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 14 October 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 112 23
Rank change year-on-year +88 -89 +42
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,014 222 901
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.32% 2.48% 7.54%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.70% 2.76% 7.82%
Number of salaries quoted 690 134 526
10th Percentile £45,000 £37,380 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,313 £56,250 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £68,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% +23.64% -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 17,795 8,036 11,526
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.36% 89.92% 96.40%
Number of salaries quoted 12,577 4,493 6,456
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £31,063
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £48,000 £53,050
Median % change year-on-year +14.58% -9.52% -3.55%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £81,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £59,500 £55,000 £56,525
% change year-on-year +8.18% -2.70% -5.79%

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 14 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 14 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 +36 437 £65,000 - 78
Thames Valley +123 392 £70,000 +12.00% 123
Oxfordshire +33 184 £65,000 -7.14% 75
Berkshire +97 131 £77,500 +29.17% 30
Surrey -2 91 £85,000 -5.56% 31
Buckinghamshire +46 77 £80,000 +128.57% 19
Kent +12 37 £40,000 -36.00% 4
West Sussex +5 31 £75,000 +7.14% 18
East Sussex +5 20 £65,000 -24.64% 11
Sussex - 5 £85,000 - 2
Isle of Wight -1 1 £54,500 -19.85% 6
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 14 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 1,013 (99.90%) Software Engineering
2 237 (23.37%) C++
3 203 (20.02%) C#
4 180 (17.75%) Python
5 137 (13.51%) Degree
6 116 (11.44%) Security Cleared
7 111 (10.95%) .NET
8 110 (10.85%) AI
9 108 (10.65%) AWS
10 106 (10.45%) Agile
11 99 (9.76%) CI/CD
12 96 (9.47%) Linux
13 83 (8.19%) C
14 82 (8.09%) Azure
15 81 (7.99%) SC Cleared
16 73 (7.20%) Docker
17 71 (7.00%) DevOps
17 71 (7.00%) JavaScript
18 70 (6.90%) Mentoring
18 70 (6.90%) Problem-Solving
19 69 (6.80%) Full-Stack Development
20 67 (6.61%) Computer Science Degree
20 67 (6.61%) TypeScript
21 63 (6.21%) Computer Science
22 60 (5.92%) Software Architecture
23 57 (5.62%) Git
24 56 (5.52%) Java
25 54 (5.33%) React
26 53 (5.23%) SDLC
27 52 (5.13%) 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 (0.89%) Apache
2 1 (0.099%) ArchestrA
2 1 (0.099%) Confluence
Applications
1 21 (2.07%) Lightworks
2 6 (0.59%) Simulink
3 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (0.59%) Oracle Applications
2 3 (0.30%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 108 (10.65%) AWS
2 82 (8.09%) Azure
3 47 (4.64%) SaaS
4 28 (2.76%) GCP
5 17 (1.68%) Serverless
6 16 (1.58%) Azure DevOps
7 15 (1.48%) GitHub
8 12 (1.18%) Firebase
9 9 (0.89%) 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 (0.30%) Amazon S3
14 3 (0.30%) AWS Lambda
14 3 (0.30%) Azure Key Vault
14 3 (0.30%) Azure Monitor
15 2 (0.20%) Amazon ElastiCache
Communications & Networking
1 30 (2.96%) Wireless
2 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
3 10 (0.99%) ATM
3 10 (0.99%) MQTT
4 9 (0.89%) 5G
5 7 (0.69%) Wireshark
6 6 (0.59%) Ethernet
7 4 (0.39%) HTTP
8 3 (0.30%) Software-Defined Radio
9 1 (0.099%) LAN
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 34 (3.35%) PostgreSQL
2 29 (2.86%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.28%) MySQL
4 12 (1.18%) Relational Database
5 10 (0.99%) MongoDB
5 10 (0.99%) Redis
6 7 (0.69%) Chroma
6 7 (0.69%) Pinecone
7 6 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.30%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (0.30%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.20%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.099%) Big Data
10 1 (0.099%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.099%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 57 (5.62%) Git
2 16 (1.58%) GitLab
3 14 (1.38%) Visual Studio Code
4 10 (0.99%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) JIRA
5 7 (0.69%) Rational Rhapsody
6 5 (0.49%) CMake
6 5 (0.49%) Yeoman
7 4 (0.39%) PetaLinux
7 4 (0.39%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.30%) Eclipse
8 3 (0.30%) Eclipse RCP
8 3 (0.30%) JUnit
8 3 (0.30%) Storybook
9 2 (0.20%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.20%) ESLint
9 2 (0.20%) IntelliJ
9 2 (0.20%) NUnit
9 2 (0.20%) Vite
10 1 (0.099%) Subversion
General
1 80 (7.89%) Manufacturing
2 72 (7.10%) Electronics
3 63 (6.21%) Social Skills
4 52 (5.13%) Aviation
5 51 (5.03%) Finance
6 46 (4.54%) Aerospace
7 18 (1.78%) Automotive
8 16 (1.58%) Analytical Skills
9 15 (1.48%) Health Technology
10 14 (1.38%) Military
10 14 (1.38%) Telecoms
11 11 (1.08%) Public Sector
12 9 (0.89%) Games
13 6 (0.59%) Banking
13 6 (0.59%) Law
13 6 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.39%) Digital Health
14 4 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
15 3 (0.30%) Tech for Good
16 2 (0.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (10.95%) .NET
2 54 (5.33%) React
3 30 (2.96%) Node.js
4 27 (2.66%) CSS
5 25 (2.47%) WPF
6 24 (2.37%) HTML
7 22 (2.17%) Django
7 22 (2.17%) Vue
8 21 (2.07%) AngularJS
9 17 (1.68%) Terraform
10 14 (1.38%) React Native
11 13 (1.28%) JSON
11 13 (1.28%) XML
12 11 (1.08%) ASP.NET
12 11 (1.08%) REST
13 10 (0.99%) WebSockets
13 10 (0.99%) Yocto
14 9 (0.89%) .NET Core
15 8 (0.79%) Kafka
16 7 (0.69%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 43 (4.24%) Algorithms
2 42 (4.14%) Embedded Systems
3 38 (3.75%) Robotics
4 24 (2.37%) Distributed Computing
5 23 (2.27%) Cloud Native
5 23 (2.27%) Product Ownership
6 14 (1.38%) AI Agents
7 13 (1.28%) Data Structures
8 10 (0.99%) Enterprise Software
8 10 (0.99%) IoT
9 9 (0.89%) Distributed Systems
10 7 (0.69%) Life Science
10 7 (0.69%) NHS
10 7 (0.69%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.59%) Client/Server
11 6 (0.59%) FPGA
11 6 (0.59%) Greenfield Project
11 6 (0.59%) Legacy Systems
12 4 (0.39%) Verilog
12 4 (0.39%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 96 (9.47%) Linux
2 24 (2.37%) Windows
3 13 (1.28%) Embedded Linux
4 10 (0.99%) FreeRTOS
5 7 (0.69%) Android
6 6 (0.59%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.49%) Debian
8 3 (0.30%) Gentoo
9 2 (0.20%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.099%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.099%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,013 (99.90%) Software Engineering
2 110 (10.85%) AI
3 106 (10.45%) Agile
4 99 (9.76%) CI/CD
5 71 (7.00%) DevOps
6 70 (6.90%) Mentoring
6 70 (6.90%) Problem-Solving
7 69 (6.80%) Full-Stack Development
8 63 (6.21%) Computer Science
9 60 (5.92%) Software Architecture
10 53 (5.23%) SDLC
11 52 (5.13%) Test Automation
12 46 (4.54%) Microservices
13 45 (4.44%) Containerisation
14 39 (3.85%) Machine Learning
15 37 (3.65%) Technical Leadership
16 36 (3.55%) Code Quality
17 33 (3.25%) Continuous Improvement
18 32 (3.16%) Data Science
19 31 (3.06%) Design Patterns
Programming Languages
1 237 (23.37%) C++
2 203 (20.02%) C#
3 180 (17.75%) Python
4 83 (8.19%) C
5 71 (7.00%) JavaScript
6 67 (6.61%) TypeScript
7 56 (5.52%) Java
8 42 (4.14%) SQL
9 28 (2.76%) Rust
10 19 (1.87%) Go
11 15 (1.48%) 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 (0.30%) Embedded C
16 3 (0.30%) PowerShell
16 3 (0.30%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 137 (13.51%) Degree
2 116 (11.44%) Security Cleared
3 81 (7.99%) SC Cleared
4 67 (6.61%) Computer Science Degree
5 34 (3.35%) DV Cleared
6 29 (2.86%) Master's Degree
7 20 (1.97%) PhD
8 16 (1.58%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (0.89%) 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 13 (1.28%) QA
2 7 (0.69%) DO-178B
3 4 (0.39%) ECSS
4 3 (0.30%) 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 (0.099%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.099%) JTAG
System Software
1 73 (7.20%) Docker
2 30 (2.96%) Firmware
3 12 (1.18%) 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 (0.099%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 44 (4.34%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.48%) Ansible
3 6 (0.59%) Podman
4 2 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.38%) Salesforce
2 12 (1.18%) Microsoft
3 10 (0.99%) Oracle
4 9 (0.89%) Sage
5 6 (0.59%) Google
6 4 (0.39%) ServiceNow
6 4 (0.39%) Xilinx
7 2 (0.20%) Atlassian
7 2 (0.20%) VMware
7 2 (0.20%) Yahoo!
7 2 (0.20%) Zoho
8 1 (0.099%) IBM
8 1 (0.099%) New Relic
8 1 (0.099%) NVIDIA
8 1 (0.099%) Xamarin