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 14 April 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 44 55 17
Rank change year-on-year +11 -38 +49
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 2,427 1,158 5,696
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.96% 4.45% 8.63%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.27% 5.01% 9.11%
Number of salaries quoted 1,891 884 2,976
10th Percentile £43,500 £41,250 £38,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £48,869 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +13.64% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £69,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,778 £81,250
UK median annual salary £70,000 £72,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -3.45% +20.83% -13.60%

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 56,894 23,119 62,524
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.78% 88.87% 94.72%
Number of salaries quoted 36,413 14,540 46,230
10th Percentile £29,000 £28,822 £26,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -10.00%

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 14 April 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 14 April 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 +7 609 £65,000 - 129
South East +24 585 £65,000 +4.00% 209
South West +22 481 £65,000 +8.33% 120
North West +17 343 £65,000 - 75
East of England -1 253 £70,000 +5.73% 101
Midlands +52 223 £65,000 +10.64% 68
Scotland +1 200 £65,000 +4.00% 47
Yorkshire +4 190 £62,500 -7.41% 36
West Midlands +40 120 £65,000 +8.33% 45
East Midlands +5 104 £60,000 +6.67% 23
North East -5 76 £67,500 +22.73% 19
Wales -8 57 £40,000 -39.62% 13
Northern Ireland -34 19 £90,000 - 2
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 14 April 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 2,403 (99.01%) Software Engineering
2 334 (13.76%) C++
3 294 (12.11%) C#
4 282 (11.62%) Python
5 278 (11.45%) Agile
6 260 (10.71%) AWS
7 256 (10.55%) Java
8 253 (10.42%) Full-Stack Development
9 243 (10.01%) .NET
10 226 (9.31%) Security Cleared
11 188 (7.75%) CI/CD
11 188 (7.75%) JavaScript
12 179 (7.38%) DevOps
13 178 (7.33%) Azure
14 176 (7.25%) Degree
15 172 (7.09%) C
16 169 (6.96%) React
17 166 (6.84%) TypeScript
18 152 (6.26%) SQL
19 136 (5.60%) Linux
20 130 (5.36%) Continuous Improvement
21 125 (5.15%) Problem-Solving
22 124 (5.11%) SC Cleared
23 123 (5.07%) Microservices
24 117 (4.82%) SaaS
25 114 (4.70%) AI
26 111 (4.57%) Mentoring
27 105 (4.33%) Computer Science
28 102 (4.20%) Kubernetes
29 100 (4.12%) Firmware

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 13 (0.54%) Apache
2 8 (0.33%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.25%) CMS
4 5 (0.21%) Confluence
5 4 (0.16%) Apache Solr
5 4 (0.16%) GeoServer
5 4 (0.16%) IIS
6 2 (0.082%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.041%) FactoryTalk
7 1 (0.041%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.041%) Kinematics
7 1 (0.041%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.041%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.041%) WordPress
Applications
1 4 (0.16%) EngageOne
2 3 (0.12%) CANalyzer
3 2 (0.082%) Adobe XD
3 2 (0.082%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.082%) EPLAN
3 2 (0.082%) Sketch
4 1 (0.041%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.041%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.041%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.041%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 10 (0.41%) Magento
2 2 (0.082%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.041%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 260 (10.71%) AWS
2 178 (7.33%) Azure
3 117 (4.82%) SaaS
4 53 (2.18%) GCP
5 52 (2.14%) Serverless
6 28 (1.15%) AWS Lambda
7 25 (1.03%) GitHub
8 21 (0.87%) Amazon EKS
8 21 (0.87%) Azure AKS
8 21 (0.87%) Azure DevOps
9 20 (0.82%) Amazon S3
10 11 (0.45%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (0.41%) OpenShift
12 8 (0.33%) Stripe
13 7 (0.29%) Amazon ECS
13 7 (0.29%) Figma
14 6 (0.25%) Amazon EC2
15 5 (0.21%) Anthropic Claude
15 5 (0.21%) GitHub Actions
16 4 (0.16%) Amazon OpenSearch
Communications & Networking
1 35 (1.44%) Wireless
2 23 (0.95%) Ethernet
3 18 (0.74%) RS-232
4 11 (0.45%) Bluetooth
5 10 (0.41%) Modbus
6 8 (0.33%) Network Security
7 7 (0.29%) Broadband
8 6 (0.25%) AMQP
8 6 (0.25%) HTTP
9 5 (0.21%) LTE
9 5 (0.21%) TCP/IP
10 4 (0.16%) DNS
10 4 (0.16%) SMTP
10 4 (0.16%) Wi-Fi
11 3 (0.12%) ATM
11 3 (0.12%) Profibus
11 3 (0.12%) Software-Defined Radio
11 3 (0.12%) ZigBee
12 2 (0.082%) RS-485
12 2 (0.082%) SpaceWire
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (2.10%) NoSQL
1 51 (2.10%) SQL Server
2 42 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
3 33 (1.36%) MongoDB
4 25 (1.03%) Elasticsearch
4 25 (1.03%) MySQL
5 16 (0.66%) Relational Database
6 14 (0.58%) DynamoDB
7 13 (0.54%) Neo4j
8 12 (0.49%) Big Data
9 8 (0.33%) Hadoop
10 7 (0.29%) Redis
11 6 (0.25%) Cloudera CDH
11 6 (0.25%) Geospatial Data
12 5 (0.21%) DocumentDB
13 4 (0.16%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.16%) GIS
13 4 (0.16%) QGIS
13 4 (0.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 3 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 74 (3.05%) Git
2 20 (0.82%) GitLab
3 14 (0.58%) JIRA
4 13 (0.54%) Jenkins
5 11 (0.45%) JUnit
6 10 (0.41%) Claude Code
6 10 (0.41%) Visual Studio
7 8 (0.33%) Visual Studio Code
8 7 (0.29%) Subversion
9 5 (0.21%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.21%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.21%) Selenium
10 4 (0.16%) Cucumber
10 4 (0.16%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.16%) Gradle
10 4 (0.16%) Postman
11 3 (0.12%) CANoe
12 2 (0.082%) Appium
12 2 (0.082%) SonarQube
12 2 (0.082%) Xcode
General
1 117 (4.82%) Social Skills
2 97 (4.00%) Manufacturing
3 87 (3.58%) Electronics
4 73 (3.01%) Finance
5 54 (2.22%) Aerospace
6 51 (2.10%) Automotive
7 43 (1.77%) Public Sector
8 41 (1.69%) Pharmaceutical
9 32 (1.32%) Analytical Skills
10 21 (0.87%) Games
11 19 (0.78%) Retail
12 15 (0.62%) Tech for Good
13 12 (0.49%) Military
14 11 (0.45%) Health Technology
15 9 (0.37%) Aviation
16 8 (0.33%) Marketing
16 8 (0.33%) Telecoms
17 7 (0.29%) Aeronautics
17 7 (0.29%) Financial Institution
18 4 (0.16%) Agriculture
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 243 (10.01%) .NET
2 169 (6.96%) React
3 91 (3.75%) Node.js
4 71 (2.93%) AngularJS
5 66 (2.72%) REST
6 60 (2.47%) Vue
7 50 (2.06%) RESTful
8 48 (1.98%) .NET Core
9 47 (1.94%) Spring
10 45 (1.85%) HTML
11 40 (1.65%) Spring Boot
12 38 (1.57%) .NET Framework
13 36 (1.48%) CSS
14 26 (1.07%) Django
15 25 (1.03%) Web Services
16 24 (0.99%) ASP.NET
17 23 (0.95%) Qt
18 19 (0.78%) Entity Framework
19 17 (0.70%) Next.js
20 16 (0.66%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 106 (4.37%) Cloud Native
2 66 (2.72%) Embedded Systems
3 44 (1.81%) IoT
4 40 (1.65%) Robotics
5 36 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
6 34 (1.40%) Algorithms
7 30 (1.24%) Product Ownership
8 20 (0.82%) Smart Energy
9 19 (0.78%) Hedge funds
9 19 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
10 18 (0.74%) Self-Motivation
11 17 (0.70%) Client/Server
12 15 (0.62%) Device Driver
13 14 (0.58%) Industry 4.0
13 14 (0.58%) Mobile App
14 13 (0.54%) CAN bus
14 13 (0.54%) e-Learning
15 12 (0.49%) Driving Licence
16 11 (0.45%) Distributed Computing
17 9 (0.37%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 136 (5.60%) Linux
2 35 (1.44%) Embedded Linux
3 29 (1.19%) Android
4 26 (1.07%) Windows
5 14 (0.58%) FreeRTOS
6 6 (0.25%) CentOS
6 6 (0.25%) Debian
6 6 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.25%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.21%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.082%) SafeRTOS
8 2 (0.082%) VxWorks
8 2 (0.082%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.082%) zOS
9 1 (0.041%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.041%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 2,403 (99.01%) Software Engineering
2 278 (11.45%) Agile
3 253 (10.42%) Full-Stack Development
4 188 (7.75%) CI/CD
5 179 (7.38%) DevOps
6 130 (5.36%) Continuous Improvement
7 125 (5.15%) Problem-Solving
8 123 (5.07%) Microservices
9 114 (4.70%) AI
10 111 (4.57%) Mentoring
11 105 (4.33%) Computer Science
12 99 (4.08%) Test Automation
13 96 (3.96%) Scrum
14 94 (3.87%) SDLC
15 87 (3.58%) Containerisation
16 79 (3.26%) TDD
17 64 (2.64%) Software Testing
18 62 (2.55%) Embedded Software Development
19 57 (2.35%) Technical Leadership
20 53 (2.18%) Clean Code
Programming Languages
1 334 (13.76%) C++
2 294 (12.11%) C#
3 282 (11.62%) Python
4 256 (10.55%) Java
5 188 (7.75%) JavaScript
6 172 (7.09%) C
7 166 (6.84%) TypeScript
8 152 (6.26%) SQL
9 54 (2.22%) PHP
10 53 (2.18%) Rust
11 45 (1.85%) Embedded C
12 20 (0.82%) Go
13 19 (0.78%) Kotlin
14 18 (0.74%) Embedded C++
15 17 (0.70%) COBOL
16 16 (0.66%) Ada
17 15 (0.62%) PL/SQL
18 10 (0.41%) Ruby
19 9 (0.37%) Bash
20 8 (0.33%) Scala
Qualifications
1 226 (9.31%) Security Cleared
2 176 (7.25%) Degree
3 124 (5.11%) SC Cleared
4 85 (3.50%) Computer Science Degree
5 74 (3.05%) DV Cleared
6 27 (1.11%) Master's Degree
7 12 (0.49%) DBS Check
7 12 (0.49%) PhD
8 7 (0.29%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.29%) Chartered Engineer
8 7 (0.29%) HND
9 6 (0.25%) HNC
10 2 (0.082%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.082%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.082%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.041%) CEH
11 1 (0.041%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.041%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (2.10%) QA
2 17 (0.70%) IEC 61508
3 16 (0.66%) MISRA
3 16 (0.66%) MISRA C
4 13 (0.54%) Accessibility
5 6 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 12207
6 4 (0.16%) ECSS
6 4 (0.16%) GDPR
6 4 (0.16%) ISO 9001
7 2 (0.082%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.041%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.041%) DO-254
8 1 (0.041%) HAZOP
8 1 (0.041%) IEC 62304
8 1 (0.041%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.041%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 100 (4.12%) Firmware
2 95 (3.91%) Docker
3 28 (1.15%) Embedded Firmware
4 13 (0.54%) Hyper-V
4 13 (0.54%) KVM
4 13 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.082%) QEMU
6 2 (0.082%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 102 (4.20%) Kubernetes
2 59 (2.43%) Terraform
3 13 (0.54%) Functional Safety
4 10 (0.41%) Ansible
5 6 (0.25%) Puppet
6 5 (0.21%) Grafana
7 4 (0.16%) Kibana
8 2 (0.082%) logstash
8 2 (0.082%) Packer
8 2 (0.082%) Podman
8 2 (0.082%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.082%) SCCM
8 2 (0.082%) SCOM
8 2 (0.082%) SCOrch
9 1 (0.041%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.041%) Plesk
9 1 (0.041%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 21 (0.87%) Oracle
2 16 (0.66%) Microsoft
3 15 (0.62%) Google
4 14 (0.58%) Siemens
4 14 (0.58%) VMware
5 13 (0.54%) Adobe
6 9 (0.37%) Rockwell
7 8 (0.33%) HubSpot
7 8 (0.33%) Xamarin
8 6 (0.25%) Red Hat
8 6 (0.25%) Salesforce
8 6 (0.25%) SaltStack
9 5 (0.21%) Allen-Bradley
9 5 (0.21%) Atlassian
10 4 (0.16%) Atmel
10 4 (0.16%) Sage
11 3 (0.12%) SAP
11 3 (0.12%) Typelevel
11 3 (0.12%) Wonderware
12 2 (0.082%) OpenAI