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 11 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 50 16
Rank change year-on-year +17 -34 +50
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,765 1,487 5,939
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.23% 5.16% 8.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.52% 5.79% 9.12%
Number of salaries quoted 2,175 882 3,134
10th Percentile £45,000 £41,250 £38,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £50,000 £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 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £72,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -3.45% +20.83% -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 61,165 25,677 65,104
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.49% 89.10% 94.72%
Number of salaries quoted 40,252 14,677 47,474
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,750 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
75th Percentile £68,750 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,480
UK median annual salary £55,000 £58,000 £52,550
% change year-on-year -5.17% +10.37% -12.42%

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 11 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 11 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 +69 736 £65,000 - 232
North of England -14 662 £65,000 - 168
South West +25 523 £65,000 +8.33% 101
North West -8 397 £66,250 -1.85% 87
East of England +38 308 £70,000 +5.73% 113
Midlands +11 254 £65,000 +8.33% 73
Scotland -1 201 £65,000 +6.12% 34
Yorkshire +9 189 £62,500 -3.85% 53
West Midlands +14 135 £70,000 +16.67% 41
East Midlands +7 119 £60,000 +6.67% 32
North East -19 76 £60,000 +9.09% 30
Wales -3 64 £40,000 -40.74% 16
Northern Ireland -20 18 £90,000 - 3
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 11 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 2,732 (98.81%) Software Engineering
2 405 (14.65%) C++
3 367 (13.27%) C#
4 329 (11.90%) Python
5 309 (11.18%) Agile
6 296 (10.71%) Full-Stack Development
7 268 (9.69%) .NET
8 258 (9.33%) AWS
9 254 (9.19%) Security Cleared
10 236 (8.54%) Java
11 208 (7.52%) Degree
12 202 (7.31%) C
13 201 (7.27%) CI/CD
14 187 (6.76%) DevOps
14 187 (6.76%) JavaScript
15 172 (6.22%) TypeScript
16 170 (6.15%) Azure
17 159 (5.75%) React
17 159 (5.75%) SC Cleared
18 156 (5.64%) Linux
19 143 (5.17%) SQL
20 141 (5.10%) SaaS
21 140 (5.06%) AI
22 138 (4.99%) Continuous Improvement
23 134 (4.85%) Mentoring
24 131 (4.74%) Problem-Solving
25 125 (4.52%) Firmware
26 123 (4.45%) Microservices
27 119 (4.30%) Test Automation
28 115 (4.16%) Computer Science

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 11 (0.40%) Apache
2 7 (0.25%) FactoryTalk
3 6 (0.22%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.22%) CMS
4 5 (0.18%) Confluence
5 4 (0.14%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.14%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.072%) WinCC
6 2 (0.072%) WordPress
7 1 (0.036%) ArchestrA
7 1 (0.036%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.036%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.036%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.11%) CANalyzer
3 2 (0.072%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.072%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.072%) Simulink
4 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.36%) Magento
2 2 (0.072%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 258 (9.33%) AWS
2 170 (6.15%) Azure
3 141 (5.10%) SaaS
4 50 (1.81%) Serverless
5 49 (1.77%) GCP
6 24 (0.87%) GitHub
7 20 (0.72%) Azure AKS
8 18 (0.65%) AWS Lambda
8 18 (0.65%) Azure DevOps
9 13 (0.47%) Amazon EKS
10 12 (0.43%) Amazon S3
11 10 (0.36%) Anthropic Claude
12 9 (0.33%) AWS CloudFormation
13 8 (0.29%) Stripe
14 6 (0.22%) Azure Functions
14 6 (0.22%) GitHub Actions
15 5 (0.18%) Figma
16 4 (0.14%) Amazon ECS
16 4 (0.14%) Amazon OpenSearch
16 4 (0.14%) Apigee
Communications & Networking
1 42 (1.52%) Wireless
2 30 (1.08%) Ethernet
3 19 (0.69%) RS-232
4 15 (0.54%) Bluetooth
5 14 (0.51%) Modbus
6 9 (0.33%) TCP/IP
7 8 (0.29%) Network Security
8 7 (0.25%) Broadband
8 7 (0.25%) Profibus
8 7 (0.25%) ZigBee
9 6 (0.22%) Wi-Fi
10 5 (0.18%) HTTP
10 5 (0.18%) LTE
11 4 (0.14%) AMQP
11 4 (0.14%) DNS
11 4 (0.14%) RS-485
11 4 (0.14%) SMTP
12 3 (0.11%) MQTT
12 3 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
13 2 (0.072%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (1.81%) SQL Server
2 43 (1.56%) NoSQL
3 40 (1.45%) PostgreSQL
4 30 (1.08%) MongoDB
5 27 (0.98%) MySQL
6 22 (0.80%) Elasticsearch
7 11 (0.40%) Big Data
7 11 (0.40%) Neo4j
7 11 (0.40%) Relational Database
8 7 (0.25%) DynamoDB
8 7 (0.25%) Redis
9 6 (0.22%) Hadoop
10 5 (0.18%) FileMaker
11 4 (0.14%) Cloudera CDH
11 4 (0.14%) DocumentDB
11 4 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
11 4 (0.14%) GIS
11 4 (0.14%) QGIS
12 3 (0.11%) MariaDB
13 2 (0.072%) Easytrieve
Development Applications
1 84 (3.04%) Git
2 27 (0.98%) GitLab
3 20 (0.72%) Visual Studio Code
4 16 (0.58%) Jenkins
5 15 (0.54%) Claude Code
6 13 (0.47%) JIRA
7 9 (0.33%) JUnit
7 9 (0.33%) Visual Studio
8 7 (0.25%) Moq
8 7 (0.25%) Subversion
9 5 (0.18%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.18%) Eclipse
9 5 (0.18%) SonarQube
9 5 (0.18%) Yeoman
10 4 (0.14%) Cucumber
10 4 (0.14%) Gradle
10 4 (0.14%) LabVIEW
10 4 (0.14%) Maven
10 4 (0.14%) Postman
11 3 (0.11%) GDB
General
1 138 (4.99%) Manufacturing
2 113 (4.09%) Electronics
3 112 (4.05%) Social Skills
4 71 (2.57%) Aerospace
5 68 (2.46%) Automotive
6 61 (2.21%) Finance
7 42 (1.52%) Public Sector
8 41 (1.48%) Analytical Skills
8 41 (1.48%) Pharmaceutical
9 22 (0.80%) Retail
10 21 (0.76%) Aviation
11 18 (0.65%) Games
12 17 (0.61%) Tech for Good
13 14 (0.51%) Military
14 12 (0.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 9 (0.33%) Health Technology
16 8 (0.29%) Telecoms
17 7 (0.25%) Advertising
17 7 (0.25%) Agriculture
18 6 (0.22%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 268 (9.69%) .NET
2 159 (5.75%) React
3 87 (3.15%) Node.js
4 75 (2.71%) Vue
5 73 (2.64%) AngularJS
6 68 (2.46%) REST
7 49 (1.77%) RESTful
8 44 (1.59%) .NET Core
9 42 (1.52%) HTML
9 42 (1.52%) Spring
10 39 (1.41%) CSS
11 38 (1.37%) .NET Framework
12 36 (1.30%) Spring Boot
13 34 (1.23%) WPF
14 22 (0.80%) Django
14 22 (0.80%) Web Services
15 20 (0.72%) Entity Framework
16 18 (0.65%) ASP.NET
16 18 (0.65%) Qt
17 16 (0.58%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 110 (3.98%) Cloud Native
2 84 (3.04%) Embedded Systems
3 64 (2.31%) Algorithms
4 52 (1.88%) IoT
5 47 (1.70%) Product Ownership
6 42 (1.52%) Robotics
7 35 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
8 20 (0.72%) Device Driver
8 20 (0.72%) Legacy Systems
9 19 (0.69%) Client/Server
9 19 (0.69%) Mobile App
10 17 (0.61%) Self-Motivation
10 17 (0.61%) Smart Energy
11 15 (0.54%) CAN bus
11 15 (0.54%) Educational Technology
11 15 (0.54%) Hedge funds
12 14 (0.51%) Industry 4.0
13 13 (0.47%) Distributed Computing
13 13 (0.47%) e-Learning
14 12 (0.43%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 156 (5.64%) Linux
2 37 (1.34%) Android
3 36 (1.30%) Embedded Linux
4 29 (1.05%) Windows
5 19 (0.69%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (0.18%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.14%) CentOS
7 4 (0.14%) Debian
7 4 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.14%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.14%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.072%) SafeRTOS
8 2 (0.072%) zOS
9 1 (0.036%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.036%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.036%) Unix
9 1 (0.036%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.036%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.036%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,732 (98.81%) Software Engineering
2 309 (11.18%) Agile
3 296 (10.71%) Full-Stack Development
4 201 (7.27%) CI/CD
5 187 (6.76%) DevOps
6 140 (5.06%) AI
7 138 (4.99%) Continuous Improvement
8 134 (4.85%) Mentoring
9 131 (4.74%) Problem-Solving
10 123 (4.45%) Microservices
11 119 (4.30%) Test Automation
12 115 (4.16%) Computer Science
12 115 (4.16%) SDLC
13 95 (3.44%) Scrum
14 87 (3.15%) Containerisation
15 83 (3.00%) TDD
16 74 (2.68%) Software Testing
17 71 (2.57%) Embedded Software Development
18 63 (2.28%) Technical Leadership
19 60 (2.17%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 405 (14.65%) C++
2 367 (13.27%) C#
3 329 (11.90%) Python
4 236 (8.54%) Java
5 202 (7.31%) C
6 187 (6.76%) JavaScript
7 172 (6.22%) TypeScript
8 143 (5.17%) SQL
9 67 (2.42%) Rust
10 50 (1.81%) Embedded C
11 48 (1.74%) PHP
12 29 (1.05%) Go
13 21 (0.76%) Kotlin
14 17 (0.61%) COBOL
15 16 (0.58%) Embedded C++
16 13 (0.47%) Bash
16 13 (0.47%) Ruby
17 12 (0.43%) Ada
18 11 (0.40%) PL/SQL
19 10 (0.36%) Scala
Qualifications
1 254 (9.19%) Security Cleared
2 208 (7.52%) Degree
3 159 (5.75%) SC Cleared
4 94 (3.40%) Computer Science Degree
5 83 (3.00%) DV Cleared
6 34 (1.23%) Master's Degree
7 15 (0.54%) DBS Check
7 15 (0.54%) PhD
8 10 (0.36%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (0.25%) Chartered Engineer
9 7 (0.25%) HND
10 6 (0.22%) HNC
11 5 (0.18%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.11%) CEH
12 3 (0.11%) OSCP
13 2 (0.072%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (0.072%) NVQ Level 3
13 2 (0.072%) PMI Certification
14 1 (0.036%) AWS Certification
14 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (2.10%) QA
2 17 (0.61%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.58%) MISRA
3 16 (0.58%) MISRA C
4 15 (0.54%) Accessibility
5 7 (0.25%) IEC 61131
6 6 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 12207
7 4 (0.14%) GDPR
7 4 (0.14%) ISO 9001
8 3 (0.11%) DO-178B
9 2 (0.072%) JTAG
10 1 (0.036%) DO-254
10 1 (0.036%) ECSS
10 1 (0.036%) HAZOP
10 1 (0.036%) IEC 62304
10 1 (0.036%) ISO 26262
10 1 (0.036%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 125 (4.52%) Firmware
2 96 (3.47%) Docker
3 38 (1.37%) Embedded Firmware
4 13 (0.47%) Hyper-V
4 13 (0.47%) KVM
4 13 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.11%) QEMU
7 2 (0.072%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 83 (3.00%) Kubernetes
2 54 (1.95%) Terraform
3 13 (0.47%) Functional Safety
4 11 (0.40%) Ansible
5 5 (0.18%) Kibana
6 4 (0.14%) Grafana
6 4 (0.14%) logstash
6 4 (0.14%) Puppet
7 3 (0.11%) Plesk
7 3 (0.11%) SCCM
7 3 (0.11%) SCOM
7 3 (0.11%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.072%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.072%) Packer
8 2 (0.072%) Podman
8 2 (0.072%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 22 (0.80%) Siemens
2 19 (0.69%) Microsoft
3 17 (0.61%) Oracle
3 17 (0.61%) Rockwell
4 15 (0.54%) VMware
5 14 (0.51%) Google
6 13 (0.47%) Adobe
7 8 (0.29%) Allen-Bradley
7 8 (0.29%) HubSpot
8 7 (0.25%) Salesforce
9 5 (0.18%) Xamarin
10 4 (0.14%) Atlassian
10 4 (0.14%) Atmel
10 4 (0.14%) Peregrine
10 4 (0.14%) Red Hat
10 4 (0.14%) SaltStack
11 3 (0.11%) OpenAI
11 3 (0.11%) Palantir
11 3 (0.11%) Typelevel
11 3 (0.11%) Wonderware