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 requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 27 11
Rank change year-on-year +12 -16 +7
Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering 943 490 815
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.32% 9.61% 11.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.99% 10.80% 14.07%
Number of salaries quoted 746 160 355
10th Percentile £50,000 £47,665 £40,500
25th Percentile £59,063 £55,000 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £70,000 £56,509
Median % change year-on-year - +23.88% -9.59%
75th Percentile £85,000 £86,250 £68,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £75,750
England median annual salary £75,000 £77,500 £67,500
% change year-on-year -3.23% +14.81% -3.57%

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 requiring process or methodology skills in the North West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 9,441 4,538 5,791
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 73.25% 88.96% 80.26%
Number of salaries quoted 6,988 2,199 2,978
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,195 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £34,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £51,750
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -3.38% -5.91%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £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% -1.32%

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 job vacancy trend in the North West

Software Engineering
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Software Engineering.

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 14 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineering in the North West

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 14 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Manchester +7 738 £70,000 - 408
Cheshire -3 87 £65,000 -3.70% 40
Merseyside +28 63 £75,000 +13.21% 18
Lancashire -9 39 £58,913 +23.55% 29
Cumbria +8 13 £50,000 -16.67% 2
Software Engineering
England

Software Engineering
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 6 (0.64%) Apache
1 6 (0.64%) SharePoint Server
2 5 (0.53%) Apache Spark
3 4 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 4 (0.42%) Apache Airflow
3 4 (0.42%) CMS
3 4 (0.42%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (0.42%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.32%) Headless CMS
4 3 (0.32%) Tomcat
4 3 (0.32%) WebSphere
5 2 (0.21%) nginx
5 2 (0.21%) WinCC
6 1 (0.11%) Apache Solr
6 1 (0.11%) Confluence
6 1 (0.11%) Kentico
6 1 (0.11%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.42%) Trello
2 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 183 (19.41%) AWS
2 92 (9.76%) Azure
3 69 (7.32%) SaaS
4 42 (4.45%) Serverless
5 34 (3.61%) GCP
6 24 (2.55%) AWS Lambda
7 23 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
8 20 (2.12%) GitHub
9 19 (2.01%) Power Platform
10 18 (1.91%) Anthropic Claude
11 14 (1.48%) Datadog
12 13 (1.38%) Firebase
12 13 (1.38%) Route 53
13 12 (1.27%) Dynamics 365
14 10 (1.06%) Amazon S3
15 9 (0.95%) Microsoft Copilot
16 8 (0.85%) GitHub Copilot
17 7 (0.74%) Azure Functions
18 6 (0.64%) Azure AI
18 6 (0.64%) npm
Communications & Networking
1 7 (0.74%) TCP/IP
2 3 (0.32%) AMQP
2 3 (0.32%) Firewall
3 2 (0.21%) Bluetooth
3 2 (0.21%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (0.21%) Wireless
3 2 (0.21%) ZigBee
4 1 (0.11%) 5G
4 1 (0.11%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (2.65%) PostgreSQL
2 21 (2.23%) SQL Server
3 17 (1.80%) NoSQL
4 14 (1.48%) MongoDB
5 11 (1.17%) MySQL
6 7 (0.74%) Chroma
6 7 (0.74%) Pinecone
7 6 (0.64%) Redis
7 6 (0.64%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.53%) Power BI
9 4 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.42%) DynamoDB
9 4 (0.42%) MariaDB
9 4 (0.42%) Metadata
9 4 (0.42%) Power Query
10 3 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.32%) Big Data
11 2 (0.21%) Cloudera CDH
11 2 (0.21%) Hadoop
11 2 (0.21%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 30 (3.18%) Git
2 18 (1.91%) GitLab
3 15 (1.59%) Claude Code
4 12 (1.27%) JUnit
5 11 (1.17%) Maven
6 10 (1.06%) Jenkins
7 9 (0.95%) JIRA
7 9 (0.95%) Spock
8 6 (0.64%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.42%) IntelliJ
9 4 (0.42%) Storybook
9 4 (0.42%) Vagrant
10 3 (0.32%) Mockito
10 3 (0.32%) Selenium
11 2 (0.21%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 2 (0.21%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.21%) Mocha
11 2 (0.21%) Vite
12 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
12 1 (0.11%) Postman
General
1 88 (9.33%) Finance
1 88 (9.33%) Social Skills
2 35 (3.71%) Retail
3 29 (3.08%) Public Sector
4 23 (2.44%) Electronics
5 18 (1.91%) Analytical Skills
6 17 (1.80%) Aerospace
6 17 (1.80%) Legal
7 16 (1.70%) Aviation
7 16 (1.70%) Publishing
8 14 (1.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (1.48%) Law
9 10 (1.06%) Manufacturing
10 9 (0.95%) Banking
11 7 (0.74%) Games
12 6 (0.64%) Billing
12 6 (0.64%) iGaming
13 5 (0.53%) Automotive
13 5 (0.53%) Marketing
14 3 (0.32%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 606 (64.26%) Software Engineer
2 304 (32.24%) Senior
3 219 (23.22%) Senior Software Engineer
4 128 (13.57%) Lead
5 91 (9.65%) Developer
6 90 (9.54%) Lead Software Engineer
7 60 (6.36%) Principal Engineer
8 55 (5.83%) Java Engineer
9 51 (5.41%) Principal Software Engineer
10 48 (5.09%) Full-Stack Engineer
11 46 (4.88%) Java Software Engineer
12 44 (4.67%) Software Manager
13 43 (4.56%) Embedded Engineer
14 42 (4.45%) Engineering Manager
15 38 (4.03%) Python Engineer
15 38 (4.03%) Senior Java Engineer
16 37 (3.92%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
16 37 (3.92%) Senior Developer
17 36 (3.82%) Embedded Software Engineer
18 32 (3.39%) Software Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (9.65%) React
2 77 (8.17%) .NET
3 50 (5.30%) Spring
4 40 (4.24%) Node.js
5 37 (3.92%) Spring Boot
6 35 (3.71%) Terraform
7 33 (3.50%) Next.js
8 29 (3.08%) AngularJS
9 25 (2.65%) REST
10 23 (2.44%) React Native
11 22 (2.33%) Vue
12 20 (2.12%) RESTful
13 19 (2.01%) Kafka
14 14 (1.48%) Ruby on Rails
15 12 (1.27%) CSS
15 12 (1.27%) FastAPI
16 11 (1.17%) .NET Core
16 11 (1.17%) LangChain
16 11 (1.17%) Playwright
17 7 (0.74%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 99 (10.50%) Cloud Native
2 49 (5.20%) Distributed Systems
3 38 (4.03%) Product Ownership
4 28 (2.97%) AI Agents
5 17 (1.80%) Mobile App
6 15 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
7 12 (1.27%) Media Streaming
7 12 (1.27%) Podcast
8 11 (1.17%) Embedded Systems
8 11 (1.17%) Greenfield Project
9 9 (0.95%) Private Cloud
10 8 (0.85%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 7 (0.74%) Life Science
12 6 (0.64%) Onboarding
12 6 (0.64%) Self-Motivation
13 5 (0.53%) Management Information System
13 5 (0.53%) Virtual Team
14 4 (0.42%) Driving Licence
14 4 (0.42%) Low-Code
14 4 (0.42%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 43 (4.56%) Linux
2 14 (1.48%) Windows
3 9 (0.95%) Embedded Linux
4 6 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.42%) Android
5 4 (0.42%) VMS
6 3 (0.32%) Unix
7 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.21%) CentOS
7 2 (0.21%) Debian
7 2 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
7 2 (0.21%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 171 (18.13%) AI
2 161 (17.07%) Agile
3 142 (15.06%) CI/CD
4 129 (13.68%) Full-Stack Development
5 128 (13.57%) DevOps
6 120 (12.73%) Mentoring
7 94 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
8 90 (9.54%) Problem-Solving
9 87 (9.23%) Microservices
10 69 (7.32%) Test Automation
11 68 (7.21%) Observability
12 60 (6.36%) Technical Leadership
13 56 (5.94%) Code Quality
14 50 (5.30%) Roadmaps
15 49 (5.20%) Collaborative Culture
16 48 (5.09%) Stakeholder Management
17 46 (4.88%) Event-Driven
17 46 (4.88%) TDD
18 43 (4.56%) Containerisation
19 41 (4.35%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 146 (15.48%) Java
1 146 (15.48%) Python
2 132 (14.00%) TypeScript
3 91 (9.65%) C#
4 86 (9.12%) SQL
5 81 (8.59%) JavaScript
6 36 (3.82%) Go
7 22 (2.33%) C++
8 17 (1.80%) C
9 15 (1.59%) Ruby
10 11 (1.17%) PHP
11 9 (0.95%) Bash
12 5 (0.53%) Kotlin
12 5 (0.53%) Scala
13 4 (0.42%) Groovy
14 3 (0.32%) Ladder Logic
14 3 (0.32%) PowerShell
14 3 (0.32%) Rust
14 3 (0.32%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.21%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 70 (7.42%) Security Cleared
2 55 (5.83%) SC Cleared
3 34 (3.61%) Degree
3 34 (3.61%) DV Cleared
4 17 (1.80%) Computer Science Degree
5 6 (0.64%) DBS Check
5 6 (0.64%) PMI Certification
6 4 (0.42%) Azure Certification
6 4 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (0.42%) Master's Degree
6 4 (0.42%) PMP
7 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.11%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.11%) HNC
8 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 1 (0.11%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.18%) QA
2 18 (1.91%) Accessibility
3 7 (0.74%) Data Quality
3 7 (0.74%) WCAG
4 4 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.32%) GDPR
5 3 (0.32%) IEC 61131
6 2 (0.21%) IEC 61508
7 1 (0.11%) GRC
System Software
1 64 (6.79%) Docker
2 7 (0.74%) Firmware
3 1 (0.11%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 58 (6.15%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.38%) Ansible
3 4 (0.42%) Packer
3 4 (0.42%) Podman
3 4 (0.42%) Progress Chef
4 3 (0.32%) Grafana
4 3 (0.32%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.21%) Argo
5 2 (0.21%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (0.21%) Puppet
6 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 27 (2.86%) Microsoft
2 18 (1.91%) Splunk
3 17 (1.80%) Google
4 10 (1.06%) OpenAI
5 9 (0.95%) AppDynamics
5 9 (0.95%) Databricks
6 6 (0.64%) Red Hat
6 6 (0.64%) Rockwell
7 5 (0.53%) New Relic
7 5 (0.53%) Siemens
7 5 (0.53%) YouTube
8 4 (0.42%) Adobe
8 4 (0.42%) Mistral
8 4 (0.42%) OneTrust
8 4 (0.42%) Thales
9 3 (0.32%) IBM
9 3 (0.32%) Xamarin
10 2 (0.21%) MEDITECH
10 2 (0.21%) SaltStack
11 1 (0.11%) Alteryx