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

6 months to
9 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 45 53
Rank change year-on-year -3 +8 -9
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 701 644 708
As % of all contract jobs in London 4.92% 4.56% 3.95%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.39% 5.06% 4.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 467 424 532
10th Percentile £325 £340 £381
25th Percentile £403 £408 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £575
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -9.57% -4.17%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £669
90th Percentile £726 £746 £773
England median daily rate £500 £500 £540
% change year-on-year - -7.41% -6.09%
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 £61.75 £67.50 £77.50
% change year-on-year -8.52% -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 13,014 12,735 15,974
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 91.41% 90.26% 89.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,595 8,150 11,402
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% -5.46%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.43% -2.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 220 157 247
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.06 £17.00
25th Percentile £24.58 £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 £53.28 £53.75 £54.56
90th Percentile £69.42 £80.75 £73.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -26.03% -23.60% +27.14%

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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -6 92 £525 - 50
West London -12 16 £442 +29.62% 4
South London -5 15 £513 +4.59% 18
East London -3 10 £448 +5.29% 13
North London - 1 - - 1
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 (6.42%) Confluence
2 16 (2.28%) Apache Spark
3 7 (1.00%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (0.86%) Apache
5 5 (0.71%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.57%) Appian
6 4 (0.57%) CMS
7 3 (0.43%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.29%) Camunda
8 2 (0.29%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.29%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.29%) WordPress
9 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.14%) nginx
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Application Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 13 (1.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.86%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.71%) 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 (2.43%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.57%) 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
1 220 (31.38%) Azure
2 160 (22.82%) AWS
3 100 (14.27%) GitHub
4 94 (13.41%) Azure DevOps
5 76 (10.84%) GCP
6 51 (7.28%) Serverless
7 42 (5.99%) GitHub Actions
8 25 (3.57%) Snowflake
9 23 (3.28%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 23 (3.28%) Azure Data Factory
9 23 (3.28%) SaaS
10 22 (3.14%) AWS Lambda
10 22 (3.14%) Azure AKS
11 21 (3.00%) Power Platform
12 19 (2.71%) Amazon S3
13 17 (2.43%) Dynamics 365
14 16 (2.28%) Amazon EKS
14 16 (2.28%) Azure Functions
14 16 (2.28%) Azure Monitor
15 14 (2.00%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.00%) HTTP
2 13 (1.85%) Firewall
2 13 (1.85%) SSL
3 10 (1.43%) HTTPS
3 10 (1.43%) TCP/IP
4 8 (1.14%) VPN
5 7 (1.00%) DNS
6 6 (0.86%) SD-WAN
6 6 (0.86%) WAN
7 5 (0.71%) Cisco IPT
7 5 (0.71%) Multicast
7 5 (0.71%) Network Security
8 4 (0.57%) FTP
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 58 (8.27%) PostgreSQL
2 45 (6.42%) SQL Server
3 41 (5.85%) NoSQL
4 27 (3.85%) Relational Database
5 22 (3.14%) MongoDB
6 20 (2.85%) BigQuery
7 19 (2.71%) Data Warehouse
8 13 (1.85%) Redis
9 12 (1.71%) Big Data
10 11 (1.57%) Data Lake
10 11 (1.57%) Power BI
11 9 (1.28%) Amazon RDS
12 8 (1.14%) Amazon Aurora
13 7 (1.00%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (1.00%) Star Schema
13 7 (1.00%) Tableau
14 6 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
15 5 (0.71%) Data Vault
15 5 (0.71%) Delta Lake
15 5 (0.71%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 115 (16.41%) Git
1 115 (16.41%) JIRA
2 95 (13.55%) Jenkins
2 95 (13.55%) Selenium
3 68 (9.70%) GitLab
4 53 (7.56%) Cucumber
5 51 (7.28%) Postman
6 47 (6.70%) Cypress.io
7 33 (4.71%) JMeter
8 26 (3.71%) JUnit
9 24 (3.42%) Bitbucket
10 21 (3.00%) SpecFlow
11 20 (2.85%) REST Assured
12 15 (2.14%) TestRail
13 14 (2.00%) Appium
14 11 (1.57%) Gatling
14 11 (1.57%) MLflow
15 10 (1.43%) Gradle
15 10 (1.43%) Maven
16 9 (1.28%) WebDriver
General
1 182 (25.96%) Social Skills
2 158 (22.54%) Finance
3 78 (11.13%) Banking
4 70 (9.99%) Public Sector
5 69 (9.84%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (2.85%) Front Office
6 20 (2.85%) Investment Banking
7 19 (2.71%) Pharmaceutical
8 17 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 13 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
10 10 (1.43%) Financial Institution
10 10 (1.43%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.00%) Legal
12 6 (0.86%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.71%) International Banking
13 5 (0.71%) Marketing
14 4 (0.57%) Back Office
14 4 (0.57%) Electronics
14 4 (0.57%) Retail
14 4 (0.57%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 162 (23.11%) Developer
2 133 (18.97%) Senior
3 90 (12.84%) Tester
4 55 (7.85%) Test Engineer
5 54 (7.70%) Lead
6 51 (7.28%) Automation Tester
7 40 (5.71%) Analyst
7 40 (5.71%) QA Engineer
8 34 (4.85%) Senior Developer
9 33 (4.71%) Software Engineer
10 32 (4.56%) Java Developer
10 32 (4.56%) Test Automation Engineer
11 28 (3.99%) Automation Engineer
11 28 (3.99%) Python Developer
12 27 (3.85%) Consultant
12 27 (3.85%) Test Analyst
13 24 (3.42%) Architect
14 23 (3.28%) Data Engineer
14 23 (3.28%) Python Engineer
15 20 (2.85%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (12.98%) Playwright
2 76 (10.84%) React
3 73 (10.41%) REST
4 69 (9.84%) Node.js
5 65 (9.27%) .NET
6 60 (8.56%) RESTful
7 54 (7.70%) Kafka
8 35 (4.99%) pytest
9 34 (4.85%) Spring Boot
9 34 (4.85%) Web Services
10 32 (4.56%) Spring
11 29 (4.14%) JSON
12 28 (3.99%) HTML
13 27 (3.85%) FastAPI
14 26 (3.71%) CSS
15 25 (3.57%) XML
16 24 (3.42%) AngularJS
17 22 (3.14%) SOAP
18 21 (3.00%) GraphQL
19 17 (2.43%) Jest
Miscellaneous
1 80 (11.41%) Cloud Native
2 44 (6.28%) Product Ownership
3 30 (4.28%) Distributed Systems
4 19 (2.71%) Mobile App
5 17 (2.43%) Data Structures
6 16 (2.28%) Algorithms
6 16 (2.28%) Genomics
6 16 (2.28%) Life Science
7 15 (2.14%) Equities
7 15 (2.14%) Legacy Systems
8 14 (2.00%) Management Information System
9 13 (1.85%) Derivative
9 13 (1.85%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.57%) Greenfield Project
10 11 (1.57%) Onboarding
11 10 (1.43%) Fixed Income
11 10 (1.43%) Reinsurance
12 9 (1.28%) Linux Command Line
12 9 (1.28%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 57 (8.13%) Linux
2 28 (3.99%) Windows
3 20 (2.85%) Android
3 20 (2.85%) Apple iOS
4 15 (2.14%) Unix
5 6 (0.86%) 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
1 357 (50.93%) CI/CD
2 348 (49.64%) Agile
3 279 (39.80%) DevOps
4 157 (22.40%) Problem-Solving
5 104 (14.84%) Software Engineering
6 102 (14.55%) Containerisation
7 101 (14.41%) Microservices
8 98 (13.98%) Test Scripting
9 97 (13.84%) AI
10 86 (12.27%) Infrastructure as Code
11 81 (11.55%) Test Strategy
11 81 (11.55%) Validation
12 77 (10.98%) TDD
13 76 (10.84%) Scrum
13 76 (10.84%) Software Testing
14 75 (10.70%) Observability
14 75 (10.70%) SDLC
15 74 (10.56%) Continuous Improvement
16 68 (9.70%) Machine Learning
17 64 (9.13%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 241 (34.38%) Python
2 163 (23.25%) SQL
3 137 (19.54%) Java
4 120 (17.12%) TypeScript
5 117 (16.69%) JavaScript
6 92 (13.12%) C#
7 23 (3.28%) PowerShell
8 22 (3.14%) Bash
9 20 (2.85%) C++
10 16 (2.28%) Go
11 14 (2.00%) Bicep
12 12 (1.71%) Kotlin
13 9 (1.28%) Apex Code
14 8 (1.14%) PL/SQL
15 7 (1.00%) Perl
15 7 (1.00%) Ruby
15 7 (1.00%) Rust
15 7 (1.00%) Swift
16 5 (0.71%) Groovy
16 5 (0.71%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 126 (17.97%) Security Cleared
2 108 (15.41%) SC Cleared
3 55 (7.85%) Degree
4 35 (4.99%) ISTQB
5 25 (3.57%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.85%) Master's Degree
8 12 (1.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.28%) OSCP
10 7 (1.00%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.86%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 6 (0.86%) SANS
12 5 (0.71%) GPEN
13 4 (0.57%) Azure Certification
13 4 (0.57%) CEH
13 4 (0.57%) DBS Check
13 4 (0.57%) ISEB
13 4 (0.57%) MCP
14 3 (0.43%) CREST Certified
15 2 (0.29%) GXPN
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 162 (23.11%) QA
2 47 (6.70%) Accessibility
3 25 (3.57%) Data Quality
4 17 (2.43%) GDPR
5 15 (2.14%) WCAG
6 10 (1.43%) NIST
7 7 (1.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.86%) NCSC
9 5 (0.71%) MiFID
9 5 (0.71%) PERC
10 4 (0.57%) 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
1 145 (20.68%) Docker
2 9 (1.28%) 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
1 116 (16.55%) Kubernetes
2 79 (11.27%) Terraform
3 28 (3.99%) Ansible
4 22 (3.14%) Grafana
5 17 (2.43%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.28%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.71%) Nmap
8 4 (0.57%) Nessus
8 4 (0.57%) 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 59 (8.42%) Microsoft
2 51 (7.28%) Oracle
3 40 (5.71%) Databricks
4 36 (5.14%) Salesforce
5 35 (4.99%) Google
6 22 (3.14%) ServiceNow
7 17 (2.43%) Splunk
8 15 (2.14%) SAP
9 14 (2.00%) MuleSoft
10 13 (1.85%) OpenAI
11 10 (1.43%) Guidewire
12 9 (1.28%) Apple
12 9 (1.28%) Dynatrace
12 9 (1.28%) HP
13 8 (1.14%) UiPath
14 7 (1.00%) webMethods
15 6 (0.86%) Charles River
15 6 (0.86%) Cisco
15 6 (0.86%) IBM
15 6 (0.86%) VMware