Test Automation Contract Job Trends in the South East
Automated Testing
England > South East
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East citing Test Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 29 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 29 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 59 | 54 | 41 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -5 | -13 | +15 |
| Contract jobs citing Test Automation | 256 | 146 | 206 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the South East | 3.86% | 3.91% | 4.89% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 4.69% | 4.43% | 5.79% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 157 | 108 | 146 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £325 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £325 | £362 | £409 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £448 | £484 | £513 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -7.45% | -5.66% | +2.30% |
| 75th Percentile | £588 | £550 | £629 |
| 90th Percentile | £741 | £629 | £673 |
| England median daily rate | £475 | £500 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | -5.00% | - | -7.41% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 29 | 10 | 2 |
| 10th Percentile | £48.50 | £43.36 | £48.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £55.00 | - | £50.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £70.00 | £50.00 | £55.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +40.00% | -9.09% | +2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | - | £53.75 | £60.00 |
| 90th Percentile | - | £75.25 | £61.50 |
| England median hourly rate | £66.25 | £65.00 | £57.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +1.92% | +13.04% | -23.33% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
South East
Test Automation falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies citing process or methodology skills in the South East.
| 6 months to 29 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 5,462 | 3,298 | 3,559 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East | 82.38% | 88.30% | 84.50% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,081 | 2,082 | 2,157 |
| 10th Percentile | £275 | £213 | £260 |
| 25th Percentile | £415 | £391 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £511 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -2.06% | -1.83% |
| 75th Percentile | £623 | £588 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £713 | £650 | £688 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £510 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.94% | -2.86% | -4.55% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 768 | 353 | 177 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.47 | £13.80 | £16.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.47 | £16.17 | £30.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £42.50 | £20.71 | £58.05 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +105.21% | -64.32% | +12.14% |
| 75th Percentile | £71.00 | £33.05 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.39 | £65.00 | £75.00 |
| England median hourly rate | £36.38 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +44.65% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
Test Automation Job Vacancy Trend in the South East
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Test Automation relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.
Test Automation Daily Rate Trend in the South East
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Test Automation.
Test Automation Daily Rate Histogram in the South East
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in the South East over the 6 months to 29 October 2026.
Test Automation Hourly Rate Trend in the South East
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Test Automation.
Test Automation Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East
Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in the South East over the 6 months to 29 October 2026.
Test Automation 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 Test Automation within the South East region over the 6 months to 29 October 2026. 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thames Valley | -24 | 91 | £480 | +6.67% | 32 |
| Hampshire | -12 | 66 | £488 | -2.50% | 46 |
| Berkshire | -15 | 58 | £450 | -10.00% | 16 |
| West Sussex | +12 | 48 | £313 | -8.09% | 5 |
| Surrey | +8 | 37 | £450 | +5.88% | 6 |
| Buckinghamshire | -15 | 25 | £475 | +46.15% | 4 |
| Oxfordshire | -15 | 8 | £868 | - | 13 |
| Middlesex | - | 6 | - | - | 2 |
| Sussex | - | 5 | £600 | - | 4 |
| Kent | -12 | 2 | £475 | -5.00% | 4 |
| Test Automation England |
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Test Automation Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CI/CD | 59.8% | 153 |
| 2 | Agile | 53.1% | 136 |
| 3 | DevOps | 30.5% | 78 |
| 4 | Software Engineering | 24.2% | 62 |
| 5 | SDLC | 22.7% | 58 |
| 6 | Continuous Improvement | 22.3% | 57 |
| 7 | Scrum | 21.9% | 56 |
| 8 | Problem-Solving | 19.9% | 51 |
| 9 | Validation | 18.0% | 46 |
| 10 | Software Testing | 16.8% | 43 |
| 11 | Stakeholder Management | 16.4% | 42 |
| 12 | Containerisation | 15.2% | 39 |
| 13 | Regression Testing | 14.8% | 38 |
| 14 | Defect Management | 14.5% | 37 |
| 14 | DevSecOps | 14.5% | 37 |
| 14 | Infrastructure as Code | 14.5% | 37 |
| 17 | Mentoring | 14.1% | 36 |
| 18 | AI | 13.7% | 35 |
| 18 | Microservices | 13.7% | 35 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 12.9% | 33 |