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

6 months to
24 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 64 63 64
Rank change year-on-year -1 +1 +11
Contract jobs citing QA 1,416 1,151 1,441
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.83% 3.39% 3.33%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 22.17% 23.94% 22.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 912 689 1,028
10th Percentile £311 £298 £350
25th Percentile £400 £374 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £523
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -9.09% +0.48%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £645
90th Percentile £675 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 30 40
10th Percentile £12.26 £13.26 £14.45
25th Percentile £13.50 £15.00 £21.50
Median hourly rate £19.50 £19.92 £27.97
Median % change year-on-year -2.08% -28.80% +7.58%
75th Percentile £63.45 £33.38 £73.16
90th Percentile £73.75 £65.90 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.50 £15.41 £31.25
% change year-on-year +26.58% -50.70% +27.55%

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 6,386 4,808 6,275
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.26% 14.16% 14.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,127 2,828 4,173
10th Percentile £313 £262 £313
25th Percentile £406 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £645
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 317 184 230
10th Percentile £14.15 £15.00 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.88 £19.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £27.68 £33.75
Median % change year-on-year -9.12% -18.00% +48.78%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.31 £63.81
90th Percentile £73.75 £72.80 £83.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.50 £27.18 £33.75
% change year-on-year -24.56% -19.48% +60.71%

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 24 December 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 24 December 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 24 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
England +5 1,229 £500 +2.56% 1,923
London +5 638 £500 - 397
UK excluding London -5 607 £475 +5.56% 1,715
Work from Home +6 361 £469 -5.35% 995
North of England +3 172 £428 +3.64% 414
South East +17 153 £500 +11.11% 465
Midlands -28 98 £500 +6.67% 288
North West -12 79 £402 -2.55% 212
South West -1 74 £508 +4.10% 200
West Midlands -19 73 £500 +3.09% 156
Yorkshire +2 64 £450 +7.14% 167
East of England -2 50 £528 +24.24% 242
Scotland +3 48 £540 +42.11% 71
North East +8 30 £500 +14.29% 35
East Midlands -7 26 £434 -5.45% 118
Wales -8 17 £425 -20.00% 44
Northern Ireland -2 6 - - 25

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 (5.65%) Confluence
2 38 (2.68%) SharePoint
3 22 (1.55%) CMS
4 18 (1.27%) Apache
5 14 (0.99%) IIS
6 12 (0.85%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 11 (0.78%) SugarCRM
8 10 (0.71%) Anypoint
9 9 (0.64%) Apache Spark
10 7 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
10 7 (0.49%) WebSphere
11 6 (0.42%) Mule
11 6 (0.42%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
12 5 (0.35%) MQSeries
12 5 (0.35%) OpenStack
13 4 (0.28%) Drupal
13 4 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
13 4 (0.28%) SAS
13 4 (0.28%) WebLogic
14 2 (0.14%) Documentum
Applications
1 71 (5.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 40 (2.82%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 23 (1.62%) Microsoft Project
5 16 (1.13%) MS Visio
6 6 (0.42%) Trello
7 4 (0.28%) Autodesk Inventor
7 4 (0.28%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.28%) Simulink
7 4 (0.28%) Stateflow
8 3 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
9 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Smoke
10 1 (0.071%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.071%) Notion
10 1 (0.071%) Revit
10 1 (0.071%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 28 (1.98%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.71%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
4 7 (0.49%) Payment Gateway
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle Cash Management
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle General Ledger
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle Receivables
5 6 (0.42%) SAP ERP
6 5 (0.35%) Temenos T24
7 4 (0.28%) Maximo
7 4 (0.28%) NetSuite
7 4 (0.28%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 4 (0.28%) Workday HCM
8 3 (0.21%) Algo Collateral
8 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS R12
8 3 (0.21%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.21%) SAP PM
8 3 (0.21%) SAP QM
9 2 (0.14%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 332 (23.45%) Azure
2 270 (19.07%) AWS
3 106 (7.49%) Azure DevOps
4 95 (6.71%) GCP
5 89 (6.29%) GitHub
6 84 (5.93%) Power Platform
7 67 (4.73%) GitHub Actions
8 57 (4.03%) Serverless
9 39 (2.75%) AWS Lambda
10 37 (2.61%) Amazon S3
11 36 (2.54%) SaaS
12 33 (2.33%) Dynamics 365
13 24 (1.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 22 (1.55%) Amazon ECS
15 21 (1.48%) Amazon EC2
15 21 (1.48%) Power Automate
16 20 (1.41%) AWS CloudFormation
17 18 (1.27%) OCI
18 17 (1.20%) Snowflake
19 16 (1.13%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 19 (1.34%) Firewall
2 17 (1.20%) HTTP
3 14 (0.99%) Internet
4 7 (0.49%) Wireless
5 6 (0.42%) 5G
5 6 (0.42%) Broadband
6 5 (0.35%) OpenLDAP
6 5 (0.35%) SMS
6 5 (0.35%) WAN
7 4 (0.28%) LAN
7 4 (0.28%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.21%) HTTPS
8 3 (0.21%) Network Security
8 3 (0.21%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (0.21%) VPN
8 3 (0.21%) WebEx
9 2 (0.14%) DNS
9 2 (0.14%) SSL
10 1 (0.071%) DHCP
10 1 (0.071%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (5.30%) Power BI
2 66 (4.66%) SQL Server
3 54 (3.81%) Relational Database
4 48 (3.39%) PostgreSQL
5 43 (3.04%) MongoDB
5 43 (3.04%) MySQL
6 37 (2.61%) Data Warehouse
7 28 (1.98%) NoSQL
8 25 (1.77%) Tableau
9 23 (1.62%) BigQuery
10 21 (1.48%) Oracle Database
11 17 (1.20%) Metadata
12 16 (1.13%) Amazon RDS
13 15 (1.06%) Data Lake
14 12 (0.85%) Big Data
14 12 (0.85%) Looker
14 12 (0.85%) Redis
15 11 (0.78%) Azure SQL Database
16 8 (0.56%) RDBMS
17 7 (0.49%) Amazon Aurora
Development Applications
1 256 (18.08%) JIRA
2 127 (8.97%) Git
3 126 (8.90%) GitLab
4 116 (8.19%) Jenkins
5 104 (7.34%) Selenium
6 71 (5.01%) Cucumber
6 71 (5.01%) Postman
7 67 (4.73%) Cypress.io
8 43 (3.04%) REST Assured
9 36 (2.54%) JMeter
10 32 (2.26%) JUnit
11 21 (1.48%) Appium
12 17 (1.20%) Gatling
12 17 (1.20%) SonarQube
13 15 (1.06%) WebDriver
14 14 (0.99%) TestNG
15 13 (0.92%) TestRail
16 12 (0.85%) CircleCI
17 10 (0.71%) Bitbucket
17 10 (0.71%) webpack
General
1 587 (41.45%) Social Skills
2 385 (27.19%) Finance
3 239 (16.88%) Analytical Skills
4 157 (11.09%) Public Sector
5 153 (10.81%) Banking
6 58 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
7 41 (2.90%) Marketing
8 37 (2.61%) Telecoms
9 35 (2.47%) Legal
10 32 (2.26%) Manufacturing
11 30 (2.12%) Organisational Skills
12 27 (1.91%) Investment Banking
12 27 (1.91%) Presentation Skills
13 26 (1.84%) Front Office
13 26 (1.84%) Retail
14 20 (1.41%) Aerospace
14 20 (1.41%) Back Office
15 19 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 18 (1.27%) Financial Institution
17 17 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 189 (13.35%) Developer
2 171 (12.08%) Analyst
3 163 (11.51%) Senior
4 159 (11.23%) Lead
5 98 (6.92%) QA Engineer
6 83 (5.86%) Tester
7 81 (5.72%) Business Analyst
8 70 (4.94%) Test Engineer
9 64 (4.52%) Project Manager
10 61 (4.31%) Architect
11 53 (3.74%) Consultant
12 49 (3.46%) Test Manager
13 45 (3.18%) Java Developer
14 36 (2.54%) DevOps Engineer
14 36 (2.54%) QA Leader
14 36 (2.54%) Test Leader
15 34 (2.40%) Test Analyst
16 33 (2.33%) QA Tester
17 30 (2.12%) Software Engineer
17 30 (2.12%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 148 (10.45%) REST
2 90 (6.36%) .NET
3 78 (5.51%) Playwright
4 72 (5.08%) RESTful
5 66 (4.66%) React
6 63 (4.45%) Spring
7 61 (4.31%) Spring Boot
8 52 (3.67%) HTML
8 52 (3.67%) Node.js
9 47 (3.32%) CSS
9 47 (3.32%) SOAP
10 40 (2.82%) AngularJS
11 34 (2.40%) Kafka
12 31 (2.19%) XML
13 29 (2.05%) JSON
14 28 (1.98%) .NET Framework
15 27 (1.91%) JMS
16 25 (1.77%) Oracle Fusion
17 24 (1.69%) Web Services
18 21 (1.48%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 135 (9.53%) Product Ownership
2 61 (4.31%) Cloud Native
3 53 (3.74%) Onboarding
4 48 (3.39%) Mobile App
5 29 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
6 28 (1.98%) Analytical Mindset
6 28 (1.98%) Legacy Systems
6 28 (1.98%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 27 (1.91%) Distributed Systems
7 27 (1.91%) Management Information System
8 25 (1.77%) Data Structures
9 24 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
9 24 (1.69%) PMI
10 18 (1.27%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.06%) Algorithms
12 14 (0.99%) Data Centre
12 14 (0.99%) Synthetic Data
12 14 (0.99%) Virtual Team
13 13 (0.92%) Greenfield Project
13 13 (0.92%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 64 (4.52%) Windows
2 44 (3.11%) Linux
3 24 (1.69%) Android
4 21 (1.48%) Apple iOS
5 18 (1.27%) Windows Server
6 15 (1.06%) Unix
7 5 (0.35%) VMS
8 4 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.14%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.14%) Solaris
9 2 (0.14%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.14%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.071%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.071%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 649 (45.83%) Agile
2 408 (28.81%) CI/CD
3 401 (28.32%) DevOps
4 381 (26.91%) Test Automation
5 374 (26.41%) Problem-Solving
6 233 (16.45%) Stakeholder Management
7 207 (14.62%) Continuous Improvement
8 201 (14.19%) Scrum
9 184 (12.99%) Validation
10 176 (12.43%) User Acceptance Testing
11 166 (11.72%) Test Strategy
12 154 (10.88%) Migration
13 142 (10.03%) Microservices
14 137 (9.68%) Test Scripting
15 136 (9.60%) User Experience
16 135 (9.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 131 (9.25%) SDLC
18 121 (8.55%) Project Management
19 109 (7.70%) Software Testing
20 104 (7.34%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 265 (18.71%) SQL
2 193 (13.63%) Java
3 185 (13.06%) Python
4 120 (8.47%) JavaScript
5 103 (7.27%) C#
6 86 (6.07%) TypeScript
7 39 (2.75%) PL/SQL
8 28 (1.98%) PHP
9 26 (1.84%) PowerShell
10 22 (1.55%) T-SQL
11 19 (1.34%) Go
12 16 (1.13%) Bash
12 16 (1.13%) C++
12 16 (1.13%) Kotlin
13 14 (0.99%) C
14 12 (0.85%) VBA
15 11 (0.78%) Ruby
16 9 (0.64%) VB
17 8 (0.56%) R
18 7 (0.49%) Scala
Qualifications
1 246 (17.37%) Security Cleared
2 198 (13.98%) SC Cleared
3 156 (11.02%) Degree
4 61 (4.31%) PMI Certification
5 57 (4.03%) Computer Science Degree
6 48 (3.39%) PMP
7 43 (3.04%) ISTQB
8 34 (2.40%) BPSS Clearance
9 33 (2.33%) Master's Degree
10 21 (1.48%) DV Cleared
11 18 (1.27%) CISSP
12 17 (1.20%) AWS Certification
13 15 (1.06%) Oracle Certification
14 12 (0.85%) CBAP
15 11 (0.78%) Azure Certification
15 11 (0.78%) CISM
16 10 (0.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
16 10 (0.71%) OCA
17 8 (0.56%) Postgraduate
18 7 (0.49%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (7.27%) Accessibility
2 75 (5.30%) Data Quality
3 48 (3.39%) GDPR
4 36 (2.54%) PMO
5 25 (1.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.62%) WCAG
7 19 (1.34%) PSD2
8 17 (1.20%) NIST
9 16 (1.13%) PCI DSS
10 15 (1.06%) SEPA
11 13 (0.92%) ISO 20022
11 13 (0.92%) SLA
12 10 (0.71%) COBIT
12 10 (0.71%) Software Quality Assurance
13 8 (0.56%) GxP
13 8 (0.56%) ISO 9001
13 8 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 7 (0.49%) IFRS
15 6 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
15 6 (0.42%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 112 (7.91%) Docker
2 7 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (0.42%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.071%) Firmware
5 1 (0.071%) GridGain
5 1 (0.071%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.071%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.071%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 118 (8.33%) Kubernetes
2 78 (5.51%) Terraform
3 44 (3.11%) Ansible
4 33 (2.33%) Grafana
5 15 (1.06%) Prometheus
6 11 (0.78%) Argo
7 8 (0.56%) HP ALM
8 6 (0.42%) Puppet
9 5 (0.35%) Control-M
9 5 (0.35%) Nmap
10 4 (0.28%) CloudHub
10 4 (0.28%) Consul
10 4 (0.28%) Rsyslog
10 4 (0.28%) SCOM
10 4 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.21%) Kibana
11 3 (0.21%) PingFederate
11 3 (0.21%) RSA Archer
12 2 (0.14%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
12 2 (0.14%) Istio
Vendors
1 157 (11.09%) Microsoft
2 119 (8.40%) Oracle
3 77 (5.44%) SAP
4 59 (4.17%) ServiceNow
5 56 (3.95%) Salesforce
6 37 (2.61%) Google
7 25 (1.77%) Citrix
8 19 (1.34%) Databricks
8 19 (1.34%) Splunk
9 18 (1.27%) Red Hat
10 17 (1.20%) MuleSoft
11 16 (1.13%) Adobe
11 16 (1.13%) HP
12 15 (1.06%) IBM
13 11 (0.78%) Workday
14 9 (0.64%) Blue Prism
15 8 (0.56%) Dynatrace
15 8 (0.56%) OpenAI
15 8 (0.56%) UiPath
15 8 (0.56%) VMware