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 18 March 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 44 25
Rank change year-on-year -8 -19 +32
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,932 1,445 4,622
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.61% 5.27% 7.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.92% 5.85% 8.22%
Number of salaries quoted 1,494 882 2,581
10th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £38,750
25th Percentile £51,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £86,750 £93,778 £82,500
UK median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +16.67% -11.29%

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 49,309 24,700 56,198
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.05% 90.04% 94.79%
Number of salaries quoted 31,303 14,342 42,558
10th Percentile £28,250 £29,750 £26,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £39,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.41% +8.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £64,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -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 18 March 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 18 March 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 -1 473 £65,000 +4.00% 143
South East -2 463 £65,000 +8.33% 173
South West +15 392 £65,000 +8.33% 130
North West +5 250 £65,000 - 63
East of England -16 199 £70,000 +5.70% 77
Scotland -4 176 £65,000 +12.55% 56
Midlands +24 166 £61,250 +8.89% 87
Yorkshire 0 161 £62,500 +2.26% 53
East Midlands -2 84 £60,000 +6.67% 33
West Midlands +17 83 £65,000 +15.56% 54
North East -2 62 £70,000 +27.27% 27
Wales -15 48 £40,000 -40.74% 18
Northern Ireland -30 15 £90,000 - 7
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 18 March 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 1,918 (99.28%) Software Engineering
2 256 (13.25%) C++
3 246 (12.73%) C#
4 240 (12.42%) Agile
5 236 (12.22%) Java
6 227 (11.75%) AWS
7 226 (11.70%) .NET
8 210 (10.87%) Python
9 196 (10.14%) Full-Stack Development
10 181 (9.37%) Security Cleared
11 178 (9.21%) Azure
12 172 (8.90%) CI/CD
13 158 (8.18%) JavaScript
14 157 (8.13%) DevOps
15 156 (8.07%) Degree
16 150 (7.76%) React
17 147 (7.61%) SQL
18 139 (7.19%) TypeScript
19 127 (6.57%) C
20 121 (6.26%) Linux
21 112 (5.80%) Problem-Solving
22 110 (5.69%) Mentoring
23 106 (5.49%) Microservices
24 101 (5.23%) Continuous Improvement
25 98 (5.07%) Kubernetes
25 98 (5.07%) SC Cleared
26 95 (4.92%) SaaS
27 94 (4.87%) Computer Science
28 87 (4.50%) Docker
29 82 (4.24%) AI

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 12 (0.62%) Apache
1 12 (0.62%) IIS
2 7 (0.36%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.31%) CMS
4 5 (0.26%) Confluence
5 3 (0.16%) Apache Solr
5 3 (0.16%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.10%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.052%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.052%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.052%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.052%) Umbraco
Applications
1 4 (0.21%) EngageOne
2 2 (0.10%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.10%) AutoCAD
2 2 (0.10%) EPLAN
2 2 (0.10%) Sketch
3 1 (0.052%) CANalyzer
3 1 (0.052%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.052%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.52%) Magento
2 2 (0.10%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.052%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 227 (11.75%) AWS
2 178 (9.21%) Azure
3 95 (4.92%) SaaS
4 48 (2.48%) GCP
5 46 (2.38%) Serverless
6 31 (1.60%) Azure DevOps
7 29 (1.50%) AWS Lambda
8 23 (1.19%) GitHub
9 22 (1.14%) Amazon EKS
10 21 (1.09%) Amazon S3
10 21 (1.09%) Azure AKS
11 9 (0.47%) OpenShift
12 8 (0.41%) Amazon ECS
12 8 (0.41%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (0.41%) Stripe
13 7 (0.36%) Amazon EC2
14 6 (0.31%) Figma
15 5 (0.26%) AWS Fargate
15 5 (0.26%) GitHub Actions
16 4 (0.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 28 (1.45%) Wireless
2 17 (0.88%) RS-232
3 10 (0.52%) Ethernet
4 9 (0.47%) Bluetooth
5 7 (0.36%) Modbus
5 7 (0.36%) Network Security
6 6 (0.31%) HTTP
6 6 (0.31%) Software-Defined Radio
6 6 (0.31%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.26%) AMQP
7 5 (0.26%) Broadband
7 5 (0.26%) LTE
8 4 (0.21%) DNS
8 4 (0.21%) SMTP
8 4 (0.21%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (0.16%) ATM
10 2 (0.10%) 3G
10 2 (0.10%) GPRS
10 2 (0.10%) GSM
10 2 (0.10%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (2.95%) SQL Server
2 44 (2.28%) NoSQL
2 44 (2.28%) PostgreSQL
3 28 (1.45%) MongoDB
4 24 (1.24%) MySQL
5 23 (1.19%) Elasticsearch
6 18 (0.93%) Relational Database
7 13 (0.67%) DynamoDB
8 12 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 11 (0.57%) Big Data
9 11 (0.57%) Neo4j
10 8 (0.41%) Redis
11 7 (0.36%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.26%) Cloudera CDH
12 5 (0.26%) Geospatial Data
13 4 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.21%) GIS
14 3 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (0.16%) Oracle Database
14 3 (0.16%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 56 (2.90%) Git
2 16 (0.83%) GitLab
3 15 (0.78%) JIRA
4 13 (0.67%) Jenkins
4 13 (0.67%) Visual Studio
5 11 (0.57%) JUnit
6 8 (0.41%) Claude Code
7 7 (0.36%) Subversion
8 5 (0.26%) Bitbucket
8 5 (0.26%) Cypress.io
8 5 (0.26%) Selenium
9 4 (0.21%) Eclipse
9 4 (0.21%) Postman
10 3 (0.16%) Cucumber
10 3 (0.16%) Gradle
10 3 (0.16%) Oracle APEX
10 3 (0.16%) Visual Studio Code
11 2 (0.10%) Appium
11 2 (0.10%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.10%) Vagrant
General
1 110 (5.69%) Social Skills
2 88 (4.55%) Finance
3 73 (3.78%) Manufacturing
4 59 (3.05%) Electronics
5 40 (2.07%) Aerospace
6 36 (1.86%) Automotive
7 35 (1.81%) Public Sector
8 33 (1.71%) Pharmaceutical
9 27 (1.40%) Analytical Skills
10 23 (1.19%) Games
11 16 (0.83%) Retail
12 15 (0.78%) Tech for Good
13 10 (0.52%) Health Technology
13 10 (0.52%) Military
14 8 (0.41%) Financial Institution
15 7 (0.36%) Aeronautics
15 7 (0.36%) Marketing
15 7 (0.36%) Telecoms
16 6 (0.31%) Law
17 4 (0.21%) Aviation
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 226 (11.70%) .NET
2 150 (7.76%) React
3 79 (4.09%) Node.js
4 63 (3.26%) AngularJS
5 54 (2.80%) REST
6 52 (2.69%) RESTful
7 48 (2.48%) .NET Core
8 46 (2.38%) .NET Framework
9 43 (2.23%) Spring
10 38 (1.97%) Spring Boot
10 38 (1.97%) Vue
11 34 (1.76%) HTML
12 28 (1.45%) ASP.NET
12 28 (1.45%) CSS
13 27 (1.40%) Entity Framework
13 27 (1.40%) Qt
14 22 (1.14%) Django
15 19 (0.98%) Web Services
16 18 (0.93%) Next.js
17 14 (0.72%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 89 (4.61%) Cloud Native
2 55 (2.85%) Embedded Systems
3 37 (1.92%) IoT
4 33 (1.71%) Robotics
5 32 (1.66%) Distributed Systems
6 23 (1.19%) Algorithms
7 18 (0.93%) Product Ownership
7 18 (0.93%) Smart Energy
8 17 (0.88%) Hedge funds
9 16 (0.83%) Client/Server
9 16 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
9 16 (0.83%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (0.72%) Industry 4.0
11 12 (0.62%) Mobile App
12 11 (0.57%) CAN bus
12 11 (0.57%) Driving Licence
13 10 (0.52%) Device Driver
14 8 (0.41%) e-Learning
15 7 (0.36%) AI Agents
15 7 (0.36%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 121 (6.26%) Linux
2 32 (1.66%) Embedded Linux
3 30 (1.55%) Windows
4 26 (1.35%) Android
5 5 (0.26%) Apple iOS
5 5 (0.26%) CentOS
5 5 (0.26%) Debian
5 5 (0.26%) FreeRTOS
5 5 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (0.26%) Ubuntu
6 3 (0.16%) Unix
7 2 (0.10%) Mac OS X
7 2 (0.10%) VxWorks
8 1 (0.052%) Fedora
8 1 (0.052%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,918 (99.28%) Software Engineering
2 240 (12.42%) Agile
3 196 (10.14%) Full-Stack Development
4 172 (8.90%) CI/CD
5 157 (8.13%) DevOps
6 112 (5.80%) Problem-Solving
7 110 (5.69%) Mentoring
8 106 (5.49%) Microservices
9 101 (5.23%) Continuous Improvement
10 94 (4.87%) Computer Science
11 82 (4.24%) AI
12 80 (4.14%) Scrum
13 79 (4.09%) Containerisation
14 78 (4.04%) Test Automation
15 75 (3.88%) SDLC
16 68 (3.52%) TDD
17 49 (2.54%) Embedded Software Development
17 49 (2.54%) Technical Leadership
18 46 (2.38%) Clean Code
19 44 (2.28%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 256 (13.25%) C++
2 246 (12.73%) C#
3 236 (12.22%) Java
4 210 (10.87%) Python
5 158 (8.18%) JavaScript
6 147 (7.61%) SQL
7 139 (7.19%) TypeScript
8 127 (6.57%) C
9 49 (2.54%) PHP
10 40 (2.07%) Rust
11 31 (1.60%) Embedded C
12 26 (1.35%) Kotlin
13 21 (1.09%) Ruby
14 19 (0.98%) Embedded C++
15 18 (0.93%) T-SQL
16 17 (0.88%) PL/SQL
17 16 (0.83%) Ada
17 16 (0.83%) Scala
18 14 (0.72%) Go
19 10 (0.52%) Bash
Qualifications
1 181 (9.37%) Security Cleared
2 156 (8.07%) Degree
3 98 (5.07%) SC Cleared
4 74 (3.83%) Computer Science Degree
5 49 (2.54%) DV Cleared
6 21 (1.09%) Master's Degree
7 8 (0.41%) PhD
8 7 (0.36%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.36%) Chartered Engineer
8 7 (0.36%) DBS Check
9 4 (0.21%) HND
10 3 (0.16%) HNC
11 2 (0.10%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.10%) NVQ Level 3
11 2 (0.10%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (2.12%) QA
2 13 (0.67%) MISRA
3 11 (0.57%) IEC 61508
3 11 (0.57%) MISRA C
4 6 (0.31%) Accessibility
4 6 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 12207
5 4 (0.21%) ECSS
5 4 (0.21%) GDPR
5 4 (0.21%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.052%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.052%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 87 (4.50%) Docker
2 71 (3.67%) Firmware
3 22 (1.14%) Embedded Firmware
4 12 (0.62%) Hyper-V
4 12 (0.62%) KVM
4 12 (0.62%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 98 (5.07%) Kubernetes
2 48 (2.48%) Terraform
3 11 (0.57%) Functional Safety
4 6 (0.31%) Ansible
5 5 (0.26%) Grafana
5 5 (0.26%) Kibana
5 5 (0.26%) Puppet
6 2 (0.10%) Packer
6 2 (0.10%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.10%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.052%) logstash
7 1 (0.052%) Podman
Vendors
1 23 (1.19%) Oracle
2 19 (0.98%) Microsoft
3 15 (0.78%) Xamarin
4 13 (0.67%) Google
5 12 (0.62%) Adobe
5 12 (0.62%) Sage
5 12 (0.62%) VMware
6 8 (0.41%) HubSpot
7 7 (0.36%) Siemens
8 6 (0.31%) Red Hat
8 6 (0.31%) Salesforce
9 5 (0.26%) SaltStack
9 5 (0.26%) Zoho
10 4 (0.21%) Atlassian
10 4 (0.21%) Atmel
10 4 (0.21%) Rockwell
11 3 (0.16%) SAP
12 2 (0.10%) Allen-Bradley
12 2 (0.10%) Palantir
12 2 (0.10%) Wonderware