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 9 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
9 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 250 212 175
Rank change year-on-year -38 -37 +13
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 409 297 509
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.05% 1.22% 1.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.22% 1.34% 1.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 192 343
10th Percentile £336 £313 £250
25th Percentile £401 £363 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £460 £450
Median % change year-on-year +0.65% +2.11% -12.20%
75th Percentile £540 £619 £600
90th Percentile £615 £711 £688
UK median daily rate £450 £449 £450
% change year-on-year +0.22% -0.22% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 21 69
10th Percentile £51.53 £26.25 £37.42
25th Percentile £64.38 £55.38 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £62.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +8.00% - +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.70 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £62.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +8.00% - +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 33,539 22,147 32,451
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.75% 90.94% 86.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,506 14,596 21,405
10th Percentile £313 £313 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,075 867 2,189
10th Percentile £15.43 £14.99 £12.92
25th Percentile £19.91 £19.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £32.50 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year +23.08% -4.41% -9.33%
75th Percentile £65.74 £65.00 £58.70
90th Percentile £77.80 £76.25 £70.78
UK median hourly rate £36.70 £31.64 £33.07
% change year-on-year +15.99% -4.31% -8.15%

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 9 April 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 9 April 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 9 April 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 -29 170 £450 +2.86% 55
South East -32 66 £490 -18.33% 76
Midlands -30 51 £515 +14.84% 43
North of England -50 49 £405 -10.00% 48
South West -9 42 £409 +2.25% 36
West Midlands -34 40 £514 +14.48% 24
East of England -28 27 £600 +26.32% 30
Yorkshire -37 26 £413 +5.77% 10
North West -37 14 £405 -30.47% 31
East Midlands -25 11 £575 +400.00% 19
North East - 11 £350 - 8
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 17 (4.16%) Confluence
2 16 (3.91%) SAS
3 7 (1.71%) Apache Spark
4 6 (1.47%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.49%) IIS
5 2 (0.49%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.24%) CMS
6 1 (0.24%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (2.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (1.96%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.98%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.49%) Simulink
6 1 (0.24%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (1.22%) Aladdin
1 5 (1.22%) Findur
2 4 (0.98%) Maximo
3 3 (0.73%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.49%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.49%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.49%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.24%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.24%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 127 (31.05%) Azure
2 88 (21.52%) Azure DevOps
3 82 (20.05%) AWS
4 31 (7.58%) GCP
4 31 (7.58%) GitHub
5 28 (6.85%) Serverless
6 27 (6.60%) AWS Lambda
7 26 (6.36%) Amazon S3
8 14 (3.42%) GitHub Actions
9 12 (2.93%) Amazon ECS
9 12 (2.93%) AWS CloudFormation
10 11 (2.69%) Snowflake
11 9 (2.20%) Entra ID
12 8 (1.96%) OpenShift
13 7 (1.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 6 (1.47%) Amazon EC2
14 6 (1.47%) PaaS
15 5 (1.22%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 4 (0.98%) AWS Control Tower
17 3 (0.73%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.69%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.47%) Firewall
3 5 (1.22%) Wireless
4 4 (0.98%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.73%) FTP
5 3 (0.73%) Modbus
5 3 (0.73%) RS-232
5 3 (0.73%) RS-422
5 3 (0.73%) RS-485
5 3 (0.73%) SNMP
5 3 (0.73%) Software-Defined Radio
6 2 (0.49%) DNS
6 2 (0.49%) Internet
6 2 (0.49%) Intranet
6 2 (0.49%) IOS XR
6 2 (0.49%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.49%) Spanning Tree
6 2 (0.49%) SSH
6 2 (0.49%) SSL
6 2 (0.49%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (7.09%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (4.89%) Relational Database
3 18 (4.40%) MySQL
4 16 (3.91%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 15 (3.67%) Oracle Database
6 14 (3.42%) SQL Server
7 11 (2.69%) Big Data
7 11 (2.69%) NoSQL
8 10 (2.44%) BigQuery
9 9 (2.20%) Data Warehouse
10 8 (1.96%) MongoDB
11 7 (1.71%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (1.71%) DynamoDB
12 5 (1.22%) SAS Visual Analytics
13 4 (0.98%) Amazon Athena
13 4 (0.98%) Amazon QuickSight
14 3 (0.73%) Parquet
14 3 (0.73%) Redis
15 2 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
15 2 (0.49%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 72 (17.60%) JIRA
2 49 (11.98%) Selenium
3 47 (11.49%) Git
4 35 (8.56%) Jenkins
5 33 (8.07%) Postman
6 23 (5.62%) Cucumber
6 23 (5.62%) Cypress.io
7 22 (5.38%) JUnit
8 19 (4.65%) REST Assured
9 17 (4.16%) GitLab
10 13 (3.18%) Rational DOORS
10 13 (3.18%) TestRail
11 9 (2.20%) Zephyr
12 8 (1.96%) WebDriver
13 7 (1.71%) Rational Rhapsody
13 7 (1.71%) SonarQube
14 6 (1.47%) HP UFT
14 6 (1.47%) JMeter
15 5 (1.22%) Maven
15 5 (1.22%) SpecFlow
General
1 110 (26.89%) Social Skills
2 69 (16.87%) Finance
3 64 (15.65%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (11.74%) Public Sector
5 18 (4.40%) Banking
6 17 (4.16%) Aerospace
7 11 (2.69%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (2.44%) Back Office
9 9 (2.20%) Military
10 8 (1.96%) Electronics
11 7 (1.71%) Front Office
11 7 (1.71%) Law
11 7 (1.71%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.47%) Telecoms
13 5 (1.22%) Investment Banking
14 4 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.98%) Police
15 3 (0.73%) Automotive
15 3 (0.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 3 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 64 (15.65%) Senior
2 59 (14.43%) Developer
3 45 (11.00%) Analyst
4 41 (10.02%) Software Engineer
5 40 (9.78%) Test Engineer
6 38 (9.29%) Lead
7 35 (8.56%) Test Analyst
8 30 (7.33%) Consultant
9 29 (7.09%) Tester
10 22 (5.38%) Java Developer
11 21 (5.13%) QA Engineer
12 19 (4.65%) Test Manager
13 18 (4.40%) Senior Developer
14 17 (4.16%) Java Engineer
15 16 (3.91%) Release Manager
15 16 (3.91%) Senior Analyst
15 16 (3.91%) Senior Test Analyst
16 14 (3.42%) Software Developer
16 14 (3.42%) Software Test Engineer
17 12 (2.93%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (10.76%) Spring
2 37 (9.05%) React
3 35 (8.56%) Playwright
3 35 (8.56%) Spring Boot
4 34 (8.31%) REST
5 32 (7.82%) RESTful
6 25 (6.11%) .NET
7 22 (5.38%) CSS
7 22 (5.38%) HTML
8 21 (5.13%) Node.js
9 17 (4.16%) Kafka
10 12 (2.93%) Redux
11 11 (2.69%) HTML5
12 10 (2.44%) AngularJS
12 10 (2.44%) CSS3
12 10 (2.44%) Jest
12 10 (2.44%) Spring MVC
13 9 (2.20%) Gherkin
13 9 (2.20%) Middleware
14 7 (1.71%) Apache NiFi
Miscellaneous
1 33 (8.07%) Product Ownership
2 27 (6.60%) Cloud Native
3 19 (4.65%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (3.67%) Enterprise Software
5 12 (2.93%) Distributed Systems
6 11 (2.69%) Management Information System
7 10 (2.44%) Embedded Systems
7 10 (2.44%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (1.71%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.71%) PCIe
9 6 (1.47%) CUDA
9 6 (1.47%) Greenfield Project
9 6 (1.47%) Virtual Team
10 4 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (0.98%) Fixed Income
10 4 (0.98%) FPGA
10 4 (0.98%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.73%) Equities
11 3 (0.73%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.73%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 33 (8.07%) Windows
2 21 (5.13%) Linux
3 9 (2.20%) Unix
4 8 (1.96%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (0.98%) Mac OS
5 4 (0.98%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.49%) Android
7 1 (0.24%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.24%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (43.52%) Test Automation
2 148 (36.19%) Agile
3 145 (35.45%) DevOps
4 141 (34.47%) CI/CD
5 97 (23.72%) Problem-Solving
6 93 (22.74%) Continuous Improvement
7 81 (19.80%) Test Scripting
8 77 (18.83%) Software Engineering
9 66 (16.14%) Validation
10 57 (13.94%) Test Management
10 57 (13.94%) Test Strategy
11 55 (13.45%) Microservices
12 51 (12.47%) SDLC
13 47 (11.49%) Defect Tracking
13 47 (11.49%) Regression Testing
14 45 (11.00%) API Testing
14 45 (11.00%) Containerisation
14 45 (11.00%) Scrum
15 43 (10.51%) TDD
16 41 (10.02%) Defect Management
Programming Languages
1 82 (20.05%) Java
2 78 (19.07%) Python
3 75 (18.34%) SQL
4 49 (11.98%) JavaScript
5 40 (9.78%) C#
6 39 (9.54%) TypeScript
7 18 (4.40%) C++
8 16 (3.91%) C
9 10 (2.44%) Bash
10 7 (1.71%) PL/SQL
10 7 (1.71%) PowerShell
11 6 (1.47%) Go
12 5 (1.22%) VBScript
13 4 (0.98%) Rust
14 3 (0.73%) Ada
14 3 (0.73%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.73%) Groovy
14 3 (0.73%) Ruby
14 3 (0.73%) VB
15 2 (0.49%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 130 (31.78%) Security Cleared
2 108 (26.41%) SC Cleared
3 36 (8.80%) ISTQB
4 33 (8.07%) Degree
5 13 (3.18%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (3.18%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 8 (1.96%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.71%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 5 (1.22%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.22%) ISEB
9 4 (0.98%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.73%) CISSP
10 3 (0.73%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.73%) PMP
11 2 (0.49%) CEH
11 2 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.49%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (0.49%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 1 (0.24%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.24%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 104 (25.43%) QA
2 15 (3.67%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.69%) Data Quality
4 7 (1.71%) PMO
4 7 (1.71%) WCAG
5 4 (0.98%) NIST
5 4 (0.98%) SLA
6 3 (0.73%) Software Quality Assurance
7 2 (0.49%) EU AI Act
8 1 (0.24%) GRC
8 1 (0.24%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.24%) MiFID
8 1 (0.24%) SEPA
System Software
1 37 (9.05%) Docker
2 7 (1.71%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.47%) Firmware
3 6 (1.47%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.22%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.49%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.24%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
6 1 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 50 (12.22%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.38%) Terraform
3 11 (2.69%) Ansible
3 11 (2.69%) HP ALM
4 10 (2.44%) Grafana
5 9 (2.20%) Prometheus
6 7 (1.71%) Puppet
7 5 (1.22%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.98%) HP Quality Center
8 4 (0.98%) Salt
8 4 (0.98%) SCCM
9 2 (0.49%) Nessus
10 1 (0.24%) Kibana
10 1 (0.24%) Nmap
10 1 (0.24%) Oracle ZFS
10 1 (0.24%) Packer
10 1 (0.24%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.24%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 44 (10.76%) Oracle
2 39 (9.54%) Microsoft
3 11 (2.69%) HP
4 10 (2.44%) ServiceNow
5 9 (2.20%) SAP
6 7 (1.71%) Citrix
6 7 (1.71%) Dell
6 7 (1.71%) IBM
6 7 (1.71%) VMware
7 6 (1.47%) Splunk
8 5 (1.22%) Ab Initio
8 5 (1.22%) Databricks
8 5 (1.22%) OpenLink
8 5 (1.22%) Teradata
9 4 (0.98%) Atlassian
9 4 (0.98%) Fortinet
9 4 (0.98%) Google
9 4 (0.98%) Remedy
9 4 (0.98%) Salesforce
10 3 (0.73%) Charles River
270 Software Testing jobs in England