Graduate Software Engineer Job Trends

Graduate Software Engineer
UK

The median Graduate Software Engineer salary in the UK is £30,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 June 2026.

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

 6 months to
29 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 659 665 812
Rank change year-on-year +6 +147 +37
Permanent jobs requiring a Graduate Software Engineer 91 21 94
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.095% 0.045% 0.089%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.10% 0.051% 0.094%
Number of salaries quoted 85 20 65
10th Percentile £24,000 £26,250 £25,500
25th Percentile £26,000 £29,000 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £30,000 £33,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.45% +3.08% -7.14%
75th Percentile £35,000 £39,969 £38,500
90th Percentile £50,000 £44,375 £52,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £30,000 £32,500 £32,500
% change year-on-year -7.69% - -7.14%

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 90,300 41,384 100,134
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.10% 89.50% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 61,954 23,849 72,187
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +8.57% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,250 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -6.54%

Graduate Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Graduate Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Graduate Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Graduate Software Engineer
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for Graduate Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Graduate Software Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Graduate Software Engineer over the 6 months to 29 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Graduate Software Engineer in the UK

Graduate Software Engineer
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Graduate Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 29 June 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 -4 78 £30,000 -7.69% 17
UK excluding London -14 74 £30,000 -7.69% 17
Work from Home +33 29 £24,000 -20.00% 8
South East -16 19 £30,000 -10.45% 2
North of England - 18 £30,000 - 4
Midlands -25 14 £27,500 -8.33% 6
East Midlands - 13 £27,500 - 2
London -1 12 £57,500 +21.05% 1
North East - 11 £30,500 - 1
South West - 8 £28,000 - 2
Wales - 8 £30,000 -
East of England -8 7 £35,000 +7.69% 5
North West - 5 £24,000 - 3
Yorkshire - 2 £24,000 -
West Midlands -24 1 £24,000 -20.00% 4

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

For the 6 months to 29 June 2026, Graduate 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 Graduate Software Engineer in the job title.

1 89 (97.80%) Software Engineering
2 48 (52.75%) Computer Science
3 36 (39.56%) Degree
4 34 (37.36%) C#
5 29 (31.87%) C++
6 28 (30.77%) SQL
7 22 (24.18%) Azure
8 20 (21.98%) Agile
8 20 (21.98%) PHP
9 18 (19.78%) Computer Science Degree
10 15 (16.48%) Python
11 14 (15.38%) OOP
11 14 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
12 12 (13.19%) Java
12 12 (13.19%) JavaScript
12 12 (13.19%) Mathematics
13 9 (9.89%) AI
14 8 (8.79%) HTML
14 8 (8.79%) Mentoring
14 8 (8.79%) Physics
15 7 (7.69%) C
15 7 (7.69%) Fintech
15 7 (7.69%) Git
16 6 (6.59%) .NET
16 6 (6.59%) AWS
16 6 (6.59%) React
16 6 (6.59%) Web Development
17 5 (5.49%) CSS
17 5 (5.49%) OO
17 5 (5.49%) Open Source

Graduate 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 2 (2.20%) ArcGIS
2 1 (1.10%) Apache
2 1 (1.10%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 1 (1.10%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 22 (24.18%) Azure
2 6 (6.59%) AWS
3 3 (3.30%) GitHub
3 3 (3.30%) SaaS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (4.40%) MySQL
1 4 (4.40%) SQL Server
2 2 (2.20%) Geospatial Data
2 2 (2.20%) GIS
2 2 (2.20%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 7 (7.69%) Git
2 3 (3.30%) JIRA
2 3 (3.30%) Visual Studio
General
1 29 (31.87%) Finance
2 11 (12.09%) Electronics
3 10 (10.99%) Manufacturing
4 8 (8.79%) Aerospace
4 8 (8.79%) Automotive
5 6 (6.59%) Social Skills
6 4 (4.40%) Military
7 3 (3.30%) Banking
7 3 (3.30%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (2.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (8.79%) HTML
2 6 (6.59%) .NET
2 6 (6.59%) React
3 5 (5.49%) CSS
4 4 (4.40%) jQuery
5 2 (2.20%) Leaflet
5 2 (2.20%) MapLibre
5 2 (2.20%) OpenLayers
5 2 (2.20%) PostGIS
6 1 (1.10%) .NET Core
6 1 (1.10%) Ajax
6 1 (1.10%) CSS3
6 1 (1.10%) FastAPI
6 1 (1.10%) Flask
6 1 (1.10%) HTML5
6 1 (1.10%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 10 (10.99%) Hedge funds
2 9 (9.89%) Algorithms
3 3 (3.30%) Clustering
3 3 (3.30%) Self-Motivation
4 2 (2.20%) Client/Server
4 2 (2.20%) Data Structures
4 2 (2.20%) e-Learning
5 1 (1.10%) Distributed Systems
5 1 (1.10%) NHS
5 1 (1.10%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 4 (4.40%) Linux
2 3 (3.30%) Debian
2 3 (3.30%) Gentoo
3 1 (1.10%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (97.80%) Software Engineering
2 48 (52.75%) Computer Science
3 20 (21.98%) Agile
4 14 (15.38%) OOP
4 14 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
5 12 (13.19%) Mathematics
6 9 (9.89%) AI
7 8 (8.79%) Mentoring
7 8 (8.79%) Physics
8 7 (7.69%) Fintech
9 6 (6.59%) Web Development
10 5 (5.49%) OO
10 5 (5.49%) Open Source
11 4 (4.40%) MVC
12 3 (3.30%) Configuration Management
12 3 (3.30%) Cybersecurity
12 3 (3.30%) Investment Management
12 3 (3.30%) Low Latency
12 3 (3.30%) SDLC
12 3 (3.30%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 34 (37.36%) C#
2 29 (31.87%) C++
3 28 (30.77%) SQL
4 20 (21.98%) PHP
5 15 (16.48%) Python
6 12 (13.19%) Java
6 12 (13.19%) JavaScript
7 7 (7.69%) C
8 3 (3.30%) Bash
8 3 (3.30%) Ruby
8 3 (3.30%) Rust
8 3 (3.30%) TypeScript
9 2 (2.20%) Go
Qualifications
1 36 (39.56%) Degree
2 18 (19.78%) Computer Science Degree
3 4 (4.40%) Security Cleared
4 1 (1.10%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (4.40%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 4 (4.40%) Firmware
2 3 (3.30%) Docker
Systems Management
1 3 (3.30%) Ansible
1 3 (3.30%) Podman
Vendors
1 2 (2.20%) ESRI
1 2 (2.20%) Microsoft
Graduate Software Engineer jobs