Software Engineer Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Software Engineer salary in the UK excluding London is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 27 January 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 64 35 29
Rank change year-on-year -29 -6 +23
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,426 1,980 3,129
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.21% 5.68% 7.01%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.54% 6.15% 7.36%
Number of salaries quoted 1,102 915 1,928
10th Percentile £42,500 £40,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £52,250 £47,500 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £93,767 £82,548
UK median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £64,000
% change year-on-year - +9.38% -5.19%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 excluding London with a recognized job title 40,304 32,169 42,536
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.61% 92.28% 95.30%
Number of salaries quoted 24,794 15,430 32,948
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,748 £35,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.41% +8.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -9.09%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 27 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Engineer in the UK excluding London

Software Engineer
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 27 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
South East -25 343 £65,000 +8.33% 401
North of England -9 335 £65,000 +6.56% 243
South West -4 295 £65,000 +13.16% 215
East of England -21 157 £70,000 +5.62% 178
North West +5 156 £65,000 +4.00% 125
Yorkshire -7 131 £60,000 -4.00% 81
Scotland -22 130 £60,000 +6.18% 102
Midlands -22 128 £60,000 +6.67% 127
East Midlands -20 67 £60,000 +20.00% 85
West Midlands -3 64 £60,000 - 41
North East -8 48 £70,000 +16.67% 38
Wales -25 26 £65,000 -3.70% 65
Northern Ireland -31 13 £85,000 -5.56% 19
Software Engineer
UK

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 27 January 2026, Software Engineer 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 across the UK excluding London region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 1,418 (99.44%) Software Engineering
2 206 (14.45%) C#
3 193 (13.53%) Agile
4 191 (13.39%) C++
5 185 (12.97%) AWS
6 179 (12.55%) Java
7 177 (12.41%) .NET
8 163 (11.43%) Full-Stack Development
9 159 (11.15%) CI/CD
10 157 (11.01%) Security Cleared
11 156 (10.94%) DevOps
12 155 (10.87%) Python
12 155 (10.87%) React
13 143 (10.03%) Azure
14 132 (9.26%) JavaScript
15 124 (8.70%) Degree
16 120 (8.42%) TypeScript
17 119 (8.35%) SQL
18 111 (7.78%) Mentoring
19 105 (7.36%) Problem-Solving
20 99 (6.94%) C
20 99 (6.94%) Linux
20 99 (6.94%) Microservices
21 81 (5.68%) Kubernetes
22 80 (5.61%) Computer Science
23 79 (5.54%) Continuous Improvement
23 79 (5.54%) SC Cleared
24 73 (5.12%) AI
25 68 (4.77%) Docker
26 65 (4.56%) AngularJS

Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 13 (0.91%) Apache
2 12 (0.84%) IIS
3 7 (0.49%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.35%) Confluence
5 4 (0.28%) CMS
6 3 (0.21%) Apache Solr
7 2 (0.14%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.14%) FactoryTalk
7 2 (0.14%) NServiceBus
7 2 (0.14%) WinCC
8 1 (0.070%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.070%) Kinematics
Applications
1 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.14%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 2 (0.14%) Sketch
3 1 (0.070%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.070%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.70%) Magento
2 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.070%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 185 (12.97%) AWS
2 143 (10.03%) Azure
3 62 (4.35%) SaaS
4 43 (3.02%) Serverless
5 36 (2.52%) Azure DevOps
6 34 (2.38%) AWS Lambda
7 33 (2.31%) GCP
8 26 (1.82%) Amazon S3
9 25 (1.75%) Amazon EKS
10 18 (1.26%) GitHub
11 15 (1.05%) Amazon ECS
12 11 (0.77%) Azure AKS
13 10 (0.70%) OpenShift
14 9 (0.63%) Stripe
15 8 (0.56%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (0.49%) Amazon EC2
17 6 (0.42%) Amazon SQS
17 6 (0.42%) GitHub Actions
18 5 (0.35%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 5 (0.35%) Amazon EventBridge
Communications & Networking
1 28 (1.96%) Wireless
2 16 (1.12%) RS-232
3 14 (0.98%) Bluetooth
4 9 (0.63%) Software-Defined Radio
5 7 (0.49%) Modbus
6 6 (0.42%) HTTP
6 6 (0.42%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.35%) AMQP
7 5 (0.35%) DNS
8 4 (0.28%) Ethernet
8 4 (0.28%) SMTP
9 3 (0.21%) ATM
10 2 (0.14%) 3G
10 2 (0.14%) Broadband
10 2 (0.14%) GPRS
10 2 (0.14%) GSM
10 2 (0.14%) Profibus
10 2 (0.14%) RS-485
10 2 (0.14%) SpaceWire
10 2 (0.14%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (2.88%) SQL Server
2 36 (2.52%) PostgreSQL
3 27 (1.89%) NoSQL
4 23 (1.61%) Elasticsearch
5 19 (1.33%) Relational Database
6 16 (1.12%) DynamoDB
7 14 (0.98%) MySQL
8 12 (0.84%) MongoDB
8 12 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 9 (0.63%) Neo4j
10 8 (0.56%) Redis
11 7 (0.49%) Big Data
11 7 (0.49%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.35%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.28%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (0.21%) GIS
14 3 (0.21%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.21%) Oracle Database
15 2 (0.14%) Apache Cassandra
Development Applications
1 53 (3.72%) Git
2 17 (1.19%) GitLab
2 17 (1.19%) Visual Studio
3 13 (0.91%) JIRA
4 12 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 11 (0.77%) JUnit
6 8 (0.56%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.35%) Selenium
8 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
8 4 (0.28%) Claude Code
8 4 (0.28%) Maven
8 4 (0.28%) Oracle APEX
9 3 (0.21%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.21%) Gradle
9 3 (0.21%) Subversion
10 2 (0.14%) Android Studio
10 2 (0.14%) Eclipse
10 2 (0.14%) PROIV
10 2 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.14%) Xcode
General
1 108 (7.57%) Social Skills
2 86 (6.03%) Finance
3 53 (3.72%) Electronics
4 49 (3.44%) Manufacturing
5 26 (1.82%) Aerospace
6 23 (1.61%) Pharmaceutical
7 22 (1.54%) Analytical Skills
8 20 (1.40%) Automotive
8 20 (1.40%) Games
9 17 (1.19%) Public Sector
10 14 (0.98%) Retail
11 13 (0.91%) Tech for Good
12 9 (0.63%) Financial Institution
12 9 (0.63%) Law
12 9 (0.63%) Military
13 7 (0.49%) Aeronautics
13 7 (0.49%) Marketing
14 6 (0.42%) Health Technology
15 4 (0.28%) Banking
15 4 (0.28%) Billing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 177 (12.41%) .NET
2 155 (10.87%) React
3 65 (4.56%) AngularJS
4 63 (4.42%) Node.js
5 49 (3.44%) Spring
6 45 (3.16%) Spring Boot
7 42 (2.95%) REST
7 42 (2.95%) RESTful
8 35 (2.45%) .NET Core
9 33 (2.31%) Vue
10 30 (2.10%) .NET Framework
11 29 (2.03%) CSS
11 29 (2.03%) HTML
12 27 (1.89%) ASP.NET
13 24 (1.68%) Qt
14 19 (1.33%) Entity Framework
15 17 (1.19%) Next.js
16 15 (1.05%) Web Services
16 15 (1.05%) WinForms
17 14 (0.98%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 69 (4.84%) Cloud Native
2 55 (3.86%) Embedded Systems
3 27 (1.89%) IoT
4 25 (1.75%) Distributed Systems
5 22 (1.54%) Robotics
6 19 (1.33%) Algorithms
7 15 (1.05%) Legacy Systems
8 14 (0.98%) Smart Energy
9 13 (0.91%) e-Learning
9 13 (0.91%) Product Ownership
10 12 (0.84%) Manufacturing Execution System
11 11 (0.77%) Driving Licence
11 11 (0.77%) Hedge funds
11 11 (0.77%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (0.70%) CAN bus
12 10 (0.70%) Renewable Energy
13 8 (0.56%) Mobile App
14 7 (0.49%) AI Agents
14 7 (0.49%) Enterprise Software
15 6 (0.42%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 99 (6.94%) Linux
2 35 (2.45%) Windows
3 30 (2.10%) Embedded Linux
4 22 (1.54%) Android
5 6 (0.42%) Unix
6 5 (0.35%) CentOS
6 5 (0.35%) Debian
6 5 (0.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.35%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
8 2 (0.14%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.14%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.14%) VxWorks
8 2 (0.14%) Windows Server
9 1 (0.070%) Fedora
9 1 (0.070%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,418 (99.44%) Software Engineering
2 193 (13.53%) Agile
3 163 (11.43%) Full-Stack Development
4 159 (11.15%) CI/CD
5 156 (10.94%) DevOps
6 111 (7.78%) Mentoring
7 105 (7.36%) Problem-Solving
8 99 (6.94%) Microservices
9 80 (5.61%) Computer Science
10 79 (5.54%) Continuous Improvement
11 73 (5.12%) AI
12 57 (4.00%) Scrum
13 52 (3.65%) Containerisation
14 51 (3.58%) SDLC
15 44 (3.09%) Test Automation
16 43 (3.02%) Coaching
17 41 (2.88%) TDD
18 39 (2.73%) Machine Learning
19 37 (2.59%) Fintech
20 36 (2.52%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 206 (14.45%) C#
2 191 (13.39%) C++
3 179 (12.55%) Java
4 155 (10.87%) Python
5 132 (9.26%) JavaScript
6 120 (8.42%) TypeScript
7 119 (8.35%) SQL
8 99 (6.94%) C
9 41 (2.88%) PHP
10 25 (1.75%) Kotlin
11 20 (1.40%) T-SQL
12 18 (1.26%) Ada
12 18 (1.26%) Embedded C++
12 18 (1.26%) Ruby
13 17 (1.19%) Rust
14 16 (1.12%) Embedded C
15 13 (0.91%) PL/SQL
16 12 (0.84%) Scala
17 11 (0.77%) Bash
18 8 (0.56%) Go
Qualifications
1 157 (11.01%) Security Cleared
2 124 (8.70%) Degree
3 79 (5.54%) SC Cleared
4 57 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 42 (2.95%) DV Cleared
6 16 (1.12%) Master's Degree
7 9 (0.63%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (0.63%) Chartered Engineer
8 8 (0.56%) DBS Check
8 8 (0.56%) PhD
9 2 (0.14%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.14%) AWS Certified Developer
9 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.14%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.070%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (1.89%) QA
2 12 (0.84%) IEC 61508
2 12 (0.84%) MISRA
3 10 (0.70%) MISRA C
4 8 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 4 (0.28%) Accessibility
5 4 (0.28%) ECSS
5 4 (0.28%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.21%) GDPR
6 3 (0.21%) IEC 61131
6 3 (0.21%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.14%) ISO 9000
7 2 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.14%) JTAG
7 2 (0.14%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.070%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.070%) Data Quality
System Software
1 68 (4.77%) Docker
2 62 (4.35%) Firmware
3 31 (2.17%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.42%) Hyper-V
4 6 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.28%) KVM
6 1 (0.070%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 81 (5.68%) Kubernetes
2 43 (3.02%) Terraform
3 10 (0.70%) Functional Safety
4 7 (0.49%) Grafana
4 7 (0.49%) Kibana
5 6 (0.42%) Ansible
6 5 (0.35%) Puppet
7 2 (0.14%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.070%) Istio
8 1 (0.070%) logstash
Vendors
1 18 (1.26%) Oracle
2 17 (1.19%) Microsoft
3 15 (1.05%) Xamarin
4 12 (0.84%) Adobe
4 12 (0.84%) Google
4 12 (0.84%) Sage
5 8 (0.56%) HubSpot
6 6 (0.42%) Atlassian
6 6 (0.42%) Red Hat
6 6 (0.42%) VMware
7 5 (0.35%) SaltStack
7 5 (0.35%) Zoho
8 4 (0.28%) Siemens
9 3 (0.21%) Databricks
9 3 (0.21%) Guidewire
9 3 (0.21%) OpenAI
9 3 (0.21%) Rockwell
9 3 (0.21%) SAP
10 2 (0.14%) Palantir
10 2 (0.14%) Salesforce