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 October 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 375 483 358
Rank change year-on-year +108 -125 +56
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 543 190 495
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.39% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.43% 0.73%
Number of salaries quoted 327 103 341
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,350 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £30,000 £35,520
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - -10.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £58,125 £57,500 £53,818
90th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £70,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,200 £45,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year -10.67% - +9.44%

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 109,503 44,040 68,088
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.55% 89.76% 95.37%
Number of salaries quoted 74,366 25,685 38,800
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,000 £35,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,750 £53,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.81% -2.73% -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -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 13 October 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 13 October 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 +74 469 £45,000 - 124
UK excluding London +77 420 £40,200 -10.67% 62
London +8 105 £56,000 +1.82% 59
South East +28 94 £45,000 - 17
Work from Home -45 85 £55,000 +25.71% 34
South West -63 81 £35,000 -22.22% 15
North of England +5 76 £45,000 +2.86% 13
Midlands -1 69 £45,000 +26.76% 10
Scotland - 52 £43,500 - 1
Yorkshire +3 40 £45,000 +5.88% 8
West Midlands -4 40 £50,000 +17.65% 10
East of England -12 40 £40,000 -11.11% 3
North West -8 29 £40,000 -11.11% 5
East Midlands -17 29 £40,000 +33.33%
Wales -65 8 £50,000 - 3
North East - 7 £39,250 -

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

For the 6 months to 13 October 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.

1 100 (18.42%) Microsoft
2 97 (17.86%) Linux
3 79 (14.55%) Windows
4 70 (12.89%) Active Directory
5 62 (11.42%) DevOps
6 61 (11.23%) Entra ID
7 60 (11.05%) Azure
7 60 (11.05%) Microsoft 365
8 56 (10.31%) Problem-Solving
9 49 (9.02%) Windows Server
10 48 (8.84%) Firewall
11 46 (8.47%) Ansible
11 46 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
12 45 (8.29%) CI/CD
13 43 (7.92%) Bash
14 42 (7.73%) Security Cleared
15 40 (7.37%) DNS
16 39 (7.18%) AWS
16 39 (7.18%) Microsoft Exchange
16 39 (7.18%) Python
16 39 (7.18%) Red Hat
17 36 (6.63%) SaaS
18 35 (6.45%) SQL
19 34 (6.26%) Kubernetes
20 32 (5.89%) Vulnerability Management
21 31 (5.71%) DV Cleared
22 30 (5.52%) Hyper-V
22 30 (5.52%) SharePoint
22 30 (5.52%) Terraform
22 30 (5.52%) VPN

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 (7.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (5.52%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.47%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.74%) IIS
5 1 (0.18%) Apache
5 1 (0.18%) Confluence
5 1 (0.18%) JBoss
5 1 (0.18%) Moodle
5 1 (0.18%) nginx
Applications
1 19 (3.50%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (1.66%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (4.60%) Primavera
2 4 (0.74%) Infor CloudSuite
3 2 (0.37%) Dynamics NAV
3 2 (0.37%) iTrent
4 1 (0.18%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.18%) Shopify
4 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 61 (11.23%) Entra ID
2 60 (11.05%) Azure
2 60 (11.05%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (7.18%) AWS
4 36 (6.63%) SaaS
5 28 (5.16%) OpenShift
6 22 (4.05%) Power Platform
7 21 (3.87%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 21 (3.87%) Power Automate
8 13 (2.39%) GitHub
8 13 (2.39%) PaaS
8 13 (2.39%) PowerApps
9 11 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (2.03%) Mimecast
10 10 (1.84%) GCP
11 9 (1.66%) Amazon ECR
11 9 (1.66%) Amazon ECS
11 9 (1.66%) Azure Logic Apps
11 9 (1.66%) Intacct
12 8 (1.47%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 48 (8.84%) Firewall
2 40 (7.37%) DNS
3 30 (5.52%) VPN
4 24 (4.42%) TCP/IP
5 23 (4.24%) DHCP
6 12 (2.21%) LAN
7 7 (1.29%) SAN
7 7 (1.29%) WAN
7 7 (1.29%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (1.10%) Network Security
9 5 (0.92%) HTTP
10 4 (0.74%) Internet
10 4 (0.74%) VLAN
10 4 (0.74%) VSAN
11 3 (0.55%) Wireless
12 2 (0.37%) Fibre Channel
12 2 (0.37%) Unified Communications
13 1 (0.18%) iSCSI
13 1 (0.18%) MPLS
13 1 (0.18%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.21%) MySQL
2 11 (2.03%) Big Data
2 11 (2.03%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.47%) Power BI
4 3 (0.55%) GIS
5 1 (0.18%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.18%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 25 (4.60%) Git
2 16 (2.95%) GitLab
3 7 (1.29%) JIRA
4 2 (0.37%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.18%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.18%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.18%) Selenium
5 1 (0.18%) TeamCity
General
1 76 (14.00%) Social Skills
2 73 (13.44%) Finance
3 35 (6.45%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (4.79%) Manufacturing
4 26 (4.79%) Retail
5 16 (2.95%) Banking
6 14 (2.58%) Billing
7 11 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (1.66%) Legal
9 8 (1.47%) Automotive
9 8 (1.47%) Law
10 6 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (0.92%) Police
12 4 (0.74%) Public Sector
13 3 (0.55%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.55%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.55%) Games
14 2 (0.37%) German Language
14 2 (0.37%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (5.52%) Terraform
2 5 (0.92%) Middleware
2 5 (0.92%) WebSockets
3 3 (0.55%) Boost C++ Libraries
4 2 (0.37%) OpenID
5 1 (0.18%) CSS
5 1 (0.18%) CSS3
5 1 (0.18%) HTML
5 1 (0.18%) HTML5
5 1 (0.18%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.18%) OAuth
5 1 (0.18%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.18%) OpenTofu
5 1 (0.18%) React
5 1 (0.18%) Redfish
5 1 (0.18%) SAML
5 1 (0.18%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 22 (4.05%) Data Structures
2 14 (2.58%) Clustering
2 14 (2.58%) Onboarding
2 14 (2.58%) Operational Technology
2 14 (2.58%) Social Media
3 12 (2.21%) Private Cloud
4 11 (2.03%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (1.66%) Management Information System
6 8 (1.47%) Data Centre
7 7 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (0.92%) Housing Association
8 5 (0.92%) Learning Management System
8 5 (0.92%) PMI
9 3 (0.55%) Embedded Systems
9 3 (0.55%) IoT
9 3 (0.55%) Life Science
9 3 (0.55%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (0.55%) Security Posture
10 2 (0.37%) Educational Technology
10 2 (0.37%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 97 (17.86%) Linux
2 79 (14.55%) Windows
3 49 (9.02%) Windows Server
4 26 (4.79%) macOS
5 23 (4.24%) Apple iOS
5 23 (4.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 20 (3.68%) Android
7 17 (3.13%) CentOS
8 10 (1.84%) Rocky
8 10 (1.84%) Ubuntu
8 10 (1.84%) Unix
9 8 (1.47%) Debian
10 6 (1.10%) Windows 10
11 4 (0.74%) CoreOS
11 4 (0.74%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (11.42%) DevOps
2 56 (10.31%) Problem-Solving
3 46 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
4 45 (8.29%) CI/CD
5 32 (5.89%) Vulnerability Management
6 28 (5.16%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 26 (4.79%) ERP
8 21 (3.87%) Customer Experience
9 20 (3.68%) ITIL
10 19 (3.50%) Analytics
10 19 (3.50%) Change Management
10 19 (3.50%) Configuration Management
10 19 (3.50%) Infrastructure as Code
10 19 (3.50%) Release Management
10 19 (3.50%) Time Management
11 17 (3.13%) AI
11 17 (3.13%) Change Control
11 17 (3.13%) Identity Management
12 16 (2.95%) Capacity Planning
12 16 (2.95%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 43 (7.92%) Bash
2 39 (7.18%) Python
3 35 (6.45%) SQL
4 26 (4.79%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.47%) Go
6 6 (1.10%) R
6 6 (1.10%) Shell Script
7 4 (0.74%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.55%) C
8 3 (0.55%) C++
8 3 (0.55%) PHP
8 3 (0.55%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 42 (7.73%) Security Cleared
2 31 (5.71%) DV Cleared
3 25 (4.60%) SC Cleared
4 15 (2.76%) Degree
5 9 (1.66%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.29%) DBS Check
7 5 (0.92%) CIPD
7 5 (0.92%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.92%) RHCSA
8 3 (0.55%) HND
9 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.18%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.18%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.60%) QA
2 16 (2.95%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.74%) GDPR
5 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
System Software
1 70 (12.89%) Active Directory
2 30 (5.52%) Hyper-V
3 23 (4.24%) Docker
4 16 (2.95%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.29%) Ceph
7 6 (1.10%) vSphere
8 5 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.55%) iptables
10 2 (0.37%) Firmware
11 1 (0.18%) NFS
11 1 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.18%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.18%) Xen
11 1 (0.18%) XenApp
11 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 46 (8.47%) Ansible
2 34 (6.26%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.05%) Grafana
4 20 (3.68%) Prometheus
5 19 (3.50%) Nessus
6 18 (3.31%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (2.76%) Nagios
8 13 (2.39%) Proxmox
9 9 (1.66%) Argo
10 8 (1.47%) Podman
11 7 (1.29%) Check_MK
11 7 (1.29%) Istio
12 4 (0.74%) McAfee ePO
12 4 (0.74%) Puppet
12 4 (0.74%) SCCM
12 4 (0.74%) SCVMM
13 3 (0.55%) Failover Clustering
13 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Clustering
14 2 (0.37%) FortiGate
14 2 (0.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 100 (18.42%) Microsoft
2 39 (7.18%) Red Hat
3 26 (4.79%) VMware
4 19 (3.50%) Salesforce
5 10 (1.84%) Sage
5 10 (1.84%) Splunk
6 9 (1.66%) Rapid7
7 8 (1.47%) Dell
7 8 (1.47%) SAP
8 7 (1.29%) CrowdStrike
9 5 (0.92%) Concur
9 5 (0.92%) Databricks
9 5 (0.92%) Google
9 5 (0.92%) SolarWinds
9 5 (0.92%) SonicWALL
9 5 (0.92%) Veeam
10 4 (0.74%) Cisco
10 4 (0.74%) Infor
10 4 (0.74%) McAfee
11 3 (0.55%) NetApp