Graduate Software Engineer Job Trends

Graduate Software Engineer
UK

The median Graduate Software Engineer salary in the UK is £31,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 23 January 2026.

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

 6 months to
23 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 621 663 725
Rank change year-on-year +42 +62 +206
Permanent jobs requiring a Graduate Software Engineer 32 30 31
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.051% 0.056% 0.048%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.057% 0.061% 0.051%
Number of salaries quoted 26 15 25
10th Percentile £24,000 £30,050 £26,950
25th Percentile £28,500 £31,250 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £35,000 £39,375 £37,500
90th Percentile £48,000 £44,400 £47,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £32,500 £32,500 £30,000
% change year-on-year - +8.33% -14.29%

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 56,506 49,067 60,891
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.75% 92.30% 95.18%
Number of salaries quoted 35,084 25,365 47,305
10th Percentile £28,750 £33,500 £29,800
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -4.94%

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 23 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Graduate Software Engineer in the UK

Graduate Software Engineer
Top 14 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 23 January 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 +60 27 £32,500 - 42
UK excluding London +38 27 £32,500 - 48
North of England +27 17 £32,500 +6.56% 6
Work from Home +76 10 £24,000 -21.31% 3
Yorkshire - 10 £32,500 - 4
North West - 4 £24,000 - 1
East of England +20 3 £60,000 +50.00% 7
South East +18 3 £30,000 -10.45% 12
North East +1 3 £30,000 -1.64% 1
South West +5 2 £31,500 -8.03% 7
London +39 1 - - 2
Midlands +19 1 £24,000 -26.15% 9
West Midlands +19 1 £24,000 -26.15% 3
Wales - 1 £30,000 - 6

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

For the 6 months to 23 January 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 30 (93.75%) Software Engineering
2 15 (46.88%) Degree
2 15 (46.88%) SQL
3 13 (40.63%) C++
4 12 (37.50%) Computer Science
5 11 (34.38%) C#
5 11 (34.38%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (31.25%) C
7 9 (28.13%) Azure
7 9 (28.13%) E-Commerce
7 9 (28.13%) Linux
7 9 (28.13%) Logistics
7 9 (28.13%) Mathematics
8 8 (25.00%) Java
8 8 (25.00%) PL/SQL
9 6 (18.75%) PHP
9 6 (18.75%) Python
10 4 (12.50%) AI
10 4 (12.50%) React
11 3 (9.38%) ArcGIS
11 3 (9.38%) AWS
11 3 (9.38%) DevOps
11 3 (9.38%) ESRI
11 3 (9.38%) Fintech
11 3 (9.38%) Geospatial Data
11 3 (9.38%) GIS
11 3 (9.38%) JavaScript
11 3 (9.38%) Leaflet
11 3 (9.38%) MapLibre
11 3 (9.38%) 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 3 (9.38%) ArcGIS
Cloud Services
1 9 (28.13%) Azure
2 3 (9.38%) AWS
3 1 (3.13%) Firebase
3 1 (3.13%) GitHub
3 1 (3.13%) Supabase
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (9.38%) Geospatial Data
1 3 (9.38%) GIS
1 3 (9.38%) PostgreSQL
General
1 9 (28.13%) Manufacturing
1 9 (28.13%) Retail
2 8 (25.00%) Finance
2 8 (25.00%) Pharmaceutical
2 8 (25.00%) Social Skills
3 3 (9.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 2 (6.25%) Aerospace
4 2 (6.25%) Electronics
4 2 (6.25%) Military
5 1 (3.13%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (12.50%) React
2 3 (9.38%) Leaflet
2 3 (9.38%) MapLibre
2 3 (9.38%) OpenLayers
2 3 (9.38%) PostGIS
3 2 (6.25%) .NET
4 1 (3.13%) Next.js
4 1 (3.13%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 8 (25.00%) Driving Licence
2 3 (9.38%) e-Learning
2 3 (9.38%) Hedge funds
3 1 (3.13%) Algorithms
3 1 (3.13%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 9 (28.13%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (93.75%) Software Engineering
2 12 (37.50%) Computer Science
3 9 (28.13%) E-Commerce
3 9 (28.13%) Logistics
3 9 (28.13%) Mathematics
4 4 (12.50%) AI
5 3 (9.38%) DevOps
5 3 (9.38%) Fintech
5 3 (9.38%) Open Source
5 3 (9.38%) Physics
5 3 (9.38%) Problem-Solving
5 3 (9.38%) Spatial Analysis
5 3 (9.38%) Web Development
6 2 (6.25%) Customer Service
6 2 (6.25%) Regulatory Compliance
7 1 (3.13%) Full-Stack Development
7 1 (3.13%) Sprint Planning
7 1 (3.13%) User Experience
7 1 (3.13%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 15 (46.88%) SQL
2 13 (40.63%) C++
3 11 (34.38%) C#
4 10 (31.25%) C
5 8 (25.00%) Java
5 8 (25.00%) PL/SQL
6 6 (18.75%) PHP
6 6 (18.75%) Python
7 3 (9.38%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 15 (46.88%) Degree
2 11 (34.38%) Computer Science Degree
3 3 (9.38%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (6.25%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 2 (6.25%) Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (9.38%) ESRI
51 Graduate Software Engineer jobs Nationwide