Typical starting salaries for permanent Software Engineers in Leeds range from £30,000–£40,000, rising to £45,000–£65,000 for mid-level roles and £65,000–£85,000+ for senior or lead positions, depending on stack, domain expertise and team size. Salaries are generally lower than London but competitive when combined with Leeds’ lower cost of living. Most roles follow a 35–40 hour week with hybrid options; occasional release-driven out-of-hours work may be required. Career paths often progress from Engineer to Senior, Lead/Staff, and into Principal, Engineering Manager or Head of Engineering. Using jobwise data, you can spot higher-paying employers, emerging stacks (e.g., serverless, platform engineering, ML ops) and roles aligned to your desired trajectory.

• Technical: proficiency in one or more languages (Java, C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python), frameworks (Spring, .NET, Node.js, React), REST/GraphQL APIs, databases (SQL/NoSQL), CI/CD, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes) and cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Practices: Agile/Scrum, TDD/BDD, code reviews, observability, secure coding, performance optimisation.
• Tooling: Git, build pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps), IaC (Terraform), monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog).
• Soft skills: problem-solving, collaborative communication, stakeholder engagement, mentoring, product mindset.
• Certifications/licences: degree in Computer Science (or equivalent experience), cloud certs (AWS/Azure), security awareness (e.g., OWASP), and where required, right-to-work and background checks.
• Transferable skills: analytical thinking, data literacy, automation mindset—jobwise’s CV parser highlights these strengths to broaden your matching pool.

Upload your CV and our AI parses your skills, projects and achievements instantly, mapping them to live vacancies across Leeds. Refine with filters for salary, tech stack, seniority, industry and hybrid options, then set job alerts and saved searches so new roles come to you. Your personalised recommendations update as you tweak preferences or add new experience.

• Lifestyle and value: strong salaries, thriving culture and lower living costs than London.
• Local demand: fintech, e‑commerce and public sector programmes continue to scale engineering teams in Leeds and West Yorkshire.
• Better matches: jobwise’s AI reduces missed opportunities by aligning your CV to roles that genuinely fit your skills and ambitions.