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 24 March 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 201 213 173
Rank change year-on-year +12 -40 +96
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 842 617 1,504
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.10% 1.49% 1.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.19% 1.65% 1.82%
Number of salaries quoted 644 526 1,096
10th Percentile £58,750 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £58,188 £56,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £75,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - +15.38% -7.14%
75th Percentile £95,000 £97,188 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £116,250 £100,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +7.69% +4.00% -3.85%

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 70,665 37,313 82,697
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.05% 90.19% 94.59%
Number of salaries quoted 45,086 23,014 62,767
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,500 £42,809 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -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 24 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Software Engineer in the UK

Senior Software Engineer
Top 16 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 24 March 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 +26 714 £75,000 - 242
UK excluding London +14 532 £70,000 +7.69% 177
London +33 267 £100,000 +11.11% 88
Work from Home -50 253 £73,750 +4.24% 116
South East +9 120 £70,000 +7.69% 59
South West +45 117 £70,000 +7.69% 27
North of England -40 105 £75,000 +15.38% 29
Scotland 0 85 £68,750 +5.77% 13
East of England -18 53 £70,000 +3.70% 18
North West -33 53 £75,000 +15.38% 15
Midlands +2 43 £65,000 -10.34% 25
Yorkshire -29 39 £75,000 -12.03% 12
West Midlands +7 22 £65,000 -7.14% 19
East Midlands -20 21 £65,000 -13.33% 6
North East -23 13 £75,000 +36.36% 2
Wales -16 9 £60,000 -7.69% 7

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

For the 6 months to 24 March 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.

1 825 (97.98%) Software Engineering
2 149 (17.70%) Java
3 133 (15.80%) AWS
4 124 (14.73%) Agile
5 123 (14.61%) .NET
6 111 (13.18%) C#
7 105 (12.47%) C++
8 104 (12.35%) CI/CD
9 99 (11.76%) Full-Stack Development
10 92 (10.93%) Microservices
11 84 (9.98%) Azure
11 84 (9.98%) Kubernetes
11 84 (9.98%) Python
12 78 (9.26%) Mentoring
13 73 (8.67%) DevOps
14 72 (8.55%) React
15 71 (8.43%) Linux
16 65 (7.72%) SaaS
17 62 (7.36%) Test Automation
17 62 (7.36%) TypeScript
18 60 (7.13%) SQL
19 58 (6.89%) Fintech
20 53 (6.29%) Degree
21 52 (6.18%) Computer Science
21 52 (6.18%) GCP
21 52 (6.18%) Problem-Solving
22 50 (5.94%) JavaScript
23 49 (5.82%) AI
23 49 (5.82%) Docker
24 47 (5.58%) Containerisation

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 3 (0.36%) Apache
1 3 (0.36%) CMS
2 2 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
2 2 (0.24%) Apache Solr
3 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.12%) Tuxedo
Cloud Services
1 133 (15.80%) AWS
2 84 (9.98%) Azure
3 65 (7.72%) SaaS
4 52 (6.18%) GCP
5 32 (3.80%) GitHub
6 18 (2.14%) Amazon EKS
7 17 (2.02%) Azure AKS
8 11 (1.31%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 10 (1.19%) Anthropic Claude
9 10 (1.19%) Azure Event Grid
9 10 (1.19%) GitHub Copilot
10 9 (1.07%) Serverless
11 8 (0.95%) Stripe
12 6 (0.71%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
14 4 (0.48%) Amazon S3
15 3 (0.36%) Cloud Run
15 3 (0.36%) dbt
15 3 (0.36%) Firebase
15 3 (0.36%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.54%) Multicast
2 11 (1.31%) Ethernet
2 11 (1.31%) RS-232
3 10 (1.19%) HTTP
4 5 (0.59%) Broadband
5 2 (0.24%) Wireless
6 1 (0.12%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.04%) SQL Server
2 23 (2.73%) NoSQL
3 20 (2.38%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (1.54%) MongoDB
5 11 (1.31%) Elasticsearch
6 10 (1.19%) BigQuery
7 7 (0.83%) MySQL
8 6 (0.71%) Redis
9 5 (0.59%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.36%) Amazon Athena
10 3 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.36%) Big Data
10 3 (0.36%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.24%) Apache Arrow
11 2 (0.24%) Apache Iceberg
11 2 (0.24%) Apache Ignite
11 2 (0.24%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.24%) DocumentDB
11 2 (0.24%) Dremio
11 2 (0.24%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 27 (3.21%) Git
2 22 (2.61%) JIRA
3 20 (2.38%) TeamCity
4 10 (1.19%) Claude Code
4 10 (1.19%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.83%) GitLab
6 4 (0.48%) JUnit
7 3 (0.36%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.36%) JBehave
7 3 (0.36%) Visual Studio Code
8 2 (0.24%) Android Studio
8 2 (0.24%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.24%) Xcode
9 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.12%) GDB
9 1 (0.12%) Gradle
9 1 (0.12%) NUnit
9 1 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.12%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio
General
1 148 (17.58%) Finance
2 58 (6.89%) Banking
3 36 (4.28%) Social Skills
4 26 (3.09%) Retail
5 24 (2.85%) Financial Institution
6 20 (2.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (2.38%) Law
7 18 (2.14%) Games
8 17 (2.02%) Back Office
9 12 (1.43%) Tech for Good
10 11 (1.31%) Public Sector
11 10 (1.19%) Automotive
11 10 (1.19%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (0.83%) Analytical Skills
12 7 (0.83%) Manufacturing
13 5 (0.59%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.59%) Telecoms
14 4 (0.48%) Electronics
14 4 (0.48%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 123 (14.61%) .NET
2 72 (8.55%) React
3 36 (4.28%) RESTful
4 35 (4.16%) Node.js
5 33 (3.92%) REST
6 26 (3.09%) .NET Core
7 24 (2.85%) React Native
8 20 (2.38%) .NET Framework
9 16 (1.90%) GraphQL
10 13 (1.54%) Boost C++ Libraries
10 13 (1.54%) Django
10 13 (1.54%) Entity Framework
10 13 (1.54%) FIX Protocol
10 13 (1.54%) pytest
10 13 (1.54%) Ruby on Rails
10 13 (1.54%) Spring
11 11 (1.31%) Dapper ORM
11 11 (1.31%) Spring Boot
11 11 (1.31%) Yocto
12 10 (1.19%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 75 (8.91%) Cloud Native
2 31 (3.68%) Distributed Systems
3 24 (2.85%) Algorithms
4 21 (2.49%) Embedded Systems
5 16 (1.90%) Derivative
6 15 (1.78%) Equities
6 15 (1.78%) Fixed Income
7 14 (1.66%) IoT
8 12 (1.43%) Greenfield Project
8 12 (1.43%) Robotics
9 11 (1.31%) CAN bus
9 11 (1.31%) Device Driver
9 11 (1.31%) Legacy Code
9 11 (1.31%) Public Cloud
10 9 (1.07%) Legacy Systems
10 9 (1.07%) Sports Betting
11 7 (0.83%) Blog
12 6 (0.71%) Hedge funds
13 5 (0.59%) Data Structures
14 4 (0.48%) Over-the-Top Content
Operating Systems
1 71 (8.43%) Linux
2 23 (2.73%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (2.14%) Android
4 6 (0.71%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.24%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.12%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 825 (97.98%) Software Engineering
2 124 (14.73%) Agile
3 104 (12.35%) CI/CD
4 99 (11.76%) Full-Stack Development
5 92 (10.93%) Microservices
6 78 (9.26%) Mentoring
7 73 (8.67%) DevOps
8 62 (7.36%) Test Automation
9 58 (6.89%) Fintech
10 52 (6.18%) Computer Science
10 52 (6.18%) Problem-Solving
11 49 (5.82%) AI
12 47 (5.58%) Containerisation
13 43 (5.11%) SDLC
14 42 (4.99%) Technical Leadership
15 37 (4.39%) Scrum
16 34 (4.04%) Continuous Improvement
16 34 (4.04%) Low Latency
17 32 (3.80%) Clean Code
18 29 (3.44%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 149 (17.70%) Java
2 111 (13.18%) C#
3 105 (12.47%) C++
4 84 (9.98%) Python
5 62 (7.36%) TypeScript
6 60 (7.13%) SQL
7 50 (5.94%) JavaScript
8 41 (4.87%) C
9 31 (3.68%) Rust
10 27 (3.21%) Go
11 19 (2.26%) Kotlin
12 17 (2.02%) PHP
13 13 (1.54%) Ruby
14 11 (1.31%) Embedded C
15 5 (0.59%) Delphi
16 4 (0.48%) Scala
16 4 (0.48%) VB
17 3 (0.36%) Swift
18 1 (0.12%) Bash
18 1 (0.12%) Elm
Qualifications
1 53 (6.29%) Degree
2 29 (3.44%) Security Cleared
3 24 (2.85%) Computer Science Degree
4 23 (2.73%) SC Cleared
5 18 (2.14%) Master's Degree
6 8 (0.95%) PhD
7 6 (0.71%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.12%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (2.61%) QA
2 13 (1.54%) IEC 61508
2 13 (1.54%) MISRA
2 13 (1.54%) MISRA C
3 6 (0.71%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.12%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.12%) ECSS
4 1 (0.12%) GDPR
4 1 (0.12%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 49 (5.82%) Docker
2 14 (1.66%) Firmware
3 6 (0.71%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
5 2 (0.24%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.24%) KVM
5 2 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 84 (9.98%) Kubernetes
2 37 (4.39%) Terraform
3 17 (2.02%) Grafana
4 11 (1.31%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.24%) Ansible
5 2 (0.24%) Argo
6 1 (0.12%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 11 (1.31%) Google
2 8 (0.95%) HubSpot
2 8 (0.95%) Microsoft
3 2 (0.24%) Adobe
3 2 (0.24%) CA Agile Central
3 2 (0.24%) SAP
3 2 (0.24%) VMware
4 1 (0.12%) Dynatrace
4 1 (0.12%) Green Hills
4 1 (0.12%) New Relic