Software Engineer Job Trends in the South West

Software Engineer
England > South West

The median Software Engineer salary in the South West is £68,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 October 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 57 13
Rank change year-on-year +49 -44 +43
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 924 137 673
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 8.85% 3.88% 9.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 9.55% 4.17% 10.11%
Number of salaries quoted 658 76 395
10th Percentile £50,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £57,500 £55,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £68,250 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £81,250 £80,938 £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 9,674 3,284 6,659
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.68% 92.90% 94.48%
Number of salaries quoted 6,700 2,106 4,206
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 £63,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -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 1 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 1 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 +18 373 £80,000 +3.23% 106
Bristol +39 277 £65,000 +8.33% 79
Dorset +10 113 £100,000 +66.67% 79
Somerset +19 65 £60,000 -7.69% 36
Devon +18 42 £65,000 +44.44% 15
Wiltshire +2 35 £55,000 -15.38% 11
Cornwall - 19 £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 1 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.

1 924 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 165 (17.86%) Security Cleared
3 162 (17.53%) Agile
4 129 (13.96%) C++
5 126 (13.64%) Java
6 115 (12.45%) Full-Stack Development
7 100 (10.82%) CI/CD
7 100 (10.82%) Python
8 82 (8.87%) SC Cleared
9 78 (8.44%) DV Cleared
10 72 (7.79%) C#
11 60 (6.49%) Linux
11 60 (6.49%) SDLC
12 54 (5.84%) JavaScript
13 53 (5.74%) AWS
14 52 (5.63%) Microservices
14 52 (5.63%) Test Automation
15 47 (5.09%) AI
15 47 (5.09%) DevOps
16 42 (4.55%) WPF
17 41 (4.44%) Vue
18 40 (4.33%) Software Architecture
19 39 (4.22%) Embedded Software Development
20 38 (4.11%) Mentoring
21 36 (3.90%) Open Source
22 33 (3.57%) Azure
23 32 (3.46%) Rust
23 32 (3.46%) Spring
23 32 (3.46%) Spring Boot
24 30 (3.25%) 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 13 (1.41%) Apache
2 5 (0.54%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.11%) Confluence
3 1 (0.11%) OpenStack
Business Applications
1 4 (0.43%) Visualfiles
Cloud Services
1 53 (5.74%) AWS
2 33 (3.57%) Azure
3 15 (1.62%) GCP
4 10 (1.08%) OpenShift
4 10 (1.08%) Serverless
5 9 (0.97%) Firebase
6 8 (0.87%) SaaS
7 7 (0.76%) GitHub
8 5 (0.54%) AWS Lambda
8 5 (0.54%) Cloud Run
9 4 (0.43%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (0.43%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (0.43%) AWS CloudFormation
10 2 (0.22%) Amazon S3
10 2 (0.22%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.11%) Azure AI
11 1 (0.11%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 1 (0.11%) Cloud Functions
11 1 (0.11%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.11%) Vercel
Communications & Networking
1 10 (1.08%) Ethernet
1 10 (1.08%) Wireless
2 4 (0.43%) AMQP
3 3 (0.32%) RS-485
4 2 (0.22%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.11%) Broadband
5 1 (0.11%) MQTT
5 1 (0.11%) RS-232
5 1 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.08%) Elasticsearch
1 10 (1.08%) MongoDB
1 10 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
2 9 (0.97%) Big Data
3 6 (0.65%) Hadoop
3 6 (0.65%) Relational Database
4 5 (0.54%) MySQL
5 4 (0.43%) Cloudera CDH
5 4 (0.43%) MariaDB
5 4 (0.43%) NoSQL
6 3 (0.32%) Chroma
6 3 (0.32%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.32%) Redis
6 3 (0.32%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.22%) Metadata
8 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.11%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 25 (2.71%) Git
2 22 (2.38%) GitLab
3 12 (1.30%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.19%) JIRA
5 9 (0.97%) SonarQube
6 8 (0.87%) Cucumber
7 4 (0.43%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.32%) LabVIEW
8 3 (0.32%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.22%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.22%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.22%) Gradle
9 2 (0.22%) JUnit
9 2 (0.22%) Mockito
9 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.11%) CircleCI
10 1 (0.11%) GoogleTest
10 1 (0.11%) Mocha
10 1 (0.11%) Valgrind
General
1 37 (4.00%) Aerospace
2 27 (2.92%) Finance
3 23 (2.49%) Social Skills
4 20 (2.16%) Automotive
5 17 (1.84%) Electronics
6 15 (1.62%) Aviation
7 14 (1.52%) Manufacturing
8 13 (1.41%) Analytical Skills
8 13 (1.41%) Public Sector
9 9 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (0.87%) Law
11 6 (0.65%) Military
12 4 (0.43%) Avionics
12 4 (0.43%) Social Housing
12 4 (0.43%) Tech for Good
13 3 (0.32%) Banking
13 3 (0.32%) Marketing
13 3 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (0.22%) Financial Institution
14 2 (0.22%) Games
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (4.55%) WPF
2 41 (4.44%) Vue
3 32 (3.46%) Spring
3 32 (3.46%) Spring Boot
4 28 (3.03%) React
5 16 (1.73%) AngularJS
5 16 (1.73%) Terraform
6 14 (1.52%) REST
7 13 (1.41%) RESTful
8 11 (1.19%) .NET
8 11 (1.19%) Node.js
9 9 (0.97%) Elastic Stack
10 8 (0.87%) Apache NiFi
11 6 (0.65%) CSS
11 6 (0.65%) gRPC
11 6 (0.65%) OpenAPI
12 5 (0.54%) FastAPI
12 5 (0.54%) HTML
12 5 (0.54%) Kafka
12 5 (0.54%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 34 (3.68%) Cloud Native
2 31 (3.35%) Public Cloud
3 27 (2.92%) Embedded Systems
4 24 (2.60%) Legacy Systems
5 16 (1.73%) Algorithms
5 16 (1.73%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (1.30%) IoT
7 9 (0.97%) AI Agents
8 7 (0.76%) Device Driver
8 7 (0.76%) Robotics
9 6 (0.65%) Data Structures
10 5 (0.54%) Operational Technology
11 4 (0.43%) Greenfield Project
11 4 (0.43%) Smart Home
12 3 (0.32%) ARM Cortex
12 3 (0.32%) Fat Client
12 3 (0.32%) Mobile App
12 3 (0.32%) Onboarding
12 3 (0.32%) Thin Client
13 2 (0.22%) Analogue Electronics
Operating Systems
1 60 (6.49%) Linux
2 23 (2.49%) Android
3 18 (1.95%) Windows
4 5 (0.54%) Ubuntu
4 5 (0.54%) Unix
4 5 (0.54%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.43%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.43%) CentOS
5 4 (0.43%) Debian
5 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.22%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.22%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.11%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 924 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 162 (17.53%) Agile
3 115 (12.45%) Full-Stack Development
4 100 (10.82%) CI/CD
5 60 (6.49%) SDLC
6 52 (5.63%) Microservices
6 52 (5.63%) Test Automation
7 47 (5.09%) AI
7 47 (5.09%) DevOps
8 40 (4.33%) Software Architecture
9 39 (4.22%) Embedded Software Development
10 38 (4.11%) Mentoring
11 36 (3.90%) Open Source
12 30 (3.25%) Problem-Solving
13 29 (3.14%) Collaborative Working
13 29 (3.14%) Continuous Improvement
14 28 (3.03%) Data Pipeline
15 26 (2.81%) Cybersecurity
16 24 (2.60%) Containerisation
17 22 (2.38%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 129 (13.96%) C++
2 126 (13.64%) Java
3 100 (10.82%) Python
4 72 (7.79%) C#
5 54 (5.84%) JavaScript
6 32 (3.46%) Rust
7 29 (3.14%) C
8 28 (3.03%) TypeScript
9 20 (2.16%) Embedded C++
10 18 (1.95%) Go
10 18 (1.95%) Kotlin
11 12 (1.30%) SQL
12 10 (1.08%) Bash
12 10 (1.08%) PHP
13 9 (0.97%) Ada
14 5 (0.54%) Scala
15 4 (0.43%) MATLAB
16 3 (0.32%) Ada 95
16 3 (0.32%) PowerShell
17 1 (0.11%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 165 (17.86%) Security Cleared
2 82 (8.87%) SC Cleared
3 78 (8.44%) DV Cleared
4 23 (2.49%) Degree
5 9 (0.97%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (0.54%) CEH
6 5 (0.54%) OSCP
7 3 (0.32%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.32%) Master's Degree
7 3 (0.32%) PhD
8 2 (0.22%) HND
9 1 (0.11%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (0.97%) Accessibility
2 6 (0.65%) QA
3 3 (0.32%) MIL-STD-1553
4 2 (0.22%) GDPR
5 1 (0.11%) DO-178B
5 1 (0.11%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 20 (2.16%) Docker
2 17 (1.84%) Firmware
3 4 (0.43%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 28 (3.03%) Kubernetes
2 17 (1.84%) Ansible
3 8 (0.87%) Grafana
3 8 (0.87%) Kibana
3 8 (0.87%) logstash
4 4 (0.43%) Puppet
5 3 (0.32%) Plesk
5 3 (0.32%) SCCM
5 3 (0.32%) SCOM
5 3 (0.32%) SCOrch
6 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.11%) Podman
Vendors
1 8 (0.87%) Google
2 6 (0.65%) Intel
3 5 (0.54%) Microsoft
4 4 (0.43%) Databricks
4 4 (0.43%) LexisNexis
4 4 (0.43%) OpenAI
4 4 (0.43%) Peregrine
4 4 (0.43%) Red Hat
4 4 (0.43%) SaltStack
5 3 (0.32%) Salesforce
6 2 (0.22%) Atlassian
6 2 (0.22%) VMware
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle
7 1 (0.11%) TOWER Software