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 25 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 607 524 517
Rank change year-on-year -83 -7 +109
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 29 5 75
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.057% 0.017% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.21% 0.049% 0.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 2 13
10th Percentile - £463 £250
25th Percentile £463 £471 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £495 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £488 £521 £575
90th Percentile - £531 £797
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £550
% change year-on-year -4.04% -10.00% +2.80%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 46
10th Percentile - - £46.25
25th Percentile - - £51.19
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 13,705 10,225 13,227
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.93% 33.95% 30.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,915 6,922 9,291
10th Percentile £360 £350 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £608 £625 £650
90th Percentile £720 £756 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 554 240 548
10th Percentile £35.00 £25.70 £31.25
25th Percentile £53.53 £33.91 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £54.94 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.32% -12.10% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £83.11 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £60.75 £65.00
% change year-on-year +7.00% -6.54% +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
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 25 June 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 -88 29 £475 -4.04% 50
England -99 28 £475 -4.04% 50
East of England -13 14 - - 8
South East -53 13 - - 21
Work from Home -45 8 - - 17
South West - 1 £475 - 5
Scotland - 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:

Communications & Networking
1 5 (17.24%) Ethernet
2 4 (13.79%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (13.79%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 6 (20.69%) Rational DOORS
2 2 (6.90%) Git
2 2 (6.90%) JIRA
2 2 (6.90%) PVCS
General
1 4 (13.79%) Law
2 2 (6.90%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 24 (82.76%) Software Engineer
2 17 (58.62%) Embedded Engineer
2 17 (58.62%) Embedded Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) C Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) C/C++ Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) C++ Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C++ Engineer
3 7 (24.14%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
4 4 (13.79%) DSP Engineer
4 4 (13.79%) DSP Software Engineer
5 1 (3.45%) SOC Engineer
5 1 (3.45%) Validation Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 8 (27.59%) FPGA
2 5 (17.24%) PCIe
3 3 (10.34%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (10.34%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (10.34%) Verilog
3 3 (10.34%) VHDL
4 1 (3.45%) Algorithms
4 1 (3.45%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 6 (20.69%) Linux
2 4 (13.79%) FreeRTOS
3 3 (10.34%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 25 (86.21%) Software Engineering
2 7 (24.14%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (24.14%) Signal Processing
3 4 (13.79%) SysML
3 4 (13.79%) System Testing
3 4 (13.79%) UML
4 3 (10.34%) Acceptance Criteria
4 3 (10.34%) Customer Engagement
4 3 (10.34%) Customer Requirements
4 3 (10.34%) Regression Testing
4 3 (10.34%) Test Assurance
4 3 (10.34%) Test Automation
4 3 (10.34%) Trade-off Analysis
5 2 (6.90%) Code Coverage
5 2 (6.90%) Requirements Analysis
5 2 (6.90%) Unit Testing
5 2 (6.90%) Workflow
6 1 (3.45%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 29 (100.00%) C
2 13 (44.83%) C++
3 10 (34.48%) Embedded C++
4 4 (13.79%) Python
Qualifications
1 6 (20.69%) DV Cleared
1 6 (20.69%) Security Cleared
2 3 (10.34%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 2 (6.90%) Firmware
1 2 (6.90%) Virtual Machines
1 2 (6.90%) VMware Infrastructure
Vendors
1 3 (10.34%) Intel
1 3 (10.34%) SAP
1 3 (10.34%) Xilinx
2 2 (6.90%) ANSYS
2 2 (6.90%) IBM
2 2 (6.90%) VMware