FPGA Job Trends

Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term FPGA in permanent job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered in vacancies that cited FPGA over the 6 months leading up to 7 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 519 542 629
Rank change year-on-year +23 +87 +199
Permanent jobs citing FPGA 148 203 108
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.29% 0.30% 0.20%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.79% 0.92% 0.52%
Number of salaries quoted 68 100 87
10th Percentile £48,375 £37,500 £37,973
25th Percentile £54,943 £45,000 £47,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -8.33% -14.29%
75th Percentile £72,000 £72,500 £85,000
90th Percentile £84,125 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £67,500 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +22.73% -8.33% -14.29%

All Generic Skills
UK

FPGA falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 18,810 22,098 20,630
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 37.09% 32.47% 38.82%
Number of salaries quoted 10,624 10,729 15,507
10th Percentile £27,750 £33,500 £34,000
25th Percentile £36,188 £45,750 £45,653
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,600 £60,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £77,500 £83,750 £83,750
90th Percentile £102,500 £110,000 £106,289
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £54,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -16.67% -1.82% +0.22%

FPGA
Job Vacancy Trend

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

FPGA job vacancy trend in the UK

FPGA
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing FPGA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing FPGA

FPGA
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing FPGA over the 6 months to 7 November 2025.

Salary histogram for FPGA in the UK

FPGA
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing FPGA within the UK over the 6 months to 7 November 2025. 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 -1 110 £67,500 +22.73% 207
England +22 103 £68,000 +20.89% 204
Work from Home +47 64 £67,500 -25.00% 87
South East +9 44 £55,000 -9.84% 86
London +48 21 £125,000 +4.17% 47
East of England +2 19 £68,000 +23.64% 65
Wales +24 15 £57,500 - 10
Scotland +2 13 £67,500 +23.29% 14
South West +34 8 £75,000 +15.38% 15
North of England +7 7 £75,000 +36.36% 9
North West +14 5 £75,000 - 3
Midlands +33 3 £77,500 +93.75% 8
Yorkshire +17 2 - - 5
West Midlands - 2 £77,500 - 2
East Midlands +7 1 - - 6
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 7

FPGA
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:

Applications
1 5 (3.38%) Simulink
2 4 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.68%) OrCAD
Cloud Services
1 2 (1.35%) AWS
2 1 (0.68%) Amazon S3
2 1 (0.68%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 35 (23.65%) Software-Defined Radio
2 20 (13.51%) Ethernet
3 19 (12.84%) TCP/IP
4 9 (6.08%) RS-232
5 2 (1.35%) Wireless
6 1 (0.68%) 4G
6 1 (0.68%) 5G
6 1 (0.68%) Internet
6 1 (0.68%) Multicast
Development Applications
1 13 (8.78%) Git
2 5 (3.38%) JIRA
2 5 (3.38%) Rational DOORS
3 4 (2.70%) GitLab
4 2 (1.35%) Eclipse
5 1 (0.68%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.68%) CircleCI
5 1 (0.68%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.68%) Redmine
5 1 (0.68%) Subversion
General
1 52 (35.14%) Electronics
2 31 (20.95%) Finance
3 19 (12.84%) Banking
3 19 (12.84%) Investment Banking
4 15 (10.14%) Aerospace
5 13 (8.78%) Social Skills
6 12 (8.11%) Automotive
7 11 (7.43%) Manufacturing
8 10 (6.76%) Presentation Skills
9 9 (6.08%) Aviation
10 7 (4.73%) Telecoms
11 5 (3.38%) Analytical Skills
11 5 (3.38%) Marketing
12 4 (2.70%) Public Sector
13 3 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.68%) Back Office
14 1 (0.68%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 34 (22.97%) Systems Engineer
2 33 (22.30%) FPGA Engineer
3 32 (21.62%) Radio Engineer
3 32 (21.62%) Senior
4 24 (16.22%) Electronics Engineer
5 19 (12.84%) C++ Developer
5 19 (12.84%) Design Engineer
5 19 (12.84%) Developer
5 19 (12.84%) Investment Banking C++ Developer
5 19 (12.84%) Linux Developer
5 19 (12.84%) Linux Scripter
5 19 (12.84%) Low Latency C++ Developer
5 19 (12.84%) Senior Electronics Engineer
6 17 (11.49%) FPGA Design Engineer
7 12 (8.11%) Senior FPGA Engineer
8 9 (6.08%) Firmware Engineer
9 8 (5.41%) Lead
10 6 (4.05%) Designer
11 5 (3.38%) DSP Engineer
12 4 (2.70%) Process Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (2.03%) .NET
2 1 (0.68%) DPDK
2 1 (0.68%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 35 (23.65%) VHDL
2 26 (17.57%) Embedded Systems
3 19 (12.84%) Verilog
4 7 (4.73%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (4.05%) Algorithms
6 5 (3.38%) e-Learning
7 3 (2.03%) ASIC
7 3 (2.03%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (1.35%) Device Driver
8 2 (1.35%) Driving Licence
8 2 (1.35%) IoT
9 1 (0.68%) Data Centre
9 1 (0.68%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.68%) Onboarding
9 1 (0.68%) PCIe
9 1 (0.68%) Robotics
9 1 (0.68%) Smart City
Operating Systems
1 45 (30.41%) Linux
2 3 (2.03%) Embedded Linux
3 2 (1.35%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (29.73%) Signal Processing
2 43 (29.05%) FPGA Design
3 36 (24.32%) Innovative Thinking
4 35 (23.65%) Digital Signal Processing
5 33 (22.30%) Physics
6 29 (19.59%) Agile
7 22 (14.86%) Low Latency
8 16 (10.81%) Cybersecurity
9 14 (9.46%) Problem-Solving
10 12 (8.11%) Validation
11 11 (7.43%) CI/CD
11 11 (7.43%) Schematic Capture
11 11 (7.43%) Software Engineering
11 11 (7.43%) Verification and Validation
12 9 (6.08%) System Testing
12 9 (6.08%) Test Automation
13 5 (3.38%) UVM
14 4 (2.70%) Continuous Improvement
14 4 (2.70%) Reverse Engineering
14 4 (2.70%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 42 (28.38%) C
2 39 (26.35%) C++
3 31 (20.95%) MATLAB
4 22 (14.86%) Java
5 12 (8.11%) Python
6 7 (4.73%) SystemVerilog
7 3 (2.03%) Go
8 2 (1.35%) Embedded C
9 1 (0.68%) Bash
9 1 (0.68%) Embedded C++
9 1 (0.68%) Perl
9 1 (0.68%) Rust
9 1 (0.68%) SQL
9 1 (0.68%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 60 (40.54%) Security Cleared
2 42 (28.38%) SC Cleared
3 30 (20.27%) Degree
4 11 (7.43%) DV Cleared
5 9 (6.08%) HND
6 4 (2.70%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (2.03%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (2.03%) PhD
8 2 (1.35%) HNC
8 2 (1.35%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (6.08%) QA
2 3 (2.03%) ISO 9001
3 2 (1.35%) MISRA
4 1 (0.68%) ECSS
4 1 (0.68%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.68%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.68%) SLA
System Software
1 61 (41.22%) Firmware
2 45 (30.41%) Embedded Firmware
3 2 (1.35%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (0.68%) Ansible
1 1 (0.68%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 13 (8.78%) EMC
2 11 (7.43%) Xilinx
3 5 (3.38%) Intel
3 5 (3.38%) Microsemi
4 4 (2.70%) Microsoft
4 4 (2.70%) SAP
5 3 (2.03%) Mentor Graphics
6 1 (0.68%) Cadence
6 1 (0.68%) New Relic
6 1 (0.68%) PagerDuty
6 1 (0.68%) Solarflare