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

6 months to
22 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 568 500 524
Rank change year-on-year -68 +24 +221
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 19 39 84
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.052% 0.12% 0.19%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.17% 0.36% 0.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 9 30
10th Percentile £505 £375 £336
25th Percentile £513 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £420 £515
Median % change year-on-year +30.95% -18.45% +17.71%
75th Percentile - £488 £550
90th Percentile £603 £490 £581
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £435 £538
% change year-on-year +17.82% -19.07% +34.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 12 43
10th Percentile £67.78 £51.38 £50.25
25th Percentile £68.00 £60.00 £62.50
Median hourly rate £70.00 £67.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% -3.57% +21.74%
75th Percentile - £69.06 £90.00
90th Percentile - £70.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £67.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +3.70% -3.57% +21.74%

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 11,444 10,985 13,414
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.14% 32.52% 30.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,552 7,045 9,556
10th Percentile £350 £350 £359
25th Percentile £413 £425 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -4.55% -3.34%
75th Percentile £619 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 374 250 404
10th Percentile £31.25 £21.25 £33.12
25th Percentile £50.00 £40.06 £47.31
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% - -
75th Percentile £69.13 £68.56 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £85.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.87 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.77% -1.73% -

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
Top 6 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 22 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 -43 18 £550 +30.95% 77
UK excluding London -58 15 £513 +17.82% 76
East of England -7 14 £525 - 13
Work from Home -6 10 - - 29
London +2 2 £550 +37.50% 8
South West -23 1 £500 +8.11% 20

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:

Application Platforms
1 2 (10.53%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 2 (10.53%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 5 (26.32%) Ethernet
2 2 (10.53%) Modbus
2 2 (10.53%) RS-232
2 2 (10.53%) RS-485
2 2 (10.53%) Wireless
3 1 (5.26%) 3GPP
3 1 (5.26%) 5G
3 1 (5.26%) 5G NR
3 1 (5.26%) Bluetooth
3 1 (5.26%) LoRaWAN
3 1 (5.26%) LTE
3 1 (5.26%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 8 (42.11%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (36.84%) JIRA
3 6 (31.58%) Git
4 5 (26.32%) PVCS
5 1 (5.26%) Visual Studio
General
1 6 (31.58%) Electronics
2 2 (10.53%) Military
3 1 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (5.26%) Law
3 1 (5.26%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 16 (84.21%) Embedded Engineer
2 15 (78.95%) Software Engineer
3 14 (73.68%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 12 (63.16%) C Software Engineer
4 12 (63.16%) Embedded C Engineer
4 12 (63.16%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) C/C++ Software Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) C++ Software Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) Embedded C++ Engineer
5 6 (31.58%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) Design Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) Electronics Design Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) Firmware Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) Senior
6 1 (5.26%) Senior Firmware Engineer
6 1 (5.26%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (5.26%) REST
1 1 (5.26%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 4 (21.05%) PCIe
2 2 (10.53%) Embedded Systems
2 2 (10.53%) IoT
3 1 (5.26%) Analogue Electronics
3 1 (5.26%) FPGA
3 1 (5.26%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 6 (31.58%) FreeRTOS
2 1 (5.26%) Debian
2 1 (5.26%) Linux
2 1 (5.26%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (84.21%) Software Engineering
2 5 (26.32%) Code Coverage
2 5 (26.32%) Requirements Analysis
2 5 (26.32%) Unit Testing
2 5 (26.32%) Workflow
3 4 (21.05%) Test Scripting
3 4 (21.05%) UML
4 3 (15.79%) Software Testing
4 3 (15.79%) SysML
4 3 (15.79%) Technical Leadership
5 2 (10.53%) Test Automation
6 1 (5.26%) Architectural Design
6 1 (5.26%) Computer Science
6 1 (5.26%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (5.26%) Mathematics
6 1 (5.26%) Mentoring
6 1 (5.26%) Performance Optimisation
6 1 (5.26%) Problem-Solving
6 1 (5.26%) Schematic Capture
6 1 (5.26%) Software Architecture
Programming Languages
1 19 (100.00%) C
2 11 (57.89%) C++
2 11 (57.89%) Embedded C++
3 1 (5.26%) C#
3 1 (5.26%) Python
Qualifications
1 4 (21.05%) SC Cleared
1 4 (21.05%) Security Cleared
2 1 (5.26%) Degree
System Software
1 5 (26.32%) Virtual Machines
1 5 (26.32%) VMware Infrastructure
2 3 (15.79%) Embedded Firmware
2 3 (15.79%) Firmware
Vendors
1 5 (26.32%) ANSYS
1 5 (26.32%) IBM
1 5 (26.32%) VMware
2 1 (5.26%) Atmel