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 18 May 2026.

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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 91 36
Rank change year-on-year +68 -55 +33
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 766 231 884
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.30% 2.93% 5.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.57% 3.45% 5.71%
Number of salaries quoted 576 180 685
10th Percentile £45,000 £36,250 £37,200
25th Percentile £52,188 £49,688 £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 £87,750 £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 6,703 15,469
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.05% 84.98% 93.91%
Number of salaries quoted 9,422 3,637 11,284
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £36,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.87% +7.00% -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 18 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 18 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 +65 333 £65,000 +8.33% 53
Hampshire +50 278 £65,000 - 66
Oxfordshire +25 181 £65,000 -1.89% 22
Surrey +32 95 £80,000 +23.08% 22
Buckinghamshire +46 83 £75,000 +25.00% 11
Berkshire +34 69 £55,000 - 20
East Sussex +15 28 £65,000 - 5
Kent -32 23 £45,000 -28.00% 5
West Sussex -24 6 £65,000 +116.67% 8
Isle of Wight -4 3 £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 18 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.

1 752 (98.17%) Software Engineering
2 198 (25.85%) C++
3 148 (19.32%) C#
4 146 (19.06%) Degree
5 135 (17.62%) Python
6 121 (15.80%) .NET
7 96 (12.53%) Agile
8 81 (10.57%) Full-Stack Development
9 78 (10.18%) Computer Science Degree
10 74 (9.66%) AWS
10 74 (9.66%) Computer Science
11 66 (8.62%) SaaS
12 59 (7.70%) C
12 59 (7.70%) Linux
13 58 (7.57%) Security Cleared
14 56 (7.31%) Azure
15 51 (6.66%) CI/CD
15 51 (6.66%) DevOps
16 48 (6.27%) Continuous Improvement
17 46 (6.01%) JavaScript
18 45 (5.87%) SC Cleared
19 42 (5.48%) SQL
20 41 (5.35%) Git
20 41 (5.35%) Problem-Solving
21 40 (5.22%) AI
22 39 (5.09%) Test Automation
23 35 (4.57%) Docker
23 35 (4.57%) Master's Degree
23 35 (4.57%) TypeScript
24 34 (4.44%) Containerisation

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%) Confluence
2 1 (0.13%) Apache
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 74 (9.66%) AWS
2 66 (8.62%) SaaS
3 56 (7.31%) Azure
4 22 (2.87%) GCP
5 10 (1.31%) Azure DevOps
6 8 (1.04%) GitHub
6 8 (1.04%) Serverless
6 8 (1.04%) Stripe
7 5 (0.65%) Figma
8 4 (0.52%) PaaS
9 3 (0.39%) AWS Lambda
9 3 (0.39%) Azure Functions
9 3 (0.39%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (0.26%) GitHub Copilot
11 1 (0.13%) Adobe Analytics
11 1 (0.13%) Amazon EKS
11 1 (0.13%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.13%) Azure Key Vault
11 1 (0.13%) Azure Machine Learning
11 1 (0.13%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.35%) Wireless
2 5 (0.65%) TCP/IP
3 4 (0.52%) Software-Defined Radio
4 2 (0.26%) MQTT
5 1 (0.13%) Broadband
5 1 (0.13%) Internet
5 1 (0.13%) Modbus
5 1 (0.13%) Multicast
5 1 (0.13%) Software-Defined Networking
5 1 (0.13%) SpaceWire
5 1 (0.13%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (4.31%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.04%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (0.39%) 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 41 (5.35%) Git
2 19 (2.48%) GitLab
2 19 (2.48%) Visual Studio Code
3 7 (0.91%) Visual Studio
4 5 (0.65%) Yeoman
5 3 (0.39%) JIRA
5 3 (0.39%) 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 52 (6.79%) Social Skills
2 42 (5.48%) Electronics
3 35 (4.57%) Manufacturing
4 21 (2.74%) Aerospace
5 18 (2.35%) Finance
6 17 (2.22%) Aviation
7 11 (1.44%) Military
7 11 (1.44%) Pharmaceutical
8 8 (1.04%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (1.04%) Games
8 8 (1.04%) Public Sector
9 7 (0.91%) Telecoms
10 4 (0.52%) Automotive
10 4 (0.52%) Tech for Good
11 1 (0.13%) Health Technology
11 1 (0.13%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.13%) Marketing
11 1 (0.13%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.13%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 121 (15.80%) .NET
2 28 (3.66%) React
3 16 (2.09%) Vue
4 15 (1.96%) HTML
4 15 (1.96%) REST
4 15 (1.96%) Unreal Engine
5 14 (1.83%) AngularJS
5 14 (1.83%) CSS
6 13 (1.70%) WPF
7 10 (1.31%) Django
8 9 (1.17%) .NET Core
9 8 (1.04%) ASP.NET
9 8 (1.04%) Laravel
9 8 (1.04%) WebSockets
10 7 (0.91%) Middleware
11 6 (0.78%) DirectX
11 6 (0.78%) Node.js
11 6 (0.78%) OpenGL
11 6 (0.78%) OpenGL ES
11 6 (0.78%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 43 (5.61%) Algorithms
2 26 (3.39%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.87%) IoT
4 19 (2.48%) Client/Server
5 17 (2.22%) Distributed Systems
5 17 (2.22%) Product Ownership
6 15 (1.96%) Smart Energy
7 13 (1.70%) Distributed Computing
8 11 (1.44%) Cloud Native
8 11 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
9 10 (1.31%) Robotics
10 8 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.78%) Data Structures
12 5 (0.65%) Video Conferencing
13 4 (0.52%) Driving Licence
13 4 (0.52%) Management Information System
13 4 (0.52%) SCADA
14 3 (0.39%) AI Agents
14 3 (0.39%) CUDA
14 3 (0.39%) Smart Home
Operating Systems
1 59 (7.70%) Linux
2 12 (1.57%) Android
3 8 (1.04%) Windows
4 5 (0.65%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
5 1 (0.13%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 752 (98.17%) Software Engineering
2 96 (12.53%) Agile
3 81 (10.57%) Full-Stack Development
4 74 (9.66%) Computer Science
5 51 (6.66%) CI/CD
5 51 (6.66%) DevOps
6 48 (6.27%) Continuous Improvement
7 41 (5.35%) Problem-Solving
8 40 (5.22%) AI
9 39 (5.09%) Test Automation
10 34 (4.44%) Containerisation
10 34 (4.44%) SDLC
11 31 (4.05%) Mentoring
12 30 (3.92%) Code Quality
12 30 (3.92%) Embedded Software Development
13 29 (3.79%) Machine Learning
13 29 (3.79%) Software Architecture
14 24 (3.13%) Software Testing
15 23 (3.00%) Microservices
16 22 (2.87%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 198 (25.85%) C++
2 148 (19.32%) C#
3 135 (17.62%) Python
4 59 (7.70%) C
5 46 (6.01%) JavaScript
6 42 (5.48%) SQL
7 35 (4.57%) TypeScript
8 26 (3.39%) Rust
9 24 (3.13%) Java
10 11 (1.44%) PHP
11 7 (0.91%) Go
11 7 (0.91%) Ruby
12 6 (0.78%) PL/SQL
13 4 (0.52%) Apex Code
13 4 (0.52%) MATLAB
14 3 (0.39%) Julia
14 3 (0.39%) Uniface
15 2 (0.26%) Ada
15 2 (0.26%) Ada 95
15 2 (0.26%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 146 (19.06%) Degree
2 78 (10.18%) Computer Science Degree
3 58 (7.57%) Security Cleared
4 45 (5.87%) SC Cleared
5 35 (4.57%) Master's Degree
6 17 (2.22%) PhD
7 7 (0.91%) Azure Certification
8 6 (0.78%) DV Cleared
9 5 (0.65%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.39%) HNC
10 3 (0.39%) HND
11 2 (0.26%) Chartered Engineer
11 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.26%) NVQ Level 3
11 2 (0.26%) PMI Certification
12 1 (0.13%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.52%) QA
2 4 (0.52%) ISO 9001
3 3 (0.39%) DO-178B
4 2 (0.26%) GDPR
4 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 1 (0.13%) ECSS
System Software
1 35 (4.57%) Docker
2 34 (4.44%) Firmware
3 13 (1.70%) Hyper-V
3 13 (1.70%) KVM
3 13 (1.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.17%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 20 (2.61%) Kubernetes
2 6 (0.78%) Terraform
3 2 (0.26%) Ansible
4 1 (0.13%) Podman
4 1 (0.13%) Puppet
Vendors
1 13 (1.70%) VMware
2 11 (1.44%) Oracle
3 10 (1.31%) Microsoft
4 8 (1.04%) HubSpot
5 7 (0.91%) Salesforce
6 3 (0.39%) Allen-Bradley
6 3 (0.39%) Siemens
6 3 (0.39%) Wonderware
7 2 (0.26%) NVIDIA
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe
8 1 (0.13%) Google
8 1 (0.13%) Typelevel