Software Engineer Job Trends in the South West

Software Engineer
England > South West

The median Software Engineer salary in the South West is £67,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 October 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 55 14
Rank change year-on-year +47 -41 +38
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 944 136 632
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 8.89% 3.80% 9.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 9.61% 4.08% 10.12%
Number of salaries quoted 643 76 362
10th Percentile £50,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £60,000 £52,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £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 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 9,827 3,332 6,242
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.52% 92.99% 94.43%
Number of salaries quoted 6,744 2,160 3,856
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +22.22% -10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £75,000 £62,575 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £59,500 £55,000 £56,525
% change year-on-year +8.18% -2.70% -5.79%

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 14 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 IT jobs citing Software Engineer within the South West region over the 6 months to 14 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Gloucestershire +16 376 £80,000 +3.23% 70
Bristol +43 286 £65,000 +8.33% 53
Dorset +10 113 £100,000 +66.67% 26
Somerset +24 74 £60,000 -7.69% 17
Devon +10 43 £65,000 +44.44% 11
Wiltshire +5 34 £55,000 +34.83% 8
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 14 October 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.

1 944 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 173 (18.33%) Agile
3 163 (17.27%) Security Cleared
4 131 (13.88%) Java
5 126 (13.35%) C++
5 126 (13.35%) Full-Stack Development
6 105 (11.12%) Python
7 97 (10.28%) CI/CD
8 82 (8.69%) SC Cleared
9 76 (8.05%) DV Cleared
10 72 (7.63%) C#
11 62 (6.57%) Linux
12 61 (6.46%) SDLC
13 57 (6.04%) AWS
14 54 (5.72%) JavaScript
14 54 (5.72%) Microservices
14 54 (5.72%) Test Automation
15 48 (5.08%) AI
16 43 (4.56%) DevOps
17 40 (4.24%) Embedded Software Development
17 40 (4.24%) Software Architecture
17 40 (4.24%) WPF
18 39 (4.13%) Open Source
19 38 (4.03%) Vue
20 36 (3.81%) Azure
21 35 (3.71%) Mentoring
22 33 (3.50%) C
22 33 (3.50%) Collaborative Working
22 33 (3.50%) Kubernetes
22 33 (3.50%) Problem-Solving

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 14 (1.48%) Apache
2 6 (0.64%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.11%) Confluence
3 1 (0.11%) OpenStack
Business Applications
1 6 (0.64%) Visualfiles
Cloud Services
1 57 (6.04%) AWS
2 36 (3.81%) Azure
3 15 (1.59%) GCP
4 11 (1.17%) OpenShift
4 11 (1.17%) Serverless
5 9 (0.95%) Firebase
5 9 (0.95%) GitHub
6 8 (0.85%) SaaS
7 6 (0.64%) AWS Lambda
8 5 (0.53%) Amazon EKS
8 5 (0.53%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (0.42%) Amazon S3
9 4 (0.42%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (0.42%) Cloud Run
10 2 (0.21%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (0.21%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (0.21%) Vercel
11 1 (0.11%) Amazon OpenSearch
11 1 (0.11%) Azure AI
11 1 (0.11%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.85%) Ethernet
1 8 (0.85%) Wireless
2 5 (0.53%) AMQP
3 3 (0.32%) RS-485
4 2 (0.21%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.11%) HTTP
5 1 (0.11%) MQTT
5 1 (0.11%) RS-232
5 1 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.27%) Big Data
2 11 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.06%) Elasticsearch
3 10 (1.06%) MongoDB
4 7 (0.74%) Hadoop
4 7 (0.74%) Relational Database
5 6 (0.64%) Redis
6 5 (0.53%) Cloudera CDH
7 3 (0.32%) Chroma
7 3 (0.32%) MariaDB
7 3 (0.32%) MySQL
7 3 (0.32%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.32%) Pinecone
7 3 (0.32%) SQL Server
8 2 (0.21%) Metadata
9 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.11%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 25 (2.65%) GitLab
2 22 (2.33%) Git
3 13 (1.38%) Jenkins
4 10 (1.06%) JIRA
5 9 (0.95%) SonarQube
6 8 (0.85%) Cucumber
7 4 (0.42%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.32%) Claude Code
8 3 (0.32%) LabVIEW
8 3 (0.32%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.21%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.11%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.11%) Eclipse
10 1 (0.11%) GoogleTest
10 1 (0.11%) Gradle
10 1 (0.11%) JUnit
10 1 (0.11%) Mocha
10 1 (0.11%) Mockito
10 1 (0.11%) Valgrind
General
1 37 (3.92%) Aerospace
1 37 (3.92%) Finance
2 25 (2.65%) Social Skills
3 18 (1.91%) Automotive
4 16 (1.69%) Aviation
4 16 (1.69%) Electronics
4 16 (1.69%) Public Sector
5 14 (1.48%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (1.48%) Manufacturing
6 9 (0.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (0.85%) Law
8 6 (0.64%) Military
9 5 (0.53%) Avionics
10 4 (0.42%) Banking
10 4 (0.42%) Social Housing
10 4 (0.42%) Tech for Good
11 3 (0.32%) Marketing
11 3 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.21%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.21%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (4.24%) WPF
2 38 (4.03%) Vue
3 31 (3.28%) Spring
3 31 (3.28%) Spring Boot
4 26 (2.75%) React
5 16 (1.69%) Terraform
6 14 (1.48%) .NET
6 14 (1.48%) AngularJS
6 14 (1.48%) REST
7 12 (1.27%) Node.js
8 11 (1.17%) RESTful
9 9 (0.95%) Elastic Stack
10 8 (0.85%) Apache NiFi
11 7 (0.74%) Kafka
11 7 (0.74%) OpenAPI
12 6 (0.64%) FastAPI
12 6 (0.64%) gRPC
12 6 (0.64%) RabbitMQ
12 6 (0.64%) Swagger
13 5 (0.53%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 42 (4.45%) Cloud Native
2 32 (3.39%) Public Cloud
3 25 (2.65%) Embedded Systems
4 24 (2.54%) Legacy Systems
5 17 (1.80%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (1.27%) IoT
7 11 (1.17%) Algorithms
8 9 (0.95%) AI Agents
9 7 (0.74%) Robotics
10 5 (0.53%) Data Structures
10 5 (0.53%) Device Driver
11 4 (0.42%) Operational Technology
11 4 (0.42%) Smart Home
12 3 (0.32%) ARM Cortex
12 3 (0.32%) Greenfield Project
12 3 (0.32%) Onboarding
13 2 (0.21%) Distributed Applications
13 2 (0.21%) Legacy Code
13 2 (0.21%) Mobile Banking
13 2 (0.21%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 62 (6.57%) Linux
2 22 (2.33%) Android
3 18 (1.91%) Windows
4 6 (0.64%) Apple iOS
4 6 (0.64%) Ubuntu
5 5 (0.53%) CentOS
5 5 (0.53%) Debian
5 5 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (0.53%) Unix
6 4 (0.42%) macOS
7 3 (0.32%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.21%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.11%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 944 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 173 (18.33%) Agile
3 126 (13.35%) Full-Stack Development
4 97 (10.28%) CI/CD
5 61 (6.46%) SDLC
6 54 (5.72%) Microservices
6 54 (5.72%) Test Automation
7 48 (5.08%) AI
8 43 (4.56%) DevOps
9 40 (4.24%) Embedded Software Development
9 40 (4.24%) Software Architecture
10 39 (4.13%) Open Source
11 35 (3.71%) Mentoring
12 33 (3.50%) Collaborative Working
12 33 (3.50%) Problem-Solving
13 31 (3.28%) Cybersecurity
14 30 (3.18%) Data Pipeline
15 29 (3.07%) Continuous Improvement
16 27 (2.86%) Containerisation
17 25 (2.65%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 131 (13.88%) Java
2 126 (13.35%) C++
3 105 (11.12%) Python
4 72 (7.63%) C#
5 54 (5.72%) JavaScript
6 33 (3.50%) C
7 31 (3.28%) Rust
8 29 (3.07%) TypeScript
9 18 (1.91%) Embedded C++
9 18 (1.91%) Go
9 18 (1.91%) Kotlin
10 13 (1.38%) SQL
11 10 (1.06%) Ada
11 10 (1.06%) Bash
12 9 (0.95%) PHP
13 7 (0.74%) Scala
14 5 (0.53%) MATLAB
15 3 (0.32%) Ada 95
16 1 (0.11%) Assembly Language
16 1 (0.11%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 163 (17.27%) Security Cleared
2 82 (8.69%) SC Cleared
3 76 (8.05%) DV Cleared
4 24 (2.54%) Degree
5 8 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (0.42%) CEH
6 4 (0.42%) OSCP
7 3 (0.32%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.32%) Master's Degree
7 3 (0.32%) PhD
8 2 (0.21%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.21%) HND
9 1 (0.11%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (0.85%) Accessibility
1 8 (0.85%) QA
2 3 (0.32%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.21%) GDPR
4 1 (0.11%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.11%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 21 (2.22%) Docker
2 14 (1.48%) Firmware
3 5 (0.53%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 33 (3.50%) Kubernetes
2 16 (1.69%) Ansible
3 8 (0.85%) Grafana
3 8 (0.85%) Kibana
3 8 (0.85%) logstash
4 5 (0.53%) Puppet
5 2 (0.21%) Plesk
6 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.11%) SCCM
6 1 (0.11%) SCOM
6 1 (0.11%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 9 (0.95%) Google
2 6 (0.64%) Intel
2 6 (0.64%) LexisNexis
3 5 (0.53%) Red Hat
3 5 (0.53%) SaltStack
4 4 (0.42%) Atlassian
4 4 (0.42%) Databricks
4 4 (0.42%) OpenAI
5 3 (0.32%) Microsoft
5 3 (0.32%) Peregrine
5 3 (0.32%) Salesforce
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle
6 1 (0.11%) TOWER Software
6 1 (0.11%) VMware