Software Engineer Job Trends in the South East

Software Engineer
England > South East

The median Software Engineer salary in the South East is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 9 October 2026.

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

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 112 25
Rank change year-on-year +90 -87 +40
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,017 224 888
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.38% 2.48% 7.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.75% 2.76% 7.51%
Number of salaries quoted 697 134 533
10th Percentile £45,000 £40,386 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £56,625 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £69,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.45% +25.45% -8.33%
75th Percentile £85,000 £82,813 £67,500
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 17,691 8,120 11,825
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.51% 89.94% 96.34%
Number of salaries quoted 12,543 4,490 6,624
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £30,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £48,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.58% -8.57% -4.55%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £59,000 £55,000 £55,235
% change year-on-year +7.27% -0.42% -7.94%

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 October 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 October 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 +38 441 £65,000 - 121
Thames Valley +124 388 £70,375 +8.27% 162
Oxfordshire +32 187 £65,000 -7.14% 96
Berkshire +96 129 £77,500 +24.00% 43
Surrey -1 95 £85,000 -5.56% 31
Buckinghamshire +46 72 £80,000 +128.57% 23
Kent +5 37 £40,000 -36.00% 3
West Sussex +6 30 £75,000 +7.14% 20
East Sussex +8 20 £65,000 -24.64% 14
Sussex - 5 £85,000 - 1
Isle of Wight +1 1 £54,500 -19.85% 11
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 9 October 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 1,015 (99.80%) Software Engineering
2 244 (23.99%) C++
3 207 (20.35%) C#
4 187 (18.39%) Python
5 140 (13.77%) Degree
6 115 (11.31%) Security Cleared
7 113 (11.11%) .NET
8 110 (10.82%) AI
9 107 (10.52%) Agile
10 106 (10.42%) AWS
11 97 (9.54%) Linux
12 93 (9.14%) CI/CD
13 82 (8.06%) C
14 81 (7.96%) Azure
15 80 (7.87%) SC Cleared
16 71 (6.98%) JavaScript
17 70 (6.88%) Docker
18 69 (6.78%) Computer Science Degree
18 69 (6.78%) Mentoring
19 68 (6.69%) Problem-Solving
20 66 (6.49%) DevOps
20 66 (6.49%) Full-Stack Development
20 66 (6.49%) TypeScript
21 64 (6.29%) Computer Science
22 59 (5.80%) Software Architecture
23 56 (5.51%) Git
24 55 (5.41%) Java
24 55 (5.41%) SDLC
25 52 (5.11%) React
26 50 (4.92%) Test Automation

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 9 (0.88%) Apache
2 1 (0.098%) ArchestrA
2 1 (0.098%) Confluence
Applications
1 21 (2.06%) Lightworks
2 6 (0.59%) Simulink
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (0.59%) Oracle Applications
2 2 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 106 (10.42%) AWS
2 81 (7.96%) Azure
3 45 (4.42%) SaaS
4 26 (2.56%) GCP
5 16 (1.57%) Serverless
6 15 (1.47%) Azure DevOps
7 14 (1.38%) GitHub
8 12 (1.18%) Firebase
9 9 (0.88%) Anthropic Claude
10 7 (0.69%) Cloud Run
11 6 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
11 6 (0.59%) PaaS
12 5 (0.49%) Azure Functions
13 4 (0.39%) Amazon EKS
13 4 (0.39%) GitHub Copilot
14 3 (0.29%) Amazon S3
14 3 (0.29%) AWS Lambda
14 3 (0.29%) Azure Key Vault
14 3 (0.29%) Azure Monitor
15 2 (0.20%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (2.95%) Wireless
2 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
3 10 (0.98%) ATM
3 10 (0.98%) MQTT
4 9 (0.88%) 5G
5 7 (0.69%) Wireshark
6 6 (0.59%) Ethernet
7 4 (0.39%) HTTP
8 3 (0.29%) Software-Defined Radio
9 1 (0.098%) LAN
9 1 (0.098%) NGN
9 1 (0.098%) SNMP
9 1 (0.098%) Software-Defined Networking
9 1 (0.098%) VLAN
9 1 (0.098%) VoIP
9 1 (0.098%) WAN
9 1 (0.098%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (3.15%) PostgreSQL
2 28 (2.75%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.28%) MySQL
4 11 (1.08%) Relational Database
5 10 (0.98%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.69%) Chroma
6 7 (0.69%) Pinecone
6 7 (0.69%) Redis
7 6 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.20%) Amazon Aurora
8 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.20%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.098%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.098%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 56 (5.51%) Git
2 17 (1.67%) GitLab
3 14 (1.38%) Visual Studio Code
4 10 (0.98%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) Rational Rhapsody
6 6 (0.59%) JIRA
7 5 (0.49%) CMake
7 5 (0.49%) Yeoman
8 4 (0.39%) PetaLinux
8 4 (0.39%) Visual Studio
9 3 (0.29%) Eclipse
9 3 (0.29%) Eclipse RCP
9 3 (0.29%) JUnit
9 3 (0.29%) Storybook
10 2 (0.20%) Claude Code
10 2 (0.20%) ESLint
10 2 (0.20%) NUnit
10 2 (0.20%) Vite
11 1 (0.098%) IDA Disassembler
11 1 (0.098%) Subversion
General
1 84 (8.26%) Manufacturing
2 73 (7.18%) Electronics
3 62 (6.10%) Social Skills
4 51 (5.01%) Aviation
5 50 (4.92%) Finance
6 47 (4.62%) Aerospace
7 17 (1.67%) Automotive
8 16 (1.57%) Analytical Skills
9 15 (1.47%) Military
10 14 (1.38%) Telecoms
11 13 (1.28%) Health Technology
12 11 (1.08%) Public Sector
13 9 (0.88%) Games
14 6 (0.59%) Law
14 6 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.49%) Banking
15 5 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
16 4 (0.39%) Digital Health
17 3 (0.29%) Tech for Good
18 2 (0.20%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 113 (11.11%) .NET
2 52 (5.11%) React
3 28 (2.75%) CSS
4 25 (2.46%) HTML
4 25 (2.46%) Node.js
4 25 (2.46%) WPF
5 22 (2.16%) AngularJS
5 22 (2.16%) Django
5 22 (2.16%) Vue
6 17 (1.67%) Terraform
7 14 (1.38%) React Native
8 13 (1.28%) JSON
8 13 (1.28%) XML
9 11 (1.08%) ASP.NET
10 10 (0.98%) REST
10 10 (0.98%) WebSockets
10 10 (0.98%) Yocto
11 9 (0.88%) .NET Core
12 7 (0.69%) pgvector
12 7 (0.69%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 44 (4.33%) Algorithms
2 42 (4.13%) Embedded Systems
3 38 (3.74%) Robotics
4 25 (2.46%) Distributed Computing
5 22 (2.16%) Product Ownership
6 20 (1.97%) Cloud Native
7 13 (1.28%) Data Structures
8 12 (1.18%) AI Agents
9 11 (1.08%) IoT
10 9 (0.88%) Enterprise Software
11 8 (0.79%) Distributed Systems
12 7 (0.69%) Life Science
12 7 (0.69%) NHS
12 7 (0.69%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (0.59%) Client/Server
13 6 (0.59%) FPGA
13 6 (0.59%) Greenfield Project
13 6 (0.59%) Legacy Systems
14 4 (0.39%) Management Information System
14 4 (0.39%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 97 (9.54%) Linux
2 24 (2.36%) Windows
3 14 (1.38%) Embedded Linux
4 9 (0.88%) FreeRTOS
5 7 (0.69%) Android
6 6 (0.59%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.49%) Debian
8 3 (0.29%) Gentoo
9 2 (0.20%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.098%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.098%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,015 (99.80%) Software Engineering
2 110 (10.82%) AI
3 107 (10.52%) Agile
4 93 (9.14%) CI/CD
5 69 (6.78%) Mentoring
6 68 (6.69%) Problem-Solving
7 66 (6.49%) DevOps
7 66 (6.49%) Full-Stack Development
8 64 (6.29%) Computer Science
9 59 (5.80%) Software Architecture
10 55 (5.41%) SDLC
11 50 (4.92%) Test Automation
12 45 (4.42%) Containerisation
13 43 (4.23%) Microservices
14 40 (3.93%) Machine Learning
15 36 (3.54%) Technical Leadership
16 34 (3.34%) Continuous Improvement
16 34 (3.34%) Data Science
17 33 (3.24%) Code Quality
18 30 (2.95%) Design Patterns
Programming Languages
1 244 (23.99%) C++
2 207 (20.35%) C#
3 187 (18.39%) Python
4 82 (8.06%) C
5 71 (6.98%) JavaScript
6 66 (6.49%) TypeScript
7 55 (5.41%) Java
8 40 (3.93%) SQL
9 30 (2.95%) Rust
10 19 (1.87%) Go
11 15 (1.47%) PHP
12 11 (1.08%) Ada
13 8 (0.79%) MATLAB
14 7 (0.69%) Embedded C++
14 7 (0.69%) T-SQL
15 4 (0.39%) Bash
15 4 (0.39%) Ruby
16 3 (0.29%) Embedded C
16 3 (0.29%) Julia
16 3 (0.29%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 140 (13.77%) Degree
2 115 (11.31%) Security Cleared
3 80 (7.87%) SC Cleared
4 69 (6.78%) Computer Science Degree
5 33 (3.24%) DV Cleared
6 31 (3.05%) Master's Degree
7 21 (2.06%) PhD
8 16 (1.57%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (0.79%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.39%) Chartered Engineer
11 2 (0.20%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.20%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (1.18%) QA
2 7 (0.69%) DO-178B
3 4 (0.39%) ECSS
4 3 (0.29%) GAMP
5 2 (0.20%) AUTOSAR
5 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.20%) MISRA
5 2 (0.20%) MISRA C
6 1 (0.098%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.098%) JTAG
System Software
1 70 (6.88%) Docker
2 30 (2.95%) Firmware
3 13 (1.28%) Embedded Firmware
4 4 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.20%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.20%) KVM
5 2 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.098%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 42 (4.13%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.47%) Ansible
3 6 (0.59%) Podman
4 2 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 13 (1.28%) Salesforce
2 11 (1.08%) Microsoft
3 10 (0.98%) Oracle
4 8 (0.79%) Sage
5 4 (0.39%) Google
5 4 (0.39%) Xilinx
6 2 (0.20%) Atlassian
6 2 (0.20%) ServiceNow
6 2 (0.20%) VMware
6 2 (0.20%) Yahoo!
7 1 (0.098%) IBM
7 1 (0.098%) New Relic
7 1 (0.098%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.098%) Xamarin