QA Contracts

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring QA skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited QA over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 64 58 79
Rank change year-on-year -6 +21 -11
Contract jobs citing QA 1,056 1,463 1,804
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 3.61% 3.36% 3.02%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 23.17% 23.41% 22.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 709 985 1,307
10th Percentile £280 £313 £305
25th Percentile £384 £400 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £509 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.59% +1.70% -1.96%
75th Percentile £575 £611 £625
90th Percentile £690 £750 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £500 £455
% change year-on-year -8.00% +9.89% +1.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 75 33
10th Percentile £16.25 £10.82 £10.92
25th Percentile £20.94 £12.25 £12.12
Median hourly rate £42.50 £15.38 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year +176.33% -31.60% -52.41%
75th Percentile £72.81 £28.60 £23.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.33 £54.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.75 £14.00 £13.00
% change year-on-year +312.50% +7.69% -73.20%

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 4,558 6,250 7,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.59% 14.34% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,921 3,951 5,482
10th Percentile £265 £295 £275
25th Percentile £400 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £623 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 383 225
10th Percentile £18.04 £10.95 £13.21
25th Percentile £22.21 £13.18 £18.70
Median hourly rate £34.50 £21.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +64.29% -44.00% +33.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £83.01 £67.38 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.78 £18.00 £36.25
% change year-on-year +126.53% -50.34% +72.21%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing QA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for QA in the UK

QA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing QA.

Daily rate trend for QA in the UK

QA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing QA.

Hourly rate trend for QA in the UK

QA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Top 17 Contract 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 30 April 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 +1 890 £476 -7.93% 1,611
London -4 485 £499 -7.42% 749
UK excluding London -5 441 £460 -8.00% 945
Work from Home -12 330 £495 -1.00% 923
North of England -10 112 £500 - 278
South East +5 107 £425 -12.82% 213
Midlands +13 81 £420 -6.78% 155
Scotland +19 59 £400 -5.88% 45
North West -14 58 £463 -7.50% 181
West Midlands +9 54 £460 -12.38% 89
South West -7 46 £500 -9.09% 138
Yorkshire -6 39 £510 -5.56% 65
East Midlands +14 27 £410 +35.54% 66
East of England +29 21 £513 +36.67% 88
North East +7 15 £460 +10.84% 37
Wales -12 8 £525 -3.67% 28
Northern Ireland -13 8 £479 +47.31% 26

QA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 63 (5.97%) Confluence
2 21 (1.99%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.14%) IIS
4 9 (0.85%) Apache
5 8 (0.76%) CMS
6 7 (0.66%) Microsoft Exchange
6 7 (0.66%) WebSphere
7 6 (0.57%) Apache Spark
7 6 (0.57%) CICS
8 5 (0.47%) Apache Airflow
8 5 (0.47%) nginx
8 5 (0.47%) Oracle Workflow
9 4 (0.38%) Tomcat
9 4 (0.38%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 3 (0.28%) ArcGIS
10 3 (0.28%) Drupal
10 3 (0.28%) JBoss
10 3 (0.28%) Jupyter
10 3 (0.28%) WebLogic Portal
Applications
1 52 (4.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.80%) MS Visio
3 14 (1.33%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (1.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.85%) Chatbot
6 6 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.28%) Sketch
8 3 (0.28%) Trello
9 2 (0.19%) Notepad++
10 1 (0.095%) Adobe Illustrator
10 1 (0.095%) EViews
10 1 (0.095%) MadCap Flare
10 1 (0.095%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 39 (3.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (0.76%) SAP PP
4 5 (0.47%) Salesforce CRM
4 5 (0.47%) Workday HCM
5 4 (0.38%) SAP Hybris
5 4 (0.38%) Shopify
6 3 (0.28%) Exstream
6 3 (0.28%) ION Anvil
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle Cash Management
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle EBS R12
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle General Ledger
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
6 3 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.28%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.28%) SAP CAR
6 3 (0.28%) SAP Retail
6 3 (0.28%) SAP SCM
7 2 (0.19%) SAP IBP
Cloud Services
1 179 (16.95%) Azure
2 158 (14.96%) AWS
3 63 (5.97%) Azure DevOps
4 61 (5.78%) GCP
5 55 (5.21%) GitHub
6 50 (4.73%) Power Platform
7 26 (2.46%) Serverless
8 23 (2.18%) Dynamics 365
8 23 (2.18%) GitHub Actions
9 21 (1.99%) SaaS
10 18 (1.70%) Microsoft 365
11 15 (1.42%) AWS Lambda
11 15 (1.42%) BrowserStack
12 14 (1.33%) Snowflake
13 12 (1.14%) Azure Data Factory
14 10 (0.95%) Datadog
14 10 (0.95%) Sauce Labs
15 9 (0.85%) Adobe Analytics
15 9 (0.85%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (0.76%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.23%) Internet
2 11 (1.04%) WAN
3 10 (0.95%) DNS
3 10 (0.95%) Firewall
4 9 (0.85%) Wireless
5 8 (0.76%) DHCP
5 8 (0.76%) LAN
6 7 (0.66%) Network Security
6 7 (0.66%) TCP/IP
6 7 (0.66%) VPN
6 7 (0.66%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.57%) Radio Access Network
7 6 (0.57%) Structured Cabling
8 5 (0.47%) DOCSIS
8 5 (0.47%) Wireshark
9 4 (0.38%) DSL
10 3 (0.28%) 2G
10 3 (0.28%) 4G
10 3 (0.28%) 5G
10 3 (0.28%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (5.21%) SQL Server
2 39 (3.69%) Power BI
3 28 (2.65%) Data Warehouse
4 27 (2.56%) PostgreSQL
5 23 (2.18%) Oracle Database
6 19 (1.80%) NoSQL
6 19 (1.80%) Relational Database
7 18 (1.70%) Tableau
8 13 (1.23%) MySQL
8 13 (1.23%) Oracle Reports
9 11 (1.04%) Metadata
10 9 (0.85%) BigQuery
11 8 (0.76%) Hadoop
12 7 (0.66%) Amazon Redshift
12 7 (0.66%) MongoDB
13 6 (0.57%) DB2
13 6 (0.57%) IDMS
13 6 (0.57%) MS Access
14 5 (0.47%) Data Mining
14 5 (0.47%) GIS
Development Applications
1 147 (13.92%) JIRA
2 111 (10.51%) Selenium
3 88 (8.33%) Git
4 68 (6.44%) Jenkins
5 64 (6.06%) Postman
6 49 (4.64%) JMeter
7 47 (4.45%) Cucumber
8 43 (4.07%) Cypress.io
9 41 (3.88%) GitLab
10 31 (2.94%) JUnit
10 31 (2.94%) REST Assured
11 21 (1.99%) Appium
12 16 (1.52%) Maven
13 15 (1.42%) Bitbucket
13 15 (1.42%) TestRail
14 14 (1.33%) LoadRunner
14 14 (1.33%) SpecFlow
15 13 (1.23%) WebDriver
16 12 (1.14%) SoapUI
17 10 (0.95%) TestNG
General
1 445 (42.14%) Social Skills
2 267 (25.28%) Analytical Skills
3 223 (21.12%) Finance
4 88 (8.33%) Public Sector
5 84 (7.95%) Banking
6 39 (3.69%) Telecoms
7 31 (2.94%) Manufacturing
8 27 (2.56%) Retail
9 23 (2.18%) Organisational Skills
10 22 (2.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 19 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
11 19 (1.80%) Marketing
12 18 (1.70%) Legal
13 17 (1.61%) Front Office
13 17 (1.61%) Investment Banking
14 16 (1.52%) Presentation Skills
15 15 (1.42%) Pharmaceutical
16 14 (1.33%) Back Office
17 13 (1.23%) Financial Institution
18 12 (1.14%) Games
Job Titles
1 171 (16.19%) Analyst
2 120 (11.36%) Developer
3 100 (9.47%) Lead
4 97 (9.19%) Senior
5 92 (8.71%) QA Engineer
6 78 (7.39%) Tester
7 69 (6.53%) Architect
8 61 (5.78%) Business Analyst
9 44 (4.17%) Test Analyst
9 44 (4.17%) Test Engineer
10 38 (3.60%) Data Analyst
10 38 (3.60%) QA Tester
11 37 (3.50%) Solutions Architect
12 35 (3.31%) Consultant
13 34 (3.22%) Project Manager
14 33 (3.13%) Test Manager
15 27 (2.56%) QA Leader
16 26 (2.46%) Automation Tester
16 26 (2.46%) Test Leader
17 25 (2.37%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (5.59%) .NET
2 35 (3.31%) Playwright
3 34 (3.22%) REST
3 34 (3.22%) RESTful
4 30 (2.84%) HTML
5 29 (2.75%) CSS
6 26 (2.46%) React
7 24 (2.27%) Middleware
8 23 (2.18%) Node.js
9 22 (2.08%) Web Services
10 19 (1.80%) AngularJS
10 19 (1.80%) JSON
10 19 (1.80%) Kafka
11 17 (1.61%) .NET Framework
12 16 (1.52%) FIX Protocol
12 16 (1.52%) XML
13 15 (1.42%) Gherkin
13 15 (1.42%) WPF
14 14 (1.33%) Spring Boot
14 14 (1.33%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 68 (6.44%) Product Ownership
2 31 (2.94%) Data Centre
3 27 (2.56%) Management Information System
4 22 (2.08%) Onboarding
5 20 (1.89%) Legacy Systems
5 20 (1.89%) Virtual Team
6 18 (1.70%) Mobile App
7 17 (1.61%) Algorithms
8 16 (1.52%) Cloud Native
9 14 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (1.33%) Data Structures
9 14 (1.33%) Public Cloud
10 12 (1.14%) Life Science
11 11 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (0.95%) Derivative
12 10 (0.95%) Greenfield Project
12 10 (0.95%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 9 (0.85%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (0.85%) Fixed Income
Operating Systems
1 90 (8.52%) Windows
2 45 (4.26%) Linux
3 19 (1.80%) Unix
4 17 (1.61%) Android
5 15 (1.42%) Apple iOS
6 12 (1.14%) Windows 10
6 12 (1.14%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.47%) zOS
8 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.28%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.19%) Solaris
11 1 (0.095%) CentOS
11 1 (0.095%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.095%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.095%) Rocky
11 1 (0.095%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 372 (35.23%) Agile
2 296 (28.03%) Problem-Solving
2 296 (28.03%) Test Automation
3 192 (18.18%) CI/CD
4 180 (17.05%) DevOps
5 159 (15.06%) Stakeholder Management
6 124 (11.74%) Test Strategy
7 122 (11.55%) Project Management
8 119 (11.27%) Continuous Improvement
9 118 (11.17%) Scrum
10 116 (10.98%) Migration
11 113 (10.70%) User Acceptance Testing
12 110 (10.42%) Validation
13 87 (8.24%) Test Scripting
14 85 (8.05%) Software Testing
15 83 (7.86%) Analytics
16 77 (7.29%) Software Engineering
17 76 (7.20%) User Stories
18 75 (7.10%) Manual Testing
19 73 (6.91%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 174 (16.48%) Python
2 171 (16.19%) SQL
3 155 (14.68%) Java
4 97 (9.19%) JavaScript
5 80 (7.58%) C#
6 44 (4.17%) TypeScript
7 28 (2.65%) Bash
8 27 (2.56%) VB
9 26 (2.46%) PowerShell
10 18 (1.70%) VBA
11 16 (1.52%) PL/SQL
12 14 (1.33%) Ruby
12 14 (1.33%) Scala
13 13 (1.23%) C++
13 13 (1.23%) Shell Script
13 13 (1.23%) T-SQL
14 9 (0.85%) PHP
15 8 (0.76%) COBOL
16 6 (0.57%) C
16 6 (0.57%) JCL
Qualifications
1 178 (16.86%) Security Cleared
2 147 (13.92%) SC Cleared
3 125 (11.84%) Degree
4 54 (5.11%) Computer Science Degree
5 34 (3.22%) ISTQB
6 30 (2.84%) AWS Certification
7 20 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
7 20 (1.89%) Master's Degree
8 19 (1.80%) PMP
9 18 (1.70%) PMI Certification
10 17 (1.61%) Microsoft Certification
11 14 (1.33%) Azure Certification
12 13 (1.23%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 12 (1.14%) DV Cleared
14 8 (0.76%) ISEB
14 8 (0.76%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 6 (0.57%) CISSP
16 5 (0.47%) CEH
16 5 (0.47%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
16 5 (0.47%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (4.83%) Data Quality
2 37 (3.50%) Accessibility
3 23 (2.18%) PMO
4 17 (1.61%) Software Quality Assurance
5 14 (1.33%) SLA
6 12 (1.14%) GDPR
7 9 (0.85%) WCAG
8 8 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.66%) GxP
9 7 (0.66%) HIPAA
10 6 (0.57%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 4 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.28%) MiFID
12 3 (0.28%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.19%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.19%) GLP
13 2 (0.19%) GMP
13 2 (0.19%) WAI
System Software
1 67 (6.34%) Docker
2 14 (1.33%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.38%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (0.28%) LXC
6 2 (0.19%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.19%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.19%) vSphere
7 1 (0.095%) Firmware
7 1 (0.095%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.095%) Time Sharing Option
7 1 (0.095%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
7 1 (0.095%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 55 (5.21%) Kubernetes
2 43 (4.07%) Terraform
3 31 (2.94%) Ansible
4 15 (1.42%) SCCM
5 11 (1.04%) Grafana
6 10 (0.95%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.66%) Progress Chef
7 7 (0.66%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.47%) Kibana
8 5 (0.47%) Packer
8 5 (0.47%) Puppet
8 5 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.38%) EnCase
9 4 (0.38%) FTK
9 4 (0.38%) Red Hat Satellite
10 3 (0.28%) Control-M
10 3 (0.28%) Nagios
11 2 (0.19%) Amdocs OSS
11 2 (0.19%) Rundeck
11 2 (0.19%) Salt
Vendors
1 120 (11.36%) Microsoft
2 73 (6.91%) Oracle
3 72 (6.82%) SAP
4 34 (3.22%) Google
4 34 (3.22%) Salesforce
5 28 (2.65%) Databricks
6 26 (2.46%) ServiceNow
7 25 (2.37%) Citrix
8 18 (1.70%) Adobe
9 16 (1.52%) HP
10 15 (1.42%) IBM
10 15 (1.42%) Splunk
11 14 (1.33%) Cisco
11 14 (1.33%) Dell
12 13 (1.23%) Workday
13 11 (1.04%) Informatica
14 9 (0.85%) Red Hat
15 7 (0.66%) Apple
15 7 (0.66%) Ariba
16 6 (0.57%) VMware