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 21 April 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 43 58 17
Rank change year-on-year +15 -41 +47
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,552 1,135 5,748
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.01% 4.27% 8.57%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.31% 4.82% 9.05%
Number of salaries quoted 1,997 889 3,033
10th Percentile £45,000 £41,250 £38,750
25th Percentile £53,750 £50,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +13.64% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £80,500
UK median annual salary £70,000 £72,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -3.45% +20.83% -13.60%

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 59,210 23,547 63,515
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.04% 88.51% 94.70%
Number of salaries quoted 37,623 14,624 46,632
10th Percentile £29,120 £28,500 £26,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £82,500 £77,225
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £53,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +13.21% -11.67%

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 21 April 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 21 April 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 +16 638 £65,000 - 132
South East +35 627 £65,000 +4.00% 223
South West +21 502 £65,000 +8.33% 119
North West +33 367 £67,500 - 81
East of England +4 265 £70,000 +5.73% 102
Midlands +52 234 £65,000 +8.33% 71
Scotland +2 208 £65,000 +4.00% 38
Yorkshire +10 193 £62,500 -3.85% 31
West Midlands +36 126 £65,000 +8.33% 47
East Midlands +4 108 £60,000 +9.09% 24
North East -7 78 £70,000 +27.27% 21
Wales -11 58 £40,000 -39.62% 17
Northern Ireland -31 20 £90,000 - 13
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 21 April 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 2,525 (98.94%) Software Engineering
2 359 (14.07%) C++
3 317 (12.42%) C#
4 304 (11.91%) Python
5 292 (11.44%) Agile
6 267 (10.46%) AWS
7 265 (10.38%) Full-Stack Development
8 259 (10.15%) Java
9 249 (9.76%) .NET
10 239 (9.37%) Security Cleared
11 201 (7.88%) CI/CD
12 190 (7.45%) JavaScript
13 187 (7.33%) DevOps
14 182 (7.13%) Degree
15 181 (7.09%) C
16 176 (6.90%) Azure
17 174 (6.82%) TypeScript
18 167 (6.54%) React
19 150 (5.88%) SQL
20 143 (5.60%) Linux
21 133 (5.21%) Continuous Improvement
22 132 (5.17%) SC Cleared
23 128 (5.02%) Problem-Solving
24 122 (4.78%) Microservices
24 122 (4.78%) SaaS
25 120 (4.70%) AI
26 114 (4.47%) Mentoring
27 110 (4.31%) Firmware
28 107 (4.19%) Computer Science
29 104 (4.08%) Test Automation

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 (0.51%) Apache
2 7 (0.27%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.24%) CMS
4 5 (0.20%) Confluence
5 4 (0.16%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.16%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.12%) FactoryTalk
7 2 (0.078%) IIS
7 2 (0.078%) NServiceBus
7 2 (0.078%) WordPress
8 1 (0.039%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.039%) Kinematics
8 1 (0.039%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.16%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.12%) CANalyzer
3 2 (0.078%) Adobe XD
3 2 (0.078%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.078%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.078%) Simulink
3 2 (0.078%) Sketch
4 1 (0.039%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.039%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.39%) Magento
2 2 (0.078%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.039%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 267 (10.46%) AWS
2 176 (6.90%) Azure
3 122 (4.78%) SaaS
4 52 (2.04%) Serverless
5 49 (1.92%) GCP
6 25 (0.98%) AWS Lambda
6 25 (0.98%) GitHub
7 21 (0.82%) Azure AKS
8 19 (0.74%) Amazon EKS
8 19 (0.74%) Azure DevOps
9 18 (0.71%) Amazon S3
10 10 (0.39%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (0.31%) OpenShift
11 8 (0.31%) Stripe
12 7 (0.27%) Amazon ECS
12 7 (0.27%) Figma
13 6 (0.24%) Anthropic Claude
14 5 (0.20%) Amazon EC2
14 5 (0.20%) Azure Functions
14 5 (0.20%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 37 (1.45%) Wireless
2 26 (1.02%) Ethernet
3 19 (0.74%) RS-232
4 12 (0.47%) Bluetooth
5 11 (0.43%) Modbus
6 8 (0.31%) Network Security
7 7 (0.27%) Broadband
8 6 (0.24%) HTTP
9 5 (0.20%) AMQP
9 5 (0.20%) LTE
9 5 (0.20%) TCP/IP
10 4 (0.16%) DNS
10 4 (0.16%) Profibus
10 4 (0.16%) SMTP
10 4 (0.16%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (0.16%) ZigBee
11 3 (0.12%) ATM
11 3 (0.12%) RS-485
11 3 (0.12%) Software-Defined Radio
12 2 (0.078%) RTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 53 (2.08%) SQL Server
2 50 (1.96%) NoSQL
3 41 (1.61%) PostgreSQL
4 31 (1.21%) MongoDB
5 26 (1.02%) Elasticsearch
6 23 (0.90%) MySQL
7 14 (0.55%) Relational Database
8 13 (0.51%) DynamoDB
8 13 (0.51%) Neo4j
9 12 (0.47%) Big Data
10 7 (0.27%) Hadoop
10 7 (0.27%) Redis
11 6 (0.24%) Geospatial Data
12 5 (0.20%) Cloudera CDH
12 5 (0.20%) DocumentDB
12 5 (0.20%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.16%) GIS
13 4 (0.16%) QGIS
14 3 (0.12%) Amazon RDS
14 3 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 82 (3.21%) Git
2 24 (0.94%) GitLab
3 16 (0.63%) Jenkins
4 14 (0.55%) JIRA
4 14 (0.55%) Visual Studio Code
5 11 (0.43%) Claude Code
5 11 (0.43%) JUnit
6 9 (0.35%) Visual Studio
7 7 (0.27%) Subversion
8 6 (0.24%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.20%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.20%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.20%) Eclipse
9 5 (0.20%) Gradle
9 5 (0.20%) Selenium
9 5 (0.20%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.16%) Postman
11 3 (0.12%) CANoe
11 3 (0.12%) Maven
12 2 (0.078%) Xcode
General
1 119 (4.66%) Social Skills
2 103 (4.04%) Manufacturing
3 90 (3.53%) Electronics
4 73 (2.86%) Finance
5 58 (2.27%) Aerospace
6 56 (2.19%) Automotive
7 43 (1.68%) Public Sector
8 41 (1.61%) Pharmaceutical
9 34 (1.33%) Analytical Skills
10 22 (0.86%) Games
11 20 (0.78%) Retail
12 14 (0.55%) Tech for Good
13 12 (0.47%) Military
14 11 (0.43%) Aviation
14 11 (0.43%) Health Technology
15 9 (0.35%) Telecoms
16 8 (0.31%) Marketing
17 7 (0.27%) Aeronautics
17 7 (0.27%) Financial Institution
18 5 (0.20%) Advertising
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 249 (9.76%) .NET
2 167 (6.54%) React
3 92 (3.61%) Node.js
4 73 (2.86%) AngularJS
5 67 (2.63%) REST
6 63 (2.47%) Vue
7 50 (1.96%) RESTful
8 48 (1.88%) .NET Core
9 47 (1.84%) Spring
10 44 (1.72%) HTML
11 39 (1.53%) Spring Boot
12 36 (1.41%) CSS
13 35 (1.37%) .NET Framework
14 27 (1.06%) Web Services
15 25 (0.98%) Django
16 22 (0.86%) ASP.NET
16 22 (0.86%) Qt
17 18 (0.71%) WPF
18 16 (0.63%) Entity Framework
18 16 (0.63%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 110 (4.31%) Cloud Native
2 73 (2.86%) Embedded Systems
3 46 (1.80%) IoT
4 44 (1.72%) Algorithms
5 42 (1.65%) Robotics
6 41 (1.61%) Product Ownership
7 36 (1.41%) Distributed Systems
8 20 (0.78%) Smart Energy
9 19 (0.74%) Hedge funds
9 19 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
10 18 (0.71%) Self-Motivation
11 17 (0.67%) Client/Server
11 17 (0.67%) Device Driver
12 15 (0.59%) e-Learning
13 14 (0.55%) CAN bus
13 14 (0.55%) Industry 4.0
13 14 (0.55%) Mobile App
14 13 (0.51%) Distributed Computing
15 11 (0.43%) Driving Licence
16 9 (0.35%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 143 (5.60%) Linux
2 37 (1.45%) Embedded Linux
3 31 (1.21%) Android
4 24 (0.94%) Windows
5 17 (0.67%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (0.20%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.20%) CentOS
6 5 (0.20%) Debian
6 5 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.20%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.12%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.078%) SafeRTOS
8 2 (0.078%) VxWorks
8 2 (0.078%) zOS
9 1 (0.039%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.039%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.039%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,525 (98.94%) Software Engineering
2 292 (11.44%) Agile
3 265 (10.38%) Full-Stack Development
4 201 (7.88%) CI/CD
5 187 (7.33%) DevOps
6 133 (5.21%) Continuous Improvement
7 128 (5.02%) Problem-Solving
8 122 (4.78%) Microservices
9 120 (4.70%) AI
10 114 (4.47%) Mentoring
11 107 (4.19%) Computer Science
12 104 (4.08%) Test Automation
13 103 (4.04%) SDLC
14 99 (3.88%) Scrum
15 88 (3.45%) Containerisation
16 78 (3.06%) TDD
17 68 (2.66%) Software Testing
18 67 (2.63%) Embedded Software Development
19 60 (2.35%) Technical Leadership
20 56 (2.19%) Clean Code
Programming Languages
1 359 (14.07%) C++
2 317 (12.42%) C#
3 304 (11.91%) Python
4 259 (10.15%) Java
5 190 (7.45%) JavaScript
6 181 (7.09%) C
7 174 (6.82%) TypeScript
8 150 (5.88%) SQL
9 56 (2.19%) Rust
10 53 (2.08%) PHP
11 48 (1.88%) Embedded C
12 22 (0.86%) Go
13 21 (0.82%) Kotlin
14 19 (0.74%) Embedded C++
15 17 (0.67%) COBOL
16 16 (0.63%) Ada
17 13 (0.51%) PL/SQL
18 11 (0.43%) Bash
19 10 (0.39%) Ruby
20 8 (0.31%) Scala
Qualifications
1 239 (9.37%) Security Cleared
2 182 (7.13%) Degree
3 132 (5.17%) SC Cleared
4 86 (3.37%) Computer Science Degree
5 78 (3.06%) DV Cleared
6 28 (1.10%) Master's Degree
7 14 (0.55%) DBS Check
7 14 (0.55%) PhD
8 7 (0.27%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.27%) Chartered Engineer
8 7 (0.27%) HND
9 6 (0.24%) HNC
10 3 (0.12%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.078%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.078%) NVQ Level 3
11 2 (0.078%) PMI Certification
12 1 (0.039%) CEH
12 1 (0.039%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 1 (0.039%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (2.12%) QA
2 17 (0.67%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.63%) MISRA
3 16 (0.63%) MISRA C
4 13 (0.51%) Accessibility
5 6 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 12207
6 4 (0.16%) ECSS
6 4 (0.16%) GDPR
6 4 (0.16%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.12%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.039%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.039%) DO-254
8 1 (0.039%) HAZOP
8 1 (0.039%) IEC 62304
8 1 (0.039%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.039%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 110 (4.31%) Firmware
2 99 (3.88%) Docker
3 33 (1.29%) Embedded Firmware
4 13 (0.51%) Hyper-V
4 13 (0.51%) KVM
4 13 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.078%) QEMU
6 2 (0.078%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 100 (3.92%) Kubernetes
2 60 (2.35%) Terraform
3 13 (0.51%) Functional Safety
4 12 (0.47%) Ansible
5 7 (0.27%) Grafana
6 5 (0.20%) Kibana
6 5 (0.20%) Puppet
7 4 (0.16%) logstash
8 3 (0.12%) SCCM
8 3 (0.12%) SCOM
8 3 (0.12%) SCOrch
9 2 (0.078%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.078%) Packer
9 2 (0.078%) Podman
9 2 (0.078%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.039%) Plesk
10 1 (0.039%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 21 (0.82%) Oracle
2 18 (0.71%) Microsoft
3 16 (0.63%) Siemens
4 15 (0.59%) VMware
5 14 (0.55%) Google
6 13 (0.51%) Adobe
7 12 (0.47%) Rockwell
8 8 (0.31%) HubSpot
9 6 (0.24%) Allen-Bradley
9 6 (0.24%) Salesforce
9 6 (0.24%) Xamarin
10 5 (0.20%) Red Hat
10 5 (0.20%) SaltStack
11 4 (0.16%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.16%) Atmel
12 3 (0.12%) SAP
12 3 (0.12%) Typelevel
12 3 (0.12%) Wonderware
13 2 (0.078%) IBM
13 2 (0.078%) OpenAI