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 29 August 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 305 546 221
Rank change year-on-year +241 -325 +357
Permanent jobs requiring an Embedded Software Engineer 664 129 996
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.26% 1.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.29% 1.29%
Number of salaries quoted 530 71 742
10th Percentile £45,000 £43,750 £40,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £71,250 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £70,000 £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,750 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +10.45% - -6.78%

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 102,744 44,989 77,310
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.86% 89.84% 95.15%
Number of salaries quoted 70,528 26,760 49,758
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £74,888 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £91,250
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 29 August 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 29 August 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 +266 630 £65,000 +18.18% 150
UK excluding London +202 628 £60,750 +10.45% 140
South East +71 177 £62,500 -1.96% 32
South West +60 159 £60,000 +33.33% 25
Work from Home +4 107 £67,500 +32.35% 53
East of England +72 97 £75,000 +38.89% 52
Midlands +41 92 £68,750 +30.95% 18
North of England +8 74 £60,000 +9.09% 15
East Midlands +7 47 £54,000 +2.86% 9
West Midlands +22 45 £70,000 +13.36% 9
Yorkshire -16 31 £60,000 +20.00% 3
London -23 30 £80,000 +45.45% 13
North West +6 24 £50,000 -9.09% 10
Scotland +3 21 £67,500 +32.35% 2
North East -43 19 £55,000 -21.43% 2
Wales -61 8 £44,000 -32.31% 1

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

For the 6 months to 29 August 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.

1 664 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 161 (24.25%) C
3 145 (21.84%) C++
4 120 (18.07%) Firmware
5 98 (14.76%) Linux
6 64 (9.64%) Embedded Software Development
7 54 (8.13%) Embedded Linux
8 51 (7.68%) Wireless
9 50 (7.53%) Embedded C
10 44 (6.63%) Embedded Firmware
11 35 (5.27%) Python
12 34 (5.12%) Degree
13 33 (4.97%) Embedded C++
14 28 (4.22%) Bluetooth
15 27 (4.07%) Ethernet
15 27 (4.07%) Software Testing
16 26 (3.92%) CI/CD
16 26 (3.92%) Computer Science
16 26 (3.92%) FreeRTOS
17 24 (3.61%) Collaborative Engineering
17 24 (3.61%) Yocto
18 22 (3.31%) Test Automation
18 22 (3.31%) Validation
19 21 (3.16%) DevOps
19 21 (3.16%) Modbus
19 21 (3.16%) Problem-Solving
20 19 (2.86%) Git
20 19 (2.86%) RS-232
20 19 (2.86%) Software Architecture
21 18 (2.71%) Continuous Improvement

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 (0.15%) Confluence
Applications
1 14 (2.11%) Lightworks
2 9 (1.36%) Simulink
3 3 (0.45%) CANalyzer
Cloud Services
1 6 (0.90%) Azure
1 6 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
2 5 (0.75%) AWS
3 2 (0.30%) AWS IoT
3 2 (0.30%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 51 (7.68%) Wireless
2 28 (4.22%) Bluetooth
3 27 (4.07%) Ethernet
4 21 (3.16%) Modbus
5 19 (2.86%) RS-232
6 17 (2.56%) Wi-Fi
6 17 (2.56%) ZigBee
7 11 (1.66%) RS-485
8 10 (1.51%) Profibus
9 9 (1.36%) LTE
9 9 (1.36%) MQTT
10 5 (0.75%) TCP/IP
11 2 (0.30%) LoRaWAN
11 2 (0.30%) Software-Defined Radio
12 1 (0.15%) 5G
12 1 (0.15%) Multicast
Development Applications
1 19 (2.86%) Git
2 11 (1.66%) Jenkins
3 7 (1.05%) GDB
4 6 (0.90%) CMake
4 6 (0.90%) GitLab
5 4 (0.60%) Robot Framework
6 3 (0.45%) CANoe
6 3 (0.45%) JIRA
6 3 (0.45%) PetaLinux
7 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.15%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.15%) GoogleTest
7 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 85 (12.80%) Electronics
2 40 (6.02%) Manufacturing
3 35 (5.27%) Automotive
4 22 (3.31%) Aviation
5 20 (3.01%) Aerospace
5 20 (3.01%) Social Skills
6 9 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (0.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (0.60%) Law
9 3 (0.45%) Finance
9 3 (0.45%) Multimedia
10 2 (0.30%) Wearables
11 1 (0.15%) Analytical Skills
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber-Physical System
11 1 (0.15%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.15%) Welsh Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.61%) Yocto
2 4 (0.60%) GraphQL
2 4 (0.60%) pytest
2 4 (0.60%) Qt
2 4 (0.60%) Unity DI Container
2 4 (0.60%) WebSockets
3 3 (0.45%) Middleware
3 3 (0.45%) PyTorch
3 3 (0.45%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 82 (12.35%) Embedded Systems
2 39 (5.87%) IoT
3 26 (3.92%) Device Driver
4 21 (3.16%) ARM Cortex
5 19 (2.86%) Algorithms
6 10 (1.51%) Robotics
7 9 (1.36%) Raspberry Pi
8 6 (0.90%) CAN bus
9 4 (0.60%) FPGA
10 3 (0.45%) Media Streaming
10 3 (0.45%) Verilog
10 3 (0.45%) VHDL
11 1 (0.15%) Data Structures
11 1 (0.15%) Legacy Code
11 1 (0.15%) Linux Command Line
11 1 (0.15%) Self-Driving Car
11 1 (0.15%) Smart Energy
Operating Systems
1 98 (14.76%) Linux
2 54 (8.13%) Embedded Linux
3 26 (3.92%) FreeRTOS
4 5 (0.75%) VxWorks
5 2 (0.30%) SafeRTOS
6 1 (0.15%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 664 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 64 (9.64%) Embedded Software Development
3 27 (4.07%) Software Testing
4 26 (3.92%) CI/CD
4 26 (3.92%) Computer Science
5 24 (3.61%) Collaborative Engineering
6 22 (3.31%) Test Automation
6 22 (3.31%) Validation
7 21 (3.16%) DevOps
7 21 (3.16%) Problem-Solving
8 19 (2.86%) Software Architecture
9 18 (2.71%) Continuous Improvement
10 16 (2.41%) Signal Processing
11 15 (2.26%) Collaborative Culture
11 15 (2.26%) Technology Transformation
12 12 (1.81%) Agile
13 11 (1.66%) Cybersecurity
13 11 (1.66%) Roadmaps
14 10 (1.51%) Mentoring
14 10 (1.51%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 161 (24.25%) C
2 145 (21.84%) C++
3 50 (7.53%) Embedded C
4 35 (5.27%) Python
5 33 (4.97%) Embedded C++
6 12 (1.81%) MATLAB
7 10 (1.51%) Rust
8 5 (0.75%) Ada
8 5 (0.75%) Bash
9 1 (0.15%) Assembly Language
9 1 (0.15%) C#
9 1 (0.15%) R
Qualifications
1 34 (5.12%) Degree
2 15 (2.26%) Master's Degree
3 9 (1.36%) Security Cleared
4 7 (1.05%) Computer Science Degree
5 5 (0.75%) SC Cleared
6 4 (0.60%) DV Cleared
7 3 (0.45%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.45%) HNC
7 3 (0.45%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (0.90%) IEC 61508
1 6 (0.90%) JTAG
2 5 (0.75%) MISRA
2 5 (0.75%) MISRA C
2 5 (0.75%) QA
3 3 (0.45%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.45%) ECSS
3 3 (0.45%) ISO 26262
4 2 (0.30%) Automotive SPICE
5 1 (0.15%) DO-254
5 1 (0.15%) HAZOP
5 1 (0.15%) IEC 62304
System Software
1 120 (18.07%) Firmware
2 44 (6.63%) Embedded Firmware
3 5 (0.75%) Docker
Systems Management
1 4 (0.60%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 4 (0.60%) Peregrine
2 3 (0.45%) Atlassian
2 3 (0.45%) Google
2 3 (0.45%) Xilinx