Embedded Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Engineer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 May 2026.

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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 410 474 451
Rank change year-on-year +64 -23 +115
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 222 42 134
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.14% 0.31%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.51% 0.16% 0.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 19 17 12
10th Percentile £390 - £335
25th Percentile £413 £475 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £503
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +6.97% +3.08%
75th Percentile £581 £556 £556
90th Percentile £655 £640 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £440 £538 £500
% change year-on-year -18.14% +7.50% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 167 18 118
10th Percentile £48.64 £52.13 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.00 £56.94 £51.06
Median hourly rate £67.50 £64.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.65% +3.20% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £87.50 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £64.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +4.65% +3.20% +8.70%

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 43,568 26,796 39,671
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.46% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,699 17,460 25,789
10th Percentile £320 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,848 1,033 2,665
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.20 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.85 £28.18 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.59% -24.85% -16.67%
75th Percentile £66.50 £62.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.26
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.24 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.21% -31.91% -4.94%

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 13 May 2026.

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 13 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded Engineer in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Top 13 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 13 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 +61 206 £440 -18.14% 171
England +47 204 £525 -2.33% 184
East of England +25 77 - - 38
Work from Home +20 64 £525 -16.13% 56
South West +20 60 £425 - 32
South East -35 35 £718 +43.50% 63
Midlands -40 15 £563 - 17
West Midlands - 15 £563 - 9
London -52 13 £525 - 13
Northern Ireland - 12 £425 -
Scotland - 4 - - 3
North West - 3 - - 3
North of England - 3 - - 20

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

For the 6 months to 13 May 2026, 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.

1 177 (79.73%) Software Engineering
2 77 (34.68%) C
3 68 (30.63%) Ada
4 47 (21.17%) C++
5 46 (20.72%) Linux
6 45 (20.27%) Security Cleared
7 39 (17.57%) SC Cleared
8 33 (14.86%) Validation
9 28 (12.61%) Embedded C
10 25 (11.26%) Software-Defined Radio
11 24 (10.81%) Embedded Linux
11 24 (10.81%) Rational DOORS
11 24 (10.81%) UML
12 21 (9.46%) Rational Rhapsody
13 20 (9.01%) Firmware
14 19 (8.56%) Embedded C++
15 17 (7.66%) SysML
16 16 (7.21%) Verification and Validation
17 15 (6.76%) Ethernet
17 15 (6.76%) Workflow
18 14 (6.31%) Def Stans
19 13 (5.86%) Embedded Software Development
19 13 (5.86%) JIRA
20 12 (5.41%) Embedded Firmware
20 12 (5.41%) FreeRTOS
20 12 (5.41%) Git
20 12 (5.41%) Problem-Solving
20 12 (5.41%) Test Automation
20 12 (5.41%) Yocto
21 11 (4.95%) Digital Signal Processing

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:

Application Platforms
1 7 (3.15%) Confluence
2 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 6 (2.70%) GitHub
2 3 (1.35%) AWS
3 2 (0.90%) Power Platform
4 1 (0.45%) Azure
4 1 (0.45%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.45%) Azure Functions
4 1 (0.45%) Entra ID
4 1 (0.45%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.45%) Power Automate
4 1 (0.45%) PowerApps
4 1 (0.45%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (11.26%) Software-Defined Radio
2 15 (6.76%) Ethernet
3 11 (4.95%) Wireless
4 6 (2.70%) Modbus
4 6 (2.70%) RS-232
4 6 (2.70%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.45%) Power BI
2 1 (0.45%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (10.81%) Rational DOORS
2 21 (9.46%) Rational Rhapsody
3 13 (5.86%) JIRA
4 12 (5.41%) Git
5 6 (2.70%) PVCS
6 1 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.45%) CMake
6 1 (0.45%) GitLab
6 1 (0.45%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.45%) PetaLinux
6 1 (0.45%) Visual Studio
General
1 32 (14.41%) Aerospace
2 21 (9.46%) Electronics
3 14 (6.31%) Social Skills
4 8 (3.60%) Automotive
4 8 (3.60%) Documentation Skills
5 7 (3.15%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (1.80%) Law
6 4 (1.80%) Military
7 3 (1.35%) Games
7 3 (1.35%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.45%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (5.41%) Yocto
2 1 (0.45%) .NET
2 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.45%) PostGIS
2 1 (0.45%) QML
2 1 (0.45%) Qt
2 1 (0.45%) React
2 1 (0.45%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 34 (15.32%) Embedded Systems
2 16 (7.21%) FPGA
3 12 (5.41%) PCIe
4 6 (2.70%) Device Driver
5 4 (1.80%) MicroBlaze
5 4 (1.80%) RISC-V
6 3 (1.35%) ARM Cortex
6 3 (1.35%) Data Centre
7 2 (0.90%) VHDL
8 1 (0.45%) Algorithms
8 1 (0.45%) ASIC
8 1 (0.45%) CAN bus
8 1 (0.45%) Cloud Native
8 1 (0.45%) Onboarding
8 1 (0.45%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.45%) Verilog
8 1 (0.45%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 46 (20.72%) Linux
2 24 (10.81%) Embedded Linux
3 12 (5.41%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.45%) Debian
4 1 (0.45%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.45%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (79.73%) Software Engineering
2 33 (14.86%) Validation
3 24 (10.81%) UML
4 17 (7.66%) SysML
5 16 (7.21%) Verification and Validation
6 15 (6.76%) Workflow
7 13 (5.86%) Embedded Software Development
8 12 (5.41%) Problem-Solving
8 12 (5.41%) Test Automation
9 11 (4.95%) Digital Signal Processing
9 11 (4.95%) Signal Processing
10 10 (4.50%) Software Testing
10 10 (4.50%) Systems Engineering
11 9 (4.05%) CI/CD
11 9 (4.05%) Data Acquisition
11 9 (4.05%) Requirements Analysis
11 9 (4.05%) Workflow Management
12 7 (3.15%) Test Scripting
13 6 (2.70%) Continuous Improvement
13 6 (2.70%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 77 (34.68%) C
2 68 (30.63%) Ada
3 47 (21.17%) C++
4 28 (12.61%) Embedded C
5 19 (8.56%) Embedded C++
6 9 (4.05%) Python
7 3 (1.35%) Rust
8 2 (0.90%) Bash
8 2 (0.90%) C#
9 1 (0.45%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.45%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.45%) SQL
9 1 (0.45%) SystemVerilog
9 1 (0.45%) Tcl
9 1 (0.45%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 45 (20.27%) Security Cleared
2 39 (17.57%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.45%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.31%) Def Stans
2 6 (2.70%) MISRA
3 5 (2.25%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.45%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 20 (9.01%) Firmware
2 12 (5.41%) Embedded Firmware
3 6 (2.70%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.45%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.45%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 6 (2.70%) ANSYS
1 6 (2.70%) IBM
1 6 (2.70%) VMware
2 4 (1.80%) Lauterbach
3 2 (0.90%) EMC
4 1 (0.45%) Google
4 1 (0.45%) Microsoft
4 1 (0.45%) NVIDIA
4 1 (0.45%) QNX
4 1 (0.45%) Xilinx