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 5 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 51 46 56
Rank change year-on-year -5 +10 -15
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 693 722 781
As % of all contract jobs in London 4.82% 4.57% 4.04%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.25% 5.09% 4.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 463 477 585
10th Percentile £325 £340 £401
25th Percentile £403 £410 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £628 £618 £675
90th Percentile £738 £738 £800
England median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -6.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 1
10th Percentile £43.50 - -
25th Percentile £45.00 - -
Median hourly rate £58.94 - £75.00
75th Percentile £66.50 - -
90th Percentile £74.60 - -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £50.00 £75.00
% change year-on-year +30.00% -33.33% +25.00%

All Process and 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 13,188 14,190 17,310
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 91.79% 89.85% 89.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,704 9,175 12,401
10th Percentile £338 £350 £356
25th Percentile £425 £450 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £526 £550 £568
Median % change year-on-year -4.45% -3.08% -3.81%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £688
90th Percentile £763 £800 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -4.76% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 166 233
10th Percentile £18.25 £17.25 £18.81
25th Percentile £24.56 £23.80 £21.75
Median hourly rate £29.50 £37.25 £35.63
Median % change year-on-year -20.81% +4.55% -9.80%
75th Percentile £47.63 £53.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £66.50 £80.75 £76.25
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +18.67%

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 5 December 2025.

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 5 December 2025.

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 5 December 2025. 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 -17 82 £525 -0.94% 20
South London -4 14 £506 +3.32% 3
West London -15 13 £509 +49.27% 2
East London -7 7 £520 +20.23% 9
North London - 1 - - 3
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 40 (5.77%) Confluence
2 18 (2.60%) Apache Spark
3 9 (1.30%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (0.72%) Apache
4 5 (0.72%) CMS
4 5 (0.72%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.29%) Magnolia
5 2 (0.29%) Sitecore CMS
5 2 (0.29%) WordPress
6 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.14%) Headless CMS
6 1 (0.14%) JBoss
6 1 (0.14%) nginx
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Application Server
6 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 14 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (1.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.01%) Microsoft Office
4 6 (0.87%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.29%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.45%) Aladdin
2 4 (0.58%) 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%) CODA-Financials
4 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
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%) Sage X3
4 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.14%) Temenos T24
4 1 (0.14%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 212 (30.59%) Azure
2 157 (22.66%) AWS
3 95 (13.71%) GitHub
4 93 (13.42%) Azure DevOps
5 76 (10.97%) GCP
6 49 (7.07%) Serverless
7 45 (6.49%) GitHub Actions
8 28 (4.04%) SaaS
9 23 (3.32%) AWS Lambda
10 22 (3.17%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 22 (3.17%) Snowflake
11 21 (3.03%) Amazon S3
12 20 (2.89%) Azure AKS
13 19 (2.74%) Azure Data Factory
14 18 (2.60%) Power Platform
15 17 (2.45%) Azure Monitor
16 15 (2.16%) Cloud Run
17 14 (2.02%) Amazon EKS
17 14 (2.02%) Azure Logic Apps
18 13 (1.88%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 16 (2.31%) HTTP
2 15 (2.16%) Firewall
3 14 (2.02%) SSL
4 11 (1.59%) HTTPS
4 11 (1.59%) TCP/IP
5 9 (1.30%) DNS
5 9 (1.30%) Multicast
5 9 (1.30%) VPN
6 6 (0.87%) SD-WAN
6 6 (0.87%) WAN
7 5 (0.72%) Cisco IPT
7 5 (0.72%) Network Security
8 3 (0.43%) Bluetooth
8 3 (0.43%) DHCP
8 3 (0.43%) FTP
8 3 (0.43%) WebEx
8 3 (0.43%) Wireshark
9 2 (0.29%) DSL
9 2 (0.29%) Ethernet
9 2 (0.29%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (7.36%) PostgreSQL
2 44 (6.35%) NoSQL
3 34 (4.91%) SQL Server
4 25 (3.61%) MongoDB
4 25 (3.61%) Relational Database
5 23 (3.32%) Data Warehouse
6 17 (2.45%) BigQuery
7 13 (1.88%) Data Lake
8 12 (1.73%) Amazon RDS
8 12 (1.73%) Big Data
8 12 (1.73%) Redis
9 10 (1.44%) Power BI
10 9 (1.30%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (1.01%) Delta Lake
12 5 (0.72%) Amazon Aurora
12 5 (0.72%) Amazon Redshift
12 5 (0.72%) DB2
12 5 (0.72%) DynamoDB
12 5 (0.72%) Metadata
12 5 (0.72%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 113 (16.31%) Git
2 110 (15.87%) JIRA
3 103 (14.86%) Selenium
4 101 (14.57%) Jenkins
5 65 (9.38%) GitLab
6 56 (8.08%) Cucumber
7 51 (7.36%) Postman
8 46 (6.64%) Cypress.io
9 34 (4.91%) JMeter
10 27 (3.90%) Bitbucket
10 27 (3.90%) JUnit
11 23 (3.32%) SpecFlow
12 22 (3.17%) REST Assured
13 17 (2.45%) Appium
14 15 (2.16%) TestRail
15 13 (1.88%) Zephyr
16 11 (1.59%) Gatling
17 10 (1.44%) Maven
17 10 (1.44%) webpack
18 9 (1.30%) NUnit
General
1 184 (26.55%) Social Skills
2 160 (23.09%) Finance
3 80 (11.54%) Banking
4 60 (8.66%) Analytical Skills
5 47 (6.78%) Public Sector
6 23 (3.32%) Front Office
7 19 (2.74%) Investment Banking
8 18 (2.60%) Pharmaceutical
9 17 (2.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
11 11 (1.59%) Financial Institution
12 10 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (1.30%) International Banking
13 9 (1.30%) Legal
14 7 (1.01%) Back Office
15 6 (0.87%) Telecoms
16 5 (0.72%) Marketing
16 5 (0.72%) Publishing
17 4 (0.58%) Electronics
17 4 (0.58%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 151 (21.79%) Developer
2 119 (17.17%) Senior
3 98 (14.14%) Tester
4 55 (7.94%) Test Engineer
5 52 (7.50%) Automation Tester
6 50 (7.22%) Lead
7 49 (7.07%) Analyst
8 38 (5.48%) QA Engineer
9 36 (5.19%) Test Analyst
10 34 (4.91%) Java Developer
10 34 (4.91%) Software Engineer
11 31 (4.47%) Test Automation Engineer
12 29 (4.18%) Automation Engineer
13 26 (3.75%) Consultant
13 26 (3.75%) Senior Developer
14 24 (3.46%) Data Engineer
14 24 (3.46%) Python Developer
15 22 (3.17%) Architect
16 20 (2.89%) Python Engineer
17 18 (2.60%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (12.55%) Playwright
2 81 (11.69%) React
3 70 (10.10%) Node.js
4 65 (9.38%) REST
5 60 (8.66%) .NET
6 53 (7.65%) RESTful
7 51 (7.36%) Kafka
8 34 (4.91%) Spring
8 34 (4.91%) Spring Boot
9 32 (4.62%) pytest
10 31 (4.47%) HTML
10 31 (4.47%) JSON
11 30 (4.33%) CSS
12 29 (4.18%) XML
13 28 (4.04%) Web Services
14 26 (3.75%) SOAP
15 23 (3.32%) AngularJS
16 22 (3.17%) Jest
17 20 (2.89%) FastAPI
18 19 (2.74%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 76 (10.97%) Cloud Native
2 47 (6.78%) Product Ownership
3 29 (4.18%) Distributed Systems
4 26 (3.75%) Mobile App
5 16 (2.31%) Genomics
6 15 (2.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 15 (2.16%) Life Science
7 14 (2.02%) Data Structures
7 14 (2.02%) Reinsurance
8 13 (1.88%) Virtual Team
9 12 (1.73%) Algorithms
9 12 (1.73%) Equities
9 12 (1.73%) Onboarding
10 11 (1.59%) Fixed Income
10 11 (1.59%) Management Information System
11 10 (1.44%) Derivative
11 10 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (1.44%) Public Cloud
11 10 (1.44%) Security Posture
12 9 (1.30%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 55 (7.94%) Linux
2 27 (3.90%) Windows
3 25 (3.61%) Android
3 25 (3.61%) Apple iOS
4 18 (2.60%) Unix
5 6 (0.87%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.29%) 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
Processes & Methodologies
1 356 (51.37%) CI/CD
2 352 (50.79%) Agile
3 280 (40.40%) DevOps
4 153 (22.08%) Problem-Solving
5 110 (15.87%) Software Engineering
6 104 (15.01%) Microservices
7 99 (14.29%) Containerisation
8 96 (13.85%) Test Scripting
9 92 (13.28%) Scrum
10 90 (12.99%) Test Strategy
11 87 (12.55%) AI
12 83 (11.98%) TDD
13 80 (11.54%) Infrastructure as Code
14 77 (11.11%) SDLC
15 73 (10.53%) Continuous Improvement
15 73 (10.53%) Validation
16 70 (10.10%) Software Testing
17 63 (9.09%) API Testing
17 63 (9.09%) Regression Testing
18 60 (8.66%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 224 (32.32%) Python
2 149 (21.50%) SQL
3 144 (20.78%) Java
4 116 (16.74%) TypeScript
5 111 (16.02%) JavaScript
6 96 (13.85%) C#
7 26 (3.75%) Bash
8 21 (3.03%) C++
8 21 (3.03%) Go
9 20 (2.89%) PowerShell
10 12 (1.73%) Kotlin
11 11 (1.59%) Bicep
12 8 (1.15%) Perl
13 7 (1.01%) Ruby
13 7 (1.01%) Swift
14 6 (0.87%) PL/SQL
14 6 (0.87%) VB.NET
15 5 (0.72%) Groovy
15 5 (0.72%) Korn
15 5 (0.72%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 109 (15.73%) Security Cleared
2 96 (13.85%) SC Cleared
3 60 (8.66%) Degree
4 34 (4.91%) ISTQB
5 25 (3.61%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (2.02%) Master's Degree
7 12 (1.73%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (1.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (1.30%) OSCP
10 6 (0.87%) Microsoft Certification
10 6 (0.87%) SANS
11 5 (0.72%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.72%) GPEN
12 4 (0.58%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.58%) CEH
12 4 (0.58%) DV Cleared
12 4 (0.58%) ISEB
12 4 (0.58%) MCP
13 3 (0.43%) HNC
13 3 (0.43%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (23.95%) QA
2 53 (7.65%) Accessibility
3 21 (3.03%) Data Quality
4 15 (2.16%) GDPR
5 13 (1.88%) WCAG
6 8 (1.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 8 (1.15%) NIST
7 6 (0.87%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 5 (0.72%) PERC
9 4 (0.58%) MiFID
9 4 (0.58%) NCSC
9 4 (0.58%) NIST 800
9 4 (0.58%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.43%) Def Stans
10 3 (0.43%) EU AI Act
10 3 (0.43%) IEC 61508
10 3 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 3 (0.43%) ITGC
10 3 (0.43%) SLA
11 2 (0.29%) GMP
System Software
1 138 (19.91%) Docker
2 10 (1.44%) 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%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.14%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 112 (16.16%) Kubernetes
2 81 (11.69%) Terraform
3 31 (4.47%) Ansible
4 18 (2.60%) Grafana
5 14 (2.02%) Prometheus
6 11 (1.59%) HP ALM
7 5 (0.72%) Nmap
8 4 (0.58%) Nessus
8 4 (0.58%) Rancher
9 3 (0.43%) Argo
9 3 (0.43%) Functional Safety
9 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
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%) HP Quality Center
11 1 (0.14%) Kibana
11 1 (0.14%) logstash
Vendors
1 60 (8.66%) Microsoft
2 47 (6.78%) Oracle
3 41 (5.92%) Databricks
4 39 (5.63%) Google
5 32 (4.62%) Salesforce
6 22 (3.17%) ServiceNow
7 17 (2.45%) SAP
8 16 (2.31%) Splunk
9 11 (1.59%) HP
9 11 (1.59%) UiPath
10 9 (1.30%) MuleSoft
11 7 (1.01%) Charles River
11 7 (1.01%) Dynatrace
11 7 (1.01%) OpenAI
11 7 (1.01%) Solace
11 7 (1.01%) webMethods
12 6 (0.87%) Cisco
12 6 (0.87%) IBM
12 6 (0.87%) Murex
12 6 (0.87%) VMware