Principal Software Engineer Job Trends in Scotland

Principal Software Engineer
UK > Scotland

The median Principal Software Engineer salary in Scotland is £75,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 15 September 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 144 173 159
Rank change year-on-year +29 -14 +70
Permanent jobs requiring a Principal Software Engineer 3 31 1
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in Scotland 0.12% 0.70% 0.037%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.15% 0.73% 0.039%
Number of salaries quoted 2 15 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £72,500 £67,500 £70,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £75,000 £75,000
Median % change year-on-year - - +10.29%
75th Percentile £77,500 £100,000 £80,000
90th Percentile - - -
UK median annual salary £100,000 £90,000 £82,500
% change year-on-year +11.11% +9.09% -2.94%

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 2,053 4,263 2,561
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 81.86% 96.67% 94.96%
Number of salaries quoted 862 1,922 2,029
10th Percentile £26,250 £30,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £32,625 £40,000 £37,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £67,188 £68,750 £68,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - -8.33% -

Principal Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Scotland

Job postings that featured Principal Software Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Scotland.

Job vacancy trend for Principal Software Engineer in Scotland

Principal Software Engineer
Salary Trend in Scotland

Salary distribution trend for Principal Software Engineer job vacancies in Scotland.

Salary distribution trend for Principal Software Engineer job vacancies in Scotland

Principal Software Engineer
Job Locations in Scotland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Software Engineer within the Scotland region over the 6 months to 15 September 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 +59 2 £75,000 +7.14%
South Ayrshire - 1 - -
Principal Software Engineer
UK

Principal Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 21 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Scotland

For the 6 months to 15 September 2025, Principal Software Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the Scotland region featuring Principal Software Engineer in the job title.

1 3 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 2 (66.67%) Greenfield Project
2 2 (66.67%) Architectural Patterns
2 2 (66.67%) Refactoring
2 2 (66.67%) Cybersecurity
2 2 (66.67%) Mentoring
2 2 (66.67%) Mobile Development
2 2 (66.67%) Objective-C
2 2 (66.67%) C
2 2 (66.67%) C++
3 1 (33.33%) UML
3 1 (33.33%) Ada
3 1 (33.33%) Configuration Management
3 1 (33.33%) Agile
3 1 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 12207
3 1 (33.33%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (33.33%) Ada 95
3 1 (33.33%) Computer Science
3 1 (33.33%) Chartered Engineer
3 1 (33.33%) Degree
3 1 (33.33%) Waterfall

Principal Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Scotland by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Miscellaneous
1 2 (66.67%) Greenfield Project
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 2 (66.67%) Architectural Patterns
2 2 (66.67%) Cybersecurity
2 2 (66.67%) Mentoring
2 2 (66.67%) Mobile Development
2 2 (66.67%) Refactoring
3 1 (33.33%) Agile
3 1 (33.33%) Computer Science
3 1 (33.33%) Configuration Management
3 1 (33.33%) UML
3 1 (33.33%) Waterfall
Programming Languages
1 2 (66.67%) C
1 2 (66.67%) C++
1 2 (66.67%) Objective-C
2 1 (33.33%) Ada
2 1 (33.33%) Ada 95
Qualifications
1 1 (33.33%) BPSS Clearance
1 1 (33.33%) Chartered Engineer
1 1 (33.33%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 12207