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 30 August 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 38 118
Rank change year-on-year -57 +80 +43
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 186 417 152
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 1.52% 8.00% 1.86%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.60% 8.89% 1.95%
Number of salaries quoted 162 31 123
10th Percentile £45,000 £31,250 £35,500
25th Percentile £50,000 £41,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% +10.00% -13.04%
75th Percentile £70,000 £60,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £90,000 £70,000
England median annual salary £62,500 £64,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -2.34% +16.36% -5.17%

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 11,605 4,689 7,782
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.94% 89.97% 95.45%
Number of salaries quoted 8,667 2,442 5,218
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,024 £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 £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% - -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 30 August 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 30 August 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 +2 77 £65,000 +8.33% 13
Cheshire +29 61 £55,000 - 1
Lancashire -39 28 £70,000 +60.00% 10
Merseyside -28 14 £55,000 +25.00% 4
Cumbria -7 6 £50,000 - 1
Software Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 30 August 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 62 (33.33%) C#
2 44 (23.66%) Azure
3 40 (21.51%) .NET
4 35 (18.82%) Full-Stack Development
5 30 (16.13%) SQL Server
6 28 (15.05%) Mentoring
7 25 (13.44%) Software Engineering
8 23 (12.37%) TypeScript
9 22 (11.83%) Agile
9 22 (11.83%) ASP.NET
9 22 (11.83%) Microsoft
9 22 (11.83%) SQL
10 20 (10.75%) CI/CD
10 20 (10.75%) Python
11 19 (10.22%) Clean Code
12 18 (9.68%) .NET Core
12 18 (9.68%) DevOps
13 17 (9.14%) Java
14 16 (8.60%) API Development
15 15 (8.06%) AWS
15 15 (8.06%) JavaScript
16 13 (6.99%) Problem-Solving
16 13 (6.99%) SaaS
17 12 (6.45%) CSS
17 12 (6.45%) Degree
17 12 (6.45%) Git
18 11 (5.91%) Continuous Improvement
18 11 (5.91%) MVC
18 11 (5.91%) TDD
19 10 (5.38%) .NET Framework

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 (2.69%) IIS
Business Applications
1 1 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 44 (23.66%) Azure
2 15 (8.06%) AWS
3 13 (6.99%) SaaS
4 10 (5.38%) Azure DevOps
4 10 (5.38%) Serverless
5 5 (2.69%) Azure Monitor
6 4 (2.15%) Azure Functions
7 3 (1.61%) Azure Key Vault
7 3 (1.61%) Azure Service Bus
7 3 (1.61%) Entra ID
7 3 (1.61%) Figma
8 2 (1.08%) GitHub
8 2 (1.08%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.54%) Azure AKS
9 1 (0.54%) Azure Data Factory
9 1 (0.54%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (0.54%) GCP
9 1 (0.54%) GitHub Copilot
9 1 (0.54%) Power Automate
9 1 (0.54%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (2.69%) HTTP
2 3 (1.61%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.54%) Firewall
3 1 (0.54%) Internet
3 1 (0.54%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (16.13%) SQL Server
2 7 (3.76%) Relational Database
3 6 (3.23%) MySQL
4 4 (2.15%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (1.08%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (1.08%) Power BI
5 2 (1.08%) Redis
6 1 (0.54%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 12 (6.45%) Git
2 3 (1.61%) GitLab
2 3 (1.61%) NUnit
3 2 (1.08%) Bitbucket
3 2 (1.08%) Eclipse
3 2 (1.08%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.08%) JUnit
3 2 (1.08%) Visual Studio Code
4 1 (0.54%) gulp
4 1 (0.54%) webpack
General
1 15 (8.06%) Banking
2 11 (5.91%) Finance
3 10 (5.38%) Social Skills
4 2 (1.08%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (1.08%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (1.08%) Marketing
5 1 (0.54%) Aerospace
5 1 (0.54%) Automotive
5 1 (0.54%) Electronics
5 1 (0.54%) Games
5 1 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (0.54%) Multimedia
5 1 (0.54%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (21.51%) .NET
2 22 (11.83%) ASP.NET
3 18 (9.68%) .NET Core
4 12 (6.45%) CSS
5 10 (5.38%) .NET Framework
5 10 (5.38%) HTML
6 8 (4.30%) Vue
7 7 (3.76%) ASP.NET Web API
7 7 (3.76%) REST
7 7 (3.76%) Spring
7 7 (3.76%) Spring Boot
8 6 (3.23%) ASP.NET MVC
8 6 (3.23%) CSS3
8 6 (3.23%) Entity Framework
8 6 (3.23%) HTML5
9 5 (2.69%) OpenAPI
9 5 (2.69%) React
9 5 (2.69%) Swagger
9 5 (2.69%) Terraform
10 4 (2.15%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 13 (6.99%) Cloud Native
2 7 (3.76%) Product Ownership
3 5 (2.69%) IoT
3 5 (2.69%) Mobile App
3 5 (2.69%) Online Gambling
3 5 (2.69%) Video\Live Streaming
4 2 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (1.08%) Management Information System
4 2 (1.08%) Marketing Technology
5 1 (0.54%) Algorithms
5 1 (0.54%) Lidar
5 1 (0.54%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.54%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 10 (5.38%) Android
2 3 (1.61%) Apple iOS
2 3 (1.61%) Linux
3 1 (0.54%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (18.82%) Full-Stack Development
2 28 (15.05%) Mentoring
3 25 (13.44%) Software Engineering
4 22 (11.83%) Agile
5 20 (10.75%) CI/CD
6 19 (10.22%) Clean Code
7 18 (9.68%) DevOps
8 16 (8.60%) API Development
9 13 (6.99%) Problem-Solving
10 11 (5.91%) Continuous Improvement
10 11 (5.91%) MVC
10 11 (5.91%) TDD
11 9 (4.84%) Infrastructure as Code
11 9 (4.84%) Scrum
11 9 (4.84%) SDLC
11 9 (4.84%) Technical Leadership
12 8 (4.30%) Computer Science
12 8 (4.30%) Fintech
12 8 (4.30%) Roadmaps
12 8 (4.30%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 62 (33.33%) C#
2 23 (12.37%) TypeScript
3 22 (11.83%) SQL
4 20 (10.75%) Python
5 17 (9.14%) Java
6 15 (8.06%) JavaScript
7 10 (5.38%) PHP
8 9 (4.84%) C++
9 7 (3.76%) Go
10 3 (1.61%) Bicep
10 3 (1.61%) Ruby
11 2 (1.08%) Scala
12 1 (0.54%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.54%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 12 (6.45%) Degree
2 8 (4.30%) Computer Science Degree
3 4 (2.15%) Security Cleared
4 2 (1.08%) SC Cleared
5 1 (0.54%) AWS Certification
5 1 (0.54%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
5 1 (0.54%) Azure Certification
5 1 (0.54%) DV Cleared
5 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (2.69%) QA
2 1 (0.54%) Accessibility
System Software
1 8 (4.30%) Docker
Systems Management
1 5 (2.69%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 22 (11.83%) Microsoft
2 5 (2.69%) Zoho
3 4 (2.15%) Splunk
4 3 (1.61%) DevExpress
5 1 (0.54%) Google
5 1 (0.54%) New Relic
5 1 (0.54%) Salesforce