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

 6 months to
6 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 252 255 179
Rank change year-on-year +3 -76 +2
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 396 249 491
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.94% 1.03% 1.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.10% 1.13% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 214 165 333
10th Percentile £333 £313 £307
25th Percentile £400 £359 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £438 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% -2.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £575
90th Percentile £638 £695 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £438 £463
% change year-on-year +8.57% -5.41% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 18 61
10th Percentile £23.49 £42.81 £37.55
25th Percentile £54.00 £51.30 £56.25
Median hourly rate £68.00 £57.63 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.00% -7.80% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £68.00 £57.75 £62.50
% change year-on-year +17.75% -7.60% +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 35,884 22,080 31,645
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.08% 91.32% 85.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,739 14,300 20,579
10th Percentile £325 £305 £300
25th Percentile £413 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,242 984 2,330
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.82
25th Percentile £20.80 £18.12 £16.00
Median hourly rate £47.50 £28.53 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +66.52% -23.93% +1.99%
75th Percentile £68.00 £59.45 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.00 £74.63 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.76 £36.50
% change year-on-year +58.36% -23.95% +1.39%

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 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 6 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 6 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 -31 155 £475 +8.57% 70
South East -47 58 £490 +22.50% 72
Midlands -18 52 £514 +44.28% 40
North of England -45 50 £488 -1.99% 39
West Midlands -21 45 £513 +21.48% 23
South West -7 43 £409 -18.20% 36
East of England -10 36 £570 +20.00% 61
North East -6 22 £450 - 12
Yorkshire -52 17 £500 -3.80% 4
North West -42 13 £500 +11.11% 24
East Midlands -23 7 £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 14 (3.54%) Confluence
1 14 (3.54%) SAS
2 12 (3.03%) Apache Airflow
3 8 (2.02%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.76%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.51%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Apache
6 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.25%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.77%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.01%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.51%) Simulink
6 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.52%) Findur
1 6 (1.52%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (1.01%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.01%) Maximo
3 3 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.51%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.51%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 104 (26.26%) Azure
2 78 (19.70%) AWS
3 69 (17.42%) Azure DevOps
4 32 (8.08%) GitHub
5 22 (5.56%) Serverless
6 21 (5.30%) AWS Lambda
7 20 (5.05%) Amazon S3
7 20 (5.05%) GCP
8 11 (2.78%) GitHub Actions
8 11 (2.78%) PaaS
9 9 (2.27%) Snowflake
10 8 (2.02%) OpenShift
11 7 (1.77%) Entra ID
12 6 (1.52%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (1.52%) Amazon ECS
12 6 (1.52%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.52%) SaaS
12 6 (1.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 5 (1.26%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 5 (1.26%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.02%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.52%) DNS
3 5 (1.26%) Firewall
3 5 (1.26%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.26%) Wireless
4 4 (1.01%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.76%) DHCP
5 3 (0.76%) Modbus
5 3 (0.76%) Network Security
5 3 (0.76%) RS-232
5 3 (0.76%) RS-422
5 3 (0.76%) RS-485
6 2 (0.51%) 4G
6 2 (0.51%) 5G
6 2 (0.51%) Internet
6 2 (0.51%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.25%) BGP
7 1 (0.25%) FTP
7 1 (0.25%) LTE
7 1 (0.25%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (6.06%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (5.05%) Relational Database
3 18 (4.55%) Oracle Database
4 16 (4.04%) MySQL
5 15 (3.79%) SQL Server
6 14 (3.54%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 11 (2.78%) Big Data
8 10 (2.53%) SAS Visual Analytics
9 9 (2.27%) DynamoDB
9 9 (2.27%) NoSQL
10 8 (2.02%) Data Warehouse
11 6 (1.52%) Amazon Redshift
12 5 (1.26%) Amazon Athena
13 4 (1.01%) Amazon QuickSight
13 4 (1.01%) MongoDB
14 3 (0.76%) BigQuery
14 3 (0.76%) Parquet
14 3 (0.76%) Power BI
14 3 (0.76%) Redis
15 2 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 69 (17.42%) JIRA
2 45 (11.36%) Selenium
3 37 (9.34%) Git
4 30 (7.58%) Jenkins
5 29 (7.32%) Postman
6 25 (6.31%) Cucumber
6 25 (6.31%) REST Assured
7 22 (5.56%) JUnit
8 21 (5.30%) GitLab
9 17 (4.29%) Cypress.io
10 13 (3.28%) TestRail
11 12 (3.03%) Rational DOORS
12 11 (2.78%) WebDriver
13 9 (2.27%) Zephyr
14 7 (1.77%) JMeter
15 6 (1.52%) Gatling
15 6 (1.52%) HP UFT
16 5 (1.26%) Appium
16 5 (1.26%) SonarQube
17 4 (1.01%) LabVIEW
General
1 108 (27.27%) Social Skills
2 73 (18.43%) Finance
3 64 (16.16%) Analytical Skills
4 49 (12.37%) Public Sector
5 26 (6.57%) Banking
6 19 (4.80%) Aerospace
7 14 (3.54%) Automotive
8 13 (3.28%) Back Office
9 12 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.02%) Military
11 7 (1.77%) Law
12 6 (1.52%) Front Office
12 6 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.26%) Electronics
13 5 (1.26%) Legal
13 5 (1.26%) Manufacturing
14 4 (1.01%) Investment Banking
15 3 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.76%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 64 (16.16%) Senior
2 60 (15.15%) Test Engineer
3 54 (13.64%) Developer
4 53 (13.38%) Software Engineer
5 33 (8.33%) Analyst
6 30 (7.58%) Tester
7 27 (6.82%) Lead
8 21 (5.30%) Java Developer
9 20 (5.05%) Test Analyst
10 19 (4.80%) Software Test Engineer
11 18 (4.55%) QA Engineer
11 18 (4.55%) Senior Developer
12 16 (4.04%) Architect
12 16 (4.04%) Test Manager
13 14 (3.54%) Release Manager
14 12 (3.03%) Salesforce Engineer
14 12 (3.03%) Software Developer
15 11 (2.78%) Automation Engineer
15 11 (2.78%) Embedded Engineer
15 11 (2.78%) Embedded Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (9.34%) Playwright
2 35 (8.84%) React
2 35 (8.84%) Spring
3 34 (8.59%) REST
4 27 (6.82%) Spring Boot
5 24 (6.06%) RESTful
6 22 (5.56%) .NET
7 17 (4.29%) Kafka
8 14 (3.54%) CSS
8 14 (3.54%) HTML
9 13 (3.28%) Node.js
10 12 (3.03%) Redux
11 10 (2.53%) Spring MVC
12 9 (2.27%) AngularJS
12 9 (2.27%) CSS3
12 9 (2.27%) HTML5
12 9 (2.27%) Jest
13 6 (1.52%) .NET Framework
13 6 (1.52%) GraphQL
14 5 (1.26%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 39 (9.85%) Product Ownership
2 22 (5.56%) Cloud Native
2 22 (5.56%) Embedded Systems
3 20 (5.05%) Enterprise Software
4 18 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
5 17 (4.29%) Distributed Systems
6 14 (3.54%) Management Information System
7 12 (3.03%) Legacy Systems
8 11 (2.78%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.52%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.52%) FPGA
9 6 (1.52%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.26%) Greenfield Project
10 5 (1.26%) Mobile App
10 5 (1.26%) PCIe
11 4 (1.01%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.01%) Public Cloud
12 3 (0.76%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 3 (0.76%) NHS
12 3 (0.76%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 28 (7.07%) Windows
2 22 (5.56%) Linux
3 9 (2.27%) Unix
4 6 (1.52%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.52%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.01%) Android
5 4 (1.01%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.51%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.51%) zOS
7 1 (0.25%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 183 (46.21%) Test Automation
2 143 (36.11%) Agile
3 133 (33.59%) DevOps
4 132 (33.33%) CI/CD
5 98 (24.75%) Software Engineering
6 89 (22.47%) Continuous Improvement
7 80 (20.20%) Problem-Solving
8 69 (17.42%) Test Scripting
9 66 (16.67%) Validation
10 60 (15.15%) Test Strategy
11 56 (14.14%) SDLC
12 53 (13.38%) Scrum
13 49 (12.37%) Regression Testing
14 48 (12.12%) Test Management
15 45 (11.36%) User Acceptance Testing
16 43 (10.86%) Code Quality
16 43 (10.86%) Defect Tracking
17 42 (10.61%) Defect Management
17 42 (10.61%) Microservices
18 40 (10.10%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 76 (19.19%) Java
2 72 (18.18%) Python
3 59 (14.90%) SQL
4 37 (9.34%) JavaScript
5 34 (8.59%) C#
6 28 (7.07%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.54%) C++
8 12 (3.03%) C
9 7 (1.77%) PL/SQL
9 7 (1.77%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.52%) Bash
11 5 (1.26%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.26%) VBScript
12 4 (1.01%) Go
13 3 (0.76%) Rust
13 3 (0.76%) VB
14 2 (0.51%) Ada
14 2 (0.51%) JCL
14 2 (0.51%) REXX
14 2 (0.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 127 (32.07%) Security Cleared
2 100 (25.25%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.61%) Degree
4 34 (8.59%) ISTQB
5 20 (5.05%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 11 (2.78%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (2.02%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.52%) ISEB
9 4 (1.01%) CEH
9 4 (1.01%) CISSP
9 4 (1.01%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (0.76%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.76%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 2 (0.51%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.51%) CCNA
11 2 (0.51%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.51%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.51%) PMP
11 2 (0.51%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (23.23%) QA
2 16 (4.04%) Accessibility
3 12 (3.03%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.02%) WCAG
5 7 (1.77%) PMO
6 5 (1.26%) Software Quality Assurance
7 4 (1.01%) NIST
7 4 (1.01%) SLA
8 3 (0.76%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.51%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.51%) MiFID
10 1 (0.25%) GRC
10 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 38 (9.60%) Docker
2 11 (2.78%) Active Directory
3 9 (2.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.02%) Firmware
5 6 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (1.01%) Embedded Firmware
7 3 (0.76%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.76%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (0.51%) NFS
8 2 (0.51%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 44 (11.11%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.56%) Terraform
3 12 (3.03%) Ansible
4 10 (2.53%) HP ALM
5 9 (2.27%) Prometheus
6 8 (2.02%) Grafana
7 6 (1.52%) Puppet
8 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (1.01%) HP Quality Center
9 4 (1.01%) Salt
9 4 (1.01%) SCCM
10 2 (0.51%) Packer
10 2 (0.51%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 1 (0.25%) Kibana
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle ZFS
11 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 42 (10.61%) Oracle
2 34 (8.59%) Microsoft
3 16 (4.04%) Salesforce
4 10 (2.53%) HP
4 10 (2.53%) VMware
5 9 (2.27%) Dell
6 8 (2.02%) IBM
7 7 (1.77%) Citrix
7 7 (1.77%) SAP
8 6 (1.52%) Conga
8 6 (1.52%) GoCardless
8 6 (1.52%) OpenLink
8 6 (1.52%) ServiceNow
9 5 (1.26%) Ab Initio
9 5 (1.26%) Google
9 5 (1.26%) Splunk
9 5 (1.26%) Teradata
10 4 (1.01%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.76%) Atlassian
11 3 (0.76%) Remedy
319 Software Testing jobs in England