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 10 June 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 192 135
Rank change year-on-year +48 -57 +154
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,261 796 2,140
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.37% 1.80% 2.01%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.46% 2.01% 2.12%
Number of salaries quoted 1,023 462 1,561
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £78,810 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.83% +21.25% -7.14%
75th Percentile £90,000 £102,500 £81,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £130,000 £102,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £67,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +4.48% +11.67% -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 86,220 39,579 100,813
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.98% 89.52% 94.70%
Number of salaries quoted 58,944 22,377 72,921
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £39,878 £38,500
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 £98,750 £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 10 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 10 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 +54 1,105 £75,000 -6.25% 248
UK excluding London +74 880 £70,000 +4.48% 186
London -7 314 £95,000 - 78
Work from Home -37 299 £70,000 -11.18% 112
South East +134 230 £75,000 +15.38% 58
North of England -42 204 £75,000 +7.14% 47
South West +57 152 £70,000 -6.67% 20
North West -42 122 £75,000 +7.14% 28
East of England +49 103 £70,000 +18.64% 32
Midlands +59 97 £65,000 -10.34% 22
Scotland +19 72 £67,500 +4.65% 4
West Midlands +31 65 £69,653 -3.93% 14
Yorkshire -6 59 £70,000 -11.84% 8
East Midlands +5 32 £65,000 -7.14% 8
North East -35 23 £80,000 +45.45% 11
Wales -29 21 £56,250 -13.46% 1
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 6

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

For the 6 months to 10 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 1,254 (99.44%) Software Engineering
2 207 (16.42%) C++
3 201 (15.94%) C#
4 186 (14.75%) Python
5 185 (14.67%) Java
6 176 (13.96%) Agile
7 167 (13.24%) AWS
8 166 (13.16%) .NET
9 146 (11.58%) Full-Stack Development
10 127 (10.07%) CI/CD
11 109 (8.64%) Microservices
12 106 (8.41%) Mentoring
13 102 (8.09%) Azure
14 95 (7.53%) Linux
15 94 (7.45%) React
16 91 (7.22%) TypeScript
17 90 (7.14%) DevOps
18 88 (6.98%) JavaScript
19 86 (6.82%) AI
20 84 (6.66%) SaaS
21 80 (6.34%) Security Cleared
21 80 (6.34%) SQL
22 77 (6.11%) C
22 77 (6.11%) SDLC
23 76 (6.03%) Test Automation
24 75 (5.95%) Kubernetes
25 74 (5.87%) Computer Science
25 74 (5.87%) Degree
26 65 (5.15%) Docker
27 63 (5.00%) Problem-Solving

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 (1.27%) SharePoint Server
2 3 (0.24%) Apache
2 3 (0.24%) Apache Solr
2 3 (0.24%) FactoryTalk
2 3 (0.24%) WinCC
3 2 (0.16%) CMS
3 2 (0.16%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (0.24%) Blender
1 3 (0.24%) Maya
Cloud Services
1 167 (13.24%) AWS
2 102 (8.09%) Azure
3 84 (6.66%) SaaS
4 47 (3.73%) GCP
5 36 (2.85%) GitHub
6 29 (2.30%) Serverless
7 18 (1.43%) Azure Cosmos DB
8 17 (1.35%) Amazon EKS
9 16 (1.27%) Anthropic Claude
10 15 (1.19%) Azure AKS
11 13 (1.03%) GitHub Copilot
12 12 (0.95%) Azure DevOps
13 9 (0.71%) Azure Event Grid
14 6 (0.48%) Stripe
15 5 (0.40%) Amazon S3
15 5 (0.40%) Amazon SQS
15 5 (0.40%) AWS Lambda
16 4 (0.32%) IaaS
16 4 (0.32%) Pulumi
17 3 (0.24%) Amazon OpenSearch
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.74%) RS-232
2 17 (1.35%) Ethernet
3 16 (1.27%) Multicast
4 12 (0.95%) Modbus
5 11 (0.87%) Bluetooth
5 11 (0.87%) HTTP
6 10 (0.79%) Profibus
6 10 (0.79%) Wireless
7 7 (0.56%) RS-485
7 7 (0.56%) ZigBee
8 6 (0.48%) Broadband
9 1 (0.079%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (2.46%) SQL Server
2 21 (1.67%) NoSQL
3 16 (1.27%) MySQL
4 15 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (0.95%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (0.63%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (0.56%) Big Data
8 4 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.32%) Redis
8 4 (0.32%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.24%) DocumentDB
9 3 (0.24%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.24%) MariaDB
9 3 (0.24%) Neo4j
10 2 (0.16%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.079%) Db2
11 1 (0.079%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 51 (4.04%) Git
2 23 (1.82%) JIRA
3 20 (1.59%) TeamCity
4 18 (1.43%) GitLab
5 16 (1.27%) Claude Code
6 13 (1.03%) Visual Studio Code
7 9 (0.71%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.24%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.24%) Rational Rhapsody
9 2 (0.16%) GDB
9 2 (0.16%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.16%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.079%) Android Studio
10 1 (0.079%) Eclipse
10 1 (0.079%) JUnit
10 1 (0.079%) LabVIEW
10 1 (0.079%) NUnit
10 1 (0.079%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.079%) Xcode
10 1 (0.079%) Yeoman
General
1 136 (10.79%) Finance
2 62 (4.92%) Banking
3 54 (4.28%) Social Skills
4 43 (3.41%) Electronics
5 31 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 29 (2.30%) Manufacturing
6 29 (2.30%) Public Sector
7 20 (1.59%) Automotive
8 19 (1.51%) Analytical Skills
8 19 (1.51%) Retail
9 17 (1.35%) Law
10 14 (1.11%) Back Office
10 14 (1.11%) Financial Institution
11 12 (0.95%) Aerospace
11 12 (0.95%) Games
11 12 (0.95%) Tech for Good
12 11 (0.87%) Influencing Skills
13 7 (0.56%) Agriculture
13 7 (0.56%) Military
13 7 (0.56%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 166 (13.16%) .NET
2 94 (7.45%) React
3 62 (4.92%) Node.js
4 40 (3.17%) WPF
5 38 (3.01%) REST
6 34 (2.70%) Spring
7 30 (2.38%) RESTful
8 24 (1.90%) Spring Boot
9 23 (1.82%) .NET Core
10 21 (1.67%) React Native
11 17 (1.35%) .NET Framework
12 16 (1.27%) AngularJS
12 16 (1.27%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 16 (1.27%) FIX Protocol
12 16 (1.27%) pytest
13 15 (1.19%) Next.js
13 15 (1.19%) Ruby on Rails
13 15 (1.19%) Yocto
14 14 (1.11%) Vue
15 12 (0.95%) Entity Framework
Miscellaneous
1 87 (6.90%) Cloud Native
2 54 (4.28%) Algorithms
3 38 (3.01%) Legacy Systems
4 36 (2.85%) Embedded Systems
5 26 (2.06%) Distributed Systems
6 21 (1.67%) Greenfield Project
7 18 (1.43%) Derivative
8 16 (1.27%) Equities
8 16 (1.27%) Fixed Income
9 15 (1.19%) Device Driver
9 15 (1.19%) IoT
9 15 (1.19%) Robotics
10 13 (1.03%) CAN bus
11 11 (0.87%) Public Cloud
12 10 (0.79%) AI Agents
13 9 (0.71%) Client/Server
13 9 (0.71%) Product Ownership
13 9 (0.71%) Sports Betting
14 8 (0.63%) Legacy Applications
15 7 (0.56%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 95 (7.53%) Linux
2 30 (2.38%) Embedded Linux
3 17 (1.35%) FreeRTOS
4 8 (0.63%) Android
5 6 (0.48%) Windows
6 3 (0.24%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.079%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,254 (99.44%) Software Engineering
2 176 (13.96%) Agile
3 146 (11.58%) Full-Stack Development
4 127 (10.07%) CI/CD
5 109 (8.64%) Microservices
6 106 (8.41%) Mentoring
7 90 (7.14%) DevOps
8 86 (6.82%) AI
9 77 (6.11%) SDLC
10 76 (6.03%) Test Automation
11 74 (5.87%) Computer Science
12 63 (5.00%) Problem-Solving
13 60 (4.76%) Containerisation
14 56 (4.44%) Fintech
15 51 (4.04%) Technical Leadership
16 46 (3.65%) Continuous Improvement
17 45 (3.57%) Scrum
18 43 (3.41%) Low Latency
19 42 (3.33%) Code Quality
19 42 (3.33%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 207 (16.42%) C++
2 201 (15.94%) C#
3 186 (14.75%) Python
4 185 (14.67%) Java
5 91 (7.22%) TypeScript
6 88 (6.98%) JavaScript
7 80 (6.34%) SQL
8 77 (6.11%) C
9 43 (3.41%) Rust
10 26 (2.06%) Go
11 20 (1.59%) Embedded C
12 18 (1.43%) PHP
13 15 (1.19%) Ruby
14 12 (0.95%) Scala
15 9 (0.71%) Julia
15 9 (0.71%) MATLAB
16 8 (0.63%) F#
16 8 (0.63%) Haskell
16 8 (0.63%) Kotlin
17 7 (0.56%) VB
Qualifications
1 80 (6.34%) Security Cleared
2 74 (5.87%) Degree
3 62 (4.92%) SC Cleared
4 30 (2.38%) DV Cleared
5 22 (1.74%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (1.74%) Master's Degree
6 14 (1.11%) PhD
7 3 (0.24%) AWS Certification
7 3 (0.24%) BPSS Clearance
8 2 (0.16%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.079%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (2.30%) QA
2 14 (1.11%) IEC 61508
2 14 (1.11%) MISRA
2 14 (1.11%) MISRA C
3 9 (0.71%) Accessibility
4 4 (0.32%) GDPR
5 3 (0.24%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.24%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.079%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 65 (5.15%) Docker
2 44 (3.49%) Firmware
3 19 (1.51%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.16%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.16%) KVM
4 2 (0.16%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.079%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 75 (5.95%) Kubernetes
2 39 (3.09%) Terraform
3 20 (1.59%) Grafana
4 11 (0.87%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.40%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.24%) Ansible
6 3 (0.24%) Plesk
Vendors
1 8 (0.63%) Microsoft
1 8 (0.63%) Siemens
2 6 (0.48%) HubSpot
3 5 (0.40%) Google
4 3 (0.24%) Rockwell
4 3 (0.24%) Splunk
5 2 (0.16%) Foundry
5 2 (0.16%) OpenAI
5 2 (0.16%) VMware
6 1 (0.079%) Palantir
6 1 (0.079%) TOWER Software