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 6 April 2026.

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

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 446 428 422
Rank change year-on-year -18 -6 +93
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 276 217 505
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.34% 0.53% 0.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.37% 0.59% 0.59%
Number of salaries quoted 222 183 411
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,050 £28,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £42,500 £31,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +25.00% -15.79%
75th Percentile £63,125 £57,500 £50,000
90th Percentile £70,000 £76,250 £59,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £50,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -20.00% +25.00% -1.23%

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 75,427 36,820 85,883
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.34% 89.83% 94.54%
Number of salaries quoted 48,455 23,325 64,410
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +10.09% -9.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £72,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -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 6 April 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 6 April 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 +8 265 £45,000 -10.00% 77
UK excluding London -16 199 £40,000 -20.00% 74
London +24 69 £65,000 - 21
Midlands +25 65 £32,500 +1.56% 23
Work from Home -16 42 £52,500 +5.00% 34
South East -29 42 £52,500 +7.14% 16
East Midlands -8 41 £32,500 +1.56% 11
North of England -55 32 £36,500 -13.37% 18
East of England -14 29 £49,000 -18.33% 5
South West -73 27 £41,750 -16.50% 1
West Midlands +8 24 £41,250 +32.00% 12
Yorkshire -43 17 £35,000 -33.33% 10
North West -31 13 £36,500 -13.37% 3
Scotland -34 4 £26,000 -48.00% 11
North East - 2 £47,500 - 5

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

For the 6 months to 6 April 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 65 (23.55%) Linux
2 61 (22.10%) Problem-Solving
3 36 (13.04%) Microsoft
4 34 (12.32%) DevOps
5 33 (11.96%) Microsoft 365
6 32 (11.59%) Windows
7 30 (10.87%) SQL
8 29 (10.51%) Azure
9 28 (10.14%) VMware
10 26 (9.42%) Red Hat
11 25 (9.06%) Bash
11 25 (9.06%) Firewall
11 25 (9.06%) iTrent
12 24 (8.70%) Security Cleared
13 23 (8.33%) Active Directory
13 23 (8.33%) ERP
13 23 (8.33%) Python
14 22 (7.97%) DV Cleared
15 20 (7.25%) Analytics
15 20 (7.25%) AWS
15 20 (7.25%) Process Improvement
16 18 (6.52%) Ansible
16 18 (6.52%) GDPR
16 18 (6.52%) Terraform
17 17 (6.16%) Infrastructure as Code
18 16 (5.80%) VMware Infrastructure
19 15 (5.43%) CI/CD
19 15 (5.43%) CIPD
19 15 (5.43%) Configuration Management
20 14 (5.07%) Continuous Improvement

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 11 (3.99%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.54%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.45%) WordPress
4 3 (1.09%) Apache
4 3 (1.09%) CMS
5 2 (0.72%) nginx
5 2 (0.72%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.36%) Confluence
6 1 (0.36%) Site Server
Applications
1 6 (2.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.81%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (9.06%) iTrent
2 3 (1.09%) Elite 3E
3 2 (0.72%) SAP Business One
3 2 (0.72%) Shopify
3 2 (0.72%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.36%) Oracle 11i
4 1 (0.36%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.36%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 33 (11.96%) Microsoft 365
2 29 (10.51%) Azure
3 20 (7.25%) AWS
4 13 (4.71%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 9 (3.26%) Power Platform
6 8 (2.90%) Amazon EKS
6 8 (2.90%) Entra ID
6 8 (2.90%) GitHub
6 8 (2.90%) GitHub Actions
7 6 (2.17%) GCP
7 6 (2.17%) Mimecast
7 6 (2.17%) SaaS
8 5 (1.81%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (1.45%) Power Automate
10 3 (1.09%) Amazon ECR
10 3 (1.09%) Amazon ECS
10 3 (1.09%) Intacct
10 3 (1.09%) Nutanix
10 3 (1.09%) PowerApps
10 3 (1.09%) Veeva
Communications & Networking
1 25 (9.06%) Firewall
2 12 (4.35%) VPN
3 10 (3.62%) DNS
3 10 (3.62%) LAN
4 8 (2.90%) Network Security
4 8 (2.90%) TCP/IP
5 7 (2.54%) HTTP
6 5 (1.81%) SAN
6 5 (1.81%) WAN
7 4 (1.45%) Internet
7 4 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (1.09%) NAS
8 3 (1.09%) Wireless
9 2 (0.72%) Cisco IOS
9 2 (0.72%) Cisco ISE
9 2 (0.72%) Multicast
9 2 (0.72%) SSH
9 2 (0.72%) VLAN
9 2 (0.72%) VoIP
10 1 (0.36%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.26%) Power BI
2 7 (2.54%) MySQL
3 4 (1.45%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.09%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.72%) Crystal Reports
5 2 (0.72%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.36%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.36%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.36%) Oracle Database 12c
6 1 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.36%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 11 (3.99%) Git
2 6 (2.17%) JIRA
3 3 (1.09%) GitLab
4 1 (0.36%) Bitbucket
General
1 49 (17.75%) Social Skills
2 42 (15.22%) Finance
3 26 (9.42%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (4.35%) Retail
5 11 (3.99%) Banking
6 10 (3.62%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (3.26%) Law
7 9 (3.26%) Manufacturing
8 6 (2.17%) Legal
9 5 (1.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.45%) General Ledger
11 3 (1.09%) Billing
11 3 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.09%) Public Sector
12 2 (0.72%) Military
13 1 (0.36%) Back Office
13 1 (0.36%) Local Government
13 1 (0.36%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.36%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.81%) WebSockets
2 4 (1.45%) Middleware
3 3 (1.09%) LAMP
4 2 (0.72%) JSON
4 2 (0.72%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.72%) Node.js
4 2 (0.72%) XML
5 1 (0.36%) HTML
5 1 (0.36%) ODBC
5 1 (0.36%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 10 (3.62%) Management Information System
2 9 (3.26%) Hybrid Cloud
3 8 (2.90%) Private Cloud
4 7 (2.54%) Data Centre
5 6 (2.17%) Clustering
5 6 (2.17%) FMCG
6 4 (1.45%) Learning Management System
7 3 (1.09%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.09%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.09%) iSeries
7 3 (1.09%) Replication
8 2 (0.72%) Onboarding
8 2 (0.72%) PKI
9 1 (0.36%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.36%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.36%) Life Science
9 1 (0.36%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 65 (23.55%) Linux
2 32 (11.59%) Windows
3 13 (4.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 10 (3.62%) CentOS
4 10 (3.62%) Windows Server
5 6 (2.17%) Android
5 6 (2.17%) Apple iOS
5 6 (2.17%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.81%) Ubuntu
6 5 (1.81%) Unix
7 2 (0.72%) Debian
7 2 (0.72%) Rocky
7 2 (0.72%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.36%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (22.10%) Problem-Solving
2 34 (12.32%) DevOps
3 23 (8.33%) ERP
4 20 (7.25%) Analytics
4 20 (7.25%) Process Improvement
5 17 (6.16%) Infrastructure as Code
6 15 (5.43%) CI/CD
6 15 (5.43%) Configuration Management
7 14 (5.07%) Continuous Improvement
8 13 (4.71%) Service Delivery
9 10 (3.62%) Change Management
10 9 (3.26%) Business Intelligence
10 9 (3.26%) ITIL
10 9 (3.26%) Time Management
11 8 (2.90%) AI
11 8 (2.90%) Cloud Security
11 8 (2.90%) Infrastructure Automation
11 8 (2.90%) Observability
11 8 (2.90%) Service Management
12 7 (2.54%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 30 (10.87%) SQL
2 25 (9.06%) Bash
3 23 (8.33%) Python
4 8 (2.90%) Go
5 6 (2.17%) PowerShell
6 5 (1.81%) PHP
7 3 (1.09%) JavaScript
7 3 (1.09%) Perl
8 2 (0.72%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.72%) VBA
9 1 (0.36%) R
9 1 (0.36%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (8.70%) Security Cleared
2 22 (7.97%) DV Cleared
3 15 (5.43%) CIPD
4 8 (2.90%) AWS Certification
5 7 (2.54%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (2.17%) Degree
6 6 (2.17%) RHCSA
6 6 (2.17%) SC Cleared
7 3 (1.09%) Azure Certification
7 3 (1.09%) MCSA
7 3 (1.09%) MCSE
8 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.36%) A+ Certification
9 1 (0.36%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.36%) CCNA
9 1 (0.36%) CCNP
9 1 (0.36%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.36%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.36%) Linux+ Certification
9 1 (0.36%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (6.52%) GDPR
2 6 (2.17%) QA
3 2 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.36%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.36%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 23 (8.33%) Active Directory
2 16 (5.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (4.35%) Hyper-V
4 8 (2.90%) Docker
5 3 (1.09%) Firmware
6 2 (0.72%) iptables
7 1 (0.36%) KVM
7 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 18 (6.52%) Ansible
1 18 (6.52%) Terraform
2 14 (5.07%) Kubernetes
3 13 (4.71%) Grafana
3 13 (4.71%) Proxmox
4 11 (3.99%) Microsoft Intune
4 11 (3.99%) Nagios
4 11 (3.99%) Prometheus
5 9 (3.26%) Nessus
6 5 (1.81%) Puppet
7 3 (1.09%) WSUS
8 2 (0.72%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.72%) systemd
9 1 (0.36%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.36%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.36%) SCCM
9 1 (0.36%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 36 (13.04%) Microsoft
2 28 (10.14%) VMware
3 26 (9.42%) Red Hat
4 8 (2.90%) Cisco
4 8 (2.90%) SolarWinds
5 6 (2.17%) ServiceNow
5 6 (2.17%) Veeam
6 5 (1.81%) Salesforce
6 5 (1.81%) SAP
7 4 (1.45%) Meraki
7 4 (1.45%) SonicWALL
7 4 (1.45%) Splunk
8 3 (1.09%) Dell
8 3 (1.09%) IBM
8 3 (1.09%) Oracle
8 3 (1.09%) Palo Alto
8 3 (1.09%) Rapid7
8 3 (1.09%) Sage
9 2 (0.72%) Citrix
9 2 (0.72%) Reuters