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 2 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 131 119
Rank change year-on-year +47 -12 +32
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,343 609 863
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.00% 2.10% 1.95%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.51% 2.31% 2.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 847 403 571
10th Percentile £350 £328 £350
25th Percentile £413 £406 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
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 16 10 21
10th Percentile £21.65 £20.83 £14.18
25th Percentile £24.46 £36.06 £24.25
Median hourly rate £33.43 £58.75 £85.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.10% -30.88% +36.00%
75th Percentile £79.50 £64.69 £86.50
90th Percentile £84.25 £86.15 £90.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.61 £58.75 £25.00
% change year-on-year -54.71% +135.00% -60.00%

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 38,313 26,307 38,195
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.58% 90.51% 86.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,289 17,086 24,815
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 £613 £635 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £485 £500
% change year-on-year - -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,251 967 2,341
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.00 £12.82
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.24 £16.00
Median hourly rate £35.50 £32.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.94% -1.54% -11.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £34.85 £31.08 £31.65
% change year-on-year +12.13% -1.80% -12.39%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 +36 1,172 £500 - 331
London +34 646 £500 -4.76% 144
UK excluding London +43 549 £475 +5.56% 229
Work from Home +46 406 £525 +5.00% 137
South East +28 157 £550 +15.79% 93
North of England -13 139 £450 -10.00% 43
Midlands +13 127 £475 -1.30% 42
North West -4 92 £425 -16.88% 25
West Midlands +4 85 £490 -3.92% 30
South West -2 43 £469 +11.01% 18
East Midlands -15 41 £450 +5.88% 12
Yorkshire -26 38 £505 +6.88% 17
Scotland +28 35 £522 +18.90% 10
East of England -22 33 £550 +37.67% 16
Northern Ireland +9 13 £475 +26.67% 5
North East -6 9 £500 +49.25% 1
Wales -4 8 £413 -9.93% 4

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 88 (6.55%) Confluence
2 26 (1.94%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.82%) SAS
4 8 (0.60%) Appian
5 6 (0.45%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 6 (0.45%) Apache
5 6 (0.45%) CMS
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.22%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.22%) ArcGIS
6 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.15%) Camunda
7 2 (0.15%) GeoServer
7 2 (0.15%) JBoss
7 2 (0.15%) Mendix
7 2 (0.15%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.074%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.074%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.074%) IBM HTTP Server
8 1 (0.074%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 58 (4.32%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (2.46%) MS Visio
3 31 (2.31%) Microsoft Project
4 24 (1.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 20 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
6 5 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.074%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.074%) S-PLUS
8 1 (0.074%) Trello
Business Applications
1 82 (6.11%) SAP S/4HANA
2 47 (3.50%) Oracle Payables
3 43 (3.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 40 (2.98%) Oracle EBS
5 39 (2.90%) Oracle Receivables
6 29 (2.16%) Dynamics CRM
6 29 (2.16%) Oracle General Ledger
7 25 (1.86%) Oracle Assets
8 21 (1.56%) Oracle EBS R12
9 18 (1.34%) Oracle Cash Management
10 17 (1.27%) Oracle ERP
11 16 (1.19%) SAP FI
12 14 (1.04%) iTrent
12 14 (1.04%) SAP CO
13 13 (0.97%) Loan IQ
13 13 (0.97%) Payment Gateway
14 12 (0.89%) SAP FI/CO
15 10 (0.74%) NEC Housing
16 9 (0.67%) Aladdin
16 9 (0.67%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 195 (14.52%) Azure
2 117 (8.71%) Power Platform
3 96 (7.15%) Azure DevOps
4 93 (6.92%) Dynamics 365
5 82 (6.11%) AWS
6 48 (3.57%) OCI
7 33 (2.46%) SaaS
8 32 (2.38%) SuccessFactors
9 29 (2.16%) Power Automate
10 27 (2.01%) Entra ID
10 27 (2.01%) GCP
11 26 (1.94%) GitHub
12 22 (1.64%) PowerApps
13 19 (1.41%) Microsoft 365
14 17 (1.27%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 14 (1.04%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 13 (0.97%) Azure Data Factory
17 11 (0.82%) OpenShift
17 11 (0.82%) Serverless
18 10 (0.74%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 12 (0.89%) Firewall
1 12 (0.89%) Network Security
2 8 (0.60%) SMS
3 5 (0.37%) BGP
3 5 (0.37%) LAN
3 5 (0.37%) MPLS
4 4 (0.30%) 5G
4 4 (0.30%) VPN
5 3 (0.22%) SSL
5 3 (0.22%) Structured Cabling
5 3 (0.22%) WAN
6 2 (0.15%) DHCP
6 2 (0.15%) DNS
6 2 (0.15%) FTP
6 2 (0.15%) IPsec
6 2 (0.15%) OSPF
6 2 (0.15%) SIGTRAN
6 2 (0.15%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.15%) VLAN
6 2 (0.15%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 89 (6.63%) Power BI
2 29 (2.16%) SQL Server
3 26 (1.94%) Oracle Reports
4 21 (1.56%) Tableau
5 20 (1.49%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.34%) Data Warehouse
7 17 (1.27%) MySQL
7 17 (1.27%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 13 (0.97%) Metadata
9 11 (0.82%) SAP HANA
10 8 (0.60%) Oracle Database
10 8 (0.60%) Pinecone
10 8 (0.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 7 (0.52%) DynamoDB
11 7 (0.52%) Electronic Patient Records
12 6 (0.45%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 5 (0.37%) Data Lake
14 4 (0.30%) GIS
14 4 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
14 4 (0.30%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 231 (17.20%) JIRA
2 38 (2.83%) Selenium
3 30 (2.23%) Postman
4 25 (1.86%) Git
5 20 (1.49%) Jenkins
6 18 (1.34%) GitLab
6 18 (1.34%) TestRail
7 17 (1.27%) Zephyr
8 11 (0.82%) JMeter
8 11 (0.82%) REST Assured
9 10 (0.74%) Cucumber
10 9 (0.67%) Cypress.io
11 8 (0.60%) MLflow
11 8 (0.60%) Oracle Forms
11 8 (0.60%) Team Foundation Server
12 5 (0.37%) Bitbucket
12 5 (0.37%) git-flow
12 5 (0.37%) LoadRunner
12 5 (0.37%) SoapUI
12 5 (0.37%) Visual Studio
General
1 587 (43.71%) Finance
2 531 (39.54%) Social Skills
3 260 (19.36%) Analytical Skills
4 167 (12.43%) Banking
5 142 (10.57%) Public Sector
6 107 (7.97%) Documentation Skills
7 67 (4.99%) Manufacturing
8 50 (3.72%) Law
9 48 (3.57%) Retail
10 44 (3.28%) Investment Banking
11 40 (2.98%) Presentation Skills
12 38 (2.83%) Legal
13 35 (2.61%) General Ledger
14 34 (2.53%) Front Office
14 34 (2.53%) Marketing
15 31 (2.31%) Local Government
16 30 (2.23%) Organisational Skills
17 17 (1.27%) Back Office
18 16 (1.19%) Retail Banking
19 15 (1.12%) Billing
Job Titles
1 399 (29.71%) Analyst
2 299 (22.26%) Business Analyst
3 219 (16.31%) Lead
4 185 (13.78%) Consultant
5 92 (6.85%) Test Manager
6 83 (6.18%) Senior
7 75 (5.58%) Architect
8 73 (5.44%) Developer
9 65 (4.84%) Project Manager
10 60 (4.47%) Test Analyst
11 55 (4.10%) SAP Consultant
12 54 (4.02%) Functional Consultant
13 52 (3.87%) Test Leader
14 39 (2.90%) Lead Architect
15 36 (2.68%) Tester
16 35 (2.61%) Oracle Consultant
17 33 (2.46%) Functional Architect
18 31 (2.31%) Senior Analyst
19 24 (1.79%) Data Analyst
19 24 (1.79%) Migration Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 77 (5.73%) REST
2 46 (3.43%) Oracle Fusion
3 39 (2.90%) SOAP
4 34 (2.53%) Middleware
5 22 (1.64%) Web Services
6 20 (1.49%) .NET
7 19 (1.41%) Playwright
7 19 (1.41%) XML
8 18 (1.34%) RESTful
9 17 (1.27%) Spring
10 16 (1.19%) Spring Boot
11 15 (1.12%) OAuth
11 15 (1.12%) SailPoint
12 14 (1.04%) JSON
13 13 (0.97%) ADO
13 13 (0.97%) Swagger
14 12 (0.89%) CSS
14 12 (0.89%) JWT
15 11 (0.82%) HTML
15 11 (0.82%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 100 (7.45%) Product Ownership
2 83 (6.18%) Legacy Systems
3 57 (4.24%) Onboarding
4 37 (2.76%) Management Information System
5 34 (2.53%) Data Structures
6 28 (2.08%) Public Cloud
7 26 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
7 26 (1.94%) Derivative
8 22 (1.64%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 19 (1.41%) Low-Code
9 19 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
10 18 (1.34%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 15 (1.12%) Analytical Mindset
12 14 (1.04%) Cloud Native
12 14 (1.04%) CMDB
12 14 (1.04%) Greenfield Project
13 13 (0.97%) Credit Risk
13 13 (0.97%) PMI
14 12 (0.89%) Fixed Income
14 12 (0.89%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 25 (1.86%) Windows
2 15 (1.12%) Linux
3 6 (0.45%) Windows 10
4 4 (0.30%) VMS
5 3 (0.22%) Unix
5 3 (0.22%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.15%) Android
6 2 (0.15%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.15%) OpenVMS
6 2 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 425 (31.65%) Agile
2 387 (28.82%) Stakeholder Management
3 360 (26.81%) Migration
4 265 (19.73%) Validation
5 260 (19.36%) System Integration Testing
6 256 (19.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 240 (17.87%) Data Migration
8 232 (17.27%) Problem-Solving
9 228 (16.98%) ERP
10 222 (16.53%) Workshop Facilitation
11 187 (13.92%) Requirements Gathering
12 181 (13.48%) Continuous Improvement
13 173 (12.88%) DevOps
14 172 (12.81%) Test Automation
15 169 (12.58%) Test Strategy
16 163 (12.14%) User Stories
17 160 (11.91%) Business Analysis
17 160 (11.91%) Scenario Testing
18 137 (10.20%) End-to-End Testing
19 126 (9.38%) Test Management
Programming Languages
1 195 (14.52%) SQL
2 72 (5.36%) Python
3 50 (3.72%) Java
4 33 (2.46%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.49%) C#
6 18 (1.34%) PL/SQL
7 17 (1.27%) TypeScript
8 16 (1.19%) PowerShell
9 12 (0.89%) ABAP
10 8 (0.60%) Bash
10 8 (0.60%) PHP
11 7 (0.52%) Apex Code
12 5 (0.37%) T-SQL
13 4 (0.30%) Korn
13 4 (0.30%) Perl
14 3 (0.22%) R
14 3 (0.22%) Scala
14 3 (0.22%) VB
14 3 (0.22%) VB6
14 3 (0.22%) VBA
Qualifications
1 157 (11.69%) Security Cleared
2 115 (8.56%) SC Cleared
3 114 (8.49%) Degree
4 54 (4.02%) ISTQB
5 36 (2.68%) BPSS Clearance
5 36 (2.68%) PMI Certification
6 25 (1.86%) PMP
7 18 (1.34%) Master's Degree
8 15 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (1.04%) ACCA
9 14 (1.04%) CBAP
9 14 (1.04%) CIMA
10 13 (0.97%) IIBA
11 11 (0.82%) DV Cleared
12 8 (0.60%) ISEB
12 8 (0.60%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 8 (0.60%) Microsoft Certification
13 7 (0.52%) AWS Certification
13 7 (0.52%) ITIL Certification
14 6 (0.45%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 248 (18.47%) QA
2 112 (8.34%) Data Quality
3 49 (3.65%) GDPR
4 25 (1.86%) PMO
5 24 (1.79%) PSD2
6 21 (1.56%) Accessibility
6 21 (1.56%) SLA
7 20 (1.49%) IFRS
8 18 (1.34%) ISO 20022
9 16 (1.19%) IFRS 17
10 15 (1.12%) ISO 8583
11 13 (0.97%) MiFID
11 13 (0.97%) SEPA
12 12 (0.89%) NIST
12 12 (0.89%) PCI DSS
13 9 (0.67%) GRC
13 9 (0.67%) NCSC
14 8 (0.60%) HL7
14 8 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
15 7 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 25 (1.86%) Docker
2 21 (1.56%) Active Directory
3 12 (0.89%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.22%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5 3 (0.22%) ISA Server
5 3 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.15%) Firmware
6 2 (0.15%) HDFS
7 1 (0.074%) Citrix Presentation Server
7 1 (0.074%) UAG
7 1 (0.074%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 29 (2.16%) Kubernetes
2 27 (2.01%) HP ALM
3 17 (1.27%) Terraform
4 11 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (0.52%) Grafana
6 5 (0.37%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.30%) Control-M
8 3 (0.22%) Ansible
8 3 (0.22%) HP Quality Center
9 2 (0.15%) ITRS Geneos
9 2 (0.15%) Kibana
10 1 (0.074%) CASB
10 1 (0.074%) CEMLI
10 1 (0.074%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.074%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.074%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.074%) Rundeck
10 1 (0.074%) SCCM
10 1 (0.074%) SCOM
10 1 (0.074%) WSUS
Vendors
1 207 (15.41%) Oracle
2 189 (14.07%) SAP
3 167 (12.43%) Microsoft
4 101 (7.52%) ServiceNow
5 68 (5.06%) Salesforce
6 28 (2.08%) HP
7 21 (1.56%) Murex
8 19 (1.41%) Workday
9 15 (1.12%) Ariba
9 15 (1.12%) IFS
10 13 (0.97%) UiPath
11 12 (0.89%) Adobe
11 12 (0.89%) Cisco
12 11 (0.82%) Bloomberg
12 11 (0.82%) Citrix
12 11 (0.82%) Splunk
13 10 (0.74%) Infor
13 10 (0.74%) NEC
14 9 (0.67%) IBM
15 8 (0.60%) Temenos