Research Engineer Job Trends

Research Engineer
UK

The median Research Engineer salary in the UK is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 November 2025.

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

6 months to
1 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 667 711 701
Rank change year-on-year +44 -10 +392
Permanent jobs requiring a Research Engineer 9 31 39
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.018% 0.046% 0.072%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.020% 0.048% 0.075%
Number of salaries quoted 3 29 26
10th Percentile £58,000 £40,000 £50,347
25th Percentile £62,500 £46,250 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £50,000 £71,250
Median % change year-on-year +40.00% -29.82% +34.33%
75th Percentile £95,625 £85,000 £95,313
90th Percentile £111,000 £100,000 £142,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £50,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +40.00% -9.09% +11.58%

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 45,461 64,621 51,766
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.20% 95.05% 95.52%
Number of salaries quoted 27,361 36,679 40,142
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,650
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,000 £42,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £57,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £46,000 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.00% -4.76% -

Research Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Research Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Research Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Research Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Research Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Research Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Research Engineer over the 6 months to 1 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Research Engineer in the UK

Research Engineer
Top 5 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Research Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 1 November 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
England +75 8 £70,000 +40.00% 32
UK excluding London +38 8 £70,000 +40.00% 23
Work from Home +43 6 £70,000 +9.80% 12
South East +24 5 £78,750 +57.50% 15
East of England +15 3 £70,000 +75.00% 4

Research Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 November 2025, Research 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 Research Engineer in the job title.

1 6 (66.67%) Degree
1 6 (66.67%) Software Engineering
2 5 (55.56%) Mathematics
2 5 (55.56%) Python
3 4 (44.44%) AWS
3 4 (44.44%) Data Science
3 4 (44.44%) Prototyping
4 3 (33.33%) Agile
4 3 (33.33%) Data Management
4 3 (33.33%) Database Optimisation
4 3 (33.33%) DevOps
4 3 (33.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 3 (33.33%) NoSQL
4 3 (33.33%) PhD
4 3 (33.33%) Physics
4 3 (33.33%) SDLC
4 3 (33.33%) SQL
5 2 (22.22%) AI
5 2 (22.22%) Machine Learning
5 2 (22.22%) Master's Degree
5 2 (22.22%) Reinforcement Learning
6 1 (11.11%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
6 1 (11.11%) Azure
6 1 (11.11%) C
6 1 (11.11%) C#
6 1 (11.11%) C++
6 1 (11.11%) Computer Science
6 1 (11.11%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (11.11%) Computer Vision
6 1 (11.11%) Cryptography

Research 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 4 (44.44%) AWS
2 1 (11.11%) Azure
2 1 (11.11%) GCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (33.33%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Git
General
1 4 (44.44%) Finance
2 3 (33.33%) Retail
3 1 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (11.11%) PyTorch
1 1 (11.11%) scikit-learn
1 1 (11.11%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 3 (33.33%) IoT
2 1 (11.11%) Robotics
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (66.67%) Software Engineering
2 5 (55.56%) Mathematics
3 4 (44.44%) Data Science
3 4 (44.44%) Prototyping
4 3 (33.33%) Agile
4 3 (33.33%) Data Management
4 3 (33.33%) Database Optimisation
4 3 (33.33%) DevOps
4 3 (33.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 3 (33.33%) Physics
4 3 (33.33%) SDLC
5 2 (22.22%) AI
5 2 (22.22%) Machine Learning
5 2 (22.22%) Reinforcement Learning
6 1 (11.11%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
6 1 (11.11%) Deep Learning
6 1 (11.11%) Digital Twin
6 1 (11.11%) LLM
6 1 (11.11%) Mentoring
6 1 (11.11%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 5 (55.56%) Python
2 3 (33.33%) SQL
3 1 (11.11%) C
3 1 (11.11%) C#
3 1 (11.11%) C++
3 1 (11.11%) Julia
Qualifications
1 6 (66.67%) Degree
2 3 (33.33%) PhD
3 2 (22.22%) Master's Degree
4 1 (11.11%) Computer Science Degree
System Software
1 1 (11.11%) Docker