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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 255 206 162
Rank change year-on-year -49 -44 +13
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 296 400 667
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 1.06% 1.21% 1.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.17% 1.41% 1.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 261 436
10th Percentile £313 £325 £286
25th Percentile £358 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £435 £463 £515
Median % change year-on-year -5.95% -10.19% +3.00%
75th Percentile £525 £588 £627
90th Percentile £612 £659 £700
UK median daily rate £440 £463 £500
% change year-on-year -4.86% -7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 21 92
10th Percentile £26.25 £37.55 £46.04
25th Percentile £50.00 £54.63 £49.65
Median hourly rate £55.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.00% -3.85% +24.50%
75th Percentile £67.00 £63.75 -
90th Percentile £71.50 £65.00 £72.73
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £57.50 £62.75
% change year-on-year -4.35% -8.37% +25.50%

All Process and 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 25,277 28,358 37,638
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 90.89% 86.07% 89.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,059 17,631 26,012
10th Percentile £300 £313 £315
25th Percentile £405 £420 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £645 £656
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,509 1,303 1,436
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.79 £20.00 £19.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -41.51% -3.37% +53.66%
75th Percentile £50.00 £66.55 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.79
% change year-on-year -41.51% -1.81% +51.53%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Software Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Software Testing 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 19 September 2025.

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 19 September 2025.

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 19 September 2025. 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 -54 109 £431 -9.59% 82
South East +18 61 £420 -6.67% 102
North of England -54 44 £435 +6.68% 79
South West +13 30 £447 -22.26% 60
Yorkshire -23 27 £460 -1.81% 22
Midlands -19 21 £425 +6.25% 75
East of England +4 20 £530 -15.20% 44
West Midlands -8 16 £473 +18.13% 43
North West -34 11 £355 -9.84% 42
North East +3 6 £363 -1.36% 15
East Midlands -9 5 £340 -6.21% 31
Software Testing
UK

Software Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 9 (3.04%) Confluence
2 6 (2.03%) JBoss
2 6 (2.03%) SAS
3 5 (1.69%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.69%) SharePoint
4 4 (1.35%) CICS
4 4 (1.35%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (1.01%) Apache
5 3 (1.01%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.34%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.34%) CMS
6 1 (0.34%) EPiServer
6 1 (0.34%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.34%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.34%) WebSphere
Applications
1 9 (3.04%) Microsoft Excel
1 9 (3.04%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.34%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.68%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.68%) Maximo
1 2 (0.68%) Salesforce CRM
1 2 (0.68%) Unit4 Business World
2 1 (0.34%) Cerner Millennium
2 1 (0.34%) LabWindows
2 1 (0.34%) SAP CRM
2 1 (0.34%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.34%) SimCorp Dimension
2 1 (0.34%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 74 (25.00%) Azure
2 50 (16.89%) AWS
3 34 (11.49%) Azure DevOps
4 17 (5.74%) GCP
5 16 (5.41%) GitHub
6 11 (3.72%) Power Platform
7 10 (3.38%) npm
8 6 (2.03%) Cloud Computing
8 6 (2.03%) PaaS
9 5 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
9 5 (1.69%) Entra ID
9 5 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (1.35%) Amazon S3
10 4 (1.35%) PowerApps
10 4 (1.35%) SaaS
10 4 (1.35%) Serverless
11 3 (1.01%) Amazon ECS
11 3 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
11 3 (1.01%) BlazeMeter
11 3 (1.01%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.36%) Ethernet
2 6 (2.03%) Wireshark
3 4 (1.35%) 5G
3 4 (1.35%) HTTP
4 3 (1.01%) SD-WAN
4 3 (1.01%) SNMP
4 3 (1.01%) Software-Defined Radio
5 2 (0.68%) 4G
5 2 (0.68%) 5G NR
5 2 (0.68%) Diameter Protocol
5 2 (0.68%) DNS
5 2 (0.68%) Firewall
5 2 (0.68%) Internet
5 2 (0.68%) LTE
5 2 (0.68%) Network Security
5 2 (0.68%) Radio Access Network
5 2 (0.68%) SIGTRAN
5 2 (0.68%) SS7
5 2 (0.68%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.68%) VoWiFi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (6.42%) SQL Server
2 17 (5.74%) Oracle Database
3 9 (3.04%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (2.36%) MongoDB
4 7 (2.36%) Power BI
5 6 (2.03%) Redis
5 6 (2.03%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 6 (2.03%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 5 (1.69%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.35%) DB2
8 3 (1.01%) Metadata
8 3 (1.01%) MS Access
8 3 (1.01%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.68%) DynamoDB
9 2 (0.68%) Pinecone
10 1 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
10 1 (0.34%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.34%) Data Lake
10 1 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.34%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 89 (30.07%) JIRA
2 64 (21.62%) Selenium
3 51 (17.23%) Jenkins
4 41 (13.85%) Git
5 40 (13.51%) Postman
6 35 (11.82%) Cucumber
7 30 (10.14%) SoapUI
8 27 (9.12%) GitLab
9 20 (6.76%) JUnit
10 19 (6.42%) Cypress.io
10 19 (6.42%) REST Assured
11 15 (5.07%) Maven
12 12 (4.05%) JMeter
12 12 (4.05%) Visual Studio
13 10 (3.38%) IntelliJ
14 9 (3.04%) Artifactory
14 9 (3.04%) WebDriver
15 7 (2.36%) HP UFT
15 7 (2.36%) Xcode
16 6 (2.03%) Subversion
General
1 130 (43.92%) Social Skills
2 53 (17.91%) Finance
3 36 (12.16%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (8.45%) Public Sector
5 21 (7.09%) Banking
6 9 (3.04%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (2.36%) Aerospace
7 7 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (2.36%) Manufacturing
8 6 (2.03%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.35%) Automotive
9 4 (1.35%) Billing
9 4 (1.35%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.01%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.01%) Law
10 3 (1.01%) Local Government
10 3 (1.01%) Multimedia
10 3 (1.01%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.68%) General Ledger
11 2 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 48 (16.22%) Tester
2 44 (14.86%) Analyst
2 44 (14.86%) Senior
3 39 (13.18%) Test Analyst
4 32 (10.81%) Software Engineer
4 32 (10.81%) Test Engineer
5 27 (9.12%) Developer
6 25 (8.45%) Lead
7 17 (5.74%) Automation Tester
8 13 (4.39%) Software Tester
8 13 (4.39%) Test Manager
9 12 (4.05%) Software Developer
9 12 (4.05%) Test Leader
10 11 (3.72%) Senior Analyst
10 11 (3.72%) Senior Tester
11 10 (3.38%) Senior Test Analyst
12 9 (3.04%) Project Manager
12 9 (3.04%) Software Test Engineer
13 8 (2.70%) Junior
13 8 (2.70%) QA Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (10.14%) .NET
2 28 (9.46%) SOAP
3 25 (8.45%) HTML
4 23 (7.77%) REST
5 22 (7.43%) Playwright
6 21 (7.09%) CSS
7 19 (6.42%) React
8 17 (5.74%) AngularJS
9 16 (5.41%) Node.js
9 16 (5.41%) XML
10 15 (5.07%) Web Services
11 13 (4.39%) .NET Framework
11 13 (4.39%) Spring
12 12 (4.05%) Spring Boot
13 11 (3.72%) Kafka
13 11 (3.72%) RESTful
14 9 (3.04%) Svelte
14 9 (3.04%) Vue
15 8 (2.70%) Hibernate
15 8 (2.70%) HTML5
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.78%) Self-Motivation
2 22 (7.43%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (4.73%) Product Ownership
4 11 (3.72%) Data Structures
5 10 (3.38%) Algorithms
6 7 (2.36%) Mainframe
7 6 (2.03%) Management Information System
8 5 (1.69%) Cloud Native
8 5 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.35%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.35%) VSAM
10 3 (1.01%) AI Agents
10 3 (1.01%) Derivative
10 3 (1.01%) FPGA
10 3 (1.01%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (1.01%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (1.01%) NHS
10 3 (1.01%) Onboarding
10 3 (1.01%) SCADA
10 3 (1.01%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 34 (11.49%) Linux
2 28 (9.46%) Windows
3 18 (6.08%) Unix
4 3 (1.01%) Android
4 3 (1.01%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.68%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.34%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.34%) Robot Operating System
6 1 (0.34%) Solaris
6 1 (0.34%) VMS
6 1 (0.34%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.34%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.34%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (50.34%) Agile
2 145 (48.99%) Test Automation
3 95 (32.09%) CI/CD
4 90 (30.41%) DevOps
5 86 (29.05%) Problem-Solving
6 59 (19.93%) Test Strategy
7 56 (18.92%) Test Scripting
8 55 (18.58%) Scrum
9 52 (17.57%) Validation
10 50 (16.89%) SDLC
11 48 (16.22%) Software Engineering
12 46 (15.54%) Continuous Improvement
13 41 (13.85%) Integration Testing
14 37 (12.50%) Microservices
15 33 (11.15%) Computer Science
15 33 (11.15%) TDD
16 32 (10.81%) Test Management
16 32 (10.81%) Waterfall
17 31 (10.47%) User Acceptance Testing
18 30 (10.14%) Defect Management
Programming Languages
1 59 (19.93%) Java
2 52 (17.57%) Python
3 43 (14.53%) JavaScript
4 41 (13.85%) C#
5 39 (13.18%) SQL
6 17 (5.74%) C++
7 13 (4.39%) Shell Script
8 12 (4.05%) Bash
8 12 (4.05%) TypeScript
9 8 (2.70%) C
9 8 (2.70%) VB
10 7 (2.36%) Ada
11 6 (2.03%) Groovy
12 5 (1.69%) COBOL
12 5 (1.69%) JCL
12 5 (1.69%) Scala
13 3 (1.01%) PowerShell
14 2 (0.68%) Ruby
14 2 (0.68%) Rust
14 2 (0.68%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 80 (27.03%) Security Cleared
2 54 (18.24%) SC Cleared
3 37 (12.50%) Degree
4 31 (10.47%) ISTQB
5 20 (6.76%) DV Cleared
6 18 (6.08%) Computer Science Degree
7 11 (3.72%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (3.04%) CISM
8 9 (3.04%) CISSP
9 6 (2.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 5 (1.69%) Azure Certification
10 5 (1.69%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 4 (1.35%) HNC
11 4 (1.35%) HND
12 3 (1.01%) EMC Certification
12 3 (1.01%) ISEB
13 2 (0.68%) ACCA
13 2 (0.68%) AWS Certification
13 2 (0.68%) CIMA
13 2 (0.68%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (26.01%) QA
2 19 (6.42%) Accessibility
3 10 (3.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (3.04%) WCAG
5 8 (2.70%) NIST
6 7 (2.36%) PCI DSS
7 6 (2.03%) GDPR
8 4 (1.35%) Def Stans
8 4 (1.35%) IEC 61508
8 4 (1.35%) SLA
9 3 (1.01%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.68%) GRC
10 2 (0.68%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.68%) PMO
10 2 (0.68%) Software Quality Assurance
11 1 (0.34%) EU AI Act
11 1 (0.34%) IEC 61131
11 1 (0.34%) MISRA
11 1 (0.34%) MISRA C
11 1 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 36 (12.16%) Docker
2 4 (1.35%) Active Directory
3 3 (1.01%) Firmware
4 2 (0.68%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.34%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.34%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
5 1 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.34%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 30 (10.14%) Kubernetes
2 16 (5.41%) Ansible
3 11 (3.72%) Terraform
4 4 (1.35%) Functional Safety
5 3 (1.01%) HP ALM
5 3 (1.01%) Puppet
6 2 (0.68%) Grafana
6 2 (0.68%) HP Quality Center
6 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.34%) Argo
7 1 (0.34%) Control-M
7 1 (0.34%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.34%) Rsyslog
7 1 (0.34%) SCCM
7 1 (0.34%) SCOM
7 1 (0.34%) Tivoli
7 1 (0.34%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.34%) WSUS
Vendors
1 55 (18.58%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.45%) Oracle
3 13 (4.39%) Google
4 10 (3.38%) CyberArk
5 9 (3.04%) BeyondTrust
5 9 (3.04%) Salesforce
5 9 (3.04%) Splunk
5 9 (3.04%) Thycotic
6 7 (2.36%) Dynatrace
7 6 (2.03%) CA Agile Central
7 6 (2.03%) Cisco
7 6 (2.03%) Nokia
8 5 (1.69%) Bloomberg
8 5 (1.69%) HP
9 4 (1.35%) Atlassian
9 4 (1.35%) Juniper
9 4 (1.35%) Meraki
9 4 (1.35%) MuleSoft
9 4 (1.35%) Reuters
10 3 (1.01%) ServiceNow