Senior Software Engineer Job Trends

Senior Software Engineer
UK

The median Senior Software Engineer salary in the UK is £76,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 December 2025.

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

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 246 174 258
Rank change year-on-year -72 +84 -16
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 525 946 660
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.88% 1.71% 1.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.98% 1.83% 1.34%
Number of salaries quoted 422 620 497
10th Percentile £60,000 £52,500 £48,750
25th Percentile £65,000 £58,750 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £76,250 £70,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.93% +7.69% -7.14%
75th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £81,250
90th Percentile £115,000 £122,500 £101,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £65,000 £65,000

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 53,660 51,710 49,133
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.45% 93.38% 95.26%
Number of salaries quoted 33,065 27,370 37,929
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,125 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,549 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,458 £77,715
90th Percentile £93,750 £97,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +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 29 December 2025.

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 29 December 2025. 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 -61 461 £75,000 +7.14% 1,151
UK excluding London -74 305 £65,000 - 982
London -39 196 £100,000 +9.59% 270
Work from Home -90 188 £80,000 +14.29% 863
South East -44 73 £65,000 - 231
South West +4 67 £65,000 +8.33% 117
North of England -53 65 £75,000 +15.38% 240
Scotland -22 43 £67,500 +3.85% 65
North West -7 33 £72,500 +11.54% 129
East of England -16 33 £67,500 - 144
Yorkshire -2 26 £75,000 +14.57% 94
Midlands +5 19 £65,000 +2.36% 157
East Midlands -7 11 £65,000 +8.33% 62
West Midlands +5 8 £72,649 +14.41% 86
North East -20 6 £75,000 +22.95% 17
Wales -9 5 - - 30

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

For the 6 months to 29 December 2025, 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.

1 512 (97.52%) Software Engineering
2 124 (23.62%) Java
3 121 (23.05%) AWS
4 119 (22.67%) Agile
5 87 (16.57%) Python
6 86 (16.38%) TypeScript
7 82 (15.62%) C#
8 74 (14.10%) CI/CD
9 72 (13.71%) .NET
10 70 (13.33%) JavaScript
10 70 (13.33%) Mentoring
11 66 (12.57%) React
12 63 (12.00%) C++
13 62 (11.81%) Microservices
14 61 (11.62%) Full-Stack Development
15 60 (11.43%) Azure
16 59 (11.24%) Kubernetes
17 55 (10.48%) DevOps
18 44 (8.38%) AI
18 44 (8.38%) Linux
19 42 (8.00%) Problem-Solving
20 41 (7.81%) Degree
20 41 (7.81%) Technical Leadership
21 40 (7.62%) Computer Science
21 40 (7.62%) SQL
22 36 (6.86%) Amazon Athena
22 36 (6.86%) Apache
22 36 (6.86%) dbt
22 36 (6.86%) gRPC
22 36 (6.86%) Snowflake

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 36 (6.86%) Apache
2 35 (6.67%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.38%) Apache Solr
4 1 (0.19%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.19%) CMS
4 1 (0.19%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 1 (0.19%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 1 (0.19%) Photoshop
Cloud Services
1 121 (23.05%) AWS
2 60 (11.43%) Azure
3 36 (6.86%) dbt
3 36 (6.86%) Snowflake
4 34 (6.48%) GCP
5 23 (4.38%) SaaS
6 21 (4.00%) GitHub
7 10 (1.90%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.71%) GitHub Copilot
9 7 (1.33%) Amazon EKS
10 6 (1.14%) Azure AKS
10 6 (1.14%) Serverless
10 6 (1.14%) Stripe
11 5 (0.95%) Cloud Run
12 4 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.57%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 3 (0.57%) Azure Data Factory
13 3 (0.57%) Azure Event Grid
13 3 (0.57%) Azure Service Bus
13 3 (0.57%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 13 (2.48%) Multicast
2 9 (1.71%) HTTP
3 3 (0.57%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.57%) RS-232
4 1 (0.19%) AMQP
4 1 (0.19%) DNS
4 1 (0.19%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (6.86%) Amazon Athena
2 35 (6.67%) Apache Arrow
2 35 (6.67%) Apache Iceberg
2 35 (6.67%) Apache Ignite
2 35 (6.67%) Data Lake
2 35 (6.67%) Dremio
3 21 (4.00%) PostgreSQL
4 20 (3.81%) SQL Server
5 19 (3.62%) NoSQL
6 12 (2.29%) Relational Database
7 8 (1.52%) BigQuery
7 8 (1.52%) MongoDB
7 8 (1.52%) MySQL
8 7 (1.33%) Redis
9 6 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
9 6 (1.14%) Elasticsearch
10 4 (0.76%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.38%) GIS
11 2 (0.38%) MariaDB
11 2 (0.38%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 30 (5.71%) Git
2 20 (3.81%) JIRA
3 6 (1.14%) TeamCity
4 4 (0.76%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.76%) JUnit
5 3 (0.57%) Cucumber
5 3 (0.57%) JBehave
6 2 (0.38%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.38%) GitLab
6 2 (0.38%) Maven
6 2 (0.38%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.19%) Android Studio
7 1 (0.19%) Ant
7 1 (0.19%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.19%) LabVIEW
7 1 (0.19%) Rational Statemate
7 1 (0.19%) Selenium
7 1 (0.19%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.19%) webpack
7 1 (0.19%) Xcode
General
1 127 (24.19%) Finance
2 69 (13.14%) Banking
3 36 (6.86%) Social Skills
4 35 (6.67%) Front Office
4 35 (6.67%) Investment Banking
5 16 (3.05%) Financial Institution
6 14 (2.67%) Law
6 14 (2.67%) Retail
7 12 (2.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.71%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (1.52%) Games
10 6 (1.14%) Back Office
10 6 (1.14%) Health Technology
11 5 (0.95%) Electronics
11 5 (0.95%) Manufacturing
11 5 (0.95%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (0.95%) Public Sector
11 5 (0.95%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.76%) Analytical Skills
12 4 (0.76%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (13.71%) .NET
2 66 (12.57%) React
3 36 (6.86%) gRPC
4 35 (6.67%) NumPy
4 35 (6.67%) Pandas
4 35 (6.67%) Protocol Buffers
4 35 (6.67%) SciPy
5 29 (5.52%) RESTful
6 22 (4.19%) AngularJS
7 20 (3.81%) React Native
8 19 (3.62%) REST
9 18 (3.43%) GraphQL
10 17 (3.24%) .NET Core
11 14 (2.67%) Spring
12 13 (2.48%) Boost C++ Libraries
12 13 (2.48%) FIX Protocol
12 13 (2.48%) Node.js
12 13 (2.48%) pytest
12 13 (2.48%) Spring Boot
13 12 (2.29%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 49 (9.33%) Cloud Native
1 49 (9.33%) Derivative
2 48 (9.14%) Equities
2 48 (9.14%) Fixed Income
3 36 (6.86%) Hedge funds
4 35 (6.67%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 35 (6.67%) Pricing Data
5 20 (3.81%) Distributed Systems
6 19 (3.62%) Algorithms
7 13 (2.48%) Embedded Systems
8 12 (2.29%) Greenfield Project
9 10 (1.90%) Legacy Code
9 10 (1.90%) Public Cloud
10 7 (1.33%) Blog
10 7 (1.33%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.14%) CAN bus
11 6 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (0.95%) Robotics
13 4 (0.76%) AI Agents
13 4 (0.76%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 44 (8.38%) Linux
2 13 (2.48%) Android
3 10 (1.90%) Embedded Linux
4 6 (1.14%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.38%) Unix
5 2 (0.38%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 512 (97.52%) Software Engineering
2 119 (22.67%) Agile
3 74 (14.10%) CI/CD
4 70 (13.33%) Mentoring
5 62 (11.81%) Microservices
6 61 (11.62%) Full-Stack Development
7 55 (10.48%) DevOps
8 44 (8.38%) AI
9 42 (8.00%) Problem-Solving
10 41 (7.81%) Technical Leadership
11 40 (7.62%) Computer Science
12 35 (6.67%) Asset Management
12 35 (6.67%) Fintech
12 35 (6.67%) Investment Management
13 34 (6.48%) SDLC
14 33 (6.29%) Clean Code
15 31 (5.90%) Containerisation
16 30 (5.71%) Test Automation
17 24 (4.57%) Low Latency
17 24 (4.57%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 124 (23.62%) Java
2 87 (16.57%) Python
3 86 (16.38%) TypeScript
4 82 (15.62%) C#
5 70 (13.33%) JavaScript
6 63 (12.00%) C++
7 40 (7.62%) SQL
8 27 (5.14%) C
9 20 (3.81%) Rust
10 19 (3.62%) Go
11 13 (2.48%) Kotlin
12 11 (2.10%) Ruby
13 10 (1.90%) PHP
14 6 (1.14%) Delphi
15 5 (0.95%) Embedded C
16 3 (0.57%) Bash
16 3 (0.57%) Swift
17 2 (0.38%) BrightScript
17 2 (0.38%) MATLAB
17 2 (0.38%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 41 (7.81%) Degree
2 19 (3.62%) Computer Science Degree
3 11 (2.10%) Master's Degree
4 9 (1.71%) Security Cleared
5 5 (0.95%) SC Cleared
6 3 (0.57%) PhD
7 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.19%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.19%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.19%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (4.00%) QA
2 8 (1.52%) Accessibility
3 6 (1.14%) IEC 61508
3 6 (1.14%) MISRA
3 6 (1.14%) MISRA C
4 2 (0.38%) ISO 9000
4 2 (0.38%) ISO 9001
4 2 (0.38%) JTAG
5 1 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.19%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.19%) ECSS
5 1 (0.19%) GDPR
5 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.19%) PSD2
System Software
1 31 (5.90%) Docker
2 7 (1.33%) Virtual Machines
2 7 (1.33%) Virtual Servers
3 6 (1.14%) Firmware
4 3 (0.57%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 59 (11.24%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.43%) Terraform
3 8 (1.52%) Grafana
4 6 (1.14%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.38%) Ansible
5 2 (0.38%) Argo
6 1 (0.19%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 12 (2.29%) Google
2 11 (2.10%) Microsoft
3 5 (0.95%) HubSpot
4 2 (0.38%) Adobe
4 2 (0.38%) Atlassian
4 2 (0.38%) CA Agile Central
4 2 (0.38%) OpenAI
4 2 (0.38%) Oracle
4 2 (0.38%) Roku
4 2 (0.38%) SAP
5 1 (0.19%) Dynatrace
5 1 (0.19%) ForgeRock
5 1 (0.19%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.19%) MuleSoft
5 1 (0.19%) New Relic
5 1 (0.19%) SendGrid