CAD Job Trends in the South East

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South East requiring CAD skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 219 210 187
Rank change year-on-year -9 -23 +120
Permanent jobs citing CAD 56 92 83
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 0.54% 1.00% 1.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.67% 1.13% 1.19%
Number of salaries quoted 44 16 25
10th Percentile £30,500 - £30,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £47,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £52,073 £55,050
Median % change year-on-year -23.18% -5.41% +46.77%
75th Percentile £44,202 £67,813 £67,500
90th Percentile £50,850 £90,000 £84,750
England median annual salary £40,000 £50,000 £52,350
% change year-on-year -20.00% -4.49% +39.60%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

CAD 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 South East.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 8,378 8,110 6,969
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 80.85% 87.72% 89.80%
Number of salaries quoted 4,956 3,982 4,915
10th Percentile £27,750 £32,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £34,000 £44,253 £39,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +7.48% -2.73%
75th Percentile £65,000 £75,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £82,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

CAD
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing CAD relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

CAD job vacancy trend in the South East

CAD
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing CAD.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing CAD

CAD
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing CAD in the South East over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Salary histogram for CAD in the South East

CAD
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing CAD within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 January 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
Thames Valley -4 29 £37,500 -25.00% 12
Buckinghamshire +18 23 £37,500 -58.33% 3
Surrey +8 9 £43,750 -26.97% 6
East Sussex - 7 £40,000 - 2
Kent -31 6 £29,500 -43.81% 2
Hampshire +27 5 £44,000 -14.80% 4
Oxfordshire +10 4 £37,500 -21.05% 2
Berkshire -13 2 £40,000 - 8
CAD
England

CAD
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 5 (8.93%) IIS
Applications
1 10 (17.86%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (7.14%) AutoCAD
2 4 (7.14%) CATIA
2 4 (7.14%) Siemens NX
2 4 (7.14%) SOLIDWORKS
3 3 (5.36%) OrCAD
3 3 (5.36%) Windchill
4 1 (1.79%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 3 (5.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 9 (16.07%) Azure
2 5 (8.93%) Azure DevOps
2 5 (8.93%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 2 (3.57%) DHCP
1 2 (3.57%) DNS
1 2 (3.57%) VPN
1 2 (3.57%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (8.93%) SQL Server
1 5 (8.93%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 1 (1.79%) JIRA
General
1 14 (25.00%) Manufacturing
2 13 (23.21%) Social Skills
3 7 (12.50%) Analytical Skills
4 6 (10.71%) Electronics
4 6 (10.71%) Influencing Skills
5 5 (8.93%) Law
5 5 (8.93%) Local Government
5 5 (8.93%) Presentation Skills
6 4 (7.14%) Telecoms
7 3 (5.36%) Finance
7 3 (5.36%) Marketing
7 3 (5.36%) Public Sector
8 2 (3.57%) Aerospace
9 1 (1.79%) Advertising
9 1 (1.79%) Automotive
9 1 (1.79%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 11 (19.64%) IT Support
2 7 (12.50%) Project Engineer
3 5 (8.93%) IT Engineer
3 5 (8.93%) IT Support Engineer
3 5 (8.93%) Senior
3 5 (8.93%) Software Engineer
3 5 (8.93%) Software Support Engineer
3 5 (8.93%) Support Engineer
4 4 (7.14%) CAD Technician
4 4 (7.14%) ERP Support
5 3 (5.36%) Applications Manager
5 3 (5.36%) Applications Specialist
5 3 (5.36%) CAD Specialist
5 3 (5.36%) Development Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Electronics Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Test Development Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Test Engineer
6 2 (3.57%) IT Support Technician
6 2 (3.57%) Manufacturing Engineer
6 2 (3.57%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (8.93%) .NET
1 5 (8.93%) .NET Framework
1 5 (8.93%) Entity Framework
1 5 (8.93%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 14 (25.00%) Self-Motivation
2 3 (5.36%) FPGA
3 2 (3.57%) Driving Licence
4 1 (1.79%) Embedded Systems
4 1 (1.79%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 13 (23.21%) Windows
2 3 (5.36%) Linux
2 3 (5.36%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (16.07%) Problem-Solving
2 7 (12.50%) Building Information Modelling
2 7 (12.50%) Customer Service
2 7 (12.50%) Project Management
3 6 (10.71%) Computer Science
3 6 (10.71%) CRM
4 5 (8.93%) Agile
4 5 (8.93%) Business Case
4 5 (8.93%) Data Management
4 5 (8.93%) DevOps
4 5 (8.93%) ERP
4 5 (8.93%) Risk Management
4 5 (8.93%) SDLC
4 5 (8.93%) Software Engineering
5 4 (7.14%) Collaborative Working
6 3 (5.36%) Customer Requirements
6 3 (5.36%) Cybersecurity
6 3 (5.36%) Digital Marketing
6 3 (5.36%) Feasibility Study
6 3 (5.36%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (21.43%) SQL
2 8 (14.29%) C#
3 6 (10.71%) Python
4 5 (8.93%) T-SQL
5 4 (7.14%) Bash
5 4 (7.14%) C++
5 4 (7.14%) PowerShell
6 3 (5.36%) Pascal
6 3 (5.36%) VB
7 2 (3.57%) JavaScript
7 2 (3.57%) VBA
8 1 (1.79%) Java
Qualifications
1 30 (53.57%) Degree
2 6 (10.71%) Security Cleared
3 5 (8.93%) Computer Science Degree
4 4 (7.14%) HNC
4 4 (7.14%) HND
5 3 (5.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (5.36%) SC Cleared
6 1 (1.79%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials
1 1 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
1 1 (1.79%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (3.57%) Active Directory
2 1 (1.79%) Firmware
Vendors
1 10 (17.86%) Microsoft
2 5 (8.93%) Google
2 5 (8.93%) Sage
2 5 (8.93%) Xamarin
2 5 (8.93%) Zoho
3 3 (5.36%) SAP
4 2 (3.57%) ServiceNow
5 1 (1.79%) Adobe
5 1 (1.79%) Oracle