2027 software engineering salary guide.
Our 2027 software engineering salary guide covers salaries from developer and engineering roles through to technical leads, architects and CTOs. Use it to benchmark a vacancy, review salary levels or see what your experience is worth across the UK.
Download our 2027 software engineering salary guide.
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SALARY TRENDS
Software engineering salary trends in 2027.
Software engineering salaries have risen faster than the wider UK market this year, at 4.4% against 3.8% across the disciplines we cover. Increases are strongest for senior engineers, architects and Python developers. Front end and .NET roles have moved more slowly.
The market is balanced overall in 2027, so employers and candidates are negotiating on more even terms. Employers are hiring for cloud-native, back end and full stack capability, and senior engineers who can lead without a management title are the most sought after.
KEY FINDINGS
Key findings for software engineering in 2027.
These figures give you a quick view of salary movement and hiring activity in software engineering for 2027, whether you’re setting a salary for a role, reviewing your own pay or keeping an eye on the market.
- 4.4% average salary increase compared with 2026
- 55% of employers are hiring now or plan to hire within the next six months
- 44% of software engineering professionals are actively looking for a new role
- 39% of software engineering professionals feel their pay doesn’t reflect the work they do
OTHER SALARY GUIDES
Looking at salaries in another area?
Explore our 2027 tech salary guides by discipline to compare pay, regional benchmarks and hiring trends in each one.
FAQs
Software engineering salary guide FAQs.
The guide covers 16 roles from developer and engineering positions through to architecture and CTO level. It includes 25th, 50th and 75th percentile salaries across the UK and by region, alongside 2026 comparisons, 2028 projections and our latest software engineering hiring findings.
The median UK salary across the 16 software engineering roles in our guide is £63,000. Seniority, stack, responsibilities and location can all move a salary significantly above or below this, so benchmark against the individual role rather than the overall figure.
Software engineering salaries increase as technical depth and responsibility grow. Senior engineers, technical leads and architects will typically sit higher in the range than developers still building experience. Architecture, cloud, system design and technical leadership can also affect salary without the person necessarily moving into people management.
Senior Software Engineer, Software Engineer and Back End Developer are the three most in-demand roles in our research. Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, cloud-native development and CI/CD are also among the technical skills employers are prioritising.
Start with the median for the specific engineering role and region. A position requiring architecture, cloud-native development, specialist languages or significant technical ownership may need to sit closer to the 75th percentile. Compare the actual engineering scope rather than relying on labels such as “mid-level” or “senior” alone.
No. The figures are base salary only. Bonuses, equity, pension contributions and other benefits can vary considerably between employers, so these should be assessed separately.
Yes. We can benchmark a software engineering role around the technology stack, seniority, responsibilities, location and industry where a standard salary range does not give you enough detail.