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 3 August 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 210 117
Rank change year-on-year +76 -93 +165
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 1,487 806 1,882
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.43% 1.62% 2.26%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.52% 1.80% 2.38%
Number of salaries quoted 1,174 472 1,349
10th Percentile £55,000 £56,250 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £85,000 £65,465
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% +29.84% -5.12%
75th Percentile £90,000 £111,250 £87,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £135,000 £110,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +16.67% -4.00%

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 97,698 44,800 78,990
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.23% 90.07% 94.90%
Number of salaries quoted 66,827 26,689 53,699
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,915
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £90,844
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +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 3 August 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 3 August 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 +75 1,329 £75,000 -15.41% 523
UK excluding London +87 1,047 £70,000 - 238
London -20 356 £95,000 -11.63% 319
Work from Home -66 294 £74,000 -13.20% 192
North of England -16 257 £75,000 +2.04% 49
South East +144 245 £80,000 +14.29% 47
South West +51 196 £70,000 - 44
East of England +79 159 £70,000 +9.80% 44
North West -24 157 £75,000 +0.33% 31
Midlands +59 112 £67,500 -6.90% 27
Yorkshire +15 66 £70,000 -11.18% 6
West Midlands +17 64 £70,000 -5.08% 9
Scotland -2 49 £67,500 +3.85% 12
East Midlands +23 48 £60,000 -14.29% 18
North East -34 34 £90,000 +71.43% 12
Wales -39 26 £61,250 -9.26% 6
Northern Ireland - 3 £75,000 - 13

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

For the 6 months to 3 August 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 1,482 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 259 (17.42%) Python
3 242 (16.27%) C#
4 239 (16.07%) C++
5 216 (14.53%) Agile
6 208 (13.99%) Java
7 202 (13.58%) AWS
8 172 (11.57%) CI/CD
9 170 (11.43%) .NET
10 159 (10.69%) Full-Stack Development
11 158 (10.63%) AI
12 155 (10.42%) Mentoring
13 118 (7.94%) TypeScript
14 116 (7.80%) React
15 114 (7.67%) DevOps
16 113 (7.60%) Azure
16 113 (7.60%) Microservices
17 108 (7.26%) Linux
18 102 (6.86%) JavaScript
18 102 (6.86%) Security Cleared
19 100 (6.72%) Test Automation
20 87 (5.85%) SDLC
21 86 (5.78%) SaaS
22 85 (5.72%) Degree
22 85 (5.72%) SQL
23 84 (5.65%) C
24 80 (5.38%) Code Quality
24 80 (5.38%) Problem-Solving
25 78 (5.25%) Docker
26 77 (5.18%) Kubernetes

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 16 (1.08%) SharePoint Server
2 6 (0.40%) Apache
3 4 (0.27%) Confluence
4 3 (0.20%) Apache Solr
4 3 (0.20%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.20%) WinCC
5 2 (0.13%) Cloud Foundry
6 1 (0.067%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.067%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 3 (0.20%) Blender
1 3 (0.20%) Maya
2 1 (0.067%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 202 (13.58%) AWS
2 113 (7.60%) Azure
3 86 (5.78%) SaaS
4 64 (4.30%) GCP
5 38 (2.56%) GitHub
6 34 (2.29%) Serverless
7 22 (1.48%) Amazon EKS
8 20 (1.34%) Anthropic Claude
9 16 (1.08%) GitHub Copilot
10 14 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
11 11 (0.74%) Azure Cosmos DB
12 8 (0.54%) Amazon S3
12 8 (0.54%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (0.47%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.40%) Supabase
15 5 (0.34%) Amazon SQS
15 5 (0.34%) Azure AI
15 5 (0.34%) Azure AKS
15 5 (0.34%) Pulumi
16 4 (0.27%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.48%) RS-232
2 15 (1.01%) Ethernet
3 14 (0.94%) Modbus
4 13 (0.87%) Bluetooth
4 13 (0.87%) Multicast
5 12 (0.81%) Profibus
5 12 (0.81%) Wireless
6 9 (0.61%) RS-485
6 9 (0.61%) ZigBee
7 8 (0.54%) HTTP
8 7 (0.47%) Broadband
9 2 (0.13%) Firewall
9 2 (0.13%) TCP/IP
10 1 (0.067%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (3.23%) PostgreSQL
2 30 (2.02%) MySQL
3 20 (1.34%) SQL Server
4 18 (1.21%) NoSQL
5 17 (1.14%) Relational Database
6 16 (1.08%) Redis
7 15 (1.01%) MongoDB
8 10 (0.67%) Big Data
9 8 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (0.34%) DynamoDB
10 5 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
11 4 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.27%) Delta Lake
12 3 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
12 3 (0.20%) DocumentDB
12 3 (0.20%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.20%) MariaDB
12 3 (0.20%) Neo4j
13 2 (0.13%) CockroachDB
13 2 (0.13%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 58 (3.90%) Git
2 32 (2.15%) JIRA
3 26 (1.75%) GitLab
4 19 (1.28%) Claude Code
5 16 (1.08%) TeamCity
6 11 (0.74%) Visual Studio Code
7 9 (0.61%) Jenkins
8 6 (0.40%) NUnit
8 6 (0.40%) Selenium
9 5 (0.34%) Jasmine
9 5 (0.34%) Mocha
10 4 (0.27%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.27%) Rational Rhapsody
10 4 (0.27%) Visual Studio
11 3 (0.20%) Eclipse RCP
11 3 (0.20%) JUnit
12 2 (0.13%) GDB
12 2 (0.13%) Oracle APEX
12 2 (0.13%) SonarQube
General
1 130 (8.74%) Finance
2 90 (6.05%) Social Skills
3 66 (4.44%) Electronics
4 50 (3.36%) Banking
5 47 (3.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 45 (3.03%) Manufacturing
7 39 (2.62%) Analytical Skills
7 39 (2.62%) Public Sector
8 29 (1.95%) Law
9 20 (1.34%) Retail
10 15 (1.01%) Automotive
11 13 (0.87%) Aerospace
12 12 (0.81%) Financial Institution
12 12 (0.81%) Military
13 11 (0.74%) Back Office
13 11 (0.74%) Marketing
14 9 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
14 9 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
15 7 (0.47%) Agriculture
15 7 (0.47%) Billing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 170 (11.43%) .NET
2 116 (7.80%) React
3 72 (4.84%) Node.js
4 50 (3.36%) Spring
5 49 (3.30%) WPF
6 34 (2.29%) RESTful
7 32 (2.15%) Spring Boot
8 28 (1.88%) REST
9 27 (1.82%) Next.js
10 23 (1.55%) Kafka
11 20 (1.34%) AngularJS
12 18 (1.21%) FastAPI
13 17 (1.14%) Django
14 16 (1.08%) Vue
15 15 (1.01%) React Native
16 13 (0.87%) .NET Core
16 13 (0.87%) Boost C++ Libraries
16 13 (0.87%) FIX Protocol
16 13 (0.87%) pytest
16 13 (0.87%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 107 (7.20%) Cloud Native
2 55 (3.70%) Legacy Systems
3 49 (3.30%) Distributed Systems
4 48 (3.23%) Algorithms
5 35 (2.35%) Robotics
6 32 (2.15%) Embedded Systems
7 29 (1.95%) Greenfield Project
8 20 (1.34%) Product Ownership
9 16 (1.08%) AI Agents
9 16 (1.08%) Derivative
9 16 (1.08%) Device Driver
10 15 (1.01%) Public Cloud
11 13 (0.87%) Equities
11 13 (0.87%) Fixed Income
12 11 (0.74%) Client/Server
12 11 (0.74%) Legacy Applications
13 10 (0.67%) Blockchain
13 10 (0.67%) Cyber Threat
14 9 (0.61%) Renewable Energy
14 9 (0.61%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 108 (7.26%) Linux
2 28 (1.88%) Embedded Linux
3 19 (1.28%) FreeRTOS
4 17 (1.14%) Windows
5 3 (0.20%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.20%) Unix
6 2 (0.13%) Android
7 1 (0.067%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,482 (99.66%) Software Engineering
2 216 (14.53%) Agile
3 172 (11.57%) CI/CD
4 159 (10.69%) Full-Stack Development
5 158 (10.63%) AI
6 155 (10.42%) Mentoring
7 114 (7.67%) DevOps
8 113 (7.60%) Microservices
9 100 (6.72%) Test Automation
10 87 (5.85%) SDLC
11 80 (5.38%) Code Quality
11 80 (5.38%) Problem-Solving
12 76 (5.11%) Computer Science
13 72 (4.84%) Technical Leadership
14 68 (4.57%) Fintech
15 64 (4.30%) Continuous Improvement
16 52 (3.50%) Machine Learning
17 47 (3.16%) Software Architecture
18 46 (3.09%) Containerisation
19 45 (3.03%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 259 (17.42%) Python
2 242 (16.27%) C#
3 239 (16.07%) C++
4 208 (13.99%) Java
5 118 (7.94%) TypeScript
6 102 (6.86%) JavaScript
7 85 (5.72%) SQL
8 84 (5.65%) C
9 48 (3.23%) Rust
10 31 (2.08%) Go
11 21 (1.41%) Embedded C
12 15 (1.01%) Scala
13 13 (0.87%) F#
13 13 (0.87%) Haskell
13 13 (0.87%) PHP
13 13 (0.87%) Ruby
14 11 (0.74%) MATLAB
15 10 (0.67%) Julia
16 8 (0.54%) R
16 8 (0.54%) VB
Qualifications
1 102 (6.86%) Security Cleared
2 85 (5.72%) Degree
3 71 (4.77%) SC Cleared
4 51 (3.43%) DV Cleared
5 26 (1.75%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (1.14%) Master's Degree
7 11 (0.74%) PhD
8 7 (0.47%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.40%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.13%) DBS Check
11 1 (0.067%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.067%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.067%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (2.82%) QA
2 17 (1.14%) Accessibility
3 5 (0.34%) GDPR
3 5 (0.34%) IEC 61508
3 5 (0.34%) MISRA
3 5 (0.34%) MISRA C
4 4 (0.27%) DO-178B
5 3 (0.20%) IEC 61131
6 2 (0.13%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.067%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 78 (5.25%) Docker
2 51 (3.43%) Firmware
3 22 (1.48%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.13%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.13%) KVM
4 2 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.067%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 77 (5.18%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.36%) Terraform
3 18 (1.21%) Grafana
4 6 (0.40%) Ansible
5 5 (0.34%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.20%) Plesk
7 2 (0.13%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.13%) kaniko
7 2 (0.13%) Puppet
Vendors
1 19 (1.28%) Microsoft
2 8 (0.54%) Google
2 8 (0.54%) Siemens
2 8 (0.54%) Splunk
3 6 (0.40%) Databricks
4 5 (0.34%) Intel
4 5 (0.34%) OpenAI
4 5 (0.34%) Salesforce
5 4 (0.27%) Foundry
5 4 (0.27%) Oracle
6 3 (0.20%) Rockwell
7 2 (0.13%) ADVA
7 2 (0.13%) Atlassian
7 2 (0.13%) New Relic
7 2 (0.13%) Revolut
7 2 (0.13%) VMware
8 1 (0.067%) Palantir
8 1 (0.067%) TOWER Software
8 1 (0.067%) Virgin Media