Embedded Linux Contract Job Trends

Embedded Linux
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Embedded Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 580 511 587
Rank change year-on-year -69 +76 +184
Contract jobs citing Embedded Linux 2 32 21
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.006% 0.090% 0.046%
As % of the Operating Systems category 0.042% 0.64% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 25 12
10th Percentile - £437 -
25th Percentile - £475 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +5.26% +18.75%
75th Percentile - £538 £488
90th Percentile - £575 £521
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £500 £400
% change year-on-year -20.00% +25.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 7
10th Percentile - - £47.50
25th Percentile - - £49.38
Median hourly rate - £75.00 £61.00
Median % change year-on-year - +22.95% +14.02%
75th Percentile - - £77.50
90th Percentile - - £89.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £75.00 £75.00
% change year-on-year - - +42.86%

All Operating Systems
UK

Embedded Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 4,781 5,033 6,851
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 13.18% 14.09% 15.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,092 3,100 4,660
10th Percentile £175 £200 £181
25th Percentile £263 £325 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% - -7.32%
75th Percentile £560 £588 £608
90th Percentile £662 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £440 £440
% change year-on-year -9.09% - -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 361 200 347
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.96 £14.86
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.00 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.00 £50.00 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year -50.00% +56.25% +28.00%
75th Percentile £52.58 £67.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.84 £70.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £50.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year -50.00% +81.82% +22.22%

Embedded Linux
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Embedded Linux relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Embedded Linux job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Linux
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Linux.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Linux

Embedded Linux
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Linux.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Linux

Embedded Linux
Top 4 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 Linux within the UK over the 6 months to 13 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
West Midlands -25 2 £400 -
Midlands -31 2 £400 -
UK excluding London -59 2 £400 -20.00% 27
England -66 2 £400 -20.00% 17

Embedded Linux
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:

Communications & Networking
1 2 (100.00%) Wireless
General
1 2 (100.00%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 2 (100.00%) Firmware Engineer
Operating Systems
1 2 (100.00%) Debian
1 2 (100.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 2 (100.00%) C++
1 2 (100.00%) Python
System Software
1 2 (100.00%) Embedded Firmware
1 2 (100.00%) Firmware