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

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 60 66 64
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 +13
Contract jobs citing QA 1,446 1,205 1,524
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.01% 3.31% 3.32%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 22.84% 24.13% 23.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 964 704 1,090
10th Percentile £305 £300 £350
25th Percentile £400 £379 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.05% -9.52% -
75th Percentile £580 £582 £650
90th Percentile £668 £700 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +6.67% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 54 45
10th Percentile £12.27 £12.07 £21.50
25th Percentile £13.50 £13.26 £25.00
Median hourly rate £16.24 £15.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.27% -70.00% +100.00%
75th Percentile £53.75 £28.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £58.04 £77.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £15.73 £14.98 £50.00
% change year-on-year +5.01% -70.04% +104.08%

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 6,330 4,993 6,581
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.56% 13.70% 14.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,066 2,907 4,382
10th Percentile £311 £266 £313
25th Percentile £404 £384 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £601 £625 £645
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 314 226 242
10th Percentile £13.60 £13.52 £15.26
25th Percentile £17.58 £17.53 £20.70
Median hourly rate £26.31 £26.75 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year -1.66% -27.21% +53.13%
75th Percentile £61.09 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.96 £70.00 £83.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.82 £26.50 £42.25
% change year-on-year -13.89% -37.28% +101.19%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 +9 1,237 £492 +2.82% 659
London +12 639 £500 - 223
UK excluding London -5 623 £480 +6.67% 587
Work from Home +11 394 £459 -6.20% 268
North of England +3 171 £430 +3.30% 104
South East +21 142 £500 +15.94% 241
Midlands -18 106 £500 +6.95% 93
North West 0 83 £404 -2.12% 70
West Midlands -22 75 £511 +2.20% 70
South West -3 74 £500 +2.56% 63
East of England +9 65 £500 +25.00% 64
Scotland +6 57 £525 +34.62% 30
Yorkshire +1 57 £450 - 21
North East +11 32 £500 +21.95% 14
East Midlands +4 31 £430 +3.86% 21
Wales -13 16 £419 -20.31% 10
Northern Ireland +2 9 £300 -42.17% 5

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 84 (5.81%) Confluence
2 40 (2.77%) SharePoint
3 22 (1.52%) Apache
4 21 (1.45%) CMS
5 16 (1.11%) IIS
6 13 (0.90%) Apache Spark
7 11 (0.76%) SugarCRM
8 10 (0.69%) Anypoint
9 9 (0.62%) Apache Airflow
9 9 (0.62%) WebSphere
10 6 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 6 (0.41%) Mule
10 6 (0.41%) Oracle Workflow
11 5 (0.35%) MQSeries
11 5 (0.35%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
12 4 (0.28%) Drupal
12 4 (0.28%) SAS
12 4 (0.28%) WebLogic
13 3 (0.21%) Moodle
13 3 (0.21%) WordPress
Applications
1 71 (4.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (2.28%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.59%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 17 (1.18%) MS Visio
6 6 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.41%) Trello
7 5 (0.35%) Chatbot
8 4 (0.28%) Autodesk Inventor
8 4 (0.28%) Simulink
8 4 (0.28%) Stateflow
9 3 (0.21%) Revit
10 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
10 2 (0.14%) MicroStation
10 2 (0.14%) Navisworks
11 1 (0.069%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.069%) Autodesk Smoke
11 1 (0.069%) Notion
11 1 (0.069%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 29 (2.01%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.62%) Oracle EBS
3 7 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
3 7 (0.48%) Temenos T24
4 6 (0.41%) Maximo
4 6 (0.41%) Oracle Cash Management
4 6 (0.41%) Oracle General Ledger
4 6 (0.41%) Oracle Payables
4 6 (0.41%) Oracle Receivables
4 6 (0.41%) SAP ERP
5 4 (0.28%) OpenText MBPM
5 4 (0.28%) Oracle BPM
5 4 (0.28%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.28%) Unit4 Business World
5 4 (0.28%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.21%) Algo Collateral
6 3 (0.21%) Endur
6 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS R12
Cloud Services
1 318 (21.99%) Azure
2 283 (19.57%) AWS
3 100 (6.92%) Azure DevOps
4 97 (6.71%) GCP
5 87 (6.02%) GitHub
6 82 (5.67%) Power Platform
7 61 (4.22%) GitHub Actions
8 59 (4.08%) Serverless
9 45 (3.11%) AWS Lambda
10 40 (2.77%) Amazon S3
11 34 (2.35%) SaaS
12 25 (1.73%) Dynamics 365
13 24 (1.66%) Power Automate
14 23 (1.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 23 (1.59%) Amazon EC2
14 23 (1.59%) Amazon ECS
14 23 (1.59%) AWS CloudFormation
15 18 (1.24%) Snowflake
16 15 (1.04%) PowerApps
17 14 (0.97%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 19 (1.31%) Firewall
2 17 (1.18%) HTTP
2 17 (1.18%) Internet
3 6 (0.41%) 5G
3 6 (0.41%) Broadband
4 5 (0.35%) OpenLDAP
4 5 (0.35%) SMS
5 4 (0.28%) Structured Cabling
5 4 (0.28%) WAN
5 4 (0.28%) Wireless
6 3 (0.21%) HTTPS
6 3 (0.21%) Network Security
6 3 (0.21%) VPN
7 2 (0.14%) DNS
7 2 (0.14%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (0.14%) SSL
7 2 (0.14%) TCP/IP
7 2 (0.14%) WebEx
8 1 (0.069%) MQTT
8 1 (0.069%) VoWiFi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (4.91%) Power BI
2 69 (4.77%) SQL Server
3 59 (4.08%) PostgreSQL
4 53 (3.67%) Relational Database
5 44 (3.04%) MySQL
6 41 (2.84%) MongoDB
7 39 (2.70%) Data Warehouse
8 37 (2.56%) NoSQL
9 24 (1.66%) BigQuery
9 24 (1.66%) Tableau
10 21 (1.45%) Amazon RDS
11 20 (1.38%) Metadata
11 20 (1.38%) Oracle Database
12 14 (0.97%) Data Lake
13 12 (0.83%) Redis
14 11 (0.76%) Big Data
14 11 (0.76%) Looker
15 10 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
16 9 (0.62%) DB2
16 9 (0.62%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 251 (17.36%) JIRA
2 133 (9.20%) Git
3 116 (8.02%) GitLab
4 112 (7.75%) Jenkins
5 103 (7.12%) Selenium
6 75 (5.19%) Cucumber
7 64 (4.43%) Cypress.io
7 64 (4.43%) Postman
8 42 (2.90%) JUnit
9 36 (2.49%) JMeter
10 32 (2.21%) REST Assured
11 20 (1.38%) Appium
12 16 (1.11%) Gatling
12 16 (1.11%) SonarQube
13 15 (1.04%) Bitbucket
14 14 (0.97%) WebDriver
15 13 (0.90%) TestNG
16 12 (0.83%) Zephyr
17 10 (0.69%) CircleCI
17 10 (0.69%) TestRail
General
1 591 (40.87%) Social Skills
2 376 (26.00%) Finance
3 263 (18.19%) Analytical Skills
4 156 (10.79%) Public Sector
5 150 (10.37%) Banking
6 59 (4.08%) Documentation Skills
7 42 (2.90%) Marketing
8 40 (2.77%) Legal
9 36 (2.49%) Telecoms
10 32 (2.21%) Manufacturing
11 31 (2.14%) Organisational Skills
12 30 (2.07%) Investment Banking
13 28 (1.94%) Presentation Skills
14 27 (1.87%) Front Office
15 26 (1.80%) Retail
16 25 (1.73%) Back Office
17 20 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 18 (1.24%) Pharmaceutical
19 17 (1.18%) Aerospace
19 17 (1.18%) Law
Job Titles
1 208 (14.38%) Developer
2 191 (13.21%) Analyst
3 167 (11.55%) Senior
4 154 (10.65%) Lead
5 93 (6.43%) QA Engineer
6 87 (6.02%) Business Analyst
7 84 (5.81%) Tester
8 65 (4.50%) Test Engineer
9 60 (4.15%) Project Manager
10 59 (4.08%) Consultant
11 54 (3.73%) Java Developer
12 51 (3.53%) Test Manager
13 48 (3.32%) Architect
14 41 (2.84%) Test Analyst
15 38 (2.63%) QA Leader
16 35 (2.42%) Test Leader
17 34 (2.35%) DevOps Engineer
17 34 (2.35%) QA Tester
18 32 (2.21%) Java Engineer
19 29 (2.01%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 146 (10.10%) REST
2 89 (6.15%) .NET
3 82 (5.67%) RESTful
4 78 (5.39%) Playwright
5 77 (5.33%) React
6 76 (5.26%) Spring
6 76 (5.26%) Spring Boot
7 53 (3.67%) HTML
8 51 (3.53%) SOAP
9 48 (3.32%) CSS
10 44 (3.04%) Node.js
11 42 (2.90%) AngularJS
12 40 (2.77%) Kafka
13 31 (2.14%) XML
14 29 (2.01%) .NET Framework
15 28 (1.94%) Web Services
16 27 (1.87%) JMS
16 27 (1.87%) JSON
17 24 (1.66%) Oracle Fusion
18 22 (1.52%) Jest
Miscellaneous
1 138 (9.54%) Product Ownership
2 61 (4.22%) Onboarding
3 60 (4.15%) Cloud Native
4 49 (3.39%) Mobile App
5 36 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
6 28 (1.94%) Distributed Systems
6 28 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
6 28 (1.94%) Management Information System
7 26 (1.80%) Enterprise Software
8 25 (1.73%) Analytical Mindset
8 25 (1.73%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 22 (1.52%) Data Structures
10 19 (1.31%) PMI
10 19 (1.31%) Self-Motivation
10 19 (1.31%) Virtual Team
11 17 (1.18%) Algorithms
12 13 (0.90%) Data Centre
12 13 (0.90%) Derivative
12 13 (0.90%) Reinsurance
13 12 (0.83%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 78 (5.39%) Windows
2 46 (3.18%) Linux
3 23 (1.59%) Android
4 22 (1.52%) Apple iOS
5 19 (1.31%) Unix
6 17 (1.18%) Windows Server
7 8 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.41%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.28%) CentOS
10 3 (0.21%) Debian
10 3 (0.21%) VMS
10 3 (0.21%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.14%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.14%) Solaris
12 1 (0.069%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.069%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 646 (44.67%) Agile
2 414 (28.63%) CI/CD
3 396 (27.39%) Problem-Solving
4 393 (27.18%) DevOps
5 381 (26.35%) Test Automation
6 214 (14.80%) Stakeholder Management
7 197 (13.62%) Scrum
8 190 (13.14%) Continuous Improvement
9 182 (12.59%) User Acceptance Testing
10 174 (12.03%) Validation
11 167 (11.55%) Test Strategy
12 163 (11.27%) Migration
13 160 (11.07%) Microservices
14 143 (9.89%) SDLC
15 142 (9.82%) Test Scripting
16 128 (8.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 121 (8.37%) User Experience
18 115 (7.95%) Project Management
19 105 (7.26%) AI
19 105 (7.26%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 260 (17.98%) SQL
2 206 (14.25%) Java
3 184 (12.72%) Python
4 123 (8.51%) JavaScript
5 106 (7.33%) C#
6 86 (5.95%) TypeScript
7 36 (2.49%) PL/SQL
8 24 (1.66%) PHP
9 23 (1.59%) T-SQL
10 22 (1.52%) PowerShell
11 20 (1.38%) Go
12 17 (1.18%) C++
13 16 (1.11%) Bash
14 15 (1.04%) Kotlin
15 13 (0.90%) C
16 12 (0.83%) VBA
17 10 (0.69%) Ruby
17 10 (0.69%) VB
18 8 (0.55%) Perl
18 8 (0.55%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 233 (16.11%) Security Cleared
2 195 (13.49%) SC Cleared
3 147 (10.17%) Degree
4 52 (3.60%) PMI Certification
5 49 (3.39%) Computer Science Degree
6 42 (2.90%) PMP
7 41 (2.84%) BPSS Clearance
7 41 (2.84%) ISTQB
8 34 (2.35%) Master's Degree
9 19 (1.31%) AWS Certification
9 19 (1.31%) CISSP
10 18 (1.24%) DV Cleared
11 15 (1.04%) Oracle Certification
12 11 (0.76%) Azure Certification
12 11 (0.76%) CBAP
12 11 (0.76%) CISM
13 10 (0.69%) OCA
14 8 (0.55%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 7 (0.48%) CEH
16 6 (0.41%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (7.68%) Accessibility
2 66 (4.56%) Data Quality
3 40 (2.77%) GDPR
4 28 (1.94%) PMO
5 23 (1.59%) WCAG
6 19 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 19 (1.31%) PSD2
7 16 (1.11%) NIST
7 16 (1.11%) SEPA
8 13 (0.90%) ISO 20022
8 13 (0.90%) PCI DSS
9 12 (0.83%) SLA
9 12 (0.83%) Software Quality Assurance
10 9 (0.62%) COBIT
11 8 (0.55%) GxP
11 8 (0.55%) ISO 9001
12 7 (0.48%) IFRS
13 6 (0.41%) EU AI Act
13 6 (0.41%) ISO 8583
13 6 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 111 (7.68%) Docker
2 10 (0.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (0.48%) Active Directory
4 4 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.14%) Microsoft App-V
5 2 (0.14%) VirtualBox
6 1 (0.069%) Firmware
6 1 (0.069%) GridGain
6 1 (0.069%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.069%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.069%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 115 (7.95%) Kubernetes
2 66 (4.56%) Terraform
3 41 (2.84%) Ansible
4 30 (2.07%) Grafana
5 14 (0.97%) Prometheus
6 11 (0.76%) HP ALM
7 9 (0.62%) Argo
8 7 (0.48%) Puppet
9 6 (0.41%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.35%) CloudHub
10 5 (0.35%) Control-M
11 4 (0.28%) Consul
11 4 (0.28%) Rsyslog
11 4 (0.28%) SCOM
11 4 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.21%) Istio
12 3 (0.21%) Nagios
12 3 (0.21%) PingFederate
12 3 (0.21%) RSA Archer
12 3 (0.21%) SCCM
Vendors
1 169 (11.69%) Microsoft
2 116 (8.02%) Oracle
3 73 (5.05%) SAP
4 61 (4.22%) ServiceNow
5 55 (3.80%) Salesforce
6 35 (2.42%) Google
7 22 (1.52%) Citrix
8 19 (1.31%) Databricks
8 19 (1.31%) Splunk
9 18 (1.24%) HP
10 17 (1.18%) IBM
10 17 (1.18%) MuleSoft
11 15 (1.04%) Workday
12 14 (0.97%) Red Hat
13 13 (0.90%) UiPath
14 11 (0.76%) VMware
15 9 (0.62%) Adobe
15 9 (0.62%) Blue Prism
16 8 (0.55%) Dynatrace
16 8 (0.55%) Pega