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 May 2026.

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

6 months to
14 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 161 196 149
Rank change year-on-year +35 -47 +130
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,158 751 1,854
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.28% 1.73% 1.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.37% 1.93% 2.03%
Number of salaries quoted 913 510 1,338
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £58,750 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £75,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - +15.38% -7.14%
75th Percentile £95,000 £97,528 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £130,000 £102,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +7.69% +8.33% -7.69%

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 84,582 38,850 91,176
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.27% 89.47% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 55,708 22,832 66,939
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,670 £52,686
Median % change year-on-year -4.63% +9.46% -12.19%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +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 14 May 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 May 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 +32 992 £75,000 -3.23% 275
UK excluding London +43 770 £70,000 +7.69% 206
London +44 318 £95,000 - 102
Work from Home -50 302 £72,500 -3.33% 137
South East +101 203 £70,000 +7.69% 56
South West +57 148 £70,000 +3.70% 20
North of England -81 147 £75,000 +15.38% 52
East of England +33 92 £75,000 +17.65% 31
North West -70 86 £75,000 +11.11% 27
Scotland +20 84 £67,500 +8.00% 20
Midlands +31 77 £65,000 -10.34% 27
West Midlands +17 51 £69,653 -3.93% 16
Yorkshire -37 49 £70,000 -11.18% 13
East Midlands -1 26 £65,000 - 11
Wales -19 18 £58,750 -9.62% 2
North East -41 12 £80,000 +45.45% 13
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 14 May 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 1,143 (98.70%) Software Engineering
2 176 (15.20%) Java
3 175 (15.11%) C++
4 168 (14.51%) C#
5 166 (14.34%) Agile
6 157 (13.56%) AWS
7 156 (13.47%) .NET
8 141 (12.18%) Python
9 135 (11.66%) Full-Stack Development
10 118 (10.19%) CI/CD
11 113 (9.76%) Mentoring
12 101 (8.72%) Azure
13 99 (8.55%) Microservices
14 95 (8.20%) DevOps
15 90 (7.77%) React
16 88 (7.60%) Linux
17 83 (7.17%) SaaS
18 82 (7.08%) JavaScript
19 79 (6.82%) TypeScript
20 75 (6.48%) Test Automation
21 74 (6.39%) SQL
22 71 (6.13%) Kubernetes
23 70 (6.04%) AI
23 70 (6.04%) C
23 70 (6.04%) Degree
24 69 (5.96%) Computer Science
25 68 (5.87%) SDLC
26 63 (5.44%) Fintech
26 63 (5.44%) Security Cleared
27 61 (5.27%) 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 8 (0.69%) SharePoint Server
2 4 (0.35%) Apache Solr
3 3 (0.26%) Apache
3 3 (0.26%) CMS
4 2 (0.17%) Confluence
4 2 (0.17%) FactoryTalk
4 2 (0.17%) WinCC
Cloud Services
1 157 (13.56%) AWS
2 101 (8.72%) Azure
3 83 (7.17%) SaaS
4 55 (4.75%) GCP
5 40 (3.45%) GitHub
6 24 (2.07%) Serverless
7 18 (1.55%) GitHub Copilot
8 17 (1.47%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 16 (1.38%) Anthropic Claude
9 16 (1.38%) Azure AKS
10 15 (1.30%) Amazon EKS
11 12 (1.04%) Azure DevOps
12 10 (0.86%) Azure Event Grid
13 8 (0.69%) Stripe
14 6 (0.52%) IaaS
15 4 (0.35%) Amazon OpenSearch
15 4 (0.35%) Amazon S3
16 3 (0.26%) Amazon SQS
16 3 (0.26%) AWS CloudFormation
16 3 (0.26%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.55%) RS-232
2 16 (1.38%) Ethernet
2 16 (1.38%) HTTP
3 14 (1.21%) Multicast
4 8 (0.69%) Bluetooth
4 8 (0.69%) Modbus
5 7 (0.60%) Wireless
6 6 (0.52%) Profibus
7 5 (0.43%) Broadband
8 4 (0.35%) RS-485
8 4 (0.35%) ZigBee
9 1 (0.086%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (2.85%) SQL Server
2 22 (1.90%) PostgreSQL
3 21 (1.81%) NoSQL
4 12 (1.04%) MySQL
5 11 (0.95%) Elasticsearch
5 11 (0.95%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.69%) BigQuery
7 7 (0.60%) Big Data
8 6 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.43%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.35%) DocumentDB
10 4 (0.35%) Neo4j
10 4 (0.35%) Redis
11 3 (0.26%) MariaDB
12 2 (0.17%) DB2
12 2 (0.17%) DynamoDB
13 1 (0.086%) Amazon Athena
13 1 (0.086%) Amazon RDS
13 1 (0.086%) Geospatial Data
13 1 (0.086%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 48 (4.15%) Git
2 23 (1.99%) JIRA
3 17 (1.47%) GitLab
3 17 (1.47%) TeamCity
4 16 (1.38%) Claude Code
5 13 (1.12%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (0.95%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.35%) Cucumber
7 4 (0.35%) JUnit
8 3 (0.26%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.26%) JBehave
8 3 (0.26%) Rational Rhapsody
9 2 (0.17%) Android Studio
9 2 (0.17%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.17%) GDB
9 2 (0.17%) Selenium
9 2 (0.17%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.17%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.17%) Xcode
10 1 (0.086%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 147 (12.69%) Finance
2 64 (5.53%) Banking
3 43 (3.71%) Social Skills
4 32 (2.76%) Electronics
5 28 (2.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 21 (1.81%) Manufacturing
6 21 (1.81%) Public Sector
7 20 (1.73%) Automotive
7 20 (1.73%) Retail
8 17 (1.47%) Law
9 16 (1.38%) Influencing Skills
10 15 (1.30%) Tech for Good
11 14 (1.21%) Games
12 13 (1.12%) Financial Institution
13 12 (1.04%) Analytical Skills
13 12 (1.04%) Back Office
14 10 (0.86%) Aerospace
15 9 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
16 7 (0.60%) Agriculture
16 7 (0.60%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 156 (13.47%) .NET
2 90 (7.77%) React
3 54 (4.66%) Node.js
4 43 (3.71%) REST
5 31 (2.68%) RESTful
6 28 (2.42%) .NET Core
7 26 (2.25%) React Native
8 25 (2.16%) WPF
9 20 (1.73%) Spring
10 18 (1.55%) .NET Framework
10 18 (1.55%) Spring Boot
11 16 (1.38%) AngularJS
12 14 (1.21%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 14 (1.21%) FIX Protocol
12 14 (1.21%) pytest
12 14 (1.21%) Yocto
13 13 (1.12%) Ruby on Rails
14 12 (1.04%) Entity Framework
14 12 (1.04%) Vue
15 11 (0.95%) Dapper ORM
Miscellaneous
1 83 (7.17%) Cloud Native
2 47 (4.06%) Algorithms
3 35 (3.02%) Embedded Systems
4 22 (1.90%) Distributed Systems
5 20 (1.73%) Legacy Systems
6 17 (1.47%) IoT
7 16 (1.38%) Derivative
7 16 (1.38%) Public Cloud
8 15 (1.30%) CAN bus
8 15 (1.30%) Robotics
9 14 (1.21%) Device Driver
9 14 (1.21%) Equities
9 14 (1.21%) Fixed Income
10 10 (0.86%) Greenfield Project
11 9 (0.78%) Sports Betting
12 7 (0.60%) Client/Server
12 7 (0.60%) FMCG
13 6 (0.52%) Augmented Reality
13 6 (0.52%) Blog
13 6 (0.52%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 88 (7.60%) Linux
2 26 (2.25%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (1.55%) Android
4 14 (1.21%) FreeRTOS
5 6 (0.52%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.43%) Windows
7 1 (0.086%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,143 (98.70%) Software Engineering
2 166 (14.34%) Agile
3 135 (11.66%) Full-Stack Development
4 118 (10.19%) CI/CD
5 113 (9.76%) Mentoring
6 99 (8.55%) Microservices
7 95 (8.20%) DevOps
8 75 (6.48%) Test Automation
9 70 (6.04%) AI
10 69 (5.96%) Computer Science
11 68 (5.87%) SDLC
12 63 (5.44%) Fintech
13 61 (5.27%) Problem-Solving
14 55 (4.75%) Technical Leadership
15 54 (4.66%) Containerisation
16 48 (4.15%) Scrum
17 46 (3.97%) Embedded Software Development
18 44 (3.80%) Low Latency
19 43 (3.71%) Continuous Improvement
20 39 (3.37%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 176 (15.20%) Java
2 175 (15.11%) C++
3 168 (14.51%) C#
4 141 (12.18%) Python
5 82 (7.08%) JavaScript
6 79 (6.82%) TypeScript
7 74 (6.39%) SQL
8 70 (6.04%) C
9 38 (3.28%) Rust
10 27 (2.33%) Go
11 20 (1.73%) PHP
12 19 (1.64%) Embedded C
13 15 (1.30%) Kotlin
14 13 (1.12%) Ruby
15 12 (1.04%) Scala
16 8 (0.69%) F#
16 8 (0.69%) Haskell
17 5 (0.43%) MATLAB
18 4 (0.35%) VB
19 3 (0.26%) R
Qualifications
1 70 (6.04%) Degree
2 63 (5.44%) Security Cleared
3 47 (4.06%) SC Cleared
4 24 (2.07%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (1.73%) Master's Degree
6 19 (1.64%) DV Cleared
7 9 (0.78%) PhD
8 3 (0.26%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.17%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.17%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (1.99%) QA
2 16 (1.38%) IEC 61508
2 16 (1.38%) MISRA
2 16 (1.38%) MISRA C
3 10 (0.86%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.26%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.17%) GDPR
5 2 (0.17%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.086%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.086%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 59 (5.09%) Docker
2 38 (3.28%) Firmware
3 16 (1.38%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.17%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.17%) KVM
4 2 (0.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.086%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 71 (6.13%) Kubernetes
2 36 (3.11%) Terraform
3 18 (1.55%) Grafana
4 13 (1.12%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.43%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.26%) Plesk
7 2 (0.17%) Ansible
7 2 (0.17%) Argo
Vendors
1 10 (0.86%) Google
1 10 (0.86%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.69%) HubSpot
3 4 (0.35%) Siemens
4 2 (0.17%) Adobe
4 2 (0.17%) CA Agile Central
4 2 (0.17%) OpenAI
4 2 (0.17%) Rockwell
4 2 (0.17%) VMware
5 1 (0.086%) New Relic
5 1 (0.086%) TOWER Software