Software Testing Contract Job Trends in England

Software Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Software Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
2 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 243 207 169
Rank change year-on-year -36 -38 +15
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 396 303 511
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.04% 1.25% 1.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.20% 1.38% 1.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 196 341
10th Percentile £335 £313 £250
25th Percentile £402 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £461 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% - -12.20%
75th Percentile £538 £618 £600
90th Percentile £607 £700 £688
UK median daily rate £441 £440 £450
% change year-on-year +0.28% -2.22% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 21 69
10th Percentile £52.90 £26.25 £37.42
25th Percentile £65.00 £59.50 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £62.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +8.00% - +25.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £73.20 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £62.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +8.00% - +21.95%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Software Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,913 22,023 32,616
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.03% 90.83% 86.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,101 14,513 21,559
10th Percentile £313 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,010 854 2,155
10th Percentile £15.34 £15.00 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £20.00 £15.92
Median hourly rate £37.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.85% - -13.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.88 £58.69
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £35.50 £32.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.94% -1.54% -11.33%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Testing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Software Testing job vacancy trend in England

Software Testing
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing

Software Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Testing in England over the 6 months to 2 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software Testing in England

Software Testing
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing

Software Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Testing in England over the 6 months to 2 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Testing in England

Software Testing
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 Software Testing within the England region over the 6 months to 2 April 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
London -29 168 £450 +4.35% 55
South East -38 62 £461 -23.17% 76
Midlands -31 51 £513 +17.58% 43
North of England -55 47 £405 -2.17% 48
South West -10 40 £409 +2.25% 36
West Midlands -38 40 £513 +14.40% 24
Yorkshire -40 25 £413 +1.85% 10
East of England -31 22 £625 +31.58% 30
North West -46 13 £405 -10.00% 31
East Midlands -26 11 £575 +400.00% 19
North East - 9 £350 - 8
Software Testing
UK

Software Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 17 (4.29%) Confluence
2 16 (4.04%) SAS
3 6 (1.52%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.26%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.76%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.51%) IIS
7 1 (0.25%) CMS
7 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.25%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.52%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.01%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.51%) Simulink
5 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (1.26%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.01%) Maximo
3 3 (0.76%) Findur
4 2 (0.51%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.25%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.25%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.25%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 125 (31.57%) Azure
2 89 (22.47%) Azure DevOps
3 76 (19.19%) AWS
4 29 (7.32%) GCP
5 28 (7.07%) GitHub
6 23 (5.81%) AWS Lambda
6 23 (5.81%) Serverless
7 22 (5.56%) Amazon S3
8 13 (3.28%) GitHub Actions
9 12 (3.03%) Amazon ECS
9 12 (3.03%) AWS CloudFormation
10 9 (2.27%) Snowflake
11 7 (1.77%) Entra ID
12 6 (1.52%) OpenShift
12 6 (1.52%) PaaS
13 5 (1.26%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 4 (1.01%) Amazon EC2
14 4 (1.01%) Power Platform
14 4 (1.01%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 3 (0.76%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.53%) Ethernet
2 4 (1.01%) Firewall
2 4 (1.01%) Wireless
3 3 (0.76%) DNS
3 3 (0.76%) FTP
3 3 (0.76%) Modbus
3 3 (0.76%) RS-232
3 3 (0.76%) RS-422
3 3 (0.76%) RS-485
3 3 (0.76%) SNMP
4 2 (0.51%) Cisco IOS
4 2 (0.51%) Intranet
4 2 (0.51%) IOS XR
4 2 (0.51%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.51%) SD-WAN
4 2 (0.51%) Software-Defined Radio
4 2 (0.51%) Spanning Tree
4 2 (0.51%) SSL
4 2 (0.51%) TACACS
4 2 (0.51%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (6.82%) PostgreSQL
2 18 (4.55%) MySQL
2 18 (4.55%) Relational Database
3 16 (4.04%) SAS Enterprise Guide
4 15 (3.79%) Oracle Database
4 15 (3.79%) SQL Server
5 10 (2.53%) BigQuery
5 10 (2.53%) NoSQL
6 9 (2.27%) Big Data
6 9 (2.27%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.77%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (1.26%) Amazon Redshift
8 5 (1.26%) DynamoDB
8 5 (1.26%) SAS Visual Analytics
9 3 (0.76%) Parquet
9 3 (0.76%) Redis
10 2 (0.51%) Amazon Athena
10 2 (0.51%) Amazon QuickSight
10 2 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.51%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 67 (16.92%) JIRA
2 51 (12.88%) Selenium
3 42 (10.61%) Git
4 35 (8.84%) Jenkins
5 34 (8.59%) Postman
6 26 (6.57%) Cucumber
7 25 (6.31%) Cypress.io
8 20 (5.05%) JUnit
8 20 (5.05%) REST Assured
9 15 (3.79%) GitLab
10 13 (3.28%) TestRail
11 11 (2.78%) Rational DOORS
12 9 (2.27%) Zephyr
13 8 (2.02%) WebDriver
14 6 (1.52%) HP UFT
14 6 (1.52%) JMeter
14 6 (1.52%) Rational Rhapsody
15 5 (1.26%) Gradle
15 5 (1.26%) Maven
15 5 (1.26%) SpecFlow
General
1 106 (26.77%) Social Skills
2 64 (16.16%) Analytical Skills
2 64 (16.16%) Finance
3 45 (11.36%) Public Sector
4 17 (4.29%) Banking
5 14 (3.54%) Aerospace
6 10 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (2.27%) Back Office
8 8 (2.02%) Electronics
8 8 (2.02%) Front Office
8 8 (2.02%) Manufacturing
9 6 (1.52%) Investment Banking
9 6 (1.52%) Military
9 6 (1.52%) Telecoms
10 5 (1.26%) Law
11 4 (1.01%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.76%) Marketing
13 2 (0.51%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 61 (15.40%) Senior
2 57 (14.39%) Developer
3 43 (10.86%) Analyst
4 40 (10.10%) Software Engineer
5 39 (9.85%) Test Engineer
6 35 (8.84%) Test Analyst
7 34 (8.59%) Lead
8 30 (7.58%) Consultant
9 29 (7.32%) Tester
10 21 (5.30%) QA Engineer
11 20 (5.05%) Java Developer
12 19 (4.80%) Test Manager
13 17 (4.29%) Java Engineer
13 17 (4.29%) Senior Developer
14 16 (4.04%) Release Manager
14 16 (4.04%) Senior Analyst
14 16 (4.04%) Senior Test Analyst
15 15 (3.79%) Software Developer
16 14 (3.54%) Software Test Engineer
17 12 (3.03%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (10.10%) Spring
2 38 (9.60%) React
3 36 (9.09%) Playwright
4 34 (8.59%) REST
4 34 (8.59%) RESTful
5 31 (7.83%) Spring Boot
6 25 (6.31%) .NET
7 22 (5.56%) CSS
7 22 (5.56%) HTML
7 22 (5.56%) Node.js
8 15 (3.79%) Kafka
9 12 (3.03%) Redux
10 11 (2.78%) HTML5
11 10 (2.53%) CSS3
11 10 (2.53%) Gherkin
11 10 (2.53%) Jest
11 10 (2.53%) Middleware
11 10 (2.53%) Spring MVC
12 9 (2.27%) AngularJS
13 8 (2.02%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 33 (8.33%) Product Ownership
2 21 (5.30%) Cloud Native
3 18 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
4 13 (3.28%) Enterprise Software
5 12 (3.03%) Distributed Systems
6 10 (2.53%) Legacy Systems
6 10 (2.53%) Management Information System
7 8 (2.02%) Embedded Systems
8 7 (1.77%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.52%) CUDA
9 6 (1.52%) Greenfield Project
9 6 (1.52%) PCIe
9 6 (1.52%) Virtual Team
10 4 (1.01%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.01%) Fixed Income
10 4 (1.01%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.76%) Equities
11 3 (0.76%) FPGA
11 3 (0.76%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.76%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 33 (8.33%) Windows
2 20 (5.05%) Linux
3 7 (1.77%) Unix
4 6 (1.52%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (1.01%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.01%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.51%) Android
7 1 (0.25%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.25%) Solaris
7 1 (0.25%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (44.70%) Test Automation
2 148 (37.37%) Agile
3 141 (35.61%) DevOps
4 132 (33.33%) CI/CD
5 97 (24.49%) Problem-Solving
6 94 (23.74%) Continuous Improvement
7 82 (20.71%) Test Scripting
8 71 (17.93%) Software Engineering
9 65 (16.41%) Validation
10 58 (14.65%) Test Strategy
11 57 (14.39%) Test Management
12 56 (14.14%) Microservices
13 48 (12.12%) SDLC
14 47 (11.87%) Regression Testing
15 46 (11.62%) API Testing
15 46 (11.62%) Defect Tracking
16 44 (11.11%) Scrum
17 41 (10.35%) Defect Management
17 41 (10.35%) Manual Testing
17 41 (10.35%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 80 (20.20%) Java
2 75 (18.94%) Python
3 73 (18.43%) SQL
4 52 (13.13%) JavaScript
5 40 (10.10%) C#
5 40 (10.10%) TypeScript
6 17 (4.29%) C++
7 14 (3.54%) C
8 8 (2.02%) Bash
9 7 (1.77%) PL/SQL
9 7 (1.77%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.52%) Go
11 5 (1.26%) VBScript
12 4 (1.01%) Groovy
12 4 (1.01%) Rust
13 3 (0.76%) Embedded C
13 3 (0.76%) Ruby
13 3 (0.76%) VB
14 2 (0.51%) Ada
14 2 (0.51%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 124 (31.31%) Security Cleared
2 102 (25.76%) SC Cleared
3 36 (9.09%) ISTQB
4 33 (8.33%) Degree
5 14 (3.54%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 7 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.77%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 5 (1.26%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.26%) ISEB
9 4 (1.01%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.76%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.76%) PMP
11 2 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.51%) CISSP
11 2 (0.51%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 1 (0.25%) A+ Certification
12 1 (0.25%) CFA
12 1 (0.25%) CTC Cleared
12 1 (0.25%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 101 (25.51%) QA
2 17 (4.29%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.78%) Data Quality
4 7 (1.77%) PMO
4 7 (1.77%) WCAG
5 4 (1.01%) SLA
6 3 (0.76%) NIST
6 3 (0.76%) Software Quality Assurance
7 2 (0.51%) EU AI Act
8 1 (0.25%) GRC
8 1 (0.25%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.25%) MiFID
8 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 34 (8.59%) Docker
2 6 (1.52%) Active Directory
2 6 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
2 6 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.26%) Firmware
4 1 (0.25%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
4 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.25%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 46 (11.62%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.04%) Terraform
3 11 (2.78%) HP ALM
4 9 (2.27%) Ansible
4 9 (2.27%) Grafana
5 7 (1.77%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.26%) Puppet
7 4 (1.01%) HP Quality Center
7 4 (1.01%) SCCM
8 2 (0.51%) Nessus
8 2 (0.51%) Salt
9 1 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.25%) Kibana
9 1 (0.25%) Nmap
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle ZFS
9 1 (0.25%) Packer
9 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
9 1 (0.25%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.25%) WSUS
Vendors
1 42 (10.61%) Oracle
2 38 (9.60%) Microsoft
3 11 (2.78%) HP
4 9 (2.27%) SAP
5 8 (2.02%) VMware
6 7 (1.77%) Citrix
6 7 (1.77%) Dell
6 7 (1.77%) IBM
6 7 (1.77%) ServiceNow
6 7 (1.77%) Splunk
7 5 (1.26%) Databricks
8 4 (1.01%) Atlassian
8 4 (1.01%) Cisco
8 4 (1.01%) Remedy
8 4 (1.01%) Salesforce
9 3 (0.76%) Ab Initio
9 3 (0.76%) Charles River
9 3 (0.76%) Google
9 3 (0.76%) OpenLink
9 3 (0.76%) Teradata
270 Software Testing jobs in England