Lead Developer Job Trends

Lead Developer
UK

The median Lead Developer salary in the UK is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 20 June 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 282 398 240
Rank change year-on-year +116 -158 +114
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 647 305 1,274
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.69% 0.68% 1.17%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.73% 0.76% 1.23%
Number of salaries quoted 529 210 1,155
10th Percentile £62,500 £53,625 £48,750
25th Percentile £70,000 £62,813 £57,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £72,500 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.34% +3.57% -9.68%
75th Percentile £100,000 £85,000 £90,000
90th Percentile £107,750 £110,250 £112,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £72,500 £70,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.57% +7.69% -5.45%

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 88,490 40,188 103,482
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.00% 89.54% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 60,699 22,814 74,733
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £38,620
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 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,474 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year - - -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 20 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead Developer in the UK

Lead Developer
Top 17 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 20 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 +99 597 £82,000 +13.10% 61
UK excluding London +115 390 £72,500 +3.57% 49
Work from Home +125 270 £90,000 +28.57% 36
London +46 223 £95,000 +11.76% 18
North of England +63 137 £71,500 -1.38% 14
North West +67 99 £71,500 -1.38% 10
South East +29 87 £85,000 +19.30% 11
Midlands +24 78 £70,000 +3.70% 13
South West -43 42 £65,000 +13.04% 5
East Midlands -3 40 £70,000 +5.66% 3
West Midlands +3 38 £65,000 -7.14% 10
East of England +5 24 £60,100 -19.87% 3
Yorkshire -27 24 £70,000 +1.82% 2
North East -36 14 £75,000 -6.25% 2
Northern Ireland -19 13 £80,000 - 2
Scotland +12 7 £70,000 +38.61% 1
Wales -53 2 £75,000 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 20 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.

1 204 (31.53%) Full-Stack Development
2 142 (21.95%) Mentoring
3 140 (21.64%) AWS
4 131 (20.25%) .NET
5 130 (20.09%) Software Engineering
5 130 (20.09%) TypeScript
6 128 (19.78%) JavaScript
7 123 (19.01%) C#
8 122 (18.86%) Azure
9 117 (18.08%) React
10 114 (17.62%) Agile
10 114 (17.62%) Technical Leadership
11 107 (16.54%) Python
12 96 (14.84%) Node.js
13 93 (14.37%) CI/CD
14 83 (12.83%) DevOps
15 82 (12.67%) SaaS
16 78 (12.06%) AI
17 73 (11.28%) Java
18 71 (10.97%) SQL
19 62 (9.58%) Continuous Improvement
20 60 (9.27%) Microservices
21 56 (8.66%) Microsoft
22 52 (8.04%) Problem-Solving
22 52 (8.04%) RESTful
23 46 (7.11%) GraphQL
23 46 (7.11%) PostgreSQL
24 42 (6.49%) SQL Server
25 41 (6.34%) Roadmaps
26 39 (6.03%) Apple iOS

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 10 (1.55%) Anypoint
1 10 (1.55%) Mule
2 8 (1.24%) SharePoint
3 6 (0.93%) Appian
3 6 (0.93%) Confluence
4 2 (0.31%) WordPress
5 1 (0.15%) CMS
Business Applications
1 8 (1.24%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 140 (21.64%) AWS
2 122 (18.86%) Azure
3 82 (12.67%) SaaS
4 33 (5.10%) Power Platform
5 29 (4.48%) Dynamics 365
5 29 (4.48%) Serverless
6 26 (4.02%) GCP
7 25 (3.86%) Azure DevOps
8 21 (3.25%) AWS Lambda
9 20 (3.09%) GitHub
10 18 (2.78%) Azure Logic Apps
11 12 (1.85%) Amazon S3
12 10 (1.55%) Amazon EventBridge
12 10 (1.55%) Amazon SQS
12 10 (1.55%) PowerApps
13 9 (1.39%) Amazon ECS
13 9 (1.39%) Entra ID
13 9 (1.39%) Microsoft 365
13 9 (1.39%) Power Automate
14 8 (1.24%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 6 (0.93%) Broadband
2 5 (0.77%) SSL
3 1 (0.15%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.15%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (7.11%) PostgreSQL
2 42 (6.49%) SQL Server
3 13 (2.01%) Redis
4 12 (1.85%) Amazon RDS
5 10 (1.55%) DynamoDB
5 10 (1.55%) MongoDB
6 9 (1.39%) Power BI
7 8 (1.24%) MySQL
8 7 (1.08%) NoSQL
9 6 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.77%) Metadata
11 4 (0.62%) Amazon Redshift
11 4 (0.62%) Db2
12 3 (0.46%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.46%) MariaDB
12 3 (0.46%) Spatial Data
13 2 (0.31%) Geospatial Data
13 2 (0.31%) InterSystems Cache
14 1 (0.15%) Azure SQL Database
14 1 (0.15%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 27 (4.17%) Git
2 10 (1.55%) JIRA
3 6 (0.93%) Cypress.io
4 5 (0.77%) Bitbucket
5 4 (0.62%) JUnit
5 4 (0.62%) Maven
6 3 (0.46%) Mockito
6 3 (0.46%) NUnit
6 3 (0.46%) Vite
6 3 (0.46%) webpack
7 2 (0.31%) ESLint
7 2 (0.31%) GitLab
7 2 (0.31%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.31%) MSI
7 2 (0.31%) Storybook
7 2 (0.31%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.15%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.15%) Postman
8 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.15%) XCUITest
General
1 114 (17.62%) Finance
2 61 (9.43%) Social Skills
3 41 (6.34%) Front Office
4 17 (2.63%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (2.63%) Banking
5 13 (2.01%) Games
5 13 (2.01%) Tech for Good
6 12 (1.85%) Public Sector
7 11 (1.70%) Law
8 8 (1.24%) Health Technology
9 7 (1.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (0.93%) Local Government
10 6 (0.93%) Retail
11 4 (0.62%) Legal
11 4 (0.62%) Legal Technology
11 4 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.31%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.31%) Marketing
12 2 (0.31%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.15%) Investment Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 131 (20.25%) .NET
2 117 (18.08%) React
3 96 (14.84%) Node.js
4 52 (8.04%) RESTful
5 46 (7.11%) GraphQL
6 39 (6.03%) Redux
7 34 (5.26%) React Native
8 33 (5.10%) .NET Core
9 32 (4.95%) Spring
10 30 (4.64%) Kafka
10 30 (4.64%) Vue
11 29 (4.48%) ASP.NET
12 26 (4.02%) CSS
13 23 (3.55%) AngularJS
13 23 (3.55%) HTML
14 21 (3.25%) REST
15 19 (2.94%) .NET Framework
16 17 (2.63%) Next.js
16 17 (2.63%) Spring Boot
17 15 (2.32%) Hugging Face
Miscellaneous
1 38 (5.87%) Cloud Native
2 36 (5.56%) Fixed Income
3 26 (4.02%) Product Ownership
4 25 (3.86%) Mobile App
5 18 (2.78%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (2.63%) Derivative
7 16 (2.47%) Equities
8 14 (2.16%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (2.01%) PropTech
10 10 (1.55%) Legacy Systems
10 10 (1.55%) Low-Code
11 9 (1.39%) Legacy Applications
12 6 (0.93%) Onboarding
13 4 (0.62%) Algorithms
13 4 (0.62%) AS400
13 4 (0.62%) Credit Risk
13 4 (0.62%) Greenfield Project
13 4 (0.62%) Video\Live Streaming
14 3 (0.46%) iSeries
14 3 (0.46%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 39 (6.03%) Apple iOS
2 36 (5.56%) Android
3 4 (0.62%) Linux
3 4 (0.62%) Windows
4 1 (0.15%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 204 (31.53%) Full-Stack Development
2 142 (21.95%) Mentoring
3 130 (20.09%) Software Engineering
4 114 (17.62%) Agile
4 114 (17.62%) Technical Leadership
5 93 (14.37%) CI/CD
6 83 (12.83%) DevOps
7 78 (12.06%) AI
8 62 (9.58%) Continuous Improvement
9 60 (9.27%) Microservices
10 52 (8.04%) Problem-Solving
11 41 (6.34%) Roadmaps
12 39 (6.03%) Portfolio Management
13 38 (5.87%) Investment Management
14 36 (5.56%) Infrastructure as Code
15 35 (5.41%) Coaching
16 32 (4.95%) Event-Driven
16 32 (4.95%) Fintech
17 31 (4.79%) Machine Learning
18 29 (4.48%) Event-Driven Architecture
Programming Languages
1 130 (20.09%) TypeScript
2 128 (19.78%) JavaScript
3 123 (19.01%) C#
4 107 (16.54%) Python
5 73 (11.28%) Java
6 71 (10.97%) SQL
7 27 (4.17%) Go
8 12 (1.85%) C++
8 12 (1.85%) PHP
9 11 (1.70%) Swift
10 10 (1.55%) Kotlin
11 9 (1.39%) RPG
12 8 (1.24%) Bicep
13 5 (0.77%) DataWeave
13 5 (0.77%) PowerShell
13 5 (0.77%) Ruby
14 4 (0.62%) Bash
14 4 (0.62%) C
14 4 (0.62%) Dart
15 3 (0.46%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 25 (3.86%) Degree
2 18 (2.78%) SC Cleared
2 18 (2.78%) Security Cleared
3 14 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
4 9 (1.39%) DBS Check
5 6 (0.93%) ITIL Certification
6 1 (0.15%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.02%) QA
2 13 (2.01%) Accessibility
3 8 (1.24%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.31%) GAAP
4 2 (0.31%) IFRS
4 2 (0.31%) NCSC
4 2 (0.31%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 2 (0.31%) WCAG
5 1 (0.15%) GDPR
5 1 (0.15%) HL7
5 1 (0.15%) SNOMED CT
5 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 32 (4.95%) Docker
2 3 (0.46%) Firmware
3 2 (0.31%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 24 (3.71%) Kubernetes
2 21 (3.25%) Terraform
3 8 (1.24%) Ansible
4 5 (0.77%) CloudHub
5 1 (0.15%) Grafana
5 1 (0.15%) Kibana
5 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 56 (8.66%) Microsoft
2 12 (1.85%) Salesforce
3 10 (1.55%) MuleSoft
4 7 (1.08%) HubSpot
4 7 (1.08%) OpenAI
4 7 (1.08%) ServiceNow
5 6 (0.93%) IBM
5 6 (0.93%) Oracle
6 5 (0.77%) SAP
7 4 (0.62%) Apple
8 3 (0.46%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.46%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.31%) Foundry
9 2 (0.31%) Google
9 2 (0.31%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.31%) TikTok
9 2 (0.31%) Workday
10 1 (0.15%) Citrix
10 1 (0.15%) Reuters
10 1 (0.15%) Revolut