Lead Developer Job Trends

Lead Developer
UK

The median Lead Developer salary in the UK is £81,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 27 June 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 271 388 232
Rank change year-on-year +117 -156 +119
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 652 308 1,262
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.68% 0.68% 1.20%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.73% 0.76% 1.26%
Number of salaries quoted 539 216 1,147
10th Percentile £62,500 £53,750 £48,750
25th Percentile £70,000 £62,500 £57,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £81,500 £72,500 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.41% +3.57% -9.68%
75th Percentile £100,000 £86,250 £91,250
90th Percentile £108,750 £120,000 £116,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £71,500 £70,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +2.14% +7.69% -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 89,596 40,763 99,991
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.08% 89.50% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 61,466 23,272 72,169
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,849 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,528 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +1.00% - -6.54%

Lead Developer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Lead Developer job vacancy trend in the UK

Lead Developer
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for Lead Developer job vacancies in the UK

Lead Developer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead Developer over the 6 months to 27 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead Developer in the UK

Lead Developer
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 Developer within the UK over the 6 months to 27 June 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 +100 603 £82,500 +13.79% 68
UK excluding London +106 392 £71,500 +2.14% 49
Work from Home +123 269 £90,000 +28.57% 38
London +44 223 £95,000 +10.14% 25
North of England +56 137 £71,500 -1.38% 16
North West +66 100 £72,000 -0.69% 11
South East +25 88 £90,000 +24.14% 16
Midlands +22 79 £70,000 +3.70% 7
West Midlands +10 42 £65,000 -7.14% 5
South West -37 41 £65,000 +13.04% 6
East Midlands +3 37 £70,000 +3.70% 2
East of England +4 27 £60,100 -19.87% 3
Yorkshire -26 22 £70,000 +3.70% 3
North East -27 15 £87,500 +9.38% 2
Northern Ireland -20 13 £80,000 - 1
Scotland +12 7 £70,000 +20.69%

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

For the 6 months to 27 June 2026, Lead Developer 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 Developer in the job title.

1 206 (31.60%) Full-Stack Development
2 145 (22.24%) AWS
3 141 (21.63%) Mentoring
4 136 (20.86%) TypeScript
5 135 (20.71%) JavaScript
6 134 (20.55%) .NET
7 132 (20.25%) Software Engineering
8 129 (19.79%) Azure
9 127 (19.48%) C#
10 118 (18.10%) Agile
10 118 (18.10%) Technical Leadership
11 116 (17.79%) React
12 106 (16.26%) Python
13 100 (15.34%) Node.js
14 97 (14.88%) CI/CD
15 85 (13.04%) DevOps
15 85 (13.04%) SaaS
16 82 (12.58%) AI
17 70 (10.74%) Java
17 70 (10.74%) SQL
18 66 (10.12%) Microservices
19 65 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
20 57 (8.74%) Microsoft
21 52 (7.98%) Problem-Solving
21 52 (7.98%) RESTful
22 48 (7.36%) PostgreSQL
23 47 (7.21%) GraphQL
24 44 (6.75%) SQL Server
25 42 (6.44%) Roadmaps
26 39 (5.98%) Portfolio Management

Lead Developer 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 12 (1.84%) Anypoint
1 12 (1.84%) Mule
2 8 (1.23%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.07%) Appian
4 6 (0.92%) Confluence
5 3 (0.46%) WordPress
6 1 (0.15%) CMS
Business Applications
1 8 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 145 (22.24%) AWS
2 129 (19.79%) Azure
3 85 (13.04%) SaaS
4 33 (5.06%) Power Platform
5 31 (4.75%) Dynamics 365
6 27 (4.14%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (4.14%) GCP
7 26 (3.99%) Serverless
8 22 (3.37%) GitHub
9 18 (2.76%) AWS Lambda
9 18 (2.76%) Azure Logic Apps
10 11 (1.69%) Microsoft Copilot
11 10 (1.53%) Amazon ECS
11 10 (1.53%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (1.53%) PowerApps
11 10 (1.53%) Snowflake
12 9 (1.38%) Amazon EventBridge
12 9 (1.38%) Amazon SQS
12 9 (1.38%) Entra ID
12 9 (1.38%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.07%) SSL
2 6 (0.92%) Broadband
3 1 (0.15%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.15%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (7.36%) PostgreSQL
2 44 (6.75%) SQL Server
3 16 (2.45%) Redis
4 12 (1.84%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (1.69%) MongoDB
6 10 (1.53%) DynamoDB
6 10 (1.53%) MySQL
6 10 (1.53%) Power BI
7 7 (1.07%) NoSQL
8 6 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 5 (0.77%) Metadata
10 4 (0.61%) Db2
10 4 (0.61%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.46%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.46%) Spatial Data
12 2 (0.31%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.31%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.15%) Azure SQL Database
13 1 (0.15%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 28 (4.29%) Git
2 11 (1.69%) JIRA
3 6 (0.92%) Cypress.io
4 5 (0.77%) Bitbucket
5 4 (0.61%) JUnit
5 4 (0.61%) Maven
6 3 (0.46%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.46%) Mockito
6 3 (0.46%) NUnit
6 3 (0.46%) Vite
6 3 (0.46%) webpack
7 2 (0.31%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.31%) GitLab
7 2 (0.31%) MSI
7 2 (0.31%) Storybook
7 2 (0.31%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.15%) Ant
8 1 (0.15%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.15%) fastlane
8 1 (0.15%) SpecFlow
General
1 118 (18.10%) Finance
2 60 (9.20%) Social Skills
3 41 (6.29%) Front Office
4 16 (2.45%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (2.45%) Banking
5 13 (1.99%) Games
5 13 (1.99%) Law
6 11 (1.69%) Public Sector
6 11 (1.69%) Tech for Good
7 8 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (0.92%) Health Technology
8 6 (0.92%) Retail
9 5 (0.77%) Local Government
10 4 (0.61%) Legal
10 4 (0.61%) Legal Technology
11 3 (0.46%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.31%) Marketing
13 1 (0.15%) General Ledger
13 1 (0.15%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.15%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 134 (20.55%) .NET
2 116 (17.79%) React
3 100 (15.34%) Node.js
4 52 (7.98%) RESTful
5 47 (7.21%) GraphQL
6 39 (5.98%) Redux
7 33 (5.06%) .NET Core
7 33 (5.06%) React Native
7 33 (5.06%) Vue
8 30 (4.60%) Kafka
8 30 (4.60%) Spring
9 29 (4.45%) ASP.NET
10 27 (4.14%) CSS
11 24 (3.68%) HTML
12 23 (3.53%) AngularJS
12 23 (3.53%) REST
13 18 (2.76%) .NET Framework
14 17 (2.61%) Next.js
15 15 (2.30%) Spring Boot
16 14 (2.15%) Hugging Face
Miscellaneous
1 39 (5.98%) Cloud Native
2 36 (5.52%) Fixed Income
3 25 (3.83%) Product Ownership
4 22 (3.37%) Mobile App
5 18 (2.76%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (2.61%) Derivative
7 16 (2.45%) Enterprise Software
7 16 (2.45%) Equities
8 13 (1.99%) PropTech
9 12 (1.84%) Legacy Systems
10 10 (1.53%) Low-Code
11 9 (1.38%) Legacy Applications
12 7 (1.07%) Onboarding
13 5 (0.77%) Virtual Team
14 4 (0.61%) Algorithms
14 4 (0.61%) AS400
14 4 (0.61%) Credit Risk
14 4 (0.61%) Greenfield Project
14 4 (0.61%) Video\Live Streaming
15 3 (0.46%) iSeries
Operating Systems
1 37 (5.67%) Apple iOS
2 35 (5.37%) Android
3 4 (0.61%) Linux
3 4 (0.61%) Windows
4 1 (0.15%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 206 (31.60%) Full-Stack Development
2 141 (21.63%) Mentoring
3 132 (20.25%) Software Engineering
4 118 (18.10%) Agile
4 118 (18.10%) Technical Leadership
5 97 (14.88%) CI/CD
6 85 (13.04%) DevOps
7 82 (12.58%) AI
8 66 (10.12%) Microservices
9 65 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
10 52 (7.98%) Problem-Solving
11 42 (6.44%) Roadmaps
12 39 (5.98%) Portfolio Management
13 38 (5.83%) Investment Management
14 37 (5.67%) Coaching
15 34 (5.21%) Event-Driven
15 34 (5.21%) Infrastructure as Code
16 33 (5.06%) Fintech
17 31 (4.75%) Design Patterns
17 31 (4.75%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 136 (20.86%) TypeScript
2 135 (20.71%) JavaScript
3 127 (19.48%) C#
4 106 (16.26%) Python
5 70 (10.74%) Java
5 70 (10.74%) SQL
6 29 (4.45%) Go
7 15 (2.30%) PHP
8 12 (1.84%) C++
9 11 (1.69%) Swift
10 10 (1.53%) Kotlin
11 9 (1.38%) RPG
12 8 (1.23%) Bicep
13 7 (1.07%) DataWeave
14 5 (0.77%) PowerShell
14 5 (0.77%) Ruby
15 4 (0.61%) Bash
15 4 (0.61%) C
15 4 (0.61%) Dart
16 3 (0.46%) COBOL
Qualifications
1 28 (4.29%) Degree
2 22 (3.37%) SC Cleared
2 22 (3.37%) Security Cleared
3 15 (2.30%) Computer Science Degree
4 9 (1.38%) DBS Check
5 6 (0.92%) ITIL Certification
6 1 (0.15%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.14%) QA
2 14 (2.15%) Accessibility
3 8 (1.23%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.31%) NCSC
4 2 (0.31%) WCAG
5 1 (0.15%) GAAP
5 1 (0.15%) GDPR
5 1 (0.15%) HL7
5 1 (0.15%) IFRS
5 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.15%) SNOMED CT
5 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 36 (5.52%) Docker
2 3 (0.46%) Firmware
3 2 (0.31%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 26 (3.99%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.91%) Terraform
3 7 (1.07%) CloudHub
4 6 (0.92%) Ansible
5 1 (0.15%) Grafana
5 1 (0.15%) Kibana
5 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 57 (8.74%) Microsoft
2 14 (2.15%) Salesforce
3 12 (1.84%) MuleSoft
4 9 (1.38%) ServiceNow
5 7 (1.07%) HubSpot
5 7 (1.07%) SAP
6 6 (0.92%) IBM
6 6 (0.92%) OpenAI
6 6 (0.92%) Oracle
7 4 (0.61%) Apple
8 3 (0.46%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.46%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.31%) Google
9 2 (0.31%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.31%) TikTok
10 1 (0.15%) Citrix
10 1 (0.15%) Foundry
10 1 (0.15%) Reuters
10 1 (0.15%) Revolut
10 1 (0.15%) Workday