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 16 October 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 321 365 263
Rank change year-on-year +44 -102 +37
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 585 273 669
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.56% 0.64% 1.06%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.60% 0.71% 1.11%
Number of salaries quoted 467 192 533
10th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 -
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £47,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £82,500 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +7.14% -12.50%
75th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £95,000
90th Percentile - £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 96,937 38,621 60,111
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 90.71% 95.20%
Number of salaries quoted 67,736 23,236 34,475
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,160 £35,750 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £58,396 £53,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.15% -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 16 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 16 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 -6 196 £93,250 -11.19% 66
North of England -5 130 £75,000 +7.14% 27
Midlands +21 106 £70,000 -3.45% 17
South East +8 94 £90,000 +22.03% 17
West Midlands -12 62 £70,000 -3.45% 12
North West -3 61 £72,500 +3.57% 8
Yorkshire -13 47 £75,000 +9.09% 16
East Midlands +1 44 £70,000 - 5
East of England -22 29 £85,000 +29.77% 7
South West -61 23 £70,000 +40.00% 6
North East -56 22 £100,000 +45.99% 4
Lead Developer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 16 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.

1 141 (24.10%) Technical Leadership
2 139 (23.76%) Full-Stack Development
3 133 (22.74%) C#
4 129 (22.05%) Azure
5 120 (20.51%) .NET
6 118 (20.17%) JavaScript
7 117 (20.00%) AWS
8 115 (19.66%) Mentoring
9 107 (18.29%) TypeScript
10 88 (15.04%) AI
10 88 (15.04%) CI/CD
11 83 (14.19%) Node.js
12 79 (13.50%) SaaS
13 75 (12.82%) Software Engineering
14 73 (12.48%) SQL
15 71 (12.14%) Python
16 67 (11.45%) Microsoft
17 61 (10.43%) DevOps
18 60 (10.26%) Continuous Improvement
19 59 (10.09%) Microservices
20 57 (9.74%) Agile
21 55 (9.40%) SQL Server
22 54 (9.23%) Dynamics 365
23 51 (8.72%) React
24 49 (8.38%) Roadmaps
25 44 (7.52%) Power Platform
26 41 (7.01%) Event-Driven
27 40 (6.84%) Docker
28 39 (6.67%) RESTful
29 38 (6.50%) Problem-Solving

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 (3.08%) Anypoint
1 18 (3.08%) Mule
2 11 (1.88%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.85%) Confluence
4 4 (0.68%) WordPress
5 2 (0.34%) Appian
Business Applications
1 13 (2.22%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.17%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 129 (22.05%) Azure
2 117 (20.00%) AWS
3 79 (13.50%) SaaS
4 54 (9.23%) Dynamics 365
5 44 (7.52%) Power Platform
6 31 (5.30%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (3.59%) GCP
7 21 (3.59%) Power Automate
8 20 (3.42%) Microsoft Copilot
9 19 (3.25%) Snowflake
10 18 (3.08%) Azure Service Bus
11 16 (2.74%) GitHub
12 14 (2.39%) Serverless
13 13 (2.22%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (2.22%) Azure Monitor
14 12 (2.05%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 12 (2.05%) Azure Logic Apps
14 12 (2.05%) PowerApps
15 10 (1.71%) Amazon Bedrock
15 10 (1.71%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.39%) SSL
2 5 (0.85%) Broadband
3 1 (0.17%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.17%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (9.40%) SQL Server
2 33 (5.64%) PostgreSQL
3 27 (4.62%) Redis
4 15 (2.56%) Power BI
5 12 (2.05%) Elasticsearch
6 11 (1.88%) MySQL
7 10 (1.71%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.03%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (1.03%) DynamoDB
9 5 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
9 5 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.68%) Metadata
11 3 (0.51%) KDB
11 3 (0.51%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.51%) Spatial Data
12 2 (0.34%) Db2
12 2 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.34%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.17%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 34 (5.81%) Git
2 8 (1.37%) JIRA
3 4 (0.68%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.51%) Claude Code
4 3 (0.51%) JUnit
4 3 (0.51%) Maven
4 3 (0.51%) Mockito
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 91 (15.56%) Finance
2 71 (12.14%) Social Skills
3 30 (5.13%) Banking
4 24 (4.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 17 (2.91%) Law
6 16 (2.74%) Front Office
7 14 (2.39%) Marketing
8 13 (2.22%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (1.54%) Games
9 9 (1.54%) Retail
10 8 (1.37%) Public Sector
11 7 (1.20%) Legal
11 7 (1.20%) Legal Technology
12 4 (0.68%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.34%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.17%) Local Government
14 1 (0.17%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 120 (20.51%) .NET
2 83 (14.19%) Node.js
3 51 (8.72%) React
4 39 (6.67%) RESTful
5 33 (5.64%) REST
6 30 (5.13%) .NET Core
7 29 (4.96%) Vue
8 28 (4.79%) ASP.NET
9 23 (3.93%) Next.js
10 20 (3.42%) GraphQL
11 18 (3.08%) CSS
11 18 (3.08%) Spring
12 16 (2.74%) HTML
12 16 (2.74%) React Native
13 14 (2.39%) JWT
13 14 (2.39%) MUnit
13 14 (2.39%) OAuth
13 14 (2.39%) OAuth2
13 14 (2.39%) RAML
14 13 (2.22%) Blazor
Miscellaneous
1 30 (5.13%) Cloud Native
2 15 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (2.39%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (2.39%) Low-Code
3 14 (2.39%) Product Ownership
4 10 (1.71%) AI Agents
4 10 (1.71%) Hedge funds
5 9 (1.54%) Greenfield Project
6 8 (1.37%) Mobile App
6 8 (1.37%) Virtual Team
7 6 (1.03%) Algorithms
7 6 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (0.85%) Onboarding
9 4 (0.68%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.68%) Taxonomies
10 3 (0.51%) Blog
10 3 (0.51%) Equities
10 3 (0.51%) Legacy Applications
10 3 (0.51%) Video\Live Streaming
11 2 (0.34%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 19 (3.25%) Android
2 17 (2.91%) Apple iOS
3 4 (0.68%) Linux
4 2 (0.34%) Windows
5 1 (0.17%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (24.10%) Technical Leadership
2 139 (23.76%) Full-Stack Development
3 115 (19.66%) Mentoring
4 88 (15.04%) AI
4 88 (15.04%) CI/CD
5 75 (12.82%) Software Engineering
6 61 (10.43%) DevOps
7 60 (10.26%) Continuous Improvement
8 59 (10.09%) Microservices
9 57 (9.74%) Agile
10 49 (8.38%) Roadmaps
11 41 (7.01%) Event-Driven
12 38 (6.50%) Problem-Solving
12 38 (6.50%) Stakeholder Management
13 37 (6.32%) Event-Driven Architecture
14 32 (5.47%) Test Automation
15 30 (5.13%) Design Patterns
15 30 (5.13%) DevSecOps
16 29 (4.96%) Clean Code
17 28 (4.79%) Fintech
Programming Languages
1 133 (22.74%) C#
2 118 (20.17%) JavaScript
3 107 (18.29%) TypeScript
4 73 (12.48%) SQL
5 71 (12.14%) Python
6 35 (5.98%) Java
7 14 (2.39%) DataWeave
7 14 (2.39%) PHP
8 10 (1.71%) R
9 8 (1.37%) Ruby
10 7 (1.20%) C++
11 6 (1.03%) RPG
12 5 (0.85%) Go
12 5 (0.85%) PowerShell
13 4 (0.68%) Bash
13 4 (0.68%) Kotlin
14 3 (0.51%) Bicep
14 3 (0.51%) PL/SQL
14 3 (0.51%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.34%) C
Qualifications
1 28 (4.79%) Degree
1 28 (4.79%) Security Cleared
2 27 (4.62%) SC Cleared
3 23 (3.93%) Computer Science Degree
4 10 (1.71%) Microsoft Certification
5 4 (0.68%) Azure Certification
5 4 (0.68%) ITIL Certification
6 3 (0.51%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.44%) QA
2 10 (1.71%) Accessibility
3 6 (1.03%) WCAG
4 5 (0.85%) Data Quality
5 4 (0.68%) GDPR
6 2 (0.34%) NCSC
7 1 (0.17%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 40 (6.84%) Docker
Systems Management
1 20 (3.42%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.39%) CloudHub
3 1 (0.17%) Ansible
Vendors
1 67 (11.45%) Microsoft
2 18 (3.08%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.74%) Salesforce
4 15 (2.56%) ServiceNow
5 14 (2.39%) SAP
6 13 (2.22%) Google
7 7 (1.20%) Databricks
8 6 (1.03%) IBM
8 6 (1.03%) Oracle
9 3 (0.51%) Adobe
9 3 (0.51%) Bloomberg
9 3 (0.51%) HubSpot
10 2 (0.34%) OpenAI
10 2 (0.34%) Refinitiv
10 2 (0.34%) TikTok
11 1 (0.17%) Citrix
11 1 (0.17%) Reuters