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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 266 233 177
Rank change year-on-year -33 -56 +21
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 378 249 486
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.91% 1.05% 1.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.07% 1.15% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 163 328
10th Percentile £344 £313 £309
25th Percentile £400 £363 £389
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £448 £452
Median % change year-on-year +6.03% -0.88% -9.60%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £577
90th Percentile £650 £698 £688
UK median daily rate £475 £440 £463
% change year-on-year +7.95% -4.86% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 19 60
10th Percentile £18.03 £45.21 £37.55
25th Percentile £54.56 £51.53 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.75 £57.75 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +17.32% -7.60% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £68.00 £58.88 £62.50
% change year-on-year +15.50% -5.80% +17.99%

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 35,337 21,704 31,436
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.82% 91.29% 85.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,449 14,185 20,585
10th Percentile £325 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £512 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -0.14% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,203 923 2,285
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.13 £15.95
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +60.71% -23.29% -2.67%
75th Percentile £68.00 £60.00 £61.25
90th Percentile £81.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £27.45 £36.02
% change year-on-year +52.79% -23.80% -2.64%

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 27 May 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 27 May 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 27 May 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 -28 156 £475 +8.57% 55
South East -44 56 £490 +22.50% 58
North of England -46 47 £500 +0.53% 31
Midlands -38 45 £511 +21.73% 31
South West -16 40 £409 -18.20% 33
West Midlands -32 38 £510 +20.00% 22
East of England -16 33 £600 +26.32% 40
North East -8 18 £450 - 7
Yorkshire -42 18 £500 -3.80% 2
North West -40 13 £525 +10.53% 22
East Midlands -28 7 £575 +152.75% 9
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 12 (3.17%) 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
1 101 (26.72%) Azure
2 73 (19.31%) AWS
3 71 (18.78%) Azure DevOps
4 28 (7.41%) GitHub
5 23 (6.08%) Serverless
6 22 (5.82%) Amazon S3
6 22 (5.82%) AWS Lambda
7 20 (5.29%) GCP
8 9 (2.38%) GitHub Actions
8 9 (2.38%) Snowflake
9 8 (2.12%) OpenShift
10 7 (1.85%) Amazon EC2
10 7 (1.85%) Amazon ECS
10 7 (1.85%) AWS CloudFormation
10 7 (1.85%) Entra ID
10 7 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 6 (1.59%) PaaS
12 5 (1.32%) SaaS
13 4 (1.06%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 4 (1.06%) Amazon SQS
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 14 (3.70%) Oracle Database
6 11 (2.91%) Big Data
7 10 (2.65%) NoSQL
8 9 (2.38%) SAS Enterprise Guide
9 8 (2.12%) Data Warehouse
9 8 (2.12%) DynamoDB
9 8 (2.12%) MongoDB
10 7 (1.85%) Amazon Redshift
11 5 (1.32%) Amazon Athena
11 5 (1.32%) SAS Visual Analytics
12 4 (1.06%) Amazon QuickSight
13 3 (0.79%) BigQuery
13 3 (0.79%) Parquet
13 3 (0.79%) Redis
14 2 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
14 2 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 66 (17.46%) JIRA
2 40 (10.58%) Git
3 39 (10.32%) Selenium
4 28 (7.41%) Jenkins
4 28 (7.41%) Postman
5 22 (5.82%) REST Assured
6 21 (5.56%) Cucumber
7 19 (5.03%) GitLab
7 19 (5.03%) JUnit
8 16 (4.23%) Cypress.io
9 12 (3.17%) Rational DOORS
10 10 (2.65%) TestRail
11 8 (2.12%) Zephyr
12 7 (1.85%) WebDriver
13 6 (1.59%) HP UFT
13 6 (1.59%) JMeter
14 5 (1.32%) Gatling
14 5 (1.32%) Maven
14 5 (1.32%) SonarQube
15 4 (1.06%) Appium
General
1 107 (28.31%) Social Skills
2 71 (18.78%) Finance
3 63 (16.67%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (10.58%) Public Sector
5 27 (7.14%) 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
9 7 (1.85%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.59%) Front Office
10 6 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.32%) Electronics
11 5 (1.32%) Investment Banking
11 5 (1.32%) Law
11 5 (1.32%) Manufacturing
12 4 (1.06%) Legal
13 3 (0.79%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.79%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 61 (16.14%) Senior
2 56 (14.81%) Test Engineer
3 53 (14.02%) Developer
4 49 (12.96%) Software Engineer
5 34 (8.99%) Analyst
6 30 (7.94%) Lead
7 29 (7.67%) Tester
8 22 (5.82%) Java Developer
8 22 (5.82%) Test Analyst
9 18 (4.76%) Senior Developer
9 18 (4.76%) Software Test Engineer
10 16 (4.23%) Test Manager
11 15 (3.97%) Java Engineer
11 15 (3.97%) QA Engineer
12 12 (3.17%) Architect
13 11 (2.91%) Embedded Engineer
13 11 (2.91%) Embedded Software Engineer
13 11 (2.91%) Software Developer
14 10 (2.65%) Business Analyst
14 10 (2.65%) Senior Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (10.58%) Spring
2 38 (10.05%) React
3 36 (9.52%) Playwright
4 34 (8.99%) REST
5 32 (8.47%) Spring Boot
6 26 (6.88%) RESTful
7 24 (6.35%) .NET
8 18 (4.76%) Kafka
9 16 (4.23%) HTML
9 16 (4.23%) Node.js
10 15 (3.97%) CSS
11 12 (3.17%) Redux
12 10 (2.65%) AngularJS
12 10 (2.65%) HTML5
12 10 (2.65%) Spring MVC
13 9 (2.38%) CSS3
13 9 (2.38%) Jest
14 6 (1.59%) .NET Framework
14 6 (1.59%) GraphQL
14 6 (1.59%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 37 (9.79%) Product Ownership
2 23 (6.08%) Cloud Native
3 19 (5.03%) Embedded Systems
3 19 (5.03%) Enterprise Software
4 17 (4.50%) Distributed Systems
4 17 (4.50%) Self-Motivation
5 14 (3.70%) Management Information System
6 12 (3.17%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.65%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.59%) FPGA
8 6 (1.59%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.32%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.32%) PCIe
10 4 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.06%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.06%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.79%) NHS
11 3 (0.79%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 28 (7.41%) Windows
2 20 (5.29%) Linux
3 10 (2.65%) Unix
4 6 (1.59%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.59%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.06%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.53%) Android
6 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.26%) Solaris
7 1 (0.26%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (47.09%) Test Automation
2 138 (36.51%) Agile
3 132 (34.92%) DevOps
4 127 (33.60%) CI/CD
5 88 (23.28%) Continuous Improvement
5 88 (23.28%) Software Engineering
6 86 (22.75%) Problem-Solving
7 67 (17.72%) Test Scripting
8 57 (15.08%) Validation
9 53 (14.02%) SDLC
10 50 (13.23%) Test Strategy
11 48 (12.70%) Regression Testing
11 48 (12.70%) Scrum
11 48 (12.70%) Test Management
12 47 (12.43%) Microservices
13 44 (11.64%) Defect Tracking
14 40 (10.58%) Code Quality
14 40 (10.58%) User Acceptance Testing
15 39 (10.32%) Containerisation
15 39 (10.32%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 81 (21.43%) Java
2 73 (19.31%) Python
3 64 (16.93%) SQL
4 39 (10.32%) JavaScript
5 35 (9.26%) C#
6 30 (7.94%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.70%) C++
8 12 (3.17%) C
9 7 (1.85%) Bash
9 7 (1.85%) PL/SQL
9 7 (1.85%) PowerShell
10 5 (1.32%) Apex Code
10 5 (1.32%) VBScript
11 4 (1.06%) Go
12 3 (0.79%) Groovy
12 3 (0.79%) Rust
12 3 (0.79%) VB
13 2 (0.53%) Ada
13 2 (0.53%) MATLAB
13 2 (0.53%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 114 (30.16%) Security Cleared
2 91 (24.07%) SC Cleared
3 42 (11.11%) Degree
4 36 (9.52%) ISTQB
5 20 (5.29%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 10 (2.65%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (1.85%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.85%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.59%) ISEB
9 4 (1.06%) CEH
9 4 (1.06%) CISSP
9 4 (1.06%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (1.06%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 3 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.53%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.53%) CCNA
11 2 (0.53%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.53%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.53%) PMP
11 2 (0.53%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (23.02%) QA
2 14 (3.70%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.91%) 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 1 (0.26%) NFS
7 1 (0.26%) Time Sharing Option
7 1 (0.26%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 51 (13.49%) Kubernetes
2 23 (6.08%) Terraform
3 12 (3.17%) Ansible
4 10 (2.65%) HP ALM
4 10 (2.65%) Prometheus
5 9 (2.38%) Grafana
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%) Packer
10 1 (0.26%) Kibana
10 1 (0.26%) Oracle ZFS
10 1 (0.26%) Tivoli
10 1 (0.26%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 38 (10.05%) Oracle
2 34 (8.99%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.17%) Salesforce
4 10 (2.65%) HP
4 10 (2.65%) VMware
5 8 (2.12%) Dell
6 7 (1.85%) Citrix
6 7 (1.85%) IBM
6 7 (1.85%) SAP
7 6 (1.59%) Conga
7 6 (1.59%) GoCardless
7 6 (1.59%) OpenLink
7 6 (1.59%) ServiceNow
8 5 (1.32%) Ab Initio
8 5 (1.32%) Google
8 5 (1.32%) Splunk
8 5 (1.32%) Teradata
9 4 (1.06%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.79%) Atlassian
10 3 (0.79%) Remedy