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 13 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 383 274 197
Rank change year-on-year -109 -77 +77
Contract jobs citing C 203 314 555
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.88% 1.22%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.78% 2.72% 3.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 66 120 245
10th Percentile £68 £400 £325
25th Percentile £385 £455 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £524 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.53% -4.77% -8.33%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £659 £810 £781
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 47 148
10th Percentile £52.00 £52.00 £51.75
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.25 £57.50
Median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - +13.04%
75th Percentile £73.44 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.38 £95.00 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year - +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 11,393 11,557 14,015
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.40% 32.36% 30.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,515 7,415 9,980
10th Percentile £349 £350 £363
25th Percentile £413 £425 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -3.08%
75th Percentile £619 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -3.94% -1.00% -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 343 282 433
10th Percentile £31.02 £22.00 £31.30
25th Percentile £48.75 £40.19 £47.50
Median hourly rate £64.50 £62.50 £60.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.20% +3.31% -3.20%
75th Percentile £68.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

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 13 December 2025.

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 13 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Top 14 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 13 December 2025. 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 -114 182 £500 -4.31% 756
UK excluding London -64 152 £500 - 777
East of England -5 63 £475 -11.63% 154
South West -26 45 £500 -0.20% 117
Work from Home -45 45 £475 -5.00% 382
London -59 40 £550 -6.14% 60
Scotland +17 17 £438 - 53
North of England -43 13 £475 +5.67% 132
South East -45 11 £500 +6.95% 212
North West -17 8 £463 +4.17% 73
Yorkshire -41 5 £500 -28.57% 45
Midlands -37 3 - - 115
East Midlands - 2 - - 54
West Midlands -33 1 - - 56

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 16 (7.88%) WebLogic
2 15 (7.39%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.97%) Confluence
4 2 (0.99%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.49%) Apache
5 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.49%) nginx
5 1 (0.49%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.49%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 16 (7.88%) Simulink
2 9 (4.43%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (2.96%) Stateflow
4 5 (2.46%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (2.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.99%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.49%) Actimize
2 1 (0.49%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 23 (11.33%) AWS
2 20 (9.85%) Azure
3 16 (7.88%) GitHub
4 12 (5.91%) GCP
5 5 (2.46%) OpenShift
6 4 (1.97%) Amazon S3
7 3 (1.48%) Amazon ECS
7 3 (1.48%) Amazon EKS
7 3 (1.48%) AWS CloudFormation
7 3 (1.48%) AWS Lambda
7 3 (1.48%) IaaS
7 3 (1.48%) Serverless
8 2 (0.99%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (0.99%) Dynamics 365
8 2 (0.99%) npm
8 2 (0.99%) PaaS
8 2 (0.99%) SaaS
9 1 (0.49%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (0.49%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (0.49%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (4.43%) Ethernet
2 7 (3.45%) RS-232
3 5 (2.46%) SpaceWire
4 4 (1.97%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.48%) 3GPP
5 3 (1.48%) Firewall
5 3 (1.48%) HTTP
5 3 (1.48%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (0.99%) AMQP
6 2 (0.99%) Anycast
6 2 (0.99%) BGP
6 2 (0.99%) Bluetooth
6 2 (0.99%) DNS
6 2 (0.99%) Ethernet VPN
6 2 (0.99%) Modbus
6 2 (0.99%) Network Security
6 2 (0.99%) Radio Access Network
6 2 (0.99%) Software-Defined Networking
6 2 (0.99%) VXLAN
6 2 (0.99%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.43%) Oracle Database
2 3 (1.48%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (0.99%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.99%) Big Data
3 2 (0.99%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.99%) HPCC
3 2 (0.99%) InfluxDB
3 2 (0.99%) MongoDB
3 2 (0.99%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (0.99%) RDBMS
3 2 (0.99%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.49%) Metadata
4 1 (0.49%) MySQL
4 1 (0.49%) NonStop SQL
4 1 (0.49%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (9.36%) Rational DOORS
2 18 (8.87%) Git
3 12 (5.91%) Jenkins
4 10 (4.93%) JIRA
5 9 (4.43%) ClearCase
6 8 (3.94%) GitLab
7 6 (2.96%) Gradle
7 6 (2.96%) Rational Team Concert
8 5 (2.46%) Rational Rhapsody
9 4 (1.97%) Artifactory
9 4 (1.97%) Clang
9 4 (1.97%) GCC
9 4 (1.97%) Maven
9 4 (1.97%) PVCS
9 4 (1.97%) Visual Studio
10 3 (1.48%) Bitbucket
10 3 (1.48%) KGDB
10 3 (1.48%) Xcode
11 2 (0.99%) CMake
12 1 (0.49%) GDB
General
1 33 (16.26%) Social Skills
2 30 (14.78%) Electronics
3 21 (10.34%) Finance
4 20 (9.85%) Aerospace
5 18 (8.87%) Analytical Skills
6 16 (7.88%) Public Sector
7 12 (5.91%) Law
8 10 (4.93%) Telecoms
9 7 (3.45%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.45%) Manufacturing
9 7 (3.45%) Military
10 6 (2.96%) Banking
10 6 (2.96%) Marketing
11 5 (2.46%) Aviation
12 3 (1.48%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.99%) Automotive
13 2 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 1 (0.49%) Health Technology
14 1 (0.49%) Investment Banking
14 1 (0.49%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 59 (29.06%) Software Engineer
2 28 (13.79%) Developer
2 28 (13.79%) Embedded Engineer
3 25 (12.32%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 16 (7.88%) Support Engineer
5 15 (7.39%) Consultant
6 13 (6.40%) Architect
6 13 (6.40%) C Software Engineer
7 12 (5.91%) Design Engineer
7 12 (5.91%) Product Engineer
7 12 (5.91%) Products Support Engineer
7 12 (5.91%) Senior
7 12 (5.91%) Software Support Engineer
8 11 (5.42%) Systems Engineer
9 10 (4.93%) C++ Software Engineer
9 10 (4.93%) Digital Design Engineer
9 10 (4.93%) Embedded C Engineer
9 10 (4.93%) Embedded C Software Engineer
10 7 (3.45%) C++ Developer
10 7 (3.45%) Linux Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (14.29%) Middleware
2 28 (13.79%) HTML
3 21 (10.34%) Node.js
4 17 (8.37%) .NET
5 10 (4.93%) Flash
6 8 (3.94%) CSS
7 7 (3.45%) REST
8 6 (2.96%) React
9 5 (2.46%) JSON
9 5 (2.46%) PyTorch
10 4 (1.97%) AngularJS
10 4 (1.97%) Google JAX
10 4 (1.97%) JAX
10 4 (1.97%) RESTful
10 4 (1.97%) TensorFlow
10 4 (1.97%) XML
10 4 (1.97%) Yocto
11 3 (1.48%) JNI
11 3 (1.48%) scikit-learn
11 3 (1.48%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 22 (10.84%) Embedded Systems
1 22 (10.84%) FPGA
2 16 (7.88%) VHDL
3 7 (3.45%) Analogue Electronics
3 7 (3.45%) CUDA
3 7 (3.45%) Self-Motivation
4 6 (2.96%) Verilog
5 5 (2.46%) PCIe
6 4 (1.97%) CAN bus
6 4 (1.97%) Cloud Native
6 4 (1.97%) Data Centre
6 4 (1.97%) Device Driver
6 4 (1.97%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (1.48%) Algorithms
7 3 (1.48%) Hedge funds
7 3 (1.48%) Mobile App
7 3 (1.48%) Mobile Banking
7 3 (1.48%) Security Posture
8 2 (0.99%) CBDC
8 2 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 62 (30.54%) Linux
2 25 (12.32%) Windows
3 13 (6.40%) Ubuntu
4 9 (4.43%) FreeRTOS
5 7 (3.45%) Unix
6 5 (2.46%) CentOS
7 4 (1.97%) Android
8 3 (1.48%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.48%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.49%) Debian
10 1 (0.49%) OpenVMS
10 1 (0.49%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.49%) VMS
10 1 (0.49%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.49%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (43.35%) Software Engineering
2 29 (14.29%) CI/CD
3 26 (12.81%) Problem-Solving
4 21 (10.34%) Agile
4 21 (10.34%) Validation
5 19 (9.36%) AI
6 18 (8.87%) DevOps
7 17 (8.37%) Mathematics
7 17 (8.37%) Signal Processing
7 17 (8.37%) Software Testing
8 15 (7.39%) Requirements Gathering
9 13 (6.40%) Containerisation
9 13 (6.40%) Systems Engineering
9 13 (6.40%) UML
10 12 (5.91%) Unit Testing
11 11 (5.42%) Data Pipeline
12 10 (4.93%) Integration Testing
12 10 (4.93%) Machine Learning
12 10 (4.93%) SDLC
12 10 (4.93%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 131 (64.53%) C++
2 70 (34.48%) Python
3 65 (32.02%) Java
4 28 (13.79%) JavaScript
5 24 (11.82%) Shell Script
6 20 (9.85%) Ada
7 19 (9.36%) SQL
8 17 (8.37%) Embedded C
9 16 (7.88%) MATLAB
10 15 (7.39%) Bash
10 15 (7.39%) PHP
11 12 (5.91%) C#
12 9 (4.43%) Embedded C++
12 9 (4.43%) Fortran
12 9 (4.43%) Perl
13 8 (3.94%) PowerShell
14 7 (3.45%) PL/SQL
15 6 (2.96%) Tcl
16 5 (2.46%) Rust
16 5 (2.46%) VBA
Qualifications
1 73 (35.96%) Security Cleared
2 55 (27.09%) SC Cleared
3 19 (9.36%) Degree
4 11 (5.42%) DV Cleared
5 3 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (1.48%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (0.99%) CCIE
6 2 (0.99%) CISSP
6 2 (0.99%) JNCIE
6 2 (0.99%) Master's Degree
6 2 (0.99%) PhD
6 2 (0.99%) Postgraduate
7 1 (0.49%) CCNA
7 1 (0.49%) CCSAS
7 1 (0.49%) GPEN
7 1 (0.49%) GWAPT
7 1 (0.49%) ISTQB
7 1 (0.49%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 1 (0.49%) OSCE
7 1 (0.49%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.40%) QA
2 11 (5.42%) MISRA
3 10 (4.93%) Def Stans
4 9 (4.43%) DO-178B
5 6 (2.96%) IEC 61508
6 5 (2.46%) ISO 26262
6 5 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.48%) EU AI Act
7 3 (1.48%) GDPR
7 3 (1.48%) IEC 62304
7 3 (1.48%) MISRA C
7 3 (1.48%) NIST
8 2 (0.99%) AUTOSAR
8 2 (0.99%) Software Quality Assurance
9 1 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.49%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.49%) DO-254
9 1 (0.49%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.49%) MiFID
System Software
1 26 (12.81%) Firmware
2 21 (10.34%) Docker
3 6 (2.96%) Embedded Firmware
3 6 (2.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.49%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.49%) KVM
Systems Management
1 17 (8.37%) Kubernetes
2 11 (5.42%) Terraform
3 8 (3.94%) Ansible
4 4 (1.97%) Grafana
5 2 (0.99%) Podman
5 2 (0.99%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.49%) Functional Safety
6 1 (0.49%) Rsyslog
6 1 (0.49%) SCOM
Vendors
1 18 (8.87%) Oracle
1 18 (8.87%) Red Hat
2 15 (7.39%) Dynatrace
3 9 (4.43%) NetApp
4 7 (3.45%) Microsoft
4 7 (3.45%) SAP
5 6 (2.96%) IBM
5 6 (2.96%) MathWorks
5 6 (2.96%) VMware
6 5 (2.46%) Intel
7 4 (1.97%) ANSYS
7 4 (1.97%) Cisco
8 3 (1.48%) Atlassian
8 3 (1.48%) Microsemi
8 3 (1.48%) Xilinx
9 2 (0.99%) Arista
9 2 (0.99%) HP
9 2 (0.99%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.99%) Siemens
9 2 (0.99%) Wind River