Hardware Engineer Job Trends

Hardware Engineer
UK

The median Hardware Engineer salary in the UK is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 4 August 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 601 629 484
Rank change year-on-year +28 -145 +171
Permanent jobs requiring a Hardware Engineer 187 54 367
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.18% 0.11% 0.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.19% 0.12% 0.46%
Number of salaries quoted 133 35 253
10th Percentile £31,250 £37,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £46,250 £42,375 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £48,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +35.42% -4.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £75,000 £64,375 £61,250
90th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £67,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £48,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +35.42% -4.00% +5.26%

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 97,595 44,677 79,563
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.20% 90.06% 94.91%
Number of salaries quoted 66,719 26,547 53,755
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,991
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £90,793
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -6.54%

Hardware Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Hardware Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Hardware Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Hardware Engineer over the 6 months to 4 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Hardware Engineer in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Hardware Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 4 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
UK excluding London +40 170 £65,000 +35.42% 71
England +35 148 £65,000 +35.42% 92
South East +44 86 £65,000 -3.70% 22
Work from Home -12 24 £75,000 +57.89% 23
East of England - 24 £70,000 - 31
Scotland +24 23 £65,000 +72.19% 6
Midlands -39 15 £75,000 +66.67% 2
West Midlands -21 14 £75,000 +30.43%
South West -52 12 £35,500 -29.00% 10
North of England -35 7 £47,500 -5.00% 3
London - 4 £80,000 - 21
North West -4 3 - -
North East - 3 £45,000 - 3
Wales - 2 £80,000 - 1
East Midlands -30 1 £50,000 +11.11% 2
Yorkshire -36 1 £50,000 -
Northern Ireland - 1 £65,000 -

Hardware Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 4 August 2026, Hardware 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 Hardware Engineer in the job title.

1 46 (24.60%) Degree
2 24 (12.83%) BPSS Clearance
3 22 (11.76%) Validation
4 21 (11.23%) Coaching
4 21 (11.23%) HND
5 18 (9.63%) EMC
6 17 (9.09%) Mentor Graphics
6 17 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
7 16 (8.56%) Firmware
8 15 (8.02%) Schematic Capture
9 12 (6.42%) Mentoring
9 12 (6.42%) Prototyping
9 12 (6.42%) Security Cleared
9 12 (6.42%) Wireless
10 11 (5.88%) C
10 11 (5.88%) Python
10 11 (5.88%) Technical Leadership
11 10 (5.35%) MATLAB
11 10 (5.35%) Simulink
11 10 (5.35%) Software Engineering
11 10 (5.35%) Test Automation
12 8 (4.28%) Design for Manufacturing
12 8 (4.28%) DO-254
12 8 (4.28%) Embedded C
12 8 (4.28%) Embedded Firmware
12 8 (4.28%) Software Testing
13 7 (3.74%) Verification and Validation
14 6 (3.21%) Test Strategy
15 5 (2.67%) C++
15 5 (2.67%) FMEA

Hardware 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:

Applications
1 10 (5.35%) Simulink
2 2 (1.07%) OrCAD
3 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.53%) SOLIDWORKS
Cloud Services
1 1 (0.53%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 12 (6.42%) Wireless
2 3 (1.60%) 5G
2 3 (1.60%) Bluetooth
2 3 (1.60%) Ethernet
2 3 (1.60%) Gigabit Ethernet
2 3 (1.60%) GSM
2 3 (1.60%) RS-232
2 3 (1.60%) RS-485
2 3 (1.60%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (1.60%) ZigBee
3 1 (0.53%) NFC
Development Applications
1 1 (0.53%) LabVIEW
General
1 84 (44.92%) Electronics
2 31 (16.58%) Aerospace
3 30 (16.04%) Manufacturing
4 14 (7.49%) Finance
5 12 (6.42%) Analytical Skills
5 12 (6.42%) Social Skills
5 12 (6.42%) Wearables
6 6 (3.21%) Advertising
7 5 (2.67%) Automotive
8 4 (2.14%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.14%) Retail
8 4 (2.14%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.60%) Health Technology
10 2 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.53%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.60%) Flash
Miscellaneous
1 27 (14.44%) Analogue Electronics
2 22 (11.76%) Embedded Systems
2 22 (11.76%) IoT
3 8 (4.28%) FPGA
4 6 (3.21%) Algorithms
5 3 (1.60%) Acoustics
5 3 (1.60%) EPoS
5 3 (1.60%) Greenfield Project
5 3 (1.60%) Handset
5 3 (1.60%) PCIe
6 2 (1.07%) Device Driver
6 2 (1.07%) Driving Licence
6 2 (1.07%) Robotics
6 2 (1.07%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.07%) VHDL
7 1 (0.53%) ARM Cortex
7 1 (0.53%) Smart Energy
Operating Systems
1 3 (1.60%) Linux
2 1 (0.53%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (11.76%) Validation
2 21 (11.23%) Coaching
3 17 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
4 15 (8.02%) Schematic Capture
5 12 (6.42%) Mentoring
5 12 (6.42%) Prototyping
6 11 (5.88%) Technical Leadership
7 10 (5.35%) Software Engineering
7 10 (5.35%) Test Automation
8 8 (4.28%) Design for Manufacturing
8 8 (4.28%) Software Testing
9 7 (3.74%) Verification and Validation
10 6 (3.21%) Test Strategy
11 5 (2.67%) FMEA
11 5 (2.67%) Kalman Filter
11 5 (2.67%) Project Delivery
11 5 (2.67%) Root Cause Analysis
12 4 (2.14%) Commercial Awareness
12 4 (2.14%) Cost Management
12 4 (2.14%) Cost Optimisation
Programming Languages
1 11 (5.88%) C
1 11 (5.88%) Python
2 10 (5.35%) MATLAB
3 8 (4.28%) Embedded C
4 5 (2.67%) C++
5 2 (1.07%) C#
5 2 (1.07%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 46 (24.60%) Degree
2 24 (12.83%) BPSS Clearance
3 21 (11.23%) HND
4 12 (6.42%) Security Cleared
5 4 (2.14%) DBS Check
5 4 (2.14%) HNC
6 2 (1.07%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.28%) DO-254
2 4 (2.14%) ISO 14001
2 4 (2.14%) ISO 9001
2 4 (2.14%) QA
3 2 (1.07%) JTAG
4 1 (0.53%) ISO 13485
System Software
1 16 (8.56%) Firmware
2 8 (4.28%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 5 (2.67%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 18 (9.63%) EMC
2 17 (9.09%) Mentor Graphics
3 3 (1.60%) HP
3 3 (1.60%) IBM
4 1 (0.53%) Microsoft