Embedded C Contract Job Trends

Embedded C
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Embedded C skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 640 547 509
Rank change year-on-year -93 -38 +81
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 31 6 55
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.058% 0.018% 0.14%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.22% 0.055% 0.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 2 11
10th Percentile - £501 £363
25th Percentile £513 £503 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% +17.02%
75th Percentile £538 £528 £675
90th Percentile - £534 £803
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £513 £550
% change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% +3.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 1 28
10th Percentile £52.00 - £62.13
25th Percentile £66.25 - -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £90.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% +28.57% -9.09%
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - - £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £90.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year -22.22% +28.57% -9.09%

All Programming Languages
UK

Embedded 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 14,117 10,862 12,229
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.48% 33.00% 31.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,165 7,304 8,594
10th Percentile £363 £340 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £501 £530
Median % change year-on-year +2.35% -5.52% -3.64%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £497
% change year-on-year +4.21% -4.50% -0.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 532 260 409
10th Percentile £30.05 £27.99 £27.00
25th Percentile £50.00 £35.75 £46.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.13 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.79% -12.12% +4.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £79.45 £83.11 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.56% -1.54% +4.00%

Embedded C
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Embedded C relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Embedded C job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded C
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded C.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded C

Embedded C
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded C.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded C

Embedded C
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Embedded C over the 6 months to 6 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded C in the UK

Embedded C
Top 7 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Embedded C within the UK over the 6 months to 6 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
UK excluding London -84 30 £525 +2.44% 73
England -67 28 £525 +2.44% 81
South East -43 16 £525 - 18
East of England -9 11 - - 12
Work from Home -55 7 £525 - 34
Scotland - 3 - - 2
London -59 1 - - 7

Embedded 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (3.23%) GitHub
1 1 (3.23%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 4 (12.90%) Ethernet
1 4 (12.90%) Software-Defined Radio
1 4 (12.90%) Wireless
2 3 (9.68%) Bluetooth
Development Applications
1 6 (19.35%) Rational DOORS
2 4 (12.90%) Git
3 2 (6.45%) CppUnit
3 2 (6.45%) PVCS
General
1 4 (12.90%) Law
2 3 (9.68%) Social Skills
3 1 (3.23%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 21 (67.74%) Software Engineer
2 17 (54.84%) Embedded Engineer
3 14 (45.16%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 4 (12.90%) C Software Engineer
4 4 (12.90%) DSP Engineer
4 4 (12.90%) DSP Software Engineer
4 4 (12.90%) Embedded C Engineer
4 4 (12.90%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 3 (9.68%) Development Engineer
5 3 (9.68%) Embedded Linux Engineer
5 3 (9.68%) Linux Engineer
5 3 (9.68%) Software Development Engineer
6 1 (3.23%) Firmware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.23%) PyQt
1 1 (3.23%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 7 (22.58%) Embedded Systems
1 7 (22.58%) FPGA
2 4 (12.90%) PCIe
3 3 (9.68%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (9.68%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (9.68%) Device Driver
3 3 (9.68%) Verilog
3 3 (9.68%) VHDL
4 1 (3.23%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 11 (35.48%) Linux
2 8 (25.81%) Embedded Linux
3 4 (12.90%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (77.42%) Software Engineering
2 10 (32.26%) Signal Processing
3 7 (22.58%) Digital Signal Processing
4 4 (12.90%) SysML
4 4 (12.90%) System Testing
4 4 (12.90%) UML
5 3 (9.68%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (9.68%) API Integration
5 3 (9.68%) Customer Engagement
5 3 (9.68%) Customer Requirements
5 3 (9.68%) Device Driver Development
5 3 (9.68%) Performance Tuning
5 3 (9.68%) Regression Testing
5 3 (9.68%) Test Assurance
5 3 (9.68%) Test Automation
5 3 (9.68%) Trade-off Analysis
6 2 (6.45%) Code Coverage
6 2 (6.45%) Collaborative Engineering
6 2 (6.45%) Problem-Solving
6 2 (6.45%) Requirements Analysis
Programming Languages
1 31 (100.00%) C
2 14 (45.16%) C++
3 9 (29.03%) Embedded C++
4 4 (12.90%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (22.58%) Security Cleared
2 6 (19.35%) DV Cleared
3 4 (12.90%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 5 (16.13%) Firmware
2 2 (6.45%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (6.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (3.23%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (9.68%) Intel
1 3 (9.68%) SAP
1 3 (9.68%) Xilinx
2 2 (6.45%) VMware