Developer/Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer/Developer
UK

The median Software Engineer/Developer salary in the UK is £125,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 5 November 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 751 515 493
Rank change year-on-year -236 -22 -70
Permanent Developer/Software Engineer jobs 80 135 252
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.066% 0.27% 0.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.072% 0.30% 0.39%
Number of salaries quoted 56 106 240
10th Percentile £47,500 - £71,250
25th Percentile £75,000 £100,000 £80,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £125,000 £130,000 £105,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +23.81% -4.55%
75th Percentile £142,500 £137,500 £138,750
90th Percentile £172,500 £142,500 £165,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -20.00% +13.64% +2.33%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
5 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 111,772 45,159 64,336
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.82% 90.09% 95.05%
Number of salaries quoted 74,356 28,099 36,401
10th Percentile £31,000 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £42,200
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £52,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +12.38% -8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £92,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

Developer/Software Engineer Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Developer/Software Engineer job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Developer/Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Developer/Software Engineer Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Developer/Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Developer/Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Developer/Software Engineer Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for Developer/Software Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 5 November 2026.

Salary histogram for Developer/Software Engineer in the UK

Developer/Software Engineer Top 12 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Developer/Software Engineer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 5 November 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England -194 78 £125,000 -3.85% 14
London -125 52 £125,000 -3.85% 1
Work from Home -115 51 £125,000 -3.85% 7
UK excluding London -150 28 £50,000 -20.00% 13
North of England -64 16 £57,500 -4.17% 4
Yorkshire -20 12 £50,000 -16.67% 2
South East -77 5 £37,500 -42.31% 1
East of England - 4 - - 6
North West - 4 £65,000 - 2
West Midlands - 2 £75,000 - 2
Midlands - 2 £75,000 - 2
South West - 1 £47,500 - 1

Developer/Software Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 5 November 2026, Developer/Software Engineer job ads cited 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 Developer/Software Engineer job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Software Engineering98.8%79
2Python70.0%56
3AI57.5%46
4Investment Management56.3%45
5Azure48.8%39
6AWS47.5%38
7GCP36.3%29
7R36.3%29
9Amazon Bedrock33.8%27
9CrewAI33.8%27
9Google33.8%27
9LangChain33.8%27
9LangGraph33.8%27
9Pair Programming33.8%27
9pydantic33.8%27
16LLM30.0%24
17.NET27.5%22
17C#27.5%22
17Java27.5%22
20Quantitative Research22.5%18
21Full-Stack Development21.3%17
22Analytics20.0%16
23Anthropic Claude18.8%15
23ChatGPT18.8%15
23Microsoft Copilot18.8%15
26Asset Management16.3%13
26Quantitative Analysis16.3%13
28Agile15.0%12
29Claude Code13.8%11
29GitHub13.8%11

Developer/Software Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Software Developer60.0%48
2Python Developer36.3%29
2Python Software Engineer36.3%29
4Artificial Intelligence Developer33.8%27
4Artificial Intelligence Engineer33.8%27
6Lead Software Developer21.3%17
6Lead Software Engineer21.3%17
8Full-Stack Developer17.5%14
8Full-Stack Software Engineer17.5%14
8Lead Python Developer17.5%14
11Java Software Developer16.3%13
11Java Software Engineer16.3%13
13Quantitative Developer15.0%12
13Senior Software Developer15.0%12
13Senior Software Engineer15.0%12
16Java Quantitative Developer11.3%9
16Senior Full-Stack Developer11.3%9
16Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer11.3%9
19.NET Software Developer10.0%8
19.NET Software Engineer10.0%8
Developer/Software Engineer jobs