Head of Software Engineering Job Trends

Head of Software Engineering
UK

The median Head of Software Engineering salary in the UK is £90,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 13 September 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 748 656 784
Rank change year-on-year -92 +128 -20
Permanent jobs requiring a Head of Software Engineering 45 17 13
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.040% 0.034% 0.017%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.042% 0.038% 0.017%
Number of salaries quoted 35 15 6
10th Percentile £80,000 £62,500 £85,000
25th Percentile £89,375 £78,750 £89,063
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £95,000 £97,500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -2.56% -18.75%
75th Percentile £100,000 £131,875 £111,875
90th Percentile - £150,000 £148,125
UK excluding London median annual salary £90,000 £92,500 £97,500
% change year-on-year -2.70% -5.13% -18.75%

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 106,084 44,466 74,570
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.44% 89.67% 95.26%
Number of salaries quoted 73,032 26,165 45,576
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.36% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

Head of Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Head of Software Engineering job vacancy trend in the UK

Head of Software Engineering
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Head of Software Engineering job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Head of Software Engineering job vacancies in the UK

Head of Software Engineering
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Head of Software Engineering over the 6 months to 13 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Head of Software Engineering in the UK

Head of Software Engineering
Top 11 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Software Engineering within the UK over the 6 months to 13 September 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 -70 43 £90,000 -5.26% 8
UK excluding London -82 38 £90,000 -2.70% 5
East of England - 11 £90,000 - 1
South West - 9 £90,000 - 2
Work from Home -44 8 £80,000 -11.11% 4
North of England -54 8 £100,000 +12.68%
South East - 8 £80,000 - 2
London -41 7 £100,000 -33.33% 1
North West - 5 £100,000 -
Yorkshire -48 3 £92,500 +4.23%
Wales - 2 £90,000 -

Head of Software Engineering Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 September 2026, Head of Software Engineering 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 Head of Software Engineering in the job title.

1 45 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 7 (15.56%) AWS
3 6 (13.33%) SaaS
4 5 (11.11%) AI
5 4 (8.89%) .NET
5 4 (8.89%) Azure
5 4 (8.89%) JavaScript
5 4 (8.89%) React
5 4 (8.89%) Roadmaps
5 4 (8.89%) TypeScript
6 3 (6.67%) Bootstrap
6 3 (6.67%) C#
6 3 (6.67%) Chatbot
6 3 (6.67%) Client Onboarding
6 3 (6.67%) Conversational UI
6 3 (6.67%) DevOps
6 3 (6.67%) DevSecOps
6 3 (6.67%) Node.js
6 3 (6.67%) Redux
6 3 (6.67%) Technical Leadership
7 2 (4.44%) Continuous Improvement
7 2 (4.44%) Digital Transformation Programme
7 2 (4.44%) Embedded Software Development
8 1 (2.22%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
8 1 (2.22%) CI/CD
8 1 (2.22%) Collaborative Culture
8 1 (2.22%) Kotlin
8 1 (2.22%) Machine Learning
8 1 (2.22%) Microsoft
8 1 (2.22%) Observability

Head of Software Engineering 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:

Applications
1 3 (6.67%) Chatbot
Cloud Services
1 7 (15.56%) AWS
2 6 (13.33%) SaaS
3 4 (8.89%) Azure
General
1 6 (13.33%) Aviation
2 4 (8.89%) Finance
3 3 (6.67%) Law
4 2 (4.44%) Manufacturing
5 1 (2.22%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (8.89%) .NET
1 4 (8.89%) React
2 3 (6.67%) Bootstrap
2 3 (6.67%) Node.js
2 3 (6.67%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 4 (8.89%) Cloud Native
2 2 (4.44%) Embedded Systems
3 1 (2.22%) Culture of Ownership
3 1 (2.22%) Distributed Systems
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 5 (11.11%) AI
3 4 (8.89%) Roadmaps
4 3 (6.67%) Client Onboarding
4 3 (6.67%) Conversational UI
4 3 (6.67%) DevOps
4 3 (6.67%) DevSecOps
4 3 (6.67%) Technical Leadership
5 2 (4.44%) Continuous Improvement
5 2 (4.44%) Digital Transformation Programme
5 2 (4.44%) Embedded Software Development
6 1 (2.22%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
6 1 (2.22%) CI/CD
6 1 (2.22%) Collaborative Culture
6 1 (2.22%) Machine Learning
6 1 (2.22%) Observability
6 1 (2.22%) SDLC
6 1 (2.22%) Stakeholder Management
6 1 (2.22%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 4 (8.89%) JavaScript
1 4 (8.89%) TypeScript
2 3 (6.67%) C#
3 1 (2.22%) Kotlin
3 1 (2.22%) Scala
Vendors
1 1 (2.22%) Microsoft