C++ Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer - C++
UK

The median Software Engineer - C++ salary in the UK is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 26 February 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 503 599 598
Rank change year-on-year +96 -1 +118
Permanent jobs requiring a C++ Software Engineer 166 88 224
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.24% 0.18% 0.30%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.26% 0.20% 0.32%
Number of salaries quoted 124 46 180
10th Percentile £58,750 £50,000 £41,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £75,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% +25.00% +4.35%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £111,250 £111,250 £82,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £72,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -3.45% +20.83% +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 63,671 43,489 71,074
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.39% 91.35% 94.75%
Number of salaries quoted 40,181 23,175 55,274
10th Percentile £29,250 £32,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £39,280
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 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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 26 February 2026.

Salary histogram for C++ Software Engineer in the UK

C++ Software Engineer
Top 14 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 26 February 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 +113 163 £80,000 +10.34% 34
UK excluding London +49 114 £70,000 -3.45% 33
South East +18 57 £70,000 +1.82% 13
London +79 50 £100,000 -14.89% 10
South West +5 27 £65,000 - 2
Work from Home +25 23 £100,000 +53.85% 19
East of England +13 12 £72,500 +3.57% 6
Midlands +16 9 £53,750 - 3
North of England -14 8 £45,000 -43.75%
East Midlands - 7 - -
Yorkshire - 6 £45,000 -
West Midlands +19 2 £53,750 - 3
North West -6 2 £100,000 +100.00%
Scotland -15 1 - - 8

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

For the 6 months to 26 February 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.

1 166 (100.00%) C++
1 166 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 38 (22.89%) Linux
2 38 (22.89%) Python
3 25 (15.06%) Agile
3 25 (15.06%) Multithreading
4 24 (14.46%) Degree
4 24 (14.46%) Low Latency
4 24 (14.46%) Qt
5 23 (13.86%) SDLC
6 21 (12.65%) Computer Science
6 21 (12.65%) Mathematics
6 21 (12.65%) Technical Leadership
7 19 (11.45%) C#
8 18 (10.84%) Git
9 17 (10.24%) SC Cleared
9 17 (10.24%) Security Cleared
9 17 (10.24%) Windows
10 15 (9.04%) Continuous Integration
10 15 (9.04%) JIRA
10 15 (9.04%) Rust
11 14 (8.43%) OOP
11 14 (8.43%) QA
12 13 (7.83%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 13 (7.83%) FIX Protocol
12 13 (7.83%) Multicast
12 13 (7.83%) Process Improvement
12 13 (7.83%) pytest
12 13 (7.83%) Workflow
13 12 (7.23%) GitHub

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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (0.60%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Photoshop
Cloud Services
1 12 (7.23%) GitHub
2 4 (2.41%) AWS
3 2 (1.20%) Azure
4 1 (0.60%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 13 (7.83%) Multicast
2 8 (4.82%) Wireless
3 6 (3.61%) TCP/IP
4 4 (2.41%) DNS
4 4 (2.41%) HTTP
4 4 (2.41%) SMTP
5 3 (1.81%) ATM
6 2 (1.20%) 3G
6 2 (1.20%) GPRS
6 2 (1.20%) GSM
6 2 (1.20%) Modbus
6 2 (1.20%) RS-232
6 2 (1.20%) RS-485
6 2 (1.20%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.60%) GIS
Development Applications
1 18 (10.84%) Git
2 15 (9.04%) JIRA
3 6 (3.61%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.60%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.60%) TestRail
General
1 28 (16.87%) Finance
2 13 (7.83%) Banking
3 9 (5.42%) Aerospace
4 8 (4.82%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (3.61%) Manufacturing
6 4 (2.41%) Aeronautics
6 4 (2.41%) Automotive
6 4 (2.41%) Social Skills
7 2 (1.20%) Games
7 2 (1.20%) Military
7 2 (1.20%) Tech for Good
8 1 (0.60%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (14.46%) Qt
2 13 (7.83%) Boost C++ Libraries
2 13 (7.83%) FIX Protocol
2 13 (7.83%) pytest
3 10 (6.02%) Unreal Engine
4 4 (2.41%) Middleware
4 4 (2.41%) ZeroMQ
5 1 (0.60%) Blazor
5 1 (0.60%) React
5 1 (0.60%) WebRTC
5 1 (0.60%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 27 (16.27%) Algorithms
2 14 (8.43%) Fixed Income
3 13 (7.83%) Derivative
3 13 (7.83%) Equities
4 11 (6.63%) Robotics
5 8 (4.82%) Data Structures
6 7 (4.22%) Distributed Systems
7 4 (2.41%) GNSS
7 4 (2.41%) Satnav
7 4 (2.41%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.81%) CUDA
9 2 (1.20%) 3D Graphics
Operating Systems
1 38 (22.89%) Linux
2 17 (10.24%) Windows
3 3 (1.81%) Mac OS
4 2 (1.20%) Embedded Linux
4 2 (1.20%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 25 (15.06%) Agile
2 25 (15.06%) Multithreading
3 24 (14.46%) Low Latency
4 23 (13.86%) SDLC
5 21 (12.65%) Computer Science
5 21 (12.65%) Mathematics
5 21 (12.65%) Technical Leadership
6 15 (9.04%) Continuous Integration
7 14 (8.43%) OOP
8 13 (7.83%) Process Improvement
8 13 (7.83%) Workflow
9 11 (6.63%) AI
10 10 (6.02%) Problem-Solving
11 9 (5.42%) Digital Signal Processing
11 9 (5.42%) Mentoring
11 9 (5.42%) Signal Processing
12 7 (4.22%) Quantitative Finance
12 7 (4.22%) Test Automation
13 6 (3.61%) OOD
Programming Languages
1 166 (100.00%) C++
2 38 (22.89%) Python
3 19 (11.45%) C#
4 15 (9.04%) Rust
5 11 (6.63%) Embedded C++
6 8 (4.82%) C
7 5 (3.01%) Bash
7 5 (3.01%) SQL
8 3 (1.81%) JavaScript
9 2 (1.20%) Java
9 2 (1.20%) Julia
9 2 (1.20%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.60%) Perl
10 1 (0.60%) VBA
Qualifications
1 24 (14.46%) Degree
2 17 (10.24%) SC Cleared
2 17 (10.24%) Security Cleared
3 7 (4.22%) Computer Science Degree
4 6 (3.61%) Master's Degree
5 5 (3.01%) PhD
6 2 (1.20%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.43%) QA
2 2 (1.20%) MISRA
System Software
1 8 (4.82%) Embedded Firmware
1 8 (4.82%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 1 (0.60%) Terraform
Vendors
1 3 (1.81%) Apple
2 1 (0.60%) Foundry
2 1 (0.60%) Palantir