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

 6 months to
18 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 255 245 189
Rank change year-on-year -10 -56 -5
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 398 249 477
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.93% 1.00% 1.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.09% 1.10% 1.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 207 165 328
10th Percentile £331 £313 £312
25th Percentile £396 £360 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £438 £456
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% -4.06% -8.80%
75th Percentile £575 £525 £588
90th Percentile £650 £663 £677
UK median daily rate £475 £438 £465
% change year-on-year +8.57% -5.91% -7.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 19 59
10th Percentile £17.50 £42.21 £37.55
25th Percentile £53.90 £50.00 £56.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +17.39% -8.00% +19.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 -
UK median hourly rate £68.00 £57.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +18.26% -8.00% +15.77%

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 36,618 22,657 32,179
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.18% 91.33% 85.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,120 14,657 20,816
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.23% -1.00% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £727 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.46% -3.79% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,297 1,070 2,391
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.11 £16.04
Median hourly rate £47.00 £27.40 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +71.53% -26.93% +5.19%
75th Percentile £68.00 £57.19 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £26.21 £37.18
% change year-on-year +67.72% -29.51% +6.14%

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 June 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 June 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 June 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 -16 145 £475 +8.57% 69
South East -41 62 £490 +22.50% 75
North of England -42 52 £475 - 45
Midlands -20 50 £513 +44.07% 33
South West -5 46 £409 -16.10% 29
West Midlands -17 44 £513 +21.30% 20
East of England -8 39 £554 +16.58% 58
North East -13 25 £450 - 18
Yorkshire -52 16 £500 -3.80% 7
North West -37 13 £500 +17.65% 21
East Midlands -22 6 £575 +69.12% 13
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 (3.52%) Confluence
2 12 (3.02%) Apache Airflow
2 12 (3.02%) SAS
3 8 (2.01%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.75%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.50%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Apache
6 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.25%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (3.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.76%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.01%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.25%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 6 (1.51%) Findur
1 6 (1.51%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (1.01%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.01%) Maximo
3 3 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.50%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.50%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.50%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.25%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 100 (25.13%) Azure
2 76 (19.10%) AWS
3 62 (15.58%) Azure DevOps
4 27 (6.78%) GitHub
5 24 (6.03%) Serverless
6 23 (5.78%) AWS Lambda
7 22 (5.53%) Amazon S3
8 18 (4.52%) GCP
9 11 (2.76%) PaaS
10 10 (2.51%) GitHub Actions
11 9 (2.26%) Entra ID
11 9 (2.26%) Snowflake
12 8 (2.01%) Amazon EC2
12 8 (2.01%) OpenShift
13 7 (1.76%) Power Platform
13 7 (1.76%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 6 (1.51%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (1.51%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (1.51%) SaaS
15 5 (1.26%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.01%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.51%) DNS
3 5 (1.26%) Firewall
3 5 (1.26%) Software-Defined Radio
3 5 (1.26%) Wireless
4 4 (1.01%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (0.75%) DHCP
5 3 (0.75%) Modbus
5 3 (0.75%) Network Security
5 3 (0.75%) RS-232
5 3 (0.75%) RS-422
5 3 (0.75%) RS-485
6 2 (0.50%) 4G
6 2 (0.50%) 5G
6 2 (0.50%) Internet
6 2 (0.50%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.25%) BGP
7 1 (0.25%) FTP
7 1 (0.25%) LTE
7 1 (0.25%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.03%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (4.77%) Relational Database
3 18 (4.52%) Oracle Database
4 15 (3.77%) MySQL
5 14 (3.52%) SQL Server
6 12 (3.02%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 11 (2.76%) Big Data
8 10 (2.51%) DynamoDB
8 10 (2.51%) SAS Visual Analytics
9 8 (2.01%) Data Warehouse
9 8 (2.01%) NoSQL
10 7 (1.76%) Amazon Redshift
11 5 (1.26%) Amazon Athena
11 5 (1.26%) MongoDB
11 5 (1.26%) Power BI
12 4 (1.01%) Amazon QuickSight
13 3 (0.75%) BigQuery
13 3 (0.75%) Parquet
13 3 (0.75%) Redis
14 2 (0.50%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 70 (17.59%) JIRA
2 44 (11.06%) Selenium
3 39 (9.80%) Git
4 32 (8.04%) Postman
5 31 (7.79%) Jenkins
6 26 (6.53%) Cucumber
6 26 (6.53%) REST Assured
7 25 (6.28%) GitLab
8 22 (5.53%) JUnit
9 17 (4.27%) Cypress.io
10 13 (3.27%) TestRail
11 11 (2.76%) Rational DOORS
11 11 (2.76%) WebDriver
12 9 (2.26%) Zephyr
13 8 (2.01%) JMeter
14 6 (1.51%) Gatling
15 5 (1.26%) HP UFT
15 5 (1.26%) SonarQube
15 5 (1.26%) Visual Studio
16 4 (1.01%) LabVIEW
General
1 114 (28.64%) Social Skills
2 74 (18.59%) Finance
3 67 (16.83%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (12.06%) Public Sector
5 26 (6.53%) Banking
6 18 (4.52%) Aerospace
7 15 (3.77%) Automotive
8 13 (3.27%) Back Office
9 11 (2.76%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.01%) Military
11 7 (1.76%) Front Office
11 7 (1.76%) Law
11 7 (1.76%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (1.26%) Legal
13 5 (1.26%) Manufacturing
14 4 (1.01%) Electronics
15 3 (0.75%) Avionics
15 3 (0.75%) Investment Banking
15 3 (0.75%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 62 (15.58%) Senior
1 62 (15.58%) Test Engineer
2 56 (14.07%) Software Engineer
3 52 (13.07%) Developer
4 35 (8.79%) Analyst
5 30 (7.54%) Tester
6 27 (6.78%) Lead
7 21 (5.28%) Java Developer
7 21 (5.28%) Test Analyst
8 20 (5.03%) Architect
8 20 (5.03%) Software Test Engineer
9 15 (3.77%) QA Engineer
9 15 (3.77%) Senior Developer
9 15 (3.77%) Software Developer
9 15 (3.77%) Test Manager
10 13 (3.27%) Salesforce Engineer
10 13 (3.27%) Software Architect
11 12 (3.02%) Release Manager
12 11 (2.76%) Business Analyst
12 11 (2.76%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (9.30%) Playwright
1 37 (9.30%) React
2 35 (8.79%) Spring
3 33 (8.29%) REST
4 27 (6.78%) Spring Boot
5 22 (5.53%) .NET
5 22 (5.53%) RESTful
6 18 (4.52%) Kafka
7 14 (3.52%) CSS
7 14 (3.52%) HTML
8 12 (3.02%) Node.js
8 12 (3.02%) Redux
9 10 (2.51%) Spring MVC
10 9 (2.26%) AngularJS
10 9 (2.26%) CSS3
10 9 (2.26%) HTML5
10 9 (2.26%) Jest
11 7 (1.76%) Software Packaging
12 6 (1.51%) .NET Framework
13 5 (1.26%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 43 (10.80%) Product Ownership
2 25 (6.28%) Enterprise Software
3 22 (5.53%) Cloud Native
3 22 (5.53%) Embedded Systems
3 22 (5.53%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (4.52%) Distributed Systems
5 14 (3.52%) Management Information System
6 11 (2.76%) Data Centre
6 11 (2.76%) Legacy Systems
7 7 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (1.51%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.26%) FPGA
9 5 (1.26%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.26%) Mobile App
9 5 (1.26%) PCIe
10 4 (1.01%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.01%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.75%) AI Agents
11 3 (0.75%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 3 (0.75%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 31 (7.79%) Windows
2 21 (5.28%) Linux
3 8 (2.01%) Unix
4 6 (1.51%) FreeRTOS
4 6 (1.51%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.01%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.75%) Android
7 2 (0.50%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.50%) zOS
8 1 (0.25%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (45.48%) Test Automation
2 157 (39.45%) Agile
3 134 (33.67%) CI/CD
4 130 (32.66%) DevOps
5 105 (26.38%) Software Engineering
6 84 (21.11%) Continuous Improvement
7 80 (20.10%) Problem-Solving
8 67 (16.83%) Test Scripting
9 65 (16.33%) Validation
10 60 (15.08%) Scrum
10 60 (15.08%) Test Strategy
11 59 (14.82%) SDLC
12 50 (12.56%) Regression Testing
12 50 (12.56%) User Acceptance Testing
13 47 (11.81%) Test Management
14 45 (11.31%) Mentoring
15 44 (11.06%) Defect Management
16 43 (10.80%) Code Quality
17 42 (10.55%) Defect Tracking
18 41 (10.30%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 71 (17.84%) Java
2 65 (16.33%) Python
3 58 (14.57%) SQL
4 38 (9.55%) JavaScript
5 37 (9.30%) C#
6 28 (7.04%) TypeScript
7 14 (3.52%) C++
8 11 (2.76%) C
9 10 (2.51%) PowerShell
10 7 (1.76%) Bash
11 6 (1.51%) PL/SQL
12 5 (1.26%) Apex Code
12 5 (1.26%) VBScript
13 4 (1.01%) Go
14 3 (0.75%) Rust
14 3 (0.75%) VB
15 2 (0.50%) JCL
15 2 (0.50%) MATLAB
15 2 (0.50%) REXX
15 2 (0.50%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 126 (31.66%) Security Cleared
2 101 (25.38%) SC Cleared
3 43 (10.80%) Degree
4 35 (8.79%) ISTQB
5 21 (5.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 11 (2.76%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.76%) DV Cleared
7 7 (1.76%) ISEB
8 4 (1.01%) CEH
8 4 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (1.01%) CISSP
8 4 (1.01%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (0.75%) CCNA
9 3 (0.75%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 2 (0.50%) A+ Certification
10 2 (0.50%) Network+ Certification
10 2 (0.50%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.50%) PMP
10 2 (0.50%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 89 (22.36%) QA
2 16 (4.02%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.76%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.01%) WCAG
5 7 (1.76%) PMO
6 4 (1.01%) NIST
6 4 (1.01%) Software Quality Assurance
7 3 (0.75%) ISO 20022
7 3 (0.75%) SLA
8 2 (0.50%) GRC
8 2 (0.50%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.50%) MiFID
9 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 33 (8.29%) Docker
2 13 (3.27%) Active Directory
3 10 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.01%) Firmware
5 6 (1.51%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (1.01%) Embedded Firmware
7 3 (0.75%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.75%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.75%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (0.50%) NFS
8 2 (0.50%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 40 (10.05%) Kubernetes
2 23 (5.78%) Terraform
3 14 (3.52%) Ansible
4 10 (2.51%) HP ALM
4 10 (2.51%) Prometheus
5 9 (2.26%) Grafana
6 7 (1.76%) Microsoft Intune
7 5 (1.26%) Puppet
8 4 (1.01%) HP Quality Center
8 4 (1.01%) Salt
8 4 (1.01%) SCCM
9 3 (0.75%) Packer
10 2 (0.50%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 1 (0.25%) Kibana
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle ZFS
11 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 37 (9.30%) Oracle
2 32 (8.04%) Microsoft
3 17 (4.27%) Salesforce
4 12 (3.02%) IBM
5 11 (2.76%) VMware
6 10 (2.51%) HP
7 9 (2.26%) Dell
8 8 (2.01%) SAP
9 7 (1.76%) Citrix
10 6 (1.51%) Conga
10 6 (1.51%) GoCardless
10 6 (1.51%) OpenLink
10 6 (1.51%) ServiceNow
11 5 (1.26%) Ab Initio
11 5 (1.26%) Google
11 5 (1.26%) Splunk
11 5 (1.26%) Teradata
12 4 (1.01%) Fortinet
13 3 (0.75%) Atlassian
13 3 (0.75%) Remedy
291 Software Testing jobs in England