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

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 261 256 199
Rank change year-on-year -5 -57 -32
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 447 274 420
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.98% 0.99% 1.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.15% 1.09% 1.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 176 282
10th Percentile £263 £313 £323
25th Percentile £400 £357 £398
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £435 £450
Median % change year-on-year +14.94% -3.33% -10.00%
75th Percentile £579 £525 £588
90th Percentile £688 £625 £670
UK median daily rate £478 £440 £463
% change year-on-year +8.52% -4.86% -6.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 31 30
10th Percentile £25.05 £26.04 £26.54
25th Percentile £56.25 £50.00 £41.82
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £64.69
90th Percentile £74.00 £77.50 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% +5.88%

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 38,779 25,035 28,563
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.92% 90.85% 85.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,017 15,949 18,476
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £630 £626 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,559 1,455 1,574
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.22 £14.05
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.92 £17.80
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -40.82% +3.61%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £40.50
% change year-on-year +67.00% -37.90% -1.22%

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 August 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 21 August 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 21 August 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 -30 162 £550 +29.41% 54
South East -56 69 £402 +0.38% 70
Midlands -4 64 £506 +19.82% 50
West Midlands -5 59 £500 -2.91% 33
North of England -52 59 £488 +10.17% 53
East of England +8 44 £74 -84.58% 36
South West -30 41 £410 -3.65% 24
North East -9 29 £500 - 16
North West -34 17 £475 +28.38% 28
Yorkshire -50 15 £450 -4.26% 11
East Midlands -18 5 £575 +69.12% 17
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 (3.58%) Confluence
2 12 (2.68%) Apache Airflow
3 11 (2.46%) SAS
4 6 (1.34%) Apache Spark
4 6 (1.34%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.67%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 2 (0.45%) IIS
7 1 (0.22%) Apache
7 1 (0.22%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
Applications
1 15 (3.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (2.24%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.12%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.89%) Trello
5 2 (0.45%) Simulink
6 1 (0.22%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 6 (1.34%) Findur
1 6 (1.34%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.89%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.67%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.67%) Primavera
4 2 (0.45%) Maximo
5 1 (0.22%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.22%) Eikon
5 1 (0.22%) Misys Equation
5 1 (0.22%) Misys Midas
5 1 (0.22%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.22%) Shopify
5 1 (0.22%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 104 (23.27%) Azure
2 97 (21.70%) AWS
3 48 (10.74%) Azure DevOps
4 42 (9.40%) GitHub
5 25 (5.59%) GCP
6 18 (4.03%) GitHub Actions
7 16 (3.58%) GitHub Copilot
7 16 (3.58%) Serverless
8 14 (3.13%) AWS Lambda
9 12 (2.68%) PaaS
10 10 (2.24%) Amazon S3
11 9 (2.01%) Power Platform
12 8 (1.79%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 8 (1.79%) SaaS
13 7 (1.57%) Entra ID
13 7 (1.57%) OpenShift
14 6 (1.34%) Amazon EC2
14 6 (1.34%) Snowflake
15 5 (1.12%) Anthropic Claude
15 5 (1.12%) Google Gemini
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.57%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.34%) DNS
3 5 (1.12%) Firewall
3 5 (1.12%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.12%) Wireless
4 4 (0.89%) Network Security
5 3 (0.67%) DHCP
5 3 (0.67%) Internet
5 3 (0.67%) Reverse Proxy
6 2 (0.45%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.22%) 4G
7 1 (0.22%) 5G
7 1 (0.22%) BGP
7 1 (0.22%) GSM
7 1 (0.22%) LTE
7 1 (0.22%) MPLS
7 1 (0.22%) SSL
7 1 (0.22%) UMTS
7 1 (0.22%) VoLTE
7 1 (0.22%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (3.80%) Relational Database
2 15 (3.36%) SQL Server
3 13 (2.91%) Oracle Database
4 11 (2.46%) MongoDB
4 11 (2.46%) SAS Enterprise Guide
4 11 (2.46%) SAS Visual Analytics
5 10 (2.24%) NoSQL
5 10 (2.24%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (2.01%) MySQL
7 8 (1.79%) DynamoDB
8 7 (1.57%) Big Data
8 7 (1.57%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.57%) Elasticsearch
9 6 (1.34%) Power BI
10 4 (0.89%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.89%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.89%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.89%) Redis
11 3 (0.67%) Parquet
11 3 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 72 (16.11%) JIRA
2 65 (14.54%) Git
3 62 (13.87%) Selenium
4 37 (8.28%) GitLab
4 37 (8.28%) Postman
5 33 (7.38%) Cucumber
6 31 (6.94%) Jenkins
7 27 (6.04%) JUnit
8 22 (4.92%) REST Assured
9 15 (3.36%) Gatling
10 13 (2.91%) Cypress.io
10 13 (2.91%) Rational DOORS
11 12 (2.68%) WebDriver
12 11 (2.46%) JMeter
12 11 (2.46%) Zephyr
13 9 (2.01%) TestRail
13 9 (2.01%) Visual Studio
14 8 (1.79%) Maven
14 8 (1.79%) SonarQube
14 8 (1.79%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 136 (30.43%) Social Skills
2 98 (21.92%) Finance
3 72 (16.11%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (12.53%) Public Sector
5 49 (10.96%) Banking
6 26 (5.82%) Aerospace
6 26 (5.82%) Automotive
7 14 (3.13%) Back Office
7 14 (3.13%) Front Office
8 10 (2.24%) Law
8 10 (2.24%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (2.01%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (2.01%) Manufacturing
10 8 (1.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.79%) Retail
10 8 (1.79%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.57%) Electronics
12 6 (1.34%) Military
13 5 (1.12%) Avionics
13 5 (1.12%) Legal
Job Titles
1 68 (15.21%) Software Engineer
1 68 (15.21%) Test Engineer
2 65 (14.54%) Senior
3 64 (14.32%) Developer
4 35 (7.83%) Analyst
5 28 (6.26%) Lead
6 27 (6.04%) Tester
7 26 (5.82%) Software Test Engineer
8 24 (5.37%) Test Manager
9 22 (4.92%) Software Developer
10 20 (4.47%) QA Engineer
11 18 (4.03%) Java Developer
11 18 (4.03%) Test Automation Engineer
12 16 (3.58%) Test Analyst
13 15 (3.36%) Automation Engineer
13 15 (3.36%) Principal Engineer
13 15 (3.36%) Senior Developer
14 14 (3.13%) Architect
15 13 (2.91%) Quality Engineer
15 13 (2.91%) Software Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (9.84%) Playwright
1 44 (9.84%) REST
2 41 (9.17%) React
3 36 (8.05%) .NET
4 33 (7.38%) Spring
5 29 (6.49%) Kafka
5 29 (6.49%) Terraform
6 24 (5.37%) RESTful
7 19 (4.25%) Spring Boot
8 18 (4.03%) Node.js
9 14 (3.13%) AngularJS
10 13 (2.91%) HTML
11 11 (2.46%) XML
12 10 (2.24%) JSON
12 10 (2.24%) Redux
12 10 (2.24%) SOAP
13 9 (2.01%) CSS
14 8 (1.79%) Web Services
15 7 (1.57%) CSS3
15 7 (1.57%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 44 (9.84%) Product Ownership
2 39 (8.72%) Enterprise Software
3 32 (7.16%) Cloud Native
4 24 (5.37%) Embedded Systems
5 22 (4.92%) Self-Motivation
6 19 (4.25%) Distributed Systems
7 14 (3.13%) Management Information System
8 9 (2.01%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (2.01%) Legacy Systems
9 8 (1.79%) Data Centre
9 8 (1.79%) Data Structures
10 6 (1.34%) Algorithms
10 6 (1.34%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.12%) Derivative
11 5 (1.12%) Equities
11 5 (1.12%) Equity Derivative
11 5 (1.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 5 (1.12%) FPGA
11 5 (1.12%) Onboarding
11 5 (1.12%) PCIe
Operating Systems
1 30 (6.71%) Linux
2 23 (5.15%) Windows
3 10 (2.24%) Unix
4 6 (1.34%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.34%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.67%) Android
5 3 (0.67%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.67%) Embedded Linux
6 2 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.45%) zOS
7 1 (0.22%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 213 (47.65%) Test Automation
2 204 (45.64%) Agile
3 177 (39.60%) CI/CD
4 136 (30.43%) Software Engineering
5 133 (29.75%) DevOps
6 109 (24.38%) Continuous Improvement
7 104 (23.27%) Problem-Solving
8 82 (18.34%) Scrum
8 82 (18.34%) SDLC
9 66 (14.77%) Test Strategy
9 66 (14.77%) Validation
10 65 (14.54%) Test Scripting
11 60 (13.42%) User Acceptance Testing
12 59 (13.20%) AI
13 58 (12.98%) Defect Management
14 54 (12.08%) Regression Testing
15 52 (11.63%) Mentoring
15 52 (11.63%) Microservices
15 52 (11.63%) Stakeholder Management
16 47 (10.51%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 92 (20.58%) Java
2 78 (17.45%) Python
3 67 (14.99%) SQL
4 50 (11.19%) JavaScript
5 37 (8.28%) C#
6 29 (6.49%) TypeScript
7 23 (5.15%) C++
8 16 (3.58%) C
9 13 (2.91%) PowerShell
10 8 (1.79%) Kotlin
11 5 (1.12%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.12%) Bash
11 5 (1.12%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.89%) Korn
12 4 (0.89%) Scala
13 3 (0.67%) Ada
13 3 (0.67%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.67%) Rust
13 3 (0.67%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.45%) Go
Qualifications
1 148 (33.11%) Security Cleared
2 124 (27.74%) SC Cleared
3 57 (12.75%) Degree
4 40 (8.95%) ISTQB
5 19 (4.25%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 15 (3.36%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (2.91%) Computer Science Degree
8 12 (2.68%) ISEB
9 11 (2.46%) DV Cleared
10 10 (2.24%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 4 (0.89%) CEH
11 4 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.89%) CISSP
11 4 (0.89%) CompTIA Security+
12 3 (0.67%) CCNA
13 2 (0.45%) A+ Certification
13 2 (0.45%) ISEB Practitioner
13 2 (0.45%) Network+ Certification
13 2 (0.45%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (23.04%) QA
2 25 (5.59%) Accessibility
3 15 (3.36%) WCAG
4 8 (1.79%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.12%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.12%) NIST
5 5 (1.12%) PMO
5 5 (1.12%) Software Quality Assurance
6 3 (0.67%) GRC
7 2 (0.45%) ISO 15022
7 2 (0.45%) MiFID
7 2 (0.45%) MISRA
8 1 (0.22%) HL7
8 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.22%) JTAG
8 1 (0.22%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.22%) SLA
System Software
1 50 (11.19%) Docker
2 11 (2.46%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.34%) Firmware
3 6 (1.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.12%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (0.89%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.67%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.67%) VMware Workstation
7 2 (0.45%) NFS
7 2 (0.45%) Time Sharing Option
7 2 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 58 (12.98%) Kubernetes
2 17 (3.80%) Ansible
3 13 (2.91%) Prometheus
4 10 (2.24%) Grafana
5 6 (1.34%) Packer
6 4 (0.89%) HP ALM
6 4 (0.89%) Puppet
7 3 (0.67%) Salt
8 2 (0.45%) Argo
8 2 (0.45%) HP Fortify
8 2 (0.45%) HP Quality Center
8 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.45%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 1 (0.22%) Control-M
9 1 (0.22%) Kibana
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle ZFS
9 1 (0.22%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.22%) PTC Integrity
9 1 (0.22%) SCCM
Vendors
1 36 (8.05%) Oracle
2 34 (7.61%) Microsoft
3 19 (4.25%) IBM
4 17 (3.80%) Salesforce
5 12 (2.68%) SAP
6 8 (1.79%) VMware
7 7 (1.57%) Google
7 7 (1.57%) Splunk
8 6 (1.34%) Conga
8 6 (1.34%) Dell
8 6 (1.34%) GoCardless
8 6 (1.34%) OpenLink
9 5 (1.12%) ServiceNow
10 4 (0.89%) Databricks
10 4 (0.89%) HP
11 3 (0.67%) Checkmarx
11 3 (0.67%) Citrix
11 3 (0.67%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.67%) OpenAI
11 3 (0.67%) UiPath