How to Use This List
This is not a randomly assembled list of companies with "tech" in their description. Every company here has an active graduate hiring track for Computer Science graduates in 2026, a confirmed presence on the UK market, and enough publicly available information about their interview process and salaries to be useful to you.
Companies are grouped by sector and rated on interview difficulty (1-5 scale, where 5 is the hardest), so you can build a balanced application strategy across realistic targets, stretch targets, and safety nets. For the application strategy itself, see our guide on how to get a graduate tech job in the UK.
Tier 1 - Elite (Interview Difficulty: 5/5)
These companies pay the highest graduate salaries in the UK and have the most rigorous interview processes. Expect 4-6 rounds, LeetCode Hard problems, and strong competition from international candidates.
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jane Street | £90k-£130k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 2 | Optiver | £80k-£120k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 3 | Google UK | £70k-£95k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 4 | Citadel / Citadel Securities | £80k-£110k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 5 | G-Research | £70k-£100k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 6 | Hudson River Trading | £80k-£120k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 7 | Meta UK | £75k-£100k+ | London | 5/5 |
| 8 | Palantir | £65k-£85k | London | 5/5 |
Tier 2 - Investment Banks and Top-Tier Tech (Interview Difficulty: 4/5)
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location | Primary Roles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Goldman Sachs Technology | £65k-£75k | London | SWE, Strats, Quant Dev |
| 10 | Amazon SDE | £55k-£70k + RSUs | London / Edinburgh | SWE, Data, SRE |
| 11 | JP Morgan Technology | £55k-£65k | London / Edinburgh | SWE, Data, Cyber |
| 12 | Morgan Stanley Technology | £55k-£65k | London | SWE, Infrastructure |
| 13 | Bloomberg Engineering | £65k-£80k | London | SWE, Financial Systems |
| 14 | Microsoft UK | £55k-£65k + RSUs | London | SWE, Cloud, PM |
| 15 | Apple UK | £60k-£75k | London | SWE, ML, Hardware SW |
| 16 | Arm | £40k-£52k | Cambridge | CPU Eng, Compiler, SWE |
| 17 | Barclays Technology | £42k-£48k | London / Knutsford / Glasgow | SWE, Data, Cyber |
Tier 3 - Fintech Scale-Ups (Interview Difficulty: 3-4/5)
These companies pay well, move fast, and offer genuine engineering responsibility from day one. Less structured than graduate schemes but often better engineering culture.
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location | Known For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Monzo | £50k-£65k | London | Best-in-class engineering culture |
| 19 | Wise | £45k-£60k | London | International team, strong equity |
| 20 | Revolut | £45k-£60k | London | Fast-paced, high growth |
| 21 | Checkout.com | £45k-£60k | London | Payments infrastructure |
| 22 | Starling Bank | £40k-£55k | London / Cardiff / Southampton | Profitable challenger bank |
| 23 | Curve | £40k-£55k | London | Fintech product engineering |
| 24 | Freetrade | £40k-£50k | London | Investment platform engineering |
| 25 | Skyscanner | £35k-£48k | Edinburgh / London | Travel tech, Python-heavy |
Tier 4 - Enterprise Tech and Established Employers (Interview Difficulty: 3/5)
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location | Scheme? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Accenture Technology | £28k-£33k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 27 | Capgemini | £28k-£34k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 28 | Deloitte Technology | £32k-£38k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 29 | IBM | £28k-£34k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 30 | BT Technology | £30k-£36k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 31 | NatWest Group Technology | £30k-£36k | Edinburgh / London | Yes |
| 32 | HSBC Technology | £32k-£40k | London / Sheffield | Yes |
| 33 | Lloyds Banking Group | £30k-£38k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 34 | BDO / EY Technology | £28k-£36k | UK-wide | Yes |
| 35 | Ocado Technology | £38k-£50k | Hatfield / London | Yes |
Tier 5 - Specialist, Government, and Defence (Interview Difficulty: 3-4/5)
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | GCHQ | £32k-£38k | Cheltenham / London | DV clearance required; UK nationals only |
| 37 | NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) | £30k-£36k | London / Cheltenham | Cyber-focused; strong mission |
| 38 | Arm | £40k-£52k | Cambridge | Hardware/software interface roles |
| 39 | Darktrace | £35k-£45k | Cambridge | AI cybersecurity; fast growing |
| 40 | Airbus Digital | £32k-£40k | Bristol | SC clearance required |
| 41 | Rolls-Royce Digital | £31k-£36k | Derby / Bristol | Aerospace digital engineering |
| 42 | BAE Systems Applied Intelligence | £30k-£38k | UK-wide | Defence tech; DV clearance required |
| 43 | Dyson Technology | £32k-£42k | Malmesbury / Singapore | Hardware-software, robotics |
Tier 6 - Regional Tech Employers and Scale-Ups (Interview Difficulty: 2-3/5)
| # | Company | Grad Salary | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | AutoTrader UK | £38k-£50k | Manchester |
| 45 | Bet365 | £40k-£55k | Stoke-on-Trent |
| 46 | Hargreaves Lansdown | £32k-£42k | Bristol |
| 47 | Booking.com (Manchester) | £45k-£60k | Manchester |
| 48 | FanDuel / Flutter | £38k-£50k | Edinburgh |
| 49 | AND Digital | £30k-£40k | UK-wide |
| 50 | Co-op Digital | £32k-£42k | Manchester |
Building Your Application Strategy
A well-structured graduate job search applies across all three tiers simultaneously:
- Tier 1-2 (5-8 applications): Your stretch targets. Full preparation required. Use GradSignal's interview playbooks for company-specific prep.
- Tier 3-4 (8-12 applications): Your primary targets. Good engineering, reasonable competition.
- Tier 5-6 (5-8 applications): Your baseline. Strong employers with less competition.
The graduates who land the best roles apply to all three tiers simultaneously - not sequentially. Waiting for a Tier 1 response before applying to Tier 2 is a timeline mistake that costs graduates months.
Browse current graduate tech listings from these companies on GradSignal and set up alerts so you're notified the moment new roles go live.