Embedded Linux Job Trends

Embedded Linux
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Embedded Linux skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 661 610 624
Rank change year-on-year -51 +14 +177
Permanent jobs citing Embedded Linux 50 45 268
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.055% 0.10% 0.28%
As % of the Operating Systems category 0.93% 0.67% 1.96%
Number of salaries quoted 33 36 218
10th Percentile £45,000 £51,250 £45,000
25th Percentile £52,500 £52,500 £53,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £71,250 £69,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £62,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +8.33%

All Operating Systems
UK

Embedded Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring operating system skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 5,388 6,694 13,641
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.96% 15.25% 14.12%
Number of salaries quoted 3,966 4,452 10,781
10th Percentile £27,694 £27,263 £26,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £46,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.17% +2.22% -14.29%
75th Percentile £68,406 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £80,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £41,000 £40,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year +2.50% -5.88% -5.56%

Embedded Linux
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Embedded Linux job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Linux
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Embedded Linux

Embedded Linux
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Embedded Linux over the 6 months to 11 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Embedded Linux in the UK

Embedded Linux
Top 8 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Embedded Linux within the UK over the 6 months to 11 May 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 -46 49 £65,000 +4.00% 70
England -43 26 £60,000 +6.67% 70
Scotland +6 24 £65,000 - 3
Work from Home +11 20 £65,000 - 13
East of England -2 19 £57,500 -8.00% 31
South East -21 4 £75,000 -16.67% 15
West Midlands -24 2 £52,500 -23.64% 2
Midlands -35 2 £52,500 -23.64% 6

Embedded Linux
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 14 (28.00%) Ethernet
1 14 (28.00%) RS-232
2 3 (6.00%) Bluetooth
2 3 (6.00%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (6.00%) Wireless
3 2 (4.00%) RFID
4 1 (2.00%) LTE
4 1 (2.00%) Multicast
4 1 (2.00%) TCP/IP
Development Applications
1 2 (4.00%) Git
1 2 (4.00%) PetaLinux
1 2 (4.00%) Visual Studio
2 1 (2.00%) Bitbucket
2 1 (2.00%) CMake
2 1 (2.00%) JIRA
2 1 (2.00%) Zephyr
General
1 7 (14.00%) Electronics
2 4 (8.00%) Aerospace
3 2 (4.00%) Manufacturing
4 1 (2.00%) Automotive
4 1 (2.00%) Cyber-Physical System
4 1 (2.00%) Social Skills
4 1 (2.00%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 44 (88.00%) Embedded Engineer
2 37 (74.00%) Software Engineer
3 35 (70.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 31 (62.00%) Senior
5 29 (58.00%) Senior Embedded Engineer
6 28 (56.00%) Linux Engineer
7 27 (54.00%) Senior Embedded Software Engineer
7 27 (54.00%) Senior Software Engineer
8 24 (48.00%) Embedded Linux Engineer
9 16 (32.00%) Embedded Linux Software Engineer
10 14 (28.00%) Senior Linux Engineer
11 3 (6.00%) Firmware Engineer
12 2 (4.00%) Developer
12 2 (4.00%) Embedded Developer
12 2 (4.00%) Linux Developer
12 2 (4.00%) Senior Firmware Engineer
13 1 (2.00%) Embedded Firmware Engineer
13 1 (2.00%) Principal Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (38.00%) Yocto
2 1 (2.00%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 21 (42.00%) Device Driver
2 17 (34.00%) Embedded Systems
3 8 (16.00%) Robotics
4 7 (14.00%) IoT
5 4 (8.00%) Algorithms
5 4 (8.00%) FPGA
6 2 (4.00%) PCIe
6 2 (4.00%) Photography
6 2 (4.00%) Raspberry Pi
7 1 (2.00%) Data Structures
7 1 (2.00%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 50 (100.00%) Linux
2 2 (4.00%) Robot Operating System
3 1 (2.00%) FreeRTOS
3 1 (2.00%) ThreadX
3 1 (2.00%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (98.00%) Software Engineering
2 14 (28.00%) Agile
2 14 (28.00%) Scrum
3 4 (8.00%) Computer Science
4 3 (6.00%) Problem-Solving
5 2 (4.00%) DevOps
5 2 (4.00%) Memory Management
5 2 (4.00%) Signal Processing
5 2 (4.00%) UML
6 1 (2.00%) Device Driver Development
6 1 (2.00%) Full-Stack Development
6 1 (2.00%) Integration Testing
6 1 (2.00%) Performance Optimisation
6 1 (2.00%) Performance Tuning
6 1 (2.00%) Prototyping
6 1 (2.00%) Software Architecture
6 1 (2.00%) Software Testing
6 1 (2.00%) Systems Thinking
6 1 (2.00%) Use Case
6 1 (2.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 29 (58.00%) C++
2 26 (52.00%) C
3 20 (40.00%) Embedded C
4 8 (16.00%) Python
5 5 (10.00%) Embedded C++
6 3 (6.00%) C#
7 2 (4.00%) MATLAB
8 1 (2.00%) Rust
Qualifications
1 12 (24.00%) Degree
2 4 (8.00%) Master's Degree
3 3 (6.00%) Computer Science Degree
4 1 (2.00%) PhD
4 1 (2.00%) SC Cleared
4 1 (2.00%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 7 (14.00%) Embedded Firmware
1 7 (14.00%) Firmware