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 July 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 49 15
Rank change year-on-year +24 -34 +66
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,425 1,592 6,396
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.86% 4.85% 8.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.13% 5.43% 8.96%
Number of salaries quoted 2,748 741 3,677
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £38,250
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 £77,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -9.68% +29.17% -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 66,738 29,315 71,409
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.66% 89.40% 94.85%
Number of salaries quoted 46,304 16,594 50,983
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,929 £27,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £33,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,445 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.89% - -5.66%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +4.76% -12.50%

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 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 7 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 +80 958 £65,000 - 208
North of England +20 916 £69,305 -0.99% 159
South West +23 579 £65,000 - 136
North West +8 529 £70,000 -6.67% 92
East of England +58 385 £70,000 +5.73% 140
Midlands +45 330 £65,000 - 88
Yorkshire +67 238 £62,500 -11.35% 42
West Midlands +35 173 £67,500 +8.00% 38
Scotland -18 160 £65,000 - 44
East Midlands +21 157 £55,000 -21.43% 50
North East +11 149 £70,000 +27.27% 25
Wales -1 83 £43,250 -33.46% 34
Northern Ireland -36 15 £90,000 +80.00% 30
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 7 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 3,382 (98.74%) Software Engineering
2 571 (16.67%) C++
3 529 (15.45%) C#
4 439 (12.82%) Python
5 411 (12.00%) Agile
6 377 (11.01%) AWS
7 364 (10.63%) Full-Stack Development
8 316 (9.23%) .NET
9 314 (9.17%) Security Cleared
10 298 (8.70%) Java
11 297 (8.67%) CI/CD
12 282 (8.23%) Degree
13 262 (7.65%) Azure
14 260 (7.59%) C
15 256 (7.47%) AI
15 256 (7.47%) JavaScript
16 247 (7.21%) DevOps
17 231 (6.74%) TypeScript
18 224 (6.54%) Linux
19 212 (6.19%) Mentoring
20 201 (5.87%) React
21 197 (5.75%) SC Cleared
22 194 (5.66%) SQL
23 193 (5.64%) Microservices
24 188 (5.49%) Problem-Solving
25 176 (5.14%) Continuous Improvement
26 174 (5.08%) SaaS
27 171 (4.99%) Computer Science
28 170 (4.96%) Test Automation
29 161 (4.70%) SDLC

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 18 (0.53%) Apache
2 15 (0.44%) SharePoint Server
3 8 (0.23%) FactoryTalk
4 6 (0.18%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.15%) CMS
5 5 (0.15%) Confluence
5 5 (0.15%) WinCC
6 4 (0.12%) Apache Solr
6 4 (0.12%) GeoServer
7 2 (0.058%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.058%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.058%) WordPress
8 1 (0.029%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.029%) Umbraco
Applications
1 9 (0.26%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.15%) Simulink
3 4 (0.12%) EngageOne
3 4 (0.12%) EPLAN
4 3 (0.088%) CANalyzer
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.058%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.029%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.029%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.029%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.058%) Magento
2 1 (0.029%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 377 (11.01%) AWS
2 262 (7.65%) Azure
3 174 (5.08%) SaaS
4 81 (2.36%) GCP
5 72 (2.10%) Serverless
6 42 (1.23%) GitHub
7 39 (1.14%) Azure DevOps
8 26 (0.76%) Anthropic Claude
8 26 (0.76%) AWS Lambda
8 26 (0.76%) Firebase
9 19 (0.55%) Amazon S3
10 17 (0.50%) Amazon EKS
10 17 (0.50%) Azure AKS
11 15 (0.44%) GitHub Actions
12 14 (0.41%) AWS CloudFormation
13 10 (0.29%) Cloud Run
14 8 (0.23%) Amazon ECS
14 8 (0.23%) Azure Cosmos DB
15 7 (0.20%) AWS Step Functions
16 6 (0.18%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 56 (1.64%) Wireless
2 37 (1.08%) Ethernet
3 27 (0.79%) Bluetooth
4 25 (0.73%) RS-232
5 23 (0.67%) Modbus
6 15 (0.44%) Profibus
6 15 (0.44%) ZigBee
7 14 (0.41%) MQTT
7 14 (0.41%) TCP/IP
7 14 (0.41%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (0.32%) RS-485
9 9 (0.26%) LTE
10 8 (0.23%) Network Security
11 7 (0.20%) Broadband
12 6 (0.18%) AMQP
13 5 (0.15%) ATM
14 4 (0.12%) Software-Defined Radio
14 4 (0.12%) Wireshark
15 3 (0.088%) Software-Defined Networking
16 2 (0.058%) RTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (1.99%) PostgreSQL
2 62 (1.81%) NoSQL
2 62 (1.81%) SQL Server
3 60 (1.75%) MongoDB
4 45 (1.31%) MySQL
5 20 (0.58%) Relational Database
6 19 (0.55%) Elasticsearch
7 13 (0.38%) Big Data
7 13 (0.38%) Redis
8 12 (0.35%) DynamoDB
9 11 (0.32%) Pinecone
10 7 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
10 7 (0.20%) Hadoop
10 7 (0.20%) Neo4j
11 6 (0.18%) Cloudera CDH
12 5 (0.15%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.12%) Geospatial Data
13 4 (0.12%) GIS
13 4 (0.12%) QGIS
14 3 (0.088%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 122 (3.56%) Git
2 39 (1.14%) GitLab
3 27 (0.79%) Jenkins
4 26 (0.76%) JIRA
5 22 (0.64%) Visual Studio Code
6 19 (0.55%) Claude Code
7 13 (0.38%) Visual Studio
8 10 (0.29%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.26%) SonarQube
10 7 (0.20%) Eclipse
10 7 (0.20%) JUnit
10 7 (0.20%) Moq
10 7 (0.20%) Subversion
11 6 (0.18%) Bitbucket
11 6 (0.18%) Yeoman
12 5 (0.15%) GDB
12 5 (0.15%) Maven
13 4 (0.12%) Gradle
13 4 (0.12%) LabVIEW
13 4 (0.12%) Robot Framework
General
1 199 (5.81%) Manufacturing
2 170 (4.96%) Electronics
3 156 (4.55%) Social Skills
4 98 (2.86%) Finance
5 84 (2.45%) Aerospace
6 80 (2.34%) Automotive
7 69 (2.01%) Public Sector
8 43 (1.26%) Analytical Skills
9 33 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
10 29 (0.85%) Aviation
11 20 (0.58%) Retail
12 19 (0.55%) Games
13 18 (0.53%) Military
13 18 (0.53%) Telecoms
14 15 (0.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 13 (0.38%) Organisational Skills
16 11 (0.32%) Tech for Good
17 9 (0.26%) Health Technology
17 9 (0.26%) Law
17 9 (0.26%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 316 (9.23%) .NET
2 201 (5.87%) React
3 125 (3.65%) Node.js
4 103 (3.01%) Vue
5 77 (2.25%) AngularJS
6 74 (2.16%) REST
7 67 (1.96%) RESTful
8 64 (1.87%) Spring
8 64 (1.87%) WPF
9 62 (1.81%) CSS
10 56 (1.64%) HTML
11 54 (1.58%) Spring Boot
12 47 (1.37%) .NET Core
13 39 (1.14%) .NET Framework
14 37 (1.08%) Next.js
15 32 (0.93%) Django
16 24 (0.70%) Entity Framework
17 23 (0.67%) Yocto
18 21 (0.61%) ASP.NET
19 20 (0.58%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 138 (4.03%) Cloud Native
2 119 (3.47%) Embedded Systems
3 85 (2.48%) Algorithms
4 72 (2.10%) Legacy Systems
5 71 (2.07%) Robotics
6 64 (1.87%) Product Ownership
7 59 (1.72%) IoT
8 49 (1.43%) Distributed Systems
9 46 (1.34%) AI Agents
10 43 (1.26%) Greenfield Project
11 30 (0.88%) Mobile App
12 28 (0.82%) Device Driver
13 24 (0.70%) Client/Server
14 22 (0.64%) Hedge funds
15 18 (0.53%) Educational Technology
16 17 (0.50%) Data Structures
16 17 (0.50%) Distributed Computing
16 17 (0.50%) Self-Motivation
17 16 (0.47%) ARM Cortex
17 16 (0.47%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 224 (6.54%) Linux
2 48 (1.40%) Embedded Linux
3 46 (1.34%) Windows
4 33 (0.96%) Android
5 30 (0.88%) FreeRTOS
6 10 (0.29%) Debian
7 7 (0.20%) Ubuntu
8 6 (0.18%) CentOS
8 6 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.15%) Apple iOS
9 5 (0.15%) Windows Server
10 3 (0.088%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.058%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.058%) SafeRTOS
11 2 (0.058%) Unix
11 2 (0.058%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.058%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.058%) zOS
12 1 (0.029%) ThreadX
12 1 (0.029%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,382 (98.74%) Software Engineering
2 411 (12.00%) Agile
3 364 (10.63%) Full-Stack Development
4 297 (8.67%) CI/CD
5 256 (7.47%) AI
6 247 (7.21%) DevOps
7 212 (6.19%) Mentoring
8 193 (5.64%) Microservices
9 188 (5.49%) Problem-Solving
10 176 (5.14%) Continuous Improvement
11 171 (4.99%) Computer Science
12 170 (4.96%) Test Automation
13 161 (4.70%) SDLC
14 123 (3.59%) Containerisation
15 115 (3.36%) TDD
16 112 (3.27%) Scrum
17 105 (3.07%) Software Architecture
18 96 (2.80%) Software Testing
19 89 (2.60%) Code Quality
20 86 (2.51%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 571 (16.67%) C++
2 529 (15.45%) C#
3 439 (12.82%) Python
4 298 (8.70%) Java
5 260 (7.59%) C
6 256 (7.47%) JavaScript
7 231 (6.74%) TypeScript
8 194 (5.66%) SQL
9 116 (3.39%) Rust
10 58 (1.69%) PHP
11 55 (1.61%) Embedded C
12 49 (1.43%) Go
13 25 (0.73%) Ruby
14 23 (0.67%) Embedded C++
15 19 (0.55%) Bash
16 18 (0.53%) Kotlin
17 17 (0.50%) COBOL
18 14 (0.41%) MATLAB
19 12 (0.35%) Scala
20 8 (0.23%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 314 (9.17%) Security Cleared
2 282 (8.23%) Degree
3 197 (5.75%) SC Cleared
4 129 (3.77%) Computer Science Degree
5 120 (3.50%) DV Cleared
6 51 (1.49%) Master's Degree
7 23 (0.67%) PhD
8 13 (0.38%) DBS Check
9 10 (0.29%) HND
10 8 (0.23%) Azure Certification
10 8 (0.23%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (0.18%) HNC
12 5 (0.15%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.12%) CEH
13 4 (0.12%) Microsoft Certification
13 4 (0.12%) OSCP
14 2 (0.058%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.058%) NVQ Level 3
15 1 (0.029%) Chartered Engineer
15 1 (0.029%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (2.19%) QA
2 20 (0.58%) Accessibility
3 9 (0.26%) IEC 61508
3 9 (0.26%) MISRA
3 9 (0.26%) MISRA C
4 8 (0.23%) IEC 61131
5 4 (0.12%) DO-178B
5 4 (0.12%) ECSS
5 4 (0.12%) ISO 9001
5 4 (0.12%) JTAG
6 3 (0.088%) GAMP
6 3 (0.088%) GDPR
7 2 (0.058%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.029%) Automotive SPICE
8 1 (0.029%) DO-254
8 1 (0.029%) HAZOP
8 1 (0.029%) IEC 62304
8 1 (0.029%) Software Quality Assurance
8 1 (0.029%) WCAG
System Software
1 153 (4.47%) Firmware
2 152 (4.44%) Docker
3 53 (1.55%) Embedded Firmware
4 14 (0.41%) Hyper-V
4 14 (0.41%) KVM
4 14 (0.41%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.088%) QEMU
7 2 (0.058%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 119 (3.47%) Kubernetes
2 80 (2.34%) Terraform
3 33 (0.96%) Ansible
4 7 (0.20%) Functional Safety
4 7 (0.20%) Grafana
4 7 (0.20%) Kibana
4 7 (0.20%) logstash
4 7 (0.20%) Puppet
5 6 (0.18%) Podman
6 3 (0.088%) Plesk
6 3 (0.088%) SCCM
6 3 (0.088%) SCOM
6 3 (0.088%) SCOrch
7 2 (0.058%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.058%) Packer
7 2 (0.058%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 31 (0.91%) Siemens
2 29 (0.85%) Microsoft
3 19 (0.55%) Rockwell
4 17 (0.50%) Google
5 16 (0.47%) Oracle
5 16 (0.47%) VMware
6 12 (0.35%) Salesforce
7 10 (0.29%) Allen-Bradley
8 9 (0.26%) OpenAI
9 6 (0.18%) Atlassian
9 6 (0.18%) Red Hat
9 6 (0.18%) SaltStack
9 6 (0.18%) Splunk
9 6 (0.18%) Xamarin
10 5 (0.15%) Okta
10 5 (0.15%) Ping Identity
11 4 (0.12%) Atmel
11 4 (0.12%) Peregrine
12 3 (0.088%) Adobe
12 3 (0.088%) Intel