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 18 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
18 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 523 446 446
Rank change year-on-year -77 0 +263
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Engineer 72 98 160
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.20% 0.29% 0.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.22% 0.31% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 11 32 49
10th Percentile £419 £375 £325
25th Percentile £494 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% +15.07%
75th Percentile £638 £525 £550
90th Percentile £675 £550 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% +15.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 36 89
10th Percentile £62.13 £51.88 £51.75
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.25 £55.00
Median hourly rate £67.50 £66.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.50% +2.31% +13.04%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile - £70.00 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £66.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.50% +2.31% +13.04%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 33,289 31,718 41,239
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.98% 92.78% 93.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,068 19,534 27,738
10th Percentile £290 £300 £288
25th Percentile £404 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £644
90th Percentile £720 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £489 £500
% change year-on-year -2.86% -2.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,959 999 1,468
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.52 £15.14
25th Percentile £18.19 £21.22 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.47 £34.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.09% -23.60% +48.33%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.84 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.46 £72.55 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -27.78% +80.76%

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 18 December 2025.

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 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded Engineer in the UK

Embedded Engineer
Top 11 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 December 2025. 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 -65 67 £563 +12.50% 125
UK excluding London -79 64 £475 -5.00% 144
East of England +10 38 £475 -5.00% 42
Work from Home 0 20 - - 53
South West -37 16 - - 21
South East -40 5 - - 37
London - 5 £600 - 8
Scotland +5 2 £438 - 25
West Midlands -36 2 £563 +40.63%
Midlands -44 2 £563 +40.63% 7
Northern Ireland -6 1 £425 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 18 December 2025, 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 67 (93.06%) Software Engineering
2 32 (44.44%) C
3 23 (31.94%) C++
3 23 (31.94%) Security Cleared
4 22 (30.56%) SC Cleared
5 19 (26.39%) Ada
5 19 (26.39%) UML
6 18 (25.00%) Rational DOORS
7 17 (23.61%) Validation
8 16 (22.22%) Embedded C
8 16 (22.22%) Embedded C++
8 16 (22.22%) SysML
8 16 (22.22%) Systems Engineering
9 13 (18.06%) Firmware
10 12 (16.67%) Git
10 12 (16.67%) JIRA
11 11 (15.28%) Test Scripting
12 10 (13.89%) MISRA
12 10 (13.89%) Virtual Machines
13 9 (12.50%) C#
13 9 (12.50%) Def Stans
13 9 (12.50%) DO-178B
13 9 (12.50%) Linux
14 8 (11.11%) Collaborative Culture
14 8 (11.11%) FreeRTOS
14 8 (11.11%) Technical Leadership
15 7 (9.72%) Agile
16 6 (8.33%) Configuration Management
16 6 (8.33%) DevOps
16 6 (8.33%) Ethernet

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 (2.78%) Confluence
2 1 (1.39%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (1.39%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 2 (2.78%) GitHub
2 1 (1.39%) Azure
2 1 (1.39%) Azure DevOps
2 1 (1.39%) Azure Functions
2 1 (1.39%) Entra ID
2 1 (1.39%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (1.39%) Power Automate
2 1 (1.39%) Power Platform
2 1 (1.39%) PowerApps
2 1 (1.39%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 6 (8.33%) Ethernet
2 3 (4.17%) RS-232
3 2 (2.78%) Modbus
3 2 (2.78%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 18 (25.00%) Rational DOORS
2 12 (16.67%) Git
2 12 (16.67%) JIRA
3 5 (6.94%) Jenkins
3 5 (6.94%) PVCS
4 1 (1.39%) Polyspace
4 1 (1.39%) Rational Rhapsody
4 1 (1.39%) Visual Studio
General
1 24 (33.33%) Electronics
2 14 (19.44%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (8.33%) Aerospace
4 3 (4.17%) Law
4 3 (4.17%) Military
4 3 (4.17%) Social Skills
5 1 (1.39%) Automotive
5 1 (1.39%) Documentation Skills
5 1 (1.39%) Finance
5 1 (1.39%) Games
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.78%) .NET
2 1 (1.39%) .NET Framework
2 1 (1.39%) Kafka
2 1 (1.39%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (1.39%) REST
2 1 (1.39%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 17 (23.61%) Embedded Systems
2 5 (6.94%) CAN bus
2 5 (6.94%) PCIe
3 3 (4.17%) FPGA
4 1 (1.39%) CUDA
4 1 (1.39%) Data Centre
4 1 (1.39%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (1.39%) Device Driver
4 1 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
4 1 (1.39%) Life Science
4 1 (1.39%) Onboarding
4 1 (1.39%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 9 (12.50%) Linux
2 8 (11.11%) FreeRTOS
3 6 (8.33%) Windows
4 1 (1.39%) Android
4 1 (1.39%) Debian
4 1 (1.39%) Embedded Linux
4 1 (1.39%) Ubuntu
4 1 (1.39%) Unix
4 1 (1.39%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (93.06%) Software Engineering
2 19 (26.39%) UML
3 17 (23.61%) Validation
4 16 (22.22%) SysML
4 16 (22.22%) Systems Engineering
5 11 (15.28%) Test Scripting
6 8 (11.11%) Collaborative Culture
6 8 (11.11%) Technical Leadership
7 7 (9.72%) Agile
8 6 (8.33%) Configuration Management
8 6 (8.33%) DevOps
8 6 (8.33%) Mentoring
8 6 (8.33%) Software Testing
9 5 (6.94%) Code Coverage
9 5 (6.94%) Continuous Integration
9 5 (6.94%) Requirements Analysis
9 5 (6.94%) Unit Testing
9 5 (6.94%) Workflow
10 3 (4.17%) Problem-Solving
10 3 (4.17%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 32 (44.44%) C
2 23 (31.94%) C++
3 19 (26.39%) Ada
4 16 (22.22%) Embedded C
4 16 (22.22%) Embedded C++
5 9 (12.50%) C#
6 2 (2.78%) MATLAB
6 2 (2.78%) Python
6 2 (2.78%) SQL
7 1 (1.39%) Java
7 1 (1.39%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 23 (31.94%) Security Cleared
2 22 (30.56%) SC Cleared
3 1 (1.39%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (13.89%) MISRA
2 9 (12.50%) Def Stans
2 9 (12.50%) DO-178B
3 1 (1.39%) AUTOSAR
3 1 (1.39%) ISO 26262
3 1 (1.39%) MISRA C
System Software
1 13 (18.06%) Firmware
2 10 (13.89%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (6.94%) Docker
3 5 (6.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (4.17%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (1.39%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (1.39%) Functional Safety
1 1 (1.39%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 5 (6.94%) ANSYS
1 5 (6.94%) IBM
1 5 (6.94%) VMware
2 1 (1.39%) Microsoft
2 1 (1.39%) NVIDIA
2 1 (1.39%) Oracle
2 1 (1.39%) QNX
2 1 (1.39%) Sitecore
157 Embedded Engineer jobs Nationwide