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 7 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
7 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 527 442 461
Rank change year-on-year -85 +19 +284
Contract jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 55 101 148
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.15% 0.28% 0.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.17% 0.30% 0.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 27 41
10th Percentile £493 £425 £325
25th Percentile £538 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -4.76% +16.67%
75th Percentile £638 £525 £550
90th Percentile - £550 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% +16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 43 93
10th Percentile £62.25 £52.50 £51.75
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.28 £55.00
Median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +13.04%
75th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile - £71.09 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +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 32,988 33,120 42,501
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.74% 93.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,924 20,243 28,641
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
25th Percentile £403 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,924 1,136 1,517
10th Percentile £14.22 £15.36 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.75 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.63% -21.02% +40.98%
75th Percentile £56.81 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.75 £73.66 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

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 7 December 2025.

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 7 December 2025.

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 7 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 -83 52 £575 +15.00% 135
UK excluding London -86 51 £525 +5.00% 146
East of England +10 31 £475 -5.00% 44
Work from Home +2 16 - - 49
South West -49 13 - - 30
South East -40 5 - - 36
Scotland +5 1 - - 14
West Midlands -26 1 £575 - 12
Midlands -34 1 £575 +21.05% 19
London - 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 7 December 2025, 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 55 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 25 (45.45%) C
3 19 (34.55%) Security Cleared
4 18 (32.73%) SC Cleared
5 16 (29.09%) UML
6 15 (27.27%) C++
7 14 (25.45%) Ada
7 14 (25.45%) Rational DOORS
7 14 (25.45%) SysML
7 14 (25.45%) Validation
8 13 (23.64%) Systems Engineering
9 12 (21.82%) Embedded C
10 11 (20.00%) Embedded C++
11 10 (18.18%) Git
12 9 (16.36%) Firmware
12 9 (16.36%) MISRA
12 9 (16.36%) Test Scripting
13 8 (14.55%) Def Stans
13 8 (14.55%) DO-178B
13 8 (14.55%) JIRA
13 8 (14.55%) Virtual Machines
14 7 (12.73%) C#
14 7 (12.73%) Collaborative Culture
14 7 (12.73%) Linux
15 6 (10.91%) Agile
15 6 (10.91%) Configuration Management
15 6 (10.91%) DevOps
15 6 (10.91%) Technical Leadership
16 5 (9.09%) Continuous Integration
16 5 (9.09%) Docker

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 (1.82%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (1.82%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.82%) Azure
1 1 (1.82%) Azure DevOps
1 1 (1.82%) Azure Functions
1 1 (1.82%) Entra ID
1 1 (1.82%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (1.82%) Power Automate
1 1 (1.82%) Power Platform
1 1 (1.82%) PowerApps
1 1 (1.82%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 4 (7.27%) Ethernet
2 1 (1.82%) RS-232
Development Applications
1 14 (25.45%) Rational DOORS
2 10 (18.18%) Git
3 8 (14.55%) JIRA
4 5 (9.09%) Jenkins
5 3 (5.45%) PVCS
6 1 (1.82%) Polyspace
6 1 (1.82%) Rational Rhapsody
6 1 (1.82%) Visual Studio
General
1 18 (32.73%) Electronics
2 12 (21.82%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (9.09%) Aerospace
4 3 (5.45%) Law
5 2 (3.64%) Military
6 1 (1.82%) Automotive
6 1 (1.82%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.82%) .NET
1 1 (1.82%) Microsoft Graph
1 1 (1.82%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 11 (20.00%) Embedded Systems
2 5 (9.09%) CAN bus
2 5 (9.09%) PCIe
3 1 (1.82%) CUDA
3 1 (1.82%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (1.82%) FPGA
3 1 (1.82%) Onboarding
3 1 (1.82%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 7 (12.73%) Linux
2 5 (9.09%) FreeRTOS
2 5 (9.09%) Windows
3 1 (1.82%) Android
3 1 (1.82%) Debian
3 1 (1.82%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 16 (29.09%) UML
3 14 (25.45%) SysML
3 14 (25.45%) Validation
4 13 (23.64%) Systems Engineering
5 9 (16.36%) Test Scripting
6 7 (12.73%) Collaborative Culture
7 6 (10.91%) Agile
7 6 (10.91%) Configuration Management
7 6 (10.91%) DevOps
7 6 (10.91%) Technical Leadership
8 5 (9.09%) Continuous Integration
8 5 (9.09%) Software Testing
9 3 (5.45%) Code Coverage
9 3 (5.45%) Mentoring
9 3 (5.45%) Requirements Analysis
9 3 (5.45%) Unit Testing
9 3 (5.45%) Workflow
10 2 (3.64%) CI/CD
10 2 (3.64%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 25 (45.45%) C
2 15 (27.27%) C++
3 14 (25.45%) Ada
4 12 (21.82%) Embedded C
5 11 (20.00%) Embedded C++
6 7 (12.73%) C#
7 2 (3.64%) MATLAB
7 2 (3.64%) Python
8 1 (1.82%) Java
8 1 (1.82%) Kotlin
8 1 (1.82%) SQL
Qualifications
1 19 (34.55%) Security Cleared
2 18 (32.73%) SC Cleared
3 1 (1.82%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (16.36%) MISRA
2 8 (14.55%) Def Stans
2 8 (14.55%) DO-178B
3 1 (1.82%) AUTOSAR
3 1 (1.82%) ISO 26262
3 1 (1.82%) MISRA C
System Software
1 9 (16.36%) Firmware
2 8 (14.55%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (9.09%) Docker
4 3 (5.45%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (1.82%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (1.82%) Functional Safety
1 1 (1.82%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 3 (5.45%) ANSYS
1 3 (5.45%) IBM
1 3 (5.45%) VMware
2 1 (1.82%) Microsoft
2 1 (1.82%) NVIDIA
2 1 (1.82%) QNX
2 1 (1.82%) Sitecore
158 Embedded Software Engineer jobs Nationwide