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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 243 242 208
Rank change year-on-year -1 -34 -41
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 501 290 398
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.08% 1.04% 1.22%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.27% 1.15% 1.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 259 188 261
10th Percentile £263 £312 £325
25th Percentile £400 £355 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £435 £455
Median % change year-on-year +9.20% -4.40% -11.65%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £588
90th Percentile £678 £616 £659
UK median daily rate £475 £440 £463
% change year-on-year +7.95% -4.86% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 77 30 21
10th Percentile £26.00 £26.25 £37.55
25th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £54.63
Median hourly rate £62.50 £55.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% -12.00% -2.34%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £78.50 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £62.75 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +14.09% -4.35% -6.28%

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 39,349 25,238 28,145
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.76% 90.90% 86.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,108 16,041 17,545
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £645
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,747 1,497 1,306
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.38 £14.92
25th Percentile £17.85 £17.87 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -1.91%
75th Percentile £68.00 £49.75 £66.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% +1.18%

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 17 September 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 17 September 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 17 September 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 -37 168 £525 +24.11% 356
South East -38 91 £438 +6.38% 140
Midlands +11 81 £460 +8.24% 121
West Midlands +5 76 £460 -2.65% 73
North of England -60 62 £470 +8.10% 122
East of England +2 51 £74 -86.04% 95
South West -28 42 £410 -8.70% 85
North East -18 29 £500 +37.93% 12
North West -32 19 £464 +30.70% 69
Yorkshire -57 16 £475 +3.26% 41
East Midlands -7 5 £575 +69.12% 47
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 (2.79%) Confluence
2 11 (2.20%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (2.00%) SAS
3 10 (2.00%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.20%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.60%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.20%) Apache
6 1 (0.20%) IIS
6 1 (0.20%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 12 (2.40%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.20%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.80%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (0.80%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.80%) Trello
4 2 (0.40%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 6 (1.20%) Findur
1 6 (1.20%) Payment Gateway
2 3 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.60%) Primavera
3 2 (0.40%) Bloomberg TOMS
3 2 (0.40%) Eikon
4 1 (0.20%) Aladdin
4 1 (0.20%) Misys Equation
4 1 (0.20%) Misys Midas
4 1 (0.20%) Oracle EBS R12
4 1 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.20%) Shopify
4 1 (0.20%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 127 (25.35%) AWS
2 101 (20.16%) Azure
3 50 (9.98%) GitHub
4 45 (8.98%) Azure DevOps
5 26 (5.19%) GCP
6 21 (4.19%) GitHub Actions
6 21 (4.19%) GitHub Copilot
7 15 (2.99%) Serverless
8 13 (2.59%) AWS Lambda
9 12 (2.40%) Amazon S3
10 10 (2.00%) PaaS
10 10 (2.00%) SaaS
11 8 (1.60%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 8 (1.60%) Amazon EC2
11 8 (1.60%) Power Platform
12 7 (1.40%) Snowflake
13 6 (1.20%) Anthropic Claude
13 6 (1.20%) OpenShift
14 5 (1.00%) Cloud Computing
15 4 (0.80%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.80%) Ethernet
2 5 (1.00%) DNS
2 5 (1.00%) Software-Defined Radio
2 5 (1.00%) Wireless
3 4 (0.80%) DHCP
3 4 (0.80%) Firewall
3 4 (0.80%) Internet
3 4 (0.80%) Network Security
4 2 (0.40%) BGP
4 2 (0.40%) MPLS
4 2 (0.40%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.40%) SSL
4 2 (0.40%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.20%) 4G
5 1 (0.20%) IPv4
5 1 (0.20%) IPv6
5 1 (0.20%) LTE
5 1 (0.20%) Radio Access Network
5 1 (0.20%) SSH
5 1 (0.20%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (6.39%) Relational Database
2 21 (4.19%) MongoDB
3 19 (3.79%) SQL Server
4 13 (2.59%) NoSQL
4 13 (2.59%) Oracle Database
5 10 (2.00%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 10 (2.00%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 9 (1.80%) MySQL
6 9 (1.80%) PostgreSQL
7 7 (1.40%) Big Data
7 7 (1.40%) DynamoDB
8 6 (1.20%) Elasticsearch
9 5 (1.00%) Data Warehouse
9 5 (1.00%) Power BI
10 4 (0.80%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.80%) Redis
11 3 (0.60%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.60%) Pinecone
11 3 (0.60%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 89 (17.76%) Git
1 89 (17.76%) Selenium
2 71 (14.17%) JIRA
3 50 (9.98%) GitLab
4 49 (9.78%) Cucumber
5 38 (7.58%) JUnit
6 36 (7.19%) Postman
7 33 (6.59%) Jenkins
8 27 (5.39%) Gatling
9 23 (4.59%) REST Assured
10 15 (2.99%) Rational DOORS
10 15 (2.99%) SonarQube
11 14 (2.79%) Cypress.io
11 14 (2.79%) JMeter
12 12 (2.40%) WebDriver
13 11 (2.20%) Visual Studio
14 10 (2.00%) Zephyr
15 9 (1.80%) Maven
15 9 (1.80%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
16 8 (1.60%) HP UFT
General
1 162 (32.34%) Social Skills
2 89 (17.76%) Finance
3 74 (14.77%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (12.57%) Public Sector
5 52 (10.38%) Banking
6 31 (6.19%) Automotive
7 27 (5.39%) Aerospace
8 14 (2.79%) Manufacturing
9 12 (2.40%) Front Office
10 11 (2.20%) Back Office
11 10 (2.00%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.80%) Electronics
12 9 (1.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 9 (1.80%) Law
12 9 (1.80%) Retail
12 9 (1.80%) Telecoms
13 8 (1.60%) Documentation Skills
14 7 (1.40%) Military
15 5 (1.00%) Avionics
15 5 (1.00%) Legal
Job Titles
1 77 (15.37%) Developer
2 74 (14.77%) Test Engineer
3 73 (14.57%) Senior
4 72 (14.37%) Software Engineer
5 38 (7.58%) Analyst
6 28 (5.59%) Java Developer
6 28 (5.59%) Test Manager
7 27 (5.39%) Tester
8 26 (5.19%) Software Developer
8 26 (5.19%) Software Test Engineer
9 25 (4.99%) Lead
10 21 (4.19%) Test Automation Engineer
11 20 (3.99%) Quality Engineer
12 19 (3.79%) Architect
12 19 (3.79%) Principal Engineer
12 19 (3.79%) QA Engineer
13 17 (3.39%) Test Analyst
14 15 (2.99%) Principal Software Engineer
14 15 (2.99%) Senior Developer
15 14 (2.79%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (10.98%) Spring
2 53 (10.58%) Playwright
3 47 (9.38%) REST
4 44 (8.78%) .NET
5 43 (8.58%) React
6 33 (6.59%) Spring Boot
7 32 (6.39%) Kafka
8 30 (5.99%) RESTful
8 30 (5.99%) Terraform
9 19 (3.79%) Node.js
10 14 (2.79%) AngularJS
10 14 (2.79%) HTML
11 13 (2.59%) JSON
11 13 (2.59%) WireMock
12 12 (2.40%) Gherkin
12 12 (2.40%) XML
13 11 (2.20%) SOAP
14 10 (2.00%) CSS
14 10 (2.00%) Redux
14 10 (2.00%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 45 (8.98%) Product Ownership
2 38 (7.58%) Cloud Native
2 38 (7.58%) Enterprise Software
3 23 (4.59%) Distributed Systems
3 23 (4.59%) Embedded Systems
4 22 (4.39%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (1.80%) Data Structures
5 9 (1.80%) Management Information System
5 9 (1.80%) Onboarding
6 8 (1.60%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (1.40%) Algorithms
7 7 (1.40%) Distributed Architecture
7 7 (1.40%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (1.20%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.00%) AI Agents
9 5 (1.00%) Derivative
9 5 (1.00%) Equity Derivative
9 5 (1.00%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 5 (1.00%) FPGA
9 5 (1.00%) PCIe
Operating Systems
1 34 (6.79%) Linux
2 27 (5.39%) Windows
3 9 (1.80%) Unix
4 8 (1.60%) Windows Server
5 6 (1.20%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (1.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.80%) Android
7 4 (0.80%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.60%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.40%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 249 (49.70%) Test Automation
2 241 (48.10%) Agile
3 219 (43.71%) CI/CD
4 153 (30.54%) Software Engineering
5 136 (27.15%) DevOps
6 124 (24.75%) Continuous Improvement
7 116 (23.15%) SDLC
8 109 (21.76%) Problem-Solving
9 106 (21.16%) Scrum
10 91 (18.16%) Validation
11 76 (15.17%) Test Strategy
12 75 (14.97%) Defect Management
13 73 (14.57%) Microservices
14 72 (14.37%) Test Scripting
15 67 (13.37%) AI
15 67 (13.37%) Mentoring
16 64 (12.77%) Stakeholder Management
17 62 (12.38%) Regression Testing
18 61 (12.18%) API Testing
19 59 (11.78%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 126 (25.15%) Java
2 94 (18.76%) Python
3 89 (17.76%) SQL
4 55 (10.98%) JavaScript
5 40 (7.98%) C#
6 32 (6.39%) TypeScript
7 27 (5.39%) C++
8 16 (3.19%) C
9 14 (2.79%) PowerShell
10 8 (1.60%) Bash
10 8 (1.60%) Kotlin
11 5 (1.00%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.00%) Korn
11 5 (1.00%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.80%) Go
12 4 (0.80%) Ruby
12 4 (0.80%) Rust
12 4 (0.80%) Scala
13 3 (0.60%) Ada
13 3 (0.60%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 178 (35.53%) Security Cleared
2 141 (28.14%) SC Cleared
3 67 (13.37%) Degree
4 49 (9.78%) ISTQB
5 31 (6.19%) DV Cleared
6 24 (4.79%) BPSS Clearance
7 19 (3.79%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 17 (3.39%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 15 (2.99%) Computer Science Degree
10 12 (2.40%) ISEB
11 4 (0.80%) CEH
11 4 (0.80%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.80%) CISSP
11 4 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
12 3 (0.60%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.60%) CCNA
13 2 (0.40%) A+ Certification
13 2 (0.40%) Network+ Certification
13 2 (0.40%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.40%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (22.75%) QA
2 41 (8.18%) Accessibility
3 26 (5.19%) WCAG
4 6 (1.20%) Data Quality
4 6 (1.20%) ISO 20022
4 6 (1.20%) Software Quality Assurance
5 5 (1.00%) NIST
6 3 (0.60%) GRC
7 2 (0.40%) AUTOSAR
7 2 (0.40%) ISO 15022
7 2 (0.40%) ISO 26262
7 2 (0.40%) MISRA
8 1 (0.20%) HL7
8 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.20%) JTAG
8 1 (0.20%) MiFID
8 1 (0.20%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.20%) PMO
8 1 (0.20%) SEPA
8 1 (0.20%) SLA
System Software
1 66 (13.17%) Docker
2 11 (2.20%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.20%) Firmware
3 6 (1.20%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.00%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (0.80%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.60%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.40%) NFS
7 2 (0.40%) Time Sharing Option
7 2 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 77 (15.37%) Kubernetes
2 15 (2.99%) Ansible
3 12 (2.40%) Prometheus
4 9 (1.80%) Grafana
5 8 (1.60%) HP ALM
6 6 (1.20%) Packer
7 4 (0.80%) Puppet
8 3 (0.60%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.40%) Argo
9 2 (0.40%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.40%) HP Fortify
9 2 (0.40%) Kibana
9 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.40%) Salt
9 2 (0.40%) SCCM
9 2 (0.40%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 1 (0.20%) Control-M
10 1 (0.20%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.20%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 38 (7.58%) Oracle
2 32 (6.39%) Microsoft
3 19 (3.79%) IBM
4 17 (3.39%) Salesforce
5 9 (1.80%) Google
5 9 (1.80%) SAP
6 8 (1.60%) HP
7 7 (1.40%) Splunk
7 7 (1.40%) VMware
8 6 (1.20%) Conga
8 6 (1.20%) GoCardless
8 6 (1.20%) OpenLink
9 5 (1.00%) ServiceNow
10 4 (0.80%) Red Hat
11 3 (0.60%) Checkmarx
11 3 (0.60%) Databricks
11 3 (0.60%) UiPath
12 2 (0.40%) Dynatrace
12 2 (0.40%) FXall
12 2 (0.40%) OpenAI