FPGA Contracts

Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term FPGA in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited FPGA over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 456 498 652
Rank change year-on-year +42 +154 +153
Contract jobs citing FPGA 64 84 66
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.22% 0.19% 0.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.64% 0.63% 0.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 27 11 18
10th Percentile £463 £413 £404
25th Percentile £509 £519 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £575 £538
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +6.98% +7.50%
75th Percentile - £638 £638
90th Percentile £675 £775 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £575 £525
% change year-on-year +4.35% +9.52% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 60 17
10th Percentile £60.68 - £46.25
25th Percentile £69.69 £53.40 £50.00
Median hourly rate £80.00 £57.35 £61.50
Median % change year-on-year +39.49% -6.75% +9.82%
75th Percentile £85.31 £85.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £88.70 £90.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £80.00 £57.35 £61.18
% change year-on-year +39.49% -6.25% +9.24%

All Generic Skills
UK

FPGA falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 9,944 13,250 19,897
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.97% 30.42% 33.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,345 8,502 13,668
10th Percentile £300 £263 £308
25th Percentile £413 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £650 £660 £680
90th Percentile £775 £788 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £496 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -0.80% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 394 912 640
10th Percentile £16.46 £12.25 £9.80
25th Percentile £21.00 £15.17 £10.63
Median hourly rate £32.05 £30.00 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year +6.83% +33.42% -18.24%
75th Percentile £63.75 £60.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.99 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.08 £28.25 £22.00
% change year-on-year +10.02% +28.41% +9.64%

FPGA
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing FPGA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing FPGA.

Daily rate trend for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing FPGA over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing FPGA.

Hourly rate trend for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing FPGA over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Top 13 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing FPGA within the UK over the 6 months to 1 May 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 +37 57 £600 +4.35% 213
UK excluding London +44 55 £600 +4.35% 196
East of England +37 28 £538 -14.00% 68
South East +16 16 £600 +4.35% 88
London +39 7 £675 - 41
Scotland - 6 £488 - 11
Work from Home +25 5 £638 +162.89% 100
Midlands +24 3 £550 - 10
South West +45 2 - - 21
East Midlands - 2 £550 - 3
North of England +19 1 - - 10
West Midlands +14 1 - - 6
North East - 1 - - 2

FPGA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Applications
1 17 (26.56%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (3.13%) LabWindows
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.56%) Azure
1 1 (1.56%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 8 (12.50%) Ethernet
2 7 (10.94%) Wireless
3 5 (7.81%) 5G
4 4 (6.25%) 5G NR
4 4 (6.25%) Software-Defined Radio
5 1 (1.56%) RS-232
Development Applications
1 11 (17.19%) Git
2 5 (7.81%) Subversion
3 2 (3.13%) LabVIEW
General
1 22 (34.38%) Social Skills
2 11 (17.19%) Electronics
3 3 (4.69%) Finance
3 3 (4.69%) Games
3 3 (4.69%) Manufacturing
3 3 (4.69%) Marketing
3 3 (4.69%) Public Sector
3 3 (4.69%) Telecoms
4 2 (3.13%) Aerospace
4 2 (3.13%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (3.13%) Military
5 1 (1.56%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 42 (65.63%) FPGA Engineer
2 13 (20.31%) Design Engineer
2 13 (20.31%) FPGA Design Engineer
3 11 (17.19%) Senior
4 9 (14.06%) Firmware Engineer
5 4 (6.25%) Network Engineer
5 4 (6.25%) Senior FPGA Engineer
5 4 (6.25%) Senior Network Engineer
6 3 (4.69%) Developer
6 3 (4.69%) FPGA Developer
6 3 (4.69%) Senior Firmware Engineer
6 3 (4.69%) Software Engineer
7 2 (3.13%) Embedded Engineer
7 2 (3.13%) Hardware Engineer
7 2 (3.13%) Principal Engineer
7 2 (3.13%) Senior Hardware Engineer
7 2 (3.13%) Senior Software Engineer
8 1 (1.56%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 1 (1.56%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 41 (64.06%) VHDL
2 38 (59.38%) Verilog
3 8 (12.50%) PCIe
4 6 (9.38%) Algorithms
5 5 (7.81%) Embedded Systems
6 4 (6.25%) Data Centre
7 3 (4.69%) ASIC
8 1 (1.56%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 10 (15.63%) Linux
1 10 (15.63%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (62.50%) FPGA Design
2 19 (29.69%) Signal Processing
2 19 (29.69%) UVM
3 13 (20.31%) Software Engineering
3 13 (20.31%) Validation
4 10 (15.63%) Data Collection
5 7 (10.94%) Artificial Intelligence
5 7 (10.94%) Machine Learning
5 7 (10.94%) Test Scripting
6 5 (7.81%) Problem-Solving
7 4 (6.25%) Computer Science
7 4 (6.25%) Prototyping
7 4 (6.25%) Risk Analysis
8 3 (4.69%) Agile
8 3 (4.69%) Business Intelligence
8 3 (4.69%) Cryptography
8 3 (4.69%) Digital Marketing
8 3 (4.69%) Migration
8 3 (4.69%) Programme Management
8 3 (4.69%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 34 (53.13%) SystemVerilog
2 25 (39.06%) Tcl
3 23 (35.94%) Python
4 17 (26.56%) C
5 10 (15.63%) Shell Script
6 4 (6.25%) C++
6 4 (6.25%) MATLAB
7 3 (4.69%) Java
8 1 (1.56%) C#
8 1 (1.56%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 24 (37.50%) Degree
2 20 (31.25%) Security Cleared
3 15 (23.44%) SC Cleared
4 3 (4.69%) HNC
4 3 (4.69%) HND
5 2 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (3.13%) Master's Degree
5 2 (3.13%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (6.25%) DO-254
2 1 (1.56%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 15 (23.44%) Firmware
Vendors
1 39 (60.94%) Xilinx
2 25 (39.06%) Intel
3 18 (28.13%) Microsemi
4 4 (6.25%) Altera
5 3 (4.69%) Actel
5 3 (4.69%) Algorithmics
5 3 (4.69%) SAP
6 2 (3.13%) Atlassian
6 2 (3.13%) Mentor Graphics
7 1 (1.56%) Siemens