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

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 258 256 204
Rank change year-on-year -2 -52 -39
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 437 276 415
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.96% 1.00% 1.25%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.13% 1.10% 1.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 186 282
10th Percentile £260 £313 £320
25th Percentile £400 £350 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £425 £459
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -7.36% -8.25%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £596
90th Percentile £688 £619 £675
UK median daily rate £478 £435 £463
% change year-on-year +9.83% -6.00% -6.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 27 33
10th Percentile £25.05 £38.25 £26.88
25th Percentile £56.25 £50.00 £54.63
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% +8.70%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.50 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% +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 38,794 25,132 28,630
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.10% 90.79% 85.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,129 16,058 18,629
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,535 1,418 1,653
10th Percentile £14.56 £14.20 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £17.87 £18.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +3.61%
75th Percentile £68.75 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £41.08
% change year-on-year +68.99% -38.77% -1.96%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -34 150 £500 +25.00% 255
South East -58 67 £413 +3.31% 119
Midlands -5 63 £511 +30.67% 68
West Midlands +1 58 £510 +8.51% 44
North of England -50 57 £475 +9.26% 99
East of England +12 51 £300 -36.95% 82
South West -25 42 £410 -4.93% 54
North East -17 27 £500 - 22
North West -39 17 £475 +33.80% 58
Yorkshire -51 15 £450 +1.69% 20
East Midlands -7 5 £575 +69.12% 24
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 (3.20%) Confluence
2 12 (2.75%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (2.29%) SAS
4 6 (1.37%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.92%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.46%) IIS
7 1 (0.23%) Apache
7 1 (0.23%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.23%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 11 (2.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (1.83%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.14%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.92%) Trello
5 2 (0.46%) Simulink
6 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (1.37%) Findur
1 6 (1.37%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.92%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.69%) Primavera
4 2 (0.46%) Maximo
5 1 (0.23%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.23%) Eikon
5 1 (0.23%) Misys Equation
5 1 (0.23%) Misys Midas
5 1 (0.23%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.23%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.23%) Shopify
5 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 98 (22.43%) Azure
2 95 (21.74%) AWS
3 46 (10.53%) Azure DevOps
4 43 (9.84%) GitHub
5 24 (5.49%) GCP
6 19 (4.35%) GitHub Actions
7 17 (3.89%) GitHub Copilot
8 16 (3.66%) Serverless
9 14 (3.20%) AWS Lambda
10 11 (2.52%) PaaS
11 10 (2.29%) Amazon S3
12 8 (1.83%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 8 (1.83%) Power Platform
12 8 (1.83%) SaaS
13 7 (1.60%) Entra ID
14 6 (1.37%) Amazon EC2
15 5 (1.14%) Google Gemini
15 5 (1.14%) OpenShift
15 5 (1.14%) Snowflake
15 5 (1.14%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.06%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.37%) DNS
3 5 (1.14%) Firewall
3 5 (1.14%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.14%) Wireless
4 4 (0.92%) Network Security
4 4 (0.92%) RS-232
4 4 (0.92%) RS-422
5 3 (0.69%) DHCP
5 3 (0.69%) Internet
5 3 (0.69%) Modbus
5 3 (0.69%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.69%) RS-485
6 2 (0.46%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.23%) BGP
7 1 (0.23%) FTP
7 1 (0.23%) GSM
7 1 (0.23%) MPLS
7 1 (0.23%) SSL
7 1 (0.23%) UMTS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.43%) Relational Database
2 13 (2.97%) SQL Server
3 12 (2.75%) Oracle Database
4 11 (2.52%) MongoDB
5 10 (2.29%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (2.29%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 10 (2.29%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 9 (2.06%) MySQL
7 8 (1.83%) DynamoDB
7 8 (1.83%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.60%) Big Data
8 7 (1.60%) Elasticsearch
9 6 (1.37%) Power BI
10 5 (1.14%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.92%) Amazon Athena
11 4 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
11 4 (0.92%) Redis
12 3 (0.69%) Amazon QuickSight
12 3 (0.69%) Parquet
12 3 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 71 (16.25%) JIRA
2 62 (14.19%) Git
3 54 (12.36%) Selenium
4 38 (8.70%) GitLab
5 35 (8.01%) Postman
6 34 (7.78%) Cucumber
7 31 (7.09%) Jenkins
8 28 (6.41%) JUnit
9 23 (5.26%) REST Assured
10 15 (3.43%) Gatling
11 13 (2.97%) Rational DOORS
12 11 (2.52%) Cypress.io
12 11 (2.52%) WebDriver
12 11 (2.52%) Zephyr
13 10 (2.29%) JMeter
14 9 (2.06%) SonarQube
14 9 (2.06%) TestRail
15 8 (1.83%) Visual Studio
16 7 (1.60%) Maven
16 7 (1.60%) SoapUI
General
1 131 (29.98%) Social Skills
2 90 (20.59%) Finance
3 75 (17.16%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (12.59%) Public Sector
5 43 (9.84%) Banking
6 26 (5.95%) Aerospace
7 25 (5.72%) Automotive
8 13 (2.97%) Back Office
9 12 (2.75%) Front Office
10 10 (2.29%) Electronics
10 10 (2.29%) Law
10 10 (2.29%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (2.06%) Documentation Skills
12 8 (1.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.83%) Manufacturing
12 8 (1.83%) Retail
12 8 (1.83%) Telecoms
13 5 (1.14%) Avionics
13 5 (1.14%) Military
14 4 (0.92%) Legal
Job Titles
1 71 (16.25%) Test Engineer
2 69 (15.79%) Software Engineer
3 63 (14.42%) Senior
4 58 (13.27%) Developer
5 33 (7.55%) Analyst
6 29 (6.64%) Software Test Engineer
7 28 (6.41%) Lead
8 25 (5.72%) Tester
9 20 (4.58%) QA Engineer
9 20 (4.58%) Test Manager
10 19 (4.35%) Software Developer
11 18 (4.12%) Java Developer
12 17 (3.89%) Principal Engineer
12 17 (3.89%) Test Automation Engineer
13 15 (3.43%) Architect
13 15 (3.43%) Automation Engineer
13 15 (3.43%) Principal Software Engineer
13 15 (3.43%) Senior Developer
14 13 (2.97%) Salesforce Engineer
14 13 (2.97%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (10.07%) REST
2 42 (9.61%) Playwright
3 41 (9.38%) React
4 34 (7.78%) Spring
5 30 (6.86%) .NET
6 26 (5.95%) Kafka
7 23 (5.26%) RESTful
8 18 (4.12%) Spring Boot
9 17 (3.89%) Node.js
10 13 (2.97%) AngularJS
11 10 (2.29%) HTML
11 10 (2.29%) Redux
11 10 (2.29%) XML
12 9 (2.06%) JSON
13 8 (1.83%) CSS
13 8 (1.83%) SOAP
14 7 (1.60%) CSS3
14 7 (1.60%) HTML5
14 7 (1.60%) RabbitMQ
14 7 (1.60%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 42 (9.61%) Product Ownership
2 38 (8.70%) Enterprise Software
3 31 (7.09%) Cloud Native
4 26 (5.95%) Embedded Systems
5 21 (4.81%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (4.12%) Distributed Systems
7 13 (2.97%) Management Information System
8 10 (2.29%) Legacy Systems
9 9 (2.06%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.83%) Data Centre
11 6 (1.37%) Data Structures
11 6 (1.37%) Public Cloud
12 5 (1.14%) Algorithms
12 5 (1.14%) FPGA
12 5 (1.14%) Onboarding
12 5 (1.14%) PCIe
13 4 (0.92%) Derivative
13 4 (0.92%) Equities
13 4 (0.92%) Equity Derivative
13 4 (0.92%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
Operating Systems
1 27 (6.18%) Linux
2 23 (5.26%) Windows
3 8 (1.83%) Unix
4 6 (1.37%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.37%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.69%) Android
5 3 (0.69%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.69%) Embedded Linux
6 2 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.46%) zOS
7 1 (0.23%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 211 (48.28%) Test Automation
2 203 (46.45%) Agile
3 171 (39.13%) CI/CD
4 135 (30.89%) Software Engineering
5 130 (29.75%) DevOps
6 103 (23.57%) Problem-Solving
7 102 (23.34%) Continuous Improvement
8 83 (18.99%) Scrum
9 79 (18.08%) SDLC
10 64 (14.65%) Test Scripting
11 63 (14.42%) Test Strategy
12 62 (14.19%) Validation
13 57 (13.04%) AI
14 55 (12.59%) Regression Testing
15 52 (11.90%) Defect Management
15 52 (11.90%) User Acceptance Testing
16 51 (11.67%) Mentoring
16 51 (11.67%) Stakeholder Management
17 50 (11.44%) Microservices
18 46 (10.53%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 89 (20.37%) Java
2 82 (18.76%) Python
3 60 (13.73%) SQL
4 49 (11.21%) JavaScript
5 37 (8.47%) C#
6 29 (6.64%) TypeScript
7 25 (5.72%) C++
8 18 (4.12%) C
9 13 (2.97%) PowerShell
10 8 (1.83%) Kotlin
11 5 (1.14%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.14%) Bash
11 5 (1.14%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.92%) Scala
13 3 (0.69%) Ada
13 3 (0.69%) Korn
13 3 (0.69%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.69%) Rust
13 3 (0.69%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.46%) Go
Qualifications
1 144 (32.95%) Security Cleared
2 119 (27.23%) SC Cleared
3 52 (11.90%) Degree
4 42 (9.61%) ISTQB
5 22 (5.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 16 (3.66%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (2.52%) Computer Science Degree
7 11 (2.52%) ISEB
8 10 (2.29%) DV Cleared
8 10 (2.29%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 4 (0.92%) CEH
9 4 (0.92%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.92%) CISSP
9 4 (0.92%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (0.69%) CCNA
11 2 (0.46%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.46%) ISEB Practitioner
11 2 (0.46%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.46%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.46%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (21.97%) QA
2 26 (5.95%) Accessibility
3 18 (4.12%) WCAG
4 9 (2.06%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.14%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.14%) PMO
5 5 (1.14%) Software Quality Assurance
6 4 (0.92%) NIST
7 3 (0.69%) GRC
8 2 (0.46%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.46%) MiFID
9 1 (0.23%) MIL-STD-1553
9 1 (0.23%) MISRA
9 1 (0.23%) SLA
System Software
1 47 (10.76%) Docker
2 11 (2.52%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.14%) Firmware
5 4 (0.92%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.69%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.69%) VMware Workstation
7 2 (0.46%) NFS
7 2 (0.46%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 57 (13.04%) Kubernetes
2 28 (6.41%) Terraform
3 16 (3.66%) Ansible
4 13 (2.97%) Prometheus
5 10 (2.29%) Grafana
6 6 (1.37%) Packer
7 4 (0.92%) HP ALM
7 4 (0.92%) Puppet
8 3 (0.69%) Salt
9 2 (0.46%) HP Fortify
9 2 (0.46%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.46%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 1 (0.23%) Argo
10 1 (0.23%) Control-M
10 1 (0.23%) Kibana
10 1 (0.23%) Oracle ZFS
10 1 (0.23%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.23%) PTC Integrity
10 1 (0.23%) SCCM
Vendors
1 32 (7.32%) Oracle
2 29 (6.64%) Microsoft
3 19 (4.35%) IBM
4 17 (3.89%) Salesforce
5 9 (2.06%) SAP
6 8 (1.83%) VMware
7 6 (1.37%) Conga
7 6 (1.37%) Dell
7 6 (1.37%) GoCardless
7 6 (1.37%) OpenLink
8 5 (1.14%) Google
8 5 (1.14%) Splunk
9 4 (0.92%) Citrix
9 4 (0.92%) HP
9 4 (0.92%) ServiceNow
10 3 (0.69%) Checkmarx
10 3 (0.69%) Databricks
10 3 (0.69%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.69%) Palo Alto
11 2 (0.46%) Brocade