Firmware Contract Job Trends in England

Firmware
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Firmware skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 467 390 353
Rank change year-on-year -77 -37 +230
Contract jobs citing Firmware 102 105 205
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.29% 0.41% 0.55%
As % of the System Software category 2.44% 3.24% 4.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 40 62 137
10th Percentile £248 £150 £205
25th Percentile £300 £200 £262
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £469 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +4.28% +1.58%
75th Percentile £546 £537 £575
90th Percentile £641 £638 £645
UK median daily rate £400 £438 £450
% change year-on-year -8.57% -2.78% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 13 32
10th Percentile £61.88 £45.50 £47.50
25th Percentile £65.56 £52.50 £55.00
Median hourly rate £66.50 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.40% -3.85% +20.93%
75th Percentile £78.13 £75.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.00 - £90.00
UK median hourly rate £68.25 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +5.00% +4.00% +13.64%

All System Software Skills
England

Firmware falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring system software skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 4,181 3,237 4,285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 12.04% 12.49% 11.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,846 2,135 2,950
10th Percentile £203 £200 £188
25th Percentile £400 £375 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £480
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +9.38% -8.57%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £600
90th Percentile £694 £738 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £516 £480
% change year-on-year -3.15% +7.55% -8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 136 78 222
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.44 £14.06
25th Percentile £19.75 £21.05 £17.29
Median hourly rate £30.37 £29.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.72% -27.50% +1.91%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.88 £65.74
90th Percentile £80.50 £79.00 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £29.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year +17.24% -33.71% +9.38%

Firmware
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Firmware relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Firmware job vacancy trend in England

Firmware
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Firmware.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Firmware

Firmware
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Firmware in England over the 6 months to 19 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Firmware in England

Firmware
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Firmware.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Firmware

Firmware
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Firmware in England over the 6 months to 19 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Firmware in England

Firmware
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Firmware within the England region over the 6 months to 19 February 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
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -39 28 £480 +68.42% 42
North of England -82 26 £360 -24.21% 38
Midlands -50 21 £380 +130.30% 42
North West -31 20 £575 +21.05% 14
West Midlands -41 20 £390 +136.36% 21
East of England -25 16 £63 -86.74% 52
South West -10 13 £475 +216.67% 36
South East -38 12 £500 - 78
Yorkshire -60 6 £348 +2.66% 22
East Midlands -27 1 £143 -13.64% 21
Firmware
UK

Firmware
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 7 (6.86%) Confluence
2 2 (1.96%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.98%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 5 (4.90%) Simulink
2 1 (0.98%) OrCAD
Cloud Services
1 8 (7.84%) Azure
2 7 (6.86%) GitHub
3 4 (3.92%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.98%) Azure ExpressRoute
4 1 (0.98%) Entra ID
4 1 (0.98%) IaaS
4 1 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.98%) PaaS
4 1 (0.98%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 24 (23.53%) DNS
2 18 (17.65%) TCP/IP
3 16 (15.69%) BIG-IP
3 16 (15.69%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
3 16 (15.69%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
3 16 (15.69%) HTTP
3 16 (15.69%) SSL
3 16 (15.69%) Wireshark
4 14 (13.73%) Ethernet
5 12 (11.76%) Firewall
6 7 (6.86%) Modbus
6 7 (6.86%) RS-232
6 7 (6.86%) RS-485
6 7 (6.86%) Wireless
7 6 (5.88%) VLAN
7 6 (5.88%) VPN
8 5 (4.90%) Cisco IOS
8 5 (4.90%) DHCP
8 5 (4.90%) NX-OS
8 5 (4.90%) SAN
Development Applications
1 16 (15.69%) Fiddler
2 9 (8.82%) JIRA
3 2 (1.96%) MSTest
3 2 (1.96%) Team Foundation Server
3 2 (1.96%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.98%) Git
4 1 (0.98%) QADirector
4 1 (0.98%) Rational DOORS
4 1 (0.98%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 26 (25.49%) Social Skills
2 20 (19.61%) Banking
3 19 (18.63%) Electronics
4 17 (16.67%) Investment Banking
5 12 (11.76%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (5.88%) Manufacturing
7 5 (4.90%) Games
8 4 (3.92%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (3.92%) Law
9 3 (2.94%) Aerospace
10 2 (1.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.96%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.98%) Finance
11 1 (0.98%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.98%) Legal
11 1 (0.98%) Military
11 1 (0.98%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 30 (29.41%) Network Engineer
2 18 (17.65%) Embedded Engineer
3 16 (15.69%) Blue Coat Engineer
3 16 (15.69%) IP Network Engineer
3 16 (15.69%) Web Engineer
4 14 (13.73%) Software Engineer
5 12 (11.76%) Embedded Software Engineer
6 8 (7.84%) Firmware Engineer
6 8 (7.84%) Principal Engineer
7 6 (5.88%) Storage Engineer
8 5 (4.90%) Cloud Engineer
8 5 (4.90%) Design Engineer
9 4 (3.92%) 3rd Line Engineer
9 4 (3.92%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
9 4 (3.92%) Cloud Network Engineer
9 4 (3.92%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
9 4 (3.92%) Senior
9 4 (3.92%) Support Engineer
10 3 (2.94%) Architect
10 3 (2.94%) FPGA Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.92%) Flash
2 2 (1.96%) Unity (Game Engine)
2 2 (1.96%) Unreal Engine
3 1 (0.98%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.98%) LDAP
3 1 (0.98%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.98%) Middleware
3 1 (0.98%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 18 (17.65%) Management Information System
2 17 (16.67%) FPGA
3 15 (14.71%) Embedded Systems
4 11 (10.78%) Data Centre
5 8 (7.84%) PCIe
5 8 (7.84%) PKI
5 8 (7.84%) VHDL
6 7 (6.86%) Verilog
7 6 (5.88%) Algorithms
8 2 (1.96%) Analogue Electronics
8 2 (1.96%) CCTV
8 2 (1.96%) CUDA
8 2 (1.96%) IoT
8 2 (1.96%) Mixed Reality
8 2 (1.96%) Onboarding
8 2 (1.96%) Virtual Reality
9 1 (0.98%) CPLD
9 1 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.98%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.98%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 16 (15.69%) Linux
1 16 (15.69%) Windows
2 7 (6.86%) FreeRTOS
3 3 (2.94%) Embedded Linux
3 3 (2.94%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.96%) Debian
4 2 (1.96%) Mac OS
4 2 (1.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.98%) Android
5 1 (0.98%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.98%) CentOS
5 1 (0.98%) Oracle Linux
5 1 (0.98%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.98%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (19.61%) Validation
2 17 (16.67%) Load Balancing
2 17 (16.67%) Software Engineering
2 17 (16.67%) Systems Engineering
3 16 (15.69%) Data Loss Prevention
3 16 (15.69%) Malware Detection/Protection
4 14 (13.73%) Problem-Solving
5 11 (10.78%) AI
6 9 (8.82%) Computer Science
6 9 (8.82%) Mentoring
6 9 (8.82%) Technical Leadership
7 8 (7.84%) Change Management
7 8 (7.84%) Collaborative Culture
7 8 (7.84%) Continuous Improvement
7 8 (7.84%) Customer Requirements
7 8 (7.84%) Disaster Recovery
7 8 (7.84%) ITSM
8 7 (6.86%) DevOps
8 7 (6.86%) Machine Learning
9 6 (5.88%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 21 (20.59%) C
2 17 (16.67%) C++
2 17 (16.67%) Python
3 7 (6.86%) Bash
3 7 (6.86%) Embedded C++
3 7 (6.86%) PowerShell
4 6 (5.88%) MATLAB
4 6 (5.88%) SystemVerilog
4 6 (5.88%) Tcl
5 5 (4.90%) Embedded C
6 3 (2.94%) Perl
7 2 (1.96%) C#
8 1 (0.98%) Ada
Qualifications
1 22 (21.57%) Security Cleared
2 14 (13.73%) SC Cleared
3 13 (12.75%) Degree
4 8 (7.84%) DV Cleared
5 5 (4.90%) Cisco Certification
5 5 (4.90%) HNC
5 5 (4.90%) HND
6 4 (3.92%) CCNP
6 4 (3.92%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (2.94%) JNCIA
7 3 (2.94%) JNCIS
7 3 (2.94%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.96%) CCNA
8 2 (1.96%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.98%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.98%) MCSA
9 1 (0.98%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.98%) Network+ Certification
9 1 (0.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (9.80%) Def Stans
1 10 (9.80%) DO-178B
1 10 (9.80%) MISRA
2 6 (5.88%) DO-254
3 3 (2.94%) QA
4 1 (0.98%) 21 CFR Part 11
4 1 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.98%) GDPR
4 1 (0.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.98%) JSP 440
4 1 (0.98%) NCSC
4 1 (0.98%) NIST
4 1 (0.98%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.98%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 23 (22.55%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (10.78%) Embedded Firmware
3 7 (6.86%) Active Directory
4 6 (5.88%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (3.92%) Hyper-V
5 4 (3.92%) KVM
5 4 (3.92%) VMware NSX
6 3 (2.94%) Docker
7 2 (1.96%) Ceph
7 2 (1.96%) Lustre
7 2 (1.96%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.98%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.98%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 5 (4.90%) vCenter Server
2 3 (2.94%) Kubernetes
3 2 (1.96%) Ansible
3 2 (1.96%) Dell DRAC
3 2 (1.96%) HP ALM
3 2 (1.96%) HP Quality Center
3 2 (1.96%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.98%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.98%) Grafana
4 1 (0.98%) HAProxy
4 1 (0.98%) PaperCut
4 1 (0.98%) Podman
4 1 (0.98%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.98%) SCCM
4 1 (0.98%) SCOM
Vendors
1 23 (22.55%) VMware
2 20 (19.61%) NetApp
3 17 (16.67%) F5
4 16 (15.69%) Blue Coat
4 16 (15.69%) McAfee
5 15 (14.71%) Cisco
6 8 (7.84%) EMC
6 8 (7.84%) Microsoft
7 7 (6.86%) Juniper
8 6 (5.88%) Altera
8 6 (5.88%) Dell
8 6 (5.88%) Intel
8 6 (5.88%) Xilinx
9 5 (4.90%) Actel
9 5 (4.90%) HP
9 5 (4.90%) Microsemi
9 5 (4.90%) SolarWinds
10 4 (3.92%) Broadcom
10 4 (3.92%) Veritas
11 3 (2.94%) Fortinet