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 30 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 30 11
Rank change year-on-year +15 -19 +7
Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering 950 496 837
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.34% 9.53% 11.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.05% 10.63% 14.06%
Number of salaries quoted 765 166 386
10th Percentile £50,000 £47,592 £40,000
25th Percentile £60,000 £55,000 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £68,750 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% +19.57% -8.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £85,938 £68,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £78,125
England median annual salary £75,000 £77,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year -3.23% +19.23% -9.09%

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 9,457 4,667 5,954
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 73.02% 89.68% 79.21%
Number of salaries quoted 7,057 2,174 3,200
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -0.99% -8.18%
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% -2.44%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 +7 747 £75,000 +7.14% 425
Cheshire -8 81 £65,000 -3.70% 37
Merseyside +29 70 £73,750 +5.36% 28
Lancashire -12 37 £60,326 +26.51% 21
Cumbria +6 12 £50,000 -16.67% 4
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 7 (0.74%) Apache
2 6 (0.63%) Apache Spark
2 6 (0.63%) SharePoint Server
3 5 (0.53%) FactoryTalk
4 4 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 4 (0.42%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.32%) Apache Solr
5 3 (0.32%) CMS
5 3 (0.32%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.32%) Tomcat
5 3 (0.32%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.21%) Headless CMS
6 2 (0.21%) nginx
6 2 (0.21%) WinCC
7 1 (0.11%) Confluence
7 1 (0.11%) Kentico
7 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 (19.26%) AWS
2 88 (9.26%) Azure
3 79 (8.32%) SaaS
4 47 (4.95%) Serverless
5 35 (3.68%) GCP
6 25 (2.63%) AWS Lambda
6 25 (2.63%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (2.11%) GitHub
8 19 (2.00%) Anthropic Claude
8 19 (2.00%) Power Platform
9 17 (1.79%) Datadog
10 13 (1.37%) Firebase
10 13 (1.37%) Route 53
11 12 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
12 9 (0.95%) Amazon S3
13 8 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
13 8 (0.84%) GitHub Copilot
13 8 (0.84%) Microsoft Copilot
14 6 (0.63%) Azure AI
14 6 (0.63%) dbt
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 21 (2.21%) PostgreSQL
1 21 (2.21%) SQL Server
2 20 (2.11%) NoSQL
3 15 (1.58%) MongoDB
4 11 (1.16%) MySQL
5 6 (0.63%) Relational Database
6 5 (0.53%) Chroma
6 5 (0.53%) Pinecone
6 5 (0.53%) Power BI
6 5 (0.53%) Redis
7 4 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.42%) Big Data
7 4 (0.42%) DynamoDB
7 4 (0.42%) FileMaker
7 4 (0.42%) MariaDB
7 4 (0.42%) Metadata
7 4 (0.42%) Power Query
8 3 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.32%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 28 (2.95%) Git
2 17 (1.79%) Claude Code
3 15 (1.58%) GitLab
4 12 (1.26%) JUnit
5 11 (1.16%) Maven
6 9 (0.95%) Jenkins
6 9 (0.95%) JIRA
6 9 (0.95%) Spock
7 6 (0.63%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.42%) IntelliJ
8 4 (0.42%) Storybook
8 4 (0.42%) Vagrant
9 3 (0.32%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.32%) Mockito
9 3 (0.32%) Selenium
10 2 (0.21%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 2 (0.21%) Mocha
10 2 (0.21%) NUnit
10 2 (0.21%) Vite
11 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
General
1 85 (8.95%) Finance
2 84 (8.84%) Social Skills
3 38 (4.00%) Retail
4 29 (3.05%) Public Sector
5 22 (2.32%) Electronics
5 22 (2.32%) Legal
6 19 (2.00%) Analytical Skills
7 16 (1.68%) Aviation
7 16 (1.68%) Publishing
8 14 (1.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (1.47%) Law
9 12 (1.26%) Aerospace
10 10 (1.05%) Manufacturing
11 7 (0.74%) Games
12 6 (0.63%) Banking
12 6 (0.63%) Billing
13 5 (0.53%) Automotive
13 5 (0.53%) Marketing
14 4 (0.42%) iGaming
15 3 (0.32%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 619 (65.16%) Software Engineer
2 296 (31.16%) Senior
3 215 (22.63%) Senior Software Engineer
4 124 (13.05%) Lead
5 91 (9.58%) Developer
6 89 (9.37%) Lead Software Engineer
7 64 (6.74%) Principal Engineer
8 55 (5.79%) Principal Software Engineer
9 53 (5.58%) Java Engineer
10 48 (5.05%) Software Manager
11 45 (4.74%) Full-Stack Engineer
11 45 (4.74%) Java Software Engineer
12 40 (4.21%) Engineering Manager
12 40 (4.21%) Python Engineer
13 38 (4.00%) Embedded Engineer
14 36 (3.79%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
15 35 (3.68%) Senior Developer
16 34 (3.58%) Senior Java Engineer
17 31 (3.26%) Embedded Software Engineer
18 30 (3.16%) Python Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 90 (9.47%) React
2 79 (8.32%) .NET
3 53 (5.58%) Spring
4 41 (4.32%) Node.js
5 39 (4.11%) Spring Boot
6 37 (3.89%) Terraform
7 33 (3.47%) AngularJS
8 32 (3.37%) Next.js
9 27 (2.84%) REST
10 24 (2.53%) Vue
11 23 (2.42%) React Native
12 21 (2.21%) RESTful
13 18 (1.89%) Kafka
14 14 (1.47%) Ruby on Rails
15 12 (1.26%) CSS
16 11 (1.16%) FastAPI
17 10 (1.05%) .NET Core
17 10 (1.05%) Playwright
18 9 (0.95%) LangChain
19 6 (0.63%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 113 (11.89%) Cloud Native
2 53 (5.58%) Distributed Systems
3 41 (4.32%) Product Ownership
4 26 (2.74%) AI Agents
5 18 (1.89%) Mobile App
6 14 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
7 12 (1.26%) Media Streaming
7 12 (1.26%) Podcast
8 11 (1.16%) Greenfield Project
9 9 (0.95%) Embedded Systems
9 9 (0.95%) Private Cloud
10 7 (0.74%) Life Science
10 7 (0.74%) Onboarding
11 6 (0.63%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 5 (0.53%) Management Information System
12 5 (0.53%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (0.53%) Virtual Team
13 4 (0.42%) Low-Code
13 4 (0.42%) Taxonomies
14 3 (0.32%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 42 (4.42%) Linux
2 14 (1.47%) Windows
3 9 (0.95%) Embedded Linux
4 5 (0.53%) Android
4 5 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.42%) VMS
6 3 (0.32%) CentOS
6 3 (0.32%) Debian
6 3 (0.32%) Ubuntu
6 3 (0.32%) Unix
7 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 164 (17.26%) AI
2 161 (16.95%) Agile
3 144 (15.16%) CI/CD
4 139 (14.63%) DevOps
5 128 (13.47%) Full-Stack Development
6 121 (12.74%) Mentoring
7 97 (10.21%) Continuous Improvement
8 96 (10.11%) Problem-Solving
9 87 (9.16%) Microservices
10 72 (7.58%) Observability
11 67 (7.05%) Test Automation
12 61 (6.42%) Technical Leadership
13 59 (6.21%) Code Quality
14 50 (5.26%) Roadmaps
15 48 (5.05%) TDD
16 47 (4.95%) Collaborative Culture
16 47 (4.95%) Event-Driven
17 46 (4.84%) Containerisation
17 46 (4.84%) Stakeholder Management
18 42 (4.42%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 141 (14.84%) Python
2 139 (14.63%) Java
3 122 (12.84%) TypeScript
4 89 (9.37%) SQL
5 88 (9.26%) C#
6 81 (8.53%) JavaScript
7 32 (3.37%) Go
8 26 (2.74%) C++
9 17 (1.79%) C
10 15 (1.58%) Ruby
11 11 (1.16%) PHP
12 10 (1.05%) Bash
13 6 (0.63%) PowerShell
14 4 (0.42%) Groovy
14 4 (0.42%) Scala
15 3 (0.32%) T-SQL
16 2 (0.21%) Bicep
16 2 (0.21%) Ladder Logic
16 2 (0.21%) Shell Script
17 1 (0.11%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 79 (8.32%) Security Cleared
2 63 (6.63%) SC Cleared
3 40 (4.21%) DV Cleared
4 32 (3.37%) Degree
5 17 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.63%) DBS Check
6 6 (0.63%) PMI Certification
7 4 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (0.42%) Master's Degree
7 4 (0.42%) PMP
8 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.11%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.11%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.11%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.37%) QA
2 18 (1.89%) 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 61 (6.42%) Docker
2 7 (0.74%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 59 (6.21%) Kubernetes
2 12 (1.26%) Ansible
3 6 (0.63%) Grafana
3 6 (0.63%) Prometheus
4 4 (0.42%) Packer
4 4 (0.42%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.32%) Puppet
6 2 (0.21%) Argo
6 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.21%) Podman
7 1 (0.11%) Functional Safety
7 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 25 (2.63%) Microsoft
2 18 (1.89%) Splunk
3 14 (1.47%) Google
4 9 (0.95%) AppDynamics
4 9 (0.95%) Databricks
4 9 (0.95%) Rockwell
5 8 (0.84%) OpenAI
6 7 (0.74%) Siemens
7 5 (0.53%) New Relic
7 5 (0.53%) Red Hat
7 5 (0.53%) YouTube
8 4 (0.42%) Adobe
8 4 (0.42%) OneTrust
8 4 (0.42%) Xamarin
9 3 (0.32%) IBM
9 3 (0.32%) SaltStack
10 2 (0.21%) MEDITECH
10 2 (0.21%) Mistral
10 2 (0.21%) Thales
11 1 (0.11%) Alteryx