Lead Job Trends in Scotland

Leader
UK > Scotland

The median Leader salary in Scotland is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 7 November 2025.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 37 17 44
Rank change year-on-year -20 +27 +2
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead 172 260 140
As % of all permanent jobs in Scotland 6.26% 7.94% 5.90%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.63% 8.36% 6.09%
Number of salaries quoted 71 136 113
10th Percentile £29,000 £30,000 £52,500
25th Percentile £43,967 £47,500 £57,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year - -3.70% -8.10%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £96,539
90th Percentile £85,000 £90,625 £97,308
UK median annual salary £75,000 £72,500 £75,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% -

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
Scotland

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in Scotland. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in Scotland with a recognized job title 2,253 3,111 2,298
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 81.96% 95.05% 96.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,029 1,565 1,838
10th Percentile £26,000 £30,950 £25,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £40,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £53,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.09% +6.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £65,750 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £81,625
UK median annual salary £52,500 £57,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.70% -4.17% -

Lead
Job Vacancy Trend in Scotland

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Lead' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in Scotland.

Lead job vacancy trend in Scotland

Lead
Salary Trend in Scotland

Salary distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Scotland.

Salary distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Scotland

Lead
Salary Histogram in Scotland

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead in Scotland over the 6 months to 7 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Lead in Scotland

Lead
Job Locations in Scotland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Lead within the Scotland region over the 6 months to 7 November 2025. 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
Glasgow -7 92 £75,000 - 22
Edinburgh -36 34 £70,039 +3.76% 43
West Lothian +17 14 £30,000 - 7
North Lanarkshire -10 5 £36,000 -37.39% 3
Dundee - 5 £80,000 -
Dumfries and Galloway - 4 - - 2
South Ayrshire +12 3 £55,498 -
Aberdeen +9 2 £57,500 -23.33% 1
Aberdeenshire -1 2 - - 1
Clackmannanshire - 2 - - 2
Renfrewshire - 2 £56,217 - 7
Perth and Kinross - 2 £33,000 -
Inverclyde - 2 £63,000 -
Highlands -14 1 - - 4
Dunbartonshire - 1 £52,500 -
Lead
UK

Lead Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Scotland

For the 6 months to 7 November 2025, Lead job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the Scotland region featuring Lead in the job title.

1 70 (40.70%) Software Engineering
2 60 (34.88%) Agile
3 47 (27.33%) Operational Stability
4 41 (23.84%) CI/CD
4 41 (23.84%) Java
5 39 (22.67%) SDLC
6 34 (19.77%) AWS
7 33 (19.19%) AI
7 33 (19.19%) Problem-Solving
8 31 (18.02%) Azure
9 29 (16.86%) Architectural Design
9 29 (16.86%) Python
10 28 (16.28%) Community of Practice
11 27 (15.70%) Information Architecture
12 26 (15.12%) Machine Learning
13 24 (13.95%) Kafka
14 23 (13.37%) SQL
15 21 (12.21%) Kubernetes
15 21 (12.21%) Stakeholder Management
16 20 (11.63%) Decision-Making
16 20 (11.63%) Mentoring
16 20 (11.63%) Spring
17 19 (11.05%) RESTful
18 17 (9.88%) DevOps
18 17 (9.88%) Microsoft
19 16 (9.30%) Asset Management
19 16 (9.30%) Continuous Improvement
19 16 (9.30%) Degree
20 15 (8.72%) Analytics
20 15 (8.72%) C#

Lead Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Scotland 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 8 (4.65%) Apache
1 8 (4.65%) Apache Spark
2 4 (2.33%) SharePoint
3 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (1.74%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.58%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.58%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.16%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 34 (19.77%) AWS
2 31 (18.02%) Azure
3 15 (8.72%) GCP
4 8 (4.65%) GitHub
5 6 (3.49%) Azure DevOps
5 6 (3.49%) Entra ID
6 5 (2.91%) Amazon EKS
7 4 (2.33%) Amazon S3
7 4 (2.33%) Azure AI
7 4 (2.33%) ChatGPT
7 4 (2.33%) GitHub Actions
7 4 (2.33%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (2.33%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (1.74%) Dynamics 365
8 3 (1.74%) Power Platform
9 2 (1.16%) PaaS
9 2 (1.16%) SaaS
10 1 (0.58%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.58%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.58%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 7 (4.07%) Firewall
2 2 (1.16%) DHCP
2 2 (1.16%) DKIM
2 2 (1.16%) DMARC
2 2 (1.16%) DNS
2 2 (1.16%) Unified Communications
2 2 (1.16%) VPN
2 2 (1.16%) Wi-Fi
3 1 (0.58%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (6.98%) Big Data
2 9 (5.23%) PostgreSQL
3 8 (4.65%) Amazon Athena
3 8 (4.65%) KDB
3 8 (4.65%) Kdb+
3 8 (4.65%) NoSQL
4 4 (2.33%) Amazon Redshift
4 4 (2.33%) Apache Hudi
4 4 (2.33%) Apache Iceberg
4 4 (2.33%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (2.33%) InterSystems Cache
4 4 (2.33%) Parquet
4 4 (2.33%) Relational Database
5 3 (1.74%) Data Mart
5 3 (1.74%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (1.74%) Power BI
5 3 (1.74%) SQL Server
6 2 (1.16%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.16%) Oracle ODI
6 2 (1.16%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 5 (2.91%) Jenkins
1 5 (2.91%) JIRA
2 4 (2.33%) JUnit
3 2 (1.16%) Git
3 2 (1.16%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.58%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.58%) Cucumber
4 1 (0.58%) GitLab
4 1 (0.58%) JMeter
4 1 (0.58%) Locust
4 1 (0.58%) Rational DOORS
4 1 (0.58%) Rational Rhapsody
4 1 (0.58%) Rational Statemate
4 1 (0.58%) Snyk
General
1 93 (54.07%) Finance
2 66 (38.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 64 (37.21%) Law
4 44 (25.58%) Banking
5 32 (18.60%) Social Skills
6 23 (13.37%) Marketing
7 11 (6.40%) Organisational Skills
7 11 (6.40%) Private Banking
8 8 (4.65%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (4.65%) Military
9 7 (4.07%) Public Sector
9 7 (4.07%) Retail
10 6 (3.49%) Games
11 5 (2.91%) Legal
12 4 (2.33%) Front Office
12 4 (2.33%) Investment Banking
13 3 (1.74%) Avionics
14 2 (1.16%) Documentation Skills
15 1 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
15 1 (0.58%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (13.95%) Kafka
2 20 (11.63%) Spring
3 19 (11.05%) RESTful
4 14 (8.14%) React
5 9 (5.23%) Spring Boot
6 8 (4.65%) OAuth
6 8 (4.65%) OpenID
6 8 (4.65%) SAML
6 8 (4.65%) Web Services
7 7 (4.07%) .NET
8 6 (3.49%) OAuth2
9 5 (2.91%) AngularJS
9 5 (2.91%) Blazor
9 5 (2.91%) PySpark
10 4 (2.33%) .NET Core
10 4 (2.33%) FIX Protocol
10 4 (2.33%) J2EE
10 4 (2.33%) REST
10 4 (2.33%) SailPoint
11 2 (1.16%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 39 (22.67%) Cloud Native
2 9 (5.23%) Algorithms
3 8 (4.65%) Distributed Systems
4 7 (4.07%) Driving Licence
5 5 (2.91%) Credit Risk
6 4 (2.33%) Derivative
6 4 (2.33%) Distributed Applications
6 4 (2.33%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.33%) Fixed Income
6 4 (2.33%) Onboarding
6 4 (2.33%) Private Cloud
7 2 (1.16%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (1.16%) Life Science
7 2 (1.16%) Linux Command Line
7 2 (1.16%) Management Information System
7 2 (1.16%) Product Ownership
7 2 (1.16%) Virtual Team
8 1 (0.58%) e-Learning
8 1 (0.58%) PMI
8 1 (0.58%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 5 (2.91%) Windows
2 3 (1.74%) Windows Server
3 2 (1.16%) Unix
3 2 (1.16%) VMS
3 2 (1.16%) Windows 10
3 2 (1.16%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (40.70%) Software Engineering
2 60 (34.88%) Agile
3 47 (27.33%) Operational Stability
4 41 (23.84%) CI/CD
5 39 (22.67%) SDLC
6 33 (19.19%) AI
6 33 (19.19%) Problem-Solving
7 29 (16.86%) Architectural Design
8 28 (16.28%) Community of Practice
9 27 (15.70%) Information Architecture
10 26 (15.12%) Machine Learning
11 21 (12.21%) Stakeholder Management
12 20 (11.63%) Decision-Making
12 20 (11.63%) Mentoring
13 17 (9.88%) DevOps
14 16 (9.30%) Asset Management
14 16 (9.30%) Continuous Improvement
15 15 (8.72%) Analytics
15 15 (8.72%) Computer Science
15 15 (8.72%) Mathematics
Programming Languages
1 41 (23.84%) Java
2 29 (16.86%) Python
3 23 (13.37%) SQL
4 15 (8.72%) C#
5 9 (5.23%) JavaScript
6 6 (3.49%) TypeScript
7 4 (2.33%) Ada
7 4 (2.33%) C
7 4 (2.33%) Go
8 3 (1.74%) PowerShell
9 1 (0.58%) Bash
9 1 (0.58%) C++
9 1 (0.58%) PHP
Qualifications
1 16 (9.30%) Degree
2 6 (3.49%) HNC
3 5 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
3 5 (2.91%) Security Cleared
4 4 (2.33%) Azure Certification
4 4 (2.33%) Chartered Engineer
5 3 (1.74%) CISM
5 3 (1.74%) CISSP
5 3 (1.74%) SC Cleared
6 2 (1.16%) AWS Certification
6 2 (1.16%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.58%) ACCA
7 1 (0.58%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.58%) HND
7 1 (0.58%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.58%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (3.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (2.91%) Data Quality
2 5 (2.91%) NIST
2 5 (2.91%) SLA
3 2 (1.16%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.58%) GDPR
4 1 (0.58%) NCSC
4 1 (0.58%) QA
4 1 (0.58%) WCAG
System Software
1 11 (6.40%) Docker
2 9 (5.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.74%) Active Directory
4 2 (1.16%) Firmware
4 2 (1.16%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.16%) vSphere
5 1 (0.58%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 21 (12.21%) Kubernetes
2 15 (8.72%) Terraform
3 6 (3.49%) Grafana
4 5 (2.91%) Cisco CUCM
5 4 (2.33%) Netcool
5 4 (2.33%) Netcool/OMNIbus
5 4 (2.33%) Tivoli
6 3 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.58%) Ansible
7 1 (0.58%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.58%) Puppet
7 1 (0.58%) SCCM
Vendors
1 17 (9.88%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.56%) Oracle
3 9 (5.23%) Cisco
3 9 (5.23%) VMware
4 6 (3.49%) Splunk
5 4 (2.33%) Databricks
5 4 (2.33%) Dynatrace
5 4 (2.33%) Facebook
5 4 (2.33%) ForgeRock
5 4 (2.33%) Google
5 4 (2.33%) IBM
5 4 (2.33%) Juniper
5 4 (2.33%) McAfee
5 4 (2.33%) NetApp
5 4 (2.33%) ServiceNow
6 3 (1.74%) Murex
7 2 (1.16%) Alteryx
7 2 (1.16%) Apple
8 1 (0.58%) OpenAI
8 1 (0.58%) Openreach