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 18 October 2026.
The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 748 | 521 | 479 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -227 | -42 | -31 |
| Permanent jobs requiring a Developer/Software Engineer | 60 | 149 | 284 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the UK | 0.050% | 0.30% | 0.41% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.054% | 0.34% | 0.43% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 40 | 120 | 270 |
| 10th Percentile | £47,500 | - | £71,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £50,000 | £100,000 | £81,250 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £125,000 | £130,000 | £105,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.85% | +23.81% | -2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £142,500 | £137,500 | £142,500 |
| 90th Percentile | £172,500 | £142,500 | £165,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £52,500 | £60,000 | £60,000 |
| % change year-on-year | -12.50% | - | +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.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title | 110,370 | 44,004 | 66,431 |
| % of permanent jobs with a recognized job title | 92.35% | 89.88% | 95.35% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 74,737 | 25,905 | 38,039 |
| 10th Percentile | £30,250 | £28,000 | £31,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £41,250 | £35,000 | £41,250 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £58,750 | £52,500 | £56,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +11.90% | -6.25% | -6.67% |
| 75th Percentile | £76,250 | £73,750 | £75,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £98,750 | £95,000 | £95,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £55,000 | £45,390 | £50,000 |
| % change year-on-year | +21.17% | -9.22% | -4.76% |
Developer/Software Engineer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Developer/Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.
Developer/Software Engineer Salary Trend
Salary distribution trend for Developer/Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Developer/Software Engineer Salary Histogram
Salary distribution for jobs citing Developer/Software Engineer over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.
Developer/Software Engineer Top 12 Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Developer/Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 18 October 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 | -226 | 58 | £125,000 | -3.85% | 25 |
| Work from Home | -137 | 38 | £125,000 | -3.85% | 15 |
| London | -158 | 38 | £125,000 | -3.85% | 9 |
| UK excluding London | -127 | 22 | £52,500 | -12.50% | 21 |
| North of England | -60 | 13 | £50,000 | -16.67% | 7 |
| Yorkshire | -24 | 11 | £50,000 | -16.67% | 2 |
| South East | -51 | 5 | £55,000 | -15.38% | 3 |
| Midlands | - | 2 | £75,000 | - | 3 |
| North West | - | 2 | £65,000 | - | 4 |
| West Midlands | - | 2 | £75,000 | - | 2 |
| East of England | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| South West | - | 1 | £47,500 | - | 2 |
Developer/Software Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 18 October 2026, Developer/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 Developer/Software Engineer in the job title.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Engineering | 95.0% | 57 |
| 2 | Python | 65.0% | 39 |
| 3 | AWS | 53.3% | 32 |
| 4 | AI | 51.7% | 31 |
| 4 | Investment Management | 51.7% | 31 |
| 6 | Azure | 45.0% | 27 |
| 7 | GCP | 33.3% | 20 |
| 7 | R | 33.3% | 20 |
| 9 | .NET | 31.7% | 19 |
| 9 | C# | 31.7% | 19 |
| 11 | Amazon Bedrock | 30.0% | 18 |
| 11 | CrewAI | 30.0% | 18 |
| 11 | 30.0% | 18 | |
| 11 | LangChain | 30.0% | 18 |
| 11 | LangGraph | 30.0% | 18 |
| 11 | Pair Programming | 30.0% | 18 |
| 11 | pydantic | 30.0% | 18 |
| 18 | Full-Stack Development | 26.7% | 16 |
| 19 | LLM | 25.0% | 15 |
| 20 | Analytics | 21.7% | 13 |
| 21 | Microservices | 20.0% | 12 |
| 21 | Quantitative Research | 20.0% | 12 |
| 23 | Anthropic Claude | 18.3% | 11 |
| 23 | ChatGPT | 18.3% | 11 |
| 23 | Java | 18.3% | 11 |
| 23 | Microsoft Copilot | 18.3% | 11 |
| 27 | Agile | 16.7% | 10 |
| 27 | Continuous Improvement | 16.7% | 10 |
| 27 | SaaS | 16.7% | 10 |
| 30 | Asset Management | 15.0% | 9 |
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
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Developer | 58.3% | 35 |
| 2 | Python Developer | 33.3% | 20 |
| 2 | Python Software Engineer | 33.3% | 20 |
| 4 | Artificial Intelligence Developer | 30.0% | 18 |
| 4 | Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 30.0% | 18 |
| 6 | Lead Software Developer | 25.0% | 15 |
| 6 | Lead Software Engineer | 25.0% | 15 |
| 8 | Lead Python Developer | 20.0% | 12 |
| 9 | Full-Stack Developer | 18.3% | 11 |
| 9 | Full-Stack Software Engineer | 18.3% | 11 |
| 11 | .NET Software Developer | 16.7% | 10 |
| 11 | .NET Software Engineer | 16.7% | 10 |
| 11 | Quantitative Developer | 16.7% | 10 |
| 14 | C# .NET Developer | 15.0% | 9 |
| 14 | C# Software Developer | 15.0% | 9 |
| 14 | C# Software Engineer | 15.0% | 9 |
| 14 | Senior Software Developer | 15.0% | 9 |
| 14 | Senior Software Engineer | 15.0% | 9 |
| 19 | Java Quantitative Developer | 11.7% | 7 |
| 19 | Java Software Developer | 11.7% | 7 |