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 25 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 26 10
Rank change year-on-year +12 -16 +16
Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering 872 578 955
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.17% 11.07% 11.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.94% 12.28% 14.66%
Number of salaries quoted 724 242 538
10th Percentile £50,000 £42,500 £42,125
25th Percentile £58,438 £52,500 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,037 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.42% +11.73% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £85,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £110,000 £82,688
England median annual salary £75,000 £75,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year - +15.38% -10.34%

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 8,777 4,705 6,516
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.13% 90.10% 77.24%
Number of salaries quoted 6,676 2,269 4,236
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,449 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £39,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £51,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -1.96% -7.27%
75th Percentile £75,000 £66,250 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -10.40%

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 25 August 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 25 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 +6 685 £75,000 +7.14% 195
Cheshire -7 77 £65,000 +8.33% 17
Merseyside +17 57 £70,000 +7.69% 19
Lancashire -9 41 £60,000 +25.83% 8
Cumbria -4 12 £50,000 -16.67% 1
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 (0.69%) Apache
1 6 (0.69%) SharePoint Server
2 5 (0.57%) Apache Spark
2 5 (0.57%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (0.46%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 4 (0.46%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.34%) Apache Solr
4 3 (0.34%) GeoServer
5 2 (0.23%) Confluence
5 2 (0.23%) nginx
5 2 (0.23%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.23%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.23%) WebSphere
5 2 (0.23%) WinCC
6 1 (0.11%) CMS
6 1 (0.11%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 4 (0.46%) Trello
2 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.23%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 170 (19.50%) AWS
2 95 (10.89%) Azure
3 79 (9.06%) SaaS
4 42 (4.82%) Serverless
5 35 (4.01%) GCP
6 27 (3.10%) Azure DevOps
7 22 (2.52%) GitHub
8 21 (2.41%) Anthropic Claude
9 20 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
10 18 (2.06%) Power Platform
11 15 (1.72%) Datadog
12 12 (1.38%) Dynamics 365
13 11 (1.26%) Firebase
13 11 (1.26%) Route 53
14 10 (1.15%) Microsoft Copilot
15 8 (0.92%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (0.80%) GitHub Copilot
17 6 (0.69%) Azure AI
17 6 (0.69%) dbt
17 6 (0.69%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 7 (0.80%) TCP/IP
2 3 (0.34%) Firewall
3 2 (0.23%) AMQP
3 2 (0.23%) Bluetooth
3 2 (0.23%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (0.23%) Wireless
3 2 (0.23%) ZigBee
4 1 (0.11%) LTE
4 1 (0.11%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.75%) NoSQL
2 21 (2.41%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (1.95%) MongoDB
3 17 (1.95%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.15%) MySQL
5 7 (0.80%) Relational Database
6 5 (0.57%) FileMaker
6 5 (0.57%) Pinecone
7 4 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (0.46%) DynamoDB
7 4 (0.46%) Power BI
7 4 (0.46%) Redis
8 3 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (0.34%) GIS
8 3 (0.34%) MariaDB
8 3 (0.34%) QGIS
9 2 (0.23%) Big Data
9 2 (0.23%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 24 (2.75%) Git
2 20 (2.29%) Claude Code
3 12 (1.38%) GitLab
3 12 (1.38%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.26%) JIRA
5 10 (1.15%) JUnit
6 8 (0.92%) Maven
7 7 (0.80%) Spock
8 5 (0.57%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.46%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.46%) NUnit
9 4 (0.46%) Storybook
10 3 (0.34%) IntelliJ
11 2 (0.23%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 2 (0.23%) Mocha
11 2 (0.23%) Mockito
11 2 (0.23%) Selenium
11 2 (0.23%) Vite
12 1 (0.11%) GDB
12 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
General
1 79 (9.06%) Finance
2 74 (8.49%) Social Skills
3 39 (4.47%) Retail
4 31 (3.56%) Public Sector
5 22 (2.52%) Electronics
6 20 (2.29%) Legal
7 14 (1.61%) Aviation
8 13 (1.49%) Analytical Skills
9 12 (1.38%) Law
10 11 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (0.92%) Aerospace
12 7 (0.80%) Games
12 7 (0.80%) Manufacturing
13 6 (0.69%) Billing
14 5 (0.57%) Automotive
14 5 (0.57%) Marketing
15 4 (0.46%) Banking
15 4 (0.46%) Publishing
16 3 (0.34%) Health Technology
16 3 (0.34%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 562 (64.45%) Software Engineer
2 241 (27.64%) Senior
3 171 (19.61%) Senior Software Engineer
4 117 (13.42%) Lead
5 92 (10.55%) Developer
6 80 (9.17%) Lead Software Engineer
7 52 (5.96%) Principal Engineer
8 46 (5.28%) Software Manager
9 44 (5.05%) Full-Stack Engineer
10 43 (4.93%) Principal Software Engineer
11 40 (4.59%) Java Engineer
12 39 (4.47%) Engineering Manager
13 37 (4.24%) Python Engineer
14 33 (3.78%) Java Software Engineer
15 30 (3.44%) Embedded Engineer
15 30 (3.44%) Senior Developer
16 28 (3.21%) Senior Java Engineer
17 27 (3.10%) Lead Developer
17 27 (3.10%) Python Software Engineer
17 27 (3.10%) Software Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (10.44%) .NET
2 66 (7.57%) React
3 48 (5.50%) Node.js
4 41 (4.70%) Terraform
5 36 (4.13%) Spring
6 33 (3.78%) AngularJS
6 33 (3.78%) Next.js
7 26 (2.98%) RESTful
8 24 (2.75%) Spring Boot
9 23 (2.64%) REST
10 22 (2.52%) React Native
11 20 (2.29%) Vue
12 14 (1.61%) Ruby on Rails
13 12 (1.38%) CSS
14 11 (1.26%) FastAPI
15 10 (1.15%) .NET Framework
16 9 (1.03%) LangChain
16 9 (1.03%) Playwright
17 7 (0.80%) .NET Core
17 7 (0.80%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 105 (12.04%) Cloud Native
2 48 (5.50%) Distributed Systems
3 40 (4.59%) Product Ownership
4 23 (2.64%) AI Agents
5 19 (2.18%) Mobile App
6 14 (1.61%) Greenfield Project
6 14 (1.61%) Legacy Systems
7 7 (0.80%) IoT
7 7 (0.80%) Life Science
7 7 (0.80%) Onboarding
7 7 (0.80%) Private Cloud
8 5 (0.57%) Embedded Systems
8 5 (0.57%) Management Information System
8 5 (0.57%) Robotics
8 5 (0.57%) Virtual Team
9 4 (0.46%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.34%) Distributed Architecture
10 3 (0.34%) Legacy Applications
11 2 (0.23%) Industry 4.0
11 2 (0.23%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 33 (3.78%) Linux
2 10 (1.15%) Windows
3 6 (0.69%) Android
3 6 (0.69%) Embedded Linux
4 3 (0.34%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.23%) CentOS
5 2 (0.23%) Debian
5 2 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
5 2 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.23%) Ubuntu
5 2 (0.23%) Unix
5 2 (0.23%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 145 (16.63%) Agile
2 138 (15.83%) CI/CD
3 137 (15.71%) DevOps
4 136 (15.60%) Full-Stack Development
5 134 (15.37%) AI
6 107 (12.27%) Mentoring
7 83 (9.52%) Problem-Solving
8 80 (9.17%) Microservices
9 73 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
10 62 (7.11%) Test Automation
11 61 (7.00%) Technical Leadership
12 55 (6.31%) Observability
13 54 (6.19%) TDD
14 48 (5.50%) Collaborative Culture
15 44 (5.05%) Stakeholder Management
16 43 (4.93%) Scrum
17 42 (4.82%) Roadmaps
18 40 (4.59%) Infrastructure as Code
19 39 (4.47%) Architectural Patterns
20 38 (4.36%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 133 (15.25%) Python
2 112 (12.84%) Java
3 96 (11.01%) TypeScript
4 87 (9.98%) C#
5 86 (9.86%) SQL
6 80 (9.17%) JavaScript
7 32 (3.67%) Go
8 31 (3.56%) C++
9 19 (2.18%) C
10 15 (1.72%) Ruby
11 14 (1.61%) PHP
12 8 (0.92%) Bash
13 6 (0.69%) PowerShell
14 5 (0.57%) COBOL
14 5 (0.57%) Kotlin
15 4 (0.46%) Bicep
15 4 (0.46%) Scala
16 2 (0.23%) Groovy
16 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
17 1 (0.11%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 66 (7.57%) Security Cleared
2 49 (5.62%) SC Cleared
3 42 (4.82%) DV Cleared
4 27 (3.10%) Degree
5 13 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.69%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.57%) DBS Check
8 4 (0.46%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (0.46%) Master's Degree
8 4 (0.46%) PMP
9 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.11%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.11%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.67%) QA
2 13 (1.49%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.69%) WCAG
4 4 (0.46%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.34%) GDPR
5 3 (0.34%) IEC 61131
5 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.23%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 52 (5.96%) Docker
2 7 (0.80%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 47 (5.39%) Kubernetes
2 9 (1.03%) Ansible
3 6 (0.69%) Grafana
3 6 (0.69%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.23%) Argo
4 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.23%) Puppet
5 1 (0.11%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 25 (2.87%) Microsoft
2 16 (1.83%) Splunk
3 15 (1.72%) Google
4 11 (1.26%) Rockwell
5 9 (1.03%) Siemens
6 8 (0.92%) Databricks
7 7 (0.80%) AppDynamics
7 7 (0.80%) OpenAI
8 4 (0.46%) Adobe
8 4 (0.46%) New Relic
8 4 (0.46%) Xamarin
9 3 (0.34%) DevExpress
10 2 (0.23%) IBM
10 2 (0.23%) MEDITECH
10 2 (0.23%) OneTrust
10 2 (0.23%) Red Hat
10 2 (0.23%) SaltStack
10 2 (0.23%) YouTube
11 1 (0.11%) Brio
11 1 (0.11%) Salesforce