Test Automation Contract Job Trends in England

Automated Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Test Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 50 44 58
Rank change year-on-year -6 +14 -16
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 1,473 1,218 1,379
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.66% 4.41% 3.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.26% 4.96% 4.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,005 816 992
10th Percentile £335 £325 £400
25th Percentile £400 £400 £434
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% -6.52%
75th Percentile £588 £616 £638
90th Percentile £700 £700 £720
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -6.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 2 46
10th Percentile £41.94 £51.00 £37.50
25th Percentile £46.25 £56.25 £52.19
Median hourly rate £61.75 £67.50 £77.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.52% -12.90% +29.17%
75th Percentile £66.88 £78.75 £90.00
90th Percentile £67.30 £84.00 -
UK median hourly rate £60.00 £47.50 £77.50
% change year-on-year +26.32% -38.71% +29.17%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Test Automation 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 27,998 24,551 32,113
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.52% 88.81% 88.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,879 15,085 21,750
10th Percentile £304 £310 £306
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £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 1,763 810 1,433
10th Percentile £15.19 £15.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.96 £20.49 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +27.14%
75th Percentile £57.50 £64.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.75
% change year-on-year -22.62% -25.71% +25.00%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Test Automation relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Test Automation job vacancy trend in England

Test Automation
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in England over the 6 months to 3 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Automation in England

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Test Automation in England over the 6 months to 3 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Automation in England

Test Automation
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 Test Automation within the England region over the 6 months to 3 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 -6 719 £500 -3.85% 204
North of England 0 305 £488 +11.43% 142
Midlands +10 153 £495 -0.50% 46
Yorkshire -5 146 £507 +12.61% 54
South East -27 134 £500 -2.44% 130
North West +1 116 £425 +5.66% 63
West Midlands +7 115 £519 -5.73% 27
South West -1 74 £550 -3.51% 62
East of England -3 46 £570 +42.50% 61
North East +20 45 £488 +41.82% 25
East Midlands +1 38 £400 -13.51% 19
Test Automation
UK

Test Automation
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 80 (5.43%) Confluence
2 54 (3.67%) SAS
3 24 (1.63%) Apache Spark
4 15 (1.02%) Apache Airflow
5 13 (0.88%) SharePoint
6 10 (0.68%) Apache
7 6 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 6 (0.41%) CMS
7 6 (0.41%) OpenStack
7 6 (0.41%) Oracle Application Server
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
9 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.20%) Appian
9 3 (0.20%) WebLogic
10 2 (0.14%) Camunda
10 2 (0.14%) Magnolia
10 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Exchange
10 2 (0.14%) nginx
10 2 (0.14%) Sitecore CMS
10 2 (0.14%) WordPress
Applications
1 15 (1.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (0.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (0.54%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.14%) Simulink
4 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.14%) Trello
4 2 (0.14%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 18 (1.22%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.27%) SAP HR
3 3 (0.20%) Workday HCM
4 2 (0.14%) Eagle PACE
4 2 (0.14%) Markit EDM
4 2 (0.14%) Maximo
4 2 (0.14%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.14%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.14%) SAP PLM
4 2 (0.14%) Shopify
5 1 (0.068%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.068%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.068%) Loan IQ
5 1 (0.068%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.068%) Oracle General Ledger
5 1 (0.068%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.068%) PORTIA
5 1 (0.068%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 406 (27.56%) Azure
2 350 (23.76%) AWS
3 210 (14.26%) GitHub
4 161 (10.93%) Azure DevOps
5 145 (9.84%) GCP
6 108 (7.33%) GitHub Actions
7 102 (6.92%) Serverless
8 53 (3.60%) OpenShift
9 45 (3.05%) Power Platform
10 41 (2.78%) Azure AKS
11 40 (2.72%) Amazon S3
11 40 (2.72%) AWS Lambda
12 35 (2.38%) SaaS
13 33 (2.24%) Snowflake
14 30 (2.04%) AWS CloudFormation
15 28 (1.90%) Amazon EKS
15 28 (1.90%) Azure Functions
16 27 (1.83%) Azure Data Factory
16 27 (1.83%) Power Automate
17 26 (1.77%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 40 (2.72%) Firewall
2 32 (2.17%) Wireshark
3 27 (1.83%) HTTP
4 21 (1.43%) HTTPS
5 20 (1.36%) TCP/IP
6 19 (1.29%) SSL
7 17 (1.15%) VPN
8 15 (1.02%) Network Security
8 15 (1.02%) SD-WAN
9 12 (0.81%) Ethernet
10 10 (0.68%) WAN
11 9 (0.61%) DNS
12 8 (0.54%) AMQP
12 8 (0.54%) Multicast
13 7 (0.48%) FTP
13 7 (0.48%) VLAN
14 5 (0.34%) Cisco IPT
14 5 (0.34%) Internet
14 5 (0.34%) MPLS
15 4 (0.27%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 98 (6.65%) PostgreSQL
2 70 (4.75%) NoSQL
3 64 (4.34%) Relational Database
4 62 (4.21%) MongoDB
5 61 (4.14%) SQL Server
6 31 (2.10%) Data Warehouse
7 29 (1.97%) Pentaho
8 24 (1.63%) BigQuery
9 23 (1.56%) Power BI
10 20 (1.36%) MySQL
10 20 (1.36%) Redis
11 18 (1.22%) Big Data
11 18 (1.22%) Oracle Database
12 17 (1.15%) Data Lake
13 15 (1.02%) SAS Enterprise Guide
14 14 (0.95%) Amazon RDS
15 13 (0.88%) DynamoDB
16 12 (0.81%) Star Schema
17 11 (0.75%) Apache Cassandra
17 11 (0.75%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 276 (18.74%) Git
2 267 (18.13%) Jenkins
3 258 (17.52%) JIRA
4 225 (15.27%) Selenium
5 200 (13.58%) GitLab
6 123 (8.35%) Cucumber
7 110 (7.47%) Postman
8 98 (6.65%) Cypress.io
9 77 (5.23%) JUnit
10 67 (4.55%) REST Assured
11 57 (3.87%) JMeter
12 40 (2.72%) Bitbucket
13 37 (2.51%) SonarQube
14 30 (2.04%) Maven
15 28 (1.90%) TestRail
16 26 (1.77%) Gradle
16 26 (1.77%) SpecFlow
17 23 (1.56%) Gatling
18 22 (1.49%) Mockito
19 20 (1.36%) WebDriver
General
1 401 (27.22%) Social Skills
2 243 (16.50%) Finance
3 197 (13.37%) Public Sector
4 162 (11.00%) Analytical Skills
5 110 (7.47%) Banking
6 31 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (1.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 23 (1.56%) Pharmaceutical
9 21 (1.43%) Investment Banking
10 20 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
10 20 (1.36%) Telecoms
11 19 (1.29%) Front Office
12 16 (1.09%) Financial Institution
13 13 (0.88%) Military
14 12 (0.81%) Organisational Skills
15 11 (0.75%) Manufacturing
16 10 (0.68%) Aerospace
17 9 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
17 9 (0.61%) Retail
18 8 (0.54%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 329 (22.34%) Developer
2 247 (16.77%) Senior
3 161 (10.93%) Tester
4 160 (10.86%) Test Engineer
5 131 (8.89%) Lead
6 92 (6.25%) Java Developer
7 85 (5.77%) Automation Tester
8 78 (5.30%) Software Engineer
9 69 (4.68%) Test Automation Engineer
10 65 (4.41%) Analyst
11 63 (4.28%) QA Engineer
11 63 (4.28%) Senior Developer
12 61 (4.14%) Data Engineer
13 51 (3.46%) DevOps Engineer
14 49 (3.33%) Automation Engineer
15 48 (3.26%) Test Leader
16 47 (3.19%) Test Analyst
17 43 (2.92%) Test Manager
18 36 (2.44%) Full-Stack Developer
18 36 (2.44%) Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 192 (13.03%) REST
2 149 (10.12%) Playwright
3 126 (8.55%) React
4 123 (8.35%) .NET
5 109 (7.40%) RESTful
6 104 (7.06%) Node.js
7 103 (6.99%) Kafka
8 96 (6.52%) Spring
9 90 (6.11%) Spring Boot
10 70 (4.75%) pytest
11 57 (3.87%) AngularJS
11 57 (3.87%) HTML
12 55 (3.73%) CSS
13 54 (3.67%) JSON
14 53 (3.60%) XML
15 51 (3.46%) SOAP
16 40 (2.72%) Jest
17 39 (2.65%) JMS
17 39 (2.65%) Web Services
18 38 (2.58%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 154 (10.45%) Cloud Native
2 96 (6.52%) Product Ownership
3 49 (3.33%) Distributed Systems
4 45 (3.05%) Mobile App
5 39 (2.65%) Security Posture
6 31 (2.10%) Algorithms
7 25 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
8 23 (1.56%) Enterprise Software
9 20 (1.36%) Data Structures
9 20 (1.36%) Management Information System
9 20 (1.36%) Onboarding
9 20 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
10 19 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
11 18 (1.22%) Greenfield Project
11 18 (1.22%) Public Cloud
12 16 (1.09%) Genomics
12 16 (1.09%) Life Science
12 16 (1.09%) Virtual Team
13 15 (1.02%) Derivative
13 15 (1.02%) Equities
Operating Systems
1 151 (10.25%) Linux
2 72 (4.89%) Windows
3 47 (3.19%) Unix
4 39 (2.65%) Android
5 31 (2.10%) Apple iOS
6 19 (1.29%) Mac OS X
6 19 (1.29%) Windows Server
7 10 (0.68%) Kali Linux
8 8 (0.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 6 (0.41%) CentOS
10 3 (0.20%) Mac OS
10 3 (0.20%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.14%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.14%) VMS
12 1 (0.068%) FreeRTOS
12 1 (0.068%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.068%) Windows Embedded Compact
12 1 (0.068%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 730 (49.56%) CI/CD
2 724 (49.15%) Agile
3 557 (37.81%) DevOps
4 392 (26.61%) Problem-Solving
5 232 (15.75%) Microservices
6 218 (14.80%) Containerisation
7 212 (14.39%) Continuous Improvement
8 208 (14.12%) Scrum
8 208 (14.12%) Test Strategy
9 191 (12.97%) Test Scripting
10 189 (12.83%) TDD
11 187 (12.70%) Infrastructure as Code
12 181 (12.29%) Software Engineering
13 158 (10.73%) AI
14 155 (10.52%) Validation
15 151 (10.25%) Software Testing
16 144 (9.78%) SDLC
17 143 (9.71%) BDD
18 138 (9.37%) Analytics
19 130 (8.83%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 451 (30.62%) Python
2 342 (23.22%) Java
3 298 (20.23%) SQL
4 211 (14.32%) JavaScript
5 177 (12.02%) TypeScript
6 145 (9.84%) C#
7 82 (5.57%) Bash
8 61 (4.14%) PowerShell
9 35 (2.38%) C++
10 32 (2.17%) Go
11 24 (1.63%) Kotlin
12 23 (1.56%) Bicep
13 20 (1.36%) PL/SQL
14 14 (0.95%) PHP
15 11 (0.75%) Apex Code
15 11 (0.75%) Groovy
15 11 (0.75%) Perl
15 11 (0.75%) Swift
16 10 (0.68%) Ruby
17 8 (0.54%) C
Qualifications
1 390 (26.48%) Security Cleared
2 301 (20.43%) SC Cleared
3 89 (6.04%) Degree
4 58 (3.94%) ISTQB
5 51 (3.46%) Computer Science Degree
6 45 (3.05%) DV Cleared
7 44 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
8 22 (1.49%) Master's Degree
9 18 (1.22%) AWS Certification
9 18 (1.22%) OSCP
10 17 (1.15%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 16 (1.09%) CISSP
11 16 (1.09%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 14 (0.95%) Azure Certification
12 14 (0.95%) Cisco Certification
12 14 (0.95%) MCP
13 13 (0.88%) CEH
14 12 (0.81%) GPEN
15 11 (0.75%) Oracle Certification
16 10 (0.68%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 334 (22.67%) QA
2 109 (7.40%) Accessibility
3 67 (4.55%) Data Quality
4 34 (2.31%) NIST
4 34 (2.31%) WCAG
5 33 (2.24%) GDPR
6 19 (1.29%) NCSC
7 18 (1.22%) EU AI Act
8 17 (1.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 14 (0.95%) PSD2
10 12 (0.81%) ISO 20022
11 10 (0.68%) PCI DSS
12 9 (0.61%) SEPA
13 8 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 6 (0.41%) NIST 800
14 6 (0.41%) SLA
15 5 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
15 5 (0.34%) MiFID
15 5 (0.34%) PERC
15 5 (0.34%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 315 (21.38%) Docker
2 30 (2.04%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.34%) Firmware
3 5 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.20%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
4 3 (0.20%) ISA Server
4 3 (0.20%) QEMU
4 3 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.20%) Virtual Servers
4 3 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.20%) zsh
5 1 (0.068%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.068%) KVM
5 1 (0.068%) Squid
5 1 (0.068%) Time Sharing Option
5 1 (0.068%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.068%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 281 (19.08%) Kubernetes
2 179 (12.15%) Terraform
3 110 (7.47%) Ansible
4 74 (5.02%) Grafana
5 47 (3.19%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.09%) Nmap
7 15 (1.02%) Progress Chef
8 14 (0.95%) CSIRT
9 13 (0.88%) NetBackup
10 12 (0.81%) HP ALM
10 12 (0.81%) Puppet
11 11 (0.75%) Argo
12 10 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
13 7 (0.48%) Kibana
13 7 (0.48%) Nessus
14 6 (0.41%) Podman
15 4 (0.27%) Forefront Identity Manager
15 4 (0.27%) NetIQ Identity Manager
15 4 (0.27%) Rancher
15 4 (0.27%) SCCM
Vendors
1 149 (10.12%) Oracle
2 147 (9.98%) Microsoft
3 64 (4.34%) Splunk
4 58 (3.94%) Databricks
5 54 (3.67%) ServiceNow
6 47 (3.19%) Salesforce
7 41 (2.78%) Google
7 41 (2.78%) SAP
8 29 (1.97%) Denodo
8 29 (1.97%) Talend
9 23 (1.56%) Red Hat
9 23 (1.56%) VMware
10 22 (1.49%) Cisco
11 21 (1.43%) F5
12 18 (1.22%) webMethods
13 17 (1.15%) IBM
13 17 (1.15%) MuleSoft
14 15 (1.02%) Atlassian
14 15 (1.02%) Dynatrace
15 14 (0.95%) Workday