IEC 61508 Job Trends

IEC 61508
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring IEC 61508 skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 601 676 683
Rank change year-on-year +75 +7 +204
Permanent jobs citing IEC 61508 34 33 25
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.057% 0.060% 0.048%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.43% 0.37% 0.32%
Number of salaries quoted 14 4 11
10th Percentile £51,250 - £55,500
25th Percentile £52,188 - £64,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £61,500 £75,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -18.00% +53.06%
75th Percentile £65,000 £64,875 -
90th Percentile £75,000 £70,950 £83,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £61,500 £75,000
% change year-on-year -2.44% -18.00% +53.06%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

IEC 61508 falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 7,876 8,907 7,769
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 13.29% 16.21% 15.01%
Number of salaries quoted 4,391 3,974 5,736
10th Percentile £30,500 £31,948 £31,208
25th Percentile £41,250 £43,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% - +4.35%
75th Percentile £78,750 £78,750 £76,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.76% - +5.00%

IEC 61508
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing IEC 61508 relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

IEC 61508 job vacancy trend in the UK

IEC 61508
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IEC 61508

IEC 61508
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing IEC 61508 over the 6 months to 2 January 2026.

Salary histogram for IEC 61508 in the UK

IEC 61508
Top 13 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing IEC 61508 within the UK over the 6 months to 2 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
UK excluding London +51 30 £60,000 -2.44% 30
England +51 21 £75,000 +21.95% 32
Work from Home - 10 £60,000 - 10
North West +32 8 - -
North of England +18 8 - -
Scotland +6 7 £60,000 - 3
Midlands - 7 - - 7
West Midlands - 6 - - 5
Wales +8 5 £57,500 -
South East +29 4 - - 3
London +49 3 £75,000 +7.14% 6
South West +2 2 - - 17
East Midlands - 1 - - 2

IEC 61508
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 7 (20.59%) WinCC
2 4 (11.76%) FactoryTalk
3 2 (5.88%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 2 (5.88%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (2.94%) AutoCAD
2 1 (2.94%) EPLAN
Communications & Networking
1 7 (20.59%) Firewall
1 7 (20.59%) Modbus
2 4 (11.76%) Profibus
3 2 (5.88%) RS-485
Development Applications
1 4 (11.76%) Git
General
1 6 (17.65%) Manufacturing
2 5 (14.71%) Social Skills
3 4 (11.76%) Aviation
4 3 (8.82%) Military
5 2 (5.88%) Aerospace
5 2 (5.88%) Automotive
6 1 (2.94%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 17 (50.00%) Senior
2 9 (26.47%) Embedded Engineer
3 8 (23.53%) Principal Engineer
3 8 (23.53%) Software Engineer
4 6 (17.65%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 6 (17.65%) Senior Embedded Engineer
4 6 (17.65%) Senior Embedded Software Engineer
4 6 (17.65%) Senior Software Engineer
5 5 (14.71%) Control Systems Engineer
5 5 (14.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 5 (14.71%) Systems Engineer
6 4 (11.76%) Firmware Engineer
6 4 (11.76%) Instrumentation Engineer
6 4 (11.76%) Lead
6 4 (11.76%) Safety Engineer
6 4 (11.76%) Senior Electrical Engineer
7 3 (8.82%) Embedded Firmware Engineer
7 3 (8.82%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 2 (5.88%) Lead Infrastructure Engineer
8 2 (5.88%) Software Support Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 9 (26.47%) SCADA
2 8 (23.53%) Operational Technology
3 7 (20.59%) Driving Licence
4 6 (17.65%) CAN bus
4 6 (17.65%) Embedded Systems
5 5 (14.71%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (14.71%) Renewable Energy
6 4 (11.76%) Algorithms
6 4 (11.76%) FPGA
6 4 (11.76%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 7 (20.59%) Windows
1 7 (20.59%) Windows Server
2 5 (14.71%) Windows Server 2016
3 3 (8.82%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (35.29%) Software Engineering
2 10 (29.41%) Cybersecurity
3 9 (26.47%) Safety Engineering
4 8 (23.53%) SDLC
5 6 (17.65%) Embedded Software Development
5 6 (17.65%) System Testing
5 6 (17.65%) Technical Leadership
6 5 (14.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 5 (14.71%) Presales
6 5 (14.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 4 (11.76%) Agile
7 4 (11.76%) CI/CD
7 4 (11.76%) OO
7 4 (11.76%) Systems Engineering
7 4 (11.76%) Test Automation
8 3 (8.82%) FMECA
8 3 (8.82%) Network Design
8 3 (8.82%) Project Delivery
9 2 (5.88%) Logistics
9 2 (5.88%) Supply Chain Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (29.41%) C
2 6 (17.65%) C++
3 2 (5.88%) Ladder Logic
Qualifications
1 14 (41.18%) Degree
2 13 (38.24%) BPSS Clearance
3 6 (17.65%) Master's Degree
4 4 (11.76%) Chartered Engineer
5 1 (2.94%) SC Cleared
5 1 (2.94%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (20.59%) QA
2 6 (17.65%) IEC 61131
2 6 (17.65%) MISRA
2 6 (17.65%) MISRA C
3 5 (14.71%) Def Stans
4 4 (11.76%) ISO 26262
5 2 (5.88%) DO-254
System Software
1 7 (20.59%) Firmware
1 7 (20.59%) Hyper-V
1 7 (20.59%) VMware Infrastructure
2 4 (11.76%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 13 (38.24%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 9 (26.47%) Siemens
2 8 (23.53%) Rockwell
3 7 (20.59%) VMware
4 3 (8.82%) Allen-Bradley
5 2 (5.88%) EMC