Software Project Leader Job Trends

Software Project Lead
UK

The median Software Project Lead salary in the UK is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 13 January 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 638 708 733
Rank change year-on-year +70 +25 +273
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Project Leader 13 4 4
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.022% 0.007% 0.007%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.024% 0.008% 0.008%
Number of salaries quoted 12 4 4
10th Percentile £65,250 £57,625 £57,250
25th Percentile £69,375 £61,563 £60,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £68,750 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% +1.85% +22.73%
75th Percentile £75,000 £74,375 £71,250
90th Percentile - £77,750 £73,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £67,500
% change year-on-year +3.70% - +22.73%

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 54,089 49,558 53,300
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.68% 92.89% 95.26%
Number of salaries quoted 33,489 25,634 41,126
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £36,750 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%

Software Project Leader
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Software Project Leader job vacancy trend in the UK

Software Project Leader
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Software Project Leader job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Software Project Leader job vacancies in the UK

Software Project Leader
Top 5 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Project Leader within the UK over the 6 months to 13 January 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 +79 12 £70,000 +1.82% 2
UK excluding London +75 12 £70,000 +3.70% 2
Work from Home +76 11 £71,000 +18.33% 1
East of England +29 9 £70,000 +3.70%
South West - 3 £65,000 - 2

Software Project Leader Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 January 2026, Software Project Leader 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 Project Leader in the job title.

1 7 (53.85%) Security Cleared
2 4 (30.77%) Project Management
3 3 (23.08%) Software Testing
4 2 (15.38%) Agile
4 2 (15.38%) DevOps
5 1 (7.69%) AI
5 1 (7.69%) AngularJS
5 1 (7.69%) AWS
5 1 (7.69%) Azure
5 1 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
5 1 (7.69%) Budget Control
5 1 (7.69%) C
5 1 (7.69%) C#
5 1 (7.69%) C++
5 1 (7.69%) Collaborative Culture
5 1 (7.69%) Configuration Management
5 1 (7.69%) Containerisation
5 1 (7.69%) Cost Control
5 1 (7.69%) Creative Problem-Solving
5 1 (7.69%) Degree
5 1 (7.69%) Docker
5 1 (7.69%) Firmware
5 1 (7.69%) Google Gemini
5 1 (7.69%) LLM
5 1 (7.69%) Machine Learning
5 1 (7.69%) OpenAI
5 1 (7.69%) PHP
5 1 (7.69%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
5 1 (7.69%) React

Software Project Leader 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (7.69%) AWS
1 1 (7.69%) Azure
1 1 (7.69%) Google Gemini
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (7.69%) PostgreSQL
General
1 2 (15.38%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (7.69%) AngularJS
1 1 (7.69%) React
Miscellaneous
1 1 (7.69%) Legacy Systems
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (30.77%) Project Management
2 3 (23.08%) Software Testing
3 2 (15.38%) Agile
3 2 (15.38%) DevOps
4 1 (7.69%) AI
4 1 (7.69%) Budget Control
4 1 (7.69%) Collaborative Culture
4 1 (7.69%) Configuration Management
4 1 (7.69%) Containerisation
4 1 (7.69%) Cost Control
4 1 (7.69%) Creative Problem-Solving
4 1 (7.69%) LLM
4 1 (7.69%) Machine Learning
4 1 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
4 1 (7.69%) Scrum
4 1 (7.69%) SDLC
4 1 (7.69%) Six Sigma
4 1 (7.69%) Software Architecture
4 1 (7.69%) UML
Programming Languages
1 1 (7.69%) C
1 1 (7.69%) C#
1 1 (7.69%) C++
1 1 (7.69%) PHP
1 1 (7.69%) SQL
1 1 (7.69%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 7 (53.85%) Security Cleared
2 1 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (7.69%) Degree
System Software
1 1 (7.69%) Docker
1 1 (7.69%) Firmware
Vendors
1 1 (7.69%) OpenAI