Principal Engineer Job Trends in the East of England

Principal Engineer
England > East of England

The median Principal Engineer salary in the East of England is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 November 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 142 130
Rank change year-on-year +75 -12 -2
Permanent Principal Engineer jobs 198 19 55
As % of all permanent jobs in the East of England 2.23% 0.54% 1.31%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.46% 0.60% 1.41%
Number of salaries quoted 151 5 8
10th Percentile £67,500 £75,360 £61,250
25th Percentile £75,000 £75,900 £67,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £90,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +28.57% -12.50%
75th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 -
90th Percentile £95,000 - -
England median annual salary £87,200 £80,000 £75,000
% change year-on-year +9.00% +6.67% -14.29%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
East of England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts in the East of England matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
14 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the East of England matching a recognised job title 8,057 3,168 3,898
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 90.56% 89.67% 92.79%
Number of salaries quoted 5,669 1,981 1,988
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £31,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £45,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +22.22% -14.29% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £60,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £75,000 £85,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £53,056 £57,500
% change year-on-year +13.09% -7.73% -4.17%

Principal Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the East of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Principal Engineer job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the East of England.

Principal Engineer job vacancy trend in the East of England

Principal Engineer Salary Trend in the East of England

Salary distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in the East of England.

Salary distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in the East of England

Principal Engineer Salary Histogram in the East of England

Salary distribution for Principal Engineer jobs in the East of England over the 6 months to 14 November 2026.

Salary histogram for Principal Engineer in the East of England

Principal Engineer Job Locations in the East of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Principal Engineer jobs within the East of England region over the 6 months to 14 November 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Cambridgeshire +36 101 £80,000 -5.88% 36
Bedfordshire - 34 £85,000 - 19
Essex +5 27 £70,000 -7.77% 8
Norfolk -9 20 £65,000 - 4
Hertfordshire -22 15 £80,000 -20.00% 7
Suffolk - 1 - -
Principal Engineer
England

Principal Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East of England

For the 6 months to 14 November 2026, Principal Engineer job ads cited 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 Principal Engineer job ads across the East of England region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Software Engineering37.9%75
2Problem-Solving8.1%16
2Technical Leadership8.1%16
4Degree7.1%14
4Roadmaps7.1%14
4Security Cleared7.1%14
7C++6.6%13
8Observability6.1%12
9Kubernetes5.6%11
10MATLAB5.1%10
10Python5.1%10
10Validation5.1%10
13C4.5%9
13Embedded Linux4.5%9
13Linux4.5%9
13People Management4.5%9
13Test Strategy4.5%9
18Agile4.0%8
18Platform Engineering4.0%8
18Project Delivery4.0%8
18Verification and Validation4.0%8
22Systems Engineering3.5%7
22Test Automation3.5%7
24Product Roadmap3.0%6
24Project Management3.0%6
26Architectural Design2.5%5
26Continuous Improvement2.5%5
26Data Analysis2.5%5
26DevOps2.5%5
26Finite Element Analysis2.5%5

Principal Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East of England by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Principal Software Engineer34.3%68
2Principal Test Engineer19.2%38
3Principal Systems Engineer18.7%37
4Electronics Engineer15.7%31
5Embedded Engineer12.1%24
6RF Engineer10.1%20
7Principal Embedded Software Engineer7.1%14
7Product Engineer7.1%14
9Cloud Platform Engineer4.0%8
9Principal Cloud Engineer4.0%8
11Senior Systems Engineer3.5%7
12Manufacturing Engineer3.0%6
12RF Design Engineer3.0%6
14DSP Engineer2.5%5
14Embedded Linux Engineer2.5%5
14Principal Hardware Engineer2.5%5
17QA Engineer2.0%4
17Quality Engineer2.0%4
19Audio Engineer1.5%3
19Senior Infrastructure Engineer1.5%3
75 Principal Engineer jobs in the East of England