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 £69,305 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 23 September 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 64 16
Rank change year-on-year +42 -48 +46
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 4,379 1,319 4,042
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.12% 3.87% 7.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.49% 4.33% 7.93%
Number of salaries quoted 3,454 492 2,281
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £39,800
25th Percentile £55,000 £55,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £69,305 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.62% +18.18% -8.33%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £69,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% +23.08% -3.74%

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 79,733 30,447 50,940
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.25% 89.28% 95.26%
Number of salaries quoted 55,193 17,292 29,426
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,946 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £59,250 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.73% - -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 23 September 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 23 September 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 +27 1,065 £70,000 +3.70% 406
South East +95 1,030 £65,000 -7.14% 370
South West +41 895 £70,000 +7.69% 337
North West +16 602 £71,250 -5.00% 256
East of England +108 584 £70,000 +7.69% 305
Midlands +58 444 £65,000 - 214
Yorkshire +76 262 £60,000 - 101
East Midlands +39 248 £55,000 -18.52% 110
Scotland -2 208 £76,250 +22.00% 315
North East +22 201 £70,000 +23.89% 49
West Midlands +47 196 £68,403 +9.44% 104
Wales +15 140 £60,000 +9.09% 36
Northern Ireland - 14 £90,000 - 69
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 23 September 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 4,344 (99.20%) Software Engineering
2 675 (15.41%) C++
3 620 (14.16%) C#
4 540 (12.33%) Agile
5 539 (12.31%) Python
6 421 (9.61%) AI
7 420 (9.59%) AWS
8 416 (9.50%) Security Cleared
9 374 (8.54%) CI/CD
10 367 (8.38%) Full-Stack Development
11 362 (8.27%) Java
12 309 (7.06%) .NET
13 296 (6.76%) Linux
14 286 (6.53%) Degree
15 281 (6.42%) Azure
16 268 (6.12%) TypeScript
17 266 (6.07%) SC Cleared
18 262 (5.98%) JavaScript
19 250 (5.71%) C
19 250 (5.71%) Mentoring
20 237 (5.41%) DevOps
21 232 (5.30%) Problem-Solving
22 229 (5.23%) React
23 203 (4.64%) SDLC
24 197 (4.50%) Microservices
25 188 (4.29%) Test Automation
26 183 (4.18%) Continuous Improvement
26 183 (4.18%) Docker
27 180 (4.11%) SQL
28 178 (4.06%) DV Cleared

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 29 (0.66%) Apache
2 15 (0.34%) SharePoint Server
3 8 (0.18%) Apache Spark
3 8 (0.18%) FactoryTalk
4 7 (0.16%) Confluence
4 7 (0.16%) WinCC
5 5 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.069%) Apache Solr
6 3 (0.069%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.069%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.069%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.046%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.046%) CMS
7 2 (0.046%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.046%) WordPress
8 1 (0.023%) Cloud Foundry
8 1 (0.023%) OpenStack
Applications
1 18 (0.41%) Lightworks
2 12 (0.27%) Simulink
3 4 (0.091%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.091%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.046%) EPLAN
6 1 (0.023%) CANalyzer
6 1 (0.023%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.023%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
2 3 (0.069%) Visualfiles
3 1 (0.023%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 420 (9.59%) AWS
2 281 (6.42%) Azure
3 142 (3.24%) SaaS
4 111 (2.53%) GCP
5 74 (1.69%) Serverless
6 49 (1.12%) GitHub
7 39 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (0.84%) Firebase
9 30 (0.69%) Anthropic Claude
9 30 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
10 21 (0.48%) GitHub Actions
11 20 (0.46%) AWS CloudFormation
12 19 (0.43%) Amazon EKS
13 18 (0.41%) Amazon S3
14 16 (0.37%) Cloud Run
15 14 (0.32%) OpenShift
16 13 (0.30%) GitHub Copilot
17 11 (0.25%) Slack
18 10 (0.23%) Azure Service Bus
19 9 (0.21%) AWS Step Functions
Communications & Networking
1 72 (1.64%) Wireless
2 37 (0.84%) Ethernet
3 31 (0.71%) Bluetooth
4 27 (0.62%) Modbus
5 25 (0.57%) TCP/IP
6 23 (0.53%) MQTT
7 21 (0.48%) Wi-Fi
8 17 (0.39%) RS-232
8 17 (0.39%) ZigBee
9 15 (0.34%) Profibus
10 13 (0.30%) 5G
11 12 (0.27%) LTE
11 12 (0.27%) RS-485
12 10 (0.23%) ATM
13 8 (0.18%) Internet
14 7 (0.16%) AMQP
14 7 (0.16%) Wireshark
15 4 (0.091%) Software-Defined Radio
16 3 (0.069%) Firewall
16 3 (0.069%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 86 (1.96%) PostgreSQL
2 60 (1.37%) SQL Server
3 51 (1.16%) MongoDB
4 47 (1.07%) NoSQL
5 41 (0.94%) MySQL
6 33 (0.75%) Relational Database
7 20 (0.46%) Redis
8 19 (0.43%) Elasticsearch
9 17 (0.39%) DynamoDB
10 16 (0.37%) Chroma
10 16 (0.37%) Pinecone
11 13 (0.30%) Big Data
12 9 (0.21%) Hadoop
13 7 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.16%) Cloudera CDH
14 4 (0.091%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (0.091%) Data Lake
14 4 (0.091%) FileMaker
14 4 (0.091%) MariaDB
15 3 (0.069%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 147 (3.36%) Git
2 55 (1.26%) GitLab
3 34 (0.78%) Jenkins
4 32 (0.73%) JIRA
5 20 (0.46%) Visual Studio Code
6 18 (0.41%) Claude Code
7 16 (0.37%) Cucumber
7 16 (0.37%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.25%) SonarQube
9 10 (0.23%) JUnit
10 8 (0.18%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.16%) GDB
11 7 (0.16%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.16%) Mockito
11 7 (0.16%) Moq
12 6 (0.14%) CMake
12 6 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
13 5 (0.11%) Eclipse
13 5 (0.11%) Subversion
13 5 (0.11%) Yeoman
General
1 225 (5.14%) Manufacturing
2 219 (5.00%) Electronics
3 199 (4.54%) Social Skills
4 177 (4.04%) Finance
5 127 (2.90%) Aerospace
6 104 (2.37%) Public Sector
7 84 (1.92%) Automotive
8 63 (1.44%) Aviation
9 55 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 50 (1.14%) Analytical Skills
11 35 (0.80%) Retail
12 29 (0.66%) Law
13 27 (0.62%) Games
14 26 (0.59%) Military
14 26 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
15 20 (0.46%) Tech for Good
16 18 (0.41%) Marketing
17 16 (0.37%) Financial Institution
18 15 (0.34%) Organisational Skills
18 15 (0.34%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 309 (7.06%) .NET
2 229 (5.23%) React
3 117 (2.67%) Node.js
4 102 (2.33%) Vue
5 93 (2.12%) Terraform
6 86 (1.96%) WPF
7 82 (1.87%) Spring
8 78 (1.78%) Spring Boot
9 74 (1.69%) AngularJS
10 72 (1.64%) CSS
11 58 (1.32%) RESTful
12 56 (1.28%) REST
13 52 (1.19%) HTML
14 38 (0.87%) Next.js
15 35 (0.80%) React Native
16 33 (0.75%) .NET Core
17 31 (0.71%) Django
18 29 (0.66%) .NET Framework
19 28 (0.64%) Kafka
20 24 (0.55%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 170 (3.88%) Cloud Native
2 131 (2.99%) Embedded Systems
3 125 (2.85%) Robotics
4 105 (2.40%) Algorithms
5 85 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
6 67 (1.53%) AI Agents
6 67 (1.53%) Product Ownership
7 65 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
8 55 (1.26%) IoT
9 49 (1.12%) Greenfield Project
10 41 (0.94%) Public Cloud
11 32 (0.73%) Cyber Threat
12 27 (0.62%) Mobile App
13 25 (0.57%) Data Structures
13 25 (0.57%) Device Driver
13 25 (0.57%) Distributed Computing
14 19 (0.43%) ARM Cortex
15 18 (0.41%) Educational Technology
15 18 (0.41%) NHS
16 16 (0.37%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 296 (6.76%) Linux
2 72 (1.64%) Windows
3 60 (1.37%) Embedded Linux
4 33 (0.75%) Android
5 31 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
6 12 (0.27%) Debian
7 10 (0.23%) Apple iOS
8 9 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (0.21%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.16%) CentOS
9 7 (0.16%) VxWorks
10 5 (0.11%) Unix
10 5 (0.11%) Windows Server
11 3 (0.069%) Gentoo
12 2 (0.046%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.046%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.046%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.023%) SafeRTOS
13 1 (0.023%) ThreadX
13 1 (0.023%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 4,344 (99.20%) Software Engineering
2 540 (12.33%) Agile
3 421 (9.61%) AI
4 374 (8.54%) CI/CD
5 367 (8.38%) Full-Stack Development
6 250 (5.71%) Mentoring
7 237 (5.41%) DevOps
8 232 (5.30%) Problem-Solving
9 203 (4.64%) SDLC
10 197 (4.50%) Microservices
11 188 (4.29%) Test Automation
12 183 (4.18%) Continuous Improvement
13 173 (3.95%) Computer Science
14 145 (3.31%) Software Architecture
15 131 (2.99%) Code Quality
16 127 (2.90%) Technical Leadership
17 125 (2.85%) Containerisation
18 113 (2.58%) Machine Learning
19 110 (2.51%) Software Testing
20 96 (2.19%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 675 (15.41%) C++
2 620 (14.16%) C#
3 539 (12.31%) Python
4 362 (8.27%) Java
5 268 (6.12%) TypeScript
6 262 (5.98%) JavaScript
7 250 (5.71%) C
8 180 (4.11%) SQL
9 124 (2.83%) Rust
10 71 (1.62%) Go
11 58 (1.32%) PHP
12 41 (0.94%) Embedded C
13 30 (0.69%) Ruby
14 29 (0.66%) Embedded C++
15 26 (0.59%) Ada
16 21 (0.48%) MATLAB
17 20 (0.46%) Bash
18 18 (0.41%) Kotlin
19 13 (0.30%) COBOL
19 13 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 416 (9.50%) Security Cleared
2 286 (6.53%) Degree
3 266 (6.07%) SC Cleared
4 178 (4.06%) DV Cleared
5 126 (2.88%) Computer Science Degree
6 53 (1.21%) Master's Degree
7 35 (0.80%) BPSS Clearance
8 29 (0.66%) PhD
9 11 (0.25%) DBS Check
10 8 (0.18%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.14%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.11%) CEH
12 5 (0.11%) OSCP
13 4 (0.091%) HND
13 4 (0.091%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.046%) Numerate Degree
16 1 (0.023%) HNC
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (1.58%) QA
2 47 (1.07%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.23%) IEC 61131
4 7 (0.16%) MISRA
4 7 (0.16%) MISRA C
5 6 (0.14%) IEC 61508
5 6 (0.14%) JTAG
6 5 (0.11%) DO-178B
6 5 (0.11%) WCAG
7 4 (0.091%) Data Quality
7 4 (0.091%) ECSS
8 3 (0.069%) Automotive SPICE
8 3 (0.069%) GAMP
8 3 (0.069%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.069%) MIL-STD-1553
9 2 (0.046%) AUTOSAR
9 2 (0.046%) GDPR
9 2 (0.046%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.023%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.023%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 183 (4.18%) Docker
2 166 (3.79%) Firmware
3 51 (1.16%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.14%) QEMU
5 4 (0.091%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.046%) Active Directory
6 2 (0.046%) KVM
6 2 (0.046%) VMware Infrastructure
7 1 (0.023%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.023%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.023%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 149 (3.40%) Kubernetes
2 45 (1.03%) Ansible
3 15 (0.34%) Grafana
4 10 (0.23%) Podman
5 9 (0.21%) Puppet
6 8 (0.18%) Kibana
6 8 (0.18%) logstash
7 6 (0.14%) Functional Safety
8 4 (0.091%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.069%) Plesk
9 3 (0.069%) SCCM
9 3 (0.069%) SCOM
9 3 (0.069%) SCOrch
10 2 (0.046%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.046%) Packer
10 2 (0.046%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 36 (0.82%) Microsoft
2 35 (0.80%) Siemens
3 21 (0.48%) Google
4 18 (0.41%) Salesforce
5 14 (0.32%) Okta
5 14 (0.32%) Ping Identity
5 14 (0.32%) Rockwell
6 13 (0.30%) Databricks
7 12 (0.27%) Oracle
7 12 (0.27%) Splunk
8 11 (0.25%) RedGate
9 10 (0.23%) OpenAI
10 9 (0.21%) Red Hat
11 8 (0.18%) Sage
12 7 (0.16%) Allen-Bradley
12 7 (0.16%) SaltStack
13 6 (0.14%) Intel
14 5 (0.11%) Atlassian
14 5 (0.11%) IBM
14 5 (0.11%) Xamarin