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

 6 months to
14 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 203 172
Rank change year-on-year -22 -31 +12
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 396 337 525
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.16% 1.29% 1.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.32% 1.44% 1.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 259 204 355
10th Percentile £325 £313 £250
25th Percentile £376 £394 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% - -9.52%
75th Percentile £538 £618 £600
90th Percentile £601 £684 £675
UK median daily rate £446 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -6.11% - -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 16 78
10th Percentile £15.25 £57.44 £43.75
25th Percentile £47.50 £62.19 £56.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +30.00%
75th Percentile £67.25 £76.44 -
90th Percentile £68.75 £80.75 £69.00
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 29,953 23,398 33,216
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 87.52% 89.80% 87.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,141 14,488 22,145
10th Percentile £310 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £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 1,876 738 1,974
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £13.31
25th Percentile £18.21 £21.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.77 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.37% - -
75th Percentile £60.30 £64.50 £60.36
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.42
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £33.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -2.99% +2.15%

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 14 February 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 14 February 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 14 February 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 -33 163 £450 -5.66% 47
South East -19 64 £460 -23.33% 62
North of England -53 49 £405 +0.62% 42
Midlands -29 43 £485 +8.26% 46
South West +6 42 £449 -4.57% 27
West Midlands -28 35 £500 +11.61% 27
Yorkshire -47 26 £461 +13.05% 18
East of England -15 22 £625 +35.14% 29
North West -45 15 £405 +1.25% 23
East Midlands -22 8 £313 - 19
North East - 8 £350 - 1
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 21 (5.30%) Confluence
2 11 (2.78%) SAS
3 7 (1.77%) SharePoint
4 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (1.01%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.76%) SharePoint Server
7 2 (0.51%) Apache
7 2 (0.51%) JBoss
7 2 (0.51%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.25%) CMS
8 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
Applications
1 11 (2.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.27%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.51%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.25%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.51%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.51%) Dynamics NAV
1 2 (0.51%) LabWindows
1 2 (0.51%) Maximo
1 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS R12
1 2 (0.51%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.25%) Algo Collateral
2 1 (0.25%) CODA-Financials
2 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 127 (32.07%) Azure
2 85 (21.46%) Azure DevOps
3 71 (17.93%) AWS
4 37 (9.34%) GitHub
5 32 (8.08%) GCP
6 23 (5.81%) Amazon S3
7 22 (5.56%) GitHub Actions
8 20 (5.05%) AWS Lambda
8 20 (5.05%) Serverless
9 13 (3.28%) Amazon ECS
10 12 (3.03%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (2.53%) Snowflake
12 8 (2.02%) Power Platform
13 7 (1.77%) Entra ID
14 6 (1.52%) OpenShift
15 5 (1.26%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 5 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
16 4 (1.01%) Cloud Computing
16 4 (1.01%) SaaS
17 3 (0.76%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.02%) Ethernet
2 4 (1.01%) DNS
2 4 (1.01%) Firewall
3 3 (0.76%) Internet
3 3 (0.76%) Modbus
3 3 (0.76%) RS-232
3 3 (0.76%) RS-422
3 3 (0.76%) RS-485
3 3 (0.76%) Skype
3 3 (0.76%) SNMP
4 2 (0.51%) Cisco IOS
4 2 (0.51%) Intranet
4 2 (0.51%) IOS XR
4 2 (0.51%) SD-WAN
4 2 (0.51%) Spanning Tree
4 2 (0.51%) SSH
4 2 (0.51%) SSL
4 2 (0.51%) TACACS
4 2 (0.51%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.51%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (8.59%) PostgreSQL
2 22 (5.56%) SQL Server
3 20 (5.05%) NoSQL
4 16 (4.04%) MongoDB
5 15 (3.79%) Relational Database
6 12 (3.03%) MySQL
6 12 (3.03%) Oracle Database
7 11 (2.78%) BigQuery
7 11 (2.78%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 6 (1.52%) Apache Cassandra
8 6 (1.52%) Big Data
9 5 (1.26%) Couchbase
9 5 (1.26%) Data Warehouse
9 5 (1.26%) Power BI
9 5 (1.26%) Redis
10 4 (1.01%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.76%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.76%) Metadata
12 2 (0.51%) Pinecone
13 1 (0.25%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 63 (15.91%) JIRA
2 62 (15.66%) Selenium
3 46 (11.62%) Git
4 40 (10.10%) Jenkins
5 39 (9.85%) Postman
6 36 (9.09%) Cucumber
7 31 (7.83%) Cypress.io
8 26 (6.57%) REST Assured
9 22 (5.56%) GitLab
10 21 (5.30%) JUnit
11 12 (3.03%) JMeter
12 11 (2.78%) TestRail
13 9 (2.27%) WebDriver
14 7 (1.77%) Maven
15 6 (1.52%) HP UFT
15 6 (1.52%) Rational DOORS
15 6 (1.52%) Rational Rhapsody
16 5 (1.26%) Gradle
16 5 (1.26%) SonarQube
16 5 (1.26%) Zephyr
General
1 122 (30.81%) Social Skills
2 65 (16.41%) Analytical Skills
3 61 (15.40%) Finance
4 49 (12.37%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.80%) Banking
6 11 (2.78%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.53%) Military
8 9 (2.27%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.27%) Manufacturing
9 8 (2.02%) Electronics
10 7 (1.77%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.77%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.52%) Automotive
11 6 (1.52%) Front Office
11 6 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.01%) Multimedia
12 4 (1.01%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.01%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.76%) Billing
Job Titles
1 65 (16.41%) Senior
2 52 (13.13%) Developer
3 48 (12.12%) Software Engineer
4 45 (11.36%) Analyst
5 38 (9.60%) Test Analyst
6 37 (9.34%) Test Engineer
7 33 (8.33%) Lead
7 33 (8.33%) Tester
8 25 (6.31%) Consultant
9 20 (5.05%) Java Engineer
10 19 (4.80%) Test Manager
11 17 (4.29%) QA Engineer
12 16 (4.04%) Senior Analyst
12 16 (4.04%) Senior Test Analyst
13 15 (3.79%) Java Developer
14 14 (3.54%) Senior Developer
15 13 (3.28%) QA Leader
16 11 (2.78%) Release Manager
16 11 (2.78%) Systems Analyst
16 11 (2.78%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (10.86%) Playwright
2 39 (9.85%) React
2 39 (9.85%) Spring
3 38 (9.60%) .NET
4 33 (8.33%) RESTful
5 31 (7.83%) Spring Boot
6 28 (7.07%) REST
7 27 (6.82%) Node.js
8 19 (4.80%) HTML
8 19 (4.80%) Kafka
9 17 (4.29%) CSS
10 11 (2.78%) Middleware
11 10 (2.53%) Gherkin
11 10 (2.53%) pytest
12 9 (2.27%) .NET Framework
13 8 (2.02%) AngularJS
13 8 (2.02%) RabbitMQ
14 7 (1.77%) Apache NiFi
14 7 (1.77%) HTML5
14 7 (1.77%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 27 (6.82%) Product Ownership
2 23 (5.81%) Cloud Native
3 18 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (2.78%) Distributed Systems
4 11 (2.78%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (1.77%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (1.52%) CUDA
6 6 (1.52%) Greenfield Project
6 6 (1.52%) Mobile App
6 6 (1.52%) Virtual Team
7 4 (1.01%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.01%) NHS
7 4 (1.01%) PCIe
7 4 (1.01%) Virtual Reality
8 3 (0.76%) Algorithms
8 3 (0.76%) Data Structures
8 3 (0.76%) Derivative
8 3 (0.76%) Fixed Income
8 3 (0.76%) Management Information System
8 3 (0.76%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 40 (10.10%) Windows
2 27 (6.82%) Linux
3 10 (2.53%) Unix
4 5 (1.26%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.01%) FreeRTOS
6 3 (0.76%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.76%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.76%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (0.51%) Android
8 1 (0.25%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.25%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 179 (45.20%) Test Automation
2 150 (37.88%) Agile
3 140 (35.35%) CI/CD
4 135 (34.09%) DevOps
5 107 (27.02%) Problem-Solving
6 87 (21.97%) Test Scripting
7 82 (20.71%) Continuous Improvement
8 79 (19.95%) Software Engineering
9 61 (15.40%) Validation
10 60 (15.15%) Microservices
11 59 (14.90%) Test Strategy
12 52 (13.13%) Test Management
13 50 (12.63%) Containerisation
14 49 (12.37%) API Testing
14 49 (12.37%) TDD
15 45 (11.36%) Defect Tracking
16 44 (11.11%) Scrum
17 41 (10.35%) AI
18 39 (9.85%) Integration Testing
19 36 (9.09%) Manual Testing
Programming Languages
1 88 (22.22%) Java
2 82 (20.71%) Python
3 72 (18.18%) SQL
4 60 (15.15%) JavaScript
5 43 (10.86%) C#
6 39 (9.85%) TypeScript
7 18 (4.55%) C++
8 13 (3.28%) C
9 11 (2.78%) Go
10 9 (2.27%) Bash
10 9 (2.27%) PL/SQL
10 9 (2.27%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.52%) Ada
12 5 (1.26%) Scala
12 5 (1.26%) VBScript
13 4 (1.01%) PowerShell
13 4 (1.01%) VB
14 3 (0.76%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.76%) Groovy
14 3 (0.76%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 111 (28.03%) Security Cleared
2 93 (23.48%) SC Cleared
3 43 (10.86%) Degree
4 32 (8.08%) ISTQB
5 22 (5.56%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (2.53%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.53%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
7 8 (2.02%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 6 (1.52%) ISEB
9 4 (1.01%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.01%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.76%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.76%) PMP
11 2 (0.51%) ACCA
11 2 (0.51%) CIMA
11 2 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.51%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 1 (0.25%) CFA
12 1 (0.25%) ITIL Certification
12 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 106 (26.77%) QA
2 29 (7.32%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.78%) WCAG
4 6 (1.52%) EU AI Act
4 6 (1.52%) NIST
5 4 (1.01%) SLA
6 3 (0.76%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.76%) PMO
6 3 (0.76%) Software Quality Assurance
7 1 (0.25%) IEC 61131
7 1 (0.25%) ISO 20022
7 1 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 54 (13.64%) Docker
2 8 (2.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.52%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.01%) Firmware
5 3 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.76%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 55 (13.89%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.04%) Terraform
3 11 (2.78%) Grafana
4 10 (2.53%) HP ALM
5 7 (1.77%) Prometheus
6 6 (1.52%) Ansible
6 6 (1.52%) Puppet
7 5 (1.26%) HP Quality Center
7 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.01%) SCCM
9 3 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.76%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.76%) WSUS
10 2 (0.51%) Nessus
11 1 (0.25%) Kibana
11 1 (0.25%) Nmap
11 1 (0.25%) Packer
11 1 (0.25%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.25%) Salt
11 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 44 (11.11%) Microsoft
2 39 (9.85%) Oracle
3 10 (2.53%) HP
3 10 (2.53%) ServiceNow
3 10 (2.53%) Splunk
4 9 (2.27%) VMware
5 8 (2.02%) Atlassian
6 6 (1.52%) Cisco
6 6 (1.52%) Salesforce
6 6 (1.52%) SAP
7 5 (1.26%) Workday
8 4 (1.01%) Citrix
8 4 (1.01%) Remedy
9 3 (0.76%) Ab Initio
9 3 (0.76%) Databricks
9 3 (0.76%) Dell
9 3 (0.76%) Micro Focus
9 3 (0.76%) Siemens
9 3 (0.76%) Teradata
9 3 (0.76%) Veeam
248 Software Testing jobs in England