Games Contract Job Trends in Northern Ireland

Gaming
UK > Northern Ireland

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Games in contract job vacancies in Northern Ireland. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Games over the 6 months leading up to 22 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 - 25
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs citing Games 3 0 3
As % of all contract jobs in Northern Ireland 1.31% - 1.86%
As % of the General category 2.33% - 2.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £413 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 - -
75th Percentile £438 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median daily rate £460 £390 £450
% change year-on-year +17.95% -13.33% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 3
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £18.67
Median hourly rate - - £21.10
75th Percentile - - £23.54
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £42.75 £33.75
% change year-on-year +16.96% +26.67% -10.00%

All General Skills
Northern Ireland

Games falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in Northern Ireland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 129 124 110
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland 56.33% 77.99% 68.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 67 59 63
10th Percentile £165 £147 £213
25th Percentile £319 £225 £298
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £325 £435
Median % change year-on-year +46.15% -25.29% -3.33%
75th Percentile £591 £538 £584
90th Percentile £640 £605 £649
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 17 16
10th Percentile £12.31 £19.69 £11.66
25th Percentile £13.57 - £12.25
Median hourly rate £19.10 £24.18 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year -21.01% +50.56% +1.17%
75th Percentile £25.00 £36.38 £18.19
90th Percentile £27.70 £78.47 £23.54
UK median hourly rate £22.99 £27.84 £27.50
% change year-on-year -17.41% +1.22% +10.00%

Games
Job Vacancy Trend in Northern Ireland

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Games relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland.

Games job vacancy trend in Northern Ireland

Games
Daily Rate Trend in Northern Ireland

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Games.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Games

Games
Hourly Rate Trend in Northern Ireland

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Games.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Games

Games
Contract Job Locations in Northern Ireland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Games within the Northern Ireland region over the 6 months to 22 January 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
County Antrim - 3 £425 - 9
Games
UK

Games
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Northern Ireland 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:

Job Titles
1 3 (100.00%) Embedded Engineer
1 3 (100.00%) Embedded Linux Engineer
1 3 (100.00%) FPGA Engineer
1 3 (100.00%) Linux Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (100.00%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 3 (100.00%) Data Centre
1 3 (100.00%) Embedded Systems
1 3 (100.00%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 3 (100.00%) Embedded Linux
1 3 (100.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) FPGA Design
1 3 (100.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 3 (100.00%) C
1 3 (100.00%) C++