Test Manager Contract Job Trends in the North West

Test Manager
England > North West

The median Test Manager daily rate in the North West is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 134 96 128
Rank change year-on-year -38 +32 +46
Contract jobs requiring a Test Manager 9 21 15
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 0.38% 0.90% 0.54%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.96% 0.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 15 8
10th Percentile £398 £324 £413
25th Percentile £425 £369 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £489 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.98% -2.20% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £538
90th Percentile £580 £613 £575
England median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +4.76%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North West. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the North West with a recognized job title 2,182 2,180 2,575
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.30% 93.52% 92.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,440 1,149 1,796
10th Percentile £215 £264 £275
25th Percentile £363 £388 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £678 £656 £673
England median daily rate £510 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -2.86% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 213 156 178
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.42 £15.93
25th Percentile £19.07 £18.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £28.43 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% -7.14% +60.70%
75th Percentile £50.00 £51.91 £46.18
90th Percentile £71.19 £70.90 £63.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £41.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -38.66% -10.64% +52.93%

Test Manager
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Test Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Test Manager job vacancy trend in the North West

Test Manager
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Manager job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Manager job vacancies in the North West

Test Manager
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Manager in the North West over the 6 months to 3 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Test Manager in the North West

Test Manager
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Manager job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Manager job vacancies in the North West

Test Manager
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Test Manager within the North West region over the 6 months to 3 November 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
Manchester -14 9 £450 -4.15% 2
Test Manager
England

Test Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 3 November 2025, Test Manager contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the North West region featuring Test Manager in the job title.

1 8 (88.89%) Test Strategy
2 7 (77.78%) End-to-End Testing
3 6 (66.67%) Test Scripting
4 5 (55.56%) QA
5 4 (44.44%) Continuous Improvement
5 4 (44.44%) Test Planning
5 4 (44.44%) User Acceptance Testing
6 3 (33.33%) Agile
6 3 (33.33%) Cash Management
6 3 (33.33%) Defect Management
6 3 (33.33%) Defect Tracking
6 3 (33.33%) Risk Management
6 3 (33.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 3 (33.33%) System Integration Testing
6 3 (33.33%) Test Automation
7 2 (22.22%) AWS
7 2 (22.22%) Functional Testing
7 2 (22.22%) HP
7 2 (22.22%) HP ALM
7 2 (22.22%) Integration Testing
7 2 (22.22%) ISTQB
7 2 (22.22%) Migration
7 2 (22.22%) Project Delivery
7 2 (22.22%) Regression Testing
7 2 (22.22%) SAP
7 2 (22.22%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (22.22%) SuccessFactors
7 2 (22.22%) Test Management
7 2 (22.22%) Traceability Matrix
8 1 (11.11%) Operational Acceptance Testing

Test Manager Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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:

Business Applications
1 2 (22.22%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 2 (22.22%) AWS
1 2 (22.22%) SuccessFactors
General
1 5 (55.56%) Finance
2 3 (33.33%) Public Sector
3 1 (11.11%) Law
3 1 (11.11%) Legal
3 1 (11.11%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 3 (33.33%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
2 2 (22.22%) Data Centre
2 2 (22.22%) Legacy Systems
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (88.89%) Test Strategy
2 7 (77.78%) End-to-End Testing
3 6 (66.67%) Test Scripting
4 4 (44.44%) Continuous Improvement
4 4 (44.44%) Test Planning
4 4 (44.44%) User Acceptance Testing
5 3 (33.33%) Agile
5 3 (33.33%) Cash Management
5 3 (33.33%) Defect Management
5 3 (33.33%) Defect Tracking
5 3 (33.33%) Risk Management
5 3 (33.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 3 (33.33%) System Integration Testing
5 3 (33.33%) Test Automation
6 2 (22.22%) Integration Testing
6 2 (22.22%) Migration
6 2 (22.22%) Project Delivery
6 2 (22.22%) Regression Testing
6 2 (22.22%) Test Management
6 2 (22.22%) Traceability Matrix
Qualifications
1 2 (22.22%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (55.56%) QA
Systems Management
1 2 (22.22%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 2 (22.22%) HP
1 2 (22.22%) SAP