Test Automation Contract Job Trends in London

Automated Testing
England > London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in London requiring Test Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 29 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 45 47 53
Rank change year-on-year +2 +6 -8
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 741 629 723
As % of all contract jobs in London 5.01% 4.53% 3.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.51% 5.00% 4.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 492 410 545
10th Percentile £325 £341 £381
25th Percentile £406 £410 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £508 £568
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% -10.57% -5.42%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £675
90th Percentile £723 £750 £750
England median daily rate £500 £500 £534
% change year-on-year - -6.37% -7.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 3
10th Percentile £55.99 - -
25th Percentile £58.15 - £52.50
Median hourly rate £63.50 - £55.00
75th Percentile £65.88 - £61.75
90th Percentile £66.25 - £64.30
England median hourly rate £63.00 £77.19 £77.50
% change year-on-year -18.38% -0.40% +29.17%

All Process & Methodology Skills
London

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 London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 13,453 12,575 16,185
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 91.03% 90.47% 88.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,910 7,994 11,570
10th Percentile £350 £350 £340
25th Percentile £425 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £501 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.67% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 213 156 322
10th Percentile £18.25 £20.75 £16.25
25th Percentile £25.00 £24.66 £19.65
Median hourly rate £34.50 £35.00 £30.08
Median % change year-on-year -1.44% +16.36% -19.79%
75th Percentile £56.50 £53.75 £52.50
90th Percentile £71.60 £79.38 £72.73
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £36.50
% change year-on-year -26.03% -6.85% +4.29%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in London

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in London

Test Automation
Daily Rate Trend in London

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

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

Test Automation
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in London over the 6 months to 29 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Automation in London

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Trend in London

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

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

Test Automation
Contract Job Locations in London

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 London region over the 6 months to 29 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
Central London -10 94 £525 - 49
West London -9 21 £442 +27.93% 13
South London -7 14 £513 +7.89% 8
East London -1 9 £450 +5.88% 10
Test Automation
England

Test Automation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 46 (6.21%) Confluence
2 16 (2.16%) Apache Spark
3 8 (1.08%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (0.81%) Appian
5 5 (0.67%) Apache
5 5 (0.67%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.54%) Camunda
6 4 (0.54%) CMS
7 3 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.27%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.27%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.27%) WordPress
9 1 (0.13%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Application Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
Applications
1 15 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.67%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.27%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 19 (2.56%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.54%) SAP HR
3 3 (0.40%) Loan IQ
4 2 (0.27%) Eagle PACE
4 2 (0.27%) iTrent
4 2 (0.27%) Markit EDM
4 2 (0.27%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.27%) Shopify
4 2 (0.27%) Summit
5 1 (0.13%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.13%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.13%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.13%) IntelliMatch
5 1 (0.13%) ION Anvil
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.13%) PORTIA
5 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.13%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 230 (31.04%) Azure
2 169 (22.81%) AWS
3 105 (14.17%) GitHub
4 102 (13.77%) Azure DevOps
5 79 (10.66%) GCP
6 55 (7.42%) Serverless
7 47 (6.34%) GitHub Actions
8 27 (3.64%) Snowflake
9 26 (3.51%) AWS Lambda
10 25 (3.37%) SaaS
11 23 (3.10%) Azure AKS
11 23 (3.10%) Azure Data Factory
12 22 (2.97%) Azure Cosmos DB
12 22 (2.97%) Power Platform
13 21 (2.83%) Amazon S3
14 18 (2.43%) Amazon EKS
14 18 (2.43%) Dynamics 365
15 17 (2.29%) Azure Functions
16 16 (2.16%) Azure Monitor
17 15 (2.02%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.89%) HTTP
2 13 (1.75%) SSL
3 11 (1.48%) Firewall
4 10 (1.35%) HTTPS
5 9 (1.21%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.08%) VPN
7 7 (0.94%) DNS
7 7 (0.94%) SD-WAN
7 7 (0.94%) WAN
8 5 (0.67%) Cisco IPT
8 5 (0.67%) Network Security
9 4 (0.54%) FTP
9 4 (0.54%) Multicast
10 3 (0.40%) DHCP
10 3 (0.40%) Ethernet
10 3 (0.40%) WebEx
10 3 (0.40%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.27%) VLAN
12 1 (0.13%) Cisco IOS
12 1 (0.13%) Spanning Tree
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (6.21%) PostgreSQL
2 40 (5.40%) SQL Server
3 37 (4.99%) NoSQL
4 24 (3.24%) Relational Database
5 22 (2.97%) MongoDB
6 19 (2.56%) BigQuery
7 17 (2.29%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (1.62%) Big Data
8 12 (1.62%) Power BI
9 11 (1.48%) Data Lake
9 11 (1.48%) Tableau
10 10 (1.35%) Redis
11 9 (1.21%) Amazon Aurora
12 8 (1.08%) Amazon RDS
12 8 (1.08%) Azure SQL Database
12 8 (1.08%) Star Schema
13 7 (0.94%) Metadata
13 7 (0.94%) Pinecone
14 6 (0.81%) Amazon Athena
14 6 (0.81%) Data Vault
Development Applications
1 123 (16.60%) JIRA
2 122 (16.46%) Git
3 103 (13.90%) Selenium
4 99 (13.36%) Jenkins
5 77 (10.39%) GitLab
6 55 (7.42%) Postman
7 53 (7.15%) Cucumber
8 48 (6.48%) Cypress.io
9 32 (4.32%) JMeter
10 28 (3.78%) JUnit
10 28 (3.78%) REST Assured
11 23 (3.10%) SpecFlow
12 20 (2.70%) Bitbucket
13 15 (2.02%) Appium
13 15 (2.02%) TestRail
13 15 (2.02%) WebDriver
14 14 (1.89%) MLflow
15 11 (1.48%) Gatling
15 11 (1.48%) Gradle
16 10 (1.35%) Maven
General
1 187 (25.24%) Social Skills
2 162 (21.86%) Finance
3 82 (11.07%) Banking
4 77 (10.39%) Analytical Skills
5 75 (10.12%) Public Sector
6 22 (2.97%) Investment Banking
7 21 (2.83%) Front Office
8 19 (2.56%) Pharmaceutical
9 18 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
11 10 (1.35%) Financial Institution
12 8 (1.08%) Legal
12 8 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.67%) Marketing
13 5 (0.67%) Publishing
13 5 (0.67%) Retail
13 5 (0.67%) Telecoms
14 4 (0.54%) Military
14 4 (0.54%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.54%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 174 (23.48%) Developer
2 137 (18.49%) Senior
3 94 (12.69%) Tester
4 64 (8.64%) Lead
5 54 (7.29%) Automation Tester
6 53 (7.15%) Test Engineer
7 46 (6.21%) Analyst
8 42 (5.67%) QA Engineer
9 36 (4.86%) Senior Developer
10 34 (4.59%) Java Developer
11 33 (4.45%) Automation Engineer
12 30 (4.05%) Software Engineer
12 30 (4.05%) Test Automation Engineer
13 28 (3.78%) Architect
13 28 (3.78%) Test Analyst
14 27 (3.64%) Python Developer
15 24 (3.24%) Consultant
15 24 (3.24%) Data Engineer
15 24 (3.24%) Python Engineer
16 22 (2.97%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 104 (14.04%) Playwright
2 82 (11.07%) REST
3 78 (10.53%) React
4 70 (9.45%) Node.js
5 67 (9.04%) .NET
6 63 (8.50%) RESTful
7 54 (7.29%) Kafka
8 39 (5.26%) Spring Boot
8 39 (5.26%) Web Services
9 38 (5.13%) Spring
10 36 (4.86%) pytest
11 28 (3.78%) HTML
11 28 (3.78%) JSON
12 26 (3.51%) FastAPI
13 25 (3.37%) XML
14 24 (3.24%) CSS
15 23 (3.10%) GraphQL
15 23 (3.10%) OAuth
15 23 (3.10%) SOAP
16 21 (2.83%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 84 (11.34%) Cloud Native
2 45 (6.07%) Product Ownership
3 29 (3.91%) Distributed Systems
4 23 (3.10%) Mobile App
5 22 (2.97%) Legacy Systems
6 20 (2.70%) Algorithms
7 19 (2.56%) Data Structures
8 18 (2.43%) Virtual Team
9 16 (2.16%) Equities
9 16 (2.16%) Genomics
9 16 (2.16%) Greenfield Project
9 16 (2.16%) Life Science
10 14 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
11 13 (1.75%) Management Information System
12 11 (1.48%) Derivative
12 11 (1.48%) Fixed Income
12 11 (1.48%) Onboarding
13 9 (1.21%) Public Cloud
13 9 (1.21%) Security Posture
14 8 (1.08%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 56 (7.56%) Linux
2 27 (3.64%) Windows
3 22 (2.97%) Apple iOS
4 21 (2.83%) Android
5 12 (1.62%) Unix
6 6 (0.81%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.27%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.13%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 385 (51.96%) CI/CD
2 354 (47.77%) Agile
3 290 (39.14%) DevOps
4 163 (22.00%) Problem-Solving
5 113 (15.25%) AI
6 111 (14.98%) Containerisation
7 106 (14.30%) Test Scripting
8 100 (13.50%) Software Engineering
9 98 (13.23%) Microservices
10 93 (12.55%) Test Strategy
11 87 (11.74%) Software Testing
12 85 (11.47%) Observability
13 84 (11.34%) Continuous Improvement
14 83 (11.20%) Infrastructure as Code
14 83 (11.20%) Validation
15 80 (10.80%) TDD
16 78 (10.53%) Scrum
17 77 (10.39%) API Testing
18 69 (9.31%) Machine Learning
18 69 (9.31%) Regression Testing
Programming Languages
1 249 (33.60%) Python
2 166 (22.40%) SQL
3 144 (19.43%) Java
4 139 (18.76%) TypeScript
5 127 (17.14%) JavaScript
6 100 (13.50%) C#
7 21 (2.83%) Bash
7 21 (2.83%) PowerShell
8 18 (2.43%) C++
9 17 (2.29%) Go
10 13 (1.75%) Bicep
11 12 (1.62%) Kotlin
12 11 (1.48%) Apex Code
13 9 (1.21%) PL/SQL
14 8 (1.08%) Swift
15 7 (0.94%) Ruby
15 7 (0.94%) Rust
16 6 (0.81%) Perl
16 6 (0.81%) T-SQL
17 5 (0.67%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 139 (18.76%) Security Cleared
2 119 (16.06%) SC Cleared
3 53 (7.15%) Degree
4 37 (4.99%) ISTQB
5 23 (3.10%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
7 16 (2.16%) Master's Degree
8 12 (1.62%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.21%) OSCP
10 7 (0.94%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.81%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 6 (0.81%) SANS
12 5 (0.67%) GPEN
12 5 (0.67%) ISEB
13 4 (0.54%) Azure Certification
13 4 (0.54%) CEH
13 4 (0.54%) DBS Check
13 4 (0.54%) MCP
14 3 (0.40%) CREST Certified
14 3 (0.40%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 165 (22.27%) QA
2 45 (6.07%) Accessibility
3 30 (4.05%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.56%) GDPR
5 13 (1.75%) WCAG
6 10 (1.35%) NIST
7 8 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.81%) NCSC
9 5 (0.67%) PERC
10 4 (0.54%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.54%) MiFID
10 4 (0.54%) SLA
10 4 (0.54%) Software Quality Assurance
11 3 (0.40%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.40%) GMP
11 3 (0.40%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.40%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.13%) GRC
12 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
System Software
1 161 (21.73%) Docker
2 10 (1.35%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
4 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) Squid
5 1 (0.13%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) zsh
Systems Management
1 126 (17.00%) Kubernetes
2 78 (10.53%) Terraform
3 30 (4.05%) Ansible
4 23 (3.10%) Grafana
5 19 (2.56%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.21%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.67%) Nmap
8 4 (0.54%) Nessus
8 4 (0.54%) Rancher
9 3 (0.40%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.40%) Puppet
9 3 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.27%) Argo
10 2 (0.27%) HP Quality Center
10 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.27%) SCCM
10 2 (0.27%) vRealize
11 1 (0.13%) CloudHub
11 1 (0.13%) Istio
11 1 (0.13%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 66 (8.91%) Microsoft
2 48 (6.48%) Oracle
3 39 (5.26%) Databricks
3 39 (5.26%) Salesforce
4 37 (4.99%) Google
5 24 (3.24%) ServiceNow
6 18 (2.43%) Splunk
7 17 (2.29%) OpenAI
7 17 (2.29%) SAP
8 14 (1.89%) MuleSoft
9 11 (1.48%) Guidewire
10 10 (1.35%) Apple
11 9 (1.21%) Dynatrace
11 9 (1.21%) HP
11 9 (1.21%) UiPath
12 7 (0.94%) webMethods
13 6 (0.81%) Charles River
13 6 (0.81%) Cisco
13 6 (0.81%) IBM
13 6 (0.81%) VMware