Software Engineer Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Software Engineer salary in the UK excluding London is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 28 May 2026.

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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 51 16
Rank change year-on-year +21 -35 +51
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,960 1,380 6,173
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.39% 4.85% 8.65%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.68% 5.45% 9.13%
Number of salaries quoted 2,357 718 3,301
10th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £38,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £51,698 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +18.18% -8.33%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £75,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -6.67% +25.00% -14.29%

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 63,254 25,325 67,646
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.80% 88.96% 94.84%
Number of salaries quoted 42,166 13,423 49,263
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,250 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £35,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £51,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% +2.00% -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £76,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 28 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineer in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
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 Software Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 28 May 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 +86 813 £65,000 - 196
North of England -2 754 £65,000 -3.70% 191
South West +29 518 £65,000 +4.00% 149
North West -5 439 £68,403 -8.18% 120
East of England +45 319 £70,000 +5.73% 102
Midlands +31 280 £65,000 +6.12% 75
Yorkshire +39 219 £65,000 -13.33% 39
Scotland +1 186 £65,000 +4.00% 34
West Midlands +19 156 £70,000 +16.67% 44
East Midlands +9 124 £55,000 -15.38% 31
North East -4 96 £69,305 +26.01% 34
Wales -1 74 £42,000 -38.24% 14
Northern Ireland -17 17 £90,000 +80.00% 24
Software Engineer
UK

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 28 May 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 UK excluding London region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 2,924 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 456 (15.41%) C++
3 431 (14.56%) C#
4 364 (12.30%) Python
5 354 (11.96%) Agile
6 333 (11.25%) Full-Stack Development
7 318 (10.74%) AWS
8 306 (10.34%) .NET
9 270 (9.12%) Security Cleared
10 260 (8.78%) Java
11 244 (8.24%) CI/CD
12 239 (8.07%) Degree
13 226 (7.64%) JavaScript
14 222 (7.50%) DevOps
15 221 (7.47%) C
16 216 (7.30%) Azure
17 188 (6.35%) TypeScript
18 179 (6.05%) Linux
19 176 (5.95%) React
20 173 (5.84%) AI
21 171 (5.78%) Mentoring
22 166 (5.61%) SC Cleared
23 164 (5.54%) SaaS
24 160 (5.41%) Microservices
24 160 (5.41%) SQL
25 159 (5.37%) Continuous Improvement
26 153 (5.17%) Problem-Solving
27 142 (4.80%) Firmware
28 140 (4.73%) Test Automation
29 139 (4.70%) SDLC

Software Engineer 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:

Application Platforms
1 15 (0.51%) SharePoint Server
2 14 (0.47%) Apache
3 8 (0.27%) FactoryTalk
4 7 (0.24%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.14%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.14%) CMS
5 4 (0.14%) Confluence
5 4 (0.14%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.10%) WinCC
7 2 (0.068%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.068%) WordPress
8 1 (0.034%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.034%) Kinematics
8 1 (0.034%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.10%) CANalyzer
2 3 (0.10%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.068%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.034%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.034%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.034%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.34%) Magento
2 2 (0.068%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.034%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 318 (10.74%) AWS
2 216 (7.30%) Azure
3 164 (5.54%) SaaS
4 68 (2.30%) Serverless
5 56 (1.89%) GCP
6 32 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
6 32 (1.08%) GitHub
7 27 (0.91%) AWS Lambda
8 21 (0.71%) Amazon S3
9 20 (0.68%) Azure AKS
10 16 (0.54%) Anthropic Claude
11 14 (0.47%) Amazon EKS
12 13 (0.44%) AWS CloudFormation
13 11 (0.37%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (0.27%) Amazon ECS
14 8 (0.27%) Azure Cosmos DB
15 7 (0.24%) AWS Step Functions
15 7 (0.24%) Stripe
16 6 (0.20%) Azure Functions
16 6 (0.20%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 45 (1.52%) Wireless
2 32 (1.08%) Ethernet
3 22 (0.74%) RS-232
4 19 (0.64%) Bluetooth
5 18 (0.61%) Modbus
6 11 (0.37%) TCP/IP
6 11 (0.37%) ZigBee
7 10 (0.34%) Profibus
8 9 (0.30%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (0.27%) MQTT
9 8 (0.27%) Network Security
10 7 (0.24%) Broadband
10 7 (0.24%) RS-485
11 6 (0.20%) LTE
12 5 (0.17%) AMQP
13 4 (0.14%) Software-Defined Radio
13 4 (0.14%) Wireshark
14 3 (0.10%) Software-Defined Networking
15 2 (0.068%) RTP
16 1 (0.034%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (1.89%) NoSQL
1 56 (1.89%) SQL Server
2 53 (1.79%) PostgreSQL
3 43 (1.45%) MongoDB
4 34 (1.15%) MySQL
5 20 (0.68%) Elasticsearch
6 14 (0.47%) Big Data
6 14 (0.47%) Relational Database
7 13 (0.44%) DynamoDB
8 9 (0.30%) Neo4j
8 9 (0.30%) Redis
9 8 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
10 7 (0.24%) Hadoop
11 5 (0.17%) Cloudera CDH
11 5 (0.17%) FileMaker
12 4 (0.14%) DocumentDB
12 4 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
12 4 (0.14%) GIS
12 4 (0.14%) QGIS
13 3 (0.10%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 101 (3.41%) Git
2 31 (1.05%) GitLab
3 21 (0.71%) Visual Studio Code
4 19 (0.64%) Claude Code
4 19 (0.64%) Jenkins
5 13 (0.44%) JIRA
6 12 (0.41%) Visual Studio
7 8 (0.27%) JUnit
8 7 (0.24%) Moq
8 7 (0.24%) Subversion
9 6 (0.20%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.20%) Yeoman
10 5 (0.17%) Cucumber
10 5 (0.17%) Eclipse
10 5 (0.17%) GDB
11 4 (0.14%) Bitbucket
11 4 (0.14%) Gradle
11 4 (0.14%) LabVIEW
11 4 (0.14%) Maven
11 4 (0.14%) Robot Framework
General
1 153 (5.17%) Manufacturing
2 137 (4.63%) Social Skills
3 130 (4.39%) Electronics
4 74 (2.50%) Aerospace
5 73 (2.47%) Automotive
6 65 (2.20%) Finance
7 63 (2.13%) Public Sector
8 39 (1.32%) Analytical Skills
9 35 (1.18%) Pharmaceutical
10 25 (0.84%) Aviation
11 18 (0.61%) Games
12 17 (0.57%) Retail
13 15 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (0.51%) Military
14 12 (0.41%) Tech for Good
15 10 (0.34%) Telecoms
16 9 (0.30%) Organisational Skills
17 7 (0.24%) Agriculture
17 7 (0.24%) Health Technology
18 6 (0.20%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 306 (10.34%) .NET
2 176 (5.95%) React
3 109 (3.68%) Node.js
4 91 (3.07%) Vue
5 76 (2.57%) AngularJS
6 73 (2.47%) REST
7 62 (2.09%) RESTful
8 50 (1.69%) WPF
9 49 (1.66%) CSS
10 48 (1.62%) .NET Core
10 48 (1.62%) HTML
11 46 (1.55%) Spring
12 41 (1.39%) Spring Boot
13 38 (1.28%) .NET Framework
14 26 (0.88%) Django
15 21 (0.71%) Web Services
16 20 (0.68%) Entity Framework
17 19 (0.64%) ASP.NET
17 19 (0.64%) Yocto
18 17 (0.57%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 119 (4.02%) Cloud Native
2 95 (3.21%) Embedded Systems
3 75 (2.53%) Algorithms
4 57 (1.93%) IoT
5 56 (1.89%) Product Ownership
6 47 (1.59%) Robotics
7 46 (1.55%) Legacy Systems
8 42 (1.42%) Distributed Systems
9 24 (0.81%) Client/Server
9 24 (0.81%) Device Driver
10 22 (0.74%) Mobile App
11 18 (0.61%) Educational Technology
12 17 (0.57%) Hedge funds
12 17 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
13 16 (0.54%) Greenfield Project
14 15 (0.51%) AI Agents
14 15 (0.51%) CAN bus
14 15 (0.51%) Data Structures
14 15 (0.51%) Distributed Computing
15 14 (0.47%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 179 (6.05%) Linux
2 43 (1.45%) Embedded Linux
3 40 (1.35%) Windows
4 32 (1.08%) Android
5 21 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (0.17%) CentOS
6 5 (0.17%) Debian
6 5 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.17%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.17%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.14%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.068%) SafeRTOS
8 2 (0.068%) Unix
8 2 (0.068%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.068%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.068%) zOS
9 1 (0.034%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.034%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.034%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,924 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 354 (11.96%) Agile
3 333 (11.25%) Full-Stack Development
4 244 (8.24%) CI/CD
5 222 (7.50%) DevOps
6 173 (5.84%) AI
7 171 (5.78%) Mentoring
8 160 (5.41%) Microservices
9 159 (5.37%) Continuous Improvement
10 153 (5.17%) Problem-Solving
11 140 (4.73%) Test Automation
12 139 (4.70%) SDLC
13 127 (4.29%) Computer Science
14 109 (3.68%) Containerisation
15 104 (3.51%) Scrum
16 102 (3.45%) TDD
17 81 (2.74%) Embedded Software Development
18 79 (2.67%) Software Testing
19 76 (2.57%) Code Quality
19 76 (2.57%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 456 (15.41%) C++
2 431 (14.56%) C#
3 364 (12.30%) Python
4 260 (8.78%) Java
5 226 (7.64%) JavaScript
6 221 (7.47%) C
7 188 (6.35%) TypeScript
8 160 (5.41%) SQL
9 78 (2.64%) Rust
10 51 (1.72%) Embedded C
10 51 (1.72%) PHP
11 38 (1.28%) Go
12 18 (0.61%) Ruby
13 17 (0.57%) COBOL
13 17 (0.57%) Kotlin
14 15 (0.51%) Embedded C++
15 14 (0.47%) Bash
16 13 (0.44%) Scala
17 9 (0.30%) MATLAB
18 7 (0.24%) XAML
Qualifications
1 270 (9.12%) Security Cleared
2 239 (8.07%) Degree
3 166 (5.61%) SC Cleared
4 111 (3.75%) Computer Science Degree
5 89 (3.01%) DV Cleared
6 45 (1.52%) Master's Degree
7 21 (0.71%) PhD
8 15 (0.51%) DBS Check
9 10 (0.34%) HND
10 7 (0.24%) Azure Certification
10 7 (0.24%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (0.20%) HNC
12 4 (0.14%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.10%) CEH
13 3 (0.10%) Chartered Engineer
13 3 (0.10%) OSCP
14 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.068%) NVQ Level 3
14 2 (0.068%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (2.26%) QA
2 17 (0.57%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.54%) MISRA
3 16 (0.54%) MISRA C
4 15 (0.51%) Accessibility
5 8 (0.27%) IEC 61131
6 4 (0.14%) DO-178B
6 4 (0.14%) ISO 9001
6 4 (0.14%) JTAG
7 3 (0.10%) GDPR
8 2 (0.068%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 1 (0.034%) DO-254
9 1 (0.034%) ECSS
9 1 (0.034%) HAZOP
9 1 (0.034%) IEC 62304
9 1 (0.034%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.034%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 142 (4.80%) Firmware
2 117 (3.95%) Docker
3 45 (1.52%) Embedded Firmware
4 14 (0.47%) Hyper-V
4 14 (0.47%) KVM
4 14 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.10%) QEMU
7 2 (0.068%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 94 (3.18%) Kubernetes
2 68 (2.30%) Terraform
3 18 (0.61%) Ansible
4 13 (0.44%) Functional Safety
5 6 (0.20%) Puppet
6 5 (0.17%) Grafana
6 5 (0.17%) Kibana
6 5 (0.17%) logstash
7 3 (0.10%) Plesk
7 3 (0.10%) Podman
7 3 (0.10%) SCCM
7 3 (0.10%) SCOM
7 3 (0.10%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.068%) Packer
8 2 (0.068%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 26 (0.88%) Siemens
2 22 (0.74%) Microsoft
3 18 (0.61%) Rockwell
4 16 (0.54%) Oracle
4 16 (0.54%) VMware
5 14 (0.47%) Google
6 11 (0.37%) Adobe
6 11 (0.37%) Salesforce
7 9 (0.30%) Allen-Bradley
8 7 (0.24%) HubSpot
9 6 (0.20%) Xamarin
10 5 (0.17%) Red Hat
10 5 (0.17%) SaltStack
11 4 (0.14%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.14%) Atmel
11 4 (0.14%) OpenAI
11 4 (0.14%) Peregrine
12 3 (0.10%) Palantir
12 3 (0.10%) Typelevel
12 3 (0.10%) Wonderware