Software Testing Job Trends in England

Software Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Software Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 251 288 157
Rank change year-on-year +37 -131 +20
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 767 420 1,112
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.74% 0.98% 1.72%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.00% 1.10% 2.08%
Number of salaries quoted 504 306 552
10th Percentile £29,000 £27,500 £35,000
25th Percentile £39,818 £40,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £55,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.41% +0.91% -2.22%
75th Percentile £71,250 £68,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £83,625
UK median annual salary £51,361 £57,143 £56,000
% change year-on-year -10.12% +2.04% +1.82%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Software Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 76,552 38,090 53,382
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.78% 88.90% 82.72%
Number of salaries quoted 53,565 21,805 28,465
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,250 £32,750
25th Percentile £41,750 £36,250 £44,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -1.32%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £78,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Software Testing relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Software Testing job vacancy trend in England

Software Testing
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Testing

Software Testing
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Testing in England over the 6 months to 12 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Testing in England

Software Testing
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Testing within the England region over the 6 months to 12 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
South East -3 157 £45,000 -10.00% 151
North of England +35 153 £52,500 -2.33% 139
London -64 136 £70,000 +9.38% 329
Midlands +26 134 £52,500 +23.53% 138
West Midlands +14 96 £47,500 +35.71% 85
South West -22 93 £48,750 -12.16% 82
East of England +17 82 £50,000 -5.66% 111
North West +4 61 £44,447 -36.50% 71
North East -17 57 £57,500 +21.05% 21
East Midlands -12 38 £55,000 -3.08% 52
Yorkshire -27 35 £44,447 +45.73% 47
Software Testing
UK

Software Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 12 (1.56%) CMS
2 9 (1.17%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.04%) Confluence
3 8 (1.04%) IIS
4 7 (0.91%) WinCC
5 6 (0.78%) Apache Spark
5 6 (0.78%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.52%) Apache
7 3 (0.39%) Headless CMS
7 3 (0.39%) nginx
7 3 (0.39%) Office Communications Server
7 3 (0.39%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.13%) Sitecore CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Umbraco
Applications
1 17 (2.22%) Microsoft Office
1 17 (2.22%) Simulink
2 14 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.26%) EPLAN
5 2 (0.26%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.13%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.13%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.13%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (0.39%) Payment Gateway
1 3 (0.39%) SystmOne
2 2 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.26%) Sage 200
2 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.26%) Shopify
2 2 (0.26%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.13%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.13%) Misys Equation
3 1 (0.13%) Misys Midas
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Cash Management
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 131 (17.08%) AWS
2 127 (16.56%) Azure
3 42 (5.48%) Serverless
4 37 (4.82%) GitHub
5 36 (4.69%) Power Platform
6 35 (4.56%) Azure DevOps
7 30 (3.91%) GCP
8 23 (3.00%) SaaS
9 19 (2.48%) Microsoft 365
10 18 (2.35%) AWS Lambda
11 15 (1.96%) GitHub Actions
12 14 (1.83%) OpenShift
13 13 (1.69%) GitHub Copilot
14 9 (1.17%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 9 (1.17%) Azure Functions
14 9 (1.17%) Google Workspace
15 8 (1.04%) AWS CloudFormation
16 7 (0.91%) Amazon EC2
17 6 (0.78%) BrowserStack
18 5 (0.65%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.22%) TCP/IP
2 9 (1.17%) Wireshark
3 8 (1.04%) Ethernet
4 6 (0.78%) HTTP
4 6 (0.78%) SNMP
4 6 (0.78%) VPN
5 5 (0.65%) Modbus
5 5 (0.65%) Profibus
6 4 (0.52%) DNS
7 3 (0.39%) Network Security
8 2 (0.26%) ATM
8 2 (0.26%) Software-Defined Radio
9 1 (0.13%) 5G
9 1 (0.13%) DHCP
9 1 (0.13%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 1 (0.13%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 1 (0.13%) IPv4
9 1 (0.13%) IPv6
9 1 (0.13%) LTE
9 1 (0.13%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (4.04%) Power BI
2 29 (3.78%) SQL Server
3 19 (2.48%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (1.83%) Elasticsearch
5 13 (1.69%) DynamoDB
5 13 (1.69%) NoSQL
5 13 (1.69%) Relational Database
6 8 (1.04%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (1.04%) InfluxDB
7 7 (0.91%) MongoDB
8 6 (0.78%) Geospatial Data
8 6 (0.78%) OLTP
9 5 (0.65%) MySQL
10 4 (0.52%) Chroma
10 4 (0.52%) Flink
10 4 (0.52%) Pinecone
10 4 (0.52%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.39%) Big Data
11 3 (0.39%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 94 (12.26%) Git
2 62 (8.08%) JIRA
3 59 (7.69%) GitLab
4 54 (7.04%) Selenium
5 44 (5.74%) Jenkins
6 29 (3.78%) Cypress.io
6 29 (3.78%) Postman
7 17 (2.22%) JMeter
7 17 (2.22%) JUnit
8 16 (2.09%) Cucumber
9 13 (1.69%) Gatling
9 13 (1.69%) TestRail
10 10 (1.30%) Zephyr
11 9 (1.17%) Eclipse
11 9 (1.17%) LabVIEW
11 9 (1.17%) REST Assured
12 8 (1.04%) Maven
12 8 (1.04%) Robot Framework
12 8 (1.04%) Spock
13 5 (0.65%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 262 (34.16%) Social Skills
2 140 (18.25%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (10.30%) Finance
4 65 (8.47%) Electronics
5 57 (7.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 49 (6.39%) Manufacturing
7 27 (3.52%) Law
8 26 (3.39%) Documentation Skills
9 25 (3.26%) Aerospace
10 24 (3.13%) Public Sector
11 20 (2.61%) Automotive
12 17 (2.22%) Retail
13 15 (1.96%) Aviation
13 15 (1.96%) Banking
14 14 (1.83%) Legal
14 14 (1.83%) Organisational Skills
15 11 (1.43%) Telecoms
16 9 (1.17%) Military
16 9 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
16 9 (1.17%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 163 (21.25%) Senior
2 115 (14.99%) Software Engineer
2 115 (14.99%) Test Engineer
3 100 (13.04%) Developer
4 83 (10.82%) Lead
5 65 (8.47%) Analyst
6 49 (6.39%) Software Developer
6 49 (6.39%) Tester
7 45 (5.87%) QA Engineer
8 43 (5.61%) Senior Developer
9 39 (5.08%) Software Test Engineer
10 32 (4.17%) Senior Software Engineer
11 29 (3.78%) Junior
12 27 (3.52%) IT Support
12 27 (3.52%) Support Engineer
13 26 (3.39%) Embedded Engineer
14 25 (3.26%) Consultant
14 25 (3.26%) Support Analyst
14 25 (3.26%) Test Automation Engineer
15 23 (3.00%) Software Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 67 (8.74%) .NET
2 61 (7.95%) Playwright
3 55 (7.17%) React
4 50 (6.52%) HTML
5 35 (4.56%) CSS
6 32 (4.17%) REST
7 31 (4.04%) Terraform
8 26 (3.39%) Node.js
9 24 (3.13%) RESTful
10 23 (3.00%) ASP.NET
11 22 (2.87%) XML
12 15 (1.96%) Swagger
13 14 (1.83%) Spring
14 13 (1.69%) AngularJS
14 13 (1.69%) ASP.NET Core
14 13 (1.69%) Gherkin
15 12 (1.56%) JSON
15 12 (1.56%) LangChain
16 9 (1.17%) Elastic Stack
16 9 (1.17%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 63 (8.21%) Product Ownership
2 40 (5.22%) Distributed Systems
3 28 (3.65%) Cloud Native
4 27 (3.52%) AI Agents
5 25 (3.26%) Algorithms
6 24 (3.13%) Embedded Systems
7 21 (2.74%) Management Information System
8 20 (2.61%) Enterprise Software
9 18 (2.35%) Robotics
10 17 (2.22%) Analytical Mindset
10 17 (2.22%) Self-Motivation
11 16 (2.09%) Mobile App
12 14 (1.83%) Client/Server
12 14 (1.83%) Driving Licence
12 14 (1.83%) SCADA
13 13 (1.69%) Legacy Applications
14 12 (1.56%) FPGA
15 11 (1.43%) Onboarding
16 10 (1.30%) Life Science
17 9 (1.17%) Online Gambling
Operating Systems
1 76 (9.91%) Windows
2 68 (8.87%) Linux
3 19 (2.48%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.04%) CentOS
5 7 (0.91%) Android
6 6 (0.78%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.65%) Embedded Linux
7 5 (0.65%) Robot Operating System
8 4 (0.52%) VMS
9 3 (0.39%) Debian
9 3 (0.39%) Kali Linux
9 3 (0.39%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.39%) Unix
10 1 (0.13%) macOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 336 (43.81%) Test Automation
2 288 (37.55%) Agile
3 238 (31.03%) Software Engineering
4 220 (28.68%) CI/CD
5 215 (28.03%) Problem-Solving
6 207 (26.99%) Continuous Improvement
7 152 (19.82%) DevOps
8 124 (16.17%) Mentoring
9 121 (15.78%) Code Quality
10 119 (15.51%) Validation
11 112 (14.60%) AI
12 102 (13.30%) Test Strategy
13 101 (13.17%) SDLC
14 94 (12.26%) Scrum
15 88 (11.47%) Regression Testing
16 75 (9.78%) Stakeholder Management
17 66 (8.60%) Software Delivery
18 59 (7.69%) Computer Science
19 58 (7.56%) Manual Testing
19 58 (7.56%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 183 (23.86%) Python
2 141 (18.38%) SQL
3 98 (12.78%) C#
4 93 (12.13%) JavaScript
5 91 (11.86%) Java
6 74 (9.65%) C++
7 70 (9.13%) TypeScript
8 58 (7.56%) C
9 26 (3.39%) MATLAB
10 21 (2.74%) Bash
10 21 (2.74%) PowerShell
11 13 (1.69%) Embedded C
12 11 (1.43%) Go
13 10 (1.30%) Groovy
13 10 (1.30%) Julia
13 10 (1.30%) PL/SQL
14 8 (1.04%) R
15 6 (0.78%) Embedded C++
15 6 (0.78%) PHP
15 6 (0.78%) Rust
Qualifications
1 161 (20.99%) Degree
2 135 (17.60%) Security Cleared
3 83 (10.82%) SC Cleared
4 33 (4.30%) DV Cleared
5 31 (4.04%) ISTQB
6 27 (3.52%) Master's Degree
7 23 (3.00%) Computer Science Degree
8 16 (2.09%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (1.04%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 7 (0.91%) ISEB
11 5 (0.65%) DBS Check
12 4 (0.52%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 4 (0.52%) Microsoft Certification
12 4 (0.52%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 3 (0.39%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.39%) Chartered Engineer
13 3 (0.39%) HNC
13 3 (0.39%) HND
14 2 (0.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 2 (0.26%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 201 (26.21%) QA
2 50 (6.52%) Accessibility
3 23 (3.00%) GDPR
4 20 (2.61%) WCAG
5 13 (1.69%) Data Quality
6 7 (0.91%) SLA
7 4 (0.52%) PMO
8 3 (0.39%) IEC 61131
8 3 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 3 (0.39%) Software Quality Assurance
9 2 (0.26%) Automotive SPICE
9 2 (0.26%) DO-254
9 2 (0.26%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.13%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 1 (0.13%) DO-160
10 1 (0.13%) GAMP
10 1 (0.13%) GMP
10 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.13%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 66 (8.60%) Docker
2 36 (4.69%) Firmware
3 18 (2.35%) Embedded Firmware
4 14 (1.83%) Active Directory
5 8 (1.04%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.13%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.13%) KVM
Systems Management
1 49 (6.39%) Kubernetes
2 21 (2.74%) Grafana
3 18 (2.35%) Ansible
4 10 (1.30%) Kibana
5 7 (0.91%) logstash
6 6 (0.78%) vCenter Server
7 4 (0.52%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.39%) Functional Safety
8 3 (0.39%) HP Fortify
8 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Intune
8 3 (0.39%) Norton AntiVirus
8 3 (0.39%) Puppet
9 2 (0.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.26%) Rancher
9 2 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.13%) Fluentd
10 1 (0.13%) HP Quality Center
10 1 (0.13%) SCCM
10 1 (0.13%) SCOM
10 1 (0.13%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 68 (8.87%) Microsoft
2 19 (2.48%) Splunk
3 15 (1.96%) Google
3 15 (1.96%) Siemens
4 13 (1.69%) Oracle
5 10 (1.30%) Atlassian
5 10 (1.30%) Red Hat
5 10 (1.30%) VMware
6 9 (1.17%) Intel
7 8 (1.04%) AppDynamics
7 8 (1.04%) Rockwell
8 7 (0.91%) OpenAI
9 6 (0.78%) Citrix
9 6 (0.78%) Databricks
9 6 (0.78%) SAP
9 6 (0.78%) ServiceNow
10 5 (0.65%) EMC
11 4 (0.52%) IBM
11 4 (0.52%) Microsemi
11 4 (0.52%) Xilinx