Principal Architect Job Trends

Principal Architect
UK

The median Principal Architect salary in the UK is £100,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 November 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 634 612 642
Rank change year-on-year -22 +30 +4
Permanent Principal Architect jobs 204 44 105
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.17% 0.085% 0.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.094% 0.16%
Number of salaries quoted 105 38 59
10th Percentile £72,951 £74,780 £50,000
25th Percentile £90,000 £80,313 £69,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £100,000 £100,000 £75,000
Median % change year-on-year - +33.33% -31.82%
75th Percentile - - £100,000
90th Percentile £114,100 £115,750 £120,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £100,000 £100,000 £70,000
% change year-on-year - +42.86% -33.33%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
11 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 113,137 46,791 63,694
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.78% 90.01% 94.86%
Number of salaries quoted 74,688 28,721 35,684
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,000 £92,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

Principal Architect Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Principal Architect job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Principal Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Principal Architect Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Principal Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Principal Architect job vacancies in the UK

Principal Architect Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for Principal Architect jobs over the 6 months to 11 November 2026.

Salary histogram for Principal Architect in the UK

Principal Architect Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Principal Architect jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 11 November 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England -48 162 £100,000 - 170
UK excluding London -92 113 £100,000 - 76
London -15 62 £100,000 -6.98% 89
South West -57 34 £100,000 - 8
South East - 23 £100,000 - 17
Work from Home -70 20 £100,000 +17.65% 73
Midlands -72 17 £100,000 - 16
North of England -84 17 £100,000 +20.77% 14
Wales -49 15 £95,000 - 1
North West -51 12 £100,000 +19.05% 10
East Midlands -49 10 £80,000 -20.00% 6
West Midlands -51 7 £100,000 -33.33% 10
Scotland -8 5 £100,000 -4.76% 7
Yorkshire -43 5 £100,000 +26.58% 4
East of England - 2 - - 13

Principal Architect Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 November 2026, Principal Architect job ads cited 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 Principal Architect job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Security Cleared26.5%54
2Roadmaps17.6%36
3AWS16.2%33
4SC Cleared15.7%32
5AI14.7%30
6Azure12.7%26
6Technical Leadership12.7%26
8Analytics10.3%21
8Business Strategy10.3%21
8Security Architecture10.3%21
8Stakeholder Engagement10.3%21
12Cybersecurity9.8%20
12DV Cleared9.8%20
14Customer Requirements9.3%19
15Coaching7.8%16
15Decision-Making7.8%16
15Technology Transformation7.8%16
18Agile7.4%15
18Mentoring7.4%15
18Microsoft7.4%15
18Technology Roadmap7.4%15
22SaaS6.9%14
23Continuous Improvement6.4%13
23Enterprise Architecture6.4%13
23Python6.4%13
26GCP5.9%12
26Machine Learning5.9%12
28Architecture Governance5.4%11
28DevOps5.4%11
28Technical Architecture5.4%11

Principal Architect Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Principal Solutions Architect19.6%40
2Principal Enterprise Architect13.7%28
3Principal Security Architect11.3%23
4Principal Technical Architect9.3%19
4Senior Architect9.3%19
6Platform Architect8.3%17
6Principal Data Architect8.3%17
8Software Architect6.4%13
9AWS Architect5.9%12
10Principal Engineer4.9%10
10Systems Architect4.9%10
12Cloud Architect4.4%9
12ServiceNow Architect4.4%9
14Cybersecurity Architect3.9%8
14Principal Systems Engineer3.9%8
16Artificial Intelligence Architect3.4%7
16Enterprise Security Architect3.4%7
18Information Architect2.9%6
19Principal Developer2.5%5
19Senior Solutions Architect2.5%5
207 Principal Architect jobs Nationwide