Head of engineering salary · base pay, 2026
What a head of engineering earns, in base pay, by place and seniority
A head of engineering salary in 2026 runs from £85,500 to £114,750, with a median of £93,000, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent head of engineering.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £126,500.
IT Jobs Watch puts the median advertised salary at £100,000, across 200 salaries in job ads in the six months to 5 October 2026.
Experience and place move the number more than the title does.
When you hire a head of engineering through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a head of engineering
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of engineering candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Technology leadership jobs on the board
No Technology leadership roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology leadership roles instead.
Technology leadership roles on the board
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Head of engineering brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a head of engineering does, and what sets the pay
A head of engineering runs the engineering team: delivery, standards, releases, hiring and line management.
The seat often reports to a CTO, who owns technical direction and the board conversation.
In a smaller company one person often does both.
For the CTO’s side of the line, see what a CTO does.
Government’s digital, data and technology framework has no head of engineering title.
Its nearest level is principal developer – management, which leads and plans development across large or multiple teams and recruits the talent to staff them.
Experience sets the pay first.
Robert Half’s range runs from £85,500 for a candidate still building experience in the seat to £114,750 for one with above-average experience, with £93,000 for an average level.
Henderson Scott’s 2026 guide, built on 2025 data, gives a head of software engineering £80,000–£100,000 at senior level, £100,000–£120,000 at staff or lead level and £115,000–£135,000 at manager level.
There is no single qualification for the seat.
Some engineering leaders hold Chartered IT Professional (CITP) registration with BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
If you grade technology roles against SFIA’s levels of responsibility, decide where the seat sits before you set the pay: level 6 is “initiate, influence” and level 7 “set strategy, inspire, mobilise”.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of engineering
1. Decide which seat is empty
If the gap is running the team, it is a head of engineering.
If the gap is technical direction, architecture and the board, it is a CTO, and the pay is different: see CTO salary.
Brief the seat you need, not the title you know.
2. Choose the route
A permanent appointment suits a team that needs a leader every day.
If the seat is empty and needs cover now, an interim is paid by the day; see interim head of engineering salary.
If the team needs leadership for part of the week, see fractional head of engineering jobs.
3. Set base, bonus and equity together
In a growth business, part of the package is often equity.
HMRC’s Enterprise Management Incentives are the tax-advantaged share option scheme most smaller companies look at first.
Decide the mix before the offer, so every candidate sees the same package.
What we do on an engineering-leadership brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary technology leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 1 role · technology leadership
Engagement
- Fractional1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid0
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 27 Sept 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional head of engineering.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of engineering holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim head of engineering.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of engineering takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent head of engineering after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of engineering holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of engineering.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
Head of engineering salary by source, place and seniority
Permanent pay as each publisher states it. Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base). IT Jobs Watch reports salaries advertised in job ads over a rolling six months. Henderson Scott’s title is head of software engineering. Robert Walters publishes no head of engineering figure, so its nearest engineering-leadership titles are shown under their own names, with its mean of advertised roles. ONS covers all information technology directors. Robert Half, Robert Walters and Henderson Scott are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On Robert Half’s £93,000 median, that is £13,200 a year (15% of £88,000, our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
A bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet head of engineerings
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of engineering tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ head of engineering salary uk
Head of engineering salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The average head of engineering salary depends on whose figures you read: Robert Half’s national median is £93,000, a starting-salary projection built from its own placements and checked against third-party vacancy data.
IT Jobs Watch’s median is £100,000, from salaries advertised in job ads over six months, so it is the asking price and not the pay agreed.
IT Jobs Watch counted 287 permanent head of engineering ads in the six months to 5 October 2026, against 75 in the same period of 2025.
The head of engineering salary UK employers advertise outside London has a median of £93,750 on the same data.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the full-time median for information technology directors (SOC 2020 code 1137) at £91,671 in 2025, with the middle half of earners between £69,515 and £119,408.
The ONS codes head of software development to that group, but the group is broader than this seat, so read it as a guide to the level.
09/ head of engineering salary london
Head of engineering salary London, and the regions
The head of engineering salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.
Robert Half puts it at £116,250–£156,000, with a median of £126,500.
IT Jobs Watch’s London median advertised salary is £100,000, from 94 salaries, down from £118,750 in the same period of 2025; most London ads ran from £84,875 to £146,250.
Robert Walters publishes no head of engineering row, but its London figures for the titles either side are a guide.
It puts a VP of Engineering at £130,000–£200,000 in a medium-sized firm, a head of development at £100,000–£180,000 and a software engineering manager at £90,000–£130,000.
Outside London, Robert Walters’ nearest title is head of development: £70,000–£100,000 in a medium-sized firm in the Midlands, £75,000–£100,000 in the North and £80,000–£110,000 in the South.
No source we can cite publishes a head of engineering figure for each city.
10/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or part of the week: the other ways to fill the seat
A permanent salary buys an engineering leader every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim head of engineering salary for the day rates.
A fractional head of engineering works part of the week; see fractional head of engineering jobs.
For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional head of engineering salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
11/ questions
Head of engineering salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of engineering.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
