User Acceptance Testing Contract Job Trends

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring User Acceptance Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 78 135 111
Rank change year-on-year +57 -24 +37
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,439 634 868
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.10% 2.15% 2.00%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.66% 2.37% 2.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 894 417 586
10th Percentile £350 £329 £338
25th Percentile £413 £404 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £700 £701 £742
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 10 13
10th Percentile £21.65 £20.83 £13.17
25th Percentile £23.93 £36.06 £16.86
Median hourly rate £30.15 £58.75 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year -48.68% +10.85% -15.20%
75th Percentile £71.00 £64.69 £86.50
90th Percentile £84.45 £86.15 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.38 £58.75 £36.25
% change year-on-year -51.70% +62.07% -42.00%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

User Acceptance Testing 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 39,324 26,741 37,503
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.82% 90.76% 86.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,807 17,298 24,232
10th Percentile £318 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.89% -0.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +1.09% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,359 1,048 2,416
10th Percentile £14.96 £14.84 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.88 £18.51 £16.00
Median hourly rate £39.00 £30.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -14.29% -6.67%
75th Percentile £65.60 £62.50 £58.69
90th Percentile £78.31 £75.00 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £28.75 £35.00
% change year-on-year +41.01% -17.86% -6.67%

User Acceptance Testing
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing User Acceptance Testing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

User Acceptance Testing job vacancy trend in the UK

User Acceptance Testing
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Acceptance Testing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Acceptance Testing

User Acceptance Testing
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Acceptance Testing over the 6 months to 22 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for User Acceptance Testing in the UK

User Acceptance Testing
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Acceptance Testing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Acceptance Testing

User Acceptance Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Acceptance Testing over the 6 months to 22 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for User Acceptance Testing in the UK

User Acceptance Testing
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 User Acceptance Testing within the UK over the 6 months to 22 April 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 +41 1,251 £500 - 361
London +29 684 £500 -4.76% 154
UK excluding London +64 588 £475 +5.56% 255
Work from Home +42 428 £525 +7.47% 152
South East +53 179 £505 +22.36% 91
North of England -7 144 £450 -9.46% 61
Midlands +7 129 £480 +3.78% 56
North West -10 94 £425 -16.67% 23
West Midlands +5 87 £485 -2.02% 35
South West -4 53 £475 +2.70% 13
East Midlands -15 41 £463 +8.82% 21
Yorkshire -22 39 £500 +5.82% 35
Scotland +19 37 £513 +17.14% 4
East of England -18 29 £550 +33.33% 16
Northern Ireland +8 15 £475 -7.99% 6
North East -10 11 £500 +49.25% 3
Wales -3 7 £456 +0.72% 8

User Acceptance Testing
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 98 (6.81%) Confluence
2 23 (1.60%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.76%) SAS
4 8 (0.56%) Appian
5 7 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 6 (0.42%) Apache
6 6 (0.42%) CMS
7 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.21%) ArcGIS
7 3 (0.21%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.14%) Camunda
8 2 (0.14%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.14%) JBoss
8 2 (0.14%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.14%) Mendix
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.14%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.069%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.069%) Cloud Foundry
9 1 (0.069%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 61 (4.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (2.43%) MS Visio
3 29 (2.02%) Microsoft Office
3 29 (2.02%) Microsoft Project
4 24 (1.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
7 1 (0.069%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 95 (6.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 45 (3.13%) Oracle Payables
3 43 (2.99%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 41 (2.85%) Oracle EBS
5 35 (2.43%) Oracle Receivables
6 34 (2.36%) Dynamics CRM
7 26 (1.81%) Oracle General Ledger
8 22 (1.53%) Oracle Assets
8 22 (1.53%) Oracle EBS R12
9 18 (1.25%) Oracle ERP
10 16 (1.11%) Oracle Cash Management
10 16 (1.11%) SAP FI
11 14 (0.97%) SAP CO
12 13 (0.90%) iTrent
12 13 (0.90%) Loan IQ
13 12 (0.83%) SAP FI/CO
14 11 (0.76%) Aladdin
15 10 (0.69%) NEC Housing
15 10 (0.69%) Payment Gateway
16 9 (0.63%) Finacle
Cloud Services
1 208 (14.45%) Azure
2 117 (8.13%) Power Platform
3 104 (7.23%) Azure DevOps
4 99 (6.88%) Dynamics 365
5 86 (5.98%) AWS
6 52 (3.61%) OCI
7 36 (2.50%) SuccessFactors
8 35 (2.43%) SaaS
9 34 (2.36%) Entra ID
10 30 (2.08%) GCP
10 30 (2.08%) Power Automate
11 26 (1.81%) GitHub
12 24 (1.67%) PowerApps
13 22 (1.53%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 18 (1.25%) Microsoft 365
14 18 (1.25%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
15 13 (0.90%) Azure Data Factory
15 13 (0.90%) Serverless
16 12 (0.83%) OpenShift
17 10 (0.69%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.11%) Firewall
2 14 (0.97%) Network Security
3 8 (0.56%) SMS
4 6 (0.42%) LAN
4 6 (0.42%) VPN
5 5 (0.35%) BGP
5 5 (0.35%) MPLS
6 4 (0.28%) 5G
6 4 (0.28%) DHCP
6 4 (0.28%) DNS
6 4 (0.28%) FTP
6 4 (0.28%) SSL
6 4 (0.28%) TCP/IP
6 4 (0.28%) WAN
7 3 (0.21%) Internet
7 3 (0.21%) IPsec
7 3 (0.21%) SD-WAN
7 3 (0.21%) VLAN
8 2 (0.14%) SIGTRAN
8 2 (0.14%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 87 (6.05%) Power BI
2 29 (2.02%) Oracle Reports
3 28 (1.95%) SQL Server
4 23 (1.60%) Relational Database
5 22 (1.53%) Oracle BI Publisher
6 21 (1.46%) Tableau
7 18 (1.25%) Data Warehouse
8 16 (1.11%) MySQL
9 13 (0.90%) Metadata
10 12 (0.83%) Oracle Database
11 11 (0.76%) SAP HANA
12 8 (0.56%) Pinecone
12 8 (0.56%) RDBMS
12 8 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 7 (0.49%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.49%) Electronic Patient Records
14 6 (0.42%) Data Lake
15 5 (0.35%) PostgreSQL
15 5 (0.35%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 4 (0.28%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 255 (17.72%) JIRA
2 40 (2.78%) Selenium
3 30 (2.08%) Postman
4 25 (1.74%) Git
5 20 (1.39%) Jenkins
6 19 (1.32%) TestRail
7 18 (1.25%) GitLab
8 17 (1.18%) Zephyr
9 11 (0.76%) REST Assured
10 10 (0.69%) Cucumber
10 10 (0.69%) JMeter
11 9 (0.63%) Cypress.io
11 9 (0.63%) Oracle Forms
12 8 (0.56%) MLflow
13 7 (0.49%) Team Foundation Server
14 5 (0.35%) Bitbucket
14 5 (0.35%) git-flow
14 5 (0.35%) Visual Studio
15 4 (0.28%) Gatling
15 4 (0.28%) SpecFlow
General
1 631 (43.85%) Finance
2 550 (38.22%) Social Skills
3 268 (18.62%) Analytical Skills
4 174 (12.09%) Banking
5 148 (10.28%) Public Sector
6 113 (7.85%) Documentation Skills
7 70 (4.86%) Manufacturing
8 60 (4.17%) Retail
9 49 (3.41%) Law
10 47 (3.27%) Investment Banking
11 44 (3.06%) Presentation Skills
12 42 (2.92%) Front Office
13 39 (2.71%) Legal
14 37 (2.57%) General Ledger
15 35 (2.43%) Marketing
16 30 (2.08%) Local Government
16 30 (2.08%) Organisational Skills
17 25 (1.74%) Back Office
18 17 (1.18%) Retail Banking
19 16 (1.11%) Billing
Job Titles
1 414 (28.77%) Analyst
2 310 (21.54%) Business Analyst
3 234 (16.26%) Lead
4 198 (13.76%) Consultant
5 98 (6.81%) Test Manager
6 94 (6.53%) Senior
7 77 (5.35%) Architect
8 76 (5.28%) Developer
9 64 (4.45%) Project Manager
10 61 (4.24%) Functional Consultant
11 59 (4.10%) Test Analyst
12 53 (3.68%) SAP Consultant
13 51 (3.54%) Test Leader
14 44 (3.06%) Oracle Consultant
15 39 (2.71%) Lead Architect
16 38 (2.64%) Tester
17 36 (2.50%) Senior Analyst
18 33 (2.29%) Functional Architect
19 27 (1.88%) Test Engineer
20 26 (1.81%) Senior Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 83 (5.77%) REST
2 43 (2.99%) Oracle Fusion
2 43 (2.99%) SOAP
3 39 (2.71%) Middleware
4 24 (1.67%) XML
5 23 (1.60%) .NET
6 22 (1.53%) Web Services
7 21 (1.46%) JSON
8 18 (1.25%) Playwright
8 18 (1.25%) RESTful
9 17 (1.18%) SailPoint
10 16 (1.11%) Spring
11 15 (1.04%) OAuth
11 15 (1.04%) Spring Boot
12 13 (0.90%) ADO
12 13 (0.90%) Swagger
13 12 (0.83%) AngularJS
13 12 (0.83%) CSS
13 12 (0.83%) JWT
14 11 (0.76%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 109 (7.57%) Product Ownership
2 97 (6.74%) Legacy Systems
3 65 (4.52%) Onboarding
4 39 (2.71%) Management Information System
5 38 (2.64%) Data Structures
6 32 (2.22%) Public Cloud
7 29 (2.02%) Derivative
8 28 (1.95%) Data Protection Act
9 21 (1.46%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 20 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
10 20 (1.39%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 19 (1.32%) Low-Code
12 18 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
13 17 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
14 15 (1.04%) Cloud Native
14 15 (1.04%) Fixed Income
15 13 (0.90%) Credit Risk
15 13 (0.90%) Greenfield Project
16 12 (0.83%) CMDB
16 12 (0.83%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 32 (2.22%) Windows
2 16 (1.11%) Linux
3 4 (0.28%) Mac OS
3 4 (0.28%) VMS
3 4 (0.28%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.21%) Unix
4 3 (0.21%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.14%) Android
5 2 (0.14%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
5 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.069%) OpenVMS
6 1 (0.069%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 456 (31.69%) Agile
2 414 (28.77%) Stakeholder Management
3 403 (28.01%) Migration
4 309 (21.47%) Validation
5 289 (20.08%) System Integration Testing
6 277 (19.25%) Data Migration
7 255 (17.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 250 (17.37%) ERP
9 224 (15.57%) Problem-Solving
10 216 (15.01%) Workshop Facilitation
11 201 (13.97%) Requirements Gathering
12 193 (13.41%) Test Automation
13 187 (13.00%) DevOps
14 184 (12.79%) Scenario Testing
15 183 (12.72%) Continuous Improvement
16 180 (12.51%) Test Strategy
17 177 (12.30%) User Stories
18 155 (10.77%) Business Analysis
19 146 (10.15%) End-to-End Testing
20 138 (9.59%) Defect Management
Programming Languages
1 195 (13.55%) SQL
2 75 (5.21%) Python
3 51 (3.54%) Java
4 37 (2.57%) JavaScript
5 24 (1.67%) C#
6 19 (1.32%) PL/SQL
7 17 (1.18%) PowerShell
7 17 (1.18%) TypeScript
8 12 (0.83%) ABAP
9 9 (0.63%) Bash
10 8 (0.56%) PHP
11 7 (0.49%) Apex Code
12 6 (0.42%) Korn
12 6 (0.42%) T-SQL
13 5 (0.35%) R
14 4 (0.28%) Perl
14 4 (0.28%) Shell Script
15 3 (0.21%) VB
15 3 (0.21%) VB6
15 3 (0.21%) VBA
Qualifications
1 166 (11.54%) Security Cleared
2 125 (8.69%) SC Cleared
3 106 (7.37%) Degree
4 52 (3.61%) ISTQB
5 37 (2.57%) BPSS Clearance
6 28 (1.95%) PMI Certification
7 21 (1.46%) ACCA
7 21 (1.46%) CIMA
7 21 (1.46%) PMP
8 15 (1.04%) Master's Degree
9 13 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
10 12 (0.83%) IIBA
11 10 (0.69%) DV Cleared
12 9 (0.63%) CBAP
13 8 (0.56%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
14 7 (0.49%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.49%) ISEB
15 6 (0.42%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 6 (0.42%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 263 (18.28%) QA
2 117 (8.13%) Data Quality
3 59 (4.10%) GDPR
4 24 (1.67%) PMO
5 22 (1.53%) Accessibility
6 20 (1.39%) IFRS
6 20 (1.39%) PSD2
7 19 (1.32%) SLA
8 18 (1.25%) ISO 20022
9 16 (1.11%) IFRS 17
9 16 (1.11%) NIST
10 12 (0.83%) SEPA
11 11 (0.76%) GRC
11 11 (0.76%) ISO 8583
12 10 (0.69%) HL7
12 10 (0.69%) MiFID
13 9 (0.63%) NCSC
14 8 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
14 8 (0.56%) PCI DSS
14 8 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 28 (1.95%) Active Directory
2 26 (1.81%) Docker
3 13 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.21%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5 3 (0.21%) ISA Server
5 3 (0.21%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.14%) Firmware
6 2 (0.14%) HDFS
6 2 (0.14%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.069%) Citrix Presentation Server
7 1 (0.069%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.069%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.069%) UAG
7 1 (0.069%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 30 (2.08%) Kubernetes
2 27 (1.88%) HP ALM
3 18 (1.25%) Terraform
4 15 (1.04%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (0.49%) Grafana
6 6 (0.42%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.28%) Ansible
7 4 (0.28%) Control-M
8 3 (0.21%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.14%) ITRS Geneos
9 2 (0.14%) Kibana
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.14%) SCCM
10 1 (0.069%) CASB
10 1 (0.069%) CEMLI
10 1 (0.069%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.069%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.069%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.069%) Rundeck
10 1 (0.069%) WSUS
Vendors
1 215 (14.94%) Oracle
2 199 (13.83%) SAP
3 178 (12.37%) Microsoft
4 106 (7.37%) ServiceNow
5 76 (5.28%) Salesforce
6 28 (1.95%) HP
7 20 (1.39%) Murex
8 19 (1.32%) IFS
8 19 (1.32%) Workday
9 14 (0.97%) Ariba
9 14 (0.97%) Blue Prism
10 13 (0.90%) Adobe
10 13 (0.90%) Infor
10 13 (0.90%) UiPath
11 12 (0.83%) Citrix
12 11 (0.76%) Bloomberg
12 11 (0.76%) Cisco
12 11 (0.76%) Splunk
13 10 (0.69%) CyberArk
13 10 (0.69%) Zscaler