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 26 September 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 323 385 250
Rank change year-on-year +62 -135 +50
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 672 313 832
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.63% 1.09%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.70% 1.14%
Number of salaries quoted 551 220 692
10th Percentile £65,000 £54,925 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% +7.14% -12.23%
75th Percentile £95,000 £90,000 £90,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £123,250 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £70,000 £63,250
% change year-on-year +7.14% +10.67% -9.64%

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 109,213 44,406 72,800
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.99% 89.70% 95.27%
Number of salaries quoted 74,793 25,960 42,645
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,500
25th Percentile £40,750 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,775 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,950 £95,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

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 26 September 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 26 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 +73 622 £83,500 +11.33% 172
UK excluding London +36 427 £75,000 +7.14% 99
Work from Home +51 224 £95,000 +26.67% 79
London +18 214 £90,000 -10.00% 86
North of England +10 144 £75,000 +7.14% 37
Midlands +21 107 £70,000 -3.45% 19
South East +23 92 £90,000 +20.00% 18
North West +14 78 £75,000 +7.14% 10
West Midlands -4 61 £70,000 -3.45% 12
East Midlands +9 46 £70,000 +3.70% 7
Yorkshire -27 44 £75,000 +9.09% 22
East of England -2 32 £76,021 +38.22% 4
South West -70 23 £70,000 +40.00% 6
North East -47 22 £100,000 +45.99% 5
Wales -60 10 £58,500 -22.00% 5
Northern Ireland - 10 £80,000 - 3
Scotland +10 9 £70,000 +33.33% 7

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

For the 6 months to 26 September 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.

1 166 (24.70%) Full-Stack Development
2 159 (23.66%) Technical Leadership
3 151 (22.47%) C#
4 139 (20.68%) Azure
5 134 (19.94%) .NET
6 128 (19.05%) JavaScript
7 127 (18.90%) AWS
7 127 (18.90%) Mentoring
8 117 (17.41%) TypeScript
9 103 (15.33%) CI/CD
10 86 (12.80%) AI
11 85 (12.65%) Node.js
12 83 (12.35%) SaaS
13 81 (12.05%) DevOps
14 79 (11.76%) Software Engineering
15 77 (11.46%) Agile
16 75 (11.16%) SQL
17 72 (10.71%) Microsoft
18 69 (10.27%) Microservices
18 69 (10.27%) Python
19 67 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
20 64 (9.52%) Dynamics 365
21 63 (9.38%) React
22 54 (8.04%) SQL Server
23 52 (7.74%) RESTful
23 52 (7.74%) Roadmaps
24 50 (7.44%) Power Platform
25 49 (7.29%) Event-Driven
26 48 (7.14%) Docker
27 46 (6.85%) Problem-Solving

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 19 (2.83%) Anypoint
1 19 (2.83%) Mule
2 14 (2.08%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.74%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) WordPress
5 2 (0.30%) Appian
Business Applications
1 15 (2.23%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.74%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 139 (20.68%) Azure
2 127 (18.90%) AWS
3 83 (12.35%) SaaS
4 64 (9.52%) Dynamics 365
5 50 (7.44%) Power Platform
6 36 (5.36%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (3.13%) Power Automate
8 20 (2.98%) GitHub
8 20 (2.98%) Microsoft Copilot
8 20 (2.98%) Serverless
9 19 (2.83%) Azure Service Bus
10 18 (2.68%) Azure Logic Apps
10 18 (2.68%) GCP
11 17 (2.53%) Snowflake
12 15 (2.23%) Azure Key Vault
13 14 (2.08%) Azure Monitor
14 13 (1.93%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 13 (1.93%) PowerApps
15 11 (1.64%) Amazon ECS
16 10 (1.49%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.08%) SSL
2 4 (0.60%) Broadband
3 1 (0.15%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.15%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (8.04%) SQL Server
2 35 (5.21%) PostgreSQL
3 25 (3.72%) Redis
4 16 (2.38%) MySQL
5 15 (2.23%) Power BI
6 12 (1.79%) Elasticsearch
7 11 (1.64%) MongoDB
8 9 (1.34%) Amazon RDS
8 9 (1.34%) DynamoDB
9 6 (0.89%) NoSQL
10 5 (0.74%) Metadata
10 5 (0.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.45%) KDB
11 3 (0.45%) Spatial Data
12 2 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.30%) Db2
12 2 (0.30%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.30%) InterSystems Cache
12 2 (0.30%) MariaDB
13 1 (0.15%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 37 (5.51%) Git
2 9 (1.34%) JIRA
3 5 (0.74%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.45%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.45%) JUnit
4 3 (0.45%) Maven
4 3 (0.45%) Mockito
5 2 (0.30%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.30%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.30%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.30%) GitLab
5 2 (0.30%) MSI
5 2 (0.30%) NUnit
5 2 (0.30%) TeamCity
5 2 (0.30%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.15%) fastlane
6 1 (0.15%) git-flow
6 1 (0.15%) Storybook
6 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
6 1 (0.15%) XCUITest
General
1 94 (13.99%) Finance
2 73 (10.86%) Social Skills
3 26 (3.87%) Banking
4 24 (3.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 20 (2.98%) Law
6 17 (2.53%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (1.79%) Front Office
8 11 (1.64%) Games
8 11 (1.64%) Public Sector
9 10 (1.49%) Marketing
10 8 (1.19%) Retail
11 7 (1.04%) Legal
11 7 (1.04%) Legal Technology
12 4 (0.60%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.30%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.15%) Local Government
14 1 (0.15%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 134 (19.94%) .NET
2 85 (12.65%) Node.js
3 63 (9.38%) React
4 52 (7.74%) RESTful
5 34 (5.06%) .NET Core
5 34 (5.06%) ASP.NET
5 34 (5.06%) REST
6 31 (4.61%) Vue
7 25 (3.72%) CSS
8 23 (3.42%) GraphQL
9 22 (3.27%) HTML
9 22 (3.27%) Next.js
9 22 (3.27%) Spring
10 21 (3.13%) React Native
11 16 (2.38%) Terraform
12 14 (2.08%) JWT
12 14 (2.08%) MUnit
12 14 (2.08%) OAuth
12 14 (2.08%) OAuth2
12 14 (2.08%) RAML
Miscellaneous
1 39 (5.80%) Cloud Native
2 20 (2.98%) Product Ownership
3 18 (2.68%) Distributed Systems
4 16 (2.38%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (2.08%) Low-Code
6 13 (1.93%) Enterprise Software
7 12 (1.79%) Mobile App
8 11 (1.64%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.34%) Greenfield Project
10 7 (1.04%) Onboarding
11 6 (0.89%) AI Agents
11 6 (0.89%) Algorithms
11 6 (0.89%) Hedge funds
12 5 (0.74%) Blog
12 5 (0.74%) Legacy Applications
13 4 (0.60%) Management Information System
13 4 (0.60%) Taxonomies
14 3 (0.45%) Equities
14 3 (0.45%) Operational Technology
14 3 (0.45%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 24 (3.57%) Android
2 23 (3.42%) Apple iOS
3 4 (0.60%) Linux
4 3 (0.45%) Windows
5 1 (0.15%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (24.70%) Full-Stack Development
2 159 (23.66%) Technical Leadership
3 127 (18.90%) Mentoring
4 103 (15.33%) CI/CD
5 86 (12.80%) AI
6 81 (12.05%) DevOps
7 79 (11.76%) Software Engineering
8 77 (11.46%) Agile
9 69 (10.27%) Microservices
10 67 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
11 52 (7.74%) Roadmaps
12 49 (7.29%) Event-Driven
13 46 (6.85%) Problem-Solving
14 44 (6.55%) Event-Driven Architecture
15 40 (5.95%) Stakeholder Management
16 38 (5.65%) Test Automation
17 33 (4.91%) Design Patterns
18 31 (4.61%) DevSecOps
19 29 (4.32%) Scrum
20 28 (4.17%) Clean Code
Programming Languages
1 151 (22.47%) C#
2 128 (19.05%) JavaScript
3 117 (17.41%) TypeScript
4 75 (11.16%) SQL
5 69 (10.27%) Python
6 43 (6.40%) Java
7 16 (2.38%) PHP
8 14 (2.08%) DataWeave
9 9 (1.34%) C++
10 8 (1.19%) Go
10 8 (1.19%) Ruby
11 6 (0.89%) Bicep
11 6 (0.89%) R
11 6 (0.89%) RPG
12 5 (0.74%) Kotlin
12 5 (0.74%) PowerShell
13 4 (0.60%) Bash
14 3 (0.45%) C
14 3 (0.45%) PL/SQL
14 3 (0.45%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 33 (4.91%) Security Cleared
2 32 (4.76%) SC Cleared
3 30 (4.46%) Degree
4 21 (3.13%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (1.04%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (0.74%) DBS Check
6 5 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (0.60%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.15%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.21%) QA
2 13 (1.93%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.89%) Data Quality
3 6 (0.89%) WCAG
4 5 (0.74%) GDPR
5 2 (0.30%) NCSC
6 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 48 (7.14%) Docker
2 1 (0.15%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 27 (4.02%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.08%) CloudHub
3 2 (0.30%) Ansible
4 1 (0.15%) Grafana
4 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 72 (10.71%) Microsoft
2 19 (2.83%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.38%) Salesforce
4 15 (2.23%) ServiceNow
5 14 (2.08%) SAP
6 11 (1.64%) Oracle
7 8 (1.19%) Google
8 6 (0.89%) HubSpot
8 6 (0.89%) IBM
9 5 (0.74%) Databricks
10 3 (0.45%) Adobe
10 3 (0.45%) Bloomberg
11 2 (0.30%) DevExpress
11 2 (0.30%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.30%) Refinitiv
11 2 (0.30%) TikTok
12 1 (0.15%) Apple
12 1 (0.15%) Citrix
12 1 (0.15%) Reuters
12 1 (0.15%) Splunk