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 30 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 204 176
Rank change year-on-year -21 -28 -4
Contract jobs citing Unit Testing 212 135 252
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.95% 1.06% 1.20%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.15% 1.18% 1.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 111 91 163
10th Percentile £357 £274 £354
25th Percentile £402 £356 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £541 £600 £661
90th Percentile £625 £650 £688
UK median daily rate £490 £545 £525
% change year-on-year -10.09% +3.81% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 10 43
10th Percentile £55.00 £26.36 £61.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £48.44 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £58.75 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.64% -9.62% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 -
90th Percentile - £65.00 £84.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% -

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 18,429 11,486 17,978
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 82.49% 90.40% 85.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,195 7,329 10,973
10th Percentile £273 £244 £238
25th Percentile £400 £378 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.72% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £580 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £669 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,933 756 1,945
10th Percentile £14.39 £14.99 £12.36
25th Percentile £18.32 £18.51 £15.13
Median hourly rate £32.50 £31.50 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.17% - -12.26%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.70
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £70.30
UK median hourly rate £35.50 £31.88 £32.50
% change year-on-year +11.36% -1.91% -9.72%

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 30 March 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 30 March 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 30 March 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 -37 60 £449 -5.58% 36
South East -34 55 £513 -18.00% 29
North West -28 34 £447 -8.31% 18
Midlands -54 31 £449 -3.03% 19
East of England -7 27 £613 - 2
Scotland -1 20 £432 +21.42% 6
North East +2 19 £513 +52.99% 10
South West -17 17 £500 -4.31% 13
East Midlands -34 16 £413 -0.90% 10
West Midlands -43 15 £550 +19.24% 9
Wales -11 9 £713 +249.69% 4
Yorkshire -54 9 £500 -16.67% 8
Northern Ireland 0 2 £369 -32.95% 1
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 16 (7.55%) Confluence
2 9 (4.25%) Apache Spark
3 5 (2.36%) Apache
4 4 (1.89%) OpenStack
5 3 (1.42%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (1.42%) NetWeaver
5 3 (1.42%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.94%) IIS
7 1 (0.47%) Camunda
7 1 (0.47%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.47%) Mule
7 1 (0.47%) Mule ESB
Applications
1 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (0.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (0.94%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.47%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 5 (2.36%) SAP Payroll
1 5 (2.36%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.89%) SAP HCM
3 3 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (1.42%) Oracle ERP
3 3 (1.42%) SAP MDG
3 3 (1.42%) SAP MDG-F
3 3 (1.42%) SAP MDG-M
3 3 (1.42%) SAP MDG-S
4 2 (0.94%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle 11i
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle Assets
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle Cash Management
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle Receivables
4 2 (0.94%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.94%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.47%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.47%) SAP CRM
Cloud Services
1 50 (23.58%) Azure
2 41 (19.34%) AWS
3 30 (14.15%) Azure DevOps
4 26 (12.26%) GitHub
4 26 (12.26%) OpenShift
5 22 (10.38%) Serverless
6 14 (6.60%) Amazon S3
7 13 (6.13%) AWS Lambda
8 11 (5.19%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (4.72%) Dynamics 365
9 10 (4.72%) Power Platform
10 9 (4.25%) AWS Step Functions
10 9 (4.25%) Azure Functions
11 8 (3.77%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (3.77%) GCP
12 7 (3.30%) Amazon ECS
12 7 (3.30%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 6 (2.83%) Azure Logic Apps
14 4 (1.89%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 4 (1.89%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 22 (10.38%) TCP/IP
2 17 (8.02%) Ethernet
3 3 (1.42%) Modbus
3 3 (1.42%) RS-232
3 3 (1.42%) RS-422
3 3 (1.42%) RS-485
4 1 (0.47%) DNS
4 1 (0.47%) Internet
4 1 (0.47%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (5.66%) SQL Server
2 11 (5.19%) NoSQL
2 11 (5.19%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (4.72%) DynamoDB
4 9 (4.25%) Data Warehouse
4 9 (4.25%) Relational Database
5 8 (3.77%) Aerospike
6 7 (3.30%) Amazon Athena
6 7 (3.30%) MongoDB
6 7 (3.30%) Redis
7 5 (2.36%) Data Lake
7 5 (2.36%) Delta Lake
7 5 (2.36%) SAP HANA
8 3 (1.42%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (1.42%) Big Data
8 3 (1.42%) BigQuery
8 3 (1.42%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.42%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (1.42%) SAP Data Services
9 2 (0.94%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 46 (21.70%) Git
2 44 (20.75%) GitLab
3 35 (16.51%) JIRA
4 31 (14.62%) SonarQube
4 31 (14.62%) Visual Studio
5 16 (7.55%) Jenkins
5 16 (7.55%) JUnit
6 15 (7.08%) Eclipse
7 10 (4.72%) Selenium
8 8 (3.77%) PVCS
8 8 (3.77%) Rational DOORS
9 7 (3.30%) JMeter
9 7 (3.30%) MSTest
10 6 (2.83%) NUnit
11 5 (2.36%) Gradle
11 5 (2.36%) Maven
11 5 (2.36%) MLflow
11 5 (2.36%) Mockito
12 4 (1.89%) Cucumber
12 4 (1.89%) XCTest
General
1 51 (24.06%) Social Skills
2 38 (17.92%) Finance
3 26 (12.26%) Public Sector
4 19 (8.96%) Military
5 16 (7.55%) Analytical Skills
6 13 (6.13%) Presentation Skills
7 11 (5.19%) Banking
7 11 (5.19%) Electronics
8 4 (1.89%) Aerospace
8 4 (1.89%) Health Technology
8 4 (1.89%) Law
9 2 (0.94%) General Ledger
9 2 (0.94%) Marketing
9 2 (0.94%) Retail
9 2 (0.94%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.47%) Advertising
10 1 (0.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.47%) Legal
Job Titles
1 93 (43.87%) Developer
2 44 (20.75%) Software Engineer
3 33 (15.57%) Senior
4 24 (11.32%) Java Developer
5 16 (7.55%) Full-Stack Developer
5 16 (7.55%) Senior Developer
6 14 (6.60%) C++ Software Engineer
6 14 (6.60%) Java Engineer
7 12 (5.66%) .NET Developer
8 11 (5.19%) C# Software Engineer
9 10 (4.72%) Consultant
10 9 (4.25%) Data Engineer
10 9 (4.25%) Lead
11 8 (3.77%) AWS Engineer
11 8 (3.77%) Azure Developer
11 8 (3.77%) Integration Engineer
11 8 (3.77%) Java Software Engineer
12 7 (3.30%) C# Developer
12 7 (3.30%) Embedded C Software Engineer
12 7 (3.30%) Embedded Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (16.04%) RESTful
2 32 (15.09%) AngularJS
3 31 (14.62%) .NET
4 30 (14.15%) Web Services
5 26 (12.26%) Node.js
6 25 (11.79%) React
7 24 (11.32%) Quarkus
8 22 (10.38%) REST
9 21 (9.91%) Spring
10 17 (8.02%) Jest
11 16 (7.55%) Kafka
12 14 (6.60%) Spring Boot
13 13 (6.13%) .NET Framework
13 13 (6.13%) Swagger
14 12 (5.66%) PySpark
14 12 (5.66%) YAML
15 11 (5.19%) CSS
16 10 (4.72%) .NET Core
16 10 (4.72%) HTML
16 10 (4.72%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 20 (9.43%) Cloud Native
2 17 (8.02%) Distributed Systems
3 10 (4.72%) Product Ownership
4 5 (2.36%) NHS
4 5 (2.36%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 3 (1.42%) IoT
6 2 (0.94%) Algorithms
6 2 (0.94%) Data Structures
6 2 (0.94%) Distributed Architecture
6 2 (0.94%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (0.94%) Onboarding
6 2 (0.94%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (0.47%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (0.47%) Contactless
7 1 (0.47%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.47%) Embedded Systems
7 1 (0.47%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 1 (0.47%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.47%) Mobile App
7 1 (0.47%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 31 (14.62%) Windows
2 26 (12.26%) Linux
3 7 (3.30%) Android
4 4 (1.89%) Apple iOS
5 3 (1.42%) Unix
6 1 (0.47%) OpenVMS
6 1 (0.47%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (63.68%) Agile
2 100 (47.17%) CI/CD
3 78 (36.79%) Test Automation
4 67 (31.60%) Software Engineering
5 63 (29.72%) DevOps
6 59 (27.83%) Problem-Solving
7 54 (25.47%) Scrum
8 47 (22.17%) TDD
9 41 (19.34%) SDLC
10 40 (18.87%) Microservices
11 34 (16.04%) Validation
12 31 (14.62%) Continuous Integration
12 31 (14.62%) Integration Testing
13 29 (13.68%) Data Modelling
14 28 (13.21%) Front End Development
14 28 (13.21%) Full-Stack Development
15 26 (12.26%) Sprint Planning
16 25 (11.79%) Code Quality
17 24 (11.32%) DevSecOps
18 23 (10.85%) Sprint Review
Programming Languages
1 75 (35.38%) Java
2 58 (27.36%) SQL
3 56 (26.42%) C#
4 44 (20.75%) JavaScript
5 35 (16.51%) C++
6 33 (15.57%) Python
7 23 (10.85%) TypeScript
8 18 (8.49%) C
9 10 (4.72%) PL/SQL
10 9 (4.25%) PowerShell
11 8 (3.77%) ABAP
11 8 (3.77%) Scala
12 7 (3.30%) Embedded C
12 7 (3.30%) Embedded C++
13 6 (2.83%) Apex Code
14 5 (2.36%) Shell Script
15 4 (1.89%) Swift
16 3 (1.42%) SOQL
16 3 (1.42%) SOSL
17 2 (0.94%) Bash
Qualifications
1 65 (30.66%) Security Cleared
2 52 (24.53%) SC Cleared
3 14 (6.60%) BPSS Clearance
4 12 (5.66%) Degree
5 8 (3.77%) ISTQB
5 8 (3.77%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 4 (1.89%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.47%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 1 (0.47%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (17.45%) QA
2 12 (5.66%) Data Quality
3 10 (4.72%) Accessibility
4 9 (4.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (3.77%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 5 (2.36%) ISO 20022
6 5 (2.36%) PSD2
6 5 (2.36%) SEPA
7 4 (1.89%) HL7
8 2 (0.94%) SLA
9 1 (0.47%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.47%) GDPR
System Software
1 31 (14.62%) Docker
2 9 (4.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (3.77%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 40 (18.87%) Kubernetes
2 24 (11.32%) Argo
3 8 (3.77%) Terraform
4 4 (1.89%) Grafana
5 2 (0.94%) HP ALM
5 2 (0.94%) Kibana
5 2 (0.94%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.94%) vRealize
6 1 (0.47%) Tivoli
6 1 (0.47%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 30 (14.15%) Microsoft
2 22 (10.38%) Red Hat
3 21 (9.91%) Oracle
4 16 (7.55%) Databricks
5 11 (5.19%) Salesforce
6 10 (4.72%) SAP
6 10 (4.72%) VMware
7 9 (4.25%) IBM
8 8 (3.77%) ANSYS
9 6 (2.83%) Veracode
10 5 (2.36%) Splunk
11 4 (1.89%) Brio
12 3 (1.42%) Google
13 2 (0.94%) Ab Initio
13 2 (0.94%) Avaloq
13 2 (0.94%) Dynatrace
13 2 (0.94%) HP
13 2 (0.94%) IFS
13 2 (0.94%) NEC
13 2 (0.94%) Workday