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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 44 55
Rank change year-on-year -2 +11 -9
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 808 631 686
As % of all contract jobs in London 4.96% 4.72% 3.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.51% 5.19% 4.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 528 425 502
10th Percentile £325 £341 £377
25th Percentile £400 £410 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -8.33%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £675
90th Percentile £700 £775 £750
England median daily rate £490 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -2.00% -4.76% -7.49%
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 £65.38 £65.75
% change year-on-year -0.57% -0.57% +9.58%

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 14,672 12,161 16,110
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 90.13% 90.96% 88.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,836 7,963 11,510
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% - -7.17%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 221 157 347
10th Percentile £18.07 £20.45 £16.00
25th Percentile £22.41 £24.66 £19.42
Median hourly rate £35.00 £35.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.41% +18.33% -16.08%
75th Percentile £56.50 £53.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £77.86 £71.00
England median hourly rate £29.60 £35.00 £34.00
% change year-on-year -15.43% +2.94% -4.23%

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 6 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 6 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 +3 104 £525 +0.48% 52
South London -10 21 £513 +7.89% 2
West London -14 21 £450 +28.57% 8
East London +5 8 £448 +11.88% 7
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 53 (6.56%) Confluence
2 16 (1.98%) Apache Spark
3 14 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
4 8 (0.99%) Appian
5 5 (0.62%) Apache
5 5 (0.62%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.50%) Camunda
6 4 (0.50%) 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 22 (2.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (0.74%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.62%) Microsoft Office
5 4 (0.50%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 19 (2.35%) Aladdin
2 6 (0.74%) Loan IQ
3 4 (0.50%) SAP HR
3 4 (0.50%) Shopify
4 3 (0.37%) BambooHR
4 3 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.25%) iTrent
5 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.25%) Summit
6 1 (0.12%) Algo Collateral
6 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
6 1 (0.12%) CODA-Financials
6 1 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite
6 1 (0.12%) Infor LN
6 1 (0.12%) Infor M3
6 1 (0.12%) IntelliMatch
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.12%) PORTIA
6 1 (0.12%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 258 (31.93%) Azure
2 189 (23.39%) AWS
3 124 (15.35%) GitHub
4 116 (14.36%) Azure DevOps
5 82 (10.15%) GCP
6 58 (7.18%) GitHub Actions
7 54 (6.68%) Serverless
8 34 (4.21%) Power Platform
9 30 (3.71%) Azure Data Factory
9 30 (3.71%) Snowflake
10 29 (3.59%) Azure AKS
11 26 (3.22%) AWS Lambda
12 25 (3.09%) Amazon S3
13 22 (2.72%) Dynamics 365
14 21 (2.60%) SaaS
15 20 (2.48%) Azure Cosmos DB
16 17 (2.10%) Amazon EKS
16 17 (2.10%) Power Automate
17 16 (1.98%) Apigee
18 15 (1.86%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.36%) Firewall
1 11 (1.36%) HTTP
2 8 (0.99%) SSL
2 8 (0.99%) VPN
2 8 (0.99%) WAN
3 7 (0.87%) DNS
3 7 (0.87%) SD-WAN
3 7 (0.87%) TCP/IP
4 5 (0.62%) Cisco IPT
4 5 (0.62%) HTTPS
5 4 (0.50%) FTP
5 4 (0.50%) Multicast
6 3 (0.37%) DHCP
6 3 (0.37%) Ethernet
6 3 (0.37%) WebEx
7 2 (0.25%) Cisco IOS
7 2 (0.25%) DSL
7 2 (0.25%) SNMP
7 2 (0.25%) VLAN
7 2 (0.25%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (6.31%) PostgreSQL
2 47 (5.82%) SQL Server
3 33 (4.08%) NoSQL
4 26 (3.22%) Relational Database
5 24 (2.97%) Data Warehouse
6 22 (2.72%) BigQuery
7 21 (2.60%) MongoDB
8 19 (2.35%) Power BI
9 17 (2.10%) Tableau
10 13 (1.61%) Data Lake
11 12 (1.49%) Redis
12 10 (1.24%) Azure SQL Database
12 10 (1.24%) Big Data
12 10 (1.24%) Metadata
12 10 (1.24%) Oracle Database
13 9 (1.11%) DynamoDB
13 9 (1.11%) Pinecone
14 8 (0.99%) Amazon RDS
14 8 (0.99%) Amazon Redshift
14 8 (0.99%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 139 (17.20%) JIRA
2 133 (16.46%) Git
3 109 (13.49%) Jenkins
4 107 (13.24%) Selenium
5 89 (11.01%) GitLab
6 63 (7.80%) Cucumber
7 54 (6.68%) Postman
8 53 (6.56%) Cypress.io
9 33 (4.08%) REST Assured
10 32 (3.96%) SpecFlow
11 31 (3.84%) JUnit
12 30 (3.71%) JMeter
13 19 (2.35%) MLflow
14 16 (1.98%) Bitbucket
15 15 (1.86%) WebDriver
16 14 (1.73%) Appium
17 13 (1.61%) Maven
17 13 (1.61%) TestRail
18 11 (1.36%) Gradle
18 11 (1.36%) Zephyr
General
1 207 (25.62%) Social Skills
2 186 (23.02%) Finance
3 99 (12.25%) Banking
4 90 (11.14%) Public Sector
5 81 (10.02%) Analytical Skills
6 24 (2.97%) Investment Banking
7 22 (2.72%) Front Office
8 16 (1.98%) Pharmaceutical
9 14 (1.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 11 (1.36%) Legal
11 10 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
12 9 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (0.99%) Telecoms
14 7 (0.87%) Organisational Skills
15 6 (0.74%) Billing
15 6 (0.74%) Financial Institution
16 5 (0.62%) Influencing Skills
16 5 (0.62%) Retail
17 4 (0.50%) Back Office
17 4 (0.50%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 173 (21.41%) Developer
2 157 (19.43%) Senior
3 98 (12.13%) Tester
4 87 (10.77%) Lead
5 62 (7.67%) Test Engineer
6 59 (7.30%) Automation Tester
7 53 (6.56%) Analyst
8 43 (5.32%) QA Engineer
9 39 (4.83%) Senior Developer
10 38 (4.70%) Architect
11 35 (4.33%) Automation Engineer
12 34 (4.21%) Data Engineer
13 32 (3.96%) Java Developer
14 30 (3.71%) Software Engineer
14 30 (3.71%) Test Automation Engineer
15 29 (3.59%) Test Analyst
16 28 (3.47%) DevOps Engineer
17 24 (2.97%) Python Developer
18 23 (2.85%) Python Engineer
18 23 (2.85%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 126 (15.59%) Playwright
2 86 (10.64%) React
3 84 (10.40%) REST
4 75 (9.28%) .NET
5 73 (9.03%) Node.js
6 70 (8.66%) RESTful
7 61 (7.55%) Kafka
8 41 (5.07%) Spring
9 39 (4.83%) pytest
10 38 (4.70%) Web Services
11 36 (4.46%) Spring Boot
12 34 (4.21%) HTML
13 33 (4.08%) CSS
14 27 (3.34%) OAuth
15 25 (3.09%) FastAPI
16 24 (2.97%) GraphQL
17 20 (2.48%) JSON
17 20 (2.48%) Middleware
18 19 (2.35%) AngularJS
18 19 (2.35%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 98 (12.13%) Cloud Native
2 47 (5.82%) Product Ownership
3 34 (4.21%) Legacy Systems
4 32 (3.96%) Distributed Systems
5 26 (3.22%) Algorithms
6 22 (2.72%) Data Structures
7 21 (2.60%) Mobile App
8 20 (2.48%) Data Protection Act
8 20 (2.48%) Equities
9 19 (2.35%) Virtual Team
10 17 (2.10%) Greenfield Project
11 16 (1.98%) Onboarding
12 15 (1.86%) Management Information System
13 14 (1.73%) Genomics
13 14 (1.73%) Life Science
14 13 (1.61%) Derivative
14 13 (1.61%) Fixed Income
15 11 (1.36%) Security Posture
16 10 (1.24%) Public Cloud
17 9 (1.11%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 51 (6.31%) Linux
2 34 (4.21%) Windows
3 22 (2.72%) Android
3 22 (2.72%) Apple iOS
4 10 (1.24%) Unix
5 5 (0.62%) Mac OS
5 5 (0.62%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.25%) Solaris
6 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
6 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 439 (54.33%) CI/CD
2 354 (43.81%) Agile
3 307 (38.00%) DevOps
4 168 (20.79%) Problem-Solving
5 139 (17.20%) AI
6 118 (14.60%) Containerisation
7 110 (13.61%) Continuous Improvement
8 109 (13.49%) Test Scripting
8 109 (13.49%) Test Strategy
9 107 (13.24%) Observability
10 106 (13.12%) Microservices
11 104 (12.87%) Infrastructure as Code
12 100 (12.38%) Software Engineering
12 100 (12.38%) Validation
13 94 (11.63%) Software Testing
14 82 (10.15%) Regression Testing
15 81 (10.02%) Analytics
15 81 (10.02%) Scrum
16 79 (9.78%) API Testing
16 79 (9.78%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 284 (35.15%) Python
2 200 (24.75%) SQL
3 160 (19.80%) Java
4 154 (19.06%) TypeScript
5 140 (17.33%) JavaScript
6 114 (14.11%) C#
7 24 (2.97%) PowerShell
8 21 (2.60%) Bash
9 20 (2.48%) C++
10 14 (1.73%) Bicep
10 14 (1.73%) Kotlin
11 13 (1.61%) Apex Code
12 12 (1.49%) Go
12 12 (1.49%) PL/SQL
13 10 (1.24%) Ruby
14 8 (0.99%) Rust
14 8 (0.99%) Swift
15 7 (0.87%) T-SQL
16 6 (0.74%) Shell Script
17 4 (0.50%) C
Qualifications
1 157 (19.43%) Security Cleared
2 133 (16.46%) SC Cleared
3 54 (6.68%) Degree
4 35 (4.33%) ISTQB
5 23 (2.85%) Computer Science Degree
6 22 (2.72%) BPSS Clearance
7 16 (1.98%) Master's Degree
8 10 (1.24%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.11%) OSCP
10 7 (0.87%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.74%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.74%) SANS
12 5 (0.62%) DBS Check
12 5 (0.62%) GPEN
12 5 (0.62%) ISEB
12 5 (0.62%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 4 (0.50%) CEH
13 4 (0.50%) DV Cleared
14 3 (0.37%) CREST Certified
14 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 198 (24.50%) QA
2 50 (6.19%) Accessibility
3 44 (5.45%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.35%) GDPR
5 16 (1.98%) WCAG
6 12 (1.49%) NIST
7 8 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (0.74%) NCSC
9 5 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.62%) MiFID
9 5 (0.62%) PERC
10 4 (0.50%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.50%) SLA
10 4 (0.50%) Software Quality Assurance
11 3 (0.37%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.37%) GMP
11 3 (0.37%) HL7
11 3 (0.37%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.37%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.12%) HIPAA
System Software
1 168 (20.79%) Docker
2 10 (1.24%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.50%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
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
1 140 (17.33%) Kubernetes
2 89 (11.01%) Terraform
3 29 (3.59%) Ansible
3 29 (3.59%) Grafana
4 25 (3.09%) Prometheus
5 9 (1.11%) HP ALM
6 6 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.62%) Nmap
8 4 (0.50%) Nessus
9 3 (0.37%) Kibana
9 3 (0.37%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.37%) Puppet
9 3 (0.37%) Rancher
10 2 (0.25%) HP Quality Center
10 2 (0.25%) Istio
10 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.25%) Oracle RMAN
10 2 (0.25%) SCCM
11 1 (0.12%) Argo
11 1 (0.12%) linkerd
Vendors
1 77 (9.53%) Microsoft
2 52 (6.44%) Oracle
3 49 (6.06%) Databricks
4 42 (5.20%) Salesforce
5 36 (4.46%) Google
6 28 (3.47%) ServiceNow
7 15 (1.86%) SAP
8 14 (1.73%) OpenAI
9 13 (1.61%) Splunk
10 11 (1.36%) Guidewire
10 11 (1.36%) MuleSoft
10 11 (1.36%) UiPath
11 10 (1.24%) Apple
11 10 (1.24%) Dynatrace
12 9 (1.11%) HP
12 9 (1.11%) Workday
13 8 (0.99%) Automation Anywhere
13 8 (0.99%) VMware
14 7 (0.87%) Charles River
14 7 (0.87%) Cisco