Embedded Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Engineer daily rate in the UK is £625, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 527 421 449
Rank change year-on-year -106 +28 +274
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 43 130 181
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.12% 0.35% 0.39%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.13% 0.38% 0.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 38 61
10th Percentile £436 £375 £375
25th Percentile £463 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% - +14.29%
75th Percentile £675 £525 £550
90th Percentile £720 £554 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £456 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -8.75% - +15.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 50 93
10th Percentile £61.25 £47.50 £51.25
25th Percentile £63.13 £61.28 £53.75
Median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +18.18%
75th Percentile £68.75 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.88 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +18.18%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 32,290 34,016 43,872
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.86% 93.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,492 20,527 29,813
10th Percentile £278 £300 £294
25th Percentile £402 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £620 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,873 1,272 1,545
10th Percentile £14.14 £15.11 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.45 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% -19.10% +58.28%
75th Percentile £53.99 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £77.47
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +85.26%

Embedded Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Embedded Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Embedded Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Embedded Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Embedded Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Embedded Engineer over the 6 months to 15 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Embedded Engineer in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Embedded Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Embedded Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Embedded Engineer over the 6 months to 15 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded Engineer in the UK

Embedded Engineer
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 Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 15 November 2025. 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 -112 41 £638 +27.50% 179
UK excluding London -113 39 £456 -8.75% 206
East of England -15 21 £475 -5.00% 67
South West -41 11 - - 44
Work from Home +1 9 - - 79
South East -27 5 - - 38
London 0 3 £700 +75.00% 11
Scotland -2 2 £438 - 32

Embedded Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 15 November 2025, Embedded Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Embedded Engineer in the job title.

1 40 (93.02%) Software Engineering
2 19 (44.19%) C
3 15 (34.88%) C++
3 15 (34.88%) Security Cleared
3 15 (34.88%) UML
4 14 (32.56%) SC Cleared
5 13 (30.23%) SysML
6 11 (25.58%) Rational DOORS
7 10 (23.26%) Embedded C++
7 10 (23.26%) Systems Engineering
7 10 (23.26%) Validation
8 8 (18.60%) Ada
8 8 (18.60%) C#
8 8 (18.60%) Embedded C
8 8 (18.60%) Git
8 8 (18.60%) Linux
8 8 (18.60%) Test Scripting
9 7 (16.28%) Agile
9 7 (16.28%) Firmware
10 6 (13.95%) Configuration Management
10 6 (13.95%) FreeRTOS
10 6 (13.95%) JIRA
10 6 (13.95%) MISRA
10 6 (13.95%) Technical Leadership
10 6 (13.95%) Virtual Machines
10 6 (13.95%) Windows
11 5 (11.63%) Continuous Integration
11 5 (11.63%) Def Stans
11 5 (11.63%) DevOps
11 5 (11.63%) DO-178B

Embedded Engineer Skill Set
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:

Applications
1 1 (2.33%) Simulink
Communications & Networking
1 4 (9.30%) Ethernet
2 1 (2.33%) RS-232
Development Applications
1 11 (25.58%) Rational DOORS
2 8 (18.60%) Git
3 6 (13.95%) JIRA
4 5 (11.63%) Jenkins
5 1 (2.33%) Polyspace
5 1 (2.33%) PVCS
5 1 (2.33%) Rational Rhapsody
5 1 (2.33%) Visual Studio
General
1 11 (25.58%) Electronics
2 8 (18.60%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (11.63%) Aerospace
4 3 (6.98%) Law
5 1 (2.33%) Automotive
5 1 (2.33%) Finance
5 1 (2.33%) Military
5 1 (2.33%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.33%) .NET
1 1 (2.33%) .NET Framework
1 1 (2.33%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 10 (23.26%) Embedded Systems
2 5 (11.63%) CAN bus
2 5 (11.63%) PCIe
3 1 (2.33%) CUDA
3 1 (2.33%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (2.33%) Device Driver
3 1 (2.33%) FPGA
3 1 (2.33%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (2.33%) Life Science
3 1 (2.33%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 8 (18.60%) Linux
2 6 (13.95%) FreeRTOS
2 6 (13.95%) Windows
3 1 (2.33%) Android
3 1 (2.33%) Debian
3 1 (2.33%) Ubuntu
3 1 (2.33%) Unix
3 1 (2.33%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (93.02%) Software Engineering
2 15 (34.88%) UML
3 13 (30.23%) SysML
4 10 (23.26%) Systems Engineering
4 10 (23.26%) Validation
5 8 (18.60%) Test Scripting
6 7 (16.28%) Agile
7 6 (13.95%) Configuration Management
7 6 (13.95%) Technical Leadership
8 5 (11.63%) Continuous Integration
8 5 (11.63%) DevOps
8 5 (11.63%) Mentoring
8 5 (11.63%) Software Testing
9 4 (9.30%) Collaborative Culture
10 3 (6.98%) SDLC
11 2 (4.65%) Problem-Solving
12 1 (2.33%) Data Protection
12 1 (2.33%) Low Latency
12 1 (2.33%) Multithreading
12 1 (2.33%) System Testing
Programming Languages
1 19 (44.19%) C
2 15 (34.88%) C++
3 10 (23.26%) Embedded C++
4 8 (18.60%) Ada
4 8 (18.60%) C#
4 8 (18.60%) Embedded C
5 2 (4.65%) MATLAB
5 2 (4.65%) Python
6 1 (2.33%) Java
6 1 (2.33%) Kotlin
6 1 (2.33%) SQL
Qualifications
1 15 (34.88%) Security Cleared
2 14 (32.56%) SC Cleared
3 1 (2.33%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (13.95%) MISRA
2 5 (11.63%) Def Stans
2 5 (11.63%) DO-178B
3 1 (2.33%) AUTOSAR
3 1 (2.33%) ISO 26262
3 1 (2.33%) MISRA C
System Software
1 7 (16.28%) Firmware
2 6 (13.95%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (11.63%) Docker
4 1 (2.33%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 1 (2.33%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 1 (2.33%) ANSYS
1 1 (2.33%) IBM
1 1 (2.33%) NVIDIA
1 1 (2.33%) Oracle
1 1 (2.33%) QNX
1 1 (2.33%) Sitecore
1 1 (2.33%) VMware