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

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 122 108
Rank change year-on-year +45 -14 +44
Contract jobs citing User Acceptance Testing 1,472 661 863
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.09% 2.27% 2.02%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.66% 2.50% 2.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 901 435 586
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 £598 £613 £590
90th Percentile £700 £702 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 11 9
10th Percentile £15.25 £31.00 £12.92
25th Percentile £18.00 £43.88 £14.18
Median hourly rate £26.61 £62.50 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year -57.43% +155.10% -60.80%
75th Percentile £40.33 £65.00 £53.50
90th Percentile £84.05 £85.25 £71.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.61 £58.75 £36.25
% change year-on-year -54.71% +62.07% -42.00%

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 40,228 26,443 36,791
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.35% 90.98% 86.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,265 17,000 23,677
10th Percentile £325 £305 £300
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.94% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £626 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,380 1,081 2,436
10th Percentile £14.89 £14.42 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £18.38 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £28.75 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +47.83% -21.23% +0.29%
75th Percentile £67.31 £60.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £26.50 £38.00
% change year-on-year +69.81% -30.26% +8.57%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 +33 1,269 £500 - 316
London +22 684 £513 -2.38% 149
UK excluding London +61 615 £475 +5.56% 194
Work from Home +39 466 £513 +2.50% 127
South East +37 173 £500 +21.21% 65
Midlands +19 150 £475 +2.70% 35
North of England -13 140 £447 -10.06% 50
West Midlands +16 97 £475 -4.04% 19
North West -11 92 £425 -16.77% 29
South West +5 58 £475 -2.56% 17
East Midlands -2 52 £455 +7.06% 16
Scotland +30 43 £533 +20.86% 11
Yorkshire -23 41 £468 -5.45% 18
East of England -19 30 £550 +29.41% 10
Northern Ireland +2 13 £475 -8.65% 3
Wales +1 12 £468 +3.54% 5
North East -14 7 £355 +5.97% 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
1 100 (6.79%) Confluence
2 24 (1.63%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.75%) SAS
4 8 (0.54%) Appian
5 7 (0.48%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.34%) Apache
7 3 (0.20%) ArcGIS
7 3 (0.20%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.14%) Camunda
8 2 (0.14%) CMS
8 2 (0.14%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.14%) JBoss
8 2 (0.14%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.14%) Mendix
8 2 (0.14%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.068%) Headless CMS
9 1 (0.068%) IBM HTTP Server
9 1 (0.068%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 57 (3.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 37 (2.51%) MS Visio
3 34 (2.31%) Microsoft Project
4 29 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
5 22 (1.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.068%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 116 (7.88%) SAP S/4HANA
2 43 (2.92%) Oracle Payables
2 43 (2.92%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 38 (2.58%) Oracle EBS
4 34 (2.31%) Dynamics CRM
5 32 (2.17%) Oracle Receivables
6 22 (1.49%) Oracle General Ledger
7 20 (1.36%) Oracle Assets
7 20 (1.36%) Oracle EBS R12
8 18 (1.22%) Oracle ERP
9 15 (1.02%) Oracle Cash Management
9 15 (1.02%) Payment Gateway
9 15 (1.02%) SAP CO
9 15 (1.02%) SAP FI
10 14 (0.95%) Loan IQ
11 13 (0.88%) iTrent
11 13 (0.88%) SAP FI/CO
12 12 (0.82%) SAP GRC
13 11 (0.75%) Aladdin
14 10 (0.68%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 208 (14.13%) Azure
2 117 (7.95%) Power Platform
3 113 (7.68%) Azure DevOps
4 102 (6.93%) Dynamics 365
5 81 (5.50%) AWS
6 52 (3.53%) OCI
7 40 (2.72%) SuccessFactors
8 35 (2.38%) SaaS
9 31 (2.11%) Entra ID
10 30 (2.04%) Power Automate
11 27 (1.83%) GCP
12 25 (1.70%) GitHub
13 24 (1.63%) PowerApps
14 23 (1.56%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 20 (1.36%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 16 (1.09%) Microsoft 365
17 14 (0.95%) Serverless
18 13 (0.88%) Azure Data Factory
19 12 (0.82%) Boomi
19 12 (0.82%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.22%) Firewall
2 14 (0.95%) Network Security
3 8 (0.54%) SMS
3 8 (0.54%) WAN
4 7 (0.48%) LAN
5 6 (0.41%) VPN
6 5 (0.34%) BGP
6 5 (0.34%) DNS
6 5 (0.34%) FTP
6 5 (0.34%) MPLS
6 5 (0.34%) TCP/IP
7 4 (0.27%) 5G
7 4 (0.27%) DHCP
7 4 (0.27%) Internet
8 3 (0.20%) Intrusion Detection
8 3 (0.20%) IPsec
8 3 (0.20%) SD-WAN
8 3 (0.20%) SSL
8 3 (0.20%) VLAN
9 2 (0.14%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 90 (6.11%) Power BI
2 30 (2.04%) SQL Server
3 24 (1.63%) Oracle Reports
4 21 (1.43%) Relational Database
5 20 (1.36%) Oracle BI Publisher
5 20 (1.36%) Tableau
6 16 (1.09%) Data Warehouse
7 14 (0.95%) MySQL
8 13 (0.88%) Metadata
8 13 (0.88%) Oracle Database
9 9 (0.61%) RDBMS
10 8 (0.54%) Pinecone
10 8 (0.54%) SAP HANA
11 7 (0.48%) DynamoDB
12 6 (0.41%) Data Lake
12 6 (0.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.34%) Electronic Patient Records
14 4 (0.27%) NoSQL
14 4 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
14 4 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 262 (17.80%) JIRA
2 37 (2.51%) Selenium
3 36 (2.45%) Postman
4 21 (1.43%) Git
5 20 (1.36%) Jenkins
6 18 (1.22%) REST Assured
6 18 (1.22%) TestRail
7 16 (1.09%) Cucumber
7 16 (1.09%) GitLab
8 14 (0.95%) Zephyr
9 9 (0.61%) JMeter
10 8 (0.54%) MLflow
11 7 (0.48%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.48%) Oracle Forms
11 7 (0.48%) Team Foundation Server
12 6 (0.41%) Bitbucket
13 5 (0.34%) git-flow
13 5 (0.34%) SoapUI
13 5 (0.34%) Visual Studio
14 4 (0.27%) LoadRunner
General
1 660 (44.84%) Finance
2 526 (35.73%) Social Skills
3 254 (17.26%) Analytical Skills
4 165 (11.21%) Banking
5 152 (10.33%) Public Sector
6 119 (8.08%) Documentation Skills
7 70 (4.76%) Retail
8 67 (4.55%) Manufacturing
9 45 (3.06%) Investment Banking
9 45 (3.06%) Law
10 44 (2.99%) Front Office
10 44 (2.99%) Legal
11 39 (2.65%) General Ledger
11 39 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
12 33 (2.24%) Marketing
13 30 (2.04%) Local Government
13 30 (2.04%) Organisational Skills
14 24 (1.63%) Back Office
15 22 (1.49%) Billing
16 17 (1.15%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 421 (28.60%) Analyst
2 317 (21.54%) Business Analyst
3 231 (15.69%) Lead
4 197 (13.38%) Consultant
5 105 (7.13%) Senior
6 94 (6.39%) Test Manager
7 80 (5.43%) Developer
8 78 (5.30%) Architect
9 64 (4.35%) Project Manager
10 60 (4.08%) Functional Consultant
11 58 (3.94%) Test Analyst
12 56 (3.80%) SAP Consultant
13 52 (3.53%) Test Leader
14 42 (2.85%) Oracle Consultant
15 39 (2.65%) Senior Analyst
16 38 (2.58%) Lead Architect
17 32 (2.17%) Functional Architect
17 32 (2.17%) Tester
18 31 (2.11%) Test Engineer
19 29 (1.97%) Senior Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (5.71%) REST
2 47 (3.19%) SOAP
3 46 (3.13%) Oracle Fusion
4 45 (3.06%) Middleware
5 26 (1.77%) XML
6 23 (1.56%) Playwright
7 22 (1.49%) JSON
8 21 (1.43%) .NET
9 18 (1.22%) SAP Fiori
9 18 (1.22%) Web Services
10 17 (1.15%) RESTful
11 16 (1.09%) ADO
11 16 (1.09%) Spring
12 15 (1.02%) SailPoint
12 15 (1.02%) Spring Boot
13 13 (0.88%) OAuth
13 13 (0.88%) Swagger
14 12 (0.82%) AngularJS
14 12 (0.82%) React
15 10 (0.68%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 106 (7.20%) Product Ownership
2 98 (6.66%) Legacy Systems
3 65 (4.42%) Onboarding
4 41 (2.79%) Management Information System
5 40 (2.72%) Data Structures
6 33 (2.24%) Public Cloud
7 30 (2.04%) Derivative
8 28 (1.90%) Data Protection Act
9 25 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
10 22 (1.49%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 21 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
12 20 (1.36%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 20 (1.36%) Low-Code
13 18 (1.22%) Analytical Mindset
14 16 (1.09%) Cloud Native
14 16 (1.09%) Credit Risk
14 16 (1.09%) Fixed Income
15 13 (0.88%) CMDB
15 13 (0.88%) SCADA
16 12 (0.82%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 34 (2.31%) Windows
2 20 (1.36%) Linux
3 4 (0.27%) Unix
3 4 (0.27%) VMS
3 4 (0.27%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.20%) Mac OS
5 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
5 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.068%) Android
6 1 (0.068%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.068%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.068%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 455 (30.91%) Agile
2 422 (28.67%) Migration
3 416 (28.26%) Stakeholder Management
4 326 (22.15%) Validation
5 317 (21.54%) System Integration Testing
6 296 (20.11%) Data Migration
7 264 (17.93%) ERP
8 247 (16.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 236 (16.03%) Problem-Solving
10 217 (14.74%) Workshop Facilitation
11 205 (13.93%) Requirements Gathering
12 201 (13.65%) DevOps
13 194 (13.18%) Test Automation
14 189 (12.84%) Continuous Improvement
15 182 (12.36%) Scenario Testing
16 181 (12.30%) User Stories
17 177 (12.02%) Test Strategy
18 157 (10.67%) Business Analysis
19 151 (10.26%) Defect Management
20 149 (10.12%) Acceptance Criteria
Programming Languages
1 190 (12.91%) SQL
2 72 (4.89%) Python
3 54 (3.67%) Java
4 41 (2.79%) JavaScript
5 21 (1.43%) C#
6 18 (1.22%) PL/SQL
7 17 (1.15%) Apex Code
8 16 (1.09%) PowerShell
9 15 (1.02%) TypeScript
10 10 (0.68%) Bash
11 9 (0.61%) ABAP
12 8 (0.54%) PHP
13 6 (0.41%) Korn
13 6 (0.41%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.34%) R
14 5 (0.34%) SOQL
14 5 (0.34%) SOSL
15 4 (0.27%) Perl
15 4 (0.27%) Shell Script
16 3 (0.20%) VB6
Qualifications
1 171 (11.62%) Security Cleared
2 130 (8.83%) SC Cleared
3 107 (7.27%) Degree
4 48 (3.26%) ISTQB
5 36 (2.45%) BPSS Clearance
6 28 (1.90%) ACCA
6 28 (1.90%) CIMA
6 28 (1.90%) PMI Certification
7 22 (1.49%) PMP
8 15 (1.02%) Master's Degree
9 14 (0.95%) IIBA
10 13 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
11 12 (0.82%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 9 (0.61%) CBAP
13 8 (0.54%) DV Cleared
14 7 (0.48%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.48%) ISEB
14 7 (0.48%) Microsoft Certification
15 6 (0.41%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 6 (0.41%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 248 (16.85%) QA
2 127 (8.63%) Data Quality
3 64 (4.35%) GDPR
4 25 (1.70%) Accessibility
5 24 (1.63%) IFRS
6 20 (1.36%) GRC
6 20 (1.36%) PMO
6 20 (1.36%) SLA
7 19 (1.29%) ISO 20022
8 18 (1.22%) NIST
8 18 (1.22%) PSD2
9 16 (1.09%) IFRS 17
10 12 (0.82%) SEPA
11 11 (0.75%) MiFID
12 10 (0.68%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 9 (0.61%) HL7
13 9 (0.61%) ISO 8583
14 8 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
15 7 (0.48%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 7 (0.48%) NCSC
System Software
1 29 (1.97%) Active Directory
2 25 (1.70%) Docker
3 11 (0.75%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.20%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5 3 (0.20%) ISA Server
6 2 (0.14%) Firmware
6 2 (0.14%) HDFS
6 2 (0.14%) Microsoft App-V
6 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
7 1 (0.068%) Citrix Presentation Server
7 1 (0.068%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.068%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.068%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 30 (2.04%) Kubernetes
2 27 (1.83%) HP ALM
3 16 (1.09%) Terraform
4 15 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (0.41%) Grafana
6 5 (0.34%) Ansible
6 5 (0.34%) HP Quality Center
7 4 (0.27%) Control-M
7 4 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.14%) ITRS Geneos
8 2 (0.14%) Kibana
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle RMAN
8 2 (0.14%) SCCM
9 1 (0.068%) CASB
9 1 (0.068%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.068%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.068%) Network Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.068%) Rundeck
9 1 (0.068%) WSUS
Vendors
1 234 (15.90%) SAP
2 220 (14.95%) Oracle
3 178 (12.09%) Microsoft
4 99 (6.73%) ServiceNow
5 85 (5.77%) Salesforce
6 28 (1.90%) HP
7 24 (1.63%) Workday
8 21 (1.43%) IFS
9 20 (1.36%) Murex
10 17 (1.15%) Blue Prism
11 15 (1.02%) Ariba
11 15 (1.02%) Cisco
12 13 (0.88%) Adobe
12 13 (0.88%) Infor
13 12 (0.82%) UiPath
14 11 (0.75%) Bloomberg
14 11 (0.75%) Citrix
14 11 (0.75%) Splunk
15 10 (0.68%) NEC
15 10 (0.68%) Zscaler