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 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 205 149 154
Rank change year-on-year -56 +5 +30
Contract jobs citing Unit Testing 216 253 321
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 1.21% 1.60% 1.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.39% 1.86% 1.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 111 155 198
10th Percentile £358 £356 £409
25th Percentile £401 £432 £470
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year -11.90% -8.70% +9.52%
75th Percentile £537 £645 £650
90th Percentile £630 £663 £699
UK median daily rate £500 £550 £600
% change year-on-year -9.09% -8.33% +2.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 21 58
10th Percentile £55.69 £47.50 £48.32
25th Percentile - £55.00 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £67.00 - -
90th Percentile £69.57 - £84.36
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Process and 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 15,488 13,615 17,925
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 86.73% 85.92% 88.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,453 7,914 11,623
10th Percentile £215 £241 £250
25th Percentile £373 £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 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,748 854 1,266
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.20 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £19.59 £17.72
Median hourly rate £22.63 £32.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.37% -23.53% +30.77%
75th Percentile £44.95 £64.93 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.33 £73.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.13 £33.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year -23.86% -22.35% +21.43%

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 December 2025.

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 December 2025.

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 December 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
North of England +1 72 £447 -10.60% 58
North West +14 49 £450 -10.00% 37
Midlands -24 40 £463 -13.55% 26
East of England -4 36 £488 +33.56% 28
Scotland -11 28 £451 +0.22% 18
West Midlands -14 25 £520 -15.11% 9
South East -76 25 £591 -5.44% 60
Yorkshire -28 17 £395 -31.30% 16
East Midlands -19 15 £415 -17.00% 16
Wales -2 12 £520 +147.62% 4
North East -1 6 £538 - 5
South West -18 6 - - 20
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 (5.56%) Apache Spark
2 9 (4.17%) Apache
3 8 (3.70%) Apache Airflow
4 7 (3.24%) Confluence
5 3 (1.39%) Mule
5 3 (1.39%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.46%) Camunda
6 1 (0.46%) CMS
6 1 (0.46%) JBoss
6 1 (0.46%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.46%) Mule ESB
6 1 (0.46%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.46%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.46%) InVision
1 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Project
1 1 (0.46%) MS Visio
1 1 (0.46%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (1.85%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.39%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.39%) SAP MDG
2 3 (1.39%) SAP MDG-F
2 3 (1.39%) SAP MDG-M
2 3 (1.39%) SAP MDG-S
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle Assets
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle Cash Management
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (0.93%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.93%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.46%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.46%) SAP CO
4 1 (0.46%) SAP FI/CO
4 1 (0.46%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.46%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.46%) SAP SD
4 1 (0.46%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 50 (23.15%) Azure
2 42 (19.44%) AWS
3 28 (12.96%) Azure DevOps
4 20 (9.26%) Serverless
5 15 (6.94%) AWS Lambda
6 13 (6.02%) GitHub
6 13 (6.02%) OpenShift
7 11 (5.09%) Amazon S3
8 10 (4.63%) AWS Step Functions
8 10 (4.63%) GCP
9 9 (4.17%) AWS CloudFormation
9 9 (4.17%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (4.17%) npm
9 9 (4.17%) Power Platform
10 8 (3.70%) Dynamics 365
11 7 (3.24%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 6 (2.78%) Amazon ECS
12 6 (2.78%) Azure AKS
12 6 (2.78%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 5 (2.31%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 23 (10.65%) TCP/IP
2 20 (9.26%) Ethernet
3 2 (0.93%) X.509
4 1 (0.46%) DNS
4 1 (0.46%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (8.80%) NoSQL
2 13 (6.02%) MongoDB
3 10 (4.63%) Data Warehouse
3 10 (4.63%) Redis
4 8 (3.70%) Big Data
5 7 (3.24%) Amazon Athena
6 6 (2.78%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (2.31%) Delta Lake
7 5 (2.31%) Hadoop
7 5 (2.31%) Relational Database
7 5 (2.31%) SQL Server
8 4 (1.85%) Apache Cassandra
8 4 (1.85%) Apache Hive
8 4 (1.85%) Data Lake
9 3 (1.39%) Aerospike
9 3 (1.39%) DocumentDB
9 3 (1.39%) HBase
9 3 (1.39%) Metadata
9 3 (1.39%) MySQL
9 3 (1.39%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 71 (32.87%) Git
2 31 (14.35%) JIRA
3 25 (11.57%) Visual Studio
4 20 (9.26%) Eclipse
4 20 (9.26%) Jenkins
5 18 (8.33%) SonarQube
6 16 (7.41%) GitLab
7 13 (6.02%) Postman
8 12 (5.56%) Cypress.io
8 12 (5.56%) JUnit
9 8 (3.70%) Selenium
10 7 (3.24%) Artifactory
10 7 (3.24%) Rational DOORS
11 6 (2.78%) Grunt
11 6 (2.78%) gulp
11 6 (2.78%) NUnit
12 5 (2.31%) Bitbucket
12 5 (2.31%) MLflow
12 5 (2.31%) MSTest
13 4 (1.85%) CircleCI
General
1 80 (37.04%) Social Skills
2 39 (18.06%) Finance
3 35 (16.20%) Public Sector
4 25 (11.57%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (10.65%) Military
6 19 (8.80%) Banking
6 19 (8.80%) Presentation Skills
7 11 (5.09%) Telecoms
8 9 (4.17%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.24%) Aerospace
9 7 (3.24%) Manufacturing
10 5 (2.31%) Electronics
10 5 (2.31%) Marketing
11 4 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (1.39%) Health Technology
12 3 (1.39%) Law
13 2 (0.93%) General Ledger
14 1 (0.46%) Billing
14 1 (0.46%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.46%) Legal
Job Titles
1 80 (37.04%) Developer
2 48 (22.22%) Software Engineer
3 31 (14.35%) Senior
4 25 (11.57%) Java Developer
5 22 (10.19%) C++ Software Engineer
6 18 (8.33%) C# Software Engineer
7 17 (7.87%) Senior Developer
8 14 (6.48%) Lead
9 11 (5.09%) Data Engineer
10 9 (4.17%) AWS Engineer
11 8 (3.70%) Senior Java Developer
11 8 (3.70%) Tester
12 7 (3.24%) .NET Developer
12 7 (3.24%) Analyst
12 7 (3.24%) Consultant
13 6 (2.78%) Android Developer
13 6 (2.78%) Automation Tester
13 6 (2.78%) Full-Stack Developer
13 6 (2.78%) Help Desk Analyst
14 5 (2.31%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (18.06%) React
2 38 (17.59%) Web Services
3 36 (16.67%) Node.js
4 34 (15.74%) RESTful
5 33 (15.28%) Spring
6 32 (14.81%) REST
7 27 (12.50%) Spring Boot
8 24 (11.11%) .NET
8 24 (11.11%) AngularJS
8 24 (11.11%) CSS
9 23 (10.65%) HTML
10 22 (10.19%) Kafka
11 18 (8.33%) Jest
12 13 (6.02%) JSON
13 12 (5.56%) .NET Core
13 12 (5.56%) PySpark
13 12 (5.56%) Redux
14 10 (4.63%) CSS3
14 10 (4.63%) HTML5
15 9 (4.17%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 18 (8.33%) Cloud Native
2 15 (6.94%) Distributed Systems
3 11 (5.09%) Mobile App
4 8 (3.70%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 7 (3.24%) Onboarding
6 6 (2.78%) Algorithms
6 6 (2.78%) FPGA
6 6 (2.78%) PCIe
6 6 (2.78%) State Machine
7 5 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (1.85%) AI Agents
8 4 (1.85%) Client/Server
8 4 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.85%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.39%) Data Structures
9 3 (1.39%) Distributed Computing
9 3 (1.39%) Mobile Banking
9 3 (1.39%) NHS
9 3 (1.39%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.39%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 43 (19.91%) Linux
2 39 (18.06%) Windows
3 14 (6.48%) Android
4 11 (5.09%) Unix
5 8 (3.70%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.93%) VMS
7 1 (0.46%) OpenVMS
7 1 (0.46%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (56.94%) Agile
2 118 (54.63%) CI/CD
3 68 (31.48%) DevOps
4 64 (29.63%) Problem-Solving
4 64 (29.63%) Software Engineering
5 60 (27.78%) Test Automation
6 47 (21.76%) Microservices
7 45 (20.83%) TDD
8 38 (17.59%) Validation
9 35 (16.20%) Containerisation
9 35 (16.20%) Scrum
10 34 (15.74%) Continuous Integration
11 33 (15.28%) Continuous Delivery
12 32 (14.81%) Integration Testing
13 29 (13.43%) Code Quality
13 29 (13.43%) Mentoring
14 26 (12.04%) Front End Development
15 25 (11.57%) Visualisation
16 23 (10.65%) Performance Optimisation
16 23 (10.65%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 59 (27.31%) Java
2 57 (26.39%) JavaScript
3 49 (22.69%) SQL
4 47 (21.76%) C#
5 41 (18.98%) Python
6 40 (18.52%) C++
7 18 (8.33%) TypeScript
8 12 (5.56%) Scala
9 11 (5.09%) C
9 11 (5.09%) PowerShell
10 8 (3.70%) Kotlin
11 7 (3.24%) PL/SQL
12 6 (2.78%) Shell Script
12 6 (2.78%) Swift
13 5 (2.31%) ABAP
14 4 (1.85%) Bicep
15 3 (1.39%) Embedded C
15 3 (1.39%) Embedded C++
15 3 (1.39%) Perl
15 3 (1.39%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 41 (18.98%) Security Cleared
2 27 (12.50%) SC Cleared
3 17 (7.87%) Degree
4 10 (4.63%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (4.17%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (2.31%) AWS Certification
6 5 (2.31%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 4 (1.85%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.85%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.46%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.46%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.46%) ISEB
8 1 (0.46%) ISEB Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (14.81%) QA
2 22 (10.19%) Accessibility
3 11 (5.09%) Data Quality
4 8 (3.70%) ISO 20022
4 8 (3.70%) PSD2
4 8 (3.70%) SEPA
4 8 (3.70%) SLA
5 6 (2.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (2.31%) WCAG
7 4 (1.85%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 3 (1.39%) HL7
9 2 (0.93%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.46%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.46%) IEC 62304
10 1 (0.46%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 34 (15.74%) Docker
2 5 (2.31%) Virtual Machines
2 5 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.39%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 35 (16.20%) Kubernetes
2 10 (4.63%) Grafana
3 8 (3.70%) Terraform
4 5 (2.31%) Ansible
5 4 (1.85%) Argo
5 4 (1.85%) Kustomize
5 4 (1.85%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.39%) Hadoop YARN
6 3 (1.39%) Oozie
6 3 (1.39%) Podman
6 3 (1.39%) SELinux
6 3 (1.39%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.93%) Cilium
7 2 (0.93%) Control-M
7 2 (0.93%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.93%) Kibana
7 2 (0.93%) Rsyslog
7 2 (0.93%) SCOM
7 2 (0.93%) vRealize
8 1 (0.46%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 37 (17.13%) Microsoft
2 18 (8.33%) Oracle
3 10 (4.63%) Databricks
3 10 (4.63%) SAP
4 8 (3.70%) BeyondTrust
4 8 (3.70%) CyberArk
4 8 (3.70%) Google
5 6 (2.78%) Perforce
5 6 (2.78%) VMware
6 5 (2.31%) Dynatrace
6 5 (2.31%) IBM
6 5 (2.31%) Splunk
7 4 (1.85%) ANSYS
7 4 (1.85%) Red Hat
7 4 (1.85%) ServiceNow
8 3 (1.39%) Atlassian
8 3 (1.39%) Brio
8 3 (1.39%) HP
8 3 (1.39%) Pega
9 2 (0.93%) Adobe