Lead Developer Job Trends

Lead Developer
UK

The median Lead Developer salary in the UK is £84,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 August 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 302 382 225
Rank change year-on-year +80 -157 +93
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 668 332 966
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.66% 1.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.74% 1.25%
Number of salaries quoted 547 231 833
10th Percentile £65,000 £53,750 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £63,750 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £84,500 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.67% +7.14% -9.68%
75th Percentile £99,375 £90,000 £90,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £122,500 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £70,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% +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 102,744 44,989 77,310
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.86% 89.84% 95.15%
Number of salaries quoted 70,528 26,760 49,758
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £74,888 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £91,250
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 29 August 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 29 August 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 +90 620 £85,000 +13.33% 140
UK excluding London +66 420 £75,000 +7.14% 62
Work from Home +52 232 £95,000 +26.67% 66
London +22 215 £92,500 -2.63% 92
North of England +27 156 £75,000 +7.14% 14
Midlands +29 97 £70,000 - 15
North West +37 91 £75,510 +7.87% 4
South East +15 90 £90,000 +24.14% 12
West Midlands +16 60 £65,000 -8.77% 7
East Midlands +1 37 £70,000 +5.66% 8
Yorkshire -30 37 £75,000 +7.14% 7
North East -38 28 £90,000 +12.50% 3
South West -59 28 £70,000 +33.33% 7
East of England +6 26 £65,000 - 4
Northern Ireland -66 13 £80,000 - 3
Scotland -4 7 £70,000 +33.33% 4
Wales -69 3 £55,000 -26.67% 3

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

For the 6 months to 29 August 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.

1 184 (27.54%) Full-Stack Development
2 159 (23.80%) C#
3 145 (21.71%) .NET
4 143 (21.41%) Azure
5 137 (20.51%) JavaScript
5 137 (20.51%) Mentoring
6 136 (20.36%) Technical Leadership
7 131 (19.61%) TypeScript
8 128 (19.16%) AWS
9 101 (15.12%) CI/CD
10 95 (14.22%) Software Engineering
11 91 (13.62%) Node.js
12 87 (13.02%) SaaS
13 86 (12.87%) Agile
14 83 (12.43%) AI
15 81 (12.13%) React
16 80 (11.98%) DevOps
17 72 (10.78%) Microservices
18 71 (10.63%) Python
19 70 (10.48%) Microsoft
20 69 (10.33%) SQL
21 68 (10.18%) Continuous Improvement
22 56 (8.38%) RESTful
23 55 (8.23%) Dynamics 365
24 49 (7.34%) Event-Driven
24 49 (7.34%) SQL Server
25 47 (7.04%) Roadmaps
26 46 (6.89%) Docker
26 46 (6.89%) Java
26 46 (6.89%) Power Platform

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 (2.84%) Anypoint
1 19 (2.84%) Mule
2 12 (1.80%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.75%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) Appian
4 4 (0.60%) WordPress
5 1 (0.15%) CMS
Business Applications
1 14 (2.10%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.30%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 143 (21.41%) Azure
2 128 (19.16%) AWS
3 87 (13.02%) SaaS
4 55 (8.23%) Dynamics 365
5 46 (6.89%) Power Platform
6 35 (5.24%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (3.14%) Azure Logic Apps
8 19 (2.84%) Microsoft Copilot
8 19 (2.84%) Serverless
9 18 (2.69%) Azure Service Bus
9 18 (2.69%) GitHub
9 18 (2.69%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.54%) Snowflake
11 16 (2.40%) Azure Key Vault
11 16 (2.40%) GCP
12 15 (2.25%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 14 (2.10%) Azure Monitor
14 13 (1.95%) PowerApps
15 11 (1.65%) AWS Lambda
16 10 (1.50%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.10%) SSL
2 6 (0.90%) Broadband
3 1 (0.15%) Asterisk PBX
3 1 (0.15%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 49 (7.34%) SQL Server
2 39 (5.84%) PostgreSQL
3 23 (3.44%) Redis
4 16 (2.40%) MySQL
5 14 (2.10%) Power BI
6 12 (1.80%) Elasticsearch
7 11 (1.65%) Amazon RDS
8 10 (1.50%) DynamoDB
9 9 (1.35%) MongoDB
10 5 (0.75%) Metadata
10 5 (0.75%) NoSQL
10 5 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.45%) KDB
11 3 (0.45%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.45%) Spatial Data
12 2 (0.30%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.30%) InterSystems Cache
13 1 (0.15%) Azure SQL Database
13 1 (0.15%) Db2
13 1 (0.15%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 34 (5.09%) Git
2 9 (1.35%) JIRA
3 4 (0.60%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.45%) Cypress.io
4 3 (0.45%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.45%) JUnit
4 3 (0.45%) Maven
4 3 (0.45%) Mockito
4 3 (0.45%) NUnit
5 2 (0.30%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.30%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.30%) GitLab
5 2 (0.30%) MSI
5 2 (0.30%) Storybook
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%) Visual Studio Code
6 1 (0.15%) XCUITest
General
1 100 (14.97%) Finance
2 67 (10.03%) Social Skills
3 23 (3.44%) Law
4 19 (2.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 17 (2.54%) Banking
6 16 (2.40%) Analytical Skills
7 15 (2.25%) Front Office
7 15 (2.25%) Games
8 8 (1.20%) Retail
9 7 (1.05%) Legal
9 7 (1.05%) Legal Technology
9 7 (1.05%) Public Sector
10 4 (0.60%) Investment Banking
10 4 (0.60%) Marketing
11 2 (0.30%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.15%) Local Government
12 1 (0.15%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 145 (21.71%) .NET
2 91 (13.62%) Node.js
3 81 (12.13%) React
4 56 (8.38%) RESTful
5 37 (5.54%) ASP.NET
6 35 (5.24%) .NET Core
7 34 (5.09%) Vue
8 32 (4.79%) GraphQL
9 31 (4.64%) REST
10 28 (4.19%) CSS
10 28 (4.19%) React Native
11 24 (3.59%) HTML
11 24 (3.59%) Next.js
12 21 (3.14%) Spring
13 18 (2.69%) Kafka
14 16 (2.40%) Terraform
15 14 (2.10%) AngularJS
15 14 (2.10%) JWT
15 14 (2.10%) MUnit
15 14 (2.10%) RAML
Miscellaneous
1 39 (5.84%) Cloud Native
2 20 (2.99%) Product Ownership
3 18 (2.69%) Distributed Systems
3 18 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
4 16 (2.40%) Mobile App
5 15 (2.25%) Low-Code
6 14 (2.10%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (1.35%) Fixed Income
8 8 (1.20%) Greenfield Project
9 7 (1.05%) Algorithms
9 7 (1.05%) Equities
9 7 (1.05%) Onboarding
9 7 (1.05%) Virtual Team
10 6 (0.90%) Legacy Applications
10 6 (0.90%) PropTech
11 5 (0.75%) Derivative
12 4 (0.60%) Video\Live Streaming
13 3 (0.45%) Blog
13 3 (0.45%) Operational Technology
13 3 (0.45%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 30 (4.49%) Android
1 30 (4.49%) Apple iOS
2 4 (0.60%) Linux
3 3 (0.45%) Windows
4 1 (0.15%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 184 (27.54%) Full-Stack Development
2 137 (20.51%) Mentoring
3 136 (20.36%) Technical Leadership
4 101 (15.12%) CI/CD
5 95 (14.22%) Software Engineering
6 86 (12.87%) Agile
7 83 (12.43%) AI
8 80 (11.98%) DevOps
9 72 (10.78%) Microservices
10 68 (10.18%) Continuous Improvement
11 49 (7.34%) Event-Driven
12 47 (7.04%) Roadmaps
13 46 (6.89%) Problem-Solving
14 44 (6.59%) Event-Driven Architecture
15 39 (5.84%) Test Automation
16 35 (5.24%) Stakeholder Management
17 34 (5.09%) Design Patterns
18 31 (4.64%) Coaching
18 31 (4.64%) Mobile Development
19 30 (4.49%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 159 (23.80%) C#
2 137 (20.51%) JavaScript
3 131 (19.61%) TypeScript
4 71 (10.63%) Python
5 69 (10.33%) SQL
6 46 (6.89%) Java
7 16 (2.40%) PHP
8 14 (2.10%) DataWeave
8 14 (2.10%) Go
9 11 (1.65%) C++
10 9 (1.35%) Bicep
11 8 (1.20%) Kotlin
11 8 (1.20%) Ruby
12 7 (1.05%) Swift
13 6 (0.90%) RPG
14 5 (0.75%) PowerShell
15 4 (0.60%) Bash
15 4 (0.60%) Dart
16 3 (0.45%) PL/SQL
16 3 (0.45%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 31 (4.64%) Degree
2 30 (4.49%) SC Cleared
2 30 (4.49%) Security Cleared
3 21 (3.14%) Computer Science Degree
4 6 (0.90%) DBS Check
4 6 (0.90%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (0.45%) Azure Certification
6 2 (0.30%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.15%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.24%) QA
2 11 (1.65%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.90%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.45%) WCAG
5 2 (0.30%) GDPR
5 2 (0.30%) NCSC
6 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 46 (6.89%) Docker
2 3 (0.45%) Firmware
3 1 (0.15%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 25 (3.74%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.10%) CloudHub
3 2 (0.30%) Ansible
Vendors
1 70 (10.48%) Microsoft
2 19 (2.84%) MuleSoft
3 16 (2.40%) Salesforce
3 16 (2.40%) ServiceNow
4 14 (2.10%) SAP
5 8 (1.20%) Oracle
6 7 (1.05%) HubSpot
7 6 (0.90%) IBM
8 3 (0.45%) Adobe
8 3 (0.45%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.45%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.30%) Apple
9 2 (0.30%) Google
9 2 (0.30%) OpenAI
9 2 (0.30%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.30%) TikTok
10 1 (0.15%) Citrix
10 1 (0.15%) Reuters