Engineering Salary Guide 2026: UK & Ireland

This guide is built from the 640 offers Brennan Hale saw between July 2025 and June 2026. It is not a survey and nobody self-reported a number. Every figure below comes from an offer that was made, and where we say a band did not convert, that is because candidates declined it.

The headline

Engineering salaries across the UK and Ireland rose by roughly 4.1% over the last twelve months, which is a slowdown from the 6.8% we recorded the year before. That average conceals a wide spread. Automation and controls moved close to 9%. General mechanical design moved 2.4%, which is below inflation and effectively a real-terms cut.

The pattern is consistent with what we see in briefs. Clients are not raising budgets across the board; they are raising them where they have failed to hire.

By discipline

Controls and automation engineers at mid level now command £45,000 to £54,000 in the North and Midlands, and £52,000 to £62,000 in the South East. This is the sharpest movement in the market and the reason is straightforward: every manufacturer is automating and the pool of engineers who can specify, program and commission a cell has not grown.

CNC and machining roles have held up better than expected, with senior programmers in aerospace-adjacent work reaching £56,000 in the North West. Offline programming and simulation experience adds a reliable £4,000 to £6,000 to an offer.

Quality engineering remains the softest area. Supplier quality roles in particular are frequently advertised below the level required to attract someone who has done the job well, and those searches routinely run past four months.

By region

The gap between London and the North West narrowed slightly, to around 18% at mid level. Once housing costs are included that gap disappears entirely, and we now regularly see London-based engineers accepting nominal reductions to move north.

Ireland continues to pay a premium for life sciences adjacent engineering, with sterile manufacturing process engineers in Dublin ahead of equivalent UK roles by 12% to 15% in euro terms.

What this means if you are hiring

• Benchmark the role you are actually recruiting, not the one you wrote three years ago

• If a search has run past twelve weeks with no offer, the issue is almost always the band or the work model, not the candidate pool

• Automation skills carry a premium whether or not the job title mentions them

• Counter-offers succeed most often where the candidate was leaving for money alone, which is a signal about your retention rather than about them

What this means if you are looking

• Automation and controls exposure is the single highest-return skill you can add this year

• Do not accept a first offer at the bottom of an advertised band without asking what sits behind it

• Regional moves are more financially viable than they have been in a decade

• Ask about the work model before the third interview, not after the offer