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 26 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 79 119 113
Rank change year-on-year +40 -6 +35
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,487 685 846
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.06% 2.39% 1.98%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.63% 2.63% 2.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 915 453 572
10th Percentile £350 £350 £325
25th Percentile £413 £406 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £588
90th Percentile £713 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £452 £475
% change year-on-year +5.20% -4.95% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 10 9
10th Percentile £15.25 £29.83 £12.92
25th Percentile £18.00 £40.19 £14.18
Median hourly rate £27.30 £58.75 £48.00
Median % change year-on-year -53.53% +22.40% -23.20%
75th Percentile £54.23 £64.69 £62.50
90th Percentile £83.25 £67.03 £71.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.95 £55.00 £54.00
% change year-on-year -51.00% +1.85% -13.60%

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 40,998 26,034 36,602
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.45% 91.02% 85.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,676 16,714 23,582
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £498 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.74% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,430 1,064 2,485
10th Percentile £14.80 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £18.12 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.28 £27.45 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +54.01% -23.75% -3.49%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.01 £74.63 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.35 £25.15 £37.50
% change year-on-year +76.32% -32.93% +7.14%

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 26 May 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 26 May 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 26 May 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 +28 1,283 £500 - 346
London +18 704 £525 - 171
UK excluding London +49 619 £475 +5.20% 217
Work from Home +24 459 £519 +3.75% 140
South East +29 172 £500 +20.48% 66
Midlands +22 154 £475 +5.56% 41
North of England -18 135 £447 -8.12% 57
West Midlands +16 98 £475 -3.31% 25
North West -15 89 £430 -14.60% 38
South West 0 57 £475 - 20
East Midlands -1 55 £450 +5.88% 15
Scotland +31 47 £532 +12.00% 16
Yorkshire -23 39 £461 -2.54% 17
East of England -24 30 £550 +29.41% 11
Northern Ireland +9 16 £475 -11.21% 4
Wales -4 12 £468 +3.54% 5
North East -17 7 £355 +5.97% 2

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 95 (6.39%) Confluence
2 23 (1.55%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.74%) SAS
4 8 (0.54%) Appian
5 6 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.34%) Apache
7 3 (0.20%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.20%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.13%) Camunda
8 2 (0.13%) Cloud Foundry
8 2 (0.13%) CMS
8 2 (0.13%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.13%) JBoss
8 2 (0.13%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.13%) Mendix
8 2 (0.13%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.13%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.067%) Kentico
9 1 (0.067%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.067%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 57 (3.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 36 (2.42%) MS Visio
3 31 (2.08%) Microsoft Project
4 28 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
5 19 (1.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.067%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 118 (7.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.76%) Oracle Payables
3 40 (2.69%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 33 (2.22%) Dynamics CRM
4 33 (2.22%) Oracle EBS
5 32 (2.15%) Oracle Receivables
6 21 (1.41%) Oracle General Ledger
7 19 (1.28%) Oracle ERP
8 18 (1.21%) Oracle Assets
8 18 (1.21%) Oracle EBS R12
9 15 (1.01%) Payment Gateway
9 15 (1.01%) SAP GRC
10 14 (0.94%) Oracle Cash Management
10 14 (0.94%) SAP CO
10 14 (0.94%) SAP FI
11 13 (0.87%) Aladdin
12 12 (0.81%) SAP FI/CO
13 10 (0.67%) Finacle
13 10 (0.67%) Loan IQ
14 9 (0.61%) SAP HCM
Cloud Services
1 212 (14.26%) Azure
2 120 (8.07%) Power Platform
3 113 (7.60%) Azure DevOps
4 98 (6.59%) Dynamics 365
5 82 (5.51%) AWS
6 50 (3.36%) OCI
7 42 (2.82%) SuccessFactors
8 33 (2.22%) SaaS
9 32 (2.15%) Entra ID
10 28 (1.88%) GCP
10 28 (1.88%) Power Automate
11 26 (1.75%) GitHub
12 22 (1.48%) PowerApps
12 22 (1.48%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 20 (1.34%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
14 17 (1.14%) Boomi
15 15 (1.01%) Microsoft 365
16 12 (0.81%) Azure Data Factory
16 12 (0.81%) Serverless
17 11 (0.74%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.21%) Firewall
2 14 (0.94%) Network Security
3 9 (0.61%) WAN
4 8 (0.54%) SMS
5 7 (0.47%) LAN
6 6 (0.40%) VPN
7 5 (0.34%) BGP
7 5 (0.34%) DNS
7 5 (0.34%) FTP
7 5 (0.34%) MPLS
7 5 (0.34%) TCP/IP
8 4 (0.27%) 5G
8 4 (0.27%) DHCP
8 4 (0.27%) Internet
8 4 (0.27%) Intrusion Detection
9 3 (0.20%) IPsec
9 3 (0.20%) SD-WAN
9 3 (0.20%) SSL
9 3 (0.20%) VLAN
10 2 (0.13%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 93 (6.25%) Power BI
2 31 (2.08%) SQL Server
3 23 (1.55%) Oracle Reports
4 21 (1.41%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 21 (1.41%) Tableau
5 20 (1.34%) Relational Database
6 17 (1.14%) Data Warehouse
7 13 (0.87%) Metadata
7 13 (0.87%) MySQL
8 11 (0.74%) Oracle Database
9 9 (0.61%) RDBMS
10 8 (0.54%) Pinecone
10 8 (0.54%) SAP HANA
11 7 (0.47%) Data Lake
11 7 (0.47%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 6 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
12 6 (0.40%) Electronic Patient Records
12 6 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.34%) DynamoDB
13 5 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 250 (16.81%) JIRA
2 35 (2.35%) Postman
3 34 (2.29%) Selenium
4 21 (1.41%) Git
4 21 (1.41%) Jenkins
5 19 (1.28%) REST Assured
6 16 (1.08%) Cucumber
6 16 (1.08%) TestRail
7 15 (1.01%) GitLab
8 14 (0.94%) Zephyr
9 9 (0.61%) JMeter
9 9 (0.61%) Team Foundation Server
10 8 (0.54%) MLflow
11 7 (0.47%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.47%) Oracle Forms
12 6 (0.40%) Bitbucket
13 5 (0.34%) Atlassian Bamboo
13 5 (0.34%) git-flow
14 4 (0.27%) Gatling
14 4 (0.27%) WebDriver
General
1 675 (45.39%) Finance
2 519 (34.90%) Social Skills
3 261 (17.55%) Analytical Skills
4 175 (11.77%) Banking
5 143 (9.62%) Public Sector
6 121 (8.14%) Documentation Skills
7 76 (5.11%) Retail
8 65 (4.37%) Manufacturing
9 48 (3.23%) Investment Banking
10 47 (3.16%) Legal
11 44 (2.96%) Law
12 43 (2.89%) Front Office
13 40 (2.69%) General Ledger
14 35 (2.35%) Presentation Skills
15 33 (2.22%) Marketing
16 29 (1.95%) Organisational Skills
17 28 (1.88%) Local Government
18 22 (1.48%) Back Office
18 22 (1.48%) Billing
19 18 (1.21%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 424 (28.51%) Analyst
2 320 (21.52%) Business Analyst
3 233 (15.67%) Lead
4 197 (13.25%) Consultant
5 111 (7.46%) Senior
6 93 (6.25%) Test Manager
7 80 (5.38%) Architect
7 80 (5.38%) Developer
8 64 (4.30%) Project Manager
9 59 (3.97%) Functional Consultant
10 57 (3.83%) Test Analyst
11 56 (3.77%) Test Leader
12 54 (3.63%) SAP Consultant
13 41 (2.76%) Oracle Consultant
13 41 (2.76%) Senior Analyst
14 38 (2.56%) Lead Architect
15 32 (2.15%) Functional Architect
15 32 (2.15%) Test Engineer
15 32 (2.15%) Tester
16 31 (2.08%) Senior Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 86 (5.78%) REST
2 52 (3.50%) Middleware
3 48 (3.23%) SOAP
4 47 (3.16%) Oracle Fusion
5 29 (1.95%) XML
6 28 (1.88%) JSON
7 22 (1.48%) Playwright
8 21 (1.41%) .NET
9 20 (1.34%) SAP Fiori
10 18 (1.21%) ADO
10 18 (1.21%) Web Services
11 15 (1.01%) RESTful
11 15 (1.01%) SailPoint
12 13 (0.87%) AngularJS
12 13 (0.87%) OAuth
12 13 (0.87%) Swagger
13 12 (0.81%) Spring
14 11 (0.74%) Spring Boot
15 10 (0.67%) Pandas
15 10 (0.67%) React
Miscellaneous
1 101 (6.79%) Legacy Systems
1 101 (6.79%) Product Ownership
2 66 (4.44%) Onboarding
3 39 (2.62%) Data Structures
4 38 (2.56%) Management Information System
5 33 (2.22%) Public Cloud
6 31 (2.08%) Derivative
7 29 (1.95%) Data Protection Act
8 28 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
9 21 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
9 21 (1.41%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 20 (1.34%) Analytical Mindset
10 20 (1.34%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 19 (1.28%) Low-Code
12 17 (1.14%) Credit Risk
12 17 (1.14%) Fixed Income
13 15 (1.01%) SCADA
14 14 (0.94%) Cloud Native
15 13 (0.87%) Data Centre
16 12 (0.81%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 36 (2.42%) Windows
2 23 (1.55%) Linux
3 5 (0.34%) Unix
3 5 (0.34%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.20%) Mac OS
4 3 (0.20%) VMS
5 2 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
5 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.067%) Android
6 1 (0.067%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 450 (30.26%) Agile
2 428 (28.78%) Migration
3 419 (28.18%) Stakeholder Management
4 353 (23.74%) Validation
5 337 (22.66%) System Integration Testing
6 300 (20.17%) Data Migration
7 269 (18.09%) ERP
8 254 (17.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 240 (16.14%) Problem-Solving
10 214 (14.39%) Workshop Facilitation
11 200 (13.45%) Requirements Gathering
12 196 (13.18%) DevOps
13 193 (12.98%) Test Automation
14 190 (12.78%) Continuous Improvement
15 189 (12.71%) Scenario Testing
16 188 (12.64%) User Stories
17 173 (11.63%) Test Strategy
18 161 (10.83%) Acceptance Criteria
19 153 (10.29%) Business Analysis
19 153 (10.29%) Defect Management
Programming Languages
1 194 (13.05%) SQL
2 74 (4.98%) Python
3 52 (3.50%) Java
4 42 (2.82%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.34%) C#
6 17 (1.14%) Apex Code
7 15 (1.01%) PowerShell
8 14 (0.94%) PL/SQL
9 13 (0.87%) TypeScript
10 10 (0.67%) Bash
11 8 (0.54%) ABAP
11 8 (0.54%) PHP
12 6 (0.40%) Korn
13 5 (0.34%) R
13 5 (0.34%) SOQL
13 5 (0.34%) SOSL
14 4 (0.27%) Perl
14 4 (0.27%) Shell Script
15 3 (0.20%) T-SQL
15 3 (0.20%) VB6
Qualifications
1 166 (11.16%) Security Cleared
2 130 (8.74%) SC Cleared
3 99 (6.66%) Degree
4 45 (3.03%) ISTQB
5 37 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
6 32 (2.15%) ACCA
7 30 (2.02%) CIMA
8 26 (1.75%) PMI Certification
9 20 (1.34%) PMP
10 14 (0.94%) IIBA
10 14 (0.94%) Master's Degree
11 12 (0.81%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 11 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (0.61%) CBAP
14 8 (0.54%) DV Cleared
15 7 (0.47%) AWS Certification
15 7 (0.47%) Microsoft Certification
16 6 (0.40%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
16 6 (0.40%) ISEB
17 5 (0.34%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 248 (16.68%) QA
2 130 (8.74%) Data Quality
3 62 (4.17%) GDPR
4 24 (1.61%) Accessibility
5 23 (1.55%) IFRS
6 22 (1.48%) GRC
6 22 (1.48%) SLA
7 19 (1.28%) PMO
8 18 (1.21%) ISO 20022
9 17 (1.14%) NIST
10 16 (1.08%) PSD2
11 14 (0.94%) IFRS 17
12 12 (0.81%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 11 (0.74%) MiFID
13 11 (0.74%) SEPA
14 9 (0.61%) HL7
14 9 (0.61%) ISO 8583
15 7 (0.47%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 7 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
15 7 (0.47%) NCSC
System Software
1 31 (2.08%) Active Directory
2 26 (1.75%) Docker
3 12 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.20%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
4 3 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.13%) Firmware
5 2 (0.13%) HDFS
5 2 (0.13%) ISA Server
5 2 (0.13%) Microsoft App-V
5 2 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.067%) Citrix Presentation Server
6 1 (0.067%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.067%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.067%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 31 (2.08%) Kubernetes
2 23 (1.55%) HP ALM
3 16 (1.08%) Terraform
4 15 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (0.47%) Grafana
6 5 (0.34%) HP Quality Center
7 4 (0.27%) Ansible
7 4 (0.27%) Control-M
7 4 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
8 3 (0.20%) ITRS Geneos
9 2 (0.13%) Kibana
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.13%) SCCM
10 1 (0.067%) CASB
10 1 (0.067%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.067%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.067%) Network Intrusion Detection System
10 1 (0.067%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.067%) Rundeck
10 1 (0.067%) WSUS
Vendors
1 242 (16.27%) SAP
2 215 (14.46%) Oracle
3 181 (12.17%) Microsoft
4 94 (6.32%) ServiceNow
5 87 (5.85%) Salesforce
6 29 (1.95%) Workday
7 24 (1.61%) HP
8 21 (1.41%) IFS
9 19 (1.28%) Murex
10 17 (1.14%) Blue Prism
11 16 (1.08%) Cisco
12 15 (1.01%) Ariba
13 13 (0.87%) Infor
14 12 (0.81%) Adobe
14 12 (0.81%) MuleSoft
14 12 (0.81%) UiPath
15 11 (0.74%) Bloomberg
15 11 (0.74%) Citrix
15 11 (0.74%) Kronos
15 11 (0.74%) Zscaler