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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 410 361 178
Rank change year-on-year -49 -183 +71
Contract jobs citing C 222 166 565
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.56% 1.33%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.73% 1.66% 4.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 61 68 245
10th Percentile £350 £269 £391
25th Percentile £413 £322 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £536
Median % change year-on-year - -11.38% -4.29%
75th Percentile £550 £581 £600
90th Percentile £625 £675 £699
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £413 £544
% change year-on-year +18.18% -24.14% +8.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 84 39 192
10th Percentile £60.00 £54.40 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.00 £57.50
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 12,851 10,000 12,716
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.80% 34.03% 29.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,445 6,789 9,043
10th Percentile £355 £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 £710 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £489
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 557 241 493
10th Percentile £41.25 £24.66 £32.25
25th Percentile £54.55 £34.75 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% - -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.70 £85.00 £78.75
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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -29 210 £488 -2.50% 372
UK excluding London -17 171 £488 +18.18% 324
Work from Home -15 72 £468 -6.50% 230
East of England +1 63 £525 +31.25% 67
South West +5 47 £463 -15.91% 56
London -67 45 £461 -13.43% 65
South East -29 43 £500 - 109
Midlands -61 6 £525 +213.43% 25
North of England -73 5 £625 - 56
West Midlands - 5 £488 - 13
Northern Ireland - 5 £425 -
Scotland -10 2 - - 14
North East -19 2 £625 - 10
North West - 2 - - 30
Wales -12 1 £460 -12.38% 6
East Midlands -31 1 £525 +213.43% 12
Yorkshire -60 1 - - 16

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 (1.80%) Confluence
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.90%) Oracle Workflow
3 1 (0.45%) Apache
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 12 (5.41%) Simulink
2 4 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (2.25%) BASE24
1 5 (2.25%) Payment Gateway
2 3 (1.35%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.45%) Actimize
3 1 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.45%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.45%) Loan IQ
3 1 (0.45%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 12 (5.41%) Azure
2 11 (4.95%) AWS
3 9 (4.05%) GitHub
4 6 (2.70%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (2.25%) Power Platform
6 3 (1.35%) GCP
6 3 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
7 2 (0.90%) Amazon S3
7 2 (0.90%) AWS CloudFormation
7 2 (0.90%) AWS IoT
7 2 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
7 2 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (0.90%) GitHub Copilot
8 1 (0.45%) Amazon EKS
8 1 (0.45%) Azure Data Factory
8 1 (0.45%) Azure Storage
8 1 (0.45%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 1 (0.45%) BlazeMeter
8 1 (0.45%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.45%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 24 (10.81%) Ethernet
2 17 (7.66%) Wireless
3 16 (7.21%) Software-Defined Radio
4 6 (2.70%) Modbus
4 6 (2.70%) RS-232
4 6 (2.70%) RS-485
4 6 (2.70%) TCP/IP
5 5 (2.25%) 3GPP
6 4 (1.80%) 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 6 (2.70%) NonStop SQL
2 5 (2.25%) OLTP
2 5 (2.25%) Power BI
2 5 (2.25%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.80%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.35%) MongoDB
4 3 (1.35%) NoSQL
4 3 (1.35%) Tableau
5 2 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.90%) Metadata
5 2 (0.90%) Oracle Database
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%) Elasticsearch
6 1 (0.45%) MySQL
6 1 (0.45%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.45%) Redis
6 1 (0.45%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 26 (11.71%) Rational DOORS
2 19 (8.56%) Git
3 15 (6.76%) JIRA
3 15 (6.76%) Rational Rhapsody
4 9 (4.05%) GitLab
5 6 (2.70%) PVCS
6 5 (2.25%) Visual Studio
7 3 (1.35%) Subversion
8 2 (0.90%) Jenkins
9 1 (0.45%) Appium
9 1 (0.45%) CMake
9 1 (0.45%) Crashlytics
9 1 (0.45%) ER Studio
9 1 (0.45%) fastlane
9 1 (0.45%) git-flow
9 1 (0.45%) GoogleTest
9 1 (0.45%) Postman
9 1 (0.45%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.45%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.45%) XCUITest
General
1 43 (19.37%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.16%) Aerospace
2 27 (12.16%) Electronics
3 19 (8.56%) Analytical Skills
4 15 (6.76%) Finance
5 13 (5.86%) Documentation Skills
5 13 (5.86%) Law
6 11 (4.95%) Manufacturing
7 8 (3.60%) Banking
8 5 (2.25%) Automotive
8 5 (2.25%) Public Sector
9 4 (1.80%) Avionics
9 4 (1.80%) Games
10 3 (1.35%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.90%) Japanese Language
11 2 (0.90%) Military
11 2 (0.90%) Publishing
12 1 (0.45%) Investment Banking
12 1 (0.45%) Korean Language
12 1 (0.45%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 87 (39.19%) Software Engineer
2 75 (33.78%) Embedded Engineer
3 52 (23.42%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 34 (15.32%) Developer
5 24 (10.81%) C Software Engineer
6 23 (10.36%) C++ Software Engineer
7 22 (9.91%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 13 (5.86%) Embedded C Engineer
8 13 (5.86%) Embedded C Software Engineer
9 12 (5.41%) FPGA Engineer
9 12 (5.41%) Senior
10 11 (4.95%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
10 11 (4.95%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
10 11 (4.95%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
10 11 (4.95%) Embedded C++ Engineer
10 11 (4.95%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
11 10 (4.50%) Lead
11 10 (4.50%) Software Developer
11 10 (4.50%) Validation Engineer
12 9 (4.05%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (6.76%) Yocto
2 7 (3.15%) .NET
3 6 (2.70%) Middleware
3 6 (2.70%) WinForms
4 4 (1.80%) HTML
4 4 (1.80%) Kafka
5 3 (1.35%) ARM Templates
5 3 (1.35%) Itk
5 3 (1.35%) JSON
5 3 (1.35%) Qt
5 3 (1.35%) REST
6 2 (0.90%) HTML5
6 2 (0.90%) RESTful
7 1 (0.45%) Django
7 1 (0.45%) J2EE
7 1 (0.45%) OAuth
7 1 (0.45%) OpenID
7 1 (0.45%) SQLAlchemy
7 1 (0.45%) WCF
7 1 (0.45%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 41 (18.47%) Embedded Systems
1 41 (18.47%) FPGA
2 19 (8.56%) PCIe
3 16 (7.21%) VHDL
4 11 (4.95%) Verilog
5 9 (4.05%) Algorithms
5 9 (4.05%) Device Driver
6 7 (3.15%) MicroBlaze
6 7 (3.15%) RISC-V
7 6 (2.70%) IoT
7 6 (2.70%) Tandem
8 5 (2.25%) Data Centre
8 5 (2.25%) 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%) Data Structures
10 2 (0.90%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 56 (25.23%) Linux
2 21 (9.46%) Embedded Linux
3 14 (6.31%) FreeRTOS
4 11 (4.95%) Windows
5 3 (1.35%) Unix
6 1 (0.45%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (53.60%) Software Engineering
2 46 (20.72%) Validation
3 38 (17.12%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (14.86%) Test Automation
5 28 (12.61%) Workflow
6 27 (12.16%) Signal Processing
7 26 (11.71%) CI/CD
8 21 (9.46%) Digital Signal Processing
9 19 (8.56%) Embedded Software Development
10 17 (7.66%) Workflow Management
11 16 (7.21%) Agile
11 16 (7.21%) Verification and Validation
12 15 (6.76%) DevOps
12 15 (6.76%) Unit Testing
13 14 (6.31%) FPGA Design
13 14 (6.31%) Requirements Analysis
14 13 (5.86%) Software Testing
14 13 (5.86%) UML
15 12 (5.41%) Systems Engineering
15 12 (5.41%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 115 (51.80%) C++
2 53 (23.87%) Python
3 40 (18.02%) Embedded C
4 29 (13.06%) Ada
5 25 (11.26%) SQL
6 21 (9.46%) MATLAB
7 19 (8.56%) Java
8 17 (7.66%) Embedded C++
9 11 (4.95%) Bash
10 10 (4.50%) SystemVerilog
11 8 (3.60%) C#
12 7 (3.15%) PL/SQL
12 7 (3.15%) Shell Script
13 5 (2.25%) COBOL
13 5 (2.25%) Rust
14 4 (1.80%) JavaScript
14 4 (1.80%) ProC
15 2 (0.90%) Perl
15 2 (0.90%) VB
16 1 (0.45%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 57 (25.68%) Security Cleared
2 42 (18.92%) SC Cleared
3 17 (7.66%) Degree
4 9 (4.05%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (4.05%) 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%) Six Sigma Black Belt
6 1 (0.45%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (9.01%) Def Stans
2 11 (4.95%) QA
3 7 (3.15%) MISRA
4 6 (2.70%) DO-178B
5 5 (2.25%) IEC 61508
5 5 (2.25%) ISO 8583
6 4 (1.80%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.35%) Data Quality
7 3 (1.35%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.45%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.45%) DICOM
8 1 (0.45%) DO-254
8 1 (0.45%) HL7
8 1 (0.45%) IFRS
8 1 (0.45%) IFRS 9
8 1 (0.45%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.45%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.45%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.45%) MiFID
8 1 (0.45%) MISRA C
System Software
1 23 (10.36%) Firmware
2 11 (4.95%) Docker
3 9 (4.05%) Embedded Firmware
4 8 (3.60%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (3.60%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.90%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.90%) vCloud
5 2 (0.90%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.90%) vSphere
6 1 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
Systems Management
1 8 (3.60%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.70%) 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 (6.31%) IBM
2 12 (5.41%) Xilinx
3 11 (4.95%) Intel
4 8 (3.60%) Cisco
4 8 (3.60%) Microsemi
4 8 (3.60%) Oracle
4 8 (3.60%) VMware
5 7 (3.15%) HP
5 7 (3.15%) MathWorks
5 7 (3.15%) Microsoft
6 6 (2.70%) ANSYS
7 4 (1.80%) Lauterbach
7 4 (1.80%) SAP
8 3 (1.35%) Google
8 3 (1.35%) Thales
9 2 (0.90%) Dell
9 2 (0.90%) Perforce
10 1 (0.45%) Citrix
10 1 (0.45%) QNX
10 1 (0.45%) Veritas