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

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 257 254 183
Rank change year-on-year -3 -71 -110
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 598 511 1,353
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.72% 1.34% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.98% 1.44% 1.87%
Number of salaries quoted 434 358 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 £82,938 £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 61,164 35,487 72,538
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.89% 93.36% 84.12%
Number of salaries quoted 40,556 18,984 54,206
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,779 £29,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £41,250 £40,000
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 £72,761
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £93,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £58,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +2.56% +6.36% -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 26 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 26 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 +26 163 £47,578 -13.49% 57
London -25 150 £60,000 -7.69% 55
North of England -15 101 £50,000 +11.11% 33
South West -42 67 £48,750 +0.08% 27
Midlands -52 64 £55,000 +26.44% 32
North West +12 56 £50,886 -13.75% 22
East of England -8 45 £50,000 -5.66% 40
West Midlands -51 39 £62,500 +167.04% 22
Yorkshire -59 28 £36,332 +17.67% 4
East Midlands -37 25 £55,000 +15.79% 10
North East -30 17 £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 10 (1.67%) IIS
2 7 (1.17%) Confluence
3 6 (1.00%) Moodle
4 5 (0.84%) CMS
4 5 (0.84%) SharePoint
4 5 (0.84%) WordPress
5 2 (0.33%) Apache
5 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.33%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.17%) Jupyter
Applications
1 12 (2.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.84%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.84%) AutoCAD
3 5 (0.84%) DaVinci Resolve
3 5 (0.84%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.84%) 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 (19.06%) Azure
2 107 (17.89%) AWS
3 43 (7.19%) GCP
4 40 (6.69%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (3.51%) GitHub
6 17 (2.84%) Serverless
7 14 (2.34%) BrowserStack
8 11 (1.84%) SaaS
9 10 (1.67%) Power Platform
10 9 (1.51%) OpenShift
11 8 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
11 8 (1.34%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (1.17%) Anthropic Claude
12 7 (1.17%) Azure Data Factory
12 7 (1.17%) GitHub Copilot
12 7 (1.17%) Microsoft 365
13 5 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
13 5 (0.84%) Tricentis Tosca
14 4 (0.67%) Amazon EKS
14 4 (0.67%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.34%) Broadband
2 6 (1.00%) Ethernet
2 6 (1.00%) VPN
3 5 (0.84%) HTTP
3 5 (0.84%) 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%) Wireless
7 1 (0.17%) 5G
7 1 (0.17%) AMQP
7 1 (0.17%) Bluetooth
7 1 (0.17%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.17%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (5.85%) SQL Server
2 21 (3.51%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (3.01%) OLTP
4 12 (2.01%) MongoDB
5 9 (1.51%) DynamoDB
5 9 (1.51%) 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 (0.84%) InfluxDB
9 5 (0.84%) 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 87 (14.55%) JIRA
2 62 (10.37%) Selenium
3 61 (10.20%) Git
4 46 (7.69%) GitLab
5 40 (6.69%) Postman
6 29 (4.85%) Jenkins
7 28 (4.68%) SoapUI
8 27 (4.52%) Team Foundation Server
9 25 (4.18%) WebDriver
10 18 (3.01%) Cypress.io
11 17 (2.84%) TestRail
12 14 (2.34%) Zephyr
13 13 (2.17%) JMeter
13 13 (2.17%) JUnit
14 12 (2.01%) Cucumber
15 10 (1.67%) Subversion
15 10 (1.67%) Visual Studio Code
16 9 (1.51%) REST Assured
17 8 (1.34%) LoadRunner
17 8 (1.34%) SpecFlow
General
1 169 (28.26%) Social Skills
2 80 (13.38%) Analytical Skills
2 80 (13.38%) Finance
3 35 (5.85%) Electronics
4 23 (3.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 23 (3.85%) Law
5 21 (3.51%) Retail
6 20 (3.34%) Banking
6 20 (3.34%) Manufacturing
7 13 (2.17%) Public Sector
8 11 (1.84%) Aerospace
8 11 (1.84%) Games
9 9 (1.51%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (1.51%) Health Technology
10 7 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (1.00%) Back Office
11 6 (1.00%) Marketing
11 6 (1.00%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (0.84%) Publishing
12 5 (0.84%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 135 (22.58%) Senior
2 99 (16.56%) Software Engineer
3 79 (13.21%) Test Engineer
4 66 (11.04%) Developer
5 63 (10.54%) Lead
6 62 (10.37%) Tester
7 58 (9.70%) Analyst
8 42 (7.02%) Senior Developer
8 42 (7.02%) Software Test Engineer
8 42 (7.02%) Software Tester
9 39 (6.52%) Development Engineer
10 36 (6.02%) Software Development Engineer
11 32 (5.35%) Test Development Engineer
12 28 (4.68%) Senior Software Engineer
12 28 (4.68%) Test Analyst
13 25 (4.18%) Test Automation Engineer
14 21 (3.51%) Oracle Developer
14 21 (3.51%) QA Engineer
14 21 (3.51%) Senior Oracle Developer
15 20 (3.34%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (12.04%) .NET
2 59 (9.87%) HTML
3 44 (7.36%) SOAP
4 38 (6.35%) Playwright
5 32 (5.35%) React
6 27 (4.52%) XML
7 21 (3.51%) REST
8 17 (2.84%) Node.js
9 13 (2.17%) ASP.NET
10 12 (2.01%) JSON
10 12 (2.01%) RESTful
11 11 (1.84%) CSS
11 11 (1.84%) Spring
12 9 (1.51%) 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 (8.53%) Product Ownership
2 29 (4.85%) Algorithms
3 18 (3.01%) Embedded Systems
3 18 (3.01%) Mobile App
4 17 (2.84%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (2.17%) Client/Server
6 12 (2.01%) Cloud Native
7 11 (1.84%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
8 10 (1.67%) Life Science
8 10 (1.67%) Management Information System
8 10 (1.67%) Robotics
9 9 (1.51%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (1.51%) 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 (8.03%) Windows
2 40 (6.69%) Linux
3 11 (1.84%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.84%) Android
4 5 (0.84%) CentOS
5 4 (0.67%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.50%) FreeRTOS
6 3 (0.50%) Kali Linux
6 3 (0.50%) Unix
7 2 (0.33%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.33%) VMS
7 2 (0.33%) zOS
8 1 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.17%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (41.47%) Test Automation
2 216 (36.12%) Agile
3 144 (24.08%) Software Engineering
4 139 (23.24%) Continuous Improvement
5 125 (20.90%) DevOps
6 120 (20.07%) Problem-Solving
7 111 (18.56%) CI/CD
8 99 (16.56%) Scrum
9 80 (13.38%) Mentoring
9 80 (13.38%) SDLC
10 79 (13.21%) Computer Science
11 71 (11.87%) AI
12 68 (11.37%) Code Quality
13 63 (10.54%) Test Scripting
14 60 (10.03%) Regression Testing
15 59 (9.87%) Non-Functional Testing
15 59 (9.87%) Test Strategy
16 58 (9.70%) Manual Testing
17 54 (9.03%) Test Management
18 53 (8.86%) API Testing
Programming Languages
1 137 (22.91%) Python
2 125 (20.90%) SQL
3 100 (16.72%) C#
4 93 (15.55%) Java
5 68 (11.37%) JavaScript
6 52 (8.70%) C++
7 42 (7.02%) TypeScript
8 37 (6.19%) C
9 23 (3.85%) PL/SQL
10 16 (2.68%) MATLAB
11 12 (2.01%) Go
11 12 (2.01%) PHP
12 11 (1.84%) PowerShell
13 9 (1.51%) Bash
14 7 (1.17%) VBA
15 6 (1.00%) Groovy
15 6 (1.00%) Rust
16 5 (0.84%) COBOL
16 5 (0.84%) Embedded C
17 4 (0.67%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 181 (30.27%) Degree
2 86 (14.38%) Security Cleared
3 71 (11.87%) ISTQB
4 49 (8.19%) SC Cleared
5 37 (6.19%) Computer Science Degree
6 32 (5.35%) Master's Degree
7 30 (5.02%) DV Cleared
8 21 (3.51%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 13 (2.17%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 12 (2.01%) PhD
11 10 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
12 9 (1.51%) ISEB
13 6 (1.00%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.84%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 5 (0.84%) 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
1 169 (28.26%) QA
2 36 (6.02%) Accessibility
3 20 (3.34%) Software Quality Assurance
4 11 (1.84%) SLA
5 7 (1.17%) Data Quality
5 7 (1.17%) GDPR
6 6 (1.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (0.84%) 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 28 (4.68%) Firmware
2 27 (4.52%) Docker
3 15 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (2.17%) Embedded Firmware
5 12 (2.01%) Active Directory
6 5 (0.84%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.84%) KVM
7 4 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.50%) Terminal Server
9 2 (0.33%) Time Sharing Option
10 1 (0.17%) Xen
Systems Management
1 17 (2.84%) Kubernetes
1 17 (2.84%) Terraform
2 11 (1.84%) Ansible
3 9 (1.51%) Grafana
4 7 (1.17%) SCCM
4 7 (1.17%) SCOM
5 6 (1.00%) Kibana
5 6 (1.00%) logstash
6 4 (0.67%) Rancher
6 4 (0.67%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.50%) HP ALM
7 3 (0.50%) HP Fortify
7 3 (0.50%) SCOrch
8 2 (0.33%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.17%) Argo
9 1 (0.17%) Istio
9 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.17%) Norton AntiVirus
9 1 (0.17%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 55 (9.20%) Microsoft
2 34 (5.69%) Oracle
3 16 (2.68%) VMware
4 14 (2.34%) Splunk
5 10 (1.67%) Adobe
6 9 (1.51%) IBM
7 8 (1.34%) ServiceNow
8 7 (1.17%) Google
9 6 (1.00%) Citrix
9 6 (1.00%) Red Hat
10 5 (0.84%) Avid
10 5 (0.84%) HP
10 5 (0.84%) Salesforce
10 5 (0.84%) SolarWinds
11 4 (0.67%) Altera
11 4 (0.67%) AppDynamics
11 4 (0.67%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.67%) SYSPRO
12 3 (0.50%) Cisco
12 3 (0.50%) Juniper