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 30 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 465 490 627
Rank change year-on-year +25 +137 +172
Contract jobs citing FPGA 64 97 68
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.22% 0.23% 0.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.65% 0.75% 0.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 27 14 19
10th Percentile £500 £411 £405
25th Percentile £519 £506 £472
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% +11.68%
75th Percentile - £638 £625
90th Percentile £675 £734 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £575 £550
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% +11.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 67 12
10th Percentile £60.68 - £46.25
25th Percentile £64.38 £53.40 £49.06
Median hourly rate £80.00 £57.35 £58.33
Median % change year-on-year +39.49% -1.68% +4.17%
75th Percentile £85.31 £75.16 £63.47
90th Percentile £88.00 £87.60 £66.57
UK excluding London median hourly rate £80.00 £57.35 £53.88
% change year-on-year +39.49% +6.44% -3.79%

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 9,884 12,958 18,726
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.17% 30.20% 33.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,239 8,332 12,877
10th Percentile £300 £270 £313
25th Percentile £407 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.42% -2.18% -
75th Percentile £650 £663 £680
90th Percentile £775 £800 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +3.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 398 925 610
10th Percentile £15.84 £12.25 £9.80
25th Percentile £19.80 £15.22 £10.63
Median hourly rate £31.91 £34.21 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.74% +55.50% -18.46%
75th Percentile £62.24 £61.30 £60.00
90th Percentile £82.15 £70.82 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.29 £32.12 £21.67
% change year-on-year -2.58% +48.20% +1.98%

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 30 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 30 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 30 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 +29 57 £600 +4.35% 319
UK excluding London +24 56 £600 +4.35% 328
East of England +33 24 £538 -14.00% 98
South East +28 21 £600 +4.35% 100
London +44 6 £675 +42.11% 33
Scotland - 6 £488 - 29
Work from Home +43 5 £625 +941.67% 118
Midlands +19 3 £550 - 40
South West +42 2 - - 42
East Midlands - 2 £550 - 13
West Midlands +16 1 - - 24
North of England +12 1 - - 34
North East - 1 - - 6

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 14 (21.88%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (3.13%) LabWindows
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.56%) Azure
1 1 (1.56%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 10 (15.63%) Ethernet
2 4 (6.25%) 5G
2 4 (6.25%) 5G NR
2 4 (6.25%) Software-Defined Radio
2 4 (6.25%) Wireless
3 1 (1.56%) RS-232
Development Applications
1 8 (12.50%) Git
2 6 (9.38%) Subversion
3 2 (3.13%) LabVIEW
4 1 (1.56%) JIRA
4 1 (1.56%) Redmine
General
1 27 (42.19%) Social Skills
2 14 (21.88%) Electronics
3 5 (7.81%) Games
4 4 (6.25%) Manufacturing
5 3 (4.69%) Aerospace
5 3 (4.69%) Finance
5 3 (4.69%) Marketing
5 3 (4.69%) Public Sector
5 3 (4.69%) Telecoms
6 2 (3.13%) Military
7 1 (1.56%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (1.56%) Avionics
7 1 (1.56%) Law
Job Titles
1 44 (68.75%) FPGA Engineer
2 10 (15.63%) Senior
3 9 (14.06%) Design Engineer
3 9 (14.06%) Firmware Engineer
3 9 (14.06%) FPGA Design Engineer
4 4 (6.25%) Hardware Engineer
4 4 (6.25%) Principal Engineer
5 3 (4.69%) Developer
5 3 (4.69%) FPGA Developer
5 3 (4.69%) Network Engineer
5 3 (4.69%) Senior FPGA Engineer
5 3 (4.69%) Senior Hardware Engineer
5 3 (4.69%) Senior Network Engineer
5 3 (4.69%) Software Engineer
6 2 (3.13%) Embedded Engineer
6 2 (3.13%) Senior Firmware Engineer
6 2 (3.13%) Senior Software Engineer
7 1 (1.56%) Digital Hardware Engineer
7 1 (1.56%) Principal Hardware Engineer
7 1 (1.56%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 39 (60.94%) Verilog
2 34 (53.13%) VHDL
3 10 (15.63%) PCIe
4 8 (12.50%) Algorithms
5 5 (7.81%) Embedded Systems
6 3 (4.69%) Data Centre
7 2 (3.13%) Life Science
8 1 (1.56%) ASIC
8 1 (1.56%) Device Driver
8 1 (1.56%) State Machine
Operating Systems
1 14 (21.88%) Linux
1 14 (21.88%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (62.50%) FPGA Design
2 17 (26.56%) Software Engineering
2 17 (26.56%) Validation
3 16 (25.00%) UVM
4 14 (21.88%) Data Collection
4 14 (21.88%) Signal Processing
5 8 (12.50%) Artificial Intelligence
5 8 (12.50%) Machine Learning
5 8 (12.50%) Physics
5 8 (12.50%) Test Scripting
6 6 (9.38%) Computer Science
6 6 (9.38%) Customer Requirements
7 5 (7.81%) Cryptography
7 5 (7.81%) Problem-Solving
8 4 (6.25%) Digital Signal Processing
9 3 (4.69%) Digital Marketing
9 3 (4.69%) Migration
9 3 (4.69%) Risk Analysis
9 3 (4.69%) Risk Management
9 3 (4.69%) Test Planning
Programming Languages
1 34 (53.13%) SystemVerilog
2 27 (42.19%) Tcl
3 26 (40.63%) Python
4 14 (21.88%) Shell Script
5 11 (17.19%) C
6 7 (10.94%) MATLAB
7 4 (6.25%) C++
8 3 (4.69%) Java
9 1 (1.56%) C#
9 1 (1.56%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 22 (34.38%) Degree
2 21 (32.81%) Security Cleared
3 16 (25.00%) SC Cleared
4 6 (9.38%) HNC
4 6 (9.38%) HND
5 3 (4.69%) Master's Degree
5 3 (4.69%) PhD
6 2 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (10.94%) DO-254
2 1 (1.56%) ECSS
2 1 (1.56%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 16 (25.00%) Firmware
Vendors
1 36 (56.25%) Xilinx
2 20 (31.25%) Intel
3 14 (21.88%) Microsemi
4 6 (9.38%) Altera
5 5 (7.81%) Actel
6 3 (4.69%) Algorithmics
6 3 (4.69%) SAP
7 2 (3.13%) Atlassian
7 2 (3.13%) Lattice Semiconductor
7 2 (3.13%) Mentor Graphics
8 1 (1.56%) Siemens