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 19 February 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 212 195 217
Rank change year-on-year -17 +22 +47
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Software Engineer 712 778 1,076
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.04% 1.59% 1.45%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.14% 1.74% 1.52%
Number of salaries quoted 557 531 824
10th Percentile £57,650 £52,500 £50,000
25th Percentile £65,000 £57,750 £57,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £70,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +3.70% -3.57%
75th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £81,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £116,250 £102,125
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 62,327 44,730 70,566
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.26% 91.49% 94.82%
Number of salaries quoted 39,291 23,468 55,142
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,235 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £39,230
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 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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 19 February 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 19 February 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 -7 611 £75,000 +7.14% 255
UK excluding London -24 441 £70,000 +7.69% 215
Work from Home -55 238 £72,500 +3.57% 155
London +16 237 £95,000 +5.56% 93
South East -19 108 £70,000 +7.69% 48
South West +37 93 £65,000 +1.96% 39
North of England -38 87 £75,000 +15.38% 40
Scotland -16 68 £67,500 +5.88% 35
East of England -27 43 £70,000 +3.70% 29
North West -24 42 £70,000 +7.69% 24
Midlands +7 35 £65,000 +4.00% 19
Yorkshire -17 35 £75,000 -4.91% 11
East Midlands -13 18 £65,000 -3.70% 10
West Midlands +16 17 £65,000 +4.00% 8
North East -15 10 £75,000 +36.36% 5
Wales -12 7 £60,000 -7.69% 8

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

For the 6 months to 19 February 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.

1 698 (98.03%) Software Engineering
2 130 (18.26%) AWS
3 125 (17.56%) Java
4 114 (16.01%) .NET
5 109 (15.31%) Agile
6 104 (14.61%) C#
7 99 (13.90%) CI/CD
8 95 (13.34%) Full-Stack Development
9 88 (12.36%) Microservices
10 83 (11.66%) C++
11 82 (11.52%) Kubernetes
12 81 (11.38%) Python
13 80 (11.24%) Azure
14 79 (11.10%) Mentoring
15 75 (10.53%) React
16 71 (9.97%) DevOps
17 63 (8.85%) TypeScript
18 60 (8.43%) Linux
19 52 (7.30%) Computer Science
19 52 (7.30%) Problem-Solving
20 51 (7.16%) Degree
20 51 (7.16%) Test Automation
21 49 (6.88%) GCP
21 49 (6.88%) SaaS
22 48 (6.74%) Containerisation
22 48 (6.74%) Docker
22 48 (6.74%) Fintech
22 48 (6.74%) JavaScript
22 48 (6.74%) SQL
23 47 (6.60%) SDLC

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 9 (1.26%) Apache
2 8 (1.12%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.42%) CMS
4 2 (0.28%) Apache Solr
5 1 (0.14%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.14%) Confluence
5 1 (0.14%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 1 (0.14%) Photoshop
Cloud Services
1 130 (18.26%) AWS
2 80 (11.24%) Azure
3 49 (6.88%) GCP
3 49 (6.88%) SaaS
4 28 (3.93%) GitHub
5 16 (2.25%) Amazon EKS
6 15 (2.11%) Azure AKS
7 11 (1.54%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (1.40%) Azure Cosmos DB
8 10 (1.40%) GitHub Copilot
9 9 (1.26%) Azure Event Grid
9 9 (1.26%) dbt
9 9 (1.26%) Snowflake
10 8 (1.12%) Serverless
10 8 (1.12%) Stripe
11 5 (0.70%) Cloud Run
12 4 (0.56%) Amazon S3
12 4 (0.56%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.42%) Anthropic Claude
13 3 (0.42%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.83%) Multicast
2 10 (1.40%) HTTP
3 7 (0.98%) Ethernet
3 7 (0.98%) RS-232
4 4 (0.56%) Broadband
5 1 (0.14%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (4.49%) SQL Server
2 20 (2.81%) PostgreSQL
3 19 (2.67%) NoSQL
4 11 (1.54%) Elasticsearch
5 10 (1.40%) BigQuery
6 9 (1.26%) Amazon Athena
6 9 (1.26%) MongoDB
7 8 (1.12%) Apache Arrow
7 8 (1.12%) Apache Iceberg
7 8 (1.12%) Apache Ignite
7 8 (1.12%) Data Lake
7 8 (1.12%) Dremio
8 7 (0.98%) Redis
8 7 (0.98%) Relational Database
9 5 (0.70%) MySQL
10 4 (0.56%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
12 2 (0.28%) MariaDB
13 1 (0.14%) Big Data
13 1 (0.14%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 30 (4.21%) Git
2 22 (3.09%) JIRA
3 18 (2.53%) TeamCity
4 8 (1.12%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.84%) GitLab
6 4 (0.56%) JUnit
7 3 (0.42%) Claude Code
7 3 (0.42%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.42%) JBehave
7 3 (0.42%) Visual Studio Code
8 2 (0.28%) Android Studio
8 2 (0.28%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.28%) Xcode
9 1 (0.14%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.14%) Gradle
9 1 (0.14%) NUnit
9 1 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.14%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.14%) Rational Statemate
9 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 142 (19.94%) Finance
2 61 (8.57%) Banking
3 44 (6.18%) Social Skills
4 23 (3.23%) Financial Institution
4 23 (3.23%) Retail
5 20 (2.81%) Law
6 17 (2.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 15 (2.11%) Games
8 14 (1.97%) Back Office
9 12 (1.69%) Tech for Good
10 10 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
11 9 (1.26%) Automotive
12 8 (1.12%) Front Office
12 8 (1.12%) Investment Banking
13 7 (0.98%) Public Sector
14 5 (0.70%) Aerospace
14 5 (0.70%) Analytical Skills
14 5 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.70%) Telecoms
15 4 (0.56%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 114 (16.01%) .NET
2 75 (10.53%) React
3 37 (5.20%) RESTful
4 32 (4.49%) Node.js
5 31 (4.35%) REST
6 24 (3.37%) .NET Core
6 24 (3.37%) React Native
7 18 (2.53%) .NET Framework
7 18 (2.53%) GraphQL
8 17 (2.39%) AngularJS
9 15 (2.11%) Ruby on Rails
10 14 (1.97%) Spring
11 13 (1.83%) Boost C++ Libraries
11 13 (1.83%) FIX Protocol
11 13 (1.83%) pytest
12 12 (1.69%) Spring Boot
13 11 (1.54%) Django
13 11 (1.54%) Entity Framework
13 11 (1.54%) Kafka
14 10 (1.40%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 67 (9.41%) Cloud Native
2 26 (3.65%) Distributed Systems
3 25 (3.51%) Algorithms
4 22 (3.09%) Derivative
5 21 (2.95%) Equities
5 21 (2.95%) Fixed Income
6 20 (2.81%) Embedded Systems
7 13 (1.83%) IoT
8 11 (1.54%) CAN bus
8 11 (1.54%) Hedge funds
8 11 (1.54%) Public Cloud
9 10 (1.40%) Greenfield Project
9 10 (1.40%) Legacy Code
9 10 (1.40%) Robotics
10 9 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
11 8 (1.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 8 (1.12%) Pricing Data
12 7 (0.98%) Blog
12 7 (0.98%) Device Driver
13 5 (0.70%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 60 (8.43%) Linux
2 19 (2.67%) Embedded Linux
3 18 (2.53%) Android
4 6 (0.84%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.28%) Unix
6 1 (0.14%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 698 (98.03%) Software Engineering
2 109 (15.31%) Agile
3 99 (13.90%) CI/CD
4 95 (13.34%) Full-Stack Development
5 88 (12.36%) Microservices
6 79 (11.10%) Mentoring
7 71 (9.97%) DevOps
8 52 (7.30%) Computer Science
8 52 (7.30%) Problem-Solving
9 51 (7.16%) Test Automation
10 48 (6.74%) Containerisation
10 48 (6.74%) Fintech
11 47 (6.60%) SDLC
12 44 (6.18%) Technical Leadership
13 43 (6.04%) AI
14 35 (4.92%) Scrum
15 34 (4.78%) Clean Code
15 34 (4.78%) Continuous Improvement
16 28 (3.93%) User Experience
17 27 (3.79%) Low Latency
Programming Languages
1 125 (17.56%) Java
2 104 (14.61%) C#
3 83 (11.66%) C++
4 81 (11.38%) Python
5 63 (8.85%) TypeScript
6 48 (6.74%) JavaScript
6 48 (6.74%) SQL
7 35 (4.92%) C
8 26 (3.65%) Rust
9 23 (3.23%) Go
10 19 (2.67%) Kotlin
11 16 (2.25%) PHP
12 15 (2.11%) Ruby
13 7 (0.98%) Embedded C
14 6 (0.84%) Delphi
15 4 (0.56%) Scala
15 4 (0.56%) VB
16 3 (0.42%) Bash
16 3 (0.42%) Swift
17 2 (0.28%) Fortran
Qualifications
1 51 (7.16%) Degree
2 25 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
3 19 (2.67%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.39%) Master's Degree
5 15 (2.11%) SC Cleared
6 7 (0.98%) PhD
7 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.14%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.14%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.95%) QA
2 11 (1.54%) IEC 61508
2 11 (1.54%) MISRA
2 11 (1.54%) MISRA C
3 6 (0.84%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
4 1 (0.14%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.14%) ECSS
4 1 (0.14%) GDPR
4 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.14%) PSD2
System Software
1 48 (6.74%) Docker
2 7 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
2 7 (0.98%) Virtual Servers
3 5 (0.70%) Firmware
4 2 (0.28%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.28%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.28%) KVM
4 2 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 82 (11.52%) Kubernetes
2 31 (4.35%) Terraform
3 16 (2.25%) Grafana
4 11 (1.54%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.28%) Ansible
5 2 (0.28%) Argo
6 1 (0.14%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.14%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 13 (1.83%) Google
2 9 (1.26%) Microsoft
3 8 (1.12%) HubSpot
4 2 (0.28%) Adobe
4 2 (0.28%) CA Agile Central
4 2 (0.28%) OpenAI
4 2 (0.28%) SAP
4 2 (0.28%) VMware
5 1 (0.14%) Dynatrace
5 1 (0.14%) ForgeRock
5 1 (0.14%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.14%) New Relic