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 27 July 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 201 122
Rank change year-on-year +67 -79 +166
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,452 810 1,941
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.43% 1.64% 2.20%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.52% 1.82% 2.32%
Number of salaries quoted 1,155 477 1,398
10th Percentile £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £56,250
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 £111,250 £86,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £110,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +12.50% -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 95,592 44,533 83,697
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.36% 90.08% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 65,383 26,478 58,009
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £96,250 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

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 27 July 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 27 July 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 +73 1,296 £75,000 -12.03% 367
UK excluding London +99 1,024 £70,000 +3.70% 177
London -15 346 £95,000 -10.59% 217
Work from Home -68 298 £72,500 -12.12% 123
South East +142 248 £80,000 +14.29% 27
North of England -14 247 £75,000 +3.45% 44
South West +56 187 £70,000 - 37
East of England +83 155 £70,000 +12.00% 35
North West -35 150 £75,000 - 29
Midlands +53 110 £68,403 -5.65% 13
Yorkshire +18 66 £70,000 -6.67% 6
West Midlands +24 65 £70,000 -5.08% 4
Scotland 0 50 £67,500 +3.85% 9
East Midlands +13 45 £65,000 -7.14% 9
North East -35 31 £90,000 +63.64% 9
Wales -39 24 £56,250 -13.46% 7
Northern Ireland - 3 £75,000 - 9

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

For the 6 months to 27 July 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 1,447 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 254 (17.49%) Python
3 243 (16.74%) C++
4 241 (16.60%) C#
5 205 (14.12%) Agile
6 202 (13.91%) Java
7 198 (13.64%) AWS
8 170 (11.71%) .NET
9 162 (11.16%) CI/CD
10 153 (10.54%) AI
10 153 (10.54%) Full-Stack Development
11 143 (9.85%) Mentoring
12 114 (7.85%) TypeScript
13 113 (7.78%) Azure
13 113 (7.78%) Microservices
14 112 (7.71%) React
15 109 (7.51%) Linux
16 108 (7.44%) DevOps
17 102 (7.02%) JavaScript
18 101 (6.96%) Security Cleared
19 95 (6.54%) Test Automation
20 88 (6.06%) SaaS
21 86 (5.92%) C
22 85 (5.85%) SDLC
23 84 (5.79%) Degree
24 83 (5.72%) SQL
25 77 (5.30%) Kubernetes
26 76 (5.23%) Computer Science
26 76 (5.23%) Docker
26 76 (5.23%) 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 (1.10%) SharePoint Server
2 5 (0.34%) Apache
3 3 (0.21%) Apache Solr
3 3 (0.21%) Confluence
3 3 (0.21%) FactoryTalk
3 3 (0.21%) WinCC
4 1 (0.069%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.069%) Cloud Foundry
4 1 (0.069%) CMS
Applications
1 3 (0.21%) Blender
1 3 (0.21%) Maya
2 1 (0.069%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 198 (13.64%) AWS
2 113 (7.78%) Azure
3 88 (6.06%) SaaS
4 59 (4.06%) GCP
5 37 (2.55%) GitHub
6 34 (2.34%) Serverless
7 22 (1.52%) Amazon EKS
8 20 (1.38%) Anthropic Claude
9 14 (0.96%) GitHub Copilot
10 13 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (0.83%) Azure Cosmos DB
12 8 (0.55%) Amazon S3
12 8 (0.55%) AWS Lambda
12 8 (0.55%) Azure AKS
13 7 (0.48%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (0.34%) Amazon SQS
14 5 (0.34%) Azure AI
14 5 (0.34%) Pulumi
14 5 (0.34%) Supabase
15 4 (0.28%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.58%) RS-232
2 16 (1.10%) Ethernet
3 14 (0.96%) Modbus
3 14 (0.96%) Multicast
4 13 (0.90%) Bluetooth
5 12 (0.83%) Profibus
5 12 (0.83%) Wireless
6 9 (0.62%) RS-485
6 9 (0.62%) ZigBee
7 8 (0.55%) HTTP
8 7 (0.48%) Broadband
9 1 (0.069%) Firewall
9 1 (0.069%) LTE
9 1 (0.069%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (2.89%) PostgreSQL
2 28 (1.93%) MySQL
3 23 (1.58%) SQL Server
4 18 (1.24%) NoSQL
5 15 (1.03%) MongoDB
5 15 (1.03%) Redis
6 14 (0.96%) Relational Database
7 10 (0.69%) Big Data
8 8 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
10 4 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.28%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.28%) DynamoDB
10 4 (0.28%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.21%) DocumentDB
11 3 (0.21%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.21%) Neo4j
12 2 (0.14%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.14%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 59 (4.06%) Git
2 32 (2.20%) JIRA
3 25 (1.72%) GitLab
4 19 (1.31%) Claude Code
5 16 (1.10%) TeamCity
6 11 (0.76%) Visual Studio Code
7 9 (0.62%) Jenkins
8 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
8 4 (0.28%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.28%) NUnit
8 4 (0.28%) Selenium
8 4 (0.28%) Visual Studio
9 3 (0.21%) Eclipse RCP
9 3 (0.21%) Jasmine
9 3 (0.21%) Mocha
9 3 (0.21%) Rational Rhapsody
10 2 (0.14%) GDB
10 2 (0.14%) JUnit
10 2 (0.14%) SonarQube
11 1 (0.069%) LabVIEW
General
1 125 (8.61%) Finance
2 83 (5.72%) Social Skills
3 63 (4.34%) Electronics
4 50 (3.44%) Banking
5 44 (3.03%) Manufacturing
6 42 (2.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 38 (2.62%) Analytical Skills
7 38 (2.62%) Public Sector
8 24 (1.65%) Law
9 19 (1.31%) Retail
10 15 (1.03%) Automotive
11 13 (0.90%) Financial Institution
12 12 (0.83%) Back Office
13 11 (0.76%) Military
14 10 (0.69%) Aerospace
15 9 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
16 8 (0.55%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.48%) Agriculture
17 7 (0.48%) Billing
17 7 (0.48%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 170 (11.71%) .NET
2 112 (7.71%) React
3 71 (4.89%) Node.js
4 48 (3.31%) WPF
5 46 (3.17%) Spring
6 33 (2.27%) RESTful
7 29 (2.00%) Spring Boot
8 28 (1.93%) REST
9 27 (1.86%) Next.js
10 20 (1.38%) Kafka
11 18 (1.24%) AngularJS
12 17 (1.17%) FastAPI
13 16 (1.10%) Vue
14 15 (1.03%) .NET Core
14 15 (1.03%) Django
15 14 (0.96%) Boost C++ Libraries
15 14 (0.96%) FIX Protocol
15 14 (0.96%) pytest
15 14 (0.96%) React Native
15 14 (0.96%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 103 (7.09%) Cloud Native
2 53 (3.65%) Legacy Systems
3 48 (3.31%) Algorithms
3 48 (3.31%) Distributed Systems
4 36 (2.48%) Robotics
5 32 (2.20%) Embedded Systems
6 29 (2.00%) Greenfield Project
7 19 (1.31%) Product Ownership
8 17 (1.17%) Derivative
8 17 (1.17%) Device Driver
9 15 (1.03%) AI Agents
10 14 (0.96%) Equities
10 14 (0.96%) Fixed Income
11 13 (0.90%) Public Cloud
12 11 (0.76%) Client/Server
13 10 (0.69%) Cyber Threat
13 10 (0.69%) Legacy Applications
14 9 (0.62%) IoT
14 9 (0.62%) Renewable Energy
15 8 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 109 (7.51%) Linux
2 29 (2.00%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.31%) FreeRTOS
4 16 (1.10%) Windows
5 4 (0.28%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.21%) Unix
7 2 (0.14%) Android
8 1 (0.069%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,447 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 205 (14.12%) Agile
3 162 (11.16%) CI/CD
4 153 (10.54%) AI
4 153 (10.54%) Full-Stack Development
5 143 (9.85%) Mentoring
6 113 (7.78%) Microservices
7 108 (7.44%) DevOps
8 95 (6.54%) Test Automation
9 85 (5.85%) SDLC
10 76 (5.23%) Computer Science
10 76 (5.23%) Problem-Solving
11 75 (5.17%) Code Quality
12 66 (4.55%) Technical Leadership
13 65 (4.48%) Fintech
14 62 (4.27%) Continuous Improvement
15 48 (3.31%) Containerisation
15 48 (3.31%) Machine Learning
16 44 (3.03%) Software Testing
17 42 (2.89%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 254 (17.49%) Python
2 243 (16.74%) C++
3 241 (16.60%) C#
4 202 (13.91%) Java
5 114 (7.85%) TypeScript
6 102 (7.02%) JavaScript
7 86 (5.92%) C
8 83 (5.72%) SQL
9 50 (3.44%) Rust
10 29 (2.00%) Go
11 22 (1.52%) Embedded C
12 15 (1.03%) Scala
13 14 (0.96%) Ruby
14 13 (0.90%) F#
14 13 (0.90%) Haskell
14 13 (0.90%) PHP
15 11 (0.76%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.69%) Julia
17 8 (0.55%) R
17 8 (0.55%) VB
Qualifications
1 101 (6.96%) Security Cleared
2 84 (5.79%) Degree
3 71 (4.89%) SC Cleared
4 50 (3.44%) DV Cleared
5 26 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (1.03%) Master's Degree
7 10 (0.69%) PhD
8 5 (0.34%) AWS Certification
8 5 (0.34%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.14%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.069%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.069%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (2.82%) QA
2 15 (1.03%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.41%) IEC 61508
3 6 (0.41%) MISRA
3 6 (0.41%) MISRA C
4 5 (0.34%) GDPR
5 3 (0.21%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.21%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.069%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.069%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 76 (5.23%) Docker
2 49 (3.37%) Firmware
3 22 (1.52%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.14%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.14%) KVM
4 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.069%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 77 (5.30%) Kubernetes
2 47 (3.24%) Terraform
3 19 (1.31%) Grafana
4 6 (0.41%) Ansible
4 6 (0.41%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.21%) Functional Safety
5 3 (0.21%) Plesk
6 2 (0.14%) Puppet
7 1 (0.069%) kaniko
Vendors
1 18 (1.24%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.55%) Google
2 8 (0.55%) Siemens
3 7 (0.48%) Splunk
4 5 (0.34%) Databricks
4 5 (0.34%) Intel
4 5 (0.34%) OpenAI
5 4 (0.28%) Foundry
6 3 (0.21%) Rockwell
6 3 (0.21%) Salesforce
7 2 (0.14%) ADVA
7 2 (0.14%) Atlassian
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle
7 2 (0.14%) VMware
8 1 (0.069%) New Relic
8 1 (0.069%) Palantir
8 1 (0.069%) Revolut
8 1 (0.069%) TOWER Software
8 1 (0.069%) Virgin Media