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 6 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
6 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 229 201 169
Rank change year-on-year -28 -32 +9
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 367 354 527
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.16% 1.30% 1.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.32% 1.46% 1.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 242 206 346
10th Percentile £325 £313 £278
25th Percentile £379 £376 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £453 £514
Median % change year-on-year -0.55% -11.92% -1.20%
75th Percentile £538 £617 £625
90th Percentile £600 £675 £669
UK median daily rate £435 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -3.33% -10.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 17 84
10th Percentile £26.25 £43.28 £42.07
25th Percentile £50.89 £61.25 £49.97
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%
75th Percentile £67.19 £75.00 -
90th Percentile £68.75 £80.75 £67.80
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%

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 27,898 24,261 31,670
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.43% 88.86% 88.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,820 14,910 21,421
10th Percentile £304 £310 £306
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £647 £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 1,749 794 1,420
10th Percentile £15.21 £15.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.96 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +27.14%
75th Percentile £57.50 £64.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -23.53% +21.43%

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 6 January 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 6 January 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 6 January 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 -23 140 £450 -5.26% 78
North of England -46 55 £405 +1.25% 107
South East -43 51 £433 -27.92% 156
South West +6 38 £450 +12.50% 60
Midlands -26 38 £515 +28.75% 83
Yorkshire -39 32 £435 +6.75% 50
West Midlands -24 31 £515 +28.75% 43
East of England +4 26 £598 +51.75% 80
North West -45 16 £405 +1.25% 50
East Midlands -21 7 £313 - 36
North East - 7 £350 - 7
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 18 (4.90%) Confluence
2 16 (4.36%) SAS
3 7 (1.91%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (1.63%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.82%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.54%) Apache
6 2 (0.54%) CMS
6 2 (0.54%) JBoss
6 2 (0.54%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.27%) CICS
7 1 (0.27%) EPiServer
Applications
1 13 (3.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.45%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.54%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.27%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.54%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.54%) Dynamics NAV
1 2 (0.54%) LabWindows
2 1 (0.27%) Algo Collateral
2 1 (0.27%) CODA-Financials
2 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS R12
2 1 (0.27%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.27%) SimCorp Dimension
Cloud Services
1 112 (30.52%) Azure
2 66 (17.98%) AWS
3 60 (16.35%) Azure DevOps
4 31 (8.45%) GitHub
5 30 (8.17%) GCP
6 20 (5.45%) GitHub Actions
7 12 (3.27%) Amazon S3
8 11 (3.00%) Power Platform
9 10 (2.72%) AWS Lambda
9 10 (2.72%) Serverless
10 9 (2.45%) Amazon ECS
10 9 (2.45%) npm
11 7 (1.91%) Dynamics 365
12 6 (1.63%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.63%) Entra ID
12 6 (1.63%) PaaS
12 6 (1.63%) Snowflake
13 4 (1.09%) Amazon Bedrock
13 4 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
13 4 (1.09%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.45%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.63%) Wireshark
3 5 (1.36%) SD-WAN
4 4 (1.09%) DNS
4 4 (1.09%) Internet
5 3 (0.82%) Firewall
5 3 (0.82%) Network Security
5 3 (0.82%) Skype
5 3 (0.82%) SNMP
6 2 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
6 2 (0.54%) FTP
6 2 (0.54%) Intranet
6 2 (0.54%) IOS XR
6 2 (0.54%) Spanning Tree
6 2 (0.54%) SSH
6 2 (0.54%) SSL
6 2 (0.54%) TACACS
6 2 (0.54%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.54%) Wireless
7 1 (0.27%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (6.54%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (5.45%) SQL Server
3 17 (4.63%) NoSQL
4 16 (4.36%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 15 (4.09%) Oracle Database
6 14 (3.81%) MongoDB
7 11 (3.00%) BigQuery
8 7 (1.91%) MySQL
8 7 (1.91%) Power BI
9 6 (1.63%) Apache Cassandra
9 6 (1.63%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 5 (1.36%) Couchbase
10 5 (1.36%) Redis
10 5 (1.36%) Relational Database
11 4 (1.09%) Pinecone
12 3 (0.82%) Metadata
13 2 (0.54%) Big Data
13 2 (0.54%) DynamoDB
14 1 (0.27%) DB2
14 1 (0.27%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 61 (16.62%) JIRA
2 58 (15.80%) Selenium
3 41 (11.17%) Git
3 41 (11.17%) Jenkins
3 41 (11.17%) Postman
4 36 (9.81%) Cucumber
5 31 (8.45%) GitLab
6 28 (7.63%) Cypress.io
7 25 (6.81%) REST Assured
8 16 (4.36%) JUnit
9 11 (3.00%) JMeter
9 11 (3.00%) Visual Studio
10 9 (2.45%) Artifactory
11 7 (1.91%) SoapUI
11 7 (1.91%) SonarQube
11 7 (1.91%) Subversion
12 6 (1.63%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 6 (1.63%) Maven
12 6 (1.63%) Rational DOORS
12 6 (1.63%) TestRail
General
1 125 (34.06%) Social Skills
2 55 (14.99%) Finance
3 47 (12.81%) Public Sector
4 45 (12.26%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (6.27%) Banking
6 12 (3.27%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.72%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.45%) Manufacturing
9 8 (2.18%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.91%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.91%) Military
10 7 (1.91%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.63%) Automotive
11 6 (1.63%) Electronics
11 6 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.36%) Front Office
13 4 (1.09%) Law
13 4 (1.09%) Multimedia
13 4 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (0.82%) Billing
Job Titles
1 58 (15.80%) Senior
2 48 (13.08%) Software Engineer
3 44 (11.99%) Developer
4 38 (10.35%) Analyst
5 36 (9.81%) Test Engineer
6 31 (8.45%) Lead
6 31 (8.45%) Test Analyst
7 28 (7.63%) Tester
8 25 (6.81%) Consultant
9 16 (4.36%) Release Manager
10 14 (3.81%) QA Engineer
10 14 (3.81%) QA Leader
10 14 (3.81%) Senior Analyst
11 13 (3.54%) Senior Test Analyst
11 13 (3.54%) Software Developer
11 13 (3.54%) Test Manager
12 12 (3.27%) Java Engineer
12 12 (3.27%) Senior Test Engineer
13 11 (3.00%) Test Automation Engineer
13 11 (3.00%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (11.44%) .NET
2 32 (8.72%) Playwright
2 32 (8.72%) React
3 31 (8.45%) Node.js
4 27 (7.36%) HTML
4 27 (7.36%) Spring Boot
5 26 (7.08%) Spring
6 25 (6.81%) RESTful
7 24 (6.54%) CSS
7 24 (6.54%) REST
8 18 (4.90%) AngularJS
9 15 (4.09%) Kafka
10 14 (3.81%) .NET Framework
11 10 (2.72%) Vue
12 9 (2.45%) SOAP
12 9 (2.45%) Svelte
12 9 (2.45%) Swagger
13 8 (2.18%) Gherkin
13 8 (2.18%) Middleware
13 8 (2.18%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 20 (5.45%) Product Ownership
2 19 (5.18%) Cloud Native
2 19 (5.18%) Self-Motivation
3 17 (4.63%) Distributed Systems
4 11 (3.00%) Algorithms
4 11 (3.00%) Data Structures
5 10 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (1.36%) CUDA
6 5 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.09%) NHS
7 4 (1.09%) PCIe
7 4 (1.09%) Virtual Reality
8 3 (0.82%) AI Agents
8 3 (0.82%) Distributed Computing
8 3 (0.82%) Fixed Income
8 3 (0.82%) Greenfield Project
8 3 (0.82%) Management Information System
8 3 (0.82%) Mobile App
8 3 (0.82%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (8.72%) Linux
2 31 (8.45%) Windows
3 9 (2.45%) Unix
4 4 (1.09%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.82%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.82%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.54%) Android
7 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.27%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Robot Operating System
7 1 (0.27%) Solaris
7 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (41.69%) Agile
2 149 (40.60%) Test Automation
3 132 (35.97%) CI/CD
4 114 (31.06%) DevOps
5 101 (27.52%) Problem-Solving
6 74 (20.16%) Continuous Improvement
7 71 (19.35%) Test Scripting
8 66 (17.98%) Software Engineering
9 59 (16.08%) Validation
10 58 (15.80%) Microservices
11 56 (15.26%) Test Strategy
12 49 (13.35%) TDD
13 48 (13.08%) Containerisation
13 48 (13.08%) Scrum
14 41 (11.17%) Test Management
15 40 (10.90%) API Testing
15 40 (10.90%) SDLC
16 36 (9.81%) AI
16 36 (9.81%) Integration Testing
17 33 (8.99%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 72 (19.62%) Python
2 68 (18.53%) Java
3 64 (17.44%) JavaScript
4 61 (16.62%) SQL
5 37 (10.08%) C#
6 33 (8.99%) TypeScript
7 23 (6.27%) C++
8 12 (3.27%) Bash
8 12 (3.27%) C
8 12 (3.27%) Shell Script
9 8 (2.18%) Go
10 6 (1.63%) Ada
10 6 (1.63%) Groovy
10 6 (1.63%) PL/SQL
11 5 (1.36%) Scala
12 4 (1.09%) PowerShell
13 3 (0.82%) Embedded C
13 3 (0.82%) Ruby
13 3 (0.82%) VB.NET
13 3 (0.82%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 106 (28.88%) Security Cleared
2 92 (25.07%) SC Cleared
3 41 (11.17%) Degree
4 24 (6.54%) ISTQB
5 22 (5.99%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (2.45%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 5 (1.36%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.09%) ISEB
9 4 (1.09%) PMI Certification
9 4 (1.09%) PMP
10 3 (0.82%) CISSP
10 3 (0.82%) DV Cleared
10 3 (0.82%) HNC
10 3 (0.82%) HND
10 3 (0.82%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 3 (0.82%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.54%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.54%) EMC Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (26.70%) QA
2 27 (7.36%) Accessibility
3 11 (3.00%) WCAG
4 8 (2.18%) NIST
5 6 (1.63%) EU AI Act
6 4 (1.09%) Software Quality Assurance
7 3 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.54%) Def Stans
8 2 (0.54%) GRC
8 2 (0.54%) IEC 61508
8 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 2 (0.54%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.54%) SLA
9 1 (0.27%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.27%) GDPR
9 1 (0.27%) IEC 61131
9 1 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 59 (16.08%) Docker
2 5 (1.36%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.09%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.82%) Firmware
4 3 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.82%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.27%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 56 (15.26%) Kubernetes
2 15 (4.09%) Terraform
3 12 (3.27%) Ansible
4 9 (2.45%) Grafana
5 4 (1.09%) HP ALM
5 4 (1.09%) Prometheus
5 4 (1.09%) Puppet
6 3 (0.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.82%) vCenter Server
6 3 (0.82%) WSUS
7 2 (0.54%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.54%) Nessus
8 1 (0.27%) Control-M
8 1 (0.27%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.27%) Nmap
8 1 (0.27%) Packer
8 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.27%) Rsyslog
8 1 (0.27%) SCOM
Vendors
1 44 (11.99%) Microsoft
2 39 (10.63%) Oracle
3 10 (2.72%) Cisco
4 9 (2.45%) ServiceNow
4 9 (2.45%) Splunk
5 8 (2.18%) Atlassian
6 6 (1.63%) Meraki
6 6 (1.63%) VMware
7 5 (1.36%) Juniper
7 5 (1.36%) Workday
8 4 (1.09%) CA Agile Central
8 4 (1.09%) Dynatrace
8 4 (1.09%) Google
8 4 (1.09%) HP
8 4 (1.09%) Nokia
8 4 (1.09%) Salesforce
8 4 (1.09%) SAP
9 3 (0.82%) Databricks
9 3 (0.82%) MuleSoft
9 3 (0.82%) UiPath
549 Software Testing jobs in England