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 16 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 33 47
Rank change year-on-year -37 +14 +5
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 194 181 218
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.98% 5.35% 3.91%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.66% 5.94% 4.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 123 144
10th Percentile £282 £325 £361
25th Percentile £363 £400 £447
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.20% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £589 £600 £638
90th Percentile £651 £700 £688
England median daily rate £475 £484 £525
% change year-on-year -1.86% -7.81% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 18 3
10th Percentile £57.93 £40.23 £40.90
25th Percentile £62.50 £46.93 £47.13
Median hourly rate £70.00 £50.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +40.00% -16.67% +6.67%
75th Percentile - £58.75 £70.00
90th Percentile - £65.71 £74.50
England median hourly rate £67.50 £50.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year +35.00% -9.09% -24.66%

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 5,298 3,045 4,618
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.31% 90.06% 82.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,356 1,891 2,707
10th Percentile £280 £250 £263
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £638
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 523 263 424
10th Percentile £15.80 £13.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £25.12 £15.13 £18.29
Median hourly rate £55.00 £24.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +129.17% -52.00% -
75th Percentile £82.25 £53.63 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £78.38
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +88.87% -34.02% -8.14%

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 16 July 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 16 July 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 16 July 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 -53 66 £430 -14.00% 39
Surrey +8 48 £538 +13.16% 7
Hampshire -45 39 £580 +13.17% 26
Berkshire -51 37 £410 -27.11% 20
West Sussex -1 30 £358 -7.25% 8
Buckinghamshire -25 25 £461 +41.92% 8
East Sussex +4 5 £391 -17.74% 4
Oxfordshire -26 4 £800 +68.42% 12
Middlesex -10 2 - - 1
Kent -3 1 £500 -20.00%
Sussex - 1 £600 - 2
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 11 (5.67%) Confluence
2 4 (2.06%) Apache Spark
3 2 (1.03%) SAS
3 2 (1.03%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (2.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.03%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.52%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (1.03%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.52%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.52%) SAP MDG
2 1 (0.52%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 47 (24.23%) Azure
2 37 (19.07%) AWS
3 22 (11.34%) Azure DevOps
4 19 (9.79%) OpenShift
5 18 (9.28%) GitHub
6 10 (5.15%) GitHub Actions
7 9 (4.64%) GCP
8 5 (2.58%) Azure Data Factory
9 4 (2.06%) Azure AKS
9 4 (2.06%) Serverless
10 3 (1.55%) Amazon ECS
10 3 (1.55%) Amazon S3
10 3 (1.55%) AWS CodePipeline
10 3 (1.55%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.55%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (1.03%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (1.03%) Entra ID
11 2 (1.03%) Firebase
11 2 (1.03%) Power Automate
11 2 (1.03%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 8 (4.12%) MPLS
2 7 (3.61%) 2G
2 7 (3.61%) 3G
2 7 (3.61%) 4G
2 7 (3.61%) 5G
2 7 (3.61%) Diameter Protocol
2 7 (3.61%) SIGTRAN
2 7 (3.61%) SS7
3 6 (3.09%) BGP
3 6 (3.09%) VPN
4 5 (2.58%) WAN
4 5 (2.58%) Wireshark
5 4 (2.06%) Ethernet VPN
6 3 (1.55%) Broadband
6 3 (1.55%) Firewall
6 3 (1.55%) GPRS
6 3 (1.55%) GSM
6 3 (1.55%) LTE
6 3 (1.55%) Multicast
6 3 (1.55%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (4.12%) Data Warehouse
2 6 (3.09%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (2.06%) Big Data
3 4 (2.06%) NoSQL
4 3 (1.55%) DynamoDB
4 3 (1.55%) Metadata
4 3 (1.55%) Oracle Reports
4 3 (1.55%) Spark SQL
5 2 (1.03%) MongoDB
5 2 (1.03%) Redis
5 2 (1.03%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.52%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.52%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.52%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.52%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.52%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 31 (15.98%) JIRA
2 26 (13.40%) Git
3 18 (9.28%) Selenium
3 18 (9.28%) SonarQube
4 16 (8.25%) Jenkins
5 10 (5.15%) JUnit
5 10 (5.15%) Postman
6 9 (4.64%) GitLab
6 9 (4.64%) SpecFlow
7 7 (3.61%) Cucumber
7 7 (3.61%) Gradle
8 6 (3.09%) Maven
8 6 (3.09%) NUnit
9 5 (2.58%) Bitbucket
9 5 (2.58%) WebDriver
10 4 (2.06%) Artifactory
10 4 (2.06%) Zephyr
11 3 (1.55%) REST Assured
11 3 (1.55%) Robot Framework
11 3 (1.55%) TeamCity
General
1 42 (21.65%) Social Skills
2 25 (12.89%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (12.37%) Finance
4 16 (8.25%) Telecoms
5 10 (5.15%) Public Sector
6 6 (3.09%) Aerospace
6 6 (3.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (1.55%) Banking
8 2 (1.03%) Aviation
8 2 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.52%) Advertising
9 1 (0.52%) Automotive
9 1 (0.52%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.52%) Games
9 1 (0.52%) Law
Job Titles
1 29 (14.95%) Senior
2 28 (14.43%) Developer
3 26 (13.40%) Test Engineer
4 25 (12.89%) Tester
5 16 (8.25%) Java Engineer
6 15 (7.73%) Java Developer
6 15 (7.73%) Lead
7 14 (7.22%) Test Automation Engineer
8 11 (5.67%) Software Engineer
9 10 (5.15%) Analyst
9 10 (5.15%) Test Manager
10 8 (4.12%) Consultant
11 7 (3.61%) Pensions Analyst
11 7 (3.61%) Senior Developer
12 6 (3.09%) Senior Test Engineer
12 6 (3.09%) Software Test Engineer
13 5 (2.58%) DevOps Engineer
13 5 (2.58%) Integration Engineer
13 5 (2.58%) Java Software Engineer
13 5 (2.58%) Senior Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (10.82%) AngularJS
2 19 (9.79%) RESTful
3 18 (9.28%) Quarkus
4 16 (8.25%) REST
5 14 (7.22%) React
6 12 (6.19%) Playwright
7 11 (5.67%) Spring
8 7 (3.61%) CSS
8 7 (3.61%) GraphQL
8 7 (3.61%) HTML
8 7 (3.61%) OAuth
8 7 (3.61%) SOAP
8 7 (3.61%) Spring Boot
9 6 (3.09%) OAuth2
9 6 (3.09%) Swagger
9 6 (3.09%) Vert.x
10 5 (2.58%) .NET
10 5 (2.58%) SailPoint
11 4 (2.06%) JSON
11 4 (2.06%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 18 (9.28%) Cloud Native
1 18 (9.28%) Product Ownership
2 16 (8.25%) Distributed Systems
3 12 (6.19%) Self-Motivation
4 10 (5.15%) Virtual Team
5 7 (3.61%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (3.09%) PKI
7 5 (2.58%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.55%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (1.55%) FPGA
8 3 (1.55%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.55%) Verilog
8 3 (1.55%) VHDL
9 2 (1.03%) AI Agents
9 2 (1.03%) Algorithms
9 2 (1.03%) Management Information System
9 2 (1.03%) Security Posture
10 1 (0.52%) Data Centre
10 1 (0.52%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 11 (5.67%) Windows
2 9 (4.64%) Unix
3 8 (4.12%) Linux
4 6 (3.09%) Windows Server
5 5 (2.58%) Embedded Linux
6 2 (1.03%) CentOS
6 2 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.52%) Android
7 1 (0.52%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (51.55%) Agile
2 85 (43.81%) CI/CD
3 57 (29.38%) DevOps
4 38 (19.59%) Scrum
4 38 (19.59%) Software Engineering
5 37 (19.07%) SDLC
6 31 (15.98%) Problem-Solving
6 31 (15.98%) Sprint Planning
7 30 (15.46%) Continuous Improvement
7 30 (15.46%) Test Strategy
8 29 (14.95%) Unit Testing
9 27 (13.92%) Validation
10 26 (13.40%) Microservices
11 23 (11.86%) DevSecOps
12 22 (11.34%) Front End Development
12 22 (11.34%) Sprint Review
13 21 (10.82%) Software Testing
14 19 (9.79%) Mentoring
14 19 (9.79%) Regression Testing
14 19 (9.79%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 52 (26.80%) Java
2 49 (25.26%) SQL
3 43 (22.16%) Python
4 23 (11.86%) C#
5 19 (9.79%) JavaScript
6 15 (7.73%) PowerShell
7 10 (5.15%) TypeScript
8 5 (2.58%) C++
9 4 (2.06%) C
9 4 (2.06%) PL/SQL
9 4 (2.06%) VBScript
10 3 (1.55%) Bash
10 3 (1.55%) Embedded C
10 3 (1.55%) Embedded C++
10 3 (1.55%) Kotlin
11 2 (1.03%) Apex Code
11 2 (1.03%) Go
11 2 (1.03%) Groovy
11 2 (1.03%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.52%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 74 (38.14%) Security Cleared
2 50 (25.77%) SC Cleared
3 23 (11.86%) DV Cleared
4 15 (7.73%) ISTQB
5 8 (4.12%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
6 7 (3.61%) CCNP
6 7 (3.61%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (3.09%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (3.09%) Degree
8 5 (2.58%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (1.03%) BC Cleared
9 2 (1.03%) CCIE
9 2 (1.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 2 (1.03%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.52%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.52%) CCIP
10 1 (0.52%) CCNA
10 1 (0.52%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 65 (33.51%) QA
2 8 (4.12%) Accessibility
3 7 (3.61%) Data Quality
4 2 (1.03%) NCSC
4 2 (1.03%) Software Quality Assurance
4 2 (1.03%) WCAG
5 1 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.52%) GMP
5 1 (0.52%) GRC
System Software
1 14 (7.22%) Docker
2 13 (6.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (3.61%) Active Directory
4 5 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 29 (14.95%) Kubernetes
2 18 (9.28%) Argo
3 16 (8.25%) Terraform
4 15 (7.73%) Ansible
5 5 (2.58%) Forefront Identity Manager
5 5 (2.58%) NetIQ Identity Manager
6 4 (2.06%) WMI
7 2 (1.03%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (1.03%) HP Quality Center
7 2 (1.03%) Iperf
7 2 (1.03%) Nmap
8 1 (0.52%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.52%) Rancher
Vendors
1 17 (8.76%) Red Hat
2 15 (7.73%) Microsoft
3 14 (7.22%) Cisco
3 14 (7.22%) VMware
4 9 (4.64%) Splunk
5 8 (4.12%) Databricks
5 8 (4.12%) Oracle
6 6 (3.09%) Arista
6 6 (3.09%) Fortinet
6 6 (3.09%) Tagetik
7 5 (2.58%) CheckPoint
7 5 (2.58%) NetIQ
7 5 (2.58%) Salesforce
8 4 (2.06%) Blue Prism
8 4 (2.06%) Denodo
8 4 (2.06%) Juniper
8 4 (2.06%) SAP
8 4 (2.06%) Talend
9 3 (1.55%) F5
9 3 (1.55%) ServiceNow