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 13 May 2026.

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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 409 447 424
Rank change year-on-year +38 -23 +113
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 335 223 543
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.51% 0.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.57% 0.60%
Number of salaries quoted 248 176 441
10th Percentile £29,750 £27,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,750 £33,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £40,400
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +23.76% -15.83%
75th Percentile £63,750 £57,500 £51,250
90th Percentile £70,000 £71,875 £59,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £50,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -20.00% +25.00% -

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 83,861 38,850 91,176
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.26% 89.47% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 55,212 22,832 66,939
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,670 £52,686
Median % change year-on-year -4.63% +9.46% -12.19%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%

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 13 May 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 13 May 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 +50 310 £45,000 -10.00% 55
UK excluding London -2 238 £40,000 -20.00% 55
London +26 86 £65,000 +18.18% 8
Midlands +31 73 £32,500 - 8
Work from Home +17 64 £52,500 +5.00% 16
East Midlands +23 49 £32,500 -3.70% 7
South East -9 41 £57,500 +17.35% 13
North of England -16 40 £42,500 +0.87% 10
East of England +7 37 £44,500 -22.61% 14
South West -76 29 £39,250 -21.50% 7
West Midlands -3 24 £45,000 +38.46% 1
Yorkshire -46 24 £45,000 -14.29% 4
Scotland +13 18 £26,000 -48.00% 2
North West -9 13 £36,500 -7.01% 6
North East - 3 £47,500 -

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

For the 6 months to 13 May 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 80 (23.88%) Linux
2 65 (19.40%) Microsoft
3 57 (17.01%) Problem-Solving
4 53 (15.82%) DevOps
5 46 (13.73%) Microsoft 365
6 45 (13.43%) Azure
7 44 (13.13%) SQL
8 41 (12.24%) Windows
9 39 (11.64%) Red Hat
10 37 (11.04%) Active Directory
11 33 (9.85%) Bash
12 32 (9.55%) VMware
13 31 (9.25%) Firewall
14 30 (8.96%) Security Cleared
15 29 (8.66%) Analytics
16 28 (8.36%) AWS
17 27 (8.06%) CI/CD
17 27 (8.06%) Python
18 26 (7.76%) Entra ID
18 26 (7.76%) Process Improvement
19 25 (7.46%) iTrent
20 23 (6.87%) Continuous Improvement
21 22 (6.57%) Terraform
22 21 (6.27%) DV Cleared
22 21 (6.27%) ERP
22 21 (6.27%) VMware Infrastructure
23 20 (5.97%) Hyper-V
23 20 (5.97%) Infrastructure as Code
24 19 (5.67%) Ansible
24 19 (5.67%) DNS

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 19 (5.67%) Microsoft Exchange
2 17 (5.07%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.19%) WordPress
4 3 (0.90%) Apache
4 3 (0.90%) CMS
5 2 (0.60%) Confluence
5 2 (0.60%) nginx
5 2 (0.60%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.30%) Site Server
Applications
1 10 (2.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (7.46%) iTrent
2 4 (1.19%) Primavera
3 3 (0.90%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.60%) Shopify
4 2 (0.60%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.30%) HFM
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle 11i
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.30%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 46 (13.73%) Microsoft 365
2 45 (13.43%) Azure
3 28 (8.36%) AWS
4 26 (7.76%) Entra ID
5 16 (4.78%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 16 (4.78%) Power Platform
6 11 (3.28%) Power Automate
7 10 (2.99%) PowerApps
8 9 (2.69%) GCP
9 8 (2.39%) Amazon EKS
9 8 (2.39%) Azure Logic Apps
9 8 (2.39%) GitHub
9 8 (2.39%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (2.09%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.49%) Amazon ECR
11 5 (1.49%) Amazon ECS
11 5 (1.49%) Dynamics 365
11 5 (1.49%) SaaS
12 3 (0.90%) Amazon EC2
12 3 (0.90%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 31 (9.25%) Firewall
2 19 (5.67%) DNS
3 15 (4.48%) LAN
4 13 (3.88%) VPN
5 11 (3.28%) TCP/IP
6 10 (2.99%) HTTP
7 8 (2.39%) Network Security
7 8 (2.39%) SAN
8 6 (1.79%) Internet
8 6 (1.79%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (1.49%) WAN
10 3 (0.90%) NAS
10 3 (0.90%) SSH
10 3 (0.90%) VLAN
10 3 (0.90%) Wireless
11 2 (0.60%) Multicast
11 2 (0.60%) VoIP
12 1 (0.30%) DHCP
12 1 (0.30%) DKIM
12 1 (0.30%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.99%) MySQL
2 6 (1.79%) Power BI
3 5 (1.49%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.60%) GIS
5 2 (0.60%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.60%) SQL Server
6 1 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database 12c
6 1 (0.30%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 13 (3.88%) Git
2 10 (2.99%) GitLab
3 5 (1.49%) JIRA
4 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
General
1 60 (17.91%) Finance
2 49 (14.63%) Social Skills
3 29 (8.66%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (5.97%) Banking
5 13 (3.88%) Manufacturing
5 13 (3.88%) Retail
6 11 (3.28%) Law
7 8 (2.39%) Legal
8 7 (2.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 7 (2.09%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (0.90%) Billing
9 3 (0.90%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.90%) Public Sector
10 2 (0.60%) Games
10 2 (0.60%) Military
11 1 (0.30%) Local Government
11 1 (0.30%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.99%) WebSockets
2 4 (1.19%) Middleware
3 3 (0.90%) LAMP
4 2 (0.60%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.60%) Node.js
5 1 (0.30%) HTML
5 1 (0.30%) ODBC
5 1 (0.30%) OpenID
5 1 (0.30%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 12 (3.58%) Clustering
1 12 (3.58%) Data Centre
2 11 (3.28%) Data Structures
3 9 (2.69%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (2.69%) Management Information System
4 8 (2.39%) Private Cloud
5 4 (1.19%) FMCG
5 4 (1.19%) Replication
6 2 (0.60%) Onboarding
6 2 (0.60%) Operational Technology
6 2 (0.60%) Security Posture
6 2 (0.60%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (0.30%) Distributed Computing
7 1 (0.30%) Driving Licence
7 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (0.30%) iSeries
7 1 (0.30%) Learning Management System
7 1 (0.30%) Legacy Applications
7 1 (0.30%) Life Science
7 1 (0.30%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 80 (23.88%) Linux
2 41 (12.24%) Windows
3 19 (5.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 16 (4.78%) Windows Server
5 15 (4.48%) Mac OS
6 14 (4.18%) Android
6 14 (4.18%) Apple iOS
7 11 (3.28%) CentOS
8 8 (2.39%) Ubuntu
9 4 (1.19%) Rocky
9 4 (1.19%) Unix
10 3 (0.90%) Debian
11 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (17.01%) Problem-Solving
2 53 (15.82%) DevOps
3 29 (8.66%) Analytics
4 27 (8.06%) CI/CD
5 26 (7.76%) Process Improvement
6 23 (6.87%) Continuous Improvement
7 21 (6.27%) ERP
8 20 (5.97%) Infrastructure as Code
9 18 (5.37%) Configuration Management
10 17 (5.07%) Vulnerability Management
11 14 (4.18%) Service Delivery
12 13 (3.88%) High Availability
13 12 (3.58%) Disaster Recovery
13 12 (3.58%) Release Management
14 11 (3.28%) Change Control
14 11 (3.28%) Customer-Centricity
14 11 (3.28%) Cybersecurity
14 11 (3.28%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 11 (3.28%) Patch Management
15 10 (2.99%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 44 (13.13%) SQL
2 33 (9.85%) Bash
3 27 (8.06%) Python
4 8 (2.39%) Go
5 7 (2.09%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.90%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.90%) PHP
6 3 (0.90%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.60%) VBA
8 1 (0.30%) Perl
8 1 (0.30%) R
8 1 (0.30%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (8.96%) Security Cleared
2 21 (6.27%) DV Cleared
3 15 (4.48%) CIPD
4 14 (4.18%) SC Cleared
5 11 (3.28%) RHCSA
6 8 (2.39%) AWS Certification
7 7 (2.09%) Degree
8 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (0.90%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.30%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.30%) CCNA
10 1 (0.30%) CCNP
10 1 (0.30%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.30%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.30%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.30%) Linux+ Certification
10 1 (0.30%) MCSE
10 1 (0.30%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (5.37%) GDPR
2 15 (4.48%) QA
3 9 (2.69%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.30%) SOC 2
System Software
1 37 (11.04%) Active Directory
2 21 (6.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (5.97%) Hyper-V
4 12 (3.58%) Docker
5 3 (0.90%) Firmware
5 3 (0.90%) iptables
6 2 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.30%) KVM
Systems Management
1 22 (6.57%) Terraform
2 19 (5.67%) Ansible
3 18 (5.37%) Kubernetes
3 18 (5.37%) Nagios
4 16 (4.78%) Grafana
4 16 (4.78%) Nessus
5 15 (4.48%) Microsoft Intune
6 13 (3.88%) Proxmox
7 12 (3.58%) Prometheus
8 6 (1.79%) Puppet
9 3 (0.90%) systemd
9 3 (0.90%) WSUS
10 2 (0.60%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.60%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.60%) SCCM
11 1 (0.30%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
11 1 (0.30%) Podman
11 1 (0.30%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.30%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 65 (19.40%) Microsoft
2 39 (11.64%) Red Hat
3 32 (9.55%) VMware
4 13 (3.88%) SolarWinds
5 9 (2.69%) Veeam
6 7 (2.09%) SonicWALL
7 6 (1.79%) ServiceNow
7 6 (1.79%) Splunk
8 5 (1.49%) Cisco
8 5 (1.49%) Rapid7
9 4 (1.19%) Meraki
9 4 (1.19%) Salesforce
10 3 (0.90%) Dell
10 3 (0.90%) Palo Alto
10 3 (0.90%) Sage
11 2 (0.60%) Atlassian
11 2 (0.60%) CrowdStrike
11 2 (0.60%) Oracle
11 2 (0.60%) SAP
11 2 (0.60%) Workday