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 31 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 73 87 114
Rank change year-on-year +14 +27 +3
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,805 944 789
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.36% 2.86% 2.04%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.97% 3.17% 2.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,080 646 522
10th Percentile £355 £325 £313
25th Percentile £425 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £638
90th Percentile £714 £700 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £452 £500
% change year-on-year +5.20% -9.70% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 13 3
10th Percentile £16.95 £30.74 £39.50
25th Percentile £21.03 £36.50 £46.25
Median hourly rate £50.24 £52.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.30% -12.50% +94.60%
75th Percentile £65.98 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £86.00 £65.00 £64.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.38 £44.90 £47.50
% change year-on-year -43.47% -5.47% +54.06%

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 45,455 29,807 32,988
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.58% 90.45% 85.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,783 18,569 20,737
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,905 1,767 1,609
10th Percentile £14.10 £14.20 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.75 £17.30 £18.89
Median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +63.02% -40.82% +3.56%
75th Percentile £67.84 £47.31 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £67.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.56 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +92.49% -47.37% +14.67%

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 31 August 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 31 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for User Acceptance Testing in the UK

User Acceptance Testing
Top 18 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 31 August 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 +14 1,523 £500 +0.05% 411
London +20 891 £525 - 218
UK excluding London +14 676 £475 +5.20% 267
Work from Home +10 577 £500 - 170
Midlands +50 166 £475 +11.76% 56
South East -2 163 £500 +9.59% 104
North of England -30 146 £463 -3.65% 58
West Midlands +41 113 £475 +5.56% 40
North West -37 93 £500 +6.61% 39
South West +5 74 £500 +15.94% 28
Scotland +17 61 £430 +7.50% 10
East Midlands +16 49 £500 +20.48% 15
Yorkshire -30 35 £450 -9.09% 15
East of England -21 29 £550 +8.70% 13
Wales -5 21 £500 +21.21% 1
North East - 18 £375 - 4
Northern Ireland +5 17 £450 -13.46% 1
Channel Islands - 1 £550 - 1

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
1 123 (6.81%) Confluence
2 49 (2.71%) SharePoint
3 12 (0.66%) CMS
4 7 (0.39%) Camunda
4 7 (0.39%) SAS
5 6 (0.33%) Tuxedo
6 5 (0.28%) Apache
6 5 (0.28%) JBoss
7 3 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.17%) Kentico
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.17%) Sitecore CMS
7 3 (0.17%) TIBCO ActiveMatrix
8 2 (0.11%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
8 2 (0.11%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.11%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.11%) OpenROAD
8 2 (0.11%) Smallworld
Applications
1 82 (4.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (2.71%) Microsoft Office
3 42 (2.33%) MS Visio
4 21 (1.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 17 (0.94%) Microsoft Project
6 10 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.28%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.11%) Oracle Smart View
9 1 (0.055%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.055%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 171 (9.47%) SAP S/4HANA
2 44 (2.44%) Dynamics CRM
3 40 (2.22%) Oracle EBS
4 29 (1.61%) Oracle Payables
5 26 (1.44%) SAP GRC
6 23 (1.27%) SAP Payroll
7 21 (1.16%) Oracle Payroll
8 20 (1.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 19 (1.05%) Workday HCM
10 18 (1.00%) Oracle ERP
10 18 (1.00%) Oracle Receivables
10 18 (1.00%) SAP SD
11 16 (0.89%) SAP FI
11 16 (0.89%) SAP HCM
12 14 (0.78%) Aladdin
12 14 (0.78%) Oracle General Ledger
13 13 (0.72%) SAP MM
13 13 (0.72%) SAP PM
14 12 (0.66%) NetSuite
14 12 (0.66%) SAP CO
Cloud Services
1 305 (16.90%) Azure
2 179 (9.92%) Azure DevOps
3 175 (9.70%) Power Platform
4 128 (7.09%) Dynamics 365
5 82 (4.54%) AWS
6 61 (3.38%) OCI
7 52 (2.88%) SuccessFactors
8 45 (2.49%) GitHub
9 36 (1.99%) SaaS
10 35 (1.94%) Power Automate
11 31 (1.72%) PowerApps
11 31 (1.72%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 28 (1.55%) Entra ID
13 27 (1.50%) GCP
14 26 (1.44%) Snowflake
15 24 (1.33%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 23 (1.27%) Microsoft 365
17 20 (1.11%) Boomi
17 20 (1.11%) GitHub Actions
18 15 (0.83%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (0.72%) SSL
2 12 (0.66%) Firewall
3 10 (0.55%) WAN
4 7 (0.39%) DNS
5 6 (0.33%) LAN
5 6 (0.33%) Network Security
5 6 (0.33%) TCP/IP
6 5 (0.28%) Internet
6 5 (0.28%) VPN
7 4 (0.22%) DHCP
7 4 (0.22%) Fibre Channel
7 4 (0.22%) FTP
7 4 (0.22%) Intrusion Detection
7 4 (0.22%) SAN
7 4 (0.22%) SD-WAN
8 3 (0.17%) 5G
8 3 (0.17%) HTTP
8 3 (0.17%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (0.11%) HTTPS
9 2 (0.11%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 136 (7.53%) Power BI
2 52 (2.88%) SQL Server
3 48 (2.66%) Data Warehouse
4 33 (1.83%) Relational Database
5 27 (1.50%) Oracle Reports
6 26 (1.44%) Oracle Database
7 20 (1.11%) Data Lake
7 20 (1.11%) PostgreSQL
8 18 (1.00%) Tableau
9 17 (0.94%) Metadata
9 17 (0.94%) Oracle BI Publisher
9 17 (0.94%) RDBMS
10 15 (0.83%) SAP HANA
11 14 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 12 (0.66%) Ingres
13 9 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
14 8 (0.44%) Big Data
15 7 (0.39%) MySQL
16 6 (0.33%) PowerCenter
16 6 (0.33%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 295 (16.34%) JIRA
2 48 (2.66%) Git
3 43 (2.38%) Selenium
4 34 (1.88%) Jenkins
5 31 (1.72%) Postman
6 24 (1.33%) REST Assured
7 21 (1.16%) GitLab
8 20 (1.11%) Zephyr
9 17 (0.94%) Cypress.io
10 11 (0.61%) Bitbucket
10 11 (0.61%) Cucumber
11 10 (0.55%) JUnit
11 10 (0.55%) Sonatype Nexus
12 9 (0.50%) Oracle Forms
12 9 (0.50%) Team Foundation Server
12 9 (0.50%) TestRail
13 8 (0.44%) Maven
13 8 (0.44%) Visual Studio
13 8 (0.44%) WebDriver
14 7 (0.39%) JMeter
General
1 763 (42.27%) Finance
2 676 (37.45%) Social Skills
3 332 (18.39%) Analytical Skills
4 203 (11.25%) Banking
5 171 (9.47%) Public Sector
6 131 (7.26%) Documentation Skills
7 109 (6.04%) Retail
8 66 (3.66%) Manufacturing
9 63 (3.49%) Legal
10 61 (3.38%) Front Office
11 51 (2.83%) General Ledger
12 46 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
13 45 (2.49%) Law
14 39 (2.16%) Billing
15 38 (2.11%) Investment Banking
16 37 (2.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 36 (1.99%) Presentation Skills
18 35 (1.94%) Back Office
19 31 (1.72%) Influencing Skills
20 27 (1.50%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 525 (29.09%) Analyst
2 409 (22.66%) Business Analyst
3 281 (15.57%) Consultant
4 240 (13.30%) Lead
5 132 (7.31%) Senior
6 105 (5.82%) Developer
7 102 (5.65%) Test Manager
8 85 (4.71%) Functional Consultant
9 82 (4.54%) SAP Consultant
10 73 (4.04%) Architect
11 66 (3.66%) Oracle Consultant
12 61 (3.38%) Test Leader
13 54 (2.99%) Project Manager
13 54 (2.99%) Test Analyst
14 45 (2.49%) Senior Analyst
15 44 (2.44%) Financial Analyst
16 43 (2.38%) Tester
17 42 (2.33%) Test Engineer
18 39 (2.16%) Finance Business Analyst
18 39 (2.16%) Senior Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 86 (4.76%) Oracle Fusion
2 84 (4.65%) REST
3 81 (4.49%) Middleware
4 52 (2.88%) SOAP
5 40 (2.22%) JSON
5 40 (2.22%) XML
6 35 (1.94%) .NET
7 32 (1.77%) SAP Fiori
8 29 (1.61%) Playwright
9 25 (1.39%) Web Services
10 22 (1.22%) Terraform
11 16 (0.89%) ADO
11 16 (0.89%) React
12 14 (0.78%) Kafka
13 12 (0.66%) HTML
14 11 (0.61%) EDI
14 11 (0.61%) SailPoint
15 10 (0.55%) CSS
16 9 (0.50%) AngularJS
16 9 (0.50%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 143 (7.92%) Product Ownership
2 86 (4.76%) Onboarding
3 80 (4.43%) Legacy Systems
4 61 (3.38%) Data Structures
5 55 (3.05%) Enterprise Software
6 45 (2.49%) Management Information System
7 36 (1.99%) Derivative
8 33 (1.83%) Analytical Mindset
8 33 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
9 31 (1.72%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 27 (1.50%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 22 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
12 21 (1.16%) FMCG
12 21 (1.16%) Public Cloud
12 21 (1.16%) Virtual Team
13 20 (1.11%) CMDB
13 20 (1.11%) Low-Code
14 19 (1.05%) SCADA
15 18 (1.00%) Data Centre
15 18 (1.00%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 64 (3.55%) Windows
2 34 (1.88%) Linux
3 15 (0.83%) Unix
4 12 (0.66%) Windows Server
5 7 (0.39%) VMS
6 4 (0.22%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.055%) Android
9 1 (0.055%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.055%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.055%) Solaris
9 1 (0.055%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 655 (36.29%) Stakeholder Management
2 572 (31.69%) Agile
3 519 (28.75%) Migration
4 490 (27.15%) System Integration Testing
5 488 (27.04%) Validation
6 378 (20.94%) Data Migration
7 341 (18.89%) Requirements Gathering
8 331 (18.34%) Problem-Solving
9 329 (18.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 322 (17.84%) ERP
11 290 (16.07%) User Stories
12 284 (15.73%) Workshop Facilitation
13 267 (14.79%) DevOps
14 266 (14.74%) Continuous Improvement
15 249 (13.80%) Defect Management
16 233 (12.91%) Business Analysis
17 229 (12.69%) Integration Testing
18 224 (12.41%) Acceptance Criteria
19 214 (11.86%) Test Automation
20 208 (11.52%) Scenario Testing
Programming Languages
1 297 (16.45%) SQL
2 65 (3.60%) Python
3 50 (2.77%) JavaScript
4 47 (2.60%) Java
5 42 (2.33%) C#
6 36 (1.99%) ABAP
7 26 (1.44%) PowerShell
8 18 (1.00%) Apex Code
8 18 (1.00%) PL/SQL
9 14 (0.78%) Bash
10 12 (0.66%) TypeScript
11 11 (0.61%) T-SQL
11 11 (0.61%) VB
12 9 (0.50%) C
12 9 (0.50%) Shell Script
13 8 (0.44%) Korn
13 8 (0.44%) VB6
13 8 (0.44%) VBA
14 7 (0.39%) R
15 6 (0.33%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 247 (13.68%) Security Cleared
2 197 (10.91%) SC Cleared
3 144 (7.98%) Degree
4 46 (2.55%) ISTQB
5 44 (2.44%) ACCA
6 39 (2.16%) CIMA
7 31 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
8 24 (1.33%) PMI Certification
9 20 (1.11%) DV Cleared
10 19 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
10 19 (1.05%) PMP
11 18 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
12 16 (0.89%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 15 (0.83%) CBAP
14 13 (0.72%) Azure Certification
14 13 (0.72%) IIBA
15 11 (0.61%) ISEB
16 10 (0.55%) FFIEC
17 9 (0.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 9 (0.50%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 283 (15.68%) QA
2 156 (8.64%) Data Quality
3 46 (2.55%) GDPR
4 35 (1.94%) GRC
5 31 (1.72%) Accessibility
6 26 (1.44%) PMO
7 20 (1.11%) NIST
8 15 (0.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 13 (0.72%) ISO 20022
9 13 (0.72%) SLA
10 11 (0.61%) IFRS
11 10 (0.55%) Actionable Recommendations
11 10 (0.55%) COBIT
12 8 (0.44%) HL7
13 7 (0.39%) EMIR
13 7 (0.39%) MiFID
13 7 (0.39%) SEPA
13 7 (0.39%) Solvency II
14 5 (0.28%) GAAP
14 5 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 38 (2.11%) Active Directory
2 15 (0.83%) Docker
3 11 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (0.44%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.17%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.055%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.055%) NFS
6 1 (0.055%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.055%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 18 (1.00%) Kubernetes
2 16 (0.89%) HP ALM
3 13 (0.72%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (0.61%) Grafana
5 7 (0.39%) Ansible
5 7 (0.39%) HP Quality Center
6 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (0.33%) SCOM
7 5 (0.28%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.22%) Control-M
8 4 (0.22%) ITRS Geneos
9 3 (0.17%) Argo
9 3 (0.17%) SCCM
10 2 (0.11%) Oracle RMAN
11 1 (0.055%) CASB
11 1 (0.055%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.055%) Data Guard
11 1 (0.055%) Istio
11 1 (0.055%) Network Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.055%) SnapMirror
Vendors
1 328 (18.17%) SAP
2 281 (15.57%) Oracle
3 253 (14.02%) Microsoft
4 119 (6.59%) Salesforce
5 81 (4.49%) ServiceNow
6 54 (2.99%) Workday
7 26 (1.44%) Ariba
8 21 (1.16%) Murex
9 19 (1.05%) MuleSoft
10 18 (1.00%) HP
11 17 (0.94%) IBM
12 16 (0.89%) Bloomberg
12 16 (0.89%) CyberArk
12 16 (0.89%) IFS
12 16 (0.89%) UiPath
13 14 (0.78%) Kronos
14 13 (0.72%) Adobe
14 13 (0.72%) Databricks
14 13 (0.72%) Informatica
15 12 (0.66%) Zscaler