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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 262 236 172
Rank change year-on-year -26 -64 +23
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 369 270 489
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.90% 1.10% 1.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.06% 1.21% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 177 330
10th Percentile £338 £313 £306
25th Percentile £400 £363 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £448 £455
Median % change year-on-year +6.03% -1.43% -9.10%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £650 £705 £688
UK median daily rate £475 £439 £463
% change year-on-year +8.26% -5.14% -7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 21 60
10th Percentile £15.85 £50.00 £40.49
25th Percentile £59.88 £52.00 £56.25
Median hourly rate £69.00 £60.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.05% -3.20% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £60.25 £62.50
% change year-on-year +16.18% -3.60% +19.05%

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 34,677 22,323 31,499
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.63% 91.22% 86.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,105 14,603 20,624
10th Percentile £321 £306 £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 £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £505 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -1.94% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,142 946 2,251
10th Percentile £15.31 £14.41 £12.92
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £15.97
Median hourly rate £47.00 £29.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +62.07% -20.55% +0.69%
75th Percentile £67.96 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.05 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £28.18 £36.02
% change year-on-year +50.82% -21.77% +1.04%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -27 155 £475 +8.57% 34
South East -53 56 £495 +13.14% 50
North of England -51 46 £500 +0.53% 47
Midlands -30 45 £511 +21.01% 45
West Midlands -28 37 £510 +16.84% 28
South West -15 35 £409 -11.57% 36
East of England -20 29 £600 +26.32% 46
Yorkshire -46 20 £500 -3.80% 8
North East -5 17 £450 - 13
North West -40 11 £525 +10.53% 26
East Midlands -23 8 £575 +152.75% 17
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 12 (3.25%) Confluence
2 9 (2.44%) SAS
3 7 (1.90%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.63%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.54%) IIS
5 2 (0.54%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.27%) Apache
6 1 (0.27%) CMS
6 1 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.27%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.27%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.90%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.08%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.54%) Simulink
6 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.63%) Payment Gateway
2 5 (1.36%) Findur
3 4 (1.08%) Aladdin
3 4 (1.08%) Maximo
4 3 (0.81%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.81%) Oracle EBS R12
4 3 (0.81%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.54%) LabWindows
6 1 (0.27%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 102 (27.64%) Azure
2 75 (20.33%) AWS
3 72 (19.51%) Azure DevOps
4 27 (7.32%) GitHub
5 24 (6.50%) Serverless
6 23 (6.23%) Amazon S3
6 23 (6.23%) AWS Lambda
7 20 (5.42%) GCP
8 9 (2.44%) AWS CloudFormation
8 9 (2.44%) Snowflake
9 8 (2.17%) Amazon ECS
9 8 (2.17%) GitHub Actions
9 8 (2.17%) OpenShift
10 7 (1.90%) Amazon EC2
10 7 (1.90%) Entra ID
10 7 (1.90%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 6 (1.63%) PaaS
12 5 (1.36%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 4 (1.08%) Power Platform
13 4 (1.08%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.44%) Ethernet
2 5 (1.36%) Firewall
2 5 (1.36%) Software-Defined Radio
2 5 (1.36%) 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%) 4G
5 2 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
5 2 (0.54%) Internet
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
5 2 (0.54%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (6.78%) PostgreSQL
2 21 (5.69%) Relational Database
3 15 (4.07%) MySQL
3 15 (4.07%) SQL Server
4 14 (3.79%) Oracle Database
5 11 (2.98%) Big Data
6 10 (2.71%) NoSQL
7 9 (2.44%) MongoDB
7 9 (2.44%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 8 (2.17%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.17%) DynamoDB
9 7 (1.90%) Amazon Redshift
10 5 (1.36%) Amazon Athena
10 5 (1.36%) 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%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 65 (17.62%) JIRA
2 40 (10.84%) Git
3 39 (10.57%) Selenium
4 29 (7.86%) Jenkins
5 26 (7.05%) Postman
6 22 (5.96%) Cucumber
7 21 (5.69%) REST Assured
8 20 (5.42%) GitLab
9 19 (5.15%) JUnit
10 17 (4.61%) Cypress.io
11 12 (3.25%) Rational DOORS
12 10 (2.71%) TestRail
13 8 (2.17%) Zephyr
14 7 (1.90%) WebDriver
15 6 (1.63%) HP UFT
16 5 (1.36%) JMeter
16 5 (1.36%) Maven
16 5 (1.36%) SonarQube
17 4 (1.08%) Appium
17 4 (1.08%) Gatling
General
1 106 (28.73%) Social Skills
2 68 (18.43%) Finance
3 65 (17.62%) Analytical Skills
4 42 (11.38%) Public Sector
5 22 (5.96%) Banking
6 19 (5.15%) Aerospace
7 11 (2.98%) Automotive
7 11 (2.98%) Back Office
7 11 (2.98%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (2.17%) Military
9 6 (1.63%) Front Office
9 6 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.36%) Investment Banking
10 5 (1.36%) Law
10 5 (1.36%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.36%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.08%) Electronics
12 3 (0.81%) Legal
12 3 (0.81%) Police
Job Titles
1 56 (15.18%) Senior
2 53 (14.36%) Developer
3 52 (14.09%) Test Engineer
4 46 (12.47%) Software Engineer
5 35 (9.49%) Analyst
6 32 (8.67%) Tester
7 31 (8.40%) Lead
8 24 (6.50%) Test Analyst
9 22 (5.96%) Java Developer
10 17 (4.61%) Senior Developer
11 15 (4.07%) Java Engineer
11 15 (4.07%) Test Manager
12 14 (3.79%) QA Engineer
12 14 (3.79%) Software Test Engineer
13 12 (3.25%) Architect
14 11 (2.98%) Embedded Engineer
14 11 (2.98%) Embedded Software Engineer
14 11 (2.98%) Software Developer
15 10 (2.71%) Senior Java Developer
16 9 (2.44%) Integration Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (10.84%) Spring
2 38 (10.30%) React
3 37 (10.03%) Playwright
4 32 (8.67%) REST
4 32 (8.67%) Spring Boot
5 25 (6.78%) RESTful
6 24 (6.50%) .NET
7 17 (4.61%) Node.js
8 16 (4.34%) CSS
8 16 (4.34%) HTML
9 15 (4.07%) Kafka
10 12 (3.25%) Redux
11 10 (2.71%) AngularJS
11 10 (2.71%) HTML5
11 10 (2.71%) Spring MVC
12 9 (2.44%) CSS3
12 9 (2.44%) Jest
13 7 (1.90%) Middleware
14 6 (1.63%) .NET Framework
14 6 (1.63%) Gherkin
Miscellaneous
1 35 (9.49%) Product Ownership
2 24 (6.50%) Cloud Native
3 18 (4.88%) Enterprise Software
4 16 (4.34%) Embedded Systems
4 16 (4.34%) Self-Motivation
5 14 (3.79%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (3.25%) Legacy Systems
6 12 (3.25%) Management Information System
7 10 (2.71%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.63%) FPGA
8 6 (1.63%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.36%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.36%) PCIe
10 4 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.08%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.81%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.81%) NHS
11 3 (0.81%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.81%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 23 (6.23%) Windows
2 19 (5.15%) Linux
3 9 (2.44%) Unix
4 6 (1.63%) 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
1 172 (46.61%) Test Automation
2 136 (36.86%) Agile
3 132 (35.77%) DevOps
4 124 (33.60%) CI/CD
5 89 (24.12%) Continuous Improvement
6 86 (23.31%) Problem-Solving
7 83 (22.49%) Software Engineering
8 67 (18.16%) Test Scripting
9 55 (14.91%) Validation
10 54 (14.63%) Test Strategy
11 51 (13.82%) Microservices
12 50 (13.55%) SDLC
13 47 (12.74%) Defect Tracking
13 47 (12.74%) Scrum
14 46 (12.47%) Regression Testing
14 46 (12.47%) Test Management
15 42 (11.38%) Containerisation
16 40 (10.84%) TDD
16 40 (10.84%) User Acceptance Testing
17 39 (10.57%) Defect Management
Programming Languages
1 82 (22.22%) Java
2 73 (19.78%) Python
3 65 (17.62%) SQL
4 41 (11.11%) JavaScript
5 35 (9.49%) C#
6 30 (8.13%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.79%) C++
8 12 (3.25%) C
9 10 (2.71%) Bash
10 7 (1.90%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.63%) PowerShell
12 5 (1.36%) Apex Code
12 5 (1.36%) 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
Qualifications
1 107 (29.00%) Security Cleared
2 85 (23.04%) SC Cleared
3 37 (10.03%) ISTQB
4 36 (9.76%) Degree
5 19 (5.15%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 10 (2.71%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (2.17%) ISEB
8 7 (1.90%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.63%) DV Cleared
10 4 (1.08%) CEH
10 4 (1.08%) CISSP
10 4 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
10 4 (1.08%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 2 (0.54%) A+ Certification
11 2 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.54%) Master's Degree
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 90 (24.39%) QA
2 16 (4.34%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.98%) Data Quality
4 9 (2.44%) WCAG
5 7 (1.90%) 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 37 (10.03%) Docker
2 8 (2.17%) Firmware
3 7 (1.90%) Active Directory
4 6 (1.63%) 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 (13.28%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.96%) Terraform
3 12 (3.25%) Ansible
4 11 (2.98%) Grafana
4 11 (2.98%) HP ALM
4 11 (2.98%) Prometheus
5 7 (1.90%) Puppet
6 5 (1.36%) 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 (10.57%) Oracle
2 34 (9.21%) Microsoft
3 11 (2.98%) HP
3 11 (2.98%) Salesforce
4 8 (2.17%) Dell
5 7 (1.90%) Citrix
5 7 (1.90%) IBM
5 7 (1.90%) SAP
5 7 (1.90%) ServiceNow
5 7 (1.90%) Splunk
6 6 (1.63%) Conga
6 6 (1.63%) GoCardless
6 6 (1.63%) VMware
7 5 (1.36%) Ab Initio
7 5 (1.36%) Google
7 5 (1.36%) OpenLink
7 5 (1.36%) Teradata
8 4 (1.08%) Fortinet
9 3 (0.81%) Atlassian
9 3 (0.81%) Remedy