Test Specialist Contract Job Trends in the South East

Test Specialist
England > South East

The median Test Specialist daily rate in the South East is £322, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 10 October 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 234 - 170
Rank change year-on-year - - +41
Contract jobs requiring a Test Specialist 3 0 6
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.046% - 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.050% - 0.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 3
10th Percentile - - £420
25th Percentile - - £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £322 - £475
Median % change year-on-year - - -22.76%
75th Percentile - - £519
90th Percentile - - £538
England median daily rate £334 £450 £488
% change year-on-year -25.78% -7.69% -4.88%

All Contract IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 5,943 3,191 3,991
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.18% 89.36% 92.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,333 2,063 2,374
10th Percentile £295 £204 £243
25th Percentile £425 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £503
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -0.50% +0.50%
75th Percentile £625 £598 £625
90th Percentile £725 £663 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 827 299 242
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.10 £16.00
25th Percentile £20.43 £15.53 £27.00
Median hourly rate £48.46 £24.00 £59.25
Median % change year-on-year +101.90% -59.49% +14.68%
75th Percentile £70.00 £55.00 £74.97
90th Percentile £87.83 £71.30 £78.75
England median hourly rate £42.15 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +67.59% -41.51% -6.52%

Test Specialist
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Test Specialist' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Test Specialist job vacancy trend in the South East

Test Specialist
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Specialist job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Specialist job vacancies in the South East

Test Specialist
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Specialist job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Specialist job vacancies in the South East

Test Specialist
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 Specialist within the South East region over the 6 months to 10 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
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Hampshire - 2 - -
West Sussex - 1 £322 -
Test Specialist
England

Test Specialist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 10 October 2026, Test Specialist contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South East region featuring Test Specialist in the job title.

1 2 (66.67%) Defect Management
1 2 (66.67%) DV Cleared
1 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
1 2 (66.67%) Test Management
2 1 (33.33%) Agile
2 1 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (33.33%) Disaster Recovery
2 1 (33.33%) Escalation Management
2 1 (33.33%) Integration Testing
2 1 (33.33%) ISTQB
2 1 (33.33%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Jenkins
2 1 (33.33%) JIRA
2 1 (33.33%) Migration
2 1 (33.33%) QA
2 1 (33.33%) Regression Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Scaled Agile Framework
2 1 (33.33%) SDLC
2 1 (33.33%) SOAP
2 1 (33.33%) SoapUI
2 1 (33.33%) Software Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Test Assurance
2 1 (33.33%) Test Planning
2 1 (33.33%) Test Strategy
2 1 (33.33%) TestRail
2 1 (33.33%) Traceability Matrix
2 1 (33.33%) User Acceptance Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Validation
2 1 (33.33%) V-Model
2 1 (33.33%) Waterfall

Test Specialist Skill Set
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:

Development Applications
1 1 (33.33%) Jenkins
1 1 (33.33%) JIRA
1 1 (33.33%) SoapUI
1 1 (33.33%) TestRail
General
1 1 (33.33%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (33.33%) SOAP
1 1 (33.33%) XML
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (66.67%) Defect Management
1 2 (66.67%) Test Management
2 1 (33.33%) Agile
2 1 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (33.33%) Disaster Recovery
2 1 (33.33%) Escalation Management
2 1 (33.33%) Integration Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Migration
2 1 (33.33%) Regression Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Scaled Agile Framework
2 1 (33.33%) SDLC
2 1 (33.33%) Software Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Test Assurance
2 1 (33.33%) Test Planning
2 1 (33.33%) Test Strategy
2 1 (33.33%) Traceability Matrix
2 1 (33.33%) User Acceptance Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Validation
2 1 (33.33%) V-Model
2 1 (33.33%) Waterfall
Qualifications
1 2 (66.67%) DV Cleared
1 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) ISTQB
2 1 (33.33%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (33.33%) QA