Software Engineer Job Trends in the South East

Software Engineer
England > South East

The median Software Engineer salary in the South East is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 9 September 2026.

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

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 118 24
Rank change year-on-year +97 -94 +45
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,013 218 929
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.61% 2.40% 7.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.91% 2.68% 7.46%
Number of salaries quoted 720 131 647
10th Percentile £45,000 £46,750 £40,000
25th Percentile £52,188 £60,625 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £70,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +27.27% -8.33%
75th Percentile £83,750 £80,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £82,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year -15.15% +26.92% -7.14%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 the South East with a recognized job title 17,128 8,121 12,456
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.82% 89.40% 95.81%
Number of salaries quoted 12,212 4,458 7,532
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,835
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -1.64% -7.57%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,250 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £81,250 £81,250
England median annual salary £58,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +5.45% - -8.33%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the South East

Software Engineer
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the South East

Software Engineer
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 9 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineer in the South East

Software Engineer
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 Software Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 9 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
Hampshire +39 441 £65,000 - 49
Thames Valley +139 376 £65,000 - 98
Oxfordshire +27 180 £61,250 -12.50% 53
Berkshire +111 122 £75,000 +15.38% 33
Surrey +5 104 £80,000 -5.88% 12
Buckinghamshire +57 74 £82,500 +50.00% 12
Kent +6 35 £35,000 -44.00% 10
East Sussex +10 26 £60,000 -33.33% 9
West Sussex +10 26 £75,000 +7.14% 14
Sussex - 5 £85,000 - 1
Software Engineer
England

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 9 September 2026, Software Engineer 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 South East region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 1,006 (99.31%) Software Engineering
2 252 (24.88%) C++
3 210 (20.73%) C#
4 202 (19.94%) Python
5 155 (15.30%) Degree
6 122 (12.04%) Security Cleared
7 116 (11.45%) .NET
7 116 (11.45%) Agile
8 113 (11.15%) AWS
9 104 (10.27%) AI
10 100 (9.87%) Linux
11 92 (9.08%) CI/CD
12 89 (8.79%) Azure
13 87 (8.59%) SC Cleared
14 84 (8.29%) C
15 76 (7.50%) Computer Science Degree
16 75 (7.40%) Docker
16 75 (7.40%) Full-Stack Development
17 73 (7.21%) Computer Science
18 71 (7.01%) Problem-Solving
19 70 (6.91%) DevOps
19 70 (6.91%) TypeScript
20 69 (6.81%) JavaScript
21 62 (6.12%) Mentoring
22 61 (6.02%) Git
23 57 (5.63%) SDLC
24 56 (5.53%) Software Architecture
25 53 (5.23%) Containerisation
25 53 (5.23%) Test Automation
26 51 (5.03%) React

Software Engineer Skill Set
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 7 (0.69%) Apache
2 3 (0.30%) Confluence
3 1 (0.099%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 16 (1.58%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.49%) Simulink
3 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.59%) Oracle Applications
Cloud Services
1 113 (11.15%) AWS
2 89 (8.79%) Azure
3 51 (5.03%) SaaS
4 33 (3.26%) GCP
5 16 (1.58%) Azure DevOps
6 14 (1.38%) Serverless
7 13 (1.28%) GitHub
8 12 (1.18%) Firebase
9 7 (0.69%) Anthropic Claude
9 7 (0.69%) Cloud Run
10 6 (0.59%) PaaS
11 5 (0.49%) Azure Functions
11 5 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (0.39%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.30%) AWS Lambda
13 3 (0.30%) Azure Key Vault
13 3 (0.30%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (0.30%) Figma
14 2 (0.20%) Azure Service Bus
14 2 (0.20%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 23 (2.27%) Wireless
2 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
3 10 (0.99%) ATM
4 9 (0.89%) MQTT
5 6 (0.59%) Wireshark
6 5 (0.49%) 5G
7 4 (0.39%) Ethernet
8 2 (0.20%) HTTP
8 2 (0.20%) Software-Defined Radio
9 1 (0.099%) Broadband
9 1 (0.099%) Internet
9 1 (0.099%) LAN
9 1 (0.099%) Multicast
9 1 (0.099%) NGN
9 1 (0.099%) SNMP
9 1 (0.099%) Software-Defined Networking
9 1 (0.099%) VLAN
9 1 (0.099%) VoIP
9 1 (0.099%) WAN
9 1 (0.099%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (2.76%) SQL Server
2 27 (2.67%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.18%) MySQL
4 11 (1.09%) MongoDB
5 8 (0.79%) Relational Database
6 7 (0.69%) Chroma
6 7 (0.69%) Pinecone
6 7 (0.69%) Redis
7 6 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.20%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.099%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.099%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 61 (6.02%) Git
2 20 (1.97%) GitLab
3 18 (1.78%) Visual Studio Code
4 10 (0.99%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) JIRA
6 6 (0.59%) CMake
7 5 (0.49%) Yeoman
8 4 (0.39%) Rational Rhapsody
9 3 (0.30%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.30%) Eclipse
9 3 (0.30%) Eclipse RCP
9 3 (0.30%) JUnit
9 3 (0.30%) PetaLinux
9 3 (0.30%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.20%) NUnit
10 2 (0.20%) Storybook
11 1 (0.099%) ESLint
11 1 (0.099%) Postman
11 1 (0.099%) SpecFlow
11 1 (0.099%) utPLSQL
General
1 87 (8.59%) Manufacturing
2 79 (7.80%) Electronics
3 65 (6.42%) Social Skills
4 43 (4.24%) Aviation
5 39 (3.85%) Aerospace
6 34 (3.36%) Finance
7 19 (1.88%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (1.48%) Telecoms
9 14 (1.38%) Public Sector
10 12 (1.18%) Automotive
10 12 (1.18%) Military
11 11 (1.09%) Games
12 10 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
13 6 (0.59%) Health Technology
13 6 (0.59%) Law
13 6 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.39%) Digital Health
15 3 (0.30%) Banking
16 2 (0.20%) Documentation Skills
16 2 (0.20%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 116 (11.45%) .NET
2 51 (5.03%) React
3 33 (3.26%) CSS
4 31 (3.06%) HTML
5 26 (2.57%) Vue
5 26 (2.57%) WPF
6 24 (2.37%) Django
7 21 (2.07%) AngularJS
8 19 (1.88%) Node.js
9 18 (1.78%) Terraform
10 15 (1.48%) REST
11 14 (1.38%) JSON
12 13 (1.28%) ASP.NET
13 12 (1.18%) WebSockets
13 12 (1.18%) XML
14 11 (1.09%) React Native
15 8 (0.79%) Unreal Engine
15 8 (0.79%) Yocto
16 7 (0.69%) .NET Core
16 7 (0.69%) Blazor
Miscellaneous
1 49 (4.84%) Algorithms
2 38 (3.75%) Embedded Systems
3 35 (3.46%) Robotics
4 24 (2.37%) Cloud Native
4 24 (2.37%) Product Ownership
5 21 (2.07%) Distributed Computing
6 14 (1.38%) Data Structures
7 13 (1.28%) AI Agents
7 13 (1.28%) IoT
8 12 (1.18%) Distributed Systems
9 11 (1.09%) Self-Motivation
10 9 (0.89%) Client/Server
11 8 (0.79%) Enterprise Software
12 7 (0.69%) Life Science
13 6 (0.59%) Legacy Systems
14 5 (0.49%) Management Information System
15 4 (0.39%) FPGA
16 3 (0.30%) Clustering
16 3 (0.30%) VHDL
16 3 (0.30%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 100 (9.87%) Linux
2 24 (2.37%) Windows
3 11 (1.09%) Embedded Linux
4 5 (0.49%) Debian
5 3 (0.30%) Android
5 3 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.30%) Gentoo
6 2 (0.20%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.20%) Robot Operating System
7 1 (0.099%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,006 (99.31%) Software Engineering
2 116 (11.45%) Agile
3 104 (10.27%) AI
4 92 (9.08%) CI/CD
5 75 (7.40%) Full-Stack Development
6 73 (7.21%) Computer Science
7 71 (7.01%) Problem-Solving
8 70 (6.91%) DevOps
9 62 (6.12%) Mentoring
10 57 (5.63%) SDLC
11 56 (5.53%) Software Architecture
12 53 (5.23%) Containerisation
12 53 (5.23%) Test Automation
13 48 (4.74%) Machine Learning
14 45 (4.44%) Microservices
15 42 (4.15%) Continuous Improvement
16 36 (3.55%) Code Quality
17 34 (3.36%) Data Science
18 31 (3.06%) Embedded Software Development
19 30 (2.96%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 252 (24.88%) C++
2 210 (20.73%) C#
3 202 (19.94%) Python
4 84 (8.29%) C
5 70 (6.91%) TypeScript
6 69 (6.81%) JavaScript
7 50 (4.94%) Java
8 41 (4.05%) SQL
9 28 (2.76%) Rust
10 20 (1.97%) Go
11 11 (1.09%) Ada
12 10 (0.99%) PHP
13 6 (0.59%) MATLAB
13 6 (0.59%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.49%) Embedded C++
14 5 (0.49%) Ruby
15 4 (0.39%) Bash
15 4 (0.39%) VB.NET
16 3 (0.30%) PL/SQL
16 3 (0.30%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 155 (15.30%) Degree
2 122 (12.04%) Security Cleared
3 87 (8.59%) SC Cleared
4 76 (7.50%) Computer Science Degree
5 39 (3.85%) Master's Degree
6 32 (3.16%) DV Cleared
7 23 (2.27%) PhD
8 8 (0.79%) Azure Certification
8 8 (0.79%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.20%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.20%) Numerate Degree
10 1 (0.099%) HNC
10 1 (0.099%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.58%) QA
2 4 (0.39%) DO-178B
3 3 (0.30%) ECSS
3 3 (0.30%) GAMP
4 2 (0.20%) AUTOSAR
4 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.20%) MISRA
4 2 (0.20%) MISRA C
5 1 (0.099%) Accessibility
System Software
1 75 (7.40%) Docker
2 28 (2.76%) Firmware
3 12 (1.18%) Embedded Firmware
4 7 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.49%) KVM
5 5 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
6 4 (0.39%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.20%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 45 (4.44%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.48%) Ansible
3 6 (0.59%) Podman
4 2 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 13 (1.28%) Oracle
1 13 (1.28%) Salesforce
2 11 (1.09%) Microsoft
3 7 (0.69%) Sage
4 5 (0.49%) Google
4 5 (0.49%) VMware
5 3 (0.30%) Xilinx
6 2 (0.20%) Atlassian
6 2 (0.20%) ServiceNow
6 2 (0.20%) Yahoo!
7 1 (0.099%) Adobe
7 1 (0.099%) Allen-Bradley
7 1 (0.099%) IBM
7 1 (0.099%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.099%) Siemens
7 1 (0.099%) Typelevel
7 1 (0.099%) Wonderware
7 1 (0.099%) Xamarin