Software Engineering Job Trends in the North West
Software Engineering
England > North West
The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West citing Software Engineering skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 28 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 13 | 19 | 9 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +6 | -10 | +6 |
| Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering | 981 | 486 | 779 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the North West | 7.58% | 10.15% | 11.24% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 10.34% | 11.79% | 13.90% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 760 | 159 | 329 |
| 10th Percentile | £50,000 | £47,250 | £41,000 |
| 25th Percentile | £58,750 | £55,000 | £48,750 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £70,000 | £70,000 | £57,500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | +21.74% | -9.45% |
| 75th Percentile | £85,000 | £87,500 | £68,750 |
| 90th Percentile | £100,000 | £100,500 | £75,000 |
| England median annual salary | £75,000 | £75,000 | £68,500 |
| % change year-on-year | - | +9.49% | -2.14% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
North West
Software Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies citing process or methodology skills in the North West.
| 6 months to 28 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 9,488 | 4,121 | 5,605 |
| As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West | 73.31% | 86.09% | 80.88% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 6,971 | 2,264 | 2,833 |
| 10th Percentile | £30,750 | £27,000 | £31,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £42,000 | £34,250 | £40,000 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £55,000 | £50,000 | £52,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +10.00% | -3.85% | -5.45% |
| 75th Percentile | £75,000 | £63,750 | £65,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £90,000 | £80,000 | £78,750 |
| England median annual salary | £60,000 | £55,000 | £60,000 |
| % change year-on-year | +9.09% | -8.33% | - |
Software Engineering Job Vacancy Trend in the North West
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North West.
Software Engineering Salary Trend in the North West
Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Software Engineering.
Software Engineering Salary Histogram in the North West
Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in the North West over the 6 months to 28 October 2026.
Software Engineering 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 Engineering within the North West region over the 6 months to 28 October 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Salary Past 6 Months |
Median Salary % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | +5 | 766 | £70,000 | -1.75% | 82 |
| Cheshire | -3 | 92 | £65,000 | - | 19 |
| Merseyside | +22 | 63 | £75,000 | +7.14% | 13 |
| Lancashire | -20 | 41 | £59,813 | +32.82% | 15 |
| Cumbria | +11 | 16 | £50,000 | -16.67% | 4 |
| Software Engineering England |
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Software Engineering Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI | 19.1% | 187 |
| 2 | Agile | 17.9% | 176 |
| 3 | CI/CD | 16.3% | 160 |
| 4 | DevOps | 13.5% | 132 |
| 5 | Mentoring | 13.3% | 130 |
| 6 | Full-Stack Development | 13.0% | 128 |
| 7 | Continuous Improvement | 10.1% | 99 |
| 8 | Problem-Solving | 10.0% | 98 |
| 9 | Microservices | 9.3% | 91 |
| 10 | Test Automation | 7.6% | 75 |
| 11 | Observability | 7.3% | 72 |
| 12 | Technical Leadership | 6.8% | 67 |
| 13 | Code Quality | 6.1% | 60 |
| 14 | Collaborative Culture | 5.6% | 55 |
| 15 | Stakeholder Management | 5.5% | 54 |
| 16 | Event-Driven | 5.3% | 52 |
| 16 | Roadmaps | 5.3% | 52 |
| 18 | Infrastructure as Code | 5.0% | 49 |
| 19 | Machine Learning | 4.3% | 42 |
| 19 | TDD | 4.3% | 42 |