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 23 October 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 348 395 244
Rank change year-on-year +47 -151 +68
Permanent Lead Developer jobs 634 296 756
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.53% 0.60% 1.09%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.57% 0.67% 1.15%
Number of salaries quoted 506 208 616
10th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £48,797
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £75,000 £68,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% +10.29% -15.00%
75th Percentile £100,000 £90,000 £88,125
90th Percentile - £127,000 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £70,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +7.14% +12.00% -10.71%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 111,319 44,214 65,925
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.21% 89.77% 95.38%
Number of salaries quoted 75,105 26,119 37,592
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,128 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £41,592
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £52,500 £56,252
Median % change year-on-year +12.38% -6.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £45,497 £50,000
% change year-on-year +20.89% -9.01% -4.76%

Lead Developer Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Lead Developer job postings 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 Lead Developer jobs over the 6 months to 23 October 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 Lead Developer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 23 October 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +49 587 £85,000 +13.33% 175
UK excluding London +33 409 £75,000 +7.14% 94
Work from Home +46 222 £95,000 +20.63% 84
London -14 197 £95,000 -7.32% 82
North of England -12 127 £75,000 +7.14% 32
Midlands +7 106 £70,000 -3.45% 17
South East +6 104 £92,500 +27.59% 15
West Midlands -14 63 £70,000 -3.45% 12
North West -6 58 £72,500 +3.57% 8
Yorkshire -14 46 £75,000 +9.09% 18
East Midlands -1 43 £70,000 -6.67% 5
East of England -16 26 £85,000 +29.77% 10
North East -47 23 £100,000 +45.99% 7
South West -68 21 £70,000 +55.56% 7
Wales -58 15 £62,000 -17.33% 5
Scotland +4 9 £70,000 +19.15% 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £80,000 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 23 October 2026, Lead Developer job ads cited 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 Lead Developer job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Technical Leadership25.4%161
2Full-Stack Development21.8%138
3C#21.6%137
4Azure21.5%136
5.NET19.7%125
6AWS19.6%124
6JavaScript19.6%124
8Mentoring18.8%119
9TypeScript17.8%113
10CI/CD15.1%96
11AI14.7%93
12Node.js13.7%87
13SaaS13.1%83
14Software Engineering12.8%81
15SQL11.8%75
16Python11.7%74
17DevOps10.4%66
17Microsoft10.4%66
19Agile9.9%63
20Continuous Improvement9.6%61
21Microservices9.5%60
22SQL Server8.7%55
23Dynamics 3658.5%54
24Roadmaps8.4%53
25React7.7%49
26Java7.3%46
27Docker7.1%45
28Power Platform6.8%43
28Problem-Solving6.8%43
30Event-Driven6.6%42

Lead Developer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Lead Software Developer32.3%205
2Software Developer32.2%204
3Lead Full-Stack Developer16.1%102
4Lead .NET Developer8.4%53
5Lead Dynamics 365 Developer7.4%47
6Lead Python Developer7.1%45
7Lead C# Developer6.8%43
8Lead Java Developer4.4%28
9C# .NET Developer3.6%23
10Artificial Intelligence Developer3.5%22
10Integration Developer3.5%22
10Senior Developer3.5%22
13React Developer3.3%21
14Automation Developer3.2%20
14Power Platform Developer3.2%20
16.NET Developer - Fintech2.7%17
16MuleSoft Developer2.7%17
18Developer/Software Engineer2.4%15
18Lead Software Engineer2.4%15
18Team Leader2.4%15
204 Lead Developer jobs Nationwide