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 9 July 2026.

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

6 months to
9 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 49 15
Rank change year-on-year +24 -34 +66
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 3,427 1,607 6,339
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 4.86% 4.82% 8.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.13% 5.40% 9.00%
Number of salaries quoted 2,748 749 3,632
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £38,250
25th Percentile £53,750 £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 £66,250
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £77,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -9.68% +29.17% -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 66,794 29,783 70,469
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.68% 89.39% 94.81%
Number of salaries quoted 46,262 16,960 50,193
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £34,000 £35,042
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,221 £64,108
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +4.76% -12.50%

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 9 July 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 9 July 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 +78 950 £65,000 - 158
North of England +20 923 £67,500 -3.57% 119
South West +20 590 £65,000 - 132
North West +8 535 £70,000 -6.67% 73
East of England +59 382 £70,000 +5.73% 121
Midlands +47 331 £65,000 - 68
Yorkshire +61 238 £62,500 -8.76% 29
West Midlands +30 173 £68,403 +9.44% 27
East Midlands +20 158 £55,000 -21.43% 41
Scotland -20 155 £65,000 - 21
North East +10 150 £70,000 +27.27% 17
Wales -4 82 £42,500 -34.62% 24
Northern Ireland -47 15 £90,000 +80.00% 23
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 9 July 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 3,383 (98.72%) Software Engineering
2 575 (16.78%) C++
3 527 (15.38%) C#
4 444 (12.96%) Python
5 422 (12.31%) Agile
6 379 (11.06%) AWS
7 363 (10.59%) Full-Stack Development
8 324 (9.45%) Security Cleared
9 312 (9.10%) .NET
10 304 (8.87%) CI/CD
10 304 (8.87%) Java
11 287 (8.37%) Degree
12 264 (7.70%) C
13 262 (7.65%) JavaScript
14 261 (7.62%) Azure
15 258 (7.53%) AI
16 250 (7.30%) DevOps
17 232 (6.77%) TypeScript
18 229 (6.68%) Linux
19 216 (6.30%) Mentoring
20 204 (5.95%) SC Cleared
21 203 (5.92%) React
22 197 (5.75%) Microservices
23 194 (5.66%) Problem-Solving
24 192 (5.60%) SQL
25 180 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
26 176 (5.14%) Test Automation
27 173 (5.05%) Computer Science
28 165 (4.81%) SaaS
28 165 (4.81%) SDLC

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 20 (0.58%) Apache
2 15 (0.44%) SharePoint Server
3 8 (0.23%) FactoryTalk
4 6 (0.18%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.15%) CMS
5 5 (0.15%) Confluence
5 5 (0.15%) WinCC
6 4 (0.12%) Apache Solr
6 4 (0.12%) GeoServer
7 2 (0.058%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.058%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.058%) WordPress
8 1 (0.029%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.029%) Umbraco
Applications
1 9 (0.26%) Lightworks
2 5 (0.15%) Simulink
3 4 (0.12%) EngageOne
3 4 (0.12%) EPLAN
4 3 (0.088%) CANalyzer
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.088%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.058%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.029%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.029%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.029%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.029%) Magento
1 1 (0.029%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 379 (11.06%) AWS
2 261 (7.62%) Azure
3 165 (4.81%) SaaS
4 83 (2.42%) GCP
5 73 (2.13%) Serverless
6 43 (1.25%) GitHub
7 40 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
8 27 (0.79%) Firebase
9 26 (0.76%) Anthropic Claude
9 26 (0.76%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (0.58%) Amazon S3
11 17 (0.50%) Amazon EKS
12 16 (0.47%) Azure AKS
13 15 (0.44%) GitHub Actions
14 14 (0.41%) AWS CloudFormation
15 10 (0.29%) Cloud Run
16 8 (0.23%) Amazon ECS
16 8 (0.23%) Azure Cosmos DB
17 7 (0.20%) AWS Step Functions
17 7 (0.20%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 55 (1.60%) Wireless
2 37 (1.08%) Ethernet
3 27 (0.79%) Bluetooth
4 25 (0.73%) RS-232
5 23 (0.67%) Modbus
6 16 (0.47%) MQTT
6 16 (0.47%) ZigBee
7 15 (0.44%) Profibus
7 15 (0.44%) TCP/IP
7 15 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (0.32%) RS-485
9 9 (0.26%) LTE
10 8 (0.23%) Network Security
11 7 (0.20%) Broadband
12 6 (0.18%) AMQP
12 6 (0.18%) ATM
13 5 (0.15%) Wireshark
14 4 (0.12%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.088%) Software-Defined Networking
16 2 (0.058%) RTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
2 61 (1.78%) MongoDB
2 61 (1.78%) NoSQL
2 61 (1.78%) SQL Server
3 45 (1.31%) MySQL
4 20 (0.58%) Elasticsearch
4 20 (0.58%) Relational Database
5 15 (0.44%) Big Data
5 15 (0.44%) Redis
6 12 (0.35%) DynamoDB
7 11 (0.32%) Pinecone
8 7 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 7 (0.20%) Hadoop
8 7 (0.20%) Neo4j
9 6 (0.18%) Cloudera CDH
10 5 (0.15%) FileMaker
11 4 (0.12%) Geospatial Data
11 4 (0.12%) GIS
11 4 (0.12%) QGIS
12 3 (0.088%) DocumentDB
Development Applications
1 127 (3.71%) Git
2 43 (1.25%) GitLab
3 29 (0.85%) Jenkins
4 26 (0.76%) JIRA
5 22 (0.64%) Visual Studio Code
6 18 (0.53%) Claude Code
7 13 (0.38%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.32%) Cucumber
9 10 (0.29%) SonarQube
10 7 (0.20%) Eclipse
10 7 (0.20%) JUnit
10 7 (0.20%) Moq
10 7 (0.20%) Subversion
11 6 (0.18%) Bitbucket
11 6 (0.18%) GDB
11 6 (0.18%) Yeoman
12 5 (0.15%) LabVIEW
12 5 (0.15%) Maven
12 5 (0.15%) Postman
13 4 (0.12%) Gradle
General
1 199 (5.81%) Manufacturing
2 174 (5.08%) Electronics
3 158 (4.61%) Social Skills
4 100 (2.92%) Finance
5 85 (2.48%) Aerospace
6 80 (2.33%) Automotive
7 70 (2.04%) Public Sector
8 44 (1.28%) Analytical Skills
9 31 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
10 30 (0.88%) Aviation
11 20 (0.58%) Retail
12 18 (0.53%) Games
12 18 (0.53%) Military
12 18 (0.53%) Telecoms
13 15 (0.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 14 (0.41%) Organisational Skills
15 11 (0.32%) Tech for Good
16 9 (0.26%) Health Technology
16 9 (0.26%) Law
16 9 (0.26%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 312 (9.10%) .NET
2 203 (5.92%) React
3 126 (3.68%) Node.js
4 105 (3.06%) Vue
5 78 (2.28%) AngularJS
6 73 (2.13%) REST
7 68 (1.98%) RESTful
8 65 (1.90%) Spring
8 65 (1.90%) WPF
9 64 (1.87%) CSS
10 58 (1.69%) HTML
11 55 (1.60%) Spring Boot
12 47 (1.37%) .NET Core
13 38 (1.11%) .NET Framework
14 37 (1.08%) Next.js
15 33 (0.96%) Django
16 24 (0.70%) Entity Framework
16 24 (0.70%) Yocto
17 21 (0.61%) WebSockets
18 20 (0.58%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 139 (4.06%) Cloud Native
2 122 (3.56%) Embedded Systems
3 83 (2.42%) Algorithms
4 73 (2.13%) Legacy Systems
4 73 (2.13%) Robotics
5 66 (1.93%) Product Ownership
6 61 (1.78%) IoT
7 51 (1.49%) Distributed Systems
8 48 (1.40%) AI Agents
9 43 (1.25%) Greenfield Project
10 31 (0.90%) Mobile App
11 29 (0.85%) Device Driver
12 24 (0.70%) Client/Server
13 22 (0.64%) Hedge funds
14 18 (0.53%) Educational Technology
15 17 (0.50%) ARM Cortex
15 17 (0.50%) Data Structures
15 17 (0.50%) Distributed Computing
15 17 (0.50%) Self-Motivation
16 16 (0.47%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 229 (6.68%) Linux
2 49 (1.43%) Embedded Linux
3 47 (1.37%) Windows
4 32 (0.93%) Android
5 31 (0.90%) FreeRTOS
6 10 (0.29%) Debian
7 7 (0.20%) Ubuntu
8 6 (0.18%) Apple iOS
8 6 (0.18%) CentOS
8 6 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.15%) Windows Server
10 3 (0.088%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.058%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.058%) SafeRTOS
11 2 (0.058%) Unix
11 2 (0.058%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.058%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.058%) zOS
12 1 (0.029%) ThreadX
12 1 (0.029%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 3,383 (98.72%) Software Engineering
2 422 (12.31%) Agile
3 363 (10.59%) Full-Stack Development
4 304 (8.87%) CI/CD
5 258 (7.53%) AI
6 250 (7.30%) DevOps
7 216 (6.30%) Mentoring
8 197 (5.75%) Microservices
9 194 (5.66%) Problem-Solving
10 180 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
11 176 (5.14%) Test Automation
12 173 (5.05%) Computer Science
13 165 (4.81%) SDLC
14 126 (3.68%) Containerisation
15 118 (3.44%) TDD
16 112 (3.27%) Scrum
17 108 (3.15%) Software Architecture
18 98 (2.86%) Software Testing
19 93 (2.71%) Code Quality
20 89 (2.60%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 575 (16.78%) C++
2 527 (15.38%) C#
3 444 (12.96%) Python
4 304 (8.87%) Java
5 264 (7.70%) C
6 262 (7.65%) JavaScript
7 232 (6.77%) TypeScript
8 192 (5.60%) SQL
9 120 (3.50%) Rust
10 57 (1.66%) PHP
11 55 (1.60%) Embedded C
12 52 (1.52%) Go
13 25 (0.73%) Ruby
14 23 (0.67%) Embedded C++
15 20 (0.58%) Bash
16 19 (0.55%) Kotlin
17 17 (0.50%) COBOL
18 14 (0.41%) MATLAB
18 14 (0.41%) Scala
19 8 (0.23%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 324 (9.45%) Security Cleared
2 287 (8.37%) Degree
3 204 (5.95%) SC Cleared
4 130 (3.79%) Computer Science Degree
5 125 (3.65%) DV Cleared
6 52 (1.52%) Master's Degree
7 23 (0.67%) PhD
8 13 (0.38%) DBS Check
9 10 (0.29%) HND
10 8 (0.23%) Azure Certification
10 8 (0.23%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (0.18%) HNC
12 5 (0.15%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.15%) CEH
12 5 (0.15%) OSCP
13 4 (0.12%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (0.058%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.058%) NVQ Level 3
15 1 (0.029%) Chartered Engineer
15 1 (0.029%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (2.25%) QA
2 21 (0.61%) Accessibility
3 9 (0.26%) IEC 61508
3 9 (0.26%) MISRA
3 9 (0.26%) MISRA C
4 8 (0.23%) IEC 61131
5 5 (0.15%) JTAG
6 4 (0.12%) DO-178B
6 4 (0.12%) ECSS
6 4 (0.12%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.088%) GAMP
7 3 (0.088%) GDPR
8 2 (0.058%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.029%) Automotive SPICE
9 1 (0.029%) DO-254
9 1 (0.029%) HAZOP
9 1 (0.029%) IEC 62304
9 1 (0.029%) Software Quality Assurance
9 1 (0.029%) WCAG
System Software
1 155 (4.52%) Docker
2 152 (4.44%) Firmware
3 52 (1.52%) Embedded Firmware
4 14 (0.41%) Hyper-V
4 14 (0.41%) KVM
4 14 (0.41%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.088%) QEMU
7 2 (0.058%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 122 (3.56%) Kubernetes
2 82 (2.39%) Terraform
3 35 (1.02%) Ansible
4 8 (0.23%) Grafana
4 8 (0.23%) Kibana
4 8 (0.23%) logstash
5 7 (0.20%) Functional Safety
5 7 (0.20%) Puppet
6 6 (0.18%) Podman
7 3 (0.088%) Plesk
7 3 (0.088%) SCCM
7 3 (0.088%) SCOM
7 3 (0.088%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.058%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.058%) Packer
8 2 (0.058%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 31 (0.90%) Siemens
2 29 (0.85%) Microsoft
3 19 (0.55%) Rockwell
4 18 (0.53%) Google
5 16 (0.47%) Oracle
5 16 (0.47%) VMware
6 12 (0.35%) Salesforce
7 10 (0.29%) Allen-Bradley
8 9 (0.26%) OpenAI
9 7 (0.20%) Atlassian
10 6 (0.18%) Red Hat
10 6 (0.18%) SaltStack
10 6 (0.18%) Splunk
10 6 (0.18%) Xamarin
11 5 (0.15%) Okta
11 5 (0.15%) Ping Identity
12 4 (0.12%) Atmel
12 4 (0.12%) Peregrine
13 3 (0.088%) IBM
13 3 (0.088%) Palantir