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 12 April 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 444 474 446
Rank change year-on-year +30 -28 +181
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 186 53 148
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.18% 0.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.44% 0.20% 0.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 18 22 18
10th Percentile £379 - £325
25th Percentile £413 £475 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £496
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +8.42% +10.17%
75th Percentile £584 £556 £534
90th Percentile £664 £657 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £538 £496
% change year-on-year -9.30% +8.42% +10.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 140 22 124
10th Percentile £45.88 £52.88 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.38 £59.00 £51.20
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 - £85.55 £87.00
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 42,310 27,110 40,746
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.27% 92.64% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,286 17,809 26,634
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £629 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,662 974 2,583
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.84 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £20.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.16 £31.51 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.61% -9.97% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.03 £72.26
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £30.10 £35.00
% change year-on-year +40.37% -14.00% -17.38%

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 12 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 12 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded Engineer in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Top 12 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 12 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 +2 172 £538 - 176
UK excluding London +19 170 £488 -9.30% 176
East of England +20 77 - - 36
Work from Home +18 56 £525 -16.13% 53
South West +12 48 £425 - 37
South East -54 20 £719 +43.75% 61
London - 13 £525 - 11
Northern Ireland +9 12 £425 -
Midlands -56 10 £563 - 26
West Midlands - 10 £563 - 17
North West - 3 - - 2
North of England - 3 - - 10

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

For the 6 months to 12 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.

1 150 (80.65%) Software Engineering
2 73 (39.25%) C
3 63 (33.87%) Ada
4 46 (24.73%) C++
5 44 (23.66%) Security Cleared
6 39 (20.97%) Linux
7 37 (19.89%) SC Cleared
8 32 (17.20%) Rational DOORS
8 32 (17.20%) Validation
9 28 (15.05%) UML
10 27 (14.52%) Embedded C
11 22 (11.83%) Embedded C++
11 22 (11.83%) SysML
12 20 (10.75%) Embedded Linux
12 20 (10.75%) Rational Rhapsody
13 19 (10.22%) Firmware
14 17 (9.14%) Ethernet
15 16 (8.60%) Workflow
16 15 (8.06%) Def Stans
16 15 (8.06%) JIRA
16 15 (8.06%) Systems Engineering
17 14 (7.53%) Git
18 13 (6.99%) Embedded Software Development
18 13 (6.99%) FreeRTOS
18 13 (6.99%) Software-Defined Radio
18 13 (6.99%) Test Scripting
19 12 (6.45%) Test Automation
19 12 (6.45%) Verification and Validation
20 11 (5.91%) Problem-Solving
21 10 (5.38%) Embedded Firmware

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 (3.76%) Confluence
2 1 (0.54%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 6 (3.23%) GitHub
2 3 (1.61%) AWS
3 2 (1.08%) Power Platform
4 1 (0.54%) Azure
4 1 (0.54%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.54%) Azure Functions
4 1 (0.54%) Entra ID
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.54%) Power Automate
4 1 (0.54%) PowerApps
4 1 (0.54%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (9.14%) Ethernet
2 13 (6.99%) Software-Defined Radio
3 6 (3.23%) Modbus
3 6 (3.23%) RS-232
3 6 (3.23%) RS-485
4 4 (2.15%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.08%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.54%) Power BI
2 1 (0.54%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 32 (17.20%) Rational DOORS
2 20 (10.75%) Rational Rhapsody
3 15 (8.06%) JIRA
4 14 (7.53%) Git
5 7 (3.76%) PVCS
6 1 (0.54%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.54%) CMake
6 1 (0.54%) GitLab
6 1 (0.54%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.54%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.54%) PetaLinux
6 1 (0.54%) Visual Studio
General
1 28 (15.05%) Electronics
2 27 (14.52%) Aerospace
3 12 (6.45%) Social Skills
4 11 (5.91%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (4.30%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (3.23%) Law
7 5 (2.69%) Military
8 3 (1.61%) Automotive
8 3 (1.61%) Games
8 3 (1.61%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.30%) Yocto
2 1 (0.54%) .NET
2 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.54%) PostGIS
2 1 (0.54%) React
2 1 (0.54%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 32 (17.20%) Embedded Systems
2 14 (7.53%) FPGA
2 14 (7.53%) PCIe
3 3 (1.61%) Data Centre
3 3 (1.61%) Device Driver
4 2 (1.08%) MicroBlaze
4 2 (1.08%) RISC-V
4 2 (1.08%) VHDL
5 1 (0.54%) Algorithms
5 1 (0.54%) ASIC
5 1 (0.54%) CAN bus
5 1 (0.54%) Cloud Native
5 1 (0.54%) CUDA
5 1 (0.54%) Onboarding
5 1 (0.54%) Product Ownership
5 1 (0.54%) Verilog
5 1 (0.54%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 39 (20.97%) Linux
2 20 (10.75%) Embedded Linux
3 13 (6.99%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.54%) Debian
4 1 (0.54%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.54%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 150 (80.65%) Software Engineering
2 32 (17.20%) Validation
3 28 (15.05%) UML
4 22 (11.83%) SysML
5 16 (8.60%) Workflow
6 15 (8.06%) Systems Engineering
7 13 (6.99%) Embedded Software Development
7 13 (6.99%) Test Scripting
8 12 (6.45%) Test Automation
8 12 (6.45%) Verification and Validation
9 11 (5.91%) Problem-Solving
10 10 (5.38%) Requirements Analysis
11 9 (4.84%) Data Acquisition
11 9 (4.84%) Software Testing
11 9 (4.84%) Technical Leadership
11 9 (4.84%) Workflow Management
12 7 (3.76%) Code Coverage
12 7 (3.76%) Unit Testing
13 6 (3.23%) Continuous Improvement
14 5 (2.69%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 73 (39.25%) C
2 63 (33.87%) Ada
3 46 (24.73%) C++
4 27 (14.52%) Embedded C
5 22 (11.83%) Embedded C++
6 9 (4.84%) Python
7 3 (1.61%) C#
7 3 (1.61%) Rust
8 2 (1.08%) Bash
8 2 (1.08%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.54%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.54%) SQL
9 1 (0.54%) SystemVerilog
9 1 (0.54%) Tcl
9 1 (0.54%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 44 (23.66%) Security Cleared
2 37 (19.89%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.54%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.06%) Def Stans
2 6 (3.23%) DO-178B
2 6 (3.23%) MISRA
System Software
1 19 (10.22%) Firmware
2 10 (5.38%) Embedded Firmware
3 8 (4.30%) Virtual Machines
4 7 (3.76%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (1.08%) Docker
6 1 (0.54%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (3.76%) ANSYS
1 7 (3.76%) IBM
1 7 (3.76%) VMware
2 4 (2.15%) Lauterbach
3 2 (1.08%) EMC
3 2 (1.08%) NVIDIA
4 1 (0.54%) Google
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft
4 1 (0.54%) Xilinx