COBOL Developer Job Trends in England

COBOL Developer
UK > England

The median COBOL Developer salary in England is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 6 May 2026.

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

6 months to
6 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 665 - 802
Rank change year-on-year - - +118
Permanent jobs requiring a COBOL Developer 8 0 21
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.010% - 0.025%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.011% - 0.027%
Number of salaries quoted 8 0 20
10th Percentile £30,000 - -
25th Percentile £48,000 - £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 - £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - +17.02%
75th Percentile £60,625 - £57,500
90th Percentile £63,250 - -
UK median annual salary £60,000 - £55,000
% change year-on-year - - +17.02%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in England. 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 England with a recognized job title 75,487 34,743 78,820
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.89% 89.32% 94.44%
Number of salaries quoted 49,799 21,313 60,080
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,000 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -11.18%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £71,991
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £59,000 £52,777
% change year-on-year -6.78% +11.79% -12.04%

COBOL Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'COBOL Developer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

COBOL Developer job vacancy trend in England

COBOL Developer
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for COBOL Developer job vacancies in England.

Salary distribution trend for COBOL Developer job vacancies in England

COBOL Developer
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing COBOL Developer in England over the 6 months to 6 May 2026.

Salary histogram for COBOL Developer in England

COBOL Developer
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing COBOL Developer within the England region over the 6 months to 6 May 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
South East - 5 £60,000 - 3
London - 2 £30,000 -
East Midlands - 1 £54,000 -
Midlands - 1 £54,000 -
COBOL Developer
UK

COBOL Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 6 May 2026, COBOL Developer 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 across the England region featuring COBOL Developer in the job title.

1 8 (100.00%) COBOL
2 3 (37.50%) C
2 3 (37.50%) C#
2 3 (37.50%) Full-Stack Development
3 2 (25.00%) C++
3 2 (25.00%) CICS
3 2 (25.00%) Customer Requirements
3 2 (25.00%) DB2
3 2 (25.00%) Degree
3 2 (25.00%) HP
3 2 (25.00%) JCL
3 2 (25.00%) Manual Testing
3 2 (25.00%) Microsoft
3 2 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (25.00%) Migration
3 2 (25.00%) Software Testing
3 2 (25.00%) SQL
3 2 (25.00%) Test Scripting
3 2 (25.00%) zOS
4 1 (12.50%) Adabas
4 1 (12.50%) Agile
4 1 (12.50%) CA Endevor
4 1 (12.50%) ChangeMan
4 1 (12.50%) Data Analysis
4 1 (12.50%) IBM
4 1 (12.50%) JSON
4 1 (12.50%) Mentoring
4 1 (12.50%) Natural
4 1 (12.50%) Release Management
4 1 (12.50%) WebSphere

COBOL Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 2 (25.00%) CICS
2 1 (12.50%) WebSphere
Applications
1 2 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (25.00%) DB2
2 1 (12.50%) Adabas
Development Applications
1 1 (12.50%) ChangeMan
General
1 4 (50.00%) Finance
2 3 (37.50%) Banking
3 2 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (25.00%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (12.50%) JSON
1 1 (12.50%) WebSphere MQ
1 1 (12.50%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 1 (12.50%) IBM Mainframe
1 1 (12.50%) Legacy Code
1 1 (12.50%) Mainframe
1 1 (12.50%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 2 (25.00%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (37.50%) Full-Stack Development
2 2 (25.00%) Customer Requirements
2 2 (25.00%) Manual Testing
2 2 (25.00%) Migration
2 2 (25.00%) Software Testing
2 2 (25.00%) Test Scripting
3 1 (12.50%) Agile
3 1 (12.50%) Data Analysis
3 1 (12.50%) Mentoring
3 1 (12.50%) Release Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (100.00%) COBOL
2 3 (37.50%) C
2 3 (37.50%) C#
3 2 (25.00%) C++
3 2 (25.00%) JCL
3 2 (25.00%) SQL
4 1 (12.50%) Natural
Qualifications
1 2 (25.00%) Degree
Systems Management
1 1 (12.50%) CA Endevor
Vendors
1 2 (25.00%) HP
1 2 (25.00%) Microsoft
2 1 (12.50%) IBM