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 26 June 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 99 30
Rank change year-on-year +79 -69 +40
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 914 225 1,129
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.08% 2.83% 6.25%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.37% 3.23% 6.64%
Number of salaries quoted 668 165 870
10th Percentile £45,000 £36,250 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year - +19.27% -9.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £90,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £78,810 £60,000
% change year-on-year -11.18% +31.35% -14.29%

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 14,341 6,972 17,014
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.43% 87.69% 94.24%
Number of salaries quoted 10,111 3,726 12,185
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £27,550
25th Percentile £38,000 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £50,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.93% +1.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £77,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +9.52% -12.50%

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 26 June 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 26 June 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 +86 366 £65,000 +1.96% 46
Hampshire +47 356 £67,500 +10.20% 63
Oxfordshire +30 195 £65,000 -3.70% 19
Surrey +26 113 £80,000 +23.08% 10
Berkshire +56 88 £62,500 +20.19% 14
Buckinghamshire +51 83 £80,000 +42.22% 13
Kent -10 37 £40,000 -36.00% 9
East Sussex +19 30 £62,500 -30.56% 1
West Sussex -15 12 £75,000 +150.00% 7
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 26 June 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.

1 900 (98.47%) Software Engineering
2 247 (27.02%) C++
3 186 (20.35%) C#
4 184 (20.13%) Degree
5 180 (19.69%) Python
6 123 (13.46%) .NET
7 120 (13.13%) Agile
8 108 (11.82%) AWS
9 97 (10.61%) Computer Science
10 95 (10.39%) Computer Science Degree
11 90 (9.85%) Security Cleared
12 83 (9.08%) Azure
12 83 (9.08%) Linux
13 82 (8.97%) Full-Stack Development
14 81 (8.86%) C
15 72 (7.88%) CI/CD
15 72 (7.88%) DevOps
16 70 (7.66%) AI
17 68 (7.44%) SaaS
18 64 (7.00%) Problem-Solving
19 62 (6.78%) SC Cleared
20 57 (6.24%) Docker
20 57 (6.24%) JavaScript
21 54 (5.91%) Test Automation
21 54 (5.91%) TypeScript
22 53 (5.80%) Git
23 48 (5.25%) Containerisation
23 48 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
23 48 (5.25%) Mentoring
24 47 (5.14%) Master's Degree

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 5 (0.55%) Apache
2 2 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.11%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 6 (0.66%) Lightworks
2 3 (0.33%) Simulink
3 2 (0.22%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.22%) EPLAN
4 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 108 (11.82%) AWS
2 83 (9.08%) Azure
3 68 (7.44%) SaaS
4 32 (3.50%) GCP
5 12 (1.31%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (1.31%) GitHub
6 11 (1.20%) Serverless
7 6 (0.66%) PaaS
8 5 (0.55%) Figma
8 5 (0.55%) Firebase
9 4 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (0.44%) AWS Lambda
9 4 (0.44%) Stripe
10 3 (0.33%) Azure Functions
10 3 (0.33%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (0.33%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (0.22%) Amazon S3
11 2 (0.22%) Anthropic Claude
11 2 (0.22%) Cloud Run
12 1 (0.11%) Azure Machine Learning
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.86%) Wireless
2 9 (0.98%) TCP/IP
3 6 (0.66%) MQTT
4 4 (0.44%) Software-Defined Radio
4 4 (0.44%) Wireshark
5 2 (0.22%) ATM
5 2 (0.22%) Ethernet
6 1 (0.11%) Broadband
6 1 (0.11%) Internet
6 1 (0.11%) LAN
6 1 (0.11%) Multicast
6 1 (0.11%) Software-Defined Networking
6 1 (0.11%) SpaceWire
6 1 (0.11%) VoIP
6 1 (0.11%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (3.61%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.53%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (0.77%) MySQL
4 5 (0.55%) MongoDB
5 2 (0.22%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.22%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.22%) Pinecone
5 2 (0.22%) Redis
5 2 (0.22%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 53 (5.80%) Git
2 21 (2.30%) GitLab
3 20 (2.19%) Visual Studio Code
4 6 (0.66%) Yeoman
5 4 (0.44%) JIRA
5 4 (0.44%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.33%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.33%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.33%) JUnit
6 3 (0.33%) Rational Rhapsody
7 2 (0.22%) CMake
7 2 (0.22%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.22%) Eclipse RCP
7 2 (0.22%) PetaLinux
7 2 (0.22%) Postman
7 2 (0.22%) SpecFlow
8 1 (0.11%) NUnit
8 1 (0.11%) Storybook
8 1 (0.11%) Toad
8 1 (0.11%) utPLSQL
General
1 60 (6.56%) Social Skills
2 56 (6.13%) Manufacturing
3 53 (5.80%) Electronics
4 31 (3.39%) Aerospace
5 29 (3.17%) Finance
6 23 (2.52%) Aviation
7 15 (1.64%) Telecoms
8 14 (1.53%) Pharmaceutical
9 13 (1.42%) Analytical Skills
9 13 (1.42%) Military
10 12 (1.31%) Games
11 8 (0.88%) Automotive
12 7 (0.77%) Public Sector
13 4 (0.44%) Law
14 3 (0.33%) Banking
14 3 (0.33%) Health Technology
14 3 (0.33%) Organisational Skills
15 2 (0.22%) Digital Health
16 1 (0.11%) Marketing
16 1 (0.11%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 123 (13.46%) .NET
2 45 (4.92%) React
3 28 (3.06%) CSS
4 27 (2.95%) HTML
5 22 (2.41%) Vue
6 19 (2.08%) AngularJS
7 17 (1.86%) Django
7 17 (1.86%) Unreal Engine
7 17 (1.86%) WPF
8 16 (1.75%) REST
9 15 (1.64%) Node.js
10 12 (1.31%) JSON
10 12 (1.31%) WebSockets
11 10 (1.09%) ASP.NET
11 10 (1.09%) XML
12 9 (0.98%) .NET Core
13 7 (0.77%) Blazor
13 7 (0.77%) Qt
14 6 (0.66%) OpenGL
14 6 (0.66%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 51 (5.58%) Algorithms
2 34 (3.72%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.41%) Product Ownership
4 21 (2.30%) Client/Server
5 19 (2.08%) IoT
5 19 (2.08%) Robotics
6 18 (1.97%) Distributed Systems
7 17 (1.86%) Distributed Computing
8 14 (1.53%) Cloud Native
9 13 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
10 11 (1.20%) Data Structures
11 10 (1.09%) Smart Energy
12 9 (0.98%) Legacy Systems
13 7 (0.77%) AI Agents
14 6 (0.66%) Life Science
15 5 (0.55%) Video Conferencing
16 4 (0.44%) Driving Licence
16 4 (0.44%) FPGA
16 4 (0.44%) Management Information System
16 4 (0.44%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 83 (9.08%) Linux
2 21 (2.30%) Windows
3 9 (0.98%) Android
4 6 (0.66%) Embedded Linux
5 4 (0.44%) Debian
6 3 (0.33%) Gentoo
7 2 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.11%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 900 (98.47%) Software Engineering
2 120 (13.13%) Agile
3 97 (10.61%) Computer Science
4 82 (8.97%) Full-Stack Development
5 72 (7.88%) CI/CD
5 72 (7.88%) DevOps
6 70 (7.66%) AI
7 64 (7.00%) Problem-Solving
8 54 (5.91%) Test Automation
9 48 (5.25%) Containerisation
9 48 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
9 48 (5.25%) Mentoring
10 46 (5.03%) SDLC
10 46 (5.03%) Software Architecture
11 45 (4.92%) Machine Learning
12 38 (4.16%) Code Quality
13 35 (3.83%) Microservices
14 34 (3.72%) Embedded Software Development
15 31 (3.39%) Software Testing
16 27 (2.95%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 247 (27.02%) C++
2 186 (20.35%) C#
3 180 (19.69%) Python
4 81 (8.86%) C
5 57 (6.24%) JavaScript
6 54 (5.91%) TypeScript
7 47 (5.14%) SQL
8 37 (4.05%) Java
9 31 (3.39%) Rust
10 13 (1.42%) PHP
11 10 (1.09%) Go
12 7 (0.77%) Ruby
13 6 (0.66%) MATLAB
13 6 (0.66%) PL/SQL
14 4 (0.44%) Apex Code
14 4 (0.44%) Julia
15 3 (0.33%) Bash
15 3 (0.33%) Uniface
16 2 (0.22%) Shell Script
16 2 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 184 (20.13%) Degree
2 95 (10.39%) Computer Science Degree
3 90 (9.85%) Security Cleared
4 62 (6.78%) SC Cleared
5 47 (5.14%) Master's Degree
6 23 (2.52%) PhD
7 21 (2.30%) DV Cleared
8 8 (0.88%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.44%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.33%) HNC
10 3 (0.33%) HND
11 2 (0.22%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.22%) NVQ Level 3
12 1 (0.11%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.95%) QA
2 4 (0.44%) ISO 9001
3 3 (0.33%) DO-178B
3 3 (0.33%) ECSS
3 3 (0.33%) GAMP
4 2 (0.22%) GDPR
System Software
1 57 (6.24%) Docker
2 40 (4.38%) Firmware
3 14 (1.53%) Hyper-V
3 14 (1.53%) KVM
3 14 (1.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.20%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 32 (3.50%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.42%) Terraform
3 9 (0.98%) Ansible
4 4 (0.44%) Podman
5 1 (0.11%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.53%) VMware
2 12 (1.31%) Oracle
3 9 (0.98%) Microsoft
3 9 (0.98%) Salesforce
4 4 (0.44%) HubSpot
5 3 (0.33%) Allen-Bradley
5 3 (0.33%) Google
5 3 (0.33%) Siemens
5 3 (0.33%) Wonderware
6 2 (0.22%) Xilinx
7 1 (0.11%) Adobe
7 1 (0.11%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.11%) Typelevel
7 1 (0.11%) Xamarin