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 22 June 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 101 29
Rank change year-on-year +80 -72 +35
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 898 223 1,172
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.02% 2.82% 6.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.31% 3.23% 6.67%
Number of salaries quoted 660 166 895
10th Percentile £45,000 £35,875 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £47,688 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year - +21.50% -10.83%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £66,250
90th Percentile £90,000 £90,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £78,655 £60,000
% change year-on-year -11.00% +31.09% -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 14,229 6,900 17,573
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.41% 87.18% 94.28%
Number of salaries quoted 10,043 3,683 12,600
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £51,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% +3.00% -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% -12.86%

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 22 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 22 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 +91 364 £65,000 +1.96% 46
Hampshire +54 345 £67,500 +8.00% 63
Oxfordshire +30 195 £65,000 -3.70% 16
Surrey +25 113 £80,000 +14.29% 8
Berkshire +59 86 £62,500 +20.19% 17
Buckinghamshire +53 83 £80,000 +42.22% 13
Kent -15 36 £45,000 -28.00% 9
East Sussex +14 29 £60,000 -33.33% 2
West Sussex -17 11 £75,000 +150.00% 6
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 22 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.

1 884 (98.44%) Software Engineering
2 245 (27.28%) C++
3 185 (20.60%) C#
4 181 (20.16%) Degree
5 177 (19.71%) Python
6 125 (13.92%) .NET
7 120 (13.36%) Agile
8 104 (11.58%) AWS
9 94 (10.47%) Computer Science
9 94 (10.47%) Computer Science Degree
10 85 (9.47%) Security Cleared
11 82 (9.13%) Azure
11 82 (9.13%) Linux
12 80 (8.91%) Full-Stack Development
13 79 (8.80%) C
14 71 (7.91%) CI/CD
15 70 (7.80%) DevOps
16 67 (7.46%) AI
17 66 (7.35%) SaaS
18 61 (6.79%) Problem-Solving
19 57 (6.35%) SC Cleared
20 56 (6.24%) JavaScript
21 55 (6.12%) Docker
22 53 (5.90%) Git
22 53 (5.90%) Test Automation
22 53 (5.90%) TypeScript
23 48 (5.35%) Containerisation
23 48 (5.35%) Continuous Improvement
24 47 (5.23%) SQL
25 46 (5.12%) 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 (0.56%) Apache
2 2 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.11%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 6 (0.67%) 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
1 104 (11.58%) AWS
2 82 (9.13%) Azure
3 66 (7.35%) SaaS
4 31 (3.45%) GCP
5 12 (1.34%) Azure DevOps
6 11 (1.22%) Serverless
7 10 (1.11%) GitHub
8 6 (0.67%) PaaS
9 5 (0.56%) Figma
9 5 (0.56%) Firebase
10 4 (0.45%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (0.45%) AWS Lambda
10 4 (0.45%) Stripe
11 3 (0.33%) Azure Functions
11 3 (0.33%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.22%) Amazon S3
12 2 (0.22%) Anthropic Claude
12 2 (0.22%) Cloud Run
12 2 (0.22%) GitHub Actions
13 1 (0.11%) Adobe Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.89%) Wireless
2 9 (1.00%) TCP/IP
3 6 (0.67%) MQTT
4 4 (0.45%) Software-Defined Radio
4 4 (0.45%) Wireshark
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 34 (3.79%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.45%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (0.67%) MySQL
4 5 (0.56%) MongoDB
5 2 (0.22%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.22%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.22%) Pinecone
5 2 (0.22%) Redis
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.11%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 53 (5.90%) Git
2 21 (2.34%) GitLab
3 20 (2.23%) Visual Studio Code
4 6 (0.67%) Yeoman
5 5 (0.56%) Visual Studio
6 4 (0.45%) JIRA
7 3 (0.33%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.33%) JUnit
7 3 (0.33%) Rational Rhapsody
8 2 (0.22%) CMake
8 2 (0.22%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.22%) Eclipse RCP
8 2 (0.22%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.22%) PetaLinux
8 2 (0.22%) Postman
8 2 (0.22%) SpecFlow
9 1 (0.11%) NUnit
9 1 (0.11%) Storybook
9 1 (0.11%) Toad
9 1 (0.11%) utPLSQL
General
1 60 (6.68%) Social Skills
2 55 (6.12%) Manufacturing
3 52 (5.79%) Electronics
4 31 (3.45%) Aerospace
5 28 (3.12%) Finance
6 22 (2.45%) Aviation
7 15 (1.67%) Telecoms
8 14 (1.56%) Pharmaceutical
9 12 (1.34%) Analytical Skills
9 12 (1.34%) Games
9 12 (1.34%) Military
10 8 (0.89%) Automotive
11 7 (0.78%) Public Sector
12 4 (0.45%) Law
13 3 (0.33%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.22%) Banking
15 1 (0.11%) Advertising
15 1 (0.11%) Influencing Skills
15 1 (0.11%) Marketing
15 1 (0.11%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 125 (13.92%) .NET
2 43 (4.79%) React
3 26 (2.90%) CSS
4 25 (2.78%) HTML
5 22 (2.45%) Vue
6 19 (2.12%) AngularJS
7 17 (1.89%) Django
7 17 (1.89%) Unreal Engine
7 17 (1.89%) WPF
8 16 (1.78%) REST
9 14 (1.56%) Node.js
10 12 (1.34%) WebSockets
11 11 (1.22%) JSON
12 10 (1.11%) ASP.NET
13 9 (1.00%) .NET Core
13 9 (1.00%) XML
14 7 (0.78%) Blazor
15 6 (0.67%) OpenGL
15 6 (0.67%) OpenGL ES
15 6 (0.67%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 51 (5.68%) Algorithms
2 34 (3.79%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.45%) Product Ownership
4 21 (2.34%) Client/Server
5 20 (2.23%) IoT
6 18 (2.00%) Distributed Systems
7 17 (1.89%) Distributed Computing
7 17 (1.89%) Robotics
8 13 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.34%) Cloud Native
10 11 (1.22%) Data Structures
10 11 (1.22%) Smart Energy
11 9 (1.00%) Legacy Systems
12 7 (0.78%) AI Agents
13 6 (0.67%) Life Science
14 5 (0.56%) Video Conferencing
15 4 (0.45%) Driving Licence
15 4 (0.45%) FPGA
15 4 (0.45%) Management Information System
15 4 (0.45%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 82 (9.13%) Linux
2 20 (2.23%) Windows
3 9 (1.00%) Android
4 6 (0.67%) Embedded Linux
5 3 (0.33%) Debian
6 2 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.22%) Gentoo
7 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.11%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 884 (98.44%) Software Engineering
2 120 (13.36%) Agile
3 94 (10.47%) Computer Science
4 80 (8.91%) Full-Stack Development
5 71 (7.91%) CI/CD
6 70 (7.80%) DevOps
7 67 (7.46%) AI
8 61 (6.79%) Problem-Solving
9 53 (5.90%) Test Automation
10 48 (5.35%) Containerisation
10 48 (5.35%) Continuous Improvement
11 45 (5.01%) Mentoring
11 45 (5.01%) SDLC
12 44 (4.90%) Machine Learning
12 44 (4.90%) Software Architecture
13 38 (4.23%) Code Quality
14 34 (3.79%) Embedded Software Development
14 34 (3.79%) Microservices
15 30 (3.34%) Software Testing
16 27 (3.01%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 245 (27.28%) C++
2 185 (20.60%) C#
3 177 (19.71%) Python
4 79 (8.80%) C
5 56 (6.24%) JavaScript
6 53 (5.90%) TypeScript
7 47 (5.23%) SQL
8 34 (3.79%) Java
9 31 (3.45%) Rust
10 13 (1.45%) PHP
11 11 (1.22%) Go
12 6 (0.67%) MATLAB
12 6 (0.67%) PL/SQL
12 6 (0.67%) Ruby
13 4 (0.45%) Apex Code
13 4 (0.45%) Julia
14 3 (0.33%) Uniface
15 2 (0.22%) Shell Script
15 2 (0.22%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.22%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 181 (20.16%) Degree
2 94 (10.47%) Computer Science Degree
3 85 (9.47%) Security Cleared
4 57 (6.35%) SC Cleared
5 46 (5.12%) Master's Degree
6 23 (2.56%) PhD
7 21 (2.34%) DV Cleared
8 8 (0.89%) Azure Certification
9 3 (0.33%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.33%) HNC
9 3 (0.33%) HND
10 2 (0.22%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.22%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.22%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.01%) QA
2 4 (0.45%) 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 55 (6.12%) Docker
2 40 (4.45%) Firmware
3 14 (1.56%) Hyper-V
3 14 (1.56%) KVM
3 14 (1.56%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.22%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 32 (3.56%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.45%) Terraform
3 8 (0.89%) Ansible
4 3 (0.33%) Podman
5 1 (0.11%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.56%) VMware
2 12 (1.34%) Oracle
3 9 (1.00%) Microsoft
3 9 (1.00%) Salesforce
4 4 (0.45%) 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