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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 415 366 177
Rank change year-on-year -49 -189 +66
Contract jobs citing C 223 160 563
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.55% 1.32%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.73% 1.62% 4.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 60 61 245
10th Percentile £378 £269 £391
25th Percentile £413 £313 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £492 £536
Median % change year-on-year -3.46% -8.21% -4.29%
75th Percentile £550 £600 £600
90th Percentile £625 £675 £699
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £400 £544
% change year-on-year +21.88% -26.44% +8.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 82 39 191
10th Percentile £60.00 £54.40 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.00 £57.08
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 12,888 9,891 12,728
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.71% 33.98% 29.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,457 6,717 9,055
10th Percentile £356 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £530
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -1.89% -3.64%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £711 £763 £765
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.47% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 560 235 493
10th Percentile £38.15 £25.98 £32.25
25th Percentile £54.41 £35.50 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.36
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +0.23% +2.73%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £78.60
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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -23 211 £494 -1.25% 344
UK excluding London -19 172 £488 +21.88% 308
Work from Home -31 72 £475 -5.00% 137
East of England +4 62 £525 +31.25% 65
South West -4 47 £463 -7.50% 63
London -64 45 £475 -22.45% 46
South East -22 44 £500 - 118
Midlands -55 7 £525 +213.43% 19
West Midlands - 6 £488 - 13
North of England -67 5 £625 - 32
Northern Ireland - 5 £425 - 3
Scotland -13 2 - - 11
North East -22 2 £625 - 8
North West - 2 - - 16
Wales -10 1 £460 -12.38% 5
East Midlands -31 1 £525 +213.43% 6
Yorkshire -53 1 - - 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 3 (1.35%) Confluence
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle Workflow
3 1 (0.45%) Apache
3 1 (0.45%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 12 (5.38%) Simulink
2 4 (1.79%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (2.69%) BASE24
2 5 (2.24%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (1.35%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.45%) Actimize
4 1 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.45%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.45%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.45%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 13 (5.83%) Azure
2 12 (5.38%) AWS
3 8 (3.59%) GitHub
4 6 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (2.24%) Power Platform
6 4 (1.79%) GCP
7 3 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
8 2 (0.90%) Amazon S3
8 2 (0.90%) AWS CloudFormation
8 2 (0.90%) AWS IoT
8 2 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
8 2 (0.90%) GitHub Copilot
9 1 (0.45%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 1 (0.45%) Amazon EKS
9 1 (0.45%) Entra ID
9 1 (0.45%) Firebase
9 1 (0.45%) Google Drive
9 1 (0.45%) IaaS
9 1 (0.45%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 23 (10.31%) Ethernet
2 17 (7.62%) Wireless
3 16 (7.17%) Software-Defined Radio
4 6 (2.69%) TCP/IP
5 5 (2.24%) 3GPP
5 5 (2.24%) Modbus
5 5 (2.24%) RS-232
5 5 (2.24%) RS-485
6 4 (1.79%) Network Security
7 3 (1.35%) Bluetooth
7 3 (1.35%) DNS
7 3 (1.35%) MQTT
7 3 (1.35%) MVNO
7 3 (1.35%) RS-422
7 3 (1.35%) SMPP
7 3 (1.35%) SMS
7 3 (1.35%) SpaceWire
7 3 (1.35%) VXLAN
8 2 (0.90%) 5G
8 2 (0.90%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.14%) NonStop SQL
2 5 (2.24%) OLTP
2 5 (2.24%) Power BI
2 5 (2.24%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.79%) NoSQL
3 4 (1.79%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.35%) Data Warehouse
4 3 (1.35%) MongoDB
4 3 (1.35%) Tableau
5 2 (0.90%) Metadata
5 2 (0.90%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.45%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.45%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.45%) Apache Hudi
6 1 (0.45%) Apache Iceberg
6 1 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.45%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.45%) Kdb+
6 1 (0.45%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.45%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 26 (11.66%) Rational DOORS
2 20 (8.97%) Git
3 15 (6.73%) Rational Rhapsody
4 14 (6.28%) JIRA
5 9 (4.04%) GitLab
6 6 (2.69%) PVCS
7 5 (2.24%) Visual Studio
8 3 (1.35%) Subversion
9 2 (0.90%) Jenkins
10 1 (0.45%) Appium
10 1 (0.45%) Crashlytics
10 1 (0.45%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.45%) ER Studio
10 1 (0.45%) fastlane
10 1 (0.45%) git-flow
10 1 (0.45%) Postman
10 1 (0.45%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.45%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.45%) XCTest
10 1 (0.45%) XCUITest
General
1 44 (19.73%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.11%) Aerospace
3 26 (11.66%) Electronics
4 18 (8.07%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (6.73%) Finance
6 13 (5.83%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (5.83%) Law
7 11 (4.93%) Manufacturing
8 9 (4.04%) Banking
9 6 (2.69%) Automotive
10 5 (2.24%) Public Sector
11 4 (1.79%) Avionics
11 4 (1.79%) Games
12 3 (1.35%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.90%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.90%) Japanese Language
13 2 (0.90%) Military
13 2 (0.90%) Publishing
14 1 (0.45%) Korean Language
14 1 (0.45%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 87 (39.01%) Software Engineer
2 74 (33.18%) Embedded Engineer
3 52 (23.32%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 34 (15.25%) Developer
5 25 (11.21%) C Software Engineer
6 24 (10.76%) C++ Software Engineer
7 23 (10.31%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 13 (5.83%) Embedded C Engineer
8 13 (5.83%) Embedded C Software Engineer
9 12 (5.38%) FPGA Engineer
9 12 (5.38%) Senior
10 11 (4.93%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
10 11 (4.93%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
10 11 (4.93%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
10 11 (4.93%) Embedded C++ Engineer
10 11 (4.93%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
11 10 (4.48%) Lead
11 10 (4.48%) Validation Engineer
12 9 (4.04%) Software Developer
12 9 (4.04%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (7.17%) Yocto
2 7 (3.14%) .NET
3 6 (2.69%) Middleware
3 6 (2.69%) WinForms
4 5 (2.24%) Kafka
5 4 (1.79%) HTML
5 4 (1.79%) Qt
6 3 (1.35%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.35%) Itk
6 3 (1.35%) JSON
6 3 (1.35%) REST
7 2 (0.90%) HTML5
7 2 (0.90%) NumPy
7 2 (0.90%) Pandas
7 2 (0.90%) QML
8 1 (0.45%) Boost C++ Libraries
8 1 (0.45%) GStreamer
8 1 (0.45%) OpenMP
8 1 (0.45%) RESTful
8 1 (0.45%) SciPy
Miscellaneous
1 41 (18.39%) Embedded Systems
1 41 (18.39%) FPGA
2 19 (8.52%) PCIe
3 16 (7.17%) VHDL
4 11 (4.93%) Verilog
5 9 (4.04%) Algorithms
5 9 (4.04%) Device Driver
6 7 (3.14%) MicroBlaze
6 7 (3.14%) RISC-V
6 7 (3.14%) Tandem
7 6 (2.69%) IoT
8 5 (2.24%) Data Centre
8 5 (2.24%) EMV
9 3 (1.35%) ARM Cortex
9 3 (1.35%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.35%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.35%) Java Card
9 3 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.90%) CAN bus
10 2 (0.90%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 57 (25.56%) Linux
2 22 (9.87%) Embedded Linux
3 14 (6.28%) FreeRTOS
4 11 (4.93%) Windows
5 3 (1.35%) Unix
6 1 (0.45%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (52.91%) Software Engineering
2 45 (20.18%) Validation
3 38 (17.04%) Problem-Solving
4 32 (14.35%) Test Automation
5 28 (12.56%) Workflow
6 27 (12.11%) CI/CD
6 27 (12.11%) Signal Processing
7 21 (9.42%) Digital Signal Processing
8 19 (8.52%) Embedded Software Development
9 17 (7.62%) Workflow Management
10 16 (7.17%) Agile
10 16 (7.17%) Verification and Validation
11 15 (6.73%) DevOps
11 15 (6.73%) Unit Testing
12 14 (6.28%) FPGA Design
12 14 (6.28%) Requirements Analysis
13 13 (5.83%) Software Testing
13 13 (5.83%) UML
14 12 (5.38%) Systems Engineering
14 12 (5.38%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 117 (52.47%) C++
2 54 (24.22%) Python
3 39 (17.49%) Embedded C
4 29 (13.00%) Ada
5 26 (11.66%) SQL
6 21 (9.42%) MATLAB
7 20 (8.97%) Java
8 16 (7.17%) Embedded C++
9 11 (4.93%) Bash
10 10 (4.48%) SystemVerilog
11 8 (3.59%) C#
12 7 (3.14%) PL/SQL
12 7 (3.14%) Shell Script
13 6 (2.69%) COBOL
14 5 (2.24%) Rust
15 4 (1.79%) JavaScript
15 4 (1.79%) ProC
16 2 (0.90%) Perl
16 2 (0.90%) VB
17 1 (0.45%) Fortran
Qualifications
1 56 (25.11%) Security Cleared
2 41 (18.39%) SC Cleared
3 18 (8.07%) Degree
4 9 (4.04%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (4.04%) DV Cleared
5 2 (0.90%) CCNA
5 2 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (0.90%) ISTQB
6 1 (0.45%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.45%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 1 (0.45%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 1 (0.45%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.45%) PhD
6 1 (0.45%) Six Sigma Black Belt
6 1 (0.45%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (8.52%) Def Stans
2 11 (4.93%) QA
3 7 (3.14%) MISRA
4 6 (2.69%) ISO 8583
5 5 (2.24%) DO-178B
5 5 (2.24%) IEC 61508
6 4 (1.79%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.35%) Data Quality
7 3 (1.35%) MIL-STD-1553
8 2 (0.90%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.45%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.45%) DICOM
9 1 (0.45%) DO-254
9 1 (0.45%) HL7
9 1 (0.45%) IFRS
9 1 (0.45%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.45%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.45%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.45%) MiFID
9 1 (0.45%) MISRA C
System Software
1 21 (9.42%) Firmware
2 12 (5.38%) Docker
3 8 (3.59%) Embedded Firmware
3 8 (3.59%) Virtual Machines
3 8 (3.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.90%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.90%) vCloud
4 2 (0.90%) VMware NSX
4 2 (0.90%) vSphere
5 1 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
5 1 (0.45%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 9 (4.04%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.69%) Terraform
3 3 (1.35%) Ansible
4 2 (0.90%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.45%) Grafana
5 1 (0.45%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.45%) Nagios
Vendors
1 14 (6.28%) IBM
2 12 (5.38%) Xilinx
3 11 (4.93%) Intel
4 8 (3.59%) Cisco
4 8 (3.59%) HP
4 8 (3.59%) Microsemi
4 8 (3.59%) Oracle
4 8 (3.59%) VMware
5 7 (3.14%) MathWorks
5 7 (3.14%) Microsoft
6 6 (2.69%) ANSYS
7 4 (1.79%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.79%) SAP
8 3 (1.35%) Google
8 3 (1.35%) Thales
9 2 (0.90%) Dell
9 2 (0.90%) Perforce
9 2 (0.90%) QNX
10 1 (0.45%) Citrix
10 1 (0.45%) EMC