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

6 months to
23 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 598 511 505
Rank change year-on-year -87 -6 +115
Contract jobs citing Embedded C 37 9 73
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.076% 0.031% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.28% 0.092% 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% +9.78%
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 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% -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 13,001 9,764 12,749
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.76% 34.13% 30.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,515 6,648 9,087
10th Percentile £356 £356 £350
25th Percentile £415 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £530
Median % change year-on-year -3.45% -2.29% -3.64%
75th Percentile £600 £630 £650
90th Percentile £713 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.68% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 564 218 497
10th Percentile £36.33 £26.45 £32.25
25th Percentile £53.69 £34.81 £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 £78.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +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 23 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 23 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 -84 36 £475 - 52
UK excluding London -75 35 £475 - 49
East of England -14 18 - - 9
South East -61 13 - - 19
Work from Home -38 11 - - 21
South West - 3 £475 - 11
London -68 2 £425 - 2
Scotland - 1 - - 2

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 (5.41%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 2 (5.41%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 8 (21.62%) Ethernet
2 4 (10.81%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (10.81%) Wireless
3 2 (5.41%) Modbus
3 2 (5.41%) RS-232
3 2 (5.41%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 9 (24.32%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (18.92%) JIRA
3 5 (13.51%) Git
3 5 (13.51%) PVCS
General
1 5 (13.51%) Electronics
2 4 (10.81%) Law
3 1 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (2.70%) Military
3 1 (2.70%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 28 (75.68%) Software Engineer
2 23 (62.16%) Embedded Engineer
3 21 (56.76%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 11 (29.73%) C Software Engineer
4 11 (29.73%) Embedded C Engineer
4 11 (29.73%) Embedded C Software Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) C/C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) Embedded C++ Engineer
5 10 (27.03%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
6 4 (10.81%) DSP Engineer
6 4 (10.81%) DSP Software Engineer
7 3 (8.11%) Validation Engineer
8 2 (5.41%) SOC Engineer
9 1 (2.70%) Systems Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 9 (24.32%) FPGA
2 7 (18.92%) PCIe
3 3 (8.11%) ARM Cortex
3 3 (8.11%) Cyber Threat
3 3 (8.11%) Embedded Systems
3 3 (8.11%) Verilog
3 3 (8.11%) VHDL
4 1 (2.70%) Algorithms
4 1 (2.70%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 6 (16.22%) FreeRTOS
1 6 (16.22%) Linux
2 3 (8.11%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (78.38%) Software Engineering
2 7 (18.92%) Digital Signal Processing
2 7 (18.92%) Signal Processing
3 5 (13.51%) Code Coverage
3 5 (13.51%) Requirements Analysis
3 5 (13.51%) Unit Testing
3 5 (13.51%) Workflow
4 4 (10.81%) SysML
4 4 (10.81%) System Testing
4 4 (10.81%) UML
5 3 (8.11%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (8.11%) Customer Engagement
5 3 (8.11%) Customer Requirements
5 3 (8.11%) Regression Testing
5 3 (8.11%) Test Assurance
5 3 (8.11%) Test Automation
5 3 (8.11%) Trade-off Analysis
5 3 (8.11%) Validation
6 2 (5.41%) Continuous Improvement
6 2 (5.41%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 37 (100.00%) C
2 18 (48.65%) C++
3 15 (40.54%) Embedded C++
4 6 (16.22%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (18.92%) Security Cleared
2 6 (16.22%) DV Cleared
3 4 (10.81%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 5 (13.51%) Firmware
1 5 (13.51%) Virtual Machines
1 5 (13.51%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (5.41%) Embedded Firmware
Vendors
1 5 (13.51%) ANSYS
1 5 (13.51%) IBM
1 5 (13.51%) VMware
2 3 (8.11%) Intel
2 3 (8.11%) SAP
2 3 (8.11%) Xilinx