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 11 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 255 198 111
Rank change year-on-year -57 -87 +104
Contract jobs citing C 158 146 438
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.80% 1.09% 2.10%
As % of the Programming Languages category 3.20% 3.79% 8.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 40 42 140
10th Percentile £68 £332 £336
25th Percentile £371 £400 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £536
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -11.38% -2.55%
75th Percentile £550 £592 £588
90th Percentile £619 £625 £706
UK median daily rate £475 £528 £535
% change year-on-year -9.95% -1.40% -10.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 36 187
10th Percentile £60.00 £58.27 £46.25
25th Percentile £65.00 £62.00 £56.45
Median hourly rate £66.50 £69.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.62% +6.15% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £85.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.00 £95.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £67.00 £69.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.90% +6.15% +12.07%

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 4,939 3,852 5,137
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 24.91% 28.65% 24.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,203 2,320 3,447
10th Percentile £325 £332 £313
25th Percentile £402 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £572 £581 £588
90th Percentile £650 £663 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -4.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 393 174 410
10th Percentile £44.89 £21.08 £37.50
25th Percentile £53.53 £45.00 £47.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £63.75 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +1.97% +1.99% -3.85%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.20 £85.00 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £60.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% +4.17% -7.69%

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 11 February 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 11 February 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 11 February 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 -3 63 £463 +15.63% 55
South West -10 57 £475 -20.17% 77
South East -56 13 £500 +6.10% 113
North of England -57 11 £463 - 35
North West -23 8 £450 - 15
Scotland +10 7 £65 -77.78% 45
Northern Ireland +2 5 £425 -
Yorkshire -61 2 £531 - 12
Midlands -63 2 £575 +76.65% 50
East Midlands -26 1 - - 31
West Midlands -52 1 £575 - 19
North East - 1 £625 - 8
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 1 (0.63%) nginx
Applications
1 11 (6.96%) Simulink
2 4 (2.53%) Stateflow
3 3 (1.90%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (1.27%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.63%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 6 (3.80%) AWS
2 5 (3.16%) Azure
3 4 (2.53%) GCP
4 3 (1.90%) GitHub
5 2 (1.27%) AWS CloudFormation
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon EC2
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon ECS
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon EKS
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon GuardDuty
6 1 (0.63%) Amazon S3
6 1 (0.63%) AWS CloudTrail
6 1 (0.63%) AWS Lambda
6 1 (0.63%) ChatGPT
6 1 (0.63%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (0.63%) Firebase
6 1 (0.63%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.63%) GitHub Copilot
6 1 (0.63%) IaaS
6 1 (0.63%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.96%) Ethernet
2 6 (3.80%) SpaceWire
3 5 (3.16%) RS-232
4 3 (1.90%) Bluetooth
5 2 (1.27%) HTTP
5 2 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (1.27%) Wireless
6 1 (0.63%) 3GPP
6 1 (0.63%) 5G
6 1 (0.63%) 5G NR
6 1 (0.63%) Internet
6 1 (0.63%) LTE
6 1 (0.63%) Network Security
6 1 (0.63%) Software-Defined Radio
6 1 (0.63%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.53%) Oracle Database
2 1 (0.63%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.63%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 26 (16.46%) Rational DOORS
2 16 (10.13%) Git
3 11 (6.96%) Rational Rhapsody
4 10 (6.33%) JIRA
5 8 (5.06%) PVCS
6 7 (4.43%) Jenkins
7 4 (2.53%) Rational Team Concert
7 4 (2.53%) Xcode
8 3 (1.90%) Artifactory
8 3 (1.90%) Gradle
9 2 (1.27%) ClearCase
9 2 (1.27%) GitLab
9 2 (1.27%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.63%) CircleCI
10 1 (0.63%) Crashlytics
10 1 (0.63%) fastlane
10 1 (0.63%) Polyspace
10 1 (0.63%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.63%) XCTest
10 1 (0.63%) XCUITest
General
1 31 (19.62%) Electronics
2 21 (13.29%) Aerospace
3 20 (12.66%) Social Skills
4 14 (8.86%) Law
5 11 (6.96%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (6.33%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (2.53%) Automotive
7 4 (2.53%) Military
8 3 (1.90%) Aviation
8 3 (1.90%) Banking
8 3 (1.90%) Games
8 3 (1.90%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.27%) Avionics
9 2 (1.27%) Public Sector
9 2 (1.27%) Publishing
9 2 (1.27%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.63%) Finance
10 1 (0.63%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 69 (43.67%) Software Engineer
2 55 (34.81%) Embedded Engineer
3 43 (27.22%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 27 (17.09%) C Software Engineer
5 22 (13.92%) C++ Software Engineer
6 21 (13.29%) C/C++ Software Engineer
7 19 (12.03%) Embedded C Engineer
7 19 (12.03%) Embedded C Software Engineer
8 15 (9.49%) Developer
9 13 (8.23%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
9 13 (8.23%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
9 13 (8.23%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
9 13 (8.23%) Embedded C++ Engineer
9 13 (8.23%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
9 13 (8.23%) Support Engineer
10 12 (7.59%) Product Engineer
10 12 (7.59%) Products Support Engineer
10 12 (7.59%) Software Support Engineer
11 10 (6.33%) FPGA Engineer
11 10 (6.33%) Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (10.76%) Middleware
2 7 (4.43%) Flash
3 6 (3.80%) Yocto
4 4 (2.53%) HTML
5 3 (1.90%) CSS
5 3 (1.90%) REST
6 2 (1.27%) JSON
6 2 (1.27%) OpenID
6 2 (1.27%) Protocol Buffers
6 2 (1.27%) Qt
6 2 (1.27%) RESTful
6 2 (1.27%) WebSockets
7 1 (0.63%) .NET
7 1 (0.63%) .NET Compact Framework
7 1 (0.63%) .NET Framework
7 1 (0.63%) OAuth
7 1 (0.63%) OAuth2
7 1 (0.63%) OpenMP
7 1 (0.63%) React
7 1 (0.63%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 27 (17.09%) FPGA
2 24 (15.19%) Embedded Systems
3 15 (9.49%) VHDL
4 14 (8.86%) PCIe
5 6 (3.80%) CAN bus
6 5 (3.16%) Algorithms
6 5 (3.16%) Verilog
7 4 (2.53%) Mobile App
7 4 (2.53%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.90%) CUDA
8 3 (1.90%) Data Centre
8 3 (1.90%) Mobile Banking
9 2 (1.27%) Analogue Electronics
9 2 (1.27%) ASIC
9 2 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
10 1 (0.63%) Cloud Native
10 1 (0.63%) Contactless
10 1 (0.63%) Device Driver
10 1 (0.63%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.63%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 39 (24.68%) Linux
2 12 (7.59%) Ubuntu
3 10 (6.33%) Windows
4 8 (5.06%) Embedded Linux
5 5 (3.16%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (2.53%) Android
6 4 (2.53%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.63%) OpenVMS
7 1 (0.63%) Unix
7 1 (0.63%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (60.76%) Software Engineering
2 38 (24.05%) Validation
3 18 (11.39%) Problem-Solving
4 17 (10.76%) Workflow
5 14 (8.86%) Signal Processing
5 14 (8.86%) Unit Testing
6 13 (8.23%) CI/CD
7 12 (7.59%) Requirements Analysis
7 12 (7.59%) Software Testing
7 12 (7.59%) Systems Engineering
8 11 (6.96%) Embedded Software Development
9 10 (6.33%) Verification and Validation
10 9 (5.70%) Agile
10 9 (5.70%) AI
10 9 (5.70%) FPGA Design
10 9 (5.70%) UML
10 9 (5.70%) Workflow Management
11 8 (5.06%) Code Coverage
11 8 (5.06%) Mathematics
11 8 (5.06%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 93 (58.86%) C++
2 34 (21.52%) Python
3 32 (20.25%) Ada
4 25 (15.82%) Embedded C
5 19 (12.03%) JavaScript
6 18 (11.39%) Java
7 15 (9.49%) MATLAB
7 15 (9.49%) Shell Script
8 14 (8.86%) Embedded C++
9 7 (4.43%) Bash
10 6 (3.80%) Fortran
10 6 (3.80%) SQL
10 6 (3.80%) SystemVerilog
11 5 (3.16%) C#
12 4 (2.53%) PL/SQL
12 4 (2.53%) Ruby
12 4 (2.53%) Swift
12 4 (2.53%) Tcl
12 4 (2.53%) VBA
13 3 (1.90%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 55 (34.81%) Security Cleared
2 47 (29.75%) SC Cleared
3 13 (8.23%) Degree
4 3 (1.90%) DV Cleared
5 2 (1.27%) Master's Degree
5 2 (1.27%) PhD
6 1 (0.63%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.63%) ISTQB
6 1 (0.63%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 1 (0.63%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 1 (0.63%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (13.29%) Def Stans
2 12 (7.59%) MISRA
3 10 (6.33%) DO-178B
4 9 (5.70%) IEC 61508
5 4 (2.53%) ISO 26262
5 4 (2.53%) QA
6 2 (1.27%) IEC 62304
6 2 (1.27%) MIL-STD-1553
6 2 (1.27%) MISRA C
7 1 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.63%) AUTOSAR
7 1 (0.63%) DICOM
7 1 (0.63%) HL7
7 1 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.63%) NIST
7 1 (0.63%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 19 (12.03%) Firmware
2 9 (5.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (5.06%) Virtual Machines
4 7 (4.43%) Docker
Systems Management
1 7 (4.43%) Kubernetes
2 4 (2.53%) Terraform
3 3 (1.90%) Ansible
4 2 (1.27%) Podman
5 1 (0.63%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.63%) Grafana
5 1 (0.63%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.63%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 13 (8.23%) Red Hat
2 12 (7.59%) IBM
3 9 (5.70%) VMware
4 8 (5.06%) ANSYS
5 7 (4.43%) MathWorks
6 6 (3.80%) Intel
7 5 (3.16%) Microsemi
7 5 (3.16%) Oracle
7 5 (3.16%) Xilinx
8 2 (1.27%) Atlassian
8 2 (1.27%) NetApp
9 1 (0.63%) HP
9 1 (0.63%) Microsoft
9 1 (0.63%) QNX
9 1 (0.63%) Remedy
9 1 (0.63%) SAP
9 1 (0.63%) Siemens
9 1 (0.63%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.63%) Splunk
9 1 (0.63%) Xamarin