Software Engineer Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Software Engineer
South East > Thames Valley

The median Software Engineer salary in the Thames Valley is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 10 March 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 41 65
Rank change year-on-year +13 +24 +24
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 228 149 237
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 4.98% 5.28% 3.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.36% 6.40% 4.17%
Number of salaries quoted 155 79 190
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £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 £70,000 £76,875 £65,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £112,500 £77,500
South East median annual salary £65,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +8.33% +9.09% -8.33%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
Thames Valley

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the Thames Valley. 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 Thames Valley with a recognized job title 4,251 2,327 5,677
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.92% 82.46% 94.63%
Number of salaries quoted 2,750 1,241 4,272
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £41,250 £36,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £58,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.79% +16.00% -6.54%
75th Percentile £67,500 £75,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £90,000 £80,000
South East median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.09%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Software Engineer
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

Software Engineer
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 10 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineer in the Thames Valley

Software Engineer
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Engineer within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 10 March 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
Oxfordshire +26 117 £65,000 - 23
Buckinghamshire +28 71 £45,000 -25.00% 12
Berkshire -36 40 £60,000 +4.35% 13
Software Engineer
South East

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 10 March 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 Thames Valley region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 227 (99.56%) Software Engineering
2 57 (25.00%) .NET
3 42 (18.42%) Full-Stack Development
4 41 (17.98%) C++
5 39 (17.11%) C#
6 38 (16.67%) Degree
7 33 (14.47%) Azure
8 32 (14.04%) Python
9 31 (13.60%) SaaS
10 30 (13.16%) Computer Science
10 30 (13.16%) Computer Science Degree
10 30 (13.16%) SQL
11 24 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
12 23 (10.09%) AWS
12 23 (10.09%) SQL Server
13 19 (8.33%) Linux
14 18 (7.89%) Agile
14 18 (7.89%) DevOps
14 18 (7.89%) Energy Management
14 18 (7.89%) Storage Management
15 17 (7.46%) GCP
16 16 (7.02%) .NET Framework
16 16 (7.02%) C
16 16 (7.02%) QA
17 15 (6.58%) Code Quality
18 14 (6.14%) CI/CD
18 14 (6.14%) Test Automation
19 13 (5.70%) Azure DevOps
19 13 (5.70%) Continuous Improvement
20 12 (5.26%) Entity Framework

Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 12 (5.26%) IIS
2 1 (0.44%) CMS
2 1 (0.44%) Kinematics
Applications
1 2 (0.88%) AutoCAD
1 2 (0.88%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 1 (0.44%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 33 (14.47%) Azure
2 31 (13.60%) SaaS
3 23 (10.09%) AWS
4 17 (7.46%) GCP
5 13 (5.70%) Azure DevOps
6 6 (2.63%) GitHub
7 4 (1.75%) Serverless
8 2 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
8 2 (0.88%) AWS Lambda
8 2 (0.88%) Figma
8 2 (0.88%) GitHub Actions
8 2 (0.88%) GitHub Copilot
9 1 (0.44%) Amazon ECS
9 1 (0.44%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.88%) SpaceWire
2 1 (0.44%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (10.09%) SQL Server
2 12 (5.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 2 (0.88%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.44%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 8 (3.51%) Git
2 2 (0.88%) Claude Code
2 2 (0.88%) GitLab
3 1 (0.44%) NUnit
3 1 (0.44%) Postman
3 1 (0.44%) SpecFlow
3 1 (0.44%) Yeoman
General
1 15 (6.58%) Social Skills
2 9 (3.95%) Finance
3 7 (3.07%) Manufacturing
4 6 (2.63%) Electronics
5 4 (1.75%) Pharmaceutical
5 4 (1.75%) Public Sector
5 4 (1.75%) Tech for Good
6 3 (1.32%) Games
6 3 (1.32%) Telecoms
7 2 (0.88%) Aerospace
7 2 (0.88%) Aviation
7 2 (0.88%) Law
8 1 (0.44%) Analytical Skills
8 1 (0.44%) Automotive
8 1 (0.44%) Health Technology
8 1 (0.44%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (25.00%) .NET
2 16 (7.02%) .NET Framework
3 12 (5.26%) Entity Framework
3 12 (5.26%) WinForms
4 11 (4.82%) ASP.NET
5 7 (3.07%) React
6 4 (1.75%) Django
6 4 (1.75%) Ruby on Rails
7 3 (1.32%) REST
8 2 (0.88%) Blazor
8 2 (0.88%) Qt
8 2 (0.88%) Spring
8 2 (0.88%) Twisted
8 2 (0.88%) Web Services
8 2 (0.88%) WebSockets
9 1 (0.44%) ASP.NET Core
9 1 (0.44%) Middleware
9 1 (0.44%) Playwright
9 1 (0.44%) Spring Boot
9 1 (0.44%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (7.89%) IoT
1 18 (7.89%) Smart Energy
2 12 (5.26%) Distributed Systems
3 10 (4.39%) Client/Server
3 10 (4.39%) Embedded Systems
4 6 (2.63%) Algorithms
5 5 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (1.75%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.32%) CUDA
8 2 (0.88%) AI Agents
8 2 (0.88%) Driving Licence
8 2 (0.88%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.88%) N-Tier
8 2 (0.88%) PMI
8 2 (0.88%) Product Ownership
8 2 (0.88%) SCADA
8 2 (0.88%) Video Conferencing
9 1 (0.44%) e-Learning
9 1 (0.44%) EPoS
9 1 (0.44%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 19 (8.33%) Linux
2 12 (5.26%) Windows
3 2 (0.88%) Unix
3 2 (0.88%) VxWorks
4 1 (0.44%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (99.56%) Software Engineering
2 42 (18.42%) Full-Stack Development
3 30 (13.16%) Computer Science
4 24 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
5 18 (7.89%) Agile
5 18 (7.89%) DevOps
5 18 (7.89%) Energy Management
5 18 (7.89%) Storage Management
6 15 (6.58%) Code Quality
7 14 (6.14%) CI/CD
7 14 (6.14%) Test Automation
8 13 (5.70%) Continuous Improvement
9 10 (4.39%) AI
9 10 (4.39%) SDLC
9 10 (4.39%) System Testing
9 10 (4.39%) TDD
10 9 (3.95%) Collaborative Culture
10 9 (3.95%) Data Management
11 8 (3.51%) Machine Learning
11 8 (3.51%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 41 (17.98%) C++
2 39 (17.11%) C#
3 32 (14.04%) Python
4 30 (13.16%) SQL
5 16 (7.02%) C
6 12 (5.26%) T-SQL
7 11 (4.82%) TypeScript
8 10 (4.39%) Rust
9 9 (3.95%) JavaScript
10 6 (2.63%) Java
11 4 (1.75%) Ruby
12 2 (0.88%) Bash
12 2 (0.88%) Embedded C++
12 2 (0.88%) Fortran
12 2 (0.88%) Go
12 2 (0.88%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.44%) F#
13 1 (0.44%) PHP
13 1 (0.44%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 38 (16.67%) Degree
2 30 (13.16%) Computer Science Degree
3 5 (2.19%) Security Cleared
4 3 (1.32%) Master's Degree
4 3 (1.32%) PhD
5 2 (0.88%) DV Cleared
5 2 (0.88%) HNC
5 2 (0.88%) HND
5 2 (0.88%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (0.88%) NVQ Level 3
5 2 (0.88%) PMI Certification
6 1 (0.44%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (7.02%) QA
2 4 (1.75%) ECSS
3 2 (0.88%) GDPR
4 1 (0.44%) Data Quality
System Software
1 10 (4.39%) Firmware
1 10 (4.39%) Hyper-V
1 10 (4.39%) KVM
1 10 (4.39%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (2.63%) Docker
3 2 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 3 (1.32%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.88%) Terraform
Vendors
1 12 (5.26%) Sage
1 12 (5.26%) Xamarin
2 10 (4.39%) VMware
3 9 (3.95%) Microsoft
4 5 (2.19%) Google
4 5 (2.19%) Zoho
5 2 (0.88%) Allen-Bradley
5 2 (0.88%) Siemens
5 2 (0.88%) Wonderware
6 1 (0.44%) NVIDIA