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

 6 months to
21 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 206 173
Rank change year-on-year -19 -33 +8
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 378 337 536
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.17% 1.26% 1.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.33% 1.42% 1.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 254 189 350
10th Percentile £325 £313 £269
25th Percentile £379 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £465 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.13% -7.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £538 £618 £605
90th Percentile £600 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £450 £453 £478
% change year-on-year -0.55% -5.24% -6.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 18 88
10th Percentile £26.25 £46.11 £40.82
25th Percentile £47.50 £59.94 £51.88
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%
75th Percentile £67.25 £73.13 -
90th Percentile £68.75 £80.75 £67.61
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%

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 28,450 23,808 32,355
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.12% 89.33% 87.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,222 14,593 21,730
10th Percentile £305 £310 £300
25th Percentile £409 £413 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,765 770 1,701
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.00 £17.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £38.16
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -8.27% +9.67%
75th Percentile £57.50 £64.01 £63.29
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -13.33% +17.19%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 -15 154 £475 -1.96% 59
South East -39 56 £428 -30.77% 123
North of England -50 48 £409 +2.25% 70
Midlands -30 44 £515 +28.75% 45
South West +6 40 £450 +21.62% 55
West Midlands -23 37 £515 +28.75% 21
Yorkshire -41 27 £475 +16.56% 31
East of England -9 19 £598 +36.57% 57
North West -50 14 £405 +20.18% 33
East Midlands -28 7 £313 - 24
North East - 7 £350 - 6
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 20 (5.29%) Confluence
2 17 (4.50%) SAS
3 7 (1.85%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (1.85%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.59%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (0.79%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.53%) Apache
6 2 (0.53%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.53%) JBoss
6 2 (0.53%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.26%) CMS
Applications
1 10 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.85%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.53%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.26%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.53%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.53%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.53%) Dynamics NAV
1 2 (0.53%) LabWindows
1 2 (0.53%) Maximo
1 2 (0.53%) Oracle EBS R12
1 2 (0.53%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.26%) Algo Collateral
2 1 (0.26%) CODA-Financials
Cloud Services
1 119 (31.48%) Azure
2 71 (18.78%) Azure DevOps
3 70 (18.52%) AWS
4 34 (8.99%) GitHub
5 28 (7.41%) GCP
6 20 (5.29%) GitHub Actions
7 19 (5.03%) Amazon S3
8 17 (4.50%) AWS Lambda
8 17 (4.50%) Serverless
9 13 (3.44%) Amazon ECS
10 10 (2.65%) AWS CloudFormation
10 10 (2.65%) Power Platform
11 7 (1.85%) Entra ID
11 7 (1.85%) Snowflake
12 6 (1.59%) Dynamics 365
12 6 (1.59%) PaaS
13 4 (1.06%) Amazon Bedrock
13 4 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
13 4 (1.06%) Microsoft 365
13 4 (1.06%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.85%) Ethernet
2 4 (1.06%) DNS
2 4 (1.06%) Firewall
2 4 (1.06%) Internet
2 4 (1.06%) Wireshark
3 3 (0.79%) SD-WAN
3 3 (0.79%) Skype
3 3 (0.79%) SNMP
4 2 (0.53%) Cisco IOS
4 2 (0.53%) FTP
4 2 (0.53%) Intranet
4 2 (0.53%) IOS XR
4 2 (0.53%) Spanning Tree
4 2 (0.53%) SSH
4 2 (0.53%) SSL
4 2 (0.53%) TACACS
4 2 (0.53%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.53%) Wireless
5 1 (0.26%) Network Security
5 1 (0.26%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (7.67%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (5.03%) SQL Server
3 18 (4.76%) NoSQL
4 17 (4.50%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 15 (3.97%) MongoDB
6 13 (3.44%) Oracle Database
7 11 (2.91%) BigQuery
7 11 (2.91%) Relational Database
8 10 (2.65%) MySQL
9 7 (1.85%) Power BI
10 6 (1.59%) Apache Cassandra
10 6 (1.59%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 5 (1.32%) Couchbase
12 4 (1.06%) Pinecone
13 3 (0.79%) Amazon Redshift
13 3 (0.79%) Big Data
13 3 (0.79%) Data Warehouse
13 3 (0.79%) DynamoDB
13 3 (0.79%) Metadata
13 3 (0.79%) Redis
Development Applications
1 62 (16.40%) Selenium
2 53 (14.02%) JIRA
3 44 (11.64%) Git
4 38 (10.05%) Postman
5 37 (9.79%) Cucumber
5 37 (9.79%) Jenkins
6 31 (8.20%) Cypress.io
7 26 (6.88%) REST Assured
8 21 (5.56%) GitLab
9 20 (5.29%) JUnit
10 11 (2.91%) JMeter
11 9 (2.38%) WebDriver
12 8 (2.12%) TestRail
13 7 (1.85%) Maven
14 6 (1.59%) Rational DOORS
14 6 (1.59%) Rational Rhapsody
15 5 (1.32%) Gatling
15 5 (1.32%) Gradle
15 5 (1.32%) HP UFT
16 4 (1.06%) SonarQube
General
1 118 (31.22%) Social Skills
2 56 (14.81%) Analytical Skills
3 55 (14.55%) Finance
4 50 (13.23%) Public Sector
5 21 (5.56%) Banking
6 11 (2.91%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.38%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.38%) Manufacturing
9 8 (2.12%) Military
10 7 (1.85%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.85%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.59%) Automotive
11 6 (1.59%) Front Office
11 6 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.32%) Electronics
13 4 (1.06%) Multimedia
13 4 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (0.79%) Billing
14 3 (0.79%) Law
Job Titles
1 61 (16.14%) Senior
2 47 (12.43%) Software Engineer
3 46 (12.17%) Developer
4 40 (10.58%) Analyst
5 37 (9.79%) Test Engineer
6 34 (8.99%) Test Analyst
7 32 (8.47%) Tester
8 31 (8.20%) Lead
9 25 (6.61%) Consultant
10 18 (4.76%) Java Engineer
11 17 (4.50%) Release Manager
11 17 (4.50%) Senior Analyst
11 17 (4.50%) Test Manager
12 16 (4.23%) Senior Test Analyst
13 15 (3.97%) QA Engineer
14 13 (3.44%) QA Leader
15 12 (3.17%) Senior Developer
15 12 (3.17%) Software Developer
16 11 (2.91%) Test Automation Engineer
16 11 (2.91%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (9.79%) Playwright
2 32 (8.47%) .NET
2 32 (8.47%) RESTful
2 32 (8.47%) Spring
3 28 (7.41%) React
3 28 (7.41%) Spring Boot
4 26 (6.88%) REST
5 24 (6.35%) Node.js
6 16 (4.23%) Kafka
7 15 (3.97%) HTML
8 12 (3.17%) CSS
9 11 (2.91%) Middleware
10 8 (2.12%) FastAPI
10 8 (2.12%) Gherkin
10 8 (2.12%) RabbitMQ
11 7 (1.85%) AngularJS
11 7 (1.85%) Apache NiFi
11 7 (1.85%) JSON
11 7 (1.85%) pytest
12 6 (1.59%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 26 (6.88%) Product Ownership
2 23 (6.08%) Cloud Native
3 18 (4.76%) Self-Motivation
4 10 (2.65%) Distributed Systems
4 10 (2.65%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (1.85%) Mobile App
6 6 (1.59%) CUDA
6 6 (1.59%) Virtual Team
7 4 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (1.06%) NHS
7 4 (1.06%) PCIe
7 4 (1.06%) Virtual Reality
8 3 (0.79%) AI Agents
8 3 (0.79%) Derivative
8 3 (0.79%) Distributed Computing
8 3 (0.79%) Fixed Income
8 3 (0.79%) Greenfield Project
8 3 (0.79%) PKI
8 3 (0.79%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 33 (8.73%) Windows
2 28 (7.41%) Linux
3 8 (2.12%) Unix
4 4 (1.06%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.79%) Android
5 3 (0.79%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.79%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.26%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.26%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.26%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.26%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 168 (44.44%) Test Automation
2 148 (39.15%) Agile
3 139 (36.77%) CI/CD
4 125 (33.07%) DevOps
5 99 (26.19%) Problem-Solving
6 76 (20.11%) Test Scripting
7 75 (19.84%) Continuous Improvement
8 72 (19.05%) Software Engineering
9 60 (15.87%) Validation
10 59 (15.61%) Test Strategy
11 58 (15.34%) Microservices
12 48 (12.70%) Scrum
13 47 (12.43%) Containerisation
14 46 (12.17%) TDD
15 45 (11.90%) Test Management
16 43 (11.38%) API Testing
17 39 (10.32%) Integration Testing
18 36 (9.52%) AI
19 35 (9.26%) Defect Tracking
19 35 (9.26%) Manual Testing
Programming Languages
1 78 (20.63%) Java
2 76 (20.11%) Python
3 66 (17.46%) SQL
4 54 (14.29%) JavaScript
5 31 (8.20%) C#
6 30 (7.94%) TypeScript
7 17 (4.50%) C++
8 10 (2.65%) Bash
8 10 (2.65%) C
9 9 (2.38%) Go
9 9 (2.38%) Shell Script
10 7 (1.85%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.59%) Ada
12 5 (1.32%) Scala
13 4 (1.06%) PowerShell
13 4 (1.06%) VBScript
14 3 (0.79%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.79%) Groovy
14 3 (0.79%) Ruby
14 3 (0.79%) Rust
Qualifications
1 109 (28.84%) Security Cleared
2 93 (24.60%) SC Cleared
3 41 (10.85%) Degree
4 30 (7.94%) ISTQB
5 22 (5.82%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.44%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (2.38%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 6 (1.59%) ISEB
8 6 (1.59%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.79%) DV Cleared
9 3 (0.79%) Master's Degree
9 3 (0.79%) PMI Certification
9 3 (0.79%) PMP
10 2 (0.53%) ACCA
10 2 (0.53%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.53%) CIMA
10 2 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.53%) CISSP
11 1 (0.26%) CEH
11 1 (0.26%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 105 (27.78%) QA
2 27 (7.14%) Accessibility
3 10 (2.65%) WCAG
4 7 (1.85%) NIST
5 6 (1.59%) EU AI Act
6 4 (1.06%) SLA
6 4 (1.06%) Software Quality Assurance
7 2 (0.53%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.26%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 53 (14.02%) Docker
2 6 (1.59%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.32%) Firmware
3 5 (1.32%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.79%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.26%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 50 (13.23%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.97%) Terraform
3 10 (2.65%) Grafana
4 7 (1.85%) Ansible
4 7 (1.85%) HP ALM
5 6 (1.59%) Puppet
6 5 (1.32%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.06%) HP Quality Center
8 3 (0.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.79%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.79%) WSUS
9 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.53%) Nessus
10 1 (0.26%) Nmap
10 1 (0.26%) Packer
10 1 (0.26%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.26%) Salt
10 1 (0.26%) SCCM
Vendors
1 46 (12.17%) Microsoft
2 38 (10.05%) Oracle
3 10 (2.65%) Splunk
4 9 (2.38%) ServiceNow
5 8 (2.12%) Atlassian
5 8 (2.12%) Cisco
6 7 (1.85%) HP
7 6 (1.59%) Salesforce
7 6 (1.59%) VMware
8 5 (1.32%) SAP
8 5 (1.32%) Workday
9 4 (1.06%) Meraki
10 3 (0.79%) Databricks
10 3 (0.79%) Google
10 3 (0.79%) Juniper
10 3 (0.79%) Micro Focus
10 3 (0.79%) MuleSoft
10 3 (0.79%) Remedy
10 3 (0.79%) Siemens
10 3 (0.79%) Veeam
396 Software Testing jobs in England