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 19 May 2026.

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

6 months to
19 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 97 36
Rank change year-on-year +74 -61 +34
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 774 228 885
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.34% 2.90% 5.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.62% 3.42% 5.72%
Number of salaries quoted 584 180 686
10th Percentile £45,000 £36,250 £36,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £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 13,780 6,665 15,485
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.09% 84.92% 93.91%
Number of salaries quoted 9,452 3,617 11,291
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £36,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,460 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.80% +6.92% -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 19 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 19 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 +71 338 £65,000 +8.33% 51
Hampshire +53 278 £65,000 - 70
Oxfordshire +25 184 £65,000 -1.89% 25
Surrey +32 97 £80,000 +23.08% 24
Buckinghamshire +47 86 £75,000 +25.00% 11
Berkshire +42 68 £52,500 -4.55% 15
East Sussex +17 29 £65,000 - 4
Kent -36 23 £45,000 -28.00% 6
West Sussex -23 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 19 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.

1 760 (98.19%) Software Engineering
2 201 (25.97%) C++
3 154 (19.90%) C#
4 150 (19.38%) Degree
5 137 (17.70%) Python
6 123 (15.89%) .NET
7 100 (12.92%) Agile
8 82 (10.59%) Full-Stack Development
9 80 (10.34%) AWS
9 80 (10.34%) Computer Science Degree
10 75 (9.69%) Computer Science
11 68 (8.79%) SaaS
12 62 (8.01%) Linux
13 61 (7.88%) C
14 59 (7.62%) Azure
14 59 (7.62%) Security Cleared
15 53 (6.85%) CI/CD
15 53 (6.85%) DevOps
16 50 (6.46%) Continuous Improvement
17 46 (5.94%) JavaScript
17 46 (5.94%) SC Cleared
18 43 (5.56%) SQL
19 42 (5.43%) Git
19 42 (5.43%) Problem-Solving
20 41 (5.30%) Test Automation
21 40 (5.17%) AI
22 38 (4.91%) Docker
23 36 (4.65%) Containerisation
24 35 (4.52%) Firmware
24 35 (4.52%) 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 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 80 (10.34%) AWS
2 68 (8.79%) SaaS
3 59 (7.62%) Azure
4 24 (3.10%) GCP
5 11 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (1.29%) Serverless
7 8 (1.03%) GitHub
7 8 (1.03%) Stripe
8 5 (0.65%) Figma
8 5 (0.65%) PaaS
9 4 (0.52%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.39%) Azure Functions
10 3 (0.39%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (0.26%) Amazon S3
11 2 (0.26%) GitHub Copilot
12 1 (0.13%) Adobe Analytics
12 1 (0.13%) Amazon EKS
12 1 (0.13%) Azure Key Vault
12 1 (0.13%) Azure Machine Learning
12 1 (0.13%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.33%) Wireless
2 5 (0.65%) TCP/IP
3 4 (0.52%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (0.39%) 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 34 (4.39%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.03%) 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 42 (5.43%) Git
2 19 (2.45%) GitLab
2 19 (2.45%) Visual Studio Code
3 7 (0.90%) 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 (6.72%) Social Skills
2 43 (5.56%) Electronics
3 36 (4.65%) Manufacturing
4 21 (2.71%) Aerospace
5 19 (2.45%) Finance
6 17 (2.20%) Aviation
7 11 (1.42%) Military
7 11 (1.42%) Pharmaceutical
8 8 (1.03%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (1.03%) Games
8 8 (1.03%) Public Sector
8 8 (1.03%) Telecoms
9 4 (0.52%) Automotive
9 4 (0.52%) Tech for Good
10 1 (0.13%) Health Technology
10 1 (0.13%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.13%) Marketing
10 1 (0.13%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.13%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 123 (15.89%) .NET
2 30 (3.88%) React
3 17 (2.20%) Vue
4 16 (2.07%) HTML
5 15 (1.94%) AngularJS
5 15 (1.94%) CSS
5 15 (1.94%) REST
5 15 (1.94%) Unreal Engine
6 14 (1.81%) WPF
7 10 (1.29%) Django
8 9 (1.16%) .NET Core
9 8 (1.03%) ASP.NET
9 8 (1.03%) Laravel
9 8 (1.03%) WebSockets
10 7 (0.90%) Middleware
10 7 (0.90%) Node.js
11 6 (0.78%) DirectX
11 6 (0.78%) OpenGL
11 6 (0.78%) OpenGL ES
11 6 (0.78%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 44 (5.68%) Algorithms
2 27 (3.49%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (2.84%) IoT
4 20 (2.58%) Client/Server
5 18 (2.33%) Distributed Systems
5 18 (2.33%) Product Ownership
6 15 (1.94%) Smart Energy
7 14 (1.81%) Distributed Computing
8 11 (1.42%) Cloud Native
8 11 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
8 11 (1.42%) Robotics
9 8 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (0.78%) Data Structures
11 5 (0.65%) Video Conferencing
12 4 (0.52%) Driving Licence
12 4 (0.52%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.52%) SCADA
13 3 (0.39%) AI Agents
13 3 (0.39%) CUDA
13 3 (0.39%) Smart Home
Operating Systems
1 62 (8.01%) Linux
2 12 (1.55%) Android
3 9 (1.16%) Windows
4 5 (0.65%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
5 1 (0.13%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 760 (98.19%) Software Engineering
2 100 (12.92%) Agile
3 82 (10.59%) Full-Stack Development
4 75 (9.69%) Computer Science
5 53 (6.85%) CI/CD
5 53 (6.85%) DevOps
6 50 (6.46%) Continuous Improvement
7 42 (5.43%) Problem-Solving
8 41 (5.30%) Test Automation
9 40 (5.17%) AI
10 36 (4.65%) Containerisation
11 35 (4.52%) SDLC
12 34 (4.39%) Mentoring
13 31 (4.01%) Code Quality
14 30 (3.88%) Embedded Software Development
14 30 (3.88%) Machine Learning
15 29 (3.75%) Software Architecture
16 26 (3.36%) Microservices
17 25 (3.23%) Software Testing
18 23 (2.97%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 201 (25.97%) C++
2 154 (19.90%) C#
3 137 (17.70%) Python
4 61 (7.88%) C
5 46 (5.94%) JavaScript
6 43 (5.56%) SQL
7 35 (4.52%) TypeScript
8 27 (3.49%) Rust
9 25 (3.23%) Java
10 11 (1.42%) PHP
11 7 (0.90%) Go
11 7 (0.90%) 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
1 150 (19.38%) Degree
2 80 (10.34%) Computer Science Degree
3 59 (7.62%) Security Cleared
4 46 (5.94%) SC Cleared
5 35 (4.52%) Master's Degree
6 17 (2.20%) PhD
7 7 (0.90%) Azure Certification
7 7 (0.90%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.65%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.39%) HNC
9 3 (0.39%) HND
10 2 (0.26%) Chartered Engineer
10 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.26%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.26%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.13%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.49%) 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 38 (4.91%) Docker
2 35 (4.52%) Firmware
3 14 (1.81%) Hyper-V
3 14 (1.81%) KVM
3 14 (1.81%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.16%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (2.71%) Kubernetes
2 7 (0.90%) Terraform
3 3 (0.39%) Ansible
4 1 (0.13%) Podman
4 1 (0.13%) Puppet
Vendors
1 14 (1.81%) VMware
2 11 (1.42%) Oracle
3 10 (1.29%) Microsoft
4 8 (1.03%) HubSpot
4 8 (1.03%) Salesforce
5 3 (0.39%) Allen-Bradley
5 3 (0.39%) Siemens
5 3 (0.39%) Wonderware
6 2 (0.26%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.13%) Adobe
7 1 (0.13%) Google
7 1 (0.13%) Typelevel