Test Engineer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Test Engineer
England > West Midlands

The median Test Engineer daily rate in the West Midlands is £429, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 24 October 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 116 109
Rank change year-on-year -18 -7 +1
Contract Test Engineer jobs 41 15 9
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 1.15% 0.76% 0.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.27% 0.84% 0.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 3 1
10th Percentile £357 £430 -
25th Percentile £405 £438 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £429 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -4.72% +5.88% -22.02%
75th Percentile £517 £478 £438
90th Percentile £588 £479 -
England median daily rate £441 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +3.82% -10.53% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 0
10th Percentile £27.72 - -
25th Percentile £28.00 £28.50 -
Median hourly rate £37.50 £29.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +29.31% - -
75th Percentile £38.75 £29.50 -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £37.50 £43.20 £56.45
% change year-on-year -13.19% -23.47% +12.90%

All Contract IT Job Roles
West Midlands

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts in the West Midlands matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
24 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract job adverts in the West Midlands matching a recognised job title 3,239 1,776 1,737
% of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title 90.75% 89.43% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,955 1,150 1,101
10th Percentile £336 £250 £220
25th Percentile £413 £393 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.71% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £598 £588 £612
90th Percentile £684 £675 £713
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.64% -2.57% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 250 109 61
10th Percentile £14.23 £12.62 £12.59
25th Percentile £17.57 £15.67 £14.25
Median hourly rate £23.81 £25.15 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.35% +14.32% -0.88%
75th Percentile £40.02 £36.00 £32.28
90th Percentile £61.68 £50.00 £43.75
England median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +65.84% -40.82% -6.69%

Test Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Test Engineer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Test Engineer job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Test Engineer Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Test Engineer Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for Test Engineer jobs in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 24 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Engineer in the West Midlands

Test Engineer Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Test Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Test Engineer Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Test Engineer jobs within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 24 October 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Warwickshire -7 15 £488 +8.33% 7
Birmingham 0 12 £494 +2.86% 8
Coventry - 8 - - 2
Shropshire - 4 £405 - 4
Staffordshire - 2 - - 6
Test Engineer
England

Test Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands

For the 6 months to 24 October 2026, Test Engineer contract job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract Test Engineer job ads across the West Midlands region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Test Automation41.5%17
2Software Testing29.3%12
3Validation26.8%11
4AWS19.5%8
5Security Cleared17.1%7
5SQL17.1%7
7Continuous Improvement14.6%6
7Playwright14.6%6
7Problem-Solving14.6%6
7Software Engineering14.6%6
11CI/CD12.2%5
11End-to-End Testing12.2%5
11Java12.2%5
11Non-Functional Testing12.2%5
11Oracle12.2%5
11QA12.2%5
11System Testing12.2%5
18Agile9.8%4
18DevOps9.8%4
18Digital Transformation Programme9.8%4
18Docker9.8%4
18ETL9.8%4
18GitHub9.8%4
18GitLab9.8%4
18Jenkins9.8%4
18MongoDB9.8%4
18Performance Improvement9.8%4
18Python9.8%4
18SAS9.8%4
18Test Scripting9.8%4

Test Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Test Automation Engineer26.8%11
2Systems Test Engineer22.0%9
3Software Test Engineer19.5%8
4Systems Integration Engineer12.2%5
4Test and Integration Engineer12.2%5
6Informatica Engineer7.3%3
6Lead Test Engineer7.3%3
8Electronics Engineer2.4%1
8Electronics Test Engineer2.4%1
8Principal Test Engineer2.4%1
8Senior Test Automation Engineer2.4%1
39 Test Engineer jobs in the West Midlands