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 13 August 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 378 484 403
Rank change year-on-year +106 -81 +63
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 506 223 495
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.48% 0.45% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.51% 0.50% 0.62%
Number of salaries quoted 324 142 404
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,313 £30,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £30,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £45,000
75th Percentile £57,500 £57,188 £52,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £70,000 £65,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £42,500 £45,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year -5.56% - +12.50%

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 99,901 44,909 79,263
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.03% 89.92% 95.00%
Number of salaries quoted 68,253 26,546 52,909
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £72,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £48,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +8.25% -3.00% -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 13 August 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 13 August 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 +76 445 £45,000 - 85
UK excluding London +56 378 £42,500 -5.56% 71
London +25 113 £57,500 +4.55% 28
Work from Home -1 93 £52,500 +16.67% 24
Midlands +21 76 £45,000 +50.00% 10
South West -59 72 £35,000 -22.22% 11
North of England -2 64 £45,000 +16.88% 14
South East +8 62 £45,000 - 26
East of England +11 54 £40,000 -11.11% 2
Scotland - 43 £43,500 - 5
East Midlands +1 41 £41,000 +36.67% 3
West Midlands +3 35 £50,000 +29.87% 7
Yorkshire +1 33 £45,000 -14.29% 8
North West +12 26 £40,000 +18.64% 6
Wales -59 7 £50,000 +5.26% 3
North East - 5 £47,500 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 13 August 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.

1 107 (21.15%) Microsoft
2 100 (19.76%) Linux
3 77 (15.22%) Windows
4 74 (14.62%) Microsoft 365
5 70 (13.83%) Active Directory
6 67 (13.24%) Azure
7 63 (12.45%) DevOps
8 60 (11.86%) Entra ID
9 53 (10.47%) Problem-Solving
9 53 (10.47%) Red Hat
10 51 (10.08%) SQL
11 43 (8.50%) Continuous Improvement
12 42 (8.30%) Firewall
12 42 (8.30%) Microsoft Exchange
13 41 (8.10%) Bash
13 41 (8.10%) Windows Server
14 40 (7.91%) Hyper-V
15 38 (7.51%) Security Cleared
16 37 (7.31%) Ansible
16 37 (7.31%) AWS
16 37 (7.31%) CI/CD
16 37 (7.31%) DNS
16 37 (7.31%) Python
17 35 (6.92%) SaaS
17 35 (6.92%) SharePoint
18 32 (6.32%) Vulnerability Management
19 31 (6.13%) ERP
20 29 (5.73%) DV Cleared
20 29 (5.73%) Git
20 29 (5.73%) Kubernetes

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 42 (8.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 35 (6.92%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.58%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.79%) IIS
5 3 (0.59%) nginx
6 2 (0.40%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.20%) Apache
7 1 (0.20%) Confluence
7 1 (0.20%) JBoss
7 1 (0.20%) Moodle
7 1 (0.20%) WordPress
Applications
1 16 (3.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (2.57%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 15 (2.96%) Primavera
2 4 (0.79%) iTrent
3 3 (0.59%) Elite 3E
4 1 (0.20%) HFM
4 1 (0.20%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 74 (14.62%) Microsoft 365
2 67 (13.24%) Azure
3 60 (11.86%) Entra ID
4 37 (7.31%) AWS
5 35 (6.92%) SaaS
6 24 (4.74%) OpenShift
7 22 (4.35%) Power Platform
8 18 (3.56%) Power Automate
9 16 (3.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 15 (2.96%) Mimecast
11 14 (2.77%) GCP
12 13 (2.57%) PaaS
12 13 (2.57%) PowerApps
13 12 (2.37%) Intacct
14 10 (1.98%) Amazon ECR
14 10 (1.98%) Amazon ECS
15 9 (1.78%) Azure Logic Apps
15 9 (1.78%) Dynamics 365
16 6 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
17 5 (0.99%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 42 (8.30%) Firewall
2 37 (7.31%) DNS
3 22 (4.35%) TCP/IP
4 18 (3.56%) DHCP
4 18 (3.56%) VPN
5 16 (3.16%) LAN
6 12 (2.37%) SAN
7 10 (1.98%) Wi-Fi
8 9 (1.78%) Network Security
8 9 (1.78%) WAN
9 7 (1.38%) HTTP
9 7 (1.38%) Internet
10 6 (1.19%) VLAN
11 4 (0.79%) VSAN
12 3 (0.59%) SSH
12 3 (0.59%) Wireless
13 2 (0.40%) Multicast
13 2 (0.40%) NAS
14 1 (0.20%) DKIM
14 1 (0.20%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (2.96%) MySQL
2 10 (1.98%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.58%) Power BI
4 3 (0.59%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.59%) GIS
5 1 (0.20%) Big Data
5 1 (0.20%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 29 (5.73%) Git
2 15 (2.96%) GitLab
3 8 (1.58%) JIRA
4 2 (0.40%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.20%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.20%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.20%) Selenium
5 1 (0.20%) TeamCity
General
1 93 (18.38%) Finance
2 73 (14.43%) Social Skills
3 38 (7.51%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (4.94%) Manufacturing
5 22 (4.35%) Banking
5 22 (4.35%) Retail
6 17 (3.36%) Billing
7 14 (2.77%) Legal
8 12 (2.37%) Law
9 9 (1.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.58%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (0.79%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.79%) Police
13 3 (0.59%) Games
13 3 (0.59%) Public Sector
14 2 (0.40%) Marketing
15 1 (0.20%) Digital Health
15 1 (0.20%) Electronics
15 1 (0.20%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.38%) WebSockets
2 6 (1.19%) Middleware
3 3 (0.59%) Boost C++ Libraries
4 2 (0.40%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.40%) Node.js
4 2 (0.40%) OpenID
5 1 (0.20%) CSS
5 1 (0.20%) CSS3
5 1 (0.20%) HTML
5 1 (0.20%) HTML5
5 1 (0.20%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.20%) OAuth
5 1 (0.20%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.20%) React
5 1 (0.20%) Redfish
5 1 (0.20%) SAML
5 1 (0.20%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 25 (4.94%) Data Structures
2 21 (4.15%) Clustering
3 14 (2.77%) Social Media
4 12 (2.37%) Data Centre
4 12 (2.37%) Onboarding
5 9 (1.78%) Management Information System
6 6 (1.19%) Operational Technology
6 6 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (0.79%) Private Cloud
8 3 (0.59%) Embedded Systems
8 3 (0.59%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (0.59%) IoT
8 3 (0.59%) PMI
8 3 (0.59%) Replication
8 3 (0.59%) Security Posture
9 2 (0.40%) Educational Technology
9 2 (0.40%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.40%) Housing Association
10 1 (0.20%) CCTV
10 1 (0.20%) VLE
Operating Systems
1 100 (19.76%) Linux
2 77 (15.22%) Windows
3 41 (8.10%) Windows Server
4 26 (5.14%) Mac OS
5 23 (4.55%) Apple iOS
5 23 (4.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 20 (3.95%) Android
7 19 (3.75%) CentOS
8 13 (2.57%) Ubuntu
9 10 (1.98%) Unix
10 8 (1.58%) Debian
11 7 (1.38%) Rocky
12 6 (1.19%) Windows 10
13 4 (0.79%) CoreOS
13 4 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
13 4 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (12.45%) DevOps
2 53 (10.47%) Problem-Solving
3 43 (8.50%) Continuous Improvement
4 37 (7.31%) CI/CD
5 32 (6.32%) Vulnerability Management
6 31 (6.13%) ERP
7 27 (5.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 24 (4.74%) Configuration Management
9 20 (3.95%) Change Management
10 19 (3.75%) Identity Management
10 19 (3.75%) Infrastructure as Code
10 19 (3.75%) Release Management
11 18 (3.56%) Change Control
12 17 (3.36%) High Availability
13 16 (3.16%) Analytics
13 16 (3.16%) Capacity Planning
13 16 (3.16%) ITIL
13 16 (3.16%) Time Management
14 15 (2.96%) CRM
14 15 (2.96%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 51 (10.08%) SQL
2 41 (8.10%) Bash
3 37 (7.31%) Python
4 27 (5.34%) PowerShell
5 7 (1.38%) R
6 6 (1.19%) JavaScript
7 5 (0.99%) Shell Script
8 3 (0.59%) C
8 3 (0.59%) C++
8 3 (0.59%) Go
8 3 (0.59%) PHP
8 3 (0.59%) Ruby
9 2 (0.40%) VBA
Qualifications
1 38 (7.51%) Security Cleared
2 29 (5.73%) DV Cleared
3 27 (5.34%) SC Cleared
4 14 (2.77%) Degree
5 8 (1.58%) RHCSA
6 5 (0.99%) CIPD
7 4 (0.79%) AWS Certification
7 4 (0.79%) DBS Check
8 3 (0.59%) HND
8 3 (0.59%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.20%) Linux+ Certification
10 1 (0.20%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (5.14%) QA
2 15 (2.96%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.79%) GDPR
5 3 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.20%) SOC 2
System Software
1 70 (13.83%) Active Directory
2 40 (7.91%) Hyper-V
3 26 (5.14%) Docker
4 18 (3.56%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (1.38%) Ceph
5 7 (1.38%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.99%) iptables
7 3 (0.59%) Firmware
8 2 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.40%) vSphere
9 1 (0.20%) KVM
9 1 (0.20%) NFS
9 1 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.20%) Xen
Systems Management
1 37 (7.31%) Ansible
2 29 (5.73%) Kubernetes
3 26 (5.14%) Terraform
4 22 (4.35%) Microsoft Intune
5 21 (4.15%) Nagios
6 19 (3.75%) Nessus
7 17 (3.36%) Grafana
8 15 (2.96%) Prometheus
9 13 (2.57%) Proxmox
10 8 (1.58%) Podman
10 8 (1.58%) Puppet
11 7 (1.38%) Argo
11 7 (1.38%) Check_MK
11 7 (1.38%) Istio
12 4 (0.79%) McAfee ePO
12 4 (0.79%) SCCM
12 4 (0.79%) SCVMM
13 3 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
13 3 (0.59%) Progress Chef
13 3 (0.59%) systemd
Vendors
1 107 (21.15%) Microsoft
2 53 (10.47%) Red Hat
3 24 (4.74%) VMware
4 22 (4.35%) Salesforce
5 13 (2.57%) Sage
6 11 (2.17%) Splunk
7 10 (1.98%) Rapid7
7 10 (1.98%) Veeam
8 9 (1.78%) Dell
8 9 (1.78%) SAP
8 9 (1.78%) SolarWinds
9 8 (1.58%) CrowdStrike
9 8 (1.58%) SonicWALL
10 5 (0.99%) Cisco
10 5 (0.99%) Concur
10 5 (0.99%) Databricks
10 5 (0.99%) Google
10 5 (0.99%) Meraki
11 4 (0.79%) McAfee
12 3 (0.59%) Palo Alto