Embedded Firmware Job Trends

Embedded Firmware
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Embedded Firmware skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 608 540 547
Rank change year-on-year -68 +7 +310
Permanent jobs citing Embedded Firmware 87 97 333
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.24% 0.37%
As % of the System Software category 1.91% 1.90% 2.78%
Number of salaries quoted 70 53 218
10th Percentile £45,675 £48,050 £40,000
25th Percentile £51,250 £57,500 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,000 £62,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.80% +19.05% -12.50%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £64,688
90th Percentile £69,125 - £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £56,500 £62,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -9.60% +19.05% -12.50%

All System Software Skills
UK

Embedded Firmware falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring system software skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 4,565 5,092 11,978
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.75% 12.46% 13.37%
Number of salaries quoted 3,243 3,932 9,868
10th Percentile £28,000 £28,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £32,750 £37,500 £32,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £73,750 £80,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £87,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £43,000 £50,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year -14.00% +11.11% -5.26%

Embedded Firmware
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Embedded Firmware relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Embedded Firmware job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Firmware
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Firmware.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Firmware

Embedded Firmware
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Embedded Firmware over the 6 months to 1 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Embedded Firmware in the UK

Embedded Firmware
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Embedded Firmware within the UK over the 6 months to 1 April 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
UK excluding London -72 86 £56,500 -9.60% 62
England -46 72 £55,000 -10.93% 58
North of England -32 29 £55,000 -7.17% 8
South East -15 25 £55,000 -12.00% 22
Work from Home -39 21 £55,000 -16.67% 25
Yorkshire -37 15 £55,000 +10.00% 6
South West -60 12 £65,000 -13.33% 4
North West -13 9 £46,500 -7.92% 2
Scotland -26 7 £65,000 +4.00% 4
Wales -27 7 £57,500 -17.86%
North East -27 5 £56,500 -7.38%
West Midlands -11 3 £52,500 +7.14% 2
Midlands -29 3 £52,500 -1.87% 6
East of England -36 2 £58,250 -16.79% 15
Northern Ireland - 1 £65,000 - 3

Embedded Firmware
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:

Business Applications
1 8 (9.20%) Towers Watson Igloo
Communications & Networking
1 7 (8.05%) Bluetooth
1 7 (8.05%) Wireless
2 3 (3.45%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (2.30%) HTTP
3 2 (2.30%) Modbus
3 2 (2.30%) MQTT
3 2 (2.30%) RFID
4 1 (1.15%) Ethernet
4 1 (1.15%) LTE
4 1 (1.15%) Profibus
4 1 (1.15%) RS-232
4 1 (1.15%) RS-485
4 1 (1.15%) ZigBee
Development Applications
1 9 (10.34%) Git
2 8 (9.20%) Rational DOORS
3 5 (5.75%) Visual Studio
4 1 (1.15%) Bitbucket
4 1 (1.15%) JIRA
4 1 (1.15%) Zephyr
General
1 41 (47.13%) Electronics
2 10 (11.49%) Automotive
2 10 (11.49%) Manufacturing
3 7 (8.05%) Aviation
4 6 (6.90%) Social Skills
5 5 (5.75%) Aerospace
5 5 (5.75%) Finance
6 1 (1.15%) Cyber-Physical System
6 1 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.15%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 58 (66.67%) Embedded Engineer
2 41 (47.13%) Firmware Engineer
3 29 (33.33%) Embedded Firmware Engineer
4 23 (26.44%) Software Engineer
5 17 (19.54%) Embedded Software Engineer
6 15 (17.24%) Electronics Engineer
7 13 (14.94%) Design Engineer
8 10 (11.49%) Electronics Design Engineer
9 9 (10.34%) Senior
10 8 (9.20%) FPGA Engineer
11 6 (6.90%) Senior Firmware Engineer
12 5 (5.75%) Development Engineer
12 5 (5.75%) Embedded Software Design Engineer
12 5 (5.75%) Software Design Engineer
13 4 (4.60%) C++ Software Engineer
13 4 (4.60%) Senior Design Engineer
13 4 (4.60%) Senior Electronics Design Engineer
13 4 (4.60%) Senior Electronics Engineer
14 3 (3.45%) FPGA Design Engineer
14 3 (3.45%) Senior Embedded Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.30%) Flash
1 2 (2.30%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 27 (31.03%) IoT
2 25 (28.74%) Embedded Systems
3 18 (20.69%) FPGA
4 12 (13.79%) Algorithms
5 10 (11.49%) PCIe
6 9 (10.34%) Analogue Electronics
7 8 (9.20%) NVMe
7 8 (9.20%) VHDL
8 4 (4.60%) Onboarding
9 3 (3.45%) Smart Home
10 2 (2.30%) ARM Cortex
10 2 (2.30%) Photography
10 2 (2.30%) Raspberry Pi
11 1 (1.15%) Data Structures
11 1 (1.15%) Device Driver
11 1 (1.15%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 7 (8.05%) FreeRTOS
1 7 (8.05%) Linux
2 4 (4.60%) Embedded Linux
2 4 (4.60%) Windows
3 1 (1.15%) ThreadX
3 1 (1.15%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (34.48%) Software Engineering
2 15 (17.24%) System Testing
3 12 (13.79%) Agile
4 10 (11.49%) Mentoring
5 9 (10.34%) Software Testing
6 8 (9.20%) Configuration Management
6 8 (9.20%) FPGA Design
6 8 (9.20%) Information Assurance
6 8 (9.20%) Requirements Analysis
6 8 (9.20%) Roadmaps
6 8 (9.20%) Technology Roadmap
6 8 (9.20%) Test Automation
6 8 (9.20%) UVM
7 7 (8.05%) CI/CD
7 7 (8.05%) Collaborative Culture
7 7 (8.05%) Embedded Software Development
7 7 (8.05%) Technical Leadership
8 5 (5.75%) Collaborative Working
8 5 (5.75%) Computer Science
8 5 (5.75%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 45 (51.72%) C
2 40 (45.98%) C++
3 19 (21.84%) Embedded C
4 10 (11.49%) Embedded C++
5 8 (9.20%) Assembly Language
6 6 (6.90%) C#
7 1 (1.15%) MATLAB
7 1 (1.15%) Python
7 1 (1.15%) Rust
Qualifications
1 7 (8.05%) Degree
2 1 (1.15%) Master's Degree
2 1 (1.15%) PhD
2 1 (1.15%) SC Cleared
2 1 (1.15%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (5.75%) IEC 61508
2 4 (4.60%) ISO 26262
3 3 (3.45%) QA
4 2 (2.30%) JTAG
5 1 (1.15%) MISRA
5 1 (1.15%) MISRA C
System Software
1 87 (100.00%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 1 (1.15%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 8 (9.20%) Altera
1 8 (9.20%) Xilinx
2 5 (5.75%) EMC
3 2 (2.30%) Google
3 2 (2.30%) Microsoft
3 2 (2.30%) NVIDIA