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 4 August 2026.

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

 6 months to
4 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 670 665 749
Rank change year-on-year -5 +84 +44
Permanent jobs requiring a Graduate Software Engineer 118 18 68
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.036% 0.081%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.12% 0.040% 0.085%
Number of salaries quoted 113 17 47
10th Percentile - £26,550 £25,750
25th Percentile £24,000 £29,000 £30,000
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 £44,375 £38,500
90th Percentile £59,000 - £51,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £30,000 £30,750 £32,500
% change year-on-year -2.44% -5.38% -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 97,595 44,677 79,563
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.20% 90.06% 94.91%
Number of salaries quoted 66,719 26,547 53,755
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,991
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £90,793
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -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 4 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Graduate Software Engineer in the UK

Graduate Software Engineer
Top 16 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 4 August 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 +15 102 £30,000 -4.76% 14
UK excluding London +1 94 £30,000 -2.44% 11
Work from Home +24 49 £24,000 -25.00% 7
North of England - 29 £32,500 - 2
Midlands -27 18 £26,750 -10.83% 1
East of England -11 16 £47,500 +48.44% 3
South East -17 16 £29,500 -11.94% 2
London -28 15 £50,000 +5.26% 6
East Midlands - 15 £27,500 -
Yorkshire - 10 £33,750 - 1
North West - 10 £24,000 - 1
North East - 9 £32,500 -
South West - 8 £28,000 - 1
Wales - 5 £30,000 - 1
West Midlands -35 3 £24,000 -20.00% 1
Scotland - 2 £24,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 4 August 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.

1 118 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 57 (48.31%) Computer Science
3 47 (39.83%) C#
4 41 (34.75%) SQL
5 38 (32.20%) Azure
5 38 (32.20%) Degree
6 37 (31.36%) PHP
7 30 (25.42%) C++
8 20 (16.95%) Agile
9 19 (16.10%) Computer Science Degree
10 17 (14.41%) Python
11 16 (13.56%) Java
11 16 (13.56%) SQL Server
12 15 (12.71%) OOP
12 15 (12.71%) Problem-Solving
13 12 (10.17%) Linux
14 11 (9.32%) Mathematics
15 10 (8.47%) AI
15 10 (8.47%) C
15 10 (8.47%) Mentoring
16 9 (7.63%) JavaScript
17 8 (6.78%) E-Commerce
17 8 (6.78%) Logistics
18 7 (5.93%) Git
18 7 (5.93%) HTML
18 7 (5.93%) Physics
18 7 (5.93%) Rust
19 5 (4.24%) AWS
19 5 (4.24%) CSS
19 5 (4.24%) Cybersecurity

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 1 (0.85%) Apache
1 1 (0.85%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 1 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 38 (32.20%) Azure
2 5 (4.24%) AWS
3 3 (2.54%) GitHub
3 3 (2.54%) SaaS
4 1 (0.85%) GCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (13.56%) SQL Server
2 4 (3.39%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 7 (5.93%) Git
2 3 (2.54%) JIRA
2 3 (2.54%) Visual Studio
3 1 (0.85%) Cypress.io
General
1 26 (22.03%) Finance
2 16 (13.56%) Manufacturing
3 10 (8.47%) Social Skills
4 8 (6.78%) Electronics
4 8 (6.78%) Pharmaceutical
4 8 (6.78%) Retail
5 5 (4.24%) Automotive
6 4 (3.39%) Aerospace
7 3 (2.54%) Banking
8 2 (1.69%) Military
8 2 (1.69%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.85%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (5.93%) HTML
2 5 (4.24%) CSS
2 5 (4.24%) React
3 4 (3.39%) .NET
3 4 (3.39%) jQuery
4 1 (0.85%) .NET Core
4 1 (0.85%) Ajax
4 1 (0.85%) AngularJS
4 1 (0.85%) CSS3
4 1 (0.85%) FastAPI
4 1 (0.85%) Flask
4 1 (0.85%) HTML5
4 1 (0.85%) Jest
4 1 (0.85%) JSON
4 1 (0.85%) Next.js
4 1 (0.85%) Redux
4 1 (0.85%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 10 (8.47%) Algorithms
2 8 (6.78%) Hedge funds
3 4 (3.39%) RISC-V
4 3 (2.54%) Client/Server
4 3 (2.54%) Clustering
4 3 (2.54%) Cyber Threat
4 3 (2.54%) Data Structures
4 3 (2.54%) Driving Licence
5 2 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.85%) Distributed Systems
6 1 (0.85%) Embedded Systems
6 1 (0.85%) FPGA
6 1 (0.85%) NHS
6 1 (0.85%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 12 (10.17%) Linux
2 3 (2.54%) Debian
2 3 (2.54%) Gentoo
3 1 (0.85%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 57 (48.31%) Computer Science
3 20 (16.95%) Agile
4 15 (12.71%) OOP
4 15 (12.71%) Problem-Solving
5 11 (9.32%) Mathematics
6 10 (8.47%) AI
6 10 (8.47%) Mentoring
7 8 (6.78%) E-Commerce
7 8 (6.78%) Logistics
8 7 (5.93%) Physics
9 5 (4.24%) Cybersecurity
9 5 (4.24%) Fintech
9 5 (4.24%) OO
10 4 (3.39%) Electronic Design Automation
10 4 (3.39%) Investment Management
10 4 (3.39%) MVC
10 4 (3.39%) Open Source
10 4 (3.39%) SDLC
10 4 (3.39%) Web Development
Programming Languages
1 47 (39.83%) C#
2 41 (34.75%) SQL
3 37 (31.36%) PHP
4 30 (25.42%) C++
5 17 (14.41%) Python
6 16 (13.56%) Java
7 10 (8.47%) C
8 9 (7.63%) JavaScript
9 7 (5.93%) Rust
10 4 (3.39%) TypeScript
11 3 (2.54%) Bash
11 3 (2.54%) PL/SQL
11 3 (2.54%) Ruby
12 2 (1.69%) Go
Qualifications
1 38 (32.20%) Degree
2 19 (16.10%) Computer Science Degree
3 2 (1.69%) Security Cleared
4 1 (0.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 1 (0.85%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (0.85%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 5 (4.24%) Firmware
2 4 (3.39%) QEMU
3 3 (2.54%) Docker
Systems Management
1 3 (2.54%) Ansible
1 3 (2.54%) Podman
Vendors
1 2 (1.69%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.85%) Revolut
Graduate Software Engineer jobs