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 1 February 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 60 34 29
Rank change year-on-year -26 -5 +24
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,465 1,962 3,320
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.24% 5.69% 7.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.57% 6.17% 7.46%
Number of salaries quoted 1,144 908 2,052
10th Percentile £42,500 £40,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £52,250 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £93,778 £82,548
UK median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year - +12.00% -7.41%

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 41,042 31,779 44,485
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.71% 92.15% 95.22%
Number of salaries quoted 25,313 15,288 34,608
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £54,439 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.15% +8.88% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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
North of England -12 348 £65,000 +8.33% 162
South East -25 344 £65,000 +8.33% 205
South West -3 305 £65,000 +13.16% 159
North West +9 163 £65,000 +4.00% 100
East of England -20 163 £70,000 +5.65% 93
Scotland -18 135 £60,000 +6.37% 83
Yorkshire -11 133 £60,000 -4.00% 41
Midlands -3 132 £60,000 +9.09% 77
East Midlands -7 71 £60,000 +20.00% 47
West Midlands +2 64 £60,000 +4.35% 30
North East -10 52 £70,000 +27.27% 22
Wales -29 26 £75,000 +11.11% 21
Northern Ireland -32 13 £85,000 -5.56% 6
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 1 February 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 1,458 (99.52%) Software Engineering
2 212 (14.47%) C#
3 196 (13.38%) C++
4 188 (12.83%) Agile
4 188 (12.83%) AWS
5 184 (12.56%) .NET
6 183 (12.49%) Java
7 167 (11.40%) Full-Stack Development
8 163 (11.13%) Python
9 161 (10.99%) CI/CD
10 160 (10.92%) Security Cleared
11 154 (10.51%) React
12 149 (10.17%) DevOps
13 145 (9.90%) Azure
14 135 (9.22%) JavaScript
15 127 (8.67%) Degree
16 122 (8.33%) TypeScript
17 120 (8.19%) SQL
18 106 (7.24%) Mentoring
19 104 (7.10%) Problem-Solving
20 103 (7.03%) C
21 99 (6.76%) Microservices
22 98 (6.69%) Linux
23 85 (5.80%) Kubernetes
24 81 (5.53%) Computer Science
24 81 (5.53%) Continuous Improvement
25 80 (5.46%) SC Cleared
26 73 (4.98%) AI
27 71 (4.85%) Docker
28 65 (4.44%) AngularJS

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 13 (0.89%) Apache
2 12 (0.82%) IIS
3 7 (0.48%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.34%) CMS
4 5 (0.34%) Confluence
5 3 (0.20%) Apache Solr
6 2 (0.14%) ArchestrA
6 2 (0.14%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.14%) NServiceBus
6 2 (0.14%) WinCC
7 1 (0.068%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.068%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.068%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 3 (0.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.14%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 2 (0.14%) Sketch
3 1 (0.068%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.068%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.68%) Magento
2 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.068%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 188 (12.83%) AWS
2 145 (9.90%) Azure
3 65 (4.44%) SaaS
4 44 (3.00%) Serverless
5 36 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
6 34 (2.32%) AWS Lambda
7 33 (2.25%) GCP
8 26 (1.77%) Amazon S3
9 25 (1.71%) Amazon EKS
10 18 (1.23%) GitHub
11 15 (1.02%) Amazon ECS
12 13 (0.89%) Azure AKS
13 10 (0.68%) OpenShift
14 9 (0.61%) Stripe
15 8 (0.55%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (0.48%) Amazon EC2
17 6 (0.41%) Amazon SQS
17 6 (0.41%) GitHub Actions
18 5 (0.34%) Amazon EventBridge
18 5 (0.34%) AWS Fargate
Communications & Networking
1 27 (1.84%) Wireless
2 16 (1.09%) RS-232
3 15 (1.02%) Bluetooth
4 9 (0.61%) Modbus
5 7 (0.48%) Software-Defined Radio
6 6 (0.41%) HTTP
6 6 (0.41%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.34%) AMQP
7 5 (0.34%) DNS
7 5 (0.34%) Ethernet
8 4 (0.27%) LTE
8 4 (0.27%) SMTP
8 4 (0.27%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (0.20%) ATM
10 2 (0.14%) 3G
10 2 (0.14%) Broadband
10 2 (0.14%) Firewall
10 2 (0.14%) GPRS
10 2 (0.14%) GSM
10 2 (0.14%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (2.94%) SQL Server
2 37 (2.53%) PostgreSQL
3 27 (1.84%) NoSQL
4 24 (1.64%) Elasticsearch
5 19 (1.30%) Relational Database
6 16 (1.09%) DynamoDB
7 13 (0.89%) MySQL
8 12 (0.82%) MongoDB
8 12 (0.82%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 9 (0.61%) Neo4j
10 8 (0.55%) Redis
11 7 (0.48%) Big Data
11 7 (0.48%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.34%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (0.20%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.20%) Oracle Database
15 2 (0.14%) Apache Cassandra
15 2 (0.14%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 54 (3.69%) Git
2 17 (1.16%) GitLab
2 17 (1.16%) Visual Studio
3 13 (0.89%) JIRA
4 12 (0.82%) Jenkins
5 11 (0.75%) JUnit
6 8 (0.55%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.34%) Selenium
7 5 (0.34%) Subversion
8 4 (0.27%) Bitbucket
8 4 (0.27%) Claude Code
8 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle APEX
9 3 (0.20%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.20%) Gradle
9 3 (0.20%) Maven
10 2 (0.14%) Android Studio
10 2 (0.14%) PROIV
10 2 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.14%) Xcode
General
1 107 (7.30%) Social Skills
2 88 (6.01%) Finance
3 54 (3.69%) Electronics
4 43 (2.94%) Manufacturing
5 28 (1.91%) Aerospace
6 23 (1.57%) Games
6 23 (1.57%) Pharmaceutical
7 22 (1.50%) Analytical Skills
8 21 (1.43%) Automotive
9 18 (1.23%) Public Sector
10 14 (0.96%) Retail
10 14 (0.96%) Tech for Good
11 9 (0.61%) Financial Institution
11 9 (0.61%) Military
12 8 (0.55%) Law
12 8 (0.55%) Marketing
13 7 (0.48%) Aeronautics
14 6 (0.41%) Health Technology
15 4 (0.27%) Billing
15 4 (0.27%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 184 (12.56%) .NET
2 154 (10.51%) React
3 65 (4.44%) AngularJS
3 65 (4.44%) Node.js
4 51 (3.48%) Spring
5 47 (3.21%) Spring Boot
6 44 (3.00%) REST
6 44 (3.00%) RESTful
7 38 (2.59%) .NET Core
8 32 (2.18%) .NET Framework
8 32 (2.18%) Vue
9 31 (2.12%) HTML
10 30 (2.05%) CSS
11 27 (1.84%) ASP.NET
12 24 (1.64%) Qt
13 21 (1.43%) Entity Framework
14 18 (1.23%) Next.js
15 15 (1.02%) Web Services
15 15 (1.02%) WinForms
16 14 (0.96%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 70 (4.78%) Cloud Native
2 54 (3.69%) Embedded Systems
3 29 (1.98%) IoT
4 25 (1.71%) Distributed Systems
4 25 (1.71%) Robotics
5 19 (1.30%) Algorithms
6 15 (1.02%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (0.96%) Smart Energy
8 13 (0.89%) Product Ownership
9 12 (0.82%) Hedge funds
9 12 (0.82%) Self-Motivation
10 11 (0.75%) CAN bus
10 11 (0.75%) Driving Licence
10 11 (0.75%) e-Learning
11 10 (0.68%) Renewable Energy
12 8 (0.55%) Mobile App
13 7 (0.48%) Enterprise Software
14 6 (0.41%) AI Agents
14 6 (0.41%) Client/Server
15 5 (0.34%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 98 (6.69%) Linux
2 35 (2.39%) Windows
3 29 (1.98%) Embedded Linux
4 23 (1.57%) Android
5 6 (0.41%) Unix
6 5 (0.34%) CentOS
6 5 (0.34%) Debian
6 5 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.34%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.20%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.20%) FreeRTOS
8 2 (0.14%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.14%) VxWorks
8 2 (0.14%) Windows Server
9 1 (0.068%) Fedora
9 1 (0.068%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,458 (99.52%) Software Engineering
2 188 (12.83%) Agile
3 167 (11.40%) Full-Stack Development
4 161 (10.99%) CI/CD
5 149 (10.17%) DevOps
6 106 (7.24%) Mentoring
7 104 (7.10%) Problem-Solving
8 99 (6.76%) Microservices
9 81 (5.53%) Computer Science
9 81 (5.53%) Continuous Improvement
10 73 (4.98%) AI
11 60 (4.10%) Scrum
12 55 (3.75%) SDLC
13 54 (3.69%) Containerisation
14 45 (3.07%) Test Automation
15 43 (2.94%) TDD
16 39 (2.66%) Fintech
16 39 (2.66%) Machine Learning
17 38 (2.59%) User Experience
18 37 (2.53%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 212 (14.47%) C#
2 196 (13.38%) C++
3 183 (12.49%) Java
4 163 (11.13%) Python
5 135 (9.22%) JavaScript
6 122 (8.33%) TypeScript
7 120 (8.19%) SQL
8 103 (7.03%) C
9 42 (2.87%) PHP
10 25 (1.71%) Kotlin
11 20 (1.37%) T-SQL
12 19 (1.30%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.23%) Ada
13 18 (1.23%) Embedded C++
13 18 (1.23%) Rust
14 16 (1.09%) Ruby
15 13 (0.89%) PL/SQL
16 12 (0.82%) Scala
17 11 (0.75%) Bash
18 8 (0.55%) Go
Qualifications
1 160 (10.92%) Security Cleared
2 127 (8.67%) Degree
3 80 (5.46%) SC Cleared
4 58 (3.96%) Computer Science Degree
5 42 (2.87%) DV Cleared
6 16 (1.09%) Master's Degree
7 9 (0.61%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (0.61%) Chartered Engineer
8 8 (0.55%) DBS Check
8 8 (0.55%) PhD
9 2 (0.14%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.14%) AWS Certified Developer
9 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.14%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.068%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (1.91%) QA
2 13 (0.89%) IEC 61508
2 13 (0.89%) MISRA
3 11 (0.75%) MISRA C
4 8 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 4 (0.27%) Accessibility
5 4 (0.27%) ECSS
5 4 (0.27%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.20%) GDPR
6 3 (0.20%) IEC 61131
6 3 (0.20%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.14%) ISO 9000
7 2 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.14%) JTAG
7 2 (0.14%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.068%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.068%) Data Quality
System Software
1 71 (4.85%) Docker
2 64 (4.37%) Firmware
3 29 (1.98%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.41%) Hyper-V
4 6 (0.41%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.27%) KVM
6 1 (0.068%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 85 (5.80%) Kubernetes
2 44 (3.00%) Terraform
3 11 (0.75%) Functional Safety
4 7 (0.48%) Grafana
4 7 (0.48%) Kibana
5 6 (0.41%) Ansible
6 5 (0.34%) Puppet
7 2 (0.14%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.068%) Istio
8 1 (0.068%) logstash
8 1 (0.068%) Packer
8 1 (0.068%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 20 (1.37%) Oracle
2 17 (1.16%) Microsoft
3 15 (1.02%) Xamarin
4 12 (0.82%) Adobe
4 12 (0.82%) Google
4 12 (0.82%) Sage
5 8 (0.55%) HubSpot
6 6 (0.41%) Red Hat
6 6 (0.41%) VMware
7 5 (0.34%) Atlassian
7 5 (0.34%) SaltStack
7 5 (0.34%) Zoho
8 4 (0.27%) Atmel
8 4 (0.27%) Siemens
9 3 (0.20%) Databricks
9 3 (0.20%) OpenAI
9 3 (0.20%) Rockwell
9 3 (0.20%) SAP
10 2 (0.14%) Palantir
10 2 (0.14%) Salesforce