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 16 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 407 286 190
Rank change year-on-year -121 -96 +87
Contract jobs citing C 206 260 558
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.52% 0.85% 1.25%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.71% 2.52% 4.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 65 97 206
10th Percentile £68 £396 £325
25th Percentile £400 £456 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% -1.87% -10.83%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £592
90th Percentile £650 £810 £694
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £535
% change year-on-year - -11.21% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 37 200
10th Percentile £60.00 £58.42 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £62.00 £56.65
Median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +13.04%
75th Percentile £70.00 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.75 £95.00 £88.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% -

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 12,023 10,306 13,207
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.14% 33.59% 29.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,994 6,574 9,330
10th Percentile £350 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £531
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.13% -5.60%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £650
90th Percentile £720 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £485 £500
% change year-on-year -1.44% -3.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 466 232 506
10th Percentile £40.00 £21.33 £35.58
25th Percentile £52.50 £36.50 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +4.17% -7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £69.91
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.75 £62.50
% change year-on-year +1.97% +1.99% -3.85%

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 16 February 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 16 February 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 16 February 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 -97 191 £488 -7.14% 344
UK excluding London -58 156 £475 - 332
East of England 0 66 £525 +31.25% 57
South West -9 56 £475 -20.17% 56
Work from Home -43 56 £438 -14.63% 155
London -85 41 £461 -23.17% 39
South East -50 12 £500 +5.26% 100
North of England -62 8 £550 - 36
Scotland +9 7 £65 -77.19% 47
Northern Ireland +2 5 £425 -
North West -28 5 £513 - 17
Midlands -57 2 £575 +76.65% 45
Yorkshire -61 2 £531 - 11
East Midlands -23 1 - - 29
West Midlands -50 1 £575 - 16
North East - 1 £625 - 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 (1.46%) Confluence
2 1 (0.49%) Apache
2 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.49%) nginx
2 1 (0.49%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (5.34%) Simulink
2 4 (1.94%) Stateflow
3 3 (1.46%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.97%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (2.43%) BASE24
1 5 (2.43%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.49%) Actimize
2 1 (0.49%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.49%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.49%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 17 (8.25%) Azure
2 16 (7.77%) AWS
3 10 (4.85%) GitHub
4 8 (3.88%) GCP
5 4 (1.94%) Azure DevOps
6 3 (1.46%) AWS CloudFormation
6 3 (1.46%) Power Platform
7 2 (0.97%) Amazon EKS
7 2 (0.97%) Amazon S3
7 2 (0.97%) Azure Monitor
7 2 (0.97%) Cloud Computing
7 2 (0.97%) Dynamics 365
8 1 (0.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 1 (0.49%) Amazon EC2
8 1 (0.49%) AWS CloudTrail
8 1 (0.49%) Firebase
8 1 (0.49%) IaaS
8 1 (0.49%) Microsoft 365
8 1 (0.49%) OneDrive
8 1 (0.49%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 19 (9.22%) Ethernet
2 11 (5.34%) RS-232
3 6 (2.91%) Modbus
3 6 (2.91%) RS-485
3 6 (2.91%) SpaceWire
3 6 (2.91%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.94%) 3GPP
5 3 (1.46%) Bluetooth
5 3 (1.46%) MVNO
5 3 (1.46%) Network Security
5 3 (1.46%) RS-422
5 3 (1.46%) SMPP
5 3 (1.46%) SMS
6 2 (0.97%) DNS
6 2 (0.97%) HTTP
6 2 (0.97%) VSAN
6 2 (0.97%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (0.97%) Wireless
7 1 (0.49%) 5G NR
7 1 (0.49%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.91%) NonStop SQL
2 5 (2.43%) OLTP
2 5 (2.43%) Oracle Database
3 3 (1.46%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (0.97%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.97%) Power BI
5 1 (0.49%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.49%) Hadoop
5 1 (0.49%) Metadata
5 1 (0.49%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.49%) MySQL
5 1 (0.49%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.49%) Oracle Exadata
5 1 (0.49%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 1 (0.49%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 26 (12.62%) Rational DOORS
2 15 (7.28%) Git
3 13 (6.31%) JIRA
4 11 (5.34%) Rational Rhapsody
5 8 (3.88%) PVCS
6 7 (3.40%) GitLab
7 5 (2.43%) Jenkins
8 4 (1.94%) Rational Team Concert
8 4 (1.94%) Visual Studio
9 3 (1.46%) Artifactory
9 3 (1.46%) ClearCase
10 2 (0.97%) KGDB
10 2 (0.97%) Selenium
10 2 (0.97%) SonarQube
11 1 (0.49%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.49%) Crashlytics
11 1 (0.49%) fastlane
11 1 (0.49%) Polyspace
11 1 (0.49%) XCTest
11 1 (0.49%) XCUITest
General
1 34 (16.50%) Electronics
2 28 (13.59%) Social Skills
3 21 (10.19%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (10.19%) Finance
4 20 (9.71%) Aerospace
5 14 (6.80%) Documentation Skills
5 14 (6.80%) Law
6 10 (4.85%) Public Sector
7 7 (3.40%) Banking
8 6 (2.91%) Military
9 5 (2.43%) Manufacturing
10 4 (1.94%) Automotive
10 4 (1.94%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.46%) Aviation
11 3 (1.46%) Financial Institution
11 3 (1.46%) Games
12 2 (0.97%) Avionics
12 2 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.97%) Publishing
13 1 (0.49%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 77 (37.38%) Software Engineer
2 59 (28.64%) Embedded Engineer
3 44 (21.36%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 34 (16.50%) Developer
5 27 (13.11%) C Software Engineer
6 22 (10.68%) C++ Software Engineer
7 21 (10.19%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 19 (9.22%) Embedded C Engineer
8 19 (9.22%) Embedded C Software Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) Embedded C++ Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
9 13 (6.31%) Senior
9 13 (6.31%) Support Engineer
10 12 (5.83%) Product Engineer
10 12 (5.83%) Products Support Engineer
10 12 (5.83%) Software Support Engineer
11 10 (4.85%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (8.74%) Middleware
2 8 (3.88%) Yocto
3 7 (3.40%) Flash
3 7 (3.40%) HTML
4 5 (2.43%) CSS
5 4 (1.94%) AngularJS
5 4 (1.94%) Node.js
5 4 (1.94%) React
5 4 (1.94%) REST
6 3 (1.46%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.46%) Electron
6 3 (1.46%) JNI
6 3 (1.46%) JSON
6 3 (1.46%) Kafka
7 2 (0.97%) .NET
7 2 (0.97%) OpenEmbedded
7 2 (0.97%) OpenID
7 2 (0.97%) Qt
7 2 (0.97%) RESTful
7 2 (0.97%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 32 (15.53%) FPGA
2 28 (13.59%) Embedded Systems
3 15 (7.28%) PCIe
3 15 (7.28%) VHDL
4 6 (2.91%) CAN bus
4 6 (2.91%) Tandem
5 5 (2.43%) Algorithms
5 5 (2.43%) EMV
6 4 (1.94%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (1.94%) IoT
6 4 (1.94%) Verilog
7 3 (1.46%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.46%) CUDA
7 3 (1.46%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.46%) Device Driver
7 3 (1.46%) Hedge funds
7 3 (1.46%) Java Card
7 3 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.97%) Analogue Electronics
8 2 (0.97%) ASIC
Operating Systems
1 54 (26.21%) Linux
2 14 (6.80%) Windows
3 13 (6.31%) Ubuntu
4 8 (3.88%) Embedded Linux
4 8 (3.88%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (1.94%) Unix
6 3 (1.46%) CentOS
6 3 (1.46%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.49%) Android
7 1 (0.49%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.49%) Debian
7 1 (0.49%) OpenVMS
7 1 (0.49%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (53.40%) Software Engineering
2 42 (20.39%) Validation
3 29 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (12.62%) CI/CD
5 18 (8.74%) Software Testing
6 17 (8.25%) DevOps
6 17 (8.25%) Test Automation
6 17 (8.25%) Workflow
7 15 (7.28%) Unit Testing
8 14 (6.80%) Containerisation
8 14 (6.80%) Signal Processing
9 13 (6.31%) AI
9 13 (6.31%) Requirements Analysis
10 12 (5.83%) Agile
10 12 (5.83%) Embedded Software Development
10 12 (5.83%) Systems Engineering
11 11 (5.34%) Mathematics
11 11 (5.34%) SDLC
12 10 (4.85%) FPGA Design
12 10 (4.85%) UML
Programming Languages
1 116 (56.31%) C++
2 51 (24.76%) Python
3 32 (15.53%) Ada
4 29 (14.08%) Embedded C
5 26 (12.62%) Java
6 22 (10.68%) JavaScript
7 20 (9.71%) SQL
8 18 (8.74%) Embedded C++
8 18 (8.74%) Shell Script
9 15 (7.28%) MATLAB
10 13 (6.31%) Bash
11 10 (4.85%) C#
12 9 (4.37%) Rust
13 7 (3.40%) Fortran
13 7 (3.40%) PL/SQL
14 6 (2.91%) SystemVerilog
15 5 (2.43%) COBOL
15 5 (2.43%) Perl
15 5 (2.43%) ProC
16 4 (1.94%) VBA
Qualifications
1 64 (31.07%) Security Cleared
2 52 (25.24%) SC Cleared
3 18 (8.74%) Degree
4 6 (2.91%) DV Cleared
5 3 (1.46%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (1.46%) Computer Science Degree
5 3 (1.46%) ISTQB
6 2 (0.97%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 2 (0.97%) Master's Degree
6 2 (0.97%) Postgraduate
7 1 (0.49%) CCNA
7 1 (0.49%) CCSAS
7 1 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.49%) GPEN
7 1 (0.49%) GWAPT
7 1 (0.49%) GXPN
7 1 (0.49%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
7 1 (0.49%) OSCE
7 1 (0.49%) OSCP
7 1 (0.49%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (10.19%) Def Stans
2 12 (5.83%) MISRA
3 11 (5.34%) DO-178B
4 9 (4.37%) IEC 61508
5 7 (3.40%) QA
6 5 (2.43%) ISO 8583
7 4 (1.94%) ISO 26262
7 4 (1.94%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.97%) IEC 62304
8 2 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.97%) MIL-STD-1553
8 2 (0.97%) MISRA C
8 2 (0.97%) Software Quality Assurance
9 1 (0.49%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.49%) AUTOSAR
9 1 (0.49%) DICOM
9 1 (0.49%) HL7
9 1 (0.49%) MiFID
9 1 (0.49%) NIST
System Software
1 23 (11.17%) Firmware
2 15 (7.28%) Docker
3 11 (5.34%) Virtual Machines
3 11 (5.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.46%) Embedded Firmware
5 2 (0.97%) vCloud
5 2 (0.97%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.97%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 13 (6.31%) Kubernetes
2 10 (4.85%) Terraform
3 5 (2.43%) Ansible
4 2 (0.97%) Podman
4 2 (0.97%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.49%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.49%) Grafana
5 1 (0.49%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 16 (7.77%) Red Hat
2 12 (5.83%) IBM
2 12 (5.83%) Oracle
3 11 (5.34%) VMware
4 8 (3.88%) ANSYS
5 7 (3.40%) HP
5 7 (3.40%) Intel
5 7 (3.40%) MathWorks
6 5 (2.43%) Microsemi
6 5 (2.43%) Microsoft
6 5 (2.43%) Xilinx
7 4 (1.94%) Cisco
8 3 (1.46%) NetApp
8 3 (1.46%) Thales
9 2 (0.97%) Atlassian
9 2 (0.97%) Dell
9 2 (0.97%) SAP
10 1 (0.49%) Proofpoint
10 1 (0.49%) Sitecore
10 1 (0.49%) Splunk