UK tech employers are hiring for seniority, security clearance and the Microsoft stack, and they increasingly want people who can sell, manage stakeholders and own delivery, not just write code. That is the picture from IT Jobs Watch's permanent job market index for the six months to 21 October 2026, which tracks how often each skill, role and sector appears in UK job ads.
The site lists 77,447 live vacancies. The 50 most-requested terms below come from 4,319 tracked in total, and each one carries a rank, a year-on-year rank change and a median advertised salary. Read together, they show where demand is moving and what a CV needs to say to be found.
The skills employers want
The single most-requested term is not a technology at all. Social skills top the index, named in 15.69% of permanent ads (18,859 vacancies), and problem-solving sits at number 6. Stakeholder management climbed 16 places to 23 and pays a median of £67,500, well above the £47,500 attached to social skills in general. Employers want people skills they can point to in a specific setting.
Cloud means Microsoft first. Microsoft is the fourth most-cited term and its median salary jumped 14.94% to £50,000. Azure holds steady at 7th (£65,000, up 8.33%), while AWS fell six places to 20th and its median slipped 3.33%, though at £72,500 it still pays more. Power Platform (49th) and Microsoft 365 (36th, pay up 9.58%) round out a strong showing for the Microsoft ecosystem.
AI is big, well paid and still rising in live ads. AI ranks 9th with a median of £73,500 (up 5%). It also has the most live jobs of any term on the list, at 17,980, which suggests demand is accelerating into the autumn.
Clearance is the standout gainer. "Security Cleared" rose 14 places and "SC Cleared" rose 21, and both medians climbed 16.66% to £70,000. Cybersecurity gained 9 places, with pay up 9.37% to £60,000.
Some staple skills are slipping in the rankings. Python fell 12 places, SQL 15, DevOps 10, Agile 9 and CI/CD 5. None of these is disappearing: Python still pays £70,400 and has 8,786 live jobs. But they now read as a baseline rather than a differentiator. "Degree" dropped 16 places, a sign that more ads are leaving out a formal degree requirement.
Where the growth is
The fastest climbers are commercial and senior roles, and the public sector is the stand-out employer. These are the biggest rank gains in the top 50, with current rank, places gained and median salary:
- Business Development Manager: 16th, up 73 places, £55,000 (pay up 11.78%)
- Business Manager: 12th, up 62 places, £55,000 (pay up 10%)
- Development Manager: 13th, up 62 places, £55,000 (pay up 10%)
- Architect: 21st, up 48 places, £90,000 (pay up 9.09%)
- Onboarding: 50th, up 33 places, £44,000 (pay up 10%)
- Project Delivery: 46th, up 31 places, £55,000 (pay down 8.33%)
- Software Engineer: 28th, up 28 places, £70,000 (pay down 12.5%)
- Business Development: 5th, up 24 places, £50,000 (pay up 11.11%)
- Consultant: 38th, up 24 places, £65,000 (pay up 18.18%)
- Public Sector: 39th, up 22 places, £63,750 (pay up 10.86%)
- C#: 48th, up 22 places, £60,000 (pay unchanged)
- SC Cleared: 37th, up 21 places, £70,000 (pay up 16.66%)
Public sector and defence-adjacent work. Public Sector gained 22 places, and the clearance surge points the same way: government, defence and critical-infrastructure employers are hiring hard and paying more for people who can pass vetting.
Finance stays the biggest sector. Finance is the third most-cited term overall, at £65,000 (up 4%). Manufacturing holds 29th, and SaaS climbed 11 places to 41st.
Retail is fewer roles at much higher pay. Retail fell 15 places but its median rose 25% to £50,000, which points to retailers cutting junior tech hiring while paying up for the specialists they keep.
Seniority is in demand; mid-level engineering pay is under pressure. "Senior" rose 7 places to 2nd and "Lead" rose 13. Software engineering roles climbed the rankings, but the median for "Software Engineer" fell 12.5% and "Developer" fell 4%. More ads, lower advertised pay, suggests a crowded field at mid-level.
Losing ground. Windows (down 26 places), Inclusion and Diversity (down 23), Marketing (down 19), Mentoring (down 16) and Customer Service (down 15).
Where the money is
The best-paid terms in the top 50 are Architect (£90,000), Roadmaps (£80,000), Lead (£77,500) and Software Engineering (£75,000), with AI close behind at £73,500. Pay is rising fastest where supply is tight, and falling in crowded mid-level roles.
The split is telling: skills that are hard to acquire quickly, such as clearance, Microsoft depth and consultancy experience, gained the most, while generalist engineering and QA roles lost ground.
What to optimise for on your CV
Your CV needs the exact terms recruiters search for, backed by evidence that you used them. These are the moves the data supports.
- State your clearance on line one. If you hold SC or higher, put "SC Cleared" (and the expiry) in your headline. It is among the fastest-rising terms and adds a premium of roughly 17% on the median. If you are eligible but not cleared, say so.
- Name the Microsoft stack precisely. Write "Azure", "Microsoft 365" and "Power Platform", plus specific services, not just "cloud". If you are AWS-only, add any Azure exposure you have, as Azure now appears in more ads.
- Show AI applied to real work. "AI" is in more live ads than any other term. Name what you built or used (models, tools, outcomes) rather than listing it as an interest.
- Prove soft skills with examples. Swap "strong communicator" for a line like "managed 12 stakeholders across finance and ops to deliver X". Use the words recruiters search for: stakeholder management, problem-solving, decision-making, continuous improvement.
- Pitch one level up. "Senior", "Lead" and "Architect" are all climbing and pay £70,000 to £90,000. Frame your experience around ownership: roadmaps, design decisions, mentoring and delivery.
- Add commercial impact. Business development and consultancy terms are surging. Quantify revenue won, costs saved or clients onboarded, even in a technical role.
- Keep Python, SQL and DevOps in, but don't lead with them. They are expected, not distinctive. Put them in a skills block and lead with outcomes.
- Target your sector. Use the language of finance, public sector or SaaS when applying there, such as "regulated environment", "GDS" or "subscription metrics".
- Don't over-index on the degree. It is falling in importance; give the space to certifications (Azure, security) and results instead.
Reading the data with care
These figures count how often terms appear in job ads, not how many people are hired. A few caveats apply.
- Some surges may be short bursts. Business Development Manager rose 73 places, yet only 304 live ads mention it now. That points to a spike earlier in the six months rather than steady demand.
- Medians are advertised pay. Many ads omit salary, so medians can move with the mix of roles posted.
- Rank moves exaggerate at the bottom. A term outside the top 50 a year ago can jump dozens of places on a modest rise in ads.
The overall direction is clear: employers want seniority, clearance, Microsoft and AI skills, and people who can show business impact. A CV that names those terms and proves them with numbers will be found more often and can command more.