C++ Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer - C++
UK

The median Software Engineer - C++ salary in the UK is £75,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 426 601 532
Rank change year-on-year +175 -69 +160
Permanent jobs requiring a C++ Software Engineer 374 70 365
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.14% 0.38%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.16% 0.40%
Number of salaries quoted 298 52 303
10th Percentile £50,525 £51,250 £38,750
25th Percentile £60,000 - £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% +8.33% +4.35%
75th Percentile £100,000 £107,188 £66,250
90th Percentile - £120,250 £80,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £65,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +8.33% +4.35%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 94,139 44,347 91,129
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.26% 89.90% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 64,646 26,264 64,457
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year - +2.80% -10.83%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £70,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

C++ Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'C++ Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

C++ Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

C++ Software Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for C++ Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for C++ Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

C++ Software Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing C++ Software Engineer over the 6 months to 20 July 2026.

Salary histogram for C++ Software Engineer in the UK

C++ Software Engineer
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing C++ Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 July 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
England +184 358 £75,000 +15.38% 37
UK excluding London +136 289 £65,000 - 31
South East +89 138 £65,000 - 10
London +34 82 £100,000 -3.61% 8
Work from Home +46 74 £80,000 +23.08% 17
South West -22 54 £60,000 -7.69% 8
East of England +18 41 £80,000 +23.08% 10
North of England +2 28 £95,000 +90.00%
North East - 22 £100,000 -
Midlands - 15 £45,000 - 3
East Midlands - 13 £45,000 - 3
Scotland +23 10 £65,000 - 2
North West -3 6 £70,000 +40.00%
Wales - 2 £35,000 -
West Midlands - 2 £70,000 -
Northern Ireland - 1 £65,000 -

C++ Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 20 July 2026, C++ 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 featuring C++ Software Engineer in the job title.

1 374 (100.00%) C++
2 365 (97.59%) Software Engineering
3 105 (28.07%) Python
4 84 (22.46%) Linux
5 69 (18.45%) Degree
6 62 (16.58%) AI
7 53 (14.17%) Low Latency
8 52 (13.90%) Computer Science
9 50 (13.37%) Computer Science Degree
10 48 (12.83%) Rust
11 44 (11.76%) SDLC
12 43 (11.50%) C#
13 36 (9.63%) C
14 35 (9.36%) Mathematics
14 35 (9.36%) Security Cleared
15 34 (9.09%) Agile
16 33 (8.82%) SC Cleared
17 28 (7.49%) OOP
18 27 (7.22%) Technical Leadership
19 26 (6.95%) Boost C++ Libraries
20 24 (6.42%) Workflow
21 23 (6.15%) AWS
21 23 (6.15%) Embedded C++
21 23 (6.15%) Machine Learning
21 23 (6.15%) Multithreading
22 21 (5.61%) Master's Degree
23 20 (5.35%) Fintech
23 20 (5.35%) PhD
23 20 (5.35%) Problem-Solving
24 19 (5.08%) Data Science

C++ Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Cloud Services
1 23 (6.15%) AWS
2 12 (3.21%) GitHub
3 7 (1.87%) Azure
4 3 (0.80%) Amazon EKS
5 2 (0.53%) SaaS
6 1 (0.27%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (0.27%) GCP
6 1 (0.27%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.27%) GitHub Copilot
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft 365
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.28%) Multicast
2 7 (1.87%) Ethernet
3 1 (0.27%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.60%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 17 (4.55%) JIRA
2 13 (3.48%) Git
3 3 (0.80%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.80%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.27%) CMake
4 1 (0.27%) GDB
4 1 (0.27%) Rational DOORS
4 1 (0.27%) Valgrind
4 1 (0.27%) WinDbg
General
1 54 (14.44%) Finance
2 21 (5.61%) Manufacturing
3 16 (4.28%) Aerospace
3 16 (4.28%) Banking
4 12 (3.21%) Automotive
5 9 (2.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 7 (1.87%) Social Skills
7 4 (1.07%) Analytical Skills
8 2 (0.53%) Aviation
8 2 (0.53%) Games
8 2 (0.53%) Military
9 1 (0.27%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.27%) Electronics
9 1 (0.27%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.27%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (6.95%) Boost C++ Libraries
2 16 (4.28%) FIX Protocol
2 16 (4.28%) pytest
3 15 (4.01%) Unreal Engine
4 9 (2.41%) Qt
5 6 (1.60%) Django
5 6 (1.60%) OpenGL
5 6 (1.60%) RESTful
5 6 (1.60%) Vue
6 3 (0.80%) Middleware
6 3 (0.80%) ZeroMQ
7 2 (0.53%) .NET
7 2 (0.53%) Blazor
7 2 (0.53%) QML
7 2 (0.53%) STL
8 1 (0.27%) Bootstrap
8 1 (0.27%) CSS
8 1 (0.27%) GraphQL
8 1 (0.27%) WebRTC
8 1 (0.27%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 41 (10.96%) Algorithms
2 17 (4.55%) Distributed Computing
3 16 (4.28%) Derivative
3 16 (4.28%) Equities
3 16 (4.28%) Fixed Income
3 16 (4.28%) Robotics
4 13 (3.48%) Distributed Systems
5 12 (3.21%) Data Structures
6 8 (2.14%) Cyber Threat
6 8 (2.14%) Embedded Systems
7 7 (1.87%) Device Driver
7 7 (1.87%) Distributed Architecture
8 6 (1.60%) Augmented Reality
8 6 (1.60%) Virtual Reality
9 4 (1.07%) Hedge funds
10 1 (0.27%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.27%) Client/Server
10 1 (0.27%) CUDA
10 1 (0.27%) FPGA
10 1 (0.27%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 84 (22.46%) Linux
2 11 (2.94%) Windows
3 2 (0.53%) Robot Operating System
4 1 (0.27%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 365 (97.59%) Software Engineering
2 62 (16.58%) AI
3 53 (14.17%) Low Latency
4 52 (13.90%) Computer Science
5 44 (11.76%) SDLC
6 35 (9.36%) Mathematics
7 34 (9.09%) Agile
8 28 (7.49%) OOP
9 27 (7.22%) Technical Leadership
10 24 (6.42%) Workflow
11 23 (6.15%) Machine Learning
11 23 (6.15%) Multithreading
12 20 (5.35%) Fintech
12 20 (5.35%) Problem-Solving
13 19 (5.08%) Data Science
14 16 (4.28%) Continuous Integration
14 16 (4.28%) Physics
14 16 (4.28%) Process Improvement
14 16 (4.28%) Software Architecture
15 15 (4.01%) High-Frequency Trading
Programming Languages
1 374 (100.00%) C++
2 105 (28.07%) Python
3 48 (12.83%) Rust
4 43 (11.50%) C#
5 36 (9.63%) C
6 23 (6.15%) Embedded C++
7 10 (2.67%) SQL
8 9 (2.41%) TypeScript
9 6 (1.60%) JavaScript
10 5 (1.34%) Java
11 4 (1.07%) Julia
12 3 (0.80%) Bash
13 2 (0.53%) Embedded C
14 1 (0.27%) Ada
14 1 (0.27%) Erlang
14 1 (0.27%) OCaml
14 1 (0.27%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 69 (18.45%) Degree
2 50 (13.37%) Computer Science Degree
3 35 (9.36%) Security Cleared
4 33 (8.82%) SC Cleared
5 21 (5.61%) Master's Degree
6 20 (5.35%) PhD
7 2 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.53%) DV Cleared
7 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (4.81%) QA
System Software
1 8 (2.14%) Docker
2 1 (0.27%) Embedded Firmware
2 1 (0.27%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 6 (1.60%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.53%) Terraform
Vendors
1 3 (0.80%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.27%) IBM