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 28 July 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 52 15
Rank change year-on-year +29 -37 +62
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,588 1,557 5,363
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.87% 4.56% 8.46%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.14% 5.09% 8.92%
Number of salaries quoted 2,866 701 3,045
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £38,750
25th Percentile £53,750 £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 £66,250
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £78,810 £60,000
% change year-on-year -11.18% +31.35% -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 69,861 30,584 60,125
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.87% 89.62% 94.80%
Number of salaries quoted 48,293 17,580 41,285
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,875 £28,000
25th Percentile £37,750 £33,000 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.87%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £78,750
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 28 July 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 28 July 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 +82 963 £65,000 - 149
North of England +21 944 £65,000 -7.14% 131
South West +29 641 £65,000 - 110
North West +4 534 £70,000 -6.67% 82
East of England +72 431 £70,000 +12.00% 98
Midlands +45 354 £60,000 -7.69% 64
Yorkshire +73 254 £60,000 -7.69% 30
West Midlands +40 180 £66,250 +6.00% 29
East Midlands +25 174 £54,000 -22.86% 35
North East +17 156 £70,000 +27.27% 19
Scotland -13 143 £65,000 - 30
Wales -2 99 £45,000 -33.82% 24
Northern Ireland -55 14 £90,000 +80.00% 16
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 28 July 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 3,546 (98.83%) Software Engineering
2 613 (17.08%) C++
3 561 (15.64%) C#
4 475 (13.24%) Python
5 436 (12.15%) Agile
6 384 (10.70%) AWS
7 356 (9.92%) Full-Stack Development
8 348 (9.70%) Security Cleared
9 326 (9.09%) CI/CD
10 317 (8.84%) .NET
11 305 (8.50%) Java
12 299 (8.33%) AI
13 293 (8.17%) Degree
14 275 (7.66%) Azure
15 267 (7.44%) C
16 258 (7.19%) JavaScript
17 249 (6.94%) Linux
18 239 (6.66%) Mentoring
19 235 (6.55%) DevOps
20 224 (6.24%) TypeScript
21 220 (6.13%) SC Cleared
22 199 (5.55%) Problem-Solving
23 197 (5.49%) React
24 194 (5.41%) Microservices
25 190 (5.30%) Test Automation
26 189 (5.27%) SDLC
27 188 (5.24%) SQL
28 176 (4.91%) Computer Science
29 172 (4.79%) Docker
30 169 (4.71%) 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 19 (0.53%) Apache
2 15 (0.42%) SharePoint Server
3 8 (0.22%) Confluence
3 8 (0.22%) FactoryTalk
4 6 (0.17%) WinCC
5 4 (0.11%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.11%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.11%) CMS
5 4 (0.11%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.056%) ArchestrA
6 2 (0.056%) Headless CMS
6 2 (0.056%) WordPress
7 1 (0.028%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.028%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.028%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (0.33%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.14%) 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 (0.084%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.056%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.056%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.028%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.028%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.028%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.056%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.028%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 384 (10.70%) AWS
2 275 (7.66%) Azure
3 152 (4.24%) SaaS
4 99 (2.76%) GCP
5 68 (1.90%) Serverless
6 44 (1.23%) GitHub
7 38 (1.06%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (0.95%) Firebase
9 31 (0.86%) Anthropic Claude
10 22 (0.61%) AWS Lambda
11 16 (0.45%) Amazon S3
11 16 (0.45%) Cloud Run
12 15 (0.42%) GitHub Actions
13 13 (0.36%) AWS CloudFormation
14 12 (0.33%) Azure AKS
15 11 (0.31%) Amazon EKS
16 8 (0.22%) AWS Step Functions
16 8 (0.22%) Azure Cosmos DB
16 8 (0.22%) Azure Functions
16 8 (0.22%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 60 (1.67%) Wireless
2 36 (1.00%) Ethernet
3 28 (0.78%) Bluetooth
4 24 (0.67%) Modbus
5 23 (0.64%) RS-232
6 18 (0.50%) TCP/IP
7 17 (0.47%) MQTT
7 17 (0.47%) Wi-Fi
7 17 (0.47%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.42%) Profibus
9 12 (0.33%) RS-485
10 10 (0.28%) LTE
11 9 (0.25%) ATM
12 8 (0.22%) Network Security
13 6 (0.17%) Wireshark
14 5 (0.14%) Broadband
15 4 (0.11%) AMQP
15 4 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
16 3 (0.084%) Software-Defined Networking
17 2 (0.056%) LoRaWAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (2.15%) PostgreSQL
2 64 (1.78%) MongoDB
2 64 (1.78%) SQL Server
3 56 (1.56%) NoSQL
4 48 (1.34%) MySQL
5 21 (0.59%) Relational Database
6 16 (0.45%) Pinecone
7 15 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
7 15 (0.42%) Redis
8 13 (0.36%) Big Data
9 11 (0.31%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
11 6 (0.17%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.14%) FileMaker
12 5 (0.14%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.11%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.11%) Geospatial Data
13 4 (0.11%) GIS
13 4 (0.11%) MariaDB
13 4 (0.11%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 128 (3.57%) Git
2 47 (1.31%) GitLab
3 32 (0.89%) JIRA
4 31 (0.86%) Jenkins
5 21 (0.59%) Visual Studio Code
6 18 (0.50%) Claude Code
7 13 (0.36%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.31%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.25%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.22%) GDB
11 7 (0.20%) JUnit
11 7 (0.20%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.20%) Moq
12 6 (0.17%) Bitbucket
12 6 (0.17%) Eclipse
12 6 (0.17%) Yeoman
13 5 (0.14%) CMake
13 5 (0.14%) Postman
14 4 (0.11%) Robot Framework
14 4 (0.11%) Subversion
General
1 219 (6.10%) Manufacturing
2 187 (5.21%) Electronics
3 167 (4.65%) Social Skills
4 105 (2.93%) Finance
5 95 (2.65%) Aerospace
6 83 (2.31%) Automotive
7 82 (2.29%) Public Sector
8 46 (1.28%) Analytical Skills
9 38 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
10 36 (1.00%) Aviation
11 31 (0.86%) Retail
12 29 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 21 (0.59%) Military
14 19 (0.53%) Telecoms
15 18 (0.50%) Games
16 15 (0.42%) Organisational Skills
17 12 (0.33%) Law
17 12 (0.33%) Tech for Good
18 9 (0.25%) Agriculture
18 9 (0.25%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 317 (8.84%) .NET
2 197 (5.49%) React
3 117 (3.26%) Node.js
4 101 (2.81%) Vue
5 73 (2.03%) AngularJS
6 72 (2.01%) WPF
7 67 (1.87%) CSS
8 61 (1.70%) RESTful
9 60 (1.67%) HTML
9 60 (1.67%) Spring
10 59 (1.64%) REST
11 53 (1.48%) Spring Boot
12 39 (1.09%) .NET Core
13 38 (1.06%) Next.js
14 36 (1.00%) Django
15 33 (0.92%) .NET Framework
16 26 (0.72%) Yocto
17 23 (0.64%) ASP.NET
18 22 (0.61%) WebSockets
19 21 (0.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 157 (4.38%) Cloud Native
2 124 (3.46%) Embedded Systems
3 90 (2.51%) Algorithms
3 90 (2.51%) Robotics
4 77 (2.15%) Legacy Systems
5 66 (1.84%) Product Ownership
6 60 (1.67%) Distributed Systems
7 59 (1.64%) AI Agents
8 57 (1.59%) IoT
9 47 (1.31%) Greenfield Project
10 31 (0.86%) Mobile App
11 29 (0.81%) Device Driver
12 21 (0.59%) Client/Server
13 20 (0.56%) ARM Cortex
13 20 (0.56%) Cyber Threat
13 20 (0.56%) Hedge funds
13 20 (0.56%) Public Cloud
14 19 (0.53%) Data Structures
15 18 (0.50%) Distributed Computing
15 18 (0.50%) Educational Technology
Operating Systems
1 249 (6.94%) Linux
2 52 (1.45%) Windows
3 50 (1.39%) Embedded Linux
4 31 (0.86%) FreeRTOS
5 28 (0.78%) Android
6 9 (0.25%) Debian
7 7 (0.20%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.14%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.14%) Windows Server
9 4 (0.11%) CentOS
9 4 (0.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.084%) Gentoo
10 3 (0.084%) Unix
11 2 (0.056%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.056%) SafeRTOS
11 2 (0.056%) VxWorks
11 2 (0.056%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.056%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.056%) zOS
12 1 (0.028%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,546 (98.83%) Software Engineering
2 436 (12.15%) Agile
3 356 (9.92%) Full-Stack Development
4 326 (9.09%) CI/CD
5 299 (8.33%) AI
6 239 (6.66%) Mentoring
7 235 (6.55%) DevOps
8 199 (5.55%) Problem-Solving
9 194 (5.41%) Microservices
10 190 (5.30%) Test Automation
11 189 (5.27%) SDLC
12 176 (4.91%) Computer Science
13 169 (4.71%) Continuous Improvement
14 127 (3.54%) Containerisation
15 120 (3.34%) Software Architecture
16 114 (3.18%) TDD
17 112 (3.12%) Software Testing
18 105 (2.93%) Code Quality
19 102 (2.84%) Scrum
20 94 (2.62%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 613 (17.08%) C++
2 561 (15.64%) C#
3 475 (13.24%) Python
4 305 (8.50%) Java
5 267 (7.44%) C
6 258 (7.19%) JavaScript
7 224 (6.24%) TypeScript
8 188 (5.24%) SQL
9 126 (3.51%) Rust
10 59 (1.64%) Go
11 58 (1.62%) PHP
12 53 (1.48%) Embedded C
13 28 (0.78%) Ruby
14 26 (0.72%) Embedded C++
15 19 (0.53%) Bash
16 17 (0.47%) COBOL
16 17 (0.47%) Kotlin
17 14 (0.39%) Ada
17 14 (0.39%) Scala
18 13 (0.36%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 348 (9.70%) Security Cleared
2 293 (8.17%) Degree
3 220 (6.13%) SC Cleared
4 145 (4.04%) DV Cleared
5 132 (3.68%) Computer Science Degree
6 52 (1.45%) Master's Degree
7 24 (0.67%) PhD
8 16 (0.45%) BPSS Clearance
9 10 (0.28%) HND
10 9 (0.25%) DBS Check
11 8 (0.22%) Azure Certification
12 6 (0.17%) HNC
13 5 (0.14%) AWS Certification
13 5 (0.14%) CEH
13 5 (0.14%) OSCP
14 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Certification
15 2 (0.056%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.056%) NVQ Level 3
16 1 (0.028%) Chartered Engineer
16 1 (0.028%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (2.09%) QA
2 31 (0.86%) Accessibility
3 9 (0.25%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.22%) IEC 61508
5 7 (0.20%) MISRA
5 7 (0.20%) MISRA C
6 6 (0.17%) JTAG
7 4 (0.11%) DO-178B
8 3 (0.084%) ECSS
8 3 (0.084%) GAMP
8 3 (0.084%) GDPR
8 3 (0.084%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.056%) ISO 26262
9 2 (0.056%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.028%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.028%) DO-254
10 1 (0.028%) HAZOP
10 1 (0.028%) IEC 62304
10 1 (0.028%) MIL-STD-1553
10 1 (0.028%) WCAG
System Software
1 172 (4.79%) Docker
2 158 (4.40%) Firmware
3 52 (1.45%) Embedded Firmware
4 11 (0.31%) KVM
4 11 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (0.28%) Hyper-V
6 7 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
7 6 (0.17%) QEMU
8 2 (0.056%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.028%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 132 (3.68%) Kubernetes
2 82 (2.29%) Terraform
3 32 (0.89%) Ansible
4 8 (0.22%) Grafana
5 7 (0.20%) Kibana
5 7 (0.20%) logstash
5 7 (0.20%) Podman
6 5 (0.14%) Functional Safety
6 5 (0.14%) Puppet
7 3 (0.084%) Plesk
7 3 (0.084%) SCCM
7 3 (0.084%) SCOM
7 3 (0.084%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.056%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.056%) Packer
8 2 (0.056%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.028%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 31 (0.86%) Siemens
2 30 (0.84%) Microsoft
3 19 (0.53%) Google
3 19 (0.53%) Rockwell
4 14 (0.39%) Oracle
5 13 (0.36%) VMware
6 12 (0.33%) Okta
6 12 (0.33%) Ping Identity
6 12 (0.33%) Salesforce
7 10 (0.28%) Allen-Bradley
8 9 (0.25%) OpenAI
9 7 (0.20%) Atlassian
9 7 (0.20%) Splunk
10 6 (0.17%) Intel
11 5 (0.14%) Xamarin
12 4 (0.11%) ForgeRock
12 4 (0.11%) Peregrine
12 4 (0.11%) Red Hat
12 4 (0.11%) SaltStack
13 3 (0.084%) IBM