Lead Java Engineer Job Trends

Lead Java Engineer
UK

The median Lead Java Engineer salary in the UK is £105,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 17 March 2026.

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

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 668 627 620
Rank change year-on-year -41 -7 +325
Permanent jobs requiring a Lead Java Engineer 23 26 211
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.031% 0.060% 0.25%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.033% 0.067% 0.26%
Number of salaries quoted 21 20 39
10th Percentile £80,000 £90,720 £71,250
25th Percentile £87,500 £104,868 £71,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £105,000 £117,636 £90,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.74% +30.71% -2.35%
75th Percentile £142,500 £140,677 £107,500
90th Percentile - £142,109 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £102,500 £122,773 £81,250
% change year-on-year -16.51% +51.10% +14.04%

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 68,739 38,903 80,284
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.93% 90.47% 94.61%
Number of salaries quoted 43,768 23,119 61,505
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £43,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,934
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -7.41% +8.00% -5.23%

Lead Java Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Lead Java Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Lead Java Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Lead Java Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Lead Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Lead Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Lead Java Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Lead Java Engineer over the 6 months to 17 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Lead Java Engineer in the UK

Lead Java Engineer
Top 9 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Lead Java Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 17 March 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 -25 20 £112,500 - 3
Work from Home +20 15 £120,000 -2.26% 2
London +19 12 £135,000 +20.00%
UK excluding London -33 11 £102,500 -16.51% 3
North of England - 8 £105,000 - 3
North West - 6 £100,000 -
Scotland -20 3 £100,000 -18.55%
Yorkshire - 1 £105,000 -
North East - 1 - - 3

Lead Java Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 17 March 2026, Lead Java Engineer 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 Java Engineer in the job title.

1 23 (100.00%) Java
2 20 (86.96%) Software Engineering
3 14 (60.87%) AWS
4 9 (39.13%) Agile
5 7 (30.43%) Kafka
6 6 (26.09%) Continuous Improvement
6 6 (26.09%) Python
6 6 (26.09%) TypeScript
7 5 (21.74%) CI/CD
7 5 (21.74%) E-Commerce
7 5 (21.74%) Microservices
7 5 (21.74%) Order Management
8 4 (17.39%) Full-Stack Development
8 4 (17.39%) Go
8 4 (17.39%) GraphQL
8 4 (17.39%) Investment Management
8 4 (17.39%) JavaScript
8 4 (17.39%) Node.js
8 4 (17.39%) Portfolio Management
8 4 (17.39%) React
8 4 (17.39%) Redux
8 4 (17.39%) Spring
8 4 (17.39%) Spring Boot
8 4 (17.39%) SQL
8 4 (17.39%) Technical Leadership
9 3 (13.04%) AI
9 3 (13.04%) Anthropic Claude
9 3 (13.04%) API Integration
9 3 (13.04%) Claude Code
9 3 (13.04%) Design Thinking

Lead Java Engineer 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:

Cloud Services
1 14 (60.87%) AWS
2 3 (13.04%) Anthropic Claude
2 3 (13.04%) SaaS
3 1 (4.35%) Azure
3 1 (4.35%) GCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (4.35%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 3 (13.04%) Claude Code
General
1 11 (47.83%) Finance
2 6 (26.09%) Front Office
2 6 (26.09%) Games
3 3 (13.04%) Influencing Skills
4 2 (8.70%) Banking
5 1 (4.35%) Investment Banking
5 1 (4.35%) Retail Banking
5 1 (4.35%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (30.43%) Kafka
2 4 (17.39%) GraphQL
2 4 (17.39%) Node.js
2 4 (17.39%) React
2 4 (17.39%) Redux
2 4 (17.39%) Spring
2 4 (17.39%) Spring Boot
3 3 (13.04%) RESTful
4 1 (4.35%) FIX Protocol
4 1 (4.35%) Java Concurrency
4 1 (4.35%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 4 (17.39%) Fixed Income
2 3 (13.04%) Distributed Systems
3 2 (8.70%) Cloud Native
3 2 (8.70%) Derivative
4 1 (4.35%) Algorithms
4 1 (4.35%) Data Structures
4 1 (4.35%) Equities
4 1 (4.35%) Public Cloud
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (86.96%) Software Engineering
2 9 (39.13%) Agile
3 6 (26.09%) Continuous Improvement
4 5 (21.74%) CI/CD
4 5 (21.74%) E-Commerce
4 5 (21.74%) Microservices
4 5 (21.74%) Order Management
5 4 (17.39%) Full-Stack Development
5 4 (17.39%) Investment Management
5 4 (17.39%) Portfolio Management
5 4 (17.39%) Technical Leadership
6 3 (13.04%) AI
6 3 (13.04%) API Integration
6 3 (13.04%) Design Thinking
6 3 (13.04%) IT Strategy
6 3 (13.04%) Technology Strategy
7 2 (8.70%) Computer Science
7 2 (8.70%) Containerisation
7 2 (8.70%) Mentoring
7 2 (8.70%) Multithreading
Programming Languages
1 23 (100.00%) Java
2 6 (26.09%) Python
2 6 (26.09%) TypeScript
3 4 (17.39%) Go
3 4 (17.39%) JavaScript
3 4 (17.39%) SQL
Qualifications
1 2 (8.70%) Computer Science Degree
1 2 (8.70%) Degree
System Software
1 1 (4.35%) Docker
Systems Management
1 2 (8.70%) Kubernetes