Software Architect Job Trends

Software Architect
UK

The median Software Architect salary in the UK is £85,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 10 February 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 577 625 665
Rank change year-on-year +48 +40 +232
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Architect 93 70 139
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.14% 0.14% 0.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.15% 0.20%
Number of salaries quoted 53 32 72
10th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £66,250
25th Percentile £80,000 £71,200 £67,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £85,000 £78,750 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.94% -1.56% -4.48%
75th Percentile £90,000 £87,500 £87,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £119,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £80,000 £80,000 £70,576
% change year-on-year - +13.35% -11.78%

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 59,861 45,885 70,536
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.11% 91.77% 94.92%
Number of salaries quoted 37,368 23,689 55,248
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £39,500
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%

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 10 February 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 10 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 +83 83 £85,000 +6.25% 17
UK excluding London +24 71 £80,000 - 13
Work from Home +62 40 £80,000 +2.96% 13
London +52 20 £100,000 +14.03% 4
South East +12 20 £90,000 +12.50% 4
North of England +9 20 £75,000 -11.76% 4
South West -6 16 £80,000 +23.08% 2
Yorkshire -19 16 £75,000 +81.33% 1
Scotland -22 8 £85,700 +14.27%
North West +17 4 £75,000 -11.76% 3
Midlands +13 4 £92,850 -7.15% 1
East Midlands -10 4 £92,850 -7.15% 1
East of England +17 3 £80,000 +14.29% 3

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

For the 6 months to 10 February 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 35 (37.63%) Degree
2 30 (32.26%) Computer Science
2 30 (32.26%) Computer Science Degree
2 30 (32.26%) Mentoring
3 28 (30.11%) Agile
4 27 (29.03%) DevOps
5 25 (26.88%) SDLC
6 23 (24.73%) AWS
7 22 (23.66%) Azure
7 22 (23.66%) Continuous Improvement
7 22 (23.66%) Python
8 21 (22.58%) Security Cleared
9 19 (20.43%) Open Source
10 18 (19.35%) TypeScript
11 17 (18.28%) Software Engineering
12 16 (17.20%) BPSS Clearance
12 16 (17.20%) C#
12 16 (17.20%) Chartered Engineer
12 16 (17.20%) Configuration Management
12 16 (17.20%) Design Patterns
12 16 (17.20%) ISO/IEC 12207
12 16 (17.20%) Middleware
12 16 (17.20%) UML
12 16 (17.20%) Waterfall
13 15 (16.13%) Java
13 15 (16.13%) Microservices
14 13 (13.98%) Enterprise Architecture
14 13 (13.98%) JavaScript
14 13 (13.98%) TOGAF
15 12 (12.90%) Architectural Patterns

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 4 (4.30%) Apache Airflow
Cloud Services
1 23 (24.73%) AWS
2 22 (23.66%) Azure
3 12 (12.90%) Serverless
4 5 (5.38%) Azure DevOps
5 4 (4.30%) Azure Machine Learning
5 4 (4.30%) dbt
5 4 (4.30%) GCP
5 4 (4.30%) GitHub
5 4 (4.30%) LangSmith
5 4 (4.30%) Snowflake
6 1 (1.08%) Google Gemini
6 1 (1.08%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 5 (5.38%) Broadband
2 3 (3.23%) DHCP
2 3 (3.23%) DOCSIS
2 3 (3.23%) DSL
2 3 (3.23%) GPON
2 3 (3.23%) IPv4
2 3 (3.23%) IPv6
2 3 (3.23%) PPP
2 3 (3.23%) RTP
2 3 (3.23%) TCP/IP
2 3 (3.23%) VoIP
2 3 (3.23%) WAN
2 3 (3.23%) Wi-Fi
3 1 (1.08%) VSAT
3 1 (1.08%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.23%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (2.15%) Big Data
2 2 (2.15%) DB2
3 1 (1.08%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 4 (4.30%) MLflow
2 3 (3.23%) JIRA
General
1 23 (24.73%) Social Skills
2 6 (6.45%) Finance
2 6 (6.45%) Games
3 4 (4.30%) Law
4 3 (3.23%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (2.15%) Telecoms
6 1 (1.08%) Aeronautics
6 1 (1.08%) Aerospace
6 1 (1.08%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (17.20%) Middleware
2 6 (6.45%) Node.js
3 5 (5.38%) React
4 3 (3.23%) AngularJS
5 2 (2.15%) .NET
Miscellaneous
1 13 (13.98%) Enterprise Software
2 4 (4.30%) Algorithms
3 3 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
4 2 (2.15%) Mobile App
5 1 (1.08%) Cloud Native
5 1 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 3 (3.23%) Linux
1 3 (3.23%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (32.26%) Computer Science
1 30 (32.26%) Mentoring
2 28 (30.11%) Agile
3 27 (29.03%) DevOps
4 25 (26.88%) SDLC
5 22 (23.66%) Continuous Improvement
6 19 (20.43%) Open Source
7 17 (18.28%) Software Engineering
8 16 (17.20%) Configuration Management
8 16 (17.20%) Design Patterns
8 16 (17.20%) UML
8 16 (17.20%) Waterfall
9 15 (16.13%) Microservices
10 13 (13.98%) Enterprise Architecture
10 13 (13.98%) TOGAF
11 12 (12.90%) Architectural Patterns
12 11 (11.83%) Application Security
12 11 (11.83%) EAI
12 11 (11.83%) Migration
12 11 (11.83%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 22 (23.66%) Python
2 18 (19.35%) TypeScript
3 16 (17.20%) C#
4 15 (16.13%) Java
5 13 (13.98%) JavaScript
6 6 (6.45%) C++
7 4 (4.30%) Go
8 3 (3.23%) C
9 1 (1.08%) PHP
9 1 (1.08%) SQL
Qualifications
1 35 (37.63%) Degree
2 30 (32.26%) Computer Science Degree
3 21 (22.58%) Security Cleared
4 16 (17.20%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (17.20%) Chartered Engineer
5 11 (11.83%) AWS Certification
5 11 (11.83%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
5 11 (11.83%) Azure Certification
5 11 (11.83%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (11.83%) TOGAF Certification
6 4 (4.30%) Master's Degree
6 4 (4.30%) PhD
7 2 (2.15%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (17.20%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 4 (4.30%) Docker
2 3 (3.23%) Embedded Firmware
2 3 (3.23%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 4 (4.30%) Kubernetes
1 4 (4.30%) Terraform
Vendors
1 11 (11.83%) Microsoft
2 4 (4.30%) Databricks
3 1 (1.08%) BiZZdesign
3 1 (1.08%) OpenAI