Lead Architect Job Trends

Lead Architect
UK

The median Lead Architect salary in the UK is £87,431 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 408 513 557
Rank change year-on-year +105 +44 +160
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Architect 254 189 165
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.42% 0.35% 0.30%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.47% 0.38% 0.31%
Number of salaries quoted 139 119 139
10th Percentile £65,000 £73,078 £68,750
25th Percentile £74,000 £81,323 £74,901
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £87,431 £97,500 £85,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.33% +14.71% -7.32%
75th Percentile £100,000 £125,000 £111,250
90th Percentile £120,000 - £131,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £80,000 £82,500 £79,932
% change year-on-year -3.03% +3.21% -11.19%

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 54,426 49,714 53,040
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.72% 92.90% 95.25%
Number of salaries quoted 33,710 25,743 40,880
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,625 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,609 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.96% +5.22% -5.25%

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 14 January 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 14 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 +113 224 £87,431 -7.97% 48
UK excluding London +100 133 £80,000 -3.03% 45
London +58 95 £100,000 -9.09% 19
Work from Home +34 53 £95,000 - 20
North of England +25 46 £95,000 +8.57% 13
South East +41 32 £85,000 +13.33% 6
Midlands +39 31 £74,000 +3.28% 7
North West +30 21 £95,000 +35.71% 4
East Midlands +8 16 £65,000 - 2
Yorkshire -10 16 £95,000 +8.57% 5
West Midlands +21 13 £77,000 +7.47% 5
South West +16 10 £55,000 -47.62% 5
North East +16 9 £85,000 - 4
Wales - 6 £75,000 - 8
Scotland 0 5 £85,000 -27.66% 5
East of England +26 3 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 14 January 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 61 (24.02%) Business Strategy
2 58 (22.83%) Azure
3 52 (20.47%) Data Architecture
4 50 (19.69%) Architectural Patterns
5 45 (17.72%) Roadmaps
5 45 (17.72%) SAP
6 44 (17.32%) Agile
7 39 (15.35%) Enterprise Architecture
8 38 (14.96%) AWS
9 37 (14.57%) Decision-Making
9 37 (14.57%) DevOps
10 36 (14.17%) Microservices
11 35 (13.78%) IT Strategy
12 33 (12.99%) Analytics
13 29 (11.42%) Cybersecurity
14 28 (11.02%) AI
15 27 (10.63%) Data Modelling
16 26 (10.24%) ERP
17 25 (9.84%) Continuous Improvement
18 24 (9.45%) Degree
18 24 (9.45%) Integration Patterns
18 24 (9.45%) Project Management
18 24 (9.45%) Stakeholder Management
18 24 (9.45%) Thought Leadership
19 23 (9.06%) Risk Management
20 22 (8.66%) Data Strategy
20 22 (8.66%) Machine Learning
20 22 (8.66%) Technology Strategy
21 21 (8.27%) Technical Leadership
22 20 (7.87%) Customer 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 (3.54%) Confluence
1 9 (3.54%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 5 (1.97%) Maya
2 1 (0.39%) Abaqus
2 1 (0.39%) Siemens NX
2 1 (0.39%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 19 (7.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (5.51%) SAP MDG
3 9 (3.54%) SAP FS
4 6 (2.36%) Dynamics CRM
5 3 (1.18%) SAP CX
5 3 (1.18%) Shopify
6 1 (0.39%) DELMIA
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle Assets
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.39%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.39%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.39%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.39%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 58 (22.83%) Azure
2 38 (14.96%) AWS
3 18 (7.09%) SaaS
4 16 (6.30%) PaaS
5 13 (5.12%) Power Platform
6 12 (4.72%) GCP
6 12 (4.72%) Microsoft 365
7 11 (4.33%) IaaS
7 11 (4.33%) Serverless
8 10 (3.94%) Dynamics 365
9 6 (2.36%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
10 5 (1.97%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 5 (1.97%) Azure Logic Apps
10 5 (1.97%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.97%) Microsoft Copilot
10 5 (1.97%) Microsoft Purview
10 5 (1.97%) Oracle CX
11 4 (1.57%) Azure AKS
11 4 (1.57%) Azure API Management
11 4 (1.57%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.97%) Firewall
1 5 (1.97%) Network Security
2 3 (1.18%) Broadband
3 1 (0.39%) BGP
3 1 (0.39%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.94%) Power BI
2 9 (3.54%) NoSQL
3 5 (1.97%) Data Lake
3 5 (1.97%) Metadata
4 4 (1.57%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (1.18%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.79%) DB2
6 2 (0.79%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
7 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.39%) TIBCO EBX
Development Applications
1 13 (5.12%) ERwin
2 9 (3.54%) JIRA
General
1 58 (22.83%) Social Skills
2 36 (14.17%) Analytical Skills
3 22 (8.66%) Finance
4 20 (7.87%) Law
5 19 (7.48%) Legal
6 17 (6.69%) Games
7 15 (5.91%) Retail
8 14 (5.51%) Manufacturing
9 11 (4.33%) Public Sector
10 10 (3.94%) Influencing Skills
11 9 (3.54%) Dutch Language
11 9 (3.54%) French Language
12 7 (2.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (1.97%) Banking
13 5 (1.97%) Electronics
13 5 (1.97%) Marketing
14 4 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (1.18%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.79%) Aerospace
17 1 (0.39%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (4.72%) React
2 9 (3.54%) Middleware
3 8 (3.15%) AngularJS
3 8 (3.15%) REST
4 7 (2.76%) EDI
4 7 (2.76%) Vue
5 5 (1.97%) Blazor
6 4 (1.57%) Node.js
7 3 (1.18%) Apollo GraphQL
7 3 (1.18%) GraphQL
7 3 (1.18%) Kafka
8 2 (0.79%) Oracle Fusion
9 1 (0.39%) .NET
9 1 (0.39%) gRPC
9 1 (0.39%) SAP CAF
9 1 (0.39%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 28 (11.02%) Cloud Native
2 15 (5.91%) Enterprise Software
3 14 (5.51%) Legacy Systems
4 12 (4.72%) Data Structures
4 12 (4.72%) Management Information System
4 12 (4.72%) Product Ownership
5 8 (3.15%) Low-Code
6 7 (2.76%) Self-Motivation
7 6 (2.36%) Enterprise Cloud
8 5 (1.97%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.57%) AS400
9 4 (1.57%) iSeries
10 3 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (1.18%) Distributed Systems
10 3 (1.18%) Hybrid Cloud
11 2 (0.79%) AI Agents
11 2 (0.79%) Algorithms
11 2 (0.79%) Onboarding
11 2 (0.79%) Reinsurance
12 1 (0.39%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 3 (1.18%) Windows
1 3 (1.18%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (24.02%) Business Strategy
2 52 (20.47%) Data Architecture
3 50 (19.69%) Architectural Patterns
4 45 (17.72%) Roadmaps
5 44 (17.32%) Agile
6 39 (15.35%) Enterprise Architecture
7 37 (14.57%) Decision-Making
7 37 (14.57%) DevOps
8 36 (14.17%) Microservices
9 35 (13.78%) IT Strategy
10 33 (12.99%) Analytics
11 29 (11.42%) Cybersecurity
12 28 (11.02%) AI
13 27 (10.63%) Data Modelling
14 26 (10.24%) ERP
15 25 (9.84%) Continuous Improvement
16 24 (9.45%) Integration Patterns
16 24 (9.45%) Project Management
16 24 (9.45%) Stakeholder Management
16 24 (9.45%) Thought Leadership
Programming Languages
1 8 (3.15%) Java
2 7 (2.76%) C#
2 7 (2.76%) JavaScript
3 6 (2.36%) Python
4 4 (1.57%) SQL
5 1 (0.39%) ABAP
5 1 (0.39%) Go
5 1 (0.39%) PHP
5 1 (0.39%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 24 (9.45%) Degree
2 13 (5.12%) Security Cleared
3 11 (4.33%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (3.54%) TOGAF Certification
5 8 (3.15%) CISSP
6 6 (2.36%) DV Cleared
7 5 (1.97%) SC Cleared
8 3 (1.18%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 3 (1.18%) CCSP
8 3 (1.18%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (1.18%) GIAC
8 3 (1.18%) SANS
9 2 (0.79%) SAP Certification
10 1 (0.39%) CCA
10 1 (0.39%) CCIE
10 1 (0.39%) CISA
10 1 (0.39%) CISM
10 1 (0.39%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.39%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.39%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (6.30%) GDPR
2 10 (3.94%) IFRS
2 10 (3.94%) IFRS 17
2 10 (3.94%) Solvency II
3 9 (3.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (2.76%) SLA
5 6 (2.36%) NCSC
6 5 (1.97%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.97%) NIST
7 3 (1.18%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 2 (0.79%) QA
9 1 (0.39%) Def Stans
9 1 (0.39%) GRC
9 1 (0.39%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.39%) SOC 2
System Software
1 3 (1.18%) VMware NSX
2 1 (0.39%) Docker
Systems Management
1 3 (1.18%) Terraform
1 3 (1.18%) vRealize
2 1 (0.39%) Grafana
2 1 (0.39%) Kubernetes
2 1 (0.39%) MOM
2 1 (0.39%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 45 (17.72%) SAP
2 20 (7.87%) Microsoft
3 12 (4.72%) Ariba
4 11 (4.33%) Adobe
5 10 (3.94%) Siemens
6 9 (3.54%) Duck Creek
6 9 (3.54%) Guidewire
6 9 (3.54%) Salesforce
7 7 (2.76%) Oracle
7 7 (2.76%) Sparx
8 6 (2.36%) MuleSoft
9 4 (1.57%) Databricks
9 4 (1.57%) IBM
9 4 (1.57%) Informatica
10 3 (1.18%) CyberArk
10 3 (1.18%) Dell
10 3 (1.18%) VMware
10 3 (1.18%) Zoho
11 2 (0.79%) LogRhythm
11 2 (0.79%) Trend Micro