IEC 61508 Contract Job Trends

IEC 61508
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring IEC 61508 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 563 503 574
Rank change year-on-year -60 +71 +171
Contract jobs citing IEC 61508 38 24 11
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.097% 0.077% 0.025%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.56% 0.53% 0.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 1 5
10th Percentile £481 - £385
25th Percentile £509 £461 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £472 £550
Median % change year-on-year +16.53% -14.18% -
75th Percentile £591 £483 £575
90th Percentile £619 - £680
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £472 £550
% change year-on-year +16.53% -14.18% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 20 1
10th Percentile £61.25 £60.88 -
25th Percentile - £61.25 £72.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year - -13.33% +50.00%
75th Percentile - - £77.50
90th Percentile - £68.75 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £75.00
% change year-on-year - -13.33% +50.00%

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 6,767 4,529 6,442
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.28% 14.53% 14.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,342 2,667 4,271
10th Percentile £323 £260 £300
25th Percentile £412 £376 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £634
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.06% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 348 172 333
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.00 £12.24
25th Percentile £18.08 £21.00 £14.50
Median hourly rate £26.11 £29.50 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.49% +18.00% -7.85%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £69.76 £75.00 £73.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.10 £29.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -16.91% +16.00% -1.59%

IEC 61508
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IEC 61508 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IEC 61508 job vacancy trend in the UK

IEC 61508
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508

IEC 61508
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IEC 61508 over the 6 months to 6 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508

IEC 61508
Top 7 Contract Job 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 6 February 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 -49 38 £550 - 25
UK excluding London -60 38 £550 +16.53% 22
South West -5 33 - - 14
Work from Home -12 18 - - 5
North West -24 4 £550 -
North of England -50 4 £550 - 2
East of England - 1 - -

IEC 61508
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:

Communications & Networking
1 1 (2.63%) Ethernet
1 1 (2.63%) Modbus
1 1 (2.63%) Profibus
Development Applications
1 5 (13.16%) Rational Rhapsody
2 3 (7.89%) Artifactory
2 3 (7.89%) Jenkins
2 3 (7.89%) Rational DOORS
3 1 (2.63%) GitLab
General
1 4 (10.53%) Aerospace
2 3 (7.89%) Law
3 2 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
3 2 (5.26%) Electronics
3 2 (5.26%) Finance
3 2 (5.26%) Manufacturing
3 2 (5.26%) Marketing
3 2 (5.26%) Public Sector
3 2 (5.26%) Telecoms
4 1 (2.63%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 29 (76.32%) Software Engineer
2 21 (55.26%) C++ Software Engineer
3 4 (10.53%) C Software Engineer
3 4 (10.53%) C/C++ Software Engineer
3 4 (10.53%) Developer
3 4 (10.53%) Java Engineer
3 4 (10.53%) Java Software Engineer
4 3 (7.89%) Architect
4 3 (7.89%) Java Developer
4 3 (7.89%) Software Architect
5 2 (5.26%) SC Cleared Java Developer
6 1 (2.63%) C++ Developer
6 1 (2.63%) PLC Engineer
6 1 (2.63%) PLC Software Engineer
6 1 (2.63%) Safety Engineer
6 1 (2.63%) Siemens Engineer
6 1 (2.63%) Software Safety Engineer
6 1 (2.63%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (81.58%) Middleware
2 21 (55.26%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 3 (7.89%) Distributed Systems
2 2 (5.26%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.63%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (97.37%) Software Engineering
2 5 (13.16%) Ontologies
3 4 (10.53%) CI/CD
3 4 (10.53%) UML
4 3 (7.89%) Containerisation
4 3 (7.89%) FMEA
4 3 (7.89%) Multithreading
4 3 (7.89%) SDLC
5 2 (5.26%) Business Intelligence
5 2 (5.26%) Digital Marketing
5 2 (5.26%) Problem-Solving
5 2 (5.26%) Programme Management
5 2 (5.26%) Requirements Management
6 1 (2.63%) Safety Engineering
6 1 (2.63%) Systems Engineering
6 1 (2.63%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 30 (78.95%) C++
2 28 (73.68%) Ada
3 11 (28.95%) Java
4 10 (26.32%) C
Qualifications
1 11 (28.95%) SC Cleared
1 11 (28.95%) Security Cleared
2 1 (2.63%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (86.84%) Def Stans
2 21 (55.26%) MISRA
2 21 (55.26%) MISRA C
3 4 (10.53%) ISO 26262
4 3 (7.89%) IEC 62304
System Software
1 1 (2.63%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (2.63%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 3 (7.89%) Atlassian
2 2 (5.26%) SAP
3 1 (2.63%) IBM
3 1 (2.63%) Siemens