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 5 August 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 52 14
Rank change year-on-year +28 -38 +61
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,710 1,540 5,201
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.90% 4.47% 8.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.18% 4.99% 9.12%
Number of salaries quoted 2,935 675 2,894
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £39,050
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% -13.60%

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 71,566 30,840 56,998
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.61% 89.61% 94.92%
Number of salaries quoted 49,473 17,770 38,038
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £28,119
25th Percentile £38,750 £32,500 £37,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £79,600
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year - - -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 5 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 5 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 +74 990 £65,000 - 193
North of England +24 964 £65,000 -7.14% 195
South West +29 671 £65,000 - 179
North West +5 541 £70,000 -6.67% 122
East of England +77 453 £70,000 +16.67% 156
Midlands +46 368 £60,000 -7.69% 96
Yorkshire +75 260 £60,000 -12.41% 37
East Midlands +30 185 £54,000 -22.86% 49
West Midlands +31 183 £65,000 +4.00% 47
North East +13 163 £70,000 +30.23% 36
Scotland -14 146 £67,500 +3.85% 84
Wales +6 105 £51,619 -24.09% 26
Northern Ireland -63 14 £90,000 +80.00% 32
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 5 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 3,669 (98.89%) Software Engineering
2 629 (16.95%) C++
3 575 (15.50%) C#
4 498 (13.42%) Python
5 458 (12.35%) Agile
6 399 (10.75%) AWS
7 362 (9.76%) Security Cleared
8 361 (9.73%) Full-Stack Development
9 347 (9.35%) CI/CD
10 323 (8.71%) AI
11 318 (8.57%) .NET
11 318 (8.57%) Java
12 300 (8.09%) Degree
13 289 (7.79%) Azure
14 264 (7.12%) C
15 261 (7.04%) Linux
16 260 (7.01%) JavaScript
17 253 (6.82%) Mentoring
18 240 (6.47%) DevOps
19 232 (6.25%) TypeScript
20 229 (6.17%) SC Cleared
21 209 (5.63%) Problem-Solving
22 202 (5.44%) React
23 200 (5.39%) Test Automation
24 198 (5.34%) Microservices
24 198 (5.34%) SDLC
25 196 (5.28%) SQL
26 182 (4.91%) Computer Science
26 182 (4.91%) Docker
27 177 (4.77%) 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 21 (0.57%) Apache
2 15 (0.40%) SharePoint Server
3 9 (0.24%) Confluence
4 8 (0.22%) FactoryTalk
5 7 (0.19%) WinCC
6 4 (0.11%) Apache Solr
6 4 (0.11%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.081%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.081%) CMS
7 3 (0.081%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.054%) ArchestrA
8 2 (0.054%) Headless CMS
8 2 (0.054%) WordPress
9 1 (0.027%) Cloud Foundry
9 1 (0.027%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.027%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (0.32%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.13%) Simulink
3 4 (0.11%) EPLAN
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.081%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.054%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.054%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.027%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.027%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.027%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.11%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.027%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 399 (10.75%) AWS
2 289 (7.79%) Azure
3 151 (4.07%) SaaS
4 108 (2.91%) GCP
5 69 (1.86%) Serverless
6 48 (1.29%) GitHub
7 40 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (0.92%) Firebase
9 32 (0.86%) Anthropic Claude
10 23 (0.62%) AWS Lambda
11 16 (0.43%) Amazon S3
11 16 (0.43%) Cloud Run
11 16 (0.43%) GitHub Actions
12 13 (0.35%) Amazon EKS
12 13 (0.35%) AWS CloudFormation
13 12 (0.32%) Azure AKS
14 9 (0.24%) AWS Step Functions
14 9 (0.24%) Azure Functions
14 9 (0.24%) OpenShift
15 8 (0.22%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 58 (1.56%) Wireless
2 36 (0.97%) Ethernet
3 26 (0.70%) Bluetooth
4 23 (0.62%) RS-232
5 22 (0.59%) Modbus
6 19 (0.51%) MQTT
6 19 (0.51%) TCP/IP
7 17 (0.46%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.40%) Profibus
8 15 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (0.32%) RS-485
10 10 (0.27%) ATM
11 8 (0.22%) LTE
11 8 (0.22%) Network Security
12 6 (0.16%) Wireshark
13 5 (0.13%) Broadband
14 4 (0.11%) AMQP
14 4 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.081%) Software-Defined Networking
16 2 (0.054%) LoRaWAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (2.18%) PostgreSQL
2 66 (1.78%) SQL Server
3 64 (1.73%) MongoDB
4 54 (1.46%) NoSQL
5 47 (1.27%) MySQL
6 25 (0.67%) Relational Database
7 16 (0.43%) Pinecone
7 16 (0.43%) Redis
8 15 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
9 14 (0.38%) DynamoDB
10 12 (0.32%) Big Data
11 7 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.16%) Hadoop
13 5 (0.13%) FileMaker
13 5 (0.13%) Neo4j
14 4 (0.11%) Cloudera CDH
14 4 (0.11%) MariaDB
15 3 (0.081%) Amazon RDS
15 3 (0.081%) DocumentDB
15 3 (0.081%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 134 (3.61%) Git
2 50 (1.35%) GitLab
3 35 (0.94%) JIRA
4 32 (0.86%) Jenkins
5 21 (0.57%) Visual Studio Code
6 20 (0.54%) Claude Code
7 14 (0.38%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.30%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.24%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.22%) GDB
11 7 (0.19%) JUnit
11 7 (0.19%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.19%) Moq
12 6 (0.16%) Bitbucket
12 6 (0.16%) CMake
12 6 (0.16%) Yeoman
13 5 (0.13%) Postman
14 4 (0.11%) Eclipse
14 4 (0.11%) Rational Rhapsody
14 4 (0.11%) Robot Framework
General
1 224 (6.04%) Manufacturing
2 193 (5.20%) Electronics
3 180 (4.85%) Social Skills
4 120 (3.23%) Finance
5 105 (2.83%) Aerospace
6 89 (2.40%) Public Sector
7 82 (2.21%) Automotive
8 48 (1.29%) Analytical Skills
9 41 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 40 (1.08%) Aviation
11 38 (1.02%) Pharmaceutical
12 34 (0.92%) Retail
13 22 (0.59%) Military
14 20 (0.54%) Games
15 19 (0.51%) Law
15 19 (0.51%) Telecoms
16 15 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
17 12 (0.32%) Marketing
18 11 (0.30%) Tech for Good
19 9 (0.24%) Agriculture
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 318 (8.57%) .NET
2 202 (5.44%) React
3 115 (3.10%) Node.js
4 100 (2.70%) Vue
5 74 (1.99%) WPF
6 73 (1.97%) AngularJS
7 66 (1.78%) CSS
8 63 (1.70%) Spring
9 62 (1.67%) REST
10 61 (1.64%) RESTful
11 59 (1.59%) Spring Boot
12 58 (1.56%) HTML
13 39 (1.05%) Django
14 38 (1.02%) .NET Core
15 37 (1.00%) Next.js
16 34 (0.92%) .NET Framework
17 27 (0.73%) Yocto
18 24 (0.65%) ASP.NET
19 22 (0.59%) React Native
19 22 (0.59%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 168 (4.53%) Cloud Native
2 125 (3.37%) Embedded Systems
3 96 (2.59%) Algorithms
3 96 (2.59%) Robotics
4 80 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
5 69 (1.86%) Product Ownership
6 64 (1.73%) Distributed Systems
7 62 (1.67%) AI Agents
8 55 (1.48%) IoT
9 46 (1.24%) Greenfield Project
10 31 (0.84%) Mobile App
11 29 (0.78%) Device Driver
12 24 (0.65%) Public Cloud
13 22 (0.59%) Data Structures
14 21 (0.57%) ARM Cortex
14 21 (0.57%) Cyber Threat
15 20 (0.54%) Client/Server
16 18 (0.49%) Distributed Computing
16 18 (0.49%) Educational Technology
16 18 (0.49%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 261 (7.04%) Linux
2 55 (1.48%) Windows
3 53 (1.43%) Embedded Linux
4 31 (0.84%) FreeRTOS
5 28 (0.75%) Android
6 9 (0.24%) Debian
7 5 (0.13%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.13%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.13%) Windows Server
8 4 (0.11%) CentOS
8 4 (0.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.081%) Gentoo
9 3 (0.081%) Unix
9 3 (0.081%) VxWorks
10 2 (0.054%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.054%) SafeRTOS
10 2 (0.054%) Windows 10
10 2 (0.054%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.054%) zOS
11 1 (0.027%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,669 (98.89%) Software Engineering
2 458 (12.35%) Agile
3 361 (9.73%) Full-Stack Development
4 347 (9.35%) CI/CD
5 323 (8.71%) AI
6 253 (6.82%) Mentoring
7 240 (6.47%) DevOps
8 209 (5.63%) Problem-Solving
9 200 (5.39%) Test Automation
10 198 (5.34%) Microservices
10 198 (5.34%) SDLC
11 182 (4.91%) Computer Science
12 177 (4.77%) Continuous Improvement
13 131 (3.53%) Containerisation
14 128 (3.45%) Software Architecture
15 117 (3.15%) Software Testing
16 113 (3.05%) Code Quality
17 111 (2.99%) TDD
18 105 (2.83%) Technical Leadership
19 97 (2.61%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 629 (16.95%) C++
2 575 (15.50%) C#
3 498 (13.42%) Python
4 318 (8.57%) Java
5 264 (7.12%) C
6 260 (7.01%) JavaScript
7 232 (6.25%) TypeScript
8 196 (5.28%) SQL
9 131 (3.53%) Rust
10 64 (1.73%) Go
11 62 (1.67%) PHP
12 50 (1.35%) Embedded C
13 29 (0.78%) Ruby
14 27 (0.73%) Embedded C++
15 18 (0.49%) Bash
15 18 (0.49%) Kotlin
16 17 (0.46%) Ada
16 17 (0.46%) COBOL
17 15 (0.40%) Scala
18 13 (0.35%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 362 (9.76%) Security Cleared
2 300 (8.09%) Degree
3 229 (6.17%) SC Cleared
4 155 (4.18%) DV Cleared
5 135 (3.64%) Computer Science Degree
6 55 (1.48%) Master's Degree
7 25 (0.67%) BPSS Clearance
7 25 (0.67%) PhD
8 10 (0.27%) HND
9 9 (0.24%) DBS Check
10 8 (0.22%) 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 (0.11%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.081%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.054%) Numerate Degree
15 2 (0.054%) NVQ Level 3
16 1 (0.027%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (2.02%) QA
2 37 (1.00%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.27%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.22%) IEC 61508
5 7 (0.19%) MISRA
5 7 (0.19%) MISRA C
6 6 (0.16%) JTAG
7 5 (0.13%) DO-178B
8 3 (0.081%) Data Quality
8 3 (0.081%) ECSS
8 3 (0.081%) GAMP
8 3 (0.081%) GDPR
9 2 (0.054%) ISO 26262
9 2 (0.054%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.054%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.027%) DO-254
10 1 (0.027%) HAZOP
10 1 (0.027%) MIL-STD-1553
10 1 (0.027%) Software Quality Assurance
10 1 (0.027%) WCAG
System Software
1 182 (4.91%) Docker
2 160 (4.31%) Firmware
3 52 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
4 11 (0.30%) KVM
4 11 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 8 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.19%) QEMU
8 2 (0.054%) Active Directory
8 2 (0.054%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 138 (3.72%) Kubernetes
2 85 (2.29%) Terraform
3 34 (0.92%) Ansible
4 9 (0.24%) Grafana
5 7 (0.19%) Kibana
5 7 (0.19%) logstash
5 7 (0.19%) Podman
6 6 (0.16%) Puppet
7 4 (0.11%) Functional Safety
8 3 (0.081%) Plesk
8 3 (0.081%) SCCM
8 3 (0.081%) SCOM
8 3 (0.081%) SCOrch
9 2 (0.054%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.054%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.027%) Packer
10 1 (0.027%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 32 (0.86%) Microsoft
1 32 (0.86%) Siemens
2 20 (0.54%) Google
3 19 (0.51%) Rockwell
4 15 (0.40%) Oracle
5 13 (0.35%) Okta
5 13 (0.35%) Ping Identity
5 13 (0.35%) Salesforce
5 13 (0.35%) VMware
6 10 (0.27%) Allen-Bradley
7 9 (0.24%) OpenAI
8 8 (0.22%) Splunk
9 7 (0.19%) Atlassian
10 6 (0.16%) Intel
11 5 (0.13%) Xamarin
12 4 (0.11%) Databricks
12 4 (0.11%) ForgeRock
12 4 (0.11%) Peregrine
12 4 (0.11%) Red Hat
12 4 (0.11%) SaltStack