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

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 268 224 175
Rank change year-on-year -44 -49 +18
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 370 273 498
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.91% 1.12% 1.35%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.08% 1.23% 1.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 177 334
10th Percentile £338 £313 £302
25th Percentile £400 £363 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £452
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -0.44% -9.60%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £591
90th Percentile £650 £713 £688
UK median daily rate £475 £440 £463
% change year-on-year +7.95% -4.86% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 21 61
10th Percentile £15.45 £50.00 £37.55
25th Percentile £57.75 £52.00 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £60.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.57% -3.20% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £60.25 £62.50
% change year-on-year +12.03% -3.60% +18.52%

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 34,368 22,176 31,806
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.67% 91.22% 86.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,897 14,509 20,833
10th Percentile £319 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £616 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £505 £519 £525
% change year-on-year -2.69% -1.24% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,148 935 2,251
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.45 £12.92
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £47.00 £29.07 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +61.68% -20.36% -2.67%
75th Percentile £67.84 £63.40 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.40 £28.75 £36.50
% change year-on-year +47.48% -21.23% +0.29%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -22 162 £475 +8.57% 31
South East -44 58 £495 +4.21% 60
Midlands -21 47 £511 +21.01% 45
North of England -47 44 £500 +0.53% 40
West Midlands -37 36 £510 +16.84% 29
South West -29 30 £409 -9.11% 30
East of England -22 26 £600 +26.32% 41
Yorkshire -42 20 £500 -3.80% 8
North East -4 15 £450 - 11
East Midlands -26 11 £575 +152.75% 16
North West -41 11 £525 +10.53% 21
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 (3.78%) Confluence
2 9 (2.43%) SAS
3 7 (1.89%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (1.89%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.54%) IIS
4 2 (0.54%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.27%) Apache
5 1 (0.27%) CMS
5 1 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
5 1 (0.27%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.27%) WebSphere
Applications
1 13 (3.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.89%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.35%) MS Visio
4 4 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.54%) Simulink
6 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (1.35%) Aladdin
1 5 (1.35%) Findur
2 4 (1.08%) Maximo
3 3 (0.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.81%) Oracle EBS R12
3 3 (0.81%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.54%) LabWindows
5 1 (0.27%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 108 (29.19%) Azure
2 78 (21.08%) AWS
2 78 (21.08%) Azure DevOps
3 28 (7.57%) GitHub
4 27 (7.30%) Serverless
5 26 (7.03%) Amazon S3
5 26 (7.03%) AWS Lambda
6 20 (5.41%) GCP
7 11 (2.97%) Amazon ECS
7 11 (2.97%) AWS CloudFormation
8 10 (2.70%) Snowflake
9 9 (2.43%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.16%) OpenShift
11 7 (1.89%) Amazon EC2
11 7 (1.89%) Entra ID
11 7 (1.89%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 6 (1.62%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.62%) PaaS
13 4 (1.08%) Power Platform
13 4 (1.08%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.43%) Ethernet
2 5 (1.35%) Firewall
2 5 (1.35%) Software-Defined Radio
2 5 (1.35%) Wireless
3 4 (1.08%) Reverse Proxy
4 3 (0.81%) DNS
4 3 (0.81%) FTP
4 3 (0.81%) Modbus
4 3 (0.81%) RS-232
4 3 (0.81%) RS-422
4 3 (0.81%) RS-485
5 2 (0.54%) 5G
5 2 (0.54%) Internet
5 2 (0.54%) IOS XR
5 2 (0.54%) SD-WAN
5 2 (0.54%) SNMP
5 2 (0.54%) Spanning Tree
5 2 (0.54%) SSH
5 2 (0.54%) TACACS
5 2 (0.54%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (6.76%) PostgreSQL
2 21 (5.68%) Relational Database
3 15 (4.05%) MySQL
4 14 (3.78%) Oracle Database
4 14 (3.78%) SQL Server
5 12 (3.24%) Big Data
6 10 (2.70%) NoSQL
7 9 (2.43%) MongoDB
7 9 (2.43%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 8 (2.16%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.16%) DynamoDB
9 7 (1.89%) Amazon Redshift
10 5 (1.35%) Amazon Athena
10 5 (1.35%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 4 (1.08%) Amazon QuickSight
12 3 (0.81%) BigQuery
12 3 (0.81%) Parquet
12 3 (0.81%) Redis
13 2 (0.54%) Elasticsearch
13 2 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 67 (18.11%) JIRA
2 42 (11.35%) Git
3 38 (10.27%) Selenium
4 30 (8.11%) Jenkins
5 22 (5.95%) Postman
6 20 (5.41%) GitLab
6 20 (5.41%) JUnit
7 18 (4.86%) Cucumber
8 16 (4.32%) Cypress.io
9 15 (4.05%) REST Assured
10 12 (3.24%) Rational DOORS
11 10 (2.70%) TestRail
12 8 (2.16%) WebDriver
12 8 (2.16%) Zephyr
13 7 (1.89%) SonarQube
14 6 (1.62%) HP UFT
14 6 (1.62%) JMeter
15 5 (1.35%) Maven
16 4 (1.08%) Artifactory
16 4 (1.08%) Gradle
General
1 106 (28.65%) Social Skills
2 70 (18.92%) Finance
3 66 (17.84%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (11.08%) Public Sector
5 23 (6.22%) Banking
6 19 (5.14%) Aerospace
7 11 (2.97%) Automotive
7 11 (2.97%) Back Office
7 11 (2.97%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (2.16%) Military
9 6 (1.62%) Front Office
9 6 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.62%) Telecoms
10 5 (1.35%) Investment Banking
10 5 (1.35%) Law
10 5 (1.35%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.08%) Electronics
12 3 (0.81%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.81%) Police
Job Titles
1 57 (15.41%) Developer
2 55 (14.86%) Senior
3 45 (12.16%) Test Engineer
4 43 (11.62%) Software Engineer
5 35 (9.46%) Analyst
6 33 (8.92%) Tester
7 31 (8.38%) Lead
8 24 (6.49%) Test Analyst
9 22 (5.95%) Java Developer
10 17 (4.59%) Java Engineer
10 17 (4.59%) Senior Developer
10 17 (4.59%) Test Manager
11 16 (4.32%) QA Engineer
12 15 (4.05%) Software Developer
13 14 (3.78%) Software Test Engineer
14 11 (2.97%) Architect
15 10 (2.70%) Embedded Software Engineer
15 10 (2.70%) Senior Java Developer
15 10 (2.70%) Senior Test Analyst
15 10 (2.70%) Systems Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (11.35%) Spring
2 34 (9.19%) Playwright
3 33 (8.92%) React
3 33 (8.92%) Spring Boot
4 31 (8.38%) REST
5 26 (7.03%) RESTful
6 23 (6.22%) .NET
7 19 (5.14%) Node.js
8 17 (4.59%) CSS
8 17 (4.59%) HTML
9 16 (4.32%) Kafka
10 12 (3.24%) Redux
11 10 (2.70%) HTML5
11 10 (2.70%) Spring MVC
12 9 (2.43%) AngularJS
12 9 (2.43%) CSS3
12 9 (2.43%) Jest
13 8 (2.16%) Middleware
14 7 (1.89%) Gherkin
14 7 (1.89%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 35 (9.46%) Product Ownership
2 27 (7.30%) Cloud Native
3 14 (3.78%) Embedded Systems
3 14 (3.78%) Self-Motivation
4 13 (3.51%) Distributed Systems
4 13 (3.51%) Enterprise Software
5 12 (3.24%) Management Information System
6 11 (2.97%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.70%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.62%) FPGA
8 6 (1.62%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.35%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.35%) PCIe
10 4 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.08%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.81%) CUDA
11 3 (0.81%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.81%) NHS
11 3 (0.81%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 24 (6.49%) Windows
2 20 (5.41%) Linux
3 9 (2.43%) Unix
4 6 (1.62%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (1.08%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.54%) Android
6 2 (0.54%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Solaris
7 1 (0.27%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 168 (45.41%) Test Automation
2 135 (36.49%) Agile
3 134 (36.22%) DevOps
4 124 (33.51%) CI/CD
5 89 (24.05%) Problem-Solving
6 88 (23.78%) Continuous Improvement
7 79 (21.35%) Software Engineering
8 65 (17.57%) Test Scripting
9 56 (15.14%) Validation
10 54 (14.59%) Test Strategy
11 53 (14.32%) Microservices
12 51 (13.78%) Test Management
13 50 (13.51%) SDLC
14 47 (12.70%) Defect Tracking
14 47 (12.70%) Regression Testing
15 42 (11.35%) Scrum
16 41 (11.08%) Containerisation
17 39 (10.54%) Defect Management
18 38 (10.27%) Code Quality
18 38 (10.27%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 80 (21.62%) Java
2 74 (20.00%) Python
3 66 (17.84%) SQL
4 40 (10.81%) JavaScript
5 36 (9.73%) C#
6 34 (9.19%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.78%) C++
8 12 (3.24%) C
9 10 (2.70%) Bash
10 7 (1.89%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.62%) PowerShell
12 5 (1.35%) VBScript
13 4 (1.08%) Go
14 3 (0.81%) Groovy
14 3 (0.81%) Rust
14 3 (0.81%) VB
15 2 (0.54%) Ada
15 2 (0.54%) MATLAB
15 2 (0.54%) Ruby
15 2 (0.54%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 106 (28.65%) Security Cleared
2 85 (22.97%) SC Cleared
3 33 (8.92%) Degree
3 33 (8.92%) ISTQB
4 14 (3.78%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
5 11 (2.97%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (2.16%) ISEB
7 7 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.35%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.08%) CEH
9 4 (1.08%) CISSP
9 4 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (1.08%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 3 (0.81%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.54%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.54%) Network+ Certification
11 2 (0.54%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.54%) PMP
11 2 (0.54%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (25.68%) QA
2 15 (4.05%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.97%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.16%) WCAG
5 7 (1.89%) PMO
6 4 (1.08%) NIST
6 4 (1.08%) SLA
7 3 (0.81%) ISO 20022
7 3 (0.81%) Software Quality Assurance
8 2 (0.54%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.54%) MiFID
9 1 (0.27%) GRC
9 1 (0.27%) SEPA
System Software
1 36 (9.73%) Docker
2 8 (2.16%) Firmware
3 7 (1.89%) Active Directory
4 6 (1.62%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (1.08%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (1.08%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.27%) NFS
6 1 (0.27%) Time Sharing Option
6 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
6 1 (0.27%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 49 (13.24%) Kubernetes
2 23 (6.22%) Terraform
3 12 (3.24%) Ansible
4 11 (2.97%) Grafana
4 11 (2.97%) HP ALM
4 11 (2.97%) Prometheus
5 7 (1.89%) Puppet
6 5 (1.35%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.08%) HP Quality Center
7 4 (1.08%) Salt
7 4 (1.08%) SCCM
8 1 (0.27%) Kibana
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle ZFS
8 1 (0.27%) Packer
8 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.27%) Tivoli
8 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 39 (10.54%) Oracle
2 35 (9.46%) Microsoft
3 11 (2.97%) HP
4 8 (2.16%) Dell
4 8 (2.16%) ServiceNow
5 7 (1.89%) Citrix
5 7 (1.89%) IBM
5 7 (1.89%) SAP
5 7 (1.89%) Splunk
6 6 (1.62%) VMware
7 5 (1.35%) Ab Initio
7 5 (1.35%) Google
7 5 (1.35%) OpenLink
7 5 (1.35%) Salesforce
7 5 (1.35%) Teradata
8 4 (1.08%) Databricks
8 4 (1.08%) Fortinet
9 3 (0.81%) Atlassian
9 3 (0.81%) Checkmarx
9 3 (0.81%) Palo Alto