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 27 February 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 464 471 444
Rank change year-on-year +7 -27 +225
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 136 77 149
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.33% 0.25% 0.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.36% 0.27% 0.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 17 25 22
10th Percentile £368 - £325
25th Percentile £413 £475 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +11.11% -4.00%
75th Percentile £638 £556 £534
90th Percentile £696 £626 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 31 114
10th Percentile £42.50 £52.50 £46.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £59.00 £52.50
Median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% +4.00% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £68.75 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +3.85% +4.00% +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 38,124 28,451 41,052
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.79% 92.87% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,974 17,854 27,035
10th Percentile £309 £290 £275
25th Percentile £408 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,315 836 2,340
10th Percentile £14.64 £16.38 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.49 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.31 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.35% -1.99% -12.50%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -3.08% -7.14% -6.67%

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 27 February 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 27 February 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 27 February 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 -29 122 £475 -5.00% 131
England -31 121 £550 +10.00% 129
East of England +15 58 £475 -11.63% 39
Work from Home +22 41 £525 -10.14% 40
South West -29 30 - - 25
South East -41 14 £718 +43.50% 33
Northern Ireland +6 12 £425 -
London - 11 £538 - 8
Midlands -48 4 £563 - 10
West Midlands - 4 £563 - 3
North West - 3 - - 5
North of England - 3 - - 20
Scotland - 1 - - 9

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

For the 6 months to 27 February 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.

1 108 (79.41%) Software Engineering
2 62 (45.59%) C
3 44 (32.35%) C++
4 38 (27.94%) Ada
5 37 (27.21%) Security Cleared
6 33 (24.26%) Validation
7 32 (23.53%) SC Cleared
8 28 (20.59%) Linux
9 27 (19.85%) Embedded C++
9 27 (19.85%) Rational DOORS
10 24 (17.65%) Embedded C
11 23 (16.91%) UML
12 20 (14.71%) Firmware
13 19 (13.97%) SysML
14 18 (13.24%) JIRA
15 17 (12.50%) Git
15 17 (12.50%) Systems Engineering
16 16 (11.76%) Def Stans
17 15 (11.03%) Ethernet
18 13 (9.56%) Embedded Linux
18 13 (9.56%) Workflow
19 12 (8.82%) Virtual Machines
20 11 (8.09%) FreeRTOS
20 11 (8.09%) MISRA
20 11 (8.09%) Rational Rhapsody
20 11 (8.09%) Test Scripting
21 10 (7.35%) DO-178B
21 10 (7.35%) Requirements Analysis
22 9 (6.62%) C#
22 9 (6.62%) Embedded Software Development

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 (4.41%) Confluence
2 1 (0.74%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.74%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 6 (4.41%) GitHub
2 2 (1.47%) AWS
2 2 (1.47%) Power Platform
3 1 (0.74%) Azure
3 1 (0.74%) Azure DevOps
3 1 (0.74%) Azure Functions
3 1 (0.74%) Entra ID
3 1 (0.74%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (0.74%) Power Automate
3 1 (0.74%) PowerApps
3 1 (0.74%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 15 (11.03%) Ethernet
2 7 (5.15%) RS-232
3 6 (4.41%) Modbus
3 6 (4.41%) RS-485
4 3 (2.21%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.74%) Power BI
1 1 (0.74%) SQL Server Reporting Services
1 1 (0.74%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 27 (19.85%) Rational DOORS
2 18 (13.24%) JIRA
3 17 (12.50%) Git
4 11 (8.09%) Rational Rhapsody
5 7 (5.15%) PVCS
6 5 (3.68%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.74%) Polyspace
7 1 (0.74%) Visual Studio
General
1 29 (21.32%) Electronics
2 15 (11.03%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (8.09%) Aerospace
4 8 (5.88%) Social Skills
5 7 (5.15%) Law
6 5 (3.68%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (2.94%) Automotive
7 4 (2.94%) Military
8 3 (2.21%) Games
9 1 (0.74%) Finance
9 1 (0.74%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.68%) Yocto
2 2 (1.47%) .NET
3 1 (0.74%) .NET Framework
3 1 (0.74%) Kafka
3 1 (0.74%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.74%) React
3 1 (0.74%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 27 (19.85%) Embedded Systems
2 12 (8.82%) PCIe
3 11 (8.09%) FPGA
4 5 (3.68%) CAN bus
5 3 (2.21%) Data Centre
6 1 (0.74%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.74%) Cloud Native
6 1 (0.74%) CUDA
6 1 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.74%) Life Science
6 1 (0.74%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.74%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.74%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 28 (20.59%) Linux
2 13 (9.56%) Embedded Linux
3 11 (8.09%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (4.41%) Windows
5 1 (0.74%) Debian
5 1 (0.74%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.74%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (79.41%) Software Engineering
2 33 (24.26%) Validation
3 23 (16.91%) UML
4 19 (13.97%) SysML
5 17 (12.50%) Systems Engineering
6 13 (9.56%) Workflow
7 11 (8.09%) Test Scripting
8 10 (7.35%) Requirements Analysis
9 9 (6.62%) Embedded Software Development
9 9 (6.62%) Verification and Validation
10 8 (5.88%) Collaborative Culture
10 8 (5.88%) Problem-Solving
10 8 (5.88%) Technical Leadership
10 8 (5.88%) Test Automation
11 7 (5.15%) Agile
11 7 (5.15%) Code Coverage
11 7 (5.15%) DevOps
11 7 (5.15%) Unit Testing
12 6 (4.41%) Configuration Management
12 6 (4.41%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 62 (45.59%) C
2 44 (32.35%) C++
3 38 (27.94%) Ada
4 27 (19.85%) Embedded C++
5 24 (17.65%) Embedded C
6 9 (6.62%) C#
7 4 (2.94%) Python
8 3 (2.21%) MATLAB
8 3 (2.21%) Rust
9 2 (1.47%) Bash
9 2 (1.47%) SQL
10 1 (0.74%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 37 (27.21%) Security Cleared
2 32 (23.53%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.74%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (11.76%) Def Stans
2 11 (8.09%) MISRA
3 10 (7.35%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.74%) AUTOSAR
4 1 (0.74%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.74%) MISRA C
System Software
1 20 (14.71%) Firmware
2 12 (8.82%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (5.15%) Embedded Firmware
3 7 (5.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (3.68%) Docker
5 1 (0.74%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (0.74%) Functional Safety
1 1 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (5.15%) ANSYS
1 7 (5.15%) IBM
1 7 (5.15%) VMware
2 1 (0.74%) EMC
2 1 (0.74%) Lauterbach
2 1 (0.74%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.74%) NVIDIA
2 1 (0.74%) Oracle
2 1 (0.74%) QNX
2 1 (0.74%) Sitecore