Test Engineer Contract Job Trends

Test Engineer
UK

The median Test Engineer daily rate in the UK is £428, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 July 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 265 344 339
Rank change year-on-year +79 -5 +60
Contract jobs requiring a Test Engineer 486 222 253
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 0.68% 0.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.00% 0.74% 0.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 131 171
10th Percentile £301 £280 £325
25th Percentile £363 £336 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £428 £420 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.79% -11.58% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £504 £556
90th Percentile £611 £638 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £415 £400 £475
% change year-on-year +3.75% -15.79% -2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 26 20
10th Percentile £27.86 £30.75 £25.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £37.80 £28.28
Median hourly rate £52.50 £50.00 £41.27
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% +21.17% -21.40%
75th Percentile £61.84 £58.73 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.54 £63.75 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £50.00 £41.27
% change year-on-year +5.00% +21.17% -21.40%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 48,822 29,919 38,227
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.59% 91.60% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,449 19,032 24,743
10th Percentile £325 £285 £298
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.05%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £730 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,293 1,436 2,397
10th Percentile £15.81 £13.75 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £18.13
Median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £40.33
Median % change year-on-year +73.72% -37.63% -7.70%
75th Percentile £68.00 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +78.93% -40.82% +6.78%

Test Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Test Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Test Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Test Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Test Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Engineer over the 6 months to 23 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Engineer in the UK

Test Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Test Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Test Engineer over the 6 months to 23 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Test Engineer in the UK

Test Engineer
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 Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 23 July 2026. 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 +38 412 £425 - 141
UK excluding London +64 364 £415 +3.75% 134
North of England -15 89 £400 -6.98% 20
London -62 86 £444 +4.41% 19
Work from Home -30 78 £400 +5.12% 36
Midlands -1 70 £525 +18.31% 25
South East -46 65 £411 +8.51% 36
West Midlands -10 64 £525 +16.67% 19
South West +12 57 £438 -20.45% 27
East of England +10 53 £350 -6.67% 23
North West -13 45 £450 -8.16% 11
Scotland +22 32 £525 +707.69% 4
North East -13 29 £325 -22.62% 5
Yorkshire -45 21 £550 +29.47% 5
Wales -14 7 £300 -3.85% 3
East Midlands -9 6 - - 6
Northern Ireland - 2 - -

Test Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 23 July 2026, Test Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Test Engineer in the job title.

1 224 (46.09%) Test Automation
2 150 (30.86%) Security Cleared
3 136 (27.98%) CI/CD
4 111 (22.84%) SC Cleared
5 97 (19.96%) Agile
6 91 (18.72%) Validation
7 87 (17.90%) DevOps
8 82 (16.87%) Playwright
9 80 (16.46%) Java
10 79 (16.26%) Selenium
11 76 (15.64%) API Testing
12 75 (15.43%) Python
13 71 (14.61%) QA
14 70 (14.40%) Software Testing
15 67 (13.79%) Test Strategy
16 61 (12.55%) Azure
17 60 (12.35%) AWS
17 60 (12.35%) BDD
18 57 (11.73%) GitHub
19 53 (10.91%) Performance Testing
20 52 (10.70%) Test Scripting
21 51 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
22 49 (10.08%) Cucumber
22 49 (10.08%) REST Assured
23 46 (9.47%) Jenkins
23 46 (9.47%) Non-Functional Testing
24 44 (9.05%) GitLab
24 44 (9.05%) Integration Testing
24 44 (9.05%) JIRA
25 43 (8.85%) JavaScript

Test Engineer Skill Set
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 7 (1.44%) Confluence
2 5 (1.03%) Apache
2 5 (1.03%) Apache Airflow
2 5 (1.03%) Apache Spark
2 5 (1.03%) Jupyter
3 3 (0.62%) SAS
Applications
1 3 (0.62%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.21%) Simulink
2 1 (0.21%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 8 (1.65%) Payment Gateway
2 3 (0.62%) Findur
2 3 (0.62%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.21%) Aladdin
4 1 (0.21%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 61 (12.55%) Azure
2 60 (12.35%) AWS
3 57 (11.73%) GitHub
4 41 (8.44%) Azure DevOps
5 26 (5.35%) GitHub Actions
6 20 (4.12%) GCP
7 9 (1.85%) BrowserStack
8 8 (1.65%) Power Platform
9 5 (1.03%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 5 (1.03%) Amazon EMR
10 4 (0.82%) Entra ID
10 4 (0.82%) Microsoft 365
10 4 (0.82%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.62%) AWS Lambda
11 3 (0.62%) Power Automate
11 3 (0.62%) Serverless
12 2 (0.41%) Amazon ECR
12 2 (0.41%) Amazon EventBridge
12 2 (0.41%) BlazeMeter
12 2 (0.41%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 15 (3.09%) LAN
2 13 (2.67%) DNS
3 12 (2.47%) Firewall
4 10 (2.06%) WAN
5 9 (1.85%) DHCP
5 9 (1.85%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.65%) VLAN
6 8 (1.65%) VPN
7 7 (1.44%) MPLS
8 5 (1.03%) Broadband
8 5 (1.03%) Network Security
8 5 (1.03%) SD-WAN
9 4 (0.82%) BGP
9 4 (0.82%) Internet
9 4 (0.82%) OSPF
9 4 (0.82%) SSL
9 4 (0.82%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.62%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (0.41%) 4G
11 2 (0.41%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (4.73%) MongoDB
2 11 (2.26%) Relational Database
3 7 (1.44%) Big Data
4 5 (1.03%) Amazon Athena
4 5 (1.03%) Neo4j
4 5 (1.03%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.62%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.62%) Power BI
6 2 (0.41%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.41%) Tableau
7 1 (0.21%) BigQuery
7 1 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.21%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.21%) Flink
7 1 (0.21%) MySQL
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.21%) Power Query
7 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 79 (16.26%) Selenium
2 49 (10.08%) Cucumber
2 49 (10.08%) REST Assured
3 46 (9.47%) Jenkins
4 44 (9.05%) GitLab
4 44 (9.05%) JIRA
5 42 (8.64%) Postman
6 34 (7.00%) JMeter
7 29 (5.97%) Gatling
8 23 (4.73%) Cypress.io
9 22 (4.53%) Git
10 15 (3.09%) LabVIEW
11 14 (2.88%) WebDriver
12 13 (2.67%) Serenity BDD
13 12 (2.47%) JUnit
13 12 (2.47%) Zephyr
14 11 (2.26%) SpecFlow
15 6 (1.23%) Browser DevTools
15 6 (1.23%) MSTest
15 6 (1.23%) TestNG
General
1 58 (11.93%) Social Skills
2 51 (10.49%) Public Sector
3 33 (6.79%) Analytical Skills
4 32 (6.58%) Aerospace
5 30 (6.17%) Automotive
5 30 (6.17%) Finance
6 27 (5.56%) Electronics
7 17 (3.50%) Manufacturing
8 13 (2.67%) Military
9 12 (2.47%) Banking
9 12 (2.47%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (0.82%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.62%) Law
12 3 (0.62%) Marketing
13 2 (0.41%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.41%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.21%) Influencing Skills
14 1 (0.21%) Legal Technology
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (16.87%) Playwright
2 38 (7.82%) REST
3 23 (4.73%) Kafka
4 18 (3.70%) Spring
4 18 (3.70%) Spring Boot
5 15 (3.09%) RESTful
6 12 (2.47%) .NET
6 12 (2.47%) pytest
6 12 (2.47%) React
7 11 (2.26%) Spring Cloud
8 10 (2.06%) Node.js
9 6 (1.23%) Gherkin
9 6 (1.23%) Model Context Protocol
9 6 (1.23%) OpenTelemetry
9 6 (1.23%) SOAP
10 5 (1.03%) Swagger
11 4 (0.82%) ADO
11 4 (0.82%) HTML
11 4 (0.82%) Pandas
11 4 (0.82%) WireMock
Miscellaneous
1 20 (4.12%) Product Ownership
2 17 (3.50%) Enterprise Software
3 16 (3.29%) Cloud Native
4 13 (2.67%) Distributed Systems
4 13 (2.67%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (1.65%) Infotainment
6 7 (1.44%) AI Agents
7 6 (1.23%) Distributed Architecture
8 5 (1.03%) Embedded Systems
8 5 (1.03%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (1.03%) Linux Command Line
8 5 (1.03%) NHS
9 4 (0.82%) Virtual Team
10 3 (0.62%) Analogue Electronics
10 3 (0.62%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 2 (0.41%) Data Centre
11 2 (0.41%) Fibre Optics
11 2 (0.41%) Hedge funds
11 2 (0.41%) Synthetic Data
12 1 (0.21%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 18 (3.70%) Windows
2 11 (2.26%) Linux
3 6 (1.23%) Mac OS
4 4 (0.82%) Unix
4 4 (0.82%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.41%) Android
5 2 (0.41%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.41%) Embedded Linux
6 1 (0.21%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 224 (46.09%) Test Automation
2 136 (27.98%) CI/CD
3 97 (19.96%) Agile
4 91 (18.72%) Validation
5 87 (17.90%) DevOps
6 76 (15.64%) API Testing
7 70 (14.40%) Software Testing
8 67 (13.79%) Test Strategy
9 60 (12.35%) BDD
10 53 (10.91%) Performance Testing
11 52 (10.70%) Test Scripting
12 51 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
13 46 (9.47%) Non-Functional Testing
14 44 (9.05%) Integration Testing
15 43 (8.85%) Problem-Solving
16 42 (8.64%) End-to-End Testing
16 42 (8.64%) Microservices
17 39 (8.02%) Regression Testing
18 37 (7.61%) User Acceptance Testing
19 35 (7.20%) Manual Testing
Programming Languages
1 80 (16.46%) Java
2 75 (15.43%) Python
3 43 (8.85%) JavaScript
4 35 (7.20%) C#
4 35 (7.20%) SQL
5 26 (5.35%) TypeScript
6 13 (2.67%) Bash
7 9 (1.85%) PowerShell
8 7 (1.44%) Apex Code
8 7 (1.44%) C++
8 7 (1.44%) Kotlin
9 6 (1.23%) C
9 6 (1.23%) Ruby
10 4 (0.82%) MATLAB
11 2 (0.41%) AppleScript
11 2 (0.41%) Cypher
11 2 (0.41%) Groovy
11 2 (0.41%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.41%) Swift
11 2 (0.41%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 150 (30.86%) Security Cleared
2 111 (22.84%) SC Cleared
3 23 (4.73%) ISTQB
4 19 (3.91%) DV Cleared
5 14 (2.88%) BPSS Clearance
5 14 (2.88%) Degree
6 11 (2.26%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 8 (1.65%) HNC
8 7 (1.44%) HND
9 4 (0.82%) CCNP
9 4 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.62%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.41%) CCNA
11 2 (0.41%) Computer Science Degree
12 1 (0.21%) CCIP
12 1 (0.21%) ITIL Certification
12 1 (0.21%) Six Sigma Black Belt
12 1 (0.21%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (14.61%) QA
2 36 (7.41%) Accessibility
3 10 (2.06%) Data Quality
4 4 (0.82%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 4 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.82%) WCAG
5 2 (0.41%) NCSC
5 2 (0.41%) Software Quality Assurance
6 1 (0.21%) GDPR
6 1 (0.21%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.21%) ISO 20022
6 1 (0.21%) ISO 22301
6 1 (0.21%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.21%) MIL-STD-1553
6 1 (0.21%) NIST
6 1 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 37 (7.61%) Docker
2 7 (1.44%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.03%) Active Directory
5 4 (0.82%) vSphere
6 2 (0.41%) Firmware
6 2 (0.41%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 24 (4.94%) Grafana
2 20 (4.12%) Prometheus
3 18 (3.70%) Kubernetes
4 14 (2.88%) Terraform
5 7 (1.44%) Kibana
6 4 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.41%) Ansible
7 2 (0.41%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.21%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.21%) Iperf
8 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 27 (5.56%) Salesforce
2 18 (3.70%) Splunk
3 15 (3.09%) Microsoft
4 8 (1.65%) Conga
4 8 (1.65%) EMC
4 8 (1.65%) GoCardless
5 7 (1.44%) Cisco
5 7 (1.44%) Citrix
5 7 (1.44%) Dynatrace
6 6 (1.23%) Google
6 6 (1.23%) VMware
7 4 (0.82%) Juniper
7 4 (0.82%) Pega
7 4 (0.82%) Zscaler
8 3 (0.62%) Fortinet
8 3 (0.62%) HP
8 3 (0.62%) IBM
8 3 (0.62%) OpenLink
8 3 (0.62%) UiPath
9 2 (0.41%) Databricks