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

6 months to
28 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 619 527 512
Rank change year-on-year -92 -15 +109
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 27 5 75
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.053% 0.016% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.20% 0.048% 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% +6.67%
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 5 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 13,752 10,327 13,271
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.96% 33.80% 30.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,930 6,972 9,310
10th Percentile £360 £350 £350
25th Percentile £420 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £511 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -2.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £650
90th Percentile £720 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.37% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 542 246 544
10th Percentile £34.22 £26.66 £31.55
25th Percentile £53.53 £34.55 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% +2.97%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.95 £80.00 £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
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 28 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 -84 27 £475 -4.04% 52
England -105 26 £475 -4.04% 54
South East -48 13 - - 21
East of England -15 12 - - 6
Work from Home -48 6 - - 16
South West - 1 £475 - 9
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 (18.52%) Ethernet
2 4 (14.81%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (14.81%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 5 (18.52%) Rational DOORS
2 1 (3.70%) Git
2 1 (3.70%) JIRA
2 1 (3.70%) PVCS
General
1 4 (14.81%) Law
2 1 (3.70%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 22 (81.48%) Software Engineer
2 15 (55.56%) Embedded Engineer
2 15 (55.56%) Embedded Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) C Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) C/C++ Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) C++ Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C++ Engineer
3 5 (18.52%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
4 4 (14.81%) DSP Engineer
4 4 (14.81%) DSP Software Engineer
5 1 (3.70%) SOC Engineer
5 1 (3.70%) Validation Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 8 (29.63%) FPGA
2 5 (18.52%) PCIe
3 3 (11.11%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (11.11%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (11.11%) Verilog
3 3 (11.11%) VHDL
4 1 (3.70%) Algorithms
4 1 (3.70%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 6 (22.22%) Linux
2 4 (14.81%) FreeRTOS
3 3 (11.11%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (85.19%) Software Engineering
2 7 (25.93%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (25.93%) Signal Processing
3 4 (14.81%) SysML
3 4 (14.81%) System Testing
3 4 (14.81%) UML
4 3 (11.11%) Acceptance Criteria
4 3 (11.11%) Customer Engagement
4 3 (11.11%) Customer Requirements
4 3 (11.11%) Regression Testing
4 3 (11.11%) Test Assurance
4 3 (11.11%) Test Automation
4 3 (11.11%) Trade-off Analysis
5 1 (3.70%) Code Coverage
5 1 (3.70%) Requirements Analysis
5 1 (3.70%) Unit Testing
5 1 (3.70%) Validation
5 1 (3.70%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 27 (100.00%) C
2 11 (40.74%) C++
3 8 (29.63%) Embedded C++
4 4 (14.81%) Python
Qualifications
1 6 (22.22%) DV Cleared
1 6 (22.22%) Security Cleared
2 3 (11.11%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 2 (7.41%) Firmware
2 1 (3.70%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (3.70%) VMware Infrastructure
Vendors
1 3 (11.11%) Intel
1 3 (11.11%) SAP
1 3 (11.11%) Xilinx
2 1 (3.70%) ANSYS
2 1 (3.70%) IBM
2 1 (3.70%) VMware