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 17 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 44 45 50
Rank change year-on-year +1 +5 -2
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 813 613 704
As % of all contract jobs in London 4.96% 4.76% 3.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.53% 5.23% 4.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 531 426 508
10th Percentile £325 £341 £375
25th Percentile £400 £406 £455
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £503 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.50% -8.64% -8.33%
75th Percentile £600 £656 £688
90th Percentile £700 £775 £758
England median daily rate £481 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -3.75% -4.76% -7.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 7
10th Percentile £55.99 - -
25th Percentile £58.15 - £52.50
Median hourly rate £63.50 - £55.00
75th Percentile £65.88 - £61.25
90th Percentile £66.25 - £65.40
England median hourly rate £65.00 £56.75 £62.50
% change year-on-year +14.54% -9.20% +2.04%

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 14,705 11,729 16,080
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 89.75% 91.08% 88.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,877 7,847 11,501
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% - -6.78%
75th Percentile £650 £681 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £503 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.29% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 233 163 342
10th Percentile £18.11 £20.09 £16.00
25th Percentile £22.00 £24.66 £19.57
Median hourly rate £35.50 £35.89 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year -1.09% +19.00% -17.37%
75th Percentile £57.00 £53.75 £49.97
90th Percentile £72.00 £77.00 £69.43
England median hourly rate £30.79 £34.11 £32.50
% change year-on-year -9.73% +4.95% -12.87%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 0 106 £525 +1.45% 76
West London -16 21 £450 +23.63% 8
South London -9 20 £513 +6.22% 7
East London +4 7 £445 +11.25% 9
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 54 (6.64%) Confluence
2 17 (2.09%) Apache Spark
3 15 (1.85%) Apache Airflow
4 8 (0.98%) Appian
5 5 (0.62%) Apache
5 5 (0.62%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.49%) Camunda
6 4 (0.49%) CMS
7 3 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Exchange
7 3 (0.37%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.25%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.25%) nginx
8 2 (0.25%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.25%) WordPress
9 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Application Server
Applications
1 21 (2.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (0.74%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.62%) Microsoft Office
5 4 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.12%) Mingle
Business Applications
1 24 (2.95%) Aladdin
2 6 (0.74%) Loan IQ
2 6 (0.74%) Shopify
3 5 (0.62%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.49%) SAP HR
5 3 (0.37%) BambooHR
5 3 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.25%) Findur
6 2 (0.25%) iTrent
6 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.25%) Summit
7 1 (0.12%) Algo Collateral
7 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
7 1 (0.12%) CODA-Financials
7 1 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite
7 1 (0.12%) Infor M3
7 1 (0.12%) IntelliMatch
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.12%) PORTIA
7 1 (0.12%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 257 (31.61%) Azure
2 195 (23.99%) AWS
3 133 (16.36%) GitHub
4 122 (15.01%) Azure DevOps
5 77 (9.47%) GCP
6 59 (7.26%) GitHub Actions
7 57 (7.01%) Serverless
8 35 (4.31%) Power Platform
9 33 (4.06%) Snowflake
10 31 (3.81%) AWS Lambda
11 30 (3.69%) Amazon S3
12 29 (3.57%) Azure Data Factory
13 26 (3.20%) Azure AKS
14 21 (2.58%) Dynamics 365
15 20 (2.46%) SaaS
16 18 (2.21%) Power Automate
17 17 (2.09%) Amazon ECS
17 17 (2.09%) Amazon EKS
17 17 (2.09%) Apigee
17 17 (2.09%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.35%) Firewall
2 9 (1.11%) HTTP
2 9 (1.11%) WAN
3 7 (0.86%) DNS
3 7 (0.86%) SD-WAN
3 7 (0.86%) SSL
3 7 (0.86%) TCP/IP
4 6 (0.74%) VPN
5 5 (0.62%) Cisco IPT
6 4 (0.49%) FTP
6 4 (0.49%) HTTPS
6 4 (0.49%) Multicast
6 4 (0.49%) WebEx
7 3 (0.37%) DHCP
7 3 (0.37%) Ethernet
8 2 (0.25%) Cisco IOS
8 2 (0.25%) DSL
8 2 (0.25%) Network Security
8 2 (0.25%) SNMP
8 2 (0.25%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (5.90%) PostgreSQL
2 46 (5.66%) SQL Server
3 31 (3.81%) NoSQL
4 27 (3.32%) Data Warehouse
5 25 (3.08%) Relational Database
6 23 (2.83%) BigQuery
7 22 (2.71%) MongoDB
8 21 (2.58%) Power BI
9 18 (2.21%) Tableau
10 13 (1.60%) Data Lake
11 12 (1.48%) DynamoDB
12 11 (1.35%) Amazon RDS
12 11 (1.35%) Oracle Database
12 11 (1.35%) Redis
13 10 (1.23%) Amazon Athena
13 10 (1.23%) Big Data
13 10 (1.23%) Metadata
14 9 (1.11%) Azure SQL Database
14 9 (1.11%) Pinecone
15 8 (0.98%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 138 (16.97%) JIRA
2 134 (16.48%) Git
3 111 (13.65%) Selenium
4 103 (12.67%) Jenkins
5 86 (10.58%) GitLab
6 61 (7.50%) Cucumber
7 52 (6.40%) Postman
8 51 (6.27%) Cypress.io
9 37 (4.55%) REST Assured
10 34 (4.18%) JMeter
11 33 (4.06%) SpecFlow
12 28 (3.44%) JUnit
13 20 (2.46%) MLflow
14 18 (2.21%) Bitbucket
15 15 (1.85%) Appium
16 14 (1.72%) WebDriver
17 13 (1.60%) TestRail
18 12 (1.48%) Maven
19 11 (1.35%) Zephyr
20 10 (1.23%) Gradle
General
1 217 (26.69%) Social Skills
2 195 (23.99%) Finance
3 106 (13.04%) Banking
4 96 (11.81%) Public Sector
5 83 (10.21%) Analytical Skills
6 29 (3.57%) Investment Banking
7 26 (3.20%) Front Office
8 14 (1.72%) Pharmaceutical
9 13 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.48%) Legal
11 10 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
12 9 (1.11%) Influencing Skills
12 9 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (0.98%) Financial Institution
13 8 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.98%) Telecoms
14 7 (0.86%) Billing
15 5 (0.62%) Back Office
15 5 (0.62%) Retail
16 4 (0.49%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 174 (21.40%) Developer
2 159 (19.56%) Senior
3 91 (11.19%) Tester
4 89 (10.95%) Lead
5 69 (8.49%) Test Engineer
6 57 (7.01%) Automation Tester
7 54 (6.64%) Analyst
8 47 (5.78%) QA Engineer
9 40 (4.92%) Architect
10 39 (4.80%) Senior Developer
11 38 (4.67%) Automation Engineer
12 36 (4.43%) Test Automation Engineer
13 35 (4.31%) Data Engineer
14 29 (3.57%) DevOps Engineer
14 29 (3.57%) Java Developer
14 29 (3.57%) Test Analyst
15 27 (3.32%) Software Engineer
16 25 (3.08%) Test Manager
17 24 (2.95%) Python Developer
18 22 (2.71%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 124 (15.25%) Playwright
2 88 (10.82%) React
3 86 (10.58%) REST
4 72 (8.86%) .NET
5 68 (8.36%) Node.js
5 68 (8.36%) RESTful
6 64 (7.87%) Kafka
7 39 (4.80%) Spring
8 36 (4.43%) pytest
8 36 (4.43%) Spring Boot
8 36 (4.43%) Web Services
9 34 (4.18%) HTML
10 33 (4.06%) CSS
11 28 (3.44%) OAuth
12 24 (2.95%) FastAPI
13 23 (2.83%) GraphQL
14 22 (2.71%) AngularJS
15 21 (2.58%) JSON
15 21 (2.58%) Middleware
16 19 (2.34%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 96 (11.81%) Cloud Native
2 52 (6.40%) Product Ownership
3 35 (4.31%) Distributed Systems
4 34 (4.18%) Legacy Systems
5 27 (3.32%) Algorithms
6 22 (2.71%) Data Protection Act
6 22 (2.71%) Data Structures
6 22 (2.71%) Equities
7 19 (2.34%) Virtual Team
8 18 (2.21%) Greenfield Project
9 17 (2.09%) Mobile App
10 16 (1.97%) Fixed Income
10 16 (1.97%) Management Information System
10 16 (1.97%) Onboarding
11 14 (1.72%) Derivative
12 13 (1.60%) Genomics
12 13 (1.60%) Life Science
13 10 (1.23%) Public Cloud
13 10 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (1.11%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 47 (5.78%) Linux
2 34 (4.18%) Windows
3 20 (2.46%) Android
4 19 (2.34%) Apple iOS
5 9 (1.11%) Unix
6 5 (0.62%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.62%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.25%) Solaris
7 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
7 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 440 (54.12%) CI/CD
2 355 (43.67%) Agile
3 306 (37.64%) DevOps
4 166 (20.42%) Problem-Solving
5 139 (17.10%) AI
6 116 (14.27%) Containerisation
7 113 (13.90%) Continuous Improvement
8 111 (13.65%) Observability
9 108 (13.28%) Test Strategy
10 106 (13.04%) Test Scripting
11 102 (12.55%) Microservices
12 101 (12.42%) Software Engineering
13 100 (12.30%) Validation
14 99 (12.18%) Infrastructure as Code
14 99 (12.18%) Software Testing
15 90 (11.07%) Regression Testing
16 83 (10.21%) Analytics
16 83 (10.21%) Stakeholder Management
17 81 (9.96%) API Testing
17 81 (9.96%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 292 (35.92%) Python
2 207 (25.46%) SQL
3 162 (19.93%) Java
4 155 (19.07%) TypeScript
5 139 (17.10%) JavaScript
6 119 (14.64%) C#
7 26 (3.20%) PowerShell
8 21 (2.58%) C++
9 18 (2.21%) Bash
10 14 (1.72%) Apex Code
11 13 (1.60%) Bicep
11 13 (1.60%) Kotlin
12 12 (1.48%) PL/SQL
12 12 (1.48%) Ruby
13 9 (1.11%) Go
14 8 (0.98%) Rust
14 8 (0.98%) T-SQL
15 7 (0.86%) Swift
16 6 (0.74%) Shell Script
17 4 (0.49%) C
Qualifications
1 160 (19.68%) Security Cleared
2 135 (16.61%) SC Cleared
3 55 (6.77%) Degree
4 38 (4.67%) ISTQB
5 27 (3.32%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (2.95%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.60%) Master's Degree
8 10 (1.23%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 5 (0.62%) DBS Check
9 5 (0.62%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 5 (0.62%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (0.62%) OSCP
10 4 (0.49%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.49%) CEH
10 4 (0.49%) DV Cleared
10 4 (0.49%) ISEB
10 4 (0.49%) SANS
11 3 (0.37%) AWS Certification
11 3 (0.37%) CREST Certified
12 2 (0.25%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 199 (24.48%) QA
2 47 (5.78%) Data Quality
3 46 (5.66%) Accessibility
4 19 (2.34%) GDPR
5 15 (1.85%) WCAG
6 12 (1.48%) NIST
7 8 (0.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (0.98%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.74%) NCSC
9 5 (0.62%) MiFID
9 5 (0.62%) PERC
9 5 (0.62%) SLA
10 4 (0.49%) HL7
10 4 (0.49%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 4 (0.49%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.37%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.37%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.37%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.37%) Software Quality Assurance
12 2 (0.25%) GMP
System Software
1 160 (19.68%) Docker
2 7 (0.86%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) Squid
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 135 (16.61%) Kubernetes
2 89 (10.95%) Terraform
3 30 (3.69%) Grafana
4 26 (3.20%) Prometheus
5 23 (2.83%) Ansible
6 10 (1.23%) HP ALM
7 6 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.37%) Kibana
8 3 (0.37%) Puppet
8 3 (0.37%) Rancher
9 2 (0.25%) Amdocs OSS
9 2 (0.25%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.25%) Istio
9 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.25%) Nmap
9 2 (0.25%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.25%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.25%) SCCM
10 1 (0.12%) linkerd
10 1 (0.12%) Nessus
Vendors
1 78 (9.59%) Microsoft
2 53 (6.52%) Oracle
3 47 (5.78%) Databricks
4 42 (5.17%) Salesforce
5 33 (4.06%) Google
6 22 (2.71%) ServiceNow
7 16 (1.97%) SAP
8 14 (1.72%) OpenAI
9 12 (1.48%) MuleSoft
10 11 (1.35%) Dynatrace
10 11 (1.35%) UiPath
11 10 (1.23%) Apple
11 10 (1.23%) Guidewire
11 10 (1.23%) HP
11 10 (1.23%) Splunk
12 9 (1.11%) Charles River
12 9 (1.11%) Workday
13 8 (0.98%) Automation Anywhere
13 8 (0.98%) Citrix
13 8 (0.98%) IBM