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 21 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 631 553 518
Rank change year-on-year -78 -35 +57
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 33 5 57
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.062% 0.015% 0.15%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.23% 0.046% 0.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 1 12
10th Percentile - - £364
25th Percentile £513 - £395
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £538 - £625
90th Percentile - - £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £550
% change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 27
10th Percentile £56.75 - £60.75
25th Percentile £68.13 - -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £90.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% +28.57% -6.35%
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 14,066 10,796 12,242
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.26% 32.94% 31.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,157 7,202 8,517
10th Percentile £363 £340 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £503 £533
Median % change year-on-year +2.99% -5.72% -3.09%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.21% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 522 290 394
10th Percentile £29.96 £28.24 £27.00
25th Percentile £50.88 £35.25 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £80.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +8.33%

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 21 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 21 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 -72 32 £525 +5.00% 60
England -92 30 £525 +5.00% 58
South East -50 16 £525 - 12
East of England -2 13 - - 14
Work from Home -62 8 £525 - 17
Scotland - 3 - - 2
London -82 1 - - 1

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 (3.03%) GitHub
1 1 (3.03%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 4 (12.12%) Ethernet
1 4 (12.12%) Software-Defined Radio
1 4 (12.12%) Wireless
2 3 (9.09%) Bluetooth
Development Applications
1 6 (18.18%) Rational DOORS
2 4 (12.12%) Git
3 2 (6.06%) CppUnit
3 2 (6.06%) PVCS
General
1 4 (12.12%) Law
1 4 (12.12%) Social Skills
2 1 (3.03%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 23 (69.70%) Software Engineer
2 19 (57.58%) Embedded Engineer
3 16 (48.48%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 6 (18.18%) C Software Engineer
4 6 (18.18%) Embedded C Engineer
4 6 (18.18%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 5 (15.15%) Development Engineer
5 5 (15.15%) Software Development Engineer
6 4 (12.12%) DSP Engineer
6 4 (12.12%) DSP Software Engineer
7 3 (9.09%) Embedded Linux Engineer
7 3 (9.09%) Linux Engineer
8 1 (3.03%) Firmware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.03%) PyQt
1 1 (3.03%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 7 (21.21%) Embedded Systems
1 7 (21.21%) FPGA
2 4 (12.12%) PCIe
3 3 (9.09%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (9.09%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (9.09%) Device Driver
3 3 (9.09%) Verilog
3 3 (9.09%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 12 (36.36%) Linux
2 9 (27.27%) Embedded Linux
3 4 (12.12%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 26 (78.79%) Software Engineering
2 10 (30.30%) Signal Processing
3 7 (21.21%) Digital Signal Processing
4 4 (12.12%) SysML
4 4 (12.12%) System Testing
4 4 (12.12%) UML
5 3 (9.09%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (9.09%) API Integration
5 3 (9.09%) Collaborative Engineering
5 3 (9.09%) Customer Engagement
5 3 (9.09%) Customer Requirements
5 3 (9.09%) Device Driver Development
5 3 (9.09%) Performance Tuning
5 3 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
5 3 (9.09%) Regression Testing
5 3 (9.09%) Test Assurance
5 3 (9.09%) Test Automation
5 3 (9.09%) Trade-off Analysis
6 2 (6.06%) Code Coverage
6 2 (6.06%) Requirements Analysis
Programming Languages
1 33 (100.00%) C
2 15 (45.45%) C++
3 10 (30.30%) Embedded C++
4 4 (12.12%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (21.21%) Security Cleared
2 6 (18.18%) DV Cleared
3 4 (12.12%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 4 (12.12%) Firmware
2 2 (6.06%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (6.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (3.03%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (9.09%) Intel
1 3 (9.09%) SAP
1 3 (9.09%) Xilinx
2 2 (6.06%) VMware