Embedded Software Engineer Contract Job Trends

Embedded Software Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Software Engineer daily rate in the UK is £600, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 January 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 493 466 446
Rank change year-on-year -27 -20 +268
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 92 68 154
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.24% 0.22% 0.35%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.27% 0.23% 0.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 6 17 27
10th Percentile £494 £458 £325
25th Percentile £534 £475 £470
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -9.09% -0.90%
75th Percentile £638 £525 -
90th Percentile £682 £556 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £563 £500 £550
% change year-on-year +12.50% -9.09% -0.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 26 116
10th Percentile £50.40 £52.50 £46.25
25th Percentile £62.50 £61.25 £52.50
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 - £68.75 £90.00
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 34,647 29,282 41,206
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.85% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,895 17,892 27,296
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £480 £498
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.62% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,062 868 2,070
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.92 £13.40
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.24 £17.54
Median hourly rate £28.50 £32.50 £37.88
Median % change year-on-year -12.31% -14.19% +11.40%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.13 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £31.08 £40.00
% change year-on-year -12.45% -22.30% +35.59%

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 25 January 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 25 January 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 25 January 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 -44 89 £563 +12.50% 120
England -50 80 £575 +15.00% 106
East of England +28 49 £475 -5.00% 20
Work from Home +19 35 - - 37
South West -39 19 - - 24
Northern Ireland +5 9 - -
South East -26 9 £718 +43.50% 38
Midlands - 2 £563 - 5
West Midlands - 2 £563 - 1
Scotland - 1 - - 17

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

For the 6 months to 25 January 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 92 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 41 (44.57%) C
3 29 (31.52%) Security Cleared
4 28 (30.43%) SC Cleared
5 27 (29.35%) C++
6 25 (27.17%) Ada
7 22 (23.91%) Rational DOORS
8 20 (21.74%) Embedded C
8 20 (21.74%) UML
9 19 (20.65%) Embedded C++
10 18 (19.57%) Linux
10 18 (19.57%) Validation
11 17 (18.48%) Git
12 16 (17.39%) SysML
12 16 (17.39%) Systems Engineering
13 13 (14.13%) Firmware
14 12 (13.04%) JIRA
14 12 (13.04%) Virtual Machines
15 11 (11.96%) Def Stans
15 11 (11.96%) MISRA
15 11 (11.96%) Test Scripting
16 10 (10.87%) DO-178B
16 10 (10.87%) Embedded Linux
17 8 (8.70%) Collaborative Culture
17 8 (8.70%) Requirements Analysis
17 8 (8.70%) Workflow
18 7 (7.61%) ANSYS
18 7 (7.61%) C#
18 7 (7.61%) Code Coverage
18 7 (7.61%) DevOps

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 (1.09%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (1.09%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.09%) Azure
1 1 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
1 1 (1.09%) Azure Functions
1 1 (1.09%) Entra ID
1 1 (1.09%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (1.09%) Power Automate
1 1 (1.09%) Power Platform
1 1 (1.09%) PowerApps
1 1 (1.09%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 4 (4.35%) Ethernet
2 3 (3.26%) Software-Defined Radio
3 1 (1.09%) RS-232
Development Applications
1 22 (23.91%) Rational DOORS
2 17 (18.48%) Git
3 12 (13.04%) JIRA
4 7 (7.61%) PVCS
5 5 (5.43%) Jenkins
6 3 (3.26%) Rational Rhapsody
7 1 (1.09%) Polyspace
7 1 (1.09%) Visual Studio
General
1 27 (29.35%) Electronics
2 15 (16.30%) Analytical Skills
3 7 (7.61%) Aerospace
4 5 (5.43%) Law
5 4 (4.35%) Military
6 2 (2.17%) Social Skills
7 1 (1.09%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.17%) Yocto
2 1 (1.09%) .NET
2 1 (1.09%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (1.09%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 15 (16.30%) Embedded Systems
2 7 (7.61%) PCIe
3 5 (5.43%) CAN bus
4 3 (3.26%) FPGA
5 1 (1.09%) Algorithms
5 1 (1.09%) CUDA
5 1 (1.09%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.09%) Product Ownership
5 1 (1.09%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 18 (19.57%) Linux
2 10 (10.87%) Embedded Linux
3 5 (5.43%) FreeRTOS
3 5 (5.43%) Windows
4 1 (1.09%) Debian
4 1 (1.09%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 20 (21.74%) UML
3 18 (19.57%) Validation
4 16 (17.39%) SysML
4 16 (17.39%) Systems Engineering
5 11 (11.96%) Test Scripting
6 8 (8.70%) Collaborative Culture
6 8 (8.70%) Requirements Analysis
6 8 (8.70%) Workflow
7 7 (7.61%) Code Coverage
7 7 (7.61%) DevOps
7 7 (7.61%) Technical Leadership
7 7 (7.61%) Unit Testing
8 6 (6.52%) Agile
8 6 (6.52%) Configuration Management
8 6 (6.52%) Continuous Integration
8 6 (6.52%) Software Testing
9 5 (5.43%) CI/CD
10 3 (3.26%) Mentoring
10 3 (3.26%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 41 (44.57%) C
2 27 (29.35%) C++
3 25 (27.17%) Ada
4 20 (21.74%) Embedded C
5 19 (20.65%) Embedded C++
6 7 (7.61%) C#
7 4 (4.35%) Python
8 3 (3.26%) MATLAB
9 2 (2.17%) Bash
10 1 (1.09%) Rust
10 1 (1.09%) SQL
Qualifications
1 29 (31.52%) Security Cleared
2 28 (30.43%) SC Cleared
3 1 (1.09%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (11.96%) Def Stans
1 11 (11.96%) MISRA
2 10 (10.87%) DO-178B
3 1 (1.09%) AUTOSAR
3 1 (1.09%) ISO 26262
3 1 (1.09%) MISRA C
System Software
1 13 (14.13%) Firmware
2 12 (13.04%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (7.61%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (5.43%) Docker
5 1 (1.09%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (1.09%) Functional Safety
1 1 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (7.61%) ANSYS
1 7 (7.61%) IBM
1 7 (7.61%) VMware
2 1 (1.09%) Microsoft
2 1 (1.09%) NVIDIA
2 1 (1.09%) QNX
2 1 (1.09%) Sitecore