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 21 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 232 207 171
Rank change year-on-year -25 -36 -2
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 362 382 582
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.19% 1.23% 1.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.32% 1.42% 1.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 236 376
10th Percentile £325 £313 £285
25th Percentile £375 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £449 £440 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.93% -16.19% +2.44%
75th Percentile £538 £596 £626
90th Percentile £600 £663 £675
UK median daily rate £438 £440 £500
% change year-on-year -0.57% -12.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 17 87
10th Percentile £26.25 £25.15 £45.53
25th Percentile £49.38 £37.55 £49.18
Median hourly rate £63.00 £61.43 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -5.49% +23.60%
75th Percentile £67.00 £62.50 -
90th Percentile £68.23 £80.75 £69.00
UK median hourly rate £63.00 £56.45 £65.00
% change year-on-year +11.60% -13.15% +30.00%

All Process and 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 27,528 26,989 34,839
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 90.13% 86.89% 88.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,469 16,492 23,819
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,814 971 1,471
10th Percentile £14.81 £15.10 £14.50
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -32.03% -16.85% +23.61%
75th Percentile £49.69 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +25.43%

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 21 November 2025.

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 21 November 2025.

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 21 November 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 -42 119 £448 -5.79% 183
South East -12 64 £460 -3.16% 144
North of England -52 62 £405 +1.25% 69
Yorkshire -22 40 £443 +8.46% 17
South West +13 39 £450 -18.18% 46
Midlands -24 33 £515 +28.75% 35
East of England +10 27 £573 +63.57% 52
West Midlands -18 26 £515 +28.75% 20
North West -45 17 £405 +6.02% 50
East Midlands -13 7 £340 - 12
North East -5 5 £350 -4.76% 2
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 16 (4.42%) Confluence
2 13 (3.59%) SAS
3 7 (1.93%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.66%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (1.66%) SharePoint
5 4 (1.10%) JBoss
6 3 (0.83%) CICS
6 3 (0.83%) SharePoint Server
7 2 (0.55%) Apache
7 2 (0.55%) CMS
7 2 (0.55%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.28%) EPiServer
8 1 (0.28%) Tomcat
Applications
1 12 (3.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.49%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (2.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.83%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.55%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.55%) Dynamics NAV
1 2 (0.55%) Maximo
1 2 (0.55%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.28%) Algo Collateral
2 1 (0.28%) Cerner Millennium
2 1 (0.28%) CODA-Financials
2 1 (0.28%) SimCorp Dimension
2 1 (0.28%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 103 (28.45%) Azure
2 64 (17.68%) AWS
3 49 (13.54%) Azure DevOps
4 34 (9.39%) GCP
5 24 (6.63%) GitHub
6 17 (4.70%) GitHub Actions
7 11 (3.04%) Power Platform
8 9 (2.49%) Amazon S3
8 9 (2.49%) npm
9 7 (1.93%) Amazon ECS
9 7 (1.93%) Dynamics 365
10 6 (1.66%) AWS Lambda
10 6 (1.66%) Entra ID
10 6 (1.66%) PaaS
10 6 (1.66%) Serverless
10 6 (1.66%) Snowflake
11 4 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
11 4 (1.10%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (1.10%) OpenShift
11 4 (1.10%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.76%) Ethernet
2 5 (1.38%) Wireshark
3 4 (1.10%) DNS
3 4 (1.10%) Firewall
3 4 (1.10%) Internet
3 4 (1.10%) SD-WAN
4 3 (0.83%) Skype
5 2 (0.55%) Intranet
5 2 (0.55%) Network Security
5 2 (0.55%) SNMP
5 2 (0.55%) SSL
5 2 (0.55%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.55%) Wireless
6 1 (0.28%) Cisco IOS
6 1 (0.28%) FTP
6 1 (0.28%) HTTP
6 1 (0.28%) HTTPS
6 1 (0.28%) Modbus
6 1 (0.28%) SSH
6 1 (0.28%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.52%) SQL Server
2 16 (4.42%) PostgreSQL
3 14 (3.87%) NoSQL
3 14 (3.87%) Oracle Database
4 13 (3.59%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 10 (2.76%) MongoDB
6 9 (2.49%) BigQuery
7 8 (2.21%) Power BI
8 6 (1.66%) Apache Cassandra
8 6 (1.66%) SAS Visual Analytics
9 5 (1.38%) Couchbase
9 5 (1.38%) Redis
10 4 (1.10%) MySQL
10 4 (1.10%) Pinecone
11 3 (0.83%) DB2
11 3 (0.83%) Metadata
11 3 (0.83%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.55%) Big Data
12 2 (0.55%) DynamoDB
13 1 (0.28%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 79 (21.82%) JIRA
2 66 (18.23%) Selenium
3 51 (14.09%) Postman
4 43 (11.88%) Jenkins
5 42 (11.60%) Cucumber
6 40 (11.05%) Git
7 33 (9.12%) GitLab
8 27 (7.46%) Cypress.io
9 25 (6.91%) REST Assured
10 20 (5.52%) SoapUI
11 17 (4.70%) JUnit
12 13 (3.59%) JMeter
13 12 (3.31%) Visual Studio
14 9 (2.49%) Artifactory
15 8 (2.21%) Maven
15 8 (2.21%) WebDriver
16 7 (1.93%) SonarQube
17 6 (1.66%) Zephyr
18 5 (1.38%) Bitbucket
18 5 (1.38%) TestRail
General
1 131 (36.19%) Social Skills
2 62 (17.13%) Finance
3 40 (11.05%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (10.22%) Public Sector
5 19 (5.25%) Banking
6 13 (3.59%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.76%) Manufacturing
8 9 (2.49%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (1.66%) Military
10 6 (1.66%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.38%) Automotive
11 5 (1.38%) Electronics
11 5 (1.38%) Front Office
11 5 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.38%) Investment Banking
11 5 (1.38%) Law
12 4 (1.10%) Multimedia
12 4 (1.10%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.83%) Billing
Job Titles
1 56 (15.47%) Senior
2 45 (12.43%) Analyst
3 41 (11.33%) Software Engineer
4 40 (11.05%) Tester
5 39 (10.77%) Developer
6 38 (10.50%) Test Analyst
6 38 (10.50%) Test Engineer
7 31 (8.56%) Lead
8 26 (7.18%) Consultant
9 16 (4.42%) Software Developer
9 16 (4.42%) Test Leader
10 13 (3.59%) QA Leader
10 13 (3.59%) Release Manager
10 13 (3.59%) Test Manager
11 12 (3.31%) Senior Analyst
11 12 (3.31%) Senior Test Engineer
12 11 (3.04%) Automation Tester
12 11 (3.04%) Senior Test Analyst
12 11 (3.04%) Software Tester
13 10 (2.76%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (9.67%) .NET
2 32 (8.84%) Playwright
3 28 (7.73%) REST
4 27 (7.46%) React
5 26 (7.18%) HTML
6 24 (6.63%) CSS
6 24 (6.63%) Node.js
7 22 (6.08%) RESTful
8 20 (5.52%) Spring
8 20 (5.52%) Spring Boot
9 18 (4.97%) SOAP
10 17 (4.70%) AngularJS
11 15 (4.14%) Kafka
12 14 (3.87%) .NET Framework
13 10 (2.76%) Vue
13 10 (2.76%) XML
14 9 (2.49%) Gherkin
14 9 (2.49%) Svelte
15 8 (2.21%) JSON
15 8 (2.21%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.18%) Self-Motivation
2 19 (5.25%) Distributed Systems
2 19 (5.25%) Product Ownership
3 14 (3.87%) Cloud Native
4 12 (3.31%) Data Structures
5 11 (3.04%) Algorithms
6 7 (1.93%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (1.66%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (1.38%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.10%) CUDA
9 4 (1.10%) Derivative
9 4 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (1.10%) Mainframe
9 4 (1.10%) PCIe
10 3 (0.83%) AI Agents
10 3 (0.83%) Distributed Computing
10 3 (0.83%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.83%) Mobile App
10 3 (0.83%) PKI
10 3 (0.83%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 32 (8.84%) Windows
2 29 (8.01%) Linux
3 10 (2.76%) Unix
4 4 (1.10%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.83%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.83%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.83%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.55%) Android
6 2 (0.55%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.28%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.28%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.28%) Robot Operating System
7 1 (0.28%) Solaris
7 1 (0.28%) VMS
7 1 (0.28%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 162 (44.75%) Agile
1 162 (44.75%) Test Automation
2 130 (35.91%) CI/CD
3 104 (28.73%) DevOps
4 100 (27.62%) Problem-Solving
5 72 (19.89%) Test Scripting
6 66 (18.23%) Software Engineering
6 66 (18.23%) Test Strategy
7 63 (17.40%) Scrum
8 60 (16.57%) Continuous Improvement
9 58 (16.02%) Validation
10 48 (13.26%) Microservices
10 48 (13.26%) Test Management
11 47 (12.98%) SDLC
12 43 (11.88%) API Testing
13 41 (11.33%) Containerisation
14 40 (11.05%) TDD
15 38 (10.50%) Computer Science
16 36 (9.94%) Integration Testing
16 36 (9.94%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 59 (16.30%) Java
1 59 (16.30%) Python
2 57 (15.75%) JavaScript
3 46 (12.71%) SQL
4 44 (12.15%) C#
5 28 (7.73%) TypeScript
6 21 (5.80%) C++
7 12 (3.31%) Shell Script
8 11 (3.04%) Bash
8 11 (3.04%) C
9 8 (2.21%) Go
10 7 (1.93%) Ada
10 7 (1.93%) VB
11 6 (1.66%) Scala
12 5 (1.38%) Groovy
13 4 (1.10%) VB.NET
14 3 (0.83%) COBOL
14 3 (0.83%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.83%) JCL
14 3 (0.83%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 97 (26.80%) Security Cleared
2 81 (22.38%) SC Cleared
3 42 (11.60%) Degree
4 33 (9.12%) ISTQB
5 24 (6.63%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (3.04%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.76%) CISSP
8 9 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (2.49%) CISM
9 7 (1.93%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 6 (1.66%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.38%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 4 (1.10%) HNC
12 4 (1.10%) HND
12 4 (1.10%) ISEB
13 3 (0.83%) EMC Certification
13 3 (0.83%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.83%) PMI Certification
14 2 (0.55%) AWS Certification
14 2 (0.55%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (26.80%) QA
2 26 (7.18%) Accessibility
3 13 (3.59%) NIST
4 10 (2.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (2.76%) WCAG
5 7 (1.93%) PCI DSS
6 6 (1.66%) EU AI Act
6 6 (1.66%) GDPR
7 3 (0.83%) Def Stans
7 3 (0.83%) IEC 61508
7 3 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 3 (0.83%) SLA
8 2 (0.55%) GRC
8 2 (0.55%) Software Quality Assurance
9 1 (0.28%) HL7
9 1 (0.28%) IEC 61131
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.28%) PMO
9 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 47 (12.98%) Docker
2 5 (1.38%) Active Directory
2 5 (1.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.83%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.83%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.28%) Embedded Firmware
4 1 (0.28%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 39 (10.77%) Kubernetes
2 14 (3.87%) Ansible
3 11 (3.04%) Terraform
4 6 (1.66%) Grafana
5 4 (1.10%) Functional Safety
5 4 (1.10%) HP ALM
6 3 (0.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.83%) HP Quality Center
6 3 (0.83%) Puppet
6 3 (0.83%) vCenter Server
6 3 (0.83%) WSUS
7 2 (0.55%) Nessus
8 1 (0.28%) Control-M
8 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.28%) Nmap
8 1 (0.28%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.28%) Rsyslog
8 1 (0.28%) SCOM
Vendors
1 60 (16.57%) Microsoft
2 27 (7.46%) Oracle
3 11 (3.04%) Google
4 10 (2.76%) CyberArk
5 9 (2.49%) BeyondTrust
5 9 (2.49%) Cisco
5 9 (2.49%) Splunk
5 9 (2.49%) Thycotic
6 7 (1.93%) Atlassian
6 7 (1.93%) ServiceNow
7 6 (1.66%) HP
7 6 (1.66%) Salesforce
7 6 (1.66%) VMware
8 5 (1.38%) Juniper
8 5 (1.38%) Meraki
8 5 (1.38%) Workday
9 4 (1.10%) CA Agile Central
9 4 (1.10%) Dynatrace
9 4 (1.10%) Nokia
9 4 (1.10%) UiPath