Lead Architect Job Trends

Lead Architect
UK

The median Lead Architect salary in the UK is £90,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 21 July 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 340 547 481
Rank change year-on-year +207 -66 +170
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Architect 553 133 401
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.27% 0.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.59% 0.30% 0.45%
Number of salaries quoted 373 94 261
10th Percentile £63,995 £60,000 £61,000
25th Percentile £80,000 £78,125 £71,075
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £95,000 £82,500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +15.15% -13.16%
75th Percentile £100,000 £111,250 £90,000
90th Percentile - £125,000 £105,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £95,000 £92,319 £79,842
% change year-on-year +2.90% +15.63% -11.29%

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 94,323 44,218 88,743
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.27% 89.88% 94.74%
Number of salaries quoted 64,728 26,167 62,366
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year - +1.85% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

Lead Architect
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Lead Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Lead Architect
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Lead Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Lead Architect job vacancies in the UK

Lead Architect
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead Architect over the 6 months to 21 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead Architect in the UK

Lead Architect
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Lead Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 21 July 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 +212 467 £95,000 -5.00% 291
UK excluding London +156 331 £95,000 +2.90% 135
Work from Home +103 196 £95,000 +0.38% 105
London +88 168 £100,000 -6.98% 171
North of England +109 152 £95,000 +11.76% 53
Midlands +16 57 £95,000 +58.33% 16
North West +42 56 £95,000 -9.52% 27
Yorkshire +13 54 £95,000 +11.76% 20
North East -7 42 £95,000 +46.85% 6
West Midlands +13 41 £95,000 +58.33% 14
Wales -24 34 £80,000 +16.78% 6
South West -32 34 £80,000 -20.00% 11
South East -20 26 £85,000 -3.95% 26
Scotland +20 17 £95,000 +0.38% 11
East Midlands - 16 £80,000 - 2
East of England - 11 £90,000 - 9

Lead Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 21 July 2026, Lead Architect 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 Lead Architect in the job title.

1 117 (21.16%) Roadmaps
2 87 (15.73%) Enterprise Architecture
3 83 (15.01%) Microsoft
4 71 (12.84%) Agile
5 58 (10.49%) Mentoring
6 51 (9.22%) Azure
7 50 (9.04%) AI
8 49 (8.86%) Analytics
9 46 (8.32%) Architecture Governance
10 45 (8.14%) Continuous Improvement
11 43 (7.78%) Strategic Roadmap
12 42 (7.59%) Security Cleared
13 41 (7.41%) Decision-Making
14 40 (7.23%) Cybersecurity
15 35 (6.33%) Architectural Patterns
15 35 (6.33%) Coaching
16 33 (5.97%) Data Architecture
16 33 (5.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 32 (5.79%) Data Strategy
17 32 (5.79%) IT Strategy
18 30 (5.42%) AWS
18 30 (5.42%) DevOps
19 28 (5.06%) Business Strategy
19 28 (5.06%) Integration Patterns
19 28 (5.06%) Technical Leadership
19 28 (5.06%) Waterfall
20 27 (4.88%) Cost Reduction
20 27 (4.88%) Technology Strategy
21 26 (4.70%) Event-Driven
21 26 (4.70%) User Experience

Lead Architect 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 9 (1.63%) Confluence
2 5 (0.90%) CMS
3 3 (0.54%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.36%) Apache
4 2 (0.36%) Documentum
5 1 (0.18%) SharePoint
Applications
1 14 (2.53%) Chatbot
2 2 (0.36%) PlantUML
3 1 (0.18%) Maya
Business Applications
1 13 (2.35%) Endur
2 4 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.18%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 51 (9.22%) Azure
2 30 (5.42%) AWS
3 20 (3.62%) SaaS
4 16 (2.89%) PaaS
5 10 (1.81%) iPaaS
6 9 (1.63%) Entra ID
7 8 (1.45%) GCP
7 8 (1.45%) Microsoft 365
8 6 (1.08%) Azure Machine Learning
8 6 (1.08%) GitHub
8 6 (1.08%) Serverless
9 5 (0.90%) Adobe Analytics
9 5 (0.90%) Contentsquare
9 5 (0.90%) Figma
9 5 (0.90%) Power Platform
10 3 (0.54%) Amazon S3
10 3 (0.54%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.54%) Google Ads
11 2 (0.36%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (0.36%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (2.71%) CTI
2 14 (2.53%) VoIP
3 10 (1.81%) Unified Communications
4 9 (1.63%) LAN
4 9 (1.63%) WAN
5 8 (1.45%) WLAN
6 5 (0.90%) Broadband
7 3 (0.54%) Network Security
8 1 (0.18%) Ethernet VPN
8 1 (0.18%) Firewall
8 1 (0.18%) VXLAN
8 1 (0.18%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.17%) Metadata
2 5 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (0.72%) RDBMS
3 4 (0.72%) Relational Database
4 3 (0.54%) Amazon Redshift
4 3 (0.54%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.54%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.54%) Power BI
4 3 (0.54%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.36%) Data Vault
5 2 (0.36%) Flink
5 2 (0.36%) GIS
5 2 (0.36%) Spatial Data
6 1 (0.18%) Big Data
6 1 (0.18%) Hadoop
6 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.18%) SAP BW
6 1 (0.18%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 4 (0.72%) JIRA
2 1 (0.18%) Claude Code
2 1 (0.18%) Git
General
1 70 (12.66%) Public Sector
2 63 (11.39%) Finance
3 54 (9.76%) Social Skills
4 36 (6.51%) Influencing Skills
5 16 (2.89%) Legal
6 11 (1.99%) Analytical Skills
7 10 (1.81%) Back Office
8 9 (1.63%) Front Office
9 6 (1.08%) Games
10 4 (0.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (0.72%) Law
10 4 (0.72%) Local Government
10 4 (0.72%) Telecoms
11 3 (0.54%) Aviation
12 2 (0.36%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.36%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.18%) Advertising
13 1 (0.18%) Banking
13 1 (0.18%) Marketing
13 1 (0.18%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (2.35%) Middleware
2 5 (0.90%) Oracle Fusion
2 5 (0.90%) XBRL
2 5 (0.90%) XML
3 4 (0.72%) JSON
3 4 (0.72%) Node.js
3 4 (0.72%) SAP Fiori
3 4 (0.72%) SAPUI5
4 3 (0.54%) REST
5 2 (0.36%) .NET
5 2 (0.36%) Kafka
5 2 (0.36%) LangChain
5 2 (0.36%) Lightning Web Components
5 2 (0.36%) PyTorch
5 2 (0.36%) React
5 2 (0.36%) SOAP
5 2 (0.36%) TensorFlow
5 2 (0.36%) Vue
6 1 (0.18%) LDAP
6 1 (0.18%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 18 (3.25%) Cloud Native
2 14 (2.53%) IVR
3 10 (1.81%) Product Ownership
4 6 (1.08%) Management Information System
4 6 (1.08%) Virtual Team
5 5 (0.90%) Distributed Systems
5 5 (0.90%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (0.90%) Public Cloud
5 5 (0.90%) Taxonomies
6 4 (0.72%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (0.54%) Blog
7 3 (0.54%) Cyber Defence
7 3 (0.54%) Data Structures
7 3 (0.54%) e-Learning
7 3 (0.54%) Embedded Systems
7 3 (0.54%) IoT
8 2 (0.36%) Blockchain
8 2 (0.36%) CMDB
8 2 (0.36%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (0.36%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 6 (1.08%) Windows
2 3 (0.54%) Linux
3 2 (0.36%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.18%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 117 (21.16%) Roadmaps
2 87 (15.73%) Enterprise Architecture
3 71 (12.84%) Agile
4 58 (10.49%) Mentoring
5 50 (9.04%) AI
6 49 (8.86%) Analytics
7 46 (8.32%) Architecture Governance
8 45 (8.14%) Continuous Improvement
9 43 (7.78%) Strategic Roadmap
10 41 (7.41%) Decision-Making
11 40 (7.23%) Cybersecurity
12 35 (6.33%) Architectural Patterns
12 35 (6.33%) Coaching
13 33 (5.97%) Data Architecture
13 33 (5.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 32 (5.79%) Data Strategy
14 32 (5.79%) IT Strategy
15 30 (5.42%) DevOps
16 28 (5.06%) Business Strategy
16 28 (5.06%) Integration Patterns
Programming Languages
1 10 (1.81%) SQL
2 9 (1.63%) Python
3 4 (0.72%) Java
4 3 (0.54%) Ruby
4 3 (0.54%) TypeScript
5 2 (0.36%) C#
5 2 (0.36%) Scala
5 2 (0.36%) SOQL
5 2 (0.36%) SOSL
6 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
6 1 (0.18%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 42 (7.59%) Security Cleared
2 21 (3.80%) DV Cleared
2 21 (3.80%) SC Cleared
3 20 (3.62%) Degree
4 12 (2.17%) CISSP
5 10 (1.81%) TOGAF Certification
6 6 (1.08%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.08%) CRISC
6 6 (1.08%) ISACA
7 4 (0.72%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 4 (0.72%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (0.72%) Master's Degree
8 3 (0.54%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.36%) CCIE
9 2 (0.36%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (0.36%) CITP
10 1 (0.18%) CCA
10 1 (0.18%) CCDE
10 1 (0.18%) CISM
10 1 (0.18%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (3.25%) Accessibility
2 10 (1.81%) Actionable Recommendations
3 9 (1.63%) QA
4 6 (1.08%) WCAG
5 4 (0.72%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.54%) GDPR
7 2 (0.36%) NIST
8 1 (0.18%) COBIT
8 1 (0.18%) GRC
8 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.18%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 10 (1.81%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.36%) Docker
3 1 (0.18%) NDS
3 1 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.18%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 16 (2.89%) MOM
2 4 (0.72%) Kubernetes
2 4 (0.72%) Terraform
3 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (0.18%) vRealize
Vendors
1 83 (15.01%) Microsoft
2 17 (3.07%) Cisco
3 15 (2.71%) Genesys
4 14 (2.53%) Avaya
4 14 (2.53%) ServiceNow
5 13 (2.35%) Databricks
6 11 (1.99%) Oracle
7 8 (1.45%) SAP
8 5 (0.90%) Adobe
8 5 (0.90%) Pega
8 5 (0.90%) Salesforce
9 4 (0.72%) Google
9 4 (0.72%) OpenLink
10 3 (0.54%) NVIDIA
10 3 (0.54%) OpenText
10 3 (0.54%) Splunk
11 2 (0.36%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.36%) Siemens
11 2 (0.36%) YouTube
12 1 (0.18%) DataRobot