Software Architect Job Trends

Software Architect
UK

The median Software Architect salary in the UK is £85,700 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 5 April 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 604 592 680
Rank change year-on-year -12 +88 +179
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Architect 91 35 184
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.086% 0.20%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.12% 0.095% 0.21%
Number of salaries quoted 53 27 104
10th Percentile £75,000 £65,750 £64,125
25th Percentile £80,000 £72,500 £67,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £85,700 £80,000 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.13% - -
75th Percentile £100,000 £85,000 £90,000
90th Percentile - £87,500 £103,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
% change year-on-year - +6.67% +3.45%

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 74,800 36,762 86,050
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 89.83% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 48,216 23,292 64,576
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £54,650
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.79% -8.92%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £72,375
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -4.76%

Software Architect
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Software Architect' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Software Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Software Architect
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Software Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Software Architect job vacancies in the UK

Software Architect
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Architect over the 6 months to 5 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Architect in the UK

Software Architect
Top 13 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 5 April 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 +21 83 £85,700 +10.94% 18
UK excluding London -28 73 £80,000 - 15
Work from Home +20 38 £80,000 - 12
South East -3 28 £95,000 -9.52% 3
North of England -40 18 £75,000 -11.76% 10
Yorkshire -40 15 £75,000 +11.11% 6
London -5 14 £100,000 +25.39% 4
South West -27 14 £80,000 - 1
East of England -21 7 £80,000 +28.00% 1
Scotland -43 4 £82,850 +3.56%
North West -24 3 £100,000 +17.65% 4
Midlands -38 2 - -
East Midlands - 2 - -

Software Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 5 April 2026, Software Architect 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 Software Architect in the job title.

1 24 (26.37%) Agile
1 24 (26.37%) Degree
2 22 (24.18%) Computer Science
2 22 (24.18%) Computer Science Degree
3 21 (23.08%) Mentoring
3 21 (23.08%) Security Cleared
4 18 (19.78%) DevOps
5 16 (17.58%) Continuous Improvement
6 15 (16.48%) Python
6 15 (16.48%) SDLC
7 14 (15.38%) Azure
7 14 (15.38%) Node.js
7 14 (15.38%) Open Source
8 13 (14.29%) AWS
8 13 (14.29%) Software Engineering
8 13 (14.29%) TypeScript
9 12 (13.19%) Java
10 11 (12.09%) BPSS Clearance
10 11 (12.09%) C#
10 11 (12.09%) Chartered Engineer
10 11 (12.09%) Configuration Management
10 11 (12.09%) Design Patterns
10 11 (12.09%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 11 (12.09%) Middleware
10 11 (12.09%) SaaS
10 11 (12.09%) Software Architecture
10 11 (12.09%) UML
10 11 (12.09%) Waterfall
11 10 (10.99%) Microservices
11 10 (10.99%) NestJS

Software Architect 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 1 (1.10%) Apache Airflow
Cloud Services
1 14 (15.38%) Azure
2 13 (14.29%) AWS
3 11 (12.09%) SaaS
4 8 (8.79%) Serverless
5 2 (2.20%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (1.10%) Azure Machine Learning
6 1 (1.10%) dbt
6 1 (1.10%) GCP
6 1 (1.10%) GitHub
6 1 (1.10%) Google Gemini
6 1 (1.10%) LangSmith
6 1 (1.10%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 5 (5.49%) Broadband
2 3 (3.30%) DHCP
2 3 (3.30%) DOCSIS
2 3 (3.30%) DSL
2 3 (3.30%) GPON
2 3 (3.30%) IPv4
2 3 (3.30%) IPv6
2 3 (3.30%) PPP
2 3 (3.30%) RTP
2 3 (3.30%) TCP/IP
2 3 (3.30%) VoIP
2 3 (3.30%) WAN
2 3 (3.30%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (2.20%) VSAT
3 2 (2.20%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.30%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (2.20%) DB2
3 1 (1.10%) Big Data
3 1 (1.10%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 3 (3.30%) JIRA
2 1 (1.10%) MLflow
General
1 14 (15.38%) Social Skills
2 3 (3.30%) Analytical Skills
2 3 (3.30%) Finance
2 3 (3.30%) Games
3 2 (2.20%) Telecoms
4 1 (1.10%) Aeronautics
4 1 (1.10%) Aerospace
4 1 (1.10%) Automotive
4 1 (1.10%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (15.38%) Node.js
2 11 (12.09%) Middleware
3 10 (10.99%) NestJS
4 9 (9.89%) .NET
5 5 (5.49%) React
6 1 (1.10%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 9 (9.89%) Enterprise Software
2 3 (3.30%) Self-Motivation
3 1 (1.10%) Algorithms
3 1 (1.10%) Cloud Native
3 1 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 3 (3.30%) Linux
1 3 (3.30%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (26.37%) Agile
2 22 (24.18%) Computer Science
3 21 (23.08%) Mentoring
4 18 (19.78%) DevOps
5 16 (17.58%) Continuous Improvement
6 15 (16.48%) SDLC
7 14 (15.38%) Open Source
8 13 (14.29%) Software Engineering
9 11 (12.09%) Configuration Management
9 11 (12.09%) Design Patterns
9 11 (12.09%) Software Architecture
9 11 (12.09%) UML
9 11 (12.09%) Waterfall
10 10 (10.99%) Microservices
11 9 (9.89%) Enterprise Architecture
11 9 (9.89%) TOGAF
12 8 (8.79%) Data Modelling
12 8 (8.79%) EAI
12 8 (8.79%) Migration
12 8 (8.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 15 (16.48%) Python
2 13 (14.29%) TypeScript
3 12 (13.19%) Java
4 11 (12.09%) C#
5 9 (9.89%) JavaScript
6 5 (5.49%) C++
7 4 (4.40%) Go
8 3 (3.30%) C
9 1 (1.10%) PHP
9 1 (1.10%) SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (26.37%) Degree
2 22 (24.18%) Computer Science Degree
3 21 (23.08%) Security Cleared
4 11 (12.09%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (12.09%) Chartered Engineer
5 8 (8.79%) AWS Certification
5 8 (8.79%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
5 8 (8.79%) Azure Certification
5 8 (8.79%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (8.79%) TOGAF Certification
6 1 (1.10%) DV Cleared
6 1 (1.10%) Master's Degree
6 1 (1.10%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (12.09%) ISO/IEC 12207
2 1 (1.10%) GDPR
System Software
1 2 (2.20%) Docker
1 2 (2.20%) Embedded Firmware
1 2 (2.20%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 2 (2.20%) Kubernetes
2 1 (1.10%) Terraform
Vendors
1 8 (8.79%) Microsoft
2 1 (1.10%) BiZZdesign
2 1 (1.10%) Databricks
2 1 (1.10%) OpenAI