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 29 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 458 360 217
Rank change year-on-year -98 -143 +4
Contract jobs citing C 210 188 460
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.40% 0.57% 1.15%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.50% 1.74% 3.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 72 76 226
10th Percentile £345 £274 £391
25th Percentile £409 £366 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £534
Median % change year-on-year -1.58% -6.41% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £686 £675 £681
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £413 £540
% change year-on-year +16.67% -23.65% +8.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 35 116
10th Percentile £51.40 £52.00 £46.88
25th Percentile £65.00 £57.00 £60.00
Median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% +4.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £73.13 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.00 £77.00 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.75 £68.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -0.37% +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 13,969 10,796 12,393
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.58% 32.90% 31.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,075 7,277 8,754
10th Percentile £363 £340 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 520 254 421
10th Percentile £33.70 £27.96 £27.75
25th Percentile £51.25 £36.06 £46.18
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.13 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.79% -12.12% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £82.07 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.56% -1.54% +7.08%

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 29 July 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 29 July 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 29 July 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 -71 203 £492 -6.24% 361
UK excluding London -46 164 £481 +16.67% 297
South East -16 59 £500 -2.44% 92
Work from Home -53 58 £500 -4.76% 117
East of England -13 52 £626 +56.38% 73
London -81 40 £525 -10.41% 77
South West -38 25 £450 -18.18% 51
Midlands -42 21 £462 +559.29% 29
West Midlands -40 20 £450 - 12
North of England -77 5 £400 +6.67% 47
Scotland -29 2 - - 5
Yorkshire -46 2 £400 -20.00% 13
North West -51 2 - - 20
East Midlands -14 1 £525 +650.00% 17
North East -46 1 - - 15
Wales - 1 £460 - 5

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 (2.38%) Tuxedo
2 2 (0.95%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (0.95%) Oracle Workflow
2 2 (0.95%) WebSphere
3 1 (0.48%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.48%) ColdFusion
3 1 (0.48%) Confluence
Applications
1 10 (4.76%) Simulink
2 4 (1.90%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.48%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (1.43%) Teamcenter
2 2 (0.95%) BASE24
2 2 (0.95%) Oracle Retail
3 1 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.48%) Loan IQ
Cloud Services
1 17 (8.10%) Azure
2 16 (7.62%) AWS
3 10 (4.76%) GitHub
4 9 (4.29%) Azure DevOps
5 7 (3.33%) GitHub Copilot
6 5 (2.38%) Power Platform
7 4 (1.90%) GCP
7 4 (1.90%) SaaS
8 3 (1.43%) Amazon S3
8 3 (1.43%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (0.95%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 2 (0.95%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.95%) AWS IoT
9 2 (0.95%) AWS Lambda
9 2 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (0.95%) Entra ID
9 2 (0.95%) IaaS
9 2 (0.95%) OCI
9 2 (0.95%) Serverless
10 1 (0.48%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 16 (7.62%) Software-Defined Radio
1 16 (7.62%) Wireless
2 15 (7.14%) Ethernet
3 6 (2.86%) RS-232
3 6 (2.86%) RS-485
3 6 (2.86%) Wireshark
4 5 (2.38%) DNS
4 5 (2.38%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.43%) 4G
5 3 (1.43%) 5G
5 3 (1.43%) Internet
5 3 (1.43%) LTE
5 3 (1.43%) Modbus
5 3 (1.43%) MQTT
5 3 (1.43%) RS-422
5 3 (1.43%) VXLAN
6 2 (0.95%) 5G NR
6 2 (0.95%) Firewall
6 2 (0.95%) Microwave Backhaul
6 2 (0.95%) Radio Access Network
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.76%) Ingres
2 7 (3.33%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.86%) Relational Database
4 5 (2.38%) Power BI
5 4 (1.90%) NoSQL
5 4 (1.90%) RDBMS
6 3 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (1.43%) MongoDB
6 3 (1.43%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (1.43%) Tableau
7 2 (0.95%) NonStop SQL
7 2 (0.95%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.95%) SQLPlus
8 1 (0.48%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.48%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.48%) Apache Hudi
8 1 (0.48%) Apache Iceberg
8 1 (0.48%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.48%) Kdb+
8 1 (0.48%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 21 (10.00%) Git
2 19 (9.05%) Rational DOORS
3 7 (3.33%) JIRA
3 7 (3.33%) Team Foundation Server
4 6 (2.86%) GitLab
4 6 (2.86%) Rational Rhapsody
5 5 (2.38%) Jenkins
5 5 (2.38%) Oracle Forms
5 5 (2.38%) Visual Studio
6 2 (0.95%) CMake
6 2 (0.95%) Subversion
7 1 (0.48%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.48%) ER Studio
7 1 (0.48%) ERwin
7 1 (0.48%) git-flow
7 1 (0.48%) GoogleTest
7 1 (0.48%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.48%) PetaLinux
7 1 (0.48%) Postman
7 1 (0.48%) PowerDesigner
General
1 51 (24.29%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.86%) Aerospace
3 22 (10.48%) Electronics
4 20 (9.52%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (7.14%) Law
6 12 (5.71%) Manufacturing
7 10 (4.76%) Finance
8 9 (4.29%) Public Sector
9 7 (3.33%) Banking
9 7 (3.33%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.90%) Automotive
10 4 (1.90%) Military
11 3 (1.43%) Front Office
11 3 (1.43%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.95%) Avionics
12 2 (0.95%) Games
12 2 (0.95%) Japanese Language
12 2 (0.95%) Retail
12 2 (0.95%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.48%) Korean Language
Job Titles
1 75 (35.71%) Software Engineer
2 43 (20.48%) Embedded Engineer
3 32 (15.24%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 30 (14.29%) Developer
5 25 (11.90%) Senior
6 16 (7.62%) C++ Software Engineer
7 14 (6.67%) Software Developer
8 12 (5.71%) C Software Engineer
8 12 (5.71%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 12 (5.71%) Lead
9 9 (4.29%) Test Leader
10 8 (3.81%) DSP Engineer
10 8 (3.81%) DSP Software Engineer
10 8 (3.81%) Senior Developer
11 6 (2.86%) Analyst
11 6 (2.86%) Architect
11 6 (2.86%) C Developer
11 6 (2.86%) Linux Engineer
11 6 (2.86%) Test Engineer
12 5 (2.38%) Senior C Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (5.24%) .NET
2 10 (4.76%) Yocto
3 6 (2.86%) WinForms
4 5 (2.38%) JSON
4 5 (2.38%) REST
5 4 (1.90%) LDAP
5 4 (1.90%) XML
6 3 (1.43%) ADO
6 3 (1.43%) COM
6 3 (1.43%) Itk
6 3 (1.43%) Kafka
6 3 (1.43%) Middleware
6 3 (1.43%) ODBC
6 3 (1.43%) Web Services
7 2 (0.95%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.95%) FastAPI
7 2 (0.95%) HTML5
7 2 (0.95%) QML
7 2 (0.95%) Qt
7 2 (0.95%) WebSphere MQ
Miscellaneous
1 30 (14.29%) Embedded Systems
2 21 (10.00%) FPGA
3 13 (6.19%) RISC-V
4 11 (5.24%) Legacy Systems
5 10 (4.76%) Device Driver
5 10 (4.76%) PCIe
6 9 (4.29%) Verilog
6 9 (4.29%) VHDL
7 6 (2.86%) MicroBlaze
8 5 (2.38%) Algorithms
8 5 (2.38%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (1.90%) Cloud Native
9 4 (1.90%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.90%) Fixed Income
9 4 (1.90%) IoT
10 3 (1.43%) ARM Cortex
10 3 (1.43%) Low-Code
10 3 (1.43%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.95%) Legacy Applications
11 2 (0.95%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 67 (31.90%) Linux
2 17 (8.10%) Embedded Linux
3 15 (7.14%) Windows
4 12 (5.71%) FreeRTOS
5 10 (4.76%) Unix
6 6 (2.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.48%) Android
7 1 (0.48%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.48%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (51.43%) Software Engineering
2 39 (18.57%) Agile
3 33 (15.71%) Problem-Solving
4 29 (13.81%) Test Automation
5 26 (12.38%) DevOps
5 26 (12.38%) Validation
6 24 (11.43%) CI/CD
7 22 (10.48%) Signal Processing
8 20 (9.52%) Data Management
8 20 (9.52%) Software Testing
9 18 (8.57%) Digital Signal Processing
10 16 (7.62%) Migration
10 16 (7.62%) Technical Leadership
11 14 (6.67%) Systems Engineering
11 14 (6.67%) Workflow
12 13 (6.19%) Embedded Software Development
12 13 (6.19%) Integration Testing
12 13 (6.19%) TDD
12 13 (6.19%) UML
13 12 (5.71%) System Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 110 (52.38%) C++
2 56 (26.67%) Python
3 35 (16.67%) SQL
4 27 (12.86%) Ada
5 25 (11.90%) Embedded C
6 19 (9.05%) Java
7 18 (8.57%) PL/SQL
8 16 (7.62%) MATLAB
9 13 (6.19%) C#
9 13 (6.19%) ProC
10 8 (3.81%) Bash
11 7 (3.33%) Embedded C++
12 6 (2.86%) Shell Script
12 6 (2.86%) SystemVerilog
12 6 (2.86%) VB
13 5 (2.38%) PowerShell
13 5 (2.38%) Rust
13 5 (2.38%) VB6
14 3 (1.43%) JavaScript
14 3 (1.43%) Lua
Qualifications
1 62 (29.52%) Security Cleared
2 44 (20.95%) SC Cleared
3 22 (10.48%) Degree
4 11 (5.24%) DV Cleared
5 7 (3.33%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.90%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.48%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.48%) CCNA
7 1 (0.48%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.48%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.48%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.48%) GCIA
7 1 (0.48%) GCIH
7 1 (0.48%) GIAC
7 1 (0.48%) ISTQB
7 1 (0.48%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
7 1 (0.48%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 1 (0.48%) PhD
7 1 (0.48%) Six Sigma Black Belt
7 1 (0.48%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (8.10%) QA
2 12 (5.71%) Def Stans
3 9 (4.29%) MISRA
4 8 (3.81%) DO-178B
5 2 (0.95%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.95%) ISO 15022
5 2 (0.95%) ISO 20022
5 2 (0.95%) ISO 26262
6 1 (0.48%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.48%) IFRS
6 1 (0.48%) IFRS 9
6 1 (0.48%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.48%) ISO 8583
6 1 (0.48%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.48%) MIL-STD-1553
6 1 (0.48%) NCSC
6 1 (0.48%) NIST
6 1 (0.48%) NIST 800
6 1 (0.48%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.48%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 25 (11.90%) Firmware
2 16 (7.62%) Docker
3 11 (5.24%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (2.86%) Active Directory
4 6 (2.86%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (2.38%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.95%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.48%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.48%) KVM
7 1 (0.48%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.48%) Squid
Systems Management
1 12 (5.71%) Kubernetes
2 11 (5.24%) Terraform
3 5 (2.38%) Ansible
4 3 (1.43%) Puppet
5 2 (0.95%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.48%) Grafana
6 1 (0.48%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.48%) Nagios
6 1 (0.48%) Packer
6 1 (0.48%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 23 (10.95%) Oracle
2 10 (4.76%) IBM
3 9 (4.29%) Xilinx
4 8 (3.81%) Intel
5 5 (2.38%) Microsemi
5 5 (2.38%) VMware
6 4 (1.90%) Cisco
6 4 (1.90%) Lauterbach
6 4 (1.90%) MathWorks
6 4 (1.90%) Microsoft
6 4 (1.90%) SAP
7 3 (1.43%) Actian
7 3 (1.43%) Google
7 3 (1.43%) HP
8 2 (0.95%) Perforce
8 2 (0.95%) QNX
8 2 (0.95%) Red Hat
8 2 (0.95%) SaltStack
8 2 (0.95%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.48%) Remedy