Lead Developer Job Trends

Lead Developer
UK

The median Lead Developer salary in the UK is £84,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 26 August 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 305 369 234
Rank change year-on-year +64 -135 +81
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Developer 668 331 995
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 548 230 865
10th Percentile £65,000 £53,625 £47,000
25th Percentile £70,000 £63,750 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £84,000 £75,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +7.14% -9.68%
75th Percentile £100,000 £90,000 £90,000
90th Percentile - £123,250 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £70,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% +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 102,340 44,909 79,411
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.92% 89.86% 95.11%
Number of salaries quoted 70,155 26,648 51,912
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £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 £74,775 £72,429
90th Percentile £96,250 £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 26 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 26 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 +82 622 £85,000 +13.33% 45
UK excluding London +65 418 £75,000 +7.14% 32
Work from Home +76 233 £95,000 +26.67% 25
London +22 218 £93,750 +1.35% 22
North of England +31 157 £75,000 +7.14% 5
Midlands +26 95 £70,000 - 11
North West +46 94 £75,000 +7.14% 2
South East +19 89 £90,000 +24.14% 7
West Midlands +6 58 £65,000 -8.77% 5
East Midlands +7 37 £70,000 +5.66% 6
Yorkshire -28 35 £75,000 +9.09% 2
South West -65 29 £70,000 +27.27% 3
North East -39 28 £90,000 +12.50% 1
East of England -5 26 £65,000 - 1
Northern Ireland -69 13 £80,000 -
Scotland +3 7 £70,000 +33.33% 2
Wales -63 2 £55,000 -26.67% 3

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

For the 6 months to 26 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.

1 187 (27.99%) Full-Stack Development
2 157 (23.50%) C#
3 146 (21.86%) .NET
4 142 (21.26%) Azure
5 137 (20.51%) JavaScript
5 137 (20.51%) Mentoring
6 135 (20.21%) Technical Leadership
7 132 (19.76%) TypeScript
8 129 (19.31%) AWS
9 100 (14.97%) CI/CD
10 97 (14.52%) Software Engineering
11 92 (13.77%) Node.js
12 87 (13.02%) SaaS
13 85 (12.72%) Agile
14 83 (12.43%) AI
15 81 (12.13%) React
16 79 (11.83%) DevOps
17 73 (10.93%) Python
18 72 (10.78%) Microservices
19 69 (10.33%) Microsoft
19 69 (10.33%) SQL
20 68 (10.18%) Continuous Improvement
21 57 (8.53%) RESTful
22 54 (8.08%) Dynamics 365
23 49 (7.34%) Event-Driven
24 48 (7.19%) SQL Server
25 47 (7.04%) Java
26 46 (6.89%) Docker
26 46 (6.89%) Problem-Solving
26 46 (6.89%) Roadmaps

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 11 (1.65%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.75%) Appian
3 5 (0.75%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) WordPress
5 1 (0.15%) CMS
Business Applications
1 13 (1.95%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.30%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 142 (21.26%) Azure
2 129 (19.31%) AWS
3 87 (13.02%) SaaS
4 54 (8.08%) Dynamics 365
5 45 (6.74%) Power Platform
6 34 (5.09%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (3.14%) Azure Logic Apps
8 19 (2.84%) Microsoft Copilot
9 18 (2.69%) Azure Service Bus
9 18 (2.69%) GitHub
9 18 (2.69%) Serverless
10 17 (2.54%) 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%) Microsoft 365
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 48 (7.19%) 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 33 (4.94%) 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%) DBeaver
6 1 (0.15%) git-flow
6 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
6 1 (0.15%) XCUITest
General
1 102 (15.27%) Finance
2 67 (10.03%) Social Skills
3 23 (3.44%) Law
4 18 (2.69%) 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
10 6 (0.90%) Public Sector
11 4 (0.60%) Investment Banking
11 4 (0.60%) Marketing
12 2 (0.30%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.15%) Local Government
13 1 (0.15%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 146 (21.86%) .NET
2 92 (13.77%) Node.js
3 81 (12.13%) React
4 57 (8.53%) RESTful
5 37 (5.54%) ASP.NET
6 35 (5.24%) .NET Core
7 34 (5.09%) Vue
8 33 (4.94%) GraphQL
9 31 (4.64%) REST
10 29 (4.34%) React Native
11 28 (4.19%) CSS
12 24 (3.59%) HTML
12 24 (3.59%) Next.js
13 22 (3.29%) Spring
14 18 (2.69%) Kafka
15 16 (2.40%) Terraform
16 14 (2.10%) JWT
16 14 (2.10%) MUnit
16 14 (2.10%) OAuth
16 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%) PropTech
10 6 (0.90%) Legacy Applications
10 6 (0.90%) Virtual Team
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 31 (4.64%) Android
1 31 (4.64%) Apple iOS
2 4 (0.60%) Linux
3 3 (0.45%) Windows
4 1 (0.15%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (27.99%) Full-Stack Development
2 137 (20.51%) Mentoring
3 135 (20.21%) Technical Leadership
4 100 (14.97%) CI/CD
5 97 (14.52%) Software Engineering
6 85 (12.72%) Agile
7 83 (12.43%) AI
8 79 (11.83%) DevOps
9 72 (10.78%) Microservices
10 68 (10.18%) Continuous Improvement
11 49 (7.34%) Event-Driven
12 46 (6.89%) Problem-Solving
12 46 (6.89%) Roadmaps
13 44 (6.59%) Event-Driven Architecture
14 39 (5.84%) Test Automation
15 34 (5.09%) Design Patterns
15 34 (5.09%) Stakeholder Management
16 32 (4.79%) Mobile Development
17 31 (4.64%) Coaching
18 30 (4.49%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 157 (23.50%) C#
2 137 (20.51%) JavaScript
3 132 (19.76%) TypeScript
4 73 (10.93%) Python
5 69 (10.33%) SQL
6 47 (7.04%) 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 1 (0.15%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.24%) QA
2 10 (1.50%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.90%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.30%) NCSC
4 2 (0.30%) WCAG
5 1 (0.15%) GDPR
5 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 69 (10.33%) 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%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.45%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.30%) Adobe
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