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 19 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 138 122
Rank change year-on-year +54 -16 +28
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,296 593 855
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.99% 2.02% 1.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.48% 2.24% 2.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 819 393 567
10th Percentile £338 £321 £350
25th Percentile £410 £402 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £700 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 9 24
10th Percentile £15.74 £20.65 £14.98
25th Percentile £22.55 £31.00 £24.81
Median hourly rate £33.43 £55.00 £84.75
Median % change year-on-year -39.22% -35.10% +35.60%
75th Percentile £79.50 £63.75 £86.50
90th Percentile £85.33 £87.05 £92.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.61 £58.75 £36.50
% change year-on-year -54.71% +60.96% -41.65%

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 37,265 26,485 38,452
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.97% 90.43% 86.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,631 17,037 25,025
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,203 922 2,327
10th Percentile £14.97 £15.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.12
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% +1.20% -8.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.52 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.50 £70.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.76 £30.91
% change year-on-year -13.41% +2.74% -11.68%

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 19 March 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 19 March 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 19 March 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 +44 1,128 £500 - 330
London +42 604 £517 -0.53% 139
UK excluding London +52 548 £475 +5.56% 241
Work from Home +52 400 £525 +5.00% 147
North of England -1 151 £450 -11.11% 41
South East +32 149 £550 +18.92% 97
Midlands +7 124 £475 -2.56% 49
North West +4 98 £425 -17.32% 25
West Midlands +7 83 £485 -12.81% 28
Yorkshire -20 44 £513 +3.54% 14
South West -2 42 £450 +1.98% 27
East Midlands -15 41 £450 +5.88% 21
Scotland +25 35 £464 +6.11% 11
East of England -12 32 £539 +34.92% 12
Northern Ireland +6 14 £475 +26.67% 3
North East -1 9 £500 +49.25% 2
Wales -4 7 £344 -24.84% 3

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 90 (6.94%) Confluence
2 28 (2.16%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.77%) SAS
4 9 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
5 8 (0.62%) Appian
6 7 (0.54%) CMS
7 6 (0.46%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 6 (0.46%) Apache
8 5 (0.39%) GeoServer
8 5 (0.39%) Smallworld
9 3 (0.23%) Apache Spark
9 3 (0.23%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.15%) ArcGIS
10 2 (0.15%) Camunda
10 2 (0.15%) JBoss
10 2 (0.15%) Mendix
11 1 (0.077%) Apache Airflow
11 1 (0.077%) Cloud Foundry
11 1 (0.077%) Headless CMS
11 1 (0.077%) IBM HTTP Server
Applications
1 54 (4.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (2.55%) MS Visio
3 31 (2.39%) Microsoft Project
4 26 (2.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 18 (1.39%) Microsoft Office
6 6 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.077%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.077%) S-PLUS
8 1 (0.077%) Trello
Business Applications
1 81 (6.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 49 (3.78%) Oracle Payables
3 43 (3.32%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 41 (3.16%) Oracle EBS
4 41 (3.16%) Oracle Receivables
5 30 (2.31%) Dynamics CRM
6 29 (2.24%) Oracle General Ledger
7 27 (2.08%) Oracle Assets
8 23 (1.77%) Oracle EBS R12
9 20 (1.54%) Oracle Cash Management
10 18 (1.39%) Oracle ERP
11 16 (1.23%) SAP FI
12 14 (1.08%) iTrent
12 14 (1.08%) SAP CO
13 13 (1.00%) Loan IQ
13 13 (1.00%) Payment Gateway
14 12 (0.93%) SAP FI/CO
15 10 (0.77%) NEC Housing
15 10 (0.77%) Oracle AGIS
16 9 (0.69%) Aladdin
Cloud Services
1 185 (14.27%) Azure
2 95 (7.33%) Power Platform
3 88 (6.79%) Azure DevOps
4 81 (6.25%) AWS
5 77 (5.94%) Dynamics 365
6 53 (4.09%) OCI
7 32 (2.47%) SaaS
8 30 (2.31%) SuccessFactors
9 29 (2.24%) Power Automate
10 26 (2.01%) GitHub
11 25 (1.93%) GCP
12 22 (1.70%) Entra ID
12 22 (1.70%) PowerApps
13 21 (1.62%) Microsoft 365
14 13 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
14 13 (1.00%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 11 (0.85%) OpenShift
15 11 (0.85%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 10 (0.77%) Serverless
17 9 (0.69%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 12 (0.93%) Firewall
1 12 (0.93%) Network Security
2 8 (0.62%) SMS
3 6 (0.46%) LAN
4 5 (0.39%) BGP
4 5 (0.39%) MPLS
5 4 (0.31%) Structured Cabling
5 4 (0.31%) VPN
5 4 (0.31%) WAN
6 3 (0.23%) SSL
7 2 (0.15%) Cisco IOS
7 2 (0.15%) DHCP
7 2 (0.15%) DNS
7 2 (0.15%) FTP
7 2 (0.15%) IPsec
7 2 (0.15%) OSPF
7 2 (0.15%) SIGTRAN
7 2 (0.15%) TCP/IP
7 2 (0.15%) VLAN
7 2 (0.15%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (5.02%) Power BI
2 29 (2.24%) Oracle Reports
3 27 (2.08%) SQL Server
4 20 (1.54%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 20 (1.54%) Relational Database
5 18 (1.39%) MySQL
5 18 (1.39%) Tableau
6 17 (1.31%) Data Warehouse
7 14 (1.08%) Metadata
8 12 (0.93%) SAP HANA
9 8 (0.62%) Oracle Database
9 8 (0.62%) Pinecone
10 7 (0.54%) DynamoDB
11 6 (0.46%) Electronic Patient Records
11 6 (0.46%) GIS
11 6 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 5 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
12 5 (0.39%) QGIS
13 4 (0.31%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.31%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 225 (17.36%) JIRA
2 34 (2.62%) Selenium
3 27 (2.08%) Postman
4 26 (2.01%) Git
5 20 (1.54%) Jenkins
6 18 (1.39%) GitLab
6 18 (1.39%) TestRail
7 15 (1.16%) Zephyr
8 11 (0.85%) Oracle Forms
8 11 (0.85%) REST Assured
9 10 (0.77%) Cucumber
10 9 (0.69%) JMeter
10 9 (0.69%) Team Foundation Server
11 8 (0.62%) Cypress.io
11 8 (0.62%) MLflow
12 5 (0.39%) Bitbucket
12 5 (0.39%) Visual Studio
13 4 (0.31%) LoadRunner
13 4 (0.31%) SoapUI
13 4 (0.31%) SpecFlow
General
1 549 (42.36%) Finance
2 536 (41.36%) Social Skills
3 244 (18.83%) Analytical Skills
4 154 (11.88%) Banking
5 143 (11.03%) Public Sector
6 96 (7.41%) Documentation Skills
7 67 (5.17%) Manufacturing
8 40 (3.09%) Investment Banking
9 38 (2.93%) Legal
9 38 (2.93%) Presentation Skills
9 38 (2.93%) Retail
10 34 (2.62%) General Ledger
11 32 (2.47%) Law
11 32 (2.47%) Marketing
12 31 (2.39%) Front Office
13 30 (2.31%) Local Government
13 30 (2.31%) Organisational Skills
14 16 (1.23%) Retail Banking
15 15 (1.16%) Back Office
15 15 (1.16%) Billing
Job Titles
1 381 (29.40%) Analyst
2 287 (22.15%) Business Analyst
3 190 (14.66%) Lead
4 187 (14.43%) Consultant
5 81 (6.25%) Test Manager
6 77 (5.94%) Senior
7 72 (5.56%) Developer
8 60 (4.63%) Architect
8 60 (4.63%) Project Manager
9 58 (4.48%) Functional Consultant
10 56 (4.32%) Test Analyst
11 54 (4.17%) SAP Consultant
12 48 (3.70%) Test Leader
13 39 (3.01%) Oracle Consultant
14 38 (2.93%) Tester
15 29 (2.24%) Senior Analyst
16 24 (1.85%) Dynamics 365 Consultant
16 24 (1.85%) Migration Analyst
17 23 (1.77%) Financial Analyst
17 23 (1.77%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (6.02%) REST
2 57 (4.40%) Oracle Fusion
3 39 (3.01%) SOAP
4 25 (1.93%) Web Services
5 24 (1.85%) Middleware
6 19 (1.47%) RESTful
6 19 (1.47%) XML
7 18 (1.39%) .NET
7 18 (1.39%) JSON
7 18 (1.39%) Playwright
8 17 (1.31%) Spring
9 16 (1.23%) CSS
9 16 (1.23%) Spring Boot
10 15 (1.16%) HTML
10 15 (1.16%) OAuth
11 13 (1.00%) SailPoint
11 13 (1.00%) Swagger
12 12 (0.93%) ADO
12 12 (0.93%) JWT
13 11 (0.85%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 99 (7.64%) Product Ownership
2 86 (6.64%) Legacy Systems
3 56 (4.32%) Onboarding
4 34 (2.62%) Management Information System
5 30 (2.31%) Data Structures
6 28 (2.16%) Data Protection Act
7 25 (1.93%) Public Cloud
8 24 (1.85%) Derivative
9 21 (1.62%) Low-Code
10 18 (1.39%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 18 (1.39%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 17 (1.31%) Greenfield Project
11 17 (1.31%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.16%) CMDB
13 14 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
14 13 (1.00%) Cloud Native
14 13 (1.00%) PMI
14 13 (1.00%) Reference Data
15 12 (0.93%) Credit Risk
15 12 (0.93%) Fixed Income
Operating Systems
1 26 (2.01%) Windows
2 14 (1.08%) Linux
3 6 (0.46%) Windows 10
4 4 (0.31%) VMS
5 3 (0.23%) Android
5 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.23%) Unix
5 3 (0.23%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.15%) OpenVMS
6 2 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 411 (31.71%) Agile
2 374 (28.86%) Stakeholder Management
3 349 (26.93%) Migration
4 246 (18.98%) System Integration Testing
5 237 (18.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 237 (18.29%) Validation
6 227 (17.52%) Problem-Solving
7 221 (17.05%) Data Migration
8 219 (16.90%) Workshop Facilitation
9 196 (15.12%) ERP
10 184 (14.20%) Requirements Gathering
11 166 (12.81%) DevOps
12 161 (12.42%) Test Automation
13 160 (12.35%) Business Analysis
14 158 (12.19%) Continuous Improvement
15 155 (11.96%) Test Strategy
16 154 (11.88%) User Stories
17 146 (11.27%) Scenario Testing
18 120 (9.26%) Integration Testing
19 119 (9.18%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 185 (14.27%) SQL
2 68 (5.25%) Python
3 48 (3.70%) Java
4 35 (2.70%) JavaScript
5 21 (1.62%) PowerShell
6 18 (1.39%) C#
7 17 (1.31%) TypeScript
8 16 (1.23%) PL/SQL
9 13 (1.00%) ABAP
10 9 (0.69%) PHP
11 8 (0.62%) Bash
12 5 (0.39%) Korn
13 4 (0.31%) Apex Code
13 4 (0.31%) T-SQL
14 3 (0.23%) Cypher
14 3 (0.23%) Scala
14 3 (0.23%) SOQL
14 3 (0.23%) SOSL
14 3 (0.23%) VB
14 3 (0.23%) VB6
Qualifications
1 163 (12.58%) Security Cleared
2 119 (9.18%) SC Cleared
3 117 (9.03%) Degree
4 50 (3.86%) ISTQB
5 35 (2.70%) BPSS Clearance
6 34 (2.62%) PMI Certification
7 23 (1.77%) PMP
8 22 (1.70%) Master's Degree
9 16 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
10 15 (1.16%) CBAP
11 13 (1.00%) ACCA
11 13 (1.00%) CIMA
11 13 (1.00%) IIBA
12 11 (0.85%) DV Cleared
13 9 (0.69%) ISEB
14 8 (0.62%) Microsoft Certification
15 7 (0.54%) ITIL Certification
16 6 (0.46%) AWS Certification
16 6 (0.46%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
16 6 (0.46%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 236 (18.21%) QA
2 107 (8.26%) Data Quality
3 49 (3.78%) GDPR
4 25 (1.93%) PMO
5 24 (1.85%) PSD2
6 20 (1.54%) Accessibility
6 20 (1.54%) IFRS
6 20 (1.54%) SLA
7 18 (1.39%) ISO 20022
8 16 (1.23%) IFRS 17
9 15 (1.16%) ISO 8583
9 15 (1.16%) MiFID
10 13 (1.00%) SEPA
11 12 (0.93%) PCI DSS
12 10 (0.77%) NIST
13 9 (0.69%) NCSC
14 8 (0.62%) EMIR
15 7 (0.54%) GRC
15 7 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
16 6 (0.46%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 26 (2.01%) Docker
2 18 (1.39%) Active Directory
3 15 (1.16%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.46%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.23%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
6 3 (0.23%) ISA Server
7 2 (0.15%) Firmware
7 2 (0.15%) HDFS
8 1 (0.077%) Citrix Presentation Server
8 1 (0.077%) UAG
8 1 (0.077%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 29 (2.24%) Kubernetes
2 28 (2.16%) HP ALM
3 20 (1.54%) Terraform
4 10 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (0.46%) Grafana
6 5 (0.39%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.23%) Ansible
7 3 (0.23%) HP Quality Center
8 2 (0.15%) Kibana
8 2 (0.15%) SCCM
9 1 (0.077%) CASB
9 1 (0.077%) CEMLI
9 1 (0.077%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.077%) Control-M
9 1 (0.077%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.077%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.077%) Rundeck
9 1 (0.077%) SCOM
9 1 (0.077%) WSUS
Vendors
1 207 (15.97%) Oracle
2 189 (14.58%) SAP
3 152 (11.73%) Microsoft
4 100 (7.72%) ServiceNow
5 56 (4.32%) Salesforce
6 29 (2.24%) HP
7 18 (1.39%) Murex
8 17 (1.31%) Workday
9 13 (1.00%) Ariba
9 13 (1.00%) Cisco
9 13 (1.00%) UiPath
10 12 (0.93%) IFS
11 11 (0.85%) Bloomberg
11 11 (0.85%) Citrix
11 11 (0.85%) Splunk
12 10 (0.77%) Adobe
12 10 (0.77%) IBM
12 10 (0.77%) Infor
12 10 (0.77%) NEC
13 8 (0.62%) Avaloq