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 27 May 2026.

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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 51 16
Rank change year-on-year +21 -35 +50
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,948 1,372 6,153
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.38% 4.84% 8.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.67% 5.45% 9.13%
Number of salaries quoted 2,347 714 3,287
10th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £38,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £51,698 £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 £78,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £75,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -6.67% +25.00% -14.29%

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 63,080 25,190 67,391
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.78% 88.95% 94.85%
Number of salaries quoted 42,046 13,312 49,098
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,250 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £35,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £51,058 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.07% +2.12% -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £76,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -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 27 May 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 27 May 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 +85 808 £65,000 - 199
North of England +1 751 £65,000 -3.70% 204
South West +28 515 £65,000 +4.00% 146
North West -4 436 £67,500 -10.00% 130
East of England +43 317 £70,000 +5.73% 106
Midlands +31 280 £65,000 +8.33% 79
Yorkshire +44 219 £65,000 -13.33% 42
Scotland +1 187 £65,000 +4.00% 35
West Midlands +17 155 £70,000 +16.67% 47
East Midlands +5 125 £55,000 -15.38% 32
North East 0 96 £69,305 +26.01% 34
Wales -2 73 £42,000 -38.24% 16
Northern Ireland -20 18 £90,000 +80.00% 24
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 27 May 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 2,912 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 450 (15.26%) C++
3 429 (14.55%) C#
4 357 (12.11%) Python
5 353 (11.97%) Agile
6 330 (11.19%) Full-Stack Development
7 317 (10.75%) AWS
8 306 (10.38%) .NET
9 269 (9.12%) Security Cleared
10 263 (8.92%) Java
11 245 (8.31%) CI/CD
12 235 (7.97%) Degree
13 224 (7.60%) JavaScript
14 220 (7.46%) DevOps
15 217 (7.36%) C
16 216 (7.33%) Azure
17 184 (6.24%) TypeScript
18 176 (5.97%) Linux
19 173 (5.87%) React
20 172 (5.83%) Mentoring
21 169 (5.73%) AI
22 167 (5.66%) SC Cleared
23 162 (5.50%) SaaS
24 161 (5.46%) Continuous Improvement
25 160 (5.43%) SQL
26 157 (5.33%) Microservices
27 152 (5.16%) Problem-Solving
28 140 (4.75%) Firmware
29 138 (4.68%) SDLC
29 138 (4.68%) Test Automation

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 15 (0.51%) SharePoint Server
2 14 (0.47%) Apache
3 8 (0.27%) FactoryTalk
4 7 (0.24%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.14%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.14%) CMS
5 4 (0.14%) Confluence
5 4 (0.14%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.10%) WinCC
7 2 (0.068%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.068%) WordPress
8 1 (0.034%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.034%) Kinematics
8 1 (0.034%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.10%) CANalyzer
2 3 (0.10%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.068%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.034%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.034%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.034%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.34%) Magento
2 2 (0.068%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 317 (10.75%) AWS
2 216 (7.33%) Azure
3 162 (5.50%) SaaS
4 65 (2.20%) Serverless
5 56 (1.90%) GCP
6 32 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
6 32 (1.09%) GitHub
7 25 (0.85%) AWS Lambda
8 20 (0.68%) Amazon S3
8 20 (0.68%) Azure AKS
9 16 (0.54%) Anthropic Claude
10 14 (0.47%) Amazon EKS
11 13 (0.44%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (0.37%) GitHub Actions
13 8 (0.27%) Amazon ECS
13 8 (0.27%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 7 (0.24%) Stripe
15 6 (0.20%) Amazon EC2
15 6 (0.20%) AWS Step Functions
15 6 (0.20%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 45 (1.53%) Wireless
2 32 (1.09%) Ethernet
3 21 (0.71%) RS-232
4 19 (0.64%) Bluetooth
5 18 (0.61%) Modbus
6 11 (0.37%) ZigBee
7 10 (0.34%) Profibus
8 9 (0.31%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.31%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (0.27%) MQTT
9 8 (0.27%) Network Security
10 7 (0.24%) Broadband
11 6 (0.20%) LTE
11 6 (0.20%) RS-485
12 5 (0.17%) AMQP
13 4 (0.14%) Software-Defined Radio
14 3 (0.10%) Software-Defined Networking
14 3 (0.10%) Wireshark
15 2 (0.068%) RTP
16 1 (0.034%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (1.87%) NoSQL
1 55 (1.87%) SQL Server
2 54 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
3 42 (1.42%) MongoDB
4 34 (1.15%) MySQL
5 20 (0.68%) Elasticsearch
6 14 (0.47%) Big Data
6 14 (0.47%) Relational Database
7 12 (0.41%) DynamoDB
8 9 (0.31%) Neo4j
9 8 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
10 7 (0.24%) Hadoop
10 7 (0.24%) Redis
11 5 (0.17%) Cloudera CDH
11 5 (0.17%) FileMaker
12 4 (0.14%) DocumentDB
12 4 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
12 4 (0.14%) GIS
12 4 (0.14%) QGIS
13 3 (0.10%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 101 (3.43%) Git
2 31 (1.05%) GitLab
3 21 (0.71%) Visual Studio Code
4 19 (0.64%) Claude Code
4 19 (0.64%) Jenkins
5 13 (0.44%) JIRA
6 12 (0.41%) Visual Studio
7 8 (0.27%) JUnit
8 7 (0.24%) Moq
8 7 (0.24%) Subversion
9 6 (0.20%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.20%) Yeoman
10 5 (0.17%) Cucumber
10 5 (0.17%) Eclipse
10 5 (0.17%) GDB
11 4 (0.14%) Bitbucket
11 4 (0.14%) Gradle
11 4 (0.14%) LabVIEW
11 4 (0.14%) Maven
11 4 (0.14%) Robot Framework
General
1 152 (5.16%) Manufacturing
2 135 (4.58%) Social Skills
3 128 (4.34%) Electronics
4 74 (2.51%) Aerospace
5 73 (2.48%) Automotive
6 67 (2.27%) Finance
7 63 (2.14%) Public Sector
8 40 (1.36%) Analytical Skills
9 36 (1.22%) Pharmaceutical
10 25 (0.85%) Aviation
11 18 (0.61%) Games
11 18 (0.61%) Retail
12 15 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (0.51%) Military
13 12 (0.41%) Tech for Good
14 10 (0.34%) Telecoms
15 8 (0.27%) Health Technology
15 8 (0.27%) Organisational Skills
16 7 (0.24%) Agriculture
17 6 (0.20%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 306 (10.38%) .NET
2 173 (5.87%) React
3 105 (3.56%) Node.js
4 89 (3.02%) Vue
5 76 (2.58%) AngularJS
6 73 (2.48%) REST
7 62 (2.10%) RESTful
8 49 (1.66%) CSS
8 49 (1.66%) WPF
9 48 (1.63%) .NET Core
9 48 (1.63%) HTML
9 48 (1.63%) Spring
10 43 (1.46%) Spring Boot
11 38 (1.29%) .NET Framework
12 25 (0.85%) Django
13 21 (0.71%) Web Services
14 20 (0.68%) Entity Framework
15 19 (0.64%) ASP.NET
15 19 (0.64%) Yocto
16 17 (0.58%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 117 (3.97%) Cloud Native
2 94 (3.19%) Embedded Systems
3 75 (2.54%) Algorithms
4 57 (1.93%) IoT
5 56 (1.90%) Product Ownership
6 47 (1.59%) Robotics
7 45 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
8 40 (1.36%) Distributed Systems
9 24 (0.81%) Client/Server
9 24 (0.81%) Device Driver
10 22 (0.75%) Mobile App
11 18 (0.61%) Educational Technology
12 17 (0.58%) Hedge funds
13 16 (0.54%) Greenfield Project
13 16 (0.54%) Self-Motivation
14 15 (0.51%) CAN bus
14 15 (0.51%) Data Structures
14 15 (0.51%) Distributed Computing
14 15 (0.51%) Smart Energy
15 14 (0.47%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 176 (5.97%) Linux
2 42 (1.42%) Embedded Linux
3 37 (1.26%) Windows
4 32 (1.09%) Android
5 21 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (0.17%) CentOS
6 5 (0.17%) Debian
6 5 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.17%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.17%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.14%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.068%) SafeRTOS
8 2 (0.068%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.068%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.068%) zOS
9 1 (0.034%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.034%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.034%) Unix
9 1 (0.034%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,912 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 353 (11.97%) Agile
3 330 (11.19%) Full-Stack Development
4 245 (8.31%) CI/CD
5 220 (7.46%) DevOps
6 172 (5.83%) Mentoring
7 169 (5.73%) AI
8 161 (5.46%) Continuous Improvement
9 157 (5.33%) Microservices
10 152 (5.16%) Problem-Solving
11 138 (4.68%) SDLC
11 138 (4.68%) Test Automation
12 125 (4.24%) Computer Science
13 106 (3.60%) Containerisation
14 105 (3.56%) Scrum
15 102 (3.46%) TDD
16 81 (2.75%) Embedded Software Development
17 78 (2.65%) Technical Leadership
18 77 (2.61%) Software Testing
19 73 (2.48%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 450 (15.26%) C++
2 429 (14.55%) C#
3 357 (12.11%) Python
4 263 (8.92%) Java
5 224 (7.60%) JavaScript
6 217 (7.36%) C
7 184 (6.24%) TypeScript
8 160 (5.43%) SQL
9 78 (2.65%) Rust
10 51 (1.73%) Embedded C
10 51 (1.73%) PHP
11 36 (1.22%) Go
12 18 (0.61%) Ruby
13 17 (0.58%) COBOL
13 17 (0.58%) Kotlin
14 15 (0.51%) Bash
14 15 (0.51%) Embedded C++
15 13 (0.44%) Scala
16 7 (0.24%) PL/SQL
16 7 (0.24%) XAML
Qualifications
1 269 (9.12%) Security Cleared
2 235 (7.97%) Degree
3 167 (5.66%) SC Cleared
4 111 (3.77%) Computer Science Degree
5 87 (2.95%) DV Cleared
6 44 (1.49%) Master's Degree
7 21 (0.71%) PhD
8 15 (0.51%) DBS Check
9 9 (0.31%) HND
10 7 (0.24%) Azure Certification
10 7 (0.24%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (0.20%) HNC
12 4 (0.14%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.10%) CEH
13 3 (0.10%) Chartered Engineer
13 3 (0.10%) OSCP
14 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.068%) NVQ Level 3
14 2 (0.068%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (2.27%) QA
2 17 (0.58%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.54%) Accessibility
3 16 (0.54%) MISRA
3 16 (0.54%) MISRA C
4 8 (0.27%) IEC 61131
5 4 (0.14%) GDPR
5 4 (0.14%) ISO 9001
5 4 (0.14%) JTAG
6 3 (0.10%) DO-178B
7 2 (0.068%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 1 (0.034%) DO-254
8 1 (0.034%) ECSS
8 1 (0.034%) HAZOP
8 1 (0.034%) IEC 62304
8 1 (0.034%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.034%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.034%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 140 (4.75%) Firmware
2 115 (3.90%) Docker
3 45 (1.53%) Embedded Firmware
4 14 (0.47%) Hyper-V
4 14 (0.47%) KVM
4 14 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.10%) QEMU
7 2 (0.068%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 95 (3.22%) Kubernetes
2 68 (2.31%) Terraform
3 18 (0.61%) Ansible
4 13 (0.44%) Functional Safety
5 6 (0.20%) Puppet
6 5 (0.17%) Grafana
6 5 (0.17%) Kibana
6 5 (0.17%) logstash
7 3 (0.10%) Plesk
7 3 (0.10%) Podman
7 3 (0.10%) SCCM
7 3 (0.10%) SCOM
7 3 (0.10%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.068%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.068%) Packer
8 2 (0.068%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 26 (0.88%) Siemens
2 22 (0.75%) Microsoft
3 18 (0.61%) Rockwell
4 17 (0.58%) Oracle
5 16 (0.54%) VMware
6 14 (0.47%) Google
7 12 (0.41%) Adobe
8 11 (0.37%) Salesforce
9 9 (0.31%) Allen-Bradley
10 7 (0.24%) HubSpot
11 6 (0.20%) Xamarin
12 5 (0.17%) Red Hat
12 5 (0.17%) SaltStack
13 4 (0.14%) Atlassian
13 4 (0.14%) Atmel
13 4 (0.14%) OpenAI
13 4 (0.14%) Peregrine
14 3 (0.10%) Palantir
14 3 (0.10%) Typelevel
14 3 (0.10%) Wonderware