Lead Developer Job Trends in England

Lead Developer
UK > England

The median Lead Developer salary in England is £82,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 2 October 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 307 373 258
Rank change year-on-year +66 -115 +47
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 608 276 717
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.58% 0.64% 1.07%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 0.71% 1.12%
Number of salaries quoted 493 194 581
10th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £48,039
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £82,500 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +7.14% -12.50%
75th Percentile £97,500 £96,875 £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 96,584 39,137 63,749
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.91% 90.50% 95.21%
Number of salaries quoted 67,856 23,062 37,088
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,750
25th Percentile £41,000 £36,250 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.18% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £58,600 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +6.55% - -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 2 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 2 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 +16 205 £90,000 -14.29% 81
North of England +6 140 £75,000 +7.14% 49
Midlands +17 105 £70,000 -3.45% 22
South East +13 92 £90,000 +22.03% 22
North West +5 72 £73,750 +5.36% 14
West Midlands -11 59 £70,000 -3.45% 16
Yorkshire -11 47 £75,000 +7.14% 28
East Midlands 0 46 £70,000 +3.70% 6
East of England -12 32 £76,021 +16.06% 6
South West -64 24 £70,000 +40.00% 6
North East -48 21 £100,000 +45.99% 7
Lead Developer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 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.

1 153 (25.16%) Full-Stack Development
2 145 (23.85%) Technical Leadership
3 144 (23.68%) C#
4 128 (21.05%) Azure
5 127 (20.89%) .NET
6 123 (20.23%) JavaScript
6 123 (20.23%) Mentoring
7 120 (19.74%) AWS
8 109 (17.93%) TypeScript
9 92 (15.13%) CI/CD
10 84 (13.82%) Node.js
11 82 (13.49%) AI
12 80 (13.16%) SaaS
13 73 (12.01%) Software Engineering
13 73 (12.01%) SQL
14 70 (11.51%) DevOps
14 70 (11.51%) Microsoft
15 69 (11.35%) Agile
16 67 (11.02%) Python
17 64 (10.53%) Continuous Improvement
17 64 (10.53%) Microservices
18 59 (9.70%) Dynamics 365
19 58 (9.54%) React
20 55 (9.05%) SQL Server
21 48 (7.89%) Power Platform
22 47 (7.73%) Event-Driven
22 47 (7.73%) Roadmaps
23 46 (7.57%) RESTful
24 44 (7.24%) Docker
25 43 (7.07%) 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 19 (3.13%) Anypoint
1 19 (3.13%) Mule
2 13 (2.14%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.82%) Confluence
4 4 (0.66%) WordPress
5 2 (0.33%) Appian
Business Applications
1 14 (2.30%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 128 (21.05%) Azure
2 120 (19.74%) AWS
3 80 (13.16%) SaaS
4 59 (9.70%) Dynamics 365
5 48 (7.89%) Power Platform
6 31 (5.10%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (3.29%) Power Automate
8 19 (3.13%) Azure Service Bus
8 19 (3.13%) Microsoft Copilot
9 18 (2.96%) Serverless
10 17 (2.80%) GCP
10 17 (2.80%) Snowflake
11 16 (2.63%) GitHub
12 15 (2.47%) Azure Logic Apps
13 13 (2.14%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (2.14%) Azure Monitor
14 12 (1.97%) Azure Cosmos DB
15 11 (1.81%) Amazon ECS
15 11 (1.81%) PowerApps
16 10 (1.64%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.30%) SSL
2 4 (0.66%) Broadband
3 1 (0.16%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.16%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (9.05%) SQL Server
2 32 (5.26%) PostgreSQL
3 24 (3.95%) Redis
4 14 (2.30%) Power BI
5 13 (2.14%) MySQL
6 12 (1.97%) Elasticsearch
7 10 (1.64%) MongoDB
8 9 (1.48%) DynamoDB
9 8 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.82%) Metadata
11 4 (0.66%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.66%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.49%) KDB
12 3 (0.49%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.49%) Spatial Data
13 2 (0.33%) Db2
13 2 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
13 2 (0.33%) InterSystems Cache
14 1 (0.16%) MariaDB
14 1 (0.16%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 33 (5.43%) Git
2 8 (1.32%) JIRA
3 5 (0.82%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.49%) JUnit
4 3 (0.49%) Maven
4 3 (0.49%) Mockito
5 2 (0.33%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.33%) GitLab
5 2 (0.33%) MSI
5 2 (0.33%) TeamCity
5 2 (0.33%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.16%) Ant
6 1 (0.16%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.16%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.16%) DBeaver
6 1 (0.16%) Eclipse
6 1 (0.16%) fastlane
6 1 (0.16%) git-flow
6 1 (0.16%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 85 (13.98%) Finance
2 71 (11.68%) Social Skills
3 26 (4.28%) Banking
4 23 (3.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 19 (3.13%) Law
6 15 (2.47%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (1.97%) Front Office
8 10 (1.64%) Marketing
8 10 (1.64%) Public Sector
9 9 (1.48%) Games
10 8 (1.32%) Retail
11 7 (1.15%) Legal
11 7 (1.15%) Legal Technology
12 4 (0.66%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.33%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.16%) Local Government
14 1 (0.16%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 127 (20.89%) .NET
2 84 (13.82%) Node.js
3 58 (9.54%) React
4 46 (7.57%) RESTful
5 33 (5.43%) .NET Core
6 32 (5.26%) ASP.NET
6 32 (5.26%) REST
7 29 (4.77%) Vue
8 22 (3.62%) GraphQL
8 22 (3.62%) Next.js
9 21 (3.45%) Spring
10 20 (3.29%) CSS
11 18 (2.96%) HTML
11 18 (2.96%) React Native
12 14 (2.30%) JWT
12 14 (2.30%) MUnit
12 14 (2.30%) OAuth
12 14 (2.30%) OAuth2
12 14 (2.30%) RAML
12 14 (2.30%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 35 (5.76%) Cloud Native
2 17 (2.80%) Distributed Systems
2 17 (2.80%) Product Ownership
3 15 (2.47%) Legacy Systems
4 13 (2.14%) Low-Code
5 10 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
6 9 (1.48%) Virtual Team
7 8 (1.32%) Mobile App
8 7 (1.15%) Greenfield Project
9 6 (0.99%) AI Agents
9 6 (0.99%) Algorithms
9 6 (0.99%) Hedge funds
10 5 (0.82%) Legacy Applications
10 5 (0.82%) Onboarding
11 4 (0.66%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.66%) Taxonomies
12 3 (0.49%) Blog
12 3 (0.49%) Equities
12 3 (0.49%) Operational Technology
12 3 (0.49%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 21 (3.45%) Android
2 19 (3.13%) Apple iOS
3 4 (0.66%) Linux
4 3 (0.49%) Windows
5 1 (0.16%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (25.16%) Full-Stack Development
2 145 (23.85%) Technical Leadership
3 123 (20.23%) Mentoring
4 92 (15.13%) CI/CD
5 82 (13.49%) AI
6 73 (12.01%) Software Engineering
7 70 (11.51%) DevOps
8 69 (11.35%) Agile
9 64 (10.53%) Continuous Improvement
9 64 (10.53%) Microservices
10 47 (7.73%) Event-Driven
10 47 (7.73%) Roadmaps
11 43 (7.07%) Event-Driven Architecture
12 42 (6.91%) Problem-Solving
13 38 (6.25%) Stakeholder Management
14 35 (5.76%) Test Automation
15 32 (5.26%) Design Patterns
16 30 (4.93%) DevSecOps
17 28 (4.61%) Clean Code
17 28 (4.61%) Fintech
Programming Languages
1 144 (23.68%) C#
2 123 (20.23%) JavaScript
3 109 (17.93%) TypeScript
4 73 (12.01%) SQL
5 67 (11.02%) Python
6 38 (6.25%) Java
7 15 (2.47%) PHP
8 14 (2.30%) DataWeave
9 8 (1.32%) C++
9 8 (1.32%) Ruby
10 6 (0.99%) Go
10 6 (0.99%) R
10 6 (0.99%) RPG
11 5 (0.82%) PowerShell
12 4 (0.66%) Bash
12 4 (0.66%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.49%) Bicep
13 3 (0.49%) C
13 3 (0.49%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.49%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (4.93%) Security Cleared
2 29 (4.77%) Degree
2 29 (4.77%) SC Cleared
3 21 (3.45%) Computer Science Degree
4 9 (1.48%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (0.82%) DBS Check
6 4 (0.66%) Azure Certification
6 4 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (4.77%) QA
2 11 (1.81%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.99%) Data Quality
3 6 (0.99%) WCAG
4 4 (0.66%) GDPR
5 2 (0.33%) NCSC
6 1 (0.16%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 44 (7.24%) Docker
Systems Management
1 24 (3.95%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.30%) CloudHub
3 2 (0.33%) Ansible
Vendors
1 70 (11.51%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.13%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.63%) Salesforce
4 15 (2.47%) ServiceNow
5 14 (2.30%) SAP
6 8 (1.32%) Google
7 6 (0.99%) Databricks
7 6 (0.99%) HubSpot
7 6 (0.99%) IBM
7 6 (0.99%) Oracle
8 3 (0.49%) Adobe
8 3 (0.49%) Bloomberg
9 2 (0.33%) OpenAI
9 2 (0.33%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.33%) TikTok
10 1 (0.16%) Citrix
10 1 (0.16%) Reuters