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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 270 248 174
Rank change year-on-year -22 -74 +13
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 378 247 494
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.91% 1.03% 1.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.07% 1.12% 1.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 160 335
10th Percentile £338 £313 £311
25th Percentile £400 £363 £379
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £443 £450
Median % change year-on-year +7.28% -1.61% -10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £578
90th Percentile £644 £701 £678
UK median daily rate £475 £439 £463
% change year-on-year +8.26% -5.14% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 20 60
10th Percentile £21.15 £47.60 £37.55
25th Percentile £53.93 £51.77 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £60.13 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.27% -3.80% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £71.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.75 £60.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year +12.92% -4.00% +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 35,421 21,987 31,631
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.00% 91.31% 85.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,454 14,284 20,634
10th Percentile £325 £305 £300
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £513 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,213 963 2,325
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.10 £16.00
Median hourly rate £47.00 £28.60 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +64.34% -23.73% +0.43%
75th Percentile £68.00 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.05 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £27.99 £36.50
% change year-on-year +51.84% -23.32% +0.29%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 -30 151 £475 +8.57% 72
South East -45 57 £490 +22.50% 72
North of England -50 48 £488 -6.20% 37
Midlands -23 47 £490 +25.24% 39
South West -15 41 £409 -18.20% 36
West Midlands -29 40 £470 +11.24% 20
East of England -21 33 £600 +26.32% 59
North East -8 20 £450 - 9
Yorkshire -50 17 £500 -3.80% 4
North West -40 13 £500 +5.26% 25
East Midlands -25 7 £575 +152.75% 19
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 (3.70%) Confluence
2 9 (2.38%) SAS
3 8 (2.12%) Apache Spark
4 7 (1.85%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.79%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.53%) IIS
7 1 (0.26%) Apache
7 1 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.26%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.26%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.85%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.06%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.53%) Simulink
6 1 (0.26%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.59%) Findur
1 6 (1.59%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (1.06%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.06%) Maximo
3 3 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.53%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.53%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.53%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.26%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.26%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.26%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 98 (25.93%) Azure
2 73 (19.31%) AWS
3 68 (17.99%) Azure DevOps
4 30 (7.94%) GitHub
5 23 (6.08%) Serverless
6 22 (5.82%) AWS Lambda
7 21 (5.56%) Amazon S3
8 20 (5.29%) GCP
9 10 (2.65%) GitHub Actions
10 9 (2.38%) Snowflake
11 8 (2.12%) OpenShift
12 7 (1.85%) Amazon EC2
12 7 (1.85%) Entra ID
12 7 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 6 (1.59%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (1.59%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.59%) PaaS
13 6 (1.59%) SaaS
14 5 (1.32%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 5 (1.32%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.12%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.59%) DNS
3 5 (1.32%) Firewall
3 5 (1.32%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.32%) Wireless
4 4 (1.06%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.79%) DHCP
5 3 (0.79%) Modbus
5 3 (0.79%) Network Security
5 3 (0.79%) RS-232
5 3 (0.79%) RS-422
5 3 (0.79%) RS-485
6 2 (0.53%) 4G
6 2 (0.53%) 5G
6 2 (0.53%) Internet
6 2 (0.53%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.26%) BGP
7 1 (0.26%) FTP
7 1 (0.26%) LTE
7 1 (0.26%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (6.35%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (5.29%) Relational Database
3 16 (4.23%) MySQL
4 15 (3.97%) SQL Server
5 13 (3.44%) Oracle Database
6 11 (2.91%) Big Data
7 9 (2.38%) DynamoDB
7 9 (2.38%) NoSQL
7 9 (2.38%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 8 (2.12%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.12%) MongoDB
9 7 (1.85%) Amazon Redshift
10 5 (1.32%) Amazon Athena
10 5 (1.32%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 4 (1.06%) Amazon QuickSight
12 3 (0.79%) BigQuery
12 3 (0.79%) Parquet
12 3 (0.79%) Power BI
12 3 (0.79%) Redis
13 2 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 66 (17.46%) JIRA
2 40 (10.58%) Selenium
3 36 (9.52%) Git
4 29 (7.67%) Jenkins
5 27 (7.14%) Postman
6 23 (6.08%) REST Assured
7 22 (5.82%) Cucumber
8 20 (5.29%) GitLab
8 20 (5.29%) JUnit
9 16 (4.23%) Cypress.io
10 12 (3.17%) Rational DOORS
10 12 (3.17%) TestRail
11 8 (2.12%) WebDriver
11 8 (2.12%) Zephyr
12 7 (1.85%) JMeter
13 6 (1.59%) Gatling
13 6 (1.59%) HP UFT
14 5 (1.32%) Appium
14 5 (1.32%) Maven
14 5 (1.32%) SonarQube
General
1 103 (27.25%) Social Skills
2 71 (18.78%) Finance
3 62 (16.40%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (10.58%) Public Sector
5 26 (6.88%) Banking
6 19 (5.03%) Aerospace
7 12 (3.17%) Automotive
7 12 (3.17%) Back Office
8 11 (2.91%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.85%) Military
10 6 (1.59%) Front Office
10 6 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.32%) Electronics
11 5 (1.32%) Law
11 5 (1.32%) Manufacturing
11 5 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.06%) Investment Banking
12 4 (1.06%) Legal
13 3 (0.79%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.79%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 61 (16.14%) Senior
2 57 (15.08%) Test Engineer
3 51 (13.49%) Developer
4 50 (13.23%) Software Engineer
5 32 (8.47%) Analyst
6 30 (7.94%) Tester
7 29 (7.67%) Lead
8 21 (5.56%) Java Developer
9 19 (5.03%) Test Analyst
10 18 (4.76%) Senior Developer
10 18 (4.76%) Software Test Engineer
11 16 (4.23%) QA Engineer
11 16 (4.23%) Test Manager
12 14 (3.70%) Architect
12 14 (3.70%) Java Engineer
13 11 (2.91%) Embedded Engineer
13 11 (2.91%) Embedded Software Engineer
14 10 (2.65%) Salesforce Engineer
14 10 (2.65%) Senior Java Developer
14 10 (2.65%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (10.32%) Spring
2 36 (9.52%) Playwright
3 35 (9.26%) React
4 34 (8.99%) REST
5 31 (8.20%) Spring Boot
6 24 (6.35%) RESTful
7 23 (6.08%) .NET
8 17 (4.50%) Kafka
9 14 (3.70%) CSS
9 14 (3.70%) HTML
10 13 (3.44%) Node.js
11 12 (3.17%) Redux
12 10 (2.65%) Spring MVC
13 9 (2.38%) AngularJS
13 9 (2.38%) CSS3
13 9 (2.38%) HTML5
13 9 (2.38%) Jest
14 6 (1.59%) .NET Framework
14 6 (1.59%) GraphQL
15 5 (1.32%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 37 (9.79%) Product Ownership
2 22 (5.82%) Cloud Native
3 20 (5.29%) Enterprise Software
4 19 (5.03%) Embedded Systems
5 17 (4.50%) Distributed Systems
5 17 (4.50%) Self-Motivation
6 14 (3.70%) Management Information System
7 12 (3.17%) Legacy Systems
8 11 (2.91%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.59%) FPGA
9 6 (1.59%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.32%) Greenfield Project
10 5 (1.32%) Mobile App
10 5 (1.32%) PCIe
11 3 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.79%) NHS
11 3 (0.79%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.79%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 26 (6.88%) Windows
2 21 (5.56%) Linux
3 9 (2.38%) Unix
4 6 (1.59%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.59%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.06%) Android
5 4 (1.06%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.53%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.53%) zOS
7 1 (0.26%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (47.09%) Test Automation
2 137 (36.24%) Agile
3 128 (33.86%) DevOps
4 127 (33.60%) CI/CD
5 92 (24.34%) Software Engineering
6 85 (22.49%) Continuous Improvement
7 80 (21.16%) Problem-Solving
8 66 (17.46%) Test Scripting
9 59 (15.61%) Validation
10 54 (14.29%) Test Strategy
11 53 (14.02%) SDLC
12 49 (12.96%) Scrum
13 48 (12.70%) Regression Testing
14 46 (12.17%) Test Management
15 45 (11.90%) Microservices
16 42 (11.11%) Defect Tracking
16 42 (11.11%) User Acceptance Testing
17 40 (10.58%) Code Quality
18 38 (10.05%) Containerisation
19 37 (9.79%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 78 (20.63%) Java
2 73 (19.31%) Python
3 62 (16.40%) SQL
4 38 (10.05%) JavaScript
5 34 (8.99%) C#
6 28 (7.41%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.70%) C++
8 12 (3.17%) C
9 7 (1.85%) Bash
9 7 (1.85%) PL/SQL
10 6 (1.59%) PowerShell
11 5 (1.32%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.32%) VBScript
12 4 (1.06%) Go
13 3 (0.79%) Groovy
13 3 (0.79%) Rust
13 3 (0.79%) VB
14 2 (0.53%) Ada
14 2 (0.53%) REXX
14 2 (0.53%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 116 (30.69%) Security Cleared
2 93 (24.60%) SC Cleared
3 40 (10.58%) Degree
4 33 (8.73%) ISTQB
5 19 (5.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 10 (2.65%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (1.85%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.59%) ISEB
10 4 (1.06%) CEH
10 4 (1.06%) CISSP
10 4 (1.06%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (0.79%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 2 (0.53%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.53%) Master's Degree
12 2 (0.53%) Network+ Certification
12 2 (0.53%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.53%) PMP
12 2 (0.53%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 89 (23.54%) QA
2 15 (3.97%) Accessibility
3 12 (3.17%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.12%) WCAG
5 7 (1.85%) PMO
6 4 (1.06%) NIST
6 4 (1.06%) SLA
6 4 (1.06%) Software Quality Assurance
7 3 (0.79%) ISO 20022
8 2 (0.53%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.53%) MiFID
9 1 (0.26%) GRC
9 1 (0.26%) SEPA
System Software
1 39 (10.32%) Docker
2 11 (2.91%) Active Directory
3 8 (2.12%) Firmware
3 8 (2.12%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.59%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (1.06%) Embedded Firmware
6 3 (0.79%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.79%) VMware Workstation
7 2 (0.53%) NFS
7 2 (0.53%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.26%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 50 (13.23%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.82%) Terraform
3 12 (3.17%) Ansible
4 11 (2.91%) Prometheus
5 10 (2.65%) Grafana
5 10 (2.65%) HP ALM
6 6 (1.59%) Puppet
7 5 (1.32%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.06%) HP Quality Center
8 4 (1.06%) Salt
8 4 (1.06%) SCCM
9 2 (0.53%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 1 (0.26%) Kibana
10 1 (0.26%) Oracle ZFS
10 1 (0.26%) Packer
10 1 (0.26%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 36 (9.52%) Oracle
2 34 (8.99%) Microsoft
3 13 (3.44%) Salesforce
4 10 (2.65%) HP
5 9 (2.38%) Dell
5 9 (2.38%) VMware
6 8 (2.12%) IBM
7 7 (1.85%) Citrix
7 7 (1.85%) SAP
8 6 (1.59%) Conga
8 6 (1.59%) GoCardless
8 6 (1.59%) OpenLink
8 6 (1.59%) ServiceNow
9 5 (1.32%) Ab Initio
9 5 (1.32%) Google
9 5 (1.32%) Splunk
9 5 (1.32%) Teradata
10 4 (1.06%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.79%) Atlassian
11 3 (0.79%) Remedy