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 24 July 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 98 28
Rank change year-on-year +79 -70 +42
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 958 246 997
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.97% 2.86% 6.52%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.24% 3.20% 6.93%
Number of salaries quoted 696 169 759
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,500 £38,738
25th Percentile £53,750 £52,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £52,501
Median % change year-on-year - +23.81% -12.50%
75th Percentile £83,750 £80,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £79,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% +33.33% -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 15,344 7,697 14,391
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.62% 89.55% 94.11%
Number of salaries quoted 10,855 4,292 10,068
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,854 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £86,000 £81,250 £80,000
England median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%

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 24 July 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 24 July 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 +37 411 £65,000 - 45
Thames Valley +103 354 £67,500 +3.85% 58
Oxfordshire +24 170 £65,000 -3.70% 31
Surrey +16 112 £80,000 +6.67% 10
Berkshire +87 102 £65,000 +8.33% 20
Buckinghamshire +52 82 £81,250 +47.73% 7
Kent -10 31 £35,000 -44.00% 3
East Sussex +9 26 £65,000 -27.78%
West Sussex -6 20 £75,000 +11.11% 5
Sussex - 4 £85,000 - 3
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 24 July 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.

1 948 (98.96%) Software Engineering
2 252 (26.30%) C++
3 198 (20.67%) Python
4 196 (20.46%) C#
5 179 (18.68%) Degree
6 125 (13.05%) .NET
7 121 (12.63%) Agile
8 114 (11.90%) Security Cleared
9 113 (11.80%) AWS
10 92 (9.60%) Linux
11 89 (9.29%) Computer Science Degree
12 88 (9.19%) AI
12 88 (9.19%) Computer Science
13 86 (8.98%) C
14 85 (8.87%) Azure
15 81 (8.46%) Full-Stack Development
15 81 (8.46%) SC Cleared
16 78 (8.14%) CI/CD
17 74 (7.72%) DevOps
18 66 (6.89%) Problem-Solving
19 62 (6.47%) Docker
20 60 (6.26%) JavaScript
21 58 (6.05%) TypeScript
22 56 (5.85%) Git
22 56 (5.85%) Mentoring
22 56 (5.85%) SaaS
23 55 (5.74%) Test Automation
24 52 (5.43%) Containerisation
24 52 (5.43%) SDLC
25 50 (5.22%) Software Architecture

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 6 (0.63%) Apache
2 3 (0.31%) Confluence
3 1 (0.10%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 11 (1.15%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.52%) Simulink
3 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.21%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.21%) EPLAN
6 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 113 (11.80%) AWS
2 85 (8.87%) Azure
3 56 (5.85%) SaaS
4 36 (3.76%) GCP
5 14 (1.46%) Azure DevOps
5 14 (1.46%) GitHub
6 12 (1.25%) Serverless
7 11 (1.15%) Firebase
8 6 (0.63%) Anthropic Claude
8 6 (0.63%) Cloud Run
8 6 (0.63%) PaaS
9 5 (0.52%) Figma
10 4 (0.42%) AWS Lambda
10 4 (0.42%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (0.31%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.31%) Azure Functions
11 3 (0.31%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.21%) Amazon S3
12 2 (0.21%) WhatsApp
13 1 (0.10%) Adobe Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.88%) Wireless
2 10 (1.04%) TCP/IP
3 8 (0.84%) ATM
3 8 (0.84%) MQTT
4 5 (0.52%) Wireshark
5 3 (0.31%) Ethernet
5 3 (0.31%) Software-Defined Radio
6 1 (0.10%) Broadband
6 1 (0.10%) Internet
6 1 (0.10%) LAN
6 1 (0.10%) Multicast
6 1 (0.10%) Software-Defined Networking
6 1 (0.10%) VoIP
6 1 (0.10%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (3.44%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.88%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (0.94%) MySQL
4 7 (0.73%) MongoDB
5 6 (0.63%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.31%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.31%) Redis
6 3 (0.31%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.21%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.10%) Electronic Patient Records
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 56 (5.85%) Git
2 20 (2.09%) GitLab
2 20 (2.09%) Visual Studio Code
3 7 (0.73%) JIRA
4 6 (0.63%) Yeoman
5 5 (0.52%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.31%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.31%) CMake
6 3 (0.31%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.31%) Eclipse RCP
6 3 (0.31%) JUnit
6 3 (0.31%) PetaLinux
6 3 (0.31%) Rational Rhapsody
6 3 (0.31%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.21%) Postman
7 2 (0.21%) SpecFlow
8 1 (0.10%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.10%) Storybook
8 1 (0.10%) Toad
8 1 (0.10%) utPLSQL
General
1 69 (7.20%) Manufacturing
1 69 (7.20%) Social Skills
2 62 (6.47%) Electronics
3 33 (3.44%) Aerospace
4 30 (3.13%) Finance
5 28 (2.92%) Aviation
6 19 (1.98%) Analytical Skills
7 17 (1.77%) Telecoms
8 14 (1.46%) Pharmaceutical
9 13 (1.36%) Military
10 12 (1.25%) Games
11 10 (1.04%) Automotive
12 8 (0.84%) Public Sector
13 6 (0.63%) Law
14 5 (0.52%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.42%) Digital Health
15 4 (0.42%) Health Technology
16 3 (0.31%) Banking
17 2 (0.21%) Documentation Skills
17 2 (0.21%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 125 (13.05%) .NET
2 45 (4.70%) React
3 30 (3.13%) CSS
4 29 (3.03%) HTML
5 22 (2.30%) Vue
6 21 (2.19%) Django
7 20 (2.09%) Unreal Engine
8 19 (1.98%) AngularJS
9 17 (1.77%) Node.js
9 17 (1.77%) WPF
10 15 (1.57%) REST
11 13 (1.36%) JSON
11 13 (1.36%) WebSockets
12 11 (1.15%) ASP.NET
12 11 (1.15%) XML
13 8 (0.84%) .NET Core
14 7 (0.73%) Blazor
14 7 (0.73%) Qt
15 6 (0.63%) pgvector
15 6 (0.63%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 48 (5.01%) Algorithms
2 33 (3.44%) Embedded Systems
2 33 (3.44%) Robotics
3 25 (2.61%) Product Ownership
4 19 (1.98%) Cloud Native
5 18 (1.88%) Distributed Computing
6 17 (1.77%) Distributed Systems
7 16 (1.67%) Client/Server
7 16 (1.67%) IoT
8 13 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.25%) AI Agents
10 11 (1.15%) Data Structures
11 7 (0.73%) Life Science
12 6 (0.63%) Legacy Systems
12 6 (0.63%) Management Information System
12 6 (0.63%) Smart Energy
13 5 (0.52%) Video Conferencing
14 4 (0.42%) Enterprise Software
14 4 (0.42%) FPGA
14 4 (0.42%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 92 (9.60%) Linux
2 21 (2.19%) Windows
3 7 (0.73%) Embedded Linux
4 5 (0.52%) Android
4 5 (0.52%) Debian
5 3 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.31%) Gentoo
6 2 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
7 1 (0.10%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 948 (98.96%) Software Engineering
2 121 (12.63%) Agile
3 88 (9.19%) AI
3 88 (9.19%) Computer Science
4 81 (8.46%) Full-Stack Development
5 78 (8.14%) CI/CD
6 74 (7.72%) DevOps
7 66 (6.89%) Problem-Solving
8 56 (5.85%) Mentoring
9 55 (5.74%) Test Automation
10 52 (5.43%) Containerisation
10 52 (5.43%) SDLC
11 50 (5.22%) Software Architecture
12 48 (5.01%) Machine Learning
13 43 (4.49%) Continuous Improvement
14 39 (4.07%) Code Quality
14 39 (4.07%) Microservices
15 35 (3.65%) Software Testing
16 33 (3.44%) Embedded Software Development
17 29 (3.03%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 252 (26.30%) C++
2 198 (20.67%) Python
3 196 (20.46%) C#
4 86 (8.98%) C
5 60 (6.26%) JavaScript
6 58 (6.05%) TypeScript
7 41 (4.28%) Java
7 41 (4.28%) SQL
8 30 (3.13%) Rust
9 11 (1.15%) Go
10 9 (0.94%) Ada
11 8 (0.84%) PHP
12 7 (0.73%) MATLAB
12 7 (0.73%) Ruby
13 6 (0.63%) PL/SQL
14 4 (0.42%) Apex Code
14 4 (0.42%) Julia
14 4 (0.42%) T-SQL
14 4 (0.42%) VB.NET
15 3 (0.31%) Bash
Qualifications
1 179 (18.68%) Degree
2 114 (11.90%) Security Cleared
3 89 (9.29%) Computer Science Degree
4 81 (8.46%) SC Cleared
5 46 (4.80%) Master's Degree
6 28 (2.92%) DV Cleared
7 24 (2.51%) PhD
8 8 (0.84%) Azure Certification
9 5 (0.52%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.31%) HNC
10 3 (0.31%) HND
11 2 (0.21%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.21%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (2.40%) QA
2 3 (0.31%) DO-178B
2 3 (0.31%) ECSS
2 3 (0.31%) GAMP
3 2 (0.21%) GDPR
3 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
4 1 (0.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 62 (6.47%) Docker
2 36 (3.76%) Firmware
3 11 (1.15%) Embedded Firmware
3 11 (1.15%) KVM
3 11 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (1.04%) Hyper-V
5 7 (0.73%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 36 (3.76%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.57%) Terraform
3 11 (1.15%) Ansible
4 5 (0.52%) Podman
5 1 (0.10%) Puppet
Vendors
1 12 (1.25%) Oracle
2 11 (1.15%) Microsoft
2 11 (1.15%) VMware
3 9 (0.94%) Salesforce
4 4 (0.42%) Google
5 3 (0.31%) Allen-Bradley
5 3 (0.31%) Siemens
5 3 (0.31%) Wonderware
5 3 (0.31%) Xilinx
6 2 (0.21%) Atlassian
6 2 (0.21%) Yahoo!
7 1 (0.10%) Adobe
7 1 (0.10%) IBM
7 1 (0.10%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.10%) Typelevel
7 1 (0.10%) Xamarin