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

6 months to
11 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 41 37 53
Rank change year-on-year -4 +16 -18
Contract jobs citing QA 43 35 12
As % of all contract jobs in the East Midlands 3.61% 4.59% 1.59%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 28.10% 26.72% 12.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 18 30 11
10th Percentile £360 £129 £313
25th Percentile £398 £171 £337
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £371 £380
Median % change year-on-year +17.92% -2.37% -8.43%
75th Percentile £656 £433 £518
90th Percentile £660 £478 £788
England median daily rate £481 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +1.16% -3.55% -6.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 2 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £12.76 £15.12 -
Median % change year-on-year -15.61% - -
75th Percentile £16.13 - -
90th Percentile £16.20 - -
England median hourly rate £32.40 £15.96 £14.88
% change year-on-year +102.98% +7.29% -70.25%

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 153 131 93
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East Midlands 12.86% 17.19% 12.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 94 98 60
10th Percentile £301 £171 £236
25th Percentile £400 £352 £323
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £406 £475
Median % change year-on-year +20.07% -14.53% +7.04%
75th Percentile £575 £455 £596
90th Percentile £656 £507 £717
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 8 11
10th Percentile - £15.12 -
25th Percentile £12.76 £18.97 £12.75
Median hourly rate £14.48 £21.92 £21.73
Median % change year-on-year -33.95% +0.85% -31.58%
75th Percentile £16.21 £25.11 £26.15
90th Percentile £20.74 £28.68 -
England median hourly rate £39.00 £31.64 £27.50
% change year-on-year +23.26% +15.05% -31.80%

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 11 August 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 11 August 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 +3 14 £450 +163.16% 9
Leicestershire -5 9 £388 +192.83% 7
Nottinghamshire -21 9 £638 +50.44% 8
Northamptonshire +10 6 £402 +7.20% 9
Lincolnshire - 4 £425 - 5
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 3 (6.98%) CMS
2 2 (4.65%) SharePoint
2 2 (4.65%) Umbraco
3 1 (2.33%) Confluence
Applications
1 2 (4.65%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (4.65%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (2.33%) MS Visio
2 1 (2.33%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (13.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (2.33%) Lorenzo
2 1 (2.33%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 6 (13.95%) SuccessFactors
2 2 (4.65%) Azure
2 2 (4.65%) GitHub
2 2 (4.65%) Lucidchart
3 1 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
3 1 (2.33%) Figma
3 1 (2.33%) GitHub Actions
3 1 (2.33%) Power Platform
3 1 (2.33%) SaaS
3 1 (2.33%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 5 (11.63%) Network Security
2 2 (4.65%) HTTP
3 1 (2.33%) HTTPS
3 1 (2.33%) TCP/IP
3 1 (2.33%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.33%) Data Warehouse
1 1 (2.33%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (2.33%) Power BI
1 1 (2.33%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 4 (9.30%) JIRA
2 2 (4.65%) Git
2 2 (4.65%) Postman
3 1 (2.33%) Balsamiq
3 1 (2.33%) Gatling
3 1 (2.33%) GitLab
3 1 (2.33%) Gradle
3 1 (2.33%) JMeter
3 1 (2.33%) JUnit
3 1 (2.33%) Maven
3 1 (2.33%) REST Assured
3 1 (2.33%) Selenium
3 1 (2.33%) TestNG
General
1 10 (23.26%) Retail
2 8 (18.60%) Social Skills
3 7 (16.28%) Public Sector
4 6 (13.95%) Finance
5 3 (6.98%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (6.98%) Manufacturing
5 3 (6.98%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (4.65%) Banking
7 1 (2.33%) Electronics
7 1 (2.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (2.33%) Legal
7 1 (2.33%) Police
7 1 (2.33%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 5 (11.63%) Analyst
1 5 (11.63%) Hardware Technician
1 5 (11.63%) Lead
2 4 (9.30%) QA Manager
2 4 (9.30%) Service Manager
3 3 (6.98%) Business Analyst
3 3 (6.98%) Content Coordinator
3 3 (6.98%) Coordinator
3 3 (6.98%) Developer
3 3 (6.98%) Project Manager
3 3 (6.98%) Web Content Coordinator
3 3 (6.98%) Workstream Lead
4 2 (4.65%) Configuration Engineer
4 2 (4.65%) Consultant
4 2 (4.65%) QA Engineer
4 2 (4.65%) Senior
4 2 (4.65%) Test Analyst
5 1 (2.33%) Identity Management Consultant
5 1 (2.33%) Salesforce Consultant
5 1 (2.33%) Technical Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (9.30%) XML
2 3 (6.98%) CSS
2 3 (6.98%) HTML
3 2 (4.65%) OpenAPI
3 2 (4.65%) REST
3 2 (4.65%) Swagger
4 1 (2.33%) JSON
4 1 (2.33%) Lightning Web Components
4 1 (2.33%) Playwright
4 1 (2.33%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 6 (13.95%) Public Cloud
2 5 (11.63%) EPoS
3 3 (6.98%) Data Protection Act
3 3 (6.98%) Product Ownership
4 1 (2.33%) Contactless
4 1 (2.33%) Device Driver
4 1 (2.33%) Driving Licence
4 1 (2.33%) Embedded Systems
4 1 (2.33%) EMV
4 1 (2.33%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 1 (2.33%) Hedge funds
4 1 (2.33%) Mobile App
4 1 (2.33%) NHS
4 1 (2.33%) Onboarding
4 1 (2.33%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 2 (4.65%) Windows
2 1 (2.33%) Apple iOS
2 1 (2.33%) Linux
2 1 (2.33%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (30.23%) Validation
2 10 (23.26%) Stakeholder Management
2 10 (23.26%) User Acceptance Testing
3 8 (18.60%) Logistics
3 8 (18.60%) Problem-Solving
4 7 (16.28%) Test Scripting
5 6 (13.95%) Agile
5 6 (13.95%) Analytics
5 6 (13.95%) Backlog Prioritisation
5 6 (13.95%) Security Operations
5 6 (13.95%) System Integration Testing
5 6 (13.95%) Workshop Facilitation
6 5 (11.63%) Cybersecurity
6 5 (11.63%) Functional Testing
6 5 (11.63%) Identity Access Management
6 5 (11.63%) Vulnerability Management
7 4 (9.30%) AI
7 4 (9.30%) Decision-Making
7 4 (9.30%) Programme Governance
7 4 (9.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 3 (6.98%) Python
1 3 (6.98%) SQL
2 2 (4.65%) Java
3 1 (2.33%) Apex Code
3 1 (2.33%) C++
3 1 (2.33%) PowerShell
3 1 (2.33%) SOQL
3 1 (2.33%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 1 (2.33%) DBS Check
1 1 (2.33%) Degree
1 1 (2.33%) SC Cleared
1 1 (2.33%) Security Cleared
1 1 (2.33%) Six Sigma Green Belt
1 1 (2.33%) Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (11.63%) GRC
2 1 (2.33%) Accessibility
2 1 (2.33%) Data Quality
2 1 (2.33%) ISO 8583
2 1 (2.33%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 6 (13.95%) Active Directory
1 6 (13.95%) Firmware
2 1 (2.33%) BitLocker
2 1 (2.33%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 6 (13.95%) Single Sign-On
2 1 (2.33%) SCCM
Vendors
1 8 (18.60%) SAP
2 3 (6.98%) Microsoft
3 2 (4.65%) Apple
3 2 (4.65%) Databricks
4 1 (2.33%) CheckPoint
4 1 (2.33%) Citrix
4 1 (2.33%) Dell
4 1 (2.33%) HP
4 1 (2.33%) JD Edwards
4 1 (2.33%) MEDITECH
4 1 (2.33%) Oracle
4 1 (2.33%) Salesforce
4 1 (2.33%) ServiceNow