Functional Safety Job Trends

Functional Safety
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Functional Safety skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 645 618 798
Rank change year-on-year -27 +180 -100
Permanent jobs citing Functional Safety 58 22 78
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.066% 0.053% 0.083%
As % of the Systems Management category 1.29% 0.45% 0.80%
Number of salaries quoted 29 14 49
10th Percentile £41,272 £58,475 £47,100
25th Percentile £52,500 £61,250 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £62,500 £73,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -14.38% +21.67%
75th Percentile £68,750 £67,500 £76,500
90th Percentile £86,500 £68,025 £77,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £62,500 £63,750
% change year-on-year -4.00% -1.96% +6.25%

All Systems Management Skills
UK

Functional Safety falls under the Systems Management category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring systems management skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills 4,494 4,891 9,704
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 5.12% 11.69% 10.27%
Number of salaries quoted 3,131 3,363 7,255
10th Percentile £33,250 £37,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £45,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £70,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +16.67% -11.11%
75th Percentile £83,750 £90,000 £82,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £115,000 £101,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,200 £60,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -6.09%

Functional Safety
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Functional Safety job vacancy trend in the UK

Functional Safety
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Functional Safety.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Functional Safety

Functional Safety
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Functional Safety over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Functional Safety in the UK

Functional Safety
Top 12 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Functional Safety within the UK over the 6 months to 21 April 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
UK excluding London -32 58 £60,000 -4.00% 31
England -37 46 £65,000 +4.00% 33
North of England -38 26 £42,215 - 7
North West -14 20 £42,215 - 3
Midlands -24 14 £65,000 +4.00% 14
West Midlands -19 13 £65,000 +4.00% 10
Scotland -11 12 £60,000 -
Work from Home +8 11 £60,000 - 8
South East -39 6 £86,000 +30.30% 4
North East - 6 - - 3
South West -59 1 £52,500 -14.63% 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 4

Functional Safety
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 4 (6.90%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (8.62%) AutoCAD
Cloud Services
1 1 (1.72%) AWS
1 1 (1.72%) AWS CodePipeline
Communications & Networking
1 4 (6.90%) Wireless
2 3 (5.17%) Modbus
3 2 (3.45%) Ethernet
3 2 (3.45%) Profibus
3 2 (3.45%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 4 (6.90%) JIRA
2 3 (5.17%) Git
3 1 (1.72%) Jenkins
3 1 (1.72%) Polyspace
3 1 (1.72%) VectorCAST
General
1 7 (12.07%) Finance
2 6 (10.34%) Electronics
3 5 (8.62%) Automotive
4 4 (6.90%) Aerospace
4 4 (6.90%) Manufacturing
5 1 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (1.72%) Public Sector
5 1 (1.72%) Retail
Job Titles
1 28 (48.28%) Senior
2 14 (24.14%) Embedded Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Embedded Software Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Instrumentation Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Senior Electrical Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Senior Embedded Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Senior Embedded Software Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Senior Software Engineer
3 13 (22.41%) Software Engineer
4 12 (20.69%) Consultant
4 12 (20.69%) Functional Consultant
4 12 (20.69%) Safety Consultant
5 9 (15.52%) Lead
6 4 (6.90%) Control Systems Engineer
6 4 (6.90%) Systems Engineer
7 1 (1.72%) Electrical Engineer
7 1 (1.72%) QA Engineer
7 1 (1.72%) QA Test Engineer
7 1 (1.72%) Technology Architect
7 1 (1.72%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.72%) pytest
1 1 (1.72%) STL
Miscellaneous
1 15 (25.86%) Embedded Systems
2 11 (18.97%) CAN bus
3 4 (6.90%) ASIC
4 2 (3.45%) ARM Cortex
4 2 (3.45%) SCADA
5 1 (1.72%) Driving Licence
5 1 (1.72%) Industrial Internet of Things
5 1 (1.72%) Operational Technology
5 1 (1.72%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 2 (3.45%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (22.41%) Embedded Software Development
1 13 (22.41%) Software Engineering
2 12 (20.69%) Cybersecurity
2 12 (20.69%) Regulatory Compliance
3 11 (18.97%) Acceptance Criteria
3 11 (18.97%) Safety Engineering
3 11 (18.97%) SDLC
3 11 (18.97%) Systems Engineering
3 11 (18.97%) Validation
4 8 (13.79%) Control Theory
5 5 (8.62%) AI
5 5 (8.62%) Roadmaps
5 5 (8.62%) Verification and Validation
6 4 (6.90%) Change Management
6 4 (6.90%) Design for Manufacturing
6 4 (6.90%) Design for Test
6 4 (6.90%) Electronic Design Automation
6 4 (6.90%) IC Design
6 4 (6.90%) Problem-Solving
6 4 (6.90%) Resource Allocation
Programming Languages
1 13 (22.41%) C
1 13 (22.41%) C++
2 7 (12.07%) Python
3 2 (3.45%) MATLAB
4 1 (1.72%) Bash
4 1 (1.72%) Ladder Logic
Qualifications
1 19 (32.76%) Degree
2 17 (29.31%) Master's Degree
3 15 (25.86%) BPSS Clearance
4 4 (6.90%) HNC
5 1 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (1.72%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.72%) HND
5 1 (1.72%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (48.28%) IEC 61508
2 13 (22.41%) MISRA
2 13 (22.41%) MISRA C
3 5 (8.62%) ISO 26262
4 2 (3.45%) HAZOP
5 1 (1.72%) Def Stans
5 1 (1.72%) QA
System Software
1 2 (3.45%) Embedded Firmware
1 2 (3.45%) Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (5.17%) Allen-Bradley
2 2 (3.45%) EMC
2 2 (3.45%) Siemens
3 1 (1.72%) Rockwell