Software Engineer Job Trends in the South East

Software Engineer
England > South East

The median Software Engineer salary in the South East is £66,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 7 November 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 91 20
Rank change year-on-year +68 -71 +48
Permanent Software Engineer jobs 1,103 223 892
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.26% 2.55% 7.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.69% 2.81% 8.22%
Number of salaries quoted 689 138 476
10th Percentile £45,000 £35,125 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,145 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £66,000 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% +18.18% -8.33%
75th Percentile £83,750 £80,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £76,750 £65,000
% change year-on-year -8.79% +18.08% -6.80%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts in the South East matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
7 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the South East matching a recognised job title 19,374 7,943 10,849
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.46% 90.87% 96.32%
Number of salaries quoted 13,175 4,969 6,042
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -13.64% +0.92%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £83,750
England median annual salary £59,813 £52,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +13.93% -8.70% -4.17%

Software Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Software Engineer job postings 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 Software Engineer jobs in the South East over the 6 months to 7 November 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 Software Engineer jobs within the South East region over the 6 months to 7 November 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Hampshire +30 426 £65,000 - 45
Thames Valley +102 383 £70,000 +24.05% 35
Oxfordshire +29 168 £65,000 - 19
Berkshire +85 142 £65,000 +11.66% 10
Surrey -20 77 £90,000 - 7
Buckinghamshire +35 73 £77,500 +121.43% 6
West Sussex +5 42 £75,000 - 7
Kent +3 35 £45,000 -28.00% 4
East Sussex +10 26 £65,000 -24.64% 4
Isle of Wight +7 10 £54,500 -19.85% 8
Middlesex +15 7 £66,000 - 6
Sussex - 6 £85,000 - 4
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 7 November 2026, Software Engineer job ads cited 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 Software Engineer job ads across the South East region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Software Engineering100.0%1,103
2C++23.5%259
3Python16.2%179
4C#16.0%177
5Degree11.7%129
6AI11.4%126
7Linux10.4%115
8Security Cleared10.2%112
9AWS9.9%109
10C9.3%103
11.NET9.1%100
12CI/CD8.4%93
13Agile8.0%88
14Azure6.8%75
14SC Cleared6.8%75
16Docker6.6%73
17TypeScript6.5%72
18JavaScript6.4%71
19DevOps6.3%70
19Problem-Solving6.3%70
21Java6.2%68
22Full-Stack Development6.0%66
23Computer Science5.7%63
24Computer Science Degree5.6%62
24Mentoring5.6%62
24Test Automation5.6%62
27Software Architecture4.8%53
28React4.7%52
29SQL4.5%50
30Git4.4%49

Software Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Senior Software Engineer26.1%288
2Embedded Software Engineer17.3%191
3C++ Software Engineer11.7%129
4C# Software Engineer10.0%110
5Lead Software Engineer9.5%105
6Principal Software Engineer6.3%70
7Python Software Engineer6.0%66
8.NET Software Engineer4.4%49
9Senior Embedded Software Engineer3.8%42
10AWS Software Engineer3.2%35
11C Software Engineer3.0%33
12C/C++ Software Engineer2.4%27
13Artificial Intelligence Engineer2.4%26
14Senior C++ Software Engineer2.1%23
15DV Cleared Software Engineer1.8%20
15Embedded C Software Engineer1.8%20
15Full-Stack Software Engineer1.8%20
15Senior C# Software Engineer1.8%20
19Embedded C++ Software Engineer1.7%19
20Graduate Software Engineer1.6%18
152 Software Engineer jobs in the South East