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

6 months to
2 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 250 208
Rank change year-on-year -14 -42 -39
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 441 288 406
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.97% 1.04% 1.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.14% 1.14% 1.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 195 283
10th Percentile £259 £313 £314
25th Percentile £396 £350 £389
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £425 £463
Median % change year-on-year +15.29% -8.11% -7.50%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £598
90th Percentile £675 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £490 £438 £463
% change year-on-year +12.00% -5.41% -6.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 27 35
10th Percentile £18.25 £38.25 £26.88
25th Percentile £54.56 £50.00 £50.77
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.50 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% +8.70%

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 38,840 25,197 28,792
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.30% 90.74% 85.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,270 16,131 18,863
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,474 1,391 1,702
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £14.06
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.87 £18.18
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -40.82% -
75th Percentile £68.75 £51.45 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.90% -4.71%

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 2 August 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 2 August 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 2 August 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 -34 153 £500 +17.65% 106
South East -60 69 £470 +17.50% 69
Midlands -2 61 £513 +48.55% 38
North of England -45 58 £488 +12.07% 72
West Midlands -10 55 £513 +30.99% 25
East of England +11 49 £300 -36.95% 35
South West -20 44 £410 -10.25% 38
North East -13 28 £500 - 21
North West -48 17 £475 +28.38% 39
Yorkshire -49 15 £475 +7.34% 13
East Midlands -13 6 £575 +69.12% 13
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 13 (2.95%) Confluence
2 12 (2.72%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (2.27%) SAS
4 7 (1.59%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.45%) IIS
5 2 (0.45%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.23%) Apache
6 1 (0.23%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.23%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (2.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.04%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.13%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.91%) Trello
5 2 (0.45%) Simulink
6 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (1.36%) Findur
1 6 (1.36%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.91%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.68%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.68%) Primavera
4 2 (0.45%) Maximo
5 1 (0.23%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.23%) Eikon
5 1 (0.23%) Misys Equation
5 1 (0.23%) Misys Midas
5 1 (0.23%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.23%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.23%) Shopify
5 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 97 (22.00%) Azure
2 94 (21.32%) AWS
3 48 (10.88%) Azure DevOps
4 43 (9.75%) GitHub
5 24 (5.44%) GCP
6 20 (4.54%) GitHub Actions
7 19 (4.31%) Serverless
8 17 (3.85%) AWS Lambda
9 16 (3.63%) GitHub Copilot
10 13 (2.95%) Amazon S3
11 11 (2.49%) PaaS
12 9 (2.04%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 8 (1.81%) Entra ID
13 8 (1.81%) Power Platform
14 7 (1.59%) Amazon EC2
15 6 (1.36%) OpenShift
15 6 (1.36%) Snowflake
15 6 (1.36%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 5 (1.13%) Anthropic Claude
16 5 (1.13%) Google Gemini
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.04%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.36%) DNS
3 5 (1.13%) Firewall
3 5 (1.13%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.13%) Wireless
4 4 (0.91%) Network Security
4 4 (0.91%) RS-232
4 4 (0.91%) RS-422
5 3 (0.68%) DHCP
5 3 (0.68%) Internet
5 3 (0.68%) Modbus
5 3 (0.68%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.68%) RS-485
6 2 (0.45%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.23%) Broadband
7 1 (0.23%) FTP
7 1 (0.23%) GSM
7 1 (0.23%) MPLS
7 1 (0.23%) SSL
7 1 (0.23%) UMTS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (3.85%) Relational Database
2 13 (2.95%) Oracle Database
2 13 (2.95%) SQL Server
3 12 (2.72%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (2.49%) MongoDB
5 10 (2.27%) MySQL
5 10 (2.27%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 10 (2.27%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 9 (2.04%) DynamoDB
7 8 (1.81%) Big Data
8 7 (1.59%) Elasticsearch
8 7 (1.59%) NoSQL
9 6 (1.36%) Power BI
10 5 (1.13%) Amazon Redshift
10 5 (1.13%) Data Warehouse
10 5 (1.13%) Redis
11 4 (0.91%) Amazon Athena
12 3 (0.68%) Amazon QuickSight
12 3 (0.68%) Parquet
12 3 (0.68%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 72 (16.33%) JIRA
2 58 (13.15%) Git
3 50 (11.34%) Selenium
4 38 (8.62%) GitLab
5 32 (7.26%) Cucumber
6 31 (7.03%) Jenkins
6 31 (7.03%) Postman
7 28 (6.35%) JUnit
8 24 (5.44%) REST Assured
9 15 (3.40%) Gatling
10 13 (2.95%) Rational DOORS
11 12 (2.72%) Cypress.io
12 11 (2.49%) TestRail
12 11 (2.49%) Zephyr
13 10 (2.27%) JMeter
13 10 (2.27%) WebDriver
14 7 (1.59%) SonarQube
14 7 (1.59%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
15 6 (1.36%) Claude Code
15 6 (1.36%) Visual Studio
General
1 130 (29.48%) Social Skills
2 88 (19.95%) Finance
3 70 (15.87%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (11.79%) Public Sector
5 38 (8.62%) Banking
6 23 (5.22%) Aerospace
6 23 (5.22%) Automotive
7 13 (2.95%) Back Office
8 11 (2.49%) Front Office
9 10 (2.27%) Documentation Skills
9 10 (2.27%) Electronics
9 10 (2.27%) Law
9 10 (2.27%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (1.81%) Retail
11 7 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.59%) Military
12 5 (1.13%) Avionics
12 5 (1.13%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.13%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.91%) Legal
Job Titles
1 69 (15.65%) Software Engineer
1 69 (15.65%) Test Engineer
2 66 (14.97%) Senior
3 60 (13.61%) Developer
4 35 (7.94%) Analyst
5 28 (6.35%) Lead
5 28 (6.35%) Software Test Engineer
6 25 (5.67%) Tester
7 21 (4.76%) Java Developer
8 20 (4.54%) QA Engineer
9 19 (4.31%) Test Manager
10 18 (4.08%) Software Developer
11 17 (3.85%) Architect
11 17 (3.85%) Principal Engineer
12 16 (3.63%) Senior Developer
13 15 (3.40%) Principal Software Engineer
13 15 (3.40%) Test Automation Engineer
14 14 (3.17%) Test Analyst
15 13 (2.95%) Quality Engineer
15 13 (2.95%) Software Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (10.20%) REST
2 43 (9.75%) Playwright
2 43 (9.75%) React
3 35 (7.94%) Spring
4 29 (6.58%) .NET
5 23 (5.22%) RESTful
6 22 (4.99%) Kafka
7 20 (4.54%) Spring Boot
8 19 (4.31%) Node.js
9 13 (2.95%) AngularJS
10 10 (2.27%) CSS
10 10 (2.27%) HTML
10 10 (2.27%) Redux
11 8 (1.81%) CSS3
11 8 (1.81%) HTML5
11 8 (1.81%) Jest
11 8 (1.81%) JSON
11 8 (1.81%) pytest
12 7 (1.59%) Spring MVC
12 7 (1.59%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 45 (10.20%) Product Ownership
2 34 (7.71%) Enterprise Software
3 31 (7.03%) Cloud Native
4 26 (5.90%) Embedded Systems
5 21 (4.76%) Self-Motivation
6 19 (4.31%) Distributed Systems
7 13 (2.95%) Management Information System
8 10 (2.27%) Data Protection Act
8 10 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
9 9 (2.04%) Data Centre
10 6 (1.36%) Onboarding
10 6 (1.36%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.13%) FPGA
11 5 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
11 5 (1.13%) PCIe
12 4 (0.91%) Data Structures
12 4 (0.91%) Derivative
12 4 (0.91%) Distributed Architecture
12 4 (0.91%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 3 (0.68%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 27 (6.12%) Windows
2 24 (5.44%) Linux
3 7 (1.59%) Unix
4 6 (1.36%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.36%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.68%) Android
5 3 (0.68%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.68%) Embedded Linux
5 3 (0.68%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.45%) zOS
7 1 (0.23%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 207 (46.94%) Test Automation
2 195 (44.22%) Agile
3 168 (38.10%) CI/CD
4 135 (30.61%) DevOps
4 135 (30.61%) Software Engineering
5 101 (22.90%) Continuous Improvement
6 98 (22.22%) Problem-Solving
7 79 (17.91%) Scrum
7 79 (17.91%) SDLC
8 64 (14.51%) Test Scripting
8 64 (14.51%) Validation
9 63 (14.29%) Test Strategy
10 58 (13.15%) AI
11 55 (12.47%) Defect Management
11 55 (12.47%) Regression Testing
12 54 (12.24%) User Acceptance Testing
13 52 (11.79%) Mentoring
13 52 (11.79%) Microservices
14 50 (11.34%) Stakeholder Management
15 46 (10.43%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 88 (19.95%) Java
2 78 (17.69%) Python
3 55 (12.47%) SQL
4 46 (10.43%) JavaScript
5 36 (8.16%) C#
6 32 (7.26%) TypeScript
7 24 (5.44%) C++
8 19 (4.31%) C
9 14 (3.17%) PowerShell
10 8 (1.81%) Kotlin
11 6 (1.36%) Bash
12 5 (1.13%) Apex Code
12 5 (1.13%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.68%) Ada
13 3 (0.68%) Go
13 3 (0.68%) Korn
13 3 (0.68%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.68%) Rust
13 3 (0.68%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.45%) Scala
Qualifications
1 137 (31.07%) Security Cleared
2 111 (25.17%) SC Cleared
3 49 (11.11%) Degree
4 38 (8.62%) ISTQB
5 22 (4.99%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 14 (3.17%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (2.27%) ISEB
7 10 (2.27%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 9 (2.04%) DV Cleared
9 8 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.91%) CEH
10 4 (0.91%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.91%) CISSP
10 4 (0.91%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (0.68%) CCNA
12 2 (0.45%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.45%) ISEB Practitioner
12 2 (0.45%) Network+ Certification
12 2 (0.45%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (21.77%) QA
2 27 (6.12%) Accessibility
3 17 (3.85%) WCAG
4 10 (2.27%) Data Quality
5 6 (1.36%) PMO
6 5 (1.13%) Software Quality Assurance
7 4 (0.91%) ISO 20022
7 4 (0.91%) NIST
8 3 (0.68%) GRC
9 2 (0.45%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.45%) MiFID
9 2 (0.45%) SLA
10 1 (0.23%) MIL-STD-1553
10 1 (0.23%) SEPA
System Software
1 47 (10.66%) Docker
2 12 (2.72%) Active Directory
3 9 (2.04%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.36%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.91%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (0.91%) Firmware
5 4 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.68%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.68%) VMware Workstation
7 2 (0.45%) NFS
7 2 (0.45%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.23%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 59 (13.38%) Kubernetes
2 30 (6.80%) Terraform
3 17 (3.85%) Ansible
4 15 (3.40%) Prometheus
5 11 (2.49%) Grafana
6 7 (1.59%) HP ALM
7 6 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (1.36%) Packer
8 4 (0.91%) Puppet
8 4 (0.91%) SCCM
9 3 (0.68%) HP Quality Center
9 3 (0.68%) Salt
10 2 (0.45%) Kibana
10 2 (0.45%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 1 (0.23%) Argo
11 1 (0.23%) Oracle ZFS
11 1 (0.23%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.23%) PTC Integrity
11 1 (0.23%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 31 (7.03%) Microsoft
1 31 (7.03%) Oracle
2 17 (3.85%) Salesforce
3 16 (3.63%) IBM
4 11 (2.49%) VMware
5 8 (1.81%) SAP
6 7 (1.59%) Citrix
6 7 (1.59%) Dell
6 7 (1.59%) HP
7 6 (1.36%) Conga
7 6 (1.36%) GoCardless
7 6 (1.36%) OpenLink
8 5 (1.13%) Google
8 5 (1.13%) ServiceNow
8 5 (1.13%) Splunk
9 3 (0.68%) Ab Initio
9 3 (0.68%) Databricks
9 3 (0.68%) Fortinet
9 3 (0.68%) Palo Alto
9 3 (0.68%) Teradata