Test Automation Contract Job Trends

Automated Testing
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Test Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 47 45 52
Rank change year-on-year -2 +7 -12
Contract jobs citing Test Automation 1,717 1,471 1,689
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.64% 4.42% 3.91%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.27% 5.00% 4.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,175 990 1,229
10th Percentile £333 £325 £363
25th Percentile £400 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -6.67%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £625
90th Percentile £688 £700 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 4 47
10th Percentile £39.48 £41.63 £37.50
25th Percentile £46.25 £42.19 £53.13
Median hourly rate £61.75 £47.50 £77.50
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -38.71% +29.17%
75th Percentile £66.88 £61.25 £90.00
90th Percentile £67.30 £77.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £50.00 £77.50
% change year-on-year +25.00% -35.48% +29.17%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Test Automation 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,589 29,397 38,047
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.09% 88.30% 88.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,542 17,920 25,365
10th Percentile £300 £308 £306
25th Percentile £406 £413 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £724 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,036 949 1,516
10th Percentile £14.61 £15.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.30 £19.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.95
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -26.05% +25.57%
75th Percentile £52.52 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.00 £74.77 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £30.62 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.00% -31.97% +42.45%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in the UK

Test Automation
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Automation over the 6 months to 30 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Test Automation in the UK

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Test Automation over the 6 months to 30 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Automation in the UK

Test Automation
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 Test Automation within the UK over the 6 months to 30 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 1,485 £500 - 3,248
UK excluding London +1 788 £500 +2.56% 3,056
London -4 721 £500 -3.85% 510
Work from Home +3 514 £500 - 1,559
North of England +6 305 £488 +13.04% 737
Midlands +11 155 £495 -1.00% 518
Yorkshire -8 145 £513 +13.89% 300
South East -26 138 £500 -2.44% 756
West Midlands +16 118 £519 -5.73% 272
North West +6 118 £425 +6.25% 374
South West +6 76 £550 -1.79% 341
Scotland -17 51 £500 +7.82% 171
East of England 0 47 £550 +37.50% 447
North East +18 44 £488 +34.48% 63
East Midlands +3 37 £400 -13.51% 217
Wales +5 27 £502 -3.46% 81
Northern Ireland 0 12 £295 -43.13% 48

Test Automation
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 96 (5.59%) Confluence
2 55 (3.20%) SAS
3 26 (1.51%) Apache Spark
4 17 (0.99%) Apache Airflow
5 13 (0.76%) Apache
5 13 (0.76%) SharePoint
6 6 (0.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 6 (0.35%) CMS
6 6 (0.35%) OpenStack
6 6 (0.35%) Oracle Application Server
7 4 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
8 3 (0.17%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.17%) nginx
8 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 2 (0.12%) Appian
9 2 (0.12%) JBoss
9 2 (0.12%) Magnolia
9 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.12%) Sitecore CMS
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
Applications
1 16 (0.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.58%) Microsoft Office
4 9 (0.52%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.17%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.17%) Simulink
5 3 (0.17%) Windchill
6 2 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.12%) Trello
7 1 (0.058%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 18 (1.05%) Aladdin
2 10 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.23%) SAP HR
4 3 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.17%) SAP BRIM
4 3 (0.17%) SAP PLM
4 3 (0.17%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.12%) Eagle PACE
5 2 (0.12%) Markit EDM
5 2 (0.12%) Maximo
5 2 (0.12%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.12%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.12%) Shopify
6 1 (0.058%) CODA-Financials
6 1 (0.058%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.058%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.058%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.058%) PORTIA
6 1 (0.058%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.058%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 488 (28.42%) Azure
2 424 (24.69%) AWS
3 261 (15.20%) GitHub
4 203 (11.82%) Azure DevOps
5 164 (9.55%) GCP
6 136 (7.92%) GitHub Actions
7 122 (7.11%) Serverless
8 58 (3.38%) OpenShift
9 56 (3.26%) AWS Lambda
10 54 (3.15%) Power Platform
11 51 (2.97%) Amazon S3
12 46 (2.68%) Azure AKS
13 44 (2.56%) AWS CloudFormation
14 42 (2.45%) Amazon EKS
15 39 (2.27%) SaaS
16 36 (2.10%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 36 (2.10%) Snowflake
17 30 (1.75%) Dynamics 365
18 29 (1.69%) Azure Functions
18 29 (1.69%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 44 (2.56%) Firewall
2 37 (2.15%) HTTP
3 34 (1.98%) Wireshark
4 28 (1.63%) SSL
5 27 (1.57%) HTTPS
6 21 (1.22%) TCP/IP
7 19 (1.11%) VPN
8 15 (0.87%) Network Security
8 15 (0.87%) SD-WAN
9 12 (0.70%) Ethernet
10 11 (0.64%) DNS
11 10 (0.58%) FTP
11 10 (0.58%) WAN
12 9 (0.52%) Multicast
13 8 (0.47%) AMQP
14 7 (0.41%) VLAN
15 6 (0.35%) Internet
16 5 (0.29%) Cisco IPT
16 5 (0.29%) MPLS
17 4 (0.23%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 114 (6.64%) PostgreSQL
2 94 (5.47%) NoSQL
3 91 (5.30%) MongoDB
4 76 (4.43%) Relational Database
5 70 (4.08%) SQL Server
6 39 (2.27%) Data Warehouse
7 29 (1.69%) Pentaho
8 26 (1.51%) BigQuery
9 24 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
9 24 (1.40%) DynamoDB
9 24 (1.40%) MySQL
9 24 (1.40%) Power BI
10 21 (1.22%) Oracle Database
11 20 (1.16%) Big Data
12 19 (1.11%) Redis
13 18 (1.05%) Data Lake
14 16 (0.93%) Apache Cassandra
15 15 (0.87%) SAS Enterprise Guide
16 14 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
17 12 (0.70%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 317 (18.46%) Git
2 314 (18.29%) Jenkins
3 304 (17.71%) JIRA
4 267 (15.55%) Selenium
5 247 (14.39%) GitLab
6 153 (8.91%) Cucumber
7 135 (7.86%) Postman
8 112 (6.52%) Cypress.io
9 90 (5.24%) JUnit
10 79 (4.60%) JMeter
11 78 (4.54%) REST Assured
12 47 (2.74%) Bitbucket
13 42 (2.45%) SonarQube
14 36 (2.10%) SpecFlow
15 34 (1.98%) Mockito
16 32 (1.86%) Gatling
16 32 (1.86%) Maven
17 31 (1.81%) TestRail
18 26 (1.51%) Gradle
18 26 (1.51%) WebDriver
General
1 467 (27.20%) Social Skills
2 292 (17.01%) Finance
3 241 (14.04%) Public Sector
4 172 (10.02%) Analytical Skills
5 116 (6.76%) Banking
6 35 (2.04%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (1.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 30 (1.75%) Telecoms
9 23 (1.34%) Pharmaceutical
10 22 (1.28%) Investment Banking
11 21 (1.22%) Front Office
11 21 (1.22%) Presentation Skills
12 19 (1.11%) Manufacturing
13 17 (0.99%) Financial Institution
14 15 (0.87%) Marketing
15 14 (0.82%) Electronics
15 14 (0.82%) Military
16 12 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
17 10 (0.58%) Aerospace
18 9 (0.52%) Retail
Job Titles
1 390 (22.71%) Developer
2 285 (16.60%) Senior
3 199 (11.59%) Tester
4 182 (10.60%) Test Engineer
5 147 (8.56%) Lead
6 116 (6.76%) Automation Tester
7 114 (6.64%) Java Developer
8 83 (4.83%) Software Engineer
9 76 (4.43%) Test Automation Engineer
10 72 (4.19%) Data Engineer
10 72 (4.19%) QA Engineer
11 70 (4.08%) DevOps Engineer
12 69 (4.02%) Senior Developer
13 68 (3.96%) Analyst
14 55 (3.20%) Automation Engineer
15 52 (3.03%) Test Manager
16 50 (2.91%) Test Leader
17 49 (2.85%) Test Analyst
18 45 (2.62%) Full-Stack Developer
19 39 (2.27%) Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 228 (13.28%) REST
2 173 (10.08%) Playwright
3 148 (8.62%) React
4 138 (8.04%) .NET
5 134 (7.80%) RESTful
6 132 (7.69%) Node.js
7 128 (7.45%) Kafka
8 124 (7.22%) Spring
9 115 (6.70%) Spring Boot
10 73 (4.25%) pytest
11 72 (4.19%) JSON
12 68 (3.96%) XML
13 67 (3.90%) AngularJS
13 67 (3.90%) HTML
14 64 (3.73%) SOAP
15 62 (3.61%) CSS
16 48 (2.80%) Web Services
17 46 (2.68%) Jest
18 44 (2.56%) JMS
19 40 (2.33%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 165 (9.61%) Cloud Native
2 122 (7.11%) Product Ownership
3 53 (3.09%) Distributed Systems
4 48 (2.80%) Mobile App
5 42 (2.45%) Security Posture
6 35 (2.04%) Data Protection Act
7 33 (1.92%) Algorithms
8 30 (1.75%) Onboarding
9 25 (1.46%) Public Cloud
10 24 (1.40%) Legacy Systems
11 23 (1.34%) Self-Motivation
12 22 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
12 22 (1.28%) Virtual Team
13 21 (1.22%) Data Structures
14 20 (1.16%) Management Information System
15 18 (1.05%) Greenfield Project
16 17 (0.99%) NHS
17 16 (0.93%) Data Centre
17 16 (0.93%) Genomics
17 16 (0.93%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 166 (9.67%) Linux
2 79 (4.60%) Windows
3 56 (3.26%) Unix
4 39 (2.27%) Android
5 31 (1.81%) Apple iOS
6 20 (1.16%) Mac OS X
7 18 (1.05%) Windows Server
8 10 (0.58%) Kali Linux
9 9 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 6 (0.35%) CentOS
11 3 (0.17%) Mac OS
11 3 (0.17%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
12 2 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.12%) VMS
13 1 (0.058%) Solaris
13 1 (0.058%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.058%) Windows Embedded Compact
13 1 (0.058%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 860 (50.09%) CI/CD
2 847 (49.33%) Agile
3 660 (38.44%) DevOps
4 432 (25.16%) Problem-Solving
5 279 (16.25%) Microservices
6 257 (14.97%) Containerisation
7 252 (14.68%) Continuous Improvement
8 248 (14.44%) Scrum
9 246 (14.33%) Test Strategy
10 219 (12.75%) TDD
11 216 (12.58%) Infrastructure as Code
12 209 (12.17%) Software Engineering
13 208 (12.11%) Test Scripting
14 178 (10.37%) SDLC
15 177 (10.31%) AI
16 175 (10.19%) Validation
17 168 (9.78%) Software Testing
18 167 (9.73%) BDD
19 152 (8.85%) Analytics
20 150 (8.74%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 511 (29.76%) Python
2 415 (24.17%) Java
3 333 (19.39%) SQL
4 242 (14.09%) JavaScript
5 205 (11.94%) TypeScript
6 168 (9.78%) C#
7 93 (5.42%) Bash
8 70 (4.08%) PowerShell
9 39 (2.27%) C++
10 35 (2.04%) Go
11 24 (1.40%) Kotlin
12 23 (1.34%) Bicep
12 23 (1.34%) PL/SQL
13 18 (1.05%) Ruby
14 15 (0.87%) Scala
15 14 (0.82%) PHP
16 12 (0.70%) Apex Code
16 12 (0.70%) Groovy
16 12 (0.70%) Perl
16 12 (0.70%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 448 (26.09%) Security Cleared
2 344 (20.03%) SC Cleared
3 104 (6.06%) Degree
4 70 (4.08%) ISTQB
5 56 (3.26%) Computer Science Degree
6 52 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance
7 48 (2.80%) DV Cleared
8 25 (1.46%) AWS Certification
9 24 (1.40%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 23 (1.34%) Master's Degree
11 18 (1.05%) OSCP
12 16 (0.93%) CISSP
13 15 (0.87%) Azure Certification
14 14 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
14 14 (0.82%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
14 14 (0.82%) MCP
15 13 (0.76%) CEH
16 12 (0.70%) GPEN
16 12 (0.70%) Oracle Certification
17 11 (0.64%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 383 (22.31%) QA
2 134 (7.80%) Accessibility
3 74 (4.31%) Data Quality
4 42 (2.45%) WCAG
5 39 (2.27%) GDPR
6 38 (2.21%) NIST
7 29 (1.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 20 (1.16%) NCSC
9 18 (1.05%) EU AI Act
10 17 (0.99%) PCI DSS
11 14 (0.82%) PSD2
12 11 (0.64%) ISO 20022
13 10 (0.58%) NIST 800
14 9 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 9 (0.52%) SEPA
15 8 (0.47%) SLA
16 7 (0.41%) HMG Security Policy Framework
17 6 (0.35%) SOC 2
18 5 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
18 5 (0.29%) PERC
System Software
1 375 (21.84%) Docker
2 30 (1.75%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.41%) Firmware
4 5 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
5 4 (0.23%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.17%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
6 3 (0.17%) ISA Server
6 3 (0.17%) QEMU
6 3 (0.17%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
6 3 (0.17%) zsh
7 2 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.12%) vSphere
8 1 (0.058%) HDFS
8 1 (0.058%) KVM
8 1 (0.058%) Squid
8 1 (0.058%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.058%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 328 (19.10%) Kubernetes
2 214 (12.46%) Terraform
3 126 (7.34%) Ansible
4 87 (5.07%) Grafana
5 54 (3.15%) Prometheus
6 17 (0.99%) Progress Chef
7 16 (0.93%) CSIRT
7 16 (0.93%) Nmap
8 15 (0.87%) Argo
8 15 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
9 13 (0.76%) HP ALM
9 13 (0.76%) NetBackup
10 12 (0.70%) Puppet
11 7 (0.41%) Kibana
11 7 (0.41%) Nessus
11 7 (0.41%) Podman
12 4 (0.23%) Forefront Identity Manager
12 4 (0.23%) Rancher
12 4 (0.23%) SCCM
12 4 (0.23%) vRealize
Vendors
1 170 (9.90%) Microsoft
2 159 (9.26%) Oracle
3 67 (3.90%) Splunk
4 63 (3.67%) Databricks
5 61 (3.55%) ServiceNow
6 60 (3.49%) SAP
7 55 (3.20%) Salesforce
8 42 (2.45%) Google
9 29 (1.69%) Denodo
9 29 (1.69%) Talend
10 27 (1.57%) VMware
11 25 (1.46%) Cisco
12 24 (1.40%) F5
13 22 (1.28%) Red Hat
13 22 (1.28%) webMethods
14 19 (1.11%) IBM
15 18 (1.05%) Atlassian
16 17 (0.99%) Dynatrace
16 17 (0.99%) MuleSoft
17 15 (0.87%) Workday