C++ Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer - C++
UK

The median Software Engineer - C++ salary in the UK is £76,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 5 April 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 478 563 574
Rank change year-on-year +85 +11 +123
Permanent jobs requiring a C++ Software Engineer 226 64 301
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.28% 0.16% 0.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.30% 0.17% 0.35%
Number of salaries quoted 178 50 239
10th Percentile £51,250 £49,750 £42,250
25th Percentile £65,000 £60,625 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £76,250 £72,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.17% +20.83% +4.35%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £70,000
90th Percentile - £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 74,800 36,762 86,050
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 89.83% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 48,216 23,292 64,576
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 £54,650
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.79% -8.92%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £72,375
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -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 5 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 5 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 +127 220 £78,750 +16.67% 49
UK excluding London +47 158 £70,000 +7.69% 46
South East +36 86 £65,000 - 20
London +39 66 £100,000 -2.44% 12
Work from Home +5 39 £80,000 +23.08% 22
South West -13 31 £50,000 -23.08% 8
East of England -6 18 £87,500 +25.00% 11
Midlands - 10 £70,000 -
North of England -47 9 £70,000 +40.00%
East Midlands - 8 £30,000 -
North West -20 6 £70,000 +40.00%
Yorkshire - 3 £45,000 -
Wales - 2 £35,000 - 1
West Midlands - 2 £70,000 -
Scotland -34 1 - - 6
Northern Ireland -45 1 £65,000 -27.78% 1

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

For the 6 months to 5 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.

1 226 (100.00%) C++
2 219 (96.90%) Software Engineering
3 57 (25.22%) Python
4 48 (21.24%) Linux
5 39 (17.26%) Low Latency
6 38 (16.81%) Degree
7 31 (13.72%) SDLC
8 30 (13.27%) Agile
9 27 (11.95%) Computer Science
10 26 (11.50%) Rust
11 24 (10.62%) C#
11 24 (10.62%) Multithreading
11 24 (10.62%) SC Cleared
11 24 (10.62%) Security Cleared
11 24 (10.62%) Technical Leadership
12 23 (10.18%) Mathematics
13 21 (9.29%) Computer Science Degree
14 20 (8.85%) Qt
15 19 (8.41%) Boost C++ Libraries
15 19 (8.41%) Git
16 18 (7.96%) OOP
17 17 (7.52%) AI
17 17 (7.52%) QA
17 17 (7.52%) Windows
18 15 (6.64%) Continuous Integration
18 15 (6.64%) FIX Protocol
18 15 (6.64%) GitHub
18 15 (6.64%) JIRA
18 15 (6.64%) Multicast
18 15 (6.64%) 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 (6.64%) GitHub
2 10 (4.42%) AWS
3 3 (1.33%) Azure
4 1 (0.44%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.44%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 15 (6.64%) Multicast
2 8 (3.54%) Wireless
3 4 (1.77%) DNS
3 4 (1.77%) HTTP
3 4 (1.77%) SMTP
3 4 (1.77%) TCP/IP
4 3 (1.33%) ATM
5 1 (0.44%) Ethernet
5 1 (0.44%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 19 (8.41%) Git
2 15 (6.64%) JIRA
3 4 (1.77%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.44%) GDB
4 1 (0.44%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.44%) WinDbg
General
1 37 (16.37%) Finance
2 15 (6.64%) Banking
3 13 (5.75%) Aerospace
4 9 (3.98%) Manufacturing
5 8 (3.54%) Analytical Skills
6 7 (3.10%) Automotive
7 6 (2.65%) Social Skills
8 4 (1.77%) Aeronautics
9 3 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.88%) Games
10 2 (0.88%) Military
10 2 (0.88%) Tech for Good
11 1 (0.44%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (8.85%) Qt
2 19 (8.41%) Boost C++ Libraries
3 15 (6.64%) FIX Protocol
3 15 (6.64%) pytest
4 13 (5.75%) Unreal Engine
5 4 (1.77%) Middleware
5 4 (1.77%) ZeroMQ
6 2 (0.88%) Blazor
7 1 (0.44%) .NET
7 1 (0.44%) Django
7 1 (0.44%) React
7 1 (0.44%) REST
7 1 (0.44%) RESTful
7 1 (0.44%) Vue
7 1 (0.44%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.44%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 34 (15.04%) Algorithms
2 16 (7.08%) Fixed Income
3 15 (6.64%) Derivative
3 15 (6.64%) Equities
4 12 (5.31%) Robotics
5 10 (4.42%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (3.98%) Data Structures
7 5 (2.21%) Distributed Computing
8 4 (1.77%) GNSS
8 4 (1.77%) Satnav
8 4 (1.77%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.33%) CUDA
10 2 (0.88%) Embedded Systems
11 1 (0.44%) AI Agents
11 1 (0.44%) Device Driver
11 1 (0.44%) Distributed Architecture
11 1 (0.44%) FPGA
11 1 (0.44%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 48 (21.24%) Linux
2 17 (7.52%) Windows
3 3 (1.33%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 219 (96.90%) Software Engineering
2 39 (17.26%) Low Latency
3 31 (13.72%) SDLC
4 30 (13.27%) Agile
5 27 (11.95%) Computer Science
6 24 (10.62%) Multithreading
6 24 (10.62%) Technical Leadership
7 23 (10.18%) Mathematics
8 18 (7.96%) OOP
9 17 (7.52%) AI
10 15 (6.64%) Continuous Integration
10 15 (6.64%) Process Improvement
10 15 (6.64%) Workflow
11 13 (5.75%) High-Frequency Trading
11 13 (5.75%) Problem-Solving
12 9 (3.98%) Fintech
12 9 (3.98%) Machine Learning
12 9 (3.98%) Quantitative Finance
12 9 (3.98%) Ultra-Low Latency
13 8 (3.54%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 226 (100.00%) C++
2 57 (25.22%) Python
3 26 (11.50%) Rust
4 24 (10.62%) C#
5 13 (5.75%) C
6 8 (3.54%) Embedded C++
6 8 (3.54%) SQL
7 4 (1.77%) Bash
7 4 (1.77%) Java
7 4 (1.77%) JavaScript
8 3 (1.33%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.88%) Julia
10 1 (0.44%) Erlang
10 1 (0.44%) OCaml
10 1 (0.44%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 38 (16.81%) Degree
2 24 (10.62%) SC Cleared
2 24 (10.62%) Security Cleared
3 21 (9.29%) Computer Science Degree
4 10 (4.42%) Master's Degree
5 9 (3.98%) PhD
6 1 (0.44%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (7.52%) QA
System Software
1 4 (1.77%) Embedded Firmware
1 4 (1.77%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 2 (0.88%) Terraform
2 1 (0.44%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 3 (1.33%) Apple