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 5 November 2025.

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

6 months to
5 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 481 342 427
Rank change year-on-year -139 +85 +193
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 184 476 328
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.70% 0.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.74% 0.65%
Number of salaries quoted 95 327 267
10th Percentile £28,600 £31,250 £29,006
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,875 £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 £72,500 £75,000 £68,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £46,250 £42,000
% change year-on-year -2.70% +10.12% +7.69%

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 45,096 64,445 50,460
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.10% 95.05% 95.49%
Number of salaries quoted 27,937 36,459 39,152
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,094 £42,750
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 £46,000 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.00% -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 5 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Top 14 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 5 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 -92 174 £45,000 -10.00% 106
UK excluding London -97 135 £45,000 -2.70% 99
Work from Home +22 78 £43,750 -2.78% 44
South West +23 69 £45,000 -10.00% 13
London -17 39 £57,500 -6.12% 31
South East -18 22 £45,000 -9.55% 25
Midlands +5 21 £32,119 -26.59% 16
East Midlands -11 14 £30,000 -25.00% 7
East of England +11 12 £57,500 +43.75% 19
North of England -30 10 £42,500 +21.43% 16
West Midlands +30 7 £42,500 -5.56% 9
North West +20 5 £45,000 -10.00% 7
Yorkshire -20 5 £30,000 -11.11% 7
Wales +10 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 5 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 84 (45.65%) Linux
2 59 (32.07%) Cisco
2 59 (32.07%) Security Cleared
3 55 (29.89%) DV Cleared
4 54 (29.35%) Cisco Certification
4 54 (29.35%) High Availability
5 50 (27.17%) SC Cleared
6 49 (26.63%) CCNP
6 49 (26.63%) Innovative Thinking
7 44 (23.91%) Windows
8 39 (21.20%) VMware
9 31 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
10 30 (16.30%) CCNA
11 28 (15.22%) Active Directory
11 28 (15.22%) Red Hat
12 27 (14.67%) Unix
13 26 (14.13%) Microsoft
14 25 (13.59%) RHCSA
15 24 (13.04%) VMware Infrastructure
16 22 (11.96%) AWS
16 22 (11.96%) Azure
17 19 (10.33%) Windows Server
18 18 (9.78%) ERP
18 18 (9.78%) Microsoft 365
19 17 (9.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
20 15 (8.15%) Change Management
20 15 (8.15%) Degree
20 15 (8.15%) Python
20 15 (8.15%) SQL
21 14 (7.61%) Bash

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 (7.07%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (2.17%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
3 1 (0.54%) IIS
3 1 (0.54%) OpenStack
Applications
1 6 (3.26%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.09%) AutoCAD
2 2 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (1.09%) Spreadsheet
2 2 (1.09%) Trello
Business Applications
1 4 (2.17%) Dynamics NAV
1 4 (2.17%) Oracle EBS R12
2 3 (1.63%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.09%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (1.09%) SAP Business One
3 2 (1.09%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 22 (11.96%) AWS
1 22 (11.96%) Azure
2 18 (9.78%) Microsoft 365
3 7 (3.80%) Entra ID
4 6 (3.26%) Power Platform
5 5 (2.72%) Amazon EC2
5 5 (2.72%) Dynamics 365
5 5 (2.72%) Power Automate
5 5 (2.72%) SaaS
6 3 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
6 3 (1.63%) Mimecast
6 3 (1.63%) PowerApps
7 2 (1.09%) OCI
8 1 (0.54%) Canva
8 1 (0.54%) GCP
8 1 (0.54%) Serverless
8 1 (0.54%) Slack
8 1 (0.54%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 10 (5.43%) Firewall
2 8 (4.35%) DNS
3 7 (3.80%) Network Security
4 5 (2.72%) VPN
5 4 (2.17%) Asterisk PBX
5 4 (2.17%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.17%) LAN
5 4 (2.17%) SAN
5 4 (2.17%) TCP/IP
5 4 (2.17%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.63%) Cisco ISE
6 3 (1.63%) DHCP
6 3 (1.63%) Multicast
6 3 (1.63%) Wireless
7 2 (1.09%) HTTP
7 2 (1.09%) Internet
8 1 (0.54%) Intranet
8 1 (0.54%) RTP
8 1 (0.54%) SSL
8 1 (0.54%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.26%) SQL Server
2 3 (1.63%) PostgreSQL
2 3 (1.63%) Power BI
3 2 (1.09%) Crystal Reports
3 2 (1.09%) SAP HANA
3 2 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.54%) MySQL
4 1 (0.54%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 7 (3.80%) GitLab
1 7 (3.80%) JIRA
2 2 (1.09%) TeamCity
3 1 (0.54%) Git
General
1 75 (40.76%) Finance
2 36 (19.57%) Social Skills
3 11 (5.98%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (5.98%) Public Sector
4 7 (3.80%) General Ledger
5 6 (3.26%) Banking
5 6 (3.26%) Manufacturing
5 6 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
6 5 (2.72%) Law
6 5 (2.72%) Retail
7 3 (1.63%) Automotive
8 2 (1.09%) Local Government
8 2 (1.09%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.54%) Back Office
9 1 (0.54%) Greek Language
9 1 (0.54%) Italian Language
9 1 (0.54%) Mandarin Language
9 1 (0.54%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.72%) XML
2 3 (1.63%) LDAP
2 3 (1.63%) XMPP
3 2 (1.09%) .NET
3 2 (1.09%) JSON
4 1 (0.54%) FreeSWITCH
4 1 (0.54%) libvirt
4 1 (0.54%) Lightning Web Components
4 1 (0.54%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (0.54%) TAPI
4 1 (0.54%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 49 (26.63%) e-Learning
2 6 (3.26%) Data Centre
2 6 (3.26%) Hybrid Cloud
2 6 (3.26%) Management Information System
3 5 (2.72%) Driving Licence
3 5 (2.72%) PKI
3 5 (2.72%) Virtual Team
4 4 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (1.63%) FMCG
5 3 (1.63%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.09%) Learning Management System
6 2 (1.09%) Public Cloud
7 1 (0.54%) Cloud Native
7 1 (0.54%) Enterprise Storage
7 1 (0.54%) IoT
7 1 (0.54%) iSeries
7 1 (0.54%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.54%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.54%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 84 (45.65%) Linux
2 44 (23.91%) Windows
3 27 (14.67%) Unix
4 19 (10.33%) Windows Server
5 17 (9.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 7 (3.80%) Windows 10
7 4 (2.17%) Debian
8 3 (1.63%) AIX
8 3 (1.63%) Ubuntu
9 2 (1.09%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 2 (1.09%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.54%) CentOS
10 1 (0.54%) Solaris
10 1 (0.54%) VMS
10 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (29.35%) High Availability
2 49 (26.63%) Innovative Thinking
3 31 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
4 18 (9.78%) ERP
5 15 (8.15%) Change Management
6 13 (7.07%) DevOps
6 13 (7.07%) Mentoring
7 11 (5.98%) Cybersecurity
7 11 (5.98%) ITIL
7 11 (5.98%) Migration
8 8 (4.35%) Change Control
8 8 (4.35%) Customer Service
8 8 (4.35%) Performance Tuning
9 7 (3.80%) Accounts Payable
9 7 (3.80%) Containerisation
9 7 (3.80%) Continuous Improvement
9 7 (3.80%) Data Analysis
9 7 (3.80%) Root Cause Analysis
9 7 (3.80%) Time Management
10 6 (3.26%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 15 (8.15%) Python
1 15 (8.15%) SQL
2 14 (7.61%) Bash
3 11 (5.98%) PowerShell
4 4 (2.17%) Shell Script
5 2 (1.09%) Korn
5 2 (1.09%) Perl
6 1 (0.54%) PHP
6 1 (0.54%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 59 (32.07%) Security Cleared
2 55 (29.89%) DV Cleared
3 54 (29.35%) Cisco Certification
4 50 (27.17%) SC Cleared
5 49 (26.63%) CCNP
6 30 (16.30%) CCNA
7 25 (13.59%) RHCSA
8 15 (8.15%) Degree
9 10 (5.43%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (4.89%) MCSE
11 5 (2.72%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 4 (2.17%) MCSA
13 3 (1.63%) MCP
14 2 (1.09%) AAT
14 2 (1.09%) Computer Science Degree
14 2 (1.09%) DBS Check
15 1 (0.54%) AWS Certification
15 1 (0.54%) Azure Certification
15 1 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
15 1 (0.54%) NVQ Level 4
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.35%) QA
2 3 (1.63%) PCI DSS
3 2 (1.09%) Data Quality
3 2 (1.09%) SLA
4 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 28 (15.22%) Active Directory
2 24 (13.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (3.26%) vSphere
4 4 (2.17%) Hyper-V
4 4 (2.17%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.63%) Docker
5 3 (1.63%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (1.09%) KVM
7 1 (0.54%) Corosync
7 1 (0.54%) Kamailio
7 1 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 10 (5.43%) Ansible
2 7 (3.80%) Microsoft Intune
3 6 (3.26%) Terraform
4 4 (2.17%) Kubernetes
5 3 (1.63%) Grafana
5 3 (1.63%) ZABBIX
6 2 (1.09%) Puppet
6 2 (1.09%) Red Hat Satellite
6 2 (1.09%) SCCM
7 1 (0.54%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.54%) Icinga
7 1 (0.54%) Nagios
7 1 (0.54%) Pacemaker
7 1 (0.54%) Podman
7 1 (0.54%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.54%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.54%) Salt
7 1 (0.54%) VxRail
Vendors
1 59 (32.07%) Cisco
2 39 (21.20%) VMware
3 28 (15.22%) Red Hat
4 26 (14.13%) Microsoft
5 9 (4.89%) Oracle
6 6 (3.26%) Salesforce
6 6 (3.26%) SAP
7 4 (2.17%) LogicMonitor
7 4 (2.17%) Okta
7 4 (2.17%) Zscaler
8 3 (1.63%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.63%) Citrix
8 3 (1.63%) IBM
8 3 (1.63%) Reuters
8 3 (1.63%) Sophos
8 3 (1.63%) Workday
9 1 (0.54%) HP
9 1 (0.54%) Kronos
9 1 (0.54%) Rapid7
9 1 (0.54%) Sage