Test Planning Contract Job Trends

Test Planning
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Test Planning skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 479 387 438
Rank change year-on-year -92 +51 +43
Contract jobs citing Test Planning 209 172 124
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.52% 0.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.45% 0.57% 0.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 122 91
10th Percentile £350 £325 £356
25th Percentile £416 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £439 £463
Median % change year-on-year +13.96% -5.14% -9.05%
75th Percentile £600 £538 £538
90th Percentile £644 £638 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £473 £435 £453
% change year-on-year +8.75% -3.98% -10.84%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 8 0
10th Percentile - £64.89 -
25th Percentile £52.50 £70.50 -
Median hourly rate £55.00 £75.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -26.67% - -
75th Percentile £57.50 £86.25 -
90th Percentile - £88.13 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £73.00 -
% change year-on-year -24.66% - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Test Planning 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 46,102 30,004 32,672
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.59% 90.46% 86.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,718 18,629 19,703
10th Percentile £325 £294 £308
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,326 1,885 1,303
10th Percentile £13.58 £14.33 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.00 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £37.50 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +49.11% -37.13% -8.31%
75th Percentile £65.00 £43.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.52 £65.00 £73.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £22.27 £41.25
% change year-on-year +68.43% -46.02% -2.94%

Test Planning
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Test Planning job vacancy trend in the UK

Test Planning
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Test Planning
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Planning over the 6 months to 9 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Planning in the UK

Test Planning
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Test Planning
Top 15 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 Planning within the UK over the 6 months to 9 October 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 -80 184 £525 +17.45% 140
London -70 96 £538 +9.25% 53
UK excluding London -81 95 £473 +8.75% 86
Work from Home -64 49 £488 +17.12% 66
North of England -51 33 £502 +15.34% 15
South East -63 25 £475 +26.67% 21
North West -39 20 £538 +20.25% 6
West Midlands -41 13 £513 +13.89% 15
Midlands -45 13 £513 +13.89% 18
Scotland -18 12 £460 -9.14% 9
Yorkshire -34 11 £508 +16.85% 4
South West -24 9 £450 +7.46% 9
East of England -32 2 - - 10
North East - 2 £453 - 5
Wales -10 1 £298 +8.36% 4

Test Planning
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 22 (10.53%) Confluence
2 12 (5.74%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.91%) Mule
3 4 (1.91%) Mule ESB
4 3 (1.44%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.96%) CICS
5 2 (0.96%) SAS
6 1 (0.48%) CMS
Applications
1 7 (3.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.39%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.44%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.96%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 15 (7.18%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (3.35%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.96%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.96%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (0.96%) SAP HR
3 2 (0.96%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.96%) SAP Payroll
3 2 (0.96%) SAP SD
3 2 (0.96%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.48%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.48%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.48%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.48%) OpenText VIM for SAP
4 1 (0.48%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.48%) Oracle General Ledger
4 1 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.48%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.48%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.48%) SAP HCM
Cloud Services
1 43 (20.57%) Azure
2 30 (14.35%) Azure DevOps
3 13 (6.22%) AWS
4 9 (4.31%) GitHub
5 7 (3.35%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (3.35%) Microsoft Copilot
5 7 (3.35%) Tricentis Tosca
6 6 (2.87%) OneDrive
6 6 (2.87%) Power Platform
7 4 (1.91%) Entra ID
7 4 (1.91%) GCP
7 4 (1.91%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (1.44%) SaaS
8 3 (1.44%) SuccessFactors
9 2 (0.96%) Azure Functions
9 2 (0.96%) Azure Pipelines
9 2 (0.96%) Copilot Studio
9 2 (0.96%) Figma
9 2 (0.96%) Lucidchart
9 2 (0.96%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 6 (2.87%) HTTP
1 6 (2.87%) Network Security
2 1 (0.48%) DNS
2 1 (0.48%) DNSSEC
2 1 (0.48%) Firewall
2 1 (0.48%) FIX Connectivity
2 1 (0.48%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.87%) Power BI
2 4 (1.91%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (1.44%) Db2
3 3 (1.44%) SQL Server
4 2 (0.96%) Data Lake
4 2 (0.96%) PowerCenter
4 2 (0.96%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.48%) Amazon Aurora
5 1 (0.48%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.48%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.48%) Crystal Reports
5 1 (0.48%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.48%) MariaDB
5 1 (0.48%) Metadata
5 1 (0.48%) MySQL
5 1 (0.48%) QualityStage
5 1 (0.48%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 50 (23.92%) JIRA
2 23 (11.00%) Selenium
3 14 (6.70%) Jenkins
4 12 (5.74%) Zephyr
5 10 (4.78%) Git
6 9 (4.31%) Postman
7 8 (3.83%) GitLab
7 8 (3.83%) JMeter
7 8 (3.83%) LoadRunner
8 7 (3.35%) Cucumber
8 7 (3.35%) Gatling
9 5 (2.39%) Cypress.io
9 5 (2.39%) SoapUI
9 5 (2.39%) WebDriver
10 4 (1.91%) eggPlant
10 4 (1.91%) REST Assured
10 4 (1.91%) SpecFlow
11 3 (1.44%) Ranorex
11 3 (1.44%) SOAtest
11 3 (1.44%) TestRail
General
1 94 (44.98%) Social Skills
2 53 (25.36%) Finance
3 40 (19.14%) Analytical Skills
4 29 (13.88%) Banking
5 23 (11.00%) Public Sector
6 12 (5.74%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (4.31%) Retail
8 7 (3.35%) Legal
9 6 (2.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.91%) Aviation
11 4 (1.91%) Military
12 3 (1.44%) Financial Institution
12 3 (1.44%) Front Office
12 3 (1.44%) General Ledger
12 3 (1.44%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.96%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.96%) Marketing
13 2 (0.96%) Telecoms
14 1 (0.48%) Arabic Language
Job Titles
1 51 (24.40%) Test Manager
2 43 (20.57%) Analyst
3 42 (20.10%) Lead
4 30 (14.35%) Test Leader
5 27 (12.92%) Senior
6 23 (11.00%) Business Analyst
6 23 (11.00%) Test Engineer
7 21 (10.05%) Test Analyst
8 12 (5.74%) Tester
9 11 (5.26%) Senior Test Engineer
10 10 (4.78%) Consultant
10 10 (4.78%) QA Leader
10 10 (4.78%) SAP Manager
10 10 (4.78%) SAP Test Manager
11 7 (3.35%) QA Analyst
12 6 (2.87%) Programme Test Manager
12 6 (2.87%) QA Engineer
12 6 (2.87%) QA Test Analyst
12 6 (2.87%) Quality Engineer
12 6 (2.87%) Test Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (9.09%) Middleware
2 10 (4.78%) Playwright
2 10 (4.78%) REST
3 8 (3.83%) Web Services
4 7 (3.35%) SOAP
4 7 (3.35%) XML
5 6 (2.87%) HTML
6 5 (2.39%) Gherkin
6 5 (2.39%) RESTful
7 4 (1.91%) JSON
8 3 (1.44%) ADO
9 2 (0.96%) .NET
9 2 (0.96%) AngularJS
9 2 (0.96%) Node.js
9 2 (0.96%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.96%) React
9 2 (0.96%) Spring
9 2 (0.96%) Spring Boot
9 2 (0.96%) Swagger
9 2 (0.96%) XBRL
Miscellaneous
1 20 (9.57%) Product Ownership
2 9 (4.31%) Onboarding
3 7 (3.35%) Operational Technology
4 6 (2.87%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (2.39%) Credit Risk
5 5 (2.39%) Low-Code
5 5 (2.39%) NHS
6 4 (1.91%) AS400
6 4 (1.91%) iSeries
6 4 (1.91%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.44%) AI Agents
7 3 (1.44%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (1.44%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.44%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.44%) Derivative
7 3 (1.44%) IoT
7 3 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
7 3 (1.44%) Mainframe
7 3 (1.44%) Reference Data
7 3 (1.44%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 9 (4.31%) Windows
2 3 (1.44%) Linux
2 3 (1.44%) Unix
3 2 (0.96%) Android
3 2 (0.96%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.96%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (44.98%) Defect Management
1 94 (44.98%) Test Strategy
2 88 (42.11%) User Acceptance Testing
3 84 (40.19%) Stakeholder Management
4 81 (38.76%) Test Automation
5 74 (35.41%) End-to-End Testing
6 73 (34.93%) Agile
7 58 (27.75%) Validation
8 49 (23.44%) Test Management
9 46 (22.01%) Regression Testing
10 44 (21.05%) Test Scripting
11 42 (20.10%) Migration
12 40 (19.14%) CI/CD
13 39 (18.66%) Continuous Improvement
13 39 (18.66%) DevOps
14 37 (17.70%) System Integration Testing
15 36 (17.22%) Non-Functional Testing
15 36 (17.22%) Problem-Solving
16 35 (16.75%) Acceptance Criteria
17 32 (15.31%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 29 (13.88%) SQL
2 20 (9.57%) Java
3 8 (3.83%) Python
4 7 (3.35%) JavaScript
5 5 (2.39%) C#
6 2 (0.96%) COBOL
6 2 (0.96%) JCL
6 2 (0.96%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.96%) VB.NET
7 1 (0.48%) Bash
7 1 (0.48%) Korn
7 1 (0.48%) Perl
7 1 (0.48%) Ruby
7 1 (0.48%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.48%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.48%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 43 (20.57%) Security Cleared
2 31 (14.83%) SC Cleared
3 23 (11.00%) Degree
4 18 (8.61%) BPSS Clearance
4 18 (8.61%) ISTQB
5 5 (2.39%) DV Cleared
6 4 (1.91%) HNC
7 3 (1.44%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (1.44%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 1 (0.48%) CBAP
8 1 (0.48%) CISA
8 1 (0.48%) CISSP
8 1 (0.48%) CREST Certified
8 1 (0.48%) ISEB
8 1 (0.48%) ISEB Practitioner
8 1 (0.48%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 1 (0.48%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.48%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (45.93%) QA
2 15 (7.18%) Data Quality
3 12 (5.74%) Accessibility
4 9 (4.31%) GRC
5 3 (1.44%) ISO 20022
5 3 (1.44%) PMO
6 2 (0.96%) Basel III
6 2 (0.96%) GDPR
6 2 (0.96%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.48%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.48%) NCSC
7 1 (0.48%) SEPA
7 1 (0.48%) SLA
7 1 (0.48%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 5 (2.39%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.44%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (0.96%) Docker
4 1 (0.48%) Firmware
4 1 (0.48%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (1.91%) Ansible
1 4 (1.91%) Kubernetes
2 3 (1.44%) HP ALM
3 2 (0.96%) Grafana
4 1 (0.48%) HP Quality Center
4 1 (0.48%) Progress Chef
4 1 (0.48%) Puppet
4 1 (0.48%) SCCM
4 1 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 28 (13.40%) SAP
2 20 (9.57%) Microsoft
3 17 (8.13%) Salesforce
4 13 (6.22%) Oracle
5 8 (3.83%) ServiceNow
6 6 (2.87%) AppDynamics
7 5 (2.39%) Citrix
7 5 (2.39%) Dynatrace
8 4 (1.91%) DocuSign
8 4 (1.91%) IBM
8 4 (1.91%) Informatica
8 4 (1.91%) Kronos
8 4 (1.91%) MuleSoft
8 4 (1.91%) TIBCO
9 3 (1.44%) Atlassian
9 3 (1.44%) HP
9 3 (1.44%) Zscaler
10 2 (0.96%) Cisco
10 2 (0.96%) Siemens
10 2 (0.96%) Splunk