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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 601 532 515
Rank change year-on-year -69 -17 +102
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 32 6 79
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.063% 0.020% 0.18%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.24% 0.059% 0.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 3 13
10th Percentile £333 £428 £250
25th Percentile £381 £439 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £465 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.15% -7.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £488 £505 £575
90th Percentile - £525 £797
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £550
% change year-on-year +2.15% -15.45% +11.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 50
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £46.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £90.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% +28.57% -6.35%
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - - £81.00
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 13,578 10,121 13,285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.87% 33.94% 30.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,847 6,867 9,316
10th Percentile £360 £350 £350
25th Percentile £418 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £507 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.59% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £650
90th Percentile £716 £756 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £489
% change year-on-year +3.16% -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 553 236 550
10th Percentile £35.25 £25.50 £31.25
25th Percentile £53.53 £33.91 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.13 £70.00
90th Percentile £79.00 £84.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.84% -4.62% +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
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Embedded C over the 6 months to 19 June 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 19 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 -81 31 £475 +2.15% 45
England -86 31 £475 +2.15% 49
East of England -15 14 - - 8
South East -56 13 - - 19
Work from Home -35 8 - - 19
South West - 3 £475 - 8
London -69 1 £300 - 3
Scotland - 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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (3.13%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 1 (3.13%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 7 (21.88%) Ethernet
2 4 (12.50%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (12.50%) Wireless
3 1 (3.13%) Modbus
3 1 (3.13%) RS-232
3 1 (3.13%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 6 (18.75%) Rational DOORS
2 3 (9.38%) JIRA
3 2 (6.25%) Git
3 2 (6.25%) PVCS
General
1 4 (12.50%) Law
2 2 (6.25%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 24 (75.00%) Software Engineer
2 18 (56.25%) Embedded Engineer
3 17 (53.13%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) C Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) C/C++ Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) C++ Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C++ Engineer
4 7 (21.88%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
5 4 (12.50%) DSP Engineer
5 4 (12.50%) DSP Software Engineer
6 3 (9.38%) Validation Engineer
7 2 (6.25%) SOC Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 9 (28.13%) FPGA
2 7 (21.88%) PCIe
3 3 (9.38%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (9.38%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (9.38%) Verilog
3 3 (9.38%) VHDL
4 2 (6.25%) Embedded Systems
5 1 (3.13%) Algorithms
5 1 (3.13%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 6 (18.75%) Linux
2 5 (15.63%) FreeRTOS
3 3 (9.38%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 25 (78.13%) Software Engineering
2 7 (21.88%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (21.88%) Signal Processing
3 4 (12.50%) SysML
3 4 (12.50%) System Testing
3 4 (12.50%) UML
4 3 (9.38%) Acceptance Criteria
4 3 (9.38%) Customer Engagement
4 3 (9.38%) Customer Requirements
4 3 (9.38%) Regression Testing
4 3 (9.38%) Test Assurance
4 3 (9.38%) Test Automation
4 3 (9.38%) Trade-off Analysis
4 3 (9.38%) Validation
5 2 (6.25%) Code Coverage
5 2 (6.25%) Requirements Analysis
5 2 (6.25%) Unit Testing
5 2 (6.25%) Workflow
6 1 (3.13%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (3.13%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 32 (100.00%) C
2 14 (43.75%) C++
3 11 (34.38%) Embedded C++
4 6 (18.75%) Python
Qualifications
1 6 (18.75%) DV Cleared
1 6 (18.75%) Security Cleared
2 3 (9.38%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 4 (12.50%) Firmware
2 2 (6.25%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (6.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (3.13%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (9.38%) Intel
1 3 (9.38%) SAP
1 3 (9.38%) Xilinx
2 2 (6.25%) ANSYS
2 2 (6.25%) IBM
2 2 (6.25%) VMware