Embedded Software Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Software Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Software Engineer daily rate in the UK is £625, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 April 2026.

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

 6 months to
21 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 472 481 458
Rank change year-on-year +9 -23 +175
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 143 36 126
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.12% 0.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.33% 0.13% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 6 13 8
10th Percentile £544 - £425
25th Percentile £575 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% - +2.56%
75th Percentile £704 £626 £556
90th Percentile £728 £653 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £646 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +29.25% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 116 15 115
10th Percentile £53.53 £55.10 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.50 £59.00 £51.06
Median hourly rate £68.00 £66.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.26% +6.40% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - - £86.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.00 £66.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +2.26% +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 42,695 27,272 40,291
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 92.61% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,420 17,879 26,298
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £748
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,730 998 2,613
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.50 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £19.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £42.00 £30.45 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.93% -13.00% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.60 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £75.33 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.61 £29.80 £36.50
% change year-on-year +46.34% -18.36% -15.12%

Embedded Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Embedded Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Embedded Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Embedded Software Engineer over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Embedded Software Engineer in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Embedded Software Engineer over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Embedded Software Engineer in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Top 10 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 Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 21 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
UK excluding London +1 138 £646 +29.25% 171
England -11 132 £625 +25.00% 173
East of England +22 58 - - 29
South West +5 46 - - 38
Work from Home +10 42 - - 44
South East -55 17 £719 +43.75% 60
Northern Ireland - 9 - -
Midlands -59 8 £563 - 25
West Midlands - 8 £563 - 15
London - 2 - - 8

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

For the 6 months to 21 April 2026, Embedded Software 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 Software Engineer in the job title.

1 142 (99.30%) Software Engineering
2 51 (35.66%) Ada
3 49 (34.27%) C
4 37 (25.87%) Security Cleared
5 34 (23.78%) SC Cleared
6 32 (22.38%) Linux
7 28 (19.58%) C++
8 22 (15.38%) Embedded C
9 21 (14.69%) UML
10 17 (11.89%) Rational DOORS
11 16 (11.19%) Embedded Linux
11 16 (11.19%) Software-Defined Radio
12 15 (10.49%) SysML
12 15 (10.49%) Validation
13 14 (9.79%) Embedded C++
14 13 (9.09%) Git
15 12 (8.39%) Rational Rhapsody
16 10 (6.99%) Firmware
16 10 (6.99%) Requirements Analysis
17 9 (6.29%) Systems Engineering
18 8 (5.59%) JIRA
18 8 (5.59%) Python
18 8 (5.59%) Workflow
19 7 (4.90%) ANSYS
19 7 (4.90%) Code Coverage
19 7 (4.90%) Def Stans
19 7 (4.90%) Digital Signal Processing
19 7 (4.90%) IBM
19 7 (4.90%) PVCS
19 7 (4.90%) Signal Processing

Embedded Software 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 1 (0.70%) Confluence
1 1 (0.70%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.70%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 1 (0.70%) AWS
1 1 (0.70%) Azure
1 1 (0.70%) Azure DevOps
1 1 (0.70%) Azure Functions
1 1 (0.70%) Entra ID
1 1 (0.70%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (0.70%) Power Automate
1 1 (0.70%) Power Platform
1 1 (0.70%) PowerApps
1 1 (0.70%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 16 (11.19%) Software-Defined Radio
2 5 (3.50%) Wireless
3 3 (2.10%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 17 (11.89%) Rational DOORS
2 13 (9.09%) Git
3 12 (8.39%) Rational Rhapsody
4 8 (5.59%) JIRA
5 7 (4.90%) PVCS
6 1 (0.70%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.70%) CMake
6 1 (0.70%) GitLab
6 1 (0.70%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.70%) PetaLinux
6 1 (0.70%) Visual Studio
General
1 20 (13.99%) Electronics
2 17 (11.89%) Aerospace
3 8 (5.59%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (3.50%) Military
4 5 (3.50%) Social Skills
5 4 (2.80%) Law
6 2 (1.40%) Automotive
7 1 (0.70%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.50%) Yocto
2 1 (0.70%) .NET
2 1 (0.70%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.70%) PostGIS
2 1 (0.70%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 16 (11.19%) Embedded Systems
2 7 (4.90%) FPGA
3 6 (4.20%) PCIe
4 3 (2.10%) Device Driver
5 2 (1.40%) MicroBlaze
5 2 (1.40%) RISC-V
5 2 (1.40%) VHDL
6 1 (0.70%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.70%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.70%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.70%) Verilog
6 1 (0.70%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 32 (22.38%) Linux
2 16 (11.19%) Embedded Linux
3 4 (2.80%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.70%) Debian
4 1 (0.70%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 142 (99.30%) Software Engineering
2 21 (14.69%) UML
3 15 (10.49%) SysML
3 15 (10.49%) Validation
4 10 (6.99%) Requirements Analysis
5 9 (6.29%) Systems Engineering
6 8 (5.59%) Workflow
7 7 (4.90%) Code Coverage
7 7 (4.90%) Digital Signal Processing
7 7 (4.90%) Signal Processing
7 7 (4.90%) Software Testing
7 7 (4.90%) Unit Testing
8 6 (4.20%) Test Scripting
8 6 (4.20%) Verification and Validation
9 5 (3.50%) Collaborative Culture
9 5 (3.50%) Embedded Software Development
9 5 (3.50%) SDLC
9 5 (3.50%) Technical Leadership
10 4 (2.80%) Configuration Management
10 4 (2.80%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 51 (35.66%) Ada
2 49 (34.27%) C
3 28 (19.58%) C++
4 22 (15.38%) Embedded C
5 14 (9.79%) Embedded C++
6 8 (5.59%) Python
7 3 (2.10%) Rust
8 2 (1.40%) Bash
8 2 (1.40%) C#
9 1 (0.70%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.70%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.70%) SQL
9 1 (0.70%) SystemVerilog
9 1 (0.70%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 37 (25.87%) Security Cleared
2 34 (23.78%) SC Cleared
3 1 (0.70%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (4.90%) Def Stans
2 6 (4.20%) DO-178B
2 6 (4.20%) MISRA
System Software
1 10 (6.99%) Firmware
2 7 (4.90%) Virtual Machines
2 7 (4.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (0.70%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.70%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (4.90%) ANSYS
1 7 (4.90%) IBM
1 7 (4.90%) VMware
2 1 (0.70%) Google
2 1 (0.70%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.70%) NVIDIA
2 1 (0.70%) Xilinx
184 Embedded Software Engineer jobs Nationwide