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 28 September 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 301 581 264
Rank change year-on-year +280 -317 +313
Permanent jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 710 99 776
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.20% 1.02%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.22% 1.07%
Number of salaries quoted 567 47 529
10th Percentile £45,000 £44,500 £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 £62,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £67,750 £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 109,191 44,243 72,281
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.96% 89.71% 95.27%
Number of salaries quoted 74,643 25,711 42,130
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,500
25th Percentile £40,750 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,598 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.54% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £93,750
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 28 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 28 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 +273 678 £61,500 +11.82% 230
UK excluding London +219 671 £60,000 +9.09% 185
South East +64 183 £60,000 -7.69% 45
South West +60 178 £60,000 +33.33% 34
Work from Home +24 114 £67,500 +32.35% 80
East of England +69 106 £75,000 +20.00% 49
Midlands +37 103 £70,000 +33.33% 32
North of England +12 80 £60,000 +9.09% 14
East Midlands +9 56 £54,000 +2.86% 19
West Midlands +7 47 £70,000 +27.27% 13
North West - 32 £60,000 - 6
London -23 28 £80,000 +56.10% 29
Yorkshire -5 27 £60,000 +9.09% 5
North East -46 21 £55,000 +13.99% 3
Scotland +7 15 £67,500 +32.35% 16
Wales -55 6 £50,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 28 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.

1 710 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 151 (21.27%) C
3 142 (20.00%) C++
4 114 (16.06%) Firmware
5 110 (15.49%) Linux
6 67 (9.44%) Embedded Software Development
7 59 (8.31%) Wireless
8 57 (8.03%) Embedded Linux
9 44 (6.20%) Embedded C
10 41 (5.77%) Embedded Firmware
11 37 (5.21%) Python
12 33 (4.65%) Embedded C++
13 31 (4.37%) Bluetooth
14 29 (4.08%) Degree
15 28 (3.94%) CI/CD
15 28 (3.94%) Collaborative Engineering
15 28 (3.94%) Ethernet
16 26 (3.66%) Yocto
17 25 (3.52%) FreeRTOS
18 24 (3.38%) Software Testing
19 23 (3.24%) Modbus
19 23 (3.24%) Problem-Solving
20 22 (3.10%) Computer Science
20 22 (3.10%) Wi-Fi
21 21 (2.96%) Test Automation
21 21 (2.96%) Validation
22 19 (2.68%) DevOps
22 19 (2.68%) Git
22 19 (2.68%) Lightworks
22 19 (2.68%) Technology Transformation

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 19 (2.68%) Lightworks
2 11 (1.55%) Simulink
3 1 (0.14%) CANalyzer
Cloud Services
1 7 (0.99%) Azure
2 6 (0.85%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (0.70%) AWS
4 2 (0.28%) AWS IoT
4 2 (0.28%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 59 (8.31%) Wireless
2 31 (4.37%) Bluetooth
3 28 (3.94%) Ethernet
4 23 (3.24%) Modbus
5 22 (3.10%) Wi-Fi
6 16 (2.25%) ZigBee
7 15 (2.11%) RS-232
8 13 (1.83%) LTE
9 10 (1.41%) MQTT
9 10 (1.41%) RS-485
10 9 (1.27%) TCP/IP
11 8 (1.13%) Profibus
12 3 (0.42%) Software-Defined Radio
13 2 (0.28%) LoRaWAN
14 1 (0.14%) 5G
14 1 (0.14%) NGN
14 1 (0.14%) SNMP
14 1 (0.14%) VLAN
Development Applications
1 19 (2.68%) Git
2 11 (1.55%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.99%) GDB
4 6 (0.85%) GitLab
4 6 (0.85%) PetaLinux
5 5 (0.70%) CMake
6 4 (0.56%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.42%) JIRA
8 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.14%) CANoe
8 1 (0.14%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.14%) GoogleTest
8 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 80 (11.27%) Electronics
2 42 (5.92%) Manufacturing
3 33 (4.65%) Automotive
4 27 (3.80%) Aviation
5 17 (2.39%) Social Skills
6 16 (2.25%) Aerospace
7 8 (1.13%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (0.70%) 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%) Avionics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.66%) Yocto
2 4 (0.56%) GraphQL
2 4 (0.56%) pytest
2 4 (0.56%) Qt
2 4 (0.56%) Unity DI Container
3 3 (0.42%) Middleware
3 3 (0.42%) PyTorch
3 3 (0.42%) TensorFlow
4 2 (0.28%) WebSockets
5 1 (0.14%) QML
5 1 (0.14%) Qt Quick
Miscellaneous
1 89 (12.54%) Embedded Systems
2 36 (5.07%) IoT
3 26 (3.66%) Device Driver
4 21 (2.96%) Algorithms
5 18 (2.54%) ARM Cortex
6 13 (1.83%) Raspberry Pi
7 8 (1.13%) Robotics
8 7 (0.99%) FPGA
9 6 (0.85%) CAN bus
10 4 (0.56%) Verilog
10 4 (0.56%) VHDL
11 3 (0.42%) Media Streaming
12 1 (0.14%) Linux Command Line
12 1 (0.14%) MicroBlaze
12 1 (0.14%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 110 (15.49%) Linux
2 57 (8.03%) Embedded Linux
3 25 (3.52%) FreeRTOS
4 5 (0.70%) VxWorks
5 1 (0.14%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 710 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 67 (9.44%) Embedded Software Development
3 28 (3.94%) CI/CD
3 28 (3.94%) Collaborative Engineering
4 24 (3.38%) Software Testing
5 23 (3.24%) Problem-Solving
6 22 (3.10%) Computer Science
7 21 (2.96%) Test Automation
7 21 (2.96%) Validation
8 19 (2.68%) DevOps
8 19 (2.68%) Technology Transformation
9 18 (2.54%) Signal Processing
9 18 (2.54%) Software Architecture
10 16 (2.25%) Continuous Improvement
11 13 (1.83%) Collaborative Culture
12 10 (1.41%) Agile
12 10 (1.41%) AI
12 10 (1.41%) Cybersecurity
12 10 (1.41%) Mentoring
13 8 (1.13%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 151 (21.27%) C
2 142 (20.00%) C++
3 44 (6.20%) Embedded C
4 37 (5.21%) Python
5 33 (4.65%) Embedded C++
6 16 (2.25%) MATLAB
7 10 (1.41%) Rust
8 5 (0.70%) Ada
8 5 (0.70%) Bash
9 1 (0.14%) Assembly Language
Qualifications
1 29 (4.08%) Degree
2 13 (1.83%) Master's Degree
3 7 (0.99%) Security Cleared
4 6 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (0.56%) DV Cleared
6 3 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (0.42%) SC Cleared
7 1 (0.14%) HNC
7 1 (0.14%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (0.85%) JTAG
2 4 (0.56%) ECSS
2 4 (0.56%) QA
3 3 (0.42%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.42%) IEC 61508
3 3 (0.42%) MISRA
3 3 (0.42%) MISRA C
4 2 (0.28%) Automotive SPICE
4 2 (0.28%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 114 (16.06%) Firmware
2 41 (5.77%) Embedded Firmware
3 5 (0.70%) 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 1 (0.14%) Atlassian
3 1 (0.14%) Microsoft