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 18 September 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 121 225 110
Rank change year-on-year +104 -115 +198
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,727 703 1,764
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.50% 1.42% 2.26%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.61% 1.59% 2.37%
Number of salaries quoted 1,363 378 1,200
10th Percentile £58,750 £58,750 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £90,000 £65,732
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +36.92% -2.62%
75th Percentile £90,000 £115,000 £95,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £122,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +16.67% -3.23%

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 107,455 44,314 74,420
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.24% 89.66% 95.24%
Number of salaries quoted 73,770 26,055 44,614
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,250 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,589 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.53% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 +87 1,545 £76,250 -15.28% 1,237
UK excluding London +115 1,212 £70,000 - 688
London +9 429 £95,000 -13.64% 651
North of England -3 311 £75,000 +7.14% 171
Work from Home -63 301 £77,500 -29.55% 519
South East +136 251 £80,000 +14.29% 138
South West +49 221 £70,000 - 77
North West -8 195 £75,000 +7.14% 117
East of England +104 191 £70,000 +7.69% 114
Midlands +69 136 £70,000 -6.67% 57
West Midlands +23 77 £70,000 -6.67% 31
Yorkshire +9 69 £70,000 - 34
East Midlands +12 59 £60,000 -14.29% 26
Scotland +10 51 £75,000 +15.38% 79
North East -36 47 £90,000 +800.00% 20
Wales -25 46 £70,000 - 14
Northern Ireland - 5 £75,000 - 42

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

For the 6 months to 18 September 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 1,722 (99.71%) Software Engineering
2 274 (15.87%) Python
3 249 (14.42%) C#
4 247 (14.30%) Agile
5 233 (13.49%) C++
6 219 (12.68%) AWS
6 219 (12.68%) Java
7 199 (11.52%) CI/CD
8 196 (11.35%) AI
9 179 (10.36%) Mentoring
10 165 (9.55%) .NET
11 159 (9.21%) Full-Stack Development
12 138 (7.99%) TypeScript
13 125 (7.24%) DevOps
13 125 (7.24%) Microservices
14 124 (7.18%) React
15 107 (6.20%) Azure
16 106 (6.14%) Security Cleared
17 105 (6.08%) Linux
18 103 (5.96%) Test Automation
19 94 (5.44%) SDLC
20 93 (5.39%) Code Quality
21 90 (5.21%) JavaScript
22 89 (5.15%) Technical Leadership
23 87 (5.04%) Kubernetes
23 87 (5.04%) Problem-Solving
24 81 (4.69%) Degree
24 81 (4.69%) Node.js
25 78 (4.52%) SaaS
25 78 (4.52%) SQL

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 (0.93%) SharePoint Server
2 7 (0.41%) Apache
3 4 (0.23%) Confluence
4 3 (0.17%) CMS
4 3 (0.17%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.17%) WinCC
5 2 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.12%) Apache Solr
5 2 (0.12%) Cloud Foundry
6 1 (0.058%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.058%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 3 (0.17%) Blender
1 3 (0.17%) Maya
2 1 (0.058%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 219 (12.68%) AWS
2 107 (6.20%) Azure
3 78 (4.52%) SaaS
4 70 (4.05%) GCP
5 44 (2.55%) Serverless
6 38 (2.20%) GitHub
7 25 (1.45%) Amazon EKS
8 20 (1.16%) GitHub Copilot
9 16 (0.93%) Azure DevOps
10 15 (0.87%) Anthropic Claude
11 12 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
12 10 (0.58%) Amazon S3
13 9 (0.52%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (0.46%) Azure Cosmos DB
15 6 (0.35%) Amazon SQS
15 6 (0.35%) AWS CloudFormation
15 6 (0.35%) Supabase
16 5 (0.29%) Azure AI
16 5 (0.29%) Dynamics 365
17 4 (0.23%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (0.93%) RS-232
2 14 (0.81%) Modbus
3 13 (0.75%) Bluetooth
4 12 (0.69%) Ethernet
4 12 (0.69%) Profibus
5 10 (0.58%) Multicast
5 10 (0.58%) Wireless
6 9 (0.52%) RS-485
6 9 (0.52%) ZigBee
7 8 (0.46%) Broadband
7 8 (0.46%) HTTP
8 7 (0.41%) TCP/IP
9 5 (0.29%) Internet
10 4 (0.23%) Firewall
11 2 (0.12%) RS-422
12 1 (0.058%) BGP
12 1 (0.058%) DNS
12 1 (0.058%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 63 (3.65%) PostgreSQL
2 31 (1.80%) MySQL
3 28 (1.62%) Relational Database
4 18 (1.04%) Redis
5 17 (0.98%) MongoDB
6 15 (0.87%) NoSQL
7 14 (0.81%) SQL Server
8 10 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
9 9 (0.52%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.41%) Big Data
11 6 (0.35%) Elasticsearch
12 5 (0.29%) Geospatial Data
13 4 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
13 4 (0.23%) Delta Lake
14 3 (0.17%) Amazon RDS
14 3 (0.17%) MariaDB
15 2 (0.12%) DocumentDB
15 2 (0.12%) Flink
15 2 (0.12%) Neo4j
15 2 (0.12%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 58 (3.36%) Git
2 27 (1.56%) JIRA
3 25 (1.45%) GitLab
4 18 (1.04%) TeamCity
5 15 (0.87%) Claude Code
6 10 (0.58%) Visual Studio Code
7 8 (0.46%) Jenkins
8 6 (0.35%) Mocha
8 6 (0.35%) Selenium
9 5 (0.29%) Jasmine
9 5 (0.29%) NUnit
9 5 (0.29%) Visual Studio
10 4 (0.23%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.23%) Rational Rhapsody
11 3 (0.17%) Bitbucket
11 3 (0.17%) Eclipse RCP
11 3 (0.17%) JUnit
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle APEX
12 2 (0.12%) Appium
12 2 (0.12%) CMake
General
1 143 (8.28%) Finance
2 121 (7.01%) Social Skills
3 69 (4.00%) Electronics
4 57 (3.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 56 (3.24%) Banking
6 46 (2.66%) Public Sector
7 41 (2.37%) Manufacturing
8 40 (2.32%) Analytical Skills
9 38 (2.20%) Law
10 25 (1.45%) Aerospace
11 23 (1.33%) Retail
12 17 (0.98%) Marketing
13 14 (0.81%) Financial Institution
13 14 (0.81%) Military
14 12 (0.69%) Automotive
15 10 (0.58%) Games
15 10 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
16 9 (0.52%) Front Office
16 9 (0.52%) Legal
16 9 (0.52%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 165 (9.55%) .NET
2 124 (7.18%) React
3 81 (4.69%) Node.js
4 67 (3.88%) Terraform
5 63 (3.65%) Spring
6 49 (2.84%) WPF
7 43 (2.49%) RESTful
8 40 (2.32%) Spring Boot
9 38 (2.20%) Kafka
10 30 (1.74%) Next.js
11 28 (1.62%) REST
12 26 (1.51%) AngularJS
13 19 (1.10%) Vue
14 18 (1.04%) FastAPI
15 16 (0.93%) React Native
16 15 (0.87%) Django
17 13 (0.75%) CSS
18 12 (0.69%) FIX Protocol
19 11 (0.64%) .NET Core
19 11 (0.64%) Ruby on Rails
Miscellaneous
1 115 (6.66%) Cloud Native
2 58 (3.36%) Distributed Systems
3 55 (3.18%) Legacy Systems
4 47 (2.72%) Algorithms
5 44 (2.55%) Robotics
6 39 (2.26%) Embedded Systems
7 28 (1.62%) Greenfield Project
8 25 (1.45%) AI Agents
9 24 (1.39%) Product Ownership
10 22 (1.27%) Public Cloud
11 19 (1.10%) Blog
12 15 (0.87%) Cyber Threat
13 14 (0.81%) Blockchain
14 13 (0.75%) Derivative
14 13 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
15 12 (0.69%) Virtual Team
16 11 (0.64%) Device Driver
16 11 (0.64%) Fixed Income
16 11 (0.64%) Legacy Applications
17 10 (0.58%) Equities
Operating Systems
1 105 (6.08%) Linux
2 28 (1.62%) Embedded Linux
3 21 (1.22%) FreeRTOS
4 18 (1.04%) Windows
5 8 (0.46%) Unix
6 7 (0.41%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.29%) Android
8 2 (0.12%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.058%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,722 (99.71%) Software Engineering
2 247 (14.30%) Agile
3 199 (11.52%) CI/CD
4 196 (11.35%) AI
5 179 (10.36%) Mentoring
6 159 (9.21%) Full-Stack Development
7 125 (7.24%) DevOps
7 125 (7.24%) Microservices
8 103 (5.96%) Test Automation
9 94 (5.44%) SDLC
10 93 (5.39%) Code Quality
11 89 (5.15%) Technical Leadership
12 87 (5.04%) Problem-Solving
13 73 (4.23%) Continuous Improvement
14 71 (4.11%) Fintech
15 70 (4.05%) Computer Science
16 57 (3.30%) Machine Learning
17 56 (3.24%) Event-Driven
18 55 (3.18%) Infrastructure as Code
19 53 (3.07%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 274 (15.87%) Python
2 249 (14.42%) C#
3 233 (13.49%) C++
4 219 (12.68%) Java
5 138 (7.99%) TypeScript
6 90 (5.21%) JavaScript
7 78 (4.52%) SQL
8 77 (4.46%) C
9 41 (2.37%) Rust
10 33 (1.91%) Go
11 17 (0.98%) Embedded C
12 16 (0.93%) Scala
13 15 (0.87%) PHP
14 14 (0.81%) Ruby
15 13 (0.75%) F#
15 13 (0.75%) Haskell
16 12 (0.69%) Kotlin
16 12 (0.69%) MATLAB
17 10 (0.58%) Julia
18 8 (0.46%) R
Qualifications
1 106 (6.14%) Security Cleared
2 81 (4.69%) Degree
3 71 (4.11%) SC Cleared
4 51 (2.95%) DV Cleared
5 23 (1.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (0.87%) Master's Degree
7 9 (0.52%) PhD
8 8 (0.46%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.35%) AWS Certification
10 4 (0.23%) DBS Check
11 2 (0.12%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Certification
12 1 (0.058%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 1 (0.058%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (2.26%) QA
2 18 (1.04%) Accessibility
3 6 (0.35%) Data Quality
4 5 (0.29%) GDPR
4 5 (0.29%) IEC 61508
4 5 (0.29%) MISRA
4 5 (0.29%) MISRA C
5 4 (0.23%) DO-178B
6 3 (0.17%) IEC 61131
7 2 (0.12%) SLA
8 1 (0.058%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 76 (4.40%) Docker
2 54 (3.13%) Firmware
3 22 (1.27%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (0.058%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 87 (5.04%) Kubernetes
2 20 (1.16%) Grafana
3 11 (0.64%) Ansible
4 5 (0.29%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.17%) Plesk
6 2 (0.12%) Functional Safety
6 2 (0.12%) kaniko
6 2 (0.12%) Puppet
7 1 (0.058%) Argo
7 1 (0.058%) Istio
7 1 (0.058%) Kibana
7 1 (0.058%) Podman
Vendors
1 23 (1.33%) Microsoft
2 17 (0.98%) Salesforce
3 11 (0.64%) Google
4 9 (0.52%) RedGate
4 9 (0.52%) Splunk
5 8 (0.46%) Sage
5 8 (0.46%) Siemens
6 7 (0.41%) Databricks
7 6 (0.35%) Foundry
7 6 (0.35%) Oracle
8 5 (0.29%) Intel
8 5 (0.29%) OpenAI
9 3 (0.17%) Atlassian
9 3 (0.17%) New Relic
9 3 (0.17%) Revolut
9 3 (0.17%) Rockwell
10 2 (0.12%) ADVA
10 2 (0.12%) Okta
10 2 (0.12%) Thales
11 1 (0.058%) Virgin Media