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 requiring Test Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 62 44 40
Rank change year-on-year -18 -4 +14
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 229 152 209
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.45% 4.35% 4.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.27% 4.87% 5.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 130 104 146
10th Percentile £265 £325 £350
25th Percentile £359 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £560 £600 £636
90th Percentile £651 £685 £670
England median daily rate £475 £500 £516
% change year-on-year -5.00% -3.10% -5.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 15 3
10th Percentile £56.25 £47.34 £38.90
25th Percentile £66.38 - £42.13
Median hourly rate £70.00 £50.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +40.00% - -11.11%
75th Percentile - £58.75 £57.50
90th Percentile - £66.91 £60.50
England median hourly rate £67.50 £57.13 £57.50
% change year-on-year +18.16% -0.65% -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 requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,359 3,120 3,820
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 80.74% 89.22% 82.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,231 1,937 2,290
10th Percentile £275 £222 £256
25th Percentile £425 £385 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -1.14%
75th Percentile £619 £600 £633
90th Percentile £706 £663 £700
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.95% -2.87% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 617 311 271
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.50 £16.00
25th Percentile £17.23 £15.50 £34.50
Median hourly rate £52.43 £22.07 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +137.54% -61.52% +9.24%
75th Percentile £70.00 £52.38 £71.82
90th Percentile £87.16 £69.65 £78.75
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%

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 job vacancy trend 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.

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 10 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Automation in the South East

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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 of jobs citing Test Automation in the South East over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Automation in the South East

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 10 September 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
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley -26 82 £475 -5.00% 66
Berkshire -27 51 £440 -12.09% 36
Surrey +21 49 £510 +18.60% 7
Hampshire -39 46 £519 +0.92% 40
West Sussex +7 39 £300 -11.76% 17
Buckinghamshire -26 24 £461 +41.92% 10
Oxfordshire -19 7 £868 - 21
Middlesex -14 6 - - 1
Sussex - 2 £438 - 1
East Sussex - 2 £459 - 8
Kent -4 1 £475 -24.00% 3
Test Automation
England

Test Automation
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 13 (5.68%) Confluence
2 4 (1.75%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.87%) SAS
3 2 (0.87%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.44%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.44%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.44%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.44%) Oracle EBS R12
2 1 (0.44%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.44%) SAP MDG
2 1 (0.44%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 66 (28.82%) AWS
2 63 (27.51%) Azure
3 28 (12.23%) Azure DevOps
4 23 (10.04%) GitHub
4 23 (10.04%) OpenShift
5 18 (7.86%) GCP
6 14 (6.11%) GitHub Actions
7 8 (3.49%) Entra ID
8 7 (3.06%) Azure AKS
8 7 (3.06%) Azure Monitor
9 6 (2.62%) AWS Lambda
9 6 (2.62%) Azure Key Vault
9 6 (2.62%) Serverless
10 5 (2.18%) Azure App Service
10 5 (2.18%) Azure Data Factory
10 5 (2.18%) Snowflake
11 4 (1.75%) Amazon Bedrock
11 4 (1.75%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 4 (1.75%) Amazon EventBridge
11 4 (1.75%) AWS Step Functions
Communications & Networking
1 13 (5.68%) 2G
1 13 (5.68%) 3G
1 13 (5.68%) 4G
1 13 (5.68%) 5G
1 13 (5.68%) Diameter Protocol
1 13 (5.68%) SIGTRAN
1 13 (5.68%) SS7
2 6 (2.62%) Broadband
3 4 (1.75%) HTTPS
4 3 (1.31%) BGP
4 3 (1.31%) Ethernet VPN
4 3 (1.31%) GPRS
4 3 (1.31%) GSM
4 3 (1.31%) LAN
4 3 (1.31%) MPLS
4 3 (1.31%) UMTS
4 3 (1.31%) VPN
4 3 (1.31%) VXLAN
4 3 (1.31%) WAN
4 3 (1.31%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (8.73%) Relational Database
2 12 (5.24%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (4.37%) NoSQL
4 9 (3.93%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (2.62%) Oracle Reports
6 5 (2.18%) Azure SQL Database
6 5 (2.18%) Metadata
7 4 (1.75%) Big Data
7 4 (1.75%) SQL Server
8 3 (1.31%) Spark SQL
9 2 (0.87%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.87%) DynamoDB
9 2 (0.87%) Redis
10 1 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.44%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.44%) Couchbase
10 1 (0.44%) MongoDB
10 1 (0.44%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 1 (0.44%) Parquet
10 1 (0.44%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 48 (20.96%) Git
2 29 (12.66%) JIRA
3 28 (12.23%) Selenium
4 20 (8.73%) SonarQube
5 18 (7.86%) Jenkins
6 13 (5.68%) GitLab
7 10 (4.37%) Postman
8 8 (3.49%) JUnit
8 8 (3.49%) SpecFlow
9 7 (3.06%) Cucumber
10 5 (2.18%) Bitbucket
10 5 (2.18%) Gradle
10 5 (2.18%) REST Assured
11 4 (1.75%) Artifactory
11 4 (1.75%) Maven
11 4 (1.75%) NUnit
11 4 (1.75%) WebDriver
12 3 (1.31%) TeamCity
12 3 (1.31%) Zephyr
13 2 (0.87%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 65 (28.38%) Social Skills
2 37 (16.16%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (11.35%) Finance
4 18 (7.86%) Telecoms
5 12 (5.24%) Public Sector
6 11 (4.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (3.49%) Aerospace
8 4 (1.75%) Banking
9 2 (0.87%) Electronics
10 1 (0.44%) Advertising
10 1 (0.44%) Automotive
10 1 (0.44%) Games
10 1 (0.44%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.44%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.44%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 36 (15.72%) Developer
2 28 (12.23%) Senior
3 24 (10.48%) Tester
4 23 (10.04%) Lead
5 22 (9.61%) Test Engineer
6 16 (6.99%) Java Developer
7 13 (5.68%) Java Engineer
8 11 (4.80%) Consultant
8 11 (4.80%) Software Engineer
8 11 (4.80%) Test Automation Engineer
9 10 (4.37%) Designer
10 9 (3.93%) Analyst
10 9 (3.93%) Mobile Designer
10 9 (3.93%) Technical Leader
10 9 (3.93%) Test Manager
11 8 (3.49%) Automation Tester
11 8 (3.49%) QA Engineer
12 6 (2.62%) Full-Stack Developer
12 6 (2.62%) Senior Developer
12 6 (2.62%) Software Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (13.10%) RESTful
2 26 (11.35%) Terraform
3 24 (10.48%) REST
4 21 (9.17%) AngularJS
5 20 (8.73%) Quarkus
6 16 (6.99%) OAuth
6 16 (6.99%) React
7 13 (5.68%) CSS
7 13 (5.68%) HTML
8 12 (5.24%) OpenID
9 11 (4.80%) .NET
9 11 (4.80%) Playwright
10 10 (4.37%) OAuth2
10 10 (4.37%) Spring
11 8 (3.49%) Spring Boot
12 7 (3.06%) .NET Core
12 7 (3.06%) .NET Framework
12 7 (3.06%) Django
12 7 (3.06%) Entity Framework
12 7 (3.06%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 23 (10.04%) Cloud Native
1 23 (10.04%) Product Ownership
2 15 (6.55%) Self-Motivation
3 14 (6.11%) Distributed Systems
4 8 (3.49%) AI Agents
4 8 (3.49%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (3.06%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (3.06%) Virtual Team
6 5 (2.18%) Security Posture
7 4 (1.75%) Mobile App
7 4 (1.75%) PKI
7 4 (1.75%) Social Media
8 3 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.31%) Life Science
8 3 (1.31%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (1.31%) Low-Code
9 2 (0.87%) FPGA
9 2 (0.87%) Verilog
9 2 (0.87%) VHDL
10 1 (0.44%) IVR
Operating Systems
1 10 (4.37%) Windows
2 8 (3.49%) Linux
3 7 (3.06%) Unix
4 4 (1.75%) Embedded Linux
4 4 (1.75%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.44%) Android
5 1 (0.44%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (55.90%) Agile
2 125 (54.59%) CI/CD
3 67 (29.26%) DevOps
4 63 (27.51%) SDLC
5 50 (21.83%) Software Engineering
6 48 (20.96%) Continuous Improvement
7 46 (20.09%) Validation
8 45 (19.65%) Problem-Solving
9 43 (18.78%) Scrum
10 36 (15.72%) Software Testing
11 35 (15.28%) Stakeholder Management
12 34 (14.85%) Sprint Planning
13 33 (14.41%) DevSecOps
14 31 (13.54%) Infrastructure as Code
14 31 (13.54%) Regression Testing
14 31 (13.54%) Unit Testing
15 30 (13.10%) Performance Testing
15 30 (13.10%) Technical Leadership
15 30 (13.10%) Test Strategy
16 29 (12.66%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 70 (30.57%) SQL
2 68 (29.69%) Python
3 57 (24.89%) Java
4 24 (10.48%) C#
5 21 (9.17%) JavaScript
6 18 (7.86%) PowerShell
7 11 (4.80%) TypeScript
8 5 (2.18%) Bash
9 4 (1.75%) Bicep
9 4 (1.75%) C++
9 4 (1.75%) Kotlin
9 4 (1.75%) PL/SQL
10 3 (1.31%) C
10 3 (1.31%) Go
11 2 (0.87%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.87%) Embedded C
11 2 (0.87%) Embedded C++
11 2 (0.87%) Groovy
11 2 (0.87%) T-SQL
11 2 (0.87%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 91 (39.74%) Security Cleared
2 57 (24.89%) SC Cleared
3 33 (14.41%) DV Cleared
4 15 (6.55%) ISTQB
5 8 (3.49%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (3.49%) Degree
5 8 (3.49%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 5 (2.18%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (2.18%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (2.18%) Master's Degree
7 4 (1.75%) CCNP
8 3 (1.31%) Azure Certification
8 3 (1.31%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 2 (0.87%) CISSP
10 1 (0.44%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 1 (0.44%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.44%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 1 (0.44%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.44%) CREST Certified
10 1 (0.44%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 85 (37.12%) QA
2 12 (5.24%) Accessibility
3 8 (3.49%) Data Quality
4 3 (1.31%) Software Quality Assurance
5 2 (0.87%) GDPR
5 2 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.87%) NIST
5 2 (0.87%) WCAG
6 1 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.44%) GRC
6 1 (0.44%) NCSC
6 1 (0.44%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.44%) PMO
System Software
1 21 (9.17%) Docker
2 11 (4.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (3.93%) Active Directory
4 5 (2.18%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 41 (17.90%) Kubernetes
2 20 (8.73%) Argo
3 15 (6.55%) Ansible
4 4 (1.75%) WMI
5 3 (1.31%) Forefront Identity Manager
5 3 (1.31%) NetIQ Identity Manager
6 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.44%) QRadar
Vendors
1 22 (9.61%) Microsoft
2 19 (8.30%) Red Hat
3 12 (5.24%) Oracle
3 12 (5.24%) VMware
4 11 (4.80%) Cisco
5 8 (3.49%) Databricks
6 7 (3.06%) Splunk
7 6 (2.62%) Arista
7 6 (2.62%) Tagetik
8 5 (2.18%) Salesforce
9 4 (1.75%) Denodo
9 4 (1.75%) SAP
9 4 (1.75%) Talend
10 3 (1.31%) Dynatrace
10 3 (1.31%) F5
10 3 (1.31%) Fortinet
10 3 (1.31%) Google
10 3 (1.31%) Juniper
10 3 (1.31%) NetIQ
10 3 (1.31%) ServiceNow