Software Testing Contracts in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Software Testing skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Software Testing over the 6 months leading up to 3 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 93 97 113
Rank change year-on-year +4 +16 +33
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 23 32 34
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 1.37% 1.37% 1.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.49% 1.62% 1.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 27 23
10th Percentile - £205 £205
25th Percentile £325 £358 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £513 £425
Median % change year-on-year -26.83% +20.59% -11.92%
75th Percentile £481 £649 £544
90th Percentile £514 £663 £588
South East median daily rate £400 £438 £400
% change year-on-year -8.57% +9.38% -16.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 2
10th Percentile - - £16.83
25th Percentile - £10.24 £22.56
Median hourly rate £55.00 £10.30 £32.75
Median % change year-on-year +433.98% -68.55% -
75th Percentile £66.25 £10.36 £43.56
90th Percentile £73.00 - £49.68
South East median hourly rate £54.94 £10.30 £52.50
% change year-on-year +433.37% -80.38% +16.67%

All Process and Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Software Testing 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 Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,544 1,977 2,581
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 92.18% 84.63% 90.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 917 1,120 1,742
10th Percentile £305 £263 £313
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £507 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.28% -1.65% +3.00%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £623
90th Percentile £680 £688 £700
South East median daily rate £500 £520 £518
% change year-on-year -3.85% +0.31% +3.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 111 113 82
10th Percentile £14.20 £14.50 £14.23
25th Percentile £15.12 £22.50 £21.35
Median hourly rate £25.15 £55.08 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -54.33% +10.15% +150.00%
75th Percentile £53.63 £66.00 £66.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £85.65 £74.98
South East median hourly rate £21.67 £57.35 £50.00
% change year-on-year -62.22% +14.70% +105.25%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

Job vacancy trend for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Software Testing in the Thames Valley.

Daily rate trend for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Testing in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 3 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Software Testing in the Thames Valley.

Hourly rate trend for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Testing in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 3 August 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
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 Software Testing within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 3 August 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
Buckinghamshire +14 11 £325 -23.53% 17
Berkshire -4 11 £500 -13.04% 23
Oxfordshire -10 1 - - 16
Software Testing
South East

Software Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Applications
1 1 (4.35%) Microsoft Project
1 1 (4.35%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 11 (47.83%) Azure
1 11 (47.83%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 2 (8.70%) 5G
1 2 (8.70%) Diameter Protocol
1 2 (8.70%) Network Security
1 2 (8.70%) SIGTRAN
1 2 (8.70%) SMS
1 2 (8.70%) SS7
1 2 (8.70%) VoLTE
1 2 (8.70%) VoWiFi
1 2 (8.70%) Wireshark
2 1 (4.35%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (30.43%) SQL Server
2 3 (13.04%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 6 (26.09%) JIRA
2 2 (8.70%) QARun
2 2 (8.70%) Selenium
2 2 (8.70%) WinRunner
3 1 (4.35%) Cypress.io
3 1 (4.35%) Git
3 1 (4.35%) LabVIEW
3 1 (4.35%) NUnit
3 1 (4.35%) SoapUI
3 1 (4.35%) WebDriver
General
1 13 (56.52%) Social Skills
2 3 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (8.70%) Telecoms
4 1 (4.35%) Finance
4 1 (4.35%) Legal
4 1 (4.35%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 13 (56.52%) Analyst
1 13 (56.52%) Test Analyst
2 10 (43.48%) Senior
3 7 (30.43%) Senior Analyst
3 7 (30.43%) Senior Test Analyst
4 4 (17.39%) Integration Analyst
4 4 (17.39%) Integration Test Analyst
5 3 (13.04%) Lead
6 2 (8.70%) Consultant
6 2 (8.70%) Network Analyst
6 2 (8.70%) Project Manager
6 2 (8.70%) QA Consultant
6 2 (8.70%) Security Manager
6 2 (8.70%) Security Project Manager
6 2 (8.70%) Senior Consultant
6 2 (8.70%) Senior Network Analyst
6 2 (8.70%) Team Leader
6 2 (8.70%) Test Leader
6 2 (8.70%) Test Team Leader
6 2 (8.70%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (17.39%) WebdriverIO
2 3 (13.04%) Middleware
2 3 (13.04%) Web Services
3 1 (4.35%) .NET
3 1 (4.35%) Playwright
3 1 (4.35%) SOAP
3 1 (4.35%) XML
3 1 (4.35%) XML Messaging
Miscellaneous
1 1 (4.35%) Onboarding
1 1 (4.35%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 9 (39.13%) Windows
2 4 (17.39%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (69.57%) Test Automation
2 12 (52.17%) Agile
2 12 (52.17%) Problem-Solving
3 11 (47.83%) DevOps
4 10 (43.48%) Waterfall
5 9 (39.13%) Defect Management
5 9 (39.13%) Integration Testing
5 9 (39.13%) Logistics
5 9 (39.13%) System Integration Testing
5 9 (39.13%) Test Planning
6 7 (30.43%) Data Migration
6 7 (30.43%) Migration
6 7 (30.43%) SDLC
6 7 (30.43%) Validation
7 6 (26.09%) End-to-End Testing
7 6 (26.09%) Manual Testing
8 5 (21.74%) Scenario Testing
9 4 (17.39%) Test Management
10 3 (13.04%) ITIL
10 3 (13.04%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 8 (34.78%) C#
2 6 (26.09%) VB
3 4 (17.39%) SQL
Qualifications
1 2 (8.70%) Security Cleared
2 1 (4.35%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (4.35%) Degree
2 1 (4.35%) DV Cleared
2 1 (4.35%) ISEB
2 1 (4.35%) ISEB Practitioner
2 1 (4.35%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
2 1 (4.35%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (26.09%) QA
2 2 (8.70%) GRC
Systems Management
1 2 (8.70%) HP ALM
1 2 (8.70%) HP Quality Center
2 1 (4.35%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 9 (39.13%) Microsoft
2 3 (13.04%) Citrix
2 3 (13.04%) HP
3 1 (4.35%) Compaq
3 1 (4.35%) Conga
3 1 (4.35%) Salesforce
3 1 (4.35%) Siemens
3 1 (4.35%) Terracotta
3 1 (4.35%) webMethods