Lead Job Trends in the South West

Leader
England > South West

The median Leader salary in the South West is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 36 26
Rank change year-on-year +16 -10 +18
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead 426 171 640
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 5.54% 6.32% 7.13%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.90% 6.83% 7.42%
Number of salaries quoted 300 135 482
10th Percentile £35,000 £52,238 £38,850
25th Percentile £52,500 £58,125 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £75,000 £61,250
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +22.45% -5.77%
75th Percentile £76,563 £95,000 £77,068
90th Percentile £90,000 £112,750 £90,000
England median annual salary £75,000 £75,000 £70,000
% change year-on-year - +7.14% -6.67%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South West. 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 West with a recognized job title 7,225 2,505 8,625
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.89% 92.54% 96.14%
Number of salaries quoted 4,969 1,642 6,535
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,194 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £36,250 £36,307
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £59,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -6.78% +9.26% -11.18%

Lead
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Lead' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Lead job vacancy trend in the South West

Lead
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the South West.

Salary distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the South West

Lead
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead in the South West over the 6 months to 11 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead in the South West

Lead
Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Lead within the South West region over the 6 months to 11 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
Bristol +6 206 £65,000 -23.53% 33
Devon +22 70 £55,000 -13.52% 7
Gloucestershire -1 40 £60,000 -16.67% 30
Wiltshire +1 35 £60,000 - 8
Dorset +12 33 £50,000 +42.86% 6
Somerset -13 28 £77,500 +29.17% 24
Cornwall -2 8 £36,000 -41.94% 13
Lead
England

Lead Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West

For the 6 months to 11 May 2026, Lead 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 West region featuring Lead in the job title.

1 51 (11.97%) Agile
1 51 (11.97%) DevOps
2 49 (11.50%) CI/CD
3 48 (11.27%) Security Cleared
4 46 (10.80%) Continuous Improvement
5 42 (9.86%) Mentoring
6 40 (9.39%) Test Automation
7 38 (8.92%) Software Engineering
8 36 (8.45%) Azure
9 32 (7.51%) Technical Leadership
10 29 (6.81%) Accessibility
11 27 (6.34%) Roadmaps
12 25 (5.87%) SDLC
13 24 (5.63%) DV Cleared
14 22 (5.16%) AWS
14 22 (5.16%) QA
15 21 (4.93%) AI
15 21 (4.93%) Decision-Making
16 20 (4.69%) Azure DevOps
16 20 (4.69%) Coaching
16 20 (4.69%) Collaborative Culture
17 19 (4.46%) Business Intelligence
17 19 (4.46%) Problem-Solving
17 19 (4.46%) Systems Engineering
18 18 (4.23%) Microsoft
18 18 (4.23%) Python
19 17 (3.99%) Playwright
20 16 (3.76%) Full-Stack Development
20 16 (3.76%) GDPR
20 16 (3.76%) ITIL

Lead Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 (1.41%) CMS
1 6 (1.41%) Confluence
2 3 (0.70%) Apache
3 2 (0.47%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 4 (0.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.23%) Notion
Business Applications
1 5 (1.17%) Visualfiles
2 4 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.23%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 36 (8.45%) Azure
2 22 (5.16%) AWS
3 20 (4.69%) Azure DevOps
4 11 (2.58%) SaaS
5 8 (1.88%) Figma
5 8 (1.88%) GCP
5 8 (1.88%) GitHub
6 5 (1.17%) Adobe Analytics
6 5 (1.17%) Contentsquare
6 5 (1.17%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (0.94%) Dynamics 365
7 4 (0.94%) Power Platform
8 3 (0.70%) Entra ID
8 3 (0.70%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.70%) Serverless
9 2 (0.47%) AWS Lambda
9 2 (0.47%) Azure Data Factory
9 2 (0.47%) Azure Pipelines
9 2 (0.47%) PaaS
10 1 (0.23%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.58%) Broadband
2 5 (1.17%) Firewall
3 3 (0.70%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.23%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.35%) NoSQL
2 6 (1.41%) Oracle Database
3 5 (1.17%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.94%) MySQL
4 4 (0.94%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.94%) Power BI
5 3 (0.70%) DB2
5 3 (0.70%) SQL Server
6 2 (0.47%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.23%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.23%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.23%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 13 (3.05%) Cypress.io
1 13 (3.05%) Selenium
2 11 (2.58%) JIRA
3 10 (2.35%) Git
4 3 (0.70%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.47%) GitLab
5 2 (0.47%) REST Assured
5 2 (0.47%) TestRail
6 1 (0.23%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.23%) Jaeger
6 1 (0.23%) Maven
6 1 (0.23%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.23%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 46 (10.80%) Social Skills
2 29 (6.81%) Public Sector
3 28 (6.57%) Finance
4 23 (5.40%) Electronics
5 22 (5.16%) Manufacturing
6 17 (3.99%) Analytical Skills
7 11 (2.58%) Retail
8 10 (2.35%) Legal
9 7 (1.64%) Games
9 7 (1.64%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.41%) Law
10 6 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (1.17%) Aviation
11 5 (1.17%) Marketing
12 4 (0.94%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.70%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
14 2 (0.47%) Local Government
14 2 (0.47%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (3.99%) Playwright
2 10 (2.35%) React
3 8 (1.88%) React Native
4 7 (1.64%) Laravel
5 5 (1.17%) .NET
5 5 (1.17%) GraphQL
5 5 (1.17%) REST
6 4 (0.94%) AngularJS
6 4 (0.94%) Node.js
6 4 (0.94%) RESTful
6 4 (0.94%) Symfony
7 3 (0.70%) .NET Core
7 3 (0.70%) Apache NiFi
7 3 (0.70%) Flutter
7 3 (0.70%) Kafka
7 3 (0.70%) Spring
7 3 (0.70%) Vue
8 2 (0.47%) Blazor
8 2 (0.47%) Ruby on Rails
8 2 (0.47%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 19 (4.46%) FPGA
2 18 (4.23%) NHS
3 12 (2.82%) Data Protection Act
4 10 (2.35%) Mobile App
5 8 (1.88%) Management Information System
6 6 (1.41%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (1.17%) Driving Licence
8 4 (0.94%) Cloud Native
8 4 (0.94%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 3 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (0.70%) AS400
9 3 (0.70%) Data Centre
9 3 (0.70%) Fat Client
9 3 (0.70%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (0.70%) iSeries
9 3 (0.70%) Thin Client
10 2 (0.47%) Algorithms
10 2 (0.47%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.47%) Product Ownership
10 2 (0.47%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.88%) Linux
1 8 (1.88%) Windows
2 5 (1.17%) Windows Server
3 4 (0.94%) Android
3 4 (0.94%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.23%) Unix
4 1 (0.23%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (11.97%) Agile
1 51 (11.97%) DevOps
2 49 (11.50%) CI/CD
3 46 (10.80%) Continuous Improvement
4 42 (9.86%) Mentoring
5 40 (9.39%) Test Automation
6 38 (8.92%) Software Engineering
7 32 (7.51%) Technical Leadership
8 27 (6.34%) Roadmaps
9 25 (5.87%) SDLC
10 21 (4.93%) AI
10 21 (4.93%) Decision-Making
11 20 (4.69%) Coaching
11 20 (4.69%) Collaborative Culture
12 19 (4.46%) Business Intelligence
12 19 (4.46%) Problem-Solving
12 19 (4.46%) Systems Engineering
13 16 (3.76%) ITIL
13 16 (3.76%) Project Delivery
13 16 (3.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 18 (4.23%) Python
2 16 (3.76%) SQL
3 12 (2.82%) Java
3 12 (2.82%) TypeScript
4 7 (1.64%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.41%) Clojure
5 6 (1.41%) PHP
6 5 (1.17%) C#
7 4 (0.94%) PowerShell
8 3 (0.70%) COBOL
8 3 (0.70%) Go
8 3 (0.70%) Groovy
8 3 (0.70%) RPG
9 2 (0.47%) Bash
9 2 (0.47%) Ruby
10 1 (0.23%) C
10 1 (0.23%) C++
Qualifications
1 48 (11.27%) Security Cleared
2 24 (5.63%) DV Cleared
3 15 (3.52%) SC Cleared
4 8 (1.88%) ISTQB
5 7 (1.64%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
6 5 (1.17%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (0.94%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 4 (0.94%) CISM
7 4 (0.94%) CISSP
7 4 (0.94%) Degree
8 3 (0.70%) A+ Certification
8 3 (0.70%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.47%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 2 (0.47%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 1 (0.23%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.23%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.23%) CCIE
10 1 (0.23%) Chartered Engineer
10 1 (0.23%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.23%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (6.81%) Accessibility
2 22 (5.16%) QA
3 16 (3.76%) GDPR
4 9 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.64%) Data Quality
6 6 (1.41%) NIST
7 5 (1.17%) WCAG
8 4 (0.94%) GRC
8 4 (0.94%) JSP 440
8 4 (0.94%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.70%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.70%) NCSC
10 2 (0.47%) ISO 19650
System Software
1 7 (1.64%) Docker
2 2 (0.47%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.23%) Firmware
3 1 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (2.35%) Kubernetes
2 7 (1.64%) Terraform
3 4 (0.94%) Ansible
4 3 (0.70%) SCCM
4 3 (0.70%) SCOM
4 3 (0.70%) SCOrch
5 2 (0.47%) Dell DRAC
5 2 (0.47%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.23%) Argo
6 1 (0.23%) Grafana
6 1 (0.23%) Kibana
6 1 (0.23%) Kubeflow
6 1 (0.23%) Kustomize
6 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.23%) Nagios
6 1 (0.23%) Packer
Vendors
1 18 (4.23%) Microsoft
2 8 (1.88%) Adobe
3 6 (1.41%) IFS
3 6 (1.41%) Oracle
4 5 (1.17%) Salesforce
5 4 (0.94%) Databricks
5 4 (0.94%) SAP
6 3 (0.70%) Google
6 3 (0.70%) ServiceNow
7 2 (0.47%) Guidewire
7 2 (0.47%) Liquidlogic
8 1 (0.23%) CheckPoint
8 1 (0.23%) Cisco
8 1 (0.23%) Dynatrace
8 1 (0.23%) F5
8 1 (0.23%) Fortinet
8 1 (0.23%) Pinterest
8 1 (0.23%) Red Hat
8 1 (0.23%) Workday