C Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

C
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring C skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 247 179 117
Rank change year-on-year -68 -62 +98
Contract jobs citing C 153 170 405
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.84% 1.21% 2.09%
As % of the Programming Languages category 3.34% 4.39% 8.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 44 45 147
10th Percentile £68 £400 £333
25th Percentile £371 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -6.54% -2.73%
75th Percentile £550 £603 £588
90th Percentile £619 £625 £706
UK median daily rate £500 £538 £538
% change year-on-year -6.98% - -10.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 45 147
10th Percentile £52.00 £53.10 £51.75
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.25 £61.25
Median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.33 £95.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £66.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -1.48% +3.85% +13.04%

All Programming Languages
UK excluding London

C falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 4,586 3,869 4,898
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 25.21% 27.45% 25.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,975 2,315 3,340
10th Percentile £316 £337 £325
25th Percentile £400 £400 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.54% -2.50% -2.91%
75th Percentile £573 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £663 £675
UK median daily rate £503 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.29% -4.55% -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 182 327
10th Percentile £41.94 £21.33 £37.53
25th Percentile £52.50 £46.05 £48.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £63.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.17% -3.08% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £85.00 £83.25
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £62.18
% change year-on-year +4.00% +0.52% -1.31%

C
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing C relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

C job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

C
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C

C
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing C in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 5 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for C in the UK excluding London

C
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C

C
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing C in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 5 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK excluding London

C
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing C within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 5 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
East of England -4 59 £500 -6.98% 188
South West -10 54 £500 -15.97% 150
Scotland +11 14 £65 - 61
North of England -49 12 £463 -15.91% 169
North West -22 9 £463 +15.63% 72
South East -49 8 £500 +5.26% 288
Northern Ireland -7 3 £425 - 12
Midlands -39 3 £575 +121.15% 171
Yorkshire -49 3 £531 -24.11% 77
East Midlands -23 2 - - 79
West Midlands -43 1 £575 - 82
C
UK

C
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 5 (3.27%) WebLogic
1 5 (3.27%) WebSphere
2 1 (0.65%) Confluence
2 1 (0.65%) nginx
Applications
1 13 (8.50%) Simulink
2 8 (5.23%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (3.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (3.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (3.27%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 2 (1.31%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 9 (5.88%) GitHub
2 8 (5.23%) AWS
3 6 (3.92%) Azure
4 4 (2.61%) GCP
5 3 (1.96%) Amazon ECS
5 3 (1.96%) Amazon EKS
5 3 (1.96%) Amazon S3
5 3 (1.96%) AWS Lambda
5 3 (1.96%) Serverless
6 2 (1.31%) AWS CloudFormation
6 2 (1.31%) OpenShift
7 1 (0.65%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 1 (0.65%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 1 (0.65%) AWS CloudTrail
7 1 (0.65%) ChatGPT
7 1 (0.65%) Firebase
7 1 (0.65%) GitHub Actions
7 1 (0.65%) GitHub Copilot
7 1 (0.65%) IaaS
7 1 (0.65%) npm
Communications & Networking
1 7 (4.58%) Ethernet
2 5 (3.27%) RS-232
3 4 (2.61%) SpaceWire
4 3 (1.96%) HTTP
5 2 (1.31%) Bluetooth
5 2 (1.31%) SSL
5 2 (1.31%) Wireless
6 1 (0.65%) 3GPP
6 1 (0.65%) 5G
6 1 (0.65%) 5G NR
6 1 (0.65%) AMQP
6 1 (0.65%) HTTPS
6 1 (0.65%) Internet
6 1 (0.65%) LTE
6 1 (0.65%) MQTT
6 1 (0.65%) Network Security
6 1 (0.65%) UWB
6 1 (0.65%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.65%) ZigBee
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.88%) Oracle Database
2 2 (1.31%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.65%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.65%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.65%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.65%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.65%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 22 (14.38%) Rational DOORS
2 14 (9.15%) Git
3 11 (7.19%) JIRA
4 10 (6.54%) Jenkins
5 8 (5.23%) ClearCase
5 8 (5.23%) PVCS
6 7 (4.58%) Rational Rhapsody
7 5 (3.27%) GitLab
7 5 (3.27%) Rational Team Concert
8 4 (2.61%) Artifactory
8 4 (2.61%) Xcode
9 3 (1.96%) Gradle
10 2 (1.31%) Bitbucket
10 2 (1.31%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.65%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.65%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.65%) Crashlytics
11 1 (0.65%) Maven
11 1 (0.65%) NUnit
11 1 (0.65%) Subversion
General
1 29 (18.95%) Electronics
2 22 (14.38%) Social Skills
3 19 (12.42%) Aerospace
4 10 (6.54%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (5.88%) Law
6 6 (3.92%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (3.27%) Public Sector
8 4 (2.61%) Aviation
8 4 (2.61%) Military
8 4 (2.61%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.96%) Banking
9 3 (1.96%) Games
10 2 (1.31%) Finance
10 2 (1.31%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.31%) Marketing
10 2 (1.31%) Publishing
11 1 (0.65%) Automotive
11 1 (0.65%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 59 (38.56%) Software Engineer
2 36 (23.53%) Embedded Engineer
3 32 (20.92%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 22 (14.38%) C Software Engineer
5 18 (11.76%) C++ Software Engineer
6 16 (10.46%) C/C++ Software Engineer
6 16 (10.46%) Developer
6 16 (10.46%) Embedded C Engineer
6 16 (10.46%) Embedded C Software Engineer
7 14 (9.15%) Support Engineer
8 12 (7.84%) Design Engineer
8 12 (7.84%) Product Engineer
8 12 (7.84%) Products Support Engineer
8 12 (7.84%) Software Support Engineer
9 11 (7.19%) FPGA Engineer
10 10 (6.54%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
10 10 (6.54%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
10 10 (6.54%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
10 10 (6.54%) Embedded C++ Engineer
10 10 (6.54%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (14.38%) Middleware
2 9 (5.88%) HTML
3 8 (5.23%) Flash
3 8 (5.23%) Node.js
4 6 (3.92%) .NET
5 4 (2.61%) REST
5 4 (2.61%) Yocto
6 3 (1.96%) CSS
6 3 (1.96%) RESTful
7 2 (1.31%) OpenID
7 2 (1.31%) React
7 2 (1.31%) XML
8 1 (0.65%) Core Data
8 1 (0.65%) Elastic Stack
8 1 (0.65%) NumPy
8 1 (0.65%) PyTorch
8 1 (0.65%) Qt
8 1 (0.65%) SciPy
8 1 (0.65%) SwiftUI
8 1 (0.65%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 23 (15.03%) FPGA
2 22 (14.38%) Embedded Systems
3 16 (10.46%) VHDL
4 8 (5.23%) PCIe
5 7 (4.58%) Verilog
6 6 (3.92%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (3.27%) Analogue Electronics
8 4 (2.61%) CAN bus
8 4 (2.61%) CUDA
8 4 (2.61%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.61%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.96%) Distributed Systems
9 3 (1.96%) Mobile Banking
10 1 (0.65%) Algorithms
10 1 (0.65%) IoT
10 1 (0.65%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.65%) MicroBlaze
10 1 (0.65%) NB-IoT
10 1 (0.65%) RISC-V
10 1 (0.65%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 40 (26.14%) Linux
2 15 (9.80%) Windows
3 12 (7.84%) Ubuntu
4 5 (3.27%) Embedded Linux
4 5 (3.27%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (2.61%) Android
5 4 (2.61%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.65%) CentOS
6 1 (0.65%) OpenVMS
6 1 (0.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.65%) VMS
6 1 (0.65%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (51.63%) Software Engineering
2 27 (17.65%) Validation
3 16 (10.46%) CI/CD
3 16 (10.46%) Unit Testing
4 14 (9.15%) Problem-Solving
4 14 (9.15%) Signal Processing
4 14 (9.15%) Software Testing
5 13 (8.50%) Systems Engineering
6 12 (7.84%) Agile
7 11 (7.19%) AI
7 11 (7.19%) UML
8 10 (6.54%) Containerisation
8 10 (6.54%) Mathematics
8 10 (6.54%) Workflow
9 9 (5.88%) FPGA Design
9 9 (5.88%) Integration Testing
9 9 (5.88%) Requirements Analysis
10 8 (5.23%) Code Coverage
10 8 (5.23%) Collaborative Culture
10 8 (5.23%) Requirements Management
Programming Languages
1 94 (61.44%) C++
2 37 (24.18%) Python
3 34 (22.22%) Java
4 22 (14.38%) Embedded C
5 21 (13.73%) Shell Script
6 20 (13.07%) Ada
7 19 (12.42%) JavaScript
8 14 (9.15%) MATLAB
9 12 (7.84%) Embedded C++
10 10 (6.54%) SQL
11 8 (5.23%) C#
12 7 (4.58%) Fortran
12 7 (4.58%) SystemVerilog
13 5 (3.27%) Bash
13 5 (3.27%) PHP
13 5 (3.27%) Tcl
14 4 (2.61%) Ruby
14 4 (2.61%) Swift
14 4 (2.61%) VBA
15 3 (1.96%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 57 (37.25%) Security Cleared
2 46 (30.07%) SC Cleared
3 14 (9.15%) Degree
4 7 (4.58%) DV Cleared
5 2 (1.31%) Master's Degree
5 2 (1.31%) PhD
6 1 (0.65%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.65%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (9.15%) Def Stans
2 11 (7.19%) MISRA
3 9 (5.88%) DO-178B
3 9 (5.88%) IEC 61508
4 8 (5.23%) QA
5 5 (3.27%) ISO 26262
6 3 (1.96%) IEC 62304
7 2 (1.31%) MISRA C
8 1 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.65%) AUTOSAR
8 1 (0.65%) DICOM
8 1 (0.65%) HL7
8 1 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.65%) NIST
8 1 (0.65%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 19 (12.42%) Firmware
2 11 (7.19%) Docker
3 9 (5.88%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (5.23%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.65%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 7 (4.58%) Kubernetes
2 5 (3.27%) Ansible
2 5 (3.27%) Terraform
3 2 (1.31%) Grafana
3 2 (1.31%) Podman
4 1 (0.65%) Functional Safety
4 1 (0.65%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.65%) Rsyslog
4 1 (0.65%) SCOM
Vendors
1 13 (8.50%) Red Hat
2 11 (7.19%) IBM
2 11 (7.19%) Oracle
3 9 (5.88%) VMware
4 8 (5.23%) ANSYS
4 8 (5.23%) NetApp
5 6 (3.92%) Intel
5 6 (3.92%) MathWorks
6 5 (3.27%) Dynatrace
6 5 (3.27%) Microsemi
6 5 (3.27%) Xilinx
7 3 (1.96%) Atlassian
8 2 (1.31%) Microsoft
8 2 (1.31%) SAP
8 2 (1.31%) Siemens
9 1 (0.65%) OpenAI
9 1 (0.65%) QNX
9 1 (0.65%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.65%) Splunk
9 1 (0.65%) Xamarin