Lead Developer Job Trends in England

Lead Developer
UK > England

The median Lead Developer salary in England is £83,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 September 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 283 391 251
Rank change year-on-year +108 -140 +59
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 627 279 763
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.63% 0.65% 1.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.67% 0.71% 1.17%
Number of salaries quoted 512 197 632
10th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £51,747
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £83,500 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +11.33% +7.14% -12.50%
75th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £95,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £130,000 £142,500
UK median annual salary £80,000 £75,000 £70,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% +7.14% -11.95%

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 93,639 39,093 65,374
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.52% 90.39% 95.20%
Number of salaries quoted 66,191 23,439 40,359
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,300 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,500 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,853 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.82% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.27% - -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 14 September 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 14 September 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 +22 212 £90,000 -10.00% 92
North of England +25 154 £75,000 +7.14% 20
Midlands +23 106 £70,000 -1.75% 19
South East +23 93 £90,000 +22.03% 7
North West +35 86 £76,021 +8.60% 5
West Midlands +1 63 £65,000 -10.34% 12
East Midlands +4 43 £70,000 +3.70% 7
Yorkshire -16 41 £75,000 +11.11% 8
East of England -2 29 £67,500 +22.73% 7
North East -39 27 £90,000 +12.50% 7
South West -70 24 £70,000 +40.00% 6
Lead Developer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 14 September 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.

1 175 (27.91%) Full-Stack Development
2 159 (25.36%) C#
3 142 (22.65%) .NET
4 139 (22.17%) Technical Leadership
5 137 (21.85%) Azure
6 128 (20.41%) JavaScript
7 125 (19.94%) Mentoring
8 116 (18.50%) AWS
8 116 (18.50%) TypeScript
9 94 (14.99%) CI/CD
10 86 (13.72%) Node.js
10 86 (13.72%) SaaS
11 81 (12.92%) AI
12 76 (12.12%) DevOps
13 74 (11.80%) Software Engineering
14 71 (11.32%) Agile
14 71 (11.32%) Microsoft
15 70 (11.16%) SQL
16 69 (11.00%) Microservices
17 63 (10.05%) React
18 62 (9.89%) Continuous Improvement
18 62 (9.89%) Python
19 57 (9.09%) Dynamics 365
20 51 (8.13%) RESTful
21 50 (7.97%) SQL Server
22 49 (7.81%) Power Platform
23 47 (7.50%) Event-Driven
23 47 (7.50%) Roadmaps
24 44 (7.02%) Docker
24 44 (7.02%) 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 19 (3.03%) Anypoint
1 19 (3.03%) Mule
2 13 (2.07%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.80%) Confluence
4 4 (0.64%) WordPress
5 3 (0.48%) Appian
Business Applications
1 16 (2.55%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 137 (21.85%) Azure
2 116 (18.50%) AWS
3 86 (13.72%) SaaS
4 57 (9.09%) Dynamics 365
5 49 (7.81%) Power Platform
6 34 (5.42%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (3.19%) Microsoft Copilot
7 20 (3.19%) Power Automate
8 19 (3.03%) Azure Logic Apps
9 18 (2.87%) Azure Service Bus
9 18 (2.87%) Serverless
10 17 (2.71%) Snowflake
11 15 (2.39%) Azure Key Vault
12 14 (2.23%) Azure Monitor
12 14 (2.23%) GitHub
13 13 (2.07%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 13 (2.07%) GCP
13 13 (2.07%) PowerApps
14 11 (1.75%) Amazon ECS
15 10 (1.59%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.23%) SSL
2 4 (0.64%) Broadband
3 1 (0.16%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.16%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (7.97%) SQL Server
2 33 (5.26%) PostgreSQL
3 23 (3.67%) Redis
4 16 (2.55%) MySQL
5 15 (2.39%) Power BI
6 12 (1.91%) Elasticsearch
7 10 (1.59%) DynamoDB
8 9 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
8 9 (1.44%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.80%) Metadata
9 5 (0.80%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.48%) KDB
10 3 (0.48%) MariaDB
10 3 (0.48%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.48%) Spatial Data
11 2 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
11 2 (0.32%) InterSystems Cache
12 1 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
12 1 (0.16%) Db2
12 1 (0.16%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 32 (5.10%) Git
2 7 (1.12%) JIRA
3 4 (0.64%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.48%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.48%) JUnit
4 3 (0.48%) Maven
4 3 (0.48%) Mockito
5 2 (0.32%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.32%) GitLab
5 2 (0.32%) MSI
5 2 (0.32%) NUnit
5 2 (0.32%) TeamCity
5 2 (0.32%) Terragrunt
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
6 1 (0.16%) XCUITest
General
1 85 (13.56%) Finance
2 68 (10.85%) Social Skills
3 22 (3.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 22 (3.51%) Law
4 20 (3.19%) Banking
5 16 (2.55%) Analytical Skills
6 13 (2.07%) Games
7 9 (1.44%) Public Sector
8 8 (1.28%) Front Office
8 8 (1.28%) Retail
9 7 (1.12%) Legal
9 7 (1.12%) Legal Technology
10 6 (0.96%) Marketing
11 4 (0.64%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.32%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.16%) Local Government
13 1 (0.16%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 142 (22.65%) .NET
2 86 (13.72%) Node.js
3 63 (10.05%) React
4 51 (8.13%) RESTful
5 36 (5.74%) ASP.NET
6 35 (5.58%) .NET Core
7 33 (5.26%) Vue
8 30 (4.78%) REST
9 24 (3.83%) GraphQL
10 22 (3.51%) CSS
10 22 (3.51%) Next.js
10 22 (3.51%) React Native
11 20 (3.19%) HTML
11 20 (3.19%) Spring
12 16 (2.55%) Terraform
13 14 (2.23%) JWT
13 14 (2.23%) MUnit
13 14 (2.23%) OAuth
13 14 (2.23%) OAuth2
13 14 (2.23%) RAML
Miscellaneous
1 37 (5.90%) Cloud Native
2 18 (2.87%) Distributed Systems
2 18 (2.87%) Legacy Systems
3 17 (2.71%) Product Ownership
4 14 (2.23%) Low-Code
5 13 (2.07%) Mobile App
6 12 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (1.44%) Virtual Team
8 6 (0.96%) Algorithms
8 6 (0.96%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (0.80%) Legacy Applications
9 5 (0.80%) Onboarding
10 3 (0.48%) Equities
10 3 (0.48%) Management Information System
10 3 (0.48%) Operational Technology
10 3 (0.48%) Photography
10 3 (0.48%) PropTech
10 3 (0.48%) Taxonomies
10 3 (0.48%) Video\Live Streaming
11 2 (0.32%) Blog
Operating Systems
1 27 (4.31%) Android
1 27 (4.31%) Apple iOS
2 4 (0.64%) Linux
3 3 (0.48%) Windows
4 1 (0.16%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (27.91%) Full-Stack Development
2 139 (22.17%) Technical Leadership
3 125 (19.94%) Mentoring
4 94 (14.99%) CI/CD
5 81 (12.92%) AI
6 76 (12.12%) DevOps
7 74 (11.80%) Software Engineering
8 71 (11.32%) Agile
9 69 (11.00%) Microservices
10 62 (9.89%) Continuous Improvement
11 47 (7.50%) Event-Driven
11 47 (7.50%) Roadmaps
12 44 (7.02%) Problem-Solving
13 43 (6.86%) Event-Driven Architecture
14 37 (5.90%) Stakeholder Management
15 35 (5.58%) Test Automation
16 32 (5.10%) Design Patterns
17 29 (4.63%) DevSecOps
18 28 (4.47%) Mobile Development
19 27 (4.31%) Clean Code
Programming Languages
1 159 (25.36%) C#
2 128 (20.41%) JavaScript
3 116 (18.50%) TypeScript
4 70 (11.16%) SQL
5 62 (9.89%) Python
6 37 (5.90%) Java
7 16 (2.55%) PHP
8 14 (2.23%) DataWeave
9 11 (1.75%) C++
10 8 (1.28%) Ruby
11 7 (1.12%) Go
11 7 (1.12%) Kotlin
12 6 (0.96%) Bicep
12 6 (0.96%) RPG
12 6 (0.96%) Swift
13 5 (0.80%) PowerShell
14 4 (0.64%) Bash
15 3 (0.48%) C
15 3 (0.48%) PL/SQL
15 3 (0.48%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (4.78%) Degree
2 28 (4.47%) SC Cleared
2 28 (4.47%) Security Cleared
3 21 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
4 5 (0.80%) DBS Check
4 5 (0.80%) ITIL Certification
5 4 (0.64%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (0.48%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (4.94%) QA
2 10 (1.59%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.96%) Data Quality
4 5 (0.80%) WCAG
5 4 (0.64%) GDPR
6 2 (0.32%) NCSC
7 1 (0.16%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 44 (7.02%) Docker
2 3 (0.48%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 24 (3.83%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.23%) CloudHub
3 2 (0.32%) Ansible
Vendors
1 71 (11.32%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.03%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.55%) Salesforce
4 15 (2.39%) ServiceNow
5 14 (2.23%) SAP
6 7 (1.12%) HubSpot
7 6 (0.96%) IBM
7 6 (0.96%) Oracle
8 4 (0.64%) Google
9 3 (0.48%) Adobe
9 3 (0.48%) Bloomberg
9 3 (0.48%) Databricks
10 2 (0.32%) Apple
10 2 (0.32%) DevExpress
10 2 (0.32%) OpenAI
10 2 (0.32%) Refinitiv
10 2 (0.32%) TikTok
11 1 (0.16%) Citrix
11 1 (0.16%) Reuters