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 27 May 2026.

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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 106 32
Rank change year-on-year +85 -74 +38
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 808 209 931
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.57% 2.75% 5.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.85% 3.25% 5.88%
Number of salaries quoted 610 161 720
10th Percentile £45,000 £35,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £52,500 £48,250 £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 £77,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -9.68% +29.17% -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 13,811 6,439 15,835
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.17% 84.85% 93.99%
Number of salaries quoted 9,521 3,385 11,534
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,501
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -13.65%

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 27 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 27 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 +76 352 £65,000 +8.33% 53
Hampshire +54 292 £65,000 - 71
Oxfordshire +27 188 £65,000 - 31
Surrey +32 103 £80,000 +23.08% 12
Buckinghamshire +46 90 £80,000 +33.33% 6
Berkshire +45 74 £57,500 +10.58% 16
East Sussex +15 30 £65,000 - 2
Kent -27 24 £45,000 -28.00% 10
West Sussex -25 7 £65,000 +116.67% 5
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 27 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.

1 794 (98.27%) Software Engineering
2 212 (26.24%) C++
3 163 (20.17%) C#
4 159 (19.68%) Degree
5 146 (18.07%) Python
6 129 (15.97%) .NET
7 105 (13.00%) Agile
8 87 (10.77%) AWS
9 84 (10.40%) Computer Science Degree
10 83 (10.27%) Full-Stack Development
11 76 (9.41%) Computer Science
12 69 (8.54%) SaaS
13 68 (8.42%) Linux
14 66 (8.17%) Azure
14 66 (8.17%) C
15 64 (7.92%) Security Cleared
16 58 (7.18%) CI/CD
16 58 (7.18%) DevOps
17 54 (6.68%) JavaScript
18 50 (6.19%) Continuous Improvement
19 48 (5.94%) AI
20 47 (5.82%) SC Cleared
21 46 (5.69%) Git
21 46 (5.69%) Problem-Solving
21 46 (5.69%) Test Automation
22 44 (5.45%) SQL
23 42 (5.20%) Docker
24 41 (5.07%) Containerisation
24 41 (5.07%) TypeScript
25 40 (4.95%) 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 3 (0.37%) Apache
2 2 (0.25%) Confluence
3 1 (0.12%) ArchestrA
3 1 (0.12%) Kinematics
Applications
1 2 (0.25%) AutoCAD
1 2 (0.25%) EPLAN
2 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.12%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 87 (10.77%) AWS
2 69 (8.54%) SaaS
3 66 (8.17%) Azure
4 27 (3.34%) GCP
5 12 (1.49%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (1.24%) Serverless
7 8 (0.99%) GitHub
8 7 (0.87%) Stripe
9 6 (0.74%) PaaS
10 5 (0.62%) Figma
11 4 (0.50%) AWS Lambda
12 3 (0.37%) Azure Functions
12 3 (0.37%) Azure Monitor
13 2 (0.25%) Amazon S3
13 2 (0.25%) Anthropic Claude
13 2 (0.25%) Cloud Run
13 2 (0.25%) Firebase
13 2 (0.25%) GitHub Copilot
14 1 (0.12%) Adobe Analytics
14 1 (0.12%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.10%) Wireless
2 7 (0.87%) TCP/IP
3 4 (0.50%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (0.37%) MQTT
4 3 (0.37%) Wireshark
5 1 (0.12%) Broadband
5 1 (0.12%) Internet
5 1 (0.12%) Modbus
5 1 (0.12%) Multicast
5 1 (0.12%) Software-Defined Networking
5 1 (0.12%) SpaceWire
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (4.33%) SQL Server
2 9 (1.11%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (0.37%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.37%) Pinecone
4 2 (0.25%) MySQL
5 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.12%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.12%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 46 (5.69%) Git
2 20 (2.48%) GitLab
3 19 (2.35%) Visual Studio Code
4 8 (0.99%) Visual Studio
5 6 (0.74%) Yeoman
6 3 (0.37%) JIRA
6 3 (0.37%) Rational Rhapsody
7 2 (0.25%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.25%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.25%) JUnit
7 2 (0.25%) Postman
7 2 (0.25%) SpecFlow
8 1 (0.12%) CMake
8 1 (0.12%) NUnit
8 1 (0.12%) Toad
8 1 (0.12%) utPLSQL
General
1 58 (7.18%) Social Skills
2 47 (5.82%) Electronics
3 39 (4.83%) Manufacturing
4 24 (2.97%) Aerospace
5 20 (2.48%) Aviation
5 20 (2.48%) Finance
6 11 (1.36%) Military
6 11 (1.36%) Pharmaceutical
7 10 (1.24%) Games
8 9 (1.11%) Public Sector
8 9 (1.11%) Telecoms
9 8 (0.99%) Analytical Skills
10 5 (0.62%) Automotive
11 3 (0.37%) Tech for Good
12 2 (0.25%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.12%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.12%) Health Technology
13 1 (0.12%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.12%) Marketing
13 1 (0.12%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 129 (15.97%) .NET
2 35 (4.33%) React
3 20 (2.48%) HTML
4 19 (2.35%) CSS
5 18 (2.23%) Vue
6 16 (1.98%) AngularJS
6 16 (1.98%) WPF
7 15 (1.86%) REST
7 15 (1.86%) Unreal Engine
8 13 (1.61%) Django
9 10 (1.24%) WebSockets
10 9 (1.11%) .NET Core
10 9 (1.11%) Node.js
11 8 (0.99%) ASP.NET
11 8 (0.99%) JSON
12 7 (0.87%) Laravel
12 7 (0.87%) Middleware
13 6 (0.74%) .NET Framework
13 6 (0.74%) OpenGL ES
13 6 (0.74%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 48 (5.94%) Algorithms
2 31 (3.84%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.72%) IoT
4 21 (2.60%) Client/Server
5 19 (2.35%) Distributed Systems
6 18 (2.23%) Product Ownership
7 15 (1.86%) Distributed Computing
7 15 (1.86%) Robotics
7 15 (1.86%) Smart Energy
8 12 (1.49%) Cloud Native
9 11 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
10 9 (1.11%) Data Structures
11 8 (0.99%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (0.62%) AI Agents
12 5 (0.62%) Video Conferencing
13 4 (0.50%) Driving Licence
13 4 (0.50%) Management Information System
13 4 (0.50%) SCADA
14 3 (0.37%) CUDA
14 3 (0.37%) Smart Home
Operating Systems
1 68 (8.42%) Linux
2 15 (1.86%) Windows
3 11 (1.36%) Android
4 5 (0.62%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
5 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 794 (98.27%) Software Engineering
2 105 (13.00%) Agile
3 83 (10.27%) Full-Stack Development
4 76 (9.41%) Computer Science
5 58 (7.18%) CI/CD
5 58 (7.18%) DevOps
6 50 (6.19%) Continuous Improvement
7 48 (5.94%) AI
8 46 (5.69%) Problem-Solving
8 46 (5.69%) Test Automation
9 41 (5.07%) Containerisation
10 38 (4.70%) Mentoring
11 37 (4.58%) SDLC
12 36 (4.46%) Machine Learning
13 34 (4.21%) Code Quality
14 33 (4.08%) Software Architecture
15 31 (3.84%) Embedded Software Development
16 27 (3.34%) Microservices
17 26 (3.22%) Software Testing
18 23 (2.85%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 212 (26.24%) C++
2 163 (20.17%) C#
3 146 (18.07%) Python
4 66 (8.17%) C
5 54 (6.68%) JavaScript
6 44 (5.45%) SQL
7 41 (5.07%) TypeScript
8 28 (3.47%) Rust
9 27 (3.34%) Java
10 10 (1.24%) Go
10 10 (1.24%) PHP
11 6 (0.74%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.74%) Ruby
12 4 (0.50%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.50%) Julia
12 4 (0.50%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.37%) Uniface
14 2 (0.25%) Shell Script
15 1 (0.12%) T-SQL
15 1 (0.12%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 159 (19.68%) Degree
2 84 (10.40%) Computer Science Degree
3 64 (7.92%) Security Cleared
4 47 (5.82%) SC Cleared
5 40 (4.95%) Master's Degree
6 21 (2.60%) PhD
7 8 (0.99%) DV Cleared
8 7 (0.87%) Azure Certification
9 3 (0.37%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.37%) HNC
9 3 (0.37%) HND
10 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.25%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.25%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.47%) QA
2 4 (0.50%) ISO 9001
3 3 (0.37%) DO-178B
4 2 (0.25%) GDPR
5 1 (0.12%) ECSS
System Software
1 42 (5.20%) Docker
2 39 (4.83%) Firmware
3 14 (1.73%) Hyper-V
3 14 (1.73%) KVM
3 14 (1.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.36%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 24 (2.97%) Kubernetes
2 9 (1.11%) Terraform
3 3 (0.37%) Ansible
4 1 (0.12%) Podman
4 1 (0.12%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.73%) VMware
2 12 (1.49%) Oracle
3 10 (1.24%) Microsoft
4 9 (1.11%) Salesforce
5 7 (0.87%) HubSpot
6 3 (0.37%) Allen-Bradley
6 3 (0.37%) Siemens
6 3 (0.37%) Wonderware
7 2 (0.25%) NVIDIA
8 1 (0.12%) Adobe
8 1 (0.12%) Google
8 1 (0.12%) Typelevel
8 1 (0.12%) Xamarin