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 11 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 190 155
Rank change year-on-year +24 -35 +126
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,139 780 1,855
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.26% 1.78% 1.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.98% 2.03%
Number of salaries quoted 896 534 1,340
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £76,640 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.14% +17.91% -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 84,208 39,316 91,343
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.15% 89.55% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 55,431 23,382 67,108
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £58,000 £52,550
Median % change year-on-year -5.17% +10.37% -12.42%
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 11 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 11 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 +31 974 £75,000 -3.23% 294
UK excluding London +27 758 £70,000 +7.69% 214
London +38 313 £97,500 +2.63% 108
Work from Home -64 288 £72,500 -5.40% 137
South East +97 199 £70,000 +7.69% 67
South West +49 150 £70,000 +3.70% 19
North of England -106 137 £75,000 +15.38% 55
East of England +33 94 £72,500 +11.54% 30
Scotland +19 86 £67,500 +3.85% 14
North West -88 81 £75,000 +11.11% 30
Midlands +27 75 £65,000 -10.34% 28
West Midlands +12 47 £68,750 -5.17% 19
Yorkshire -30 45 £70,000 -11.84% 16
East Midlands -1 28 £65,000 - 9
Wales -22 16 £60,000 -7.69% 4
North East -49 11 £80,000 +45.45% 9
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 11 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 1,123 (98.60%) Software Engineering
2 167 (14.66%) C++
3 163 (14.31%) C#
4 161 (14.14%) Java
5 160 (14.05%) Agile
6 151 (13.26%) .NET
7 150 (13.17%) AWS
8 135 (11.85%) Python
9 125 (10.97%) Full-Stack Development
10 108 (9.48%) Mentoring
11 103 (9.04%) CI/CD
12 96 (8.43%) Microservices
13 94 (8.25%) Azure
14 89 (7.81%) React
15 88 (7.73%) DevOps
15 88 (7.73%) Linux
16 79 (6.94%) SaaS
17 77 (6.76%) TypeScript
18 72 (6.32%) JavaScript
19 70 (6.15%) C
19 70 (6.15%) Degree
20 69 (6.06%) Test Automation
21 68 (5.97%) SQL
22 67 (5.88%) AI
22 67 (5.88%) Computer Science
23 66 (5.79%) Kubernetes
24 65 (5.71%) SDLC
25 60 (5.27%) Fintech
26 57 (5.00%) Docker
27 56 (4.92%) 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 4 (0.35%) Apache Solr
2 3 (0.26%) Apache
2 3 (0.26%) CMS
3 2 (0.18%) Confluence
3 2 (0.18%) FactoryTalk
3 2 (0.18%) WinCC
Cloud Services
1 150 (13.17%) AWS
2 94 (8.25%) Azure
3 79 (6.94%) SaaS
4 53 (4.65%) GCP
5 39 (3.42%) GitHub
6 23 (2.02%) Serverless
7 18 (1.58%) GitHub Copilot
8 16 (1.40%) Azure AKS
9 15 (1.32%) Anthropic Claude
10 11 (0.97%) Amazon EKS
10 11 (0.97%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 10 (0.88%) Azure Event Grid
12 8 (0.70%) Stripe
13 6 (0.53%) Azure DevOps
13 6 (0.53%) IaaS
14 4 (0.35%) Amazon OpenSearch
15 3 (0.26%) Amazon S3
15 3 (0.26%) Cloud Run
15 3 (0.26%) Pulumi
16 2 (0.18%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.58%) RS-232
2 16 (1.40%) Ethernet
2 16 (1.40%) HTTP
3 14 (1.23%) Multicast
4 8 (0.70%) Bluetooth
4 8 (0.70%) Modbus
5 7 (0.61%) Wireless
6 6 (0.53%) Profibus
7 5 (0.44%) Broadband
8 4 (0.35%) RS-485
8 4 (0.35%) ZigBee
9 1 (0.088%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (2.99%) SQL Server
2 21 (1.84%) NoSQL
3 20 (1.76%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.05%) MySQL
5 11 (0.97%) Elasticsearch
5 11 (0.97%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.70%) BigQuery
7 6 (0.53%) Big Data
8 5 (0.44%) Redis
8 5 (0.44%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.35%) DocumentDB
9 4 (0.35%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.26%) MariaDB
11 2 (0.18%) DB2
12 1 (0.088%) Amazon Athena
12 1 (0.088%) Amazon RDS
12 1 (0.088%) DynamoDB
12 1 (0.088%) Geospatial Data
12 1 (0.088%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 41 (3.60%) Git
2 23 (2.02%) JIRA
3 17 (1.49%) GitLab
4 15 (1.32%) Claude Code
5 14 (1.23%) TeamCity
6 13 (1.14%) Visual Studio Code
7 11 (0.97%) Jenkins
8 4 (0.35%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.35%) JUnit
9 3 (0.26%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.26%) JBehave
9 3 (0.26%) Rational Rhapsody
10 2 (0.18%) Android Studio
10 2 (0.18%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.18%) GDB
10 2 (0.18%) Selenium
10 2 (0.18%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.18%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.18%) Xcode
11 1 (0.088%) NUnit
General
1 146 (12.82%) Finance
2 61 (5.36%) Banking
3 42 (3.69%) Social Skills
4 31 (2.72%) Electronics
5 23 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (1.76%) Automotive
6 20 (1.76%) Manufacturing
7 17 (1.49%) Retail
8 16 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
9 15 (1.32%) Tech for Good
10 14 (1.23%) Games
10 14 (1.23%) Law
11 13 (1.14%) Public Sector
12 12 (1.05%) Analytical Skills
12 12 (1.05%) Financial Institution
13 11 (0.97%) Aerospace
13 11 (0.97%) Back Office
14 9 (0.79%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.61%) Agriculture
16 6 (0.53%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 151 (13.26%) .NET
2 89 (7.81%) React
3 53 (4.65%) Node.js
4 42 (3.69%) REST
5 32 (2.81%) RESTful
6 29 (2.55%) .NET Core
7 26 (2.28%) WPF
8 25 (2.19%) React Native
9 18 (1.58%) .NET Framework
10 16 (1.40%) Spring
11 15 (1.32%) AngularJS
12 14 (1.23%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 14 (1.23%) FIX Protocol
12 14 (1.23%) pytest
12 14 (1.23%) Spring Boot
12 14 (1.23%) Yocto
13 12 (1.05%) Entity Framework
13 12 (1.05%) Vue
14 11 (0.97%) Dapper ORM
14 11 (0.97%) Ruby on Rails
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.76%) Cloud Native
2 45 (3.95%) Algorithms
3 34 (2.99%) Embedded Systems
4 22 (1.93%) Distributed Systems
5 17 (1.49%) IoT
5 17 (1.49%) Public Cloud
6 16 (1.40%) Derivative
7 15 (1.32%) CAN bus
7 15 (1.32%) Robotics
8 14 (1.23%) Device Driver
8 14 (1.23%) Equities
8 14 (1.23%) Fixed Income
9 11 (0.97%) Greenfield Project
10 10 (0.88%) Legacy Systems
11 9 (0.79%) Sports Betting
12 7 (0.61%) FMCG
13 6 (0.53%) Augmented Reality
13 6 (0.53%) Client/Server
13 6 (0.53%) Hedge funds
13 6 (0.53%) Smart Home
Operating Systems
1 88 (7.73%) Linux
2 27 (2.37%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (1.58%) Android
4 14 (1.23%) FreeRTOS
5 6 (0.53%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.35%) Windows
7 1 (0.088%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,123 (98.60%) Software Engineering
2 160 (14.05%) Agile
3 125 (10.97%) Full-Stack Development
4 108 (9.48%) Mentoring
5 103 (9.04%) CI/CD
6 96 (8.43%) Microservices
7 88 (7.73%) DevOps
8 69 (6.06%) Test Automation
9 67 (5.88%) AI
9 67 (5.88%) Computer Science
10 65 (5.71%) SDLC
11 60 (5.27%) Fintech
12 56 (4.92%) Problem-Solving
12 56 (4.92%) Technical Leadership
13 50 (4.39%) Containerisation
14 47 (4.13%) Scrum
15 46 (4.04%) Embedded Software Development
16 44 (3.86%) Low Latency
17 41 (3.60%) Continuous Improvement
18 39 (3.42%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 167 (14.66%) C++
2 163 (14.31%) C#
3 161 (14.14%) Java
4 135 (11.85%) Python
5 77 (6.76%) TypeScript
6 72 (6.32%) JavaScript
7 70 (6.15%) C
8 68 (5.97%) SQL
9 38 (3.34%) Rust
10 27 (2.37%) Go
11 19 (1.67%) Embedded C
11 19 (1.67%) PHP
12 16 (1.40%) Kotlin
13 12 (1.05%) Scala
14 11 (0.97%) Ruby
15 8 (0.70%) F#
15 8 (0.70%) Haskell
16 5 (0.44%) MATLAB
16 5 (0.44%) VB
17 3 (0.26%) R
Qualifications
1 70 (6.15%) Degree
2 56 (4.92%) Security Cleared
3 42 (3.69%) SC Cleared
4 23 (2.02%) Computer Science Degree
5 21 (1.84%) Master's Degree
6 18 (1.58%) DV Cleared
7 9 (0.79%) PhD
8 3 (0.26%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.18%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.088%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (1.93%) QA
2 16 (1.40%) IEC 61508
2 16 (1.40%) MISRA
2 16 (1.40%) MISRA C
3 9 (0.79%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.26%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.18%) GDPR
5 2 (0.18%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.088%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 57 (5.00%) Docker
2 37 (3.25%) Firmware
3 16 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.18%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.18%) KVM
4 2 (0.18%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.088%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 66 (5.79%) Kubernetes
2 31 (2.72%) Terraform
3 15 (1.32%) Grafana
4 13 (1.14%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.44%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.26%) Plesk
7 2 (0.18%) Ansible
7 2 (0.18%) Argo
Vendors
1 10 (0.88%) Google
2 9 (0.79%) Microsoft
3 8 (0.70%) HubSpot
4 3 (0.26%) Siemens
5 2 (0.18%) Adobe
5 2 (0.18%) CA Agile Central
5 2 (0.18%) OpenAI
5 2 (0.18%) Rockwell
5 2 (0.18%) VMware
6 1 (0.088%) New Relic
6 1 (0.088%) TOWER Software