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 28 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 276 208 172
Rank change year-on-year -68 -36 -101
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 474 556 1,290
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.68% 1.52% 1.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.89% 1.63% 1.92%
Number of salaries quoted 363 420 1,061
10th Percentile £30,100 £31,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £42,281 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,813 £70,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £87,500 £87,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £54,793 £50,000
% change year-on-year +0.38% +9.59% -9.09%

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 53,421 34,107 67,015
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 77.17% 93.42% 86.49%
Number of salaries quoted 33,389 20,285 51,851
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £44,590 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,040 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.27% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £98,750 £102,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%

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 28 March 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 28 March 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 -31 134 £50,000 -4.76% 76
London -26 127 £62,500 -3.85% 55
North of England -74 80 £47,911 -8.74% 48
Midlands -61 46 £55,000 +22.22% 43
South West -45 44 £46,961 -3.19% 36
East of England -28 35 £50,000 -13.04% 30
North West -49 35 £55,000 +4.76% 31
Yorkshire -55 35 £35,000 -0.71% 10
East Midlands -65 24 £55,000 +15.79% 19
West Midlands -21 22 £47,500 +6.15% 24
North East -22 10 £56,500 +41.25% 8
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 7 (1.48%) Moodle
2 5 (1.05%) IIS
3 4 (0.84%) Confluence
4 3 (0.63%) WordPress
5 2 (0.42%) Apache
6 1 (0.21%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.21%) SharePoint
Applications
1 10 (2.11%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.84%) Simulink
5 3 (0.63%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.63%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.42%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.42%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.21%) DaVinci Resolve
7 1 (0.21%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.63%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.42%) Misys Midas
3 1 (0.21%) Cognos Business Intelligence
3 1 (0.21%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.21%) Sage X3
3 1 (0.21%) SAP Business One
3 1 (0.21%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 100 (21.10%) Azure
2 88 (18.57%) AWS
3 36 (7.59%) Azure DevOps
4 33 (6.96%) GCP
5 27 (5.70%) SaaS
6 18 (3.80%) GitHub
7 14 (2.95%) Power Platform
8 13 (2.74%) BrowserStack
9 9 (1.90%) Serverless
10 8 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
11 7 (1.48%) OpenShift
12 6 (1.27%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.27%) PaaS
13 5 (1.05%) AWS Lambda
13 5 (1.05%) Azure Data Factory
14 4 (0.84%) Anthropic Claude
14 4 (0.84%) GitHub Copilot
14 4 (0.84%) IaaS
14 4 (0.84%) Microsoft 365
15 3 (0.63%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.48%) Broadband
2 5 (1.05%) HTTP
3 4 (0.84%) Ethernet
4 3 (0.63%) Cisco ISE
4 3 (0.63%) Network Security
4 3 (0.63%) VPN
5 2 (0.42%) MQTT
5 2 (0.42%) Software-Defined Radio
6 1 (0.21%) AMQP
6 1 (0.21%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.21%) Kerberos
6 1 (0.21%) LTE
6 1 (0.21%) SAN
6 1 (0.21%) SNMP
6 1 (0.21%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.21%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.21%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (7.59%) SQL Server
2 18 (3.80%) PostgreSQL
3 15 (3.16%) OLTP
4 11 (2.32%) MongoDB
5 8 (1.69%) Power BI
6 7 (1.48%) MySQL
6 7 (1.48%) NoSQL
7 6 (1.27%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.05%) Relational Database
8 5 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.84%) Crystal Reports
9 4 (0.84%) DynamoDB
9 4 (0.84%) Elasticsearch
9 4 (0.84%) InfluxDB
9 4 (0.84%) Spark SQL
10 2 (0.42%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.42%) DB2
10 2 (0.42%) Easytrieve
10 2 (0.42%) GIS
10 2 (0.42%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 75 (15.82%) JIRA
2 69 (14.56%) Selenium
3 42 (8.86%) Postman
4 35 (7.38%) Git
5 30 (6.33%) GitLab
5 30 (6.33%) WebDriver
6 29 (6.12%) SoapUI
7 27 (5.70%) Jenkins
8 25 (5.27%) Team Foundation Server
9 17 (3.59%) Cypress.io
10 14 (2.95%) SpecFlow
10 14 (2.95%) TestRail
11 11 (2.32%) Visual Studio
12 10 (2.11%) Subversion
13 9 (1.90%) Cucumber
13 9 (1.90%) JUnit
13 9 (1.90%) REST Assured
13 9 (1.90%) Zephyr
14 7 (1.48%) JMeter
14 7 (1.48%) Robot Framework
General
1 149 (31.43%) Social Skills
2 74 (15.61%) Finance
3 59 (12.45%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (6.33%) Electronics
5 20 (4.22%) Retail
6 18 (3.80%) Law
7 15 (3.16%) Public Sector
8 11 (2.32%) Banking
8 11 (2.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (2.11%) Games
9 10 (2.11%) Manufacturing
10 7 (1.48%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.48%) Marketing
10 7 (1.48%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (1.05%) Aerospace
11 5 (1.05%) Health Technology
11 5 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.05%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.63%) Back Office
12 3 (0.63%) Legal
Job Titles
1 90 (18.99%) Senior
2 74 (15.61%) Software Engineer
3 65 (13.71%) Lead
4 54 (11.39%) Tester
5 51 (10.76%) Analyst
6 49 (10.34%) Developer
6 49 (10.34%) Test Engineer
7 30 (6.33%) Development Engineer
7 30 (6.33%) Test Analyst
8 29 (6.12%) Software Development Engineer
9 28 (5.91%) Software Tester
10 27 (5.70%) Software Test Engineer
11 26 (5.49%) Test Development Engineer
12 25 (5.27%) Senior Developer
13 19 (4.01%) Embedded Engineer
13 19 (4.01%) QA Engineer
14 18 (3.80%) Oracle Developer
14 18 (3.80%) Senior Oracle Developer
14 18 (3.80%) Test Automation Engineer
15 17 (3.59%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (17.09%) .NET
2 49 (10.34%) HTML
3 41 (8.65%) SOAP
4 32 (6.75%) Playwright
4 32 (6.75%) React
5 27 (5.70%) XML
6 23 (4.85%) Node.js
7 19 (4.01%) REST
8 11 (2.32%) ASP.NET
9 10 (2.11%) .NET Framework
9 10 (2.11%) JSON
10 7 (1.48%) CSS
10 7 (1.48%) Elastic Stack
10 7 (1.48%) RESTful
10 7 (1.48%) Spring
11 6 (1.27%) Web Services
12 5 (1.05%) React Native
13 4 (0.84%) Gherkin
13 4 (0.84%) Kafka
13 4 (0.84%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.33%) Product Ownership
2 27 (5.70%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.38%) Algorithms
3 16 (3.38%) Embedded Systems
3 16 (3.38%) Mobile App
4 14 (2.95%) Self-Motivation
5 12 (2.53%) Enterprise Software
6 11 (2.32%) Distributed Systems
7 9 (1.90%) Client/Server
7 9 (1.90%) Low-Code
8 7 (1.48%) e-Learning
8 7 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (1.48%) NHS
8 7 (1.48%) Robotics
8 7 (1.48%) Video\Live Streaming
9 6 (1.27%) Onboarding
10 5 (1.05%) FPGA
10 5 (1.05%) Life Science
10 5 (1.05%) Web Conferencing
11 4 (0.84%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 31 (6.54%) Windows
2 28 (5.91%) Linux
3 9 (1.90%) Android
4 5 (1.05%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.84%) CentOS
5 4 (0.84%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.42%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.42%) Embedded Linux
6 2 (0.42%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.42%) zOS
7 1 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.21%) ThreadX
7 1 (0.21%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 189 (39.87%) Test Automation
2 187 (39.45%) Agile
3 121 (25.53%) Continuous Improvement
4 120 (25.32%) Problem-Solving
5 102 (21.52%) Software Engineering
6 99 (20.89%) CI/CD
7 97 (20.46%) DevOps
8 79 (16.67%) Scrum
9 70 (14.77%) Test Scripting
10 62 (13.08%) Mentoring
11 60 (12.66%) Computer Science
12 56 (11.81%) Manual Testing
13 55 (11.60%) Test Management
14 54 (11.39%) Non-Functional Testing
14 54 (11.39%) SDLC
15 52 (10.97%) API Testing
16 51 (10.76%) Regression Testing
17 42 (8.86%) Test Strategy
18 41 (8.65%) AI
18 41 (8.65%) SDET
Programming Languages
1 117 (24.68%) SQL
2 94 (19.83%) Java
3 83 (17.51%) Python
4 76 (16.03%) C#
5 55 (11.60%) JavaScript
6 42 (8.86%) TypeScript
7 33 (6.96%) C
8 32 (6.75%) C++
9 18 (3.80%) PL/SQL
10 17 (3.59%) Bash
11 15 (3.16%) Go
12 14 (2.95%) PowerShell
13 10 (2.11%) PHP
14 8 (1.69%) T-SQL
15 6 (1.27%) MATLAB
15 6 (1.27%) VBScript
16 5 (1.05%) Rust
17 4 (0.84%) Apex Code
17 4 (0.84%) COBOL
17 4 (0.84%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 150 (31.65%) Degree
2 73 (15.40%) ISTQB
3 65 (13.71%) Security Cleared
4 38 (8.02%) SC Cleared
5 28 (5.91%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (5.27%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
7 22 (4.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 19 (4.01%) DV Cleared
9 13 (2.74%) Master's Degree
10 11 (2.32%) ISEB
11 9 (1.90%) PhD
12 6 (1.27%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (0.84%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
13 4 (0.84%) BC Cleared
13 4 (0.84%) CIPD
13 4 (0.84%) Numerate Degree
13 4 (0.84%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.63%) CITP
14 3 (0.63%) CREST Certified
14 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 120 (25.32%) QA
2 25 (5.27%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.32%) Software Quality Assurance
4 8 (1.69%) SLA
5 5 (1.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.63%) GDPR
7 2 (0.42%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.42%) DO-254
7 2 (0.42%) IEC 61508
7 2 (0.42%) JTAG
7 2 (0.42%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.42%) WCAG
8 1 (0.21%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.21%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 20 (4.22%) Docker
2 17 (3.59%) Firmware
3 12 (2.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.32%) Active Directory
5 9 (1.90%) Embedded Firmware
6 5 (1.05%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.84%) KVM
8 3 (0.63%) Terminal Server
9 2 (0.42%) Time Sharing Option
9 2 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.21%) Xen
Systems Management
1 19 (4.01%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.80%) Terraform
3 8 (1.69%) Grafana
4 6 (1.27%) Ansible
5 4 (0.84%) HP ALM
5 4 (0.84%) SCCM
5 4 (0.84%) SCOM
6 3 (0.63%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.63%) Rancher
7 2 (0.42%) Kibana
7 2 (0.42%) logstash
7 2 (0.42%) Nessus
7 2 (0.42%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.21%) Argo
8 1 (0.21%) HP Fortify
8 1 (0.21%) Istio
Vendors
1 46 (9.70%) Microsoft
2 27 (5.70%) Oracle
3 14 (2.95%) VMware
4 8 (1.69%) Google
4 8 (1.69%) IBM
5 6 (1.27%) HP
5 6 (1.27%) ServiceNow
6 5 (1.05%) Red Hat
6 5 (1.05%) Salesforce
6 5 (1.05%) Siebel
6 5 (1.05%) Splunk
6 5 (1.05%) Zoho
7 4 (0.84%) Altera
8 3 (0.63%) Adobe
8 3 (0.63%) Cisco
8 3 (0.63%) Citrix
8 3 (0.63%) Juniper
8 3 (0.63%) McAfee
8 3 (0.63%) SAP
8 3 (0.63%) SYSPRO