Software Developer Job Trends in the North West

Software Developer
England > North West

The median Software Developer salary in the North West is £55,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 17 March 2026.

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

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 89 145 113
Rank change year-on-year +56 -32 +71
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 126 47 168
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 1.53% 1.20% 2.08%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.72% 1.34% 2.18%
Number of salaries quoted 120 42 149
10th Percentile £28,250 £37,500 £36,250
25th Percentile £45,000 £43,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -
75th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £68,375 £70,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £53,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +7.48% -5.31%

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 7,313 3,520 7,693
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 88.61% 90.21% 95.03%
Number of salaries quoted 4,489 2,233 6,256
10th Percentile £28,750 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £36,750 £40,620 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £69,750 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -9.84%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 +43 54 £65,000 +16.07% 16
Cheshire 0 53 £55,000 +10.00% 9
Merseyside -3 15 £30,500 -32.97% 1
Lancashire -12 3 £55,000 +4.76% 6
Cumbria -10 1 - -
Software Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 17 March 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 67 (53.17%) Azure
2 54 (42.86%) .NET
3 48 (38.10%) Microsoft
4 47 (37.30%) C#
5 37 (29.37%) ASP.NET
6 31 (24.60%) .NET Core
6 31 (24.60%) SQL Server
7 30 (23.81%) SQL
8 29 (23.02%) Agile
9 28 (22.22%) JavaScript
10 26 (20.63%) Software Engineering
11 25 (19.84%) CSS
11 25 (19.84%) HTML
11 25 (19.84%) Mentoring
12 23 (18.25%) AWS
12 23 (18.25%) Git
13 22 (17.46%) Python
14 20 (15.87%) .NET Framework
15 19 (15.08%) AWS Certification
15 19 (15.08%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
15 19 (15.08%) Azure Certification
15 19 (15.08%) Cybersecurity
15 19 (15.08%) GitHub
15 19 (15.08%) Internet
15 19 (15.08%) Microsoft Certification
16 18 (14.29%) Full-Stack Development
16 18 (14.29%) RAD
17 14 (11.11%) CI/CD
18 13 (10.32%) TypeScript
19 12 (9.52%) Stakeholder Engagement

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 1 (0.79%) Apache
1 1 (0.79%) IIS
1 1 (0.79%) nginx
Cloud Services
1 67 (53.17%) Azure
2 23 (18.25%) AWS
3 19 (15.08%) GitHub
4 4 (3.17%) SaaS
5 2 (1.59%) Azure DevOps
5 2 (1.59%) Azure Key Vault
5 2 (1.59%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.59%) Figma
5 2 (1.59%) GCP
6 1 (0.79%) Azure Monitor
6 1 (0.79%) Cloud Run
6 1 (0.79%) Firebase
6 1 (0.79%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.79%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 19 (15.08%) Internet
2 1 (0.79%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (24.60%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.59%) MySQL
2 2 (1.59%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (1.59%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.79%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.79%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.79%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.79%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 23 (18.25%) Git
2 2 (1.59%) NUnit
3 1 (0.79%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.79%) GitLab
3 1 (0.79%) Jenkins
General
1 19 (15.08%) Multimedia
2 10 (7.94%) Finance
3 6 (4.76%) Social Skills
4 3 (2.38%) Electronics
5 2 (1.59%) Marketing
6 1 (0.79%) Manufacturing
6 1 (0.79%) Public Sector
6 1 (0.79%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (42.86%) .NET
2 37 (29.37%) ASP.NET
3 31 (24.60%) .NET Core
4 25 (19.84%) CSS
4 25 (19.84%) HTML
5 20 (15.87%) .NET Framework
6 8 (6.35%) React
6 8 (6.35%) RESTful
7 6 (4.76%) ASP.NET Core
8 4 (3.17%) CSS3
8 4 (3.17%) HTML5
8 4 (3.17%) Node.js
9 2 (1.59%) AngularJS
9 2 (1.59%) Entity Framework
9 2 (1.59%) FastAPI
9 2 (1.59%) Kafka
9 2 (1.59%) REST
9 2 (1.59%) Spring
9 2 (1.59%) Spring Boot
9 2 (1.59%) Vitest
Miscellaneous
1 4 (3.17%) Greenfield Project
2 3 (2.38%) Mobile App
3 2 (1.59%) Cloud Native
3 2 (1.59%) Product Ownership
4 1 (0.79%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
4 1 (0.79%) Lidar
Operating Systems
1 2 (1.59%) Linux
2 1 (0.79%) Android
2 1 (0.79%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (23.02%) Agile
2 26 (20.63%) Software Engineering
3 25 (19.84%) Mentoring
4 19 (15.08%) Cybersecurity
5 18 (14.29%) Full-Stack Development
5 18 (14.29%) RAD
6 14 (11.11%) CI/CD
7 12 (9.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 11 (8.73%) Fintech
9 10 (7.94%) DevOps
10 8 (6.35%) Collaborative Culture
11 7 (5.56%) User Experience
12 6 (4.76%) AI
12 6 (4.76%) Clean Code
12 6 (4.76%) Open Source
13 4 (3.17%) Digital Innovation
13 4 (3.17%) Infrastructure as Code
13 4 (3.17%) Line Management
13 4 (3.17%) Responsive Web Design
14 3 (2.38%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 47 (37.30%) C#
2 30 (23.81%) SQL
3 28 (22.22%) JavaScript
4 22 (17.46%) Python
5 13 (10.32%) TypeScript
6 11 (8.73%) Java
7 3 (2.38%) PHP
8 2 (1.59%) Bicep
8 2 (1.59%) Go
9 1 (0.79%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.79%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 19 (15.08%) AWS Certification
1 19 (15.08%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
1 19 (15.08%) Azure Certification
1 19 (15.08%) Microsoft Certification
2 6 (4.76%) Degree
3 1 (0.79%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (0.79%) DV Cleared
3 1 (0.79%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (0.79%) QA
System Software
1 3 (2.38%) Docker
Systems Management
1 2 (1.59%) Terraform
2 1 (0.79%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 48 (38.10%) Microsoft
2 2 (1.59%) DevExpress
2 2 (1.59%) Google
2 2 (1.59%) HubSpot
3 1 (0.79%) Adobe
3 1 (0.79%) Atlassian
3 1 (0.79%) Oracle
3 1 (0.79%) SAP