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 21 April 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 36 16
Rank change year-on-year +21 -20 +41
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 502 170 777
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 6.76% 6.39% 8.94%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.17% 6.92% 9.31%
Number of salaries quoted 375 109 627
10th Percentile £43,500 £43,500 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £47,603 £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 7,004 2,457 8,350
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.30% 92.37% 96.03%
Number of salaries quoted 4,779 1,643 6,383
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,875 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -2.91%
75th Percentile £65,473 £68,114 £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% -10.74%

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 21 April 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 21 April 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 +11 191 £65,000 +8.33% 60
Gloucestershire +34 164 £70,000 +16.67% 39
Dorset +11 70 £52,500 +5.00% 11
Devon -19 24 £45,000 -30.77%
Somerset -23 18 £65,000 -8.77% 25
Wiltshire -1 17 £60,000 -18.64% 4
Cornwall -9 3 - -
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 21 April 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.

1 502 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 111 (22.11%) Security Cleared
3 88 (17.53%) Java
4 71 (14.14%) Full-Stack Development
5 63 (12.55%) C++
6 62 (12.35%) SC Cleared
7 61 (12.15%) Python
8 55 (10.96%) Agile
9 47 (9.36%) CI/CD
10 45 (8.96%) C#
11 43 (8.57%) TypeScript
12 40 (7.97%) AWS
12 40 (7.97%) DevOps
12 40 (7.97%) DV Cleared
12 40 (7.97%) JavaScript
12 40 (7.97%) Kubernetes
13 35 (6.97%) Linux
14 34 (6.77%) Problem-Solving
14 34 (6.77%) React
15 31 (6.18%) AI
15 31 (6.18%) Docker
16 28 (5.58%) Test Automation
17 27 (5.38%) .NET
18 26 (5.18%) Continuous Improvement
19 24 (4.78%) REST
20 23 (4.58%) C
21 21 (4.18%) Containerisation
21 21 (4.18%) Git
21 21 (4.18%) Mentoring
21 21 (4.18%) 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 9 (1.79%) Apache
2 3 (0.60%) CMS
3 2 (0.40%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
Business Applications
1 2 (0.40%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 40 (7.97%) AWS
2 13 (2.59%) Azure
3 12 (2.39%) SaaS
4 11 (2.19%) Azure AKS
5 7 (1.39%) GCP
6 6 (1.20%) AWS Lambda
6 6 (1.20%) Serverless
7 5 (1.00%) Amazon EKS
7 5 (1.00%) Amazon S3
7 5 (1.00%) GitHub
8 4 (0.80%) Amazon ECS
9 3 (0.60%) Amazon SQS
9 3 (0.60%) OpenShift
10 2 (0.40%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 1 (0.20%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.20%) AWS CloudFormation
11 1 (0.20%) AWS Fargate
11 1 (0.20%) Cloud Functions
11 1 (0.20%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 6 (1.20%) Wireless
2 4 (0.80%) Broadband
2 4 (0.80%) DNS
2 4 (0.80%) Ethernet
2 4 (0.80%) HTTP
2 4 (0.80%) SMTP
2 4 (0.80%) TCP/IP
3 2 (0.40%) Network Security
4 1 (0.20%) AMQP
4 1 (0.20%) Modbus
4 1 (0.20%) Profibus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.39%) Elasticsearch
1 12 (2.39%) SQL Server
2 7 (1.39%) MySQL
2 7 (1.39%) NoSQL
3 6 (1.20%) MongoDB
3 6 (1.20%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.80%) Neo4j
5 3 (0.60%) Big Data
5 3 (0.60%) Oracle Database
5 3 (0.60%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.40%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.20%) Apache Cassandra
7 1 (0.20%) Cloudera CDH
7 1 (0.20%) DocumentDB
7 1 (0.20%) Geospatial Data
7 1 (0.20%) Hadoop
7 1 (0.20%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 21 (4.18%) Git
2 9 (1.79%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.59%) JUnit
4 6 (1.20%) GitLab
5 5 (1.00%) Cucumber
5 5 (1.00%) Gradle
5 5 (1.00%) JIRA
5 5 (1.00%) SonarQube
6 2 (0.40%) Android Studio
6 2 (0.40%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.40%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.40%) Maven
6 2 (0.40%) Mockito
6 2 (0.40%) PROIV
6 2 (0.40%) Subversion
6 2 (0.40%) Xcode
7 1 (0.20%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.20%) GoogleTest
7 1 (0.20%) JMeter
7 1 (0.20%) LoadRunner
General
1 29 (5.78%) Aerospace
2 21 (4.18%) Finance
3 19 (3.78%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (3.59%) Social Skills
5 16 (3.19%) Automotive
6 11 (2.19%) Electronics
6 11 (2.19%) Manufacturing
7 8 (1.59%) Pharmaceutical
8 7 (1.39%) Aeronautics
9 5 (1.00%) Military
9 5 (1.00%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.60%) Law
10 3 (0.60%) Marketing
10 3 (0.60%) Social Housing
10 3 (0.60%) Tech for Good
10 3 (0.60%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.40%) Aviation
11 2 (0.40%) Avionics
11 2 (0.40%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (6.77%) React
2 27 (5.38%) .NET
3 24 (4.78%) REST
4 21 (4.18%) Spring
5 19 (3.78%) Node.js
6 18 (3.59%) AngularJS
7 17 (3.39%) HTML
7 17 (3.39%) Spring Boot
8 15 (2.99%) Vue
9 13 (2.59%) .NET Core
10 12 (2.39%) RESTful
11 11 (2.19%) .NET Framework
11 11 (2.19%) Dapper ORM
11 11 (2.19%) Entity Framework
12 10 (1.99%) WPF
13 8 (1.59%) ASP.NET
14 6 (1.20%) Apache NiFi
14 6 (1.20%) CSS
15 5 (1.00%) Elastic Stack
15 5 (1.00%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 16 (3.19%) Cloud Native
2 11 (2.19%) Algorithms
2 11 (2.19%) Embedded Systems
3 10 (1.99%) Robotics
3 10 (1.99%) Self-Motivation
4 6 (1.20%) IoT
5 5 (1.00%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (0.80%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (0.80%) GNSS
6 4 (0.80%) Mobile App
6 4 (0.80%) Satnav
7 3 (0.60%) ARM Cortex
7 3 (0.60%) Device Driver
7 3 (0.60%) Fat Client
7 3 (0.60%) Over-the-Top Content
7 3 (0.60%) Smart Home
7 3 (0.60%) Thin Client
7 3 (0.60%) Video\Live Streaming
8 2 (0.40%) PKI
8 2 (0.40%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 35 (6.97%) Linux
2 9 (1.79%) Windows
3 7 (1.39%) Android
4 6 (1.20%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.60%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.40%) 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
1 502 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 71 (14.14%) Full-Stack Development
3 55 (10.96%) Agile
4 47 (9.36%) CI/CD
5 40 (7.97%) DevOps
6 34 (6.77%) Problem-Solving
7 31 (6.18%) AI
8 28 (5.58%) Test Automation
9 26 (5.18%) Continuous Improvement
10 21 (4.18%) Containerisation
10 21 (4.18%) Mentoring
10 21 (4.18%) Platform Engineering
10 21 (4.18%) Site Reliability Engineering
11 19 (3.78%) SDLC
12 17 (3.39%) Embedded Software Development
12 17 (3.39%) Performance Optimisation
13 15 (2.99%) Clean Code
13 15 (2.99%) Data Science
13 15 (2.99%) Microservices
14 14 (2.79%) Design Patterns
Programming Languages
1 88 (17.53%) Java
2 63 (12.55%) C++
3 61 (12.15%) Python
4 45 (8.96%) C#
5 43 (8.57%) TypeScript
6 40 (7.97%) JavaScript
7 23 (4.58%) C
8 18 (3.59%) SQL
9 11 (2.19%) Embedded C++
9 11 (2.19%) Kotlin
10 10 (1.99%) Rust
11 9 (1.79%) Bash
11 9 (1.79%) Go
11 9 (1.79%) PHP
12 4 (0.80%) Embedded C
12 4 (0.80%) PowerShell
13 3 (0.60%) Scala
14 2 (0.40%) Swift
15 1 (0.20%) Delphi
15 1 (0.20%) R
Qualifications
1 111 (22.11%) Security Cleared
2 62 (12.35%) SC Cleared
3 40 (7.97%) DV Cleared
4 16 (3.19%) Degree
5 2 (0.40%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.20%) CEH
6 1 (0.20%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.60%) 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 31 (6.18%) Docker
2 15 (2.99%) Firmware
3 2 (0.40%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 40 (7.97%) Kubernetes
2 13 (2.59%) Terraform
3 8 (1.59%) Ansible
4 5 (1.00%) Grafana
4 5 (1.00%) Kibana
5 4 (0.80%) logstash
6 3 (0.60%) SCCM
6 3 (0.60%) SCOM
6 3 (0.60%) SCOrch
7 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.40%) Podman
8 1 (0.20%) Plesk
8 1 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 9 (1.79%) Oracle
2 5 (1.00%) Microsoft
3 3 (0.60%) Google
3 3 (0.60%) SAP
4 2 (0.40%) Peregrine
4 2 (0.40%) Typelevel
4 2 (0.40%) VMware
5 1 (0.20%) Atlassian
5 1 (0.20%) OpenAI
5 1 (0.20%) Palantir
5 1 (0.20%) Red Hat
5 1 (0.20%) SaltStack