Test Engineer Contract Job Trends

Test Engineer
UK

The median Test Engineer daily rate in the UK is £425, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 December 2025.

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

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 328 325 318
Rank change year-on-year -3 -7 +107
Contract jobs requiring a Test Engineer 279 226 300
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.76% 0.67% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.83% 0.73% 0.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 147 208
10th Percentile £296 £307 £350
25th Percentile £356 £368 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £450 £438
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% +2.86% -3.21%
75th Percentile £519 £550 £538
90th Percentile £600 £600 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £408 £431 £425
% change year-on-year -5.48% +1.47% -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 11 23
10th Percentile £29.85 £37.00 £34.80
25th Percentile £33.75 £47.94 £37.50
Median hourly rate £36.00 £60.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.50% +34.44% -25.00%
75th Percentile £48.75 £62.50 £61.63
90th Percentile £57.88 - £71.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £60.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -40.50% +34.44% -25.00%

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 33,673 31,116 40,613
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.15% 92.74% 93.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,283 19,110 27,220
10th Percentile £295 £300 £285
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £640
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,981 971 1,564
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.50 £14.50
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.02 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.47 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.63% -27.78% +44.81%
75th Percentile £58.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.71 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -22.62% -29.16% +83.52%

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 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 +5 244 £425 -5.56% 202
UK excluding London -6 179 £408 -5.48% 208
North of England -4 76 £413 +9.42% 70
London +1 74 £436 -4.12% 36
Work from Home -8 61 £400 -20.00% 106
Midlands -19 34 £515 +21.18% 10
Yorkshire -28 33 £435 +6.75% 20
North West -17 22 £383 +2.00% 39
North East +7 21 £425 +37.10% 11
West Midlands -14 21 £700 +64.71% 7
South East -39 21 £295 -41.00% 44
East of England -11 19 £375 -6.25% 31
East Midlands -12 13 £400 +2.24% 3
South West -8 12 £500 -4.76% 18
Wales +9 10 £433 - 5
Scotland - 6 £65 - 30
Northern Ireland -7 1 £450 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 28 December 2025, 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.

1 182 (65.23%) Test Automation
2 100 (35.84%) CI/CD
3 90 (32.26%) Agile
4 72 (25.81%) QA
5 69 (24.73%) Security Cleared
6 66 (23.66%) Selenium
7 64 (22.94%) Azure
7 64 (22.94%) Java
8 61 (21.86%) Cucumber
9 57 (20.43%) API Testing
9 57 (20.43%) DevOps
10 55 (19.71%) AWS
10 55 (19.71%) Test Scripting
10 55 (19.71%) Test Strategy
11 49 (17.56%) Postman
12 48 (17.20%) JIRA
12 48 (17.20%) SC Cleared
13 47 (16.85%) Manual Testing
13 47 (16.85%) Python
14 44 (15.77%) Software Testing
15 43 (15.41%) BDD
16 42 (15.05%) Performance Testing
16 42 (15.05%) Problem-Solving
17 40 (14.34%) GitLab
18 39 (13.98%) Playwright
18 39 (13.98%) REST
19 36 (12.90%) JavaScript
20 35 (12.54%) Jenkins
21 34 (12.19%) Accessibility
22 32 (11.47%) Git

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 11 (3.94%) Confluence
2 3 (1.08%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.72%) Oracle Application Server
4 1 (0.36%) Drupal
4 1 (0.36%) Jupyter
4 1 (0.36%) SAS
Applications
1 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.36%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.72%) Aladdin
1 2 (0.72%) Workday HCM
2 1 (0.36%) CODA-Financials
2 1 (0.36%) ProductWriter
2 1 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 64 (22.94%) Azure
2 55 (19.71%) AWS
3 28 (10.04%) Azure DevOps
4 18 (6.45%) GCP
5 17 (6.09%) GitHub
6 12 (4.30%) GitHub Actions
7 11 (3.94%) Serverless
8 8 (2.87%) AWS Lambda
8 8 (2.87%) Power Platform
9 7 (2.51%) BrowserStack
10 6 (2.15%) BlazeMeter
11 5 (1.79%) Amazon SQS
11 5 (1.79%) SaaS
12 4 (1.43%) PowerApps
12 4 (1.43%) Tricentis Tosca
13 3 (1.08%) Snowflake
14 2 (0.72%) Amazon EventBridge
14 2 (0.72%) AWS CodePipeline
14 2 (0.72%) Dynamics 365
14 2 (0.72%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 10 (3.58%) Firewall
2 8 (2.87%) Ethernet
2 8 (2.87%) SD-WAN
3 7 (2.51%) Wireshark
4 6 (2.15%) HTTP
5 4 (1.43%) 5G
5 4 (1.43%) VoIP
6 3 (1.08%) 3G
6 3 (1.08%) 4G
6 3 (1.08%) Cisco IOS
6 3 (1.08%) DHCP
6 3 (1.08%) DNS
6 3 (1.08%) FTP
6 3 (1.08%) SNMP
6 3 (1.08%) Spanning Tree
6 3 (1.08%) SSH
6 3 (1.08%) TACACS
6 3 (1.08%) WAN
7 2 (0.72%) IOS XR
7 2 (0.72%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.23%) SQL Server
2 6 (2.15%) MongoDB
3 5 (1.79%) MySQL
4 4 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.72%) Oracle ODI
5 2 (0.72%) Oracle Reports
5 2 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.72%) Power BI
5 2 (0.72%) Star Schema
6 1 (0.36%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.36%) Delta Lake
6 1 (0.36%) Electronic Patient Records
6 1 (0.36%) MS Access
6 1 (0.36%) Parquet
6 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 66 (23.66%) Selenium
2 61 (21.86%) Cucumber
3 49 (17.56%) Postman
4 48 (17.20%) JIRA
5 40 (14.34%) GitLab
6 35 (12.54%) Jenkins
7 32 (11.47%) Git
8 29 (10.39%) REST Assured
9 22 (7.89%) Cypress.io
9 22 (7.89%) JMeter
10 12 (4.30%) Gatling
11 9 (3.23%) WebDriver
12 8 (2.87%) TestRail
13 7 (2.51%) Bitbucket
13 7 (2.51%) LoadRunner
13 7 (2.51%) SpecFlow
13 7 (2.51%) Zephyr
14 6 (2.15%) Appium
15 4 (1.43%) Mockito
16 3 (1.08%) Newman
General
1 57 (20.43%) Public Sector
1 57 (20.43%) Social Skills
2 24 (8.60%) Analytical Skills
2 24 (8.60%) Finance
3 16 (5.73%) Telecoms
4 11 (3.94%) Aerospace
4 11 (3.94%) Banking
5 9 (3.23%) Military
6 5 (1.79%) Automotive
6 5 (1.79%) Investment Banking
7 4 (1.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (1.08%) Back Office
9 2 (0.72%) Electronics
9 2 (0.72%) Front Office
9 2 (0.72%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.72%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.36%) Local Government
10 1 (0.36%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.36%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.36%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (13.98%) Playwright
1 39 (13.98%) REST
2 17 (6.09%) Node.js
3 13 (4.66%) .NET
4 12 (4.30%) WireMock
5 9 (3.23%) Kafka
5 9 (3.23%) RFC 2544
6 8 (2.87%) Swagger
7 7 (2.51%) Gherkin
7 7 (2.51%) pytest
8 6 (2.15%) LDAP
8 6 (2.15%) Middleware
8 6 (2.15%) OpenID
8 6 (2.15%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (2.15%) React
8 6 (2.15%) SailPoint
8 6 (2.15%) Spring Boot
8 6 (2.15%) WebdriverIO
9 5 (1.79%) gRPC
9 5 (1.79%) JMS
Miscellaneous
1 13 (4.66%) Product Ownership
2 11 (3.94%) Cloud Native
3 10 (3.58%) Data Centre
3 10 (3.58%) Fibre Optics
4 9 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
5 5 (1.79%) Mobile App
6 4 (1.43%) Embedded Systems
6 4 (1.43%) Onboarding
7 3 (1.08%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (1.08%) Low-Code
7 3 (1.08%) PKI
8 2 (0.72%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.72%) Hedge funds
8 2 (0.72%) Management Information System
8 2 (0.72%) NHS
8 2 (0.72%) Replication
8 2 (0.72%) Synthetic Data
9 1 (0.36%) AI Agents
9 1 (0.36%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 6 (2.15%) Windows
2 5 (1.79%) Android
2 5 (1.79%) Apple iOS
3 3 (1.08%) Linux
3 3 (1.08%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.72%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (65.23%) Test Automation
2 100 (35.84%) CI/CD
3 90 (32.26%) Agile
4 57 (20.43%) API Testing
4 57 (20.43%) DevOps
5 55 (19.71%) Test Scripting
5 55 (19.71%) Test Strategy
6 47 (16.85%) Manual Testing
7 44 (15.77%) Software Testing
8 43 (15.41%) BDD
9 42 (15.05%) Performance Testing
9 42 (15.05%) Problem-Solving
10 32 (11.47%) Microservices
11 31 (11.11%) Functional Testing
12 30 (10.75%) Non-Functional Testing
13 29 (10.39%) Regression Testing
13 29 (10.39%) Scrum
14 28 (10.04%) Scenario Testing
15 27 (9.68%) TDD
16 26 (9.32%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 64 (22.94%) Java
2 47 (16.85%) Python
3 36 (12.90%) JavaScript
4 27 (9.68%) TypeScript
5 25 (8.96%) SQL
6 16 (5.73%) C#
7 13 (4.66%) Bash
8 9 (3.23%) Ruby
9 5 (1.79%) PHP
10 4 (1.43%) C
10 4 (1.43%) C++
10 4 (1.43%) VB.NET
11 2 (0.72%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.72%) VB
11 2 (0.72%) VBScript
12 1 (0.36%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.36%) Bicep
12 1 (0.36%) Perl
12 1 (0.36%) VBA
Qualifications
1 69 (24.73%) Security Cleared
2 48 (17.20%) SC Cleared
3 14 (5.02%) ISTQB
4 9 (3.23%) Degree
5 8 (2.87%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (2.51%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (2.51%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.43%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 3 (1.08%) CCNA
8 3 (1.08%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.72%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.72%) CEH
9 2 (0.72%) CREST Certified
9 2 (0.72%) Master's Degree
9 2 (0.72%) MCSA
9 2 (0.72%) MCSE
9 2 (0.72%) OSCP
9 2 (0.72%) SANS
9 2 (0.72%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (25.81%) QA
2 34 (12.19%) Accessibility
3 15 (5.38%) WCAG
4 4 (1.43%) Data Quality
4 4 (1.43%) NIST
5 2 (0.72%) EU AI Act
5 2 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.72%) NIST 800
6 1 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.36%) HL7
6 1 (0.36%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 31 (11.11%) Docker
2 4 (1.43%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.36%) Squid
Systems Management
1 18 (6.45%) Kubernetes
2 10 (3.58%) Grafana
3 9 (3.23%) Terraform
4 8 (2.87%) Ansible
5 4 (1.43%) Kibana
5 4 (1.43%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.72%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 27 (9.68%) Microsoft
2 19 (6.81%) Cisco
3 9 (3.23%) Splunk
4 7 (2.51%) Meraki
5 6 (2.15%) Juniper
5 6 (2.15%) Nokia
5 6 (2.15%) ServiceNow
6 5 (1.79%) Citrix
6 5 (1.79%) New Relic
6 5 (1.79%) Salesforce
7 4 (1.43%) AppDynamics
7 4 (1.43%) Dynatrace
7 4 (1.43%) Oracle
7 4 (1.43%) UiPath
8 3 (1.08%) Databricks
8 3 (1.08%) Virgin Media
9 2 (0.72%) Ciena
9 2 (0.72%) Optimizely
9 2 (0.72%) VMware
9 2 (0.72%) Workday