Embedded Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Engineer daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 January 2026.

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

 6 months to
31 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 469 462 433
Rank change year-on-year -7 -29 +261
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 122 78 173
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.25% 0.39%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.34% 0.27% 0.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 22 37
10th Percentile £356 £378 £325
25th Percentile £413 £466 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -1.96% +10.27%
75th Percentile £638 £525 £550
90th Percentile £701 £563 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% +13.51%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 29 119
10th Percentile £42.50 £52.50 £46.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £61.25 £52.50
Median hourly rate £66.50 £66.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year - +6.40% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £68.75 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £66.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year - +6.40% +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 35,445 29,208 41,662
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.48% 92.89% 93.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,347 17,858 27,594
10th Percentile £300 £296 £275
25th Percentile £405 £409 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £479 £495
% change year-on-year -0.84% -3.23% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,112 858 2,186
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.91 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.00
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -10.96% +4.29%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.52 £38.00
% change year-on-year -12.75% -17.05% +26.67%

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 31 January 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 31 January 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 31 January 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 -27 109 £475 -5.00% 159
England -28 107 £550 +10.00% 149
East of England +33 54 £475 -8.43% 23
Work from Home +27 37 - - 49
South West -39 24 - - 37
South East -31 13 £718 +43.50% 46
Northern Ireland +11 12 £425 -
London - 10 £550 - 8
North West -26 3 - - 14
North of England -50 3 - - 28
West Midlands -43 2 £563 +40.63% 1
Midlands -44 2 £563 +40.63% 11
Scotland - 1 - - 18

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

For the 6 months to 31 January 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 98 (80.33%) Software Engineering
2 56 (45.90%) C
3 41 (33.61%) C++
4 33 (27.05%) Security Cleared
5 30 (24.59%) Ada
5 30 (24.59%) SC Cleared
6 29 (23.77%) Validation
7 26 (21.31%) Embedded C++
8 25 (20.49%) Rational DOORS
9 23 (18.85%) Embedded C
9 23 (18.85%) Linux
10 20 (16.39%) UML
11 19 (15.57%) Firmware
12 18 (14.75%) JIRA
13 17 (13.93%) Git
14 16 (13.11%) SysML
14 16 (13.11%) Systems Engineering
15 14 (11.48%) Def Stans
15 14 (11.48%) Ethernet
16 13 (10.66%) Embedded Linux
17 12 (9.84%) Virtual Machines
18 11 (9.02%) FreeRTOS
18 11 (9.02%) MISRA
18 11 (9.02%) Test Scripting
18 11 (9.02%) Workflow
19 10 (8.20%) DO-178B
20 9 (7.38%) C#
20 9 (7.38%) Requirements Analysis
21 8 (6.56%) Collaborative Culture
21 8 (6.56%) Technical Leadership

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 6 (4.92%) Confluence
2 1 (0.82%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.82%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 6 (4.92%) GitHub
2 2 (1.64%) AWS
2 2 (1.64%) Power Platform
3 1 (0.82%) Azure
3 1 (0.82%) Azure DevOps
3 1 (0.82%) Azure Functions
3 1 (0.82%) Entra ID
3 1 (0.82%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (0.82%) Power Automate
3 1 (0.82%) PowerApps
3 1 (0.82%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 14 (11.48%) Ethernet
2 7 (5.74%) RS-232
3 6 (4.92%) Modbus
3 6 (4.92%) RS-485
4 3 (2.46%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.82%) Power BI
1 1 (0.82%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 25 (20.49%) Rational DOORS
2 18 (14.75%) JIRA
3 17 (13.93%) Git
4 7 (5.74%) PVCS
5 6 (4.92%) Rational Rhapsody
6 5 (4.10%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.82%) Polyspace
7 1 (0.82%) Visual Studio
General
1 27 (22.13%) Electronics
2 15 (12.30%) Analytical Skills
3 8 (6.56%) Aerospace
4 6 (4.92%) Law
4 6 (4.92%) Social Skills
5 4 (3.28%) Military
6 3 (2.46%) Automotive
6 3 (2.46%) Documentation Skills
6 3 (2.46%) Games
7 1 (0.82%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (4.10%) Yocto
2 2 (1.64%) .NET
3 1 (0.82%) .NET Framework
3 1 (0.82%) Kafka
3 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.82%) React
3 1 (0.82%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 24 (19.67%) Embedded Systems
2 11 (9.02%) PCIe
3 10 (8.20%) FPGA
4 5 (4.10%) CAN bus
5 3 (2.46%) Data Centre
6 1 (0.82%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.82%) Cloud Native
6 1 (0.82%) CUDA
6 1 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.82%) Life Science
6 1 (0.82%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.82%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.82%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 23 (18.85%) Linux
2 13 (10.66%) Embedded Linux
3 11 (9.02%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (4.92%) Windows
5 1 (0.82%) Debian
5 1 (0.82%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.82%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (80.33%) Software Engineering
2 29 (23.77%) Validation
3 20 (16.39%) UML
4 16 (13.11%) SysML
4 16 (13.11%) Systems Engineering
5 11 (9.02%) Test Scripting
5 11 (9.02%) Workflow
6 9 (7.38%) Requirements Analysis
7 8 (6.56%) Collaborative Culture
7 8 (6.56%) Technical Leadership
8 7 (5.74%) Agile
8 7 (5.74%) Code Coverage
8 7 (5.74%) DevOps
8 7 (5.74%) Unit Testing
9 6 (4.92%) Configuration Management
9 6 (4.92%) Continuous Improvement
9 6 (4.92%) Continuous Integration
9 6 (4.92%) Mentoring
9 6 (4.92%) Software Testing
9 6 (4.92%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 56 (45.90%) C
2 41 (33.61%) C++
3 30 (24.59%) Ada
4 26 (21.31%) Embedded C++
5 23 (18.85%) Embedded C
6 9 (7.38%) C#
7 4 (3.28%) Python
8 3 (2.46%) MATLAB
9 2 (1.64%) Bash
9 2 (1.64%) Rust
9 2 (1.64%) SQL
10 1 (0.82%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 33 (27.05%) Security Cleared
2 30 (24.59%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.82%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (11.48%) Def Stans
2 11 (9.02%) MISRA
3 10 (8.20%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.82%) AUTOSAR
4 1 (0.82%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.82%) MISRA C
System Software
1 19 (15.57%) Firmware
2 12 (9.84%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (5.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (4.92%) Embedded Firmware
5 5 (4.10%) Docker
6 1 (0.82%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (0.82%) Functional Safety
1 1 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (5.74%) ANSYS
1 7 (5.74%) IBM
1 7 (5.74%) VMware
2 1 (0.82%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.82%) NVIDIA
2 1 (0.82%) Oracle
2 1 (0.82%) QNX
2 1 (0.82%) Sitecore
172 Embedded Engineer jobs Nationwide