IC Design Contract Job Trends

Integrated Circuit Design (IC Design)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring IC Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 652 - 583
Rank change year-on-year - - +103
Contract jobs citing IC Design 3 0 4
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.006% - 0.009%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.007% - 0.011%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £475 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 - -
75th Percentile £525 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 4
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £51.25
Median hourly rate - - £57.50
75th Percentile - - £66.56
90th Percentile - - £71.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £57.50

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

IC Design falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 43,739 28,136 37,017
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.99% 90.86% 85.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,189 17,763 23,600
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £415 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.08% -3.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,627 1,381 2,550
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.61 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +3.45%
75th Percentile £68.00 £53.95 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.25 £70.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £25.00 £38.12
% change year-on-year +75.84% -34.42% +8.91%

IC Design
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IC Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IC Design job vacancy trend in the UK

IC Design
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IC Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IC Design

IC Design
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IC Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IC Design

IC Design
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing IC Design within the UK over the 6 months to 2 July 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
England - 3 £500 - 6
UK excluding London - 3 £500 - 4
South East - 2 - - 3
Work from Home - 1 £500 - 5
East of England - 1 £500 -

IC Design
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:

Applications
1 1 (33.33%) OrCAD
Development Applications
1 1 (33.33%) LabVIEW
General
1 2 (66.67%) Social Skills
2 1 (33.33%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 2 (66.67%) Design Engineer
2 1 (33.33%) Analogue Design Engineer
2 1 (33.33%) Analogue IC Design Engineer
2 1 (33.33%) Analogue IC Engineer
2 1 (33.33%) IC Design Engineer
2 1 (33.33%) Senior
2 1 (33.33%) Senior Design Engineer
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (33.33%) Data Analysis
1 1 (33.33%) Power Management
Programming Languages
1 1 (33.33%) MATLAB
1 1 (33.33%) Python
Qualifications
1 2 (66.67%) Degree
Vendors
1 3 (100.00%) Cadence