Software Testing Contract Job Trends in Reading

Software Testing
Berkshire > Reading

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Reading requiring Software Testing skills. It covers vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 54 74 61
Rank change year-on-year +20 -13 +22
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 7 18 32
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Reading 1.21% 1.62% 2.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.31% 1.88% 3.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 12 31
10th Percentile £421 £529 -
25th Percentile £436 £618 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £650 £375
Median % change year-on-year -27.65% +73.33% -33.33%
75th Percentile £504 £665 £606
90th Percentile £518 £686 £650
Berkshire median daily rate £480 £648 £400
% change year-on-year -25.87% +61.88% -31.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 0
Median hourly rate £55.00 - -
Berkshire median hourly rate £55.00 - -

All Process and Methodology Skills
Reading

Software Testing 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 Reading.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 534 957 1,005
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 92.07% 86.06% 88.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 335 511 661
10th Percentile £350 £350 £311
25th Percentile £450 £475 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £580 £550
Median % change year-on-year -7.59% +5.45% +10.00%
75th Percentile £609 £650 £638
90th Percentile £650 £711 £700
Berkshire median daily rate £501 £550 £525
% change year-on-year -9.00% +4.76% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 30 20
10th Percentile - £14.50 £18.40
25th Percentile £14.75 £53.74 £52.23
Median hourly rate £27.50 £61.60 £65.56
Median % change year-on-year -55.36% -6.04% +87.91%
75th Percentile £55.00 £76.46 £74.20
90th Percentile £58.00 £87.46 £75.42
Berkshire median hourly rate £32.31 £61.60 £58.44
% change year-on-year -47.55% +5.40% +41.87%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

Job postings citing Software Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Reading.

Job vacancy trend for Software Testing in Reading

Software Testing
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Software Testing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Software Testing

Software Testing
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Software Testing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Software Testing

Software Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Reading by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Cloud Services
1 3 (42.86%) Azure
1 3 (42.86%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 2 (28.57%) 5G
1 2 (28.57%) Diameter Protocol
1 2 (28.57%) Network Security
1 2 (28.57%) SIGTRAN
1 2 (28.57%) SMS
1 2 (28.57%) SS7
1 2 (28.57%) VoLTE
1 2 (28.57%) VoWiFi
1 2 (28.57%) Wireshark
2 1 (14.29%) Modbus
Development Applications
1 2 (28.57%) JIRA
2 1 (14.29%) Cypress.io
2 1 (14.29%) NUnit
2 1 (14.29%) Selenium
General
1 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
2 2 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (28.57%) Telecoms
3 1 (14.29%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 3 (42.86%) Senior
2 2 (28.57%) Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Cybersecurity Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Lead
2 2 (28.57%) Network Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Project Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Project Manager - Cybersecurity
2 2 (28.57%) Security Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Security Project Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Senior Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Senior Network Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Senior Test Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Team Leader
2 2 (28.57%) Test Analyst
2 2 (28.57%) Test Leader
2 2 (28.57%) Test Team Leader
3 1 (14.29%) Automation Tester
3 1 (14.29%) Senior Manager
3 1 (14.29%) Senior Project Manager
3 1 (14.29%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (14.29%) .NET
1 1 (14.29%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 1 (14.29%) SCADA
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (42.86%) Cybersecurity
1 3 (42.86%) DevOps
2 2 (28.57%) Agile
2 2 (28.57%) Asset Management
2 2 (28.57%) Data Loss Prevention
2 2 (28.57%) Data Protection
2 2 (28.57%) Defect Management
2 2 (28.57%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
2 2 (28.57%) Network Monitoring
2 2 (28.57%) Network Segmentation
2 2 (28.57%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (28.57%) Project Management
2 2 (28.57%) Release Management
2 2 (28.57%) Scrum
2 2 (28.57%) Static Application Security Testing
2 2 (28.57%) Validation
3 1 (14.29%) CI/CD
3 1 (14.29%) End-to-End Testing
3 1 (14.29%) Performance Testing
3 1 (14.29%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 1 (14.29%) C#
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (28.57%) GRC
Systems Management
1 1 (14.29%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 1 (14.29%) Siemens