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 12 May 2026.

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

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 50 16
Rank change year-on-year +18 -34 +51
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,766 1,476 5,943
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.23% 5.14% 8.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.52% 5.77% 9.12%
Number of salaries quoted 2,181 867 3,136
10th Percentile £45,000 £41,250 £38,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £50,000 £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 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £72,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -3.45% +20.83% -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 61,261 25,599 65,135
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.60% 89.06% 94.72%
Number of salaries quoted 40,321 14,589 47,499
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,750 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
75th Percentile £68,750 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,446
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,670 £52,550
% change year-on-year -4.63% +9.74% -12.42%

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 12 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 12 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 +65 735 £65,000 - 245
North of England -10 667 £65,000 - 160
South West +28 521 £65,000 +8.33% 103
North West -9 400 £65,000 -3.70% 77
East of England +40 306 £70,000 +5.73% 113
Midlands +12 256 £65,000 +8.33% 75
Scotland +1 199 £65,000 +6.12% 33
Yorkshire +10 190 £62,500 - 53
West Midlands +14 136 £70,000 +16.67% 42
East Midlands +8 120 £60,000 +6.67% 33
North East -10 77 £60,000 +9.09% 32
Wales -1 65 £40,000 -40.74% 15
Northern Ireland -20 18 £90,000 - 4
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 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 2,733 (98.81%) Software Engineering
2 402 (14.53%) C++
3 367 (13.27%) C#
4 331 (11.97%) Python
5 309 (11.17%) Agile
6 299 (10.81%) Full-Stack Development
7 267 (9.65%) .NET
8 261 (9.44%) AWS
9 252 (9.11%) Security Cleared
10 236 (8.53%) Java
11 205 (7.41%) Degree
12 203 (7.34%) CI/CD
13 201 (7.27%) C
14 188 (6.80%) DevOps
15 186 (6.72%) JavaScript
16 173 (6.25%) Azure
17 171 (6.18%) TypeScript
18 159 (5.75%) React
19 158 (5.71%) SC Cleared
20 153 (5.53%) Linux
21 143 (5.17%) AI
22 142 (5.13%) SaaS
23 141 (5.10%) SQL
24 139 (5.03%) Continuous Improvement
25 136 (4.92%) Mentoring
26 129 (4.66%) Problem-Solving
27 124 (4.48%) Firmware
28 121 (4.37%) Microservices
29 119 (4.30%) Test Automation
30 114 (4.12%) Computer Science

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 11 (0.40%) Apache
2 7 (0.25%) FactoryTalk
3 6 (0.22%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.22%) CMS
4 5 (0.18%) Confluence
5 4 (0.14%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.14%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.072%) WinCC
6 2 (0.072%) WordPress
7 1 (0.036%) ArchestrA
7 1 (0.036%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.036%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.036%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.14%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.11%) CANalyzer
3 2 (0.072%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.072%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.072%) Simulink
4 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.36%) Magento
2 2 (0.072%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 261 (9.44%) AWS
2 173 (6.25%) Azure
3 142 (5.13%) SaaS
4 52 (1.88%) Serverless
5 49 (1.77%) GCP
6 24 (0.87%) GitHub
7 20 (0.72%) Azure AKS
8 19 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
8 19 (0.69%) Azure DevOps
9 13 (0.47%) Amazon EKS
9 13 (0.47%) Amazon S3
10 10 (0.36%) Anthropic Claude
10 10 (0.36%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (0.29%) Stripe
12 7 (0.25%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (0.22%) Azure Functions
14 5 (0.18%) Amazon ECS
14 5 (0.18%) Figma
15 4 (0.14%) Amazon OpenSearch
15 4 (0.14%) Apigee
Communications & Networking
1 43 (1.55%) Wireless
2 30 (1.08%) Ethernet
3 19 (0.69%) RS-232
4 15 (0.54%) Bluetooth
5 14 (0.51%) Modbus
6 8 (0.29%) Network Security
6 8 (0.29%) TCP/IP
7 7 (0.25%) Broadband
7 7 (0.25%) Profibus
7 7 (0.25%) ZigBee
8 6 (0.22%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (0.18%) LTE
10 4 (0.14%) AMQP
10 4 (0.14%) RS-485
11 3 (0.11%) DNS
11 3 (0.11%) HTTP
11 3 (0.11%) SMTP
11 3 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
12 2 (0.072%) RTP
12 2 (0.072%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (1.84%) SQL Server
2 43 (1.55%) NoSQL
3 41 (1.48%) PostgreSQL
4 31 (1.12%) MongoDB
5 25 (0.90%) MySQL
6 22 (0.80%) Elasticsearch
7 12 (0.43%) Relational Database
8 11 (0.40%) Big Data
8 11 (0.40%) Neo4j
9 8 (0.29%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.25%) Redis
11 6 (0.22%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.18%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.14%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.14%) DocumentDB
13 4 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
13 4 (0.14%) GIS
13 4 (0.14%) QGIS
14 3 (0.11%) MariaDB
15 2 (0.072%) Easytrieve
Development Applications
1 83 (3.00%) Git
2 27 (0.98%) GitLab
3 20 (0.72%) Visual Studio Code
4 16 (0.58%) Jenkins
5 15 (0.54%) Claude Code
6 13 (0.47%) JIRA
7 9 (0.33%) JUnit
7 9 (0.33%) Visual Studio
8 7 (0.25%) Moq
8 7 (0.25%) Subversion
9 5 (0.18%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.18%) Eclipse
9 5 (0.18%) SonarQube
9 5 (0.18%) Yeoman
10 4 (0.14%) Cucumber
10 4 (0.14%) Gradle
10 4 (0.14%) LabVIEW
10 4 (0.14%) Maven
10 4 (0.14%) Postman
11 3 (0.11%) Cypress.io
General
1 138 (4.99%) Manufacturing
2 113 (4.09%) Electronics
2 113 (4.09%) Social Skills
3 69 (2.49%) Aerospace
4 68 (2.46%) Automotive
5 61 (2.21%) Finance
6 43 (1.55%) Public Sector
7 40 (1.45%) Analytical Skills
7 40 (1.45%) Pharmaceutical
8 21 (0.76%) Aviation
8 21 (0.76%) Retail
9 18 (0.65%) Games
10 17 (0.61%) Tech for Good
11 15 (0.54%) Military
12 13 (0.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 9 (0.33%) Health Technology
14 8 (0.29%) Telecoms
15 7 (0.25%) Advertising
15 7 (0.25%) Agriculture
16 6 (0.22%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 267 (9.65%) .NET
2 159 (5.75%) React
3 87 (3.15%) Node.js
4 75 (2.71%) Vue
5 73 (2.64%) AngularJS
6 68 (2.46%) REST
7 49 (1.77%) RESTful
8 44 (1.59%) .NET Core
9 43 (1.55%) Spring
10 41 (1.48%) HTML
11 39 (1.41%) CSS
12 37 (1.34%) .NET Framework
12 37 (1.34%) Spring Boot
13 34 (1.23%) WPF
14 22 (0.80%) Django
15 21 (0.76%) Web Services
16 20 (0.72%) Entity Framework
17 18 (0.65%) ASP.NET
18 17 (0.61%) Qt
19 16 (0.58%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 110 (3.98%) Cloud Native
2 83 (3.00%) Embedded Systems
3 64 (2.31%) Algorithms
4 51 (1.84%) IoT
5 48 (1.74%) Product Ownership
6 41 (1.48%) Robotics
7 34 (1.23%) Distributed Systems
8 20 (0.72%) Device Driver
8 20 (0.72%) Legacy Systems
8 20 (0.72%) Mobile App
9 19 (0.69%) Client/Server
10 17 (0.61%) Smart Energy
11 16 (0.58%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (0.54%) CAN bus
12 15 (0.54%) Educational Technology
12 15 (0.54%) Hedge funds
13 14 (0.51%) Industry 4.0
14 13 (0.47%) e-Learning
15 12 (0.43%) Distributed Computing
15 12 (0.43%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 153 (5.53%) Linux
2 37 (1.34%) Android
2 37 (1.34%) Embedded Linux
3 28 (1.01%) Windows
4 19 (0.69%) FreeRTOS
5 5 (0.18%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.14%) CentOS
6 4 (0.14%) Debian
6 4 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.14%) Ubuntu
6 4 (0.14%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.072%) SafeRTOS
7 2 (0.072%) zOS
8 1 (0.036%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.036%) ThreadX
8 1 (0.036%) Unix
8 1 (0.036%) VxWorks
8 1 (0.036%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.036%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,733 (98.81%) Software Engineering
2 309 (11.17%) Agile
3 299 (10.81%) Full-Stack Development
4 203 (7.34%) CI/CD
5 188 (6.80%) DevOps
6 143 (5.17%) AI
7 139 (5.03%) Continuous Improvement
8 136 (4.92%) Mentoring
9 129 (4.66%) Problem-Solving
10 121 (4.37%) Microservices
11 119 (4.30%) Test Automation
12 114 (4.12%) Computer Science
12 114 (4.12%) SDLC
13 95 (3.43%) Scrum
14 87 (3.15%) Containerisation
15 83 (3.00%) TDD
16 73 (2.64%) Software Testing
17 71 (2.57%) Embedded Software Development
18 63 (2.28%) Technical Leadership
19 60 (2.17%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 402 (14.53%) C++
2 367 (13.27%) C#
3 331 (11.97%) Python
4 236 (8.53%) Java
5 201 (7.27%) C
6 186 (6.72%) JavaScript
7 171 (6.18%) TypeScript
8 141 (5.10%) SQL
9 67 (2.42%) Rust
10 50 (1.81%) Embedded C
11 48 (1.74%) PHP
12 29 (1.05%) Go
13 21 (0.76%) Kotlin
14 17 (0.61%) COBOL
15 15 (0.54%) Embedded C++
15 15 (0.54%) Ruby
16 12 (0.43%) Bash
17 11 (0.40%) Ada
18 10 (0.36%) PL/SQL
18 10 (0.36%) Scala
Qualifications
1 252 (9.11%) Security Cleared
2 205 (7.41%) Degree
3 158 (5.71%) SC Cleared
4 93 (3.36%) Computer Science Degree
5 83 (3.00%) DV Cleared
6 34 (1.23%) Master's Degree
7 15 (0.54%) DBS Check
7 15 (0.54%) PhD
8 10 (0.36%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (0.25%) Chartered Engineer
9 7 (0.25%) HND
10 6 (0.22%) HNC
11 5 (0.18%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.11%) CEH
12 3 (0.11%) OSCP
13 2 (0.072%) AWS Certification
13 2 (0.072%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (0.072%) NVQ Level 3
13 2 (0.072%) PMI Certification
14 1 (0.036%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (2.13%) QA
2 17 (0.61%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.58%) Accessibility
3 16 (0.58%) MISRA
3 16 (0.58%) MISRA C
4 7 (0.25%) IEC 61131
5 6 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 12207
6 4 (0.14%) GDPR
6 4 (0.14%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.11%) DO-178B
8 2 (0.072%) JTAG
9 1 (0.036%) DO-254
9 1 (0.036%) ECSS
9 1 (0.036%) HAZOP
9 1 (0.036%) IEC 62304
9 1 (0.036%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.036%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.036%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 124 (4.48%) Firmware
2 96 (3.47%) Docker
3 38 (1.37%) Embedded Firmware
4 13 (0.47%) Hyper-V
4 13 (0.47%) KVM
4 13 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.11%) QEMU
7 2 (0.072%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 83 (3.00%) Kubernetes
2 55 (1.99%) Terraform
3 13 (0.47%) Functional Safety
4 11 (0.40%) Ansible
5 5 (0.18%) Kibana
6 4 (0.14%) Grafana
6 4 (0.14%) logstash
6 4 (0.14%) Puppet
7 3 (0.11%) Plesk
7 3 (0.11%) SCCM
7 3 (0.11%) SCOM
7 3 (0.11%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.072%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.072%) Packer
8 2 (0.072%) Podman
8 2 (0.072%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 22 (0.80%) Siemens
2 19 (0.69%) Microsoft
3 17 (0.61%) Oracle
3 17 (0.61%) Rockwell
4 15 (0.54%) VMware
5 14 (0.51%) Google
6 13 (0.47%) Adobe
7 8 (0.29%) Allen-Bradley
7 8 (0.29%) HubSpot
7 8 (0.29%) Salesforce
8 5 (0.18%) Xamarin
9 4 (0.14%) Atlassian
9 4 (0.14%) Atmel
9 4 (0.14%) Peregrine
9 4 (0.14%) Red Hat
9 4 (0.14%) SaltStack
10 3 (0.11%) OpenAI
10 3 (0.11%) Palantir
10 3 (0.11%) Typelevel
10 3 (0.11%) Wonderware