Test Automation Job Trends in England

Automated Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Test Automation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 82 86
Rank change year-on-year -20 +4 -49
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,069 1,639 1,593
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.05% 3.41% 3.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.52% 3.76% 3.57%
Number of salaries quoted 732 758 1,212
10th Percentile £41,025 £41,250 £38,838
25th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £62,500 £62,009
Median % change year-on-year - +0.79% +3.35%
75th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £107,500 £105,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £62,500 £62,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year - - +4.17%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Test Automation 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 42,425 43,642 44,587
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 81.21% 90.74% 89.79%
Number of salaries quoted 25,405 21,401 34,519
10th Percentile £28,675 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,628 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £100,000 £98,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Test Automation relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Test Automation job vacancy trend in England

Test Automation
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in England over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Automation in England

Test Automation
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Test Automation within the England region over the 6 months to 12 January 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
London +23 510 £80,000 - 210
South East -50 174 £55,000 - 439
North of England -63 130 £60,000 +21.21% 300
South West -5 104 £52,500 -4.55% 231
Midlands -60 81 £55,000 -8.33% 188
North West -29 75 £60,000 +27.66% 108
West Midlands -30 50 £55,200 -8.00% 59
East of England -40 46 £50,000 -28.57% 240
Yorkshire -42 43 £55,000 +11.11% 144
East Midlands -52 34 £55,000 -8.33% 126
North East -15 12 £57,600 -5.57% 48
Test Automation
UK

Test Automation
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 33 (3.09%) Confluence
2 19 (1.78%) Apache Airflow
3 17 (1.59%) Apache Spark
4 13 (1.22%) Appian
5 10 (0.94%) Apache
5 10 (0.94%) SharePoint
6 8 (0.75%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.65%) Apache Solr
7 7 (0.65%) CMS
8 4 (0.37%) WordPress
9 3 (0.28%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 3 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.19%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 2 (0.19%) IIS
10 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Exchange
10 2 (0.19%) nginx
11 1 (0.094%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.094%) Camunda
11 1 (0.094%) JBoss
11 1 (0.094%) SAS
Applications
1 17 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (1.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.03%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.37%) Fusion 360
6 3 (0.28%) Sketch
7 2 (0.19%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.094%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.094%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.094%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.094%) Trello
Business Applications
1 30 (2.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.68%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.37%) Elite 3E
3 4 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
3 4 (0.37%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.37%) Shopify
4 3 (0.28%) SAP CX
5 2 (0.19%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (0.19%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.094%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.094%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.094%) Postilion
6 1 (0.094%) SAP Hybris
6 1 (0.094%) Siebel CRM
6 1 (0.094%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 312 (29.19%) Azure
2 269 (25.16%) AWS
3 166 (15.53%) Azure DevOps
4 103 (9.64%) GCP
5 93 (8.70%) GitHub
6 76 (7.11%) SaaS
7 46 (4.30%) Power Platform
8 42 (3.93%) PaaS
9 40 (3.74%) GitHub Actions
10 38 (3.55%) Serverless
11 37 (3.46%) Amazon EKS
12 31 (2.90%) Datadog
13 25 (2.34%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 24 (2.25%) Dynamics 365
15 22 (2.06%) Amazon S3
15 22 (2.06%) Power Automate
15 22 (2.06%) Salesforce Service Cloud
16 21 (1.96%) Azure Data Factory
17 19 (1.78%) AWS Lambda
18 17 (1.59%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.06%) DNS
2 20 (1.87%) HTTP
2 20 (1.87%) TCP/IP
3 13 (1.22%) SD-WAN
3 13 (1.22%) WAN
4 11 (1.03%) VPN
5 10 (0.94%) 5G
6 8 (0.75%) Firewall
7 7 (0.65%) CHAP
8 5 (0.47%) Multicast
8 5 (0.47%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (0.37%) 3G
9 4 (0.37%) GPRS
9 4 (0.37%) GSM
9 4 (0.37%) Modbus
9 4 (0.37%) RS-232
9 4 (0.37%) RS-485
9 4 (0.37%) SMTP
9 4 (0.37%) SSL
9 4 (0.37%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (6.17%) SQL Server
2 64 (5.99%) Relational Database
3 57 (5.33%) PostgreSQL
4 40 (3.74%) MySQL
5 30 (2.81%) NoSQL
6 20 (1.87%) Data Warehouse
7 19 (1.78%) MongoDB
8 17 (1.59%) Power BI
9 16 (1.50%) RDBMS
10 14 (1.31%) DB2
10 14 (1.31%) Elasticsearch
11 13 (1.22%) BigQuery
12 12 (1.12%) DynamoDB
12 12 (1.12%) Pinecone
13 9 (0.84%) Amazon RDS
13 9 (0.84%) MariaDB
14 8 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 7 (0.65%) Oracle Database
16 6 (0.56%) Big Data
17 5 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 173 (16.18%) Selenium
2 126 (11.79%) JIRA
3 111 (10.38%) Git
4 91 (8.51%) Jenkins
5 69 (6.45%) Cypress.io
6 57 (5.33%) Cucumber
7 52 (4.86%) Postman
8 45 (4.21%) GitLab
9 35 (3.27%) JMeter
10 32 (2.99%) TeamCity
11 25 (2.34%) eCATT
12 24 (2.25%) Robot Framework
12 24 (2.25%) Snyk
13 23 (2.15%) REST Assured
14 22 (2.06%) JUnit
15 20 (1.87%) Appium
15 20 (1.87%) NeoLoad
15 20 (1.87%) WebDriver
16 19 (1.78%) Bitbucket
16 19 (1.78%) SpecFlow
General
1 335 (31.34%) Social Skills
2 279 (26.10%) Finance
3 114 (10.66%) Analytical Skills
4 87 (8.14%) Law
5 86 (8.04%) Banking
6 69 (6.45%) Marketing
7 58 (5.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 53 (4.96%) Manufacturing
9 50 (4.68%) Public Sector
10 43 (4.02%) Retail
11 37 (3.46%) Front Office
12 36 (3.37%) Financial Institution
13 34 (3.18%) Electronics
14 26 (2.43%) Presentation Skills
15 22 (2.06%) Back Office
16 20 (1.87%) Legal
17 18 (1.68%) Documentation Skills
18 16 (1.50%) Influencing Skills
19 14 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
20 12 (1.12%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 285 (26.66%) Senior
2 221 (20.67%) Developer
3 191 (17.87%) Lead
4 121 (11.32%) Test Engineer
5 105 (9.82%) Senior Developer
6 89 (8.33%) Software Engineer
7 65 (6.08%) Analyst
8 61 (5.71%) QA Engineer
9 59 (5.52%) Test Leader
10 54 (5.05%) Test Automation Engineer
11 53 (4.96%) Python Developer
12 52 (4.86%) Tester
13 44 (4.12%) Automation Engineer
14 38 (3.55%) Test Analyst
15 37 (3.46%) Automation Test Lead
15 37 (3.46%) QA Automation Engineer
16 33 (3.09%) Automation Tester
17 32 (2.99%) Java Engineer
17 32 (2.99%) QA Leader
17 32 (2.99%) Quality Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 107 (10.01%) React
2 98 (9.17%) .NET
3 84 (7.86%) Playwright
4 70 (6.55%) REST
5 66 (6.17%) RESTful
6 64 (5.99%) Node.js
7 61 (5.71%) Spring
8 56 (5.24%) CSS
8 56 (5.24%) HTML
9 47 (4.40%) pytest
10 42 (3.93%) Kafka
11 34 (3.18%) Spring Boot
12 33 (3.09%) Flask
13 30 (2.81%) YAML
14 29 (2.71%) AngularJS
14 29 (2.71%) FastAPI
15 28 (2.62%) Elastic Stack
16 26 (2.43%) JSON
17 25 (2.34%) Django
18 23 (2.15%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 123 (11.51%) Cloud Native
2 71 (6.64%) Product Ownership
3 50 (4.68%) Self-Motivation
4 45 (4.21%) Management Information System
5 38 (3.55%) Mobile App
6 29 (2.71%) Hedge funds
7 28 (2.62%) Onboarding
8 27 (2.53%) Data Structures
8 27 (2.53%) Legacy Systems
9 24 (2.25%) Satnav
9 24 (2.25%) Security Posture
10 21 (1.96%) Equities
11 20 (1.87%) GNSS
12 19 (1.78%) Algorithms
12 19 (1.78%) Greenfield Project
12 19 (1.78%) Virtual Team
13 18 (1.68%) Distributed Systems
14 17 (1.59%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 15 (1.40%) Low-Code
16 13 (1.22%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 104 (9.73%) Linux
2 65 (6.08%) Windows
3 29 (2.71%) Apple iOS
4 28 (2.62%) Android
5 23 (2.15%) Unix
6 13 (1.22%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.47%) Embedded Linux
7 5 (0.47%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.37%) Debian
9 3 (0.28%) CentOS
9 3 (0.28%) Windows 10
10 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.19%) Solaris
10 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.094%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.094%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.094%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 503 (47.05%) CI/CD
2 429 (40.13%) Agile
3 321 (30.03%) DevOps
4 278 (26.01%) Problem-Solving
5 203 (18.99%) Mentoring
6 186 (17.40%) Continuous Improvement
7 179 (16.74%) Software Engineering
8 140 (13.10%) Software Testing
9 133 (12.44%) Test Strategy
10 123 (11.51%) Microservices
11 122 (11.41%) AI
12 109 (10.20%) Containerisation
12 109 (10.20%) SDLC
13 101 (9.45%) Roadmaps
14 100 (9.35%) User Experience
15 99 (9.26%) Manual Testing
16 98 (9.17%) Infrastructure as Code
17 97 (9.07%) Test Management
18 95 (8.89%) Computer Science
19 93 (8.70%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 305 (28.53%) Python
2 230 (21.52%) Java
3 196 (18.33%) SQL
4 171 (16.00%) JavaScript
5 153 (14.31%) C#
6 101 (9.45%) TypeScript
7 70 (6.55%) PowerShell
8 48 (4.49%) C++
9 33 (3.09%) PHP
10 26 (2.43%) Bash
11 25 (2.34%) Go
12 19 (1.78%) Kotlin
13 16 (1.50%) Bicep
14 12 (1.12%) C
14 12 (1.12%) MATLAB
15 11 (1.03%) Scala
15 11 (1.03%) VBA
16 6 (0.56%) Swift
17 5 (0.47%) Delphi
17 5 (0.47%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 164 (15.34%) Degree
2 79 (7.39%) Security Cleared
3 67 (6.27%) ISTQB
4 57 (5.33%) Computer Science Degree
5 51 (4.77%) SC Cleared
6 29 (2.71%) Master's Degree
7 28 (2.62%) DV Cleared
8 24 (2.25%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 21 (1.96%) DBS Check
9 21 (1.96%) HND
10 17 (1.59%) Azure Certification
11 14 (1.31%) AWS Certification
11 14 (1.31%) ISEB
12 10 (0.94%) PhD
13 9 (0.84%) BPSS Clearance
13 9 (0.84%) CEH
14 8 (0.75%) CISA
15 7 (0.65%) CISM
15 7 (0.65%) CISSP
15 7 (0.65%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 272 (25.44%) QA
2 58 (5.43%) Accessibility
3 45 (4.21%) NIST
4 41 (3.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 31 (2.90%) Data Quality
6 22 (2.06%) NCSC
7 17 (1.59%) GDPR
8 14 (1.31%) WCAG
9 10 (0.94%) ISO 9001
10 9 (0.84%) ISO 22301
10 9 (0.84%) SLA
11 7 (0.65%) COBIT
11 7 (0.65%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.37%) ISO 13485
12 4 (0.37%) MISRA
12 4 (0.37%) PCI DSS
13 3 (0.28%) Section 508
13 3 (0.28%) SEPA
14 2 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
14 2 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 155 (14.50%) Docker
2 9 (0.84%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.65%) Firmware
4 4 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
5 2 (0.19%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.094%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.094%) KVM
6 1 (0.094%) Terminal Server
6 1 (0.094%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 164 (15.34%) Kubernetes
2 128 (11.97%) Terraform
3 55 (5.14%) Grafana
4 47 (4.40%) Ansible
5 28 (2.62%) HP ALM
6 25 (2.34%) Prometheus
7 7 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (0.47%) Argo
9 4 (0.37%) logstash
10 3 (0.28%) Control-M
10 3 (0.28%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.28%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.19%) HP Quality Center
11 2 (0.19%) Nessus
11 2 (0.19%) Rancher
11 2 (0.19%) SCCM
11 2 (0.19%) SCOM
12 1 (0.094%) CA Service Virtualization
12 1 (0.094%) Kibana
12 1 (0.094%) Puppet
Vendors
1 91 (8.51%) Microsoft
2 51 (4.77%) SAP
3 48 (4.49%) Oracle
4 44 (4.12%) Salesforce
5 28 (2.62%) HP
6 27 (2.53%) Databricks
6 27 (2.53%) Google
7 21 (1.96%) VMware
8 19 (1.78%) Black Duck
8 19 (1.78%) Coverity
9 17 (1.59%) Guidewire
10 15 (1.40%) OpenAI
10 15 (1.40%) Splunk
11 14 (1.31%) UiPath
12 12 (1.12%) Commvault
13 10 (0.94%) Blue Prism
13 10 (0.94%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.84%) Atlassian
14 9 (0.84%) Automation Anywhere
14 9 (0.84%) ServiceNow