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 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
9 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 265 245 181
Rank change year-on-year -20 -64 +7
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 394 249 483
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.93% 1.02% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.09% 1.12% 1.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 166 331
10th Percentile £338 £313 £310
25th Percentile £400 £357 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £438 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% -2.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £588
90th Percentile £638 £694 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £438 £463
% change year-on-year +8.57% -5.41% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 17 61
10th Percentile £25.05 £40.42 £37.55
25th Percentile £55.13 £51.06 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +17.39% -8.00% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £57.63 £62.50
% change year-on-year +17.14% -7.80% +13.64%

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 36,103 22,244 31,795
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.13% 91.27% 85.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,869 14,374 20,646
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,268 1,001 2,353
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.81
25th Percentile £20.79 £18.10 £16.00
Median hourly rate £47.25 £28.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.79% -24.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £68.00 £58.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.00 £73.75 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.50 £36.50
% change year-on-year +59.85% -24.66% +1.67%

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 9 June 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 9 June 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 9 June 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 -40 151 £475 +8.57% 29
South East -42 58 £495 +23.75% 66
Midlands -24 51 £514 +44.28% 31
North of England -44 50 £488 -1.99% 32
West Midlands -22 45 £513 +21.48% 17
South West -10 43 £409 -18.20% 32
East of England -13 39 £570 +20.00% 50
North East -5 22 £450 - 11
Yorkshire -48 17 £500 -3.80% 4
North West -36 13 £500 +11.11% 18
East Midlands -28 6 £575 +69.12% 14
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 14 (3.55%) Confluence
1 14 (3.55%) SAS
2 12 (3.05%) Apache Airflow
3 8 (2.03%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.76%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.51%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Apache
6 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.25%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.02%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.25%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 6 (1.52%) Findur
1 6 (1.52%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (1.02%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.02%) Maximo
3 3 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.51%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 103 (26.14%) Azure
2 77 (19.54%) AWS
3 68 (17.26%) Azure DevOps
4 30 (7.61%) GitHub
5 22 (5.58%) Serverless
6 21 (5.33%) AWS Lambda
7 20 (5.08%) Amazon S3
7 20 (5.08%) GCP
8 11 (2.79%) PaaS
9 10 (2.54%) GitHub Actions
10 9 (2.28%) Snowflake
11 8 (2.03%) OpenShift
12 7 (1.78%) Entra ID
13 6 (1.52%) Amazon EC2
13 6 (1.52%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (1.52%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.52%) SaaS
13 6 (1.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 5 (1.27%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 5 (1.27%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.03%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.52%) DNS
3 5 (1.27%) Firewall
3 5 (1.27%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.27%) Wireless
4 4 (1.02%) Network Security
4 4 (1.02%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.76%) DHCP
5 3 (0.76%) Modbus
5 3 (0.76%) RS-232
5 3 (0.76%) RS-422
5 3 (0.76%) RS-485
6 2 (0.51%) 4G
6 2 (0.51%) 5G
6 2 (0.51%) Internet
6 2 (0.51%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.25%) BGP
7 1 (0.25%) FTP
7 1 (0.25%) MPLS
7 1 (0.25%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.58%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (4.82%) Relational Database
3 18 (4.57%) Oracle Database
4 15 (3.81%) MySQL
5 14 (3.55%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 14 (3.55%) SQL Server
6 11 (2.79%) Big Data
7 10 (2.54%) SAS Visual Analytics
8 9 (2.28%) DynamoDB
8 9 (2.28%) NoSQL
9 8 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (1.52%) Amazon Redshift
11 5 (1.27%) Amazon Athena
12 4 (1.02%) Amazon QuickSight
12 4 (1.02%) MongoDB
13 3 (0.76%) BigQuery
13 3 (0.76%) Parquet
13 3 (0.76%) Power BI
13 3 (0.76%) Redis
14 2 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 72 (18.27%) JIRA
2 45 (11.42%) Selenium
3 37 (9.39%) Git
4 29 (7.36%) Jenkins
4 29 (7.36%) Postman
5 25 (6.35%) Cucumber
5 25 (6.35%) REST Assured
6 24 (6.09%) GitLab
7 22 (5.58%) JUnit
8 17 (4.31%) Cypress.io
9 13 (3.30%) TestRail
10 12 (3.05%) Rational DOORS
11 11 (2.79%) WebDriver
12 9 (2.28%) Zephyr
13 7 (1.78%) JMeter
14 6 (1.52%) Gatling
14 6 (1.52%) HP UFT
15 5 (1.27%) Appium
15 5 (1.27%) SonarQube
16 4 (1.02%) Maven
General
1 109 (27.66%) Social Skills
2 73 (18.53%) Finance
3 64 (16.24%) Analytical Skills
4 49 (12.44%) Public Sector
5 26 (6.60%) Banking
6 19 (4.82%) Aerospace
7 14 (3.55%) Automotive
8 13 (3.30%) Back Office
9 12 (3.05%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.03%) Military
11 7 (1.78%) Law
12 6 (1.52%) Front Office
12 6 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.27%) Electronics
13 5 (1.27%) Legal
13 5 (1.27%) Manufacturing
14 4 (1.02%) Investment Banking
15 3 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.76%) Police
Job Titles
1 65 (16.50%) Senior
2 62 (15.74%) Test Engineer
3 53 (13.45%) Software Engineer
4 52 (13.20%) Developer
5 33 (8.38%) Analyst
6 30 (7.61%) Tester
7 26 (6.60%) Lead
8 21 (5.33%) Java Developer
8 21 (5.33%) Software Test Engineer
9 20 (5.08%) Test Analyst
10 18 (4.57%) QA Engineer
10 18 (4.57%) Senior Developer
11 16 (4.06%) Architect
11 16 (4.06%) Test Manager
12 14 (3.55%) Release Manager
13 12 (3.05%) Salesforce Engineer
13 12 (3.05%) Software Developer
14 11 (2.79%) Automation Engineer
14 11 (2.79%) Embedded Engineer
14 11 (2.79%) Embedded Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (9.39%) Playwright
2 35 (8.88%) Spring
3 34 (8.63%) React
3 34 (8.63%) REST
4 27 (6.85%) Spring Boot
5 23 (5.84%) RESTful
6 21 (5.33%) .NET
7 17 (4.31%) Kafka
8 14 (3.55%) CSS
8 14 (3.55%) HTML
9 13 (3.30%) Node.js
10 12 (3.05%) Redux
11 10 (2.54%) Spring MVC
12 9 (2.28%) AngularJS
12 9 (2.28%) CSS3
12 9 (2.28%) HTML5
12 9 (2.28%) Jest
13 6 (1.52%) .NET Framework
14 5 (1.27%) Middleware
14 5 (1.27%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 39 (9.90%) Product Ownership
2 22 (5.58%) Cloud Native
3 21 (5.33%) Embedded Systems
4 20 (5.08%) Enterprise Software
5 18 (4.57%) Self-Motivation
6 17 (4.31%) Distributed Systems
7 14 (3.55%) Management Information System
8 12 (3.05%) Legacy Systems
9 11 (2.79%) Data Centre
10 6 (1.52%) Data Protection Act
10 6 (1.52%) Virtual Team
11 5 (1.27%) FPGA
11 5 (1.27%) Greenfield Project
11 5 (1.27%) Mobile App
11 5 (1.27%) PCIe
12 4 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.02%) Public Cloud
13 3 (0.76%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 3 (0.76%) NHS
13 3 (0.76%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 28 (7.11%) Windows
2 24 (6.09%) Linux
3 9 (2.28%) Unix
4 6 (1.52%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.52%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.02%) Android
5 4 (1.02%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.51%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.51%) zOS
7 1 (0.25%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 186 (47.21%) Test Automation
2 147 (37.31%) Agile
3 134 (34.01%) CI/CD
4 131 (33.25%) DevOps
5 98 (24.87%) Software Engineering
6 88 (22.34%) Continuous Improvement
7 79 (20.05%) Problem-Solving
8 69 (17.51%) Test Scripting
9 66 (16.75%) Validation
10 60 (15.23%) Test Strategy
11 56 (14.21%) Scrum
11 56 (14.21%) SDLC
12 49 (12.44%) Regression Testing
13 48 (12.18%) Test Management
14 45 (11.42%) User Acceptance Testing
15 43 (10.91%) Code Quality
15 43 (10.91%) Defect Tracking
16 42 (10.66%) Defect Management
16 42 (10.66%) Microservices
17 40 (10.15%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 75 (19.04%) Java
2 70 (17.77%) Python
3 57 (14.47%) SQL
4 37 (9.39%) JavaScript
5 34 (8.63%) C#
6 28 (7.11%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.55%) C++
8 11 (2.79%) C
9 7 (1.78%) PL/SQL
9 7 (1.78%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.52%) Bash
11 5 (1.27%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.27%) VBScript
12 4 (1.02%) Go
13 3 (0.76%) Rust
13 3 (0.76%) VB
14 2 (0.51%) Ada
14 2 (0.51%) JCL
14 2 (0.51%) REXX
14 2 (0.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 126 (31.98%) Security Cleared
2 100 (25.38%) SC Cleared
3 40 (10.15%) Degree
4 34 (8.63%) ISTQB
5 20 (5.08%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 11 (2.79%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (2.28%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (1.78%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.52%) ISEB
10 4 (1.02%) CEH
10 4 (1.02%) CISSP
10 4 (1.02%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (0.76%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (0.76%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 2 (0.51%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.51%) CCNA
12 2 (0.51%) Master's Degree
12 2 (0.51%) Network+ Certification
12 2 (0.51%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.51%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (23.35%) QA
2 16 (4.06%) Accessibility
3 12 (3.05%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.03%) WCAG
5 7 (1.78%) PMO
6 5 (1.27%) Software Quality Assurance
7 4 (1.02%) NIST
7 4 (1.02%) SLA
8 3 (0.76%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.51%) GRC
9 2 (0.51%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.51%) MiFID
10 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 36 (9.14%) Docker
2 11 (2.79%) Active Directory
3 9 (2.28%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.03%) Firmware
5 6 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (1.02%) Embedded Firmware
7 3 (0.76%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.76%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (0.51%) NFS
8 2 (0.51%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 43 (10.91%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.58%) Terraform
3 12 (3.05%) Ansible
4 10 (2.54%) HP ALM
5 9 (2.28%) Prometheus
6 8 (2.03%) Grafana
7 6 (1.52%) Puppet
8 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (1.02%) HP Quality Center
9 4 (1.02%) Salt
9 4 (1.02%) SCCM
10 2 (0.51%) Packer
10 2 (0.51%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 1 (0.25%) Kibana
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle ZFS
11 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 41 (10.41%) Oracle
2 33 (8.38%) Microsoft
3 16 (4.06%) Salesforce
4 12 (3.05%) IBM
5 10 (2.54%) HP
5 10 (2.54%) VMware
6 9 (2.28%) Dell
7 7 (1.78%) Citrix
7 7 (1.78%) SAP
8 6 (1.52%) Conga
8 6 (1.52%) GoCardless
8 6 (1.52%) OpenLink
8 6 (1.52%) ServiceNow
9 5 (1.27%) Ab Initio
9 5 (1.27%) Google
9 5 (1.27%) Splunk
9 5 (1.27%) Teradata
10 4 (1.02%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.76%) Atlassian
11 3 (0.76%) Palo Alto
234 Software Testing jobs in England