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

6 months to
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 459 370 215
Rank change year-on-year -89 -155 +2
Contract jobs citing C 221 188 443
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.57% 1.14%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.57% 1.74% 3.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 71 215
10th Percentile £340 £313 £393
25th Percentile £400 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -6.24% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £606 £638 £600
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £500 £546
% change year-on-year -8.00% -8.47% +4.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 38 98
10th Percentile £51.40 £52.00 £45.55
25th Percentile £65.00 £56.00 £60.31
Median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £74.69 £74.22
90th Percentile - £87.50 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.75 £68.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year -0.37% +0.74% +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 14,096 10,787 12,221
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.32% 32.87% 31.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,173 7,200 8,532
10th Percentile £363 £340 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £503 £533
Median % change year-on-year +2.93% -5.68% -3.09%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £496 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.32% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 521 284 395
10th Percentile £29.96 £28.25 £27.00
25th Percentile £50.00 £36.25 £43.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.12% -14.62% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £82.07 £77.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +2.36% -2.31% +8.56%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 -70 209 £492 -8.63% 651
UK excluding London -22 175 £460 -8.00% 560
Work from Home -47 65 £500 -9.09% 226
South East -20 58 £500 -2.44% 137
East of England -14 54 £700 +49.33% 163
London -93 38 £525 -10.41% 138
South West -44 30 £450 -18.18% 114
Midlands -23 21 £462 +559.29% 45
West Midlands -36 20 £450 - 22
Scotland -22 6 - - 31
North of England -85 6 £400 +6.67% 75
Yorkshire -44 3 £400 -20.00% 18
North West -58 2 - - 34
East Midlands -17 1 £525 +650.00% 22
North East -38 1 - - 25
Wales - 1 £460 - 4

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 (2.26%) Tuxedo
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle Workflow
2 2 (0.90%) WebSphere
3 1 (0.45%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.45%) ColdFusion
3 1 (0.45%) Confluence
Applications
1 10 (4.52%) Simulink
2 3 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (1.36%) Teamcenter
2 2 (0.90%) BASE24
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle Retail
3 1 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.45%) Loan IQ
Cloud Services
1 14 (6.33%) AWS
2 13 (5.88%) Azure
3 10 (4.52%) GitHub
4 7 (3.17%) Azure DevOps
4 7 (3.17%) GitHub Copilot
4 7 (3.17%) IaaS
5 4 (1.81%) Power Platform
5 4 (1.81%) SaaS
6 3 (1.36%) Amazon S3
6 3 (1.36%) GCP
6 3 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
7 2 (0.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 2 (0.90%) AWS CloudFormation
7 2 (0.90%) AWS IoT
7 2 (0.90%) AWS Lambda
7 2 (0.90%) Entra ID
7 2 (0.90%) OCI
7 2 (0.90%) Serverless
8 1 (0.45%) AWS CloudTrail
8 1 (0.45%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 19 (8.60%) Software-Defined Radio
1 19 (8.60%) Wireless
2 11 (4.98%) Ethernet
3 6 (2.71%) Wireshark
4 4 (1.81%) Bluetooth
4 4 (1.81%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.36%) 4G
5 3 (1.36%) 5G
5 3 (1.36%) DNS
5 3 (1.36%) Internet
5 3 (1.36%) LTE
5 3 (1.36%) MQTT
5 3 (1.36%) RS-232
5 3 (1.36%) RS-485
5 3 (1.36%) VXLAN
6 2 (0.90%) 5G NR
6 2 (0.90%) Firewall
6 2 (0.90%) Microwave Backhaul
6 2 (0.90%) Radio Access Network
6 2 (0.90%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.52%) Ingres
2 7 (3.17%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.71%) Relational Database
4 4 (1.81%) Power BI
4 4 (1.81%) RDBMS
5 3 (1.36%) MongoDB
5 3 (1.36%) NoSQL
5 3 (1.36%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.36%) Tableau
6 2 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.90%) NonStop SQL
6 2 (0.90%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.90%) SQLPlus
7 1 (0.45%) Apache Cassandra
7 1 (0.45%) Big Data
7 1 (0.45%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.45%) KDB
7 1 (0.45%) Redis
7 1 (0.45%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 25 (11.31%) Git
2 23 (10.41%) Rational DOORS
3 10 (4.52%) Jenkins
3 10 (4.52%) Rational Rhapsody
4 7 (3.17%) JIRA
4 7 (3.17%) Team Foundation Server
5 5 (2.26%) Oracle Forms
6 4 (1.81%) GitLab
6 4 (1.81%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.90%) CMake
7 2 (0.90%) CppUnit
7 2 (0.90%) PetaLinux
7 2 (0.90%) PVCS
7 2 (0.90%) Subversion
8 1 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.45%) ERwin
8 1 (0.45%) GoogleTest
8 1 (0.45%) JMeter
8 1 (0.45%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.45%) PowerDesigner
General
1 56 (25.34%) Social Skills
2 28 (12.67%) Aerospace
3 22 (9.95%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (8.60%) Electronics
5 14 (6.33%) Law
6 11 (4.98%) Manufacturing
7 9 (4.07%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (4.07%) Public Sector
8 8 (3.62%) Finance
9 7 (3.17%) Banking
10 4 (1.81%) Automotive
10 4 (1.81%) Military
11 3 (1.36%) Front Office
11 3 (1.36%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.90%) Avionics
12 2 (0.90%) Games
12 2 (0.90%) Japanese Language
12 2 (0.90%) Retail
12 2 (0.90%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.45%) Korean Language
Job Titles
1 82 (37.10%) Software Engineer
2 50 (22.62%) Embedded Engineer
3 38 (17.19%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 25 (11.31%) Developer
4 25 (11.31%) Senior
5 19 (8.60%) C++ Software Engineer
6 18 (8.14%) C Software Engineer
7 14 (6.33%) Lead
8 13 (5.88%) C/C++ Software Engineer
9 12 (5.43%) Software Developer
10 10 (4.52%) Linux Engineer
11 9 (4.07%) Test Leader
12 8 (3.62%) DSP Engineer
12 8 (3.62%) DSP Software Engineer
12 8 (3.62%) Senior Developer
13 6 (2.71%) C Developer
13 6 (2.71%) Embedded C Engineer
13 6 (2.71%) Embedded C Software Engineer
13 6 (2.71%) FPGA Engineer
13 6 (2.71%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (6.33%) Yocto
2 9 (4.07%) .NET
3 5 (2.26%) REST
4 4 (1.81%) JSON
4 4 (1.81%) LDAP
4 4 (1.81%) Middleware
4 4 (1.81%) WinForms
4 4 (1.81%) XML
5 3 (1.36%) ADO
5 3 (1.36%) COM
5 3 (1.36%) Itk
5 3 (1.36%) ODBC
5 3 (1.36%) Web Services
6 2 (0.90%) FastAPI
6 2 (0.90%) HTML5
6 2 (0.90%) Kafka
6 2 (0.90%) PyTorch
6 2 (0.90%) QML
6 2 (0.90%) Qt
6 2 (0.90%) WebSphere MQ
Miscellaneous
1 37 (16.74%) Embedded Systems
2 21 (9.50%) FPGA
3 16 (7.24%) Device Driver
4 15 (6.79%) RISC-V
5 11 (4.98%) Legacy Systems
6 10 (4.52%) Verilog
6 10 (4.52%) VHDL
7 9 (4.07%) PCIe
8 8 (3.62%) MicroBlaze
9 7 (3.17%) Private Cloud
10 5 (2.26%) Algorithms
10 5 (2.26%) Cloud Native
10 5 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (2.26%) IoT
10 5 (2.26%) Virtual Team
11 4 (1.81%) ARM Cortex
11 4 (1.81%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.81%) Distributed Systems
12 3 (1.36%) Fixed Income
12 3 (1.36%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 78 (35.29%) Linux
2 25 (11.31%) Embedded Linux
3 15 (6.79%) Unix
4 13 (5.88%) FreeRTOS
5 12 (5.43%) Windows
6 11 (4.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.90%) Android
8 1 (0.45%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.45%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (53.39%) Software Engineering
2 37 (16.74%) Agile
3 35 (15.84%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (14.93%) Test Automation
5 28 (12.67%) Validation
6 27 (12.22%) Signal Processing
7 26 (11.76%) CI/CD
8 23 (10.41%) DevOps
9 21 (9.50%) Digital Signal Processing
10 19 (8.60%) Data Management
11 16 (7.24%) Software Testing
11 16 (7.24%) Systems Engineering
11 16 (7.24%) Technical Leadership
11 16 (7.24%) Workflow
12 15 (6.79%) Migration
12 15 (6.79%) UML
13 14 (6.33%) Embedded Software Development
14 13 (5.88%) Integration Testing
15 12 (5.43%) Configuration Management
15 12 (5.43%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 124 (56.11%) C++
2 59 (26.70%) Python
3 32 (14.48%) Embedded C
4 30 (13.57%) SQL
5 25 (11.31%) Ada
6 19 (8.60%) Java
7 17 (7.69%) MATLAB
7 17 (7.69%) PL/SQL
8 13 (5.88%) ProC
9 10 (4.52%) Embedded C++
10 9 (4.07%) C#
11 8 (3.62%) Perl
12 7 (3.17%) SystemVerilog
13 6 (2.71%) Bash
14 5 (2.26%) PowerShell
14 5 (2.26%) VB
14 5 (2.26%) VB6
15 4 (1.81%) JavaScript
15 4 (1.81%) Rust
15 4 (1.81%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 67 (30.32%) Security Cleared
2 51 (23.08%) SC Cleared
3 23 (10.41%) Degree
4 11 (4.98%) DV Cleared
5 7 (3.17%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (2.26%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.45%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.45%) CCNA
7 1 (0.45%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.45%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.45%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.45%) GCIA
7 1 (0.45%) GCIH
7 1 (0.45%) GIAC
7 1 (0.45%) PhD
7 1 (0.45%) Six Sigma Black Belt
7 1 (0.45%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (8.60%) QA
2 14 (6.33%) Def Stans
3 9 (4.07%) MISRA
4 8 (3.62%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.90%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.90%) ISO 15022
5 2 (0.90%) ISO 20022
5 2 (0.90%) ISO 26262
6 1 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.45%) IFRS
6 1 (0.45%) IFRS 9
6 1 (0.45%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.45%) ISO 8583
6 1 (0.45%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.45%) MIL-STD-1553
6 1 (0.45%) NCSC
6 1 (0.45%) NIST
6 1 (0.45%) NIST 800
6 1 (0.45%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.45%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 29 (13.12%) Firmware
2 15 (6.79%) Embedded Firmware
3 13 (5.88%) Docker
4 7 (3.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (2.71%) Active Directory
5 6 (2.71%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.90%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.45%) KVM
7 1 (0.45%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.45%) Squid
Systems Management
1 10 (4.52%) Kubernetes
2 9 (4.07%) Terraform
3 8 (3.62%) Puppet
4 7 (3.17%) Progress Chef
5 3 (1.36%) Ansible
6 2 (0.90%) Salt
7 1 (0.45%) Grafana
7 1 (0.45%) Nagios
7 1 (0.45%) Packer
7 1 (0.45%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 23 (10.41%) Oracle
2 12 (5.43%) IBM
3 10 (4.52%) Xilinx
4 8 (3.62%) Intel
5 7 (3.17%) Red Hat
5 7 (3.17%) SaltStack
5 7 (3.17%) VMware
6 5 (2.26%) Microsemi
7 4 (1.81%) Cisco
7 4 (1.81%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.81%) MathWorks
7 4 (1.81%) Microsoft
8 3 (1.36%) Actian
8 3 (1.36%) Google
8 3 (1.36%) SAP
9 2 (0.90%) HP
9 2 (0.90%) Perforce
9 2 (0.90%) QNX
9 2 (0.90%) Sitecore
10 1 (0.45%) EMC