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 November 2025.

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

6 months to
26 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 476 360 446
Rank change year-on-year -116 +86 +153
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 178 461 290
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.33% 0.69% 0.57%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.37% 0.73% 0.60%
Number of salaries quoted 100 314 237
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £29,006
25th Percentile £30,000 £37,500 £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 £54,000
90th Percentile £70,000 £76,250 £68,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £49,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year -8.16% +15.29% +7.59%

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 48,411 63,382 48,702
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.23% 94.34% 95.31%
Number of salaries quoted 30,519 35,483 37,888
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,896 £42,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £52,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.65% -0.95% -

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 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 26 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 -103 163 £45,000 -10.00% 60
UK excluding London -75 129 £45,000 -8.16% 55
Work from Home +27 63 £45,000 -10.00% 29
South West -9 53 £45,000 -10.00% 8
London -9 38 £58,750 -16.07% 14
South East -5 26 £47,500 -5.00% 11
Midlands +9 25 £31,500 -28.00% 18
East Midlands +1 14 £30,000 -29.41% 9
East of England +16 13 £60,000 +50.00% 7
West Midlands +43 11 £37,500 -14.29% 9
North of England +5 8 £30,000 -25.00% 7
North West +34 5 £45,000 -10.00% 4
Scotland -9 3 £26,000 -35.00% 4
Yorkshire -10 3 £28,000 -20.00% 2
Wales +12 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 26 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 70 (39.33%) Linux
2 49 (27.53%) Security Cleared
3 46 (25.84%) Cisco
3 46 (25.84%) DV Cleared
4 41 (23.03%) Cisco Certification
5 40 (22.47%) SC Cleared
5 40 (22.47%) Windows
6 39 (21.91%) High Availability
7 36 (20.22%) CCNP
7 36 (20.22%) Innovative Thinking
8 33 (18.54%) VMware
9 32 (17.98%) Problem-Solving
10 30 (16.85%) CCNA
11 28 (15.73%) Unix
12 27 (15.17%) Microsoft
13 24 (13.48%) Active Directory
14 21 (11.80%) AWS
14 21 (11.80%) Azure
15 18 (10.11%) Microsoft 365
15 18 (10.11%) VMware Infrastructure
16 17 (9.55%) ERP
16 17 (9.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
17 16 (8.99%) Change Management
18 15 (8.43%) Windows Server
19 14 (7.87%) Cybersecurity
19 14 (7.87%) Red Hat
19 14 (7.87%) SQL
20 13 (7.30%) Microsoft Exchange
21 12 (6.74%) Degree
21 12 (6.74%) Microsoft Certification

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 (7.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.69%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.56%) IIS
3 1 (0.56%) OpenStack
Applications
1 6 (3.37%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.12%) AutoCAD
2 2 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (1.12%) Spreadsheet
2 2 (1.12%) Trello
3 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (2.25%) Oracle EBS R12
2 3 (1.69%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (1.12%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.12%) SAP Business One
3 2 (1.12%) Unit4 Business World
4 1 (0.56%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.56%) iTrent
4 1 (0.56%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.56%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 21 (11.80%) AWS
1 21 (11.80%) Azure
2 18 (10.11%) Microsoft 365
3 7 (3.93%) Entra ID
4 6 (3.37%) Dynamics 365
4 6 (3.37%) Power Platform
5 5 (2.81%) Amazon EC2
5 5 (2.81%) Power Automate
5 5 (2.81%) SaaS
6 3 (1.69%) Mimecast
7 2 (1.12%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (1.12%) OCI
7 2 (1.12%) PowerApps
8 1 (0.56%) Canva
8 1 (0.56%) GCP
8 1 (0.56%) Slack
8 1 (0.56%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.93%) Firewall
1 7 (3.93%) Network Security
2 6 (3.37%) DNS
3 4 (2.25%) Cisco IOS
3 4 (2.25%) VPN
4 3 (1.69%) Cisco ISE
4 3 (1.69%) LAN
4 3 (1.69%) TCP/IP
5 2 (1.12%) Asterisk PBX
5 2 (1.12%) DHCP
5 2 (1.12%) HTTP
5 2 (1.12%) Multicast
5 2 (1.12%) Wireless
6 1 (0.56%) Internet
6 1 (0.56%) Intranet
6 1 (0.56%) iSCSI
6 1 (0.56%) SAN
6 1 (0.56%) VLAN
6 1 (0.56%) WAN
6 1 (0.56%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.37%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.25%) Power BI
3 2 (1.12%) Crystal Reports
3 2 (1.12%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (1.12%) SAP HANA
3 2 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.56%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.56%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 7 (3.93%) GitLab
2 6 (3.37%) JIRA
3 2 (1.12%) TeamCity
General
1 61 (34.27%) Finance
2 37 (20.79%) Social Skills
3 12 (6.74%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.06%) Public Sector
5 8 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (3.93%) General Ledger
7 5 (2.81%) Banking
7 5 (2.81%) Law
8 4 (2.25%) Manufacturing
8 4 (2.25%) Retail
9 2 (1.12%) Automotive
9 2 (1.12%) Local Government
9 2 (1.12%) Military
10 1 (0.56%) Back Office
10 1 (0.56%) Greek Language
10 1 (0.56%) Italian Language
10 1 (0.56%) Mandarin Language
10 1 (0.56%) Spanish Language
10 1 (0.56%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.25%) XML
2 2 (1.12%) .NET
2 2 (1.12%) JSON
2 2 (1.12%) LDAP
2 2 (1.12%) XMPP
3 1 (0.56%) Lightning Web Components
3 1 (0.56%) ODBC
3 1 (0.56%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.56%) TAPI
Miscellaneous
1 36 (20.22%) e-Learning
2 8 (4.49%) Driving Licence
3 6 (3.37%) FMCG
4 5 (2.81%) Hybrid Cloud
4 5 (2.81%) Learning Management System
4 5 (2.81%) Management Information System
4 5 (2.81%) PKI
4 5 (2.81%) Virtual Team
5 3 (1.69%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.69%) iSeries
5 3 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.12%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.56%) Enterprise Storage
7 1 (0.56%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.56%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.56%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 70 (39.33%) Linux
2 40 (22.47%) Windows
3 28 (15.73%) Unix
4 17 (9.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (8.43%) Windows Server
6 7 (3.93%) Windows 10
7 3 (1.69%) AIX
7 3 (1.69%) Debian
8 2 (1.12%) CentOS
8 2 (1.12%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 2 (1.12%) Ubuntu
8 2 (1.12%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.56%) Solaris
9 1 (0.56%) VMS
9 1 (0.56%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (21.91%) High Availability
2 36 (20.22%) Innovative Thinking
3 32 (17.98%) Problem-Solving
4 17 (9.55%) ERP
5 16 (8.99%) Change Management
6 14 (7.87%) Cybersecurity
7 12 (6.74%) Migration
8 11 (6.18%) ITIL
8 11 (6.18%) Mentoring
9 9 (5.06%) Continuous Improvement
9 9 (5.06%) Data Analysis
9 9 (5.06%) DevOps
10 8 (4.49%) Performance Tuning
11 7 (3.93%) Accounts Payable
11 7 (3.93%) Change Control
11 7 (3.93%) Containerisation
11 7 (3.93%) Customer Service
11 7 (3.93%) Root Cause Analysis
12 6 (3.37%) Incident Response
12 6 (3.37%) Resource Allocation
Programming Languages
1 14 (7.87%) SQL
2 12 (6.74%) Python
3 11 (6.18%) Bash
4 9 (5.06%) PowerShell
5 3 (1.69%) Shell Script
6 2 (1.12%) Korn
6 2 (1.12%) Perl
6 2 (1.12%) PHP
7 1 (0.56%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 49 (27.53%) Security Cleared
2 46 (25.84%) DV Cleared
3 41 (23.03%) Cisco Certification
4 40 (22.47%) SC Cleared
5 36 (20.22%) CCNP
6 30 (16.85%) CCNA
7 12 (6.74%) Degree
7 12 (6.74%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (6.18%) RHCSA
9 9 (5.06%) MCSE
10 5 (2.81%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (2.25%) MCSA
12 3 (1.69%) Azure Certification
12 3 (1.69%) MCP
13 2 (1.12%) AAT
13 2 (1.12%) DBS Check
14 1 (0.56%) A+ Certification
14 1 (0.56%) AWS Certification
14 1 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
14 1 (0.56%) NVQ Level 4
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.49%) QA
2 2 (1.12%) GDPR
2 2 (1.12%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.56%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 1 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 24 (13.48%) Active Directory
2 18 (10.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (2.81%) vSphere
4 4 (2.25%) Docker
4 4 (2.25%) Hyper-V
5 3 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.69%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.56%) KVM
6 1 (0.56%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 10 (5.62%) Ansible
2 7 (3.93%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (2.81%) Terraform
4 4 (2.25%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.12%) Grafana
5 2 (1.12%) Nessus
5 2 (1.12%) Puppet
5 2 (1.12%) Red Hat Satellite
5 2 (1.12%) WSUS
5 2 (1.12%) ZABBIX
6 1 (0.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 1 (0.56%) Podman
6 1 (0.56%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.56%) Salt
6 1 (0.56%) SCCM
6 1 (0.56%) VxRail
Vendors
1 46 (25.84%) Cisco
2 33 (18.54%) VMware
3 27 (15.17%) Microsoft
4 14 (7.87%) Red Hat
5 8 (4.49%) Oracle
6 5 (2.81%) IBM
6 5 (2.81%) Salesforce
6 5 (2.81%) SAP
7 4 (2.25%) LogicMonitor
7 4 (2.25%) Okta
7 4 (2.25%) Workday
7 4 (2.25%) Zscaler
8 3 (1.69%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.69%) Reuters
8 3 (1.69%) Sophos
9 2 (1.12%) Citrix
10 1 (0.56%) Google
10 1 (0.56%) HP
10 1 (0.56%) Kronos
10 1 (0.56%) Sage