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 1 August 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 205 115
Rank change year-on-year +73 -90 +173
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,481 807 1,898
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.43% 1.63% 2.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.52% 1.81% 2.33%
Number of salaries quoted 1,172 473 1,362
10th Percentile £55,000 £56,250 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £85,000 £65,465
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% +29.84% -6.48%
75th Percentile £90,000 £111,250 £87,188
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £110,000
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 97,263 44,589 81,483
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.24% 90.05% 94.84%
Number of salaries quoted 66,554 26,541 55,776
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 £95,250 £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 1 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 1 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 +77 1,324 £75,000 -15.41% 487
UK excluding London +94 1,043 £70,000 - 218
London -18 355 £95,000 -11.63% 298
Work from Home -66 297 £72,500 -14.96% 181
North of England -13 258 £75,000 +0.67% 45
South East +133 246 £80,000 +14.29% 43
South West +52 193 £70,000 - 41
East of England +86 157 £70,000 +9.80% 41
North West -24 157 £75,000 - 29
Midlands +58 112 £67,500 -6.90% 25
Yorkshire +22 68 £70,000 -11.18% 5
West Midlands +20 65 £70,000 -5.08% 6
Scotland +1 48 £67,500 +3.85% 7
East Midlands +14 47 £60,000 -14.29% 19
North East -33 33 £85,000 +61.90% 11
Wales -42 26 £61,250 -9.26% 5
Northern Ireland - 3 £75,000 - 14

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

For the 6 months to 1 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 1,476 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 257 (17.35%) Python
3 244 (16.48%) C#
4 241 (16.27%) C++
5 216 (14.58%) Agile
6 204 (13.77%) Java
7 200 (13.50%) AWS
8 173 (11.68%) .NET
9 171 (11.55%) CI/CD
10 158 (10.67%) Full-Stack Development
11 157 (10.60%) AI
12 153 (10.33%) Mentoring
13 117 (7.90%) TypeScript
14 115 (7.77%) React
15 114 (7.70%) Azure
15 114 (7.70%) DevOps
16 112 (7.56%) Microservices
17 108 (7.29%) Linux
18 103 (6.95%) JavaScript
19 100 (6.75%) Security Cleared
19 100 (6.75%) Test Automation
20 87 (5.87%) SDLC
21 86 (5.81%) SaaS
21 86 (5.81%) SQL
22 85 (5.74%) Degree
23 84 (5.67%) C
24 79 (5.33%) Code Quality
24 79 (5.33%) Problem-Solving
25 77 (5.20%) Computer Science
25 77 (5.20%) 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 (1.08%) SharePoint Server
2 6 (0.41%) Apache
3 3 (0.20%) Apache Solr
3 3 (0.20%) Confluence
3 3 (0.20%) FactoryTalk
3 3 (0.20%) WinCC
4 2 (0.14%) Cloud Foundry
5 1 (0.068%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.068%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 3 (0.20%) Blender
1 3 (0.20%) Maya
2 1 (0.068%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 200 (13.50%) AWS
2 114 (7.70%) Azure
3 86 (5.81%) SaaS
4 62 (4.19%) GCP
5 39 (2.63%) GitHub
6 34 (2.30%) Serverless
7 22 (1.49%) Amazon EKS
8 20 (1.35%) Anthropic Claude
9 16 (1.08%) GitHub Copilot
10 14 (0.95%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (0.81%) Azure Cosmos DB
12 8 (0.54%) Amazon S3
12 8 (0.54%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (0.47%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.41%) Azure AKS
14 6 (0.41%) Supabase
15 5 (0.34%) Amazon SQS
15 5 (0.34%) Azure AI
15 5 (0.34%) Pulumi
16 4 (0.27%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.49%) RS-232
2 15 (1.01%) Ethernet
3 14 (0.95%) Modbus
3 14 (0.95%) Multicast
4 13 (0.88%) Bluetooth
5 12 (0.81%) Profibus
5 12 (0.81%) Wireless
6 9 (0.61%) RS-485
6 9 (0.61%) ZigBee
7 8 (0.54%) HTTP
8 7 (0.47%) Broadband
9 1 (0.068%) Firewall
9 1 (0.068%) LTE
9 1 (0.068%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (3.17%) PostgreSQL
2 30 (2.03%) MySQL
3 21 (1.42%) SQL Server
4 18 (1.22%) NoSQL
5 16 (1.08%) Redis
5 16 (1.08%) Relational Database
6 15 (1.01%) MongoDB
7 10 (0.68%) Big Data
8 8 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.34%) DynamoDB
9 5 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
10 4 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.27%) Delta Lake
11 3 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.20%) DocumentDB
11 3 (0.20%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.20%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.20%) Neo4j
12 2 (0.14%) Apache Cassandra
12 2 (0.14%) CockroachDB
Development Applications
1 59 (3.98%) Git
2 32 (2.16%) JIRA
3 26 (1.76%) GitLab
4 19 (1.28%) Claude Code
5 16 (1.08%) TeamCity
6 11 (0.74%) Visual Studio Code
7 9 (0.61%) Jenkins
8 6 (0.41%) NUnit
8 6 (0.41%) Selenium
9 5 (0.34%) Jasmine
9 5 (0.34%) Mocha
10 4 (0.27%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.27%) Rational Rhapsody
10 4 (0.27%) Visual Studio
11 3 (0.20%) Eclipse RCP
12 2 (0.14%) GDB
12 2 (0.14%) JUnit
12 2 (0.14%) Oracle APEX
12 2 (0.14%) SonarQube
General
1 129 (8.71%) Finance
2 88 (5.94%) Social Skills
3 65 (4.39%) Electronics
4 51 (3.44%) Banking
5 46 (3.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 45 (3.04%) Manufacturing
7 39 (2.63%) Analytical Skills
7 39 (2.63%) Public Sector
8 29 (1.96%) Law
9 20 (1.35%) Retail
10 15 (1.01%) Automotive
11 12 (0.81%) Financial Institution
11 12 (0.81%) Military
12 11 (0.74%) Aerospace
12 11 (0.74%) Back Office
12 11 (0.74%) Marketing
13 9 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
13 9 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.47%) Agriculture
14 7 (0.47%) Billing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 173 (11.68%) .NET
2 115 (7.77%) React
3 70 (4.73%) Node.js
4 49 (3.31%) WPF
5 47 (3.17%) Spring
6 35 (2.36%) RESTful
7 30 (2.03%) Spring Boot
8 28 (1.89%) REST
9 27 (1.82%) Next.js
10 22 (1.49%) Kafka
11 20 (1.35%) AngularJS
12 18 (1.22%) FastAPI
13 17 (1.15%) Django
14 16 (1.08%) Vue
15 15 (1.01%) React Native
16 14 (0.95%) Boost C++ Libraries
16 14 (0.95%) FIX Protocol
16 14 (0.95%) pytest
17 13 (0.88%) Ruby on Rails
17 13 (0.88%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 109 (7.36%) Cloud Native
2 55 (3.71%) Legacy Systems
3 49 (3.31%) Algorithms
3 49 (3.31%) Distributed Systems
4 36 (2.43%) Robotics
5 31 (2.09%) Embedded Systems
6 29 (1.96%) Greenfield Project
7 20 (1.35%) Product Ownership
8 17 (1.15%) Derivative
9 16 (1.08%) AI Agents
9 16 (1.08%) Device Driver
10 15 (1.01%) Public Cloud
11 14 (0.95%) Equities
11 14 (0.95%) Fixed Income
12 11 (0.74%) Client/Server
12 11 (0.74%) Legacy Applications
13 10 (0.68%) Blockchain
13 10 (0.68%) Cyber Threat
14 9 (0.61%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (0.61%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 108 (7.29%) Linux
2 28 (1.89%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.28%) FreeRTOS
4 17 (1.15%) Windows
5 4 (0.27%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.20%) Unix
7 2 (0.14%) Android
8 1 (0.068%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,476 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 216 (14.58%) Agile
3 171 (11.55%) CI/CD
4 158 (10.67%) Full-Stack Development
5 157 (10.60%) AI
6 153 (10.33%) Mentoring
7 114 (7.70%) DevOps
8 112 (7.56%) Microservices
9 100 (6.75%) Test Automation
10 87 (5.87%) SDLC
11 79 (5.33%) Code Quality
11 79 (5.33%) Problem-Solving
12 77 (5.20%) Computer Science
13 72 (4.86%) Technical Leadership
14 69 (4.66%) Fintech
15 64 (4.32%) Continuous Improvement
16 51 (3.44%) Machine Learning
17 47 (3.17%) Containerisation
17 47 (3.17%) Software Architecture
18 45 (3.04%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 257 (17.35%) Python
2 244 (16.48%) C#
3 241 (16.27%) C++
4 204 (13.77%) Java
5 117 (7.90%) TypeScript
6 103 (6.95%) JavaScript
7 86 (5.81%) SQL
8 84 (5.67%) C
9 48 (3.24%) Rust
10 29 (1.96%) Go
11 21 (1.42%) Embedded C
12 15 (1.01%) Scala
13 14 (0.95%) Ruby
14 13 (0.88%) F#
14 13 (0.88%) Haskell
14 13 (0.88%) PHP
15 11 (0.74%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.68%) Julia
17 8 (0.54%) R
17 8 (0.54%) VB
Qualifications
1 100 (6.75%) Security Cleared
2 85 (5.74%) Degree
3 70 (4.73%) SC Cleared
4 49 (3.31%) DV Cleared
5 26 (1.76%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (1.15%) Master's Degree
7 11 (0.74%) PhD
8 6 (0.41%) AWS Certification
8 6 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.14%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.068%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.068%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.068%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (2.84%) QA
2 15 (1.01%) Accessibility
3 5 (0.34%) GDPR
3 5 (0.34%) IEC 61508
3 5 (0.34%) MISRA
3 5 (0.34%) MISRA C
4 4 (0.27%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.20%) IEC 61131
6 2 (0.14%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.068%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 77 (5.20%) Docker
2 50 (3.38%) Firmware
3 22 (1.49%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.14%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.14%) KVM
4 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.068%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 77 (5.20%) Kubernetes
2 49 (3.31%) Terraform
3 18 (1.22%) Grafana
4 6 (0.41%) Ansible
5 5 (0.34%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.20%) Plesk
7 2 (0.14%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.14%) kaniko
7 2 (0.14%) Puppet
Vendors
1 19 (1.28%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.54%) Google
2 8 (0.54%) Siemens
3 7 (0.47%) Splunk
4 6 (0.41%) Databricks
5 5 (0.34%) Intel
5 5 (0.34%) OpenAI
6 4 (0.27%) Foundry
6 4 (0.27%) Oracle
6 4 (0.27%) Salesforce
7 3 (0.20%) Rockwell
8 2 (0.14%) ADVA
8 2 (0.14%) Atlassian
8 2 (0.14%) VMware
9 1 (0.068%) New Relic
9 1 (0.068%) Palantir
9 1 (0.068%) Revolut
9 1 (0.068%) TOWER Software
9 1 (0.068%) Virgin Media