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 12 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 50 46 54
Rank change year-on-year -4 +8 -9
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 691 633 718
As % of all contract jobs in London 4.92% 4.55% 3.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.39% 5.04% 4.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 461 417 536
10th Percentile £325 £340 £378
25th Percentile £400 £409 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £568
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -8.37% -5.42%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £664
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
England median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -6.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile £55.99 - -
25th Percentile £58.15 - -
Median hourly rate £63.50 - -
75th Percentile £65.88 - -
90th Percentile £66.25 - -
England median hourly rate £64.25 £67.50 £77.50
% change year-on-year -4.81% -12.90% +36.30%

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 12,819 12,566 16,131
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 91.29% 90.27% 88.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,452 8,018 11,523
10th Percentile £350 £350 £350
25th Percentile £425 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -2.22% -6.25%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 221 152 260
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.44 £16.25
25th Percentile £24.61 £23.80 £19.99
Median hourly rate £32.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +7.69% -13.33%
75th Percentile £53.75 £53.75 £53.84
90th Percentile £69.36 £80.68 £73.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year -26.03% -20.00% +21.43%

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 12 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 12 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 -8 92 £525 - 46
West London -13 16 £442 +29.62% 5
South London -5 15 £513 +4.59% 17
East London -4 10 £448 +5.29% 11
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 45 (6.51%) Confluence
2 15 (2.17%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.87%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (0.72%) Apache
4 5 (0.72%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.58%) Appian
5 4 (0.58%) CMS
6 3 (0.43%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.29%) Camunda
7 2 (0.29%) Magnolia
7 2 (0.29%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.29%) WordPress
8 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.14%) nginx
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle Application Server
8 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 13 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.87%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.72%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.29%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.46%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.58%) SAP HR
3 2 (0.29%) Eagle PACE
3 2 (0.29%) Markit EDM
3 2 (0.29%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.29%) Shopify
4 1 (0.14%) Algo Collateral
4 1 (0.14%) Bloomberg TOMS
4 1 (0.14%) CODA-Financials
4 1 (0.14%) IntelliMatch
4 1 (0.14%) ION Anvil
4 1 (0.14%) iTrent
4 1 (0.14%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.14%) PORTIA
4 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.14%) Summit
4 1 (0.14%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 216 (31.26%) Azure
2 158 (22.87%) AWS
3 100 (14.47%) GitHub
4 92 (13.31%) Azure DevOps
5 76 (11.00%) GCP
6 51 (7.38%) Serverless
7 42 (6.08%) GitHub Actions
8 24 (3.47%) Snowflake
9 23 (3.33%) SaaS
10 22 (3.18%) AWS Lambda
10 22 (3.18%) Azure AKS
10 22 (3.18%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 21 (3.04%) Azure Data Factory
11 21 (3.04%) Power Platform
12 18 (2.60%) Amazon S3
13 17 (2.46%) Dynamics 365
14 16 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
14 16 (2.32%) Azure Functions
14 16 (2.32%) Azure Monitor
15 14 (2.03%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.03%) HTTP
2 13 (1.88%) Firewall
2 13 (1.88%) SSL
3 10 (1.45%) HTTPS
3 10 (1.45%) TCP/IP
4 8 (1.16%) VPN
5 7 (1.01%) DNS
6 6 (0.87%) SD-WAN
6 6 (0.87%) WAN
7 5 (0.72%) Cisco IPT
7 5 (0.72%) Network Security
8 4 (0.58%) FTP
8 4 (0.58%) Multicast
9 3 (0.43%) DHCP
9 3 (0.43%) WebEx
9 3 (0.43%) Wireshark
10 2 (0.29%) DSL
10 2 (0.29%) Ethernet
10 2 (0.29%) VLAN
11 1 (0.14%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (7.96%) PostgreSQL
2 42 (6.08%) SQL Server
3 37 (5.35%) NoSQL
4 26 (3.76%) Relational Database
5 21 (3.04%) MongoDB
6 19 (2.75%) BigQuery
7 18 (2.60%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (1.74%) Big Data
8 12 (1.74%) Redis
9 11 (1.59%) Data Lake
9 11 (1.59%) Power BI
10 8 (1.16%) Amazon Aurora
10 8 (1.16%) Amazon RDS
11 7 (1.01%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (1.01%) Star Schema
11 7 (1.01%) Tableau
12 5 (0.72%) Amazon Redshift
12 5 (0.72%) Data Vault
12 5 (0.72%) Pinecone
13 4 (0.58%) Apache Iceberg
Development Applications
1 114 (16.50%) Git
1 114 (16.50%) JIRA
2 95 (13.75%) Jenkins
3 94 (13.60%) Selenium
4 68 (9.84%) GitLab
5 53 (7.67%) Cucumber
6 51 (7.38%) Postman
7 46 (6.66%) Cypress.io
8 33 (4.78%) JMeter
9 26 (3.76%) JUnit
10 23 (3.33%) Bitbucket
11 21 (3.04%) SpecFlow
12 20 (2.89%) REST Assured
13 15 (2.17%) TestRail
14 14 (2.03%) Appium
15 11 (1.59%) Gatling
15 11 (1.59%) MLflow
16 10 (1.45%) Gradle
16 10 (1.45%) Maven
17 9 (1.30%) WebDriver
General
1 177 (25.62%) Social Skills
2 157 (22.72%) Finance
3 77 (11.14%) Banking
4 69 (9.99%) Public Sector
5 68 (9.84%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (2.89%) Investment Banking
7 19 (2.75%) Front Office
7 19 (2.75%) Pharmaceutical
8 16 (2.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 12 (1.74%) Documentation Skills
10 10 (1.45%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.30%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.01%) Legal
13 6 (0.87%) Telecoms
14 5 (0.72%) Marketing
15 4 (0.58%) Back Office
15 4 (0.58%) Electronics
15 4 (0.58%) International Banking
15 4 (0.58%) Retail
15 4 (0.58%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 160 (23.15%) Developer
2 131 (18.96%) Senior
3 88 (12.74%) Tester
4 55 (7.96%) Lead
5 52 (7.53%) Test Engineer
6 51 (7.38%) Automation Tester
7 40 (5.79%) Analyst
8 39 (5.64%) QA Engineer
9 34 (4.92%) Senior Developer
10 33 (4.78%) Software Engineer
11 32 (4.63%) Java Developer
12 31 (4.49%) Test Automation Engineer
13 28 (4.05%) Automation Engineer
13 28 (4.05%) Python Developer
14 27 (3.91%) Consultant
14 27 (3.91%) Test Analyst
15 24 (3.47%) Architect
16 23 (3.33%) Data Engineer
16 23 (3.33%) Python Engineer
17 20 (2.89%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (13.17%) Playwright
2 74 (10.71%) React
3 73 (10.56%) REST
4 67 (9.70%) Node.js
5 65 (9.41%) .NET
6 59 (8.54%) RESTful
7 53 (7.67%) Kafka
8 34 (4.92%) pytest
8 34 (4.92%) Spring Boot
8 34 (4.92%) Web Services
9 32 (4.63%) Spring
10 29 (4.20%) JSON
11 27 (3.91%) HTML
12 26 (3.76%) FastAPI
13 25 (3.62%) CSS
13 25 (3.62%) XML
14 23 (3.33%) AngularJS
15 22 (3.18%) SOAP
16 21 (3.04%) GraphQL
17 17 (2.46%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 79 (11.43%) Cloud Native
2 44 (6.37%) Product Ownership
3 29 (4.20%) Distributed Systems
4 19 (2.75%) Mobile App
5 17 (2.46%) Data Structures
6 16 (2.32%) Algorithms
6 16 (2.32%) Genomics
6 16 (2.32%) Life Science
7 15 (2.17%) Equities
7 15 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.88%) Derivative
8 13 (1.88%) Management Information System
9 12 (1.74%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.59%) Greenfield Project
10 11 (1.59%) Onboarding
11 10 (1.45%) Fixed Income
12 9 (1.30%) Linux Command Line
12 9 (1.30%) Reinsurance
12 9 (1.30%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 56 (8.10%) Linux
2 27 (3.91%) Windows
3 20 (2.89%) Android
3 20 (2.89%) Apple iOS
4 15 (2.17%) Unix
5 6 (0.87%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.29%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.14%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 353 (51.09%) CI/CD
2 344 (49.78%) Agile
3 275 (39.80%) DevOps
4 156 (22.58%) Problem-Solving
5 103 (14.91%) Software Engineering
6 101 (14.62%) Containerisation
7 98 (14.18%) Microservices
8 97 (14.04%) AI
9 96 (13.89%) Test Scripting
10 84 (12.16%) Infrastructure as Code
11 81 (11.72%) Test Strategy
12 79 (11.43%) Validation
13 77 (11.14%) TDD
14 75 (10.85%) Observability
14 75 (10.85%) Scrum
14 75 (10.85%) Software Testing
15 74 (10.71%) Continuous Improvement
16 71 (10.27%) SDLC
17 67 (9.70%) Machine Learning
18 64 (9.26%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 239 (34.59%) Python
2 159 (23.01%) SQL
3 137 (19.83%) Java
4 120 (17.37%) TypeScript
5 117 (16.93%) JavaScript
6 91 (13.17%) C#
7 23 (3.33%) PowerShell
8 22 (3.18%) Bash
9 19 (2.75%) C++
10 16 (2.32%) Go
11 13 (1.88%) Bicep
12 11 (1.59%) Kotlin
13 9 (1.30%) Apex Code
14 8 (1.16%) PL/SQL
15 7 (1.01%) Perl
15 7 (1.01%) Ruby
15 7 (1.01%) Rust
15 7 (1.01%) Swift
16 5 (0.72%) Groovy
16 5 (0.72%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 125 (18.09%) Security Cleared
2 107 (15.48%) SC Cleared
3 54 (7.81%) Degree
4 34 (4.92%) ISTQB
5 24 (3.47%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (2.03%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.88%) Master's Degree
8 12 (1.74%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.30%) OSCP
10 7 (1.01%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.87%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 6 (0.87%) SANS
12 5 (0.72%) GPEN
13 4 (0.58%) Azure Certification
13 4 (0.58%) CEH
13 4 (0.58%) DBS Check
13 4 (0.58%) ISEB
13 4 (0.58%) MCP
14 3 (0.43%) CREST Certified
15 2 (0.29%) GXPN
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 159 (23.01%) QA
2 46 (6.66%) Accessibility
3 24 (3.47%) Data Quality
4 17 (2.46%) GDPR
5 15 (2.17%) WCAG
6 10 (1.45%) NIST
7 7 (1.01%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.87%) NCSC
9 5 (0.72%) MiFID
9 5 (0.72%) PERC
10 4 (0.58%) Software Quality Assurance
11 3 (0.43%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.43%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.43%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.43%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.29%) EMIR
12 2 (0.29%) GMP
12 2 (0.29%) ITGC
13 1 (0.14%) GRC
System Software
1 144 (20.84%) Docker
2 9 (1.30%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.43%) Virtual Servers
3 3 (0.43%) zsh
4 2 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.14%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.14%) Firmware
5 1 (0.14%) Squid
5 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.14%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 115 (16.64%) Kubernetes
2 77 (11.14%) Terraform
3 28 (4.05%) Ansible
4 22 (3.18%) Grafana
5 17 (2.46%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.30%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.72%) Nmap
8 4 (0.58%) Nessus
8 4 (0.58%) Rancher
9 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.29%) Argo
10 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.29%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.29%) SCCM
10 2 (0.29%) vRealize
11 1 (0.14%) CloudHub
11 1 (0.14%) Functional Safety
11 1 (0.14%) HP Quality Center
11 1 (0.14%) NetBackup
11 1 (0.14%) Puppet
Vendors
1 57 (8.25%) Microsoft
2 49 (7.09%) Oracle
3 39 (5.64%) Databricks
4 35 (5.07%) Google
5 34 (4.92%) Salesforce
6 23 (3.33%) ServiceNow
7 17 (2.46%) Splunk
8 15 (2.17%) SAP
9 14 (2.03%) MuleSoft
9 14 (2.03%) OpenAI
10 10 (1.45%) Guidewire
11 9 (1.30%) Apple
11 9 (1.30%) Dynatrace
11 9 (1.30%) HP
12 8 (1.16%) UiPath
13 7 (1.01%) webMethods
14 6 (0.87%) Charles River
14 6 (0.87%) Cisco
14 6 (0.87%) IBM
14 6 (0.87%) VMware