Embedded Software Engineer Job Trends

Embedded Software Engineer
UK

The median Embedded Software Engineer salary in the UK is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 20 September 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 306 583 246
Rank change year-on-year +277 -337 +326
Permanent jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 709 100 865
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.20% 1.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.23% 1.17%
Number of salaries quoted 567 48 617
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £48,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £71,250 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £70,000 £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -4.35%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 108,283 44,200 74,178
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.18% 89.65% 95.24%
Number of salaries quoted 74,199 25,992 44,363
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,500 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.36% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

Embedded Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Embedded Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Embedded Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Embedded Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Embedded Software Engineer over the 6 months to 20 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Embedded Software Engineer in the UK

Embedded Software Engineer
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Embedded Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 September 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
England +269 676 £61,500 +11.82% 235
UK excluding London +210 670 £60,000 +9.09% 184
South East +75 188 £60,000 -7.69% 47
South West +67 175 £60,000 +33.33% 30
Work from Home +12 113 £67,500 +32.35% 86
Midlands +41 102 £70,000 +33.33% 30
East of England +59 101 £75,000 +28.76% 65
North of England +1 80 £60,000 +9.09% 10
East Midlands +7 53 £54,000 +2.86% 19
West Midlands 0 49 £70,000 +13.36% 11
North West - 31 £60,000 - 4
London -42 29 £80,000 +56.10% 32
Yorkshire -14 28 £60,000 +9.09% 4
North East -43 21 £55,000 -2.65% 2
Scotland +13 15 £67,500 +32.35% 8
Wales -60 9 £47,000 -

Embedded Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 20 September 2026, Embedded Software Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Embedded Software Engineer in the job title.

1 709 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 160 (22.57%) C
3 146 (20.59%) C++
4 122 (17.21%) Firmware
5 107 (15.09%) Linux
6 70 (9.87%) Embedded Software Development
7 58 (8.18%) Embedded Linux
8 57 (8.04%) Wireless
9 46 (6.49%) Embedded C
10 44 (6.21%) Embedded Firmware
11 37 (5.22%) Python
12 34 (4.80%) Embedded C++
13 32 (4.51%) Degree
14 31 (4.37%) Bluetooth
15 29 (4.09%) FreeRTOS
16 28 (3.95%) CI/CD
16 28 (3.95%) Ethernet
17 27 (3.81%) Collaborative Engineering
18 25 (3.53%) Computer Science
18 25 (3.53%) Software Testing
19 24 (3.39%) Modbus
19 24 (3.39%) Problem-Solving
19 24 (3.39%) Yocto
20 22 (3.10%) Test Automation
21 21 (2.96%) Validation
21 21 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
22 20 (2.82%) DevOps
22 20 (2.82%) Git
23 19 (2.68%) Software Architecture
24 18 (2.54%) Lightworks

Embedded Software Engineer Skill Set
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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (0.14%) Confluence
Applications
1 18 (2.54%) Lightworks
2 11 (1.55%) Simulink
3 2 (0.28%) CANalyzer
Cloud Services
1 7 (0.99%) Azure
2 6 (0.85%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (0.71%) AWS
4 2 (0.28%) AWS IoT
4 2 (0.28%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 57 (8.04%) Wireless
2 31 (4.37%) Bluetooth
3 28 (3.95%) Ethernet
4 24 (3.39%) Modbus
5 21 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
6 17 (2.40%) ZigBee
7 16 (2.26%) RS-232
8 12 (1.69%) LTE
9 11 (1.55%) RS-485
10 10 (1.41%) MQTT
10 10 (1.41%) Profibus
11 8 (1.13%) TCP/IP
12 3 (0.42%) Software-Defined Radio
13 2 (0.28%) LoRaWAN
14 1 (0.14%) 5G
14 1 (0.14%) Multicast
14 1 (0.14%) NGN
14 1 (0.14%) SNMP
14 1 (0.14%) VLAN
Development Applications
1 20 (2.82%) Git
2 11 (1.55%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.99%) GDB
4 6 (0.85%) CMake
4 6 (0.85%) GitLab
5 5 (0.71%) PetaLinux
6 4 (0.56%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.42%) JIRA
8 2 (0.28%) CANoe
9 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.14%) Eclipse
9 1 (0.14%) GoogleTest
9 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 83 (11.71%) Electronics
2 43 (6.06%) Manufacturing
3 35 (4.94%) Automotive
4 25 (3.53%) Aviation
5 19 (2.68%) Social Skills
6 17 (2.40%) Aerospace
7 9 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (0.56%) Law
10 3 (0.42%) Finance
10 3 (0.42%) Multimedia
11 2 (0.28%) Wearables
12 1 (0.14%) Analytical Skills
12 1 (0.14%) Cyber-Physical System
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.39%) Yocto
2 5 (0.71%) Qt
3 4 (0.56%) GraphQL
3 4 (0.56%) pytest
3 4 (0.56%) Unity DI Container
4 3 (0.42%) Middleware
4 3 (0.42%) PyTorch
4 3 (0.42%) TensorFlow
4 3 (0.42%) WebSockets
5 1 (0.14%) QML
5 1 (0.14%) Qt Quick
Miscellaneous
1 90 (12.69%) Embedded Systems
2 39 (5.50%) IoT
3 25 (3.53%) Device Driver
4 21 (2.96%) ARM Cortex
5 20 (2.82%) Algorithms
6 12 (1.69%) Raspberry Pi
7 8 (1.13%) Robotics
8 6 (0.85%) CAN bus
8 6 (0.85%) FPGA
9 4 (0.56%) Verilog
9 4 (0.56%) VHDL
10 3 (0.42%) Media Streaming
11 1 (0.14%) Data Structures
11 1 (0.14%) Linux Command Line
11 1 (0.14%) MicroBlaze
11 1 (0.14%) RISC-V
11 1 (0.14%) Smart Energy
Operating Systems
1 107 (15.09%) Linux
2 58 (8.18%) Embedded Linux
3 29 (4.09%) FreeRTOS
4 5 (0.71%) VxWorks
5 2 (0.28%) SafeRTOS
6 1 (0.14%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 709 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 70 (9.87%) Embedded Software Development
3 28 (3.95%) CI/CD
4 27 (3.81%) Collaborative Engineering
5 25 (3.53%) Computer Science
5 25 (3.53%) Software Testing
6 24 (3.39%) Problem-Solving
7 22 (3.10%) Test Automation
8 21 (2.96%) Validation
9 20 (2.82%) DevOps
10 19 (2.68%) Software Architecture
11 18 (2.54%) Technology Transformation
12 17 (2.40%) Continuous Improvement
13 16 (2.26%) Signal Processing
14 14 (1.97%) Collaborative Culture
15 10 (1.41%) Cybersecurity
15 10 (1.41%) Mentoring
16 9 (1.27%) Agile
16 9 (1.27%) TDD
16 9 (1.27%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 160 (22.57%) C
2 146 (20.59%) C++
3 46 (6.49%) Embedded C
4 37 (5.22%) Python
5 34 (4.80%) Embedded C++
6 15 (2.12%) MATLAB
7 11 (1.55%) Rust
8 5 (0.71%) Ada
8 5 (0.71%) Bash
9 1 (0.14%) Assembly Language
9 1 (0.14%) C#
9 1 (0.14%) R
Qualifications
1 32 (4.51%) Degree
2 14 (1.97%) Master's Degree
3 8 (1.13%) Security Cleared
4 7 (0.99%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (0.56%) DV Cleared
5 4 (0.56%) SC Cleared
6 3 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.28%) HNC
7 2 (0.28%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (0.85%) IEC 61508
1 6 (0.85%) JTAG
2 5 (0.71%) MISRA
2 5 (0.71%) MISRA C
3 4 (0.56%) ECSS
3 4 (0.56%) QA
4 3 (0.42%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.42%) ISO 26262
5 2 (0.28%) Automotive SPICE
6 1 (0.14%) DO-254
6 1 (0.14%) HAZOP
6 1 (0.14%) IEC 62304
System Software
1 122 (17.21%) Firmware
2 44 (6.21%) Embedded Firmware
3 5 (0.71%) Docker
Systems Management
1 4 (0.56%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 4 (0.56%) Peregrine
1 4 (0.56%) Xilinx
2 3 (0.42%) Google
3 2 (0.28%) Atlassian
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft