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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 141 124
Rank change year-on-year +51 -17 +21
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,232 586 863
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.90% 1.98% 1.93%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.37% 2.20% 2.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 778 384 572
10th Percentile £334 £320 £343
25th Percentile £408 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £507
Median % change year-on-year - -1.38% -3.43%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £700 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £443 £475
% change year-on-year +7.22% -6.74% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 8 26
10th Percentile £15.74 £20.48 £15.52
25th Percentile £22.85 £28.50 £30.75
Median hourly rate £30.15 £58.75 £79.75
Median % change year-on-year -48.68% -26.33% +27.60%
75th Percentile £78.25 £69.13 £86.50
90th Percentile £85.25 £87.95 £92.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.36 £62.50 £49.00
% change year-on-year -54.63% +27.55% -21.66%

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 36,537 26,694 38,745
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.12% 90.29% 86.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,174 17,018 25,183
10th Percentile £313 £306 £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 £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £743 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -2.28% -1.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,160 902 2,347
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.51 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £29.61 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.89% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £77.10 £71.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £31.76 £31.80
% change year-on-year -16.40% -0.13% -9.14%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 +42 1,074 £500 - 321
London +32 562 £525 +1.45% 100
UK excluding London +60 529 £475 +7.22% 233
Work from Home +48 387 £525 +5.00% 133
North of England +13 149 £450 -9.73% 56
South East +43 146 £550 +22.22% 85
Midlands +4 124 £475 -3.31% 42
North West +6 96 £425 -16.87% 38
West Midlands +2 84 £492 -16.26% 20
Yorkshire -18 44 £513 +15.49% 14
East Midlands -17 40 £435 +2.35% 22
South West -11 37 £450 +1.98% 18
Scotland +24 33 £464 +6.11% 10
East of England -23 31 £528 +32.17% 15
Northern Ireland +4 11 £475 +26.67% 2
North East -6 9 £508 +51.49% 4
Wales +4 7 £344 -26.13% 5

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 87 (7.06%) Confluence
2 27 (2.19%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.81%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (0.81%) SAS
4 8 (0.65%) Appian
5 7 (0.57%) CMS
6 6 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 5 (0.41%) Apache
7 5 (0.41%) GeoServer
7 5 (0.41%) Smallworld
8 3 (0.24%) Apache Spark
8 3 (0.24%) OpenStack
9 2 (0.16%) ArcGIS
9 2 (0.16%) Camunda
9 2 (0.16%) Mendix
10 1 (0.081%) Apache Airflow
10 1 (0.081%) Cloud Foundry
10 1 (0.081%) Headless CMS
10 1 (0.081%) JBoss
10 1 (0.081%) LiveLink
Applications
1 52 (4.22%) Microsoft Excel
2 34 (2.76%) Microsoft Project
3 29 (2.35%) MS Visio
4 24 (1.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 17 (1.38%) Microsoft Office
6 6 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.081%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.081%) S-PLUS
8 1 (0.081%) Trello
Business Applications
1 79 (6.41%) SAP S/4HANA
2 48 (3.90%) Oracle Payables
3 41 (3.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 41 (3.33%) Oracle Receivables
4 40 (3.25%) Oracle EBS
5 29 (2.35%) Dynamics CRM
5 29 (2.35%) Oracle General Ledger
6 27 (2.19%) Oracle Assets
7 23 (1.87%) Oracle EBS R12
8 20 (1.62%) Oracle Cash Management
9 18 (1.46%) Oracle ERP
10 15 (1.22%) SAP FI
11 14 (1.14%) iTrent
12 13 (1.06%) Loan IQ
12 13 (1.06%) Payment Gateway
12 13 (1.06%) SAP CO
13 11 (0.89%) SAP FI/CO
14 10 (0.81%) Oracle AGIS
15 9 (0.73%) Maximo
15 9 (0.73%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 181 (14.69%) Azure
2 86 (6.98%) AWS
3 78 (6.33%) Power Platform
4 75 (6.09%) Azure DevOps
5 64 (5.19%) Dynamics 365
6 54 (4.38%) OCI
7 32 (2.60%) GCP
7 32 (2.60%) SaaS
8 31 (2.52%) SuccessFactors
9 28 (2.27%) Power Automate
10 23 (1.87%) Entra ID
11 21 (1.70%) GitHub
11 21 (1.70%) Microsoft 365
11 21 (1.70%) PowerApps
12 13 (1.06%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (0.89%) OpenShift
14 10 (0.81%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 10 (0.81%) Serverless
15 9 (0.73%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 8 (0.65%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 12 (0.97%) Network Security
2 11 (0.89%) Firewall
3 8 (0.65%) SMS
4 6 (0.49%) LAN
5 5 (0.41%) BGP
5 5 (0.41%) MPLS
6 4 (0.32%) Structured Cabling
6 4 (0.32%) VPN
6 4 (0.32%) WAN
7 3 (0.24%) SSL
8 2 (0.16%) Cisco ASA
8 2 (0.16%) Cisco IOS
8 2 (0.16%) DNS
8 2 (0.16%) HTTPS
8 2 (0.16%) IPsec
8 2 (0.16%) OSPF
8 2 (0.16%) SIGTRAN
8 2 (0.16%) tcpdump
8 2 (0.16%) VLAN
8 2 (0.16%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (3.81%) Power BI
2 30 (2.44%) Oracle Reports
3 29 (2.35%) SQL Server
4 21 (1.70%) Oracle BI Publisher
5 20 (1.62%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.46%) MySQL
7 15 (1.22%) Data Warehouse
7 15 (1.22%) Tableau
8 12 (0.97%) Metadata
8 12 (0.97%) SAP HANA
9 9 (0.73%) Oracle Database
10 8 (0.65%) Pinecone
11 7 (0.57%) DynamoDB
12 6 (0.49%) GIS
12 6 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.41%) Geospatial Data
13 5 (0.41%) QGIS
14 4 (0.32%) Data Lake
14 4 (0.32%) Electronic Patient Records
14 4 (0.32%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 213 (17.29%) JIRA
2 29 (2.35%) Selenium
3 26 (2.11%) Postman
4 24 (1.95%) Git
5 17 (1.38%) Jenkins
5 17 (1.38%) TestRail
6 15 (1.22%) GitLab
7 11 (0.89%) Oracle Forms
7 11 (0.89%) Zephyr
8 10 (0.81%) Cucumber
8 10 (0.81%) REST Assured
9 9 (0.73%) Cypress.io
9 9 (0.73%) JMeter
9 9 (0.73%) Team Foundation Server
10 8 (0.65%) MLflow
11 5 (0.41%) Visual Studio
12 4 (0.32%) Gatling
12 4 (0.32%) git-flow
12 4 (0.32%) LoadRunner
12 4 (0.32%) SoapUI
General
1 527 (42.78%) Finance
2 519 (42.13%) Social Skills
3 227 (18.43%) Analytical Skills
4 150 (12.18%) Banking
5 141 (11.44%) Public Sector
6 89 (7.22%) Documentation Skills
7 67 (5.44%) Manufacturing
8 42 (3.41%) Investment Banking
9 37 (3.00%) Legal
10 35 (2.84%) Presentation Skills
11 33 (2.68%) General Ledger
12 32 (2.60%) Marketing
13 29 (2.35%) Local Government
13 29 (2.35%) Retail
14 27 (2.19%) Front Office
15 26 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
16 21 (1.70%) Law
17 15 (1.22%) Retail Banking
17 15 (1.22%) Telecoms
18 13 (1.06%) Billing
Job Titles
1 359 (29.14%) Analyst
2 265 (21.51%) Business Analyst
3 182 (14.77%) Consultant
4 167 (13.56%) Lead
5 76 (6.17%) Test Manager
6 74 (6.01%) Senior
7 73 (5.93%) Developer
8 59 (4.79%) Project Manager
9 58 (4.71%) Test Analyst
10 56 (4.55%) Functional Consultant
11 53 (4.30%) SAP Consultant
12 47 (3.81%) Architect
13 44 (3.57%) Test Leader
14 40 (3.25%) Tester
15 39 (3.17%) Oracle Consultant
16 26 (2.11%) Senior Analyst
17 24 (1.95%) Dynamics 365 Consultant
17 24 (1.95%) SAP Manager
18 23 (1.87%) Migration Analyst
19 22 (1.79%) Financial Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (6.33%) REST
2 56 (4.55%) Oracle Fusion
3 34 (2.76%) SOAP
4 28 (2.27%) Web Services
5 21 (1.70%) Middleware
6 20 (1.62%) RESTful
7 19 (1.54%) .NET
7 19 (1.54%) Playwright
8 18 (1.46%) Spring
9 17 (1.38%) HTML
9 17 (1.38%) Spring Boot
9 17 (1.38%) XML
10 16 (1.30%) CSS
10 16 (1.30%) JSON
10 16 (1.30%) OAuth
11 13 (1.06%) LDAP
11 13 (1.06%) SailPoint
11 13 (1.06%) Swagger
12 12 (0.97%) ADO
12 12 (0.97%) JWT
Miscellaneous
1 92 (7.47%) Product Ownership
2 82 (6.66%) Legacy Systems
3 58 (4.71%) Onboarding
4 30 (2.44%) Management Information System
5 26 (2.11%) Data Structures
5 26 (2.11%) Public Cloud
6 25 (2.03%) Data Protection Act
7 22 (1.79%) Derivative
8 21 (1.70%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.38%) Greenfield Project
10 16 (1.30%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 15 (1.22%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 14 (1.14%) Analytical Mindset
12 14 (1.14%) Cloud Native
13 13 (1.06%) CMDB
13 13 (1.06%) PMI
14 12 (0.97%) Fixed Income
14 12 (0.97%) Reference Data
14 12 (0.97%) Self-Motivation
15 11 (0.89%) Credit Risk
Operating Systems
1 28 (2.27%) Windows
2 13 (1.06%) Linux
3 6 (0.49%) Windows 10
3 6 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
4 5 (0.41%) Android
4 5 (0.41%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.32%) VMS
6 3 (0.24%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.16%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.16%) OpenVMS
7 2 (0.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.16%) Unix
8 1 (0.081%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 398 (32.31%) Agile
2 361 (29.30%) Stakeholder Management
3 327 (26.54%) Migration
4 230 (18.67%) System Integration Testing
5 224 (18.18%) Validation
6 217 (17.61%) Problem-Solving
7 213 (17.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 197 (15.99%) Workshop Facilitation
9 193 (15.67%) Data Migration
10 173 (14.04%) ERP
11 172 (13.96%) Requirements Gathering
12 157 (12.74%) DevOps
13 149 (12.09%) Business Analysis
14 146 (11.85%) Test Strategy
15 145 (11.77%) Test Automation
16 141 (11.44%) Continuous Improvement
17 140 (11.36%) User Stories
18 139 (11.28%) Scenario Testing
19 118 (9.58%) Change Management
20 116 (9.42%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 180 (14.61%) SQL
2 67 (5.44%) Python
3 53 (4.30%) Java
4 35 (2.84%) JavaScript
5 23 (1.87%) PowerShell
6 19 (1.54%) C#
7 18 (1.46%) TypeScript
8 16 (1.30%) PL/SQL
9 13 (1.06%) ABAP
10 8 (0.65%) Bash
10 8 (0.65%) PHP
11 4 (0.32%) C++
11 4 (0.32%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.24%) Bicep
12 3 (0.24%) Cypher
12 3 (0.24%) Korn
12 3 (0.24%) Scala
12 3 (0.24%) VB
12 3 (0.24%) VB6
13 2 (0.16%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 159 (12.91%) Security Cleared
2 118 (9.58%) Degree
3 116 (9.42%) SC Cleared
4 47 (3.81%) ISTQB
5 36 (2.92%) BPSS Clearance
6 33 (2.68%) PMI Certification
7 23 (1.87%) PMP
8 22 (1.79%) Master's Degree
9 17 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
10 14 (1.14%) CBAP
11 13 (1.06%) ACCA
11 13 (1.06%) CIMA
12 12 (0.97%) IIBA
13 11 (0.89%) DV Cleared
14 9 (0.73%) ISEB
15 6 (0.49%) AWS Certification
15 6 (0.49%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 6 (0.49%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 6 (0.49%) ITIL Certification
15 6 (0.49%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 220 (17.86%) QA
2 99 (8.04%) Data Quality
3 46 (3.73%) GDPR
4 25 (2.03%) PMO
4 25 (2.03%) PSD2
5 22 (1.79%) Accessibility
6 20 (1.62%) IFRS
7 19 (1.54%) SLA
8 18 (1.46%) ISO 20022
9 16 (1.30%) IFRS 17
10 15 (1.22%) ISO 8583
10 15 (1.22%) MiFID
11 14 (1.14%) SEPA
12 12 (0.97%) PCI DSS
13 10 (0.81%) NIST
14 9 (0.73%) NCSC
15 8 (0.65%) EMIR
15 8 (0.65%) GRC
16 7 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
17 6 (0.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 28 (2.27%) Docker
2 19 (1.54%) Active Directory
3 14 (1.14%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.32%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.24%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
6 3 (0.24%) ISA Server
7 2 (0.16%) Firmware
7 2 (0.16%) HDFS
8 1 (0.081%) Citrix Presentation Server
8 1 (0.081%) UAG
8 1 (0.081%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 31 (2.52%) Kubernetes
2 27 (2.19%) HP ALM
3 20 (1.62%) Terraform
4 10 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (0.49%) Grafana
6 5 (0.41%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.24%) Ansible
7 3 (0.24%) SCCM
8 2 (0.16%) HP Quality Center
8 2 (0.16%) Kibana
9 1 (0.081%) CASB
9 1 (0.081%) CEMLI
9 1 (0.081%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.081%) Control-M
9 1 (0.081%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.081%) Oracle Identity Management
9 1 (0.081%) Rundeck
9 1 (0.081%) SCOM
9 1 (0.081%) WSUS
Vendors
1 207 (16.80%) Oracle
2 190 (15.42%) SAP
3 141 (11.44%) Microsoft
4 102 (8.28%) ServiceNow
5 49 (3.98%) Salesforce
6 27 (2.19%) HP
7 18 (1.46%) Murex
8 17 (1.38%) Workday
9 13 (1.06%) Ariba
9 13 (1.06%) Cisco
9 13 (1.06%) UiPath
10 11 (0.89%) Splunk
11 10 (0.81%) Citrix
12 9 (0.73%) IBM
12 9 (0.73%) IFS
12 9 (0.73%) NEC
13 8 (0.65%) Automation Anywhere
13 8 (0.65%) Blue Prism
13 8 (0.65%) CyberArk
13 8 (0.65%) Zscaler