ISTQB Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB)
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley with a requirement for ISTQB qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 1 October 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 103 123 133
Rank change year-on-year +20 +10 -39
Contract jobs citing ISTQB 11 8 5
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.65% 0.37% 0.19%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.86% 0.91% 0.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 10 4 3
10th Percentile £408 £452 £372
25th Percentile £428 £455 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £506 £415
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +21.99% +15.28%
75th Percentile - £531 £474
90th Percentile £451 £543 £505
South East median daily rate £450 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -12.20% -2.38% +31.25%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 592 883 1,056
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 34.86% 40.47% 39.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 370 510 694
10th Percentile £219 £312 £266
25th Percentile £363 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.32% -2.38% +5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £625
90th Percentile £638 £700 £688
South East median daily rate £501 £550 £525
% change year-on-year -9.00% +4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 69 51
10th Percentile £18.87 £29.20 £16.25
25th Percentile £25.15 £55.75 £48.40
Median hourly rate £26.83 £61.60 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -56.45% +2.67% +185.71%
75th Percentile £38.57 £75.24 £73.59
90th Percentile £88.87 £98.00 £75.67
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £60.46 £60.00
% change year-on-year -58.40% +0.76% +33.33%

ISTQB
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Job postings citing ISTQB as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Job vacancy trend for ISTQB in the Thames Valley

ISTQB
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing ISTQB.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing ISTQB

ISTQB
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing ISTQB in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 1 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for ISTQB in the Thames Valley

ISTQB
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing ISTQB.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing ISTQB

ISTQB
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISTQB within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 1 October 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 11 £450 -12.20% 2
ISTQB
South East

ISTQB
Co-Occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Cloud Services
1 3 (27.27%) Azure
1 3 (27.27%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 8 (72.73%) ATM
1 8 (72.73%) Ethernet
1 8 (72.73%) Frame Relay
1 8 (72.73%) GPRS
1 8 (72.73%) GSM
1 8 (72.73%) LAN
1 8 (72.73%) LTE
1 8 (72.73%) MPLS
1 8 (72.73%) SAN
1 8 (72.73%) SDH
1 8 (72.73%) UMTS
1 8 (72.73%) VPN
1 8 (72.73%) WAN
1 8 (72.73%) Wireshark
General
1 11 (100.00%) Social Skills
2 8 (72.73%) Telecoms
3 4 (36.36%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (27.27%) Documentation Skills
4 3 (27.27%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 7 (63.64%) IP Engineer
2 6 (54.55%) Test Engineer
3 5 (45.45%) IP Network Engineer
3 5 (45.45%) Network Engineer
4 3 (27.27%) Test Manager
5 2 (18.18%) Consultant
5 2 (18.18%) IP Consultant
5 2 (18.18%) IP Network Consultant
5 2 (18.18%) Network Consultant
5 2 (18.18%) Test Strategist
Miscellaneous
1 8 (72.73%) Self-Motivation
2 3 (27.27%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 8 (72.73%) Linux
1 8 (72.73%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 11 (100.00%) Test Strategy
2 8 (72.73%) Fault Management
2 8 (72.73%) Project Management
2 8 (72.73%) Regression Testing
3 3 (27.27%) Agile
3 3 (27.27%) Agile Testing
3 3 (27.27%) Business Continuity
3 3 (27.27%) Continuous Improvement
3 3 (27.27%) Disaster Recovery
3 3 (27.27%) ERP
3 3 (27.27%) Integration Testing
3 3 (27.27%) Root Cause Analysis
3 3 (27.27%) Scenario Testing
3 3 (27.27%) Software Testing
3 3 (27.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 3 (27.27%) Stakeholder Management
3 3 (27.27%) Test Automation
3 3 (27.27%) Test Management
3 3 (27.27%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 8 (72.73%) Java
Qualifications
1 8 (72.73%) CCNP
1 8 (72.73%) Cisco Certification
1 8 (72.73%) ISEB
1 8 (72.73%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
2 3 (27.27%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
3 1 (9.09%) SC Cleared
3 1 (9.09%) Security Cleared
Vendors
1 8 (72.73%) Cisco
1 8 (72.73%) Juniper
1 8 (72.73%) Microsoft
2 3 (27.27%) ServiceNow
2 3 (27.27%) Workday