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 25 December 2025.

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

6 months to
25 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 76 33 37
Rank change year-on-year -43 +4 +9
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 1,129 2,154 1,854
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.66% 5.68% 6.25%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.94% 6.08% 6.56%
Number of salaries quoted 865 1,051 1,125
10th Percentile £40,006 £40,000 £42,500
25th Percentile £52,250 £47,500 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £73,750 £73,750
90th Percentile £87,500 £84,964 £83,320
UK median annual salary £70,000 £70,000 £67,500
% change year-on-year - +3.70% -

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 38,344 35,435 28,278
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.29% 93.39% 95.30%
Number of salaries quoted 23,364 17,758 21,349
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £34,750 £40,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £49,500 £52,500 £51,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.71% +2.94% -2.86%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £66,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £80,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -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 25 December 2025.

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 25 December 2025. 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 -39 277 £65,000 +8.33% 479
North of England -28 253 £65,000 +7.00% 424
South West -11 242 £65,000 +18.18% 269
East of England -33 119 £70,000 +3.70% 280
Yorkshire -19 115 £58,750 -2.08% 145
North West -29 110 £67,500 +12.50% 221
Midlands -29 109 £62,500 +13.64% 269
Scotland -32 102 £60,000 +4.35% 126
West Midlands -14 63 £60,000 - 124
East Midlands -36 49 £65,000 +30.00% 130
North East -23 28 £67,500 +10.66% 59
Wales -32 18 £60,000 -15.79% 52
Northern Ireland -26 10 £85,000 +13.33% 16
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 25 December 2025, 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 1,128 (99.91%) Software Engineering
2 185 (16.39%) Agile
3 182 (16.12%) C++
4 177 (15.68%) C#
5 151 (13.37%) .NET
5 151 (13.37%) Java
6 145 (12.84%) AWS
7 141 (12.49%) CI/CD
7 141 (12.49%) Security Cleared
8 136 (12.05%) React
9 133 (11.78%) DevOps
10 125 (11.07%) Azure
11 123 (10.89%) Full-Stack Development
11 123 (10.89%) Python
12 115 (10.19%) Degree
13 114 (10.10%) JavaScript
14 113 (10.01%) Mentoring
15 100 (8.86%) TypeScript
16 98 (8.68%) SQL
17 97 (8.59%) C
17 97 (8.59%) Linux
18 93 (8.24%) Microservices
19 80 (7.09%) Problem-Solving
20 75 (6.64%) SC Cleared
21 74 (6.55%) Kubernetes
22 70 (6.20%) AI
23 68 (6.02%) Computer Science
24 62 (5.49%) Docker
25 60 (5.31%) Firmware
26 56 (4.96%) AngularJS

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 (1.06%) IIS
2 11 (0.97%) Apache
3 6 (0.53%) Confluence
4 4 (0.35%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.27%) Apache Solr
5 3 (0.27%) CMS
6 2 (0.18%) ArchestrA
6 2 (0.18%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.18%) NServiceBus
6 2 (0.18%) WinCC
7 1 (0.089%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.089%) Kinematics
Applications
1 3 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.18%) Adobe XD
2 2 (0.18%) Sketch
3 1 (0.089%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.089%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.089%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 5 (0.44%) Magento
2 1 (0.089%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 145 (12.84%) AWS
2 125 (11.07%) Azure
3 37 (3.28%) Azure DevOps
3 37 (3.28%) SaaS
4 36 (3.19%) Serverless
5 29 (2.57%) AWS Lambda
6 24 (2.13%) GitHub
7 22 (1.95%) Amazon S3
8 21 (1.86%) GCP
9 18 (1.59%) Amazon EKS
10 14 (1.24%) Amazon ECS
11 11 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (0.71%) OpenShift
13 7 (0.62%) Amazon EC2
14 6 (0.53%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 6 (0.53%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (0.53%) Azure AKS
15 5 (0.44%) Amazon EventBridge
15 5 (0.44%) AWS Fargate
15 5 (0.44%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 35 (3.10%) Wireless
2 18 (1.59%) RS-232
3 17 (1.51%) Software-Defined Radio
4 16 (1.42%) Bluetooth
5 6 (0.53%) HTTP
5 6 (0.53%) TCP/IP
6 5 (0.44%) DNS
6 5 (0.44%) Modbus
7 4 (0.35%) AMQP
7 4 (0.35%) SMTP
8 3 (0.27%) ATM
8 3 (0.27%) Ethernet
9 2 (0.18%) 3G
9 2 (0.18%) Firewall
9 2 (0.18%) GPRS
9 2 (0.18%) GSM
9 2 (0.18%) Profibus
9 2 (0.18%) RS-485
9 2 (0.18%) SSL
9 2 (0.18%) UWB
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (3.01%) PostgreSQL
2 29 (2.57%) SQL Server
3 22 (1.95%) NoSQL
4 19 (1.68%) Elasticsearch
5 18 (1.59%) Relational Database
6 16 (1.42%) MongoDB
6 16 (1.42%) MySQL
7 14 (1.24%) DynamoDB
8 12 (1.06%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 7 (0.62%) Neo4j
9 7 (0.62%) Redis
10 4 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.35%) Apache Cassandra
10 4 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
10 4 (0.35%) Big Data
10 4 (0.35%) GIS
10 4 (0.35%) Hadoop
11 3 (0.27%) Cloudera CDH
11 3 (0.27%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.27%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 51 (4.52%) Git
2 16 (1.42%) GitLab
3 15 (1.33%) JIRA
4 14 (1.24%) Visual Studio
5 12 (1.06%) JUnit
6 10 (0.89%) Jenkins
7 8 (0.71%) Cypress.io
8 5 (0.44%) Bitbucket
8 5 (0.44%) Selenium
9 4 (0.35%) Oracle APEX
10 2 (0.18%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.18%) Maven
10 2 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.18%) TestRail
11 1 (0.089%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.089%) Gatling
11 1 (0.089%) Katalon Studio
11 1 (0.089%) Postman
11 1 (0.089%) Rational Statemate
11 1 (0.089%) REST Assured
General
1 95 (8.41%) Social Skills
2 78 (6.91%) Finance
3 47 (4.16%) Manufacturing
4 42 (3.72%) Electronics
5 23 (2.04%) Aerospace
6 20 (1.77%) Public Sector
7 18 (1.59%) Games
8 17 (1.51%) Automotive
8 17 (1.51%) Pharmaceutical
9 16 (1.42%) Analytical Skills
10 15 (1.33%) Retail
11 12 (1.06%) Tech for Good
12 10 (0.89%) Financial Institution
13 8 (0.71%) Law
14 7 (0.62%) Aeronautics
14 7 (0.62%) Marketing
14 7 (0.62%) Military
15 6 (0.53%) Legal
15 6 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
16 5 (0.44%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 151 (13.37%) .NET
2 136 (12.05%) React
3 56 (4.96%) AngularJS
4 46 (4.07%) Node.js
5 40 (3.54%) RESTful
6 39 (3.45%) Spring
7 37 (3.28%) Spring Boot
8 31 (2.75%) .NET Core
9 30 (2.66%) HTML
10 29 (2.57%) CSS
11 28 (2.48%) ASP.NET
12 27 (2.39%) .NET Framework
13 26 (2.30%) Vue
14 23 (2.04%) REST
15 19 (1.68%) Qt
16 18 (1.59%) Entity Framework
17 17 (1.51%) Next.js
18 16 (1.42%) WinForms
19 14 (1.24%) Blazor
20 13 (1.15%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 65 (5.76%) Cloud Native
2 60 (5.31%) Embedded Systems
3 27 (2.39%) Distributed Systems
4 22 (1.95%) IoT
5 19 (1.68%) Robotics
6 18 (1.59%) e-Learning
7 15 (1.33%) Algorithms
7 15 (1.33%) RISC-V
8 13 (1.15%) MicroBlaze
8 13 (1.15%) Product Ownership
9 12 (1.06%) Manufacturing Execution System
10 11 (0.97%) Driving Licence
11 10 (0.89%) Smart Energy
12 9 (0.80%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (0.80%) Mobile App
12 9 (0.80%) Self-Motivation
13 8 (0.71%) Greenfield Project
14 7 (0.62%) Enterprise Software
14 7 (0.62%) Hedge funds
15 6 (0.53%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 97 (8.59%) Linux
2 33 (2.92%) Embedded Linux
3 32 (2.83%) Windows
4 12 (1.06%) Android
5 6 (0.53%) Unix
6 3 (0.27%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.27%) CentOS
6 3 (0.27%) Debian
6 3 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
6 3 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.27%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.18%) Mac OS X
7 2 (0.18%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.089%) Fedora
8 1 (0.089%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.089%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,128 (99.91%) Software Engineering
2 185 (16.39%) Agile
3 141 (12.49%) CI/CD
4 133 (11.78%) DevOps
5 123 (10.89%) Full-Stack Development
6 113 (10.01%) Mentoring
7 93 (8.24%) Microservices
8 80 (7.09%) Problem-Solving
9 70 (6.20%) AI
10 68 (6.02%) Computer Science
11 47 (4.16%) Coaching
11 47 (4.16%) Containerisation
11 47 (4.16%) Continuous Improvement
12 42 (3.72%) Scrum
13 39 (3.45%) Machine Learning
14 38 (3.37%) SDLC
15 36 (3.19%) Technical Leadership
16 34 (3.01%) Fintech
16 34 (3.01%) Test Automation
17 32 (2.83%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 182 (16.12%) C++
2 177 (15.68%) C#
3 151 (13.37%) Java
4 123 (10.89%) Python
5 114 (10.10%) JavaScript
6 100 (8.86%) TypeScript
7 98 (8.68%) SQL
8 97 (8.59%) C
9 31 (2.75%) PHP
10 24 (2.13%) Ada
11 20 (1.77%) Embedded C++
12 19 (1.68%) Kotlin
12 19 (1.68%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.59%) Ruby
14 14 (1.24%) Ada 95
15 13 (1.15%) Embedded C
15 13 (1.15%) PL/SQL
16 12 (1.06%) Rust
17 10 (0.89%) Scala
18 9 (0.80%) Bash
Qualifications
1 141 (12.49%) Security Cleared
2 115 (10.19%) Degree
3 75 (6.64%) SC Cleared
4 49 (4.34%) DV Cleared
5 47 (4.16%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (1.42%) Master's Degree
7 15 (1.33%) BPSS Clearance
7 15 (1.33%) Chartered Engineer
8 11 (0.97%) PhD
9 3 (0.27%) DBS Check
10 2 (0.18%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.18%) AWS Certified Developer
10 2 (0.18%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.18%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (1.51%) QA
2 14 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 12207
3 7 (0.62%) MISRA
4 6 (0.53%) IEC 61508
5 5 (0.44%) MISRA C
6 4 (0.35%) Accessibility
7 3 (0.27%) ECSS
7 3 (0.27%) GDPR
7 3 (0.27%) IEC 61131
7 3 (0.27%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.18%) ISO 9000
8 2 (0.18%) ISO 9001
8 2 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.18%) JTAG
8 2 (0.18%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.089%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.089%) Data Quality
System Software
1 62 (5.49%) Docker
2 60 (5.31%) Firmware
3 36 (3.19%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.18%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.18%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.089%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 74 (6.55%) Kubernetes
2 29 (2.57%) Terraform
3 8 (0.71%) Kibana
4 7 (0.62%) Grafana
5 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
6 3 (0.27%) Ansible
6 3 (0.27%) Puppet
7 2 (0.18%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.089%) Istio
Vendors
1 20 (1.77%) Microsoft
2 16 (1.42%) Oracle
3 14 (1.24%) Xamarin
4 12 (1.06%) Sage
5 10 (0.89%) Google
6 9 (0.80%) Guidewire
7 8 (0.71%) Atlassian
8 7 (0.62%) Adobe
9 5 (0.44%) Zoho
10 4 (0.35%) HubSpot
10 4 (0.35%) Red Hat
11 3 (0.27%) Databricks
11 3 (0.27%) OpenAI
11 3 (0.27%) Rockwell
11 3 (0.27%) SaltStack
11 3 (0.27%) SAP
11 3 (0.27%) Siemens
12 2 (0.18%) Palantir
12 2 (0.18%) Roku
12 2 (0.18%) VMware