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 12 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 409 359 179
Rank change year-on-year -50 -180 +69
Contract jobs citing C 225 170 559
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.58% 1.30%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.76% 1.71% 4.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 62 67 240
10th Percentile £353 £269 £384
25th Percentile £413 £319 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -11.21% -4.63%
75th Percentile £550 £568 £591
90th Percentile £626 £671 £689
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £400 £540
% change year-on-year +21.88% -25.93% +8.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 87 40 189
10th Percentile £60.00 £54.70 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.50 £59.00
Median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £87.50 £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 12,783 9,951 12,734
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.91% 34.08% 29.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,403 6,777 9,061
10th Percentile £353 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £414 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £523 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.40% -1.32% -3.64%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £710 £775 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £489
% change year-on-year - -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 571 246 488
10th Percentile £41.25 £24.96 £32.25
25th Percentile £54.55 £35.00 £46.36
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.43
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +0.12% -0.12%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £78.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +0.78% +3.20% -

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 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
England -56 213 £494 -1.25% 337
UK excluding London -23 173 £488 +21.88% 322
Work from Home -26 74 £468 -6.50% 109
East of England +1 66 £525 +31.25% 69
South West -4 47 £463 -15.91% 53
London -67 45 £461 -10.05% 33
South East -26 42 £500 - 112
Midlands -54 6 £525 +213.43% 30
North of England -65 5 £625 - 49
West Midlands - 5 £488 - 15
Northern Ireland - 5 £425 -
Scotland -12 2 - - 17
North East -17 2 £625 - 12
North West - 2 - - 26
Wales -12 1 £460 -12.38% 2
East Midlands -37 1 £525 +213.43% 15
Yorkshire -55 1 - - 11

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 4 (1.78%) Confluence
2 2 (0.89%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.89%) Oracle Workflow
3 1 (0.44%) Apache
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.44%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (4.89%) Simulink
2 4 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (2.22%) BASE24
1 5 (2.22%) Payment Gateway
2 3 (1.33%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.44%) Actimize
3 1 (0.44%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.44%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.44%) Loan IQ
3 1 (0.44%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.44%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 12 (5.33%) Azure
2 11 (4.89%) AWS
3 9 (4.00%) GitHub
4 6 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (2.22%) Power Platform
6 3 (1.33%) GCP
6 3 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
7 2 (0.89%) Amazon S3
7 2 (0.89%) AWS CloudFormation
7 2 (0.89%) AWS IoT
7 2 (0.89%) Azure Monitor
7 2 (0.89%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (0.89%) GitHub Copilot
8 1 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
8 1 (0.44%) Azure AKS
8 1 (0.44%) Azure Storage
8 1 (0.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Copilot
8 1 (0.44%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.44%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 24 (10.67%) Ethernet
2 17 (7.56%) Wireless
3 16 (7.11%) Software-Defined Radio
4 6 (2.67%) Modbus
4 6 (2.67%) RS-232
4 6 (2.67%) RS-485
4 6 (2.67%) TCP/IP
5 5 (2.22%) 3GPP
6 4 (1.78%) Network Security
7 3 (1.33%) Bluetooth
7 3 (1.33%) DNS
7 3 (1.33%) MQTT
7 3 (1.33%) MVNO
7 3 (1.33%) RS-422
7 3 (1.33%) SMPP
7 3 (1.33%) SMS
7 3 (1.33%) SpaceWire
7 3 (1.33%) VXLAN
8 2 (0.89%) Internet
8 2 (0.89%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.67%) NonStop SQL
2 5 (2.22%) OLTP
2 5 (2.22%) Power BI
2 5 (2.22%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.78%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.33%) MongoDB
4 3 (1.33%) NoSQL
4 3 (1.33%) Tableau
5 2 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.89%) Metadata
5 2 (0.89%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.44%) Apache Hudi
6 1 (0.44%) Apache Iceberg
6 1 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
6 1 (0.44%) MySQL
6 1 (0.44%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.44%) Redis
6 1 (0.44%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 26 (11.56%) Rational DOORS
2 20 (8.89%) Git
3 15 (6.67%) JIRA
3 15 (6.67%) Rational Rhapsody
4 9 (4.00%) GitLab
5 6 (2.67%) PVCS
5 6 (2.67%) Visual Studio
6 3 (1.33%) Subversion
7 2 (0.89%) Jenkins
8 1 (0.44%) Appium
8 1 (0.44%) Crashlytics
8 1 (0.44%) ER Studio
8 1 (0.44%) fastlane
8 1 (0.44%) git-flow
8 1 (0.44%) PetaLinux
8 1 (0.44%) Postman
8 1 (0.44%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.44%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.44%) XCTest
8 1 (0.44%) XCUITest
General
1 43 (19.11%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.00%) Electronics
3 26 (11.56%) Aerospace
4 19 (8.44%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (6.67%) Finance
6 13 (5.78%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (5.78%) Law
7 11 (4.89%) Manufacturing
8 8 (3.56%) Banking
9 5 (2.22%) Automotive
9 5 (2.22%) Public Sector
10 4 (1.78%) Avionics
10 4 (1.78%) Games
11 3 (1.33%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.89%) Japanese Language
12 2 (0.89%) Military
12 2 (0.89%) Publishing
13 1 (0.44%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.44%) Korean Language
13 1 (0.44%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 91 (40.44%) Software Engineer
2 79 (35.11%) Embedded Engineer
3 56 (24.89%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 34 (15.11%) Developer
5 25 (11.11%) C Software Engineer
6 23 (10.22%) C++ Software Engineer
7 22 (9.78%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 15 (6.67%) Embedded C Engineer
8 15 (6.67%) Embedded C Software Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) Embedded C++ Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
9 12 (5.33%) Senior
10 11 (4.89%) FPGA Engineer
11 10 (4.44%) Lead
11 10 (4.44%) Software Developer
11 10 (4.44%) Validation Engineer
12 9 (4.00%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (6.67%) Yocto
2 7 (3.11%) .NET
3 6 (2.67%) Middleware
3 6 (2.67%) WinForms
4 4 (1.78%) HTML
4 4 (1.78%) Kafka
5 3 (1.33%) ARM Templates
5 3 (1.33%) Itk
5 3 (1.33%) JSON
5 3 (1.33%) Qt
5 3 (1.33%) REST
6 2 (0.89%) HTML5
6 2 (0.89%) RESTful
7 1 (0.44%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.44%) NumPy
7 1 (0.44%) OAuth2
7 1 (0.44%) PostGIS
7 1 (0.44%) Protocol Buffers
7 1 (0.44%) RabbitMQ
7 1 (0.44%) SciPy
Miscellaneous
1 42 (18.67%) Embedded Systems
2 41 (18.22%) FPGA
3 20 (8.89%) PCIe
4 15 (6.67%) VHDL
5 10 (4.44%) Verilog
6 9 (4.00%) Algorithms
6 9 (4.00%) Device Driver
7 7 (3.11%) MicroBlaze
7 7 (3.11%) RISC-V
8 6 (2.67%) IoT
8 6 (2.67%) Tandem
9 5 (2.22%) Data Centre
9 5 (2.22%) EMV
10 3 (1.33%) ARM Cortex
10 3 (1.33%) Cloud Native
10 3 (1.33%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (1.33%) Java Card
10 3 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
11 2 (0.89%) CAN bus
11 2 (0.89%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 57 (25.33%) Linux
2 21 (9.33%) Embedded Linux
3 14 (6.22%) FreeRTOS
4 11 (4.89%) Windows
5 3 (1.33%) Unix
6 1 (0.44%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.44%) Debian
6 1 (0.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.44%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (54.67%) Software Engineering
2 46 (20.44%) Validation
3 38 (16.89%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (14.67%) Test Automation
5 28 (12.44%) Workflow
6 27 (12.00%) Signal Processing
7 26 (11.56%) CI/CD
8 21 (9.33%) Digital Signal Processing
9 19 (8.44%) Embedded Software Development
10 17 (7.56%) Agile
10 17 (7.56%) Workflow Management
11 16 (7.11%) Verification and Validation
12 15 (6.67%) DevOps
12 15 (6.67%) Unit Testing
13 14 (6.22%) Requirements Analysis
13 14 (6.22%) UML
14 13 (5.78%) FPGA Design
14 13 (5.78%) Software Testing
15 12 (5.33%) TDD
15 12 (5.33%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 117 (52.00%) C++
2 53 (23.56%) Python
3 43 (19.11%) Embedded C
4 29 (12.89%) Ada
5 25 (11.11%) SQL
6 21 (9.33%) MATLAB
7 19 (8.44%) Embedded C++
7 19 (8.44%) Java
8 11 (4.89%) Bash
9 9 (4.00%) C#
9 9 (4.00%) SystemVerilog
10 7 (3.11%) PL/SQL
10 7 (3.11%) Shell Script
11 5 (2.22%) COBOL
11 5 (2.22%) Rust
12 4 (1.78%) JavaScript
12 4 (1.78%) ProC
13 2 (0.89%) Perl
13 2 (0.89%) VB
14 1 (0.44%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 58 (25.78%) Security Cleared
2 43 (19.11%) SC Cleared
3 17 (7.56%) Degree
4 9 (4.00%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (4.00%) DV Cleared
5 2 (0.89%) CCNA
5 2 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (0.89%) ISTQB
6 1 (0.44%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.44%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 1 (0.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 1 (0.44%) Six Sigma Black Belt
6 1 (0.44%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.89%) Def Stans
2 11 (4.89%) QA
3 7 (3.11%) MISRA
4 6 (2.67%) DO-178B
5 5 (2.22%) IEC 61508
5 5 (2.22%) ISO 8583
6 4 (1.78%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.33%) Data Quality
7 3 (1.33%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.44%) DICOM
8 1 (0.44%) DO-254
8 1 (0.44%) HL7
8 1 (0.44%) IFRS
8 1 (0.44%) IFRS 9
8 1 (0.44%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.44%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.44%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.44%) MiFID
8 1 (0.44%) MISRA C
System Software
1 23 (10.22%) Firmware
2 11 (4.89%) Docker
3 9 (4.00%) Embedded Firmware
4 8 (3.56%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (3.56%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.89%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.89%) vCloud
5 2 (0.89%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.89%) vSphere
6 1 (0.44%) FreeRADIUS
Systems Management
1 8 (3.56%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.67%) Terraform
3 3 (1.33%) Ansible
4 2 (0.89%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.44%) Grafana
5 1 (0.44%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.44%) Nagios
Vendors
1 14 (6.22%) IBM
2 11 (4.89%) Xilinx
3 10 (4.44%) Intel
4 8 (3.56%) Cisco
4 8 (3.56%) Oracle
4 8 (3.56%) VMware
5 7 (3.11%) HP
5 7 (3.11%) MathWorks
5 7 (3.11%) Microsemi
5 7 (3.11%) Microsoft
6 6 (2.67%) ANSYS
7 4 (1.78%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.78%) SAP
8 3 (1.33%) Google
8 3 (1.33%) Thales
9 2 (0.89%) Dell
9 2 (0.89%) Perforce
10 1 (0.44%) Citrix
10 1 (0.44%) QNX
10 1 (0.44%) Veritas