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 19 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 42 51
Rank change year-on-year -4 +9 -6
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 786 654 714
As % of all contract jobs in London 5.04% 4.83% 3.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.57% 5.33% 4.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 519 432 527
10th Percentile £325 £341 £379
25th Percentile £400 £410 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £563
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -6.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £675
90th Percentile £688 £750 £750
England median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 5
10th Percentile £55.99 - -
25th Percentile £58.15 - £52.50
Median hourly rate £63.50 - £55.00
75th Percentile £65.88 - £65.00
90th Percentile £66.25 - £65.60
England median hourly rate £65.00 £77.19 £70.00
% change year-on-year -15.79% +10.27% +19.66%

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 14,107 12,276 16,138
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 90.50% 90.65% 88.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,418 7,891 11,536
10th Percentile £350 £350 £338
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 £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 221 153 342
10th Percentile £18.25 £21.05 £16.02
25th Percentile £25.15 £26.00 £19.57
Median hourly rate £35.00 £37.50 £30.08
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +24.67% -16.44%
75th Percentile £56.50 £55.25 £52.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £78.68 £72.50
England median hourly rate £26.78 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -23.49% - -

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 19 February 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 19 February 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 -7 98 £525 +0.24% 50
West London -14 22 £450 +30.25% 10
South London -9 19 £513 +7.89% 2
East London -4 8 £448 +5.29% 8
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 50 (6.36%) Confluence
2 14 (1.78%) Apache Spark
3 8 (1.02%) Apache Airflow
3 8 (1.02%) Appian
4 5 (0.64%) Apache
4 5 (0.64%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.51%) Camunda
5 4 (0.51%) CMS
6 3 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.25%) Magnolia
7 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.25%) nginx
7 2 (0.25%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.25%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Application Server
8 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 19 (2.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.76%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.51%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.51%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 19 (2.42%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.51%) Loan IQ
2 4 (0.51%) SAP HR
2 4 (0.51%) Shopify
3 3 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.25%) iTrent
4 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.25%) Summit
5 1 (0.13%) Algo Collateral
5 1 (0.13%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.13%) CODA-Financials
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.13%) Eagle PACE
5 1 (0.13%) IntelliMatch
5 1 (0.13%) Markit EDM
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.13%) PORTIA
5 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.13%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 246 (31.30%) Azure
2 182 (23.16%) AWS
3 117 (14.89%) GitHub
4 107 (13.61%) Azure DevOps
5 84 (10.69%) GCP
6 53 (6.74%) GitHub Actions
7 52 (6.62%) Serverless
8 28 (3.56%) Power Platform
8 28 (3.56%) Snowflake
9 27 (3.44%) Azure Data Factory
10 26 (3.31%) SaaS
11 24 (3.05%) AWS Lambda
12 23 (2.93%) Amazon S3
13 22 (2.80%) Azure AKS
14 20 (2.54%) Dynamics 365
15 19 (2.42%) Azure Cosmos DB
16 17 (2.16%) Amazon EKS
17 16 (2.04%) Power Automate
18 15 (1.91%) Apigee
19 14 (1.78%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 12 (1.53%) Firewall
2 11 (1.40%) HTTP
3 10 (1.27%) HTTPS
3 10 (1.27%) SSL
4 8 (1.02%) VPN
5 7 (0.89%) DNS
5 7 (0.89%) SD-WAN
5 7 (0.89%) TCP/IP
5 7 (0.89%) WAN
6 5 (0.64%) Cisco IPT
6 5 (0.64%) Network Security
7 4 (0.51%) FTP
7 4 (0.51%) Multicast
8 3 (0.38%) DHCP
8 3 (0.38%) Ethernet
8 3 (0.38%) WebEx
8 3 (0.38%) Wireshark
9 2 (0.25%) Cisco IOS
9 2 (0.25%) SNMP
9 2 (0.25%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (6.11%) PostgreSQL
2 44 (5.60%) SQL Server
3 33 (4.20%) NoSQL
4 25 (3.18%) Relational Database
5 19 (2.42%) BigQuery
5 19 (2.42%) Data Warehouse
5 19 (2.42%) MongoDB
6 15 (1.91%) Power BI
7 12 (1.53%) Tableau
8 10 (1.27%) Big Data
8 10 (1.27%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.27%) Redis
9 9 (1.15%) Oracle Database
9 9 (1.15%) Pinecone
10 8 (1.02%) Amazon Aurora
10 8 (1.02%) Azure SQL Database
10 8 (1.02%) Metadata
10 8 (1.02%) Star Schema
11 7 (0.89%) Amazon RDS
11 7 (0.89%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 134 (17.05%) JIRA
2 125 (15.90%) Git
3 105 (13.36%) Jenkins
4 104 (13.23%) Selenium
5 85 (10.81%) GitLab
6 58 (7.38%) Postman
7 56 (7.12%) Cucumber
8 52 (6.62%) Cypress.io
9 34 (4.33%) REST Assured
10 33 (4.20%) JMeter
11 28 (3.56%) SpecFlow
12 26 (3.31%) JUnit
13 19 (2.42%) MLflow
14 17 (2.16%) Bitbucket
15 16 (2.04%) TestRail
15 16 (2.04%) WebDriver
16 13 (1.65%) Appium
17 11 (1.40%) Maven
17 11 (1.40%) Zephyr
18 10 (1.27%) Gradle
General
1 200 (25.45%) Social Skills
2 172 (21.88%) Finance
3 89 (11.32%) Banking
4 84 (10.69%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (10.69%) Public Sector
5 25 (3.18%) Investment Banking
6 22 (2.80%) Front Office
7 19 (2.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (2.16%) Pharmaceutical
9 10 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (1.15%) Legal
11 8 (1.02%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (0.89%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
13 6 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.64%) Marketing
14 5 (0.64%) Publishing
14 5 (0.64%) Retail
14 5 (0.64%) Telecoms
15 4 (0.51%) International Banking
Job Titles
1 180 (22.90%) Developer
2 154 (19.59%) Senior
3 93 (11.83%) Tester
4 75 (9.54%) Lead
5 61 (7.76%) Test Engineer
6 55 (7.00%) Automation Tester
7 53 (6.74%) Analyst
8 42 (5.34%) QA Engineer
9 38 (4.83%) Senior Developer
10 35 (4.45%) Architect
10 35 (4.45%) Automation Engineer
11 33 (4.20%) Software Engineer
12 32 (4.07%) Java Developer
12 32 (4.07%) Test Analyst
13 31 (3.94%) Test Automation Engineer
14 27 (3.44%) Data Engineer
14 27 (3.44%) DevOps Engineer
14 27 (3.44%) Python Developer
15 24 (3.05%) Consultant
16 23 (2.93%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 117 (14.89%) Playwright
2 86 (10.94%) REST
3 83 (10.56%) React
4 71 (9.03%) .NET
5 69 (8.78%) Node.js
6 63 (8.02%) RESTful
7 56 (7.12%) Kafka
8 39 (4.96%) pytest
8 39 (4.96%) Spring
9 38 (4.83%) Web Services
10 36 (4.58%) Spring Boot
11 32 (4.07%) HTML
12 29 (3.69%) CSS
12 29 (3.69%) OAuth
13 26 (3.31%) FastAPI
14 25 (3.18%) JSON
15 23 (2.93%) GraphQL
15 23 (2.93%) SOAP
16 22 (2.80%) XML
17 21 (2.67%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 92 (11.70%) Cloud Native
2 46 (5.85%) Product Ownership
3 31 (3.94%) Distributed Systems
3 31 (3.94%) Legacy Systems
4 24 (3.05%) Algorithms
5 21 (2.67%) Data Structures
6 20 (2.54%) Mobile App
7 19 (2.42%) Data Protection Act
7 19 (2.42%) Equities
8 18 (2.29%) Virtual Team
9 17 (2.16%) Greenfield Project
9 17 (2.16%) Onboarding
10 14 (1.78%) Genomics
10 14 (1.78%) Life Science
10 14 (1.78%) Management Information System
11 12 (1.53%) Derivative
11 12 (1.53%) Fixed Income
12 11 (1.40%) Security Posture
13 10 (1.27%) Public Cloud
14 9 (1.15%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 54 (6.87%) Linux
2 31 (3.94%) Windows
3 22 (2.80%) Android
3 22 (2.80%) Apple iOS
4 10 (1.27%) Unix
5 7 (0.89%) Windows Server
6 5 (0.64%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.13%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.13%) Solaris
7 1 (0.13%) VMS
7 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
7 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 416 (52.93%) CI/CD
2 362 (46.06%) Agile
3 299 (38.04%) DevOps
4 169 (21.50%) Problem-Solving
5 131 (16.67%) AI
6 114 (14.50%) Containerisation
7 109 (13.87%) Test Scripting
8 105 (13.36%) Microservices
8 105 (13.36%) Test Strategy
9 104 (13.23%) Software Engineering
10 102 (12.98%) Observability
11 101 (12.85%) Infrastructure as Code
12 99 (12.60%) Validation
13 96 (12.21%) Software Testing
14 93 (11.83%) Continuous Improvement
15 83 (10.56%) API Testing
16 82 (10.43%) Scrum
17 81 (10.31%) TDD
18 77 (9.80%) Regression Testing
19 75 (9.54%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 269 (34.22%) Python
2 177 (22.52%) SQL
3 154 (19.59%) Java
4 149 (18.96%) TypeScript
5 137 (17.43%) JavaScript
6 104 (13.23%) C#
7 20 (2.54%) Bash
7 20 (2.54%) PowerShell
8 19 (2.42%) C++
9 15 (1.91%) Go
10 14 (1.78%) Bicep
10 14 (1.78%) Kotlin
11 10 (1.27%) Apex Code
11 10 (1.27%) PL/SQL
12 9 (1.15%) Swift
13 8 (1.02%) Ruby
14 7 (0.89%) Rust
14 7 (0.89%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.64%) Shell Script
16 4 (0.51%) C
Qualifications
1 156 (19.85%) Security Cleared
2 133 (16.92%) SC Cleared
3 59 (7.51%) Degree
4 38 (4.83%) ISTQB
5 25 (3.18%) Computer Science Degree
6 23 (2.93%) BPSS Clearance
7 18 (2.29%) Master's Degree
8 12 (1.53%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.15%) OSCP
10 7 (0.89%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.76%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 6 (0.76%) SANS
12 5 (0.64%) Azure Certification
12 5 (0.64%) DBS Check
12 5 (0.64%) GPEN
12 5 (0.64%) ISEB
13 4 (0.51%) CEH
13 4 (0.51%) DV Cleared
14 3 (0.38%) CREST Certified
14 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 179 (22.77%) QA
2 47 (5.98%) Accessibility
3 38 (4.83%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.42%) GDPR
5 14 (1.78%) WCAG
6 12 (1.53%) NIST
7 9 (1.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.76%) NCSC
9 5 (0.64%) PERC
10 4 (0.51%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.51%) MiFID
10 4 (0.51%) SLA
10 4 (0.51%) Software Quality Assurance
11 3 (0.38%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.38%) GMP
11 3 (0.38%) HL7
11 3 (0.38%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.38%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 165 (20.99%) Docker
2 11 (1.40%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.51%) Virtual Servers
4 3 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.25%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.13%) Firmware
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.13%) Squid
6 1 (0.13%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.13%) zsh
Systems Management
1 133 (16.92%) Kubernetes
2 85 (10.81%) Terraform
3 27 (3.44%) Ansible
4 24 (3.05%) Grafana
5 21 (2.67%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.15%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.64%) Nmap
7 5 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.51%) Nessus
9 3 (0.38%) Kibana
9 3 (0.38%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.38%) Puppet
9 3 (0.38%) Rancher
10 2 (0.25%) HP Quality Center
10 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.25%) SCCM
10 2 (0.25%) vRealize
11 1 (0.13%) CloudHub
11 1 (0.13%) Istio
11 1 (0.13%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 73 (9.29%) Microsoft
2 48 (6.11%) Oracle
3 42 (5.34%) Databricks
4 39 (4.96%) Salesforce
5 35 (4.45%) Google
6 26 (3.31%) ServiceNow
7 18 (2.29%) SAP
8 15 (1.91%) OpenAI
9 14 (1.78%) Splunk
10 13 (1.65%) MuleSoft
11 12 (1.53%) Guidewire
12 11 (1.40%) UiPath
13 10 (1.27%) Apple
14 9 (1.15%) HP
15 8 (1.02%) Automation Anywhere
15 8 (1.02%) Dynatrace
16 7 (0.89%) Cisco
16 7 (0.89%) IBM
16 7 (0.89%) VMware
16 7 (0.89%) webMethods