Test Strategy Contracts in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Test Strategy skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Test Strategy over the 6 months leading up to 3 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 152 194 185
Rank change year-on-year +42 -9 -16
Contract jobs citing Test Strategy 203 218 333
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 1.59% 1.05% 1.39%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.76% 1.24% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 127 132 240
10th Percentile £328 £358 £375
25th Percentile £401 £412 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% +1.01%
75th Percentile £524 £564 £550
90th Percentile £604 £625 £625
UK median daily rate £469 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -10.67% - +1.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 8
10th Percentile £28.18 - £34.04
25th Percentile £35.51 £67.50 £39.68
Median hourly rate £60.00 £70.00 £58.94
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +18.77% +210.20%
75th Percentile £71.88 £72.50 £62.55
90th Percentile £80.13 - -
UK median hourly rate £60.00 £70.00 £62.55
% change year-on-year -14.29% +11.91% +140.58%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Test Strategy 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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 11,544 17,537 21,420
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 90.36% 84.72% 89.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,245 10,476 14,867
10th Percentile £235 £250 £255
25th Percentile £375 £378 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £662 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 827 2,058 1,303
10th Percentile £14.20 £12.33 £11.00
25th Percentile £17.31 £15.24 £15.75
Median hourly rate £27.50 £37.34 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.35% +6.69% +75.00%
75th Percentile £64.50 £60.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £72.98
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £35.58 £36.00
% change year-on-year -18.48% -1.18% +44.00%

Test Strategy
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Job postings citing Test Strategy as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Job vacancy trend for Test Strategy in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Test Strategy in the UK excluding London.

Daily rate trend for Test Strategy in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Strategy in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 3 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Test Strategy in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Test Strategy in the UK excluding London.

Hourly rate trend for Test Strategy in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Test Strategy in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 3 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Strategy in the UK excluding London

Test Strategy
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Test Strategy within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 3 May 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
South East +56 68 £450 -7.69% 72
Midlands +32 54 £500 +28.21% 30
North of England +31 53 £450 - 63
West Midlands +28 45 £507 +41.36% 20
North West +26 31 £447 -0.67% 39
Yorkshire +9 17 £463 -4.34% 18
South West +19 13 £620 +10.23% 23
East Midlands +14 9 £386 -8.42% 10
East of England +7 9 £750 +41.18% 26
North East -1 5 £520 +27.61% 8
Wales 0 4 £322 -39.89% 8
Scotland -7 4 £525 +1.11% 10
Northern Ireland - 1 £550 - 5
Test Strategy
UK

Test Strategy
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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:

Application Platforms
1 15 (7.39%) Confluence
2 3 (1.48%) CICS
3 2 (0.99%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.99%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.49%) Oracle Workflow
4 1 (0.49%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (2.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 5 (2.46%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.48%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.99%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.49%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.99%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.49%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.49%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 48 (23.65%) Azure
2 21 (10.34%) Azure DevOps
3 17 (8.37%) AWS
4 14 (6.90%) Power Platform
5 13 (6.40%) PowerApps
6 10 (4.93%) GitHub
7 8 (3.94%) GCP
8 5 (2.46%) Dynamics 365
8 5 (2.46%) SaaS
9 4 (1.97%) Azure Pipelines
10 3 (1.48%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (0.99%) BrowserStack
12 1 (0.49%) npm
12 1 (0.49%) Oracle Service Cloud
12 1 (0.49%) SuccessFactors
12 1 (0.49%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 21 (10.34%) MPLS
2 16 (7.88%) ATM
2 16 (7.88%) Ethernet
2 16 (7.88%) Frame Relay
2 16 (7.88%) GPRS
2 16 (7.88%) GSM
2 16 (7.88%) LAN
2 16 (7.88%) LTE
2 16 (7.88%) SAN
2 16 (7.88%) SDH
2 16 (7.88%) UMTS
2 16 (7.88%) VPN
2 16 (7.88%) WAN
2 16 (7.88%) Wireshark
3 5 (2.46%) BGP
3 5 (2.46%) TCP/IP
3 5 (2.46%) VLAN
4 2 (0.99%) Software-Defined Radio
5 1 (0.49%) Cisco Wireless
5 1 (0.49%) Converged Networks
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.45%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (2.46%) NoSQL
3 4 (1.97%) MySQL
4 3 (1.48%) DB2
4 3 (1.48%) Oracle Reports
4 3 (1.48%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.99%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.99%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.99%) Hadoop
5 2 (0.99%) InfluxDB
5 2 (0.99%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.49%) Electronic Patient Records
6 1 (0.49%) IDMS
6 1 (0.49%) Power BI
6 1 (0.49%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 59 (29.06%) JIRA
2 35 (17.24%) Selenium
3 15 (7.39%) JMeter
4 14 (6.90%) Cypress.io
4 14 (6.90%) Jenkins
5 13 (6.40%) Git
6 11 (5.42%) JUnit
7 10 (4.93%) Postman
8 9 (4.43%) Cucumber
9 8 (3.94%) SoapUI
10 7 (3.45%) LoadRunner
11 6 (2.96%) TestRail
12 5 (2.46%) Appium
12 5 (2.46%) Robot Framework
12 5 (2.46%) SpecFlow
13 4 (1.97%) Gradle
13 4 (1.97%) HP UFT
13 4 (1.97%) IntelliJ
13 4 (1.97%) Maven
14 3 (1.48%) Visual Studio
General
1 99 (48.77%) Social Skills
2 37 (18.23%) Analytical Skills
3 27 (13.30%) Telecoms
4 21 (10.34%) Finance
5 19 (9.36%) Public Sector
6 8 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.46%) Manufacturing
7 5 (2.46%) Military
7 5 (2.46%) Retail
8 4 (1.97%) Automotive
8 4 (1.97%) Banking
9 3 (1.48%) Aerospace
9 3 (1.48%) Billing
9 3 (1.48%) Games
9 3 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (0.99%) General Ledger
10 2 (0.99%) Marketing
10 2 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.99%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 37 (18.23%) Lead
2 34 (16.75%) Test Manager
3 30 (14.78%) Tester
4 24 (11.82%) Test Engineer
5 22 (10.84%) Analyst
5 22 (10.84%) Test Leader
6 20 (9.85%) Senior
7 15 (7.39%) IP Engineer
8 14 (6.90%) Developer
8 14 (6.90%) QA Engineer
9 9 (4.43%) Business Analyst
10 8 (3.94%) Technical Leader
11 7 (3.45%) QA Tester
11 7 (3.45%) ServiceNow Business Analyst
11 7 (3.45%) Test Analyst
12 6 (2.96%) QA Manager
12 6 (2.96%) Senior Analyst
12 6 (2.96%) Senior QA Engineer
12 6 (2.96%) Strategy Manager
12 6 (2.96%) Test Strategy Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.94%) Node.js
2 7 (3.45%) XML
3 6 (2.96%) Middleware
4 5 (2.46%) .NET
4 5 (2.46%) Playwright
4 5 (2.46%) RESTful
5 4 (1.97%) CSS
5 4 (1.97%) HTML
6 3 (1.48%) J2EE
6 3 (1.48%) JSON
6 3 (1.48%) Oracle Fusion
6 3 (1.48%) React
6 3 (1.48%) SOAP
6 3 (1.48%) Unity (Game Engine)
7 2 (0.99%) AngularJS
7 2 (0.99%) Blazor
7 2 (0.99%) Gherkin
7 2 (0.99%) GWT
7 2 (0.99%) REST
7 2 (0.99%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 23 (11.33%) Self-Motivation
2 13 (6.40%) Data Centre
2 13 (6.40%) Product Ownership
2 13 (6.40%) SCADA
3 8 (3.94%) CMDB
4 5 (2.46%) Cloud Native
4 5 (2.46%) NHS
5 4 (1.97%) Management Information System
5 4 (1.97%) Onboarding
6 3 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
6 3 (1.48%) Mainframe
7 2 (0.99%) Distributed Applications
7 2 (0.99%) Enterprise Software
7 2 (0.99%) FMCG
7 2 (0.99%) Greenfield Project
7 2 (0.99%) Infotainment
7 2 (0.99%) Mobile Payment
7 2 (0.99%) Replication
7 2 (0.99%) Virtual Team
7 2 (0.99%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 22 (10.84%) Linux
1 22 (10.84%) Unix
2 7 (3.45%) Windows
3 1 (0.49%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 87 (42.86%) Agile
2 77 (37.93%) Test Automation
3 74 (36.45%) Problem-Solving
4 53 (26.11%) DevOps
5 44 (21.67%) Test Management
6 37 (18.23%) User Acceptance Testing
7 36 (17.73%) CI/CD
8 32 (15.76%) Validation
9 30 (14.78%) Project Management
9 30 (14.78%) Stakeholder Management
10 26 (12.81%) Performance Testing
10 26 (12.81%) Regression Testing
11 25 (12.32%) End-to-End Testing
12 24 (11.82%) Manual Testing
12 24 (11.82%) Non-Functional Testing
12 24 (11.82%) System Integration Testing
12 24 (11.82%) Test Scripting
13 22 (10.84%) Scenario Testing
14 21 (10.34%) Process Improvement
15 20 (9.85%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 40 (19.70%) SQL
2 35 (17.24%) Java
3 16 (7.88%) Python
4 15 (7.39%) JavaScript
5 14 (6.90%) TypeScript
6 11 (5.42%) C#
7 5 (2.46%) PL/SQL
8 4 (1.97%) Go
8 4 (1.97%) Perl
9 3 (1.48%) COBOL
9 3 (1.48%) JCL
10 2 (0.99%) REXX
11 1 (0.49%) PowerShell
11 1 (0.49%) Rust
11 1 (0.49%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 37 (18.23%) ISTQB
2 33 (16.26%) Security Cleared
3 27 (13.30%) SC Cleared
4 22 (10.84%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
5 21 (10.34%) ISEB
6 16 (7.88%) CCNP
6 16 (7.88%) Cisco Certification
7 15 (7.39%) Degree
8 5 (2.46%) DV Cleared
9 3 (1.48%) Master's Degree
10 2 (0.99%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.99%) HND
10 2 (0.99%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 2 (0.99%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.99%) PMP
11 1 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (33.99%) QA
2 9 (4.43%) Accessibility
3 5 (2.46%) Data Quality
4 3 (1.48%) Software Quality Assurance
5 2 (0.99%) COSHH
5 2 (0.99%) GxP
5 2 (0.99%) ISO 14001
5 2 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.49%) GDPR
6 1 (0.49%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.49%) SLA
System Software
1 12 (5.91%) Docker
2 1 (0.49%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.49%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 8 (3.94%) Ansible
1 8 (3.94%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.96%) HP ALM
2 6 (2.96%) Terraform
3 3 (1.48%) Packer
4 2 (0.99%) Amdocs OSS
4 2 (0.99%) Grafana
5 1 (0.49%) CA Endevor
5 1 (0.49%) OPNET
Vendors
1 26 (12.81%) Microsoft
2 23 (11.33%) Oracle
3 19 (9.36%) Cisco
4 16 (7.88%) Juniper
5 10 (4.93%) SAP
6 9 (4.43%) ServiceNow
7 6 (2.96%) HP
7 6 (2.96%) MuleSoft
8 5 (2.46%) Informatica
9 3 (1.48%) Databricks
9 3 (1.48%) Talend
10 2 (0.99%) Ab Initio
10 2 (0.99%) Ariba
10 2 (0.99%) CheckPoint
10 2 (0.99%) Cramer
10 2 (0.99%) Infoblox
10 2 (0.99%) Parasoft
10 2 (0.99%) Remedy
10 2 (0.99%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.99%) webMethods