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 21 February 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 470 377 433
Rank change year-on-year -93 +56 +96
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 213 323 423
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.67% 0.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.34% 0.73% 0.59%
Number of salaries quoted 161 203 362
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,225 £27,300
25th Percentile £31,250 £45,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £41,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +20.48% -15.74%
75th Percentile £61,250 £64,375 £51,250
90th Percentile £68,750 £83,250 £62,300
UK excluding London median annual salary £37,500 £50,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -25.00% +25.00% -8.48%

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 62,841 44,387 71,420
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.32% 91.47% 94.80%
Number of salaries quoted 39,642 23,421 55,777
10th Percentile £29,000 £32,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £39,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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 21 February 2026.

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 21 February 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 -51 202 £45,000 -10.00% 83
UK excluding London -58 149 £37,500 -25.00% 75
London +5 55 £57,500 -20.69% 24
Midlands +21 51 £32,500 -25.71% 13
Work from Home -25 34 £52,500 -4.55% 38
East Midlands -11 33 £32,500 -18.75% 3
South East -25 32 £52,500 +7.14% 26
South West -55 31 £45,000 -10.00% 6
West Midlands +10 18 £32,119 -28.62% 10
North of England -38 18 £45,000 +6.34% 13
East of England +6 14 £60,000 +35.59% 10
Yorkshire -30 10 £45,000 +33.33% 9
North West -10 8 £45,000 +5.88% 3
Scotland -11 3 £26,000 -45.26% 7

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

For the 6 months to 21 February 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 58 (27.23%) Problem-Solving
2 53 (24.88%) Linux
3 31 (14.55%) Windows
4 29 (13.62%) Security Cleared
5 25 (11.74%) DV Cleared
6 24 (11.27%) Azure
6 24 (11.27%) VMware
7 23 (10.80%) iTrent
7 23 (10.80%) Microsoft
8 21 (9.86%) DevOps
9 19 (8.92%) Active Directory
9 19 (8.92%) ERP
9 19 (8.92%) Firewall
10 18 (8.45%) Analytics
11 17 (7.98%) Cisco
11 17 (7.98%) Microsoft 365
11 17 (7.98%) SQL
12 16 (7.51%) Bash
12 16 (7.51%) GDPR
12 16 (7.51%) Process Improvement
12 16 (7.51%) Python
13 15 (7.04%) AWS
13 15 (7.04%) Red Hat
13 15 (7.04%) SC Cleared
14 14 (6.57%) Ansible
15 13 (6.10%) CIPD
15 13 (6.10%) Unix
15 13 (6.10%) VMware Infrastructure
16 12 (5.63%) Change Management
16 12 (5.63%) Infrastructure as Code

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 6 (2.82%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (2.35%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.41%) Apache
3 3 (1.41%) CMS
3 3 (1.41%) WordPress
4 1 (0.47%) Confluence
4 1 (0.47%) Site Server
Applications
1 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 23 (10.80%) iTrent
2 4 (1.88%) Oracle EBS
2 4 (1.88%) Oracle EBS R12
3 2 (0.94%) SAP Business One
3 2 (0.94%) Shopify
3 2 (0.94%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.47%) Oracle 11i
4 1 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.47%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 24 (11.27%) Azure
2 17 (7.98%) Microsoft 365
3 15 (7.04%) AWS
4 7 (3.29%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 6 (2.82%) Amazon EKS
5 6 (2.82%) GitHub
5 6 (2.82%) GitHub Actions
5 6 (2.82%) Power Platform
5 6 (2.82%) SaaS
6 5 (2.35%) Dynamics 365
6 5 (2.35%) Entra ID
7 4 (1.88%) Mimecast
7 4 (1.88%) Power Automate
8 3 (1.41%) GCP
8 3 (1.41%) PowerApps
8 3 (1.41%) Veeva
9 2 (0.94%) OCI
10 1 (0.47%) Amazon ECR
10 1 (0.47%) Nutanix
10 1 (0.47%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 19 (8.92%) Firewall
2 11 (5.16%) VPN
3 9 (4.23%) Network Security
4 7 (3.29%) LAN
5 6 (2.82%) DNS
5 6 (2.82%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.35%) HTTP
7 4 (1.88%) Cisco IOS
7 4 (1.88%) WAN
8 3 (1.41%) Cisco ISE
9 2 (0.94%) Internet
9 2 (0.94%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.47%) Intranet
10 1 (0.47%) iSCSI
10 1 (0.47%) NAS
10 1 (0.47%) SAN
10 1 (0.47%) Unified Communications
10 1 (0.47%) VLAN
10 1 (0.47%) VoIP
10 1 (0.47%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.82%) Power BI
1 6 (2.82%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.94%) Crystal Reports
3 1 (0.47%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.47%) Elasticsearch
3 1 (0.47%) MySQL
3 1 (0.47%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.47%) Oracle Database 12c
3 1 (0.47%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.47%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.47%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.47%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 6 (2.82%) JIRA
2 4 (1.88%) Git
3 1 (0.47%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.47%) GitLab
General
1 36 (16.90%) Social Skills
2 32 (15.02%) Finance
3 19 (8.92%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (5.16%) Organisational Skills
5 9 (4.23%) Retail
6 7 (3.29%) General Ledger
7 6 (2.82%) Law
7 6 (2.82%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.88%) Banking
9 3 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.94%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (0.94%) Military
11 1 (0.47%) Back Office
11 1 (0.47%) Greek Language
11 1 (0.47%) Italian Language
11 1 (0.47%) Mandarin Language
11 1 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.47%) Spanish Language
11 1 (0.47%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.41%) LAMP
1 3 (1.41%) Middleware
1 3 (1.41%) WebSockets
2 2 (0.94%) JSON
2 2 (0.94%) XML
3 1 (0.47%) HTML
3 1 (0.47%) Lightning Web Components
3 1 (0.47%) ODBC
3 1 (0.47%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 9 (4.23%) e-Learning
1 9 (4.23%) Management Information System
2 7 (3.29%) Hybrid Cloud
3 6 (2.82%) FMCG
3 6 (2.82%) Private Cloud
4 5 (2.35%) PKI
5 4 (1.88%) Learning Management System
6 3 (1.41%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.41%) Driving Licence
6 3 (1.41%) iSeries
7 2 (0.94%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.47%) Cloud Native
8 1 (0.47%) Clustering
8 1 (0.47%) Legacy Applications
8 1 (0.47%) Life Science
8 1 (0.47%) Onboarding
8 1 (0.47%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.47%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.47%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 53 (24.88%) Linux
2 31 (14.55%) Windows
3 13 (6.10%) Unix
4 11 (5.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 10 (4.69%) Windows Server
6 5 (2.35%) CentOS
7 4 (1.88%) Android
7 4 (1.88%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.88%) Mac OS
8 3 (1.41%) Debian
9 2 (0.94%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.94%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.47%) AIX
10 1 (0.47%) Solaris
10 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (27.23%) Problem-Solving
2 21 (9.86%) DevOps
3 19 (8.92%) ERP
4 18 (8.45%) Analytics
5 16 (7.51%) Process Improvement
6 12 (5.63%) Change Management
6 12 (5.63%) Infrastructure as Code
6 12 (5.63%) ITIL
7 11 (5.16%) High Availability
8 10 (4.69%) Time Management
9 9 (4.23%) Innovative Thinking
9 9 (4.23%) Service Management
10 8 (3.76%) CI/CD
10 8 (3.76%) Configuration Management
10 8 (3.76%) Continuous Improvement
10 8 (3.76%) Service Delivery
11 7 (3.29%) Accounts Payable
11 7 (3.29%) Data Analysis
11 7 (3.29%) E-Commerce
11 7 (3.29%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.98%) SQL
2 16 (7.51%) Bash
2 16 (7.51%) Python
3 6 (2.82%) Go
4 5 (2.35%) PHP
4 5 (2.35%) PowerShell
5 3 (1.41%) Perl
6 2 (0.94%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.47%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.47%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 29 (13.62%) Security Cleared
2 25 (11.74%) DV Cleared
3 15 (7.04%) SC Cleared
4 13 (6.10%) CIPD
5 10 (4.69%) CCNP
5 10 (4.69%) Cisco Certification
6 8 (3.76%) CCNA
6 8 (3.76%) Degree
7 7 (3.29%) AWS Certification
7 7 (3.29%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (2.35%) RHCSA
9 4 (1.88%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.88%) MCSA
9 4 (1.88%) MCSE
10 3 (1.41%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.47%) A+ Certification
11 1 (0.47%) ACCA
11 1 (0.47%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (0.47%) CIMA
11 1 (0.47%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (7.51%) GDPR
2 3 (1.41%) QA
3 1 (0.47%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 1 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 19 (8.92%) Active Directory
2 13 (6.10%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.88%) Docker
3 4 (1.88%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.94%) Firmware
5 1 (0.47%) KVM
5 1 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 14 (6.57%) Ansible
2 12 (5.63%) Terraform
3 10 (4.69%) Kubernetes
4 7 (3.29%) Grafana
4 7 (3.29%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (3.29%) Nessus
5 6 (2.82%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.82%) Proxmox
6 4 (1.88%) Nagios
6 4 (1.88%) Puppet
7 3 (1.41%) WSUS
8 2 (0.94%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.47%) Podman
9 1 (0.47%) SCCM
Vendors
1 24 (11.27%) VMware
2 23 (10.80%) Microsoft
3 17 (7.98%) Cisco
4 15 (7.04%) Red Hat
5 7 (3.29%) Oracle
6 5 (2.35%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.88%) LogicMonitor
7 4 (1.88%) Okta
7 4 (1.88%) SolarWinds
7 4 (1.88%) Zscaler
8 3 (1.41%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.41%) IBM
8 3 (1.41%) Reuters
8 3 (1.41%) Salesforce
8 3 (1.41%) SAP
8 3 (1.41%) Sophos
9 2 (0.94%) Dell
9 2 (0.94%) Rapid7
9 2 (0.94%) Veeam
9 2 (0.94%) Workday