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 18 September 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 35 125 152
Rank change year-on-year +90 +27 -29
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 418 122 65
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 8.11% 1.57% 1.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 9.21% 1.65% 1.55%
Number of salaries quoted 31 102 64
10th Percentile £28,250 £35,000 £41,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £40,000 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -13.04% +15.00%
75th Percentile £60,000 £60,938 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £70,000 £82,125
England median annual salary £64,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +16.36% -4.35% +4.55%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 4,541 7,387 4,201
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 88.14% 95.28% 93.23%
Number of salaries quoted 2,291 4,562 3,210
10th Percentile £27,000 £30,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - -9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £65,750 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - -8.33% -

Software Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Job postings that featured Software Developer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Job vacancy trend for Software Developer 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 18 September 2025.

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 18 September 2025. 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
Lancashire +52 310 £40,000 - 10
Manchester +20 45 £60,000 +15.94% 16
Cheshire -4 37 £55,000 +15.79% 5
Merseyside -1 25 £30,500 -54.81% 5
Cumbria -1 1 - -
Software Developer
England

Software Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 18 September 2025, Software Developer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the North West region featuring Software Developer in the job title.

1 388 (92.82%) Agile
2 387 (92.58%) Analytical Skills
3 385 (92.11%) Python
4 384 (91.87%) Java
4 384 (91.87%) Docker
5 381 (91.15%) Linux
6 380 (90.91%) C++
7 379 (90.67%) OOP
7 379 (90.67%) OO
7 379 (90.67%) VPN
7 379 (90.67%) DNS
7 379 (90.67%) Finance
7 379 (90.67%) Mathematics
7 379 (90.67%) Android Development
7 379 (90.67%) Line Management
7 379 (90.67%) Ansible
7 379 (90.67%) Cyberattack
7 379 (90.67%) DV Cleared
7 379 (90.67%) Security Cleared
7 379 (90.67%) Android
7 379 (90.67%) Go
7 379 (90.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 379 (90.67%) Design Patterns
8 16 (3.83%) Microsoft
9 15 (3.59%) Azure
10 14 (3.35%) SQL
11 13 (3.11%) .NET
11 13 (3.11%) Continuous Improvement
12 12 (2.87%) C#
12 12 (2.87%) Problem-Solving

Software Developer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 4 (0.96%) Camunda
2 2 (0.48%) nginx
3 1 (0.24%) CMS
3 1 (0.24%) Headless CMS
Cloud Services
1 15 (3.59%) Azure
2 11 (2.63%) AWS
2 11 (2.63%) SaaS
3 7 (1.67%) GitHub
4 2 (0.48%) GCP
4 2 (0.48%) Power Platform
5 1 (0.24%) Amazon S3
5 1 (0.24%) AWS Lambda
5 1 (0.24%) Azure DevOps
5 1 (0.24%) Cloud Computing
5 1 (0.24%) Contentful
5 1 (0.24%) GitHub Actions
5 1 (0.24%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 379 (90.67%) DNS
1 379 (90.67%) VPN
2 4 (0.96%) Internet
3 1 (0.24%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.44%) MySQL
1 6 (1.44%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (0.48%) MongoDB
3 2 (0.48%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.24%) Power BI
4 1 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 9 (2.15%) Git
2 5 (1.20%) Bitbucket
2 5 (1.20%) GitLab
2 5 (1.20%) Jenkins
2 5 (1.20%) SonarQube
2 5 (1.20%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.48%) JIRA
4 1 (0.24%) Subversion
4 1 (0.24%) Visual Studio
General
1 387 (92.58%) Analytical Skills
2 379 (90.67%) Finance
2 379 (90.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 11 (2.63%) Social Skills
4 4 (0.96%) Multimedia
5 2 (0.48%) Mandarin Language
5 2 (0.48%) Marketing
5 2 (0.48%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.11%) .NET
2 10 (2.39%) HTML
3 9 (2.15%) CSS
4 7 (1.67%) REST
5 5 (1.20%) React
6 4 (0.96%) ASP.NET
6 4 (0.96%) Laravel
7 3 (0.72%) .NET Core
7 3 (0.72%) .NET Framework
7 3 (0.72%) Vue
8 2 (0.48%) AngularJS
8 2 (0.48%) jQuery
8 2 (0.48%) JSON
8 2 (0.48%) RESTful
9 1 (0.24%) Entity Framework
9 1 (0.24%) Express.js
9 1 (0.24%) GraphQL
9 1 (0.24%) Middleware
9 1 (0.24%) Node.js
9 1 (0.24%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 379 (90.67%) Cyberattack
2 4 (0.96%) Mobile App
3 3 (0.72%) Client/Server
3 3 (0.72%) Distributed Systems
3 3 (0.72%) Product Ownership
4 2 (0.48%) Greenfield Project
4 2 (0.48%) Marketing Technology
5 1 (0.24%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 381 (91.15%) Linux
2 379 (90.67%) Android
3 3 (0.72%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 388 (92.82%) Agile
2 379 (90.67%) Android Development
2 379 (90.67%) Design Patterns
2 379 (90.67%) Line Management
2 379 (90.67%) Mathematics
2 379 (90.67%) OO
2 379 (90.67%) OOP
3 13 (3.11%) Continuous Improvement
4 12 (2.87%) Problem-Solving
5 9 (2.15%) Mentoring
5 9 (2.15%) Unit Testing
6 8 (1.91%) Decision-Making
7 7 (1.67%) Business Strategy
7 7 (1.67%) Code Quality
7 7 (1.67%) DevOps
8 6 (1.44%) Full-Stack Development
9 5 (1.20%) Microservices
9 5 (1.20%) Roadmaps
9 5 (1.20%) Strategic Thinking
9 5 (1.20%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 385 (92.11%) Python
2 384 (91.87%) Java
3 380 (90.91%) C++
4 379 (90.67%) Go
5 14 (3.35%) SQL
6 12 (2.87%) C#
7 10 (2.39%) JavaScript
8 6 (1.44%) PHP
9 2 (0.48%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.24%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.24%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 379 (90.67%) DV Cleared
1 379 (90.67%) Security Cleared
2 4 (0.96%) AWS Certification
2 4 (0.96%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
2 4 (0.96%) Azure Certification
2 4 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
3 3 (0.72%) Degree
4 1 (0.24%) Computer Science Degree
System Software
1 384 (91.87%) Docker
Systems Management
1 379 (90.67%) Ansible
Vendors
1 16 (3.83%) Microsoft