QA Contracts in England

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK > England

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for QA skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited QA over the 6 months to 26 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
26 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 60 78 68
Rank change year-on-year +18 -10 +11
Contract jobs citing QA 1,235 1,573 2,445
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 3.32% 3.10% 3.44%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 23.33% 23.29% 26.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 854 1,149 1,709
10th Percentile £320 £300 £350
25th Percentile £406 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £513 £510
Median % change year-on-year +0.88% +0.49% +7.37%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £613
90th Percentile £750 £743 £700
UK median daily rate £509 £500 £511
% change year-on-year +1.80% -2.15% +7.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 64 26 38
10th Percentile £10.82 £12.50 £16.10
25th Percentile £12.04 £19.19 £25.69
Median hourly rate £15.57 £22.49 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.78% -52.66% +146.75%
75th Percentile £28.52 £48.41 £65.00
90th Percentile £64.85 £55.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £15.38 £22.49 £47.25
% change year-on-year -31.60% -52.41% +136.25%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

QA is in the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,293 6,753 9,327
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.24% 13.33% 13.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,366 4,581 6,374
10th Percentile £300 £275 £288
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £523
Median % change year-on-year - +0.33% +10.16%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £625
90th Percentile £750 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £510 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -2.86% +2.44% +7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 347 209 260
10th Percentile £10.95 £13.66 £11.75
25th Percentile £13.09 £18.75 £16.88
Median hourly rate £22.34 £40.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -44.84% +47.27% +30.95%
75th Percentile £45.00 £63.75 £49.25
90th Percentile £67.43 £79.80 £68.30
UK median hourly rate £20.80 £37.50 £28.50
% change year-on-year -44.53% +31.58% +35.55%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing QA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for QA in England

QA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing QA in England.

Daily rate trend for QA in England

QA
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA in England over the 6 months to 26 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for QA in England

QA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing QA in England.

Hourly rate trend for QA in England

QA
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing QA in England over the 6 months to 26 April 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for QA in England

QA
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the England region over the 6 months to 26 April 2024. 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
London +14 656 £533 -3.09% 394
South East +36 163 £488 +11.43% 212
North of England +17 159 £500 +5.26% 256
South West +45 107 £550 +21.55% 128
North West +12 88 £500 +17.65% 129
Midlands 0 84 £450 +20.00% 183
Yorkshire +27 63 £540 +2.86% 96
West Midlands +4 59 £525 +24.41% 110
East of England -14 27 £375 -24.05% 101
East Midlands +9 23 £303 +4.31% 73
North East +5 8 £415 -22.65% 38
QA
UK

QA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 51 (4.13%) Confluence
2 43 (3.48%) SharePoint
3 28 (2.27%) CMS
4 12 (0.97%) Apache
4 12 (0.97%) IIS
5 7 (0.57%) Drupal
5 7 (0.57%) SAS
6 5 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.40%) Microsoft Exchange
6 5 (0.40%) Oracle Workflow
7 4 (0.32%) Apache Solr
7 4 (0.32%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.32%) ArcGIS
7 4 (0.32%) nginx
7 4 (0.32%) WordPress
8 3 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.16%) Alfresco
9 2 (0.16%) MQSeries
10 1 (0.081%) Sitecore CMS
10 1 (0.081%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 102 (8.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 45 (3.64%) Microsoft Office
3 37 (3.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 27 (2.19%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.40%) Simulink
6 3 (0.24%) Acrobat
6 3 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.16%) Mingle
7 2 (0.16%) Sketch
7 2 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.081%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.081%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.081%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.081%) InVision
8 1 (0.081%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.081%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (1.38%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.73%) SAP QM
4 8 (0.65%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.57%) Endur
6 6 (0.49%) ION MarketView
6 6 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.40%) Adobe Campaign
7 5 (0.40%) SAP ERP
8 4 (0.32%) IntelliMatch
8 4 (0.32%) TrackWise
9 3 (0.24%) ION Anvil
9 3 (0.24%) NEC Housing
9 3 (0.24%) Primavera
9 3 (0.24%) SAP Payroll
10 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.16%) NetSuite
10 2 (0.16%) Oracle BPM
10 2 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
10 2 (0.16%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 215 (17.41%) Azure
2 147 (11.90%) AWS
3 73 (5.91%) Power Platform
4 64 (5.18%) GCP
5 63 (5.10%) Azure DevOps
6 53 (4.29%) GitHub
7 45 (3.64%) Dynamics 365
8 37 (3.00%) SaaS
9 27 (2.19%) Serverless
10 21 (1.70%) Azure Data Factory
11 20 (1.62%) AWS Lambda
12 18 (1.46%) Amazon S3
12 18 (1.46%) Entra ID
13 17 (1.38%) Amazon EC2
13 17 (1.38%) Azure Logic Apps
14 16 (1.30%) AWS CloudFormation
14 16 (1.30%) Azure API Management
14 16 (1.30%) Microsoft 365
15 15 (1.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 14 (1.13%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 28 (2.27%) Internet
2 25 (2.02%) DNS
3 23 (1.86%) Firewall
3 23 (1.86%) WAN
4 20 (1.62%) VPN
5 19 (1.54%) TCP/IP
6 15 (1.21%) LAN
7 12 (0.97%) HTTP
7 12 (0.97%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (0.89%) FIX Connectivity
9 9 (0.73%) MPLS
10 7 (0.57%) 5G
10 7 (0.57%) Ethernet
10 7 (0.57%) IPsec
10 7 (0.57%) SSL
11 5 (0.40%) HTTPS
11 5 (0.40%) SSH
11 5 (0.40%) VoIP
12 4 (0.32%) EIGRP
12 4 (0.32%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 100 (8.10%) SQL Server
2 61 (4.94%) Power BI
3 48 (3.89%) Relational Database
4 35 (2.83%) Oracle Database
5 30 (2.43%) MySQL
6 24 (1.94%) Tableau
7 20 (1.62%) NoSQL
8 17 (1.38%) Data Lake
8 17 (1.38%) PostgreSQL
8 17 (1.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 16 (1.30%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 15 (1.21%) Elasticsearch
11 14 (1.13%) Microsoft Analysis Services
12 12 (0.97%) RDBMS
13 8 (0.65%) BigQuery
13 8 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
14 7 (0.57%) Ataccama
14 7 (0.57%) Big Data
14 7 (0.57%) Qlik Sense
15 6 (0.49%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 141 (11.42%) JIRA
2 66 (5.34%) Jenkins
3 63 (5.10%) Selenium
4 62 (5.02%) Git
5 53 (4.29%) Cucumber
6 41 (3.32%) GitLab
6 41 (3.32%) Postman
7 29 (2.35%) JMeter
8 26 (2.11%) Cypress.io
9 22 (1.78%) JUnit
10 21 (1.70%) SpecFlow
11 20 (1.62%) Appium
12 19 (1.54%) TeamCity
13 18 (1.46%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
14 15 (1.21%) Visual Studio
15 12 (0.97%) REST Assured
15 12 (0.97%) webpack
16 11 (0.89%) TestRail
16 11 (0.89%) WebDriver
17 10 (0.81%) Maven
General
1 418 (33.85%) Social Skills
2 277 (22.43%) Finance
3 154 (12.47%) Analytical Skills
4 95 (7.69%) Banking
5 83 (6.72%) Public Sector
6 46 (3.72%) Front Office
7 45 (3.64%) Telecoms
8 40 (3.24%) Marketing
9 35 (2.83%) Presentation Skills
10 34 (2.75%) Pharmaceutical
11 31 (2.51%) Investment Banking
11 31 (2.51%) Retail
12 26 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
13 23 (1.86%) Legal
14 21 (1.70%) Manufacturing
15 15 (1.21%) Back Office
15 15 (1.21%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 15 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
16 14 (1.13%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 183 (14.82%) Analyst
2 158 (12.79%) Developer
3 129 (10.45%) Lead
4 87 (7.04%) Architect
5 83 (6.72%) Business Analyst
6 78 (6.32%) QA Engineer
7 65 (5.26%) Senior
8 59 (4.78%) Tester
9 58 (4.70%) Project Manager
10 46 (3.72%) .NET Developer
11 41 (3.32%) Consultant
11 41 (3.32%) QA Analyst
12 40 (3.24%) Test Manager
13 34 (2.75%) Test Analyst
14 33 (2.67%) QA Tester
15 31 (2.51%) Software Engineer
16 30 (2.43%) C# Developer
17 29 (2.35%) QA Leader
17 29 (2.35%) Solutions Architect
17 29 (2.35%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 95 (7.69%) .NET
2 79 (6.40%) React
3 66 (5.34%) XML
4 55 (4.45%) REST
5 46 (3.72%) AngularJS
6 45 (3.64%) JSON
7 43 (3.48%) HTML
8 40 (3.24%) Node.js
8 40 (3.24%) Redux
9 36 (2.91%) CSS
10 34 (2.75%) .NET Framework
11 30 (2.43%) Spring
12 28 (2.27%) Web Services
13 23 (1.86%) RESTful
14 20 (1.62%) .NET Core
14 20 (1.62%) SailPoint
15 19 (1.54%) ASP.NET
16 18 (1.46%) Elastic Stack
16 18 (1.46%) Middleware
17 17 (1.38%) Gherkin
Miscellaneous
1 75 (6.07%) Product Ownership
2 51 (4.13%) Derivative
3 43 (3.48%) Equities
4 42 (3.40%) Fixed Income
5 36 (2.91%) Management Information System
6 35 (2.83%) Hedge funds
7 34 (2.75%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 32 (2.59%) Data Protection Act
9 28 (2.27%) Mobile App
9 28 (2.27%) Onboarding
10 20 (1.62%) Public Cloud
11 17 (1.38%) Enterprise Software
12 16 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
13 14 (1.13%) Algorithms
13 14 (1.13%) Data Structures
14 11 (0.89%) Life Science
15 10 (0.81%) Cloud Native
15 10 (0.81%) Data Centre
15 10 (0.81%) Linux Command Line
16 9 (0.73%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 99 (8.02%) Windows
2 58 (4.70%) Linux
3 37 (3.00%) Windows Server
4 36 (2.91%) Unix
5 29 (2.35%) Windows 10
6 22 (1.78%) Windows Server 2016
7 21 (1.70%) Android
7 21 (1.70%) Apple iOS
7 21 (1.70%) Windows NT
7 21 (1.70%) Windows Server 2012
7 21 (1.70%) Windows Server 2019
8 8 (0.65%) VMS
9 6 (0.49%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.32%) CentOS
10 4 (0.32%) OpenVMS
10 4 (0.32%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.081%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.081%) Solaris
11 1 (0.081%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 361 (29.23%) Agile
2 234 (18.95%) Test Automation
3 213 (17.25%) Problem-Solving
4 209 (16.92%) DevOps
5 163 (13.20%) Project Management
6 131 (10.61%) User Acceptance Testing
7 128 (10.36%) CI/CD
8 125 (10.12%) Scrum
9 116 (9.39%) Test Strategy
10 113 (9.15%) Migration
11 109 (8.83%) Continuous Improvement
12 105 (8.50%) Stakeholder Management
13 84 (6.80%) Software Engineering
14 83 (6.72%) Computer Science
15 81 (6.56%) Validation
16 78 (6.32%) User Stories
17 76 (6.15%) Analytics
17 76 (6.15%) Data Analysis
17 76 (6.15%) SDLC
18 71 (5.75%) Continuous Integration
Programming Languages
1 204 (16.52%) SQL
2 151 (12.23%) Python
3 138 (11.17%) C#
4 128 (10.36%) Java
5 125 (10.12%) JavaScript
6 58 (4.70%) TypeScript
7 43 (3.48%) T-SQL
8 39 (3.16%) PowerShell
9 27 (2.19%) PL/SQL
10 24 (1.94%) VBA
11 23 (1.86%) Bash
11 23 (1.86%) VB
12 19 (1.54%) C
13 14 (1.13%) Perl
13 14 (1.13%) Swift
13 14 (1.13%) VB.NET
14 13 (1.05%) PHP
15 11 (0.89%) Kotlin
16 10 (0.81%) F#
17 8 (0.65%) C++
Qualifications
1 189 (15.30%) Security Cleared
2 164 (13.28%) Degree
3 125 (10.12%) SC Cleared
4 63 (5.10%) DV Cleared
5 51 (4.13%) Computer Science Degree
6 45 (3.64%) ISTQB
7 26 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
8 16 (1.30%) PMP
9 13 (1.05%) Master's Degree
9 13 (1.05%) PMI Certification
10 12 (0.97%) ISEB
10 12 (0.97%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 11 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
12 10 (0.81%) CCNA
12 10 (0.81%) HND
13 8 (0.65%) HNC
14 7 (0.57%) BC Cleared
14 7 (0.57%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
15 6 (0.49%) CCNP
15 6 (0.49%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (4.94%) Data Quality
2 32 (2.59%) Accessibility
3 16 (1.30%) SLA
4 14 (1.13%) GDPR
5 10 (0.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (0.81%) PMO
5 10 (0.81%) Software Quality Assurance
6 8 (0.65%) ISO 9001
6 8 (0.65%) MiFID
7 7 (0.57%) Dodd-Frank
7 7 (0.57%) EMIR
8 6 (0.49%) NIST
9 5 (0.40%) GMP
9 5 (0.40%) IFRS
9 5 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 17025
9 5 (0.40%) ISO17020
10 4 (0.32%) HIPAA
10 4 (0.32%) WCAG
11 3 (0.24%) GRC
12 2 (0.16%) Basel III
System Software
1 49 (3.97%) Active Directory
2 33 (2.67%) Docker
3 24 (1.94%) Firmware
4 10 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.40%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
6 4 (0.32%) KVM
6 4 (0.32%) Veritas Cluster Server
6 4 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.081%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.081%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 53 (4.29%) Kubernetes
2 36 (2.91%) Ansible
3 34 (2.75%) Terraform
4 25 (2.02%) SCCM
5 21 (1.70%) Sysprep
5 21 (1.70%) WSUS
6 18 (1.46%) Grafana
7 16 (1.30%) Prometheus
8 13 (1.05%) Progress Chef
8 13 (1.05%) Puppet
9 10 (0.81%) Kibana
10 9 (0.73%) Graylog
11 7 (0.57%) HP Fortify
11 7 (0.57%) logstash
12 6 (0.49%) Docker Swarm
13 5 (0.40%) Nagios
13 5 (0.40%) Nessus
13 5 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
13 5 (0.40%) WebInspect
14 4 (0.32%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 162 (13.12%) Microsoft
2 92 (7.45%) Oracle
3 70 (5.67%) SAP
4 39 (3.16%) Adobe
5 34 (2.75%) Google
6 32 (2.59%) Citrix
6 32 (2.59%) ServiceNow
7 29 (2.35%) Salesforce
8 27 (2.19%) Splunk
9 20 (1.62%) Bloomberg
10 14 (1.13%) Cisco
10 14 (1.13%) CyberArk
10 14 (1.13%) ION Trading
11 13 (1.05%) Red Hat
12 12 (0.97%) Optimizely
12 12 (0.97%) Pega
13 11 (0.89%) CA Agile Central
13 11 (0.89%) MarketAxess
13 11 (0.89%) Tradeweb
14 10 (0.81%) Workday