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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 28 10
Rank change year-on-year +15 -18 +17
Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering 854 576 959
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.12% 11.06% 11.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.88% 12.25% 14.81%
Number of salaries quoted 712 240 551
10th Percentile £50,000 £46,250 £41,250
25th Percentile £56,250 £52,500 £48,869
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,269 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.06% +12.11% -4.00%
75th Percentile £83,750 £85,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £110,000 £84,964
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 8,642 4,702 6,476
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.06% 90.32% 77.51%
Number of salaries quoted 6,588 2,276 4,330
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £39,720
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 £65,250 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%

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 18 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 18 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 +6 665 £71,996 +2.85% 204
Cheshire -5 78 £65,000 +8.33% 21
Merseyside +12 54 £70,000 +7.69% 19
Lancashire -3 45 £60,000 +25.83% 26
Cumbria -5 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 (0.70%) Apache
1 6 (0.70%) SharePoint Server
2 5 (0.59%) Apache Spark
2 5 (0.59%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (0.47%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 4 (0.47%) Apache Airflow
3 4 (0.47%) Apache Solr
4 3 (0.35%) 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 (0.12%) CMS
6 1 (0.12%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 4 (0.47%) Trello
2 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.23%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 169 (19.79%) AWS
2 96 (11.24%) Azure
3 78 (9.13%) SaaS
4 44 (5.15%) Serverless
5 35 (4.10%) GCP
6 27 (3.16%) Azure DevOps
7 22 (2.58%) GitHub
8 21 (2.46%) Anthropic Claude
9 20 (2.34%) AWS Lambda
10 16 (1.87%) Power Platform
11 15 (1.76%) Datadog
12 12 (1.41%) Dynamics 365
13 11 (1.29%) Firebase
13 11 (1.29%) Route 53
14 10 (1.17%) Microsoft Copilot
15 8 (0.94%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (0.82%) GitHub Copilot
17 6 (0.70%) Azure AI
17 6 (0.70%) GitHub Actions
17 6 (0.70%) npm
Communications & Networking
1 7 (0.82%) TCP/IP
2 3 (0.35%) 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 (0.12%) LTE
4 1 (0.12%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (2.93%) NoSQL
2 21 (2.46%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (2.11%) MongoDB
3 18 (2.11%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.17%) MySQL
5 7 (0.82%) Relational Database
6 5 (0.59%) FileMaker
6 5 (0.59%) Pinecone
7 4 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (0.47%) DynamoDB
7 4 (0.47%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.47%) Redis
8 3 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.35%) DocumentDB
8 3 (0.35%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (0.35%) GIS
8 3 (0.35%) MariaDB
8 3 (0.35%) Neo4j
8 3 (0.35%) QGIS
9 2 (0.23%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 24 (2.81%) Git
2 20 (2.34%) Claude Code
3 12 (1.41%) GitLab
3 12 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.29%) JIRA
5 10 (1.17%) JUnit
6 8 (0.94%) Maven
7 7 (0.82%) Spock
8 5 (0.59%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.47%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.47%) NUnit
9 4 (0.47%) Storybook
10 3 (0.35%) 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 (0.12%) Gemini Tracker
12 1 (0.12%) Postman
General
1 81 (9.48%) Finance
2 74 (8.67%) Social Skills
3 40 (4.68%) Retail
4 29 (3.40%) Public Sector
5 22 (2.58%) Electronics
6 18 (2.11%) Legal
7 14 (1.64%) Aviation
8 11 (1.29%) Analytical Skills
8 11 (1.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (1.29%) Manufacturing
9 10 (1.17%) Law
10 8 (0.94%) Aerospace
11 7 (0.82%) Games
12 6 (0.70%) Billing
13 5 (0.59%) Marketing
14 4 (0.47%) Automotive
14 4 (0.47%) Banking
14 4 (0.47%) Publishing
15 3 (0.35%) Health Technology
15 3 (0.35%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 551 (64.52%) Software Engineer
2 233 (27.28%) Senior
3 166 (19.44%) Senior Software Engineer
4 111 (13.00%) Lead
5 93 (10.89%) Developer
6 73 (8.55%) Lead Software Engineer
7 50 (5.85%) Principal Engineer
8 45 (5.27%) Software Manager
9 44 (5.15%) Full-Stack Engineer
10 41 (4.80%) Principal Software Engineer
11 38 (4.45%) Engineering Manager
11 38 (4.45%) Java Engineer
12 34 (3.98%) Python Engineer
13 32 (3.75%) Java Software Engineer
14 31 (3.63%) Senior Developer
15 29 (3.40%) Embedded Engineer
16 28 (3.28%) Lead Developer
17 27 (3.16%) Python Software Engineer
18 26 (3.04%) PLC Software Engineer
18 26 (3.04%) Software Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 94 (11.01%) .NET
2 67 (7.85%) React
3 49 (5.74%) Node.js
4 35 (4.10%) Spring
5 34 (3.98%) AngularJS
6 33 (3.86%) Next.js
7 26 (3.04%) RESTful
8 23 (2.69%) REST
8 23 (2.69%) Spring Boot
9 22 (2.58%) React Native
10 20 (2.34%) Vue
11 14 (1.64%) Ruby on Rails
12 12 (1.41%) CSS
13 11 (1.29%) FastAPI
14 10 (1.17%) .NET Framework
15 9 (1.05%) LangChain
15 9 (1.05%) Playwright
16 8 (0.94%) .NET Core
17 7 (0.82%) ASP.NET
17 7 (0.82%) ASP.NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 105 (12.30%) Cloud Native
2 48 (5.62%) Distributed Systems
3 42 (4.92%) Product Ownership
4 23 (2.69%) AI Agents
5 19 (2.22%) Mobile App
6 14 (1.64%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (1.52%) Greenfield Project
8 7 (0.82%) Life Science
8 7 (0.82%) Onboarding
8 7 (0.82%) Private Cloud
9 6 (0.70%) IoT
10 5 (0.59%) Embedded Systems
10 5 (0.59%) Industry 4.0
10 5 (0.59%) Robotics
10 5 (0.59%) Virtual Team
11 4 (0.47%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (0.35%) Distributed Architecture
12 3 (0.35%) Legacy Applications
12 3 (0.35%) Management Information System
13 2 (0.23%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 30 (3.51%) Linux
2 8 (0.94%) Windows
3 6 (0.70%) Android
4 5 (0.59%) Embedded Linux
5 3 (0.35%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.23%) CentOS
6 2 (0.23%) Debian
6 2 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.23%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.23%) Unix
6 2 (0.23%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (16.28%) DevOps
2 138 (16.16%) Agile
3 137 (16.04%) CI/CD
3 137 (16.04%) Full-Stack Development
4 130 (15.22%) AI
5 107 (12.53%) Mentoring
6 80 (9.37%) Problem-Solving
7 79 (9.25%) Microservices
8 73 (8.55%) Continuous Improvement
9 61 (7.14%) Test Automation
10 56 (6.56%) Observability
10 56 (6.56%) Technical Leadership
11 54 (6.32%) TDD
12 48 (5.62%) Collaborative Culture
13 44 (5.15%) Stakeholder Management
14 43 (5.04%) Roadmaps
14 43 (5.04%) Scrum
15 40 (4.68%) Infrastructure as Code
16 39 (4.57%) Architectural Patterns
17 38 (4.45%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 130 (15.22%) Python
2 110 (12.88%) Java
3 98 (11.48%) TypeScript
4 89 (10.42%) C#
5 86 (10.07%) SQL
6 81 (9.48%) JavaScript
7 31 (3.63%) C++
8 30 (3.51%) Go
9 19 (2.22%) C
10 15 (1.76%) Ruby
11 14 (1.64%) PHP
12 8 (0.94%) Bash
13 6 (0.70%) PowerShell
14 5 (0.59%) COBOL
14 5 (0.59%) Kotlin
15 4 (0.47%) Bicep
15 4 (0.47%) Scala
16 2 (0.23%) Groovy
16 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
17 1 (0.12%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 64 (7.49%) Security Cleared
2 47 (5.50%) SC Cleared
3 42 (4.92%) DV Cleared
4 27 (3.16%) Degree
5 13 (1.52%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.70%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.59%) DBS Check
8 4 (0.47%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (0.47%) Master's Degree
8 4 (0.47%) PMP
9 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.12%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.12%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.75%) QA
2 11 (1.29%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.70%) WCAG
4 4 (0.47%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.35%) GDPR
5 3 (0.35%) IEC 61131
5 3 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.23%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 51 (5.97%) Docker
2 7 (0.82%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 46 (5.39%) Kubernetes
2 41 (4.80%) Terraform
3 9 (1.05%) Ansible
4 6 (0.70%) Grafana
4 6 (0.70%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.23%) Argo
5 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (0.23%) Puppet
6 1 (0.12%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 25 (2.93%) Microsoft
2 16 (1.87%) Splunk
3 15 (1.76%) Google
4 11 (1.29%) Rockwell
5 9 (1.05%) Siemens
6 8 (0.94%) Databricks
7 7 (0.82%) AppDynamics
7 7 (0.82%) OpenAI
8 4 (0.47%) Adobe
8 4 (0.47%) New Relic
8 4 (0.47%) Xamarin
9 3 (0.35%) DevExpress
10 2 (0.23%) IBM
10 2 (0.23%) Red Hat
10 2 (0.23%) SaltStack
11 1 (0.12%) Alteryx
11 1 (0.12%) Brio
11 1 (0.12%) MEDITECH
11 1 (0.12%) Salesforce