Firmware Job Trends

Firmware
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Firmware skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 384 353 306
Rank change year-on-year -31 -47 +265
Permanent jobs citing Firmware 281 397 518
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.74% 0.93%
As % of the System Software category 6.63% 5.94% 5.99%
Number of salaries quoted 230 181 358
10th Percentile £41,250 £43,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £47,500 £50,000 £39,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +13.21% -3.64%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £71,975
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -1.82%

All System Software Skills
UK

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 4,236 6,678 8,644
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 7.06% 12.48% 15.52%
Number of salaries quoted 2,994 4,006 7,085
10th Percentile £27,500 £30,188 £28,805
25th Percentile £32,000 £40,000 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% -
75th Percentile £74,500 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £98,750 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £42,000 £50,000 £48,000
% change year-on-year -16.00% +4.17% +1.05%

Firmware
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Firmware job vacancy trend in the UK

Firmware
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firmware.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firmware

Firmware
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Firmware over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Firmware in the UK

Firmware
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Firmware within the UK over the 6 months to 14 January 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 -31 226 £55,000 -1.79% 317
UK excluding London -42 223 £55,000 -8.33% 325
Work from Home +24 90 £55,000 -9.84% 111
North of England +30 57 £55,000 -0.90% 47
South East -16 53 £55,000 - 105
London +81 51 £60,000 +9.09% 25
Scotland +20 34 £70,000 +16.67% 17
Yorkshire +10 29 £55,000 +35.72% 23
Midlands -11 26 £50,000 -22.18% 40
North West +27 20 £46,500 -9.71% 16
West Midlands +16 20 £52,500 -17.32% 14
East of England +3 19 £71,250 +34.43% 54
South West -44 19 £52,500 -19.23% 57
Wales +7 15 £57,500 -17.86% 12
North East +4 8 £56,500 -0.44% 8
East Midlands -35 6 £25,750 -63.21% 25

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:

Application Platforms
1 6 (2.14%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.78%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 5 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.07%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.36%) Acrobat
3 1 (0.36%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.71%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.36%) Towers Watson Igloo
Cloud Services
1 36 (12.81%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (12.46%) Azure
3 22 (7.83%) Entra ID
4 12 (4.27%) Cloud Computing
5 4 (1.42%) AWS
5 4 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
6 3 (1.07%) GCP
7 1 (0.36%) AWS IoT
7 1 (0.36%) GitHub
7 1 (0.36%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.36%) Power Automate
7 1 (0.36%) Rubrik
7 1 (0.36%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 36 (12.81%) Firewall
2 28 (9.96%) Wireless
3 18 (6.41%) Wi-Fi
4 17 (6.05%) DNS
4 17 (6.05%) RS-232
5 16 (5.69%) WAN
6 15 (5.34%) Software-Defined Radio
7 14 (4.98%) Cisco IOS
7 14 (4.98%) TCP/IP
8 13 (4.63%) Bluetooth
8 13 (4.63%) NX-OS
9 12 (4.27%) Cisco ISE
10 11 (3.91%) DHCP
10 11 (3.91%) LAN
11 10 (3.56%) Network Security
11 10 (3.56%) VLAN
11 10 (3.56%) VPN
12 9 (3.20%) Cisco Firepower
12 9 (3.20%) Junos
12 9 (3.20%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.78%) Amazon RDS
2 3 (1.07%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.71%) Big Data
3 2 (0.71%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.71%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.36%) InfluxDB
4 1 (0.36%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 19 (6.76%) Git
2 15 (5.34%) Visual Studio
3 5 (1.78%) GitLab
4 3 (1.07%) Eclipse
4 3 (1.07%) LabVIEW
4 3 (1.07%) Rational DOORS
5 2 (0.71%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.71%) JIRA
6 1 (0.36%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.36%) Selenium
6 1 (0.36%) Subversion
6 1 (0.36%) WebDriver
General
1 82 (29.18%) Electronics
2 57 (20.28%) Social Skills
3 38 (13.52%) Finance
4 23 (8.19%) Manufacturing
5 20 (7.12%) Automotive
6 13 (4.63%) Analytical Skills
6 13 (4.63%) Law
7 11 (3.91%) Aviation
8 9 (3.20%) Aerospace
9 7 (2.49%) Legal
10 6 (2.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (2.14%) Military
10 6 (2.14%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (1.42%) Banking
13 3 (1.07%) Advertising
13 3 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.71%) Avionics
14 2 (0.71%) Organisational Skills
15 1 (0.36%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 90 (32.03%) Embedded Engineer
2 64 (22.78%) Software Engineer
3 50 (17.79%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 48 (17.08%) Firmware Engineer
5 31 (11.03%) Network Engineer
6 26 (9.25%) Embedded Firmware Engineer
6 26 (9.25%) Senior
7 24 (8.54%) Electronics Engineer
8 18 (6.41%) Design Engineer
9 15 (5.34%) Architect
10 14 (4.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 13 (4.63%) IT Support
11 13 (4.63%) Lead
12 12 (4.27%) C++ Software Engineer
13 11 (3.91%) Electronics Design Engineer
13 11 (3.91%) IT Engineer
14 10 (3.56%) C# Software Engineer
14 10 (3.56%) Cloud Engineer
14 10 (3.56%) Firmware Architect
14 10 (3.56%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.20%) Flash
2 6 (2.14%) .NET
3 2 (0.71%) .NET Framework
3 2 (0.71%) Middleware
3 2 (0.71%) Next.js
3 2 (0.71%) Node.js
3 2 (0.71%) React
3 2 (0.71%) WebSockets
4 1 (0.36%) Django
4 1 (0.36%) React Native
4 1 (0.36%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 51 (18.15%) Embedded Systems
2 30 (10.68%) IoT
3 22 (7.83%) FPGA
4 15 (5.34%) Onboarding
5 13 (4.63%) RISC-V
6 11 (3.91%) Algorithms
6 11 (3.91%) e-Learning
6 11 (3.91%) MicroBlaze
7 10 (3.56%) Analogue Electronics
8 9 (3.20%) PKI
9 7 (2.49%) Data Centre
9 7 (2.49%) Hybrid Cloud
9 7 (2.49%) Renewable Energy
10 6 (2.14%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (2.14%) Management Information System
10 6 (2.14%) SCADA
11 5 (1.78%) CMDB
11 5 (1.78%) Video Conferencing
12 4 (1.42%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.42%) Device Driver
Operating Systems
1 48 (17.08%) Windows
2 37 (13.17%) Linux
3 16 (5.69%) Windows Server
4 15 (5.34%) Embedded Linux
5 9 (3.20%) Android
6 5 (1.78%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (1.42%) Unix
8 1 (0.36%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.36%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (32.74%) Software Engineering
2 44 (15.66%) Mentoring
3 42 (14.95%) Problem-Solving
4 38 (13.52%) Agile
5 36 (12.81%) Continuous Improvement
6 25 (8.90%) Validation
7 23 (8.19%) Signal Processing
8 22 (7.83%) Digital Signal Processing
9 19 (6.76%) Innovative Thinking
10 18 (6.41%) Vulnerability Management
11 17 (6.05%) ITSM
11 17 (6.05%) Task Automation
11 17 (6.05%) Test Automation
12 16 (5.69%) Change Management
12 16 (5.69%) CI/CD
12 16 (5.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 16 (5.69%) Service Management
13 15 (5.34%) AI
13 15 (5.34%) ITIL
13 15 (5.34%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 101 (35.94%) C
2 89 (31.67%) C++
3 35 (12.46%) Embedded C
4 27 (9.61%) Python
5 23 (8.19%) PowerShell
6 18 (6.41%) C#
7 16 (5.69%) Embedded C++
8 7 (2.49%) SQL
9 5 (1.78%) MATLAB
10 4 (1.42%) Bash
10 4 (1.42%) Java
11 2 (0.71%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.36%) Assembly Language
12 1 (0.36%) Groovy
12 1 (0.36%) JavaScript
12 1 (0.36%) Rust
Qualifications
1 49 (17.44%) Security Cleared
2 38 (13.52%) Degree
3 35 (12.46%) SC Cleared
4 16 (5.69%) DV Cleared
5 13 (4.63%) CCNP
5 13 (4.63%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (3.20%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (2.85%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (2.14%) NVQ Level 3
9 5 (1.78%) CCIE
9 5 (1.78%) CCNA
9 5 (1.78%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (1.78%) DBS Check
9 5 (1.78%) JNCIA
9 5 (1.78%) JNCIP
9 5 (1.78%) Network+ Certification
10 4 (1.42%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.71%) HNC
11 2 (0.71%) PhD
12 1 (0.36%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 7 (2.49%) IEC 61508
2 7 (2.49%) QA
3 6 (2.14%) MISRA
4 5 (1.78%) GRC
4 5 (1.78%) ISO 9001
4 5 (1.78%) SLA
5 4 (1.42%) GDPR
5 4 (1.42%) ISO 26262
6 2 (0.71%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.71%) ISO 9000
6 2 (0.71%) JTAG
6 2 (0.71%) NIST
7 1 (0.36%) Def Stans
7 1 (0.36%) GxP
System Software
1 101 (35.94%) Embedded Firmware
2 29 (10.32%) Active Directory
3 9 (3.20%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.85%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.78%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.42%) BitLocker
7 2 (0.71%) Docker
8 1 (0.36%) NFS
8 1 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 23 (8.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (5.69%) SCCM
3 10 (3.56%) Ansible
3 10 (3.56%) Terraform
3 10 (3.56%) vCenter Server
4 4 (1.42%) Dell DRAC
5 3 (1.07%) FortiGate
5 3 (1.07%) Functional Safety
6 1 (0.36%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.36%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.36%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 55 (19.57%) Cisco
2 29 (10.32%) Microsoft
3 26 (9.25%) Juniper
4 20 (7.12%) Fortinet
5 18 (6.41%) EMC
6 16 (5.69%) SolarWinds
6 16 (5.69%) VMware
7 10 (3.56%) Palo Alto
8 9 (3.20%) Broadcom
9 8 (2.85%) Apple
10 5 (1.78%) Dell
10 5 (1.78%) HP
11 4 (1.42%) CheckPoint
11 4 (1.42%) MobileIron
12 3 (1.07%) Adobe
12 3 (1.07%) ConnectWise
12 3 (1.07%) Draytek
12 3 (1.07%) Meraki
12 3 (1.07%) Zscaler
13 2 (0.71%) SonicWALL