Senior Software Engineer Job Trends

Senior Software Engineer
UK

The median Senior Software Engineer salary in the UK is £75,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 17 June 2026.

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

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 193 134
Rank change year-on-year +53 -59 +151
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,313 787 2,214
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.77% 2.04%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.49% 1.97% 2.16%
Number of salaries quoted 1,068 454 1,619
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £55,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £80,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% +23.08% -7.14%
75th Percentile £90,000 £105,000 £80,875
90th Percentile £100,000 £133,500 £102,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +12.50% -7.69%

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 87,868 39,889 102,707
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.97% 89.49% 94.74%
Number of salaries quoted 60,280 22,587 74,092
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £39,000 £38,524
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,474 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year - - -6.54%

Senior Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Senior Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Software Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Senior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Senior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Software Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Senior Software Engineer over the 6 months to 17 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Software Engineer in the UK

Senior Software Engineer
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 17 June 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 +58 1,152 £75,000 -6.25% 776
UK excluding London +76 923 £70,000 +3.70% 486
London -13 318 £95,000 -5.00% 350
Work from Home -32 308 £70,000 -11.18% 333
South East +149 239 £75,000 +15.38% 104
North of England -31 225 £75,000 +5.26% 119
South West +54 156 £70,000 -9.68% 62
North West -27 135 £75,000 +0.67% 87
East of England +57 107 £70,000 +18.64% 74
Midlands +58 102 £65,000 -10.34% 43
Scotland +14 72 £67,500 +3.85% 37
West Midlands +35 68 £69,305 -6.03% 29
Yorkshire +1 62 £70,000 -12.50% 14
East Midlands +1 34 £65,000 -7.14% 14
North East -37 28 £80,000 +45.45% 18
Wales -28 21 £56,250 -13.46% 17
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 34

Senior Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 17 June 2026, Senior Software 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 Senior Software Engineer in the job title.

1 1,308 (99.62%) Software Engineering
2 213 (16.22%) C++
3 208 (15.84%) C#
4 197 (15.00%) Python
5 192 (14.62%) Java
6 185 (14.09%) Agile
7 179 (13.63%) AWS
8 168 (12.80%) .NET
9 150 (11.42%) Full-Stack Development
10 134 (10.21%) CI/CD
11 115 (8.76%) Microservices
12 111 (8.45%) Mentoring
13 106 (8.07%) Azure
14 101 (7.69%) Linux
15 99 (7.54%) React
16 97 (7.39%) TypeScript
17 94 (7.16%) DevOps
18 93 (7.08%) AI
19 91 (6.93%) SaaS
20 88 (6.70%) JavaScript
21 85 (6.47%) Security Cleared
22 83 (6.32%) SQL
22 83 (6.32%) Test Automation
23 82 (6.25%) Kubernetes
24 79 (6.02%) C
24 79 (6.02%) Computer Science
24 79 (6.02%) SDLC
25 77 (5.86%) Degree
26 74 (5.64%) Docker
27 66 (5.03%) Node.js

Senior Software 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:

Application Platforms
1 16 (1.22%) SharePoint Server
2 3 (0.23%) Apache
2 3 (0.23%) Apache Solr
2 3 (0.23%) FactoryTalk
2 3 (0.23%) WinCC
3 2 (0.15%) CMS
3 2 (0.15%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (0.23%) Blender
1 3 (0.23%) Maya
Cloud Services
1 179 (13.63%) AWS
2 106 (8.07%) Azure
3 91 (6.93%) SaaS
4 51 (3.88%) GCP
5 36 (2.74%) GitHub
6 30 (2.28%) Serverless
7 21 (1.60%) Amazon EKS
8 18 (1.37%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 16 (1.22%) Anthropic Claude
10 14 (1.07%) Azure AKS
11 12 (0.91%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (0.91%) GitHub Copilot
12 9 (0.69%) Azure Event Grid
13 5 (0.38%) Amazon S3
13 5 (0.38%) Amazon SQS
13 5 (0.38%) AWS Lambda
13 5 (0.38%) Pulumi
13 5 (0.38%) Stripe
14 4 (0.30%) GitHub Actions
14 4 (0.30%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.75%) RS-232
2 17 (1.29%) Ethernet
3 16 (1.22%) Multicast
4 13 (0.99%) Modbus
5 12 (0.91%) Bluetooth
6 11 (0.84%) Profibus
6 11 (0.84%) Wireless
7 10 (0.76%) Broadband
7 10 (0.76%) HTTP
8 8 (0.61%) RS-485
8 8 (0.61%) ZigBee
9 1 (0.076%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (2.21%) SQL Server
2 21 (1.60%) MySQL
3 20 (1.52%) NoSQL
3 20 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (0.91%) MongoDB
5 8 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
5 8 (0.61%) Elasticsearch
6 7 (0.53%) Big Data
7 5 (0.38%) Geospatial Data
7 5 (0.38%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.30%) Redis
9 3 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.23%) Delta Lake
9 3 (0.23%) DocumentDB
9 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.23%) MariaDB
9 3 (0.23%) Neo4j
10 2 (0.15%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.076%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 56 (4.27%) Git
2 27 (2.06%) JIRA
3 22 (1.68%) GitLab
4 20 (1.52%) TeamCity
5 16 (1.22%) Claude Code
6 13 (0.99%) Visual Studio Code
7 10 (0.76%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.23%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.23%) Rational Rhapsody
9 2 (0.15%) Eclipse
9 2 (0.15%) GDB
9 2 (0.15%) JUnit
9 2 (0.15%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.15%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.076%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.076%) LabVIEW
10 1 (0.076%) NUnit
10 1 (0.076%) Selenium
10 1 (0.076%) WinDbg
10 1 (0.076%) Xcode
General
1 137 (10.43%) Finance
2 60 (4.57%) Banking
3 58 (4.42%) Social Skills
4 44 (3.35%) Electronics
5 33 (2.51%) Public Sector
6 31 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 31 (2.36%) Manufacturing
7 24 (1.83%) Analytical Skills
8 20 (1.52%) Automotive
8 20 (1.52%) Retail
9 18 (1.37%) Law
10 14 (1.07%) Back Office
10 14 (1.07%) Financial Institution
11 12 (0.91%) Aerospace
11 12 (0.91%) Games
11 12 (0.91%) Tech for Good
12 10 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
13 8 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.53%) Agriculture
14 7 (0.53%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 168 (12.80%) .NET
2 99 (7.54%) React
3 66 (5.03%) Node.js
4 40 (3.05%) WPF
5 37 (2.82%) REST
6 36 (2.74%) Spring
7 33 (2.51%) RESTful
8 27 (2.06%) Spring Boot
9 23 (1.75%) .NET Core
10 21 (1.60%) React Native
11 19 (1.45%) Next.js
12 17 (1.29%) AngularJS
12 17 (1.29%) Ruby on Rails
13 16 (1.22%) .NET Framework
13 16 (1.22%) Boost C++ Libraries
13 16 (1.22%) FIX Protocol
13 16 (1.22%) pytest
14 15 (1.14%) Yocto
15 14 (1.07%) Vue
16 12 (0.91%) Entity Framework
Miscellaneous
1 92 (7.01%) Cloud Native
2 54 (4.11%) Algorithms
3 48 (3.66%) Legacy Systems
4 37 (2.82%) Embedded Systems
5 32 (2.44%) Distributed Systems
6 30 (2.28%) Greenfield Project
7 17 (1.29%) Derivative
8 16 (1.22%) Equities
8 16 (1.22%) Fixed Income
8 16 (1.22%) IoT
9 15 (1.14%) Device Driver
9 15 (1.14%) Robotics
10 12 (0.91%) CAN bus
11 11 (0.84%) AI Agents
11 11 (0.84%) Product Ownership
12 10 (0.76%) Public Cloud
13 9 (0.69%) Sports Betting
14 8 (0.61%) Client/Server
14 8 (0.61%) Legacy Applications
15 7 (0.53%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 101 (7.69%) Linux
2 30 (2.28%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (1.37%) FreeRTOS
4 8 (0.61%) Android
4 8 (0.61%) Windows
5 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.076%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,308 (99.62%) Software Engineering
2 185 (14.09%) Agile
3 150 (11.42%) Full-Stack Development
4 134 (10.21%) CI/CD
5 115 (8.76%) Microservices
6 111 (8.45%) Mentoring
7 94 (7.16%) DevOps
8 93 (7.08%) AI
9 83 (6.32%) Test Automation
10 79 (6.02%) Computer Science
10 79 (6.02%) SDLC
11 63 (4.80%) Problem-Solving
12 59 (4.49%) Containerisation
13 57 (4.34%) Fintech
14 52 (3.96%) Technical Leadership
15 51 (3.88%) Code Quality
16 49 (3.73%) Continuous Improvement
17 45 (3.43%) Mathematics
18 44 (3.35%) Scrum
19 40 (3.05%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 213 (16.22%) C++
2 208 (15.84%) C#
3 197 (15.00%) Python
4 192 (14.62%) Java
5 97 (7.39%) TypeScript
6 88 (6.70%) JavaScript
7 83 (6.32%) SQL
8 79 (6.02%) C
9 45 (3.43%) Rust
10 26 (1.98%) Go
11 20 (1.52%) Embedded C
12 18 (1.37%) PHP
13 17 (1.29%) Ruby
14 12 (0.91%) Scala
15 10 (0.76%) Julia
15 10 (0.76%) MATLAB
16 9 (0.69%) VB
17 8 (0.61%) F#
17 8 (0.61%) Haskell
18 7 (0.53%) R
Qualifications
1 85 (6.47%) Security Cleared
2 77 (5.86%) Degree
3 66 (5.03%) SC Cleared
4 34 (2.59%) DV Cleared
5 24 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
6 21 (1.60%) Master's Degree
7 14 (1.07%) PhD
8 3 (0.23%) AWS Certification
8 3 (0.23%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.15%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.076%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (2.28%) QA
2 13 (0.99%) IEC 61508
2 13 (0.99%) MISRA
2 13 (0.99%) MISRA C
3 12 (0.91%) Accessibility
4 5 (0.38%) GDPR
5 3 (0.23%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.23%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.076%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 74 (5.64%) Docker
2 47 (3.58%) Firmware
3 21 (1.60%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.15%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.15%) KVM
4 2 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.076%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 82 (6.25%) Kubernetes
2 42 (3.20%) Terraform
3 20 (1.52%) Grafana
4 10 (0.76%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.38%) Ansible
5 5 (0.38%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.23%) Plesk
Vendors
1 9 (0.69%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.61%) Siemens
3 6 (0.46%) Google
4 5 (0.38%) HubSpot
4 5 (0.38%) Splunk
5 3 (0.23%) Databricks
5 3 (0.23%) OpenAI
5 3 (0.23%) Rockwell
6 2 (0.15%) Foundry
6 2 (0.15%) VMware
7 1 (0.076%) Intel
7 1 (0.076%) Palantir
7 1 (0.076%) TOWER Software