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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 260 247 179
Rank change year-on-year -13 -68 -101
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 599 512 1,355
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.72% 1.35% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.98% 1.44% 1.87%
Number of salaries quoted 438 358 1,051
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,200 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £51,020
Median % change year-on-year - +7.80% -7.24%
75th Percentile £71,250 £71,250 £66,250
90th Percentile £83,750 £88,250 £85,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +10.00% -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 61,348 35,444 72,599
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.96% 93.35% 84.02%
Number of salaries quoted 40,742 18,936 54,252
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £41,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £93,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £58,375 £55,000
% change year-on-year +2.78% +6.14% -9.84%

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 27 May 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 27 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
South East +21 161 £47,539 -13.57% 58
London -21 152 £60,000 -7.69% 55
North of England -8 100 £50,000 +11.11% 31
Midlands -42 67 £55,000 +26.44% 31
South West -39 66 £47,500 -2.49% 33
North West +7 56 £50,886 -13.75% 22
East of England -10 45 £50,000 -5.66% 40
West Midlands -41 41 £62,500 +167.04% 22
Yorkshire -49 28 £36,332 +17.67% 2
East Midlands -38 26 £55,000 +15.79% 9
North East -28 16 £55,000 +37.50% 7
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 11 (1.84%) IIS
2 7 (1.17%) Confluence
3 6 (1.00%) Moodle
4 5 (0.83%) CMS
4 5 (0.83%) SharePoint
4 5 (0.83%) WordPress
5 3 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.33%) Apache
6 2 (0.33%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.17%) Jupyter
Applications
1 13 (2.17%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.83%) AutoCAD
3 5 (0.83%) DaVinci Resolve
3 5 (0.83%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.83%) Simulink
4 4 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.67%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.50%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.33%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.33%) Misys Midas
1 2 (0.33%) Shopify
1 2 (0.33%) Workday HCM
2 1 (0.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.17%) Misys Equation
2 1 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
Cloud Services
1 114 (19.03%) Azure
2 107 (17.86%) AWS
3 43 (7.18%) GCP
4 40 (6.68%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (3.51%) GitHub
6 17 (2.84%) Serverless
7 14 (2.34%) BrowserStack
8 11 (1.84%) SaaS
9 9 (1.50%) OpenShift
9 9 (1.50%) Power Platform
10 8 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
10 8 (1.34%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (1.34%) Microsoft 365
11 7 (1.17%) Anthropic Claude
11 7 (1.17%) Azure Data Factory
11 7 (1.17%) GitHub Copilot
12 5 (0.83%) AWS CloudFormation
12 5 (0.83%) Tricentis Tosca
13 4 (0.67%) Amazon EKS
13 4 (0.67%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.34%) Broadband
2 7 (1.17%) Ethernet
2 7 (1.17%) VPN
3 5 (0.83%) HTTP
3 5 (0.83%) SNMP
4 4 (0.67%) Software-Defined Radio
5 3 (0.50%) Cisco ISE
6 2 (0.33%) LTE
6 2 (0.33%) Modbus
6 2 (0.33%) MQTT
6 2 (0.33%) Network Security
6 2 (0.33%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.33%) Wireless
7 1 (0.17%) 5G
7 1 (0.17%) AMQP
7 1 (0.17%) Bluetooth
7 1 (0.17%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (6.01%) SQL Server
2 21 (3.51%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (3.01%) OLTP
4 12 (2.00%) MongoDB
5 9 (1.50%) DynamoDB
5 9 (1.50%) MySQL
6 8 (1.34%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (1.34%) Power BI
7 7 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (1.17%) Spark SQL
7 7 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (1.00%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.83%) InfluxDB
9 5 (0.83%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.67%) Crystal Reports
10 4 (0.67%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.50%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.33%) Big Data
12 2 (0.33%) DB2
12 2 (0.33%) Easytrieve
Development Applications
1 86 (14.36%) JIRA
2 62 (10.35%) Selenium
3 61 (10.18%) Git
4 46 (7.68%) GitLab
5 40 (6.68%) Postman
6 28 (4.67%) Jenkins
7 27 (4.51%) SoapUI
7 27 (4.51%) Team Foundation Server
8 25 (4.17%) WebDriver
9 18 (3.01%) Cypress.io
10 17 (2.84%) TestRail
11 14 (2.34%) Zephyr
12 13 (2.17%) JMeter
12 13 (2.17%) JUnit
13 12 (2.00%) Cucumber
14 10 (1.67%) Visual Studio Code
15 9 (1.50%) REST Assured
15 9 (1.50%) Subversion
16 8 (1.34%) LoadRunner
16 8 (1.34%) SpecFlow
General
1 169 (28.21%) Social Skills
2 83 (13.86%) Finance
3 82 (13.69%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (5.68%) Electronics
5 23 (3.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 23 (3.84%) Law
6 21 (3.51%) Banking
6 21 (3.51%) Retail
7 20 (3.34%) Manufacturing
8 13 (2.17%) Public Sector
9 11 (1.84%) Aerospace
9 11 (1.84%) Games
10 9 (1.50%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (1.50%) Health Technology
11 7 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.00%) Back Office
12 6 (1.00%) Marketing
12 6 (1.00%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.83%) Publishing
13 5 (0.83%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 134 (22.37%) Senior
2 99 (16.53%) Software Engineer
3 80 (13.36%) Test Engineer
4 65 (10.85%) Developer
5 63 (10.52%) Lead
6 62 (10.35%) Tester
7 59 (9.85%) Analyst
8 42 (7.01%) Senior Developer
8 42 (7.01%) Software Tester
9 41 (6.84%) Software Test Engineer
10 39 (6.51%) Development Engineer
11 36 (6.01%) Software Development Engineer
12 32 (5.34%) Test Development Engineer
13 29 (4.84%) Senior Software Engineer
14 28 (4.67%) Test Analyst
15 25 (4.17%) Test Automation Engineer
16 22 (3.67%) QA Engineer
17 21 (3.51%) Oracle Developer
17 21 (3.51%) Senior Oracle Developer
18 20 (3.34%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (12.02%) .NET
2 59 (9.85%) HTML
3 43 (7.18%) SOAP
4 38 (6.34%) Playwright
5 32 (5.34%) React
6 26 (4.34%) XML
7 21 (3.51%) REST
8 17 (2.84%) Node.js
9 13 (2.17%) ASP.NET
10 12 (2.00%) JSON
10 12 (2.00%) RESTful
11 11 (1.84%) CSS
11 11 (1.84%) Spring
12 9 (1.50%) React Native
13 8 (1.34%) .NET Framework
13 8 (1.34%) LangChain
13 8 (1.34%) LlamaIndex
14 7 (1.17%) PySpark
15 6 (1.00%) pytest
15 6 (1.00%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 51 (8.51%) Product Ownership
2 30 (5.01%) Algorithms
3 19 (3.17%) Distributed Systems
4 18 (3.01%) Mobile App
5 17 (2.84%) Embedded Systems
6 13 (2.17%) Client/Server
7 12 (2.00%) Cloud Native
8 10 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
8 10 (1.67%) Life Science
8 10 (1.67%) Management Information System
8 10 (1.67%) Robotics
8 10 (1.67%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.50%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (1.50%) FPGA
10 8 (1.34%) AI Agents
10 8 (1.34%) Low-Code
10 8 (1.34%) Video\Live Streaming
11 6 (1.00%) Blog
11 6 (1.00%) e-Learning
11 6 (1.00%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 48 (8.01%) Windows
2 40 (6.68%) Linux
3 11 (1.84%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.83%) Android
4 5 (0.83%) CentOS
5 3 (0.50%) FreeRTOS
5 3 (0.50%) Kali Linux
5 3 (0.50%) Unix
5 3 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.33%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.33%) VMS
6 2 (0.33%) zOS
7 1 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.17%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 249 (41.57%) Test Automation
2 215 (35.89%) Agile
3 145 (24.21%) Software Engineering
4 141 (23.54%) Continuous Improvement
5 125 (20.87%) DevOps
6 120 (20.03%) Problem-Solving
7 112 (18.70%) CI/CD
8 99 (16.53%) Scrum
9 81 (13.52%) Computer Science
10 80 (13.36%) Mentoring
10 80 (13.36%) SDLC
11 72 (12.02%) AI
12 69 (11.52%) Code Quality
13 61 (10.18%) Test Strategy
14 60 (10.02%) Non-Functional Testing
14 60 (10.02%) Regression Testing
14 60 (10.02%) Test Scripting
15 56 (9.35%) Manual Testing
16 54 (9.02%) Test Management
17 53 (8.85%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 138 (23.04%) Python
2 127 (21.20%) SQL
3 100 (16.69%) C#
4 93 (15.53%) Java
5 68 (11.35%) JavaScript
6 52 (8.68%) C++
7 42 (7.01%) TypeScript
8 36 (6.01%) C
9 23 (3.84%) PL/SQL
10 17 (2.84%) MATLAB
11 12 (2.00%) Go
11 12 (2.00%) PHP
11 12 (2.00%) PowerShell
12 9 (1.50%) Bash
13 7 (1.17%) VBA
14 6 (1.00%) Groovy
14 6 (1.00%) Rust
15 5 (0.83%) COBOL
15 5 (0.83%) Embedded C
15 5 (0.83%) Julia
Qualifications
1 183 (30.55%) Degree
2 82 (13.69%) Security Cleared
3 71 (11.85%) ISTQB
4 49 (8.18%) SC Cleared
5 37 (6.18%) Computer Science Degree
6 32 (5.34%) Master's Degree
7 30 (5.01%) DV Cleared
8 21 (3.51%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 13 (2.17%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 12 (2.00%) PhD
11 10 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
12 9 (1.50%) ISEB
13 6 (1.00%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.83%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 5 (0.83%) DBS Check
15 4 (0.67%) BC Cleared
15 4 (0.67%) Chartered Engineer
15 4 (0.67%) CIPD
16 3 (0.50%) Numerate Degree
17 2 (0.33%) CSQA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (28.55%) QA
2 37 (6.18%) Accessibility
3 20 (3.34%) Software Quality Assurance
4 12 (2.00%) SLA
5 7 (1.17%) Data Quality
5 7 (1.17%) GDPR
6 6 (1.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (0.83%) PMO
8 4 (0.67%) DO-254
9 3 (0.50%) IEC 61508
9 3 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.50%) WCAG
10 2 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.33%) JTAG
10 2 (0.33%) MISRA
10 2 (0.33%) MISRA C
10 2 (0.33%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.17%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 27 (4.51%) Docker
1 27 (4.51%) Firmware
2 15 (2.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (2.00%) Active Directory
3 12 (2.00%) Embedded Firmware
4 5 (0.83%) Hyper-V
4 5 (0.83%) KVM
5 4 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.50%) Terminal Server
7 2 (0.33%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.17%) Xen
Systems Management
1 17 (2.84%) Kubernetes
1 17 (2.84%) Terraform
2 11 (1.84%) Ansible
3 9 (1.50%) Grafana
4 6 (1.00%) Kibana
4 6 (1.00%) logstash
4 6 (1.00%) SCCM
4 6 (1.00%) SCOM
5 4 (0.67%) Rancher
5 4 (0.67%) vCenter Server
6 3 (0.50%) HP ALM
6 3 (0.50%) HP Fortify
6 3 (0.50%) SCOrch
7 2 (0.33%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.33%) Norton AntiVirus
8 1 (0.17%) Argo
8 1 (0.17%) Istio
8 1 (0.17%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 56 (9.35%) Microsoft
2 34 (5.68%) Oracle
3 16 (2.67%) VMware
4 14 (2.34%) Splunk
5 10 (1.67%) Adobe
6 9 (1.50%) IBM
6 9 (1.50%) ServiceNow
7 7 (1.17%) Citrix
7 7 (1.17%) Google
8 6 (1.00%) Red Hat
9 5 (0.83%) Avid
9 5 (0.83%) HP
9 5 (0.83%) Salesforce
9 5 (0.83%) SolarWinds
10 4 (0.67%) Altera
10 4 (0.67%) AppDynamics
10 4 (0.67%) Atlassian
10 4 (0.67%) SYSPRO
11 3 (0.50%) Juniper
11 3 (0.50%) McAfee