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 31 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 50 43 58
Rank change year-on-year -7 +15 -16
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 1,482 1,255 1,382
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.68% 4.43% 3.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.29% 5.00% 4.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,017 846 995
10th Percentile £331 £325 £400
25th Percentile £400 £400 £432
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% -6.52%
75th Percentile £588 £612 £638
90th Percentile £700 £700 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -5.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 2 46
10th Percentile £41.94 £51.00 £37.50
25th Percentile £48.75 £56.25 £52.19
Median hourly rate £64.25 £67.50 £77.50
Median % change year-on-year -4.81% -12.90% +29.17%
75th Percentile £67.00 £78.75 £90.00
90th Percentile £67.90 £84.00 -
UK median hourly rate £63.50 £47.50 £77.50
% change year-on-year +33.68% -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 28,039 25,113 31,995
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.57% 88.74% 88.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,871 15,476 21,696
10th Percentile £304 £313 £306
25th Percentile £408 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £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 1,770 825 1,406
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £14.38
25th Percentile £17.91 £20.30 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +25.00%
75th Percentile £56.99 £64.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.14% +25.71%

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 31 December 2025.

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 31 December 2025.

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 31 December 2025. 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 -3 725 £500 -3.85% 491
North of England +4 305 £488 +11.43% 818
Midlands +17 153 £495 -1.00% 608
Yorkshire -10 145 £513 +13.89% 332
South East -32 134 £500 -2.44% 844
North West +7 118 £425 +6.25% 420
West Midlands +15 116 £519 -5.73% 316
South West +8 75 £550 -1.79% 399
East of England -2 47 £550 +37.50% 530
North East +17 44 £488 +34.48% 66
East Midlands +7 37 £400 -13.51% 256
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 82 (5.53%) Confluence
2 54 (3.64%) SAS
3 25 (1.69%) Apache Spark
4 16 (1.08%) Apache Airflow
5 13 (0.88%) SharePoint
6 11 (0.74%) Apache
7 6 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 6 (0.40%) CMS
7 6 (0.40%) OpenStack
7 6 (0.40%) Oracle Application Server
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
9 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.20%) WebLogic
10 2 (0.13%) Appian
10 2 (0.13%) JBoss
10 2 (0.13%) Magnolia
10 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Exchange
10 2 (0.13%) nginx
10 2 (0.13%) Sitecore CMS
10 2 (0.13%) WordPress
Applications
1 16 (1.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.54%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.20%) Simulink
5 3 (0.20%) Windchill
6 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (1.21%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.27%) SAP HR
3 3 (0.20%) SAP PLM
3 3 (0.20%) Workday HCM
4 2 (0.13%) Eagle PACE
4 2 (0.13%) Markit EDM
4 2 (0.13%) Maximo
4 2 (0.13%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.13%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.13%) Shopify
5 1 (0.067%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.067%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.067%) Loan IQ
5 1 (0.067%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.067%) Oracle General Ledger
5 1 (0.067%) PORTIA
5 1 (0.067%) Summit
5 1 (0.067%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 408 (27.53%) Azure
2 346 (23.35%) AWS
3 208 (14.04%) GitHub
4 162 (10.93%) Azure DevOps
5 145 (9.78%) GCP
6 106 (7.15%) GitHub Actions
7 100 (6.75%) Serverless
8 51 (3.44%) OpenShift
9 46 (3.10%) Power Platform
10 41 (2.77%) Amazon S3
11 40 (2.70%) AWS Lambda
11 40 (2.70%) Azure AKS
12 36 (2.43%) SaaS
13 34 (2.29%) Snowflake
14 30 (2.02%) AWS CloudFormation
15 28 (1.89%) Amazon EKS
16 27 (1.82%) Azure Data Factory
16 27 (1.82%) Azure Functions
16 27 (1.82%) Power Automate
17 26 (1.75%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 40 (2.70%) Firewall
2 32 (2.16%) Wireshark
3 29 (1.96%) HTTP
4 22 (1.48%) HTTPS
4 22 (1.48%) SSL
5 20 (1.35%) TCP/IP
6 17 (1.15%) VPN
7 15 (1.01%) Network Security
7 15 (1.01%) SD-WAN
8 12 (0.81%) Ethernet
9 10 (0.67%) DNS
9 10 (0.67%) WAN
10 9 (0.61%) Multicast
11 8 (0.54%) AMQP
12 7 (0.47%) FTP
12 7 (0.47%) VLAN
13 5 (0.34%) Cisco IPT
13 5 (0.34%) Internet
13 5 (0.34%) MPLS
14 4 (0.27%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 99 (6.68%) PostgreSQL
2 74 (4.99%) NoSQL
3 65 (4.39%) Relational Database
4 63 (4.25%) SQL Server
5 62 (4.18%) MongoDB
6 33 (2.23%) Data Warehouse
7 29 (1.96%) Pentaho
8 24 (1.62%) BigQuery
9 23 (1.55%) Power BI
10 19 (1.28%) MySQL
10 19 (1.28%) Oracle Database
10 19 (1.28%) Redis
11 18 (1.21%) Big Data
12 17 (1.15%) Data Lake
13 15 (1.01%) Amazon RDS
13 15 (1.01%) SAS Enterprise Guide
14 12 (0.81%) DynamoDB
15 11 (0.74%) Apache Cassandra
15 11 (0.74%) Azure SQL Database
15 11 (0.74%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 275 (18.56%) Git
2 267 (18.02%) Jenkins
3 265 (17.88%) JIRA
4 229 (15.45%) Selenium
5 199 (13.43%) GitLab
6 125 (8.43%) Cucumber
7 108 (7.29%) Postman
8 96 (6.48%) Cypress.io
9 77 (5.20%) JUnit
10 67 (4.52%) REST Assured
11 55 (3.71%) JMeter
12 42 (2.83%) Bitbucket
13 37 (2.50%) SonarQube
14 31 (2.09%) Maven
15 28 (1.89%) TestRail
16 27 (1.82%) SpecFlow
17 24 (1.62%) Gradle
18 23 (1.55%) Gatling
18 23 (1.55%) Mockito
19 21 (1.42%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 411 (27.73%) Social Skills
2 253 (17.07%) Finance
3 194 (13.09%) Public Sector
4 158 (10.66%) Analytical Skills
5 111 (7.49%) Banking
6 31 (2.09%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (1.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 23 (1.55%) Pharmaceutical
8 23 (1.55%) Telecoms
9 21 (1.42%) Investment Banking
9 21 (1.42%) Presentation Skills
10 20 (1.35%) Front Office
11 17 (1.15%) Financial Institution
12 13 (0.88%) Manufacturing
12 13 (0.88%) Military
13 12 (0.81%) Organisational Skills
14 10 (0.67%) Aerospace
14 10 (0.67%) Marketing
15 9 (0.61%) Electronics
15 9 (0.61%) Retail
Job Titles
1 330 (22.27%) Developer
2 247 (16.67%) Senior
3 164 (11.07%) Tester
4 160 (10.80%) Test Engineer
5 129 (8.70%) Lead
6 93 (6.28%) Java Developer
7 86 (5.80%) Automation Tester
8 78 (5.26%) Software Engineer
9 67 (4.52%) Test Automation Engineer
10 64 (4.32%) Analyst
11 62 (4.18%) Data Engineer
11 62 (4.18%) QA Engineer
11 62 (4.18%) Senior Developer
12 52 (3.51%) DevOps Engineer
13 49 (3.31%) Automation Engineer
14 47 (3.17%) Test Analyst
14 47 (3.17%) Test Leader
15 44 (2.97%) Test Manager
16 37 (2.50%) Full-Stack Developer
17 35 (2.36%) Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 189 (12.75%) REST
2 148 (9.99%) Playwright
3 129 (8.70%) React
4 122 (8.23%) .NET
5 108 (7.29%) RESTful
6 107 (7.22%) Node.js
7 102 (6.88%) Kafka
8 96 (6.48%) Spring
9 91 (6.14%) Spring Boot
10 68 (4.59%) pytest
11 59 (3.98%) HTML
12 57 (3.85%) CSS
13 55 (3.71%) AngularJS
13 55 (3.71%) JSON
13 55 (3.71%) SOAP
13 55 (3.71%) XML
14 41 (2.77%) Jest
15 40 (2.70%) JMS
16 38 (2.56%) Web Services
17 36 (2.43%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 152 (10.26%) Cloud Native
2 98 (6.61%) Product Ownership
3 48 (3.24%) Distributed Systems
4 46 (3.10%) Mobile App
5 40 (2.70%) Security Posture
6 30 (2.02%) Algorithms
7 25 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
8 22 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
9 21 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
10 20 (1.35%) Management Information System
10 20 (1.35%) Onboarding
11 19 (1.28%) Data Structures
12 18 (1.21%) Greenfield Project
12 18 (1.21%) Legacy Systems
12 18 (1.21%) Public Cloud
13 16 (1.08%) Genomics
13 16 (1.08%) Life Science
13 16 (1.08%) Virtual Team
14 14 (0.94%) Data Centre
14 14 (0.94%) Equities
Operating Systems
1 151 (10.19%) Linux
2 72 (4.86%) Windows
3 48 (3.24%) Unix
4 39 (2.63%) Android
5 30 (2.02%) Apple iOS
6 19 (1.28%) Mac OS X
7 18 (1.21%) Windows Server
8 10 (0.67%) Kali Linux
9 8 (0.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 6 (0.40%) CentOS
11 3 (0.20%) Mac OS
11 3 (0.20%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.13%) VMS
13 1 (0.067%) FreeRTOS
13 1 (0.067%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.067%) Windows Embedded Compact
13 1 (0.067%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 731 (49.33%) CI/CD
2 730 (49.26%) Agile
3 564 (38.06%) DevOps
4 396 (26.72%) Problem-Solving
5 233 (15.72%) Microservices
6 218 (14.71%) Containerisation
7 214 (14.44%) Scrum
7 214 (14.44%) Test Strategy
8 213 (14.37%) Continuous Improvement
9 197 (13.29%) TDD
10 189 (12.75%) Test Scripting
11 183 (12.35%) Infrastructure as Code
11 183 (12.35%) Software Engineering
12 157 (10.59%) AI
12 157 (10.59%) Validation
13 154 (10.39%) Software Testing
14 148 (9.99%) SDLC
15 145 (9.78%) BDD
16 140 (9.45%) Analytics
17 130 (8.77%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 449 (30.30%) Python
2 344 (23.21%) Java
3 301 (20.31%) SQL
4 211 (14.24%) JavaScript
5 174 (11.74%) TypeScript
6 145 (9.78%) C#
7 82 (5.53%) Bash
8 61 (4.12%) PowerShell
9 35 (2.36%) C++
10 31 (2.09%) Go
11 24 (1.62%) Kotlin
12 22 (1.48%) Bicep
13 20 (1.35%) PL/SQL
14 14 (0.94%) PHP
15 12 (0.81%) Perl
16 11 (0.74%) Apex Code
16 11 (0.74%) Groovy
16 11 (0.74%) Ruby
16 11 (0.74%) Swift
17 8 (0.54%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 385 (25.98%) Security Cleared
2 297 (20.04%) SC Cleared
3 91 (6.14%) Degree
4 60 (4.05%) ISTQB
5 50 (3.37%) Computer Science Degree
6 46 (3.10%) DV Cleared
7 43 (2.90%) BPSS Clearance
8 22 (1.48%) Master's Degree
9 19 (1.28%) AWS Certification
10 18 (1.21%) OSCP
11 17 (1.15%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 15 (1.01%) Azure Certification
12 15 (1.01%) CISSP
12 15 (1.01%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 14 (0.94%) Cisco Certification
13 14 (0.94%) MCP
14 13 (0.88%) CEH
15 12 (0.81%) GPEN
16 11 (0.74%) Oracle Certification
17 10 (0.67%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 330 (22.27%) QA
2 108 (7.29%) Accessibility
3 67 (4.52%) Data Quality
4 33 (2.23%) GDPR
4 33 (2.23%) NIST
4 33 (2.23%) WCAG
5 18 (1.21%) EU AI Act
5 18 (1.21%) NCSC
6 17 (1.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 14 (0.94%) PSD2
8 12 (0.81%) ISO 20022
9 10 (0.67%) PCI DSS
10 9 (0.61%) SEPA
11 8 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 8 (0.54%) SLA
12 6 (0.40%) NIST 800
13 5 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
13 5 (0.34%) MiFID
13 5 (0.34%) PERC
13 5 (0.34%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 315 (21.26%) Docker
2 29 (1.96%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.40%) Firmware
4 5 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.20%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5 3 (0.20%) ISA Server
5 3 (0.20%) QEMU
5 3 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.20%) Virtual Servers
5 3 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.20%) zsh
6 1 (0.067%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.067%) KVM
6 1 (0.067%) Squid
6 1 (0.067%) Time Sharing Option
6 1 (0.067%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.067%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 281 (18.96%) Kubernetes
2 178 (12.01%) Terraform
3 112 (7.56%) Ansible
4 72 (4.86%) Grafana
5 45 (3.04%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.08%) Nmap
7 15 (1.01%) Progress Chef
8 14 (0.94%) CSIRT
9 13 (0.88%) NetBackup
10 12 (0.81%) HP ALM
10 12 (0.81%) Puppet
11 11 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
12 10 (0.67%) Argo
13 7 (0.47%) Kibana
13 7 (0.47%) Nessus
14 6 (0.40%) 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
1 152 (10.26%) Microsoft
1 152 (10.26%) Oracle
2 63 (4.25%) Splunk
3 59 (3.98%) Databricks
4 56 (3.78%) ServiceNow
5 47 (3.17%) Salesforce
6 44 (2.97%) SAP
7 40 (2.70%) Google
8 29 (1.96%) Denodo
8 29 (1.96%) Talend
9 23 (1.55%) VMware
10 22 (1.48%) Cisco
10 22 (1.48%) F5
11 21 (1.42%) Red Hat
12 18 (1.21%) webMethods
13 17 (1.15%) IBM
13 17 (1.15%) MuleSoft
14 15 (1.01%) Atlassian
15 14 (0.94%) Dynatrace
15 14 (0.94%) Workday