13 1 (0.18%) DMARC
13 1 (0.18%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.21%) Big Data
1 12 (2.21%) MySQL
2 11 (2.02%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.47%) Power BI
4 2 (0.37%) GIS
5 1 (0.18%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.18%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 25 (4.60%) Git
2 16 (2.94%) GitLab
3 7 (1.29%) JIRA
4 2 (0.37%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.18%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.18%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.18%) Selenium
5 1 (0.18%) TeamCity
General
1 76 (13.97%) Social Skills
2 73 (13.42%) Finance
3 36 (6.62%) Analytical Skills
4 27 (4.96%) Manufacturing
5 25 (4.60%) Retail
6 16 (2.94%) Banking
7 14 (2.57%) Billing
8 11 (2.02%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (1.65%) Legal
10 8 (1.47%) Automotive
10 8 (1.47%) Law
11 5 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (0.92%) Police
12 4 (0.74%) Public Sector
13 3 (0.55%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.55%) Documentation Skills
14 2 (0.37%) Games
14 2 (0.37%) German Language
14 2 (0.37%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (5.51%) Terraform
2 5 (0.92%) Middleware
2 5 (0.92%) WebSockets
3 3 (0.55%) Boost C++ Libraries
4 2 (0.37%) OpenID
5 1 (0.18%) CSS
5 1 (0.18%) CSS3
5 1 (0.18%) HTML
5 1 (0.18%) HTML5
5 1 (0.18%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.18%) OAuth
5 1 (0.18%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.18%) OpenTofu
5 1 (0.18%) React
5 1 (0.18%) Redfish
5 1 (0.18%) SAML
5 1 (0.18%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 22 (4.04%) Data Structures
2 14 (2.57%) Onboarding
2 14 (2.57%) Operational Technology
2 14 (2.57%) Social Media
3 13 (2.39%) Clustering
4 12 (2.21%) Private Cloud
5 11 (2.02%) Hybrid Cloud
6 9 (1.65%) Management Information System
7 8 (1.47%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.10%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (0.92%) Housing Association
9 5 (0.92%) Learning Management System
9 5 (0.92%) PMI
10 3 (0.55%) Embedded Systems
10 3 (0.55%) IoT
10 3 (0.55%) Life Science
10 3 (0.55%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (0.55%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.37%) Enterprise Software
11 2 (0.37%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 97 (17.83%) Linux
2 79 (14.52%) Windows
3 49 (9.01%) Windows Server
4 26 (4.78%) macOS
5 23 (4.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 22 (4.04%) Apple iOS
7 19 (3.49%) Android
8 17 (3.13%) CentOS
9 10 (1.84%) Rocky
9 10 (1.84%) Ubuntu
9 10 (1.84%) Unix
10 8 (1.47%) Debian
11 6 (1.10%) Windows 10
12 4 (0.74%) CoreOS
12 4 (0.74%) Windows Server 2016
12 4 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (11.40%) DevOps
2 56 (10.29%) Problem-Solving
3 46 (8.46%) Continuous Improvement
4 45 (8.27%) CI/CD
5 32 (5.88%) Vulnerability Management
6 28 (5.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 27 (4.96%) ERP
8 21 (3.86%) Customer Experience
9 20 (3.68%) ITIL
10 19 (3.49%) Analytics
10 19 (3.49%) Change Management
10 19 (3.49%) Configuration Management
10 19 (3.49%) Infrastructure as Code
10 19 (3.49%) Release Management
10 19 (3.49%) Time Management
11 17 (3.13%) AI
11 17 (3.13%) Change Control
11 17 (3.13%) Identity Management
12 16 (2.94%) Capacity Planning
12 16 (2.94%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 43 (7.90%) Bash
2 39 (7.17%) Python
3 34 (6.25%) SQL
4 26 (4.78%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.47%) Go
6 6 (1.10%) R
6 6 (1.10%) Shell Script
7 4 (0.74%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.55%) C
8 3 (0.55%) C++
8 3 (0.55%) PHP
8 3 (0.55%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 42 (7.72%) Security Cleared
2 32 (5.88%) DV Cleared
3 24 (4.41%) SC Cleared
4 15 (2.76%) Degree
5 9 (1.65%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.29%) DBS Check
7 5 (0.92%) CIPD
7 5 (0.92%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.92%) RHCSA
8 3 (0.55%) HND
9 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.18%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.18%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.60%) QA
2 16 (2.94%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.74%) GDPR
5 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
System Software
1 69 (12.68%) Active Directory
2 29 (5.33%) Hyper-V
3 23 (4.23%) Docker
4 16 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.29%) Ceph
7 6 (1.10%) vSphere
8 5 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.55%) iptables
10 2 (0.37%) Firmware
11 1 (0.18%) NFS
11 1 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.18%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.18%) Xen
11 1 (0.18%) XenApp
11 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 46 (8.46%) Ansible
2 34 (6.25%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.04%) Grafana
4 20 (3.68%) Prometheus
5 19 (3.49%) Nessus
6 18 (3.31%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (2.76%) Nagios
8 13 (2.39%) Proxmox
9 9 (1.65%) Argo
10 8 (1.47%) Podman
11 7 (1.29%) Check_MK
11 7 (1.29%) Istio
12 4 (0.74%) McAfee ePO
12 4 (0.74%) Puppet
12 4 (0.74%) SCCM
12 4 (0.74%) SCVMM
13 3 (0.55%) Failover Clustering
13 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Clustering
14 2 (0.37%) FortiGate
14 2 (0.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 97 (17.83%) Microsoft
2 39 (7.17%) Red Hat
3 26 (4.78%) VMware
4 19 (3.49%) Salesforce
5 10 (1.84%) Sage
5 10 (1.84%) Splunk
6 9 (1.65%) Rapid7
7 8 (1.47%) Dell
7 8 (1.47%) SAP
8 7 (1.29%) CrowdStrike
9 5 (0.92%) Concur
9 5 (0.92%) Databricks
9 5 (0.92%) Google
9 5 (0.92%) Infor
9 5 (0.92%) SolarWinds
10 4 (0.74%) Cisco
10 4 (0.74%) McAfee
10 4 (0.74%) SonicWALL
10 4 (0.74%) Veeam
11 3 (0.55%) NetApp