Software Engineer Job Trends in the South West

Software Engineer
England > South West

The median Software Engineer salary in the South West is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 26 August 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 39 13
Rank change year-on-year +30 -26 +60
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 771 163 782
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 8.26% 4.68% 9.63%
As % of the Job Titles category 8.80% 5.10% 10.08%
Number of salaries quoted 554 90 554
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £55,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year - +13.04% -7.93%
75th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £68,438
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year -12.50% +28.00% -10.71%

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 8,761 3,194 7,758
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.89% 91.70% 95.52%
Number of salaries quoted 6,001 2,144 5,437
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £32,000 £39,134
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -8.41%
75th Percentile £71,750 £63,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £80,000 £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 West

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 West.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the South West

Software Engineer
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the South West.

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the South West

Software Engineer
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the South West over the 6 months to 26 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineer in the South West

Software Engineer
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 Software Engineer within the South West region over the 6 months to 26 August 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
Gloucestershire +25 320 £80,000 +4.92% 80
Bristol +28 239 £70,000 +7.69% 42
Dorset +6 85 £50,000 -2.44% 32
Somerset +9 52 £55,000 -15.38% 10
Devon +1 33 £60,000 +33.33% 2
Wiltshire +7 31 £55,000 -15.38% 5
Cornwall - 11 £45,000 - 3
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 26 August 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 West region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 771 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 164 (21.27%) Security Cleared
3 132 (17.12%) C++
4 118 (15.30%) Agile
5 106 (13.75%) Java
6 98 (12.71%) Full-Stack Development
6 98 (12.71%) Python
7 94 (12.19%) CI/CD
8 84 (10.89%) SC Cleared
9 79 (10.25%) DV Cleared
10 72 (9.34%) C#
11 55 (7.13%) Linux
12 52 (6.74%) JavaScript
12 52 (6.74%) SDLC
13 51 (6.61%) Microservices
14 48 (6.23%) Test Automation
15 46 (5.97%) DevOps
16 44 (5.71%) WPF
17 43 (5.58%) Mentoring
18 41 (5.32%) AI
18 41 (5.32%) AWS
19 40 (5.19%) Vue
20 38 (4.93%) Software Architecture
21 36 (4.67%) C
21 36 (4.67%) Embedded Software Development
22 31 (4.02%) Rust
23 30 (3.89%) Open Source
23 30 (3.89%) TypeScript
24 29 (3.76%) Spring
25 28 (3.63%) Continuous Improvement

Software Engineer 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 10 (1.30%) Apache
2 3 (0.39%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.13%) Confluence
3 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
Cloud Services
1 41 (5.32%) AWS
2 26 (3.37%) Azure
3 13 (1.69%) GCP
4 9 (1.17%) Firebase
4 9 (1.17%) OpenShift
5 8 (1.04%) GitHub
6 6 (0.78%) SaaS
7 5 (0.65%) Serverless
8 4 (0.52%) Anthropic Claude
8 4 (0.52%) AWS Lambda
8 4 (0.52%) Cloud Run
9 3 (0.39%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (0.39%) AWS CloudFormation
10 2 (0.26%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.13%) Amazon OpenSearch
11 1 (0.13%) Azure AI
11 1 (0.13%) Azure AKS
11 1 (0.13%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 1 (0.13%) Cloud Functions
11 1 (0.13%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.43%) Ethernet
1 11 (1.43%) Wireless
2 3 (0.39%) AMQP
2 3 (0.39%) RS-485
3 2 (0.26%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.13%) Broadband
4 1 (0.13%) Modbus
4 1 (0.13%) MQTT
4 1 (0.13%) Network Security
4 1 (0.13%) Profibus
4 1 (0.13%) RS-232
4 1 (0.13%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.56%) MongoDB
2 9 (1.17%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.04%) Big Data
3 8 (1.04%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (0.65%) Hadoop
4 5 (0.65%) MySQL
5 4 (0.52%) MariaDB
6 3 (0.39%) Cloudera CDH
6 3 (0.39%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.39%) Redis
6 3 (0.39%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.39%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.26%) Metadata
7 2 (0.26%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.13%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.13%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 25 (3.24%) Git
2 18 (2.33%) GitLab
3 11 (1.43%) JIRA
4 9 (1.17%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.04%) SonarQube
6 7 (0.91%) Cucumber
7 4 (0.52%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.39%) LabVIEW
8 3 (0.39%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.26%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.26%) Gradle
9 2 (0.26%) JUnit
9 2 (0.26%) Mockito
9 2 (0.26%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.13%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.13%) CircleCI
10 1 (0.13%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.13%) GoogleTest
10 1 (0.13%) Mocha
10 1 (0.13%) Valgrind
General
1 38 (4.93%) Aerospace
2 24 (3.11%) Finance
3 21 (2.72%) Automotive
4 20 (2.59%) Electronics
5 17 (2.20%) Social Skills
6 14 (1.82%) Aviation
6 14 (1.82%) Manufacturing
7 11 (1.43%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.17%) Public Sector
9 8 (1.04%) Military
10 7 (0.91%) Law
11 6 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (0.65%) Avionics
13 4 (0.52%) Social Housing
13 4 (0.52%) Tech for Good
14 3 (0.39%) Marketing
15 2 (0.26%) Banking
15 2 (0.26%) Games
15 2 (0.26%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (5.71%) WPF
2 40 (5.19%) Vue
3 29 (3.76%) Spring
4 26 (3.37%) Spring Boot
5 24 (3.11%) React
6 16 (2.08%) AngularJS
7 13 (1.69%) Node.js
7 13 (1.69%) REST
7 13 (1.69%) Terraform
8 11 (1.43%) HTML
8 11 (1.43%) RESTful
9 10 (1.30%) .NET
10 8 (1.04%) Elastic Stack
11 7 (0.91%) Apache NiFi
12 6 (0.78%) CSS
13 5 (0.65%) FastAPI
13 5 (0.65%) gRPC
13 5 (0.65%) Kafka
13 5 (0.65%) OpenAPI
14 4 (0.52%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 32 (4.15%) Cloud Native
2 30 (3.89%) Embedded Systems
3 27 (3.50%) Public Cloud
4 25 (3.24%) Legacy Systems
5 19 (2.46%) Algorithms
6 14 (1.82%) Distributed Systems
7 9 (1.17%) AI Agents
8 8 (1.04%) IoT
9 7 (0.91%) Device Driver
9 7 (0.91%) Robotics
10 6 (0.78%) ARM Cortex
10 6 (0.78%) Data Structures
11 5 (0.65%) Operational Technology
12 4 (0.52%) Smart Home
13 3 (0.39%) Fat Client
13 3 (0.39%) Onboarding
13 3 (0.39%) Thin Client
14 2 (0.26%) Enterprise Software
14 2 (0.26%) Management Information System
14 2 (0.26%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 55 (7.13%) Linux
2 21 (2.72%) Android
3 18 (2.33%) Windows
4 5 (0.65%) Unix
4 5 (0.65%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.52%) FreeRTOS
6 3 (0.39%) CentOS
6 3 (0.39%) Debian
6 3 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.39%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.26%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.26%) SafeRTOS
7 2 (0.26%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.13%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 771 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 118 (15.30%) Agile
3 98 (12.71%) Full-Stack Development
4 94 (12.19%) CI/CD
5 52 (6.74%) SDLC
6 51 (6.61%) Microservices
7 48 (6.23%) Test Automation
8 46 (5.97%) DevOps
9 43 (5.58%) Mentoring
10 41 (5.32%) AI
11 38 (4.93%) Software Architecture
12 36 (4.67%) Embedded Software Development
13 30 (3.89%) Open Source
14 28 (3.63%) Continuous Improvement
15 27 (3.50%) Problem-Solving
16 25 (3.24%) Data Pipeline
17 22 (2.85%) Containerisation
18 21 (2.72%) Code Quality
19 20 (2.59%) Clean Code
19 20 (2.59%) Site Reliability Engineering
Programming Languages
1 132 (17.12%) C++
2 106 (13.75%) Java
3 98 (12.71%) Python
4 72 (9.34%) C#
5 52 (6.74%) JavaScript
6 36 (4.67%) C
7 31 (4.02%) Rust
8 30 (3.89%) TypeScript
9 22 (2.85%) Embedded C++
10 17 (2.20%) Kotlin
11 16 (2.08%) Go
12 11 (1.43%) SQL
13 9 (1.17%) Bash
13 9 (1.17%) PHP
14 5 (0.65%) Scala
15 4 (0.52%) Embedded C
15 4 (0.52%) MATLAB
16 3 (0.39%) Ada
16 3 (0.39%) Ada 95
16 3 (0.39%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 164 (21.27%) Security Cleared
2 84 (10.89%) SC Cleared
3 79 (10.25%) DV Cleared
4 20 (2.59%) Degree
5 6 (0.78%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (0.65%) CEH
6 5 (0.65%) OSCP
7 3 (0.39%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.39%) Master's Degree
7 3 (0.39%) PhD
8 2 (0.26%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (1.17%) Accessibility
2 5 (0.65%) QA
3 3 (0.39%) MIL-STD-1553
4 1 (0.13%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.13%) DO-254
4 1 (0.13%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.13%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.13%) IEC 62304
4 1 (0.13%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.13%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 23 (2.98%) Firmware
2 18 (2.33%) Docker
3 4 (0.52%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 27 (3.50%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.95%) Ansible
3 7 (0.91%) Grafana
3 7 (0.91%) Kibana
3 7 (0.91%) logstash
4 3 (0.39%) Plesk
4 3 (0.39%) Puppet
4 3 (0.39%) SCCM
4 3 (0.39%) SCOM
4 3 (0.39%) SCOrch
5 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.13%) Podman
Vendors
1 6 (0.78%) Intel
2 5 (0.65%) Google
2 5 (0.65%) Microsoft
3 4 (0.52%) OpenAI
3 4 (0.52%) Peregrine
4 3 (0.39%) Red Hat
4 3 (0.39%) Salesforce
4 3 (0.39%) SaltStack
5 2 (0.26%) Atlassian
5 2 (0.26%) VMware
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle
6 1 (0.13%) TOWER Software