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 2 September 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 54 14
Rank change year-on-year +33 -40 +61
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 4,074 1,456 4,794
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.06% 4.19% 8.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.38% 4.68% 8.66%
Number of salaries quoted 3,226 603 2,726
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £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 £80,000 £67,750
90th Percentile £94,375 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £78,810 £61,000
% change year-on-year -11.18% +29.20% -12.23%

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 75,726 31,085 55,379
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.09% 89.42% 95.12%
Number of salaries quoted 52,623 17,936 34,751
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £37,500
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 £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% - -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 2 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 2 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 +21 1,031 £69,305 +1.18% 250
South East +89 1,006 £65,000 -4.41% 254
South West +32 803 £65,000 - 257
North West +12 568 £70,000 -6.04% 171
East of England +98 531 £70,000 +17.65% 268
Midlands +58 412 £65,000 - 134
Yorkshire +67 263 £60,000 -4.00% 53
East Midlands +35 217 £55,000 -21.43% 72
North East +20 200 £70,000 +24.44% 27
West Midlands +46 195 £65,000 +4.00% 62
Scotland -13 155 £70,000 +7.69% 249
Wales +9 123 £60,000 -7.69% 23
Northern Ireland -71 14 £90,000 +80.00% 50
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 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 4,036 (99.07%) Software Engineering
2 650 (15.95%) C++
3 597 (14.65%) C#
4 524 (12.86%) Python
5 492 (12.08%) Agile
6 403 (9.89%) Security Cleared
7 398 (9.77%) AWS
8 362 (8.89%) AI
9 360 (8.84%) Full-Stack Development
10 357 (8.76%) CI/CD
11 328 (8.05%) Java
12 306 (7.51%) .NET
13 287 (7.04%) Linux
14 286 (7.02%) Degree
15 279 (6.85%) Azure
16 261 (6.41%) JavaScript
17 259 (6.36%) C
18 256 (6.28%) SC Cleared
19 252 (6.19%) Mentoring
20 251 (6.16%) TypeScript
21 231 (5.67%) DevOps
22 222 (5.45%) Problem-Solving
23 213 (5.23%) React
24 198 (4.86%) SDLC
25 197 (4.84%) Test Automation
26 189 (4.64%) Microservices
27 180 (4.42%) SQL
28 177 (4.34%) Computer Science
29 176 (4.32%) Continuous Improvement
29 176 (4.32%) 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 24 (0.59%) Apache
2 15 (0.37%) SharePoint Server
3 9 (0.22%) Confluence
4 8 (0.20%) FactoryTalk
5 7 (0.17%) WinCC
6 6 (0.15%) Apache Spark
7 5 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.074%) Apache Solr
8 3 (0.074%) CMS
9 2 (0.049%) ArchestrA
9 2 (0.049%) Headless CMS
9 2 (0.049%) SharePoint
9 2 (0.049%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.049%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.049%) WordPress
10 1 (0.025%) Cloud Foundry
10 1 (0.025%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.025%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.025%) Umbraco
Applications
1 14 (0.34%) Lightworks
2 11 (0.27%) Simulink
3 4 (0.098%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.098%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.098%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.074%) CANalyzer
4 3 (0.074%) EPLAN
5 1 (0.025%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.025%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.025%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.025%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.025%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 398 (9.77%) AWS
2 279 (6.85%) Azure
3 148 (3.63%) SaaS
4 108 (2.65%) GCP
5 68 (1.67%) Serverless
6 53 (1.30%) GitHub
7 38 (0.93%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (0.83%) Firebase
9 30 (0.74%) Anthropic Claude
10 28 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
11 21 (0.52%) GitHub Actions
12 18 (0.44%) AWS CloudFormation
13 17 (0.42%) Amazon EKS
13 17 (0.42%) Amazon S3
14 16 (0.39%) Cloud Run
15 12 (0.29%) OpenShift
16 11 (0.27%) Slack
17 9 (0.22%) AWS Step Functions
17 9 (0.22%) GitHub Copilot
18 8 (0.20%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 62 (1.52%) Wireless
2 36 (0.88%) Ethernet
3 28 (0.69%) Bluetooth
4 24 (0.59%) Modbus
5 21 (0.52%) TCP/IP
6 20 (0.49%) MQTT
7 19 (0.47%) RS-232
8 18 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
9 17 (0.42%) ZigBee
10 15 (0.37%) Profibus
11 12 (0.29%) RS-485
12 10 (0.25%) ATM
12 10 (0.25%) LTE
13 9 (0.22%) 5G
14 6 (0.15%) Wireshark
15 5 (0.12%) AMQP
16 4 (0.098%) Network Security
17 3 (0.074%) Firewall
17 3 (0.074%) Software-Defined Networking
17 3 (0.074%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 83 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
2 59 (1.45%) SQL Server
3 56 (1.37%) MongoDB
4 46 (1.13%) NoSQL
5 40 (0.98%) MySQL
6 30 (0.74%) Relational Database
7 19 (0.47%) Redis
8 18 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
9 16 (0.39%) Chroma
9 16 (0.39%) DynamoDB
9 16 (0.39%) Pinecone
10 13 (0.32%) Big Data
11 7 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (0.17%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.12%) Cloudera CDH
12 5 (0.12%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.098%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.098%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.098%) MariaDB
13 4 (0.098%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 144 (3.53%) Git
2 50 (1.23%) GitLab
3 35 (0.86%) JIRA
4 32 (0.79%) Jenkins
5 20 (0.49%) Visual Studio Code
6 18 (0.44%) Claude Code
7 14 (0.34%) Visual Studio
8 13 (0.32%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.22%) JUnit
9 9 (0.22%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.20%) GDB
11 7 (0.17%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.17%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.17%) Moq
12 6 (0.15%) Bitbucket
12 6 (0.15%) CMake
12 6 (0.15%) Yeoman
13 5 (0.12%) Mockito
13 5 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
13 5 (0.12%) Subversion
General
1 221 (5.42%) Manufacturing
2 212 (5.20%) Electronics
3 189 (4.64%) Social Skills
4 141 (3.46%) Finance
5 122 (2.99%) Aerospace
6 102 (2.50%) Public Sector
7 85 (2.09%) Automotive
8 58 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 57 (1.40%) Aviation
10 50 (1.23%) Analytical Skills
11 34 (0.83%) Retail
12 30 (0.74%) Pharmaceutical
13 28 (0.69%) Law
14 24 (0.59%) Military
15 23 (0.56%) Games
16 17 (0.42%) Telecoms
17 16 (0.39%) Marketing
18 15 (0.37%) Organisational Skills
18 15 (0.37%) Tech for Good
19 11 (0.27%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 306 (7.51%) .NET
2 213 (5.23%) React
3 113 (2.77%) Node.js
4 100 (2.45%) Vue
5 92 (2.26%) Terraform
6 81 (1.99%) WPF
7 73 (1.79%) AngularJS
8 69 (1.69%) CSS
8 69 (1.69%) Spring
9 64 (1.57%) Spring Boot
10 58 (1.42%) REST
11 54 (1.33%) HTML
12 52 (1.28%) RESTful
13 37 (0.91%) Next.js
14 35 (0.86%) Django
15 31 (0.76%) .NET Core
16 29 (0.71%) React Native
17 27 (0.66%) .NET Framework
18 23 (0.56%) ASP.NET
18 23 (0.56%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 170 (4.17%) Cloud Native
2 129 (3.17%) Embedded Systems
3 114 (2.80%) Robotics
4 108 (2.65%) Algorithms
5 84 (2.06%) Legacy Systems
6 70 (1.72%) Product Ownership
7 65 (1.60%) AI Agents
8 62 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
9 56 (1.37%) IoT
10 44 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
11 35 (0.86%) Public Cloud
12 28 (0.69%) Data Structures
12 28 (0.69%) Mobile App
13 25 (0.61%) Cyber Threat
13 25 (0.61%) Device Driver
14 21 (0.52%) ARM Cortex
14 21 (0.52%) Distributed Computing
15 18 (0.44%) Educational Technology
16 15 (0.37%) Client/Server
16 15 (0.37%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 287 (7.04%) Linux
2 69 (1.69%) Windows
3 56 (1.37%) Embedded Linux
4 29 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
5 28 (0.69%) Android
6 10 (0.25%) Debian
7 6 (0.15%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.15%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.12%) CentOS
8 5 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.12%) Unix
8 5 (0.12%) VxWorks
8 5 (0.12%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.074%) Gentoo
10 2 (0.049%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.049%) SafeRTOS
10 2 (0.049%) Windows 10
10 2 (0.049%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.049%) zOS
11 1 (0.025%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 4,036 (99.07%) Software Engineering
2 492 (12.08%) Agile
3 362 (8.89%) AI
4 360 (8.84%) Full-Stack Development
5 357 (8.76%) CI/CD
6 252 (6.19%) Mentoring
7 231 (5.67%) DevOps
8 222 (5.45%) Problem-Solving
9 198 (4.86%) SDLC
10 197 (4.84%) Test Automation
11 189 (4.64%) Microservices
12 177 (4.34%) Computer Science
13 176 (4.32%) Continuous Improvement
14 133 (3.26%) Software Architecture
15 126 (3.09%) Containerisation
16 124 (3.04%) Technical Leadership
17 123 (3.02%) Code Quality
18 117 (2.87%) Software Testing
19 102 (2.50%) Machine Learning
20 98 (2.41%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 650 (15.95%) C++
2 597 (14.65%) C#
3 524 (12.86%) Python
4 328 (8.05%) Java
5 261 (6.41%) JavaScript
6 259 (6.36%) C
7 251 (6.16%) TypeScript
8 180 (4.42%) SQL
9 128 (3.14%) Rust
10 68 (1.67%) Go
11 58 (1.42%) PHP
12 44 (1.08%) Embedded C
13 32 (0.79%) Ruby
14 29 (0.71%) Embedded C++
15 23 (0.56%) Ada
16 18 (0.44%) MATLAB
17 17 (0.42%) Bash
17 17 (0.42%) COBOL
17 17 (0.42%) Kotlin
18 15 (0.37%) Scala
Qualifications
1 403 (9.89%) Security Cleared
2 286 (7.02%) Degree
3 256 (6.28%) SC Cleared
4 176 (4.32%) DV Cleared
5 125 (3.07%) Computer Science Degree
6 53 (1.30%) Master's Degree
7 32 (0.79%) BPSS Clearance
8 27 (0.66%) PhD
9 9 (0.22%) DBS Check
10 8 (0.20%) Azure Certification
10 8 (0.20%) HND
11 6 (0.15%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.12%) CEH
12 5 (0.12%) HNC
12 5 (0.12%) OSCP
13 4 (0.098%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.074%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.049%) Numerate Degree
16 1 (0.025%) ISTQB
16 1 (0.025%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (1.79%) QA
2 51 (1.25%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.25%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.20%) IEC 61508
4 8 (0.20%) MISRA
4 8 (0.20%) MISRA C
5 6 (0.15%) JTAG
6 5 (0.12%) DO-178B
7 4 (0.098%) Data Quality
7 4 (0.098%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.074%) Automotive SPICE
8 3 (0.074%) ECSS
8 3 (0.074%) GAMP
8 3 (0.074%) MIL-STD-1553
8 3 (0.074%) WCAG
9 2 (0.049%) AUTOSAR
9 2 (0.049%) GDPR
9 2 (0.049%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.025%) HAZOP
10 1 (0.025%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 174 (4.27%) Docker
2 169 (4.15%) Firmware
3 51 (1.25%) Embedded Firmware
4 8 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (0.17%) QEMU
6 6 (0.15%) KVM
6 6 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
7 5 (0.12%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.049%) Active Directory
8 2 (0.049%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 135 (3.31%) Kubernetes
2 39 (0.96%) Ansible
3 13 (0.32%) Grafana
4 7 (0.17%) Kibana
4 7 (0.17%) logstash
4 7 (0.17%) Podman
4 7 (0.17%) Puppet
5 6 (0.15%) Functional Safety
6 3 (0.074%) Plesk
6 3 (0.074%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.074%) SCCM
6 3 (0.074%) SCOM
6 3 (0.074%) SCOrch
7 2 (0.049%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 37 (0.91%) Siemens
2 33 (0.81%) Microsoft
3 21 (0.52%) Google
4 18 (0.44%) Salesforce
5 16 (0.39%) Oracle
5 16 (0.39%) Rockwell
6 14 (0.34%) Okta
6 14 (0.34%) Ping Identity
7 12 (0.29%) Splunk
8 10 (0.25%) OpenAI
9 9 (0.22%) Allen-Bradley
10 8 (0.20%) Databricks
10 8 (0.20%) VMware
11 7 (0.17%) Atlassian
12 6 (0.15%) Intel
12 6 (0.15%) Sage
13 5 (0.12%) IBM
13 5 (0.12%) Red Hat
13 5 (0.12%) SaltStack
13 5 (0.12%) Xamarin