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 21 July 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 683 632 476
Rank change year-on-year -51 -156 +246
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Architect 89 48 411
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.089% 0.098% 0.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.094% 0.11% 0.46%
Number of salaries quoted 58 37 203
10th Percentile £75,000 £66,700 £65,000
25th Percentile £80,000 £73,000 £70,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £80,000 £75,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% +6.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £100,000 £90,000 £85,000
90th Percentile - £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £90,000 £80,000 £75,000
% change year-on-year +12.50% +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 94,323 44,218 88,743
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.27% 89.88% 94.74%
Number of salaries quoted 64,728 26,167 62,366
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year - +1.85% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

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 21 July 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 21 July 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 -14 77 £90,000 +12.50% 34
UK excluding London -45 70 £90,000 +12.50% 28
East of England +9 23 £90,000 +18.03% 5
South East -28 16 £100,000 +36.99% 4
North of England -18 14 £80,000 +7.02% 6
Work from Home -27 11 £90,000 +12.50% 10
London -9 9 £92,500 +12.12% 9
South West -55 9 £80,000 -8.57% 5
North West - 7 £100,000 - 3
Midlands -32 5 £80,000 -20.00% 5
North East - 5 £80,000 - 3
West Midlands -18 4 - - 2
Scotland +9 3 - - 2
Yorkshire -41 2 £73,750 -1.34%
East Midlands -23 1 £80,000 -20.00% 3

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

For the 6 months to 21 July 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 18 (20.22%) Software Architecture
2 15 (16.85%) .NET
2 15 (16.85%) Node.js
2 15 (16.85%) Software Engineering
3 12 (13.48%) CI/CD
3 12 (13.48%) SaaS
3 12 (13.48%) Technical Leadership
4 10 (11.24%) Decision-Making
4 10 (11.24%) NestJS
5 9 (10.11%) Firmware
5 9 (10.11%) Security Cleared
5 9 (10.11%) Software Delivery
6 8 (8.99%) Continuous Improvement
6 8 (8.99%) DevOps
7 7 (7.87%) Event-Driven
7 7 (7.87%) Integration Patterns
7 7 (7.87%) Secure Coding
8 6 (6.74%) AWS
8 6 (6.74%) C
8 6 (6.74%) C#
8 6 (6.74%) C++
8 6 (6.74%) Code Quality
8 6 (6.74%) Microservices
8 6 (6.74%) Observability
8 6 (6.74%) Roadmaps
8 6 (6.74%) Test Automation
8 6 (6.74%) Validation
9 5 (5.62%) Agile
9 5 (5.62%) AI
9 5 (5.62%) 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 (2.25%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 12 (13.48%) SaaS
2 6 (6.74%) AWS
3 5 (5.62%) Azure
4 1 (1.12%) Anthropic Claude
4 1 (1.12%) GitHub
4 1 (1.12%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 2 (2.25%) VSAT
1 2 (2.25%) Wireless
2 1 (1.12%) Broadband
Development Applications
1 1 (1.12%) Claude Code
General
1 12 (13.48%) Social Skills
2 6 (6.74%) Automotive
3 5 (5.62%) Military
4 3 (3.37%) Manufacturing
5 2 (2.25%) Advertising
5 2 (2.25%) Electronics
6 1 (1.12%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (16.85%) .NET
1 15 (16.85%) Node.js
2 10 (11.24%) NestJS
3 5 (5.62%) React
4 3 (3.37%) Backbone.js
5 2 (2.25%) Blazor
5 2 (2.25%) Django
5 2 (2.25%) Middleware
5 2 (2.25%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 6 (6.74%) Distributed Systems
1 6 (6.74%) IoT
1 6 (6.74%) Legacy Systems
2 5 (5.62%) Embedded Systems
3 4 (4.49%) Cloud Native
3 4 (4.49%) Virtual Team
4 3 (3.37%) AI Agents
5 2 (2.25%) Educational Technology
5 2 (2.25%) Product Ownership
5 2 (2.25%) Robotics
6 1 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (1.12%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (1.12%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 5 (5.62%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (20.22%) Software Architecture
2 15 (16.85%) Software Engineering
3 12 (13.48%) CI/CD
3 12 (13.48%) Technical Leadership
4 10 (11.24%) Decision-Making
5 9 (10.11%) Software Delivery
6 8 (8.99%) Continuous Improvement
6 8 (8.99%) DevOps
7 7 (7.87%) Event-Driven
7 7 (7.87%) Integration Patterns
7 7 (7.87%) Secure Coding
8 6 (6.74%) Code Quality
8 6 (6.74%) Microservices
8 6 (6.74%) Observability
8 6 (6.74%) Roadmaps
8 6 (6.74%) Test Automation
8 6 (6.74%) Validation
9 5 (5.62%) Agile
9 5 (5.62%) AI
9 5 (5.62%) CAE
Programming Languages
1 6 (6.74%) C
1 6 (6.74%) C#
1 6 (6.74%) C++
2 3 (3.37%) Python
2 3 (3.37%) Rust
3 2 (2.25%) Embedded C
3 2 (2.25%) Embedded C++
3 2 (2.25%) MATLAB
3 2 (2.25%) TypeScript
4 1 (1.12%) Ada
4 1 (1.12%) Java
4 1 (1.12%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 9 (10.11%) Security Cleared
2 3 (3.37%) DV Cleared
3 2 (2.25%) Computer Science Degree
3 2 (2.25%) Degree
4 1 (1.12%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (3.37%) MISRA
2 2 (2.25%) Automotive SPICE
3 1 (1.12%) GDPR
System Software
1 9 (10.11%) Firmware
2 2 (2.25%) Docker
Systems Management
1 2 (2.25%) Functional Safety
1 2 (2.25%) Kubernetes