Developer/Software Engineer Job Trends

Software Engineer/Developer
UK

The median Software Engineer/Developer salary in the UK is £122,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 November 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 753 528 510
Rank change year-on-year -225 -18 -85
Permanent Developer/Software Engineer jobs 85 128 243
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.069% 0.25% 0.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.075% 0.27% 0.38%
Number of salaries quoted 59 99 231
10th Percentile £47,500 - £71,250
25th Percentile £75,000 £100,000 £80,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £122,500 £130,000 £105,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.77% +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 £52,500 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -16.00% +13.64% +4.76%

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
11 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 113,137 46,791 63,694
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.78% 90.01% 94.86%
Number of salaries quoted 74,688 28,721 35,684
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,000 £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 11 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 11 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 -199 83 £122,500 -5.77% 30
London -126 54 £125,000 -3.85% 15
Work from Home -118 52 £125,000 -3.85% 18
UK excluding London -160 31 £52,500 -16.00% 20
North of England -77 17 £75,000 +25.00% 7
Yorkshire -31 13 £75,000 +25.00% 2
East of England - 6 - - 2
South East -72 4 £37,500 -42.31% 2
North West - 4 £65,000 - 5
West Midlands - 2 £75,000 - 3
South West - 2 £47,500 - 2
Midlands - 2 £75,000 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 11 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%84
2Python68.2%58
3AI56.5%48
4Investment Management55.3%47
5Azure50.6%43
6AWS44.7%38
7GCP38.8%33
8R36.5%31
9Amazon Bedrock34.1%29
9CrewAI34.1%29
9Google34.1%29
9LangChain34.1%29
9LangGraph34.1%29
9Pair Programming34.1%29
9pydantic34.1%29
16LLM30.6%26
17Java28.2%24
18.NET25.9%22
18C#25.9%22
20Quantitative Research21.2%18
21Full-Stack Development20.0%17
22Analytics18.8%16
23Anthropic Claude17.6%15
23ChatGPT17.6%15
23Microsoft Copilot17.6%15
26Agile16.5%14
27Asset Management15.3%13
27Quantitative Analysis15.3%13
29Problem-Solving14.1%12
30Claude Code12.9%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 Developer62.4%53
2Python Developer36.5%31
2Python Software Engineer36.5%31
4Artificial Intelligence Developer34.1%29
4Artificial Intelligence Engineer34.1%29
6Lead Software Developer20.0%17
6Lead Software Engineer20.0%17
8Full-Stack Developer17.6%15
8Full-Stack Software Engineer17.6%15
8Java Software Developer17.6%15
8Java Software Engineer17.6%15
12Lead Python Developer16.5%14
12Senior Software Developer16.5%14
12Senior Software Engineer16.5%14
15Quantitative Developer14.1%12
16Senior Full-Stack Developer12.9%11
16Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer12.9%11
18Java Quantitative Developer10.6%9
19.NET Software Developer7.1%6
19.NET Software Engineer7.1%6
39 Developer/Software Engineer jobs Nationwide