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 £67,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 21 September 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 64 16
Rank change year-on-year +41 -48 +52
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 4,342 1,328 4,240
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.10% 3.88% 7.71%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.46% 4.35% 8.09%
Number of salaries quoted 3,440 502 2,395
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £55,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £55,500
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% +17.12% -7.50%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £69,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £64,744
% change year-on-year -12.50% +23.56% -4.08%

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 79,517 30,557 52,395
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.32% 89.30% 95.23%
Number of salaries quoted 55,009 17,386 30,486
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £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 £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.27% - -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 21 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 21 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 +28 1,066 £70,000 +2.19% 409
South East +91 1,024 £65,000 -7.14% 368
South West +41 881 £69,250 +6.54% 327
North West +14 600 £73,750 -1.67% 264
East of England +104 575 £70,000 +7.69% 358
Midlands +59 445 £65,000 - 214
Yorkshire +76 265 £60,000 - 98
East Midlands +40 247 £55,000 -18.52% 118
North East +25 201 £70,000 +23.89% 52
West Midlands +36 198 £67,500 +8.00% 96
Scotland -4 197 £80,000 +25.98% 337
Wales +20 141 £60,000 +9.09% 23
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 21 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 4,306 (99.17%) Software Engineering
2 669 (15.41%) C++
3 619 (14.26%) C#
4 535 (12.32%) Python
5 526 (12.11%) Agile
6 415 (9.56%) Security Cleared
7 413 (9.51%) AI
8 412 (9.49%) AWS
9 370 (8.52%) CI/CD
10 366 (8.43%) Full-Stack Development
11 353 (8.13%) Java
12 305 (7.02%) .NET
13 293 (6.75%) Linux
14 285 (6.56%) Degree
15 274 (6.31%) Azure
16 266 (6.13%) SC Cleared
17 263 (6.06%) JavaScript
18 259 (5.96%) TypeScript
19 252 (5.80%) C
20 246 (5.67%) Mentoring
21 233 (5.37%) DevOps
22 228 (5.25%) Problem-Solving
23 221 (5.09%) React
24 201 (4.63%) SDLC
25 190 (4.38%) Microservices
26 187 (4.31%) Test Automation
27 178 (4.10%) Docker
27 178 (4.10%) DV Cleared
27 178 (4.10%) SQL
28 177 (4.08%) 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 29 (0.67%) Apache
2 15 (0.35%) 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 (0.12%) 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 (0.28%) Simulink
3 4 (0.092%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.092%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.046%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.046%) EPLAN
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
1 412 (9.49%) AWS
2 274 (6.31%) Azure
3 142 (3.27%) SaaS
4 106 (2.44%) GCP
5 72 (1.66%) Serverless
6 47 (1.08%) GitHub
7 38 (0.88%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (0.85%) Firebase
9 29 (0.67%) Anthropic Claude
9 29 (0.67%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (0.46%) AWS CloudFormation
10 20 (0.46%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
12 17 (0.39%) Amazon S3
13 16 (0.37%) Cloud Run
14 14 (0.32%) OpenShift
15 12 (0.28%) GitHub Copilot
16 11 (0.25%) Slack
17 9 (0.21%) AWS Step Functions
17 9 (0.21%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 71 (1.64%) Wireless
2 37 (0.85%) Ethernet
3 31 (0.71%) Bluetooth
4 27 (0.62%) Modbus
5 25 (0.58%) TCP/IP
6 21 (0.48%) MQTT
6 21 (0.48%) Wi-Fi
7 17 (0.39%) RS-232
7 17 (0.39%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.35%) Profibus
9 13 (0.30%) 5G
10 12 (0.28%) LTE
10 12 (0.28%) RS-485
11 10 (0.23%) ATM
12 8 (0.18%) Internet
13 7 (0.16%) AMQP
13 7 (0.16%) Wireshark
14 4 (0.092%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.069%) Firewall
15 3 (0.069%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 85 (1.96%) PostgreSQL
2 59 (1.36%) SQL Server
3 51 (1.17%) MongoDB
4 46 (1.06%) NoSQL
5 41 (0.94%) MySQL
6 32 (0.74%) Relational Database
7 20 (0.46%) Redis
8 19 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
9 16 (0.37%) Chroma
9 16 (0.37%) DynamoDB
9 16 (0.37%) Pinecone
10 13 (0.30%) Big Data
11 9 (0.21%) Hadoop
12 7 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
12 7 (0.16%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.092%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.092%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.092%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.092%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.069%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 145 (3.34%) Git
2 54 (1.24%) GitLab
3 33 (0.76%) Jenkins
4 32 (0.74%) JIRA
5 20 (0.46%) Visual Studio Code
6 17 (0.39%) 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 (0.12%) Eclipse
13 5 (0.12%) Subversion
13 5 (0.12%) Yeoman
General
1 226 (5.20%) Manufacturing
2 217 (5.00%) Electronics
3 196 (4.51%) Social Skills
4 166 (3.82%) Finance
5 125 (2.88%) Aerospace
6 104 (2.40%) Public Sector
7 83 (1.91%) Automotive
8 62 (1.43%) Aviation
9 55 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 50 (1.15%) Analytical Skills
11 35 (0.81%) Retail
12 29 (0.67%) Law
13 26 (0.60%) Games
13 26 (0.60%) Military
13 26 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
14 18 (0.41%) Marketing
14 18 (0.41%) Tech for Good
15 15 (0.35%) Organisational Skills
15 15 (0.35%) Telecoms
16 14 (0.32%) Financial Institution
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 305 (7.02%) .NET
2 221 (5.09%) React
3 117 (2.69%) Node.js
4 99 (2.28%) Vue
5 92 (2.12%) Terraform
6 86 (1.98%) WPF
7 79 (1.82%) Spring
8 75 (1.73%) Spring Boot
9 71 (1.64%) AngularJS
10 70 (1.61%) CSS
11 55 (1.27%) RESTful
12 54 (1.24%) REST
13 50 (1.15%) HTML
14 38 (0.88%) Next.js
15 35 (0.81%) React Native
16 31 (0.71%) .NET Core
17 30 (0.69%) Django
18 28 (0.64%) .NET Framework
19 24 (0.55%) Kafka
19 24 (0.55%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 167 (3.85%) Cloud Native
2 133 (3.06%) Embedded Systems
3 122 (2.81%) Robotics
4 105 (2.42%) Algorithms
5 84 (1.93%) Legacy Systems
6 67 (1.54%) AI Agents
6 67 (1.54%) Product Ownership
7 63 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
8 56 (1.29%) IoT
9 48 (1.11%) Greenfield Project
10 40 (0.92%) Public Cloud
11 30 (0.69%) Cyber Threat
12 27 (0.62%) Mobile App
13 26 (0.60%) Distributed Computing
14 25 (0.58%) Data Structures
14 25 (0.58%) Device Driver
15 20 (0.46%) ARM Cortex
16 18 (0.41%) Educational Technology
17 17 (0.39%) NHS
18 16 (0.37%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 293 (6.75%) Linux
2 71 (1.64%) Windows
3 60 (1.38%) Embedded Linux
4 32 (0.74%) FreeRTOS
5 31 (0.71%) Android
6 12 (0.28%) Debian
7 9 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (0.21%) Ubuntu
8 8 (0.18%) Apple iOS
9 7 (0.16%) CentOS
9 7 (0.16%) VxWorks
10 5 (0.12%) Unix
10 5 (0.12%) 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 4,306 (99.17%) Software Engineering
2 526 (12.11%) Agile
3 413 (9.51%) AI
4 370 (8.52%) CI/CD
5 366 (8.43%) Full-Stack Development
6 246 (5.67%) Mentoring
7 233 (5.37%) DevOps
8 228 (5.25%) Problem-Solving
9 201 (4.63%) SDLC
10 190 (4.38%) Microservices
11 187 (4.31%) Test Automation
12 177 (4.08%) Continuous Improvement
13 172 (3.96%) Computer Science
14 141 (3.25%) Software Architecture
15 126 (2.90%) Code Quality
15 126 (2.90%) Technical Leadership
16 121 (2.79%) Containerisation
17 111 (2.56%) Machine Learning
17 111 (2.56%) Software Testing
18 98 (2.26%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 669 (15.41%) C++
2 619 (14.26%) C#
3 535 (12.32%) Python
4 353 (8.13%) Java
5 263 (6.06%) JavaScript
6 259 (5.96%) TypeScript
7 252 (5.80%) C
8 178 (4.10%) SQL
9 121 (2.79%) Rust
10 71 (1.64%) Go
11 58 (1.34%) PHP
12 42 (0.97%) Embedded C
13 30 (0.69%) Ruby
14 29 (0.67%) Embedded C++
15 26 (0.60%) Ada
16 21 (0.48%) MATLAB
17 20 (0.46%) Bash
18 17 (0.39%) Kotlin
19 16 (0.37%) COBOL
20 13 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 415 (9.56%) Security Cleared
2 285 (6.56%) Degree
3 266 (6.13%) SC Cleared
4 178 (4.10%) DV Cleared
5 126 (2.90%) Computer Science Degree
6 53 (1.22%) Master's Degree
7 34 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
8 29 (0.67%) PhD
9 11 (0.25%) DBS Check
10 8 (0.18%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.14%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.12%) CEH
12 5 (0.12%) HND
12 5 (0.12%) OSCP
13 4 (0.092%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.046%) HNC
15 2 (0.046%) Numerate Degree
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (1.57%) QA
2 50 (1.15%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.23%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.18%) MISRA
4 8 (0.18%) MISRA C
5 7 (0.16%) IEC 61508
6 6 (0.14%) JTAG
7 5 (0.12%) DO-178B
8 4 (0.092%) Data Quality
8 4 (0.092%) ECSS
8 4 (0.092%) WCAG
9 3 (0.069%) Automotive SPICE
9 3 (0.069%) GAMP
9 3 (0.069%) ISO 26262
9 3 (0.069%) MIL-STD-1553
10 2 (0.046%) AUTOSAR
10 2 (0.046%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 1 (0.023%) GDPR
11 1 (0.023%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.023%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 178 (4.10%) Docker
2 167 (3.85%) Firmware
3 51 (1.17%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.14%) QEMU
5 4 (0.092%) 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
1 143 (3.29%) Kubernetes
2 45 (1.04%) Ansible
3 15 (0.35%) 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 (0.092%) 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
11 1 (0.023%) Packer
11 1 (0.023%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 36 (0.83%) Microsoft
2 35 (0.81%) 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 (0.28%) Oracle
7 12 (0.28%) Splunk
8 10 (0.23%) OpenAI
8 10 (0.23%) RedGate
9 9 (0.21%) Red Hat
10 8 (0.18%) Sage
11 7 (0.16%) Allen-Bradley
11 7 (0.16%) SaltStack
12 6 (0.14%) Atlassian
12 6 (0.14%) Intel
13 5 (0.12%) IBM
13 5 (0.12%) Xamarin