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 19 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 246 268 169
Rank change year-on-year +22 -99 -3
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 729 498 1,138
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.77% 1.14% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.04% 1.27% 1.93%
Number of salaries quoted 494 358 710
10th Percentile £29,500 £25,750 £32,500
25th Percentile £39,050 £38,813 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.35%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £78,750 £82,000
UK median annual salary £54,300 £55,783 £55,000
% change year-on-year -2.66% +1.42% 0.00%

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 69,923 39,061 58,921
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.56% 89.26% 81.17%
Number of salaries quoted 49,411 22,522 38,211
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,750 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 19 August 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 19 August 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
London -40 160 £69,501 +8.60% 175
South East +6 155 £46,250 -7.50% 110
North of England +16 135 £55,000 +29.41% 85
Midlands -3 104 £55,000 +29.41% 66
South West -26 88 £52,500 -6.25% 38
East of England +25 79 £50,000 -5.66% 62
West Midlands -4 66 £55,000 +266.67% 48
North West +14 65 £52,500 -27.59% 50
North East -19 43 £57,500 +62.54% 21
East Midlands -6 38 £55,000 +1.85% 18
Yorkshire -33 27 £37,663 +32.15% 16
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 14 (1.92%) IIS
2 10 (1.37%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.23%) CMS
3 9 (1.23%) Confluence
4 5 (0.69%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.55%) Moodle
6 3 (0.41%) Apache
6 3 (0.41%) WinCC
6 3 (0.41%) WordPress
7 2 (0.27%) nginx
7 2 (0.27%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.14%) Jupyter
Applications
1 18 (2.47%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (2.19%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.51%) Simulink
4 7 (0.96%) Spreadsheet
5 6 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.82%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.69%) AutoCAD
6 5 (0.69%) DaVinci Resolve
7 3 (0.41%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.14%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (0.41%) SystmOne
2 2 (0.27%) Sage 200
2 2 (0.27%) Shopify
2 2 (0.27%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.14%) Misys Equation
3 1 (0.14%) Misys Midas
3 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 129 (17.70%) AWS
2 127 (17.42%) Azure
3 42 (5.76%) Azure DevOps
4 35 (4.80%) GCP
5 31 (4.25%) GitHub
6 30 (4.12%) Serverless
7 26 (3.57%) Power Platform
8 20 (2.74%) Microsoft 365
9 15 (2.06%) SaaS
10 14 (1.92%) GitHub Copilot
11 13 (1.78%) AWS Lambda
12 11 (1.51%) BrowserStack
12 11 (1.51%) OpenShift
13 10 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (1.23%) Anthropic Claude
15 8 (1.10%) AWS CloudFormation
16 6 (0.82%) Azure Functions
16 6 (0.82%) Tricentis Tosca
17 5 (0.69%) Amazon ECS
17 5 (0.69%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.51%) SNMP
1 11 (1.51%) VPN
2 8 (1.10%) Broadband
2 8 (1.10%) HTTP
2 8 (1.10%) TCP/IP
3 4 (0.55%) Ethernet
3 4 (0.55%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (0.41%) Modbus
4 3 (0.41%) Wireshark
5 2 (0.27%) ATM
5 2 (0.27%) DNS
5 2 (0.27%) LTE
5 2 (0.27%) Wireless
6 1 (0.14%) 5G
6 1 (0.14%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.14%) Cisco ISE
6 1 (0.14%) Internet
6 1 (0.14%) Network Security
6 1 (0.14%) SSL
6 1 (0.14%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (5.76%) SQL Server
2 22 (3.02%) Power BI
3 20 (2.74%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (1.78%) DynamoDB
5 12 (1.65%) Elasticsearch
5 12 (1.65%) Relational Database
6 10 (1.37%) Azure SQL Database
7 9 (1.23%) MongoDB
7 9 (1.23%) OLTP
8 8 (1.10%) NoSQL
8 8 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 7 (0.96%) InfluxDB
9 7 (0.96%) MySQL
10 6 (0.82%) Geospatial Data
11 5 (0.69%) Oracle Database
11 5 (0.69%) Spark SQL
12 4 (0.55%) Crystal Reports
12 4 (0.55%) Flink
13 3 (0.41%) Big Data
13 3 (0.41%) DTS
Development Applications
1 91 (12.48%) Git
2 71 (9.74%) JIRA
3 60 (8.23%) Selenium
4 50 (6.86%) GitLab
5 41 (5.62%) Jenkins
6 29 (3.98%) Postman
7 27 (3.70%) Cypress.io
8 19 (2.61%) TestRail
9 18 (2.47%) JUnit
10 17 (2.33%) Cucumber
10 17 (2.33%) Zephyr
11 15 (2.06%) JMeter
12 14 (1.92%) Gatling
13 12 (1.65%) REST Assured
14 9 (1.23%) Claude Code
15 8 (1.10%) LoadRunner
15 8 (1.10%) Visual Studio Code
16 7 (0.96%) Maven
16 7 (0.96%) Robot Framework
16 7 (0.96%) SpecFlow
General
1 228 (31.28%) Social Skills
2 125 (17.15%) Analytical Skills
3 97 (13.31%) Finance
4 49 (6.72%) Electronics
5 43 (5.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 39 (5.35%) Law
7 38 (5.21%) Manufacturing
8 23 (3.16%) Banking
9 21 (2.88%) Public Sector
10 20 (2.74%) Aerospace
11 16 (2.19%) Retail
12 15 (2.06%) Documentation Skills
13 14 (1.92%) Aviation
13 14 (1.92%) Organisational Skills
14 13 (1.78%) Games
15 12 (1.65%) Legal
16 11 (1.51%) Automotive
17 9 (1.23%) Back Office
17 9 (1.23%) Military
18 8 (1.10%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 170 (23.32%) Senior
2 122 (16.74%) Software Engineer
3 96 (13.17%) Test Engineer
4 86 (11.80%) Developer
5 79 (10.84%) Lead
6 64 (8.78%) Analyst
7 63 (8.64%) Tester
8 46 (6.31%) Senior Developer
9 42 (5.76%) Software Test Engineer
10 40 (5.49%) Software Tester
11 38 (5.21%) Software Developer
12 35 (4.80%) QA Engineer
13 34 (4.66%) Senior Software Engineer
14 28 (3.84%) Embedded Engineer
15 27 (3.70%) Test Automation Engineer
16 26 (3.57%) Junior
17 23 (3.16%) Development Engineer
17 23 (3.16%) Embedded Software Engineer
18 21 (2.88%) Consultant
18 21 (2.88%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (9.47%) .NET
2 53 (7.27%) Playwright
3 46 (6.31%) HTML
4 41 (5.62%) React
5 34 (4.66%) REST
6 26 (3.57%) ASP.NET
7 23 (3.16%) CSS
8 20 (2.74%) XML
9 15 (2.06%) RESTful
10 14 (1.92%) Node.js
11 12 (1.65%) ASP.NET Core
11 12 (1.65%) JSON
11 12 (1.65%) React Native
11 12 (1.65%) SOAP
11 12 (1.65%) Swagger
12 11 (1.51%) Spring
13 10 (1.37%) pytest
14 8 (1.10%) Elastic Stack
14 8 (1.10%) Gherkin
14 8 (1.10%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 58 (7.96%) Product Ownership
2 33 (4.53%) Distributed Systems
3 31 (4.25%) Algorithms
4 27 (3.70%) Embedded Systems
5 22 (3.02%) Management Information System
6 20 (2.74%) Mobile App
7 19 (2.61%) Enterprise Software
8 17 (2.33%) Cloud Native
9 16 (2.19%) AI Agents
9 16 (2.19%) Robotics
10 14 (1.92%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.92%) Client/Server
11 12 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
11 12 (1.65%) Video\Live Streaming
12 11 (1.51%) Driving Licence
12 11 (1.51%) FPGA
12 11 (1.51%) Low-Code
13 10 (1.37%) Legacy Applications
14 9 (1.23%) Onboarding
15 8 (1.10%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 88 (12.07%) Windows
2 70 (9.60%) Linux
3 20 (2.74%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.96%) CentOS
5 6 (0.82%) Embedded Linux
6 5 (0.69%) Android
6 5 (0.69%) Unix
7 4 (0.55%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.55%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.55%) VMS
8 3 (0.41%) FreeRTOS
8 3 (0.41%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.27%) zOS
10 1 (0.14%) Debian
10 1 (0.14%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 293 (40.19%) Test Automation
2 264 (36.21%) Agile
3 228 (31.28%) Software Engineering
4 197 (27.02%) Continuous Improvement
5 177 (24.28%) CI/CD
6 171 (23.46%) Problem-Solving
7 160 (21.95%) DevOps
8 119 (16.32%) Code Quality
9 106 (14.54%) Mentoring
9 106 (14.54%) Validation
10 105 (14.40%) AI
11 102 (13.99%) SDLC
12 92 (12.62%) Scrum
13 90 (12.35%) Test Strategy
14 76 (10.43%) Regression Testing
15 71 (9.74%) Computer Science
16 65 (8.92%) Manual Testing
17 52 (7.13%) Test Scripting
18 51 (7.00%) Software Architecture
19 47 (6.45%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 200 (27.43%) Python
2 132 (18.11%) SQL
3 110 (15.09%) C#
4 86 (11.80%) JavaScript
5 82 (11.25%) Java
6 79 (10.84%) C++
7 60 (8.23%) C
8 48 (6.58%) TypeScript
9 23 (3.16%) MATLAB
10 22 (3.02%) PowerShell
11 18 (2.47%) Bash
12 13 (1.78%) Go
13 12 (1.65%) PL/SQL
14 10 (1.37%) Embedded C
14 10 (1.37%) PHP
15 9 (1.23%) Groovy
15 9 (1.23%) Julia
16 8 (1.10%) R
17 7 (0.96%) VBA
18 6 (0.82%) Rust
Qualifications
1 169 (23.18%) Degree
2 128 (17.56%) Security Cleared
3 76 (10.43%) SC Cleared
4 40 (5.49%) ISTQB
5 38 (5.21%) DV Cleared
6 35 (4.80%) Master's Degree
7 32 (4.39%) Computer Science Degree
8 19 (2.61%) BPSS Clearance
9 10 (1.37%) ISEB
10 9 (1.23%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 8 (1.10%) PhD
12 7 (0.96%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
13 5 (0.69%) DBS Check
14 4 (0.55%) Chartered Engineer
15 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 3 (0.41%) PMI Certification
16 2 (0.27%) HND
16 2 (0.27%) MCSA
16 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Certification
16 2 (0.27%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 210 (28.81%) QA
2 46 (6.31%) Accessibility
3 22 (3.02%) GDPR
4 21 (2.88%) Software Quality Assurance
5 13 (1.78%) Data Quality
5 13 (1.78%) WCAG
6 9 (1.23%) SLA
7 5 (0.69%) DO-254
7 5 (0.69%) IEC 61508
7 5 (0.69%) PMO
8 3 (0.41%) IEC 61131
8 3 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 3 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.27%) Automotive SPICE
9 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.27%) MISRA
9 2 (0.27%) MISRA C
9 2 (0.27%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.14%) DO-160
10 1 (0.14%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 50 (6.86%) Docker
2 32 (4.39%) Firmware
3 18 (2.47%) Active Directory
4 15 (2.06%) Embedded Firmware
5 11 (1.51%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.41%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.41%) KVM
8 2 (0.27%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.14%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 35 (4.80%) Kubernetes
2 22 (3.02%) Terraform
3 21 (2.88%) Grafana
4 18 (2.47%) Ansible
5 9 (1.23%) Kibana
6 8 (1.10%) logstash
7 6 (0.82%) vCenter Server
8 5 (0.69%) Functional Safety
9 4 (0.55%) HP Fortify
9 4 (0.55%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.55%) SCCM
9 4 (0.55%) SCOM
10 3 (0.41%) HP ALM
10 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Intune
10 3 (0.41%) Norton AntiVirus
10 3 (0.41%) SCOrch
11 2 (0.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 2 (0.27%) Puppet
11 2 (0.27%) Rancher
11 2 (0.27%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 67 (9.19%) Microsoft
2 21 (2.88%) Splunk
3 20 (2.74%) Oracle
4 13 (1.78%) VMware
5 11 (1.51%) Citrix
6 10 (1.37%) Atlassian
6 10 (1.37%) Google
7 9 (1.23%) Intel
7 9 (1.23%) Red Hat
8 8 (1.10%) Adobe
8 8 (1.10%) ServiceNow
9 7 (0.96%) IBM
10 6 (0.82%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.69%) Avid
11 5 (0.69%) HP
11 5 (0.69%) Siemens
11 5 (0.69%) SolarWinds
12 4 (0.55%) EMC
12 4 (0.55%) Veracode
12 4 (0.55%) Xilinx