QA Contract Job Trends

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring QA skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 61 68 64
Rank change year-on-year +7 -4 +11
Contract jobs citing QA 1,354 1,163 1,548
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.92% 3.20% 3.31%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 22.18% 24.19% 23.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 908 682 1,107
10th Percentile £300 £300 £350
25th Percentile £385 £380 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.05% -9.52% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £650
90th Percentile £650 £718 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £436 £475
% change year-on-year +7.80% -8.21% -2.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 64 44
10th Percentile £12.28 £11.94 £21.25
25th Percentile £13.50 £13.04 £25.00
Median hourly rate £17.56 £14.98 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.19% -70.04% +92.31%
75th Percentile £50.63 £28.75 £70.69
90th Percentile £73.75 £64.27 £77.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £15.50 £14.98 £50.00
% change year-on-year +3.47% -70.04% +25.00%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

QA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 6,105 4,807 6,655
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.68% 13.24% 14.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,916 2,817 4,451
10th Percentile £303 £275 £310
25th Percentile £401 £390 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £731 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £470 £500
% change year-on-year +1.28% -5.95% +4.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 299 211 253
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.26 £14.63
25th Percentile £16.50 £15.50 £20.07
Median hourly rate £27.54 £26.68 £39.60
Median % change year-on-year +3.22% -32.63% +52.31%
75th Percentile £60.00 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £26.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -13.21% -37.65% +87.35%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing QA relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

QA job vacancy trend in the UK

QA
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing QA.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing QA

QA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 4 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing QA.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing QA

QA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 4 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the UK over the 6 months to 4 November 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
England +7 1,149 £492 +1.71% 1,526
UK excluding London -4 595 £470 +7.80% 1,200
London +8 579 £500 - 696
Work from Home +8 384 £460 -4.56% 825
North of England 0 157 £430 +4.12% 190
South East +24 125 £500 +11.11% 614
Midlands -15 103 £463 +12.12% 114
South West +6 77 £500 +2.56% 128
North West -10 72 £414 +3.44% 122
East of England +14 71 £500 +33.33% 69
West Midlands -30 65 £500 +11.11% 77
Scotland 0 56 £500 +16.28% 56
Yorkshire -10 56 £450 -10.00% 42
East Midlands +11 38 £410 +14.13% 35
North East +12 30 £500 +37.93% 27
Northern Ireland +4 12 £300 -42.17% 26
Wales -23 9 £375 -28.64% 19

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 80 (5.91%) Confluence
2 36 (2.66%) SharePoint
3 25 (1.85%) Apache
4 18 (1.33%) CMS
5 17 (1.26%) IIS
6 12 (0.89%) Apache Spark
6 12 (0.89%) WebSphere
7 11 (0.81%) SugarCRM
8 10 (0.74%) Oracle Workflow
9 9 (0.66%) Anypoint
9 9 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
10 6 (0.44%) Mule
10 6 (0.44%) WebLogic
11 5 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 5 (0.37%) Drupal
11 5 (0.37%) MQSeries
12 4 (0.30%) Moodle
12 4 (0.30%) SAS
13 3 (0.22%) Jupyter
13 3 (0.22%) WordPress
Applications
1 63 (4.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (1.77%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.40%) Microsoft Project
3 19 (1.40%) MS Visio
4 15 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.52%) Trello
6 6 (0.44%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.37%) Chatbot
8 4 (0.30%) Autodesk Inventor
8 4 (0.30%) Simulink
8 4 (0.30%) Stateflow
9 3 (0.22%) Revit
10 2 (0.15%) AutoCAD
10 2 (0.15%) MicroStation
10 2 (0.15%) Navisworks
11 1 (0.074%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.074%) Notion
11 1 (0.074%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 28 (2.07%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.74%) Maximo
3 9 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.66%) Oracle BPM
4 8 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
5 7 (0.52%) OpenText MBPM
5 7 (0.52%) Temenos T24
6 6 (0.44%) Payment Gateway
7 5 (0.37%) SAP ERP
8 4 (0.30%) Oracle Cash Management
8 4 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
8 4 (0.30%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 4 (0.30%) Unit4 Business World
8 4 (0.30%) Workday HCM
9 3 (0.22%) Endur
9 3 (0.22%) Oracle EBS R12
9 3 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
9 3 (0.22%) Oracle Receivables
9 3 (0.22%) SAP PM
9 3 (0.22%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 288 (21.27%) Azure
2 281 (20.75%) AWS
3 94 (6.94%) GCP
4 82 (6.06%) Azure DevOps
5 80 (5.91%) GitHub
6 66 (4.87%) Power Platform
7 50 (3.69%) Serverless
8 49 (3.62%) GitHub Actions
9 39 (2.88%) AWS Lambda
10 35 (2.58%) Amazon S3
11 32 (2.36%) SaaS
12 26 (1.92%) Amazon EC2
13 22 (1.62%) Dynamics 365
14 21 (1.55%) AWS CloudFormation
14 21 (1.55%) Power Automate
15 19 (1.40%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 18 (1.33%) Amazon ECS
17 16 (1.18%) Snowflake
18 13 (0.96%) PowerApps
19 12 (0.89%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 19 (1.40%) Firewall
1 19 (1.40%) Internet
2 18 (1.33%) HTTP
3 5 (0.37%) 5G
3 5 (0.37%) Broadband
3 5 (0.37%) OpenLDAP
3 5 (0.37%) SMS
3 5 (0.37%) WAN
4 4 (0.30%) Network Security
4 4 (0.30%) SSL
4 4 (0.30%) TCP/IP
5 3 (0.22%) DNS
5 3 (0.22%) HTTPS
5 3 (0.22%) LAN
5 3 (0.22%) Structured Cabling
6 2 (0.15%) Remote Desktop
6 2 (0.15%) VPN
6 2 (0.15%) Wireless
7 1 (0.074%) 3GPP
7 1 (0.074%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (4.87%) SQL Server
2 63 (4.65%) PostgreSQL
3 55 (4.06%) Power BI
4 47 (3.47%) Relational Database
5 43 (3.18%) NoSQL
6 42 (3.10%) MongoDB
6 42 (3.10%) MySQL
7 36 (2.66%) Data Warehouse
8 24 (1.77%) Amazon RDS
9 21 (1.55%) BigQuery
9 21 (1.55%) Metadata
10 19 (1.40%) Oracle Database
10 19 (1.40%) Tableau
11 14 (1.03%) DB2
12 12 (0.89%) Data Lake
12 12 (0.89%) Redis
13 11 (0.81%) Big Data
14 9 (0.66%) DynamoDB
15 8 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
15 8 (0.59%) Looker
Development Applications
1 225 (16.62%) JIRA
2 137 (10.12%) Git
3 104 (7.68%) Jenkins
3 104 (7.68%) Selenium
4 99 (7.31%) GitLab
5 70 (5.17%) Cucumber
6 62 (4.58%) Cypress.io
7 55 (4.06%) Postman
8 45 (3.32%) JUnit
9 33 (2.44%) REST Assured
10 31 (2.29%) JMeter
11 19 (1.40%) Appium
12 18 (1.33%) SonarQube
13 14 (1.03%) WebDriver
14 13 (0.96%) Bitbucket
14 13 (0.96%) Gatling
14 13 (0.96%) TestNG
14 13 (0.96%) TestRail
14 13 (0.96%) Zephyr
15 12 (0.89%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 528 (39.00%) Social Skills
2 339 (25.04%) Finance
3 231 (17.06%) Analytical Skills
4 136 (10.04%) Banking
5 134 (9.90%) Public Sector
6 59 (4.36%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (2.81%) Marketing
8 36 (2.66%) Legal
9 33 (2.44%) Telecoms
10 28 (2.07%) Investment Banking
10 28 (2.07%) Organisational Skills
11 27 (1.99%) Front Office
11 27 (1.99%) Presentation Skills
12 26 (1.92%) Back Office
13 25 (1.85%) Manufacturing
14 22 (1.62%) Retail
15 18 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 16 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
16 16 (1.18%) Law
16 16 (1.18%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 201 (14.84%) Developer
2 176 (13.00%) Analyst
3 145 (10.71%) Senior
4 134 (9.90%) Lead
5 88 (6.50%) Business Analyst
6 83 (6.13%) QA Engineer
7 81 (5.98%) Tester
8 60 (4.43%) Consultant
9 52 (3.84%) Test Engineer
10 51 (3.77%) Java Developer
11 47 (3.47%) Architect
12 45 (3.32%) Project Manager
12 45 (3.32%) Test Manager
13 40 (2.95%) DevOps Engineer
14 39 (2.88%) QA Tester
15 33 (2.44%) QA Leader
15 33 (2.44%) Test Analyst
16 30 (2.22%) Java Engineer
17 28 (2.07%) Automation Tester
18 27 (1.99%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 137 (10.12%) REST
2 78 (5.76%) React
2 78 (5.76%) RESTful
3 75 (5.54%) .NET
4 66 (4.87%) Spring
5 64 (4.73%) Playwright
6 63 (4.65%) Spring Boot
7 56 (4.14%) HTML
8 54 (3.99%) SOAP
9 49 (3.62%) CSS
10 46 (3.40%) Node.js
11 39 (2.88%) AngularJS
12 34 (2.51%) Kafka
12 34 (2.51%) Web Services
12 34 (2.51%) XML
13 25 (1.85%) JSON
14 23 (1.70%) Jest
15 22 (1.62%) JMS
16 21 (1.55%) pytest
17 20 (1.48%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 118 (8.71%) Product Ownership
2 54 (3.99%) Onboarding
3 49 (3.62%) Cloud Native
4 47 (3.47%) Mobile App
5 32 (2.36%) Data Protection Act
6 28 (2.07%) Management Information System
7 26 (1.92%) Legacy Systems
8 22 (1.62%) Algorithms
8 22 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
8 22 (1.62%) Virtual Team
9 20 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
9 20 (1.48%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 19 (1.40%) Analytical Mindset
11 18 (1.33%) Data Structures
11 18 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
12 13 (0.96%) Greenfield Project
13 12 (0.89%) PMI
14 11 (0.81%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 11 (0.81%) Reinsurance
15 10 (0.74%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 77 (5.69%) Windows
2 46 (3.40%) Linux
3 26 (1.92%) Unix
4 23 (1.70%) Apple iOS
5 22 (1.62%) Android
6 10 (0.74%) Windows Server
7 8 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.44%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.30%) CentOS
9 4 (0.30%) Windows 10
10 3 (0.22%) Debian
11 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.15%) Solaris
11 2 (0.15%) VMS
12 1 (0.074%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 577 (42.61%) Agile
2 372 (27.47%) CI/CD
3 354 (26.14%) DevOps
4 352 (26.00%) Problem-Solving
5 351 (25.92%) Test Automation
6 176 (13.00%) Scrum
7 170 (12.56%) Stakeholder Management
8 168 (12.41%) Continuous Improvement
9 156 (11.52%) Test Strategy
9 156 (11.52%) User Acceptance Testing
10 148 (10.93%) Validation
11 142 (10.49%) Microservices
12 140 (10.34%) Migration
13 133 (9.82%) Test Scripting
14 126 (9.31%) SDLC
15 111 (8.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 111 (8.20%) User Experience
16 99 (7.31%) Software Engineering
17 97 (7.16%) Sprint Planning
18 95 (7.02%) AI
Programming Languages
1 241 (17.80%) SQL
2 195 (14.40%) Java
3 194 (14.33%) Python
4 120 (8.86%) JavaScript
5 86 (6.35%) C#
6 67 (4.95%) TypeScript
7 27 (1.99%) PL/SQL
8 23 (1.70%) PHP
9 21 (1.55%) PowerShell
10 17 (1.26%) Bash
11 16 (1.18%) Kotlin
12 15 (1.11%) C++
12 15 (1.11%) Go
12 15 (1.11%) T-SQL
13 14 (1.03%) Shell Script
14 13 (0.96%) Perl
15 12 (0.89%) C
16 10 (0.74%) Scala
16 10 (0.74%) VB
17 9 (0.66%) VBA
Qualifications
1 233 (17.21%) Security Cleared
2 196 (14.48%) SC Cleared
3 128 (9.45%) Degree
4 43 (3.18%) BPSS Clearance
5 41 (3.03%) PMI Certification
6 40 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
7 39 (2.88%) ISTQB
8 35 (2.58%) PMP
9 26 (1.92%) Master's Degree
10 24 (1.77%) AWS Certification
11 20 (1.48%) DV Cleared
12 18 (1.33%) CISSP
13 12 (0.89%) Azure Certification
14 11 (0.81%) CBAP
14 11 (0.81%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 11 (0.81%) Oracle Certification
15 10 (0.74%) CISM
16 7 (0.52%) GIAC
17 6 (0.44%) CEH
17 6 (0.44%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (7.90%) Accessibility
2 64 (4.73%) Data Quality
3 27 (1.99%) GDPR
4 26 (1.92%) PMO
5 24 (1.77%) WCAG
6 15 (1.11%) Software Quality Assurance
7 14 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 14 (1.03%) NIST
7 14 (1.03%) PSD2
8 12 (0.89%) SEPA
8 12 (0.89%) SLA
9 10 (0.74%) ISO 20022
10 8 (0.59%) PCI DSS
11 7 (0.52%) GxP
12 6 (0.44%) COBIT
12 6 (0.44%) IFRS
13 5 (0.37%) EU AI Act
13 5 (0.37%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.30%) GMP
14 4 (0.30%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 105 (7.75%) Docker
2 10 (0.74%) Active Directory
2 10 (0.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.15%) Microsoft App-V
4 2 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.15%) VirtualBox
5 1 (0.074%) Firmware
5 1 (0.074%) GridGain
5 1 (0.074%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.074%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.074%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 109 (8.05%) Kubernetes
2 56 (4.14%) Terraform
3 37 (2.73%) Ansible
4 23 (1.70%) Grafana
5 14 (1.03%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.66%) HP ALM
7 7 (0.52%) Argo
7 7 (0.52%) SCCM
8 6 (0.44%) Progress Chef
8 6 (0.44%) Puppet
9 5 (0.37%) Control-M
9 5 (0.37%) HP Quality Center
10 4 (0.30%) CloudHub
10 4 (0.30%) Consul
10 4 (0.30%) Rsyslog
10 4 (0.30%) SCOM
11 3 (0.22%) Nagios
11 3 (0.22%) PingFederate
11 3 (0.22%) RSA Archer
11 3 (0.22%) Salt
Vendors
1 147 (10.86%) Microsoft
2 105 (7.75%) Oracle
3 57 (4.21%) SAP
4 51 (3.77%) ServiceNow
5 48 (3.55%) Salesforce
6 26 (1.92%) Google
7 21 (1.55%) Databricks
8 18 (1.33%) IBM
9 16 (1.18%) HP
9 16 (1.18%) Splunk
10 14 (1.03%) MuleSoft
10 14 (1.03%) Red Hat
10 14 (1.03%) UiPath
11 13 (0.96%) Workday
12 12 (0.89%) Citrix
13 11 (0.81%) VMware
14 10 (0.74%) Blue Prism
14 10 (0.74%) Informatica
15 8 (0.59%) OpenText
16 7 (0.52%) Pega