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

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 260 234 198
Rank change year-on-year -26 -36 -17
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 423 295 445
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.95% 1.09% 1.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.11% 1.20% 1.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 223 200 311
10th Percentile £280 £313 £310
25th Percentile £400 £357 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £438 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% -2.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £584
90th Percentile £638 £640 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £438 £455
% change year-on-year +8.57% -3.85% -9.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 26 48
10th Percentile £17.50 £48.13 £37.55
25th Percentile £53.90 £50.27 £56.10
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% +10.89%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £82.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +17.39% -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 38,219 24,611 31,409
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.42% 90.71% 85.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,063 15,813 20,400
10th Percentile £325 £300 £308
25th Percentile £420 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £645
90th Percentile £734 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,375 1,290 2,230
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.39 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.10 £16.25
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +88.87% -34.02% -6.09%
75th Percentile £68.75 £54.56 £62.50
90th Percentile £83.00 £71.60 £72.58
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +74.79% -34.02% -4.70%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 -42 148 £475 +11.76% 56
South East -59 65 £470 +17.50% 77
Midlands -10 57 £484 +40.22% 44
North of England -55 53 £470 +2.23% 61
West Midlands -19 51 £458 +16.93% 24
East of England +1 50 £300 -36.95% 48
South West -14 45 £409 -13.89% 35
North East -17 24 £450 - 17
Yorkshire -57 16 £450 -4.26% 17
North West -43 15 £500 +17.65% 27
East Midlands -12 6 £575 +69.12% 20
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 14 (3.31%) Confluence
2 12 (2.84%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (2.36%) SAS
4 8 (1.89%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.47%) IIS
5 2 (0.47%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.24%) Apache
6 1 (0.24%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.24%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 11 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.65%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.95%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.47%) Simulink
5 1 (0.24%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.24%) Trello
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%) Primavera
5 1 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 93 (21.99%) Azure
2 79 (18.68%) AWS
3 51 (12.06%) Azure DevOps
4 32 (7.57%) GitHub
5 22 (5.20%) Serverless
6 20 (4.73%) AWS Lambda
7 19 (4.49%) Amazon S3
7 19 (4.49%) GCP
8 12 (2.84%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (2.60%) PaaS
10 8 (1.89%) Entra ID
10 8 (1.89%) OpenShift
10 8 (1.89%) Power Platform
10 8 (1.89%) Snowflake
11 7 (1.65%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (1.42%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.42%) Amazon SQS
12 6 (1.42%) SaaS
12 6 (1.42%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 4 (0.95%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.13%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.42%) DNS
3 5 (1.18%) Firewall
3 5 (1.18%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.18%) Wireless
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%) Reverse Proxy
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%) LTE
7 1 (0.24%) VoLTE
7 1 (0.24%) VoWiFi
7 1 (0.24%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (4.49%) Relational Database
2 16 (3.78%) Oracle Database
3 15 (3.55%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (3.31%) SQL Server
5 11 (2.60%) MySQL
6 10 (2.36%) Big Data
6 10 (2.36%) DynamoDB
6 10 (2.36%) SAS Enterprise Guide
6 10 (2.36%) SAS Visual Analytics
7 8 (1.89%) MongoDB
8 7 (1.65%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.65%) NoSQL
9 6 (1.42%) Amazon Redshift
9 6 (1.42%) Power BI
10 4 (0.95%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.95%) Elasticsearch
10 4 (0.95%) Redis
11 3 (0.71%) Amazon QuickSight
11 3 (0.71%) Parquet
11 3 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 73 (17.26%) JIRA
2 50 (11.82%) Git
3 48 (11.35%) Selenium
4 33 (7.80%) Postman
5 29 (6.86%) GitLab
6 28 (6.62%) Cucumber
6 28 (6.62%) Jenkins
6 28 (6.62%) JUnit
7 26 (6.15%) REST Assured
8 16 (3.78%) Cypress.io
9 13 (3.07%) Rational DOORS
9 13 (3.07%) WebDriver
10 11 (2.60%) TestRail
11 10 (2.36%) Zephyr
12 9 (2.13%) Gatling
12 9 (2.13%) JMeter
13 8 (1.89%) Maven
14 7 (1.65%) Gradle
15 6 (1.42%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
16 5 (1.18%) SonarQube
General
1 118 (27.90%) Social Skills
2 84 (19.86%) Finance
3 67 (15.84%) Analytical Skills
4 47 (11.11%) Public Sector
5 32 (7.57%) Banking
6 21 (4.96%) Aerospace
6 21 (4.96%) Automotive
7 13 (3.07%) Back Office
8 10 (2.36%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (2.36%) Electronics
8 10 (2.36%) Law
9 8 (1.89%) Front Office
9 8 (1.89%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.42%) Military
11 5 (1.18%) Avionics
11 5 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.18%) Legal
11 5 (1.18%) Manufacturing
12 4 (0.95%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.71%) Police
Job Titles
1 68 (16.08%) Test Engineer
2 65 (15.37%) Software Engineer
3 58 (13.71%) Senior
4 57 (13.48%) Developer
5 33 (7.80%) Analyst
6 30 (7.09%) Tester
7 29 (6.86%) Lead
8 27 (6.38%) Software Test Engineer
9 24 (5.67%) Java Developer
10 19 (4.49%) Architect
11 18 (4.26%) QA Engineer
12 17 (4.02%) Principal Engineer
13 16 (3.78%) Software Developer
14 15 (3.55%) Principal Software Engineer
14 15 (3.55%) Test Analyst
14 15 (3.55%) Test Manager
15 14 (3.31%) Salesforce Engineer
15 14 (3.31%) Test Automation Engineer
16 13 (3.07%) Software Architect
17 12 (2.84%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (9.46%) Playwright
2 38 (8.98%) React
2 38 (8.98%) REST
3 36 (8.51%) Spring
4 26 (6.15%) .NET
5 24 (5.67%) Spring Boot
6 21 (4.96%) RESTful
7 18 (4.26%) 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%) CSS3
11 9 (2.13%) HTML5
12 8 (1.89%) AngularJS
12 8 (1.89%) Spring MVC
13 7 (1.65%) Software Packaging
13 7 (1.65%) Vert.x
14 6 (1.42%) .NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 43 (10.17%) Product Ownership
2 27 (6.38%) Enterprise Software
3 26 (6.15%) Embedded Systems
4 23 (5.44%) Cloud Native
5 22 (5.20%) Distributed Systems
5 22 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
6 15 (3.55%) Management Information System
7 12 (2.84%) Legacy Systems
8 11 (2.60%) Data Centre
9 9 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
10 6 (1.42%) Greenfield Project
11 5 (1.18%) FPGA
11 5 (1.18%) Onboarding
11 5 (1.18%) PCIe
11 5 (1.18%) Public Cloud
12 4 (0.95%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (0.95%) Mobile App
12 4 (0.95%) Virtual Team
13 3 (0.71%) AI Agents
13 3 (0.71%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 29 (6.86%) Windows
2 23 (5.44%) Linux
3 7 (1.65%) Unix
4 6 (1.42%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.42%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.95%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.71%) Android
6 3 (0.71%) Embedded Linux
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
1 200 (47.28%) Test Automation
2 172 (40.66%) Agile
3 150 (35.46%) CI/CD
4 131 (30.97%) DevOps
5 120 (28.37%) Software Engineering
6 88 (20.80%) Continuous Improvement
7 82 (19.39%) Problem-Solving
8 74 (17.49%) Test Scripting
9 67 (15.84%) SDLC
10 65 (15.37%) Scrum
10 65 (15.37%) Validation
11 63 (14.89%) Test Strategy
12 55 (13.00%) User Acceptance Testing
13 53 (12.53%) Regression Testing
14 48 (11.35%) Code Quality
14 48 (11.35%) Defect Management
15 44 (10.40%) Mentoring
16 43 (10.17%) Microservices
17 42 (9.93%) Test Management
18 39 (9.22%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 80 (18.91%) Java
2 76 (17.97%) Python
3 53 (12.53%) SQL
4 43 (10.17%) JavaScript
5 40 (9.46%) C#
6 32 (7.57%) TypeScript
7 22 (5.20%) C++
8 19 (4.49%) C
9 13 (3.07%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.42%) Bash
10 6 (1.42%) PL/SQL
11 5 (1.18%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.18%) Go
12 3 (0.71%) Ada
12 3 (0.71%) Kotlin
12 3 (0.71%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.71%) Rust
12 3 (0.71%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.71%) VB
13 2 (0.47%) REXX
Qualifications
1 133 (31.44%) Security Cleared
2 106 (25.06%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.40%) Degree
4 36 (8.51%) ISTQB
5 22 (5.20%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 10 (2.36%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (2.13%) DV Cleared
8 8 (1.89%) ISEB
9 5 (1.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 4 (0.95%) CEH
10 4 (0.95%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.95%) CISSP
10 4 (0.95%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (0.71%) CCNA
12 2 (0.47%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.47%) DBS Check
12 2 (0.47%) IIBA
12 2 (0.47%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 2 (0.47%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (21.75%) QA
2 18 (4.26%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.60%) Data Quality
4 9 (2.13%) WCAG
5 8 (1.89%) PMO
6 5 (1.18%) Software Quality Assurance
7 4 (0.95%) NIST
8 3 (0.71%) ISO 20022
8 3 (0.71%) SLA
9 2 (0.47%) GRC
9 2 (0.47%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.47%) MiFID
10 1 (0.24%) MIL-STD-1553
10 1 (0.24%) SEPA
System Software
1 37 (8.75%) Docker
2 12 (2.84%) 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 46 (10.87%) Kubernetes
2 23 (5.44%) Terraform
3 15 (3.55%) Ansible
4 10 (2.36%) HP ALM
4 10 (2.36%) Prometheus
5 9 (2.13%) Grafana
6 7 (1.65%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (1.42%) HP Quality Center
8 5 (1.18%) Packer
8 5 (1.18%) SCCM
9 3 (0.71%) Puppet
9 3 (0.71%) Salt
10 2 (0.47%) Kibana
10 2 (0.47%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 1 (0.24%) Oracle ZFS
11 1 (0.24%) PTC Integrity
11 1 (0.24%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 33 (7.80%) Oracle
2 31 (7.33%) Microsoft
3 19 (4.49%) Salesforce
4 16 (3.78%) IBM
5 11 (2.60%) VMware
6 10 (2.36%) HP
7 9 (2.13%) Dell
7 9 (2.13%) SAP
8 8 (1.89%) Citrix
8 8 (1.89%) Splunk
9 6 (1.42%) Conga
9 6 (1.42%) GoCardless
9 6 (1.42%) OpenLink
10 5 (1.18%) Google
10 5 (1.18%) ServiceNow
11 4 (0.95%) Ab Initio
11 4 (0.95%) Teradata
12 3 (0.71%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.71%) Palo Alto
12 3 (0.71%) Siemens