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 24 June 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 193 128
Rank change year-on-year +58 -65 +163
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,356 783 2,231
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.43% 1.73% 2.07%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.52% 1.94% 2.18%
Number of salaries quoted 1,102 452 1,631
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £62,500 £55,000
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 £81,875
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £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 89,394 40,455 102,187
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.02% 89.45% 94.75%
Number of salaries quoted 61,374 23,051 73,787
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £38,620
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 24 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 24 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 +63 1,196 £75,000 -9.09% 154
UK excluding London +87 958 £70,000 +3.70% 143
London -5 326 £95,000 -5.00% 32
Work from Home -31 310 £70,000 -12.50% 54
South East +145 243 £75,000 +15.38% 41
North of England -25 237 £75,000 +0.67% 28
South West +54 162 £70,000 -9.68% 20
North West -26 143 £75,000 +0.33% 17
East of England +58 114 £70,000 +18.64% 34
Midlands +65 109 £65,000 -10.34% 13
Scotland +14 70 £67,500 +3.85%
West Midlands +40 69 £68,403 -7.25% 6
Yorkshire +2 63 £70,000 -15.28% 2
East Midlands +8 40 £65,000 -7.14% 7
North East -27 31 £80,000 +45.45% 9
Wales -31 22 £56,250 -13.46% 4
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 6

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

For the 6 months to 24 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 1,351 (99.63%) Software Engineering
2 224 (16.52%) C#
3 223 (16.45%) C++
4 207 (15.27%) Python
5 192 (14.16%) AWS
6 191 (14.09%) Agile
6 191 (14.09%) Java
7 175 (12.91%) .NET
8 153 (11.28%) Full-Stack Development
9 143 (10.55%) CI/CD
10 121 (8.92%) Mentoring
11 119 (8.78%) Microservices
12 110 (8.11%) Azure
13 107 (7.89%) React
14 104 (7.67%) Linux
14 104 (7.67%) TypeScript
15 102 (7.52%) AI
16 99 (7.30%) DevOps
17 98 (7.23%) SaaS
18 94 (6.93%) JavaScript
19 89 (6.56%) Security Cleared
20 87 (6.42%) SQL
21 86 (6.34%) Test Automation
22 84 (6.19%) Kubernetes
23 83 (6.12%) C
23 83 (6.12%) Computer Science
23 83 (6.12%) SDLC
24 82 (6.05%) Degree
25 76 (5.60%) Docker
26 74 (5.46%) 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 (1.18%) SharePoint Server
2 3 (0.22%) Apache
2 3 (0.22%) Apache Solr
2 3 (0.22%) FactoryTalk
2 3 (0.22%) WinCC
3 2 (0.15%) CMS
3 2 (0.15%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (0.22%) Blender
1 3 (0.22%) Maya
Cloud Services
1 192 (14.16%) AWS
2 110 (8.11%) Azure
3 98 (7.23%) SaaS
4 53 (3.91%) GCP
5 35 (2.58%) GitHub
6 32 (2.36%) Serverless
7 23 (1.70%) Amazon EKS
8 17 (1.25%) Anthropic Claude
8 17 (1.25%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 14 (1.03%) Azure AKS
10 13 (0.96%) Azure DevOps
11 11 (0.81%) GitHub Copilot
12 8 (0.59%) Azure Event Grid
13 6 (0.44%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.37%) Amazon S3
14 5 (0.37%) Pulumi
15 4 (0.29%) Amazon SQS
15 4 (0.29%) Dynamics 365
15 4 (0.29%) IaaS
15 4 (0.29%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 24 (1.77%) RS-232
2 17 (1.25%) Ethernet
2 17 (1.25%) Multicast
3 14 (1.03%) Modbus
4 13 (0.96%) Bluetooth
5 12 (0.88%) Profibus
5 12 (0.88%) Wireless
6 11 (0.81%) Broadband
7 9 (0.66%) HTTP
7 9 (0.66%) RS-485
7 9 (0.66%) ZigBee
8 1 (0.074%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (2.06%) SQL Server
2 24 (1.77%) PostgreSQL
3 22 (1.62%) MySQL
4 20 (1.47%) NoSQL
5 12 (0.88%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (0.52%) Big Data
8 5 (0.37%) Geospatial Data
8 5 (0.37%) Redis
8 5 (0.37%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.29%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.29%) Delta Lake
10 3 (0.22%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.22%) DocumentDB
10 3 (0.22%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.22%) MariaDB
10 3 (0.22%) Neo4j
11 2 (0.15%) BigQuery
12 1 (0.074%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 59 (4.35%) Git
2 30 (2.21%) JIRA
3 24 (1.77%) GitLab
4 22 (1.62%) TeamCity
5 17 (1.25%) Claude Code
6 13 (0.96%) Visual Studio Code
7 10 (0.74%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.22%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.22%) Eclipse
8 3 (0.22%) Rational Rhapsody
9 2 (0.15%) Eclipse RCP
9 2 (0.15%) GDB
9 2 (0.15%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.15%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.074%) Android Studio
10 1 (0.074%) GoogleTest
10 1 (0.074%) Selenium
10 1 (0.074%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.074%) Storybook
10 1 (0.074%) Yeoman
General
1 138 (10.18%) Finance
2 65 (4.79%) Social Skills
3 60 (4.42%) Banking
4 47 (3.47%) Electronics
5 34 (2.51%) Manufacturing
6 33 (2.43%) Public Sector
7 32 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 27 (1.99%) Analytical Skills
9 21 (1.55%) Retail
10 20 (1.47%) Automotive
10 20 (1.47%) Law
11 14 (1.03%) Back Office
11 14 (1.03%) Financial Institution
12 12 (0.88%) Aerospace
12 12 (0.88%) Games
12 12 (0.88%) Tech for Good
13 9 (0.66%) Influencing Skills
13 9 (0.66%) Military
13 9 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.52%) Agriculture
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 175 (12.91%) .NET
2 107 (7.89%) React
3 74 (5.46%) Node.js
4 42 (3.10%) WPF
5 36 (2.65%) REST
5 36 (2.65%) Spring
6 35 (2.58%) RESTful
7 27 (1.99%) Spring Boot
8 23 (1.70%) .NET Core
9 22 (1.62%) Next.js
10 20 (1.47%) React Native
11 18 (1.33%) AngularJS
11 18 (1.33%) Ruby on Rails
12 17 (1.25%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 17 (1.25%) FIX Protocol
12 17 (1.25%) pytest
13 16 (1.18%) .NET Framework
14 15 (1.11%) Vue
14 15 (1.11%) Yocto
15 13 (0.96%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 94 (6.93%) Cloud Native
2 55 (4.06%) Algorithms
3 49 (3.61%) Legacy Systems
4 37 (2.73%) Embedded Systems
5 36 (2.65%) Distributed Systems
6 31 (2.29%) Greenfield Project
7 18 (1.33%) Derivative
8 17 (1.25%) Equities
8 17 (1.25%) Fixed Income
9 16 (1.18%) IoT
9 16 (1.18%) Robotics
10 15 (1.11%) Device Driver
11 13 (0.96%) Product Ownership
12 12 (0.88%) AI Agents
13 11 (0.81%) CAN bus
14 9 (0.66%) Client/Server
14 9 (0.66%) Public Cloud
14 9 (0.66%) Sports Betting
15 8 (0.59%) Legacy Applications
15 8 (0.59%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 104 (7.67%) Linux
2 31 (2.29%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.40%) FreeRTOS
4 9 (0.66%) Windows
5 8 (0.59%) Android
6 3 (0.22%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.074%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,351 (99.63%) Software Engineering
2 191 (14.09%) Agile
3 153 (11.28%) Full-Stack Development
4 143 (10.55%) CI/CD
5 121 (8.92%) Mentoring
6 119 (8.78%) Microservices
7 102 (7.52%) AI
8 99 (7.30%) DevOps
9 86 (6.34%) Test Automation
10 83 (6.12%) Computer Science
10 83 (6.12%) SDLC
11 62 (4.57%) Problem-Solving
12 60 (4.42%) Fintech
13 58 (4.28%) Containerisation
14 56 (4.13%) Code Quality
15 54 (3.98%) Technical Leadership
16 52 (3.83%) Continuous Improvement
17 47 (3.47%) Mathematics
18 44 (3.24%) Scrum
19 40 (2.95%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 224 (16.52%) C#
2 223 (16.45%) C++
3 207 (15.27%) Python
4 191 (14.09%) Java
5 104 (7.67%) TypeScript
6 94 (6.93%) JavaScript
7 87 (6.42%) SQL
8 83 (6.12%) C
9 46 (3.39%) Rust
10 26 (1.92%) Go
11 20 (1.47%) Embedded C
12 18 (1.33%) PHP
12 18 (1.33%) Ruby
13 13 (0.96%) Scala
14 10 (0.74%) Julia
14 10 (0.74%) MATLAB
14 10 (0.74%) VB
15 8 (0.59%) F#
15 8 (0.59%) Haskell
15 8 (0.59%) R
Qualifications
1 89 (6.56%) Security Cleared
2 82 (6.05%) Degree
3 67 (4.94%) SC Cleared
4 38 (2.80%) DV Cleared
5 25 (1.84%) Computer Science Degree
6 21 (1.55%) Master's Degree
7 14 (1.03%) PhD
8 3 (0.22%) AWS Certification
8 3 (0.22%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.15%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.074%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (2.43%) QA
2 12 (0.88%) Accessibility
2 12 (0.88%) IEC 61508
2 12 (0.88%) MISRA
2 12 (0.88%) MISRA C
3 5 (0.37%) GDPR
4 3 (0.22%) DO-178B
4 3 (0.22%) IEC 61131
5 1 (0.074%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 76 (5.60%) Docker
2 49 (3.61%) Firmware
3 22 (1.62%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.15%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.15%) KVM
4 2 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.074%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 84 (6.19%) Kubernetes
2 45 (3.32%) Terraform
3 21 (1.55%) Grafana
4 9 (0.66%) Functional Safety
5 6 (0.44%) Ansible
6 5 (0.37%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.22%) Plesk
Vendors
1 12 (0.88%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.59%) Siemens
3 7 (0.52%) Google
4 6 (0.44%) Splunk
5 4 (0.29%) Databricks
5 4 (0.29%) HubSpot
5 4 (0.29%) OpenAI
6 3 (0.22%) Foundry
6 3 (0.22%) Rockwell
7 2 (0.15%) Intel
7 2 (0.15%) VMware
8 1 (0.074%) Palantir
8 1 (0.074%) TOWER Software