Unit Testing Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Unit Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 211 152 141
Rank change year-on-year -59 -11 +32
Contract jobs citing Unit Testing 195 216 313
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 1.08% 1.56% 1.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.27% 1.77% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 136 190
10th Percentile £360 £353 £406
25th Percentile £402 £425 £471
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £520 £595
Median % change year-on-year -11.06% -12.61% +13.33%
75th Percentile £525 £650 £658
90th Percentile £604 £663 £689
UK median daily rate £500 £550 £600
% change year-on-year -9.09% -8.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 9 56
10th Percentile £56.03 £26.22 £48.32
25th Percentile £62.19 £47.50 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% -
75th Percentile £67.63 £65.00 -
90th Percentile £70.00 - £84.36
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £52.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +23.81% -19.23% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Unit 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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 15,350 12,206 16,998
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 85.21% 87.88% 87.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,394 7,131 10,850
10th Percentile £221 £240 £250
25th Percentile £375 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,673 686 1,285
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.29 £20.00 £17.07
Median hourly rate £23.83 £30.41 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -21.64% -30.74% +59.64%
75th Percentile £55.00 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.62 £73.75 £76.81
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -19.75% +16.41%

Unit Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Unit Testing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Unit Testing job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Unit Testing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Unit Testing

Unit Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Unit Testing in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Unit Testing in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Unit Testing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Unit Testing

Unit Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Unit Testing in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Unit Testing in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
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 Unit Testing within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 11 January 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
North of England 0 69 £450 -7.69% 36
North West -3 45 £450 -7.69% 18
Midlands -29 39 £463 -13.55% 28
East of England -3 33 £469 +28.42% 20
West Midlands -17 23 £520 -21.48% 7
South East -55 23 £509 -20.16% 50
Scotland -22 18 £418 -7.22% 6
Yorkshire -32 17 £400 - 13
East Midlands -22 16 £406 -18.80% 21
South West -11 12 £500 +11.11% 28
North East -3 9 £494 - 5
Wales -4 9 £523 +148.81% 6
Unit Testing
UK

Unit Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 12 (6.15%) Apache Spark
2 11 (5.64%) Confluence
3 9 (4.62%) Apache
4 8 (4.10%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (1.54%) Mule
5 3 (1.54%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.51%) CMS
6 1 (0.51%) JBoss
6 1 (0.51%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.51%) Mule ESB
6 1 (0.51%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.51%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.51%) InVision
1 1 (0.51%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (2.05%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.54%) SAP MDG
2 3 (1.54%) SAP MDG-F
2 3 (1.54%) SAP MDG-M
2 3 (1.54%) SAP MDG-S
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle Assets
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle Cash Management
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (1.03%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (1.03%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.51%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.51%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.51%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.51%) SAP SD
4 1 (0.51%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 44 (22.56%) Azure
2 39 (20.00%) AWS
3 28 (14.36%) Azure DevOps
4 20 (10.26%) Serverless
5 16 (8.21%) GitHub
6 14 (7.18%) AWS Lambda
7 12 (6.15%) GitHub Actions
8 11 (5.64%) OpenShift
9 10 (5.13%) Amazon S3
9 10 (5.13%) AWS Step Functions
10 9 (4.62%) Power Platform
11 8 (4.10%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (4.10%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (3.59%) Azure AKS
12 7 (3.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 6 (3.08%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (3.08%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 6 (3.08%) npm
14 5 (2.56%) Amazon SQS
14 5 (2.56%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 22 (11.28%) TCP/IP
2 14 (7.18%) Ethernet
3 1 (0.51%) DNS
3 1 (0.51%) Internet
3 1 (0.51%) SSL
3 1 (0.51%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (7.18%) NoSQL
2 11 (5.64%) Redis
3 9 (4.62%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (4.10%) MongoDB
5 7 (3.59%) Amazon Athena
6 6 (3.08%) Aerospike
6 6 (3.08%) Big Data
7 5 (2.56%) Delta Lake
7 5 (2.56%) Hadoop
7 5 (2.56%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (2.56%) SQL Server
8 4 (2.05%) Apache Hive
8 4 (2.05%) DynamoDB
8 4 (2.05%) Relational Database
9 3 (1.54%) Data Lake
9 3 (1.54%) DocumentDB
9 3 (1.54%) HBase
9 3 (1.54%) Metadata
9 3 (1.54%) SAP Data Services
10 2 (1.03%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 65 (33.33%) Git
2 37 (18.97%) JIRA
3 23 (11.79%) GitLab
4 21 (10.77%) Jenkins
5 19 (9.74%) Visual Studio
6 17 (8.72%) SonarQube
7 14 (7.18%) Eclipse
8 13 (6.67%) Postman
9 12 (6.15%) JUnit
10 11 (5.64%) Rational DOORS
11 8 (4.10%) PVCS
12 7 (3.59%) Cypress.io
12 7 (3.59%) Selenium
13 6 (3.08%) Xcode
14 5 (2.56%) Bitbucket
14 5 (2.56%) Gradle
14 5 (2.56%) MLflow
14 5 (2.56%) MSTest
15 4 (2.05%) Artifactory
15 4 (2.05%) JMeter
General
1 71 (36.41%) Social Skills
2 36 (18.46%) Finance
3 32 (16.41%) Public Sector
4 20 (10.26%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (9.74%) Military
6 18 (9.23%) Banking
7 13 (6.67%) Presentation Skills
8 11 (5.64%) Telecoms
9 9 (4.62%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (4.62%) Electronics
10 6 (3.08%) Aerospace
10 6 (3.08%) Manufacturing
11 5 (2.56%) Marketing
12 4 (2.05%) Health Technology
13 3 (1.54%) Law
14 2 (1.03%) General Ledger
14 2 (1.03%) Legal
15 1 (0.51%) Billing
15 1 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 73 (37.44%) Developer
2 45 (23.08%) Software Engineer
3 31 (15.90%) Senior
4 22 (11.28%) Java Developer
5 21 (10.77%) C++ Software Engineer
6 18 (9.23%) Senior Developer
7 12 (6.15%) C# Software Engineer
8 11 (5.64%) Lead
9 9 (4.62%) AWS Engineer
9 9 (4.62%) Data Engineer
9 9 (4.62%) Senior Java Developer
10 7 (3.59%) C Software Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C Software Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C++ Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 7 (3.59%) Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (16.41%) React
2 29 (14.87%) Node.js
2 29 (14.87%) Web Services
3 28 (14.36%) REST
3 28 (14.36%) Spring
4 26 (13.33%) RESTful
5 24 (12.31%) Spring Boot
6 21 (10.77%) .NET
7 20 (10.26%) AngularJS
8 19 (9.74%) Kafka
9 16 (8.21%) Jest
10 14 (7.18%) HTML
11 12 (6.15%) .NET Core
11 12 (6.15%) CSS
11 12 (6.15%) PySpark
12 11 (5.64%) JSON
13 8 (4.10%) JMS
13 8 (4.10%) pytest
14 7 (3.59%) Redux
15 6 (3.08%) SwiftUI
Miscellaneous
1 20 (10.26%) Cloud Native
2 14 (7.18%) Distributed Systems
3 10 (5.13%) Mobile App
4 8 (4.10%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 5 (2.56%) FPGA
5 5 (2.56%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.56%) PCIe
5 5 (2.56%) Product Ownership
5 5 (2.56%) State Machine
6 4 (2.05%) Client/Server
6 4 (2.05%) NHS
7 3 (1.54%) Distributed Computing
7 3 (1.54%) Mobile Banking
7 3 (1.54%) Taxonomies
8 2 (1.03%) AI Agents
8 2 (1.03%) Algorithms
8 2 (1.03%) Data Structures
9 1 (0.51%) Contactless
9 1 (0.51%) IoT
9 1 (0.51%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 40 (20.51%) Linux
2 36 (18.46%) Windows
3 13 (6.67%) Android
4 9 (4.62%) Apple iOS
4 9 (4.62%) Unix
5 1 (0.51%) OpenVMS
5 1 (0.51%) VMS
5 1 (0.51%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (56.41%) Agile
2 102 (52.31%) CI/CD
3 60 (30.77%) DevOps
3 60 (30.77%) Problem-Solving
4 57 (29.23%) Software Engineering
5 55 (28.21%) Test Automation
6 38 (19.49%) Microservices
6 38 (19.49%) TDD
7 36 (18.46%) Validation
8 34 (17.44%) Containerisation
9 31 (15.90%) Integration Testing
9 31 (15.90%) Scrum
10 30 (15.38%) Code Quality
11 26 (13.33%) Continuous Integration
11 26 (13.33%) Mentoring
12 24 (12.31%) Continuous Improvement
13 23 (11.79%) Front End Development
14 22 (11.28%) Verification and Validation
15 20 (10.26%) Continuous Delivery
16 19 (9.74%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 52 (26.67%) Java
2 45 (23.08%) SQL
3 43 (22.05%) JavaScript
4 40 (20.51%) C#
5 38 (19.49%) Python
6 37 (18.97%) C++
7 16 (8.21%) C
8 15 (7.69%) TypeScript
9 13 (6.67%) PowerShell
10 12 (6.15%) Scala
11 9 (4.62%) Swift
12 7 (3.59%) Embedded C
12 7 (3.59%) Embedded C++
12 7 (3.59%) Kotlin
12 7 (3.59%) PL/SQL
13 5 (2.56%) ABAP
13 5 (2.56%) Objective-C
13 5 (2.56%) Shell Script
14 3 (1.54%) Bash
14 3 (1.54%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 39 (20.00%) Security Cleared
2 29 (14.87%) SC Cleared
3 12 (6.15%) Degree
4 9 (4.62%) BPSS Clearance
5 5 (2.56%) AWS Certification
6 4 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (2.05%) ISTQB
6 4 (2.05%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 2 (1.03%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.51%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.51%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (16.41%) QA
2 20 (10.26%) Accessibility
3 11 (5.64%) Data Quality
4 8 (4.10%) ISO 20022
4 8 (4.10%) PSD2
4 8 (4.10%) SEPA
4 8 (4.10%) SLA
5 6 (3.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (2.56%) WCAG
7 4 (2.05%) HL7
7 4 (2.05%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (1.03%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.51%) GDPR
9 1 (0.51%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.51%) IEC 62304
9 1 (0.51%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 35 (17.95%) Docker
2 9 (4.62%) Virtual Machines
2 9 (4.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.54%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 35 (17.95%) Kubernetes
2 9 (4.62%) Terraform
3 6 (3.08%) Argo
3 6 (3.08%) Grafana
4 4 (2.05%) Ansible
5 3 (1.54%) Hadoop YARN
5 3 (1.54%) Oozie
5 3 (1.54%) Podman
5 3 (1.54%) SELinux
6 2 (1.03%) Control-M
6 2 (1.03%) HP ALM
6 2 (1.03%) Kibana
6 2 (1.03%) Kustomize
6 2 (1.03%) Prometheus
6 2 (1.03%) vRealize
7 1 (0.51%) Cilium
7 1 (0.51%) Rsyslog
7 1 (0.51%) SCOM
7 1 (0.51%) Tivoli
7 1 (0.51%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 26 (13.33%) Microsoft
2 19 (9.74%) Oracle
3 12 (6.15%) Databricks
4 10 (5.13%) VMware
5 9 (4.62%) IBM
6 8 (4.10%) ANSYS
6 8 (4.10%) BeyondTrust
6 8 (4.10%) CyberArk
7 7 (3.59%) SAP
8 6 (3.08%) Red Hat
9 4 (2.05%) Brio
10 3 (1.54%) Pega
10 3 (1.54%) Perforce
11 2 (1.03%) Ab Initio
11 2 (1.03%) Atlassian
11 2 (1.03%) Dynatrace
11 2 (1.03%) Google
11 2 (1.03%) IFS
11 2 (1.03%) Splunk
11 2 (1.03%) Workday