Head of Software Development Job Trends in England

Head of Software Development
UK > England

The median Head of Software Development salary in England is £85,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 24 January 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 592 667 719
Rank change year-on-year +75 +52 +195
Permanent jobs requiring a Head of Software Development 22 12 4
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.040% 0.025% 0.007%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.044% 0.027% 0.007%
Number of salaries quoted 18 10 4
10th Percentile - £74,625 £67,500
25th Percentile £72,500 £84,688 £78,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £85,000 £100,000 £87,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +14.29% -2.78%
75th Percentile £95,000 £105,000 £92,500
90th Percentile £96,500 £105,250 £97,000
UK median annual salary £83,750 £100,000 £87,500
% change year-on-year -16.25% +14.29% -2.78%

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 50,021 44,012 55,228
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.94% 92.08% 95.08%
Number of salaries quoted 31,787 22,968 43,812
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,173
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +8.75% -11.72%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £75,419
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.41%

Head of Software Development
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Head of Software Development job vacancy trend in England

Head of Software Development
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for Head of Software Development job vacancies in England.

Salary distribution trend for Head of Software Development job vacancies in England

Head of Software Development
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Head of Software Development in England over the 6 months to 24 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Head of Software Development in England

Head of Software Development
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Software Development within the England region over the 6 months to 24 January 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
Midlands +18 5 £75,000 -7.69% 2
East Midlands +1 5 £75,000 -9.09% 1
London +52 4 £85,000 -15.00% 1
North West +23 4 £95,000 +22.58% 1
North of England +13 4 £95,000 -5.00% 1
South East - 4 £91,250 - 2
East of England - 3 £85,000 -
Head of Software Development
UK

Head of Software Development Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 24 January 2026, Head of Software Development 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 Head of Software Development in the job title.

1 7 (31.82%) Agile
1 7 (31.82%) Continuous Improvement
2 6 (27.27%) .NET
2 6 (27.27%) Analytics
2 6 (27.27%) Azure
2 6 (27.27%) C#
2 6 (27.27%) Stakeholder Management
3 5 (22.73%) API Integration
3 5 (22.73%) CRM
3 5 (22.73%) Data Quality
3 5 (22.73%) Zoho
4 4 (18.18%) CI/CD
4 4 (18.18%) DevOps
4 4 (18.18%) Microsoft
4 4 (18.18%) SQL
4 4 (18.18%) SQL Server
5 3 (13.64%) Clean Code
5 3 (13.64%) Data Modelling
5 3 (13.64%) Degree
5 3 (13.64%) Mentoring
5 3 (13.64%) MongoDB
5 3 (13.64%) MySQL
5 3 (13.64%) QA
5 3 (13.64%) SaaS
5 3 (13.64%) Secure Coding
5 3 (13.64%) Software Engineering
6 2 (9.09%) .NET Core
6 2 (9.09%) AI
6 2 (9.09%) Android
6 2 (9.09%) Apple iOS

Head of Software Development 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 1 (4.55%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 6 (27.27%) Azure
2 3 (13.64%) SaaS
3 2 (9.09%) Azure AI
3 2 (9.09%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (4.55%) Azure Data Factory
4 1 (4.55%) Azure Functions
4 1 (4.55%) Azure Logic Apps
4 1 (4.55%) GitHub
4 1 (4.55%) GitHub Actions
4 1 (4.55%) PaaS
4 1 (4.55%) Power Automate
4 1 (4.55%) Power Platform
4 1 (4.55%) PowerApps
4 1 (4.55%) Serverless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (18.18%) SQL Server
2 3 (13.64%) MongoDB
2 3 (13.64%) MySQL
3 2 (9.09%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (4.55%) MariaDB
4 1 (4.55%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (4.55%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (4.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 2 (9.09%) Git
2 1 (4.55%) GitLab
2 1 (4.55%) Jenkins
General
1 8 (36.36%) Marketing
2 7 (31.82%) Social Skills
3 6 (27.27%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (13.64%) Finance
5 2 (9.09%) Billing
6 1 (4.55%) Financial Institution
6 1 (4.55%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (27.27%) .NET
2 2 (9.09%) .NET Core
3 1 (4.55%) CSS
3 1 (4.55%) HTML
3 1 (4.55%) JSON
3 1 (4.55%) Kendo UI
3 1 (4.55%) Laravel
3 1 (4.55%) Middleware
3 1 (4.55%) Node.js
3 1 (4.55%) React
3 1 (4.55%) REST
3 1 (4.55%) RESTful
3 1 (4.55%) Smarty
3 1 (4.55%) Symfony
3 1 (4.55%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 1 (4.55%) Cloud Native
1 1 (4.55%) Distributed Systems
1 1 (4.55%) Marketing Technology
1 1 (4.55%) Security Posture
1 1 (4.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 2 (9.09%) Android
1 2 (9.09%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (31.82%) Agile
1 7 (31.82%) Continuous Improvement
2 6 (27.27%) Analytics
2 6 (27.27%) Stakeholder Management
3 5 (22.73%) API Integration
3 5 (22.73%) CRM
4 4 (18.18%) CI/CD
4 4 (18.18%) DevOps
5 3 (13.64%) Clean Code
5 3 (13.64%) Data Modelling
5 3 (13.64%) Mentoring
5 3 (13.64%) Secure Coding
5 3 (13.64%) Software Engineering
6 2 (9.09%) AI
6 2 (9.09%) Fintech
6 2 (9.09%) Kanban
6 2 (9.09%) Mobile Development
6 2 (9.09%) Scrum
6 2 (9.09%) Strategic Thinking
6 2 (9.09%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 6 (27.27%) C#
2 4 (18.18%) SQL
3 2 (9.09%) C++
3 2 (9.09%) Kotlin
3 2 (9.09%) Python
3 2 (9.09%) Swift
4 1 (4.55%) JavaScript
4 1 (4.55%) PHP
4 1 (4.55%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 3 (13.64%) Degree
2 1 (4.55%) Computer Science Degree
2 1 (4.55%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (22.73%) Data Quality
2 3 (13.64%) QA
3 1 (4.55%) GDPR
3 1 (4.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (4.55%) SOC 2
Vendors
1 5 (22.73%) Zoho
2 4 (18.18%) Microsoft
3 1 (4.55%) Salesforce