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 £68,903 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 22 September 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 62 16
Rank change year-on-year +39 -46 +49
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Engineer 4,350 1,321 4,116
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 5.11% 3.87% 7.61%
As % of the Job Titles category 5.48% 4.34% 7.99%
Number of salaries quoted 3,440 495 2,308
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £39,940
25th Percentile £55,000 £55,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £68,903 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.00% +18.18% -8.33%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £69,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £80,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year -12.50% +23.08% -3.74%

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 79,433 30,469 51,513
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.30% 89.29% 95.27%
Number of salaries quoted 55,031 17,322 29,842
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £38,750
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 £87,500 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.27% - -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 22 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 22 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 +29 1,062 £70,000 +2.19% 395
South East +95 1,023 £65,000 -7.14% 361
South West +40 887 £70,000 +7.69% 312
North West +17 599 £71,250 -5.00% 255
East of England +113 579 £70,000 +7.69% 326
Midlands +62 444 £65,000 - 202
Yorkshire +77 263 £60,000 - 95
East Midlands +39 248 £55,000 -18.52% 109
Scotland -5 201 £80,000 +28.00% 321
North East +24 200 £70,000 +23.89% 50
West Midlands +36 196 £68,403 +9.44% 93
Wales +19 141 £60,000 +9.09% 23
Northern Ireland - 14 £90,000 - 68
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 22 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 4,315 (99.20%) Software Engineering
2 671 (15.43%) C++
3 618 (14.21%) C#
4 535 (12.30%) Python
5 530 (12.18%) Agile
6 417 (9.59%) AI
7 415 (9.54%) Security Cleared
8 414 (9.52%) AWS
9 371 (8.53%) CI/CD
10 366 (8.41%) Full-Stack Development
11 352 (8.09%) Java
12 305 (7.01%) .NET
13 295 (6.78%) Linux
14 286 (6.57%) Degree
15 276 (6.34%) Azure
16 265 (6.09%) SC Cleared
17 264 (6.07%) TypeScript
18 262 (6.02%) JavaScript
19 251 (5.77%) C
20 246 (5.66%) Mentoring
21 233 (5.36%) DevOps
22 231 (5.31%) Problem-Solving
23 224 (5.15%) React
24 201 (4.62%) SDLC
25 190 (4.37%) Microservices
26 187 (4.30%) Test Automation
27 181 (4.16%) Continuous Improvement
28 179 (4.11%) Docker
29 178 (4.09%) DV Cleared
29 178 (4.09%) SQL

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 29 (0.67%) Apache
2 15 (0.34%) SharePoint Server
3 8 (0.18%) Apache Spark
3 8 (0.18%) FactoryTalk
4 7 (0.16%) Confluence
4 7 (0.16%) WinCC
5 5 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.069%) Apache Solr
6 3 (0.069%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.069%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.069%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.046%) ArchestrA
7 2 (0.046%) CMS
7 2 (0.046%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.046%) WordPress
8 1 (0.023%) Cloud Foundry
8 1 (0.023%) OpenStack
Applications
1 18 (0.41%) Lightworks
2 12 (0.28%) Simulink
3 4 (0.092%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.092%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.046%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.046%) EPLAN
6 1 (0.023%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.023%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
2 3 (0.069%) Visualfiles
3 1 (0.023%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 414 (9.52%) AWS
2 276 (6.34%) Azure
3 142 (3.26%) SaaS
4 108 (2.48%) GCP
5 73 (1.68%) Serverless
6 47 (1.08%) GitHub
7 38 (0.87%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (0.85%) Firebase
9 29 (0.67%) Anthropic Claude
9 29 (0.67%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (0.46%) AWS CloudFormation
10 20 (0.46%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
12 17 (0.39%) Amazon S3
13 16 (0.37%) Cloud Run
14 14 (0.32%) OpenShift
15 12 (0.28%) GitHub Copilot
16 11 (0.25%) Slack
17 9 (0.21%) AWS Step Functions
17 9 (0.21%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 71 (1.63%) Wireless
2 37 (0.85%) Ethernet
3 31 (0.71%) Bluetooth
4 27 (0.62%) Modbus
5 25 (0.57%) TCP/IP
6 21 (0.48%) MQTT
6 21 (0.48%) Wi-Fi
7 17 (0.39%) RS-232
7 17 (0.39%) ZigBee
8 15 (0.34%) Profibus
9 13 (0.30%) 5G
10 12 (0.28%) LTE
10 12 (0.28%) RS-485
11 10 (0.23%) ATM
12 8 (0.18%) Internet
13 7 (0.16%) AMQP
13 7 (0.16%) Wireshark
14 4 (0.092%) Software-Defined Radio
15 3 (0.069%) Firewall
15 3 (0.069%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 85 (1.95%) PostgreSQL
2 59 (1.36%) SQL Server
3 51 (1.17%) MongoDB
4 46 (1.06%) NoSQL
5 41 (0.94%) MySQL
6 32 (0.74%) Relational Database
7 20 (0.46%) Redis
8 19 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
9 16 (0.37%) Chroma
9 16 (0.37%) DynamoDB
9 16 (0.37%) Pinecone
10 13 (0.30%) Big Data
11 9 (0.21%) Hadoop
12 7 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
12 7 (0.16%) Cloudera CDH
13 4 (0.092%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.092%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.092%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.092%) MariaDB
14 3 (0.069%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 146 (3.36%) Git
2 54 (1.24%) GitLab
3 33 (0.76%) Jenkins
4 32 (0.74%) JIRA
5 20 (0.46%) Visual Studio Code
6 17 (0.39%) Claude Code
7 16 (0.37%) Cucumber
7 16 (0.37%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.25%) SonarQube
9 10 (0.23%) JUnit
10 8 (0.18%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.16%) GDB
11 7 (0.16%) LabVIEW
11 7 (0.16%) Mockito
11 7 (0.16%) Moq
12 6 (0.14%) CMake
12 6 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
13 5 (0.11%) Eclipse
13 5 (0.11%) Subversion
13 5 (0.11%) Yeoman
General
1 226 (5.20%) Manufacturing
2 217 (4.99%) Electronics
3 196 (4.51%) Social Skills
4 169 (3.89%) Finance
5 125 (2.87%) Aerospace
6 104 (2.39%) Public Sector
7 83 (1.91%) Automotive
8 62 (1.43%) Aviation
9 55 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 50 (1.15%) Analytical Skills
11 35 (0.80%) Retail
12 29 (0.67%) Law
13 26 (0.60%) Games
13 26 (0.60%) Military
13 26 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
14 19 (0.44%) Tech for Good
15 18 (0.41%) Marketing
16 15 (0.34%) Organisational Skills
16 15 (0.34%) Telecoms
17 14 (0.32%) Financial Institution
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 305 (7.01%) .NET
2 224 (5.15%) React
3 117 (2.69%) Node.js
4 100 (2.30%) Vue
5 93 (2.14%) Terraform
6 86 (1.98%) WPF
7 80 (1.84%) Spring
8 76 (1.75%) Spring Boot
9 72 (1.66%) AngularJS
10 71 (1.63%) CSS
11 55 (1.26%) REST
11 55 (1.26%) RESTful
12 51 (1.17%) HTML
13 38 (0.87%) Next.js
14 35 (0.80%) React Native
15 31 (0.71%) .NET Core
16 30 (0.69%) Django
17 28 (0.64%) .NET Framework
18 24 (0.55%) Kafka
18 24 (0.55%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 167 (3.84%) Cloud Native
2 132 (3.03%) Embedded Systems
3 124 (2.85%) Robotics
4 105 (2.41%) Algorithms
5 84 (1.93%) Legacy Systems
6 67 (1.54%) AI Agents
6 67 (1.54%) Product Ownership
7 63 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
8 55 (1.26%) IoT
9 49 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
10 41 (0.94%) Public Cloud
11 32 (0.74%) Cyber Threat
12 27 (0.62%) Mobile App
13 25 (0.57%) Data Structures
13 25 (0.57%) Device Driver
13 25 (0.57%) Distributed Computing
14 19 (0.44%) ARM Cortex
15 18 (0.41%) Educational Technology
16 17 (0.39%) NHS
17 16 (0.37%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 295 (6.78%) Linux
2 72 (1.66%) Windows
3 60 (1.38%) Embedded Linux
4 32 (0.74%) Android
5 31 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
6 12 (0.28%) Debian
7 9 (0.21%) Apple iOS
7 9 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (0.21%) Ubuntu
8 7 (0.16%) CentOS
8 7 (0.16%) VxWorks
9 5 (0.11%) Unix
9 5 (0.11%) Windows Server
10 3 (0.069%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.046%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.046%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.046%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.023%) SafeRTOS
12 1 (0.023%) ThreadX
12 1 (0.023%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 4,315 (99.20%) Software Engineering
2 530 (12.18%) Agile
3 417 (9.59%) AI
4 371 (8.53%) CI/CD
5 366 (8.41%) Full-Stack Development
6 246 (5.66%) Mentoring
7 233 (5.36%) DevOps
8 231 (5.31%) Problem-Solving
9 201 (4.62%) SDLC
10 190 (4.37%) Microservices
11 187 (4.30%) Test Automation
12 181 (4.16%) Continuous Improvement
13 172 (3.95%) Computer Science
14 141 (3.24%) Software Architecture
15 128 (2.94%) Code Quality
16 125 (2.87%) Technical Leadership
17 121 (2.78%) Containerisation
18 112 (2.57%) Machine Learning
19 111 (2.55%) Software Testing
20 97 (2.23%) Embedded Software Development
Programming Languages
1 671 (15.43%) C++
2 618 (14.21%) C#
3 535 (12.30%) Python
4 352 (8.09%) Java
5 264 (6.07%) TypeScript
6 262 (6.02%) JavaScript
7 251 (5.77%) C
8 178 (4.09%) SQL
9 123 (2.83%) Rust
10 71 (1.63%) Go
11 58 (1.33%) PHP
12 42 (0.97%) Embedded C
13 30 (0.69%) Ruby
14 29 (0.67%) Embedded C++
15 26 (0.60%) Ada
16 21 (0.48%) MATLAB
17 20 (0.46%) Bash
18 17 (0.39%) Kotlin
19 14 (0.32%) COBOL
20 13 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 415 (9.54%) Security Cleared
2 286 (6.57%) Degree
3 265 (6.09%) SC Cleared
4 178 (4.09%) DV Cleared
5 125 (2.87%) Computer Science Degree
6 53 (1.22%) Master's Degree
7 34 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
8 29 (0.67%) PhD
9 11 (0.25%) DBS Check
10 8 (0.18%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.14%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.11%) CEH
12 5 (0.11%) HND
12 5 (0.11%) OSCP
13 4 (0.092%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.069%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 2 (0.046%) HNC
15 2 (0.046%) Numerate Degree
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB
16 1 (0.023%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (1.56%) QA
2 49 (1.13%) Accessibility
3 10 (0.23%) IEC 61131
4 7 (0.16%) MISRA
4 7 (0.16%) MISRA C
5 6 (0.14%) IEC 61508
5 6 (0.14%) JTAG
6 5 (0.11%) DO-178B
6 5 (0.11%) WCAG
7 4 (0.092%) Data Quality
7 4 (0.092%) ECSS
8 3 (0.069%) Automotive SPICE
8 3 (0.069%) GAMP
8 3 (0.069%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.069%) MIL-STD-1553
9 2 (0.046%) AUTOSAR
9 2 (0.046%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.023%) GDPR
10 1 (0.023%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.023%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 179 (4.11%) Docker
2 166 (3.82%) Firmware
3 51 (1.17%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.14%) QEMU
5 4 (0.092%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.046%) Active Directory
6 2 (0.046%) KVM
6 2 (0.046%) VMware Infrastructure
7 1 (0.023%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.023%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.023%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 144 (3.31%) Kubernetes
2 45 (1.03%) Ansible
3 15 (0.34%) Grafana
4 10 (0.23%) Podman
5 9 (0.21%) Puppet
6 8 (0.18%) Kibana
6 8 (0.18%) logstash
7 6 (0.14%) Functional Safety
8 4 (0.092%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.069%) Plesk
9 3 (0.069%) SCCM
9 3 (0.069%) SCOM
9 3 (0.069%) SCOrch
10 2 (0.046%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.046%) Packer
10 2 (0.046%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 36 (0.83%) Microsoft
2 35 (0.80%) Siemens
3 21 (0.48%) Google
4 18 (0.41%) Salesforce
5 14 (0.32%) Okta
5 14 (0.32%) Ping Identity
5 14 (0.32%) Rockwell
6 13 (0.30%) Databricks
7 12 (0.28%) Oracle
7 12 (0.28%) Splunk
8 11 (0.25%) RedGate
9 10 (0.23%) OpenAI
10 9 (0.21%) Red Hat
11 8 (0.18%) Sage
12 7 (0.16%) Allen-Bradley
12 7 (0.16%) SaltStack
13 6 (0.14%) Atlassian
13 6 (0.14%) Intel
14 5 (0.11%) IBM
14 5 (0.11%) Xamarin