ISTQB Foundation Certification Contract Job Trends in the Midlands

ISTQB-BCS Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) formerly ISEB Foundation
England > Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Midlands with a requirement for ISTQB Foundation Certification qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 28 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 167 120 129
Rank change year-on-year -47 +9 +36
Contract jobs citing ISTQB Foundation Certification 3 2 3
As % of all contract jobs in the Midlands 0.089% 0.093% 0.11%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.26% 0.32% 0.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 1 3
10th Percentile £359 - £273
25th Percentile £359 £500 £288
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £360 £550 £325
Median % change year-on-year -34.55% +69.23% -22.80%
75th Percentile £418 £600 £344
90th Percentile £452 - £348
England median daily rate £445 £500 £550
% change year-on-year -11.00% -9.09% +22.22%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Midlands

ISTQB Foundation Certification falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the Midlands.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,139 627 842
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Midlands 33.67% 29.10% 31.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 754 378 522
10th Percentile £263 £200 £221
25th Percentile £401 £388 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +7.89% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £575
90th Percentile £650 £700 £672
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.10% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 107 32 65
10th Percentile £15.36 £17.00 £17.72
25th Percentile £17.87 £18.13 £20.00
Median hourly rate £22.01 £23.89 £24.65
Median % change year-on-year -7.87% -3.08% +46.46%
75th Percentile £25.15 £33.75 £43.75
90th Percentile £25.77 £50.75 £67.50
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £47.50
% change year-on-year -45.54% -2.78% +5.56%

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Job Vacancy Trend in the Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing ISTQB Foundation Certification relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Midlands.

ISTQB Foundation Certification job vacancy trend in the Midlands

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Daily Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing ISTQB Foundation Certification.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing ISTQB Foundation Certification

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Hourly Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing ISTQB Foundation Certification.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing ISTQB Foundation Certification

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Contract Job Locations in the Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISTQB Foundation Certification within the Midlands region over the 6 months to 28 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
West Midlands -35 3 £360 -34.55% 2
ISTQB Foundation Certification
England

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands 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 2 (66.67%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 2 (66.67%) Tricentis Tosca
2 1 (33.33%) Azure
2 1 (33.33%) Azure DevOps
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (33.33%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 2 (66.67%) JIRA
1 2 (66.67%) Toad
2 1 (33.33%) JMeter
General
1 1 (33.33%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (33.33%) Finance
1 1 (33.33%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 2 (66.67%) Analyst
1 2 (66.67%) SAP Analyst
1 2 (66.67%) SAP Test Analyst
1 2 (66.67%) Test Analyst
2 1 (33.33%) Lead
2 1 (33.33%) Technical Leader
2 1 (33.33%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (66.67%) XML
2 1 (33.33%) ADO
Operating Systems
1 2 (66.67%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) Defect Management
1 3 (100.00%) Test Automation
1 3 (100.00%) Test Scripting
2 2 (66.67%) Customer Requirements
2 2 (66.67%) Validation
3 1 (33.33%) Agile
3 1 (33.33%) Change Control
3 1 (33.33%) Code Quality
3 1 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
3 1 (33.33%) DevOps
3 1 (33.33%) Functional Testing
3 1 (33.33%) Impact Analysis
3 1 (33.33%) Incident Management
3 1 (33.33%) Mentoring
3 1 (33.33%) Non-Functional Testing
3 1 (33.33%) Scenario Testing
3 1 (33.33%) Software Engineering
3 1 (33.33%) Software Testing
3 1 (33.33%) Test Management
3 1 (33.33%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 3 (100.00%) Java
1 3 (100.00%) SQL
2 1 (33.33%) PL/SQL
2 1 (33.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 3 (100.00%) ISTQB
2 2 (66.67%) ISEB
3 1 (33.33%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (33.33%) Degree
3 1 (33.33%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
3 1 (33.33%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (33.33%) SLA
Systems Management
1 1 (33.33%) HP ALM
1 1 (33.33%) HP Quality Center
Vendors
1 3 (100.00%) Oracle
1 3 (100.00%) SAP
2 2 (66.67%) webMethods
3 1 (33.33%) HP
3 1 (33.33%) Microsoft