C++ Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer - C++
UK

The median Software Engineer - C++ salary in the UK is £78,750 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 2 April 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 487 577 575
Rank change year-on-year +90 -2 +143
Permanent jobs requiring a C++ Software Engineer 217 63 299
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.27% 0.15% 0.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.29% 0.17% 0.35%
Number of salaries quoted 170 49 237
10th Percentile £54,950 £49,500 £41,250
25th Percentile £65,000 £60,000 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £78,750 £72,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.62% +20.83% +4.35%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £101,125 £111,250 £82,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +7.69% +8.33% +9.09%

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 73,572 36,772 85,057
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.18% 89.92% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 47,294 23,163 64,083
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £79,000 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -4.76%

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 2 April 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 2 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
England +100 212 £80,000 +14.29% 49
UK excluding London +45 152 £70,000 +7.69% 46
South East +27 82 £65,000 - 20
London +45 63 £100,000 -2.44% 12
Work from Home +16 36 £80,000 +23.08% 22
South West -9 30 £50,000 - 8
East of England -8 18 £87,500 +25.00% 11
Midlands - 10 £70,000 -
North of England -56 9 £70,000 +40.00%
East Midlands - 8 £30,000 -
North West -18 6 £70,000 +40.00%
Yorkshire - 3 £45,000 -
West Midlands - 2 £70,000 -
Scotland -29 1 - - 6
Northern Ireland -44 1 £65,000 -27.78% 1
Wales - 1 £35,000 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 2 April 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.

1 217 (100.00%) C++
2 210 (96.77%) Software Engineering
3 56 (25.81%) Python
4 48 (22.12%) Linux
5 38 (17.51%) Low Latency
6 36 (16.59%) Degree
7 30 (13.82%) SDLC
8 29 (13.36%) Agile
9 27 (12.44%) Computer Science
10 25 (11.52%) Rust
11 24 (11.06%) Technical Leadership
12 23 (10.60%) C#
12 23 (10.60%) Multithreading
12 23 (10.60%) SC Cleared
12 23 (10.60%) Security Cleared
13 22 (10.14%) Mathematics
14 20 (9.22%) Computer Science Degree
14 20 (9.22%) Qt
15 18 (8.29%) Git
15 18 (8.29%) OOP
16 17 (7.83%) AI
16 17 (7.83%) Boost C++ Libraries
16 17 (7.83%) QA
17 16 (7.37%) Windows
18 15 (6.91%) Continuous Integration
18 15 (6.91%) FIX Protocol
18 15 (6.91%) GitHub
18 15 (6.91%) JIRA
18 15 (6.91%) Multicast
18 15 (6.91%) Process Improvement

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 15 (6.91%) GitHub
2 10 (4.61%) AWS
3 3 (1.38%) Azure
4 1 (0.46%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.46%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 15 (6.91%) Multicast
2 8 (3.69%) Wireless
3 4 (1.84%) DNS
3 4 (1.84%) HTTP
3 4 (1.84%) SMTP
3 4 (1.84%) TCP/IP
4 3 (1.38%) ATM
5 1 (0.46%) Ethernet
5 1 (0.46%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.46%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 18 (8.29%) Git
2 15 (6.91%) JIRA
3 4 (1.84%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.46%) GDB
4 1 (0.46%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.46%) WinDbg
General
1 37 (17.05%) Finance
2 15 (6.91%) Banking
3 13 (5.99%) Aerospace
4 8 (3.69%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (3.69%) Manufacturing
5 7 (3.23%) Automotive
6 6 (2.76%) Social Skills
7 4 (1.84%) Aeronautics
8 3 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (0.92%) Games
9 2 (0.92%) Military
9 2 (0.92%) Tech for Good
10 1 (0.46%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (9.22%) Qt
2 17 (7.83%) Boost C++ Libraries
3 15 (6.91%) FIX Protocol
3 15 (6.91%) pytest
4 13 (5.99%) Unreal Engine
5 4 (1.84%) Middleware
5 4 (1.84%) ZeroMQ
6 2 (0.92%) Blazor
7 1 (0.46%) Django
7 1 (0.46%) React
7 1 (0.46%) REST
7 1 (0.46%) RESTful
7 1 (0.46%) Vue
7 1 (0.46%) WebRTC
Miscellaneous
1 32 (14.75%) Algorithms
2 16 (7.37%) Fixed Income
3 15 (6.91%) Derivative
3 15 (6.91%) Equities
4 12 (5.53%) Robotics
5 10 (4.61%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (4.15%) Data Structures
7 5 (2.30%) Distributed Computing
8 4 (1.84%) GNSS
8 4 (1.84%) Satnav
8 4 (1.84%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.38%) CUDA
10 1 (0.46%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.46%) Device Driver
10 1 (0.46%) Distributed Architecture
10 1 (0.46%) Embedded Systems
10 1 (0.46%) FPGA
10 1 (0.46%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 48 (22.12%) Linux
2 16 (7.37%) Windows
3 3 (1.38%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (96.77%) Software Engineering
2 38 (17.51%) Low Latency
3 30 (13.82%) SDLC
4 29 (13.36%) Agile
5 27 (12.44%) Computer Science
6 24 (11.06%) Technical Leadership
7 23 (10.60%) Multithreading
8 22 (10.14%) Mathematics
9 18 (8.29%) OOP
10 17 (7.83%) AI
11 15 (6.91%) Continuous Integration
11 15 (6.91%) Process Improvement
11 15 (6.91%) Workflow
12 12 (5.53%) High-Frequency Trading
12 12 (5.53%) Problem-Solving
13 9 (4.15%) Fintech
13 9 (4.15%) Machine Learning
13 9 (4.15%) Quantitative Finance
13 9 (4.15%) Ultra-Low Latency
14 8 (3.69%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 217 (100.00%) C++
2 56 (25.81%) Python
3 25 (11.52%) Rust
4 23 (10.60%) C#
5 12 (5.53%) C
6 8 (3.69%) Embedded C++
6 8 (3.69%) SQL
7 4 (1.84%) Bash
7 4 (1.84%) Java
7 4 (1.84%) JavaScript
8 3 (1.38%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.92%) Julia
10 1 (0.46%) Erlang
10 1 (0.46%) OCaml
Qualifications
1 36 (16.59%) Degree
2 23 (10.60%) SC Cleared
2 23 (10.60%) Security Cleared
3 20 (9.22%) Computer Science Degree
4 10 (4.61%) Master's Degree
5 9 (4.15%) PhD
6 1 (0.46%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (7.83%) QA
System Software
1 4 (1.84%) Embedded Firmware
1 4 (1.84%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 2 (0.92%) Terraform
2 1 (0.46%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 3 (1.38%) Apple