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 28 September 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 377 481 357
Rank change year-on-year +104 -124 +66
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 526 201 533
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.45% 0.41% 0.70%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.48% 0.45% 0.74%
Number of salaries quoted 314 114 360
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,475 £31,225
25th Percentile £35,000 £30,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £48,250
Median % change year-on-year - -6.74% +7.22%
75th Percentile £57,500 £55,625 £53,750
90th Percentile £70,000 £66,750 £70,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £43,500 £43,750 £45,000
% change year-on-year -0.57% -2.78% +11.11%

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 109,191 44,243 72,281
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.96% 89.71% 95.27%
Number of salaries quoted 74,643 25,711 42,130
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,500
25th Percentile £40,750 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,598 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.54% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

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 28 September 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 28 September 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 +77 453 £45,000 - 130
UK excluding London +62 411 £43,500 -0.57% 94
London +15 100 £56,000 +1.82% 40
Work from Home -26 88 £55,000 +29.41% 39
South East +4 87 £45,000 - 30
South West -75 79 £35,000 -22.22% 11
North of England -1 72 £45,000 +12.50% 16
Midlands +1 67 £45,000 +26.76% 21
Scotland - 54 £43,500 - 5
East of England -2 44 £40,000 -11.11% 8
Yorkshire +7 38 £45,000 +5.88% 9
West Midlands -4 36 £55,000 +29.41% 18
East Midlands -19 31 £40,500 +35.00% 3
North West -18 25 £40,000 +19.40% 7
North East - 9 £47,500 -
Wales -53 8 £50,000 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 28 September 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.

1 108 (20.53%) Microsoft
2 94 (17.87%) Linux
3 78 (14.83%) Windows
4 74 (14.07%) Active Directory
5 64 (12.17%) Microsoft 365
6 63 (11.98%) Azure
7 62 (11.79%) Entra ID
8 59 (11.22%) DevOps
9 55 (10.46%) Problem-Solving
10 47 (8.94%) Windows Server
11 46 (8.75%) Firewall
12 45 (8.56%) Continuous Improvement
13 42 (7.98%) Red Hat
14 40 (7.60%) Ansible
14 40 (7.60%) AWS
14 40 (7.60%) Bash
14 40 (7.60%) CI/CD
15 39 (7.41%) Microsoft Exchange
15 39 (7.41%) SQL
16 37 (7.03%) SaaS
17 36 (6.84%) DNS
17 36 (6.84%) Python
17 36 (6.84%) Security Cleared
18 33 (6.27%) Hyper-V
19 32 (6.08%) Vulnerability Management
20 31 (5.89%) Kubernetes
20 31 (5.89%) SharePoint
21 28 (5.32%) Terraform
21 28 (5.32%) VPN
22 26 (4.94%) Infrastructure Engineering

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 (7.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (5.89%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.52%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.76%) IIS
5 1 (0.19%) Apache
5 1 (0.19%) Confluence
5 1 (0.19%) JBoss
5 1 (0.19%) Moodle
5 1 (0.19%) nginx
Applications
1 21 (3.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.09%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (4.75%) Primavera
2 2 (0.38%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.19%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.19%) HFM
3 1 (0.19%) Infor CloudSuite
3 1 (0.19%) iTrent
3 1 (0.19%) SAP HR
3 1 (0.19%) Shopify
3 1 (0.19%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 64 (12.17%) Microsoft 365
2 63 (11.98%) Azure
3 62 (11.79%) Entra ID
4 40 (7.60%) AWS
5 37 (7.03%) SaaS
6 25 (4.75%) OpenShift
7 23 (4.37%) Power Platform
8 22 (4.18%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 21 (3.99%) Power Automate
10 13 (2.47%) PaaS
10 13 (2.47%) PowerApps
11 12 (2.28%) GitHub
11 12 (2.28%) Mimecast
12 10 (1.90%) GCP
12 10 (1.90%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (1.71%) Amazon ECR
13 9 (1.71%) Amazon ECS
13 9 (1.71%) Azure Logic Apps
13 9 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (1.71%) Intacct
Communications & Networking
1 46 (8.75%) Firewall
2 36 (6.84%) DNS
3 28 (5.32%) VPN
4 22 (4.18%) TCP/IP
5 21 (3.99%) DHCP
6 13 (2.47%) LAN
7 8 (1.52%) WAN
8 7 (1.33%) SAN
8 7 (1.33%) Wi-Fi
9 6 (1.14%) Network Security
10 5 (0.95%) HTTP
11 4 (0.76%) Internet
11 4 (0.76%) VLAN
11 4 (0.76%) VSAN
12 3 (0.57%) SSH
12 3 (0.57%) Wireless
13 2 (0.38%) Fibre Channel
14 1 (0.19%) DKIM
14 1 (0.19%) DMARC
14 1 (0.19%) WireGuard
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.28%) MySQL
2 9 (1.71%) Elasticsearch
2 9 (1.71%) Power BI
3 3 (0.57%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.57%) GIS
4 2 (0.38%) Big Data
5 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.19%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 23 (4.37%) Git
2 14 (2.66%) GitLab
3 8 (1.52%) JIRA
4 2 (0.38%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.19%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.19%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.19%) Selenium
5 1 (0.19%) TeamCity
General
1 78 (14.83%) Finance
2 77 (14.64%) Social Skills
3 35 (6.65%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (5.32%) Retail
5 25 (4.75%) Manufacturing
6 17 (3.23%) Banking
7 14 (2.66%) Billing
8 12 (2.28%) Organisational Skills
9 11 (2.09%) Legal
10 9 (1.71%) Law
11 8 (1.52%) Automotive
12 6 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.95%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.95%) Police
13 5 (0.95%) Public Sector
14 3 (0.57%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.57%) Games
15 2 (0.38%) German Language
15 2 (0.38%) Marketing
15 2 (0.38%) Polish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (5.32%) Terraform
2 5 (0.95%) Middleware
2 5 (0.95%) WebSockets
3 3 (0.57%) Boost C++ Libraries
4 2 (0.38%) OpenID
5 1 (0.19%) CSS
5 1 (0.19%) CSS3
5 1 (0.19%) HTML
5 1 (0.19%) HTML5
5 1 (0.19%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.19%) OAuth
5 1 (0.19%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.19%) OpenTofu
5 1 (0.19%) React
5 1 (0.19%) Redfish
5 1 (0.19%) SAML
5 1 (0.19%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 23 (4.37%) Data Structures
2 16 (3.04%) Clustering
3 14 (2.66%) Operational Technology
3 14 (2.66%) Social Media
4 13 (2.47%) Onboarding
5 11 (2.09%) Private Cloud
6 10 (1.90%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (1.90%) Management Information System
7 8 (1.52%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (0.95%) Housing Association
9 5 (0.95%) Learning Management System
9 5 (0.95%) PMI
10 3 (0.57%) Embedded Systems
10 3 (0.57%) IoT
10 3 (0.57%) Replication
10 3 (0.57%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.38%) Educational Technology
11 2 (0.38%) Enterprise Software
12 1 (0.19%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 94 (17.87%) Linux
2 78 (14.83%) Windows
3 47 (8.94%) Windows Server
4 26 (4.94%) Mac OS
5 23 (4.37%) Apple iOS
6 20 (3.80%) Android
6 20 (3.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 14 (2.66%) CentOS
8 12 (2.28%) Ubuntu
9 10 (1.90%) Unix
10 8 (1.52%) Debian
11 6 (1.14%) Windows 10
12 5 (0.95%) Rocky
13 4 (0.76%) CoreOS
13 4 (0.76%) Windows Server 2016
13 4 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (11.22%) DevOps
2 55 (10.46%) Problem-Solving
3 45 (8.56%) Continuous Improvement
4 40 (7.60%) CI/CD
5 32 (6.08%) Vulnerability Management
6 26 (4.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 25 (4.75%) ERP
8 20 (3.80%) Analytics
8 20 (3.80%) Customer Experience
8 20 (3.80%) ITIL
8 20 (3.80%) Release Management
8 20 (3.80%) Time Management
9 19 (3.61%) Change Management
10 18 (3.42%) Configuration Management
10 18 (3.42%) Identity Management
11 17 (3.23%) AI
11 17 (3.23%) Change Control
11 17 (3.23%) Infrastructure as Code
12 16 (3.04%) High Availability
13 15 (2.85%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 40 (7.60%) Bash
2 39 (7.41%) SQL
3 36 (6.84%) Python
4 26 (4.94%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.52%) Go
6 7 (1.33%) R
7 4 (0.76%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.57%) C
8 3 (0.57%) C++
8 3 (0.57%) PHP
8 3 (0.57%) Ruby
8 3 (0.57%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 36 (6.84%) Security Cleared
2 26 (4.94%) SC Cleared
3 25 (4.75%) DV Cleared
4 15 (2.85%) Degree
5 9 (1.71%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.33%) DBS Check
7 5 (0.95%) CIPD
7 5 (0.95%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.95%) RHCSA
8 3 (0.57%) HND
8 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.19%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.19%) Network+ Certification
9 1 (0.19%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.37%) QA
2 17 (3.23%) Data Quality
3 9 (1.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.76%) GDPR
5 3 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 74 (14.07%) Active Directory
2 33 (6.27%) Hyper-V
3 21 (3.99%) Docker
4 14 (2.66%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (1.52%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.33%) Ceph
7 5 (0.95%) iptables
8 4 (0.76%) vSphere
9 3 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.38%) Firmware
11 1 (0.19%) NFS
11 1 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.19%) Xen
11 1 (0.19%) XenApp
11 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 40 (7.60%) Ansible
2 31 (5.89%) Kubernetes
3 23 (4.37%) Grafana
4 21 (3.99%) Prometheus
5 20 (3.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 19 (3.61%) Nessus
7 15 (2.85%) Nagios
8 14 (2.66%) Proxmox
9 8 (1.52%) Podman
10 7 (1.33%) Argo
10 7 (1.33%) Check_MK
10 7 (1.33%) Istio
11 4 (0.76%) McAfee ePO
11 4 (0.76%) Puppet
11 4 (0.76%) SCCM
11 4 (0.76%) SCVMM
12 3 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
12 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Clustering
12 3 (0.57%) systemd
13 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 108 (20.53%) Microsoft
2 42 (7.98%) Red Hat
3 25 (4.75%) VMware
4 19 (3.61%) Salesforce
5 10 (1.90%) Sage
5 10 (1.90%) Splunk
6 9 (1.71%) Rapid7
7 8 (1.52%) CrowdStrike
7 8 (1.52%) Dell
7 8 (1.52%) SAP
8 5 (0.95%) Concur
8 5 (0.95%) Databricks
8 5 (0.95%) Google
8 5 (0.95%) SolarWinds
8 5 (0.95%) SonicWALL
8 5 (0.95%) Veeam
9 4 (0.76%) Cisco
9 4 (0.76%) McAfee
9 4 (0.76%) Meraki
10 3 (0.57%) NetApp