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

6 months to
6 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 263 251 192
Rank change year-on-year -12 -59 -12
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 423 273 463
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.96% 1.03% 1.24%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.12% 1.13% 1.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 185 321
10th Percentile £303 £313 £313
25th Percentile £400 £356 £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 £650 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £438 £454
% change year-on-year +8.57% -3.63% -9.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 21 51
10th Percentile £17.50 £46.25 £37.55
25th Percentile £53.95 £50.00 £56.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -12.00% +12.36%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £56.25 £62.50
% change year-on-year +20.00% -10.00% +10.68%

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 37,664 24,142 31,880
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.32% 90.95% 85.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,703 15,518 20,682
10th Percentile £325 £300 £305
25th Percentile £419 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.84% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £645
90th Percentile £730 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £516 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +2.18% -3.81% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,366 1,213 2,290
10th Percentile £15.28 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.88 £16.08
Median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% -3.62%
75th Percentile £68.55 £55.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £82.25 £72.30 £72.58
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% -2.41%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -41 154 £475 +11.76% 80
South East -44 62 £470 +17.50% 77
Midlands -20 55 £513 +43.86% 37
North of England -53 53 £470 +0.05% 44
East of England 0 49 £525 +10.53% 54
West Midlands -17 49 £511 +21.01% 21
South West -8 46 £410 -13.79% 37
North East -15 23 £450 - 10
Yorkshire -51 17 £475 +0.53% 10
North West -40 15 £500 +17.65% 24
East Midlands -18 6 £575 +69.12% 16
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 15 (3.55%) Confluence
2 12 (2.84%) Apache Airflow
3 11 (2.60%) SAS
4 9 (2.13%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.71%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.47%) IIS
7 1 (0.24%) Apache
7 1 (0.24%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.24%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 10 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.95%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.24%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.24%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 6 (1.42%) Findur
1 6 (1.42%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.95%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.95%) Maximo
3 3 (0.71%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.47%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.47%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.24%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.24%) Eikon
5 1 (0.24%) Misys Equation
5 1 (0.24%) Misys Midas
5 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 96 (22.70%) Azure
2 81 (19.15%) AWS
3 53 (12.53%) Azure DevOps
4 29 (6.86%) GitHub
5 26 (6.15%) Serverless
6 24 (5.67%) AWS Lambda
7 23 (5.44%) Amazon S3
8 20 (4.73%) GCP
9 11 (2.60%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (2.60%) PaaS
10 9 (2.13%) Entra ID
10 9 (2.13%) OpenShift
10 9 (2.13%) Snowflake
11 8 (1.89%) Amazon EC2
11 8 (1.89%) Power Platform
12 7 (1.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 6 (1.42%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (1.42%) Amazon SQS
13 6 (1.42%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.42%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.13%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.42%) DNS
2 6 (1.42%) Firewall
3 5 (1.18%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.18%) Wireless
4 4 (0.95%) Reverse Proxy
4 4 (0.95%) RS-232
4 4 (0.95%) RS-422
5 3 (0.71%) DHCP
5 3 (0.71%) Internet
5 3 (0.71%) Modbus
5 3 (0.71%) Network Security
5 3 (0.71%) RS-485
6 2 (0.47%) 4G
6 2 (0.47%) 5G
6 2 (0.47%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.24%) Broadband
7 1 (0.24%) FTP
7 1 (0.24%) GSM
7 1 (0.24%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (5.44%) Relational Database
2 19 (4.49%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (4.02%) Oracle Database
4 14 (3.31%) SQL Server
5 13 (3.07%) MySQL
6 11 (2.60%) Big Data
6 11 (2.60%) DynamoDB
6 11 (2.60%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 10 (2.36%) SAS Visual Analytics
8 8 (1.89%) Data Warehouse
9 7 (1.65%) Amazon Redshift
9 7 (1.65%) NoSQL
10 6 (1.42%) MongoDB
10 6 (1.42%) Power BI
11 5 (1.18%) Amazon Athena
12 4 (0.95%) Amazon QuickSight
13 3 (0.71%) Elasticsearch
13 3 (0.71%) Parquet
13 3 (0.71%) Redis
13 3 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 72 (17.02%) JIRA
2 48 (11.35%) Selenium
3 45 (10.64%) Git
4 32 (7.57%) Postman
5 29 (6.86%) Jenkins
6 28 (6.62%) Cucumber
7 27 (6.38%) GitLab
8 26 (6.15%) JUnit
8 26 (6.15%) REST Assured
9 16 (3.78%) Cypress.io
10 13 (3.07%) Rational DOORS
10 13 (3.07%) WebDriver
11 12 (2.84%) TestRail
12 11 (2.60%) Zephyr
13 8 (1.89%) JMeter
14 7 (1.65%) Gatling
14 7 (1.65%) Maven
15 6 (1.42%) Gradle
15 6 (1.42%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
16 5 (1.18%) SonarQube
General
1 119 (28.13%) Social Skills
2 81 (19.15%) Finance
3 66 (15.60%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (11.35%) Public Sector
5 29 (6.86%) Banking
6 20 (4.73%) Automotive
7 19 (4.49%) Aerospace
8 13 (3.07%) Back Office
9 11 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
10 10 (2.36%) Electronics
10 10 (2.36%) Law
11 8 (1.89%) Front Office
11 8 (1.89%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (1.65%) Military
13 5 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (1.18%) Legal
13 5 (1.18%) Manufacturing
14 4 (0.95%) Avionics
14 4 (0.95%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.71%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 66 (15.60%) Software Engineer
2 63 (14.89%) Test Engineer
3 60 (14.18%) Developer
3 60 (14.18%) Senior
4 32 (7.57%) Analyst
5 30 (7.09%) Lead
5 30 (7.09%) Tester
6 26 (6.15%) Java Developer
7 24 (5.67%) Software Test Engineer
8 20 (4.73%) Architect
9 17 (4.02%) Software Developer
9 17 (4.02%) Test Analyst
10 16 (3.78%) QA Engineer
10 16 (3.78%) Test Manager
11 14 (3.31%) Salesforce Engineer
12 13 (3.07%) Principal Engineer
12 13 (3.07%) Principal Software Engineer
12 13 (3.07%) Software Architect
13 12 (2.84%) Senior Developer
13 12 (2.84%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (9.69%) Playwright
2 40 (9.46%) React
3 38 (8.98%) Spring
4 37 (8.75%) REST
5 26 (6.15%) .NET
5 26 (6.15%) Spring Boot
6 25 (5.91%) RESTful
7 20 (4.73%) Kafka
8 14 (3.31%) CSS
8 14 (3.31%) HTML
8 14 (3.31%) Node.js
9 12 (2.84%) Redux
10 10 (2.36%) Jest
11 9 (2.13%) AngularJS
11 9 (2.13%) CSS3
11 9 (2.13%) HTML5
12 8 (1.89%) Spring MVC
13 7 (1.65%) Software Packaging
14 6 (1.42%) .NET Core
14 6 (1.42%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 43 (10.17%) Product Ownership
2 28 (6.62%) Enterprise Software
3 26 (6.15%) Cloud Native
4 25 (5.91%) Embedded Systems
5 22 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
6 21 (4.96%) Distributed Systems
7 15 (3.55%) Management Information System
8 11 (2.60%) Data Centre
8 11 (2.60%) Legacy Systems
9 9 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.18%) FPGA
10 5 (1.18%) Greenfield Project
10 5 (1.18%) Mobile App
10 5 (1.18%) PCIe
10 5 (1.18%) Virtual Team
11 4 (0.95%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.95%) Onboarding
11 4 (0.95%) Public Cloud
12 3 (0.71%) AI Agents
12 3 (0.71%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 29 (6.86%) Windows
2 23 (5.44%) Linux
3 9 (2.13%) Unix
4 6 (1.42%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.42%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.95%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.71%) Android
7 2 (0.47%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.47%) zOS
8 1 (0.24%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (45.86%) Test Automation
2 165 (39.01%) Agile
3 149 (35.22%) CI/CD
4 136 (32.15%) DevOps
5 118 (27.90%) Software Engineering
6 85 (20.09%) Continuous Improvement
7 82 (19.39%) Problem-Solving
8 71 (16.78%) Test Scripting
9 67 (15.84%) Validation
10 64 (15.13%) Scrum
11 63 (14.89%) SDLC
11 63 (14.89%) Test Strategy
12 54 (12.77%) User Acceptance Testing
13 49 (11.58%) Code Quality
14 48 (11.35%) Regression Testing
15 45 (10.64%) Microservices
16 44 (10.40%) Defect Management
16 44 (10.40%) Test Management
17 43 (10.17%) Mentoring
18 40 (9.46%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 79 (18.68%) Java
2 74 (17.49%) Python
3 57 (13.48%) SQL
4 41 (9.69%) C#
5 40 (9.46%) JavaScript
6 34 (8.04%) TypeScript
7 22 (5.20%) C++
8 18 (4.26%) C
9 11 (2.60%) PowerShell
10 7 (1.65%) Bash
11 6 (1.42%) PL/SQL
12 5 (1.18%) Apex Code
12 5 (1.18%) Go
13 3 (0.71%) Ada
13 3 (0.71%) Rust
13 3 (0.71%) T-SQL
13 3 (0.71%) VB
14 2 (0.47%) COBOL
14 2 (0.47%) RPG
14 2 (0.47%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 134 (31.68%) Security Cleared
2 108 (25.53%) SC Cleared
3 45 (10.64%) Degree
4 35 (8.27%) ISTQB
5 21 (4.96%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 11 (2.60%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (1.89%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.65%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (1.65%) ISEB
9 4 (0.95%) CEH
9 4 (0.95%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.95%) CISSP
9 4 (0.95%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (0.71%) CCNA
10 3 (0.71%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 2 (0.47%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.47%) IIBA
11 2 (0.47%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.47%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.47%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 90 (21.28%) QA
2 15 (3.55%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.60%) Data Quality
4 8 (1.89%) PMO
4 8 (1.89%) WCAG
5 4 (0.95%) NIST
5 4 (0.95%) SLA
5 4 (0.95%) Software Quality Assurance
6 3 (0.71%) ISO 20022
7 2 (0.47%) GRC
7 2 (0.47%) ISO 15022
7 2 (0.47%) MiFID
8 1 (0.24%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.24%) SEPA
System Software
1 38 (8.98%) Docker
2 13 (3.07%) Active Directory
3 10 (2.36%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.42%) Firmware
4 6 (1.42%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.95%) Embedded Firmware
6 3 (0.71%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.71%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.71%) VMware Workstation
7 2 (0.47%) NFS
7 2 (0.47%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.24%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 48 (11.35%) Kubernetes
2 23 (5.44%) Terraform
3 14 (3.31%) Ansible
4 10 (2.36%) Grafana
4 10 (2.36%) HP ALM
4 10 (2.36%) Prometheus
5 7 (1.65%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.18%) HP Quality Center
6 5 (1.18%) Puppet
6 5 (1.18%) SCCM
7 4 (0.95%) Salt
8 3 (0.71%) Packer
9 2 (0.47%) Kibana
9 2 (0.47%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 1 (0.24%) Oracle ZFS
10 1 (0.24%) PTC Integrity
10 1 (0.24%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 34 (8.04%) Microsoft
1 34 (8.04%) Oracle
2 19 (4.49%) Salesforce
3 16 (3.78%) IBM
4 11 (2.60%) VMware
5 10 (2.36%) HP
6 9 (2.13%) Dell
6 9 (2.13%) SAP
7 8 (1.89%) Citrix
8 7 (1.65%) Splunk
9 6 (1.42%) Conga
9 6 (1.42%) GoCardless
9 6 (1.42%) OpenLink
10 5 (1.18%) Ab Initio
10 5 (1.18%) Google
10 5 (1.18%) ServiceNow
10 5 (1.18%) Teradata
11 4 (0.95%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.71%) Palo Alto
12 3 (0.71%) Siemens