ISTQB Contract Job Trends in the South East

International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for ISTQB qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 3 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 165 145 177
Rank change year-on-year -20 +32 -8
Contract jobs citing ISTQB 16 35 34
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.38% 0.88% 0.66%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.90% 2.28% 1.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 27 22
10th Percentile £365 £400 £400
25th Percentile £387 £456 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £426 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -22.50% - +22.22%
75th Percentile £461 £575 £594
90th Percentile £543 - £613
England median daily rate £429 £500 £495
% change year-on-year -14.25% +1.01% +15.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £31.25
Median hourly rate - - £32.50
75th Percentile - - £33.75
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £45.00 - £52.50
% change year-on-year - - +305.56%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,787 1,535 2,220
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 42.27% 38.75% 42.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,168 1,012 1,308
10th Percentile £256 £263 £213
25th Percentile £413 £407 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £681 £700 £692
England median daily rate £525 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -0.94% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 189 83 143
10th Percentile - £20.85 £27.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £27.00 £49.07
Median hourly rate £25.15 £53.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -52.55% -11.67% +33.33%
75th Percentile £60.25 £64.73 £70.04
90th Percentile £90.09 £75.00 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £48.56 £52.50
% change year-on-year -48.21% -7.50% +16.67%

ISTQB
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

ISTQB job vacancy trend in the South East

ISTQB
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing ISTQB.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing ISTQB

ISTQB
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing ISTQB in the South East over the 6 months to 3 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for ISTQB in the South East

ISTQB
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing ISTQB.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing ISTQB

ISTQB
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISTQB within the South East region over the 6 months to 3 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
Thames Valley +11 11 £433 +8.13% 4
Berkshire +6 11 £433 +8.13% 4
Hampshire -26 3 £500 -9.09% 3
West Sussex -10 2 £368 -8.13%
ISTQB
England

ISTQB
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 1 (6.25%) WebLogic
Cloud Services
1 7 (43.75%) Azure
2 5 (31.25%) Entra ID
3 2 (12.50%) Tricentis Tosca
4 1 (6.25%) Azure DevOps
Development Applications
1 3 (18.75%) JIRA
1 3 (18.75%) Selenium
2 2 (12.50%) Toad
3 1 (6.25%) Appium
3 1 (6.25%) Cypress.io
3 1 (6.25%) HP UFT
3 1 (6.25%) Katalon Studio
3 1 (6.25%) Postman
3 1 (6.25%) SoapUI
3 1 (6.25%) Team Foundation Server
3 1 (6.25%) WebDriver
General
1 7 (43.75%) Analytical Skills
1 7 (43.75%) Social Skills
2 5 (31.25%) Documentation Skills
2 5 (31.25%) Influencing Skills
3 1 (6.25%) Finance
3 1 (6.25%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 7 (43.75%) Test Manager
2 6 (37.50%) Analyst
2 6 (37.50%) Test Analyst
3 3 (18.75%) DV Cleared Test Analyst
3 3 (18.75%) Infrastructure Analyst
3 3 (18.75%) Infrastructure Test Analyst
4 2 (12.50%) Test Strategist
4 2 (12.50%) Tester
5 1 (6.25%) ITSM Tester
5 1 (6.25%) Lead
5 1 (6.25%) Lead Test Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) QA Engineer
5 1 (6.25%) SAP Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) SAP Test Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) SAP Tester
5 1 (6.25%) Technical Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) Technical Test Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) UAT Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (12.50%) XML
2 1 (6.25%) .NET
2 1 (6.25%) HTML
2 1 (6.25%) Playwright
2 1 (6.25%) SOAP
2 1 (6.25%) WebdriverIO
Miscellaneous
1 5 (31.25%) Enterprise Software
2 1 (6.25%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 5 (31.25%) Windows
2 3 (18.75%) Linux
3 1 (6.25%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (81.25%) Agile
2 11 (68.75%) Test Management
3 10 (62.50%) Test Automation
4 8 (50.00%) Software Testing
5 7 (43.75%) Continuous Improvement
5 7 (43.75%) Problem-Solving
5 7 (43.75%) Root Cause Analysis
5 7 (43.75%) Scenario Testing
5 7 (43.75%) Stakeholder Management
5 7 (43.75%) Validation
6 6 (37.50%) Disaster Recovery
6 6 (37.50%) Test Strategy
7 5 (31.25%) Agile Testing
7 5 (31.25%) Business Continuity
7 5 (31.25%) ERP
7 5 (31.25%) Integration Testing
7 5 (31.25%) Resilience Testing
7 5 (31.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 4 (25.00%) CI/CD
8 4 (25.00%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 4 (25.00%) Java
1 4 (25.00%) SQL
2 1 (6.25%) C#
2 1 (6.25%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 8 (50.00%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
2 6 (37.50%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
2 6 (37.50%) Security Cleared
3 3 (18.75%) Degree
3 3 (18.75%) DV Cleared
3 3 (18.75%) SC Cleared
4 2 (12.50%) BPSS Clearance
4 2 (12.50%) ISEB
5 1 (6.25%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (6.25%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (12.50%) QA
Vendors
1 7 (43.75%) ServiceNow
2 5 (31.25%) Workday
3 3 (18.75%) Oracle
4 2 (12.50%) SAP
4 2 (12.50%) webMethods