QA Contract Job Trends in the East Midlands

Quality Assurance (QA)
England > East Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the East Midlands requiring QA skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 8 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 43 36 56
Rank change year-on-year -7 +20 -21
Contract jobs citing QA 40 32 10
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 3.13% 4.17% 1.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 26.14% 24.24% 10.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 27 9
10th Percentile £364 £156 £312
25th Percentile £398 £296 £319
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £420 £375 £425
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% -11.76% +4.62%
75th Percentile £491 £448 £565
90th Percentile £563 £475 £805
England median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.16% -2.61% -7.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 2 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £12.76 - -
Median hourly rate £13.50 £15.12 -
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% - -
75th Percentile £16.30 - -
90th Percentile £16.46 - -
England median hourly rate £31.46 £22.98 £13.26
% change year-on-year +36.90% +73.30% -73.48%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
East Midlands

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 the East Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 153 132 97
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 11.95% 17.19% 12.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 86 103 60
10th Percentile £256 £284 £263
25th Percentile £400 £358 £336
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £410 £500
Median % change year-on-year +18.11% -18.00% +12.68%
75th Percentile £542 £469 £603
90th Percentile £650 £520 £717
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 7 7
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.12 -
25th Percentile £12.79 £17.69 £12.75
Median hourly rate £16.13 £20.83 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.56% +54.30% -34.18%
75th Percentile £16.46 £25.11 £28.25
90th Percentile £21.22 £29.88 £47.35
England median hourly rate £36.07 £32.00 £28.50
% change year-on-year +12.72% +12.28% -18.57%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in the East Midlands

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

QA job vacancy trend in the East Midlands

QA
Daily Rate Trend in the East Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing QA.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing QA

QA
Daily Rate Histogram in the East Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA in the East Midlands over the 6 months to 8 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for QA in the East Midlands

QA
Hourly Rate Trend in the East Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing QA.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East Midlands citing QA

QA
Contract Job Locations in the East Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the East Midlands region over the 6 months to 8 September 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
Derbyshire +2 16 £450 +163.16% 12
Leicestershire -4 9 £415 +213.61% 16
Northamptonshire +9 8 £475 +26.67% 9
Lincolnshire - 4 £425 - 8
Nottinghamshire -21 3 £525 +20.00% 17
QA
England

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East Midlands 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 2 (5.00%) Umbraco
2 1 (2.50%) CMS
2 1 (2.50%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (20.00%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (10.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (10.00%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (2.50%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (2.50%) Lorenzo
1 1 (2.50%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (2.50%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 2 (5.00%) Azure
1 2 (5.00%) Lucidchart
2 1 (2.50%) Azure Databricks
2 1 (2.50%) Azure DevOps
2 1 (2.50%) Figma
2 1 (2.50%) GitHub
2 1 (2.50%) Power Platform
2 1 (2.50%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
2 1 (2.50%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 1 (2.50%) HTTP
1 1 (2.50%) HTTPS
1 1 (2.50%) Network Security
1 1 (2.50%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.50%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (2.50%) Power BI
1 1 (2.50%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (5.00%) JIRA
2 1 (2.50%) Balsamiq
2 1 (2.50%) Git
2 1 (2.50%) Postman
2 1 (2.50%) Selenium
General
1 12 (30.00%) Retail
2 8 (20.00%) Social Skills
3 6 (15.00%) Finance
3 6 (15.00%) Manufacturing
4 5 (12.50%) Public Sector
5 4 (10.00%) Banking
5 4 (10.00%) Electronics
5 4 (10.00%) Police
6 3 (7.50%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (2.50%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (12.50%) Analyst
1 5 (12.50%) Hardware Technician
2 4 (10.00%) QA Manager
2 4 (10.00%) Senior
2 4 (10.00%) Service Manager
3 3 (7.50%) Electronics Technician
4 2 (5.00%) Business Analyst
4 2 (5.00%) Configuration Engineer
4 2 (5.00%) Developer
4 2 (5.00%) Project Manager
4 2 (5.00%) QA Engineer
4 2 (5.00%) Senior Analyst
5 1 (2.50%) Consultant
5 1 (2.50%) Coordinator
5 1 (2.50%) Lead
5 1 (2.50%) Senior Business Analyst
5 1 (2.50%) Systems Engineer
5 1 (2.50%) Technical Consultant
5 1 (2.50%) Technical Developer
5 1 (2.50%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.50%) CSS
1 1 (2.50%) HTML
1 1 (2.50%) Lightning Web Components
1 1 (2.50%) OpenAPI
1 1 (2.50%) REST
1 1 (2.50%) SOAP
1 1 (2.50%) Swagger
1 1 (2.50%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 5 (12.50%) EPoS
2 3 (7.50%) Product Ownership
3 1 (2.50%) Contactless
3 1 (2.50%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (2.50%) Device Driver
3 1 (2.50%) Driving Licence
3 1 (2.50%) Embedded Systems
3 1 (2.50%) EMV
3 1 (2.50%) Mobile App
3 1 (2.50%) NHS
3 1 (2.50%) Public Cloud
3 1 (2.50%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 2 (5.00%) Windows
2 1 (2.50%) Apple iOS
2 1 (2.50%) Linux
2 1 (2.50%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (27.50%) Logistics
2 9 (22.50%) Problem-Solving
3 6 (15.00%) Agile
3 6 (15.00%) Validation
4 5 (12.50%) Continuous Improvement
4 5 (12.50%) Functional Testing
4 5 (12.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 5 (12.50%) Stakeholder Management
4 5 (12.50%) User Acceptance Testing
5 4 (10.00%) Anti-Money Laundering
5 4 (10.00%) Decision-Making
5 4 (10.00%) KYC
5 4 (10.00%) Process Improvement
5 4 (10.00%) Project Governance
5 4 (10.00%) Risk Assessment
5 4 (10.00%) Telematics
6 3 (7.50%) Defect Management
6 3 (7.50%) Migration
6 3 (7.50%) Root Cause Analysis
6 3 (7.50%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 2 (5.00%) SQL
2 1 (2.50%) Apex Code
2 1 (2.50%) C++
2 1 (2.50%) PowerShell
2 1 (2.50%) Python
2 1 (2.50%) SOQL
2 1 (2.50%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 4 (10.00%) DBS Check
1 4 (10.00%) Degree
2 1 (2.50%) SC Cleared
2 1 (2.50%) Security Cleared
2 1 (2.50%) Six Sigma Green Belt
2 1 (2.50%) Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (2.50%) Accessibility
1 1 (2.50%) GRC
1 1 (2.50%) ISO 8583
1 1 (2.50%) PCI DSS
1 1 (2.50%) PMO
System Software
1 6 (15.00%) Firmware
2 1 (2.50%) Active Directory
2 1 (2.50%) BitLocker
2 1 (2.50%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 1 (2.50%) SCCM
1 1 (2.50%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 7 (17.50%) Microsoft
2 5 (12.50%) Apple
3 3 (7.50%) CheckPoint
3 3 (7.50%) SAP
4 1 (2.50%) Databricks
4 1 (2.50%) Dell
4 1 (2.50%) HP
4 1 (2.50%) JD Edwards
4 1 (2.50%) MEDITECH
4 1 (2.50%) Oracle
4 1 (2.50%) Salesforce
4 1 (2.50%) ServiceNow