Software Engineer salary in the UK: A Comprehensive 2025 Overview
Darshan Shah
05 Oct 2024
The paychecks for Software Engineers in the United Kingdom surely fall on the higher end of pay scales. Software engineers get paid more than most high-end professionals including doctors, lawyers, and other engineers as well. We will be discussing in detail the software engineer salary in the UK and dwell more on how your experience levels, locations, and the industries you work in can affect your pay.
Average Salaries of Software Engineers in the UK
On an average, any software engineer manages to earn more than 45,000 GBP per annum. The average salary of software engineer in UK is 45,000-55,000 GBP per annum. This is just the starting amount and you can earn more based on your location, experience level, expertise, and the company you work for.
Average salary of software engineer in UK
45k-55k GBP per annum
How does experience affect your pay scale?
Your software engineer salary in UK is not fixed to 55k GBP at most. Depending on your experience and expertise level, some positions for software engineers offer up to 80,000 GBP per annum too!
Experience Levels
Salary Per Annum
Entry-level Software Engineer (0-2 years of experience)
22,000-48,000 GBP
Early-career Software Engineers (2-5 years)
32,000-74,000 GBP
Mid-career Software Engineers (5-9 years)
35,000-83,000 GBP
Expert Software Engineers (10+ years of experience)
36,000-94,000 GBP or more!
Fresher Positions (0-2 years experience)
The entry-level software engineer salary in UK for freshers is about 27-35k GBP an annum. While this is not significantly a high amount yet, this is the time period when you step into the industry and develop your skills. These skills will include not just your coding skills but also your soft skills, ability to network, collaborate with peers and seniors, and pick a niche you wish to work and improve in.
This time frame will significantly contribute to your expertise as a software engineer and decide the next positions that you will be able to take on. So use it wisely to climb up the ladder.
Early-Career Positions (2-5 years of experience)
After getting a hold on the industry and how it works, you might be able to collaborate and work better. You can expect to earn handsome amounts around 45,000-50,000 GBP per annum.
Mid-Level Software Engineer (5-10 years of experience)
Once you gain up to 5 years of experience, your salary can instantly go up to 50,000-65,000 GBP per annum. As an experienced software engineer, you can also choose to work on your own terms then.
Senior Software Engineer (10+ years of experience)
At this point, you will have a tight hold on how the industry works. With so many years of experience, your work can get paid up to 95,000 GBP depending on your location in the UK.
How does your location affect the pay scale?
The mentioned figures were true to the average salary of software engineer in UK. You can expect different salaries based on your location in the country. Here are the average salaries of software engineers based on some of the major cities in the UK:
City
Salary of Software Engineer in UK (per annum)
London, England
31,000-79,000 GBP
Coventry, England
30,000-69,000 GBP
Manchester, England
24,000-68,000 GBP
Bath, England
25,000-65,000 GBP
Aberdeen, Scotland
28,000-61,000 GBP
Cambridge, England
30,000-60,000 GBP
Glasgow, Scotland
29,000-58,000 GBP
Edinburgh, Scotland
28,000-57,000 GBP
Bristol, England
27,000-56,000 GBP
Oxford, England
30,000-55,000 GBP
Liverpool, England
30,000-55,000 GBP
Chelmsford, England
28,000-53,000 GBP
Birmingham, England
24,000-52,000 GBP
Leeds, England
26,000-51,000 GBP
Dundee, Scotland
20,000-50,000 GBP
Brighton, England
25,000-45,000 GBP
Cardiff, Wales
25,000-45,000 GBP
Exeter, England
31,000-38,000 GBP
Derby, England
24,000-36,000 GBP
Durham England
24,000-36,000 GBP
Will your salary depend on the sector you work in?
Software engineer salary in UK varies based on the industry you work in too. Currently, software engineers are high in demand in the fields of AI, data science, and cybersecurity.
But your options aren’t limited, as a software engineer is required in almost all fields of work including finance, healthcare, and tech startups. But the pay scale surely differs based on your industry.
What are the different modes of work available?
There are many different work modes that are available to you as a software engineer. Software engineer salary in UK per month also differ depending on the mode of work you choose.
You can choose to work part-time, full-time, take contract work or freelance, work remotely from home, choose to work a hybrid between work from home and on-sight working, work as a consultant, or start a startup and become an entrepreneur. The options available are vast since software engineering doesn’t necessarily require you to work on sight like, for example, doctors do.
Top Hiring Companies for Software Engineers in UK
These are some of the biggest countries that hire software engineers in the UK. And the software engineer salary in UK at these big companies is the highest and in big amounts as well.
Google
Amazon
Meta
Microsoft
Accenture
IBM
Bloomberg
Sky
Expedia Group
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Barclays
BT Group
JPMorgan Chase and Co.
BBC
Apple
HSBC
Citi Group
Infosys
American Express
Jaguar Land Rover
Software Engineer Salary in UK vs Other Countries
Here’s a comparison of software engineer salary in UK vs in other countries around the world:
Country
Junior Python Developer
Middle Python Developer
Senior Python Developer
USA
$85000
$132,000
$162,000
UK
$48,000
$78,000
$102,000
Sweden
$36,000
$60,000
$72,000
Norway
$50,400
$66,000
$96,000
Denmark
$54,000
$78,000
$102,000
Finland
$43,200
$74,400
$96,000
Israel
$60,000
$84,000
$99,600
Netherlands
$50,400
$78,000
$90,000
Australia
$60,000
$102,000
$144,000
Switzerland
$93,600
$120,000
$150,000
Spain
$31,200
$57,600
$80,400
Portugal
$26,400
$54,000
$78,000
Romania
$25,200
$51,600
$72,000
Poland
$26,400
$54,000
$78,000
Future of Software Engineers in UK
As technology keeps growing day by day, the demand for software engineers in the UK is expected to consistently grow in the following years. Companies and businesses will need skilled software engineers to create and maintain softwares.
We hope you could get an idea on the frequently asked question “what is the salary of software engineer in UK?” We have tried to cover everything from the average salary of software engineer in UK, software engineer salary in UK per month, to software engineer salary in UK for freshers. For any further doubts, please feel free to contact D-Vivid and we shall address all your questions effectively.
On an average, software engineers in the UK earn 45-55k GBP per year.
Can you make 100k as a software engineer in the UK?
Yes, earning 100k GBP per annum as a software engineer in the UK is quite possible. You don’t even have to be an expert or have years of experience before you start earning this much. You just have to be picky about the location you work in, work hard, stay focussed, and be creative.
Are software engineers in demand in the UK?
The demand for software engineers in the UK is huge! And it pays extremely good.
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