Software Testing Job Trends in Manchester
Software Testing
North West > Manchester
The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in Manchester requiring Software Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 165 | 135 | 116 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -30 | -19 | +1 |
| Permanent jobs citing Software Testing | 43 | 15 | 64 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in Manchester | 0.56% | 0.66% | 1.68% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 0.73% | 0.74% | 1.99% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 26 | 11 | 27 |
| 10th Percentile | £38,750 | £41,250 | £35,000 |
| 25th Percentile | £40,000 | £70,000 | £36,250 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £60,000 | £75,000 | £60,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -20.00% | +25.00% | -4.00% |
| 75th Percentile | £76,250 | £77,500 | £63,750 |
| 90th Percentile | £91,625 | £78,750 | £86,750 |
| North West median annual salary | £44,447 | £66,250 | £50,000 |
| % change year-on-year | -32.91% | +32.50% | -16.67% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
Manchester
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 Manchester.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 5,927 | 2,017 | 3,224 |
| As % of all permanent jobs advertised in Manchester | 76.51% | 88.46% | 84.86% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 4,400 | 1,185 | 1,509 |
| 10th Percentile | £32,500 | £28,350 | £31,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £45,000 | £35,000 | £41,000 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £60,297 | £52,500 | £55,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +14.85% | -4.55% | -8.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £80,000 | £70,000 | £69,500 |
| 90th Percentile | £97,500 | £85,000 | £85,000 |
| North West median annual salary | £55,000 | £50,000 | £52,000 |
| % change year-on-year | +10.00% | -3.85% | -5.45% |
Software Testing Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Software Testing relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in Manchester.
Software Testing Salary Trend in Manchester
Salary distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Software Testing.
Software Testing Salary Histogram in Manchester
Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Testing in Manchester over the 6 months to 17 October 2026.
Software Testing Job Locations in Manchester
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Testing within the Manchester region over the 6 months to 17 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockport | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Software Testing North West |
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Software Testing Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CI/CD | 51.2% | 22 |
| 2 | Agile | 48.8% | 21 |
| 2 | AI | 48.8% | 21 |
| 4 | Software Engineering | 46.5% | 20 |
| 4 | Test Automation | 46.5% | 20 |
| 6 | Microservices | 34.9% | 15 |
| 7 | Continuous Improvement | 27.9% | 12 |
| 7 | DevOps | 27.9% | 12 |
| 7 | Scrum | 27.9% | 12 |
| 10 | Code Quality | 23.3% | 10 |
| 10 | Kanban | 23.3% | 10 |
| 12 | Mentoring | 20.9% | 9 |
| 13 | Collaborative Culture | 18.6% | 8 |
| 13 | Full-Stack Development | 18.6% | 8 |
| 13 | Infrastructure as Code | 18.6% | 8 |
| 13 | Observability | 18.6% | 8 |
| 13 | SDLC | 18.6% | 8 |
| 18 | Data Pipeline | 16.3% | 7 |
| 19 | Clean Code | 14.0% | 6 |
| 19 | LLM | 14.0% | 6 |