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 5 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 273 172 169
Rank change year-on-year -101 -3 -99
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 414 807 1,148
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.73% 1.75% 1.77%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.91% 1.91% 2.00%
Number of salaries quoted 333 458 945
10th Percentile £32,750 £35,000 £31,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £42,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
75th Percentile £72,500 £70,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £92,500 £86,625 £88,750
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 45,633 42,349 57,263
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 80.04% 91.91% 88.36%
Number of salaries quoted 27,719 20,706 45,408
10th Percentile £29,000 £35,000 £29,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £62,000 £55,440
Median % change year-on-year -11.29% +11.83% -11.30%
75th Percentile £77,250 £81,250 £75,772
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% -12.00%

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 5 February 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 5 February 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 -21 123 £47,500 -13.64% 84
London -30 119 £67,500 +8.00% 71
North of England -76 58 £47,500 -9.52% 53
Midlands -42 39 £45,000 -14.29% 46
South West -49 39 £37,500 -25.00% 32
East of England -24 29 £55,000 -4.35% 28
Yorkshire -19 27 £35,000 -22.22% 17
West Midlands -2 20 £42,500 -19.05% 27
East Midlands -51 19 £55,000 +7.32% 19
North West -77 19 £55,000 +4.76% 35
North East -12 12 £56,500 +41.25% 1
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 (1.21%) Confluence
2 3 (0.72%) Moodle
3 2 (0.48%) IIS
3 2 (0.48%) WordPress
4 1 (0.24%) Apache
4 1 (0.24%) CMS
4 1 (0.24%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (2.90%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.45%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.97%) Simulink
5 2 (0.48%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.24%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.24%) Doxygen
6 1 (0.24%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.72%) Dynamics CRM
1 3 (0.72%) Sage X3
2 2 (0.48%) Misys Midas
2 2 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.24%) Cognos Business Intelligence
3 1 (0.24%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.24%) SAP Business One
3 1 (0.24%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 90 (21.74%) Azure
2 66 (15.94%) AWS
3 38 (9.18%) Azure DevOps
4 33 (7.97%) SaaS
5 19 (4.59%) GCP
6 17 (4.11%) Power Platform
7 14 (3.38%) GitHub
8 12 (2.90%) AWS Lambda
8 12 (2.90%) Serverless
9 9 (2.17%) BrowserStack
10 7 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
11 6 (1.45%) AWS CloudFormation
11 6 (1.45%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (1.45%) OpenShift
11 6 (1.45%) PaaS
12 4 (0.97%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (0.97%) Datadog
12 4 (0.97%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.97%) IaaS
13 3 (0.72%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (0.72%) Ethernet
1 3 (0.72%) Network Security
2 2 (0.48%) Cisco ISE
2 2 (0.48%) HTTP
3 1 (0.24%) AMQP
3 1 (0.24%) Kerberos
3 1 (0.24%) LAN
3 1 (0.24%) MQTT
3 1 (0.24%) SAN
3 1 (0.24%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.24%) WAN
3 1 (0.24%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (8.70%) SQL Server
2 18 (4.35%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (2.90%) OLTP
4 11 (2.66%) DynamoDB
5 10 (2.42%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (1.93%) Power BI
6 8 (1.93%) Relational Database
7 7 (1.69%) MySQL
7 7 (1.69%) NoSQL
8 5 (1.21%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.21%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 4 (0.97%) Data Lake
9 4 (0.97%) MongoDB
9 4 (0.97%) Oracle Database
9 4 (0.97%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 3 (0.72%) InfluxDB
10 3 (0.72%) Mixpanel
11 2 (0.48%) GIS
11 2 (0.48%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 78 (18.84%) JIRA
1 78 (18.84%) Selenium
2 54 (13.04%) Postman
3 41 (9.90%) WebDriver
4 36 (8.70%) SoapUI
5 34 (8.21%) Git
6 33 (7.97%) Team Foundation Server
7 26 (6.28%) Jenkins
8 22 (5.31%) GitLab
9 19 (4.59%) Cypress.io
10 13 (3.14%) TestRail
11 11 (2.66%) REST Assured
11 11 (2.66%) Visual Studio
12 10 (2.42%) SpecFlow
12 10 (2.42%) Subversion
13 7 (1.69%) Cucumber
13 7 (1.69%) JMeter
13 7 (1.69%) Zephyr
14 6 (1.45%) Bitbucket
14 6 (1.45%) JUnit
General
1 140 (33.82%) Social Skills
2 71 (17.15%) Finance
3 53 (12.80%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (6.76%) Electronics
5 23 (5.56%) Law
6 16 (3.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (3.38%) Public Sector
8 12 (2.90%) Retail
9 8 (1.93%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (1.93%) Legal
9 8 (1.93%) Manufacturing
9 8 (1.93%) Marketing
9 8 (1.93%) Organisational Skills
9 8 (1.93%) Publishing
10 7 (1.69%) Health Technology
11 6 (1.45%) Banking
11 6 (1.45%) Tech for Good
12 5 (1.21%) Advertising
12 5 (1.21%) Games
13 3 (0.72%) Military
Job Titles
1 81 (19.57%) Senior
2 62 (14.98%) Developer
3 59 (14.25%) Lead
4 51 (12.32%) Test Engineer
5 47 (11.35%) Analyst
6 46 (11.11%) Software Engineer
7 43 (10.39%) Tester
8 35 (8.45%) Test Analyst
9 29 (7.00%) Senior Developer
10 28 (6.76%) Software Developer
11 27 (6.52%) Software Test Engineer
12 20 (4.83%) Software Tester
12 20 (4.83%) Test Automation Engineer
13 16 (3.86%) Full-Stack Engineer
14 15 (3.62%) Development Engineer
14 15 (3.62%) Embedded Engineer
14 15 (3.62%) Oracle Developer
14 15 (3.62%) Senior Oracle Developer
14 15 (3.62%) Software Development Engineer
14 15 (3.62%) Test Development Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 88 (21.26%) .NET
2 54 (13.04%) HTML
3 45 (10.87%) SOAP
4 37 (8.94%) React
5 32 (7.73%) Playwright
6 22 (5.31%) Node.js
7 21 (5.07%) XML
8 17 (4.11%) REST
8 17 (4.11%) RESTful
9 13 (3.14%) .NET Framework
10 12 (2.90%) ASP.NET
11 9 (2.17%) .NET Core
11 9 (2.17%) CSS
11 9 (2.17%) Swagger
12 8 (1.93%) Web Services
13 7 (1.69%) Entity Framework
13 7 (1.69%) JSON
13 7 (1.69%) Spring
14 6 (1.45%) Elastic Stack
14 6 (1.45%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 28 (6.76%) Cloud Native
2 24 (5.80%) Product Ownership
2 24 (5.80%) Self-Motivation
3 18 (4.35%) Embedded Systems
4 13 (3.14%) Mobile App
5 9 (2.17%) Algorithms
6 7 (1.69%) Distributed Systems
6 7 (1.69%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 6 (1.45%) e-Learning
8 5 (1.21%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.21%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (1.21%) Life Science
8 5 (1.21%) Management Information System
8 5 (1.21%) Onboarding
9 4 (0.97%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (0.97%) FPGA
9 4 (0.97%) Web Conferencing
10 3 (0.72%) Driving Licence
10 3 (0.72%) Public Cloud
10 3 (0.72%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 23 (5.56%) Linux
2 22 (5.31%) Windows
3 8 (1.93%) Android
4 4 (0.97%) Unix
4 4 (0.97%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.72%) CentOS
5 3 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.48%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.48%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.48%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.24%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.24%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 193 (46.62%) Agile
2 159 (38.41%) Test Automation
3 124 (29.95%) Problem-Solving
4 99 (23.91%) CI/CD
5 95 (22.95%) Continuous Improvement
6 86 (20.77%) Scrum
7 80 (19.32%) DevOps
8 72 (17.39%) Software Engineering
9 69 (16.67%) Test Scripting
10 60 (14.49%) Mentoring
11 59 (14.25%) API Testing
12 58 (14.01%) Test Management
13 57 (13.77%) Computer Science
14 53 (12.80%) Manual Testing
15 52 (12.56%) Non-Functional Testing
16 47 (11.35%) SDLC
17 38 (9.18%) Software Delivery
18 37 (8.94%) Regression Testing
19 36 (8.70%) Test Strategy
20 35 (8.45%) SDET
Programming Languages
1 115 (27.78%) SQL
2 99 (23.91%) Java
3 88 (21.26%) C#
4 64 (15.46%) Python
5 49 (11.84%) JavaScript
6 47 (11.35%) TypeScript
7 28 (6.76%) C
8 24 (5.80%) C++
9 20 (4.83%) Bash
10 15 (3.62%) PL/SQL
11 13 (3.14%) PowerShell
12 8 (1.93%) Go
13 7 (1.69%) T-SQL
14 5 (1.21%) PHP
15 4 (0.97%) Fortran
15 4 (0.97%) MATLAB
16 3 (0.72%) VBScript
17 2 (0.48%) Objective-C
17 2 (0.48%) VB
17 2 (0.48%) VB6
Qualifications
1 136 (32.85%) Degree
2 78 (18.84%) ISTQB
3 51 (12.32%) Security Cleared
4 33 (7.97%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
5 32 (7.73%) SC Cleared
6 26 (6.28%) Computer Science Degree
7 22 (5.31%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 12 (2.90%) DV Cleared
9 10 (2.42%) ISEB
9 10 (2.42%) Master's Degree
10 9 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (1.69%) PhD
12 5 (1.21%) Microsoft Certification
13 4 (0.97%) Numerate Degree
13 4 (0.97%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.72%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 3 (0.72%) BC Cleared
14 3 (0.72%) CITP
14 3 (0.72%) CREST Certified
15 2 (0.48%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (22.95%) QA
2 28 (6.76%) Accessibility
3 6 (1.45%) SLA
4 5 (1.21%) WCAG
5 4 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.72%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.72%) JTAG
6 3 (0.72%) SEPA
6 3 (0.72%) Software Quality Assurance
7 2 (0.48%) ISO 9000
7 2 (0.48%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.24%) GDPR
8 1 (0.24%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.24%) IEC 61508
8 1 (0.24%) IEC 62304
System Software
1 23 (5.56%) Docker
2 15 (3.62%) Firmware
3 9 (2.17%) Active Directory
4 8 (1.93%) Embedded Firmware
5 4 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.48%) Terminal Server
7 1 (0.24%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 21 (5.07%) Kubernetes
2 17 (4.11%) Terraform
3 6 (1.45%) Grafana
4 5 (1.21%) Ansible
5 4 (0.97%) SCCM
6 3 (0.72%) HP ALM
6 3 (0.72%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.72%) Rancher
6 3 (0.72%) SCOM
7 2 (0.48%) Nessus
8 1 (0.24%) Argo
8 1 (0.24%) Istio
8 1 (0.24%) Kibana
8 1 (0.24%) logstash
8 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.24%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 44 (10.63%) Microsoft
2 26 (6.28%) Oracle
3 6 (1.45%) Google
3 6 (1.45%) ServiceNow
3 6 (1.45%) VMware
4 5 (1.21%) IBM
4 5 (1.21%) Siebel
4 5 (1.21%) Siemens
4 5 (1.21%) Zoho
5 4 (0.97%) Adobe
6 3 (0.72%) Altera
6 3 (0.72%) HP
6 3 (0.72%) Red Hat
6 3 (0.72%) Sage
6 3 (0.72%) SAP
6 3 (0.72%) Splunk
6 3 (0.72%) Tealium
6 3 (0.72%) Workday
7 2 (0.48%) HubSpot
7 2 (0.48%) Xamarin