ISTQB Contract Job Trends in Northern Ireland

International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB)
UK > Northern Ireland

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Northern Ireland with a requirement for ISTQB qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 39 - -
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs citing ISTQB 1 0 0
As % of all contract jobs in Northern Ireland 0.39% - -
As % of the Qualifications category 0.97% - -
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 0
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 - -
UK median daily rate £450 £488 £450
% change year-on-year -7.69% +8.33% +1.12%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Northern Ireland

ISTQB 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 Northern Ireland.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 103 90 37
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland 40.55% 46.88% 21.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 33 42 19
10th Percentile £180 £156 £210
25th Percentile £325 £427 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £619
90th Percentile £641 £650 £660
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 14 3
10th Percentile £13.60 £21.19 -
25th Percentile £14.78 - -
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £13.91
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +73.83% -26.79%
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - £35.43 -
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £53.58
% change year-on-year -47.05% -11.35% +19.07%

ISTQB
Job Vacancy Trend in Northern Ireland

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing ISTQB relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland.

ISTQB job vacancy trend in Northern Ireland

ISTQB
Daily Rate Trend in Northern Ireland

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing ISTQB.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing ISTQB

ISTQB
Contract Job Locations in Northern Ireland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISTQB within the Northern Ireland region over the 6 months to 21 October 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
County Antrim - 1 £500 - 3
ISTQB
UK

ISTQB
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Northern Ireland 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:

Development Applications
1 1 (100.00%) JIRA
1 1 (100.00%) TestRail
General
1 1 (100.00%) Public Sector
1 1 (100.00%) Social Skills
1 1 (100.00%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 1 (100.00%) Test Manager
Miscellaneous
1 1 (100.00%) Operational Technology
1 1 (100.00%) SCADA
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Continuous Improvement
1 1 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
1 1 (100.00%) Disaster Recovery
1 1 (100.00%) End-to-End Testing
1 1 (100.00%) High Availability
1 1 (100.00%) Regression Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Stakeholder Management
1 1 (100.00%) Test Automation
1 1 (100.00%) Test Management
1 1 (100.00%) Test Planning
1 1 (100.00%) Test Strategy
1 1 (100.00%) User Acceptance Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Validation
Qualifications
1 1 (100.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (100.00%) NIST
Systems Management
1 1 (100.00%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 1 (100.00%) HP