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 15 July 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 101 27
Rank change year-on-year +80 -74 +44
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 948 247 1,094
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.03% 2.87% 6.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.31% 3.24% 6.84%
Number of salaries quoted 694 175 838
10th Percentile £45,000 £40,000 £37,500
25th Percentile £54,063 £52,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year - +22.64% -11.67%
75th Percentile £82,500 £77,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £78,810 £60,000
% change year-on-year -11.18% +31.35% -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 15,035 7,631 15,994
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.60% 88.60% 94.17%
Number of salaries quoted 10,643 4,234 11,478
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,750 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,000 £36,250
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 £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £53,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% +3.77% -11.67%

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 15 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 15 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 +43 399 £67,500 +3.85% 64
Thames Valley +110 353 £65,000 - 75
Oxfordshire +28 180 £65,000 -3.70% 32
Surrey +18 114 £80,000 +10.34% 23
Berkshire +79 95 £65,000 +8.33% 26
Buckinghamshire +42 78 £80,000 +52.38% 17
Kent -16 34 £35,000 -44.00% 16
East Sussex +11 27 £65,000 -27.78% 17
West Sussex -6 18 £75,000 +36.36% 21
Sussex - 3 £85,000 - 20
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 15 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.

1 936 (98.73%) Software Engineering
2 253 (26.69%) C++
3 197 (20.78%) C#
4 194 (20.46%) Python
5 184 (19.41%) Degree
6 125 (13.19%) .NET
7 121 (12.76%) Agile
8 111 (11.71%) AWS
9 109 (11.50%) Security Cleared
10 94 (9.92%) Computer Science
11 91 (9.60%) Computer Science Degree
11 91 (9.60%) Linux
12 88 (9.28%) C
13 85 (8.97%) Azure
14 81 (8.54%) AI
15 76 (8.02%) CI/CD
15 76 (8.02%) Full-Stack Development
15 76 (8.02%) SC Cleared
16 75 (7.91%) DevOps
17 66 (6.96%) Problem-Solving
18 60 (6.33%) Docker
19 58 (6.12%) Git
19 58 (6.12%) JavaScript
19 58 (6.12%) SaaS
20 56 (5.91%) TypeScript
21 54 (5.70%) Mentoring
21 54 (5.70%) Test Automation
22 51 (5.38%) SDLC
23 50 (5.27%) Containerisation
23 50 (5.27%) 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 (0.32%) Confluence
3 1 (0.11%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 9 (0.95%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.53%) Simulink
3 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.21%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.21%) EPLAN
4 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 111 (11.71%) AWS
2 85 (8.97%) Azure
3 58 (6.12%) SaaS
4 34 (3.59%) GCP
5 14 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (1.37%) GitHub
7 12 (1.27%) Serverless
8 9 (0.95%) Firebase
9 6 (0.63%) PaaS
10 5 (0.53%) Figma
11 4 (0.42%) Anthropic Claude
11 4 (0.42%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.42%) Cloud Run
12 3 (0.32%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (0.32%) Azure Functions
12 3 (0.32%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (0.32%) GitHub Actions
13 2 (0.21%) Amazon S3
13 2 (0.21%) WhatsApp
14 1 (0.11%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.69%) Wireless
2 10 (1.05%) TCP/IP
3 8 (0.84%) MQTT
4 7 (0.74%) ATM
5 5 (0.53%) Wireshark
6 4 (0.42%) Software-Defined Radio
7 3 (0.32%) Ethernet
8 1 (0.11%) Broadband
8 1 (0.11%) Internet
8 1 (0.11%) LAN
8 1 (0.11%) Multicast
8 1 (0.11%) Software-Defined Networking
8 1 (0.11%) SpaceWire
8 1 (0.11%) VoIP
8 1 (0.11%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (3.38%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.58%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (0.74%) MySQL
4 6 (0.63%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.42%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.32%) Redis
7 2 (0.21%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.21%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 58 (6.12%) Git
2 21 (2.22%) GitLab
2 21 (2.22%) Visual Studio Code
3 7 (0.74%) JIRA
4 6 (0.63%) Yeoman
5 3 (0.32%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.32%) Eclipse
5 3 (0.32%) Eclipse RCP
5 3 (0.32%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.32%) JUnit
5 3 (0.32%) PetaLinux
5 3 (0.32%) Rational Rhapsody
5 3 (0.32%) Visual Studio
6 2 (0.21%) CMake
6 2 (0.21%) Postman
6 2 (0.21%) SpecFlow
7 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.11%) Storybook
7 1 (0.11%) Toad
7 1 (0.11%) utPLSQL
General
1 67 (7.07%) Manufacturing
1 67 (7.07%) Social Skills
2 59 (6.22%) Electronics
3 33 (3.48%) Aerospace
4 31 (3.27%) Finance
5 25 (2.64%) Aviation
6 18 (1.90%) Analytical Skills
7 17 (1.79%) Telecoms
8 14 (1.48%) Military
8 14 (1.48%) Pharmaceutical
9 12 (1.27%) Games
10 9 (0.95%) Automotive
11 7 (0.74%) Public Sector
12 6 (0.63%) Law
13 5 (0.53%) Health Technology
13 5 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.42%) Digital Health
15 3 (0.32%) Banking
16 2 (0.21%) Documentation Skills
17 1 (0.11%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 125 (13.19%) .NET
2 44 (4.64%) React
3 29 (3.06%) CSS
4 28 (2.95%) HTML
5 21 (2.22%) Vue
6 19 (2.00%) AngularJS
6 19 (2.00%) Unreal Engine
7 18 (1.90%) Django
8 17 (1.79%) Node.js
8 17 (1.79%) WPF
9 15 (1.58%) REST
10 13 (1.37%) JSON
10 13 (1.37%) WebSockets
11 11 (1.16%) ASP.NET
11 11 (1.16%) XML
12 8 (0.84%) .NET Core
12 8 (0.84%) Qt
13 7 (0.74%) Blazor
14 6 (0.63%) Kafka
14 6 (0.63%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 50 (5.27%) Algorithms
2 34 (3.59%) Embedded Systems
3 29 (3.06%) Robotics
4 25 (2.64%) Product Ownership
5 18 (1.90%) Client/Server
6 17 (1.79%) Distributed Computing
6 17 (1.79%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (1.79%) IoT
7 16 (1.69%) Cloud Native
8 13 (1.37%) Self-Motivation
9 11 (1.16%) Data Structures
10 10 (1.05%) AI Agents
11 8 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
12 7 (0.74%) Life Science
12 7 (0.74%) Smart Energy
13 6 (0.63%) Management Information System
14 5 (0.53%) FPGA
14 5 (0.53%) Video Conferencing
15 4 (0.42%) Enterprise Software
15 4 (0.42%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 91 (9.60%) Linux
2 21 (2.22%) Windows
3 7 (0.74%) Android
4 6 (0.63%) Embedded Linux
5 5 (0.53%) Debian
6 3 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
6 3 (0.32%) Gentoo
7 2 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.11%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 936 (98.73%) Software Engineering
2 121 (12.76%) Agile
3 94 (9.92%) Computer Science
4 81 (8.54%) AI
5 76 (8.02%) CI/CD
5 76 (8.02%) Full-Stack Development
6 75 (7.91%) DevOps
7 66 (6.96%) Problem-Solving
8 54 (5.70%) Mentoring
8 54 (5.70%) Test Automation
9 51 (5.38%) SDLC
10 50 (5.27%) Containerisation
10 50 (5.27%) Software Architecture
11 47 (4.96%) Machine Learning
12 43 (4.54%) Continuous Improvement
13 40 (4.22%) Code Quality
14 38 (4.01%) Microservices
15 35 (3.69%) Embedded Software Development
16 34 (3.59%) Software Testing
17 30 (3.16%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 253 (26.69%) C++
2 197 (20.78%) C#
3 194 (20.46%) Python
4 88 (9.28%) C
5 58 (6.12%) JavaScript
6 56 (5.91%) TypeScript
7 44 (4.64%) SQL
8 40 (4.22%) Java
9 31 (3.27%) Rust
10 10 (1.05%) Go
11 9 (0.95%) PHP
12 8 (0.84%) Ada
12 8 (0.84%) MATLAB
13 7 (0.74%) Ruby
14 6 (0.63%) PL/SQL
15 4 (0.42%) Apex Code
15 4 (0.42%) Julia
15 4 (0.42%) T-SQL
15 4 (0.42%) VB.NET
16 3 (0.32%) Bash
Qualifications
1 184 (19.41%) Degree
2 109 (11.50%) Security Cleared
3 91 (9.60%) Computer Science Degree
4 76 (8.02%) SC Cleared
5 47 (4.96%) Master's Degree
6 27 (2.85%) DV Cleared
7 23 (2.43%) PhD
8 8 (0.84%) Azure Certification
9 5 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.32%) HNC
10 3 (0.32%) HND
11 2 (0.21%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.21%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (2.53%) QA
2 4 (0.42%) ECSS
3 3 (0.32%) DO-178B
3 3 (0.32%) GAMP
3 3 (0.32%) ISO 9001
4 2 (0.21%) GDPR
System Software
1 60 (6.33%) Docker
2 39 (4.11%) Firmware
3 12 (1.27%) KVM
3 12 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.16%) Embedded Firmware
4 11 (1.16%) Hyper-V
5 7 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 33 (3.48%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.58%) Terraform
3 11 (1.16%) Ansible
4 5 (0.53%) Podman
5 1 (0.11%) Puppet
Vendors
1 12 (1.27%) Oracle
1 12 (1.27%) VMware
2 11 (1.16%) Microsoft
3 9 (0.95%) Salesforce
4 4 (0.42%) Google
5 3 (0.32%) Allen-Bradley
5 3 (0.32%) Siemens
5 3 (0.32%) Wonderware
5 3 (0.32%) Xilinx
6 2 (0.21%) Atlassian
6 2 (0.21%) Yahoo!
7 1 (0.11%) Adobe
7 1 (0.11%) HubSpot
7 1 (0.11%) IBM
7 1 (0.11%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.11%) Typelevel
7 1 (0.11%) Xamarin