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 14 August 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 206 110
Rank change year-on-year +74 -96 +170
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,548 782 1,907
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.46% 1.57% 2.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.55% 1.74% 2.41%
Number of salaries quoted 1,197 447 1,343
10th Percentile £56,050 £56,250 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £82,500 £65,465
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +26.02% -3.02%
75th Percentile £90,000 £111,250 £88,125
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £121,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +16.67% -4.00%

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 100,001 44,901 79,174
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.04% 89.94% 95.02%
Number of salaries quoted 68,291 26,543 52,845
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £72,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £48,122 £50,000
% change year-on-year +9.10% -3.76% -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 14 August 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 14 August 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 +78 1,387 £75,000 -12.03% 1,074
UK excluding London +108 1,084 £70,000 - 444
London -4 377 £95,000 -11.63% 705
Work from Home -67 297 £75,000 -12.03% 396
North of England -10 274 £75,000 +5.26% 100
South East +131 242 £80,000 +14.29% 80
South West +57 207 £70,000 - 52
East of England +87 166 £70,000 +9.80% 90
North West -19 166 £75,000 +3.81% 72
Midlands +65 116 £69,305 -4.41% 38
Yorkshire +18 70 £70,000 -11.18% 10
West Midlands +25 66 £70,000 -6.67% 17
East Midlands +18 50 £60,000 -14.29% 21
Scotland -3 48 £67,500 +3.85% 60
North East -34 38 £90,000 +800.00% 18
Wales -39 28 £64,500 -0.77% 13
Northern Ireland - 3 £75,000 - 17

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

For the 6 months to 14 August 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 1,544 (99.74%) Software Engineering
2 266 (17.18%) Python
3 248 (16.02%) C#
4 236 (15.25%) C++
5 231 (14.92%) Agile
6 222 (14.34%) Java
7 209 (13.50%) AWS
8 184 (11.89%) CI/CD
9 170 (10.98%) .NET
10 169 (10.92%) Mentoring
11 166 (10.72%) AI
12 159 (10.27%) Full-Stack Development
13 124 (8.01%) TypeScript
14 123 (7.95%) DevOps
15 121 (7.82%) Microservices
16 120 (7.75%) React
17 114 (7.36%) Azure
18 107 (6.91%) Security Cleared
19 105 (6.78%) Linux
20 104 (6.72%) JavaScript
21 99 (6.40%) Test Automation
22 88 (5.68%) SDLC
23 87 (5.62%) Problem-Solving
24 86 (5.56%) Code Quality
25 85 (5.49%) SQL
26 84 (5.43%) Degree
26 84 (5.43%) Technical Leadership
27 83 (5.36%) SaaS
28 80 (5.17%) C
29 79 (5.10%) Docker

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 (1.03%) SharePoint Server
2 7 (0.45%) Apache
3 4 (0.26%) Confluence
4 3 (0.19%) Apache Solr
4 3 (0.19%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.19%) WinCC
5 2 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.13%) Cloud Foundry
6 1 (0.065%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.065%) CMS
Applications
1 3 (0.19%) Blender
1 3 (0.19%) Maya
2 1 (0.065%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 209 (13.50%) AWS
2 114 (7.36%) Azure
3 83 (5.36%) SaaS
4 64 (4.13%) GCP
5 42 (2.71%) GitHub
6 37 (2.39%) Serverless
7 21 (1.36%) Amazon EKS
7 21 (1.36%) Anthropic Claude
8 20 (1.29%) GitHub Copilot
9 15 (0.97%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (0.65%) AWS Lambda
10 10 (0.65%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 9 (0.58%) Amazon S3
12 8 (0.52%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (0.39%) Amazon SQS
13 6 (0.39%) Supabase
14 5 (0.32%) AWS CloudFormation
14 5 (0.32%) Azure AI
14 5 (0.32%) Dynamics 365
14 5 (0.32%) Pulumi
Communications & Networking
1 21 (1.36%) RS-232
2 14 (0.90%) Ethernet
2 14 (0.90%) Modbus
3 13 (0.84%) Bluetooth
4 12 (0.78%) Multicast
4 12 (0.78%) Profibus
4 12 (0.78%) Wireless
5 9 (0.58%) RS-485
5 9 (0.58%) ZigBee
6 8 (0.52%) HTTP
7 7 (0.45%) Broadband
8 4 (0.26%) Firewall
8 4 (0.26%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.065%) BGP
9 1 (0.065%) DNS
9 1 (0.065%) LTE
9 1 (0.065%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 60 (3.88%) PostgreSQL
2 33 (2.13%) MySQL
3 28 (1.81%) Relational Database
4 19 (1.23%) NoSQL
5 18 (1.16%) MongoDB
5 18 (1.16%) Redis
5 18 (1.16%) SQL Server
6 10 (0.65%) Big Data
7 8 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
8 7 (0.45%) DynamoDB
9 6 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
10 5 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
11 4 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.26%) Delta Lake
12 3 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
12 3 (0.19%) DocumentDB
12 3 (0.19%) MariaDB
12 3 (0.19%) Neo4j
13 2 (0.13%) CockroachDB
13 2 (0.13%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 58 (3.75%) Git
2 31 (2.00%) JIRA
3 26 (1.68%) GitLab
4 20 (1.29%) Claude Code
5 14 (0.90%) TeamCity
6 10 (0.65%) Jenkins
6 10 (0.65%) Visual Studio Code
7 6 (0.39%) Mocha
7 6 (0.39%) Selenium
8 5 (0.32%) Jasmine
8 5 (0.32%) NUnit
9 4 (0.26%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.26%) Eclipse
9 4 (0.26%) Rational Rhapsody
9 4 (0.26%) Visual Studio
10 3 (0.19%) Eclipse RCP
10 3 (0.19%) JUnit
10 3 (0.19%) Oracle APEX
11 2 (0.13%) Appium
11 2 (0.13%) CMake
General
1 143 (9.24%) Finance
2 107 (6.91%) Social Skills
3 67 (4.33%) Electronics
4 53 (3.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 51 (3.29%) Banking
6 45 (2.91%) Manufacturing
7 44 (2.84%) Public Sector
8 39 (2.52%) Analytical Skills
9 34 (2.20%) Law
10 19 (1.23%) Retail
11 16 (1.03%) Aerospace
11 16 (1.03%) Marketing
12 14 (0.90%) Automotive
13 12 (0.78%) Financial Institution
13 12 (0.78%) Military
14 10 (0.65%) Influencing Skills
15 9 (0.58%) Organisational Skills
16 8 (0.52%) Back Office
16 8 (0.52%) Games
17 7 (0.45%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 170 (10.98%) .NET
2 120 (7.75%) React
3 73 (4.72%) Node.js
4 60 (3.88%) Spring
5 49 (3.17%) WPF
6 38 (2.45%) RESTful
7 37 (2.39%) Spring Boot
8 33 (2.13%) Kafka
9 30 (1.94%) REST
10 28 (1.81%) Next.js
11 23 (1.49%) AngularJS
12 19 (1.23%) FastAPI
13 18 (1.16%) Django
14 17 (1.10%) Vue
15 16 (1.03%) React Native
16 14 (0.90%) CSS
17 13 (0.84%) .NET Core
17 13 (0.84%) FIX Protocol
17 13 (0.84%) Flask
18 12 (0.78%) Ruby on Rails
Miscellaneous
1 116 (7.49%) Cloud Native
2 55 (3.55%) Legacy Systems
3 54 (3.49%) Distributed Systems
4 48 (3.10%) Algorithms
5 36 (2.33%) Robotics
6 33 (2.13%) Embedded Systems
7 29 (1.87%) Greenfield Project
8 22 (1.42%) Product Ownership
9 21 (1.36%) AI Agents
10 19 (1.23%) Public Cloud
11 15 (0.97%) Blog
11 15 (0.97%) Derivative
11 15 (0.97%) Device Driver
12 12 (0.78%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (0.78%) Equities
12 12 (0.78%) Fixed Income
13 11 (0.71%) Blockchain
13 11 (0.71%) Cyber Threat
13 11 (0.71%) Legacy Applications
13 11 (0.71%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 105 (6.78%) Linux
2 28 (1.81%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.23%) FreeRTOS
3 19 (1.23%) Windows
4 4 (0.26%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.19%) Android
5 3 (0.19%) Unix
6 1 (0.065%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,544 (99.74%) Software Engineering
2 231 (14.92%) Agile
3 184 (11.89%) CI/CD
4 169 (10.92%) Mentoring
5 166 (10.72%) AI
6 159 (10.27%) Full-Stack Development
7 123 (7.95%) DevOps
8 121 (7.82%) Microservices
9 99 (6.40%) Test Automation
10 88 (5.68%) SDLC
11 87 (5.62%) Problem-Solving
12 86 (5.56%) Code Quality
13 84 (5.43%) Technical Leadership
14 74 (4.78%) Computer Science
15 73 (4.72%) Fintech
16 69 (4.46%) Continuous Improvement
17 54 (3.49%) Machine Learning
18 51 (3.29%) Containerisation
19 49 (3.17%) Infrastructure as Code
20 47 (3.04%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 266 (17.18%) Python
2 248 (16.02%) C#
3 236 (15.25%) C++
4 222 (14.34%) Java
5 124 (8.01%) TypeScript
6 104 (6.72%) JavaScript
7 85 (5.49%) SQL
8 80 (5.17%) C
9 45 (2.91%) Rust
10 35 (2.26%) Go
11 21 (1.36%) Embedded C
12 16 (1.03%) Scala
13 15 (0.97%) Ruby
14 14 (0.90%) PHP
15 13 (0.84%) F#
15 13 (0.84%) Haskell
16 12 (0.78%) Kotlin
17 11 (0.71%) MATLAB
18 10 (0.65%) Julia
19 8 (0.52%) VB
Qualifications
1 107 (6.91%) Security Cleared
2 84 (5.43%) Degree
3 75 (4.84%) SC Cleared
4 54 (3.49%) DV Cleared
5 25 (1.61%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.16%) Master's Degree
7 12 (0.78%) PhD
8 8 (0.52%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.39%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.13%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.13%) DBS Check
11 1 (0.065%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.065%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (2.58%) QA
2 18 (1.16%) Accessibility
3 5 (0.32%) Data Quality
3 5 (0.32%) GDPR
3 5 (0.32%) IEC 61508
3 5 (0.32%) MISRA
3 5 (0.32%) MISRA C
4 4 (0.26%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.19%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.065%) SLA
6 1 (0.065%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 79 (5.10%) Docker
2 53 (3.42%) Firmware
3 22 (1.42%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (0.065%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 79 (5.10%) Kubernetes
2 56 (3.62%) Terraform
3 16 (1.03%) Grafana
4 9 (0.58%) Ansible
5 5 (0.32%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.19%) Plesk
7 2 (0.13%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.13%) kaniko
7 2 (0.13%) Puppet
8 1 (0.065%) Argo
8 1 (0.065%) Istio
8 1 (0.065%) Kibana
Vendors
1 20 (1.29%) Microsoft
2 10 (0.65%) Salesforce
3 9 (0.58%) Google
3 9 (0.58%) Splunk
4 8 (0.52%) Siemens
5 7 (0.45%) Databricks
6 6 (0.39%) Oracle
7 5 (0.32%) Intel
7 5 (0.32%) OpenAI
8 4 (0.26%) Foundry
9 3 (0.19%) Atlassian
9 3 (0.19%) New Relic
9 3 (0.19%) Revolut
9 3 (0.19%) Rockwell
10 2 (0.13%) ADVA
11 1 (0.065%) Palantir
11 1 (0.065%) RedGate
11 1 (0.065%) Sage
11 1 (0.065%) TOWER Software
11 1 (0.065%) Virgin Media