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 21 May 2026.

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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 96 36
Rank change year-on-year +74 -60 +35
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 784 222 887
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.42% 2.83% 5.38%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.70% 3.34% 5.73%
Number of salaries quoted 590 173 688
10th Percentile £45,000 £36,250 £36,200
25th Percentile £52,500 £48,750 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +18.18% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £66,250
90th Percentile £90,000 £87,500 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £75,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -6.67% +25.00% -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 13,750 6,647 15,482
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.08% 84.82% 93.93%
Number of salaries quoted 9,420 3,591 11,284
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,250 £36,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% +6.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £53,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +7.48% -12.01%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 +72 342 £65,000 +8.33% 47
Hampshire +54 282 £65,000 - 67
Oxfordshire +25 184 £65,000 -3.70% 21
Surrey +35 99 £80,000 +23.08% 22
Buckinghamshire +48 88 £80,000 +33.33% 10
Berkshire +48 70 £52,500 +0.96% 16
East Sussex +12 29 £65,000 - 7
Kent -32 23 £45,000 -28.00% 9
West Sussex -22 7 £65,000 +116.67% 7
Isle of Wight -7 2 £75,900 +16.77%
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 21 May 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.

1 770 (98.21%) Software Engineering
2 203 (25.89%) C++
3 158 (20.15%) C#
4 154 (19.64%) Degree
5 139 (17.73%) Python
6 126 (16.07%) .NET
7 102 (13.01%) Agile
8 83 (10.59%) AWS
9 82 (10.46%) Full-Stack Development
10 81 (10.33%) Computer Science Degree
11 76 (9.69%) Computer Science
12 70 (8.93%) SaaS
13 62 (7.91%) Azure
13 62 (7.91%) C
13 62 (7.91%) Linux
14 58 (7.40%) Security Cleared
15 56 (7.14%) CI/CD
16 54 (6.89%) DevOps
17 49 (6.25%) Continuous Improvement
18 47 (5.99%) JavaScript
19 44 (5.61%) SC Cleared
19 44 (5.61%) SQL
20 43 (5.48%) Git
20 43 (5.48%) Test Automation
21 42 (5.36%) Problem-Solving
22 40 (5.10%) AI
22 40 (5.10%) Docker
23 39 (4.97%) Containerisation
24 38 (4.85%) Master's Degree
25 37 (4.72%) TypeScript

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 2 (0.26%) Apache
1 2 (0.26%) Confluence
2 1 (0.13%) ArchestrA
2 1 (0.13%) Kinematics
Applications
1 2 (0.26%) AutoCAD
1 2 (0.26%) EPLAN
2 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.13%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 83 (10.59%) AWS
2 70 (8.93%) SaaS
3 62 (7.91%) Azure
4 24 (3.06%) GCP
5 11 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (1.28%) Serverless
7 8 (1.02%) GitHub
8 7 (0.89%) Stripe
9 5 (0.64%) Figma
9 5 (0.64%) PaaS
10 4 (0.51%) AWS Lambda
11 3 (0.38%) Azure Functions
11 3 (0.38%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.26%) Amazon S3
12 2 (0.26%) GitHub Copilot
13 1 (0.13%) Adobe Analytics
13 1 (0.13%) Amazon EKS
13 1 (0.13%) Azure Key Vault
13 1 (0.13%) Azure Machine Learning
13 1 (0.13%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.17%) Wireless
2 6 (0.77%) TCP/IP
3 4 (0.51%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (0.38%) MQTT
5 2 (0.26%) Wireshark
6 1 (0.13%) Broadband
6 1 (0.13%) Internet
6 1 (0.13%) Modbus
6 1 (0.13%) Multicast
6 1 (0.13%) Software-Defined Networking
6 1 (0.13%) SpaceWire
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.34%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.02%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (0.38%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.26%) MySQL
5 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.13%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.13%) Pinecone
5 1 (0.13%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 43 (5.48%) Git
2 19 (2.42%) GitLab
2 19 (2.42%) Visual Studio Code
3 7 (0.89%) Visual Studio
4 6 (0.77%) Yeoman
5 3 (0.38%) JIRA
5 3 (0.38%) Rational Rhapsody
6 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.26%) Claude Code
6 2 (0.26%) Postman
6 2 (0.26%) SpecFlow
7 1 (0.13%) CMake
7 1 (0.13%) JUnit
7 1 (0.13%) NUnit
7 1 (0.13%) Toad
7 1 (0.13%) utPLSQL
General
1 54 (6.89%) Social Skills
2 43 (5.48%) Electronics
3 37 (4.72%) Manufacturing
4 21 (2.68%) Aerospace
5 19 (2.42%) Finance
6 18 (2.30%) Aviation
7 11 (1.40%) Military
7 11 (1.40%) Pharmaceutical
8 10 (1.28%) Games
9 8 (1.02%) Analytical Skills
9 8 (1.02%) Public Sector
9 8 (1.02%) Telecoms
10 4 (0.51%) Automotive
11 3 (0.38%) Tech for Good
12 2 (0.26%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.13%) Health Technology
13 1 (0.13%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.13%) Marketing
13 1 (0.13%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 126 (16.07%) .NET
2 31 (3.95%) React
3 17 (2.17%) HTML
3 17 (2.17%) Vue
4 16 (2.04%) AngularJS
4 16 (2.04%) CSS
5 15 (1.91%) REST
5 15 (1.91%) Unreal Engine
6 14 (1.79%) WPF
7 11 (1.40%) Django
8 9 (1.15%) .NET Core
8 9 (1.15%) WebSockets
9 8 (1.02%) ASP.NET
9 8 (1.02%) Node.js
10 7 (0.89%) Laravel
10 7 (0.89%) Middleware
11 6 (0.77%) DirectX
11 6 (0.77%) OpenGL
11 6 (0.77%) OpenGL ES
11 6 (0.77%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 46 (5.87%) Algorithms
2 27 (3.44%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.81%) IoT
4 20 (2.55%) Client/Server
5 18 (2.30%) Distributed Systems
5 18 (2.30%) Product Ownership
6 15 (1.91%) Smart Energy
7 14 (1.79%) Distributed Computing
8 12 (1.53%) Cloud Native
9 11 (1.40%) Robotics
10 10 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
11 8 (1.02%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (0.89%) Data Structures
13 5 (0.64%) Video Conferencing
14 4 (0.51%) Driving Licence
14 4 (0.51%) Management Information System
14 4 (0.51%) SCADA
15 3 (0.38%) AI Agents
15 3 (0.38%) CUDA
15 3 (0.38%) Smart Home
Operating Systems
1 62 (7.91%) Linux
2 10 (1.28%) Android
2 10 (1.28%) Windows
3 5 (0.64%) Embedded Linux
4 1 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
4 1 (0.13%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 770 (98.21%) Software Engineering
2 102 (13.01%) Agile
3 82 (10.46%) Full-Stack Development
4 76 (9.69%) Computer Science
5 56 (7.14%) CI/CD
6 54 (6.89%) DevOps
7 49 (6.25%) Continuous Improvement
8 43 (5.48%) Test Automation
9 42 (5.36%) Problem-Solving
10 40 (5.10%) AI
11 39 (4.97%) Containerisation
12 35 (4.46%) Mentoring
12 35 (4.46%) SDLC
13 33 (4.21%) Code Quality
14 32 (4.08%) Machine Learning
15 30 (3.83%) Embedded Software Development
15 30 (3.83%) Software Architecture
16 26 (3.32%) Microservices
17 25 (3.19%) Software Testing
18 23 (2.93%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 203 (25.89%) C++
2 158 (20.15%) C#
3 139 (17.73%) Python
4 62 (7.91%) C
5 47 (5.99%) JavaScript
6 44 (5.61%) SQL
7 37 (4.72%) TypeScript
8 27 (3.44%) Rust
9 25 (3.19%) Java
10 10 (1.28%) PHP
11 8 (1.02%) Go
12 6 (0.77%) PL/SQL
12 6 (0.77%) Ruby
13 4 (0.51%) Apex Code
13 4 (0.51%) MATLAB
14 3 (0.38%) Julia
14 3 (0.38%) Uniface
15 2 (0.26%) Ada
15 2 (0.26%) Ada 95
15 2 (0.26%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 154 (19.64%) Degree
2 81 (10.33%) Computer Science Degree
3 58 (7.40%) Security Cleared
4 44 (5.61%) SC Cleared
5 38 (4.85%) Master's Degree
6 19 (2.42%) PhD
7 7 (0.89%) Azure Certification
7 7 (0.89%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.64%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.38%) HNC
9 3 (0.38%) HND
10 2 (0.26%) Chartered Engineer
10 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.26%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.26%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.13%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.57%) QA
2 4 (0.51%) ISO 9001
3 3 (0.38%) DO-178B
4 2 (0.26%) GDPR
4 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 1 (0.13%) ECSS
System Software
1 40 (5.10%) Docker
2 35 (4.46%) Firmware
3 14 (1.79%) Hyper-V
3 14 (1.79%) KVM
3 14 (1.79%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.15%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.77%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 22 (2.81%) Kubernetes
2 8 (1.02%) Terraform
3 3 (0.38%) Ansible
4 1 (0.13%) Podman
4 1 (0.13%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.79%) VMware
2 11 (1.40%) Oracle
3 10 (1.28%) Microsoft
4 8 (1.02%) Salesforce
5 7 (0.89%) HubSpot
6 3 (0.38%) Allen-Bradley
6 3 (0.38%) Siemens
6 3 (0.38%) Wonderware
7 2 (0.26%) NVIDIA
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe
8 1 (0.13%) Google
8 1 (0.13%) Typelevel