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 18 July 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 481 523 449
Rank change year-on-year +42 -74 +84
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 183 29 147
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.089% 0.35%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.37% 0.097% 0.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 14 26
10th Percentile £428 £475 £347
25th Percentile £493 £519 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +13.16% -2.56%
75th Percentile £538 £609 £550
90th Percentile £595 £650 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £538 £475
% change year-on-year -2.33% +13.16% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 143 8 106
10th Percentile £48.64 £47.90 £47.50
25th Percentile £62.00 £58.31 £53.75
Median hourly rate £66.50 £62.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.26% -11.43% +21.74%
75th Percentile £68.75 £87.50 -
90th Percentile £70.00 £88.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £62.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +7.26% -11.43% +7.69%

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 48,955 29,836 39,186
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.53% 91.66% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,608 19,006 25,297
10th Percentile £325 £285 £288
25th Percentile £420 £400 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,284 1,415 2,570
10th Percentile £15.82 £13.75 £13.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £17.50
Median hourly rate £43.69 £25.30 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +72.69% -36.75% -5.88%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.72
% change year-on-year +78.93% -38.24% +4.34%

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 18 July 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 18 July 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 18 July 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 +29 177 £525 -2.33% 105
England +25 173 £525 -2.33% 110
East of England +20 55 - - 26
Work from Home -10 51 £525 -16.13% 46
South West +11 50 £425 - 17
South East -26 41 £525 -16.13% 32
Midlands -40 15 - - 10
West Midlands - 15 - - 1
Scotland -5 7 - - 2
London -52 6 £525 - 13
North West - 6 - - 10
North of England - 6 - - 16
Northern Ireland - 3 - - 4

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

For the 6 months to 18 July 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.

1 148 (80.87%) Software Engineering
2 53 (28.96%) Ada
3 51 (27.87%) C
4 38 (20.77%) Linux
5 33 (18.03%) Security Cleared
6 31 (16.94%) C++
7 27 (14.75%) SC Cleared
8 23 (12.57%) Software-Defined Radio
9 20 (10.93%) Rational Rhapsody
9 20 (10.93%) Validation
10 19 (10.38%) Wireless
11 18 (9.84%) Embedded Linux
11 18 (9.84%) UML
12 16 (8.74%) Verification and Validation
13 14 (7.65%) Rational DOORS
13 14 (7.65%) SysML
14 13 (7.10%) Embedded C
15 12 (6.56%) Def Stans
15 12 (6.56%) Embedded Software Development
15 12 (6.56%) Firmware
15 12 (6.56%) Problem-Solving
15 12 (6.56%) Signal Processing
16 11 (6.01%) Digital Signal Processing
16 11 (6.01%) Yocto
17 10 (5.46%) Software Testing
17 10 (5.46%) Test Automation
18 9 (4.92%) CI/CD
18 9 (4.92%) Data Acquisition
18 9 (4.92%) Python
18 9 (4.92%) Workflow

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 2 (1.09%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 1 (0.55%) AWS
1 1 (0.55%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 23 (12.57%) Software-Defined Radio
2 19 (10.38%) Wireless
3 6 (3.28%) Ethernet
4 1 (0.55%) Bluetooth
4 1 (0.55%) Modbus
4 1 (0.55%) RS-232
4 1 (0.55%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.09%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.55%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 20 (10.93%) Rational Rhapsody
2 14 (7.65%) Rational DOORS
3 6 (3.28%) Git
4 2 (1.09%) JIRA
5 1 (0.55%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 1 (0.55%) CMake
5 1 (0.55%) GitLab
5 1 (0.55%) GoogleTest
5 1 (0.55%) PetaLinux
General
1 40 (21.86%) Aerospace
2 11 (6.01%) Social Skills
3 10 (5.46%) Automotive
4 7 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (3.28%) Electronics
6 3 (1.64%) Analytical Skills
6 3 (1.64%) Law
6 3 (1.64%) Manufacturing
7 2 (1.09%) Telecoms
8 1 (0.55%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (6.01%) Yocto
2 2 (1.09%) QML
2 2 (1.09%) Qt
3 1 (0.55%) PostGIS
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.57%) Embedded Systems
2 8 (4.37%) Device Driver
3 7 (3.83%) PCIe
4 6 (3.28%) FPGA
4 6 (3.28%) RISC-V
5 4 (2.19%) MicroBlaze
6 3 (1.64%) ARM Cortex
7 1 (0.55%) ASIC
7 1 (0.55%) CAN bus
7 1 (0.55%) Verilog
7 1 (0.55%) VHDL
7 1 (0.55%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 38 (20.77%) Linux
2 18 (9.84%) Embedded Linux
3 8 (4.37%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.55%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 148 (80.87%) Software Engineering
2 20 (10.93%) Validation
3 18 (9.84%) UML
4 16 (8.74%) Verification and Validation
5 14 (7.65%) SysML
6 12 (6.56%) Embedded Software Development
6 12 (6.56%) Problem-Solving
6 12 (6.56%) Signal Processing
7 11 (6.01%) Digital Signal Processing
8 10 (5.46%) Software Testing
8 10 (5.46%) Test Automation
9 9 (4.92%) CI/CD
9 9 (4.92%) Data Acquisition
9 9 (4.92%) Workflow
9 9 (4.92%) Workflow Management
10 7 (3.83%) DevOps
11 5 (2.73%) Agile
11 5 (2.73%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
11 5 (2.73%) Performance Engineering
12 4 (2.19%) Issue Tracking
Programming Languages
1 53 (28.96%) Ada
2 51 (27.87%) C
3 31 (16.94%) C++
4 13 (7.10%) Embedded C
5 9 (4.92%) Python
6 5 (2.73%) Embedded C++
7 2 (1.09%) Bash
7 2 (1.09%) Rust
8 1 (0.55%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.55%) SystemVerilog
8 1 (0.55%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 33 (18.03%) Security Cleared
2 27 (14.75%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (6.56%) Def Stans
2 5 (2.73%) MISRA
3 3 (1.64%) DO-178B
4 2 (1.09%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 12 (6.56%) Firmware
2 7 (3.83%) Embedded Firmware
3 1 (0.55%) Docker
Vendors
1 4 (2.19%) Lauterbach
2 2 (1.09%) EMC
2 2 (1.09%) QNX
3 1 (0.55%) Google
3 1 (0.55%) NVIDIA
3 1 (0.55%) Xilinx