Lead Developer Job Trends in England

Lead Developer
UK > England

The median Lead Developer salary in England is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 12 October 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 325 379 265
Rank change year-on-year +54 -114 +45
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 582 269 676
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.56% 0.63% 1.05%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.69% 1.10%
Number of salaries quoted 465 188 540
10th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 -
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £47,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% +7.14% -12.50%
75th Percentile £97,500 £100,000 £95,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £142,500 £142,500
UK median annual salary £80,000 £75,000 £70,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% +7.14% -12.50%

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 96,110 38,793 61,457
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.63% 90.54% 95.23%
Number of salaries quoted 67,178 23,108 35,135
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,160 £35,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £56,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% -1.79% -6.67%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £58,500 £53,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.35% -2.73% -8.33%

Lead Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Lead Developer job vacancy trend in England

Lead Developer
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for Lead Developer job vacancies in England.

Salary distribution trend for Lead Developer job vacancies in England

Lead Developer
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead Developer in England over the 6 months to 12 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead Developer in England

Lead 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 Lead Developer within the England region over the 6 months to 12 October 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
London +2 194 £91,250 -13.10% 90
North of England +9 130 £75,000 +7.14% 35
Midlands +21 104 £70,000 -3.45% 18
South East +14 92 £90,000 +22.03% 22
North West 0 61 £72,500 +3.57% 10
West Midlands -10 60 £70,000 -3.45% 14
Yorkshire -17 48 £75,000 +11.11% 21
East Midlands +8 44 £70,000 - 4
East of England -11 31 £80,510 +22.92% 4
South West -65 23 £70,000 +40.00% 6
North East -53 21 £100,000 +45.99% 5
Lead Developer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 October 2026, Lead 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 Lead Developer in the job title.

1 143 (24.57%) Technical Leadership
2 139 (23.88%) Full-Stack Development
3 131 (22.51%) C#
4 126 (21.65%) Azure
5 120 (20.62%) .NET
6 118 (20.27%) JavaScript
7 117 (20.10%) AWS
8 115 (19.76%) Mentoring
9 105 (18.04%) TypeScript
10 89 (15.29%) CI/CD
11 88 (15.12%) AI
12 81 (13.92%) Node.js
13 77 (13.23%) SaaS
14 75 (12.89%) Software Engineering
15 71 (12.20%) Python
15 71 (12.20%) SQL
16 64 (11.00%) DevOps
16 64 (11.00%) Microsoft
17 62 (10.65%) Continuous Improvement
18 60 (10.31%) Agile
18 60 (10.31%) Microservices
19 54 (9.28%) SQL Server
20 53 (9.11%) React
21 52 (8.93%) Dynamics 365
22 49 (8.42%) Roadmaps
23 43 (7.39%) Event-Driven
24 42 (7.22%) Power Platform
25 40 (6.87%) Docker
25 40 (6.87%) RESTful
26 39 (6.70%) Event-Driven Architecture

Lead 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 18 (3.09%) Anypoint
1 18 (3.09%) Mule
2 12 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.86%) Confluence
4 4 (0.69%) WordPress
5 2 (0.34%) Appian
Business Applications
1 13 (2.23%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.17%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 126 (21.65%) Azure
2 117 (20.10%) AWS
3 77 (13.23%) SaaS
4 52 (8.93%) Dynamics 365
5 42 (7.22%) Power Platform
6 31 (5.33%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (3.61%) GCP
8 20 (3.44%) Microsoft Copilot
9 19 (3.26%) Power Automate
9 19 (3.26%) Snowflake
10 18 (3.09%) Azure Service Bus
11 16 (2.75%) GitHub
12 15 (2.58%) Serverless
13 13 (2.23%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (2.23%) Azure Monitor
14 12 (2.06%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 12 (2.06%) Azure Logic Apps
15 10 (1.72%) Amazon Bedrock
15 10 (1.72%) Microsoft 365
15 10 (1.72%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.41%) SSL
2 4 (0.69%) Broadband
3 1 (0.17%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.17%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (9.28%) SQL Server
2 32 (5.50%) PostgreSQL
3 26 (4.47%) Redis
4 15 (2.58%) Power BI
5 12 (2.06%) Elasticsearch
6 11 (1.89%) MySQL
7 10 (1.72%) MongoDB
8 7 (1.20%) DynamoDB
9 6 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.86%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.69%) Metadata
11 4 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.52%) KDB
12 3 (0.52%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.52%) Spatial Data
13 2 (0.34%) Db2
13 2 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
13 2 (0.34%) InterSystems Cache
14 1 (0.17%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 33 (5.67%) Git
2 8 (1.37%) JIRA
3 4 (0.69%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.52%) JUnit
4 3 (0.52%) Maven
4 3 (0.52%) Mockito
5 2 (0.34%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.34%) MSI
5 2 (0.34%) TeamCity
5 2 (0.34%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.17%) Ant
6 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.17%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.17%) DBeaver
6 1 (0.17%) Eclipse
6 1 (0.17%) fastlane
6 1 (0.17%) git-flow
6 1 (0.17%) GitLab
6 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 89 (15.29%) Finance
2 72 (12.37%) Social Skills
3 30 (5.15%) Banking
4 24 (4.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 18 (3.09%) Law
6 16 (2.75%) Front Office
7 14 (2.41%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (2.41%) Marketing
8 9 (1.55%) Games
9 8 (1.37%) Public Sector
10 7 (1.20%) Legal
10 7 (1.20%) Legal Technology
10 7 (1.20%) Retail
11 4 (0.69%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.34%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.17%) Local Government
13 1 (0.17%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 120 (20.62%) .NET
2 81 (13.92%) Node.js
3 53 (9.11%) React
4 40 (6.87%) RESTful
5 32 (5.50%) REST
6 29 (4.98%) .NET Core
6 29 (4.98%) ASP.NET
6 29 (4.98%) Vue
7 22 (3.78%) Next.js
8 21 (3.61%) GraphQL
9 19 (3.26%) CSS
9 19 (3.26%) Spring
10 17 (2.92%) HTML
10 17 (2.92%) React Native
11 14 (2.41%) JWT
11 14 (2.41%) MUnit
11 14 (2.41%) OAuth
11 14 (2.41%) OAuth2
11 14 (2.41%) RAML
12 13 (2.23%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 30 (5.15%) Cloud Native
2 15 (2.58%) Distributed Systems
2 15 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
2 15 (2.58%) Product Ownership
3 14 (2.41%) Low-Code
4 10 (1.72%) AI Agents
4 10 (1.72%) Hedge funds
5 9 (1.55%) Greenfield Project
6 8 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (1.37%) Mobile App
6 8 (1.37%) Virtual Team
7 6 (1.03%) Algorithms
8 5 (0.86%) Onboarding
9 4 (0.69%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (0.69%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.69%) Taxonomies
10 3 (0.52%) Blog
10 3 (0.52%) Equities
10 3 (0.52%) Video\Live Streaming
11 2 (0.34%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 20 (3.44%) Android
2 18 (3.09%) Apple iOS
3 4 (0.69%) Linux
4 2 (0.34%) Windows
5 1 (0.17%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (24.57%) Technical Leadership
2 139 (23.88%) Full-Stack Development
3 115 (19.76%) Mentoring
4 89 (15.29%) CI/CD
5 88 (15.12%) AI
6 75 (12.89%) Software Engineering
7 64 (11.00%) DevOps
8 62 (10.65%) Continuous Improvement
9 60 (10.31%) Agile
9 60 (10.31%) Microservices
10 49 (8.42%) Roadmaps
11 43 (7.39%) Event-Driven
12 39 (6.70%) Event-Driven Architecture
12 39 (6.70%) Problem-Solving
13 38 (6.53%) Stakeholder Management
14 33 (5.67%) Test Automation
15 32 (5.50%) Design Patterns
16 30 (5.15%) DevSecOps
17 29 (4.98%) Clean Code
18 27 (4.64%) Fintech
Programming Languages
1 131 (22.51%) C#
2 118 (20.27%) JavaScript
3 105 (18.04%) TypeScript
4 71 (12.20%) Python
4 71 (12.20%) SQL
5 36 (6.19%) Java
6 14 (2.41%) DataWeave
6 14 (2.41%) PHP
7 10 (1.72%) R
8 8 (1.37%) Ruby
9 7 (1.20%) C++
10 6 (1.03%) RPG
11 5 (0.86%) Go
11 5 (0.86%) PowerShell
12 4 (0.69%) Bash
12 4 (0.69%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.52%) Bicep
13 3 (0.52%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.34%) C
14 2 (0.34%) Dart
Qualifications
1 29 (4.98%) Degree
2 28 (4.81%) Security Cleared
3 27 (4.64%) SC Cleared
4 23 (3.95%) Computer Science Degree
5 9 (1.55%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (0.69%) Azure Certification
6 4 (0.69%) DBS Check
6 4 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (4.81%) QA
2 10 (1.72%) Accessibility
3 6 (1.03%) WCAG
4 5 (0.86%) Data Quality
5 4 (0.69%) GDPR
6 2 (0.34%) NCSC
7 1 (0.17%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 40 (6.87%) Docker
Systems Management
1 20 (3.44%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.41%) CloudHub
3 1 (0.17%) Ansible
Vendors
1 64 (11.00%) Microsoft
2 18 (3.09%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.75%) Salesforce
4 15 (2.58%) ServiceNow
5 14 (2.41%) SAP
6 12 (2.06%) Google
7 7 (1.20%) Databricks
8 6 (1.03%) IBM
8 6 (1.03%) Oracle
9 4 (0.69%) HubSpot
10 3 (0.52%) Adobe
10 3 (0.52%) Bloomberg
11 2 (0.34%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.34%) Refinitiv
11 2 (0.34%) TikTok
12 1 (0.17%) Citrix
12 1 (0.17%) Reuters