Principal Software Engineer
UK
The median Principal Software Engineer salary in the UK is £68,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 6 July 2025.
The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 6 Jul 2025 |
Same period 2024 | Same period 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 536 | 681 | 824 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +145 | +143 | -30 |
| Permanent jobs requiring a Principal Software Engineer | 203 | 228 | 86 |
| As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK | 0.34% | 0.21% | 0.097% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.38% | 0.23% | 0.11% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 108 | 152 | 66 |
| 10th Percentile | £65,000 | £65,000 | £67,750 |
| 25th Percentile | £67,250 | £70,000 | £76,750 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £68,000 | £80,000 | £90,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -15.00% | -11.11% | +2.86% |
| 75th Percentile | £77,500 | £100,000 | £113,750 |
| 90th Percentile | £108,750 | £112,500 | £160,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £68,000 | £75,000 | £82,500 |
| % change year-on-year | -9.33% | -9.09% | -2.94% |
All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 | 53,646 | 100,958 | 81,022 |
| % of permanent jobs with a recognized job title | 89.91% | 94.82% | 91.25% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 29,258 | 71,135 | 54,610 |
| 10th Percentile | £27,500 | £28,573 | £32,500 |
| 25th Percentile | £38,000 | £38,750 | £44,180 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £55,000 | £52,500 | £60,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.76% | -12.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £73,708 | £70,000 | £80,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £95,000 | £90,000 | £100,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £50,000 | £50,000 | £53,000 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -5.66% | +4.74% |
Principal Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend
Job postings that featured Principal Software Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.
Principal Software Engineer
Salary Trend
3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Principal Software Engineer.
Principal Software Engineer
Salary Histogram
Salary distribution for jobs citing Principal Software Engineer over the 6 months to 6 July 2025.
Principal Software Engineer
Top 14 Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 6 July 2025. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK excluding London | +221 | 187 | £68,000 | -9.33% | 56 |
| England | +166 | 185 | £68,000 | -15.00% | 80 |
| South East | +134 | 84 | £68,000 | -2.86% | 16 |
| Midlands | +129 | 65 | £73,750 | -13.24% | 1 |
| West Midlands | +102 | 42 | - | - | |
| East Midlands | +67 | 23 | £73,750 | -13.24% | 1 |
| Work from Home | +64 | 15 | £102,500 | +36.67% | 60 |
| London | +49 | 15 | £125,000 | +35.14% | 35 |
| Wales | +45 | 12 | £68,000 | -32.00% | 1 |
| North of England | +34 | 9 | £75,000 | +15.38% | 14 |
| North West | +8 | 9 | £75,000 | +15.38% | 9 |
| South West | +87 | 6 | £100,000 | +33.33% | 3 |
| Scotland | +53 | 6 | £75,000 | -13.04% | 5 |
| East of England | +32 | 5 | - | - | 11 |
Principal Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities
For the 6 months to 6 July 2025, Principal Software Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Principal Software Engineer in the job title.
|
|
Principal Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category
The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||