System Administrator (Sysadmin)
UK

The median System Administrator (Sysadmin) salary in the UK is £40,400 per year according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months to 8 May 2024.

The first table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics including a comparison to same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
8 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 432 562 670
Rank change year-on-year +130 +108 -173
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 547 478 668
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.55% 0.47% 0.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.58% 0.51% 0.44%
Number of salaries quoted 437 368 500
10th Percentile £28,000 £28,750 £28,750
25th Percentile £33,500 £36,713 £36,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,400 £48,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.83% +6.67% +5.88%
75th Percentile £50,000 £62,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £59,700 £75,000 £62,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £41,250 £40,000
% change year-on-year -3.03% +3.13% -

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
UK

The following table is for comparison with the above and includes 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 93,864 92,882 151,282
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.64% 91.46% 96.10%
Number of salaries quoted 67,182 58,425 84,716
10th Percentile £28,500 £32,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £45,000 £42,517
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% - +9.09%
75th Percentile £71,250 £81,250 £78,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% +5.26%

Systems Administrator
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Systems Administrator in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Systems Administrator.

Salary trend for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Systems Administrator over the 6 months to 8 May 2024.

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 8 May 2024. 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 +105 480 £40,410 -15.81% 99
UK excluding London +97 452 £40,000 -3.03% 79
Work from Home +41 140 £45,000 -14.29% 26
North of England +107 124 £35,000 -9.09% 16
South East +30 96 £40,000 - 18
Midlands +59 85 £40,000 +14.29% 17
South West -41 74 £43,625 -3.06% 16
London +35 73 £49,000 -18.33% 23
North West +31 63 £36,407 -23.35% 12
East Midlands +27 46 £40,000 +25.98% 10
Scotland -30 45 £36,000 -10.00% 3
Yorkshire +108 43 £35,000 +7.69% 3
West Midlands +27 39 £36,250 -9.38% 7
East of England +19 24 £30,000 -33.33% 8
North East +13 18 £44,500 +11.25% 1
Wales +12 4 £50,000 -13.04% 2

Systems Administrator Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 8 May 2024, Systems Administrator job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Systems Administrator in the job title.

1 169 (30.90%) Windows
2 149 (27.24%) Problem-Solving
3 137 (25.05%) Azure
4 134 (24.50%) Microsoft
5 113 (20.66%) Active Directory
5 113 (20.66%) Linux
6 111 (20.29%) Social Skills
7 110 (20.11%) Microsoft 365
8 100 (18.28%) VMware
9 82 (14.99%) SQL
10 76 (13.89%) Windows Server
11 74 (13.53%) Finance
12 65 (11.88%) PowerShell
13 63 (11.52%) Firewall
14 62 (11.33%) DNS
15 59 (10.79%) Degree
16 57 (10.42%) Security Cleared
16 57 (10.42%) VMware Infrastructure
17 56 (10.24%) Entra ID
18 52 (9.51%) Analytical Skills
19 49 (8.96%) Cybersecurity
19 49 (8.96%) Python
20 47 (8.59%) LAN
20 47 (8.59%) WAN
21 46 (8.41%) TCP/IP
22 43 (7.86%) Customer Service
23 41 (7.50%) Microsoft Exchange
24 40 (7.31%) DHCP
24 40 (7.31%) ITIL
24 40 (7.31%) Hyper-V

Systems Administrator Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 41 (7.50%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (5.67%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.10%) Apache
3 6 (1.10%) Confluence
3 6 (1.10%) Exchange Server 2013
4 3 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (0.55%) IIS
4 3 (0.55%) Moodle
4 3 (0.55%) Site Server
5 1 (0.18%) CMS
5 1 (0.18%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle Application Server
5 1 (0.18%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.18%) WordPress
Applications
1 25 (4.57%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (2.56%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.73%) Trello
4 1 (0.18%) 1Password
Business Applications
1 9 (1.65%) Oracle HRMS
2 4 (0.73%) BASE24
2 4 (0.73%) SAP Business One
3 3 (0.55%) iTrent
3 3 (0.55%) Magento
3 3 (0.55%) Unit4 Business World
4 2 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.18%) MetaTrader
Cloud Services
1 137 (25.05%) Azure
2 110 (20.11%) Microsoft 365
3 56 (10.24%) Entra ID
4 37 (6.76%) AWS
5 22 (4.02%) SaaS
6 14 (2.56%) Dynamics 365
6 14 (2.56%) Power Platform
7 11 (2.01%) Cloud Computing
7 11 (2.01%) GCP
8 9 (1.65%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.65%) OneDrive
8 9 (1.65%) WhatsApp
9 7 (1.28%) IaaS
10 6 (1.10%) Mimecast
11 4 (0.73%) Slack
12 3 (0.55%) OpenShift
12 3 (0.55%) PaaS
13 2 (0.37%) Azure App Service
13 2 (0.37%) Azure Logic Apps
13 2 (0.37%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 63 (11.52%) Firewall
2 62 (11.33%) DNS
3 47 (8.59%) LAN
3 47 (8.59%) WAN
4 46 (8.41%) TCP/IP
5 40 (7.31%) DHCP
6 18 (3.29%) NAS
7 17 (3.11%) VLAN
8 16 (2.93%) VSAN
9 14 (2.56%) VPN
10 12 (2.19%) Intrusion Detection
11 11 (2.01%) SAN
12 10 (1.83%) Wireshark
13 8 (1.46%) 802.11
13 8 (1.46%) HTTPS
13 8 (1.46%) SSL
13 8 (1.46%) VoIP
14 7 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
15 6 (1.10%) Internet
15 6 (1.10%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (4.20%) SQL Server
2 13 (2.38%) MySQL
2 13 (2.38%) Power BI
3 9 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (1.28%) Crystal Reports
4 7 (1.28%) Ingres
4 7 (1.28%) NonStop SQL
5 3 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 2 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.18%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.18%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.18%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 11 (2.01%) Git
2 8 (1.46%) Vagrant
3 6 (1.10%) AdminStudio
4 5 (0.91%) JIRA
5 2 (0.37%) GitLab
6 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.18%) Subversion
General
1 111 (20.29%) Social Skills
2 74 (13.53%) Finance
3 52 (9.51%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (4.20%) Manufacturing
5 18 (3.29%) Retail
6 14 (2.56%) Public Sector
6 14 (2.56%) Telecoms
7 12 (2.19%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (1.83%) Aerospace
8 10 (1.83%) Marketing
9 8 (1.46%) Law
10 7 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
11 6 (1.10%) Automotive
12 5 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (0.73%) Legal
13 4 (0.73%) Local Government
14 3 (0.55%) Billing
14 3 (0.55%) French Language
14 3 (0.55%) Italian Language
14 3 (0.55%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (1.83%) EDI
2 8 (1.46%) 802.1X
2 8 (1.46%) Software Packaging
3 7 (1.28%) HTML
3 7 (1.28%) REST
4 5 (0.91%) CSS
5 4 (0.73%) Oracle GoldenGate
6 3 (0.55%) JSON
6 3 (0.55%) Web Services
6 3 (0.55%) XML
7 2 (0.37%) .NET
7 2 (0.37%) ASP.NET
7 2 (0.37%) ASP.NET MVC
7 2 (0.37%) Itk
7 2 (0.37%) LDAP
7 2 (0.37%) Oracle Fusion
7 2 (0.37%) SAML
7 2 (0.37%) SPFx
8 1 (0.18%) Keycloak
8 1 (0.18%) PHP-FPM
Miscellaneous
1 35 (6.40%) Management Information System
2 21 (3.84%) Data Centre
3 20 (3.66%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (3.11%) PKI
5 12 (2.19%) Onboarding
5 12 (2.19%) Wiki
6 7 (1.28%) VAX
7 6 (1.10%) Client/Server
7 6 (1.10%) Cloud Native
7 6 (1.10%) Cyberattack
7 6 (1.10%) Learning Management System
7 6 (1.10%) Life Science
8 5 (0.91%) Cyber Security Posture
8 5 (0.91%) Security Posture
9 4 (0.73%) Clustering
9 4 (0.73%) Driving Licence
9 4 (0.73%) Replication
10 3 (0.55%) Enterprise Storage
10 3 (0.55%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (0.55%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 169 (30.90%) Windows
2 113 (20.66%) Linux
3 76 (13.89%) Windows Server
4 37 (6.76%) Windows 10
5 32 (5.85%) Windows Server 2019
6 31 (5.67%) CentOS
6 31 (5.67%) Windows Server 2016
7 29 (5.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 26 (4.75%) Unix
9 20 (3.66%) Ubuntu
10 18 (3.29%) Windows 7
11 15 (2.74%) Debian
11 15 (2.74%) Windows Server 2012
12 14 (2.56%) Mac OS
13 13 (2.38%) Android
13 13 (2.38%) Apple iOS
13 13 (2.38%) Windows Server 2008
14 11 (2.01%) SUSE
15 6 (1.10%) VMS
16 4 (0.73%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (27.24%) Problem-Solving
2 49 (8.96%) Cybersecurity
3 43 (7.86%) Customer Service
4 40 (7.31%) ITIL
5 32 (5.85%) Computer Science
5 32 (5.85%) Patch Management
6 27 (4.94%) ERP
7 24 (4.39%) Agile
7 24 (4.39%) Disaster Recovery
8 23 (4.20%) Collaborative Working
8 23 (4.20%) DevOps
9 22 (4.02%) Project Management
10 20 (3.66%) Migration
11 19 (3.47%) Roadmaps
12 18 (3.29%) Time Management
13 17 (3.11%) High Availability
14 16 (2.93%) Data Management
14 16 (2.93%) Virtual Infrastructure
15 15 (2.74%) Customer Experience
15 15 (2.74%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 82 (14.99%) SQL
2 65 (11.88%) PowerShell
3 49 (8.96%) Python
4 37 (6.76%) Bash
5 21 (3.84%) Perl
6 15 (2.74%) Shell Script
7 4 (0.73%) C#
8 3 (0.55%) AWK
8 3 (0.55%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.55%) sed
9 2 (0.37%) PHP
9 2 (0.37%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.18%) ActionScript
10 1 (0.18%) Java
10 1 (0.18%) Korn
10 1 (0.18%) tcsh
10 1 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 59 (10.79%) Degree
2 57 (10.42%) Security Cleared
3 22 (4.02%) Computer Science Degree
4 19 (3.47%) DV Cleared
5 15 (2.74%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (2.19%) CCNA
6 12 (2.19%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (1.65%) HNC
8 8 (1.46%) CCNP
9 7 (1.28%) MCSE
10 6 (1.10%) MCSA
10 6 (1.10%) RHCE
11 5 (0.91%) RHCSA
12 4 (0.73%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.73%) SC Cleared
13 3 (0.55%) DBS Check
13 3 (0.55%) HND
13 3 (0.55%) Network+ Certification
14 2 (0.37%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
15 1 (0.18%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.11%) Cyber Essentials
2 12 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (1.28%) QA
4 5 (0.91%) ISO 9001
5 4 (0.73%) Accessibility
5 4 (0.73%) GDPR
6 3 (0.55%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.37%) SLA
8 1 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 113 (20.66%) Active Directory
2 57 (10.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 40 (7.31%) Hyper-V
4 22 (4.02%) vSphere
5 20 (3.66%) Docker
6 16 (2.93%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (1.83%) VMware NSX
8 9 (1.65%) Virtual Servers
9 7 (1.28%) XenApp
10 5 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
11 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 3 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
13 2 (0.37%) Microsoft App-V
13 2 (0.37%) Postfix
14 1 (0.18%) Dovecot
14 1 (0.18%) KVM
14 1 (0.18%) Lustre
14 1 (0.18%) NFS
14 1 (0.18%) Shibboleth
14 1 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 25 (4.57%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (4.20%) Ansible
3 22 (4.02%) SCCM
4 14 (2.56%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (1.46%) Failover Clustering
5 8 (1.46%) Puppet
6 7 (1.28%) EMC VPLEX
6 7 (1.28%) Nagios
6 7 (1.28%) WSUS
7 6 (1.10%) McAfee ePO
7 6 (1.10%) Progress Chef
7 6 (1.10%) SCVMM
8 4 (0.73%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (0.73%) Terraform
9 3 (0.55%) Check_MK
9 3 (0.55%) HAProxy
9 3 (0.55%) Kubernetes
9 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Clustering
10 2 (0.37%) Grafana
10 2 (0.37%) systemd
Vendors
1 134 (24.50%) Microsoft
2 100 (18.28%) VMware
3 26 (4.75%) Oracle
4 25 (4.57%) Red Hat
4 25 (4.57%) Veeam
5 19 (3.47%) Citrix
6 18 (3.29%) Cisco
7 10 (1.83%) Epicor
7 10 (1.83%) HP
8 9 (1.65%) Dell
8 9 (1.65%) SAP
9 7 (1.28%) Centreon
9 7 (1.28%) EMC
9 7 (1.28%) Sybase
10 6 (1.10%) Apple
10 6 (1.10%) McAfee
11 3 (0.55%) Autodesk
11 3 (0.55%) BT
11 3 (0.55%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.55%) Salesforce