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 8 August 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 53 14
Rank change year-on-year +29 -39 +59
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,762 1,535 5,161
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.93% 4.46% 8.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.21% 4.97% 9.16%
Number of salaries quoted 2,960 668 2,854
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £39,750
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 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £79,775
UK median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% +33.33% -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 72,153 30,862 56,371
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.49% 89.57% 94.94%
Number of salaries quoted 49,865 17,782 37,476
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £28,250
25th Percentile £38,750 £32,500 £37,199
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £49,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% -2.00% -6.79%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
% 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 8 August 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 8 August 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 +76 999 £65,000 -1.89% 186
North of England +21 977 £65,000 -7.14% 186
South West +31 686 £65,000 - 157
North West +8 547 £70,000 -6.67% 116
East of England +73 460 £70,000 +14.29% 148
Midlands +54 375 £60,000 -7.69% 100
Yorkshire +78 264 £60,000 -12.41% 37
East Midlands +34 192 £55,000 -21.43% 50
West Midlands +33 183 £65,000 +4.00% 50
North East +15 166 £70,000 +30.23% 33
Scotland -13 144 £67,500 +3.85% 92
Wales +1 108 £53,310 -19.84% 27
Northern Ireland -58 14 £90,000 +80.00% 17
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 8 August 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 3,721 (98.91%) Software Engineering
2 634 (16.85%) C++
3 584 (15.52%) C#
4 504 (13.40%) Python
5 470 (12.49%) Agile
6 402 (10.69%) AWS
7 372 (9.89%) Security Cleared
8 359 (9.54%) Full-Stack Development
9 352 (9.36%) CI/CD
10 329 (8.75%) AI
11 323 (8.59%) .NET
11 323 (8.59%) Java
12 303 (8.05%) Degree
13 292 (7.76%) Azure
14 267 (7.10%) Linux
15 266 (7.07%) C
16 262 (6.96%) JavaScript
17 259 (6.88%) Mentoring
18 244 (6.49%) DevOps
19 238 (6.33%) SC Cleared
20 234 (6.22%) TypeScript
21 210 (5.58%) Problem-Solving
22 207 (5.50%) React
23 205 (5.45%) Test Automation
24 202 (5.37%) Microservices
25 200 (5.32%) SDLC
26 198 (5.26%) SQL
27 185 (4.92%) Computer Science
28 183 (4.86%) Docker
29 178 (4.73%) Continuous Improvement

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 22 (0.58%) Apache
2 15 (0.40%) SharePoint Server
3 9 (0.24%) Confluence
4 8 (0.21%) FactoryTalk
5 7 (0.19%) WinCC
6 4 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.11%) Apache Solr
6 4 (0.11%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.080%) CMS
7 3 (0.080%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.053%) ArchestrA
8 2 (0.053%) Headless CMS
8 2 (0.053%) WordPress
9 1 (0.027%) Cloud Foundry
9 1 (0.027%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.027%) SharePoint
9 1 (0.027%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.027%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.027%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (0.32%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.13%) Simulink
3 4 (0.11%) EPLAN
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.080%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.053%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.053%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.027%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.027%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.027%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.027%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 402 (10.69%) AWS
2 292 (7.76%) Azure
3 150 (3.99%) SaaS
4 110 (2.92%) GCP
5 71 (1.89%) Serverless
6 49 (1.30%) GitHub
7 40 (1.06%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (0.90%) Firebase
9 32 (0.85%) Anthropic Claude
10 25 (0.66%) AWS Lambda
11 16 (0.43%) Amazon S3
11 16 (0.43%) Cloud Run
11 16 (0.43%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (0.40%) AWS CloudFormation
13 14 (0.37%) Amazon EKS
14 10 (0.27%) Azure AKS
14 10 (0.27%) Slack
15 9 (0.24%) AWS Step Functions
15 9 (0.24%) Azure Functions
15 9 (0.24%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 57 (1.52%) Wireless
2 36 (0.96%) Ethernet
3 26 (0.69%) Bluetooth
4 22 (0.58%) Modbus
4 22 (0.58%) RS-232
5 20 (0.53%) MQTT
6 19 (0.51%) TCP/IP
7 17 (0.45%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.40%) Profibus
8 15 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (0.32%) RS-485
10 10 (0.27%) ATM
11 8 (0.21%) LTE
11 8 (0.21%) Network Security
12 6 (0.16%) Wireshark
13 5 (0.13%) Broadband
14 4 (0.11%) AMQP
14 4 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.080%) Software-Defined Networking
16 2 (0.053%) LoRaWAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 83 (2.21%) PostgreSQL
2 66 (1.75%) SQL Server
3 64 (1.70%) MongoDB
4 54 (1.44%) NoSQL
5 47 (1.25%) MySQL
6 25 (0.66%) Relational Database
7 16 (0.43%) Pinecone
7 16 (0.43%) Redis
8 15 (0.40%) DynamoDB
8 15 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.32%) Big Data
10 7 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
11 6 (0.16%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.13%) FileMaker
12 5 (0.13%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.11%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.11%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.080%) Amazon RDS
14 3 (0.080%) DocumentDB
14 3 (0.080%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 137 (3.64%) Git
2 50 (1.33%) GitLab
3 35 (0.93%) JIRA
4 33 (0.88%) Jenkins
5 21 (0.56%) Visual Studio Code
6 20 (0.53%) Claude Code
7 14 (0.37%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.29%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.24%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.21%) GDB
10 8 (0.21%) JUnit
11 7 (0.19%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.19%) Moq
12 6 (0.16%) Bitbucket
12 6 (0.16%) CMake
12 6 (0.16%) Yeoman
13 5 (0.13%) Postman
14 4 (0.11%) Mockito
14 4 (0.11%) Rational Rhapsody
14 4 (0.11%) Robot Framework
General
1 228 (6.06%) Manufacturing
2 197 (5.24%) Electronics
3 182 (4.84%) Social Skills
4 131 (3.48%) Finance
5 111 (2.95%) Aerospace
6 93 (2.47%) Public Sector
7 84 (2.23%) Automotive
8 48 (1.28%) Analytical Skills
8 48 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 43 (1.14%) Aviation
10 39 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
11 35 (0.93%) Retail
12 23 (0.61%) Military
13 22 (0.58%) Games
13 22 (0.58%) Law
14 19 (0.51%) Telecoms
15 15 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
16 13 (0.35%) Marketing
17 11 (0.29%) Tech for Good
18 9 (0.24%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 323 (8.59%) .NET
2 207 (5.50%) React
3 114 (3.03%) Node.js
4 101 (2.68%) Vue
5 75 (1.99%) WPF
6 74 (1.97%) AngularJS
7 67 (1.78%) CSS
8 64 (1.70%) Spring
9 63 (1.67%) RESTful
10 60 (1.59%) REST
11 59 (1.57%) Spring Boot
12 57 (1.52%) HTML
13 39 (1.04%) .NET Core
14 38 (1.01%) Django
15 35 (0.93%) Next.js
16 32 (0.85%) .NET Framework
17 26 (0.69%) Yocto
18 25 (0.66%) ASP.NET
19 23 (0.61%) React Native
20 22 (0.58%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 173 (4.60%) Cloud Native
2 127 (3.38%) Embedded Systems
3 99 (2.63%) Robotics
4 97 (2.58%) Algorithms
5 82 (2.18%) Legacy Systems
6 70 (1.86%) Product Ownership
7 65 (1.73%) Distributed Systems
8 63 (1.67%) AI Agents
9 56 (1.49%) IoT
10 46 (1.22%) Greenfield Project
11 31 (0.82%) Mobile App
12 28 (0.74%) Device Driver
13 26 (0.69%) Public Cloud
14 23 (0.61%) Data Structures
15 21 (0.56%) ARM Cortex
15 21 (0.56%) Cyber Threat
16 20 (0.53%) Client/Server
17 18 (0.48%) Distributed Computing
17 18 (0.48%) Educational Technology
17 18 (0.48%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 267 (7.10%) Linux
2 57 (1.52%) Windows
3 53 (1.41%) Embedded Linux
4 31 (0.82%) FreeRTOS
5 29 (0.77%) Android
6 9 (0.24%) Debian
7 6 (0.16%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.13%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.13%) Windows Server
9 4 (0.11%) CentOS
9 4 (0.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.11%) Unix
9 4 (0.11%) VxWorks
10 3 (0.080%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.053%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.053%) SafeRTOS
11 2 (0.053%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.053%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.053%) zOS
12 1 (0.027%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,721 (98.91%) Software Engineering
2 470 (12.49%) Agile
3 359 (9.54%) Full-Stack Development
4 352 (9.36%) CI/CD
5 329 (8.75%) AI
6 259 (6.88%) Mentoring
7 244 (6.49%) DevOps
8 210 (5.58%) Problem-Solving
9 205 (5.45%) Test Automation
10 202 (5.37%) Microservices
11 200 (5.32%) SDLC
12 185 (4.92%) Computer Science
13 178 (4.73%) Continuous Improvement
14 132 (3.51%) Containerisation
15 129 (3.43%) Software Architecture
16 119 (3.16%) Software Testing
17 118 (3.14%) Code Quality
18 115 (3.06%) TDD
19 104 (2.76%) Technical Leadership
20 97 (2.58%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 634 (16.85%) C++
2 584 (15.52%) C#
3 504 (13.40%) Python
4 323 (8.59%) Java
5 266 (7.07%) C
6 262 (6.96%) JavaScript
7 234 (6.22%) TypeScript
8 198 (5.26%) SQL
9 134 (3.56%) Rust
10 64 (1.70%) Go
11 62 (1.65%) PHP
12 49 (1.30%) Embedded C
13 31 (0.82%) Ruby
14 27 (0.72%) Embedded C++
15 19 (0.51%) Ada
16 18 (0.48%) Bash
16 18 (0.48%) Kotlin
17 17 (0.45%) COBOL
18 15 (0.40%) Scala
19 13 (0.35%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 372 (9.89%) Security Cleared
2 303 (8.05%) Degree
3 238 (6.33%) SC Cleared
4 164 (4.36%) DV Cleared
5 136 (3.62%) Computer Science Degree
6 56 (1.49%) Master's Degree
7 29 (0.77%) BPSS Clearance
8 25 (0.66%) PhD
9 10 (0.27%) HND
10 9 (0.24%) DBS Check
11 8 (0.21%) Azure Certification
12 6 (0.16%) HNC
13 5 (0.13%) AWS Certification
13 5 (0.13%) CEH
13 5 (0.13%) OSCP
14 4 (0.11%) Microsoft Certification
15 3 (0.080%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 2 (0.053%) Numerate Degree
16 2 (0.053%) NVQ Level 3
17 1 (0.027%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (1.99%) QA
2 42 (1.12%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.27%) IEC 61131
4 8 (0.21%) IEC 61508
4 8 (0.21%) MISRA
4 8 (0.21%) MISRA C
5 6 (0.16%) JTAG
6 5 (0.13%) DO-178B
7 4 (0.11%) Data Quality
8 3 (0.080%) ECSS
8 3 (0.080%) GAMP
8 3 (0.080%) GDPR
9 2 (0.053%) AUTOSAR
9 2 (0.053%) ISO 26262
9 2 (0.053%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.053%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.053%) MIL-STD-1553
9 2 (0.053%) WCAG
10 1 (0.027%) Automotive SPICE
10 1 (0.027%) DO-254
System Software
1 183 (4.86%) Docker
2 160 (4.25%) Firmware
3 52 (1.38%) Embedded Firmware
4 11 (0.29%) KVM
4 11 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 9 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.19%) QEMU
8 2 (0.053%) Active Directory
8 2 (0.053%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 139 (3.69%) Kubernetes
2 88 (2.34%) Terraform
3 34 (0.90%) Ansible
4 10 (0.27%) Grafana
5 7 (0.19%) Kibana
5 7 (0.19%) logstash
5 7 (0.19%) Podman
6 6 (0.16%) Puppet
7 4 (0.11%) Functional Safety
8 3 (0.080%) Plesk
8 3 (0.080%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.080%) SCCM
8 3 (0.080%) SCOM
8 3 (0.080%) SCOrch
9 2 (0.053%) Microsoft Intune
10 1 (0.027%) Packer
10 1 (0.027%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 32 (0.85%) Microsoft
1 32 (0.85%) Siemens
2 20 (0.53%) Google
3 19 (0.51%) Rockwell
4 17 (0.45%) Oracle
5 14 (0.37%) Okta
5 14 (0.37%) Ping Identity
6 13 (0.35%) Salesforce
6 13 (0.35%) VMware
7 10 (0.27%) Allen-Bradley
8 9 (0.24%) OpenAI
9 8 (0.21%) Splunk
10 7 (0.19%) Atlassian
11 6 (0.16%) Intel
12 5 (0.13%) Databricks
12 5 (0.13%) Xamarin
13 4 (0.11%) ForgeRock
13 4 (0.11%) NVIDIA
13 4 (0.11%) Peregrine
13 4 (0.11%) SaltStack