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

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 599 517 502
Rank change year-on-year -82 -15 +125
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 36 9 74
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.074% 0.031% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.28% 0.092% 0.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 5 14
10th Percentile £333 £435 £250
25th Percentile £381 £458 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £503
Median % change year-on-year - -5.47% +6.07%
75th Percentile £488 £500 £575
90th Percentile - £523 £733
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £550
% change year-on-year - -13.64% +7.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 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% -6.35%
75th Percentile - £80.94 -
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% -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 12,994 9,744 12,803
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.77% 34.07% 30.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,493 6,629 9,124
10th Percentile £356 £356 £350
25th Percentile £415 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% -1.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £630 £650
90th Percentile £713 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 563 215 504
10th Percentile £36.30 £26.39 £32.25
25th Percentile £53.75 £33.91 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.75 £62.50
% change year-on-year +3.59% +0.40% -

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 26 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 26 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
UK excluding London -87 35 £475 - 59
England -94 35 £475 - 60
East of England -19 18 - - 9
South East -55 13 - - 18
Work from Home -41 11 - - 33
South West - 3 £475 - 17
London -65 1 £300 - 2
Scotland - 1 - - 5

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 (2.78%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 1 (2.78%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 7 (19.44%) Ethernet
2 4 (11.11%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (11.11%) Wireless
3 1 (2.78%) Modbus
3 1 (2.78%) RS-232
3 1 (2.78%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 9 (25.00%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (16.67%) JIRA
3 5 (13.89%) Git
3 5 (13.89%) PVCS
General
1 5 (13.89%) Electronics
2 4 (11.11%) Law
3 1 (2.78%) Military
Job Titles
1 28 (77.78%) Software Engineer
2 22 (61.11%) Embedded Engineer
3 21 (58.33%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 11 (30.56%) C Software Engineer
4 11 (30.56%) Embedded C Engineer
4 11 (30.56%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) C/C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) Embedded C++ Engineer
5 10 (27.78%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
6 4 (11.11%) DSP Engineer
6 4 (11.11%) DSP Software Engineer
7 3 (8.33%) Validation Engineer
8 2 (5.56%) SOC Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 9 (25.00%) FPGA
2 7 (19.44%) PCIe
3 3 (8.33%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (8.33%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (8.33%) Verilog
3 3 (8.33%) VHDL
4 2 (5.56%) Embedded Systems
5 1 (2.78%) Algorithms
5 1 (2.78%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 6 (16.67%) Linux
2 5 (13.89%) FreeRTOS
3 3 (8.33%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (80.56%) Software Engineering
2 7 (19.44%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (19.44%) Signal Processing
3 5 (13.89%) Code Coverage
3 5 (13.89%) Requirements Analysis
3 5 (13.89%) Unit Testing
3 5 (13.89%) Workflow
4 4 (11.11%) SysML
4 4 (11.11%) System Testing
4 4 (11.11%) UML
5 3 (8.33%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (8.33%) Customer Engagement
5 3 (8.33%) Customer Requirements
5 3 (8.33%) Regression Testing
5 3 (8.33%) Test Assurance
5 3 (8.33%) Test Automation
5 3 (8.33%) Trade-off Analysis
5 3 (8.33%) Validation
6 1 (2.78%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (2.78%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 36 (100.00%) C
2 17 (47.22%) C++
3 14 (38.89%) Embedded C++
4 6 (16.67%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (19.44%) Security Cleared
2 6 (16.67%) DV Cleared
3 4 (11.11%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 5 (13.89%) Virtual Machines
1 5 (13.89%) VMware Infrastructure
2 4 (11.11%) Firmware
3 1 (2.78%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 5 (13.89%) ANSYS
1 5 (13.89%) IBM
1 5 (13.89%) VMware
2 3 (8.33%) Intel
2 3 (8.33%) SAP
2 3 (8.33%) Xilinx