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 26 June 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 380 468 395
Rank change year-on-year +88 -73 +106
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 422 200 660
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.44% 0.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.47% 0.49% 0.66%
Number of salaries quoted 284 139 545
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,975 £28,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,625 £33,966
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,500 £41,500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +14.46% -12.63%
75th Percentile £63,750 £57,500 £52,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £70,250 £64,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £46,250 £40,000
% change year-on-year -13.51% +15.63% -

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 89,332 40,653 100,647
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.05% 89.51% 94.74%
Number of salaries quoted 61,290 23,209 72,638
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
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 £77,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,622 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,042 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +0.08% - -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 26 June 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 26 June 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 +91 379 £45,000 -8.16% 57
UK excluding London +62 300 £40,000 -13.51% 51
London +39 106 £61,250 +11.36% 9
Work from Home +32 88 £55,000 +15.79% 18
Midlands +42 74 £40,000 +12.68% 5
North of England -4 54 £42,500 +10.39% 8
East Midlands +23 52 £35,000 -1.41% 2
East of England +19 51 £40,000 -30.43% 6
South East -24 46 £57,500 +17.35% 16
South West -73 44 £40,000 -20.00% 14
Scotland +36 31 - - 3
Yorkshire -18 30 £45,000 -14.29% 6
West Midlands -1 22 £45,000 +16.88% 3
North West +9 19 £40,000 +18.64% 2
North East - 5 £47,500 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 26 June 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 91 (21.56%) Microsoft
2 89 (21.09%) Linux
3 66 (15.64%) Microsoft 365
4 61 (14.45%) DevOps
4 61 (14.45%) Problem-Solving
5 56 (13.27%) Windows
6 54 (12.80%) Active Directory
6 54 (12.80%) Azure
7 53 (12.56%) SQL
8 45 (10.66%) Entra ID
8 45 (10.66%) Red Hat
9 40 (9.48%) Continuous Improvement
9 40 (9.48%) Firewall
10 38 (9.00%) Bash
11 37 (8.77%) ERP
12 35 (8.29%) Python
13 33 (7.82%) Microsoft Exchange
14 32 (7.58%) AWS
14 32 (7.58%) Hyper-V
15 31 (7.35%) VMware
16 30 (7.11%) CI/CD
17 28 (6.64%) SharePoint
18 26 (6.16%) Ansible
18 26 (6.16%) Security Cleared
18 26 (6.16%) Vulnerability Management
18 26 (6.16%) Windows Server
19 24 (5.69%) Analytics
19 24 (5.69%) Configuration Management
19 24 (5.69%) QA
19 24 (5.69%) Terraform

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 33 (7.82%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (6.64%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.95%) WordPress
4 3 (0.71%) Apache
4 3 (0.71%) CMS
5 2 (0.47%) nginx
5 2 (0.47%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.24%) Confluence
6 1 (0.24%) Moodle
6 1 (0.24%) Site Server
Applications
1 14 (3.32%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.13%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 17 (4.03%) iTrent
2 11 (2.61%) Primavera
3 3 (0.71%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.47%) Shopify
5 1 (0.24%) HFM
5 1 (0.24%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 66 (15.64%) Microsoft 365
2 54 (12.80%) Azure
3 45 (10.66%) Entra ID
4 32 (7.58%) AWS
5 22 (5.21%) Power Platform
6 20 (4.74%) SaaS
7 19 (4.50%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 17 (4.03%) Power Automate
9 13 (3.08%) Mimecast
9 13 (3.08%) PowerApps
10 12 (2.84%) GCP
10 12 (2.84%) Intacct
11 10 (2.37%) GitHub
12 9 (2.13%) Azure Logic Apps
12 9 (2.13%) Dynamics 365
13 8 (1.90%) Amazon ECR
13 8 (1.90%) Amazon ECS
13 8 (1.90%) Amazon EKS
13 8 (1.90%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 40 (9.48%) Firewall
2 23 (5.45%) DNS
3 16 (3.79%) VPN
4 14 (3.32%) LAN
4 14 (3.32%) TCP/IP
5 10 (2.37%) SAN
6 9 (2.13%) HTTP
6 9 (2.13%) Network Security
6 9 (2.13%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (1.66%) Internet
8 6 (1.42%) DHCP
9 5 (1.18%) WAN
10 4 (0.95%) Wireless
11 3 (0.71%) NAS
11 3 (0.71%) SSH
11 3 (0.71%) VLAN
12 2 (0.47%) Multicast
12 2 (0.47%) VoIP
13 1 (0.24%) DKIM
13 1 (0.24%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.08%) MySQL
2 9 (2.13%) Power BI
3 8 (1.90%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.71%) GIS
5 1 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.24%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.24%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 17 (4.03%) Git
2 13 (3.08%) GitLab
3 8 (1.90%) JIRA
General
1 92 (21.80%) Finance
2 68 (16.11%) Social Skills
3 25 (5.92%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (5.45%) Manufacturing
5 22 (5.21%) Banking
5 22 (5.21%) Retail
6 17 (4.03%) Billing
7 12 (2.84%) Legal
8 11 (2.61%) Law
9 10 (2.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.66%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.18%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.18%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.71%) Games
12 3 (0.71%) Public Sector
13 1 (0.24%) Electronics
13 1 (0.24%) Local Government
13 1 (0.24%) Marketing
13 1 (0.24%) Police
13 1 (0.24%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (2.13%) Middleware
1 9 (2.13%) WebSockets
2 2 (0.47%) Boost C++ Libraries
2 2 (0.47%) LEMP Stack
2 2 (0.47%) Node.js
3 1 (0.24%) HTML
3 1 (0.24%) OpenID
3 1 (0.24%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (5.69%) Data Structures
2 19 (4.50%) Clustering
3 12 (2.84%) Data Centre
4 9 (2.13%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (1.90%) Onboarding
5 8 (1.90%) Private Cloud
6 7 (1.66%) Management Information System
7 5 (1.18%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.71%) Replication
8 3 (0.71%) Security Posture
9 2 (0.47%) Educational Technology
9 2 (0.47%) Embedded Systems
9 2 (0.47%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.47%) IoT
9 2 (0.47%) Operational Technology
10 1 (0.24%) Cloud Native
10 1 (0.24%) Distributed Computing
10 1 (0.24%) Driving Licence
10 1 (0.24%) Legacy Applications
10 1 (0.24%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 89 (21.09%) Linux
2 56 (13.27%) Windows
3 26 (6.16%) Windows Server
4 20 (4.74%) Mac OS
4 20 (4.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (4.03%) Android
5 17 (4.03%) Apple iOS
6 13 (3.08%) CentOS
7 12 (2.84%) Ubuntu
8 7 (1.66%) Debian
9 5 (1.18%) Unix
10 4 (0.95%) Rocky
11 3 (0.71%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (14.45%) DevOps
1 61 (14.45%) Problem-Solving
2 40 (9.48%) Continuous Improvement
3 37 (8.77%) ERP
4 30 (7.11%) CI/CD
5 26 (6.16%) Vulnerability Management
6 24 (5.69%) Analytics
6 24 (5.69%) Configuration Management
7 22 (5.21%) Infrastructure as Code
8 21 (4.98%) Process Improvement
9 20 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 19 (4.50%) Release Management
11 18 (4.27%) Change Management
12 17 (4.03%) Identity Management
13 16 (3.79%) Change Control
14 15 (3.55%) CRM
15 14 (3.32%) High Availability
15 14 (3.32%) Service Delivery
16 13 (3.08%) Patch Management
16 13 (3.08%) Revenue Recognition
Programming Languages
1 53 (12.56%) SQL
2 38 (9.00%) Bash
3 35 (8.29%) Python
4 18 (4.27%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.90%) Go
6 6 (1.42%) PHP
7 5 (1.18%) JavaScript
7 5 (1.18%) R
8 3 (0.71%) Ruby
8 3 (0.71%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.47%) C
9 2 (0.47%) C++
9 2 (0.47%) VBA
Qualifications
1 26 (6.16%) Security Cleared
2 18 (4.27%) DV Cleared
3 17 (4.03%) SC Cleared
4 13 (3.08%) Degree
5 10 (2.37%) RHCSA
6 9 (2.13%) CIPD
7 8 (1.90%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.47%) HND
8 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.24%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.24%) CCNA
9 1 (0.24%) CCNP
9 1 (0.24%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.24%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.24%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.24%) Linux+ Certification
9 1 (0.24%) MCSE
9 1 (0.24%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (5.69%) QA
2 15 (3.55%) Data Quality
3 10 (2.37%) GDPR
4 6 (1.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.24%) SOC 2
System Software
1 54 (12.80%) Active Directory
2 32 (7.58%) Hyper-V
3 20 (4.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (3.79%) Docker
5 5 (1.18%) iptables
6 3 (0.71%) Firmware
7 2 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.24%) KVM
Systems Management
1 26 (6.16%) Ansible
2 24 (5.69%) Terraform
3 22 (5.21%) Kubernetes
3 22 (5.21%) Microsoft Intune
4 20 (4.74%) Nagios
5 19 (4.50%) Grafana
6 18 (4.27%) Proxmox
7 16 (3.79%) Nessus
8 12 (2.84%) Prometheus
9 8 (1.90%) Puppet
10 3 (0.71%) SCCM
10 3 (0.71%) systemd
11 2 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (0.47%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.47%) Red Hat Satellite
12 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
12 1 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.24%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 91 (21.56%) Microsoft
2 45 (10.66%) Red Hat
3 31 (7.35%) VMware
4 23 (5.45%) Salesforce
5 13 (3.08%) Sage
6 12 (2.84%) SolarWinds
7 11 (2.61%) Veeam
8 9 (2.13%) SAP
8 9 (2.13%) Splunk
9 8 (1.90%) Rapid7
9 8 (1.90%) SonicWALL
10 6 (1.42%) Cisco
10 6 (1.42%) CrowdStrike
10 6 (1.42%) ServiceNow
11 5 (1.18%) Concur
11 5 (1.18%) Databricks
11 5 (1.18%) Google
11 5 (1.18%) Meraki
12 3 (0.71%) Dell
12 3 (0.71%) Palo Alto