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

 6 months to
17 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 239 206 166
Rank change year-on-year -33 -40 +10
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 367 341 540
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.15% 1.27% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.30% 1.42% 1.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 246 193 352
10th Percentile £325 £313 £285
25th Percentile £383 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £455 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.04% -9.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £538 £618 £625
90th Percentile £619 £675 £674
UK median daily rate £445 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -1.11% -10.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 18 88
10th Percentile £26.25 £46.11 £43.75
25th Percentile £47.50 £59.94 £49.97
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%
75th Percentile £67.25 £73.13 -
90th Percentile £68.75 £80.75 £67.61
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%

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 28,213 24,003 32,272
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.28% 89.19% 87.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,027 14,736 21,710
10th Percentile £304 £310 £305
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £648 £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 1,750 779 1,598
10th Percentile £15.17 £15.62 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £18.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £40.29
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -13.14% +15.12%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.47 £75.00 £76.33
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -18.75% +16.65%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 -12 149 £475 -0.84% 60
South East -34 54 £428 -30.77% 146
North of England -61 49 £411 +2.69% 87
Midlands -25 41 £515 +28.75% 69
South West +4 40 £450 +21.62% 67
West Midlands -24 34 £517 +29.19% 25
Yorkshire -39 29 £461 +13.19% 39
East of England -9 17 £598 +36.57% 70
North West -44 13 £405 +20.18% 41
East Midlands -27 7 £313 - 44
North East - 7 £350 - 7
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 18 (4.90%) Confluence
2 17 (4.63%) SAS
3 7 (1.91%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (1.91%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (0.82%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (0.54%) Apache
6 2 (0.54%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.54%) JBoss
6 2 (0.54%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.27%) CMS
Applications
1 9 (2.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.54%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.27%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.54%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.54%) Dynamics NAV
1 2 (0.54%) LabWindows
1 2 (0.54%) Oracle EBS R12
1 2 (0.54%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.27%) Algo Collateral
2 1 (0.27%) CODA-Financials
Cloud Services
1 113 (30.79%) Azure
2 68 (18.53%) AWS
3 65 (17.71%) Azure DevOps
4 34 (9.26%) GitHub
5 28 (7.63%) GCP
6 20 (5.45%) GitHub Actions
7 17 (4.63%) Amazon S3
8 15 (4.09%) AWS Lambda
8 15 (4.09%) Serverless
9 12 (3.27%) Amazon ECS
10 11 (3.00%) Power Platform
11 9 (2.45%) AWS CloudFormation
12 7 (1.91%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (1.91%) Entra ID
12 7 (1.91%) Snowflake
13 6 (1.63%) PaaS
14 4 (1.09%) Amazon Bedrock
14 4 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
14 4 (1.09%) Microsoft 365
15 3 (0.82%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.45%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.63%) Wireshark
3 5 (1.36%) SD-WAN
4 4 (1.09%) DNS
4 4 (1.09%) Firewall
4 4 (1.09%) Internet
5 3 (0.82%) Skype
5 3 (0.82%) SNMP
6 2 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
6 2 (0.54%) FTP
6 2 (0.54%) Intranet
6 2 (0.54%) IOS XR
6 2 (0.54%) Spanning Tree
6 2 (0.54%) SSH
6 2 (0.54%) SSL
6 2 (0.54%) TACACS
6 2 (0.54%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.54%) Wireless
7 1 (0.27%) Network Security
7 1 (0.27%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (7.63%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (5.18%) SQL Server
3 18 (4.90%) NoSQL
4 17 (4.63%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 14 (3.81%) MongoDB
6 13 (3.54%) Oracle Database
7 11 (3.00%) BigQuery
8 10 (2.72%) MySQL
8 10 (2.72%) Relational Database
9 7 (1.91%) Power BI
10 6 (1.63%) Apache Cassandra
10 6 (1.63%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 5 (1.36%) Couchbase
12 4 (1.09%) Pinecone
13 3 (0.82%) Big Data
13 3 (0.82%) DynamoDB
13 3 (0.82%) Metadata
14 2 (0.54%) Amazon Redshift
14 2 (0.54%) Data Warehouse
14 2 (0.54%) Redis
Development Applications
1 61 (16.62%) Selenium
2 48 (13.08%) JIRA
3 42 (11.44%) Git
4 38 (10.35%) Cucumber
5 37 (10.08%) Jenkins
5 37 (10.08%) Postman
6 29 (7.90%) Cypress.io
7 24 (6.54%) REST Assured
8 20 (5.45%) GitLab
9 19 (5.18%) JUnit
10 10 (2.72%) JMeter
11 7 (1.91%) TestRail
11 7 (1.91%) WebDriver
12 6 (1.63%) Maven
12 6 (1.63%) Rational DOORS
12 6 (1.63%) Rational Rhapsody
13 5 (1.36%) Bitbucket
13 5 (1.36%) Gatling
13 5 (1.36%) HP UFT
14 4 (1.09%) SonarQube
General
1 117 (31.88%) Social Skills
2 55 (14.99%) Finance
3 50 (13.62%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (13.08%) Public Sector
5 22 (5.99%) Banking
6 11 (3.00%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.72%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.45%) Manufacturing
9 8 (2.18%) Investment Banking
9 8 (2.18%) Military
10 7 (1.91%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.63%) Automotive
11 6 (1.63%) Front Office
11 6 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.36%) Electronics
13 4 (1.09%) Multimedia
13 4 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (0.82%) Back Office
14 3 (0.82%) Billing
Job Titles
1 61 (16.62%) Senior
2 47 (12.81%) Software Engineer
3 44 (11.99%) Developer
4 39 (10.63%) Analyst
5 37 (10.08%) Test Engineer
6 32 (8.72%) Test Analyst
7 31 (8.45%) Lead
8 30 (8.17%) Tester
9 25 (6.81%) Consultant
10 17 (4.63%) Java Engineer
10 17 (4.63%) Release Manager
11 16 (4.36%) Senior Analyst
12 15 (4.09%) QA Engineer
12 15 (4.09%) Senior Test Analyst
13 14 (3.81%) QA Leader
13 14 (3.81%) Test Manager
14 12 (3.27%) Senior Developer
14 12 (3.27%) Senior Test Engineer
15 11 (3.00%) Software Developer
15 11 (3.00%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (9.81%) Playwright
2 33 (8.99%) .NET
3 31 (8.45%) RESTful
3 31 (8.45%) Spring
4 28 (7.63%) Spring Boot
5 27 (7.36%) React
6 24 (6.54%) REST
7 23 (6.27%) Node.js
8 16 (4.36%) Kafka
9 15 (4.09%) HTML
10 12 (3.27%) CSS
11 10 (2.72%) Middleware
12 8 (2.18%) FastAPI
12 8 (2.18%) Gherkin
12 8 (2.18%) RabbitMQ
13 7 (1.91%) AngularJS
13 7 (1.91%) Apache NiFi
13 7 (1.91%) JSON
13 7 (1.91%) pytest
14 6 (1.63%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 23 (6.27%) Cloud Native
2 22 (5.99%) Product Ownership
3 18 (4.90%) Self-Motivation
4 10 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
5 8 (2.18%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (1.63%) CUDA
7 5 (1.36%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (1.09%) NHS
8 4 (1.09%) PCIe
8 4 (1.09%) Virtual Reality
8 4 (1.09%) Virtual Team
9 3 (0.82%) AI Agents
9 3 (0.82%) Data Structures
9 3 (0.82%) Distributed Computing
9 3 (0.82%) Fixed Income
9 3 (0.82%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (0.82%) PKI
9 3 (0.82%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 31 (8.45%) Windows
2 28 (7.63%) Linux
3 8 (2.18%) Unix
4 4 (1.09%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.82%) Android
5 3 (0.82%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.82%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.54%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.27%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 158 (43.05%) Test Automation
2 143 (38.96%) Agile
3 134 (36.51%) CI/CD
4 117 (31.88%) DevOps
5 96 (26.16%) Problem-Solving
6 71 (19.35%) Test Scripting
7 69 (18.80%) Continuous Improvement
7 69 (18.80%) Software Engineering
8 58 (15.80%) Test Strategy
8 58 (15.80%) Validation
9 55 (14.99%) Microservices
10 48 (13.08%) Scrum
11 47 (12.81%) Containerisation
12 45 (12.26%) TDD
13 40 (10.90%) API Testing
14 39 (10.63%) Test Management
15 36 (9.81%) AI
15 36 (9.81%) Integration Testing
16 34 (9.26%) Manual Testing
17 32 (8.72%) Defect Tracking
Programming Languages
1 77 (20.98%) Java
2 76 (20.71%) Python
3 64 (17.44%) SQL
4 53 (14.44%) JavaScript
5 28 (7.63%) C#
5 28 (7.63%) TypeScript
6 17 (4.63%) C++
7 12 (3.27%) Bash
8 10 (2.72%) C
9 9 (2.45%) Shell Script
10 8 (2.18%) Go
11 6 (1.63%) Ada
11 6 (1.63%) PL/SQL
12 5 (1.36%) Scala
13 4 (1.09%) PowerShell
13 4 (1.09%) VBScript
14 3 (0.82%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.82%) Groovy
14 3 (0.82%) Ruby
14 3 (0.82%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 105 (28.61%) Security Cleared
2 91 (24.80%) SC Cleared
3 38 (10.35%) Degree
4 26 (7.08%) ISTQB
5 21 (5.72%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (2.45%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 6 (1.63%) ISEB
9 4 (1.09%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 3 (0.82%) DV Cleared
10 3 (0.82%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.82%) PMP
11 2 (0.54%) ACCA
11 2 (0.54%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.54%) CIMA
11 2 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.54%) CISSP
11 2 (0.54%) Master's Degree
12 1 (0.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.27%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 100 (27.25%) QA
2 27 (7.36%) Accessibility
3 10 (2.72%) WCAG
4 7 (1.91%) NIST
5 6 (1.63%) EU AI Act
6 4 (1.09%) Software Quality Assurance
7 3 (0.82%) SLA
8 1 (0.27%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.27%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 52 (14.17%) Docker
2 6 (1.63%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.36%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.82%) Firmware
4 3 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.82%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.27%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 50 (13.62%) Kubernetes
2 14 (3.81%) Terraform
3 10 (2.72%) Grafana
4 9 (2.45%) Ansible
5 6 (1.63%) Puppet
6 5 (1.36%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.09%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.82%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.82%) WSUS
9 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.54%) Nessus
10 1 (0.27%) HP Quality Center
10 1 (0.27%) Nmap
10 1 (0.27%) Packer
10 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.27%) Salt
10 1 (0.27%) SCCM
Vendors
1 45 (12.26%) Microsoft
2 37 (10.08%) Oracle
3 10 (2.72%) Cisco
4 9 (2.45%) ServiceNow
4 9 (2.45%) Splunk
5 8 (2.18%) Atlassian
6 6 (1.63%) Meraki
6 6 (1.63%) VMware
7 5 (1.36%) Juniper
7 5 (1.36%) Workday
8 4 (1.09%) HP
8 4 (1.09%) Nokia
8 4 (1.09%) Salesforce
8 4 (1.09%) SAP
9 3 (0.82%) Databricks
9 3 (0.82%) Google
9 3 (0.82%) Micro Focus
9 3 (0.82%) Remedy
9 3 (0.82%) SolarWinds
9 3 (0.82%) Veeam
484 Software Testing jobs in England