Software Engineering Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Software Engineering
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 78 12
Rank change year-on-year +65 -66 +9
Permanent jobs citing Software Engineering 449 130 629
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 7.26% 3.62% 9.89%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.18% 3.99% 12.09%
Number of salaries quoted 319 106 474
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £37,500
25th Percentile £55,000 £54,063 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £70,000 £56,500
Median % change year-on-year - +23.89% -13.08%
75th Percentile £80,000 £87,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £97,500 £85,000
South East median annual salary £65,000 £67,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -3.70% +22.73% -12.00%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Software Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 4,411 3,262 5,201
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 71.33% 90.71% 81.82%
Number of salaries quoted 3,068 1,397 3,505
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £29,175
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £80,000
South East median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Software Engineering
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Software Engineering.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 17 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineering in the Thames Valley

Software Engineering
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 Engineering within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 17 July 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 +18 202 £65,000 -7.14% 43
Berkshire +53 126 £72,500 -6.45% 27
Buckinghamshire +49 121 £80,000 +45.45% 18
Software Engineering
South East

Software Engineering
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 4 (0.89%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.45%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.22%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 11 (2.45%) Lightworks
2 3 (0.67%) Simulink
3 2 (0.45%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.45%) EPLAN
4 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 97 (21.60%) AWS
2 76 (16.93%) Azure
3 52 (11.58%) SaaS
4 33 (7.35%) GCP
5 20 (4.45%) GitHub
6 12 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
7 9 (2.00%) Firebase
8 7 (1.56%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 7 (1.56%) AWS Lambda
8 7 (1.56%) Serverless
9 6 (1.34%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (1.11%) Figma
10 5 (1.11%) PaaS
11 4 (0.89%) Anthropic Claude
11 4 (0.89%) Cloud Run
11 4 (0.89%) Microsoft 365
12 3 (0.67%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (0.67%) Amazon S3
13 2 (0.45%) AWS CloudFormation
13 2 (0.45%) Prefect
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.00%) Wireless
2 5 (1.11%) MQTT
3 3 (0.67%) DHCP
3 3 (0.67%) DNS
3 3 (0.67%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.67%) Firewall
3 3 (0.67%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.45%) HTTP
5 1 (0.22%) Broadband
5 1 (0.22%) Internet
5 1 (0.22%) Modbus
5 1 (0.22%) Software-Defined Networking
5 1 (0.22%) SpaceWire
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (8.02%) SQL Server
2 9 (2.00%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (0.89%) Pinecone
4 3 (0.67%) MySQL
4 3 (0.67%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.67%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.22%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.22%) GIS
5 1 (0.22%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 23 (5.12%) Git
2 8 (1.78%) GitLab
2 8 (1.78%) Postman
2 8 (1.78%) Yeoman
3 5 (1.11%) Eclipse
3 5 (1.11%) Eclipse RCP
4 4 (0.89%) Cucumber
4 4 (0.89%) SpecFlow
5 3 (0.67%) JIRA
5 3 (0.67%) JUnit
5 3 (0.67%) PetaLinux
5 3 (0.67%) Rational DOORS
5 3 (0.67%) Subversion
6 2 (0.45%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.22%) Storybook
7 1 (0.22%) Zephyr
General
1 79 (17.59%) Manufacturing
2 48 (10.69%) Social Skills
3 24 (5.35%) Finance
4 22 (4.90%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (4.23%) Aerospace
6 15 (3.34%) Electronics
7 10 (2.23%) Pharmaceutical
8 5 (1.11%) Health Technology
8 5 (1.11%) Public Sector
9 4 (0.89%) Digital Health
9 4 (0.89%) Law
9 4 (0.89%) Telecoms
10 3 (0.67%) Automotive
10 3 (0.67%) Banking
10 3 (0.67%) Games
11 1 (0.22%) Aeronautics
11 1 (0.22%) Aviation
11 1 (0.22%) Military
Job Titles
1 343 (76.39%) Software Engineer
2 103 (22.94%) Senior
3 93 (20.71%) Senior Software Engineer
4 63 (14.03%) C# Software Engineer
5 59 (13.14%) Embedded Engineer
6 57 (12.69%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 52 (11.58%) Lead
8 47 (10.47%) Python Engineer
9 45 (10.02%) Python Software Engineer
10 38 (8.46%) C++ Software Engineer
11 30 (6.68%) .NET Software Engineer
11 30 (6.68%) Full-Stack Engineer
11 30 (6.68%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
11 30 (6.68%) Lead Software Engineer
12 28 (6.24%) Principal Engineer
13 20 (4.45%) Senior Embedded Engineer
13 20 (4.45%) Senior Embedded Software Engineer
14 19 (4.23%) Principal Software Engineer
15 16 (3.56%) Software Team Leader
15 16 (3.56%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 90 (20.04%) .NET
2 29 (6.46%) React
3 20 (4.45%) REST
4 17 (3.79%) WPF
5 13 (2.90%) Django
6 12 (2.67%) .NET Framework
7 11 (2.45%) Node.js
8 10 (2.23%) RESTful
9 8 (1.78%) WebSockets
10 7 (1.56%) .NET Core
10 7 (1.56%) AngularJS
10 7 (1.56%) JSON
11 6 (1.34%) ASP.NET Web API
11 6 (1.34%) Blazor
11 6 (1.34%) Vue
12 5 (1.11%) JWT
12 5 (1.11%) OAuth
12 5 (1.11%) OAuth2
12 5 (1.11%) Playwright
12 5 (1.11%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 24 (5.35%) Distributed Systems
2 20 (4.45%) Cloud Native
3 19 (4.23%) Product Ownership
4 16 (3.56%) Self-Motivation
5 15 (3.34%) Client/Server
6 12 (2.67%) Embedded Systems
6 12 (2.67%) Life Science
7 11 (2.45%) Distributed Computing
8 10 (2.23%) AI Agents
8 10 (2.23%) IoT
8 10 (2.23%) Renewable Energy
9 9 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
10 7 (1.56%) Smart Energy
11 6 (1.34%) Virtual Team
12 5 (1.11%) Algorithms
12 5 (1.11%) Public Cloud
12 5 (1.11%) SCADA
12 5 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
13 4 (0.89%) Driving Licence
13 4 (0.89%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 37 (8.24%) Linux
2 5 (1.11%) Windows
3 4 (0.89%) Debian
4 3 (0.67%) FreeRTOS
4 3 (0.67%) Gentoo
5 1 (0.22%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (15.37%) Agile
2 62 (13.81%) Problem-Solving
3 58 (12.92%) Test Automation
4 53 (11.80%) Full-Stack Development
5 51 (11.36%) AI
6 50 (11.14%) CI/CD
6 50 (11.14%) Mentoring
7 42 (9.35%) Computer Science
8 39 (8.69%) DevOps
9 36 (8.02%) Containerisation
10 29 (6.46%) Design Patterns
11 28 (6.24%) TDD
12 27 (6.01%) Code Quality
12 27 (6.01%) Continuous Improvement
13 25 (5.57%) Event-Driven
13 25 (5.57%) Machine Learning
14 21 (4.68%) Microservices
15 20 (4.45%) Integration Testing
16 19 (4.23%) Open Source
17 17 (3.79%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 121 (26.95%) C#
2 93 (20.71%) Python
3 79 (17.59%) C++
4 38 (8.46%) C
5 30 (6.68%) TypeScript
6 23 (5.12%) JavaScript
7 21 (4.68%) Java
7 21 (4.68%) SQL
8 18 (4.01%) Rust
9 11 (2.45%) T-SQL
10 7 (1.56%) Bash
11 4 (0.89%) VB.NET
12 3 (0.67%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.67%) PHP
12 3 (0.67%) PowerShell
12 3 (0.67%) Ruby
13 2 (0.45%) Delphi
13 2 (0.45%) Embedded C
13 2 (0.45%) Pascal
14 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 90 (20.04%) Degree
2 65 (14.48%) Computer Science Degree
3 16 (3.56%) Security Cleared
4 9 (2.00%) Master's Degree
4 9 (2.00%) SC Cleared
5 7 (1.56%) PhD
6 3 (0.67%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (0.67%) Chartered Engineer
6 3 (0.67%) DV Cleared
6 3 (0.67%) HNC
6 3 (0.67%) HND
7 2 (0.45%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.45%) Azure Certification
7 2 (0.45%) NVQ Level 3
8 1 (0.22%) ISTQB
8 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (7.80%) QA
2 4 (0.89%) ECSS
2 4 (0.89%) MISRA
3 3 (0.67%) GDPR
3 3 (0.67%) SOC 2
4 2 (0.45%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.22%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 36 (8.02%) Docker
2 22 (4.90%) Firmware
3 15 (3.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (3.12%) Hyper-V
5 12 (2.67%) KVM
6 6 (1.34%) Embedded Firmware
6 6 (1.34%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.67%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 19 (4.23%) Kubernetes
2 14 (3.12%) Terraform
3 6 (1.34%) Ansible
4 4 (0.89%) Podman
5 3 (0.67%) Grafana
5 3 (0.67%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 22 (4.90%) Microsoft
2 15 (3.34%) VMware
3 5 (1.11%) Google
3 5 (1.11%) Salesforce
4 4 (0.89%) New Relic
5 3 (0.67%) Allen-Bradley
5 3 (0.67%) Siemens
5 3 (0.67%) Wonderware
5 3 (0.67%) Xilinx
6 2 (0.45%) Databricks
6 2 (0.45%) Oracle
7 1 (0.22%) BiZZdesign
7 1 (0.22%) CA Agile Central
7 1 (0.22%) Sparx