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 1 May 2026.

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

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 34 15
Rank change year-on-year +21 -19 +39
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 507 173 789
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 6.72% 6.47% 8.87%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.13% 7.00% 9.23%
Number of salaries quoted 375 113 635
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £48,750 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £68,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £93,778 £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 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 7,108 2,470 8,545
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.18% 92.34% 96.02%
Number of salaries quoted 4,862 1,650 6,470
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,500 £36,365
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -10.84%

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 1 May 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 1 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 +8 201 £65,000 +8.33% 54
Gloucestershire +34 159 £70,000 +16.67% 33
Dorset +9 74 £50,000 -4.76% 9
Devon -11 24 £45,000 -30.77% 1
Somerset -20 20 £65,000 -8.77% 20
Wiltshire +3 17 £60,000 -7.69% 4
Cornwall -12 3 - -
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 1 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 West region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 507 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 107 (21.10%) Security Cleared
3 81 (15.98%) Java
4 73 (14.40%) Full-Stack Development
5 67 (13.21%) C++
6 60 (11.83%) SC Cleared
7 58 (11.44%) Python
8 52 (10.26%) Agile
9 47 (9.27%) C#
10 45 (8.88%) CI/CD
11 39 (7.69%) DevOps
12 36 (7.10%) JavaScript
12 36 (7.10%) Kubernetes
12 36 (7.10%) TypeScript
13 35 (6.90%) DV Cleared
14 33 (6.51%) Linux
15 31 (6.11%) AWS
15 31 (6.11%) Problem-Solving
16 30 (5.92%) Docker
17 29 (5.72%) React
18 28 (5.52%) AI
19 27 (5.33%) .NET
20 24 (4.73%) Test Automation
21 23 (4.54%) REST
22 22 (4.34%) C
22 22 (4.34%) Continuous Improvement
22 22 (4.34%) Mentoring
22 22 (4.34%) SDLC
23 21 (4.14%) Containerisation
23 21 (4.14%) Platform Engineering

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 8 (1.58%) Apache
2 3 (0.59%) CMS
3 2 (0.39%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
Business Applications
1 2 (0.39%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 31 (6.11%) AWS
2 13 (2.56%) Azure
3 12 (2.37%) SaaS
4 11 (2.17%) Azure AKS
5 7 (1.38%) GCP
6 6 (1.18%) GitHub
7 4 (0.79%) Amazon EKS
7 4 (0.79%) AWS Lambda
7 4 (0.79%) Serverless
8 3 (0.59%) Amazon S3
8 3 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.59%) OpenShift
9 2 (0.39%) Amazon ECS
9 2 (0.39%) Amazon SQS
10 1 (0.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.20%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.20%) AWS CloudFormation
10 1 (0.20%) AWS Fargate
10 1 (0.20%) Cloud Functions
10 1 (0.20%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.38%) Wireless
2 5 (0.99%) Ethernet
3 4 (0.79%) Broadband
3 4 (0.79%) DNS
3 4 (0.79%) HTTP
3 4 (0.79%) SMTP
3 4 (0.79%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.39%) Network Security
5 1 (0.20%) AMQP
5 1 (0.20%) Modbus
5 1 (0.20%) Profibus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.37%) SQL Server
2 11 (2.17%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.58%) MySQL
4 6 (1.18%) NoSQL
4 6 (1.18%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.99%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.59%) Big Data
6 3 (0.59%) Neo4j
7 2 (0.39%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.39%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.20%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.20%) Cloudera CDH
8 1 (0.20%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.20%) Hadoop
8 1 (0.20%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 19 (3.75%) Git
2 9 (1.78%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.58%) JUnit
4 6 (1.18%) GitLab
5 5 (0.99%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.99%) JIRA
5 5 (0.99%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.79%) Gradle
7 2 (0.39%) Android Studio
7 2 (0.39%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.39%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.39%) Maven
7 2 (0.39%) Mockito
7 2 (0.39%) PROIV
7 2 (0.39%) Subversion
7 2 (0.39%) Xcode
8 1 (0.20%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.20%) JMeter
8 1 (0.20%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.20%) Selenium
General
1 29 (5.72%) Aerospace
2 17 (3.35%) Analytical Skills
2 17 (3.35%) Automotive
3 15 (2.96%) Social Skills
4 13 (2.56%) Finance
5 11 (2.17%) Manufacturing
6 10 (1.97%) Electronics
7 8 (1.58%) Pharmaceutical
8 7 (1.38%) Aeronautics
9 5 (0.99%) Aviation
10 4 (0.79%) Military
10 4 (0.79%) Social Housing
10 4 (0.79%) Tech for Good
11 2 (0.39%) Avionics
11 2 (0.39%) Law
11 2 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.39%) Public Sector
11 2 (0.39%) Wearables
12 1 (0.20%) Marketing
12 1 (0.20%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (5.72%) React
2 27 (5.33%) .NET
3 23 (4.54%) REST
4 18 (3.55%) Node.js
4 18 (3.55%) Vue
5 17 (3.35%) AngularJS
6 16 (3.16%) Spring
7 14 (2.76%) HTML
7 14 (2.76%) Spring Boot
8 13 (2.56%) .NET Core
9 11 (2.17%) .NET Framework
9 11 (2.17%) Dapper ORM
9 11 (2.17%) Entity Framework
9 11 (2.17%) WPF
10 10 (1.97%) RESTful
11 8 (1.58%) ASP.NET
12 6 (1.18%) Apache NiFi
13 5 (0.99%) CSS
13 5 (0.99%) Elastic Stack
13 5 (0.99%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 13 (2.56%) Algorithms
1 13 (2.56%) Cloud Native
1 13 (2.56%) Embedded Systems
2 10 (1.97%) Self-Motivation
3 9 (1.78%) Robotics
4 7 (1.38%) IoT
5 5 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (0.79%) Device Driver
6 4 (0.79%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (0.79%) GNSS
6 4 (0.79%) Mobile App
6 4 (0.79%) Satnav
6 4 (0.79%) Smart Home
7 3 (0.59%) ARM Cortex
7 3 (0.59%) Fat Client
7 3 (0.59%) Over-the-Top Content
7 3 (0.59%) Thin Client
7 3 (0.59%) Video\Live Streaming
8 2 (0.39%) Data Structures
8 2 (0.39%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 33 (6.51%) Linux
2 9 (1.78%) Windows
3 8 (1.58%) Android
4 6 (1.18%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.59%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.39%) SafeRTOS
7 1 (0.20%) CentOS
7 1 (0.20%) Debian
7 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.20%) ThreadX
7 1 (0.20%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 507 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 73 (14.40%) Full-Stack Development
3 52 (10.26%) Agile
4 45 (8.88%) CI/CD
5 39 (7.69%) DevOps
6 31 (6.11%) Problem-Solving
7 28 (5.52%) AI
8 24 (4.73%) Test Automation
9 22 (4.34%) Continuous Improvement
9 22 (4.34%) Mentoring
9 22 (4.34%) SDLC
10 21 (4.14%) Containerisation
10 21 (4.14%) Platform Engineering
10 21 (4.14%) Site Reliability Engineering
11 17 (3.35%) Embedded Software Development
11 17 (3.35%) Performance Optimisation
12 16 (3.16%) Clean Code
13 15 (2.96%) Data Science
13 15 (2.96%) Microservices
14 13 (2.56%) Secure Coding
Programming Languages
1 81 (15.98%) Java
2 67 (13.21%) C++
3 58 (11.44%) Python
4 47 (9.27%) C#
5 36 (7.10%) JavaScript
5 36 (7.10%) TypeScript
6 22 (4.34%) C
7 17 (3.35%) SQL
8 11 (2.17%) Embedded C++
8 11 (2.17%) Kotlin
9 10 (1.97%) Rust
10 9 (1.78%) Bash
10 9 (1.78%) Go
11 6 (1.18%) PHP
12 4 (0.79%) Embedded C
12 4 (0.79%) PowerShell
13 3 (0.59%) Scala
14 2 (0.39%) Swift
15 1 (0.20%) Delphi
15 1 (0.20%) R
Qualifications
1 107 (21.10%) Security Cleared
2 60 (11.83%) SC Cleared
3 35 (6.90%) DV Cleared
4 15 (2.96%) Degree
5 2 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.20%) CEH
6 1 (0.20%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.59%) QA
2 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
2 1 (0.20%) DO-254
2 1 (0.20%) HAZOP
2 1 (0.20%) IEC 61508
2 1 (0.20%) IEC 62304
2 1 (0.20%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 30 (5.92%) Docker
2 16 (3.16%) Firmware
3 2 (0.39%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 36 (7.10%) Kubernetes
2 12 (2.37%) Terraform
3 8 (1.58%) Ansible
4 5 (0.99%) Grafana
4 5 (0.99%) Kibana
5 4 (0.79%) logstash
6 3 (0.59%) SCCM
6 3 (0.59%) SCOM
6 3 (0.59%) SCOrch
7 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.39%) Podman
8 1 (0.20%) Plesk
8 1 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 8 (1.58%) Oracle
2 5 (0.99%) Microsoft
3 3 (0.59%) Google
3 3 (0.59%) Peregrine
4 2 (0.39%) OpenAI
4 2 (0.39%) Typelevel
4 2 (0.39%) VMware
5 1 (0.20%) Atlassian
5 1 (0.20%) Palantir
5 1 (0.20%) Red Hat
5 1 (0.20%) SaltStack
5 1 (0.20%) SAP
5 1 (0.20%) TOWER Software