QA Contract Job Trends in Bristol

Quality Assurance (QA)
South West > Bristol

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Bristol requiring QA skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 39 54 58
Rank change year-on-year +15 +4 +8
Contract jobs citing QA 33 11 22
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 3.37% 1.84% 2.10%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 17.28% 11.11% 14.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 21 5 12
10th Percentile £405 £162 -
25th Percentile £413 £175 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £400 £656
Median % change year-on-year +28.75% -39.05% +45.03%
75th Percentile £540 - £750
90th Percentile £553 £453 £773
South West median daily rate £538 £484 £550
% change year-on-year +11.17% -12.09% +22.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 2 3
10th Percentile - £74.50 £31.25
25th Percentile £71.25 £74.58 £36.88
Median hourly rate £72.50 £74.72 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -2.97% +57.31% -39.68%
75th Percentile £76.06 £74.86 £60.75
90th Percentile £80.23 £74.94 £67.95
South West median hourly rate £72.50 £13.26 £14.00
% change year-on-year +446.76% -5.29% -77.25%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
Bristol

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

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 191 99 147
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 19.51% 16.56% 14.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 82 36 75
10th Percentile £325 £179 £386
25th Percentile £411 £273 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £506 £488 £550
Median % change year-on-year +3.74% -11.36% +17.58%
75th Percentile £552 £620 £638
90th Percentile £625 £684 £750
South West median daily rate £515 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -1.90% -3.67% +6.34%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 25 18
10th Percentile £17.69 £59.00 £33.00
25th Percentile £33.50 £61.25 £33.50
Median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £67.88
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -4.24% +4.42%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.75 £83.40
90th Percentile £67.25 £74.78 -
South West median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year -3.85% +48.57% -30.81%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in Bristol

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing QA relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol.

QA job vacancy trend in Bristol

QA
Daily Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing QA.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing QA

QA
Daily Rate Histogram in Bristol

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA in Bristol over the 6 months to 9 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for QA in Bristol

QA
Hourly Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing QA.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing QA

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bristol 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 6 (18.18%) Apache
Applications
1 3 (9.09%) Simulink
1 3 (9.09%) Stateflow
2 2 (6.06%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 2 (6.06%) Asana
1 2 (6.06%) AWS
2 1 (3.03%) Amazon ECS
2 1 (3.03%) AWS Lambda
2 1 (3.03%) Figma
2 1 (3.03%) GCP
2 1 (3.03%) Google Ads
2 1 (3.03%) Google Analytics
2 1 (3.03%) Google Tag Manager
2 1 (3.03%) Power Platform
2 1 (3.03%) Serverless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (3.03%) BigQuery
1 1 (3.03%) Looker
1 1 (3.03%) Power BI
1 1 (3.03%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (36.36%) Selenium
2 11 (33.33%) Cypress.io
3 10 (30.30%) Postman
3 10 (30.30%) REST Assured
4 6 (18.18%) Artifactory
4 6 (18.18%) GitLab
5 3 (9.09%) Rational DOORS
5 3 (9.09%) Rational Team Concert
6 2 (6.06%) JIRA
7 1 (3.03%) Cucumber
7 1 (3.03%) Mockito
General
1 5 (15.15%) Aerospace
1 5 (15.15%) Finance
1 5 (15.15%) Social Skills
2 4 (12.12%) Public Sector
3 3 (9.09%) Aviation
4 2 (6.06%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (3.03%) Banking
5 1 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
5 1 (3.03%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 10 (30.30%) Lead
2 9 (27.27%) QA Leader
3 8 (24.24%) Senior
4 7 (21.21%) DevOps Engineer
5 3 (9.09%) Project Manager
5 3 (9.09%) QA Manager
6 2 (6.06%) Analyst
6 2 (6.06%) SC Cleared Project Manager
6 2 (6.06%) ServiceNow Manager
6 2 (6.06%) ServiceNow Project Manager
7 1 (3.03%) AWS Engineer
7 1 (3.03%) iOS Developer
7 1 (3.03%) IT Manager
7 1 (3.03%) Network Design Specialist
7 1 (3.03%) Senior Analyst
7 1 (3.03%) Senior DevOps
7 1 (3.03%) Senior DevOps Engineer
7 1 (3.03%) Senior Performance Analyst
7 1 (3.03%) Senior Software Tester
7 1 (3.03%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (18.18%) Apache NiFi
1 6 (18.18%) REST
2 1 (3.03%) JSON
2 1 (3.03%) Playwright
2 1 (3.03%) SwiftUI
Miscellaneous
1 9 (27.27%) Self-Motivation
2 2 (6.06%) Greenfield Project
2 2 (6.06%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (3.03%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (3.03%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 6 (18.18%) Windows
2 1 (3.03%) Android
2 1 (3.03%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (39.39%) Test Strategy
2 12 (36.36%) Software Testing
2 12 (36.36%) Test Automation
3 10 (30.30%) Test Scripting
4 8 (24.24%) CI/CD
5 7 (21.21%) AI
5 7 (21.21%) Continuous Improvement
5 7 (21.21%) DevOps
5 7 (21.21%) User Experience
5 7 (21.21%) Workflow
6 5 (15.15%) Agile
6 5 (15.15%) Computer Science
7 4 (12.12%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
7 4 (12.12%) Integration Testing
7 4 (12.12%) Problem-Solving
8 3 (9.09%) Budget Management
8 3 (9.09%) Project Management
8 3 (9.09%) Requirements Management
8 3 (9.09%) Software Engineering
8 3 (9.09%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (21.21%) PowerShell
1 7 (21.21%) Python
2 3 (9.09%) Ada
2 3 (9.09%) C
2 3 (9.09%) Fortran
2 3 (9.09%) MATLAB
3 1 (3.03%) SQL
3 1 (3.03%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 24 (72.73%) Security Cleared
2 17 (51.52%) SC Cleared
3 6 (18.18%) DV Cleared
4 5 (15.15%) Computer Science Degree
4 5 (15.15%) Degree
5 2 (6.06%) PMI Certification
5 2 (6.06%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (3.03%) Accessibility
1 1 (3.03%) GDPR
1 1 (3.03%) PERC
1 1 (3.03%) Software Quality Assurance
Systems Management
1 7 (21.21%) Kubernetes
1 7 (21.21%) Terraform
2 6 (18.18%) Ansible
Vendors
1 6 (18.18%) Red Hat
2 3 (9.09%) MathWorks
3 2 (6.06%) ServiceNow
4 1 (3.03%) Facebook
4 1 (3.03%) Google