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 November 2025.

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

6 months to
15 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 490 352 443
Rank change year-on-year -138 +91 +160
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 181 471 319
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.34% 0.69% 0.60%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.38% 0.73% 0.63%
Number of salaries quoted 98 325 260
10th Percentile £28,350 £31,250 £29,009
25th Percentile £30,000 £36,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +17.65% -11.46%
75th Percentile £57,500 £55,000 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,875 £75,000 £68,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £49,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year -8.16% +15.29% +8.97%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 47,609 64,478 50,569
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 89.88% 94.87% 95.44%
Number of salaries quoted 29,568 36,288 39,151
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £57,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% -4.17% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £46,750 £50,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -7.43% -3.81% -

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 November 2025.

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 15 November 2025. 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 -102 168 £45,000 -10.00% 83
UK excluding London -83 136 £45,000 -8.16% 66
Work from Home +19 69 £42,500 -8.11% 40
South West +2 63 £45,000 -10.00% 9
London -21 35 £57,500 +4.55% 27
South East -21 25 £45,000 -10.00% 15
Midlands +13 24 £31,810 -29.31% 18
East Midlands -1 14 £30,000 -25.00% 8
East of England +13 13 £61,250 +53.13% 14
West Midlands +26 10 £40,000 -11.11% 10
North of England 0 8 £30,000 -14.29% 7
North West +35 5 £45,000 -10.00% 1
Yorkshire -14 3 £28,000 -17.04% 4
Scotland -21 2 £26,000 -42.22% 1
Wales +11 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 15 November 2025, 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 75 (41.44%) Linux
2 53 (29.28%) Cisco
2 53 (29.28%) Security Cleared
3 49 (27.07%) DV Cleared
4 48 (26.52%) Cisco Certification
5 46 (25.41%) High Availability
6 44 (24.31%) SC Cleared
7 43 (23.76%) CCNP
7 43 (23.76%) Innovative Thinking
8 39 (21.55%) Windows
9 35 (19.34%) VMware
10 32 (17.68%) Problem-Solving
11 30 (16.57%) CCNA
12 27 (14.92%) Microsoft
12 27 (14.92%) Unix
13 25 (13.81%) Active Directory
14 21 (11.60%) Red Hat
15 20 (11.05%) AWS
15 20 (11.05%) Azure
15 20 (11.05%) VMware Infrastructure
16 19 (10.50%) Microsoft 365
17 18 (9.94%) ERP
17 18 (9.94%) RHCSA
18 17 (9.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
19 16 (8.84%) Change Management
20 15 (8.29%) Windows Server
21 14 (7.73%) SQL
22 13 (7.18%) Microsoft Exchange
22 13 (7.18%) Migration
22 13 (7.18%) Python

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 13 (7.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (2.21%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.55%) Confluence
3 1 (0.55%) IIS
3 1 (0.55%) OpenStack
Applications
1 6 (3.31%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.10%) AutoCAD
2 2 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (1.10%) Spreadsheet
2 2 (1.10%) Trello
3 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (2.21%) Oracle EBS R12
2 3 (1.66%) Dynamics NAV
2 3 (1.66%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.10%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (1.10%) SAP Business One
3 2 (1.10%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 20 (11.05%) AWS
1 20 (11.05%) Azure
2 19 (10.50%) Microsoft 365
3 7 (3.87%) Entra ID
3 7 (3.87%) Power Platform
4 6 (3.31%) Dynamics 365
4 6 (3.31%) Power Automate
5 5 (2.76%) Amazon EC2
5 5 (2.76%) SaaS
6 3 (1.66%) Mimecast
6 3 (1.66%) PowerApps
7 2 (1.10%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (1.10%) OCI
8 1 (0.55%) Canva
8 1 (0.55%) GCP
8 1 (0.55%) Serverless
8 1 (0.55%) Slack
8 1 (0.55%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.87%) Network Security
2 6 (3.31%) DNS
2 6 (3.31%) Firewall
3 4 (2.21%) Cisco IOS
3 4 (2.21%) VPN
4 3 (1.66%) Asterisk PBX
4 3 (1.66%) Cisco ISE
4 3 (1.66%) LAN
4 3 (1.66%) Multicast
4 3 (1.66%) SAN
4 3 (1.66%) TCP/IP
4 3 (1.66%) Wi-Fi
4 3 (1.66%) Wireless
5 2 (1.10%) DHCP
5 2 (1.10%) HTTP
5 2 (1.10%) Internet
6 1 (0.55%) Intranet
6 1 (0.55%) iSCSI
6 1 (0.55%) VLAN
6 1 (0.55%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.31%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.21%) Power BI
3 3 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.10%) Crystal Reports
4 2 (1.10%) SAP HANA
4 2 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.55%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 7 (3.87%) GitLab
1 7 (3.87%) JIRA
2 2 (1.10%) TeamCity
General
1 67 (37.02%) Finance
2 36 (19.89%) Social Skills
3 11 (6.08%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (5.52%) Public Sector
5 7 (3.87%) General Ledger
5 7 (3.87%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (3.31%) Manufacturing
7 5 (2.76%) Banking
7 5 (2.76%) Law
8 4 (2.21%) Retail
9 3 (1.66%) Automotive
10 2 (1.10%) Local Government
11 1 (0.55%) Back Office
11 1 (0.55%) Greek Language
11 1 (0.55%) Italian Language
11 1 (0.55%) Mandarin Language
11 1 (0.55%) Spanish Language
11 1 (0.55%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.76%) XML
2 3 (1.66%) XMPP
3 2 (1.10%) .NET
3 2 (1.10%) JSON
3 2 (1.10%) LDAP
4 1 (0.55%) Lightning Web Components
4 1 (0.55%) ODBC
4 1 (0.55%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (0.55%) TAPI
Miscellaneous
1 43 (23.76%) e-Learning
2 7 (3.87%) Driving Licence
3 5 (2.76%) FMCG
3 5 (2.76%) Hybrid Cloud
3 5 (2.76%) Management Information System
3 5 (2.76%) PKI
3 5 (2.76%) Virtual Team
4 4 (2.21%) Data Centre
4 4 (2.21%) Learning Management System
4 4 (2.21%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (1.66%) iSeries
6 2 (1.10%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.10%) Video Conferencing
7 1 (0.55%) Enterprise Storage
7 1 (0.55%) IoT
7 1 (0.55%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.55%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.55%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 75 (41.44%) Linux
2 39 (21.55%) Windows
3 27 (14.92%) Unix
4 17 (9.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (8.29%) Windows Server
6 7 (3.87%) Windows 10
7 4 (2.21%) Debian
8 3 (1.66%) AIX
8 3 (1.66%) Ubuntu
9 2 (1.10%) CentOS
9 2 (1.10%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 2 (1.10%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.55%) Solaris
10 1 (0.55%) VMS
10 1 (0.55%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (25.41%) High Availability
2 43 (23.76%) Innovative Thinking
3 32 (17.68%) Problem-Solving
4 18 (9.94%) ERP
5 16 (8.84%) Change Management
6 13 (7.18%) Migration
7 11 (6.08%) Cybersecurity
7 11 (6.08%) ITIL
7 11 (6.08%) Mentoring
8 9 (4.97%) DevOps
9 8 (4.42%) Continuous Improvement
9 8 (4.42%) Customer Service
9 8 (4.42%) Data Analysis
9 8 (4.42%) Performance Tuning
10 7 (3.87%) Accounts Payable
10 7 (3.87%) Change Control
10 7 (3.87%) Root Cause Analysis
10 7 (3.87%) Time Management
11 6 (3.31%) Resource Allocation
11 6 (3.31%) Security Patching
Programming Languages
1 14 (7.73%) SQL
2 13 (7.18%) Python
3 11 (6.08%) Bash
4 9 (4.97%) PowerShell
5 3 (1.66%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.10%) Korn
6 2 (1.10%) Perl
6 2 (1.10%) PHP
7 1 (0.55%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (29.28%) Security Cleared
2 49 (27.07%) DV Cleared
3 48 (26.52%) Cisco Certification
4 44 (24.31%) SC Cleared
5 43 (23.76%) CCNP
6 30 (16.57%) CCNA
7 18 (9.94%) RHCSA
8 12 (6.63%) Degree
9 10 (5.52%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (4.97%) MCSE
11 5 (2.76%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 4 (2.21%) MCSA
13 3 (1.66%) MCP
14 2 (1.10%) AAT
14 2 (1.10%) DBS Check
15 1 (0.55%) AWS Certification
15 1 (0.55%) Azure Certification
15 1 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
15 1 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
15 1 (0.55%) NVQ Level 4
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.42%) QA
2 2 (1.10%) Data Quality
2 2 (1.10%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 1 (0.55%) SLA
System Software
1 25 (13.81%) Active Directory
2 20 (11.05%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (2.76%) vSphere
4 4 (2.21%) Hyper-V
5 3 (1.66%) Docker
5 3 (1.66%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.66%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.55%) KVM
6 1 (0.55%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 10 (5.52%) Ansible
2 7 (3.87%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (2.76%) Terraform
4 3 (1.66%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.10%) Grafana
5 2 (1.10%) Puppet
5 2 (1.10%) Red Hat Satellite
5 2 (1.10%) ZABBIX
6 1 (0.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 1 (0.55%) Podman
6 1 (0.55%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.55%) Salt
6 1 (0.55%) SCCM
6 1 (0.55%) VxRail
Vendors
1 53 (29.28%) Cisco
2 35 (19.34%) VMware
3 27 (14.92%) Microsoft
4 21 (11.60%) Red Hat
5 8 (4.42%) Oracle
6 6 (3.31%) Salesforce
7 5 (2.76%) IBM
7 5 (2.76%) SAP
8 4 (2.21%) LogicMonitor
8 4 (2.21%) Okta
8 4 (2.21%) Zscaler
9 3 (1.66%) Bloomberg
9 3 (1.66%) Reuters
9 3 (1.66%) Sophos
9 3 (1.66%) Workday
10 2 (1.10%) Citrix
11 1 (0.55%) Google
11 1 (0.55%) HP
11 1 (0.55%) Kronos
11 1 (0.55%) Sage