Principal Test Engineer Contract Job Trends in Kent

Principal Test Engineer
South East > Kent

The median Principal Test Engineer daily rate in Kent is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
15 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 - -
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs requiring a Principal Test Engineer 2 0 0
As % of all contract jobs in Kent 0.82% - -
As % of the Job Titles category 0.97% - -
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £463 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 - -
75th Percentile £488 - -
90th Percentile - - -
South East median daily rate £475 - -

All Contract IT Job Roles
Kent

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Kent. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in Kent with a recognized job title 206 123 178
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 84.08% 94.62% 93.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 109 96 67
10th Percentile £248 £153 £147
25th Percentile £411 £220 £194
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £375 £440
Median % change year-on-year +46.67% -14.77% +20.55%
75th Percentile £648 £500 £577
90th Percentile £675 £623 £625
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 10 37
10th Percentile £15.80 - £12.88
25th Percentile £34.01 £13.75 £37.40
Median hourly rate £42.00 £17.20 £70.32
Median % change year-on-year +144.19% -75.54% +25.00%
75th Percentile £82.12 £20.40 £75.16
90th Percentile £86.73 £27.78 £82.43
South East median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £57.50
% change year-on-year +98.81% -56.26% +15.00%

Principal Test Engineer Skill Set
Top 10 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Kent

For the 6 months to 15 September 2026, Principal Test Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Kent region featuring Principal Test Engineer in the job title.

1 2 (100.00%) Data Acquisition
1 2 (100.00%) Design for Test
1 2 (100.00%) Functional Testing
1 2 (100.00%) LabVIEW
1 2 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 2 (100.00%) Security Cleared
1 2 (100.00%) Software Testing
1 2 (100.00%) Technical Leadership
1 2 (100.00%) Test Automation
1 2 (100.00%) Test Strategy

Principal Test Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Kent 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:

Development Applications
1 2 (100.00%) LabVIEW
General
1 2 (100.00%) Electronics
1 2 (100.00%) Manufacturing
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Data Acquisition
1 2 (100.00%) Design for Test
1 2 (100.00%) Functional Testing
1 2 (100.00%) Software Testing
1 2 (100.00%) Technical Leadership
1 2 (100.00%) Test Automation
1 2 (100.00%) Test Strategy
Qualifications
1 2 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 2 (100.00%) Security Cleared
Principal Test Engineer jobs