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 13 August 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 53 13
Rank change year-on-year +30 -40 +63
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,822 1,513 5,221
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.95% 4.35% 8.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.25% 4.87% 9.19%
Number of salaries quoted 2,997 649 2,872
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +18.18% -8.33%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% +33.33% -14.29%

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 72,860 31,084 56,821
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.41% 89.47% 94.98%
Number of salaries quoted 50,337 17,810 37,410
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £48,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.25% -3.00% -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £56,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +1.82% - -8.33%

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 13 August 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 13 August 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 +79 997 £65,000 -1.89% 192
North of England +22 980 £65,000 -7.14% 196
South West +33 711 £65,000 - 164
North West +9 546 £70,000 -6.67% 133
East of England +89 473 £70,000 +27.27% 148
Midlands +46 388 £62,500 -3.85% 88
Yorkshire +80 265 £60,000 -10.11% 33
East Midlands +33 201 £55,000 -21.43% 47
West Midlands +36 187 £65,000 +4.00% 41
North East +17 169 £70,000 +27.27% 30
Scotland -11 149 £67,500 +3.85% 102
Wales +3 111 £55,000 -17.29% 25
Northern Ireland -58 14 £90,000 +80.00% 19
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 13 August 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 3,781 (98.93%) Software Engineering
2 636 (16.64%) C++
3 584 (15.28%) C#
4 507 (13.27%) Python
5 475 (12.43%) Agile
6 396 (10.36%) AWS
7 381 (9.97%) Security Cleared
8 360 (9.42%) Full-Stack Development
9 351 (9.18%) CI/CD
10 338 (8.84%) AI
11 320 (8.37%) .NET
12 318 (8.32%) Java
13 298 (7.80%) Degree
14 287 (7.51%) Azure
15 273 (7.14%) Linux
16 266 (6.96%) JavaScript
17 263 (6.88%) C
18 258 (6.75%) Mentoring
19 243 (6.36%) SC Cleared
20 239 (6.25%) DevOps
21 237 (6.20%) TypeScript
22 213 (5.57%) Problem-Solving
23 211 (5.52%) React
24 201 (5.26%) Test Automation
25 198 (5.18%) Microservices
25 198 (5.18%) SDLC
26 191 (5.00%) SQL
27 182 (4.76%) Computer Science
28 180 (4.71%) Docker
29 175 (4.58%) Continuous Improvement

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 23 (0.60%) Apache
2 15 (0.39%) SharePoint Server
3 9 (0.24%) Confluence
4 8 (0.21%) FactoryTalk
5 7 (0.18%) WinCC
6 5 (0.13%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.10%) Apache Solr
8 3 (0.078%) CMS
8 3 (0.078%) GeoServer
9 2 (0.052%) ArchestrA
9 2 (0.052%) Headless CMS
9 2 (0.052%) WordPress
10 1 (0.026%) Cloud Foundry
10 1 (0.026%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.026%) SharePoint
10 1 (0.026%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.026%) Umbraco
10 1 (0.026%) WebSphere
Applications
1 13 (0.34%) Lightworks
2 6 (0.16%) Simulink
3 4 (0.10%) EPLAN
3 4 (0.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.10%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.078%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.052%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.026%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.026%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.026%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.026%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.16%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.026%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 396 (10.36%) AWS
2 287 (7.51%) Azure
3 149 (3.90%) SaaS
4 110 (2.88%) GCP
5 72 (1.88%) Serverless
6 50 (1.31%) GitHub
7 38 (0.99%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (0.89%) Firebase
9 32 (0.84%) Anthropic Claude
10 27 (0.71%) AWS Lambda
11 17 (0.44%) AWS CloudFormation
11 17 (0.44%) GitHub Actions
12 16 (0.42%) Amazon S3
12 16 (0.42%) Cloud Run
13 15 (0.39%) Amazon EKS
14 11 (0.29%) Slack
15 10 (0.26%) OpenShift
16 9 (0.24%) AWS Step Functions
16 9 (0.24%) Azure AKS
16 9 (0.24%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 59 (1.54%) Wireless
2 36 (0.94%) Ethernet
3 28 (0.73%) Bluetooth
4 24 (0.63%) Modbus
5 22 (0.58%) RS-232
6 20 (0.52%) MQTT
6 20 (0.52%) TCP/IP
7 17 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
7 17 (0.44%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.39%) Profibus
9 12 (0.31%) RS-485
10 10 (0.26%) ATM
10 10 (0.26%) LTE
11 8 (0.21%) Network Security
12 6 (0.16%) Wireshark
13 5 (0.13%) AMQP
14 4 (0.10%) Broadband
14 4 (0.10%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.078%) Firewall
15 3 (0.078%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 80 (2.09%) PostgreSQL
2 64 (1.67%) SQL Server
3 60 (1.57%) MongoDB
4 49 (1.28%) NoSQL
5 42 (1.10%) MySQL
6 26 (0.68%) Relational Database
7 17 (0.44%) Redis
8 16 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
8 16 (0.42%) Pinecone
9 15 (0.39%) DynamoDB
10 13 (0.34%) Big Data
11 7 (0.18%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (0.18%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.13%) Cloudera CDH
12 5 (0.13%) FileMaker
12 5 (0.13%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.10%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.078%) Amazon RDS
14 3 (0.078%) GIS
14 3 (0.078%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 139 (3.64%) Git
2 49 (1.28%) GitLab
3 36 (0.94%) JIRA
4 33 (0.86%) Jenkins
5 20 (0.52%) Claude Code
5 20 (0.52%) Visual Studio Code
6 14 (0.37%) Visual Studio
7 11 (0.29%) Cucumber
8 9 (0.24%) SonarQube
9 8 (0.21%) GDB
9 8 (0.21%) JUnit
10 7 (0.18%) LabVIEW
10 7 (0.18%) Moq
11 6 (0.16%) Bitbucket
11 6 (0.16%) CMake
11 6 (0.16%) Yeoman
12 5 (0.13%) Postman
12 5 (0.13%) Subversion
13 4 (0.10%) Eclipse
13 4 (0.10%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 228 (5.97%) Manufacturing
2 197 (5.15%) Electronics
3 184 (4.81%) Social Skills
4 136 (3.56%) Finance
5 115 (3.01%) Aerospace
6 93 (2.43%) Public Sector
7 85 (2.22%) Automotive
8 54 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 49 (1.28%) Analytical Skills
10 45 (1.18%) Aviation
11 38 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
12 36 (0.94%) Retail
13 24 (0.63%) Law
14 23 (0.60%) Military
15 22 (0.58%) Games
16 18 (0.47%) Telecoms
17 15 (0.39%) Marketing
17 15 (0.39%) Organisational Skills
18 11 (0.29%) Tech for Good
19 9 (0.24%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 320 (8.37%) .NET
2 211 (5.52%) React
3 117 (3.06%) Node.js
4 101 (2.64%) Vue
5 75 (1.96%) AngularJS
5 75 (1.96%) WPF
6 69 (1.81%) CSS
7 64 (1.67%) Spring
8 62 (1.62%) REST
9 59 (1.54%) Spring Boot
10 57 (1.49%) HTML
10 57 (1.49%) RESTful
11 38 (0.99%) .NET Core
12 37 (0.97%) Django
13 36 (0.94%) Next.js
14 32 (0.84%) .NET Framework
15 26 (0.68%) Yocto
16 24 (0.63%) ASP.NET
17 23 (0.60%) React Native
18 22 (0.58%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 171 (4.47%) Cloud Native
2 128 (3.35%) Embedded Systems
3 99 (2.59%) Algorithms
3 99 (2.59%) Robotics
4 83 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
5 71 (1.86%) Product Ownership
6 64 (1.67%) AI Agents
6 64 (1.67%) Distributed Systems
7 57 (1.49%) IoT
8 46 (1.20%) Greenfield Project
9 31 (0.81%) Mobile App
10 29 (0.76%) Public Cloud
11 28 (0.73%) Device Driver
12 25 (0.65%) Data Structures
13 21 (0.55%) ARM Cortex
13 21 (0.55%) Cyber Threat
14 18 (0.47%) Client/Server
14 18 (0.47%) Distributed Computing
14 18 (0.47%) Educational Technology
14 18 (0.47%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 273 (7.14%) Linux
2 59 (1.54%) Windows
3 53 (1.39%) Embedded Linux
4 31 (0.81%) FreeRTOS
5 29 (0.76%) Android
6 10 (0.26%) Debian
7 6 (0.16%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.16%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.13%) CentOS
8 5 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.13%) VxWorks
8 5 (0.13%) Windows Server
9 4 (0.10%) Unix
10 3 (0.078%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.052%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.052%) SafeRTOS
11 2 (0.052%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.052%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.052%) zOS
12 1 (0.026%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,781 (98.93%) Software Engineering
2 475 (12.43%) Agile
3 360 (9.42%) Full-Stack Development
4 351 (9.18%) CI/CD
5 338 (8.84%) AI
6 258 (6.75%) Mentoring
7 239 (6.25%) DevOps
8 213 (5.57%) Problem-Solving
9 201 (5.26%) Test Automation
10 198 (5.18%) Microservices
10 198 (5.18%) SDLC
11 182 (4.76%) Computer Science
12 175 (4.58%) Continuous Improvement
13 133 (3.48%) Containerisation
14 129 (3.38%) Software Architecture
15 119 (3.11%) Code Quality
16 115 (3.01%) Software Testing
17 112 (2.93%) Technical Leadership
18 108 (2.83%) TDD
19 95 (2.49%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 636 (16.64%) C++
2 584 (15.28%) C#
3 507 (13.27%) Python
4 318 (8.32%) Java
5 266 (6.96%) JavaScript
6 263 (6.88%) C
7 237 (6.20%) TypeScript
8 191 (5.00%) SQL
9 133 (3.48%) Rust
10 64 (1.67%) Go
11 59 (1.54%) PHP
12 49 (1.28%) Embedded C
13 31 (0.81%) Ruby
14 27 (0.71%) Embedded C++
15 20 (0.52%) Ada
16 18 (0.47%) Kotlin
17 17 (0.44%) Bash
17 17 (0.44%) COBOL
18 14 (0.37%) MATLAB
18 14 (0.37%) Scala
Qualifications
1 381 (9.97%) Security Cleared
2 298 (7.80%) Degree
3 243 (6.36%) SC Cleared
4 169 (4.42%) DV Cleared
5 132 (3.45%) Computer Science Degree
6 54 (1.41%) Master's Degree
7 32 (0.84%) BPSS Clearance
8 24 (0.63%) PhD
9 9 (0.24%) DBS Check
9 9 (0.24%) HND
10 8 (0.21%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.16%) HNC
12 5 (0.13%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.13%) CEH
12 5 (0.13%) OSCP
13 4 (0.10%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.078%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.052%) Numerate Degree
15 2 (0.052%) NVQ Level 3
16 1 (0.026%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (1.94%) QA
2 46 (1.20%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.26%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.21%) IEC 61508
4 8 (0.21%) MISRA
4 8 (0.21%) MISRA C
5 6 (0.16%) JTAG
6 5 (0.13%) DO-178B
7 4 (0.10%) Data Quality
8 3 (0.078%) ECSS
8 3 (0.078%) GAMP
8 3 (0.078%) GDPR
8 3 (0.078%) ISO 26262
9 2 (0.052%) Automotive SPICE
9 2 (0.052%) AUTOSAR
9 2 (0.052%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.052%) MIL-STD-1553
9 2 (0.052%) WCAG
10 1 (0.026%) DO-254
10 1 (0.026%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 180 (4.71%) Docker
2 166 (4.34%) Firmware
3 51 (1.33%) Embedded Firmware
4 9 (0.24%) KVM
4 9 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (0.21%) Hyper-V
6 7 (0.18%) QEMU
7 2 (0.052%) Active Directory
7 2 (0.052%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 136 (3.56%) Kubernetes
2 90 (2.35%) Terraform
3 36 (0.94%) Ansible
4 10 (0.26%) Grafana
5 7 (0.18%) Kibana
5 7 (0.18%) logstash
5 7 (0.18%) Podman
5 7 (0.18%) Puppet
6 5 (0.13%) Functional Safety
7 3 (0.078%) Plesk
7 3 (0.078%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.078%) SCCM
7 3 (0.078%) SCOM
7 3 (0.078%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.052%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 34 (0.89%) Siemens
2 32 (0.84%) Microsoft
3 21 (0.55%) Google
4 19 (0.50%) Rockwell
5 18 (0.47%) Oracle
6 14 (0.37%) Okta
6 14 (0.37%) Ping Identity
6 14 (0.37%) Salesforce
7 11 (0.29%) VMware
8 10 (0.26%) Allen-Bradley
8 10 (0.26%) OpenAI
9 9 (0.24%) Splunk
10 7 (0.18%) Atlassian
11 6 (0.16%) Databricks
11 6 (0.16%) Intel
12 5 (0.13%) Red Hat
12 5 (0.13%) SaltStack
12 5 (0.13%) Xamarin
13 4 (0.10%) IBM
13 4 (0.10%) Peregrine