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 7 May 2026.

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

6 months to
7 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 161 200 156
Rank change year-on-year +39 -44 +119
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,143 724 1,815
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.25% 1.66% 1.89%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 1.85% 2.00%
Number of salaries quoted 897 538 1,310
10th Percentile £56,250 £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 £97,521 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £130,000 £101,375
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 85,003 39,091 90,887
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.98% 89.48% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 54,917 23,430 66,891
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £58,500 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.98% +10.38% -11.67%
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 7 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 7 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 +43 973 £75,000 -3.23% 320
UK excluding London +42 757 £70,000 +7.69% 253
London +35 316 £95,000 - 109
Work from Home -52 289 £72,500 -3.83% 177
South East +91 197 £70,000 +7.69% 78
South West +35 150 £70,000 +7.69% 24
North of England -95 133 £75,000 +15.38% 57
East of England +32 95 £70,000 +9.80% 35
Scotland +9 89 £67,500 +3.85% 24
North West -69 80 £75,000 +13.21% 26
Midlands +38 75 £65,000 -10.34% 27
West Midlands +14 47 £70,000 -3.45% 13
Yorkshire -38 42 £70,000 -11.84% 19
East Midlands -6 28 £65,000 - 14
Wales -19 17 £60,000 -7.69% 7
North East -32 11 £80,000 +45.45% 12
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 5

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

For the 6 months to 7 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 1,127 (98.60%) Software Engineering
2 163 (14.26%) C#
3 162 (14.17%) C++
4 161 (14.09%) Java
5 160 (14.00%) Agile
6 151 (13.21%) .NET
7 150 (13.12%) AWS
8 129 (11.29%) Python
9 125 (10.94%) Full-Stack Development
10 104 (9.10%) CI/CD
10 104 (9.10%) Mentoring
11 97 (8.49%) Microservices
12 94 (8.22%) Azure
13 87 (7.61%) React
14 86 (7.52%) DevOps
15 85 (7.44%) Linux
16 81 (7.09%) SaaS
17 78 (6.82%) TypeScript
18 71 (6.21%) Test Automation
19 70 (6.12%) C
20 68 (5.95%) JavaScript
20 68 (5.95%) Kubernetes
20 68 (5.95%) SQL
21 67 (5.86%) AI
21 67 (5.86%) Degree
22 65 (5.69%) Computer Science
23 62 (5.42%) Fintech
23 62 (5.42%) SDLC
24 57 (4.99%) Problem-Solving
25 56 (4.90%) Technical Leadership

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%) CMS
3 2 (0.17%) Apache
3 2 (0.17%) Confluence
3 2 (0.17%) FactoryTalk
3 2 (0.17%) WinCC
4 1 (0.087%) Tuxedo
Cloud Services
1 150 (13.12%) AWS
2 94 (8.22%) Azure
3 81 (7.09%) SaaS
4 54 (4.72%) GCP
5 39 (3.41%) GitHub
6 20 (1.75%) Serverless
7 17 (1.49%) Azure AKS
7 17 (1.49%) GitHub Copilot
8 14 (1.22%) Anthropic Claude
9 13 (1.14%) Amazon EKS
10 11 (0.96%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 10 (0.87%) Azure Event Grid
12 8 (0.70%) Stripe
13 6 (0.52%) Azure DevOps
13 6 (0.52%) IaaS
14 4 (0.35%) Amazon OpenSearch
15 3 (0.26%) Amazon S3
15 3 (0.26%) Cloud Run
15 3 (0.26%) GitHub Actions
15 3 (0.26%) Pulumi
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.57%) RS-232
2 16 (1.40%) Ethernet
2 16 (1.40%) HTTP
3 14 (1.22%) Multicast
4 8 (0.70%) Bluetooth
4 8 (0.70%) Modbus
5 7 (0.61%) Wireless
6 6 (0.52%) Profibus
7 5 (0.44%) Broadband
8 4 (0.35%) RS-485
8 4 (0.35%) ZigBee
9 1 (0.087%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (3.06%) SQL Server
2 23 (2.01%) NoSQL
3 19 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.05%) MongoDB
5 11 (0.96%) Elasticsearch
5 11 (0.96%) MySQL
6 8 (0.70%) BigQuery
7 5 (0.44%) Big Data
7 5 (0.44%) Redis
7 5 (0.44%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.35%) DocumentDB
8 4 (0.35%) Neo4j
9 2 (0.17%) DB2
9 2 (0.17%) MariaDB
10 1 (0.087%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.087%) Amazon RDS
10 1 (0.087%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.087%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 42 (3.67%) Git
2 24 (2.10%) JIRA
3 16 (1.40%) GitLab
3 16 (1.40%) TeamCity
4 14 (1.22%) Claude Code
5 13 (1.14%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (0.96%) 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 (0.087%) NUnit
General
1 153 (13.39%) Finance
2 63 (5.51%) Banking
3 41 (3.59%) Social Skills
4 30 (2.62%) Electronics
5 24 (2.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (1.75%) Automotive
6 20 (1.75%) Manufacturing
7 18 (1.57%) Retail
8 16 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
8 16 (1.40%) Law
9 15 (1.31%) Tech for Good
10 14 (1.22%) Financial Institution
10 14 (1.22%) Games
11 13 (1.14%) Back Office
11 13 (1.14%) Public Sector
12 10 (0.87%) Aerospace
12 10 (0.87%) Analytical Skills
13 8 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
14 7 (0.61%) Agriculture
15 6 (0.52%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 151 (13.21%) .NET
2 87 (7.61%) React
3 53 (4.64%) Node.js
4 42 (3.67%) REST
5 32 (2.80%) RESTful
6 28 (2.45%) .NET Core
7 25 (2.19%) React Native
7 25 (2.19%) WPF
8 19 (1.66%) .NET Framework
9 15 (1.31%) Spring
10 14 (1.22%) AngularJS
10 14 (1.22%) Boost C++ Libraries
10 14 (1.22%) FIX Protocol
10 14 (1.22%) pytest
10 14 (1.22%) Yocto
11 13 (1.14%) Spring Boot
12 12 (1.05%) Entity Framework
13 11 (0.96%) Dapper ORM
13 11 (0.96%) Ruby on Rails
13 11 (0.96%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 78 (6.82%) Cloud Native
2 44 (3.85%) Algorithms
3 33 (2.89%) Embedded Systems
4 23 (2.01%) Distributed Systems
5 17 (1.49%) IoT
5 17 (1.49%) Public Cloud
6 16 (1.40%) Derivative
6 16 (1.40%) Robotics
7 15 (1.31%) CAN bus
8 14 (1.22%) Device Driver
8 14 (1.22%) Equities
8 14 (1.22%) Fixed Income
9 11 (0.96%) Greenfield Project
10 10 (0.87%) Legacy Systems
11 9 (0.79%) Sports Betting
12 6 (0.52%) Augmented Reality
12 6 (0.52%) FMCG
12 6 (0.52%) Hedge funds
12 6 (0.52%) Smart Home
12 6 (0.52%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 85 (7.44%) Linux
2 27 (2.36%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (1.57%) Android
4 14 (1.22%) FreeRTOS
5 6 (0.52%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.26%) Windows
7 1 (0.087%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,127 (98.60%) Software Engineering
2 160 (14.00%) Agile
3 125 (10.94%) Full-Stack Development
4 104 (9.10%) CI/CD
4 104 (9.10%) Mentoring
5 97 (8.49%) Microservices
6 86 (7.52%) DevOps
7 71 (6.21%) Test Automation
8 67 (5.86%) AI
9 65 (5.69%) Computer Science
10 62 (5.42%) Fintech
10 62 (5.42%) SDLC
11 57 (4.99%) Problem-Solving
12 56 (4.90%) Technical Leadership
13 50 (4.37%) Containerisation
14 48 (4.20%) Scrum
15 47 (4.11%) Embedded Software Development
16 45 (3.94%) Low Latency
17 40 (3.50%) Continuous Improvement
18 37 (3.24%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 163 (14.26%) C#
2 162 (14.17%) C++
3 161 (14.09%) Java
4 129 (11.29%) Python
5 78 (6.82%) TypeScript
6 70 (6.12%) C
7 68 (5.95%) JavaScript
7 68 (5.95%) SQL
8 37 (3.24%) Rust
9 26 (2.27%) Go
10 19 (1.66%) Embedded C
11 18 (1.57%) PHP
12 16 (1.40%) Kotlin
13 12 (1.05%) Scala
14 11 (0.96%) Ruby
15 8 (0.70%) F#
15 8 (0.70%) Haskell
16 5 (0.44%) VB
17 4 (0.35%) MATLAB
18 3 (0.26%) Swift
Qualifications
1 67 (5.86%) Degree
2 54 (4.72%) Security Cleared
3 40 (3.50%) SC Cleared
4 22 (1.92%) Computer Science Degree
5 21 (1.84%) Master's Degree
6 16 (1.40%) DV Cleared
7 9 (0.79%) PhD
8 3 (0.26%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.087%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.087%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (1.84%) QA
2 16 (1.40%) IEC 61508
2 16 (1.40%) MISRA
2 16 (1.40%) MISRA C
3 8 (0.70%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.26%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.17%) IEC 61131
6 1 (0.087%) GDPR
6 1 (0.087%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 54 (4.72%) Docker
2 35 (3.06%) Firmware
3 15 (1.31%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.17%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.17%) KVM
4 2 (0.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.087%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 68 (5.95%) Kubernetes
2 33 (2.89%) Terraform
3 17 (1.49%) Grafana
4 13 (1.14%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.44%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.17%) Ansible
6 2 (0.17%) Argo
6 2 (0.17%) Plesk
Vendors
1 11 (0.96%) Google
2 9 (0.79%) Microsoft
3 8 (0.70%) HubSpot
4 3 (0.26%) Siemens
5 2 (0.17%) Adobe
5 2 (0.17%) CA Agile Central
5 2 (0.17%) OpenAI
5 2 (0.17%) Rockwell
5 2 (0.17%) VMware
6 1 (0.087%) New Relic
6 1 (0.087%) SAP
6 1 (0.087%) TOWER Software