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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 405 349 179
Rank change year-on-year -56 -170 +71
Contract jobs citing C 226 171 558
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.58% 1.30%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.76% 1.71% 4.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 62 67 239
10th Percentile £353 £269 £380
25th Percentile £413 £319 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -11.21% -4.46%
75th Percentile £550 £568 £594
90th Percentile £626 £671 £691
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £400 £541
% change year-on-year +21.88% -26.10% +8.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 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% +9.33%
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 12,834 10,014 12,732
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.95% 34.06% 29.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,444 6,812 9,059
10th Percentile £355 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £415 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £711 £774 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £488
% change year-on-year - -2.71% -2.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 569 249 488
10th Percentile £41.87 £25.13 £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% +0.95%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £78.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +1.56% +2.40% -

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -46 214 £494 -1.25% 384
UK excluding London -9 174 £488 +21.88% 351
Work from Home -15 74 £468 -6.50% 163
East of England +1 68 £525 +31.25% 74
South West -6 47 £463 -15.91% 51
London -62 45 £461 -10.05% 54
South East -28 41 £500 - 110
Midlands -64 6 £525 +213.43% 30
North of England -66 5 £625 - 74
West Midlands - 5 £488 - 15
Northern Ireland - 5 £425 -
Scotland -7 2 - - 20
North East -16 2 £625 - 13
North West - 2 - - 37
Wales -13 1 £460 -12.38% 3
East Midlands -37 1 £525 +213.43% 15
Yorkshire -53 1 - - 24

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 (1.77%) Confluence
2 2 (0.88%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.88%) Oracle Workflow
3 1 (0.44%) Apache
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.44%) SharePoint
Applications
1 10 (4.42%) Simulink
2 4 (1.77%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (2.21%) BASE24
1 5 (2.21%) 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 (5.31%) Azure
2 11 (4.87%) AWS
3 9 (3.98%) GitHub
4 6 (2.65%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (2.21%) Power Platform
6 3 (1.33%) GCP
6 3 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
7 2 (0.88%) Amazon S3
7 2 (0.88%) AWS CloudFormation
7 2 (0.88%) AWS IoT
7 2 (0.88%) Azure Monitor
7 2 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (0.88%) GitHub Copilot
8 1 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
8 1 (0.44%) Azure Data Factory
8 1 (0.44%) Azure Storage
8 1 (0.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 1 (0.44%) BlazeMeter
8 1 (0.44%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.44%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 24 (10.62%) Ethernet
2 17 (7.52%) Wireless
3 16 (7.08%) Software-Defined Radio
4 6 (2.65%) Modbus
4 6 (2.65%) RS-232
4 6 (2.65%) RS-485
4 6 (2.65%) TCP/IP
5 5 (2.21%) 3GPP
6 4 (1.77%) 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 (0.88%) Internet
8 2 (0.88%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.65%) NonStop SQL
2 5 (2.21%) OLTP
2 5 (2.21%) Power BI
2 5 (2.21%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.77%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.33%) MongoDB
4 3 (1.33%) NoSQL
4 3 (1.33%) Tableau
5 2 (0.88%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.88%) Metadata
5 2 (0.88%) 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 29 (12.83%) Rational DOORS
2 23 (10.18%) Git
3 17 (7.52%) JIRA
4 15 (6.64%) Rational Rhapsody
5 9 (3.98%) GitLab
6 8 (3.54%) PVCS
7 6 (2.65%) Visual Studio
8 3 (1.33%) Subversion
9 2 (0.88%) Jenkins
10 1 (0.44%) Appium
10 1 (0.44%) Crashlytics
10 1 (0.44%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.44%) ER Studio
10 1 (0.44%) fastlane
10 1 (0.44%) git-flow
10 1 (0.44%) Postman
10 1 (0.44%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.44%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.44%) XCTest
10 1 (0.44%) XCUITest
General
1 43 (19.03%) Social Skills
2 30 (13.27%) Electronics
3 27 (11.95%) Aerospace
4 19 (8.41%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (6.64%) Finance
6 14 (6.19%) Law
7 13 (5.75%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (4.87%) Manufacturing
9 8 (3.54%) Banking
10 5 (2.21%) Automotive
10 5 (2.21%) Public Sector
11 4 (1.77%) Avionics
11 4 (1.77%) Games
12 3 (1.33%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.88%) Japanese Language
13 2 (0.88%) Military
13 2 (0.88%) Publishing
14 1 (0.44%) Investment Banking
14 1 (0.44%) Korean Language
14 1 (0.44%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 93 (41.15%) Software Engineer
2 80 (35.40%) Embedded Engineer
3 57 (25.22%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 34 (15.04%) Developer
5 26 (11.50%) C Software Engineer
6 24 (10.62%) C++ Software Engineer
7 23 (10.18%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 16 (7.08%) Embedded C Engineer
8 16 (7.08%) Embedded C Software Engineer
9 13 (5.75%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
9 13 (5.75%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
9 13 (5.75%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
9 13 (5.75%) Embedded C++ Engineer
9 13 (5.75%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
10 12 (5.31%) Senior
11 10 (4.42%) FPGA Engineer
11 10 (4.42%) Lead
11 10 (4.42%) Software Developer
11 10 (4.42%) Validation Engineer
12 9 (3.98%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (6.64%) Yocto
2 7 (3.10%) .NET
3 6 (2.65%) Middleware
3 6 (2.65%) WinForms
4 4 (1.77%) HTML
4 4 (1.77%) 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 (0.88%) HTML5
6 2 (0.88%) 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 43 (19.03%) Embedded Systems
2 40 (17.70%) FPGA
3 20 (8.85%) PCIe
4 14 (6.19%) VHDL
5 9 (3.98%) Algorithms
5 9 (3.98%) Device Driver
5 9 (3.98%) Verilog
6 7 (3.10%) MicroBlaze
6 7 (3.10%) RISC-V
7 6 (2.65%) IoT
7 6 (2.65%) Tandem
8 5 (2.21%) Data Centre
8 5 (2.21%) EMV
9 3 (1.33%) ARM Cortex
9 3 (1.33%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.33%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.33%) Java Card
9 3 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.88%) CAN bus
10 2 (0.88%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 57 (25.22%) Linux
2 21 (9.29%) Embedded Linux
3 14 (6.19%) FreeRTOS
4 11 (4.87%) 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
1 125 (55.31%) Software Engineering
2 46 (20.35%) Validation
3 38 (16.81%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (14.60%) Test Automation
5 30 (13.27%) Workflow
6 26 (11.50%) CI/CD
6 26 (11.50%) Signal Processing
7 21 (9.29%) Digital Signal Processing
8 19 (8.41%) Embedded Software Development
9 17 (7.52%) Agile
9 17 (7.52%) Unit Testing
9 17 (7.52%) Workflow Management
10 16 (7.08%) Requirements Analysis
10 16 (7.08%) Verification and Validation
11 15 (6.64%) DevOps
12 14 (6.19%) UML
13 13 (5.75%) Software Testing
14 12 (5.31%) FPGA Design
14 12 (5.31%) TDD
14 12 (5.31%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 120 (53.10%) C++
2 54 (23.89%) Python
3 43 (19.03%) Embedded C
4 29 (12.83%) Ada
5 25 (11.06%) SQL
6 21 (9.29%) MATLAB
7 20 (8.85%) Embedded C++
8 19 (8.41%) Java
9 11 (4.87%) Bash
10 9 (3.98%) C#
11 8 (3.54%) SystemVerilog
12 7 (3.10%) PL/SQL
12 7 (3.10%) Shell Script
13 5 (2.21%) COBOL
13 5 (2.21%) Rust
14 4 (1.77%) JavaScript
14 4 (1.77%) ProC
15 2 (0.88%) Perl
15 2 (0.88%) VB
16 1 (0.44%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 58 (25.66%) Security Cleared
2 43 (19.03%) SC Cleared
3 16 (7.08%) Degree
4 9 (3.98%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (3.98%) DV Cleared
5 2 (0.88%) CCNA
5 2 (0.88%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (0.88%) 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 (8.85%) Def Stans
2 11 (4.87%) QA
3 7 (3.10%) MISRA
4 6 (2.65%) DO-178B
5 5 (2.21%) IEC 61508
5 5 (2.21%) ISO 8583
6 4 (1.77%) 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 (10.18%) Firmware
2 11 (4.87%) Docker
3 10 (4.42%) Virtual Machines
3 10 (4.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (3.98%) Embedded Firmware
5 2 (0.88%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.88%) vCloud
5 2 (0.88%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.88%) vSphere
6 1 (0.44%) FreeRADIUS
Systems Management
1 8 (3.54%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.65%) Terraform
3 3 (1.33%) Ansible
4 2 (0.88%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.44%) Grafana
5 1 (0.44%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.44%) Nagios
Vendors
1 16 (7.08%) IBM
2 10 (4.42%) VMware
2 10 (4.42%) Xilinx
3 9 (3.98%) Intel
4 8 (3.54%) ANSYS
4 8 (3.54%) Cisco
4 8 (3.54%) Oracle
5 7 (3.10%) HP
5 7 (3.10%) MathWorks
5 7 (3.10%) Microsoft
6 6 (2.65%) Microsemi
7 4 (1.77%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.77%) SAP
8 3 (1.33%) Google
8 3 (1.33%) Thales
9 2 (0.88%) Dell
9 2 (0.88%) Perforce
10 1 (0.44%) Citrix
10 1 (0.44%) QNX
10 1 (0.44%) Veritas