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 5 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 453 363 214
Rank change year-on-year -90 -149 -1
Contract jobs citing C 214 191 449
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.40% 0.58% 1.15%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.52% 1.76% 3.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 74 79 217
10th Percentile £343 £274 £391
25th Percentile £400 £375 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year -1.58% -6.54% -2.73%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £600
90th Percentile £684 £675 £680
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £438 £550
% change year-on-year +8.57% -20.45% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 36 108
10th Percentile £51.55 £52.00 £47.05
25th Percentile £65.00 £55.00 £60.94
Median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £72.81 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.50 £76.88 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.00 £68.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - +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 14,107 10,835 12,252
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.52% 32.93% 31.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,171 7,300 8,622
10th Percentile £363 £340 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £502 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.14% -4.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £617 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £498
% change year-on-year +4.21% -4.52% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 530 257 409
10th Percentile £30.00 £27.98 £27.00
25th Percentile £50.00 £36.25 £46.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -11.54% +4.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £79.05 £81.18 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.56% -1.54% +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 5 August 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 5 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Top 16 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 5 August 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 -77 206 £492 -8.84% 558
UK excluding London -56 167 £475 +8.57% 434
Work from Home -45 62 £500 -4.76% 173
South East -19 57 £500 -2.44% 122
East of England -3 55 £626 +47.18% 123
London -69 40 £525 -10.41% 133
South West -48 25 £450 -18.18% 75
Midlands -39 21 £462 +559.29% 36
West Midlands -38 20 £450 - 21
North of England -63 6 £400 +6.67% 64
Scotland -29 3 - - 13
Yorkshire -47 3 £400 -20.00% 14
North West -53 2 - - 33
East Midlands -11 1 £525 +650.00% 15
North East -39 1 - - 18
Wales - 1 £460 - 8

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 (2.34%) Tuxedo
2 2 (0.93%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.93%) Oracle Workflow
2 2 (0.93%) WebSphere
3 1 (0.47%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.47%) ColdFusion
3 1 (0.47%) Confluence
Applications
1 10 (4.67%) Simulink
2 3 (1.40%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (1.40%) Teamcenter
2 2 (0.93%) BASE24
2 2 (0.93%) Oracle Retail
3 1 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.47%) Loan IQ
Cloud Services
1 16 (7.48%) Azure
2 15 (7.01%) AWS
3 10 (4.67%) GitHub
4 9 (4.21%) Azure DevOps
5 7 (3.27%) GitHub Copilot
6 5 (2.34%) Power Platform
7 4 (1.87%) GCP
7 4 (1.87%) IaaS
7 4 (1.87%) SaaS
8 3 (1.40%) Amazon S3
8 3 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (0.93%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 2 (0.93%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.93%) AWS IoT
9 2 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
9 2 (0.93%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (0.93%) Entra ID
9 2 (0.93%) OCI
9 2 (0.93%) Serverless
10 1 (0.47%) AWS CloudTrail
Communications & Networking
1 16 (7.48%) Software-Defined Radio
1 16 (7.48%) Wireless
2 14 (6.54%) Ethernet
3 6 (2.80%) RS-232
3 6 (2.80%) RS-485
3 6 (2.80%) Wireshark
4 5 (2.34%) DNS
4 5 (2.34%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.40%) 4G
5 3 (1.40%) 5G
5 3 (1.40%) Bluetooth
5 3 (1.40%) Internet
5 3 (1.40%) LTE
5 3 (1.40%) Modbus
5 3 (1.40%) MQTT
5 3 (1.40%) RS-422
5 3 (1.40%) VXLAN
6 2 (0.93%) 5G NR
6 2 (0.93%) Firewall
6 2 (0.93%) Microwave Backhaul
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.67%) Ingres
2 7 (3.27%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.80%) Relational Database
4 5 (2.34%) Power BI
5 4 (1.87%) RDBMS
6 3 (1.40%) MongoDB
6 3 (1.40%) NoSQL
6 3 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (1.40%) Tableau
7 2 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.93%) NonStop SQL
7 2 (0.93%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.93%) SQLPlus
8 1 (0.47%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.47%) Big Data
8 1 (0.47%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.47%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.47%) KDB
8 1 (0.47%) Redis
8 1 (0.47%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 24 (11.21%) Git
2 21 (9.81%) Rational DOORS
3 7 (3.27%) Jenkins
3 7 (3.27%) Team Foundation Server
4 6 (2.80%) GitLab
4 6 (2.80%) JIRA
4 6 (2.80%) Rational Rhapsody
5 5 (2.34%) Oracle Forms
5 5 (2.34%) Visual Studio
6 2 (0.93%) CMake
6 2 (0.93%) CppUnit
6 2 (0.93%) PVCS
6 2 (0.93%) Subversion
7 1 (0.47%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.47%) ER Studio
7 1 (0.47%) git-flow
7 1 (0.47%) GoogleTest
7 1 (0.47%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.47%) PetaLinux
7 1 (0.47%) Postman
General
1 51 (23.83%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.62%) Aerospace
3 22 (10.28%) Electronics
4 19 (8.88%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (6.54%) Law
6 12 (5.61%) Manufacturing
7 10 (4.67%) Finance
8 9 (4.21%) Public Sector
9 7 (3.27%) Banking
9 7 (3.27%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.87%) Automotive
10 4 (1.87%) Military
11 3 (1.40%) Front Office
11 3 (1.40%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.93%) Avionics
12 2 (0.93%) Games
12 2 (0.93%) Japanese Language
12 2 (0.93%) Retail
12 2 (0.93%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.47%) Korean Language
Job Titles
1 79 (36.92%) Software Engineer
2 45 (21.03%) Embedded Engineer
3 34 (15.89%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 30 (14.02%) Developer
5 25 (11.68%) Senior
6 17 (7.94%) C++ Software Engineer
7 16 (7.48%) C Software Engineer
8 14 (6.54%) Software Developer
9 12 (5.61%) C/C++ Software Engineer
9 12 (5.61%) Lead
10 9 (4.21%) Test Leader
11 8 (3.74%) DSP Engineer
11 8 (3.74%) DSP Software Engineer
11 8 (3.74%) Linux Engineer
11 8 (3.74%) Senior Developer
12 6 (2.80%) Architect
12 6 (2.80%) C Developer
12 6 (2.80%) Test Engineer
13 5 (2.34%) Analyst
13 5 (2.34%) Senior C Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (5.14%) .NET
2 10 (4.67%) Yocto
3 6 (2.80%) WinForms
4 5 (2.34%) REST
5 4 (1.87%) JSON
5 4 (1.87%) LDAP
5 4 (1.87%) XML
6 3 (1.40%) ADO
6 3 (1.40%) COM
6 3 (1.40%) Itk
6 3 (1.40%) Middleware
6 3 (1.40%) ODBC
6 3 (1.40%) Web Services
7 2 (0.93%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.93%) FastAPI
7 2 (0.93%) HTML5
7 2 (0.93%) Kafka
7 2 (0.93%) QML
7 2 (0.93%) Qt
7 2 (0.93%) WebSphere MQ
Miscellaneous
1 31 (14.49%) Embedded Systems
2 20 (9.35%) FPGA
3 13 (6.07%) RISC-V
4 11 (5.14%) Device Driver
4 11 (5.14%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (4.21%) PCIe
5 9 (4.21%) Verilog
5 9 (4.21%) VHDL
6 6 (2.80%) MicroBlaze
7 5 (2.34%) Algorithms
7 5 (2.34%) Cloud Native
7 5 (2.34%) Distributed Systems
8 4 (1.87%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (1.87%) Fixed Income
8 4 (1.87%) IoT
8 4 (1.87%) Private Cloud
8 4 (1.87%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.40%) ARM Cortex
9 3 (1.40%) Low-Code
10 2 (0.93%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 70 (32.71%) Linux
2 18 (8.41%) Embedded Linux
3 15 (7.01%) Windows
4 12 (5.61%) FreeRTOS
4 12 (5.61%) Unix
5 8 (3.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.93%) Android
7 1 (0.47%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.47%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (52.34%) Software Engineering
2 39 (18.22%) Agile
3 32 (14.95%) Problem-Solving
4 31 (14.49%) Test Automation
5 27 (12.62%) DevOps
6 25 (11.68%) CI/CD
7 24 (11.21%) Validation
8 23 (10.75%) Signal Processing
9 19 (8.88%) Data Management
9 19 (8.88%) Software Testing
10 18 (8.41%) Digital Signal Processing
11 16 (7.48%) Migration
11 16 (7.48%) Technical Leadership
12 14 (6.54%) Systems Engineering
12 14 (6.54%) Workflow
13 13 (6.07%) Integration Testing
13 13 (6.07%) TDD
13 13 (6.07%) UML
14 12 (5.61%) Embedded Software Development
14 12 (5.61%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 114 (53.27%) C++
2 58 (27.10%) Python
3 33 (15.42%) SQL
4 29 (13.55%) Embedded C
5 26 (12.15%) Ada
6 18 (8.41%) Java
7 17 (7.94%) PL/SQL
8 16 (7.48%) MATLAB
9 13 (6.07%) C#
9 13 (6.07%) ProC
10 8 (3.74%) Bash
11 7 (3.27%) Embedded C++
12 6 (2.80%) Shell Script
12 6 (2.80%) SystemVerilog
13 5 (2.34%) Perl
13 5 (2.34%) PowerShell
13 5 (2.34%) Rust
13 5 (2.34%) VB
13 5 (2.34%) VB6
14 4 (1.87%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 64 (29.91%) Security Cleared
2 46 (21.50%) SC Cleared
3 21 (9.81%) Degree
4 11 (5.14%) DV Cleared
5 7 (3.27%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.87%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.47%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.47%) CCNA
7 1 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.47%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.47%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.47%) GCIA
7 1 (0.47%) GCIH
7 1 (0.47%) GIAC
7 1 (0.47%) PhD
7 1 (0.47%) Six Sigma Black Belt
7 1 (0.47%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (7.94%) QA
2 12 (5.61%) Def Stans
3 9 (4.21%) MISRA
4 8 (3.74%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.93%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.93%) ISO 15022
5 2 (0.93%) ISO 20022
5 2 (0.93%) ISO 26262
6 1 (0.47%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.47%) IFRS
6 1 (0.47%) IFRS 9
6 1 (0.47%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.47%) ISO 8583
6 1 (0.47%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.47%) MIL-STD-1553
6 1 (0.47%) NCSC
6 1 (0.47%) NIST
6 1 (0.47%) NIST 800
6 1 (0.47%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.47%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 26 (12.15%) Firmware
2 16 (7.48%) Docker
3 11 (5.14%) Embedded Firmware
4 8 (3.74%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (3.27%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (2.80%) Active Directory
7 2 (0.93%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.47%) FreeRADIUS
8 1 (0.47%) KVM
8 1 (0.47%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.47%) Squid
Systems Management
1 11 (5.14%) Kubernetes
1 11 (5.14%) Terraform
2 5 (2.34%) Ansible
2 5 (2.34%) Puppet
3 4 (1.87%) Progress Chef
4 1 (0.47%) Grafana
4 1 (0.47%) Nagios
4 1 (0.47%) Packer
4 1 (0.47%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.47%) Salt
Vendors
1 23 (10.75%) Oracle
2 10 (4.67%) IBM
3 9 (4.21%) Xilinx
4 8 (3.74%) Intel
5 7 (3.27%) VMware
6 5 (2.34%) Microsemi
7 4 (1.87%) Cisco
7 4 (1.87%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.87%) MathWorks
7 4 (1.87%) Microsoft
7 4 (1.87%) Red Hat
7 4 (1.87%) SaltStack
7 4 (1.87%) SAP
8 3 (1.40%) Actian
8 3 (1.40%) Google
9 2 (0.93%) HP
9 2 (0.93%) Perforce
9 2 (0.93%) QNX
9 2 (0.93%) Sitecore
10 1 (0.47%) EMC