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 20 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 586 519 511
Rank change year-on-year -67 -8 +123
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 39 10 73
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.081% 0.034% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.30% 0.10% 0.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 5 13
10th Percentile £349 £435 £250
25th Percentile £422 £458 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £505
Median % change year-on-year - -5.94% +6.60%
75th Percentile £503 £500 £575
90th Percentile £531 £523 £747
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £550
% change year-on-year - -13.64% +7.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 2 52
10th Percentile - £55.13 -
25th Percentile - £60.94 £46.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £71.25 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.75% +1.79% -3.45%
75th Percentile - £80.94 £72.50
90th Percentile - £86.38 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £71.25 £70.00
% change year-on-year -1.75% +1.79% -1.41%

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 12,886 9,917 12,722
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.76% 34.00% 29.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,472 6,737 9,047
10th Percentile £356 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £530
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -1.89% -3.64%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £710 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £475 £489
% change year-on-year +1.39% -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 561 239 494
10th Percentile £39.25 £25.25 £32.25
25th Percentile £54.55 £35.00 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.43
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +0.12% +2.85%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £78.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +1.56% +2.40% -

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
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Embedded C over the 6 months to 20 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Embedded C in the UK

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 8 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 20 May 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 -83 38 £475 - 67
UK excluding London -59 37 £475 - 67
East of England -10 20 - - 11
Work from Home -37 13 - - 24
South East -57 13 - - 24
South West - 3 £475 - 18
London -56 2 £425 - 2
Scotland - 1 - - 6

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 (5.13%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 2 (5.13%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 8 (20.51%) Ethernet
2 4 (10.26%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (10.26%) Wireless
3 2 (5.13%) Modbus
3 2 (5.13%) RS-232
3 2 (5.13%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 10 (25.64%) Rational DOORS
2 8 (20.51%) JIRA
3 6 (15.38%) Git
3 6 (15.38%) PVCS
General
1 6 (15.38%) Electronics
2 4 (10.26%) Law
3 1 (2.56%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (2.56%) Military
3 1 (2.56%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 30 (76.92%) Software Engineer
2 25 (64.10%) Embedded Engineer
3 23 (58.97%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 13 (33.33%) C Software Engineer
4 13 (33.33%) Embedded C Engineer
4 13 (33.33%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) C/C++ Software Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) C++ Software Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) Embedded C++ Engineer
5 11 (28.21%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
6 4 (10.26%) DSP Engineer
6 4 (10.26%) DSP Software Engineer
7 3 (7.69%) Validation Engineer
8 2 (5.13%) SOC Engineer
9 1 (2.56%) Systems Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 9 (23.08%) FPGA
2 7 (17.95%) PCIe
3 3 (7.69%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (7.69%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (7.69%) Embedded Systems
3 3 (7.69%) Verilog
3 3 (7.69%) VHDL
4 1 (2.56%) Algorithms
4 1 (2.56%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 6 (15.38%) FreeRTOS
1 6 (15.38%) Linux
2 3 (7.69%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (79.49%) Software Engineering
2 7 (17.95%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (17.95%) Signal Processing
3 6 (15.38%) Code Coverage
3 6 (15.38%) Requirements Analysis
3 6 (15.38%) Unit Testing
3 6 (15.38%) Workflow
4 4 (10.26%) SysML
4 4 (10.26%) System Testing
4 4 (10.26%) UML
5 3 (7.69%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (7.69%) Customer Engagement
5 3 (7.69%) Customer Requirements
5 3 (7.69%) Regression Testing
5 3 (7.69%) Test Assurance
5 3 (7.69%) Test Automation
5 3 (7.69%) Trade-off Analysis
5 3 (7.69%) Validation
6 2 (5.13%) Continuous Improvement
6 2 (5.13%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 39 (100.00%) C
2 19 (48.72%) C++
3 16 (41.03%) Embedded C++
4 6 (15.38%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (17.95%) Security Cleared
2 6 (15.38%) DV Cleared
3 4 (10.26%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 6 (15.38%) Virtual Machines
1 6 (15.38%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (12.82%) Firmware
3 2 (5.13%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 6 (15.38%) ANSYS
1 6 (15.38%) IBM
1 6 (15.38%) VMware
2 3 (7.69%) Intel
2 3 (7.69%) SAP
2 3 (7.69%) Xilinx