Senior Programmer Job Trends

Senior Programmer
UK

The median Senior Programmer salary in the UK is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 13 January 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 644 677 695
Rank change year-on-year +33 +18 +273
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Programmer 7 35 42
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.012% 0.066% 0.075%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.013% 0.071% 0.079%
Number of salaries quoted 7 4 9
10th Percentile - - £44,500
25th Percentile - - £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £49,140 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year +42.45% -27.20% +12.50%
75th Percentile £92,500 - £71,250
90th Percentile £115,000 - £82,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 - £67,500
% change year-on-year - - +22.73%

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 54,089 49,558 53,300
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.68% 92.89% 95.26%
Number of salaries quoted 33,489 25,634 41,126
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £36,750 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%

Senior Programmer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Senior Programmer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Programmer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Senior Programmer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Senior Programmer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Programmer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Senior Programmer over the 6 months to 13 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Programmer in the UK

Senior Programmer
Top 5 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Programmer within the UK over the 6 months to 13 January 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 +43 7 £70,000 +42.45% 4
UK excluding London +69 5 £70,000 - 4
South East +27 5 £70,000 - 4
Work from Home +63 2 £115,000 -
London +25 2 £115,000 +134.03%

Senior Programmer Skill Set
Top 20 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 January 2026, Senior Programmer 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 Senior Programmer in the job title.

1 5 (71.43%) Performance Management
2 2 (28.57%) Agile
2 2 (28.57%) Computer Science
2 2 (28.57%) Continuous Improvement
2 2 (28.57%) Degree
2 2 (28.57%) DevOps
2 2 (28.57%) F#
2 2 (28.57%) Functional Programming
2 2 (28.57%) Haskell
2 2 (28.57%) Kubernetes
2 2 (28.57%) Linux
2 2 (28.57%) Master's Degree
2 2 (28.57%) Mathematics
2 2 (28.57%) OCaml
2 2 (28.57%) OpenShift
2 2 (28.57%) Pair Programming
2 2 (28.57%) PhD
2 2 (28.57%) Physics
2 2 (28.57%) Risk Management
2 2 (28.57%) Scala

Senior Programmer 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 2 (28.57%) OpenShift
General
1 2 (28.57%) Finance
Miscellaneous
1 5 (71.43%) e-Learning
2 2 (28.57%) Derivative
Operating Systems
1 2 (28.57%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (71.43%) Performance Management
2 2 (28.57%) Agile
2 2 (28.57%) Computer Science
2 2 (28.57%) Continuous Improvement
2 2 (28.57%) DevOps
2 2 (28.57%) Functional Programming
2 2 (28.57%) Mathematics
2 2 (28.57%) Pair Programming
2 2 (28.57%) Physics
2 2 (28.57%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (28.57%) F#
1 2 (28.57%) Haskell
1 2 (28.57%) OCaml
1 2 (28.57%) Scala
Qualifications
1 2 (28.57%) Degree
1 2 (28.57%) Master's Degree
1 2 (28.57%) PhD
Systems Management
1 2 (28.57%) Kubernetes