C Contract Job Trends

C
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring C skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 417 378 174
Rank change year-on-year -39 -204 +60
Contract jobs citing C 225 161 568
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.54% 1.31%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.64% 1.58% 4.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 66 69 250
10th Percentile £334 £274 £391
25th Percentile £413 £338 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year -5.20% -6.54% -2.73%
75th Percentile £538 £638 £586
90th Percentile £638 £683 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £474 £391 £538
% change year-on-year +21.23% -27.32% +7.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 77 32 179
10th Percentile £59.37 £54.33 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £59.00 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £76.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.55 £85.00 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% -

All Programming Languages
UK

C falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 13,697 10,171 13,188
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.91% 33.87% 30.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,913 6,897 9,255
10th Percentile £358 £350 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £608 £625 £650
90th Percentile £720 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 555 239 553
10th Percentile £35.00 £25.65 £31.25
25th Percentile £53.53 £33.91 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £83.27 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £61.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +5.69% -5.38% +4.00%

C
Job Vacancy Trend

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

C job vacancy trend in the UK

C
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C

C
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing C over the 6 months to 24 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C

C
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing C over the 6 months to 24 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing C within the UK over the 6 months to 24 June 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
England -33 214 £475 -12.84% 259
UK excluding London +8 182 £474 +21.23% 251
Work from Home -20 71 £500 +5.26% 106
East of England +5 60 £613 +53.13% 62
South East -16 50 £500 - 101
South West -8 41 £450 -21.74% 37
London -99 36 £469 -23.47% 16
Midlands -38 20 £462 +515.33% 22
West Midlands -38 19 £450 - 12
North of England -81 5 £625 +66.67% 29
Northern Ireland - 4 £425 -
Scotland -24 2 - - 5
North East -34 2 £625 - 3
North West -50 2 - - 20
East Midlands -20 1 £525 +600.00% 10
Yorkshire -53 1 - - 6
Wales - 1 £460 - 3

C
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 5 (2.22%) Tuxedo
2 2 (0.89%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.89%) Oracle Workflow
3 1 (0.44%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.44%) ColdFusion
3 1 (0.44%) Confluence
3 1 (0.44%) WebSphere
Applications
1 10 (4.44%) Simulink
2 4 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (1.78%) BASE24
2 3 (1.33%) Teamcenter
3 2 (0.89%) Oracle Retail
3 2 (0.89%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.44%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.44%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.44%) Loan IQ
Cloud Services
1 15 (6.67%) AWS
2 13 (5.78%) Azure
3 8 (3.56%) GitHub
4 6 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
4 6 (2.67%) Power Platform
5 5 (2.22%) GitHub Copilot
6 4 (1.78%) GCP
7 3 (1.33%) Amazon S3
7 3 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
7 3 (1.33%) SaaS
8 2 (0.89%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 2 (0.89%) AWS CloudFormation
8 2 (0.89%) AWS IoT
8 2 (0.89%) AWS Lambda
8 2 (0.89%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (0.89%) Dynamics 365
8 2 (0.89%) OCI
8 2 (0.89%) Serverless
9 1 (0.44%) Copilot Studio
9 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 20 (8.89%) Ethernet
2 17 (7.56%) Software-Defined Radio
2 17 (7.56%) Wireless
3 5 (2.22%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.78%) 3GPP
4 4 (1.78%) DNS
5 3 (1.33%) Bluetooth
5 3 (1.33%) Internet
5 3 (1.33%) Modbus
5 3 (1.33%) MQTT
5 3 (1.33%) Network Security
5 3 (1.33%) RS-232
5 3 (1.33%) RS-422
5 3 (1.33%) RS-485
5 3 (1.33%) SpaceWire
5 3 (1.33%) VXLAN
6 2 (0.89%) Firewall
6 2 (0.89%) MPLS
6 2 (0.89%) SMPP
6 2 (0.89%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.44%) Ingres
2 7 (3.11%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.67%) Power BI
3 6 (2.67%) Relational Database
4 4 (1.78%) NonStop SQL
4 4 (1.78%) NoSQL
4 4 (1.78%) RDBMS
5 3 (1.33%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (1.33%) MongoDB
5 3 (1.33%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.33%) Tableau
6 2 (0.89%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.44%) Apache Cassandra
7 1 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.44%) Big Data
7 1 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.44%) Redis
7 1 (0.44%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.44%) SQLPlus
Development Applications
1 22 (9.78%) Rational DOORS
2 20 (8.89%) Git
3 13 (5.78%) Rational Rhapsody
4 8 (3.56%) JIRA
5 6 (2.67%) GitLab
6 5 (2.22%) Oracle Forms
6 5 (2.22%) Visual Studio
7 4 (1.78%) Team Foundation Server
8 3 (1.33%) Jenkins
9 2 (0.89%) PVCS
9 2 (0.89%) Subversion
10 1 (0.44%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 1 (0.44%) CMake
10 1 (0.44%) ER Studio
10 1 (0.44%) ERwin
10 1 (0.44%) git-flow
10 1 (0.44%) GoogleTest
10 1 (0.44%) JMeter
10 1 (0.44%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.44%) PowerDesigner
General
1 45 (20.00%) Social Skills
2 29 (12.89%) Aerospace
3 21 (9.33%) Electronics
4 18 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (6.22%) Law
6 13 (5.78%) Documentation Skills
7 12 (5.33%) Manufacturing
8 11 (4.89%) Finance
9 8 (3.56%) Public Sector
10 7 (3.11%) Banking
11 6 (2.67%) Automotive
12 4 (1.78%) Avionics
13 3 (1.33%) Games
14 2 (0.89%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.89%) Japanese Language
14 2 (0.89%) Publishing
14 2 (0.89%) Retail
14 2 (0.89%) Telecoms
15 1 (0.44%) Korean Language
15 1 (0.44%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 84 (37.33%) Software Engineer
2 63 (28.00%) Embedded Engineer
3 44 (19.56%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 33 (14.67%) Developer
5 22 (9.78%) C++ Software Engineer
5 22 (9.78%) Senior
6 21 (9.33%) C Software Engineer
6 21 (9.33%) C/C++ Software Engineer
7 12 (5.33%) Software Developer
8 10 (4.44%) Lead
9 9 (4.00%) Test Leader
10 8 (3.56%) DSP Engineer
10 8 (3.56%) DSP Software Engineer
10 8 (3.56%) FPGA Engineer
10 8 (3.56%) Validation Engineer
11 7 (3.11%) Embedded C Engineer
11 7 (3.11%) Embedded C Software Engineer
11 7 (3.11%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
11 7 (3.11%) Senior Developer
11 7 (3.11%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (6.22%) Yocto
2 10 (4.44%) .NET
3 6 (2.67%) WinForms
4 5 (2.22%) REST
5 4 (1.78%) JSON
5 4 (1.78%) Qt
6 3 (1.33%) ADO
6 3 (1.33%) COM
6 3 (1.33%) Itk
6 3 (1.33%) Kafka
6 3 (1.33%) LDAP
6 3 (1.33%) Middleware
6 3 (1.33%) ODBC
6 3 (1.33%) XML
7 2 (0.89%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.89%) FastAPI
7 2 (0.89%) HTML
7 2 (0.89%) HTML5
7 2 (0.89%) QML
7 2 (0.89%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 35 (15.56%) FPGA
2 34 (15.11%) Embedded Systems
3 17 (7.56%) PCIe
4 13 (5.78%) VHDL
5 11 (4.89%) RISC-V
6 9 (4.00%) Algorithms
6 9 (4.00%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (4.00%) Verilog
7 8 (3.56%) Device Driver
8 6 (2.67%) MicroBlaze
9 5 (2.22%) IoT
10 4 (1.78%) Data Centre
10 4 (1.78%) Tandem
11 3 (1.33%) ARM Cortex
11 3 (1.33%) Cloud Native
11 3 (1.33%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (1.33%) Distributed Systems
11 3 (1.33%) EMV
11 3 (1.33%) Low-Code
12 2 (0.89%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 60 (26.67%) Linux
2 20 (8.89%) Embedded Linux
3 13 (5.78%) Windows
4 12 (5.33%) FreeRTOS
5 6 (2.67%) Unix
6 3 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (52.89%) Software Engineering
2 43 (19.11%) Problem-Solving
3 40 (17.78%) Validation
4 33 (14.67%) Agile
5 31 (13.78%) Test Automation
6 24 (10.67%) CI/CD
6 24 (10.67%) Workflow
7 22 (9.78%) Signal Processing
8 20 (8.89%) Digital Signal Processing
8 20 (8.89%) Embedded Software Development
9 17 (7.56%) DevOps
9 17 (7.56%) Workflow Management
10 16 (7.11%) Data Management
11 15 (6.67%) Verification and Validation
12 14 (6.22%) Migration
12 14 (6.22%) Software Testing
13 13 (5.78%) Technical Leadership
13 13 (5.78%) UML
14 12 (5.33%) TDD
15 11 (4.89%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 113 (50.22%) C++
2 53 (23.56%) Python
3 35 (15.56%) SQL
4 34 (15.11%) Ada
5 29 (12.89%) Embedded C
6 20 (8.89%) MATLAB
7 17 (7.56%) Java
8 16 (7.11%) PL/SQL
9 12 (5.33%) ProC
10 10 (4.44%) Bash
10 10 (4.44%) C#
10 10 (4.44%) Embedded C++
11 7 (3.11%) SystemVerilog
12 6 (2.67%) Shell Script
12 6 (2.67%) VB
13 5 (2.22%) VB6
14 4 (1.78%) Rust
15 3 (1.33%) COBOL
15 3 (1.33%) JavaScript
15 3 (1.33%) Perl
Qualifications
1 66 (29.33%) Security Cleared
2 49 (21.78%) SC Cleared
3 16 (7.11%) Degree
4 10 (4.44%) DV Cleared
5 8 (3.56%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.44%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.44%) CCNA
6 1 (0.44%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (0.44%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.44%) ISTQB
6 1 (0.44%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 1 (0.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 1 (0.44%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.44%) PhD
6 1 (0.44%) Six Sigma Black Belt
6 1 (0.44%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (8.44%) Def Stans
2 15 (6.67%) QA
3 9 (4.00%) MISRA
4 7 (3.11%) DO-178B
5 3 (1.33%) IEC 61508
5 3 (1.33%) ISO 8583
5 3 (1.33%) MIL-STD-1553
5 3 (1.33%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.89%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.89%) ISO 26262
7 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.44%) DICOM
7 1 (0.44%) DO-254
7 1 (0.44%) HL7
7 1 (0.44%) IFRS
7 1 (0.44%) IFRS 9
7 1 (0.44%) ISO 15022
7 1 (0.44%) ISO 20022
7 1 (0.44%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.44%) MISRA C
System Software
1 20 (8.89%) Firmware
2 10 (4.44%) Docker
3 6 (2.67%) Embedded Firmware
4 5 (2.22%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (2.22%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (1.78%) Active Directory
6 2 (0.89%) Oracle RAC
6 2 (0.89%) vCloud
6 2 (0.89%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.89%) vSphere
7 1 (0.44%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.44%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.44%) Squid
Systems Management
1 10 (4.44%) Terraform
2 9 (4.00%) Kubernetes
3 5 (2.22%) Ansible
4 1 (0.44%) Grafana
4 1 (0.44%) HP ALM
4 1 (0.44%) Nagios
4 1 (0.44%) Packer
4 1 (0.44%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.44%) Puppet
Vendors
1 21 (9.33%) Oracle
2 10 (4.44%) IBM
2 10 (4.44%) Xilinx
3 9 (4.00%) Intel
4 7 (3.11%) MathWorks
5 6 (2.67%) Cisco
5 6 (2.67%) Microsemi
6 5 (2.22%) HP
6 5 (2.22%) Microsoft
6 5 (2.22%) VMware
7 4 (1.78%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.78%) SAP
8 3 (1.33%) Actian
8 3 (1.33%) Google
9 2 (0.89%) ANSYS
9 2 (0.89%) Dell
9 2 (0.89%) Perforce
9 2 (0.89%) QNX
9 2 (0.89%) Thales
10 1 (0.44%) Sitecore