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 26 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 474 419 368
Rank change year-on-year -55 -51 +63
Contract jobs citing Firmware 155 99 167
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.34% 0.36% 0.48%
As % of the System Software category 3.42% 3.00% 4.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 79 45 84
10th Percentile £236 £202 £205
25th Percentile £358 £310 £292
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £415 £433
Median % change year-on-year +2.41% -4.05% -8.95%
75th Percentile £500 £513 £538
90th Percentile £625 £575 £575
UK median daily rate £420 £400 £450
% change year-on-year +5.00% -11.11% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 26 40
10th Percentile £12.76 £45.53 £20.50
25th Percentile £42.50 £52.69 £44.31
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.75% +40.87% +6.98%
75th Percentile £75.00 £88.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £91.50 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £81.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -19.75% +47.61% -0.23%

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 4,536 3,305 3,978
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.03% 11.98% 11.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,996 2,166 2,775
10th Percentile £213 £225 £220
25th Percentile £400 £376 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £694 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 183 88 160
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.14 £14.06
25th Percentile £26.33 £22.50 £14.48
Median hourly rate £55.00 £35.57 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +54.61% +69.39% -47.50%
75th Percentile £74.13 £80.00 £58.69
90th Percentile £85.00 £90.45 £70.07
UK median hourly rate £51.75 £30.00 £22.00
% change year-on-year +72.50% +36.36% -56.00%

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 26 July 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 26 July 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 26 July 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
North of England -35 52 £365 -14.12% 34
Midlands -22 38 £413 -28.26% 28
North West -26 30 £450 +2.86% 19
West Midlands -32 28 £413 -28.26% 9
London -80 26 £444 +10.94% 41
South East -60 25 £600 +83.49% 67
East of England -31 22 £425 -15.00% 62
Yorkshire - 21 £365 - 7
East Midlands -6 10 £500 -23.08% 19
South West -34 5 £425 -3.41% 21
North East -43 1 - - 9
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 6 (3.87%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.65%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (3.23%) Simulink
2 1 (0.65%) Adobe After Effects
2 1 (0.65%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 1 (0.65%) Blender
2 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 28 (18.06%) Azure
2 11 (7.10%) Entra ID
3 8 (5.16%) AWS
3 8 (5.16%) Microsoft 365
4 5 (3.23%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 3 (1.94%) Azure Monitor
5 3 (1.94%) Azure Stack
6 2 (1.29%) AWS IoT
6 2 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
6 2 (1.29%) GitHub
6 2 (1.29%) GitHub Copilot
7 1 (0.65%) Cohesity
7 1 (0.65%) Figma
7 1 (0.65%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.65%) IaaS
7 1 (0.65%) OCI
7 1 (0.65%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.65%) PaaS
7 1 (0.65%) SaaS
7 1 (0.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 25 (16.13%) DNS
2 23 (14.84%) Firewall
3 19 (12.26%) SSL
3 19 (12.26%) Wireshark
4 18 (11.61%) SAN
5 17 (10.97%) TCP/IP
6 16 (10.32%) BIG-IP
6 16 (10.32%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
6 16 (10.32%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 16 (10.32%) HTTP
6 16 (10.32%) WAN
7 14 (9.03%) VLAN
8 11 (7.10%) SD-WAN
9 10 (6.45%) LAN
9 10 (6.45%) VPN
9 10 (6.45%) Wireless
10 9 (5.81%) DHCP
10 9 (5.81%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (5.16%) Software-Defined Radio
12 7 (4.52%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 16 (10.32%) Fiddler
2 10 (6.45%) JIRA
3 5 (3.23%) Git
4 2 (1.29%) Rational DOORS
4 2 (1.29%) Rational Rhapsody
4 2 (1.29%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (1.29%) VectorCAST
5 1 (0.65%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 31 (20.00%) Social Skills
2 16 (10.32%) Banking
2 16 (10.32%) Investment Banking
3 13 (8.39%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (7.74%) Electronics
5 9 (5.81%) Aerospace
6 5 (3.23%) Retail
7 4 (2.58%) Law
7 4 (2.58%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.29%) Finance
8 2 (1.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.29%) Legal
8 2 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.65%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.65%) Games
9 1 (0.65%) Local Government
9 1 (0.65%) Mandarin Language
9 1 (0.65%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 33 (21.29%) Network Engineer
2 16 (10.32%) Blue Coat Engineer
2 16 (10.32%) IP Network Engineer
2 16 (10.32%) Web Engineer
3 14 (9.03%) Software Engineer
4 13 (8.39%) Senior
5 12 (7.74%) Administrator
5 12 (7.74%) Data Centre Engineer
6 11 (7.10%) Embedded Engineer
6 11 (7.10%) Lead
7 6 (3.87%) Analyst
7 6 (3.87%) Backup Administrator
7 6 (3.87%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 6 (3.87%) Firmware Engineer
7 6 (3.87%) SAN Administrator
7 6 (3.87%) SAN Storage Administrator
7 6 (3.87%) Storage Administrator
7 6 (3.87%) Storage and Backup Administrator
8 5 (3.23%) Desktop Engineer
8 5 (3.23%) Network Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (8.39%) Redfish
2 6 (3.87%) Yocto
3 3 (1.94%) .NET
3 3 (1.94%) OpenTelemetry
4 2 (1.29%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.65%) Framer.js
5 1 (0.65%) JSON
5 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.65%) PyQt
5 1 (0.65%) REST
5 1 (0.65%) Streamlit
5 1 (0.65%) WPF
5 1 (0.65%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 32 (20.65%) Data Centre
2 23 (14.84%) Embedded Systems
3 17 (10.97%) Management Information System
4 13 (8.39%) RISC-V
5 12 (7.74%) FPGA
6 10 (6.45%) Clustering
7 9 (5.81%) Device Driver
7 9 (5.81%) Verilog
8 8 (5.16%) VHDL
9 7 (4.52%) Onboarding
9 7 (4.52%) Replication
10 6 (3.87%) Driving Licence
10 6 (3.87%) Enterprise Storage
10 6 (3.87%) MicroBlaze
11 5 (3.23%) EPoS
11 5 (3.23%) IoT
11 5 (3.23%) Linux Command Line
11 5 (3.23%) PCIe
11 5 (3.23%) Security Posture
12 4 (2.58%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 35 (22.58%) Windows
2 32 (20.65%) Linux
3 10 (6.45%) AIX
3 10 (6.45%) Embedded Linux
4 6 (3.87%) Unix
5 5 (3.23%) VMS
6 4 (2.58%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (1.94%) SUSE
8 2 (1.29%) Android
8 2 (1.29%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.65%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.65%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.65%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (14.19%) Software Engineering
2 20 (12.90%) Capacity Planning
2 20 (12.90%) Data Centre Operations
2 20 (12.90%) Problem-Solving
3 19 (12.26%) ITIL
3 19 (12.26%) Migration
4 18 (11.61%) Load Balancing
5 16 (10.32%) Data Loss Prevention
5 16 (10.32%) Malware Detection/Protection
5 16 (10.32%) Runbook
6 14 (9.03%) Validation
7 12 (7.74%) Asset Management
7 12 (7.74%) Performance Tuning
7 12 (7.74%) Test Automation
8 11 (7.10%) High Availability
8 11 (7.10%) Project Delivery
9 10 (6.45%) Infrastructure Management
9 10 (6.45%) Inventory Management
10 9 (5.81%) Computer Science
10 9 (5.81%) Signal Processing
Programming Languages
1 29 (18.71%) Python
2 24 (15.48%) C++
3 23 (14.84%) C
4 19 (12.26%) PowerShell
5 10 (6.45%) Bash
6 9 (5.81%) Ada
7 8 (5.16%) SystemVerilog
8 7 (4.52%) MATLAB
9 6 (3.87%) C#
9 6 (3.87%) Perl
10 3 (1.94%) Embedded C
10 3 (1.94%) Embedded C++
11 2 (1.29%) Java
11 2 (1.29%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.65%) Tcl
12 1 (0.65%) VB
Qualifications
1 28 (18.06%) Security Cleared
2 23 (14.84%) SC Cleared
3 21 (13.55%) Degree
4 11 (7.10%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (3.87%) CCNA
5 6 (3.87%) CCNP
6 4 (2.58%) Azure Certification
6 4 (2.58%) CEH
6 4 (2.58%) CISSP
6 4 (2.58%) CompTIA Security+
6 4 (2.58%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (2.58%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (1.94%) CCIE
7 3 (1.94%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.29%) DV Cleared
8 2 (1.29%) Master's Degree
8 2 (1.29%) MCSE
9 1 (0.65%) JNCIA
9 1 (0.65%) JNCIS
9 1 (0.65%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (5.81%) DO-178B
2 8 (5.16%) DO-254
3 7 (4.52%) Def Stans
3 7 (4.52%) MISRA
4 6 (3.87%) QA
5 4 (2.58%) NIST
6 3 (1.94%) GDPR
7 1 (0.65%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.65%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.65%) SLA
System Software
1 32 (20.65%) VMware Infrastructure
2 20 (12.90%) Embedded Firmware
3 18 (11.61%) Active Directory
4 8 (5.16%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (4.52%) Hyper-V
6 6 (3.87%) PowerHA
7 5 (3.23%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (2.58%) BitLocker
8 4 (2.58%) vSphere
9 3 (1.94%) KVM
10 1 (0.65%) Docker
10 1 (0.65%) NFS
10 1 (0.65%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 12 (7.74%) Dell DRAC
2 7 (4.52%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 6 (3.87%) Ansible
3 6 (3.87%) FortiGate
4 5 (3.23%) Microsoft Intune
4 5 (3.23%) Terraform
5 4 (2.58%) SCCM
6 3 (1.94%) Failover Clustering
6 3 (1.94%) Microsoft Clustering
6 3 (1.94%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.94%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.94%) VxRail
7 1 (0.65%) Grafana
7 1 (0.65%) Kubernetes
7 1 (0.65%) PaperCut
7 1 (0.65%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.65%) SnapMirror
Vendors
1 36 (23.23%) VMware
2 31 (20.00%) Cisco
3 18 (11.61%) F5
4 17 (10.97%) McAfee
4 17 (10.97%) NetApp
5 16 (10.32%) Blue Coat
5 16 (10.32%) Microsoft
6 11 (7.10%) IBM
7 9 (5.81%) Fortinet
7 9 (5.81%) Xilinx
8 8 (5.16%) Dell
8 8 (5.16%) Microsemi
9 7 (4.52%) Juniper
9 7 (4.52%) Meraki
9 7 (4.52%) Palo Alto
9 7 (4.52%) ServiceNow
10 6 (3.87%) Altera
10 6 (3.87%) HP
11 5 (3.23%) EMC
11 5 (3.23%) Infoblox