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 6 March 2026.

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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 40 27
Rank change year-on-year -15 -13 +29
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,816 1,616 4,074
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.52% 5.46% 7.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.84% 6.01% 7.95%
Number of salaries quoted 1,416 838 2,316
10th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £38,750
25th Percentile £51,250 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
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 47,246 26,902 51,266
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.64% 90.88% 94.81%
Number of salaries quoted 29,776 14,030 39,198
10th Percentile £28,250 £30,500 £26,700
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,221 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -5.36%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £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 6 March 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 6 March 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 +1 445 £65,000 +4.00% 124
South East -16 430 £65,000 +8.33% 184
South West +5 370 £65,000 +8.33% 155
North West +7 226 £65,000 - 59
East of England -15 187 £70,000 +5.70% 87
Scotland -2 171 £65,000 +13.04% 62
Midlands +5 158 £60,000 +14.29% 62
Yorkshire +2 157 £62,500 - 46
East Midlands -2 82 £60,000 +20.00% 36
West Midlands +4 78 £62,500 +19.05% 26
North East +1 62 £70,000 +27.27% 19
Wales -20 42 £40,000 -40.74% 22
Northern Ireland -37 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 6 March 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 1,804 (99.34%) Software Engineering
2 239 (13.16%) C++
3 237 (13.05%) C#
4 230 (12.67%) Java
5 223 (12.28%) .NET
5 223 (12.28%) Agile
5 223 (12.28%) AWS
6 196 (10.79%) Full-Stack Development
7 194 (10.68%) Python
8 178 (9.80%) Security Cleared
9 172 (9.47%) Azure
9 172 (9.47%) CI/CD
10 163 (8.98%) DevOps
11 157 (8.65%) JavaScript
12 155 (8.54%) React
13 147 (8.09%) Degree
14 142 (7.82%) SQL
15 137 (7.54%) TypeScript
16 120 (6.61%) C
17 114 (6.28%) Microservices
18 109 (6.00%) Mentoring
19 108 (5.95%) Linux
20 104 (5.73%) Problem-Solving
21 100 (5.51%) Kubernetes
22 96 (5.29%) Continuous Improvement
23 95 (5.23%) SC Cleared
24 91 (5.01%) Computer Science
25 87 (4.79%) Docker
25 87 (4.79%) SaaS
26 84 (4.63%) AI

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 12 (0.66%) Apache
1 12 (0.66%) IIS
2 7 (0.39%) Apache Spark
3 5 (0.28%) CMS
4 4 (0.22%) Apache Solr
5 3 (0.17%) Confluence
5 3 (0.17%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.11%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.055%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.055%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.055%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 4 (0.22%) EngageOne
2 2 (0.11%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.11%) Sketch
3 1 (0.055%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.055%) EPLAN
3 1 (0.055%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.055%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.55%) Magento
2 2 (0.11%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.055%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 223 (12.28%) AWS
2 172 (9.47%) Azure
3 87 (4.79%) SaaS
4 47 (2.59%) Serverless
5 43 (2.37%) GCP
6 33 (1.82%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (1.71%) AWS Lambda
8 24 (1.32%) Amazon S3
9 23 (1.27%) Amazon EKS
10 20 (1.10%) Azure AKS
11 16 (0.88%) GitHub
12 13 (0.72%) Amazon ECS
13 10 (0.55%) OpenShift
14 8 (0.44%) AWS CloudFormation
14 8 (0.44%) Stripe
15 7 (0.39%) Amazon EC2
16 5 (0.28%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 5 (0.28%) AWS Fargate
17 4 (0.22%) Firebase
17 4 (0.22%) Twilio
Communications & Networking
1 27 (1.49%) Wireless
2 18 (0.99%) RS-232
3 11 (0.61%) Bluetooth
4 9 (0.50%) Ethernet
5 7 (0.39%) Modbus
6 6 (0.33%) HTTP
6 6 (0.33%) Software-Defined Radio
6 6 (0.33%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.28%) AMQP
7 5 (0.28%) Broadband
8 4 (0.22%) DNS
8 4 (0.22%) LTE
8 4 (0.22%) Network Security
8 4 (0.22%) SMTP
8 4 (0.22%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (0.17%) ATM
10 2 (0.11%) 3G
10 2 (0.11%) GPRS
10 2 (0.11%) GSM
10 2 (0.11%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (3.03%) SQL Server
2 45 (2.48%) PostgreSQL
3 42 (2.31%) NoSQL
4 24 (1.32%) Elasticsearch
4 24 (1.32%) MongoDB
5 23 (1.27%) MySQL
6 17 (0.94%) Relational Database
7 13 (0.72%) DynamoDB
8 12 (0.66%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 10 (0.55%) Neo4j
10 9 (0.50%) Big Data
11 8 (0.44%) Redis
12 7 (0.39%) Hadoop
13 5 (0.28%) Cloudera CDH
13 5 (0.28%) Geospatial Data
14 4 (0.22%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (0.22%) GIS
15 3 (0.17%) Apache Cassandra
15 3 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
15 3 (0.17%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 53 (2.92%) Git
2 17 (0.94%) GitLab
3 14 (0.77%) Jenkins
4 13 (0.72%) Visual Studio
5 12 (0.66%) JIRA
6 10 (0.55%) JUnit
7 7 (0.39%) Cypress.io
8 6 (0.33%) Claude Code
8 6 (0.33%) Subversion
9 5 (0.28%) Selenium
10 4 (0.22%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.22%) Oracle APEX
11 3 (0.17%) Bitbucket
11 3 (0.17%) Cucumber
11 3 (0.17%) Gradle
11 3 (0.17%) Postman
11 3 (0.17%) Visual Studio Code
12 2 (0.11%) Android Studio
12 2 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
12 2 (0.11%) Vagrant
General
1 106 (5.84%) Social Skills
2 90 (4.96%) Finance
3 70 (3.85%) Manufacturing
4 56 (3.08%) Electronics
5 34 (1.87%) Aerospace
5 34 (1.87%) Public Sector
6 31 (1.71%) Automotive
6 31 (1.71%) Pharmaceutical
7 24 (1.32%) Analytical Skills
7 24 (1.32%) Games
8 16 (0.88%) Retail
8 16 (0.88%) Tech for Good
9 9 (0.50%) Financial Institution
9 9 (0.50%) Health Technology
9 9 (0.50%) Military
10 8 (0.44%) Marketing
11 7 (0.39%) Aeronautics
11 7 (0.39%) Law
12 6 (0.33%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.22%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 223 (12.28%) .NET
2 155 (8.54%) React
3 76 (4.19%) Node.js
4 64 (3.52%) AngularJS
5 54 (2.97%) RESTful
6 51 (2.81%) REST
6 51 (2.81%) Spring
7 47 (2.59%) .NET Core
7 47 (2.59%) Spring Boot
8 44 (2.42%) .NET Framework
9 36 (1.98%) Vue
10 35 (1.93%) HTML
11 32 (1.76%) CSS
12 29 (1.60%) ASP.NET
13 27 (1.49%) Entity Framework
13 27 (1.49%) Qt
14 20 (1.10%) Next.js
15 18 (0.99%) Django
16 16 (0.88%) Web Services
17 15 (0.83%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 88 (4.85%) Cloud Native
2 52 (2.86%) Embedded Systems
3 34 (1.87%) IoT
4 32 (1.76%) Distributed Systems
5 31 (1.71%) Robotics
6 20 (1.10%) Algorithms
7 17 (0.94%) Smart Energy
8 16 (0.88%) Hedge funds
8 16 (0.88%) Legacy Systems
9 15 (0.83%) Product Ownership
10 14 (0.77%) Industry 4.0
10 14 (0.77%) Self-Motivation
11 12 (0.66%) Client/Server
11 12 (0.66%) Mobile App
12 11 (0.61%) CAN bus
13 9 (0.50%) Device Driver
13 9 (0.50%) Driving Licence
14 8 (0.44%) e-Learning
15 7 (0.39%) Enterprise Software
15 7 (0.39%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 108 (5.95%) Linux
2 31 (1.71%) Embedded Linux
3 29 (1.60%) Windows
4 26 (1.43%) Android
5 5 (0.28%) Apple iOS
5 5 (0.28%) CentOS
5 5 (0.28%) Debian
5 5 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (0.28%) Ubuntu
6 4 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.22%) Unix
7 2 (0.11%) Mac OS X
7 2 (0.11%) VxWorks
8 1 (0.055%) Fedora
8 1 (0.055%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,804 (99.34%) Software Engineering
2 223 (12.28%) Agile
3 196 (10.79%) Full-Stack Development
4 172 (9.47%) CI/CD
5 163 (8.98%) DevOps
6 114 (6.28%) Microservices
7 109 (6.00%) Mentoring
8 104 (5.73%) Problem-Solving
9 96 (5.29%) Continuous Improvement
10 91 (5.01%) Computer Science
11 84 (4.63%) AI
12 77 (4.24%) Scrum
13 70 (3.85%) Containerisation
13 70 (3.85%) SDLC
14 66 (3.63%) TDD
15 63 (3.47%) Test Automation
16 46 (2.53%) Technical Leadership
17 44 (2.42%) Collaborative Culture
18 43 (2.37%) Embedded Software Development
19 42 (2.31%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 239 (13.16%) C++
2 237 (13.05%) C#
3 230 (12.67%) Java
4 194 (10.68%) Python
5 157 (8.65%) JavaScript
6 142 (7.82%) SQL
7 137 (7.54%) TypeScript
8 120 (6.61%) C
9 45 (2.48%) PHP
10 30 (1.65%) Embedded C
10 30 (1.65%) Rust
11 26 (1.43%) Kotlin
12 19 (1.05%) Embedded C++
12 19 (1.05%) T-SQL
13 17 (0.94%) Ruby
14 16 (0.88%) Ada
15 15 (0.83%) PL/SQL
16 14 (0.77%) Scala
17 13 (0.72%) Go
18 11 (0.61%) Bash
Qualifications
1 178 (9.80%) Security Cleared
2 147 (8.09%) Degree
3 95 (5.23%) SC Cleared
4 72 (3.96%) Computer Science Degree
5 48 (2.64%) DV Cleared
6 22 (1.21%) Master's Degree
7 9 (0.50%) PhD
8 7 (0.39%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.39%) DBS Check
9 6 (0.33%) Chartered Engineer
10 2 (0.11%) HND
10 2 (0.11%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.11%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.055%) HNC
11 1 (0.055%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (1.82%) QA
2 13 (0.72%) MISRA
3 11 (0.61%) IEC 61508
3 11 (0.61%) MISRA C
4 6 (0.33%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 5 (0.28%) Accessibility
6 4 (0.22%) ECSS
6 4 (0.22%) ISO 9001
7 2 (0.11%) GDPR
8 1 (0.055%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.055%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 87 (4.79%) Docker
2 70 (3.85%) Firmware
3 24 (1.32%) Embedded Firmware
4 9 (0.50%) Hyper-V
4 9 (0.50%) KVM
4 9 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 100 (5.51%) Kubernetes
2 48 (2.64%) Terraform
3 11 (0.61%) Functional Safety
4 6 (0.33%) Ansible
4 6 (0.33%) Grafana
4 6 (0.33%) Kibana
5 5 (0.28%) Puppet
6 2 (0.11%) Packer
6 2 (0.11%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.11%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.055%) Istio
7 1 (0.055%) logstash
7 1 (0.055%) Podman
Vendors
1 21 (1.16%) Oracle
2 20 (1.10%) Microsoft
3 15 (0.83%) Xamarin
4 12 (0.66%) Adobe
4 12 (0.66%) Google
4 12 (0.66%) Sage
5 9 (0.50%) VMware
6 8 (0.44%) HubSpot
7 6 (0.33%) Red Hat
8 5 (0.28%) SaltStack
8 5 (0.28%) Siemens
8 5 (0.28%) Zoho
9 4 (0.22%) Atmel
9 4 (0.22%) Salesforce
10 3 (0.17%) Atlassian
10 3 (0.17%) Rockwell
10 3 (0.17%) SAP
11 2 (0.11%) Databricks
11 2 (0.11%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.11%) Typelevel