Embedded Firmware Contract Job Trends in the South East

Embedded Firmware
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Embedded Firmware skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 203 - 186
Rank change year-on-year - - +31
Contract jobs citing Embedded Firmware 10 0 5
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.17% - 0.090%
As % of the System Software category 1.56% - 0.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 0 1
10th Percentile £516 - -
25th Percentile £638 - £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £675 - £550
Median % change year-on-year - - +18.92%
75th Percentile £713 - £575
90th Percentile - - -
England median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - +17.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 4
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £50.00 - -
Median hourly rate £55.00 - £65.00
75th Percentile £60.00 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £50.00 - £65.00
% change year-on-year - - +30.00%

All System Software Skills
South East

Embedded 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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 642 426 780
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 10.95% 14.19% 14.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 478 316 488
10th Percentile £263 £250 £200
25th Percentile £406 £361 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £511 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.62% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £606 £623 £608
90th Percentile £700 £691 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £495
% change year-on-year -4.76% +6.06% -5.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 11 48
10th Percentile £37.44 £28.00 £17.26
25th Percentile £44.34 £36.50 £17.80
Median hourly rate £52.50 £57.50 £50.75
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +13.30% -6.07%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £62.81
90th Percentile £97.00 £71.25 £66.50
England median hourly rate £57.63 £28.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year +105.83% +33.33% -58.00%

Embedded Firmware
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Embedded Firmware job vacancy trend in the South East

Embedded Firmware
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Embedded Firmware.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Embedded Firmware

Embedded Firmware
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Embedded Firmware in the South East over the 6 months to 3 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Embedded Firmware in the South East

Embedded Firmware
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Embedded Firmware.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Embedded Firmware

Embedded Firmware
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Embedded Firmware within the South East region over the 6 months to 3 May 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
Hampshire - 5 £440 - 21
Buckinghamshire - 4 £675 - 1
Thames Valley - 4 £675 - 11
Surrey - 1 - -
Embedded Firmware
England

Embedded Firmware
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

Communications & Networking
1 6 (60.00%) Software-Defined Radio
1 6 (60.00%) Wireless
General
1 5 (50.00%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 4 (40.00%) Embedded Engineer
1 4 (40.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
1 4 (40.00%) Lead
1 4 (40.00%) Product Lead
1 4 (40.00%) Software Engineer
2 2 (20.00%) C++ Developer
2 2 (20.00%) Developer
2 2 (20.00%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (60.00%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 10 (100.00%) Embedded Systems
2 6 (60.00%) Device Driver
2 6 (60.00%) MicroBlaze
2 6 (60.00%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 6 (60.00%) Embedded Linux
1 6 (60.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (60.00%) Agile
1 6 (60.00%) Digital Signal Processing
1 6 (60.00%) Signal Processing
2 5 (50.00%) Software Engineering
3 4 (40.00%) Coaching
3 4 (40.00%) Cybersecurity
3 4 (40.00%) Dynamic Code Analysis
3 4 (40.00%) Incident Response
3 4 (40.00%) Information Assurance
3 4 (40.00%) Internal Audit
3 4 (40.00%) Secure Coding
3 4 (40.00%) Software Testing
3 4 (40.00%) Static Code Analysis
3 4 (40.00%) Technical Leadership
3 4 (40.00%) Threat Modelling
3 4 (40.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 6 (60.00%) C
1 6 (60.00%) C++
Qualifications
1 4 (40.00%) CEH
1 4 (40.00%) CISSP
1 4 (40.00%) CompTIA Security+
1 4 (40.00%) Degree
1 4 (40.00%) SC Cleared
1 4 (40.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (40.00%) NIST
System Software
1 10 (100.00%) Firmware