Research Engineer Job Trends

Research Engineer
UK

The median Research Engineer salary in the UK is £57,311 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 September 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 753 650 725
Rank change year-on-year -103 +75 -8
Permanent jobs requiring a Research Engineer 52 10 41
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.044% 0.020% 0.055%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.048% 0.023% 0.057%
Number of salaries quoted 42 4 39
10th Percentile - £59,500 £38,750
25th Percentile £46,939 £66,250 £40,374
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,311 £75,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -23.59% +50.00% -35.48%
75th Percentile £85,625 £90,313 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £108,875 £93,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £75,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -26.67% +50.00% -9.09%

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 109,377 44,042 71,502
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.96% 89.72% 95.29%
Number of salaries quoted 74,715 25,470 41,572
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,750
25th Percentile £41,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -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 29 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Research Engineer in the UK

Research Engineer
Top 11 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 29 September 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 -100 50 £56,907 -24.12% 216
London - 28 £56,907 - 162
UK excluding London -117 23 £55,000 -26.67% 56
South West -72 10 £85,000 +6.25% 7
Work from Home -39 8 £85,000 +13.33% 51
South East -49 5 £40,500 -48.57% 19
North of England - 4 £50,000 - 4
North East - 4 £50,000 - 2
East of England -32 2 £60,000 -14.29% 16
Wales - 1 £55,000 -
Scotland - 1 £100,000 - 6

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

For the 6 months to 29 September 2026, 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 24 (46.15%) AI
2 23 (44.23%) Software Engineering
3 19 (36.54%) Machine Learning
4 17 (32.69%) Python
5 14 (26.92%) Security Cleared
6 13 (25.00%) Degree
7 11 (21.15%) Computer Science
7 11 (21.15%) Cybersecurity
7 11 (21.15%) Digital Twin
7 11 (21.15%) Problem-Solving
8 10 (19.23%) SC Cleared
9 9 (17.31%) LLM
9 9 (17.31%) Master's Degree
10 8 (15.38%) Data Science
10 8 (15.38%) DBS Check
10 8 (15.38%) Systems Engineering
11 7 (13.46%) Cyber Resilience
11 7 (13.46%) Information Security
11 7 (13.46%) Network Security
11 7 (13.46%) Threat Modelling
12 6 (11.54%) Agile
12 6 (11.54%) CI/CD
12 6 (11.54%) Deep Learning
13 5 (9.62%) Data Management
13 5 (9.62%) Decision-Making
13 5 (9.62%) Generative AI
13 5 (9.62%) Roadmaps
14 4 (7.69%) Accessibility
14 4 (7.69%) DV Cleared
14 4 (7.69%) Experimental Design

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:

Applications
1 3 (5.77%) Blender
1 3 (5.77%) Maya
2 1 (1.92%) OrCAD
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.92%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 7 (13.46%) Network Security
2 3 (5.77%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.85%) MongoDB
1 2 (3.85%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (1.92%) Neo4j
General
1 11 (21.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 8 (15.38%) Aerospace
3 7 (13.46%) Cyber-Physical System
4 6 (11.54%) Social Skills
5 4 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
6 3 (5.77%) Humanities
6 3 (5.77%) Retail
6 3 (5.77%) Social Science
7 2 (3.85%) Electronics
8 1 (1.92%) Manufacturing
8 1 (1.92%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (5.77%) Django
1 3 (5.77%) Express.js
1 3 (5.77%) Godot
1 3 (5.77%) Node.js
1 3 (5.77%) Unity (Game Engine)
1 3 (5.77%) Unreal Engine
1 3 (5.77%) WebXR
2 2 (3.85%) PyTorch
3 1 (1.92%) Google JAX
3 1 (1.92%) JAX
3 1 (1.92%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 10 (19.23%) AI Agents
2 7 (13.46%) Blog
2 7 (13.46%) Legacy Systems
2 7 (13.46%) Operational Technology
3 4 (7.69%) Algorithms
4 3 (5.77%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (3.85%) Distributed Architecture
5 2 (3.85%) Life Science
5 2 (3.85%) Tandem
6 1 (1.92%) 3D Printing
6 1 (1.92%) Arduino
6 1 (1.92%) BeagleBone
6 1 (1.92%) Device Driver
6 1 (1.92%) Embedded Systems
6 1 (1.92%) Enterprise Cloud
6 1 (1.92%) IoT
6 1 (1.92%) NHS
6 1 (1.92%) Raspberry Pi
6 1 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (1.92%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.92%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (46.15%) AI
2 23 (44.23%) Software Engineering
3 19 (36.54%) Machine Learning
4 11 (21.15%) Computer Science
4 11 (21.15%) Cybersecurity
4 11 (21.15%) Digital Twin
4 11 (21.15%) Problem-Solving
5 9 (17.31%) LLM
6 8 (15.38%) Data Science
6 8 (15.38%) Systems Engineering
7 7 (13.46%) Cyber Resilience
7 7 (13.46%) Information Security
7 7 (13.46%) Threat Modelling
8 6 (11.54%) Agile
8 6 (11.54%) CI/CD
8 6 (11.54%) Deep Learning
9 5 (9.62%) Data Management
9 5 (9.62%) Decision-Making
9 5 (9.62%) Generative AI
9 5 (9.62%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 17 (32.69%) Python
2 3 (5.77%) C
2 3 (5.77%) JavaScript
2 3 (5.77%) R
2 3 (5.77%) TypeScript
3 2 (3.85%) Java
3 2 (3.85%) SQL
4 1 (1.92%) C#
4 1 (1.92%) C++
4 1 (1.92%) Embedded C
4 1 (1.92%) MATLAB
4 1 (1.92%) Rust
Qualifications
1 14 (26.92%) Security Cleared
2 13 (25.00%) Degree
3 10 (19.23%) SC Cleared
4 9 (17.31%) Master's Degree
5 8 (15.38%) DBS Check
6 4 (7.69%) DV Cleared
6 4 (7.69%) PhD
7 2 (3.85%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.69%) Accessibility
2 1 (1.92%) MISRA
2 1 (1.92%) QA
System Software
1 1 (1.92%) Slurm Workload Manager
Vendors
1 3 (5.77%) Google
1 3 (5.77%) Thales
2 1 (1.92%) Cadence