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 26 April 2026.

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

 6 months to
26 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 422 481 450
Rank change year-on-year +59 -31 +158
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 202 49 136
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.43% 0.17% 0.31%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.47% 0.18% 0.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 19 20 14
10th Percentile £390 - £355
25th Percentile £413 £475 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +7.50% +9.59%
75th Percentile £581 £574 £547
90th Percentile £655 £660 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £440 £538 £500
% change year-on-year -18.14% +7.50% +9.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 152 20 118
10th Percentile £50.27 £52.50 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.00 £59.00 £51.06
Median hourly rate £67.50 £66.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +1.50% +6.40% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £87.50 £83.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £66.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +1.50% +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 43,137 27,188 40,489
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.59% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,662 17,796 26,412
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.29% -1.52% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.13% -1.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,772 1,030 2,642
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.48 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.85 £29.24 £35.68
Median % change year-on-year +46.55% -18.05% -20.71%
75th Percentile £65.67 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.52 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £28.75 £37.50
% change year-on-year +56.52% -23.33% -11.76%

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 26 April 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 26 April 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 26 April 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 +42 187 £525 -2.33% 196
UK excluding London +47 186 £440 -18.14% 197
East of England +20 77 - - 40
Work from Home +30 57 £525 -16.13% 95
South West +13 55 £425 - 43
South East -58 26 £718 +43.50% 68
London - 13 £525 - 9
Midlands -46 12 £563 - 21
West Midlands - 12 £563 - 12
Northern Ireland - 12 £425 - 1
North of England - 3 - - 21
North West - 3 - - 3
Scotland - 1 - - 7

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

For the 6 months to 26 April 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.

1 161 (79.70%) Software Engineering
2 76 (37.62%) C
3 65 (32.18%) Ada
4 47 (23.27%) C++
5 45 (22.28%) Security Cleared
6 42 (20.79%) Linux
7 38 (18.81%) SC Cleared
8 31 (15.35%) Validation
9 28 (13.86%) Embedded C
10 25 (12.38%) Rational DOORS
11 22 (10.89%) UML
12 21 (10.40%) Embedded C++
12 21 (10.40%) Embedded Linux
12 21 (10.40%) Rational Rhapsody
13 20 (9.90%) Firmware
14 17 (8.42%) Software-Defined Radio
15 16 (7.92%) SysML
15 16 (7.92%) Workflow
16 15 (7.43%) Def Stans
17 14 (6.93%) Ethernet
17 14 (6.93%) JIRA
17 14 (6.93%) Verification and Validation
18 13 (6.44%) Embedded Software Development
18 13 (6.44%) Git
19 12 (5.94%) Test Automation
20 11 (5.45%) Embedded Firmware
20 11 (5.45%) Problem-Solving
20 11 (5.45%) Systems Engineering
21 10 (4.95%) FreeRTOS
21 10 (4.95%) Requirements Analysis

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 (3.47%) Confluence
2 1 (0.50%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.50%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 6 (2.97%) GitHub
2 3 (1.49%) AWS
3 2 (0.99%) Power Platform
4 1 (0.50%) Azure
4 1 (0.50%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.50%) Azure Functions
4 1 (0.50%) Entra ID
4 1 (0.50%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.50%) Power Automate
4 1 (0.50%) PowerApps
4 1 (0.50%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (8.42%) Software-Defined Radio
2 14 (6.93%) Ethernet
3 6 (2.97%) Modbus
3 6 (2.97%) RS-232
3 6 (2.97%) RS-485
3 6 (2.97%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.50%) Power BI
2 1 (0.50%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 25 (12.38%) Rational DOORS
2 21 (10.40%) Rational Rhapsody
3 14 (6.93%) JIRA
4 13 (6.44%) Git
5 7 (3.47%) PVCS
6 1 (0.50%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.50%) CMake
6 1 (0.50%) GitLab
6 1 (0.50%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.50%) PetaLinux
6 1 (0.50%) Visual Studio
General
1 27 (13.37%) Aerospace
2 24 (11.88%) Electronics
3 13 (6.44%) Social Skills
4 8 (3.96%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (3.96%) Documentation Skills
5 5 (2.48%) Automotive
5 5 (2.48%) Military
6 4 (1.98%) Law
7 3 (1.49%) Games
7 3 (1.49%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.46%) Yocto
2 1 (0.50%) .NET
2 1 (0.50%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.50%) PostGIS
2 1 (0.50%) React
2 1 (0.50%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 34 (16.83%) Embedded Systems
2 15 (7.43%) FPGA
3 11 (5.45%) PCIe
4 4 (1.98%) Device Driver
5 3 (1.49%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.49%) MicroBlaze
5 3 (1.49%) RISC-V
6 2 (0.99%) ARM Cortex
6 2 (0.99%) VHDL
7 1 (0.50%) Algorithms
7 1 (0.50%) ASIC
7 1 (0.50%) CAN bus
7 1 (0.50%) Cloud Native
7 1 (0.50%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.50%) Product Ownership
7 1 (0.50%) Verilog
7 1 (0.50%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 42 (20.79%) Linux
2 21 (10.40%) Embedded Linux
3 10 (4.95%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.50%) Debian
4 1 (0.50%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.50%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (79.70%) Software Engineering
2 31 (15.35%) Validation
3 22 (10.89%) UML
4 16 (7.92%) SysML
4 16 (7.92%) Workflow
5 14 (6.93%) Verification and Validation
6 13 (6.44%) Embedded Software Development
7 12 (5.94%) Test Automation
8 11 (5.45%) Problem-Solving
8 11 (5.45%) Systems Engineering
9 10 (4.95%) Requirements Analysis
10 9 (4.46%) Data Acquisition
10 9 (4.46%) Workflow Management
11 8 (3.96%) Digital Signal Processing
11 8 (3.96%) Signal Processing
12 7 (3.47%) Code Coverage
12 7 (3.47%) Software Testing
12 7 (3.47%) Unit Testing
13 6 (2.97%) Continuous Improvement
13 6 (2.97%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 76 (37.62%) C
2 65 (32.18%) Ada
3 47 (23.27%) C++
4 28 (13.86%) Embedded C
5 21 (10.40%) Embedded C++
6 9 (4.46%) Python
7 3 (1.49%) Rust
8 2 (0.99%) Bash
8 2 (0.99%) C#
9 1 (0.50%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.50%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.50%) SQL
9 1 (0.50%) SystemVerilog
9 1 (0.50%) Tcl
9 1 (0.50%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 45 (22.28%) Security Cleared
2 38 (18.81%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.50%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (7.43%) Def Stans
2 6 (2.97%) DO-178B
2 6 (2.97%) MISRA
System Software
1 20 (9.90%) Firmware
2 11 (5.45%) Embedded Firmware
3 7 (3.47%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (3.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.50%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.50%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (3.47%) ANSYS
1 7 (3.47%) IBM
1 7 (3.47%) VMware
2 4 (1.98%) Lauterbach
3 2 (0.99%) EMC
4 1 (0.50%) Google
4 1 (0.50%) Microsoft
4 1 (0.50%) NVIDIA
4 1 (0.50%) Xilinx
208 Embedded Engineer jobs Nationwide