Software Architect Job Trends

Software Architect
UK

The median Software Architect salary in the UK is £90,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 29 September 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 673 606 429
Rank change year-on-year -67 -177 +204
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Architect 132 54 384
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.11% 0.51%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.12% 0.12% 0.54%
Number of salaries quoted 86 36 171
10th Percentile £78,750 £73,000 £65,000
25th Percentile £80,000 £74,500 £70,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £85,700 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.02% +7.13% -5.88%
75th Percentile £100,000 £93,750 £85,000
90th Percentile £101,250 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £90,000 £85,700 £80,000
% change year-on-year +5.02% +7.13% -5.88%

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 109,377 44,042 71,502
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.96% 89.72% 95.29%
Number of salaries quoted 74,715 25,470 41,572
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,750
25th Percentile £41,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -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 29 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Architect in the UK

Software Architect
Top 15 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 29 September 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 -76 113 £90,000 +5.02% 105
UK excluding London -78 97 £90,000 +5.02% 77
East of England +1 34 £90,000 - 20
London -52 22 £100,000 +11.11% 26
North of England -60 21 £80,000 +6.67% 13
Work from Home -39 16 £100,000 +23.08% 44
South East -47 16 £95,000 +30.14% 22
Midlands -46 13 £82,500 -17.50% 9
North West -15 12 - - 4
West Midlands -35 11 £82,500 - 8
North East - 8 £80,000 - 6
Scotland +14 7 - - 6
South West -82 6 - - 7
East Midlands -45 2 £80,000 -20.00% 1
Yorkshire -39 1 £75,000 -1.64% 3

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

For the 6 months to 29 September 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 30 (22.73%) Software Architecture
2 22 (16.67%) Software Engineering
3 20 (15.15%) Technical Leadership
4 18 (13.64%) CI/CD
5 17 (12.88%) .NET
6 16 (12.12%) Decision-Making
7 15 (11.36%) DevOps
8 13 (9.85%) Firmware
8 13 (9.85%) Integration Patterns
8 13 (9.85%) Observability
9 12 (9.09%) C#
9 12 (9.09%) Microservices
9 12 (9.09%) Security Cleared
9 12 (9.09%) Test Automation
10 11 (8.33%) AWS
10 11 (8.33%) Continuous Improvement
10 11 (8.33%) Event-Driven
11 10 (7.58%) C
11 10 (7.58%) C++
11 10 (7.58%) Linux
11 10 (7.58%) Node.js
11 10 (7.58%) Problem-Solving
11 10 (7.58%) Roadmaps
12 9 (6.82%) Computer Science
12 9 (6.82%) Degree
12 9 (6.82%) SaaS
12 9 (6.82%) Secure Coding
12 9 (6.82%) Validation
13 8 (6.06%) Agile
13 8 (6.06%) Azure

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:

Applications
1 2 (1.52%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 11 (8.33%) AWS
2 9 (6.82%) SaaS
3 8 (6.06%) Azure
4 3 (2.27%) GCP
5 1 (0.76%) Anthropic Claude
5 1 (0.76%) GitHub
5 1 (0.76%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 4 (3.03%) VSAT
1 4 (3.03%) Wireless
2 3 (2.27%) HTTP
3 1 (0.76%) Broadband
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.27%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.76%) Claude Code
General
1 22 (16.67%) Social Skills
2 10 (7.58%) Automotive
3 8 (6.06%) Military
4 7 (5.30%) Manufacturing
5 2 (1.52%) Advertising
5 2 (1.52%) Aerospace
5 2 (1.52%) Electronics
5 2 (1.52%) Pharmaceutical
6 1 (0.76%) Analytical Skills
6 1 (0.76%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (12.88%) .NET
2 10 (7.58%) Node.js
3 6 (4.55%) React
4 5 (3.79%) Django
4 5 (3.79%) Vue
5 3 (2.27%) Backbone.js
5 3 (2.27%) Blazor
5 3 (2.27%) WPF
6 2 (1.52%) Middleware
6 2 (1.52%) NestJS
6 2 (1.52%) REST
6 2 (1.52%) Web Services
7 1 (0.76%) CSS
7 1 (0.76%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (9.85%) Distributed Systems
2 11 (8.33%) Legacy Systems
3 9 (6.82%) Embedded Systems
4 8 (6.06%) AI Agents
4 8 (6.06%) IoT
5 6 (4.55%) Cloud Native
6 5 (3.79%) Robotics
6 5 (3.79%) Virtual Team
7 4 (3.03%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (2.27%) Management Information System
8 3 (2.27%) Online Gambling
8 3 (2.27%) Video\Live Streaming
9 2 (1.52%) Educational Technology
9 2 (1.52%) Product Ownership
9 2 (1.52%) SCADA
10 1 (0.76%) Legacy Applications
10 1 (0.76%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 10 (7.58%) Linux
2 2 (1.52%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (22.73%) Software Architecture
2 22 (16.67%) Software Engineering
3 20 (15.15%) Technical Leadership
4 18 (13.64%) CI/CD
5 16 (12.12%) Decision-Making
6 15 (11.36%) DevOps
7 13 (9.85%) Integration Patterns
7 13 (9.85%) Observability
8 12 (9.09%) Microservices
8 12 (9.09%) Test Automation
9 11 (8.33%) Continuous Improvement
9 11 (8.33%) Event-Driven
10 10 (7.58%) Problem-Solving
10 10 (7.58%) Roadmaps
11 9 (6.82%) Computer Science
11 9 (6.82%) Secure Coding
11 9 (6.82%) Validation
12 8 (6.06%) Agile
12 8 (6.06%) Mentoring
13 7 (5.30%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 12 (9.09%) C#
2 10 (7.58%) C
2 10 (7.58%) C++
3 8 (6.06%) Python
4 7 (5.30%) Rust
5 4 (3.03%) Go
6 3 (2.27%) JavaScript
6 3 (2.27%) TypeScript
6 3 (2.27%) VB.NET
7 2 (1.52%) Embedded C
7 2 (1.52%) Embedded C++
7 2 (1.52%) Java
7 2 (1.52%) MATLAB
7 2 (1.52%) SQL
8 1 (0.76%) Ada
Qualifications
1 12 (9.09%) Security Cleared
2 9 (6.82%) Degree
3 7 (5.30%) Computer Science Degree
4 5 (3.79%) DV Cleared
5 1 (0.76%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (5.30%) MISRA
2 2 (1.52%) Automotive SPICE
System Software
1 13 (9.85%) Firmware
2 5 (3.79%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (4.55%) Kubernetes
2 2 (1.52%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 3 (2.27%) Microsoft