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 23 July 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 205 122
Rank change year-on-year +70 -83 +172
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,424 803 2,001
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.42% 1.64% 2.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.50% 1.81% 2.28%
Number of salaries quoted 1,148 471 1,446
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 £85,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £110,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £68,750 £60,000
% change year-on-year +1.82% +14.58% -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 94,649 44,285 87,735
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.33% 90.20% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 64,854 26,220 61,542
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £29,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year - +1.85% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,082
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 23 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 23 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 +71 1,273 £75,000 -11.76% 391
UK excluding London +93 1,018 £70,000 +1.82% 191
London -7 328 £95,000 -9.52% 222
Work from Home -57 297 £72,500 -10.49% 129
South East +148 253 £77,500 +10.71% 34
North of England -20 241 £75,000 +2.04% 43
South West +55 184 £70,000 - 44
East of England +90 152 £70,000 +12.00% 33
North West -28 147 £75,000 - 30
Midlands +58 112 £67,500 -6.90% 22
West Midlands +21 67 £70,000 -5.08% 5
Yorkshire +18 63 £70,000 -6.67% 7
Scotland +6 49 £67,500 +3.85% 8
East Midlands +13 45 £65,000 -7.14% 17
North East -38 31 £90,000 +63.64% 6
Wales -35 24 £56,250 -13.46% 5
Northern Ireland - 3 £75,000 - 6

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

For the 6 months to 23 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 1,419 (99.65%) Software Engineering
2 247 (17.35%) Python
3 244 (17.13%) C++
4 240 (16.85%) C#
5 200 (14.04%) Agile
6 192 (13.48%) AWS
6 192 (13.48%) Java
7 169 (11.87%) .NET
8 156 (10.96%) CI/CD
9 153 (10.74%) Full-Stack Development
10 142 (9.97%) AI
11 137 (9.62%) Mentoring
12 114 (8.01%) Azure
13 112 (7.87%) TypeScript
14 111 (7.79%) Linux
15 108 (7.58%) Microservices
15 108 (7.58%) React
16 104 (7.30%) DevOps
17 100 (7.02%) JavaScript
17 100 (7.02%) Security Cleared
18 92 (6.46%) Test Automation
19 89 (6.25%) SaaS
20 86 (6.04%) Degree
21 85 (5.97%) C
22 84 (5.90%) SQL
23 82 (5.76%) SDLC
24 78 (5.48%) Computer Science
25 75 (5.27%) Kubernetes
26 74 (5.20%) Docker
27 72 (5.06%) 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 (1.12%) SharePoint Server
2 4 (0.28%) Apache
3 3 (0.21%) Apache Solr
3 3 (0.21%) FactoryTalk
3 3 (0.21%) WinCC
4 2 (0.14%) Confluence
5 1 (0.070%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.070%) CMS
Applications
1 3 (0.21%) Blender
1 3 (0.21%) Maya
2 1 (0.070%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 192 (13.48%) AWS
2 114 (8.01%) Azure
3 89 (6.25%) SaaS
4 56 (3.93%) GCP
5 35 (2.46%) GitHub
6 33 (2.32%) Serverless
7 23 (1.62%) Amazon EKS
8 18 (1.26%) Anthropic Claude
9 14 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (0.91%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 12 (0.84%) GitHub Copilot
12 8 (0.56%) Amazon S3
12 8 (0.56%) Azure AKS
13 7 (0.49%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (0.35%) Amazon SQS
14 5 (0.35%) Azure AI
14 5 (0.35%) Pulumi
14 5 (0.35%) Supabase
15 4 (0.28%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.62%) RS-232
2 16 (1.12%) Ethernet
3 14 (0.98%) Modbus
3 14 (0.98%) Multicast
4 13 (0.91%) Bluetooth
5 12 (0.84%) Profibus
5 12 (0.84%) Wireless
6 9 (0.63%) RS-485
6 9 (0.63%) ZigBee
7 8 (0.56%) HTTP
8 7 (0.49%) Broadband
9 1 (0.070%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (2.88%) PostgreSQL
2 27 (1.90%) MySQL
3 24 (1.69%) SQL Server
4 18 (1.26%) NoSQL
5 15 (1.05%) MongoDB
6 14 (0.98%) Redis
7 10 (0.70%) Big Data
8 9 (0.63%) Relational Database
9 8 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
10 6 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
11 5 (0.35%) Geospatial Data
12 4 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
12 4 (0.28%) Delta Lake
12 4 (0.28%) DynamoDB
13 3 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
13 3 (0.21%) DocumentDB
13 3 (0.21%) MariaDB
13 3 (0.21%) Neo4j
14 2 (0.14%) Hadoop
15 1 (0.070%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 60 (4.21%) Git
2 31 (2.18%) JIRA
3 27 (1.90%) GitLab
4 17 (1.19%) Claude Code
4 17 (1.19%) TeamCity
5 13 (0.91%) Visual Studio Code
6 9 (0.63%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
7 4 (0.28%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.28%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.21%) Eclipse RCP
8 3 (0.21%) NUnit
8 3 (0.21%) Rational Rhapsody
8 3 (0.21%) Selenium
9 2 (0.14%) GDB
9 2 (0.14%) Jasmine
9 2 (0.14%) Mocha
9 2 (0.14%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.070%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.070%) Storybook
General
1 114 (8.01%) Finance
2 73 (5.13%) Social Skills
3 63 (4.42%) Electronics
4 50 (3.51%) Banking
5 44 (3.09%) Manufacturing
6 36 (2.53%) Analytical Skills
6 36 (2.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 36 (2.53%) Public Sector
7 21 (1.47%) Law
8 20 (1.40%) Retail
9 15 (1.05%) Automotive
10 13 (0.91%) Back Office
10 13 (0.91%) Financial Institution
11 11 (0.77%) Military
12 9 (0.63%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.56%) Aerospace
13 8 (0.56%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.49%) Billing
14 7 (0.49%) Games
14 7 (0.49%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 169 (11.87%) .NET
2 108 (7.58%) React
3 71 (4.99%) Node.js
4 48 (3.37%) WPF
5 39 (2.74%) Spring
6 31 (2.18%) RESTful
7 28 (1.97%) REST
7 28 (1.97%) Spring Boot
8 27 (1.90%) Next.js
9 18 (1.26%) AngularJS
10 16 (1.12%) Vue
11 15 (1.05%) FastAPI
12 14 (0.98%) .NET Core
12 14 (0.98%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 14 (0.98%) Django
12 14 (0.98%) FIX Protocol
12 14 (0.98%) pytest
12 14 (0.98%) React Native
12 14 (0.98%) Ruby on Rails
12 14 (0.98%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 102 (7.16%) Cloud Native
2 52 (3.65%) Legacy Systems
3 50 (3.51%) Algorithms
4 44 (3.09%) Distributed Systems
5 33 (2.32%) Robotics
6 32 (2.25%) Embedded Systems
7 29 (2.04%) Greenfield Project
8 18 (1.26%) Product Ownership
9 17 (1.19%) Device Driver
10 16 (1.12%) Derivative
11 14 (0.98%) Equities
11 14 (0.98%) Fixed Income
12 13 (0.91%) AI Agents
13 11 (0.77%) Client/Server
13 11 (0.77%) Public Cloud
14 10 (0.70%) Legacy Applications
15 9 (0.63%) Cyber Threat
15 9 (0.63%) IoT
15 9 (0.63%) Renewable Energy
16 7 (0.49%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 111 (7.79%) Linux
2 29 (2.04%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.33%) FreeRTOS
4 16 (1.12%) Windows
5 5 (0.35%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.21%) Unix
7 2 (0.14%) Android
8 1 (0.070%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,419 (99.65%) Software Engineering
2 200 (14.04%) Agile
3 156 (10.96%) CI/CD
4 153 (10.74%) Full-Stack Development
5 142 (9.97%) AI
6 137 (9.62%) Mentoring
7 108 (7.58%) Microservices
8 104 (7.30%) DevOps
9 92 (6.46%) Test Automation
10 82 (5.76%) SDLC
11 78 (5.48%) Computer Science
12 72 (5.06%) Problem-Solving
13 69 (4.85%) Code Quality
14 61 (4.28%) Technical Leadership
15 60 (4.21%) Fintech
16 59 (4.14%) Continuous Improvement
17 47 (3.30%) Containerisation
18 46 (3.23%) Software Testing
19 42 (2.95%) Machine Learning
19 42 (2.95%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 247 (17.35%) Python
2 244 (17.13%) C++
3 240 (16.85%) C#
4 192 (13.48%) Java
5 112 (7.87%) TypeScript
6 100 (7.02%) JavaScript
7 85 (5.97%) C
8 84 (5.90%) SQL
9 51 (3.58%) Rust
10 24 (1.69%) Go
11 21 (1.47%) Embedded C
12 15 (1.05%) Scala
13 14 (0.98%) Ruby
14 13 (0.91%) F#
14 13 (0.91%) Haskell
14 13 (0.91%) PHP
15 11 (0.77%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.70%) Julia
17 8 (0.56%) R
17 8 (0.56%) VB
Qualifications
1 100 (7.02%) Security Cleared
2 86 (6.04%) Degree
3 71 (4.99%) SC Cleared
4 47 (3.30%) DV Cleared
5 25 (1.76%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.26%) Master's Degree
7 11 (0.77%) PhD
8 3 (0.21%) AWS Certification
8 3 (0.21%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.14%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.070%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (2.74%) QA
2 12 (0.84%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.42%) IEC 61508
3 6 (0.42%) MISRA
3 6 (0.42%) MISRA C
4 5 (0.35%) GDPR
5 3 (0.21%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.21%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.070%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 74 (5.20%) Docker
2 49 (3.44%) Firmware
3 22 (1.54%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.14%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.14%) KVM
4 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.070%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 75 (5.27%) Kubernetes
2 46 (3.23%) Terraform
3 20 (1.40%) Grafana
4 6 (0.42%) Ansible
4 6 (0.42%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.21%) Functional Safety
5 3 (0.21%) Plesk
6 2 (0.14%) Puppet
Vendors
1 17 (1.19%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.56%) Siemens
3 6 (0.42%) Google
3 6 (0.42%) Splunk
4 5 (0.35%) Databricks
4 5 (0.35%) Intel
4 5 (0.35%) OpenAI
5 4 (0.28%) Foundry
6 3 (0.21%) Rockwell
7 2 (0.14%) ADVA
7 2 (0.14%) VMware
8 1 (0.070%) Atlassian
8 1 (0.070%) Oracle
8 1 (0.070%) Palantir
8 1 (0.070%) Revolut
8 1 (0.070%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.070%) TOWER Software
8 1 (0.070%) Virgin Media