Software Engineer Job Trends in the South West

Software Engineer
England > South West

The median Software Engineer salary in the South West is £68,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 23 October 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 56 14
Rank change year-on-year +48 -42 +35
Permanent Software Engineer jobs 965 138 605
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 8.84% 3.77% 9.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 9.57% 4.07% 10.04%
Number of salaries quoted 642 77 345
10th Percentile £50,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £60,000 £52,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £68,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £82,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year -15.15% +26.92% -7.14%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts in the South West matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the South West matching a recognised job title 10,083 3,394 6,024
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.39% 92.76% 94.39%
Number of salaries quoted 6,842 2,229 3,724
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £45,000 £51,000
Median % change year-on-year +22.22% -11.76% -5.56%
75th Percentile £75,000 £62,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £59,999 £54,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +11.11% -6.09% -4.17%

Software Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Software Engineer job postings 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 Software Engineer jobs in the South West over the 6 months to 23 October 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 Software Engineer jobs within the South West region over the 6 months to 23 October 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Gloucestershire +13 378 £80,000 +4.92% 79
Bristol +45 296 £65,000 +8.33% 59
Dorset +8 111 £100,000 +66.67% 27
Somerset +24 76 £60,000 -7.69% 24
Devon +17 48 £65,000 +44.44% 15
Wiltshire +12 35 £55,000 +34.83% 11
Cornwall - 18 £45,000 - 1
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 23 October 2026, Software Engineer job ads cited 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 Software Engineer job ads across the South West region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Software Engineering100.0%965
2Agile18.1%175
3Security Cleared16.8%162
4Java14.7%142
5Full-Stack Development13.5%130
6C++12.8%124
7Python10.9%105
8CI/CD9.2%89
9SC Cleared8.5%82
10DV Cleared7.9%76
11C#7.5%72
12Linux6.5%63
13SDLC6.3%61
14AWS6.0%58
15JavaScript5.5%53
15Microservices5.5%53
15Test Automation5.5%53
18AI5.0%48
19Software Architecture4.1%40
20DevOps4.0%39
20Embedded Software Development4.0%39
20Open Source4.0%39
20WPF4.0%39
24Azure3.9%38
25Mentoring3.6%35
26Collaborative Working3.4%33
26Cybersecurity3.4%33
26Vue3.4%33
29C3.3%32
29Problem-Solving3.3%32

Software Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Senior Software Engineer26.4%255
2Embedded Software Engineer17.5%169
3Lead Software Engineer9.8%95
4Principal Software Engineer9.5%92
5C++ Software Engineer7.3%70
6Full-Stack Software Engineer6.8%66
7Java Software Engineer3.5%34
8Python Software Engineer3.0%29
9Security Engineer2.9%28
10Senior Embedded Software Engineer2.4%23
11Embedded C++ Software Engineer2.3%22
12Principal Embedded Software Engineer2.1%20
13Lead Embedded Software Engineer1.8%17
14Senior Systems Engineer1.7%16
15Artificial Intelligence Engineer1.6%15
15C# Software Engineer1.6%15
15Graduate Software Engineer1.6%15
15Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer1.6%15
19Senior Security Engineer1.3%13
20Ada Software Engineer1.0%10
236 Software Engineer jobs in the South West