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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 50 45 54
Rank change year-on-year -5 +9 -10
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 727 676 720
As % of all contract jobs in London 5.04% 4.62% 3.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.51% 5.13% 4.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 485 446 541
10th Percentile £325 £339 £400
25th Percentile £405 £406 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £570
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -10.09% -5.00%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £668
90th Percentile £733 £738 £775
England median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -6.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 0
10th Percentile £47.87 - -
25th Percentile £52.16 - -
Median hourly rate £61.22 - -
75th Percentile £65.56 - -
90th Percentile £66.13 - -
England median hourly rate £64.25 £67.50 £77.50
% change year-on-year -4.81% -12.90% +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 13,193 13,182 16,214
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 91.50% 90.18% 89.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,713 8,439 11,605
10th Percentile £350 £350 £350
25th Percentile £425 £450 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -2.22% -4.66%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £756 £800 £788
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 225 163 243
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.13 £17.15
25th Percentile £24.61 £23.80 £20.00
Median hourly rate £31.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +7.69% -13.33%
75th Percentile £53.13 £54.50 £58.38
90th Percentile £69.12 £80.75 £73.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +26.76%

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 1 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Test Automation in London over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Automation in London

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 1 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 -14 93 £525 - 46
South London -4 16 £506 +3.32% 6
West London -12 16 £442 +29.62% 6
East London -3 11 £450 +5.88% 10
North London - 1 - - 4
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 (6.19%) Confluence
2 20 (2.75%) Apache Spark
3 10 (1.38%) Apache Airflow
4 7 (0.96%) Apache
5 5 (0.69%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.55%) CMS
7 3 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.28%) Appian
8 2 (0.28%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.28%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.28%) WordPress
9 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.14%) Camunda
9 1 (0.14%) JBoss
9 1 (0.14%) nginx
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Application Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 13 (1.79%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (0.83%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.28%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (2.48%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.55%) SAP HR
3 2 (0.28%) Eagle PACE
3 2 (0.28%) Markit EDM
3 2 (0.28%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.28%) Shopify
4 1 (0.14%) Algo Collateral
4 1 (0.14%) CODA-Financials
4 1 (0.14%) ION Anvil
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%) Temenos T24
4 1 (0.14%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 231 (31.77%) Azure
2 165 (22.70%) AWS
3 102 (14.03%) GitHub
4 100 (13.76%) Azure DevOps
5 79 (10.87%) GCP
6 50 (6.88%) Serverless
7 45 (6.19%) GitHub Actions
8 27 (3.71%) Snowflake
9 24 (3.30%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 24 (3.30%) Azure Data Factory
10 23 (3.16%) SaaS
11 22 (3.03%) Amazon S3
11 22 (3.03%) AWS Lambda
11 22 (3.03%) Azure AKS
11 22 (3.03%) Power Platform
12 17 (2.34%) Azure Monitor
12 17 (2.34%) Dynamics 365
13 16 (2.20%) Amazon EKS
14 15 (2.06%) Azure Functions
15 14 (1.93%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 16 (2.20%) HTTP
2 14 (1.93%) Firewall
2 14 (1.93%) SSL
3 11 (1.51%) TCP/IP
4 10 (1.38%) HTTPS
5 9 (1.24%) VPN
6 8 (1.10%) DNS
7 6 (0.83%) Multicast
7 6 (0.83%) SD-WAN
7 6 (0.83%) WAN
8 5 (0.69%) Cisco IPT
8 5 (0.69%) Network Security
9 4 (0.55%) FTP
10 3 (0.41%) DHCP
10 3 (0.41%) WebEx
10 3 (0.41%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.28%) DSL
11 2 (0.28%) Ethernet
11 2 (0.28%) VLAN
12 1 (0.14%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 63 (8.67%) PostgreSQL
2 47 (6.46%) SQL Server
3 46 (6.33%) NoSQL
4 27 (3.71%) Relational Database
5 24 (3.30%) MongoDB
6 23 (3.16%) Data Warehouse
7 21 (2.89%) BigQuery
8 13 (1.79%) Big Data
8 13 (1.79%) Data Lake
8 13 (1.79%) Redis
9 11 (1.51%) Power BI
10 10 (1.38%) Amazon RDS
11 8 (1.10%) Amazon Aurora
12 7 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
12 7 (0.96%) Azure SQL Database
12 7 (0.96%) Delta Lake
12 7 (0.96%) Tableau
13 6 (0.83%) Star Schema
14 5 (0.69%) Amazon Athena
14 5 (0.69%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 118 (16.23%) JIRA
2 115 (15.82%) Git
3 101 (13.89%) Selenium
4 99 (13.62%) Jenkins
5 69 (9.49%) GitLab
6 56 (7.70%) Cucumber
7 53 (7.29%) Postman
8 50 (6.88%) Cypress.io
9 35 (4.81%) JMeter
10 26 (3.58%) JUnit
11 24 (3.30%) Bitbucket
12 22 (3.03%) REST Assured
12 22 (3.03%) SpecFlow
13 15 (2.06%) Appium
13 15 (2.06%) TestRail
14 11 (1.51%) Gatling
14 11 (1.51%) Zephyr
15 10 (1.38%) Gradle
15 10 (1.38%) Maven
15 10 (1.38%) webpack
General
1 195 (26.82%) Social Skills
2 162 (22.28%) Finance
3 80 (11.00%) Banking
4 70 (9.63%) Public Sector
5 66 (9.08%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (2.75%) Front Office
6 20 (2.75%) Investment Banking
7 19 (2.61%) Pharmaceutical
8 18 (2.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (1.93%) Documentation Skills
10 11 (1.51%) Financial Institution
10 11 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (0.96%) Legal
12 6 (0.83%) International Banking
12 6 (0.83%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.69%) Back Office
13 5 (0.69%) Marketing
14 4 (0.55%) Electronics
14 4 (0.55%) Publishing
14 4 (0.55%) Retail
Job Titles
1 166 (22.83%) Developer
2 134 (18.43%) Senior
3 97 (13.34%) Tester
4 57 (7.84%) Test Engineer
5 55 (7.57%) Automation Tester
6 54 (7.43%) Lead
7 43 (5.91%) QA Engineer
8 41 (5.64%) Analyst
9 35 (4.81%) Software Engineer
10 34 (4.68%) Senior Developer
11 33 (4.54%) Java Developer
12 31 (4.26%) Test Automation Engineer
13 30 (4.13%) Automation Engineer
14 29 (3.99%) Python Developer
14 29 (3.99%) Test Analyst
15 27 (3.71%) Consultant
16 26 (3.58%) Data Engineer
17 25 (3.44%) Architect
17 25 (3.44%) Python Engineer
18 19 (2.61%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 93 (12.79%) Playwright
2 79 (10.87%) React
3 73 (10.04%) REST
4 70 (9.63%) Node.js
5 66 (9.08%) .NET
6 61 (8.39%) RESTful
7 56 (7.70%) Kafka
8 35 (4.81%) pytest
9 34 (4.68%) Spring Boot
9 34 (4.68%) Web Services
10 33 (4.54%) Spring
11 31 (4.26%) JSON
12 30 (4.13%) HTML
13 28 (3.85%) CSS
14 27 (3.71%) XML
15 25 (3.44%) FastAPI
16 24 (3.30%) AngularJS
16 24 (3.30%) SOAP
17 21 (2.89%) GraphQL
18 17 (2.34%) Jest
Miscellaneous
1 81 (11.14%) Cloud Native
2 46 (6.33%) Product Ownership
3 31 (4.26%) Distributed Systems
4 20 (2.75%) Mobile App
5 17 (2.34%) Data Structures
6 16 (2.20%) Algorithms
6 16 (2.20%) Genomics
6 16 (2.20%) Life Science
7 15 (2.06%) Equities
7 15 (2.06%) Virtual Team
8 13 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
8 13 (1.79%) Management Information System
9 12 (1.65%) Derivative
9 12 (1.65%) Legacy Systems
9 12 (1.65%) Onboarding
10 11 (1.51%) Greenfield Project
10 11 (1.51%) Reinsurance
11 10 (1.38%) Fixed Income
11 10 (1.38%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 10 (1.38%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 60 (8.25%) Linux
2 29 (3.99%) Windows
3 19 (2.61%) Android
3 19 (2.61%) Apple iOS
4 17 (2.34%) Unix
5 6 (0.83%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.28%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.14%) CentOS
7 1 (0.14%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 368 (50.62%) CI/CD
2 362 (49.79%) Agile
3 290 (39.89%) DevOps
4 164 (22.56%) Problem-Solving
5 111 (15.27%) Software Engineering
6 105 (14.44%) Microservices
7 103 (14.17%) Containerisation
7 103 (14.17%) Test Scripting
8 101 (13.89%) AI
9 88 (12.10%) Test Strategy
10 86 (11.83%) Infrastructure as Code
11 85 (11.69%) TDD
12 84 (11.55%) Scrum
13 83 (11.42%) Software Testing
14 81 (11.14%) SDLC
14 81 (11.14%) Validation
15 75 (10.32%) Continuous Improvement
16 73 (10.04%) Observability
17 70 (9.63%) Machine Learning
18 67 (9.22%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 250 (34.39%) Python
2 169 (23.25%) SQL
3 145 (19.94%) Java
4 122 (16.78%) TypeScript
5 120 (16.51%) JavaScript
6 94 (12.93%) C#
7 23 (3.16%) Bash
7 23 (3.16%) PowerShell
8 21 (2.89%) C++
9 16 (2.20%) Go
10 14 (1.93%) Bicep
11 12 (1.65%) Kotlin
12 10 (1.38%) PL/SQL
13 9 (1.24%) Apex Code
14 8 (1.10%) Perl
14 8 (1.10%) Ruby
15 7 (0.96%) Swift
16 6 (0.83%) Rust
17 5 (0.69%) Shell Script
17 5 (0.69%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 129 (17.74%) Security Cleared
2 112 (15.41%) SC Cleared
3 59 (8.12%) Degree
4 37 (5.09%) ISTQB
5 26 (3.58%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (2.06%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.79%) Master's Degree
8 12 (1.65%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.24%) OSCP
10 7 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.83%) SANS
12 5 (0.69%) Azure Certification
12 5 (0.69%) GPEN
12 5 (0.69%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 4 (0.55%) CEH
13 4 (0.55%) DBS Check
13 4 (0.55%) ISEB
13 4 (0.55%) MCP
14 3 (0.41%) AWS Certification
14 3 (0.41%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 170 (23.38%) QA
2 50 (6.88%) Accessibility
3 24 (3.30%) Data Quality
4 17 (2.34%) GDPR
5 15 (2.06%) WCAG
6 9 (1.24%) NIST
7 7 (0.96%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.69%) MiFID
9 5 (0.69%) NCSC
9 5 (0.69%) PERC
10 4 (0.55%) Software Quality Assurance
11 3 (0.41%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.41%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.41%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.41%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.41%) SLA
12 2 (0.28%) Def Stans
12 2 (0.28%) IEC 61508
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 146 (20.08%) Docker
2 9 (1.24%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
3 3 (0.41%) zsh
4 2 (0.28%) 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
1 118 (16.23%) Kubernetes
2 82 (11.28%) Terraform
3 30 (4.13%) Ansible
4 20 (2.75%) Grafana
5 16 (2.20%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.24%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.69%) Nmap
8 4 (0.55%) Nessus
8 4 (0.55%) Rancher
9 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.28%) Argo
10 2 (0.28%) Functional Safety
10 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.28%) SCCM
10 2 (0.28%) vRealize
11 1 (0.14%) HP Quality Center
11 1 (0.14%) Istio
11 1 (0.14%) NetBackup
11 1 (0.14%) Puppet
Vendors
1 63 (8.67%) Microsoft
2 56 (7.70%) Oracle
3 45 (6.19%) Databricks
4 36 (4.95%) Salesforce
5 34 (4.68%) Google
6 21 (2.89%) ServiceNow
7 16 (2.20%) Splunk
8 15 (2.06%) SAP
9 14 (1.93%) MuleSoft
10 11 (1.51%) OpenAI
11 9 (1.24%) Guidewire
11 9 (1.24%) HP
12 8 (1.10%) Dynatrace
13 7 (0.96%) Apple
13 7 (0.96%) UiPath
13 7 (0.96%) webMethods
14 6 (0.83%) Charles River
14 6 (0.83%) Cisco
14 6 (0.83%) IBM
14 6 (0.83%) VMware