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 30 March 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 455 432 439
Rank change year-on-year -23 +7 +96
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 263 216 487
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.34% 0.52% 0.54%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.36% 0.58% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 210 184 402
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,775
25th Percentile £31,250 £42,500 £31,438
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 £58,188 £50,000
90th Percentile £70,000 £76,250 £59,950
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £50,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -20.00% +25.00% -2.44%

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 72,225 37,083 84,557
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.12% 90.02% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 46,541 23,357 63,723
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,573
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,750
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 £79,045 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -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 30 March 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 30 March 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 -12 252 £45,000 -10.00% 77
UK excluding London -25 185 £40,000 -20.00% 74
London +30 70 £62,500 -5.66% 21
Midlands +26 61 £32,500 +0.78% 23
South East -26 40 £52,500 +7.14% 16
East Midlands -3 39 £32,500 +1.56% 11
Work from Home -19 35 £52,500 +5.00% 34
North of England -46 28 £35,000 -17.29% 18
East of England -12 26 £47,500 -20.83% 5
South West -72 26 £45,000 -10.00% 1
West Midlands +7 22 £41,250 +26.92% 12
Yorkshire -44 16 £35,000 -33.33% 10
North West -26 12 £36,500 -13.37% 3
Scotland -39 4 £26,000 -48.00% 11

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

For the 6 months to 30 March 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 61 (23.19%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (22.43%) Linux
3 32 (12.17%) DevOps
4 31 (11.79%) Microsoft
5 29 (11.03%) Microsoft 365
5 29 (11.03%) SQL
5 29 (11.03%) Windows
6 26 (9.89%) Azure
6 26 (9.89%) VMware
7 25 (9.51%) iTrent
8 24 (9.13%) ERP
8 24 (9.13%) Security Cleared
9 23 (8.75%) Firewall
9 23 (8.75%) Red Hat
10 22 (8.37%) Bash
10 22 (8.37%) DV Cleared
10 22 (8.37%) Python
11 20 (7.60%) Analytics
11 20 (7.60%) Process Improvement
12 19 (7.22%) Active Directory
13 18 (6.84%) GDPR
14 17 (6.46%) Ansible
14 17 (6.46%) AWS
15 15 (5.70%) CIPD
15 15 (5.70%) Terraform
15 15 (5.70%) VMware Infrastructure
16 14 (5.32%) CI/CD
16 14 (5.32%) Configuration Management
16 14 (5.32%) Infrastructure as Code
17 13 (4.94%) Kubernetes

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 10 (3.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.66%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.52%) WordPress
4 3 (1.14%) Apache
4 3 (1.14%) CMS
5 2 (0.76%) nginx
5 2 (0.76%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.38%) Confluence
6 1 (0.38%) Site Server
Applications
1 5 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.52%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 25 (9.51%) iTrent
2 2 (0.76%) Elite 3E
2 2 (0.76%) SAP Business One
2 2 (0.76%) Shopify
2 2 (0.76%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.38%) Oracle 11i
3 1 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.38%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.38%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 29 (11.03%) Microsoft 365
2 26 (9.89%) Azure
3 17 (6.46%) AWS
4 10 (3.80%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 8 (3.04%) Power Platform
6 7 (2.66%) Amazon EKS
6 7 (2.66%) GitHub
6 7 (2.66%) GitHub Actions
6 7 (2.66%) SaaS
7 6 (2.28%) Entra ID
7 6 (2.28%) GCP
7 6 (2.28%) Mimecast
8 5 (1.90%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (1.52%) Power Automate
10 3 (1.14%) Amazon ECR
10 3 (1.14%) Amazon ECS
10 3 (1.14%) Intacct
10 3 (1.14%) Nutanix
10 3 (1.14%) PowerApps
10 3 (1.14%) Veeva
Communications & Networking
1 23 (8.75%) Firewall
2 11 (4.18%) VPN
3 10 (3.80%) DNS
4 9 (3.42%) LAN
4 9 (3.42%) Network Security
5 8 (3.04%) TCP/IP
6 7 (2.66%) HTTP
7 5 (1.90%) SAN
8 4 (1.52%) Internet
8 4 (1.52%) WAN
8 4 (1.52%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (1.14%) NAS
9 3 (1.14%) Wireless
10 2 (0.76%) Cisco IOS
10 2 (0.76%) Cisco ISE
10 2 (0.76%) Multicast
10 2 (0.76%) VLAN
10 2 (0.76%) VoIP
11 1 (0.38%) DHCP
11 1 (0.38%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (3.04%) Power BI
2 5 (1.90%) MySQL
3 4 (1.52%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.14%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.76%) Crystal Reports
6 1 (0.38%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.38%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.38%) Oracle Database 12c
6 1 (0.38%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.38%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.38%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 11 (4.18%) Git
2 6 (2.28%) JIRA
3 3 (1.14%) GitLab
4 1 (0.38%) Bitbucket
General
1 48 (18.25%) Social Skills
2 40 (15.21%) Finance
3 26 (9.89%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (3.80%) Banking
4 10 (3.80%) Organisational Skills
4 10 (3.80%) Retail
5 9 (3.42%) Manufacturing
6 7 (2.66%) General Ledger
6 7 (2.66%) Law
7 5 (1.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (1.90%) Legal
8 3 (1.14%) Billing
8 3 (1.14%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (0.76%) Military
9 2 (0.76%) Public Sector
10 1 (0.38%) Back Office
10 1 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.38%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.90%) WebSockets
2 4 (1.52%) Middleware
3 3 (1.14%) LAMP
4 2 (0.76%) JSON
4 2 (0.76%) LEMP Stack
4 2 (0.76%) Node.js
4 2 (0.76%) XML
5 1 (0.38%) HTML
5 1 (0.38%) ODBC
5 1 (0.38%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 10 (3.80%) Management Information System
2 8 (3.04%) Hybrid Cloud
3 7 (2.66%) Data Centre
3 7 (2.66%) Private Cloud
4 6 (2.28%) FMCG
5 5 (1.90%) Clustering
6 4 (1.52%) Learning Management System
7 3 (1.14%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.14%) iSeries
7 3 (1.14%) PKI
8 2 (0.76%) Data Structures
8 2 (0.76%) Onboarding
9 1 (0.38%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.38%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.38%) Life Science
9 1 (0.38%) Product Ownership
9 1 (0.38%) Replication
9 1 (0.38%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 59 (22.43%) Linux
2 29 (11.03%) Windows
3 13 (4.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 10 (3.80%) CentOS
5 8 (3.04%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.90%) Android
6 5 (1.90%) Apple iOS
6 5 (1.90%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.90%) Unix
7 3 (1.14%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.76%) Debian
8 2 (0.76%) Rocky
8 2 (0.76%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (23.19%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (12.17%) DevOps
3 24 (9.13%) ERP
4 20 (7.60%) Analytics
4 20 (7.60%) Process Improvement
5 14 (5.32%) CI/CD
5 14 (5.32%) Configuration Management
5 14 (5.32%) Infrastructure as Code
6 12 (4.56%) Continuous Improvement
7 11 (4.18%) Change Management
7 11 (4.18%) Service Delivery
8 10 (3.80%) Service Management
9 9 (3.42%) ITIL
10 8 (3.04%) Business Intelligence
10 8 (3.04%) Time Management
11 7 (2.66%) Accounts Payable
11 7 (2.66%) AI
11 7 (2.66%) Cybersecurity
11 7 (2.66%) ITSM
11 7 (2.66%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 29 (11.03%) SQL
2 22 (8.37%) Bash
2 22 (8.37%) Python
3 7 (2.66%) Go
4 6 (2.28%) PowerShell
5 5 (1.90%) PHP
6 3 (1.14%) JavaScript
6 3 (1.14%) Perl
7 2 (0.76%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.76%) VBA
8 1 (0.38%) R
8 1 (0.38%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (9.13%) Security Cleared
2 22 (8.37%) DV Cleared
3 15 (5.70%) CIPD
4 7 (2.66%) AWS Certification
5 6 (2.28%) Degree
5 6 (2.28%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (2.28%) RHCSA
5 6 (2.28%) SC Cleared
6 3 (1.14%) Azure Certification
6 3 (1.14%) MCSA
6 3 (1.14%) MCSE
7 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 1 (0.38%) A+ Certification
8 1 (0.38%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.38%) CCNA
8 1 (0.38%) CCNP
8 1 (0.38%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.38%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.38%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.38%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (6.84%) GDPR
2 7 (2.66%) QA
3 2 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 19 (7.22%) Active Directory
2 15 (5.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (3.80%) Hyper-V
4 8 (3.04%) Docker
5 3 (1.14%) Firmware
6 1 (0.38%) KVM
6 1 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 17 (6.46%) Ansible
2 15 (5.70%) Terraform
3 13 (4.94%) Kubernetes
4 11 (4.18%) Nagios
4 11 (4.18%) Proxmox
5 10 (3.80%) Grafana
5 10 (3.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (3.04%) Nessus
6 8 (3.04%) Prometheus
7 5 (1.90%) Puppet
8 3 (1.14%) WSUS
9 2 (0.76%) Red Hat Satellite
10 1 (0.38%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.38%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.38%) SCCM
10 1 (0.38%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 31 (11.79%) Microsoft
2 26 (9.89%) VMware
3 23 (8.75%) Red Hat
4 8 (3.04%) Cisco
4 8 (3.04%) SolarWinds
5 6 (2.28%) Veeam
6 5 (1.90%) Salesforce
6 5 (1.90%) SAP
6 5 (1.90%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.52%) SonicWALL
7 4 (1.52%) Splunk
8 3 (1.14%) Dell
8 3 (1.14%) IBM
8 3 (1.14%) Meraki
8 3 (1.14%) Oracle
8 3 (1.14%) Rapid7
8 3 (1.14%) Sage
9 2 (0.76%) Bloomberg
9 2 (0.76%) Citrix
9 2 (0.76%) Reuters