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 7 February 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 60 34 28
Rank change year-on-year -26 -6 +25
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,508 1,897 3,449
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.27% 5.65% 6.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.59% 6.16% 7.31%
Number of salaries quoted 1,186 890 2,161
10th Percentile £42,500 £40,000 £39,750
25th Percentile £52,250 £47,500 £45,000
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 £93,778 £82,548
UK median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year - +12.00% -7.41%

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 41,955 30,817 47,172
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.87% 91.86% 95.11%
Number of salaries quoted 25,918 14,965 36,726
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,220 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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% -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 7 February 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 7 February 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
North of England -8 361 £65,000 +6.56% 167
South East -26 350 £65,000 +8.33% 201
South West -2 313 £65,000 +13.16% 121
North West +4 170 £67,500 +3.85% 107
East of England -18 166 £70,000 +5.67% 77
Scotland -17 143 £62,500 +13.64% 84
Yorkshire -10 138 £60,000 -4.00% 37
Midlands -5 133 £60,000 +9.09% 89
East Midlands -9 71 £60,000 +20.00% 50
West Midlands +4 65 £60,000 +9.09% 39
North East -10 53 £70,000 +27.27% 24
Wales -21 29 £70,000 +3.70% 19
Northern Ireland -35 13 £85,000 -5.56% 4
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 7 February 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 1,499 (99.40%) Software Engineering
2 218 (14.46%) C#
3 200 (13.26%) C++
4 194 (12.86%) .NET
5 192 (12.73%) AWS
6 189 (12.53%) Agile
7 188 (12.47%) Java
8 177 (11.74%) Full-Stack Development
9 167 (11.07%) Python
10 160 (10.61%) CI/CD
11 159 (10.54%) Security Cleared
12 156 (10.34%) React
13 152 (10.08%) DevOps
14 150 (9.95%) Azure
15 141 (9.35%) JavaScript
16 127 (8.42%) Degree
17 125 (8.29%) TypeScript
18 124 (8.22%) SQL
19 104 (6.90%) C
19 104 (6.90%) Mentoring
20 103 (6.83%) Problem-Solving
21 100 (6.63%) Microservices
22 99 (6.56%) Linux
23 88 (5.84%) Kubernetes
24 85 (5.64%) Continuous Improvement
25 81 (5.37%) Computer Science
26 79 (5.24%) SC Cleared
27 75 (4.97%) AI
28 71 (4.71%) Docker
28 71 (4.71%) SaaS

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 (0.86%) Apache
2 12 (0.80%) IIS
3 7 (0.46%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.33%) CMS
4 5 (0.33%) Confluence
5 3 (0.20%) Apache Solr
6 2 (0.13%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.066%) GeoServer
7 1 (0.066%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.066%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.066%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 3 (0.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.13%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.13%) EngageOne
2 2 (0.13%) Sketch
3 1 (0.066%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.066%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.66%) Magento
2 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.066%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 192 (12.73%) AWS
2 150 (9.95%) Azure
3 71 (4.71%) SaaS
4 44 (2.92%) Serverless
5 37 (2.45%) Azure DevOps
6 34 (2.25%) AWS Lambda
7 33 (2.19%) GCP
8 26 (1.72%) Amazon S3
9 25 (1.66%) Amazon EKS
10 16 (1.06%) Azure AKS
10 16 (1.06%) GitHub
11 15 (0.99%) Amazon ECS
12 10 (0.66%) OpenShift
13 9 (0.60%) Stripe
14 8 (0.53%) AWS CloudFormation
15 7 (0.46%) Amazon EC2
16 5 (0.33%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 5 (0.33%) Amazon SQS
16 5 (0.33%) AWS Fargate
16 5 (0.33%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 25 (1.66%) Wireless
2 16 (1.06%) RS-232
3 14 (0.93%) Bluetooth
4 7 (0.46%) Modbus
5 6 (0.40%) Ethernet
5 6 (0.40%) HTTP
5 6 (0.40%) TCP/IP
6 5 (0.33%) AMQP
6 5 (0.33%) DNS
6 5 (0.33%) Software-Defined Radio
7 4 (0.27%) LTE
7 4 (0.27%) SMTP
7 4 (0.27%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.20%) ATM
9 2 (0.13%) 3G
9 2 (0.13%) Broadband
9 2 (0.13%) GPRS
9 2 (0.13%) GSM
9 2 (0.13%) RS-485
9 2 (0.13%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (3.18%) SQL Server
2 37 (2.45%) PostgreSQL
3 28 (1.86%) NoSQL
4 24 (1.59%) Elasticsearch
5 19 (1.26%) Relational Database
6 15 (0.99%) DynamoDB
6 15 (0.99%) MySQL
7 12 (0.80%) MongoDB
7 12 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 9 (0.60%) Neo4j
9 8 (0.53%) Big Data
9 8 (0.53%) Redis
10 7 (0.46%) Hadoop
11 5 (0.33%) Cloudera CDH
12 4 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
12 4 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
13 3 (0.20%) Apache Cassandra
13 3 (0.20%) Geospatial Data
13 3 (0.20%) MariaDB
13 3 (0.20%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 54 (3.58%) Git
2 17 (1.13%) GitLab
2 17 (1.13%) Visual Studio
3 13 (0.86%) JIRA
4 12 (0.80%) Jenkins
5 11 (0.73%) JUnit
6 7 (0.46%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.33%) Selenium
7 5 (0.33%) Subversion
8 4 (0.27%) Bitbucket
8 4 (0.27%) Claude Code
8 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle APEX
9 3 (0.20%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.20%) Gradle
10 2 (0.13%) Android Studio
10 2 (0.13%) Maven
10 2 (0.13%) PROIV
10 2 (0.13%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.13%) Xcode
General
1 105 (6.96%) Social Skills
2 86 (5.70%) Finance
3 54 (3.58%) Electronics
4 47 (3.12%) Manufacturing
5 28 (1.86%) Aerospace
6 23 (1.53%) Automotive
6 23 (1.53%) Games
6 23 (1.53%) Pharmaceutical
7 22 (1.46%) Analytical Skills
8 20 (1.33%) Public Sector
9 15 (0.99%) Tech for Good
10 14 (0.93%) Retail
11 9 (0.60%) Financial Institution
12 8 (0.53%) Law
12 8 (0.53%) Marketing
12 8 (0.53%) Military
13 7 (0.46%) Aeronautics
14 6 (0.40%) Health Technology
15 4 (0.27%) Billing
15 4 (0.27%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 194 (12.86%) .NET
2 156 (10.34%) React
3 68 (4.51%) Node.js
4 67 (4.44%) AngularJS
5 51 (3.38%) Spring
6 47 (3.12%) Spring Boot
7 45 (2.98%) REST
8 44 (2.92%) RESTful
9 39 (2.59%) .NET Core
10 36 (2.39%) .NET Framework
11 35 (2.32%) Vue
12 32 (2.12%) HTML
13 31 (2.06%) CSS
14 27 (1.79%) ASP.NET
15 24 (1.59%) Qt
16 23 (1.53%) Entity Framework
17 20 (1.33%) Next.js
18 15 (0.99%) Web Services
18 15 (0.99%) WinForms
19 14 (0.93%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 69 (4.58%) Cloud Native
2 52 (3.45%) Embedded Systems
3 30 (1.99%) IoT
4 25 (1.66%) Distributed Systems
4 25 (1.66%) Robotics
5 19 (1.26%) Algorithms
6 15 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (0.93%) Smart Energy
8 13 (0.86%) Hedge funds
8 13 (0.86%) Product Ownership
9 12 (0.80%) Self-Motivation
10 11 (0.73%) CAN bus
11 9 (0.60%) Driving Licence
11 9 (0.60%) e-Learning
12 8 (0.53%) Mobile App
12 8 (0.53%) Renewable Energy
13 7 (0.46%) Client/Server
13 7 (0.46%) Enterprise Software
14 6 (0.40%) AI Agents
14 6 (0.40%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 99 (6.56%) Linux
2 33 (2.19%) Windows
3 28 (1.86%) Embedded Linux
4 24 (1.59%) Android
5 6 (0.40%) Unix
6 5 (0.33%) CentOS
6 5 (0.33%) Debian
6 5 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.33%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.27%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.20%) FreeRTOS
9 2 (0.13%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.13%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.066%) Fedora
10 1 (0.066%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,499 (99.40%) Software Engineering
2 189 (12.53%) Agile
3 177 (11.74%) Full-Stack Development
4 160 (10.61%) CI/CD
5 152 (10.08%) DevOps
6 104 (6.90%) Mentoring
7 103 (6.83%) Problem-Solving
8 100 (6.63%) Microservices
9 85 (5.64%) Continuous Improvement
10 81 (5.37%) Computer Science
11 75 (4.97%) AI
12 64 (4.24%) Scrum
13 58 (3.85%) SDLC
14 57 (3.78%) Containerisation
15 45 (2.98%) Test Automation
16 44 (2.92%) TDD
17 39 (2.59%) Fintech
17 39 (2.59%) Machine Learning
18 38 (2.52%) Collaborative Culture
18 38 (2.52%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 218 (14.46%) C#
2 200 (13.26%) C++
3 188 (12.47%) Java
4 167 (11.07%) Python
5 141 (9.35%) JavaScript
6 125 (8.29%) TypeScript
7 124 (8.22%) SQL
8 104 (6.90%) C
9 42 (2.79%) PHP
10 25 (1.66%) Kotlin
11 21 (1.39%) Embedded C
12 20 (1.33%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.19%) Embedded C++
13 18 (1.19%) Rust
14 17 (1.13%) Ada
15 16 (1.06%) Ruby
16 13 (0.86%) PL/SQL
17 12 (0.80%) Bash
17 12 (0.80%) Scala
18 9 (0.60%) Go
Qualifications
1 159 (10.54%) Security Cleared
2 127 (8.42%) Degree
3 79 (5.24%) SC Cleared
4 59 (3.91%) Computer Science Degree
5 43 (2.85%) DV Cleared
6 17 (1.13%) Master's Degree
7 9 (0.60%) PhD
8 8 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (0.53%) Chartered Engineer
8 8 (0.53%) DBS Check
9 2 (0.13%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.13%) AWS Certified Developer
9 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.13%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.066%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (1.86%) QA
2 13 (0.86%) MISRA
3 11 (0.73%) IEC 61508
3 11 (0.73%) MISRA C
4 7 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 4 (0.27%) Accessibility
5 4 (0.27%) ECSS
6 3 (0.20%) GDPR
6 3 (0.20%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.20%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.13%) ISO 9000
7 2 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.13%) JTAG
7 2 (0.13%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.066%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.066%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.066%) IEC 61131
System Software
1 71 (4.71%) Docker
2 62 (4.11%) Firmware
3 27 (1.79%) Embedded Firmware
4 4 (0.27%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.27%) KVM
4 4 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.066%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 88 (5.84%) Kubernetes
2 44 (2.92%) Terraform
3 11 (0.73%) Functional Safety
4 7 (0.46%) Kibana
5 6 (0.40%) Ansible
5 6 (0.40%) Grafana
6 5 (0.33%) Puppet
7 2 (0.13%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.066%) Istio
8 1 (0.066%) logstash
8 1 (0.066%) Packer
8 1 (0.066%) Podman
8 1 (0.066%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 20 (1.33%) Oracle
2 17 (1.13%) Microsoft
3 15 (0.99%) Xamarin
4 12 (0.80%) Adobe
4 12 (0.80%) Google
4 12 (0.80%) Sage
5 8 (0.53%) HubSpot
6 6 (0.40%) Red Hat
7 5 (0.33%) SaltStack
7 5 (0.33%) Zoho
8 4 (0.27%) Atlassian
8 4 (0.27%) Atmel
8 4 (0.27%) VMware
9 3 (0.20%) Databricks
9 3 (0.20%) OpenAI
9 3 (0.20%) SAP
10 2 (0.13%) Palantir
10 2 (0.13%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.13%) Siemens
11 1 (0.066%) SendGrid