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 23 July 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 383 467 403
Rank change year-on-year +84 -64 +71
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 477 230 554
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.48% 0.47% 0.60%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.52% 0.63%
Number of salaries quoted 315 159 455
10th Percentile £31,250 £26,975 £30,000
25th Percentile £36,131 £30,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £45,000
75th Percentile £58,750 £57,500 £52,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £70,250 £65,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £45,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year -11.11% +5.88% +6.25%

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 94,649 44,285 87,735
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.33% 90.20% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 64,854 26,220 61,542
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £29,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year - +1.85% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,082
90th Percentile £96,250 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

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 23 July 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 23 July 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 +75 424 £45,000 - 43
UK excluding London +52 350 £40,000 -11.11% 44
London +39 111 £60,000 +9.09% 10
Work from Home +2 91 £55,000 +15.79% 12
Midlands +31 78 £43,750 +45.83% 9
South West -62 66 £35,000 -22.22% 8
South East -6 57 £45,000 -2.70% 12
North of England +1 56 £42,600 +10.65% 4
East of England +24 52 £40,000 -11.11% 6
East Midlands +10 49 £40,000 +33.33% 3
Scotland +57 38 £43,500 -27.50% 6
Yorkshire -9 31 £45,000 -5.26% 3
West Midlands -6 29 £45,000 +16.88% 6
North West +5 20 £40,000 +18.64% 1
North East - 5 £47,500 - 1
Wales -54 3 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 23 July 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.

1 100 (20.96%) Microsoft
2 91 (19.08%) Linux
3 73 (15.30%) Microsoft 365
4 64 (13.42%) DevOps
4 64 (13.42%) Windows
5 62 (13.00%) Active Directory
5 62 (13.00%) Azure
6 54 (11.32%) Problem-Solving
6 54 (11.32%) SQL
7 52 (10.90%) Entra ID
8 49 (10.27%) Red Hat
9 41 (8.60%) Bash
9 41 (8.60%) Continuous Improvement
10 40 (8.39%) Firewall
11 39 (8.18%) Microsoft Exchange
11 39 (8.18%) Python
12 36 (7.55%) AWS
12 36 (7.55%) Hyper-V
13 34 (7.13%) ERP
13 34 (7.13%) Security Cleared
14 33 (6.92%) CI/CD
15 32 (6.71%) SharePoint
15 32 (6.71%) Windows Server
16 30 (6.29%) Ansible
17 29 (6.08%) VMware
18 28 (5.87%) DNS
18 28 (5.87%) Vulnerability Management
19 27 (5.66%) SaaS
19 27 (5.66%) Terraform
20 26 (5.45%) Configuration Management

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 39 (8.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (6.71%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.63%) Apache
3 3 (0.63%) nginx
3 3 (0.63%) WordPress
4 2 (0.42%) CMS
4 2 (0.42%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.21%) Confluence
5 1 (0.21%) IIS
5 1 (0.21%) JBoss
5 1 (0.21%) Moodle
5 1 (0.21%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.21%) Site Server
Applications
1 13 (2.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (2.10%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (2.73%) Primavera
2 10 (2.10%) iTrent
3 3 (0.63%) Elite 3E
4 1 (0.21%) HFM
4 1 (0.21%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 73 (15.30%) Microsoft 365
2 62 (13.00%) Azure
3 52 (10.90%) Entra ID
4 36 (7.55%) AWS
5 27 (5.66%) SaaS
6 23 (4.82%) Power Platform
7 19 (3.98%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 19 (3.98%) Power Automate
8 15 (3.14%) Mimecast
9 14 (2.94%) GCP
9 14 (2.94%) PowerApps
10 13 (2.73%) OpenShift
11 12 (2.52%) Intacct
12 10 (2.10%) Amazon ECR
12 10 (2.10%) Amazon ECS
12 10 (2.10%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (1.89%) Azure Logic Apps
14 8 (1.68%) GitHub
15 6 (1.26%) Amazon EKS
15 6 (1.26%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 40 (8.39%) Firewall
2 28 (5.87%) DNS
3 16 (3.35%) TCP/IP
4 15 (3.14%) VPN
5 14 (2.94%) LAN
6 11 (2.31%) SAN
7 10 (2.10%) DHCP
7 10 (2.10%) Wi-Fi
8 9 (1.89%) HTTP
8 9 (1.89%) Network Security
9 7 (1.47%) Internet
10 5 (1.05%) WAN
11 4 (0.84%) VLAN
11 4 (0.84%) Wireless
12 3 (0.63%) NAS
12 3 (0.63%) SSH
13 2 (0.42%) iSCSI
13 2 (0.42%) Multicast
13 2 (0.42%) VoIP
14 1 (0.21%) DKIM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.14%) MySQL
2 10 (2.10%) Elasticsearch
3 9 (1.89%) Power BI
4 3 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.63%) GIS
5 1 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.21%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 22 (4.61%) Git
2 15 (3.14%) GitLab
3 8 (1.68%) JIRA
4 2 (0.42%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.21%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.21%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.21%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.21%) Selenium
5 1 (0.21%) TeamCity
General
1 94 (19.71%) Finance
2 69 (14.47%) Social Skills
3 29 (6.08%) Analytical Skills
4 24 (5.03%) Banking
5 23 (4.82%) Retail
6 22 (4.61%) Manufacturing
7 17 (3.56%) Billing
8 14 (2.94%) Legal
9 11 (2.31%) Law
10 10 (2.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (1.68%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.05%) Pharmaceutical
13 4 (0.84%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.63%) Games
14 3 (0.63%) Public Sector
15 1 (0.21%) Electronics
15 1 (0.21%) Local Government
15 1 (0.21%) Marketing
15 1 (0.21%) Police
15 1 (0.21%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.89%) WebSockets
2 8 (1.68%) Middleware
3 3 (0.63%) Boost C++ Libraries
4 2 (0.42%) HTML
4 2 (0.42%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.42%) Node.js
4 2 (0.42%) OpenID
5 1 (0.21%) CSS
5 1 (0.21%) CSS3
5 1 (0.21%) HTML5
5 1 (0.21%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.21%) OAuth
5 1 (0.21%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.21%) React
5 1 (0.21%) Redfish
5 1 (0.21%) SAML
5 1 (0.21%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 25 (5.24%) Data Structures
2 21 (4.40%) Clustering
3 13 (2.73%) Data Centre
4 10 (2.10%) Onboarding
5 7 (1.47%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (1.47%) Management Information System
5 7 (1.47%) Private Cloud
6 6 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (1.05%) Operational Technology
8 4 (0.84%) Social Media
9 3 (0.63%) Embedded Systems
9 3 (0.63%) IoT
9 3 (0.63%) Replication
9 3 (0.63%) Security Posture
10 2 (0.42%) Educational Technology
10 2 (0.42%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.21%) Distributed Computing
11 1 (0.21%) Housing Association
11 1 (0.21%) Legacy Applications
11 1 (0.21%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 91 (19.08%) Linux
2 64 (13.42%) Windows
3 32 (6.71%) Windows Server
4 22 (4.61%) Mac OS
4 22 (4.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (3.98%) Apple iOS
6 18 (3.77%) Android
7 16 (3.35%) CentOS
8 13 (2.73%) Ubuntu
9 10 (2.10%) Unix
10 8 (1.68%) Debian
11 5 (1.05%) Rocky
11 5 (1.05%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.21%) CoreOS
12 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (13.42%) DevOps
2 54 (11.32%) Problem-Solving
3 41 (8.60%) Continuous Improvement
4 34 (7.13%) ERP
5 33 (6.92%) CI/CD
6 28 (5.87%) Vulnerability Management
7 26 (5.45%) Configuration Management
8 25 (5.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 23 (4.82%) Infrastructure as Code
10 21 (4.40%) Analytics
11 20 (4.19%) Change Management
12 19 (3.98%) Identity Management
12 19 (3.98%) Process Improvement
12 19 (3.98%) Release Management
13 17 (3.56%) Change Control
14 16 (3.35%) High Availability
15 15 (3.14%) Containerisation
15 15 (3.14%) CRM
16 14 (2.94%) Disaster Recovery
16 14 (2.94%) Virtual Environments
Programming Languages
1 54 (11.32%) SQL
2 41 (8.60%) Bash
3 39 (8.18%) Python
4 23 (4.82%) PowerShell
5 7 (1.47%) JavaScript
5 7 (1.47%) R
6 6 (1.26%) Go
7 5 (1.05%) PHP
8 3 (0.63%) C
8 3 (0.63%) C++
8 3 (0.63%) Ruby
8 3 (0.63%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.42%) VBA
Qualifications
1 34 (7.13%) Security Cleared
2 26 (5.45%) SC Cleared
3 25 (5.24%) DV Cleared
4 14 (2.94%) Degree
5 10 (2.10%) RHCSA
6 7 (1.47%) CIPD
7 6 (1.26%) AWS Certification
8 3 (0.63%) HND
9 2 (0.42%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.21%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.21%) CCNA
10 1 (0.21%) CCNP
10 1 (0.21%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.21%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.21%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.21%) Linux+ Certification
10 1 (0.21%) MCSE
10 1 (0.21%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (5.45%) QA
2 15 (3.14%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (1.47%) GDPR
5 3 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.21%) SOC 2
System Software
1 62 (13.00%) Active Directory
2 36 (7.55%) Hyper-V
3 20 (4.19%) Docker
3 20 (4.19%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.05%) iptables
5 4 (0.84%) Firmware
6 3 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.21%) Ceph
7 1 (0.21%) KVM
7 1 (0.21%) NFS
7 1 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.21%) Xen
Systems Management
1 30 (6.29%) Ansible
2 27 (5.66%) Terraform
3 25 (5.24%) Kubernetes
4 23 (4.82%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (4.82%) Nagios
5 20 (4.19%) Grafana
6 17 (3.56%) Nessus
7 16 (3.35%) Proxmox
8 12 (2.52%) Prometheus
9 9 (1.89%) Puppet
10 4 (0.84%) SCCM
11 3 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
11 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Clustering
11 3 (0.63%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.63%) systemd
12 2 (0.42%) Podman
12 2 (0.42%) Red Hat Satellite
12 2 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.42%) ZABBIX
13 1 (0.21%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 100 (20.96%) Microsoft
2 49 (10.27%) Red Hat
3 29 (6.08%) VMware
4 23 (4.82%) Salesforce
5 13 (2.73%) Sage
6 12 (2.52%) SolarWinds
6 12 (2.52%) Splunk
7 11 (2.31%) Veeam
8 10 (2.10%) Rapid7
9 9 (1.89%) SAP
10 8 (1.68%) CrowdStrike
10 8 (1.68%) SonicWALL
11 7 (1.47%) Cisco
12 5 (1.05%) Concur
12 5 (1.05%) Databricks
12 5 (1.05%) Google
12 5 (1.05%) Meraki
13 4 (0.84%) Dell
14 3 (0.63%) Palo Alto
15 2 (0.42%) Atlassian