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 25 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 555 561 634
Rank change year-on-year +6 +73 +175
Contract jobs citing IEC 61508 19 3 16
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.056% 0.008% 0.033%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.32% 0.061% 0.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 1 7
10th Percentile £470 - £396
25th Percentile £475 £58 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £62 £438
Median % change year-on-year +702.38% -85.76% -7.89%
75th Percentile £575 £67 £516
90th Percentile £600 - £645
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £62 £438
% change year-on-year +782.61% -85.76% -7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 2 9
10th Percentile £62.25 £61.90 £61.00
25th Percentile - £62.88 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.26% +2.31% +20.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £70.88 -
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.30 £71.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.26% +2.31% +18.34%

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 5,964 4,927 6,804
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.73% 13.33% 14.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,811 2,887 4,587
10th Percentile £300 £275 £313
25th Percentile £400 £391 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £610 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £732 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% +4.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 291 225 258
10th Percentile £13.60 £13.26 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £15.98 £20.07
Median hourly rate £28.00 £27.50 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% -25.17% +48.73%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.56 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £38.75
% change year-on-year -16.36% -29.03% +72.22%

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 25 October 2025.

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 25 October 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 +15 19 £500 +702.38% 39
UK excluding London -9 16 £550 +782.61% 45
South West +21 12 - - 25
North West -17 4 £550 +782.61% 1
North of England -28 4 £550 +782.61% 4
London - 3 £500 - 1
Work from Home - 2 - - 15

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:

Applications
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Development Applications
1 3 (15.79%) Artifactory
1 3 (15.79%) Jenkins
1 3 (15.79%) Rational DOORS
General
1 4 (21.05%) Social Skills
2 3 (15.79%) Law
3 2 (10.53%) Documentation Skills
3 2 (10.53%) Electronics
3 2 (10.53%) Finance
3 2 (10.53%) Manufacturing
3 2 (10.53%) Marketing
3 2 (10.53%) Public Sector
3 2 (10.53%) Telecoms
4 1 (5.26%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 6 (31.58%) Architect
1 6 (31.58%) Software Architect
2 5 (26.32%) C++ Software Engineer
2 5 (26.32%) Software Engineer
3 3 (15.79%) C++ Developer
3 3 (15.79%) Developer
4 1 (5.26%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (63.16%) Qt
2 9 (47.37%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 3 (15.79%) Distributed Systems
1 3 (15.79%) Self-Motivation
2 2 (10.53%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 1 (5.26%) Linux
1 1 (5.26%) Unix
1 1 (5.26%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (94.74%) Software Engineering
2 4 (21.05%) Problem-Solving
2 4 (21.05%) Software Testing
2 4 (21.05%) Systems Engineering
2 4 (21.05%) UML
3 3 (15.79%) CI/CD
3 3 (15.79%) Containerisation
3 3 (15.79%) FMEA
3 3 (15.79%) Multithreading
3 3 (15.79%) Project Delivery
3 3 (15.79%) Project Management
3 3 (15.79%) Software Architecture
3 3 (15.79%) Technical Leadership
3 3 (15.79%) Test Automation
3 3 (15.79%) Test Management
3 3 (15.79%) Validation
3 3 (15.79%) Verification and Validation
3 3 (15.79%) Workload Management
4 2 (10.53%) Digital Marketing
4 2 (10.53%) Requirements Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (84.21%) C++
2 12 (63.16%) Ada
3 4 (21.05%) C
3 4 (21.05%) Java
Qualifications
1 12 (63.16%) SC Cleared
1 12 (63.16%) Security Cleared
2 3 (15.79%) Degree
2 3 (15.79%) EMC Certification
2 3 (15.79%) HNC
2 3 (15.79%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (78.95%) Def Stans
2 12 (63.16%) MISRA
2 12 (63.16%) MISRA C
3 4 (21.05%) ISO 26262
4 3 (15.79%) IEC 62304
4 3 (15.79%) ISO/IEC 15288
Systems Management
1 3 (15.79%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 3 (15.79%) Atlassian
1 3 (15.79%) EMC
2 2 (10.53%) SAP