How to Write a Software Engineer Resume for the UK Job Market (2025)

April 2025 8 min read United Kingdom

The UK tech market — centred in London but with strong hubs in Manchester, Edinburgh, and Bristol — has its own conventions. A CV that works in the US needs small but important adjustments for UK employers. This guide covers what changes and what stays the same.

CV vs Resume — UK Terminology

In the UK, it's called a CV (curriculum vitae), not a resume. The document itself is identical in format for tech roles, but using the right terminology in cover letters and applications matters.

Format and Length

Unlike the US strict one-page rule, UK CVs can run to two pages for anyone with 2+ years of experience. For new grads, one page is still cleaner. Key rules:

Reverse chronological order
Clean sans-serif font (Inter, Calibri, Arial)
No photo — while legal, it's not expected and can introduce bias concerns
No date of birth, nationality, or marital status
Include your city (e.g. "London" or "Manchester") — not full address

Header for UK Applications

Template

Alex Thompson
London, UK • alex@email.com • +44 7700 000000 • linkedin.com/in/alexthompson • github.com/alexthompson

Right to work: If you require a Skilled Worker Visa, you don't need to mention it on your CV. Recruiters will ask during screening. Don't pre-filter yourself out.

Experience Section

UK tech employers want impact, same as US — but the tone is slightly less aggressive. Avoid overusing superlatives. Lead with action verbs and quantified results:

Strong bullet

"Reduced deployment pipeline time by 35% by introducing parallel test execution in GitHub Actions, enabling 3x more frequent releases."

Use £ not $ for any salary or financial metrics
Include team size and scope when notable
Hackathons, open source, and side projects are valued — include them

Graduate Schemes vs Direct Applications

The UK has a strong graduate scheme culture that doesn't exist in the same way in the US. Companies like Sky, BT, and large banks run structured 12–24 month rotation programmes. These have separate applications from direct hires and usually close October–January.

Don't apply to grad schemes after January — most positions fill months before the official close date. Apply as early as October of your final year.

ATS Keywords for UK Tech Roles

agile / scrum CI/CD microservices REST API cloud (AWS / GCP / Azure) TDD / unit testing Python / Java / Go DevOps Kubernetes / Docker SQL / PostgreSQL

Education

UK degree classes matter to some employers — include your degree classification (First, 2:1, 2:2). A 2:1 is the baseline for most tech grad schemes. Some employers have a First-class preference for competitive roles.

Include: University, Degree title, Classification, Year
Final-year project: include if it involved technical depth
A-levels: include if graduating in the last 2 years; drop after

Check your CV's ATS score

Paste your CV and a UK job description — get a keyword match score and tailored suggestions instantly.

Analyse my CV free →