Principal Engineer Jobs in the West Midlands

Principal Engineer
England > West Midlands

The median Principal Engineer salary in the West Midlands is £58,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 31 May 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 189 248
Rank change year-on-year +184 +59 +29
Permanent jobs requiring a Principal Engineer 796 64 9
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 19.03% 0.81% 0.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 21.01% 0.86% 0.17%
Number of salaries quoted 3 42 8
10th Percentile £49,325 £50,000 £55,000
25th Percentile £52,063 £55,938 £96,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,250 £75,000 £110,000
Median % change year-on-year -22.33% -31.82% +149.02%
75th Percentile £63,750 £80,000 £115,000
90th Percentile £64,500 - £130,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £85,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% -5.88% -

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
West Midlands

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the West Midlands. 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 West Midlands with a recognized job title 3,788 7,459 5,353
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.58% 94.50% 89.98%
Number of salaries quoted 1,684 5,519 3,228
10th Percentile £28,500 £26,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £34,000 £35,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £66,250 £63,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £56,000 £52,500 £60,567
% change year-on-year +6.67% -13.32% +0.95%

Principal Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Job postings that featured Principal Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Job vacancy trend for Principal Engineer in the West Midlands

Principal Engineer
Salary Trend in the West Midlands

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Principal Engineer in the West Midlands.

Salary trend for Principal Engineer in the West Midlands

Principal Engineer
Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Engineer within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 31 May 2025. 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
Warwickshire - 527 - - 9
Coventry +34 136 £56,625 - 14
Birmingham +113 130 - - 9
Worcestershire +22 1 £65,000 - 2
Principal Engineer
England

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the West Midlands

For the 6 months to 31 May 2025, Principal Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the West Midlands region featuring Principal Engineer in the job title.

1 683 (85.80%) BPSS Clearance
2 607 (76.26%) Systems Engineering
3 552 (69.35%) Degree
4 285 (35.80%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 280 (35.18%) Validation
6 195 (24.50%) Collaborative Working
7 174 (21.86%) SysML
8 156 (19.60%) Verification and Validation
9 155 (19.47%) Project Planning
10 111 (13.94%) Mathematics
10 111 (13.94%) Physics
10 111 (13.94%) Chemistry
10 111 (13.94%) Law
10 111 (13.94%) Logistics
11 107 (13.44%) Automotive
12 101 (12.69%) Project Management
13 98 (12.31%) CISSP
13 98 (12.31%) CISM
13 98 (12.31%) Risk Management
13 98 (12.31%) Information Security
13 98 (12.31%) Security Testing
13 98 (12.31%) JSP 440
13 98 (12.31%) RMADS
13 98 (12.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
13 98 (12.31%) Cybersecurity
13 98 (12.31%) Cyber Resilience
13 98 (12.31%) CESG Certified Professional
13 98 (12.31%) NIST
14 91 (11.43%) Agile
15 90 (11.31%) Software Testing

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Applications
1 42 (5.28%) Simulink
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.13%) Modbus
Development Applications
1 26 (3.27%) Rational DOORS
General
1 111 (13.94%) Law
2 107 (13.44%) Automotive
3 65 (8.17%) Telecoms
4 43 (5.40%) Aerospace
5 26 (3.27%) Influencing Skills
6 3 (0.38%) Finance
6 3 (0.38%) Local Government
6 3 (0.38%) Public Sector
7 1 (0.13%) Electronics
7 1 (0.13%) Presentation Skills
Miscellaneous
1 3 (0.38%) NHS
2 1 (0.13%) Fibre Optics
2 1 (0.13%) SCADA
Processes & Methodologies
1 607 (76.26%) Systems Engineering
2 285 (35.80%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
3 280 (35.18%) Validation
4 195 (24.50%) Collaborative Working
5 174 (21.86%) SysML
6 156 (19.60%) Verification and Validation
7 155 (19.47%) Project Planning
8 111 (13.94%) Chemistry
8 111 (13.94%) Logistics
8 111 (13.94%) Mathematics
8 111 (13.94%) Physics
9 101 (12.69%) Project Management
10 98 (12.31%) Cyber Resilience
10 98 (12.31%) Cybersecurity
10 98 (12.31%) Information Security
10 98 (12.31%) Risk Management
10 98 (12.31%) Security Testing
11 91 (11.43%) Agile
12 90 (11.31%) Software Testing
13 84 (10.55%) Systems Thinking
Programming Languages
1 42 (5.28%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 683 (85.80%) BPSS Clearance
2 552 (69.35%) Degree
3 98 (12.31%) CESG Certified Professional
3 98 (12.31%) CISM
3 98 (12.31%) CISSP
4 66 (8.29%) Chartered Engineer
4 66 (8.29%) ISTQB
5 1 (0.13%) Master's Degree
5 1 (0.13%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (12.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 98 (12.31%) JSP 440
1 98 (12.31%) NIST
1 98 (12.31%) RMADS
2 84 (10.55%) ISO/IEC 15288
3 3 (0.38%) Accessibility
Vendors
1 49 (6.16%) Siemens