QA Contracts in England

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring QA skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited QA over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 63 62 78
Rank change year-on-year -1 +16 -12
Contract jobs citing QA 893 1,230 1,564
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 3.67% 3.31% 3.10%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 23.10% 23.23% 23.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 600 850 1,149
10th Percentile £285 £318 £305
25th Percentile £385 £406 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £516 £510
Median % change year-on-year -7.39% +1.18% -
75th Percentile £575 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £750 £743
UK median daily rate £475 £509 £500
% change year-on-year -6.59% +1.70% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 65 25
10th Percentile £18.50 £10.82 £12.90
25th Percentile £21.25 £12.24 £21.24
Median hourly rate £50.00 £15.75 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year +217.46% -29.95% -52.66%
75th Percentile £73.75 £28.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £63.80 £55.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £15.57 £22.49
% change year-on-year +173.05% -30.78% -52.41%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

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 England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 3,865 5,295 6,738
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.87% 14.24% 13.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,481 3,378 4,585
10th Percentile £270 £300 £276
25th Percentile £400 £408 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -
75th Percentile £635 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £525
% change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 347 206
10th Percentile £17.78 £10.95 £13.94
25th Percentile £22.27 £13.09 £19.50
Median hourly rate £34.75 £22.34 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.55% -46.17% +50.91%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £79.11 £67.38 £79.88
UK median hourly rate £34.50 £20.80 £37.50
% change year-on-year +65.85% -44.53% +33.93%

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 1 May 2025.

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 1 May 2025.

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 1 May 2025. 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 -9 488 £500 -7.41% 875
North of England -12 111 £500 - 302
South East +6 107 £425 -12.82% 363
Midlands +15 82 £420 -6.78% 167
North West -9 58 £463 -7.50% 194
West Midlands +7 54 £460 -12.38% 93
South West -7 46 £500 -9.09% 154
Yorkshire -15 38 £511 -5.32% 72
East Midlands +15 28 £410 +35.54% 69
East of England +26 21 £513 +36.67% 119
North East +7 15 £460 +10.84% 42
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 54 (6.05%) Confluence
2 12 (1.34%) IIS
3 10 (1.12%) SharePoint
4 7 (0.78%) CMS
5 6 (0.67%) CICS
6 5 (0.56%) Apache
6 5 (0.56%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.45%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.45%) Oracle Workflow
8 3 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 3 (0.34%) ArcGIS
8 3 (0.34%) Drupal
8 3 (0.34%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.34%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.22%) MQSeries
9 2 (0.22%) nginx
9 2 (0.22%) SAS
9 2 (0.22%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.22%) WordPress
Applications
1 41 (4.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.57%) MS Visio
3 12 (1.34%) Microsoft Office
4 9 (1.01%) Chatbot
5 8 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.34%) Sketch
8 2 (0.22%) Notepad++
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.11%) EViews
9 1 (0.11%) MadCap Flare
9 1 (0.11%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.11%) Trello
Business Applications
1 30 (3.36%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.46%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.78%) SAP PP
4 5 (0.56%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.45%) Shopify
6 3 (0.34%) Exstream
6 3 (0.34%) ION Anvil
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle EBS R12
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle General Ledger
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Payables
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.34%) Workday HCM
7 2 (0.22%) Kondor
7 2 (0.22%) MultiFonds
7 2 (0.22%) NEC Housing
7 2 (0.22%) SAP CRM
7 2 (0.22%) SAP Hybris
7 2 (0.22%) SAP IBP
Cloud Services
1 146 (16.35%) Azure
2 128 (14.33%) AWS
3 51 (5.71%) Azure DevOps
4 50 (5.60%) GCP
5 44 (4.93%) GitHub
6 40 (4.48%) Power Platform
7 21 (2.35%) Dynamics 365
8 18 (2.02%) GitHub Actions
9 17 (1.90%) Serverless
10 16 (1.79%) SaaS
11 13 (1.46%) Snowflake
12 12 (1.34%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (1.34%) Microsoft 365
13 11 (1.23%) BrowserStack
14 10 (1.12%) AWS Lambda
14 10 (1.12%) Datadog
15 9 (1.01%) Adobe Analytics
16 8 (0.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (0.90%) Cloud Computing
17 7 (0.78%) Sauce Labs
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.46%) Internet
2 10 (1.12%) DNS
2 10 (1.12%) WAN
3 9 (1.01%) Firewall
3 9 (1.01%) Wireless
4 8 (0.90%) DHCP
4 8 (0.90%) TCP/IP
5 7 (0.78%) LAN
5 7 (0.78%) Network Security
5 7 (0.78%) VPN
5 7 (0.78%) Wi-Fi
6 6 (0.67%) Radio Access Network
6 6 (0.67%) Structured Cabling
7 5 (0.56%) DOCSIS
7 5 (0.56%) Wireshark
8 4 (0.45%) DSL
9 3 (0.34%) 2G
9 3 (0.34%) 4G
9 3 (0.34%) 5G
9 3 (0.34%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.82%) SQL Server
2 33 (3.70%) Power BI
3 23 (2.58%) PostgreSQL
4 22 (2.46%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (2.02%) Oracle Database
6 17 (1.90%) Tableau
7 14 (1.57%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.34%) MySQL
8 12 (1.34%) Relational Database
9 10 (1.12%) Oracle Reports
10 9 (1.01%) BigQuery
10 9 (1.01%) Metadata
11 7 (0.78%) Hadoop
12 6 (0.67%) MongoDB
12 6 (0.67%) MS Access
13 5 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.56%) DB2
13 5 (0.56%) IDMS
13 5 (0.56%) Looker
13 5 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 121 (13.55%) JIRA
2 100 (11.20%) Selenium
3 72 (8.06%) Git
4 61 (6.83%) Jenkins
5 50 (5.60%) Postman
6 42 (4.70%) JMeter
7 41 (4.59%) Cucumber
8 32 (3.58%) Cypress.io
8 32 (3.58%) GitLab
9 28 (3.14%) JUnit
10 21 (2.35%) REST Assured
11 20 (2.24%) Appium
12 14 (1.57%) LoadRunner
12 14 (1.57%) Maven
13 13 (1.46%) SpecFlow
13 13 (1.46%) TestRail
14 12 (1.34%) Bitbucket
14 12 (1.34%) SoapUI
15 10 (1.12%) QARun
15 10 (1.12%) WebDriver
General
1 365 (40.87%) Social Skills
2 211 (23.63%) Analytical Skills
3 184 (20.60%) Finance
4 68 (7.61%) Banking
5 65 (7.28%) Public Sector
6 36 (4.03%) Telecoms
7 29 (3.25%) Manufacturing
8 24 (2.69%) Retail
9 19 (2.13%) Organisational Skills
10 18 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 18 (2.02%) Legal
11 17 (1.90%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.79%) Front Office
12 16 (1.79%) Marketing
13 14 (1.57%) Pharmaceutical
14 13 (1.46%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (1.34%) Games
15 12 (1.34%) Investment Banking
16 11 (1.23%) Back Office
17 10 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 145 (16.24%) Analyst
2 97 (10.86%) Developer
3 89 (9.97%) Senior
4 87 (9.74%) Lead
5 79 (8.85%) QA Engineer
6 65 (7.28%) Tester
7 57 (6.38%) Architect
8 51 (5.71%) Business Analyst
9 42 (4.70%) Test Analyst
10 40 (4.48%) Test Engineer
11 33 (3.70%) QA Tester
12 31 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
13 30 (3.36%) Consultant
13 30 (3.36%) Test Manager
14 28 (3.14%) Data Analyst
15 27 (3.02%) Project Manager
15 27 (3.02%) Test Leader
16 24 (2.69%) QA Leader
17 23 (2.58%) DevOps Engineer
18 22 (2.46%) C# Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.60%) .NET
2 27 (3.02%) CSS
2 27 (3.02%) HTML
3 24 (2.69%) Playwright
3 24 (2.69%) REST
4 22 (2.46%) RESTful
5 21 (2.35%) React
6 19 (2.13%) Node.js
7 18 (2.02%) Web Services
8 17 (1.90%) .NET Framework
9 16 (1.79%) AngularJS
9 16 (1.79%) FIX Protocol
9 16 (1.79%) Kafka
10 15 (1.68%) JSON
10 15 (1.68%) Middleware
10 15 (1.68%) WPF
11 14 (1.57%) WinForms
12 12 (1.34%) pytest
13 11 (1.23%) WCF
13 11 (1.23%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 58 (6.49%) Product Ownership
2 23 (2.58%) Data Centre
3 20 (2.24%) Management Information System
4 19 (2.13%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.02%) Virtual Team
6 16 (1.79%) Algorithms
7 13 (1.46%) Mobile App
7 13 (1.46%) Public Cloud
8 12 (1.34%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
9 11 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
10 10 (1.12%) Life Science
10 10 (1.12%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 8 (0.90%) Data Structures
11 8 (0.90%) Fixed Income
11 8 (0.90%) IoT
11 8 (0.90%) Mainframe
12 7 (0.78%) Digital Media
12 7 (0.78%) LIMS
Operating Systems
1 77 (8.62%) Windows
2 37 (4.14%) Linux
3 16 (1.79%) Android
3 16 (1.79%) Apple iOS
4 14 (1.57%) Unix
5 11 (1.23%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.23%) Windows Server
6 5 (0.56%) zOS
7 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (0.34%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.34%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.22%) Solaris
10 1 (0.11%) CentOS
10 1 (0.11%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.11%) Rocky
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 323 (36.17%) Agile
2 259 (29.00%) Test Automation
3 232 (25.98%) Problem-Solving
4 156 (17.47%) CI/CD
5 149 (16.69%) DevOps
6 127 (14.22%) Stakeholder Management
7 115 (12.88%) Test Strategy
8 103 (11.53%) Continuous Improvement
9 102 (11.42%) Scrum
9 102 (11.42%) User Acceptance Testing
10 98 (10.97%) Project Management
11 92 (10.30%) Migration
12 89 (9.97%) Validation
13 72 (8.06%) Analytics
13 72 (8.06%) Software Testing
13 72 (8.06%) Test Scripting
14 71 (7.95%) Software Engineering
15 70 (7.84%) Manual Testing
16 65 (7.28%) Computer Science
16 65 (7.28%) User Stories
Programming Languages
1 158 (17.69%) Python
2 141 (15.79%) SQL
3 129 (14.45%) Java
4 85 (9.52%) JavaScript
5 70 (7.84%) C#
6 33 (3.70%) TypeScript
7 28 (3.14%) Bash
8 27 (3.02%) VB
9 21 (2.35%) PowerShell
10 15 (1.68%) PL/SQL
10 15 (1.68%) VBA
11 13 (1.46%) T-SQL
12 12 (1.34%) Ruby
12 12 (1.34%) Scala
13 10 (1.12%) C++
14 9 (1.01%) Shell Script
15 8 (0.90%) COBOL
15 8 (0.90%) PHP
16 6 (0.67%) C
16 6 (0.67%) JCL
Qualifications
1 158 (17.69%) Security Cleared
2 128 (14.33%) SC Cleared
3 110 (12.32%) Degree
4 54 (6.05%) Computer Science Degree
5 29 (3.25%) ISTQB
6 28 (3.14%) AWS Certification
7 19 (2.13%) Master's Degree
8 18 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
9 15 (1.68%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (1.57%) Azure Certification
10 14 (1.57%) PMP
11 13 (1.46%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 13 (1.46%) PMI Certification
12 12 (1.34%) DV Cleared
13 6 (0.67%) CISSP
14 5 (0.56%) CEH
14 5 (0.56%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
14 5 (0.56%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 5 (0.56%) TOGAF Certification
15 4 (0.45%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (4.26%) Data Quality
2 25 (2.80%) Accessibility
3 15 (1.68%) PMO
4 14 (1.57%) Software Quality Assurance
5 11 (1.23%) SLA
6 10 (1.12%) GDPR
7 8 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (0.90%) WCAG
8 7 (0.78%) HIPAA
9 6 (0.67%) GxP
9 6 (0.67%) ISO 9001
9 6 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 3 (0.34%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.22%) GLP
11 2 (0.22%) GMP
11 2 (0.22%) ISO 13485
11 2 (0.22%) MISRA
11 2 (0.22%) MISRA C
11 2 (0.22%) NIST
11 2 (0.22%) SEPA
System Software
1 52 (5.82%) Docker
2 9 (1.01%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.45%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.34%) Microsoft App-V
5 2 (0.22%) BitLocker
5 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.22%) vSphere
6 1 (0.11%) Time Sharing Option
6 1 (0.11%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
6 1 (0.11%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 41 (4.59%) Kubernetes
2 34 (3.81%) Terraform
3 26 (2.91%) Ansible
4 11 (1.23%) SCCM
5 9 (1.01%) Grafana
6 6 (0.67%) Progress Chef
7 5 (0.56%) Packer
7 5 (0.56%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.56%) Puppet
8 4 (0.45%) EnCase
8 4 (0.45%) FTK
8 4 (0.45%) Kibana
8 4 (0.45%) Red Hat Satellite
9 3 (0.34%) Control-M
9 3 (0.34%) Microsoft Intune
9 3 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.22%) Amdocs OSS
10 2 (0.22%) HP ALM
10 2 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.22%) Rundeck
Vendors
1 99 (11.09%) Microsoft
2 60 (6.72%) Oracle
3 58 (6.49%) SAP
4 30 (3.36%) Google
5 27 (3.02%) Salesforce
6 25 (2.80%) Databricks
7 20 (2.24%) Citrix
8 18 (2.02%) Adobe
9 17 (1.90%) ServiceNow
10 14 (1.57%) HP
10 14 (1.57%) IBM
11 13 (1.46%) Cisco
11 13 (1.46%) Splunk
12 12 (1.34%) Dell
13 11 (1.23%) Informatica
14 9 (1.01%) Workday
15 8 (0.90%) Apple
16 6 (0.67%) ION Trading
16 6 (0.67%) Red Hat
16 6 (0.67%) Talend