Principal Engineer Jobs in Birmingham

Principal Engineer
West Midlands > Birmingham

The median Principal Engineer salary in Birmingham is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 15 May 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 16 130 126
Rank change year-on-year +114 -4 +61
Permanent jobs requiring a Principal Engineer 142 16 4
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in Birmingham 10.14% 0.58% 0.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 10.71% 0.61% 0.22%
Number of salaries quoted 1 3 4
10th Percentile - £70,900 £64,125
25th Percentile £77,500 £75,250 £64,688
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £85,000 £100,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.88% -15.00% -
75th Percentile £82,500 £93,750 £130,000
90th Percentile - £97,500 -
West Midlands median annual salary £65,000 £70,000 £110,000
% change year-on-year -7.14% -36.36% +149.02%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
Birmingham

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in Birmingham. 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 Birmingham with a recognized job title 1,326 2,602 1,799
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.65% 94.38% 93.21%
Number of salaries quoted 773 2,116 1,376
10th Percentile £32,500 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £40,997 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
75th Percentile £68,750 £70,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £83,500 £84,964 £82,125
West Midlands median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% +5.00%

Principal Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Birmingham

Job postings that featured Principal Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Birmingham.

Job vacancy trend for Principal Engineer in Birmingham

Principal Engineer
Salary Trend in Birmingham

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Principal Engineer in Birmingham.

Salary trend for Principal Engineer in Birmingham

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Birmingham

For the 6 months to 15 May 2025, Principal Engineer 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 across the Birmingham region featuring Principal Engineer in the job title.

1 117 (82.39%) BPSS Clearance
2 111 (78.17%) Systems Engineering
3 100 (70.42%) Degree
4 53 (37.32%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 51 (35.92%) Validation
6 38 (26.76%) Collaborative Working
7 32 (22.54%) SysML
8 30 (21.13%) Verification and Validation
9 25 (17.61%) Project Planning
10 21 (14.79%) Mathematics
10 21 (14.79%) Physics
10 21 (14.79%) Chemistry
10 21 (14.79%) Law
10 21 (14.79%) Logistics
11 17 (11.97%) Automotive
11 17 (11.97%) Systems Thinking
11 17 (11.97%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 16 (11.27%) Agile
12 16 (11.27%) Project Management
13 15 (10.56%) Chartered Engineer
13 15 (10.56%) ISTQB
13 15 (10.56%) Software Testing
14 14 (9.86%) Acceptance Criteria
15 13 (9.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
15 13 (9.15%) JSP 440
15 13 (9.15%) RMADS
15 13 (9.15%) Security Testing
15 13 (9.15%) CESG Certified Professional
15 13 (9.15%) Cybersecurity
15 13 (9.15%) Information Security

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Birmingham 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:

Applications
1 7 (4.93%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 1 (0.70%) Azure
1 1 (0.70%) SaaS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.70%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (3.52%) Rational DOORS
General
1 21 (14.79%) Law
2 17 (11.97%) Automotive
3 10 (7.04%) Telecoms
4 7 (4.93%) Aerospace
5 5 (3.52%) Influencing Skills
6 3 (2.11%) Finance
6 3 (2.11%) Local Government
6 3 (2.11%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.70%) .NET
1 1 (0.70%) .NET Core
1 1 (0.70%) .NET Framework
1 1 (0.70%) AngularJS
1 1 (0.70%) Entity Framework
1 1 (0.70%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 3 (2.11%) NHS
Processes & Methodologies
1 111 (78.17%) Systems Engineering
2 53 (37.32%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
3 51 (35.92%) Validation
4 38 (26.76%) Collaborative Working
5 32 (22.54%) SysML
6 30 (21.13%) Verification and Validation
7 25 (17.61%) Project Planning
8 21 (14.79%) Chemistry
8 21 (14.79%) Logistics
8 21 (14.79%) Mathematics
8 21 (14.79%) Physics
9 17 (11.97%) Systems Thinking
10 16 (11.27%) Agile
10 16 (11.27%) Project Management
11 15 (10.56%) Software Testing
12 14 (9.86%) Acceptance Criteria
13 13 (9.15%) Cyber Resilience
13 13 (9.15%) Cybersecurity
13 13 (9.15%) Information Security
13 13 (9.15%) Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 7 (4.93%) MATLAB
2 1 (0.70%) C#
2 1 (0.70%) JavaScript
2 1 (0.70%) SQL
2 1 (0.70%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 117 (82.39%) BPSS Clearance
2 100 (70.42%) Degree
3 15 (10.56%) Chartered Engineer
3 15 (10.56%) ISTQB
4 13 (9.15%) CESG Certified Professional
4 13 (9.15%) CISM
4 13 (9.15%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (11.97%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 13 (9.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (9.15%) JSP 440
2 13 (9.15%) NIST
2 13 (9.15%) RMADS
3 3 (2.11%) Accessibility
Vendors
1 8 (5.63%) Siemens
2 1 (0.70%) Microsoft