Hiring outlook, remote working rates, and which companies are actively recruiting.
C/C++ Developer hiring in the UK has held broadly steady, anchored by insurers and asset managers replacing legacy systems with modern platforms rather than any single surge, with most activity concentrated in London and the South East. ARM and BAE Systems are among the more consistent UK hirers, and post-Brexit visa sponsorship routes have made it easier for UK employers to pull in senior C++20 specialists from overseas when the domestic candidate pool for that skill set runs short.
Share of United Kingdom C/C++ Developer roles advertising remote or hybrid working.
We will publish a year-on-year pay change for C/C++ Developer in United Kingdom once a comparable annual benchmark is available.
Strongest in: Insurance and asset management platform teams, led by employers such as ARM and BAE Systems
C/C++ Developer hiring in the UK has held broadly steady, anchored by insurers and asset managers replacing legacy systems with modern platforms rather than any single surge, with most activity concentrated in London and the South East. ARM and BAE Systems are among the more consistent UK hirers, and post-Brexit visa sponsorship routes have made it easier for UK employers to pull in senior C++20 specialists from overseas when the domestic candidate pool for that skill set runs short.
Who companies hire: Computer science graduates specialising in systems programming, embedded systems engineers, C developers adding modern C++ skills, and software engineers from adjacent systems languages (Rust, Ada).
Salary premium over the United Kingdom median for C/C++ Developers who list these skills.
Companies with consistent or active C/C++ Developer hiring in United Kingdom.
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Yes, consistently in demand. The supply of experienced C++ developers is structurally lower than demand, which keeps salaries high and time-to-fill long for employers. Financial trading firms, telecommunications companies (Ericsson, Nokia), embedded systems companies, and the gaming industry all rely on C++ and cannot easily substitute other languages.
Ericsson Ireland is one of the largest hirers of C++ developers in Dublin, particularly for 5G and network systems work. Stripe hires C++ engineers for performance-critical backend infrastructure. Intel Ireland, Trend Micro, and Workday also hire C++ developers. The financial services sector hires for trading platform and risk system development, often via smaller quantitative finance firms or the Irish offices of global trading firms.
Low-latency programming and understanding of CPU architecture, cache behaviour, and memory alignment command the highest premiums. RTOS and embedded Linux expertise is valuable in automotive and telecommunications. C++20 proficiency, multithreading and concurrency patterns, and experience with lock-free data structures are strongly valued. Domain expertise in financial markets or telecommunications adds further salary premium beyond the core language skills.
Around 70 percent hybrid. Application-level C++ developers work remotely with few constraints. Embedded systems developers who work with physical hardware have less remote flexibility. Financial trading firms tend to have stricter office attendance requirements due to the sensitivity of their systems and the collaborative nature of quantitative development. Most Irish C++ developer roles offer at least 3 days remote per week.