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

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 284 209 177
Rank change year-on-year -75 -32 -107
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 437 621 1,252
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.67% 1.58% 1.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.86% 1.69% 1.94%
Number of salaries quoted 343 430 1,036
10th Percentile £31,250 £32,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,938 £71,250
90th Percentile £92,500 £87,500 £87,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +4.76% -4.55%

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 50,928 36,703 64,580
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 78.09% 93.67% 87.25%
Number of salaries quoted 31,528 20,155 50,498
10th Percentile £29,750 £32,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.41%

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 13 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 13 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 -29 128 £51,000 -2.86% 88
London -35 116 £63,750 -1.92% 63
North of England -85 69 £46,421 -11.58% 45
South West -33 44 £40,000 -18.23% 34
Midlands -67 38 £52,000 +15.56% 38
East of England -17 34 £50,000 -13.04% 36
Yorkshire -53 32 £35,000 -10.26% 12
North West -63 27 £55,000 +4.76% 28
West Midlands -21 19 £42,500 -5.56% 20
East Midlands -65 19 £55,000 +15.79% 18
North East -21 10 £56,500 +41.25% 5
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 5 (1.14%) Moodle
2 4 (0.92%) Confluence
3 3 (0.69%) IIS
3 3 (0.69%) WordPress
4 1 (0.23%) Apache
4 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
Applications
1 9 (2.06%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.60%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (0.92%) Simulink
4 2 (0.46%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.46%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.23%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.23%) EPLAN
5 1 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.46%) Misys Midas
3 1 (0.23%) Cognos Business Intelligence
3 1 (0.23%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.23%) Sage X3
3 1 (0.23%) SAP Business One
3 1 (0.23%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 95 (21.74%) Azure
2 72 (16.48%) AWS
3 35 (8.01%) Azure DevOps
4 28 (6.41%) GCP
4 28 (6.41%) SaaS
5 18 (4.12%) GitHub
6 15 (3.43%) Power Platform
7 12 (2.75%) BrowserStack
8 10 (2.29%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (2.06%) Serverless
10 7 (1.60%) OpenShift
11 6 (1.37%) AWS CloudFormation
11 6 (1.37%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (1.37%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (1.37%) PaaS
12 4 (0.92%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (0.92%) IaaS
13 3 (0.69%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.69%) Azure AKS
13 3 (0.69%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.92%) Ethernet
1 4 (0.92%) HTTP
2 3 (0.69%) Cisco ISE
2 3 (0.69%) Network Security
3 2 (0.46%) MQTT
3 2 (0.46%) Software-Defined Radio
4 1 (0.23%) AMQP
4 1 (0.23%) Bluetooth
4 1 (0.23%) Broadband
4 1 (0.23%) Kerberos
4 1 (0.23%) LTE
4 1 (0.23%) SAN
4 1 (0.23%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.23%) VPN
4 1 (0.23%) Wi-Fi
4 1 (0.23%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (7.55%) SQL Server
2 15 (3.43%) OLTP
3 13 (2.97%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (1.83%) Power BI
5 7 (1.60%) MySQL
5 7 (1.60%) NoSQL
6 6 (1.37%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (1.14%) DynamoDB
7 5 (1.14%) MongoDB
7 5 (1.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 4 (0.92%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.92%) InfluxDB
8 4 (0.92%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 3 (0.69%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.69%) Spark SQL
10 2 (0.46%) Crystal Reports
10 2 (0.46%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.46%) GIS
10 2 (0.46%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 70 (16.02%) JIRA
2 69 (15.79%) Selenium
3 43 (9.84%) Postman
4 33 (7.55%) WebDriver
5 31 (7.09%) Git
5 31 (7.09%) SoapUI
6 28 (6.41%) GitLab
7 27 (6.18%) Team Foundation Server
8 25 (5.72%) Jenkins
9 17 (3.89%) Cypress.io
10 14 (3.20%) SpecFlow
11 13 (2.97%) TestRail
12 11 (2.52%) Visual Studio
13 10 (2.29%) Subversion
14 8 (1.83%) REST Assured
15 7 (1.60%) JUnit
15 7 (1.60%) Robot Framework
15 7 (1.60%) Zephyr
16 6 (1.37%) Atlassian Bamboo
16 6 (1.37%) Cucumber
General
1 147 (33.64%) Social Skills
2 69 (15.79%) Finance
3 54 (12.36%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (6.86%) Electronics
5 16 (3.66%) Retail
6 15 (3.43%) Law
7 12 (2.75%) Public Sector
8 11 (2.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (2.52%) Manufacturing
9 9 (2.06%) Banking
10 8 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (1.60%) Marketing
12 6 (1.37%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.92%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.92%) Health Technology
14 4 (0.92%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.69%) Games
15 3 (0.69%) Legal
15 3 (0.69%) Military
Job Titles
1 80 (18.31%) Senior
2 64 (14.65%) Software Engineer
3 61 (13.96%) Lead
4 51 (11.67%) Developer
5 50 (11.44%) Analyst
5 50 (11.44%) Tester
6 49 (11.21%) Test Engineer
7 31 (7.09%) Test Analyst
8 26 (5.95%) Software Test Engineer
8 26 (5.95%) Software Tester
9 25 (5.72%) Development Engineer
9 25 (5.72%) Senior Developer
10 24 (5.49%) Software Development Engineer
10 24 (5.49%) Test Development Engineer
11 19 (4.35%) Embedded Engineer
11 19 (4.35%) Software Developer
11 19 (4.35%) Test Automation Engineer
12 18 (4.12%) Oracle Developer
12 18 (4.12%) Senior Oracle Developer
13 16 (3.66%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (18.76%) .NET
2 49 (11.21%) HTML
3 43 (9.84%) SOAP
4 32 (7.32%) Playwright
5 27 (6.18%) React
5 27 (6.18%) XML
6 21 (4.81%) Node.js
7 13 (2.97%) REST
8 10 (2.29%) JSON
9 9 (2.06%) ASP.NET
10 8 (1.83%) .NET Framework
10 8 (1.83%) Spring
11 7 (1.60%) Elastic Stack
11 7 (1.60%) RESTful
12 6 (1.37%) CSS
12 6 (1.37%) Web Services
13 5 (1.14%) Spring Boot
14 4 (0.92%) Gherkin
15 3 (0.69%) pytest
15 3 (0.69%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 28 (6.41%) Cloud Native
2 22 (5.03%) Product Ownership
3 18 (4.12%) Embedded Systems
4 17 (3.89%) Self-Motivation
5 13 (2.97%) Mobile App
6 12 (2.75%) Algorithms
7 11 (2.52%) Distributed Systems
7 11 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.37%) Client/Server
8 6 (1.37%) e-Learning
8 6 (1.37%) Onboarding
9 5 (1.14%) FPGA
9 5 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.14%) Life Science
9 5 (1.14%) Management Information System
9 5 (1.14%) NHS
9 5 (1.14%) Robotics
9 5 (1.14%) Web Conferencing
10 4 (0.92%) PCIe
10 4 (0.92%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 25 (5.72%) Linux
1 25 (5.72%) Windows
2 9 (2.06%) Android
3 5 (1.14%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.92%) CentOS
4 4 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.69%) Unix
6 2 (0.46%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.46%) Embedded Linux
6 2 (0.46%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.46%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.23%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (41.65%) Agile
2 170 (38.90%) Test Automation
3 116 (26.54%) Problem-Solving
4 109 (24.94%) Continuous Improvement
5 99 (22.65%) CI/CD
6 87 (19.91%) DevOps
7 86 (19.68%) Software Engineering
8 81 (18.54%) Scrum
9 68 (15.56%) Test Scripting
10 61 (13.96%) Computer Science
11 59 (13.50%) Mentoring
12 55 (12.59%) Test Management
13 53 (12.13%) Manual Testing
14 50 (11.44%) Non-Functional Testing
15 47 (10.76%) API Testing
15 47 (10.76%) Regression Testing
16 45 (10.30%) SDLC
17 41 (9.38%) Software Delivery
18 39 (8.92%) SDET
19 36 (8.24%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 110 (25.17%) SQL
2 93 (21.28%) Java
3 76 (17.39%) C#
4 69 (15.79%) Python
5 50 (11.44%) JavaScript
6 39 (8.92%) TypeScript
7 32 (7.32%) C
8 31 (7.09%) C++
9 19 (4.35%) Bash
10 18 (4.12%) PL/SQL
11 14 (3.20%) PowerShell
12 9 (2.06%) Go
12 9 (2.06%) PHP
13 8 (1.83%) T-SQL
14 6 (1.37%) MATLAB
15 4 (0.92%) Rust
15 4 (0.92%) VBScript
16 3 (0.69%) Apex Code
16 3 (0.69%) Ruby
17 2 (0.46%) VB
Qualifications
1 147 (33.64%) Degree
2 73 (16.70%) ISTQB
3 61 (13.96%) Security Cleared
4 35 (8.01%) SC Cleared
5 28 (6.41%) Computer Science Degree
6 27 (6.18%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
7 22 (5.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 16 (3.66%) DV Cleared
9 13 (2.97%) Master's Degree
10 10 (2.29%) ISEB
11 9 (2.06%) PhD
12 5 (1.14%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (0.92%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
13 4 (0.92%) BC Cleared
13 4 (0.92%) CIPD
13 4 (0.92%) Numerate Degree
13 4 (0.92%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.69%) CITP
14 3 (0.69%) CREST Certified
14 3 (0.69%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 104 (23.80%) QA
2 23 (5.26%) Accessibility
3 8 (1.83%) Software Quality Assurance
4 6 (1.37%) SLA
5 5 (1.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.46%) GDPR
6 2 (0.46%) IEC 61508
6 2 (0.46%) ISO 9001
6 2 (0.46%) JTAG
6 2 (0.46%) WCAG
7 1 (0.23%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.23%) DO-254
7 1 (0.23%) IEC 61131
7 1 (0.23%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 20 (4.58%) Docker
2 18 (4.12%) Firmware
3 11 (2.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.29%) Embedded Firmware
5 9 (2.06%) Active Directory
6 4 (0.92%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.69%) KVM
7 3 (0.69%) Terminal Server
8 2 (0.46%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.23%) Xen
Systems Management
1 21 (4.81%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.12%) Terraform
3 7 (1.60%) Grafana
4 6 (1.37%) Ansible
5 4 (0.92%) HP ALM
5 4 (0.92%) SCCM
5 4 (0.92%) SCOM
6 3 (0.69%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.69%) Rancher
7 2 (0.46%) Kibana
7 2 (0.46%) logstash
7 2 (0.46%) Nessus
7 2 (0.46%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.23%) Argo
8 1 (0.23%) Istio
Vendors
1 38 (8.70%) Microsoft
2 27 (6.18%) Oracle
3 13 (2.97%) VMware
4 8 (1.83%) Google
5 6 (1.37%) HP
5 6 (1.37%) IBM
6 5 (1.14%) Red Hat
6 5 (1.14%) Siebel
6 5 (1.14%) Zoho
7 4 (0.92%) Altera
7 4 (0.92%) Salesforce
7 4 (0.92%) ServiceNow
7 4 (0.92%) Splunk
8 3 (0.69%) Cisco
8 3 (0.69%) HubSpot
8 3 (0.69%) Juniper
8 3 (0.69%) McAfee
8 3 (0.69%) SAP
9 2 (0.46%) Adobe
9 2 (0.46%) Apple