Embedded Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Engineer daily rate in the UK is £513, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 May 2026.

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

6 months to
19 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 413 469 436
Rank change year-on-year +56 -33 +119
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 221 40 135
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.14% 0.32%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.15% 0.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 17 12
10th Percentile £356 - £335
25th Percentile £413 £475 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £538 £503
Median % change year-on-year -4.65% +6.97% +3.08%
75th Percentile £556 £556 £556
90th Percentile £657 £640 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £440 £538 £500
% change year-on-year -18.14% +7.50% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 168 17 119
10th Percentile £48.64 £52.00 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.00 £56.25 £51.06
Median hourly rate £67.75 £62.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +8.40% - +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £87.50 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.75 £62.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +8.40% - +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 44,361 26,969 39,513
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.34% 92.35% 92.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,167 17,560 25,723
10th Percentile £325 £294 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £512 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -2.38% -3.40%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,886 1,047 2,672
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.82
25th Percentile £20.31 £18.13 £16.29
Median hourly rate £42.69 £28.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.45% -23.29% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.00 £61.38 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.13 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.90% -32.19% -5.88%

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 19 May 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 19 May 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 19 May 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 +57 208 £440 -18.14% 155
England +56 201 £525 -2.33% 172
East of England +28 76 - - 39
Work from Home +18 63 £525 -16.13% 54
South West +28 58 £425 - 32
South East -42 36 £718 +43.50% 55
Midlands -47 16 £563 - 15
West Midlands - 16 £563 - 8
London -49 12 £525 - 13
Northern Ireland - 12 £425 -
Scotland - 7 - -
North West - 3 - - 3
North of England - 3 - - 16

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

For the 6 months to 19 May 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.

1 172 (77.83%) Software Engineering
2 73 (33.03%) C
3 67 (30.32%) Ada
4 45 (20.36%) C++
4 45 (20.36%) Linux
5 43 (19.46%) Security Cleared
6 37 (16.74%) SC Cleared
7 33 (14.93%) Validation
8 26 (11.76%) Software-Defined Radio
9 25 (11.31%) Embedded C
10 24 (10.86%) Embedded Linux
10 24 (10.86%) Rational DOORS
11 23 (10.41%) UML
12 21 (9.50%) Rational Rhapsody
13 18 (8.14%) Firmware
14 17 (7.69%) Embedded C++
14 17 (7.69%) SysML
14 17 (7.69%) Verification and Validation
15 15 (6.79%) Workflow
16 14 (6.33%) Ethernet
17 13 (5.88%) Def Stans
17 13 (5.88%) Embedded Software Development
18 12 (5.43%) CI/CD
18 12 (5.43%) Digital Signal Processing
18 12 (5.43%) JIRA
18 12 (5.43%) Problem-Solving
18 12 (5.43%) Signal Processing
18 12 (5.43%) Wireless
18 12 (5.43%) Yocto
19 11 (4.98%) 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 6 (2.71%) Confluence
2 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 5 (2.26%) GitHub
2 3 (1.36%) AWS
3 2 (0.90%) Power Platform
4 1 (0.45%) Azure
4 1 (0.45%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (0.45%) Azure Functions
4 1 (0.45%) Entra ID
4 1 (0.45%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.45%) Power Automate
4 1 (0.45%) PowerApps
4 1 (0.45%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 26 (11.76%) Software-Defined Radio
2 14 (6.33%) Ethernet
3 12 (5.43%) Wireless
4 5 (2.26%) Modbus
4 5 (2.26%) RS-232
4 5 (2.26%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.45%) Power BI
2 1 (0.45%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (10.86%) Rational DOORS
2 21 (9.50%) Rational Rhapsody
3 12 (5.43%) JIRA
4 11 (4.98%) Git
5 6 (2.71%) PVCS
6 1 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.45%) CMake
6 1 (0.45%) GitLab
6 1 (0.45%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.45%) PetaLinux
General
1 33 (14.93%) Aerospace
2 20 (9.05%) Electronics
3 14 (6.33%) Social Skills
4 9 (4.07%) Automotive
5 8 (3.62%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (2.71%) Analytical Skills
7 4 (1.81%) Law
7 4 (1.81%) Military
8 3 (1.36%) Games
8 3 (1.36%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.45%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (5.43%) Yocto
2 1 (0.45%) .NET
2 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.45%) PostGIS
2 1 (0.45%) QML
2 1 (0.45%) Qt
2 1 (0.45%) React
2 1 (0.45%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 33 (14.93%) Embedded Systems
2 15 (6.79%) FPGA
3 11 (4.98%) PCIe
4 6 (2.71%) Device Driver
5 4 (1.81%) MicroBlaze
5 4 (1.81%) RISC-V
6 3 (1.36%) ARM Cortex
6 3 (1.36%) Data Centre
7 2 (0.90%) VHDL
8 1 (0.45%) Algorithms
8 1 (0.45%) ASIC
8 1 (0.45%) CAN bus
8 1 (0.45%) Cloud Native
8 1 (0.45%) Onboarding
8 1 (0.45%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.45%) Verilog
8 1 (0.45%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 45 (20.36%) Linux
2 24 (10.86%) Embedded Linux
3 11 (4.98%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.45%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 172 (77.83%) Software Engineering
2 33 (14.93%) Validation
3 23 (10.41%) UML
4 17 (7.69%) SysML
4 17 (7.69%) Verification and Validation
5 15 (6.79%) Workflow
6 13 (5.88%) Embedded Software Development
7 12 (5.43%) CI/CD
7 12 (5.43%) Digital Signal Processing
7 12 (5.43%) Problem-Solving
7 12 (5.43%) Signal Processing
8 11 (4.98%) Software Testing
8 11 (4.98%) Test Automation
9 9 (4.07%) Data Acquisition
9 9 (4.07%) DevOps
9 9 (4.07%) Requirements Analysis
9 9 (4.07%) Systems Engineering
9 9 (4.07%) Workflow Management
10 7 (3.17%) Test Scripting
11 6 (2.71%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 73 (33.03%) C
2 67 (30.32%) Ada
3 45 (20.36%) C++
4 25 (11.31%) Embedded C
5 17 (7.69%) Embedded C++
6 9 (4.07%) Python
7 3 (1.36%) Rust
8 2 (0.90%) Bash
9 1 (0.45%) C#
9 1 (0.45%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.45%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.45%) SQL
9 1 (0.45%) SystemVerilog
9 1 (0.45%) Tcl
9 1 (0.45%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 43 (19.46%) Security Cleared
2 37 (16.74%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (5.88%) Def Stans
2 5 (2.26%) MISRA
3 4 (1.81%) DO-178B
4 1 (0.45%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 18 (8.14%) Firmware
2 11 (4.98%) Embedded Firmware
3 6 (2.71%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.71%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.45%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.45%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 6 (2.71%) ANSYS
1 6 (2.71%) IBM
1 6 (2.71%) VMware
2 4 (1.81%) Lauterbach
3 2 (0.90%) EMC
4 1 (0.45%) Google
4 1 (0.45%) Microsoft
4 1 (0.45%) NVIDIA
4 1 (0.45%) QNX
4 1 (0.45%) Xilinx