Head of Development Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Head of Development
UK > UK excluding London

The median Head of Development salary in the UK excluding London is £75,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 12 January 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 446 510 543
Rank change year-on-year +64 +33 +166
Permanent jobs requiring a Head of Development 60 41 17
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.14% 0.11% 0.049%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.12% 0.051%
Number of salaries quoted 57 31 13
10th Percentile £55,000 £71,250 £47,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £79,375 £74,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £100,000 £90,000
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +11.11% +2.86%
75th Percentile £85,000 £110,000 £105,000
90th Percentile £95,000 - £110,000
UK median annual salary £75,000 £100,000 £95,000
% change year-on-year -25.00% +5.26% +5.56%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 UK excluding London with a recognized job title 37,950 33,421 33,069
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.43% 92.92% 95.34%
Number of salaries quoted 23,124 16,269 25,086
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £78,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%

Head of Development
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Head of Development' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Head of Development job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Head of Development
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for Head of Development job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for Head of Development job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Head of Development
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Head of Development in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Head of Development in the UK excluding London

Head of Development
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Development within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 12 January 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
South East +45 27 £65,000 -33.33% 2
East of England +34 13 £85,000 +7.94%
North of England +17 11 £87,500 -12.50% 2
North West +42 9 £80,000 +3.23% 2
Midlands +23 7 £75,000 -6.25% 4
East Midlands -1 7 £75,000 -9.09% 3
Yorkshire -11 2 £120,000 +20.00%
Scotland -11 2 £70,000 -30.00%
Head of Development
UK

Head of Development Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 12 January 2026, Head of Development 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 UK excluding London region featuring Head of Development in the job title.

1 20 (33.33%) Business Development
2 7 (11.67%) Agile
2 7 (11.67%) Analytics
2 7 (11.67%) CRM
2 7 (11.67%) Zoho
3 6 (10.00%) Continuous Improvement
4 5 (8.33%) API Integration
4 5 (8.33%) Data Quality
4 5 (8.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 4 (6.67%) .NET
5 4 (6.67%) C#
6 3 (5.00%) C++
6 3 (5.00%) SQL
7 2 (3.33%) Azure
7 2 (3.33%) CI/CD
7 2 (3.33%) Clean Code
7 2 (3.33%) Degree
7 2 (3.33%) DevOps
7 2 (3.33%) Fintech
7 2 (3.33%) MongoDB
7 2 (3.33%) PaaS
7 2 (3.33%) QA
7 2 (3.33%) Roadmaps
7 2 (3.33%) SQL Server
8 1 (1.67%) .NET Core
8 1 (1.67%) Android
8 1 (1.67%) Apple iOS
8 1 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
8 1 (1.67%) Broadband
8 1 (1.67%) Business Strategy

Head of Development Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (3.33%) Azure
1 2 (3.33%) PaaS
2 1 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
2 1 (1.67%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (1.67%) Broadband
1 1 (1.67%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.33%) MongoDB
1 2 (3.33%) SQL Server
2 1 (1.67%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (1.67%) MySQL
2 1 (1.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 1 (1.67%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 1 (1.67%) Git
1 1 (1.67%) GitLab
1 1 (1.67%) Jenkins
General
1 10 (16.67%) Marketing
2 8 (13.33%) Electronics
3 6 (10.00%) Social Skills
4 5 (8.33%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (8.33%) Finance
5 1 (1.67%) Automotive
5 1 (1.67%) Billing
5 1 (1.67%) Financial Institution
5 1 (1.67%) Organisational Skills
5 1 (1.67%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (6.67%) .NET
2 1 (1.67%) .NET Core
2 1 (1.67%) Kendo UI
2 1 (1.67%) React
2 1 (1.67%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 7 (11.67%) IoT
2 1 (1.67%) FPGA
2 1 (1.67%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.67%) Android
1 1 (1.67%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (33.33%) Business Development
2 7 (11.67%) Agile
2 7 (11.67%) Analytics
2 7 (11.67%) CRM
3 6 (10.00%) Continuous Improvement
4 5 (8.33%) API Integration
4 5 (8.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 2 (3.33%) CI/CD
5 2 (3.33%) Clean Code
5 2 (3.33%) DevOps
5 2 (3.33%) Fintech
5 2 (3.33%) Roadmaps
6 1 (1.67%) Business Strategy
6 1 (1.67%) Code Quality
6 1 (1.67%) Line Management
6 1 (1.67%) Mentoring
6 1 (1.67%) Mobile Development
6 1 (1.67%) Objectives and Key Results
6 1 (1.67%) People Management
6 1 (1.67%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 4 (6.67%) C#
2 3 (5.00%) C++
2 3 (5.00%) SQL
3 1 (1.67%) C
3 1 (1.67%) Embedded C
3 1 (1.67%) Embedded C++
3 1 (1.67%) Kotlin
3 1 (1.67%) Swift
Qualifications
1 2 (3.33%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (8.33%) Data Quality
2 2 (3.33%) QA
System Software
1 1 (1.67%) Firmware
Vendors
1 7 (11.67%) Zoho
2 1 (1.67%) EMC