Software Developer Job Trends in the North West

Software Developer
England > North West

The median Software Developer salary in the North West is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 27 September 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 35 137
Rank change year-on-year -67 +102 +8
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 181 419 108
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 1.40% 8.04% 1.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.49% 9.12% 1.49%
Number of salaries quoted 153 32 96
10th Percentile £45,000 £28,250 £36,250
25th Percentile £50,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £55,000 £50,875
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% +8.11% -11.52%
75th Percentile £70,000 £60,000 £62,188
90th Percentile £75,000 £88,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £65,000 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +4.00% +8.70% -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the North West. 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 the North West with a recognized job title 12,119 4,593 7,247
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.73% 88.16% 95.20%
Number of salaries quoted 8,949 2,286 4,290
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,943 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £77,500
England median annual salary £59,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +8.18% - -8.33%

Software Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Software Developer job vacancy trend in the North West

Software Developer
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for Software Developer job vacancies in the North West.

Salary distribution trend for Software Developer job vacancies in the North West

Software Developer
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Developer in the North West over the 6 months to 27 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Developer in the North West

Software Developer
Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Developer within the North West region over the 6 months to 27 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
Manchester -25 71 £65,000 +8.33% 45
Cheshire +21 51 £55,000 -
Lancashire -36 32 £67,500 +68.75% 5
Merseyside -20 17 £65,000 +113.11% 1
Cumbria -3 7 £50,000 -
Software Developer
England

Software Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 27 September 2026, Software 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 North West region featuring Software Developer in the job title.

1 66 (36.46%) C#
2 44 (24.31%) .NET
3 43 (23.76%) Azure
4 31 (17.13%) Full-Stack Development
5 30 (16.57%) SQL Server
6 25 (13.81%) Mentoring
6 25 (13.81%) Python
6 25 (13.81%) Software Engineering
7 22 (12.15%) Agile
7 22 (12.15%) SQL
7 22 (12.15%) TypeScript
8 21 (11.60%) .NET Core
8 21 (11.60%) JavaScript
9 20 (11.05%) ASP.NET
9 20 (11.05%) CI/CD
10 18 (9.94%) Java
10 18 (9.94%) Microsoft
11 17 (9.39%) DevOps
12 16 (8.84%) API Development
12 16 (8.84%) AWS
12 16 (8.84%) Problem-Solving
13 13 (7.18%) Clean Code
13 13 (7.18%) Continuous Improvement
13 13 (7.18%) React
13 13 (7.18%) Vue
14 12 (6.63%) Degree
15 11 (6.08%) Git
15 11 (6.08%) SDLC
16 10 (5.52%) CSS
16 10 (5.52%) Scrum

Software Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 5 (2.76%) IIS
Business Applications
1 1 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 43 (23.76%) Azure
2 16 (8.84%) AWS
3 9 (4.97%) Azure DevOps
3 9 (4.97%) SaaS
3 9 (4.97%) Serverless
4 4 (2.21%) Azure Functions
4 4 (2.21%) Azure Monitor
5 3 (1.66%) Azure Service Bus
6 1 (0.55%) Azure AKS
6 1 (0.55%) Azure Data Factory
6 1 (0.55%) Azure Key Vault
6 1 (0.55%) Dynamics 365
6 1 (0.55%) Entra ID
6 1 (0.55%) Figma
6 1 (0.55%) GCP
6 1 (0.55%) GitHub
6 1 (0.55%) GitHub Copilot
6 1 (0.55%) Power Automate
6 1 (0.55%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.55%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (2.76%) HTTP
2 3 (1.66%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.55%) Firewall
3 1 (0.55%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (16.57%) SQL Server
2 8 (4.42%) Relational Database
3 7 (3.87%) MySQL
4 5 (2.76%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (1.10%) Redis
6 1 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.55%) Power BI
6 1 (0.55%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 11 (6.08%) Git
2 5 (2.76%) GitLab
3 3 (1.66%) Eclipse
3 3 (1.66%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.66%) JUnit
3 3 (1.66%) Visual Studio Code
4 1 (0.55%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.55%) gulp
4 1 (0.55%) NUnit
4 1 (0.55%) webpack
General
1 15 (8.29%) Banking
2 10 (5.52%) Finance
2 10 (5.52%) Social Skills
3 5 (2.76%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (1.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 3 (1.66%) Manufacturing
5 2 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
5 2 (1.10%) Marketing
6 1 (0.55%) Aerospace
6 1 (0.55%) Automotive
6 1 (0.55%) Electronics
6 1 (0.55%) Games
6 1 (0.55%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (24.31%) .NET
2 21 (11.60%) .NET Core
3 20 (11.05%) ASP.NET
4 13 (7.18%) React
4 13 (7.18%) Vue
5 10 (5.52%) CSS
6 9 (4.97%) HTML
7 8 (4.42%) .NET Framework
8 7 (3.87%) AngularJS
8 7 (3.87%) Spring
8 7 (3.87%) Spring Boot
9 6 (3.31%) ASP.NET MVC
9 6 (3.31%) ASP.NET Web API
9 6 (3.31%) CSS3
9 6 (3.31%) HTML5
9 6 (3.31%) REST
9 6 (3.31%) Terraform
10 4 (2.21%) Entity Framework
10 4 (2.21%) OpenAPI
10 4 (2.21%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.29%) Cloud Native
2 7 (3.87%) Product Ownership
3 5 (2.76%) IoT
3 5 (2.76%) Online Gambling
3 5 (2.76%) Video\Live Streaming
4 3 (1.66%) Mobile App
5 2 (1.10%) Management Information System
5 2 (1.10%) Marketing Technology
6 1 (0.55%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.55%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.55%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 9 (4.97%) Android
2 3 (1.66%) Linux
3 2 (1.10%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.55%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (17.13%) Full-Stack Development
2 25 (13.81%) Mentoring
2 25 (13.81%) Software Engineering
3 22 (12.15%) Agile
4 20 (11.05%) CI/CD
5 17 (9.39%) DevOps
6 16 (8.84%) API Development
6 16 (8.84%) Problem-Solving
7 13 (7.18%) Clean Code
7 13 (7.18%) Continuous Improvement
8 11 (6.08%) SDLC
9 10 (5.52%) Scrum
10 9 (4.97%) Design Patterns
11 8 (4.42%) AI
11 8 (4.42%) Fintech
11 8 (4.42%) Infrastructure as Code
11 8 (4.42%) MVC
11 8 (4.42%) Performance Optimisation
11 8 (4.42%) Roadmaps
11 8 (4.42%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 66 (36.46%) C#
2 25 (13.81%) Python
3 22 (12.15%) SQL
3 22 (12.15%) TypeScript
4 21 (11.60%) JavaScript
5 18 (9.94%) Java
6 8 (4.42%) C++
7 7 (3.87%) Go
7 7 (3.87%) PHP
8 4 (2.21%) T-SQL
9 3 (1.66%) Ruby
10 2 (1.10%) Rust
10 2 (1.10%) Scala
11 1 (0.55%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.55%) Bicep
11 1 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 12 (6.63%) Degree
2 8 (4.42%) Computer Science Degree
2 8 (4.42%) Security Cleared
3 4 (2.21%) DV Cleared
4 2 (1.10%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.21%) QA
2 1 (0.55%) Accessibility
System Software
1 9 (4.97%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (3.31%) Kubernetes
2 2 (1.10%) Ansible
Vendors
1 18 (9.94%) Microsoft
2 5 (2.76%) Zoho
3 4 (2.21%) Splunk
4 1 (0.55%) DevExpress
4 1 (0.55%) New Relic
4 1 (0.55%) Salesforce