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 15 June 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 430 612 535
Rank change year-on-year +182 -77 +157
Permanent jobs requiring a C++ Software Engineer 334 57 400
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.13% 0.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.38% 0.14% 0.39%
Number of salaries quoted 269 34 331
10th Percentile £50,750 £50,375 £40,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £48,750
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 £110,938 £65,000
90th Percentile £111,250 £124,375 £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 87,567 39,822 102,228
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.98% 89.41% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 60,055 22,546 73,745
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £39,000 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year - - -6.54%

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 15 June 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 15 June 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 +174 321 £76,250 +17.31% 60
UK excluding London +148 241 £65,000 - 52
South East +96 132 £65,000 - 10
London +47 90 £100,000 -3.61% 8
Work from Home +37 54 £90,000 +38.46% 29
South West -29 40 £60,000 -7.69% 16
East of England +1 24 £100,000 +53.85% 8
North of England - 21 £90,000 - 10
North East - 15 £100,000 - 8
Midlands - 14 £45,000 - 8
East Midlands - 12 £45,000 - 8
Scotland +17 7 £65,000 +18.18%
North West - 6 £70,000 - 2
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 15 June 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.

1 334 (100.00%) C++
2 325 (97.31%) Software Engineering
3 96 (28.74%) Python
4 68 (20.36%) Linux
5 57 (17.07%) Degree
6 56 (16.77%) Low Latency
7 45 (13.47%) Computer Science Degree
8 44 (13.17%) Computer Science
9 43 (12.87%) Rust
10 42 (12.57%) AI
11 41 (12.28%) C#
12 39 (11.68%) SDLC
13 36 (10.78%) Agile
14 32 (9.58%) Mathematics
15 31 (9.28%) C
16 29 (8.68%) SC Cleared
16 29 (8.68%) Security Cleared
16 29 (8.68%) Technical Leadership
17 28 (8.38%) Boost C++ Libraries
18 24 (7.19%) OOP
19 23 (6.89%) Multithreading
19 23 (6.89%) Workflow
20 22 (6.59%) Machine Learning
21 21 (6.29%) AWS
21 21 (6.29%) Master's Degree
22 20 (5.99%) PhD
22 20 (5.99%) QA
23 19 (5.69%) Fintech
24 18 (5.39%) Continuous Integration
24 18 (5.39%) FIX Protocol

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 21 (6.29%) AWS
2 15 (4.49%) GitHub
3 5 (1.50%) Azure
4 2 (0.60%) Amazon EKS
4 2 (0.60%) SaaS
5 1 (0.30%) Azure DevOps
5 1 (0.30%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 18 (5.39%) Multicast
2 6 (1.80%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.90%) Wireless
4 1 (0.30%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.90%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 18 (5.39%) JIRA
2 15 (4.49%) Git
3 1 (0.30%) GDB
3 1 (0.30%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio
3 1 (0.30%) WinDbg
General
1 53 (15.87%) Finance
2 19 (5.69%) Aerospace
2 19 (5.69%) Manufacturing
3 18 (5.39%) Banking
4 14 (4.19%) Automotive
5 8 (2.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 7 (2.10%) Social Skills
7 4 (1.20%) Aeronautics
8 3 (0.90%) Analytical Skills
9 2 (0.60%) Aviation
9 2 (0.60%) Games
9 2 (0.60%) Military
10 1 (0.30%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.30%) Tech for Good
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (8.38%) Boost C++ Libraries
2 18 (5.39%) FIX Protocol
2 18 (5.39%) pytest
3 15 (4.49%) Unreal Engine
4 12 (3.59%) Qt
5 6 (1.80%) OpenGL
6 5 (1.50%) Django
6 5 (1.50%) RESTful
6 5 (1.50%) Vue
7 3 (0.90%) Middleware
7 3 (0.90%) ZeroMQ
8 2 (0.60%) Blazor
9 1 (0.30%) .NET
9 1 (0.30%) React
9 1 (0.30%) REST
9 1 (0.30%) WebRTC
9 1 (0.30%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 41 (12.28%) Algorithms
2 18 (5.39%) Derivative
2 18 (5.39%) Equities
2 18 (5.39%) Fixed Income
3 16 (4.79%) Distributed Computing
4 12 (3.59%) Distributed Systems
5 11 (3.29%) Data Structures
6 10 (2.99%) Robotics
7 7 (2.10%) Embedded Systems
8 6 (1.80%) Augmented Reality
8 6 (1.80%) Device Driver
8 6 (1.80%) Distributed Architecture
8 6 (1.80%) Virtual Reality
9 3 (0.90%) CUDA
9 3 (0.90%) Hedge funds
10 1 (0.30%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.30%) FPGA
10 1 (0.30%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 68 (20.36%) Linux
2 9 (2.69%) Windows
3 2 (0.60%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 325 (97.31%) Software Engineering
2 56 (16.77%) Low Latency
3 44 (13.17%) Computer Science
4 42 (12.57%) AI
5 39 (11.68%) SDLC
6 36 (10.78%) Agile
7 32 (9.58%) Mathematics
8 29 (8.68%) Technical Leadership
9 24 (7.19%) OOP
10 23 (6.89%) Multithreading
10 23 (6.89%) Workflow
11 22 (6.59%) Machine Learning
12 19 (5.69%) Fintech
13 18 (5.39%) Continuous Integration
13 18 (5.39%) High-Frequency Trading
13 18 (5.39%) Process Improvement
14 13 (3.89%) Automated Trading
14 13 (3.89%) Data Science
14 13 (3.89%) Ultra-Low Latency
15 12 (3.59%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 334 (100.00%) C++
2 96 (28.74%) Python
3 43 (12.87%) Rust
4 41 (12.28%) C#
5 31 (9.28%) C
6 15 (4.49%) Embedded C++
7 10 (2.99%) SQL
8 7 (2.10%) TypeScript
9 6 (1.80%) JavaScript
10 5 (1.50%) Java
11 4 (1.20%) Julia
12 3 (0.90%) Bash
13 1 (0.30%) Erlang
13 1 (0.30%) OCaml
13 1 (0.30%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 57 (17.07%) Degree
2 45 (13.47%) Computer Science Degree
3 29 (8.68%) SC Cleared
3 29 (8.68%) Security Cleared
4 21 (6.29%) Master's Degree
5 20 (5.99%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.99%) QA
System Software
1 2 (0.60%) Docker
2 1 (0.30%) Embedded Firmware
2 1 (0.30%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 5 (1.50%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.60%) Terraform
Vendors
1 2 (0.60%) Apple