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 23 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 269 209 177
Rank change year-on-year -60 -32 -104
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 535 576 1,343
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.68% 1.54% 1.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.91% 1.65% 1.89%
Number of salaries quoted 404 432 1,087
10th Percentile £31,250 £29,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £54,641 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +0.66% +4.08% -4.55%
75th Percentile £71,250 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,250 £87,500 £85,400
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 58,933 34,823 70,921
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 75.34% 92.97% 85.77%
Number of salaries quoted 37,117 20,713 53,660
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,591 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.02% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £78,750 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £93,750
UK median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.57%

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 23 April 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 23 April 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 -16 148 £51,000 -2.86% 75
London -35 137 £60,000 -7.69% 38
North of England -79 86 £45,711 -4.52% 51
South West -37 62 £47,500 -2.49% 29
Midlands -65 57 £55,000 +22.22% 38
North West -45 43 £49,400 -5.90% 30
East of England -30 36 £52,500 -8.70% 47
Yorkshire -56 33 £35,000 +13.36% 13
West Midlands -42 29 £55,000 +26.44% 25
East Midlands -63 28 £55,000 +15.79% 13
North East -41 10 £55,750 +39.38% 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 10 (1.87%) IIS
2 8 (1.50%) Confluence
3 7 (1.31%) Moodle
4 5 (0.93%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.37%) Apache
5 2 (0.37%) WordPress
6 1 (0.19%) CMS
6 1 (0.19%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.19%) Umbraco
Applications
1 13 (2.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (1.68%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.93%) AutoCAD
3 5 (0.93%) DaVinci Resolve
3 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (0.93%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.93%) Simulink
4 4 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.56%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.37%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 3 (0.56%) Misys Midas
2 1 (0.19%) Cognos Business Intelligence
2 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.19%) Misys Equation
2 1 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.19%) Sage X3
2 1 (0.19%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 109 (20.37%) Azure
2 100 (18.69%) AWS
3 40 (7.48%) Azure DevOps
4 36 (6.73%) GCP
5 22 (4.11%) GitHub
6 21 (3.93%) SaaS
7 13 (2.43%) BrowserStack
8 10 (1.87%) OpenShift
8 10 (1.87%) Power Platform
8 10 (1.87%) Serverless
9 9 (1.68%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (1.31%) Anthropic Claude
10 7 (1.31%) GitHub Copilot
11 6 (1.12%) AWS CloudFormation
12 5 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
12 5 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
12 5 (0.93%) Microsoft 365
12 5 (0.93%) PaaS
13 4 (0.75%) Amazon EKS
13 4 (0.75%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.50%) Broadband
2 6 (1.12%) Ethernet
3 5 (0.93%) HTTP
3 5 (0.93%) SNMP
3 5 (0.93%) VPN
4 3 (0.56%) Cisco ISE
4 3 (0.56%) Software-Defined Radio
5 2 (0.37%) Modbus
5 2 (0.37%) MQTT
5 2 (0.37%) Network Security
6 1 (0.19%) AMQP
6 1 (0.19%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.19%) Kerberos
6 1 (0.19%) LTE
6 1 (0.19%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.19%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.19%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (7.85%) SQL Server
2 21 (3.93%) PostgreSQL
3 14 (2.62%) OLTP
4 12 (2.24%) MongoDB
4 12 (2.24%) MySQL
5 8 (1.50%) NoSQL
6 7 (1.31%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (1.31%) Power BI
7 6 (1.12%) InfluxDB
7 6 (1.12%) Relational Database
7 6 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.93%) DynamoDB
8 5 (0.93%) Elasticsearch
8 5 (0.93%) Spark SQL
9 4 (0.75%) Crystal Reports
9 4 (0.75%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.37%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.37%) DB2
10 2 (0.37%) Easytrieve
11 1 (0.19%) DTS
Development Applications
1 81 (15.14%) JIRA
2 68 (12.71%) Selenium
3 52 (9.72%) Git
4 44 (8.22%) Postman
5 40 (7.48%) GitLab
6 31 (5.79%) Jenkins
7 30 (5.61%) SoapUI
8 27 (5.05%) Team Foundation Server
9 26 (4.86%) WebDriver
10 19 (3.55%) TestRail
11 18 (3.36%) Cypress.io
12 12 (2.24%) Cucumber
12 12 (2.24%) Zephyr
13 11 (2.06%) JMeter
14 10 (1.87%) SpecFlow
14 10 (1.87%) Subversion
14 10 (1.87%) Visual Studio Code
15 9 (1.68%) JUnit
15 9 (1.68%) REST Assured
16 8 (1.50%) LoadRunner
General
1 161 (30.09%) Social Skills
2 75 (14.02%) Finance
3 71 (13.27%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (6.17%) Electronics
5 22 (4.11%) Law
6 21 (3.93%) Retail
7 18 (3.36%) Banking
8 14 (2.62%) Manufacturing
9 12 (2.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 12 (2.24%) Public Sector
10 11 (2.06%) Games
11 9 (1.68%) Aerospace
12 7 (1.31%) Pharmaceutical
13 6 (1.12%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (0.93%) Health Technology
14 5 (0.93%) Marketing
14 5 (0.93%) Telecoms
15 4 (0.75%) Back Office
15 4 (0.75%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 115 (21.50%) Senior
2 93 (17.38%) Software Engineer
3 67 (12.52%) Lead
4 64 (11.96%) Analyst
4 64 (11.96%) Tester
5 62 (11.59%) Test Engineer
6 44 (8.22%) Developer
7 38 (7.10%) Software Tester
8 37 (6.92%) Development Engineer
9 36 (6.73%) Software Development Engineer
10 34 (6.36%) Software Test Engineer
11 31 (5.79%) Test Development Engineer
12 30 (5.61%) Test Analyst
13 27 (5.05%) Senior Software Engineer
14 26 (4.86%) Senior Developer
15 24 (4.49%) Test Automation Engineer
16 20 (3.74%) Embedded Engineer
16 20 (3.74%) Senior Analyst
17 19 (3.55%) QA Engineer
18 18 (3.36%) Automation Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 85 (15.89%) .NET
2 54 (10.09%) HTML
3 41 (7.66%) SOAP
4 38 (7.10%) Playwright
5 31 (5.79%) React
6 23 (4.30%) XML
7 22 (4.11%) Node.js
8 17 (3.18%) REST
9 14 (2.62%) ASP.NET
10 12 (2.24%) JSON
11 11 (2.06%) .NET Framework
12 10 (1.87%) CSS
13 8 (1.50%) Elastic Stack
13 8 (1.50%) React Native
14 7 (1.31%) RESTful
14 7 (1.31%) Spring
15 6 (1.12%) pytest
15 6 (1.12%) Web Services
16 5 (0.93%) PySpark
16 5 (0.93%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 40 (7.48%) Product Ownership
2 24 (4.49%) Algorithms
2 24 (4.49%) Cloud Native
3 17 (3.18%) Embedded Systems
4 16 (2.99%) Mobile App
5 12 (2.24%) Client/Server
5 12 (2.24%) Management Information System
5 12 (2.24%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (2.06%) Distributed Systems
7 10 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
8 9 (1.68%) Low-Code
8 9 (1.68%) Robotics
9 8 (1.50%) Analytical Mindset
10 7 (1.31%) e-Learning
10 7 (1.31%) NHS
10 7 (1.31%) Onboarding
10 7 (1.31%) Video\Live Streaming
11 6 (1.12%) FPGA
11 6 (1.12%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (0.93%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 44 (8.22%) Windows
2 34 (6.36%) Linux
3 10 (1.87%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.50%) Android
5 6 (1.12%) CentOS
6 4 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (0.56%) FreeRTOS
7 3 (0.56%) Unix
8 2 (0.37%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.37%) VMS
8 2 (0.37%) zOS
9 1 (0.19%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.19%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.19%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 212 (39.63%) Test Automation
2 199 (37.20%) Agile
3 134 (25.05%) Continuous Improvement
4 128 (23.93%) Software Engineering
5 118 (22.06%) Problem-Solving
6 110 (20.56%) DevOps
7 107 (20.00%) CI/CD
8 90 (16.82%) Scrum
9 73 (13.64%) Computer Science
10 68 (12.71%) Mentoring
10 68 (12.71%) SDLC
11 60 (11.21%) Test Scripting
12 57 (10.65%) Non-Functional Testing
13 56 (10.47%) Test Management
14 55 (10.28%) Regression Testing
15 54 (10.09%) API Testing
16 51 (9.53%) Code Quality
17 50 (9.35%) Manual Testing
18 49 (9.16%) AI
19 46 (8.60%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 121 (22.62%) SQL
2 106 (19.81%) Python
3 98 (18.32%) C#
3 98 (18.32%) Java
4 66 (12.34%) JavaScript
5 42 (7.85%) C++
6 40 (7.48%) TypeScript
7 35 (6.54%) C
8 17 (3.18%) PL/SQL
8 17 (3.18%) PowerShell
9 16 (2.99%) Bash
10 14 (2.62%) Go
11 11 (2.06%) PHP
12 9 (1.68%) MATLAB
13 7 (1.31%) VBA
14 6 (1.12%) VBScript
15 5 (0.93%) COBOL
15 5 (0.93%) Embedded C
15 5 (0.93%) Rust
15 5 (0.93%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 167 (31.21%) Degree
2 74 (13.83%) Security Cleared
3 69 (12.90%) ISTQB
4 39 (7.29%) SC Cleared
5 32 (5.98%) Computer Science Degree
6 26 (4.86%) Master's Degree
7 25 (4.67%) DV Cleared
8 22 (4.11%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 19 (3.55%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 12 (2.24%) PhD
11 8 (1.50%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (1.50%) ISEB
12 7 (1.31%) PMI Certification
13 6 (1.12%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 4 (0.75%) BC Cleared
14 4 (0.75%) CIPD
14 4 (0.75%) Numerate Degree
15 3 (0.56%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
15 3 (0.56%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 147 (27.48%) QA
2 30 (5.61%) Accessibility
3 19 (3.55%) Software Quality Assurance
4 9 (1.68%) SLA
5 6 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (0.93%) PMO
7 4 (0.75%) Data Quality
7 4 (0.75%) DO-254
8 3 (0.56%) IEC 61508
8 3 (0.56%) WCAG
9 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.37%) GDPR
9 2 (0.37%) JTAG
9 2 (0.37%) MISRA
9 2 (0.37%) MISRA C
9 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 25 (4.67%) Docker
2 22 (4.11%) Firmware
3 13 (2.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.06%) Active Directory
5 10 (1.87%) Embedded Firmware
6 4 (0.75%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.75%) KVM
6 4 (0.75%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.56%) Terminal Server
8 2 (0.37%) Time Sharing Option
9 1 (0.19%) Xen
Systems Management
1 21 (3.93%) Kubernetes
2 19 (3.55%) Terraform
3 12 (2.24%) Ansible
4 10 (1.87%) Grafana
5 7 (1.31%) SCCM
5 7 (1.31%) SCOM
6 6 (1.12%) Kibana
6 6 (1.12%) logstash
7 4 (0.75%) Rancher
7 4 (0.75%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.56%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.56%) SCOrch
9 2 (0.37%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.37%) HP Fortify
9 2 (0.37%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.19%) Argo
10 1 (0.19%) Istio
10 1 (0.19%) Nessus
Vendors
1 58 (10.84%) Microsoft
2 30 (5.61%) Oracle
3 14 (2.62%) VMware
4 11 (2.06%) Splunk
5 10 (1.87%) Adobe
5 10 (1.87%) IBM
6 7 (1.31%) Google
6 7 (1.31%) Red Hat
7 5 (0.93%) Avid
7 5 (0.93%) Citrix
7 5 (0.93%) HP
7 5 (0.93%) Salesforce
7 5 (0.93%) SolarWinds
7 5 (0.93%) Zoho
8 4 (0.75%) Altera
8 4 (0.75%) Atlassian
8 4 (0.75%) ServiceNow
8 4 (0.75%) SYSPRO
9 3 (0.56%) Juniper
9 3 (0.56%) McAfee