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 15 September 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 143 147 181
Rank change year-on-year +4 +34 -28
Contract jobs citing ISTQB 16 38 30
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.47% 0.83% 0.53%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.20% 1.92% 1.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 31 19
10th Percentile - £350 £393
25th Percentile - £404 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -12.20% -2.38% +29.63%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £613
90th Percentile - - £623
England median daily rate £425 £473 £500
% change year-on-year -10.05% -5.50% +11.11%

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 1,338 1,981 2,174
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 38.92% 43.17% 38.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 864 1,245 1,341
10th Percentile £222 £336 £270
25th Percentile £413 £425 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.36% +4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £638 £625
90th Percentile £650 £717 £700
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 117 158 135
10th Percentile - £22.36 £25.13
25th Percentile £18.87 £46.64 £50.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £57.70 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -56.41% -3.84% +33.33%
75th Percentile £68.50 £72.22 £73.73
90th Percentile £81.00 £87.46 £77.50
England median hourly rate £25.15 £54.00 £54.78
% change year-on-year -53.43% -1.42% +21.73%

ISTQB
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings citing ISTQB as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for ISTQB 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 15 September 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 15 September 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
Berkshire +17 10 £450 -12.20% 3
Thames Valley +16 10 £450 -11.11% 3
Hampshire +1 6 £525 -4.55% 4
ISTQB
England

ISTQB
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East 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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (6.25%) Confluence
Communications & Networking
1 10 (62.50%) ATM
1 10 (62.50%) Ethernet
1 10 (62.50%) Frame Relay
1 10 (62.50%) GPRS
1 10 (62.50%) GSM
1 10 (62.50%) LAN
1 10 (62.50%) LTE
1 10 (62.50%) MPLS
1 10 (62.50%) SAN
1 10 (62.50%) SDH
1 10 (62.50%) UMTS
1 10 (62.50%) VPN
1 10 (62.50%) WAN
1 10 (62.50%) Wireshark
Development Applications
1 4 (25.00%) TestRail
2 1 (6.25%) HP UFT
2 1 (6.25%) JIRA
2 1 (6.25%) Katalon Studio
2 1 (6.25%) Selenium
General
1 11 (68.75%) Social Skills
2 10 (62.50%) Telecoms
3 1 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (6.25%) Finance
3 1 (6.25%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 11 (68.75%) Test Engineer
2 9 (56.25%) IP Engineer
3 5 (31.25%) IP Network Engineer
3 5 (31.25%) Network Engineer
4 3 (18.75%) Analyst
4 3 (18.75%) Test Analyst
5 2 (12.50%) Consultant
5 2 (12.50%) IP Consultant
5 2 (12.50%) IP Network Consultant
5 2 (12.50%) Network Consultant
6 1 (6.25%) Coordinator
6 1 (6.25%) Senior
6 1 (6.25%) Senior Tester
6 1 (6.25%) Test Coordinator
6 1 (6.25%) Test Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (6.25%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 10 (62.50%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 10 (62.50%) Linux
1 10 (62.50%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (81.25%) Test Strategy
2 11 (68.75%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (62.50%) Fault Management
3 10 (62.50%) Project Management
3 10 (62.50%) Regression Testing
4 4 (25.00%) Agile
5 3 (18.75%) Requirements Analysis
5 3 (18.75%) Scaled Agile Framework
5 3 (18.75%) Test Management
6 2 (12.50%) Test Automation
7 1 (6.25%) BDD
7 1 (6.25%) Line Management
7 1 (6.25%) Manual Testing
7 1 (6.25%) Non-Functional Testing
7 1 (6.25%) Operational Acceptance Testing
7 1 (6.25%) Software Testing
7 1 (6.25%) System Integration Testing
7 1 (6.25%) User Acceptance Testing
7 1 (6.25%) User Stories
7 1 (6.25%) Waterfall
Programming Languages
1 10 (62.50%) Java
2 1 (6.25%) SQL
Qualifications
1 15 (93.75%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
2 10 (62.50%) CCNP
2 10 (62.50%) Cisco Certification
2 10 (62.50%) ISEB
3 4 (25.00%) DV Cleared
3 4 (25.00%) Security Cleared
4 1 (6.25%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (6.25%) QA
Vendors
1 10 (62.50%) Cisco
1 10 (62.50%) Juniper
1 10 (62.50%) Microsoft