IEC 61508 Contracts

IEC 61508
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring IEC 61508 skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited IEC 61508 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 493 573 708
Rank change year-on-year +80 +135 +132
Contract jobs citing IEC 61508 27 9 10
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.092% 0.021% 0.017%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.59% 0.14% 0.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 3 2
10th Percentile £114 £151 £456
25th Percentile £172 £292 £466
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £274 £550 £488
Median % change year-on-year -50.27% +12.82% -
75th Percentile £381 £594 £516
90th Percentile £442 £605 £529
UK excluding London median daily rate £274 £550 £488
% change year-on-year -50.27% +12.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 1 5
10th Percentile £61.25 - £44.76
25th Percentile £62.19 £72.50 £45.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £75.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +15.38% +25.51%
75th Percentile - £77.50 -
90th Percentile £68.75 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £75.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -13.33% +15.38% +25.51%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

IEC 61508 falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 4,564 6,247 7,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.59% 14.34% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,922 3,954 5,483
10th Percentile £265 £296 £275
25th Percentile £400 £403 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 382 225
10th Percentile £18.04 £10.95 £13.21
25th Percentile £22.21 £13.18 £18.70
Median hourly rate £34.50 £20.80 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.85% -44.53% +33.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £83.01 £67.14 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.78 £18.00 £36.25
% change year-on-year +126.53% -50.34% +72.21%

IEC 61508
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing IEC 61508 as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing IEC 61508.

Daily rate trend for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IEC 61508 over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing IEC 61508.

Hourly rate trend for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Top 9 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing IEC 61508 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
UK excluding London +85 27 £274 -50.27% 47
England +78 26 £75 -86.36% 53
South West +68 23 - - 23
Work from Home +38 2 - - 11
North of England +20 2 - - 8
North West +18 2 - - 5
East Midlands - 1 £75 - 1
Midlands - 1 £75 - 1
Scotland - 1 £472 -

IEC 61508
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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (3.70%) SharePoint
Business Applications
1 1 (3.70%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 1 (3.70%) Azure
1 1 (3.70%) Cloud Computing
Development Applications
1 1 (3.70%) Eclipse
1 1 (3.70%) JIRA
1 1 (3.70%) NetBeans
General
1 5 (18.52%) Aerospace
2 2 (7.41%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (7.41%) Law
3 1 (3.70%) Aviation
3 1 (3.70%) Manufacturing
3 1 (3.70%) Pharmaceutical
3 1 (3.70%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 18 (66.67%) Software Engineer
2 9 (33.33%) Java Engineer
3 8 (29.63%) C++ Software Engineer
3 8 (29.63%) Java Software Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Developer
5 2 (7.41%) C++ Developer
5 2 (7.41%) Systems Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Architect
6 1 (3.70%) Embedded C++ Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Embedded Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Embedded Software Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Java Developer
6 1 (3.70%) Principal Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Principal Systems Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Project Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) Safety Engineer
6 1 (3.70%) SC Cleared Java Developer
6 1 (3.70%) Software Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (81.48%) Middleware
2 13 (48.15%) Qt
3 1 (3.70%) POSIX
Miscellaneous
1 1 (3.70%) Algorithms
1 1 (3.70%) Industrial Internet of Things
1 1 (3.70%) Industry 4.0
1 1 (3.70%) IoT
1 1 (3.70%) Life Science
1 1 (3.70%) Management Information System
1 1 (3.70%) Operational Technology
1 1 (3.70%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 1 (3.70%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (88.89%) Software Engineering
2 2 (7.41%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (7.41%) Systems Engineering
3 1 (3.70%) Agile
3 1 (3.70%) Business Continuity
3 1 (3.70%) Code Quality
3 1 (3.70%) Culture Change
3 1 (3.70%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (3.70%) Data Analysis
3 1 (3.70%) Data Modelling
3 1 (3.70%) DevOps
3 1 (3.70%) Disaster Recovery
3 1 (3.70%) Project Management
3 1 (3.70%) Regulatory Change
3 1 (3.70%) Roadmaps
3 1 (3.70%) Smart Manufacturing
3 1 (3.70%) Stakeholder Management
3 1 (3.70%) Test Automation
3 1 (3.70%) Threat Detection
3 1 (3.70%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 23 (85.19%) Ada
2 14 (51.85%) C++
3 10 (37.04%) Java
4 1 (3.70%) C
Qualifications
1 11 (40.74%) Security Cleared
2 9 (33.33%) SC Cleared
3 2 (7.41%) Degree
4 1 (3.70%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (85.19%) Def Stans
2 14 (51.85%) MISRA
2 14 (51.85%) MISRA C
3 1 (3.70%) GDPR
3 1 (3.70%) HAZOP
3 1 (3.70%) ISO 9001
3 1 (3.70%) QA
3 1 (3.70%) Software Quality Assurance
Systems Management
1 1 (3.70%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 1 (3.70%) Microsoft
1 1 (3.70%) QNX
1 1 (3.70%) Siemens
1 1 (3.70%) Twitter