QA Job Trends in the North of England

Quality Assurance (QA)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring QA skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 111 61 86
Rank change year-on-year -50 +25 -49
Permanent jobs citing QA 186 415 260
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 1.91% 3.34% 3.40%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 21.63% 24.76% 23.17%
Number of salaries quoted 123 145 182
10th Percentile £28,750 £25,000 £41,825
25th Percentile £37,500 £26,000 £46,417
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £41,000 £57,291
Median % change year-on-year +34.15% -28.43% +8.10%
75th Percentile £71,250 £53,750 £72,188
90th Percentile £80,000 £72,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -15.38% +8.33%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
North of England

QA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the North of England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 860 1,676 1,122
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.81% 13.50% 14.65%
Number of salaries quoted 492 678 827
10th Percentile £28,571 £25,000 £28,750
25th Percentile £33,125 £32,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,750 £46,000 £50,139
Median % change year-on-year +5.98% -8.26% +0.28%
75th Percentile £64,875 £61,095 £66,514
90th Percentile £77,500 £77,500 £81,130
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% - +4.35%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

QA job vacancy trend in the North of England

QA
Salary Trend in the North of England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing QA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing QA

QA
Salary Histogram in the North of England

Salary distribution for jobs citing QA in the North of England over the 6 months to 15 November 2025.

Salary histogram for QA in the North of England

QA
Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the North of England region over the 6 months to 15 November 2025. 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
North West -43 96 £57,500 +43.75% 146
Yorkshire -23 65 £55,000 +29.41% 52
North East -13 25 £38,750 -13.89% 24
QA
England

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of 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 3 (1.61%) Apache Airflow
1 3 (1.61%) Apache Spark
1 3 (1.61%) SAS
2 2 (1.08%) Confluence
2 2 (1.08%) HCL Notes
2 2 (1.08%) IIS
2 2 (1.08%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 2 (1.08%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.54%) CMS
3 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.54%) WordPress
Applications
1 11 (5.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (4.84%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (3.23%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (1.61%) AutoCAD
4 3 (1.61%) Chatbot
5 2 (1.08%) MS Visio
5 2 (1.08%) Trello
6 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (3.76%) Dynamics CRM
1 7 (3.76%) Shopify
2 2 (1.08%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.54%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 40 (21.51%) Azure
2 34 (18.28%) AWS
3 22 (11.83%) Power Platform
4 15 (8.06%) SaaS
5 10 (5.38%) GitHub
6 9 (4.84%) GCP
7 7 (3.76%) Microsoft Copilot
8 5 (2.69%) Entra ID
8 5 (2.69%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (2.15%) Google Ads
9 4 (2.15%) Microsoft 365
10 3 (1.61%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.61%) Datadog
10 3 (1.61%) PaaS
10 3 (1.61%) Serverless
11 2 (1.08%) Amazon EKS
11 2 (1.08%) Amazon S3
11 2 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (1.08%) dbt
11 2 (1.08%) npm
Communications & Networking
1 3 (1.61%) HTTP
1 3 (1.61%) PuTTY
2 2 (1.08%) Modbus
2 2 (1.08%) MQTT
2 2 (1.08%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.54%) Broadband
3 1 (0.54%) Internet
3 1 (0.54%) Network Security
3 1 (0.54%) SAN
3 1 (0.54%) WPA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (9.14%) Power BI
2 11 (5.91%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (5.38%) NoSQL
4 8 (4.30%) SQL Server
5 7 (3.76%) MongoDB
6 6 (3.23%) Metadata
6 6 (3.23%) Relational Database
6 6 (3.23%) Tableau
7 4 (2.15%) MySQL
7 4 (2.15%) Qlik Sense
7 4 (2.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 3 (1.61%) BigQuery
8 3 (1.61%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (1.61%) Data Warehouse
8 3 (1.61%) GIS
8 3 (1.61%) Impala
8 3 (1.61%) QGIS
8 3 (1.61%) QlikView
8 3 (1.61%) Spark SQL
8 3 (1.61%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 16 (8.60%) JIRA
2 9 (4.84%) Git
2 9 (4.84%) Jenkins
2 9 (4.84%) Selenium
3 6 (3.23%) Cucumber
3 6 (3.23%) Cypress.io
3 6 (3.23%) GitLab
4 5 (2.69%) JMeter
4 5 (2.69%) Postman
5 3 (1.61%) Appium
5 3 (1.61%) WaveMaker
6 2 (1.08%) Gatling
6 2 (1.08%) Locust
6 2 (1.08%) REST Assured
6 2 (1.08%) SoapUI
6 2 (1.08%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.54%) ESLint
7 1 (0.54%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.54%) Maven
7 1 (0.54%) Storybook
General
1 60 (32.26%) Social Skills
2 34 (18.28%) Analytical Skills
2 34 (18.28%) Finance
3 32 (17.20%) Manufacturing
4 17 (9.14%) Public Sector
5 12 (6.45%) Marketing
6 11 (5.91%) Legal
7 10 (5.38%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (4.84%) Law
9 7 (3.76%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (2.69%) Advertising
10 5 (2.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (2.69%) Retail
11 4 (2.15%) Military
11 4 (2.15%) Pharmaceutical
11 4 (2.15%) Telecoms
12 3 (1.61%) Electronics
12 3 (1.61%) Games
12 3 (1.61%) Welsh Language
13 2 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 34 (18.28%) Senior
2 33 (17.74%) Developer
3 30 (16.13%) Lead
4 18 (9.68%) Analyst
5 13 (6.99%) Project Manager
6 12 (6.45%) Lead Developer
6 12 (6.45%) Senior Developer
7 10 (5.38%) QA Engineer
8 9 (4.84%) Backend Developer
8 9 (4.84%) QA Manager
8 9 (4.84%) Software Developer
9 8 (4.30%) Tester
10 7 (3.76%) Lead Software Developer
10 7 (3.76%) Quality Manager
11 6 (3.23%) Automation Engineer
11 6 (3.23%) Consultant
11 6 (3.23%) QA Automation Engineer
11 6 (3.23%) Senior Backend Developer
12 5 (2.69%) Commercial Manager
12 5 (2.69%) Support Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (8.60%) .NET
2 15 (8.06%) Node.js
3 13 (6.99%) React
4 7 (3.76%) AngularJS
4 7 (3.76%) RESTful
5 5 (2.69%) CSS
5 5 (2.69%) HTML
6 4 (2.15%) ASP.NET
6 4 (2.15%) Bootstrap
6 4 (2.15%) Kafka
6 4 (2.15%) PySpark
6 4 (2.15%) REST
6 4 (2.15%) SOAP
6 4 (2.15%) Spring
6 4 (2.15%) Spring Boot
7 3 (1.61%) Apache NiFi
7 3 (1.61%) Jest
7 3 (1.61%) Playwright
7 3 (1.61%) Redux
7 3 (1.61%) Shiny
Miscellaneous
1 11 (5.91%) IoT
2 10 (5.38%) Product Ownership
2 10 (5.38%) Self-Motivation
3 6 (3.23%) NHS
3 6 (3.23%) Onboarding
4 5 (2.69%) Analytical Mindset
4 5 (2.69%) Cloud Native
4 5 (2.69%) Renewable Energy
4 5 (2.69%) Social Media
5 4 (2.15%) AI Agents
6 3 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (1.61%) Legacy Systems
6 3 (1.61%) Mobile App
7 2 (1.08%) CCTV
7 2 (1.08%) Client/Server
7 2 (1.08%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.08%) EPoS
7 2 (1.08%) Management Information System
7 2 (1.08%) SCADA
7 2 (1.08%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 13 (6.99%) Windows
2 5 (2.69%) Unix
3 4 (2.15%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (32.80%) Agile
2 52 (27.96%) Mentoring
3 38 (20.43%) DevOps
4 36 (19.35%) Problem-Solving
5 32 (17.20%) CI/CD
5 32 (17.20%) Continuous Improvement
6 28 (15.05%) Test Automation
7 25 (13.44%) Project Delivery
8 23 (12.37%) Software Engineering
9 21 (11.29%) Project Management
9 21 (11.29%) Roadmaps
10 20 (10.75%) Process Improvement
11 19 (10.22%) Business Intelligence
12 15 (8.06%) Data Analysis
13 13 (6.99%) AI
13 13 (6.99%) Coaching
13 13 (6.99%) User Experience
14 12 (6.45%) Actionable Insight
14 12 (6.45%) Data Protection
14 12 (6.45%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 27 (14.52%) SQL
2 25 (13.44%) Java
3 24 (12.90%) JavaScript
4 18 (9.68%) C#
4 18 (9.68%) Python
5 10 (5.38%) Go
5 10 (5.38%) TypeScript
6 8 (4.30%) Elixir
6 8 (4.30%) Ruby
7 6 (3.23%) Bash
8 5 (2.69%) C++
9 4 (2.15%) PHP
9 4 (2.15%) PowerShell
10 3 (1.61%) PROC SQL
10 3 (1.61%) R
10 3 (1.61%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.54%) C
11 1 (0.54%) Dart
Qualifications
1 31 (16.67%) Degree
2 17 (9.14%) Security Cleared
3 15 (8.06%) SC Cleared
4 9 (4.84%) PMI Certification
4 9 (4.84%) PMP
5 6 (3.23%) HND
6 5 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (2.69%) DBS Check
7 4 (2.15%) AWS Certification
7 4 (2.15%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.61%) Azure Certification
8 3 (1.61%) DV Cleared
8 3 (1.61%) PRINCE2 Certification
9 2 (1.08%) Chartered Engineer
9 2 (1.08%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.08%) HNC
10 1 (0.54%) CISA
10 1 (0.54%) CISM
10 1 (0.54%) CISSP
10 1 (0.54%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (11.29%) Accessibility
2 6 (3.23%) Data Quality
2 6 (3.23%) GDPR
3 5 (2.69%) PMO
4 4 (2.15%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (1.08%) WCAG
6 1 (0.54%) FINRA
6 1 (0.54%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.54%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.54%) NCSC
6 1 (0.54%) NIST
6 1 (0.54%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 9 (4.84%) Docker
2 5 (2.69%) Active Directory
3 3 (1.61%) Apache Flume
3 3 (1.61%) HDFS
4 2 (1.08%) Squid
Systems Management
1 8 (4.30%) Kubernetes
1 8 (4.30%) Terraform
2 6 (3.23%) Grafana
3 5 (2.69%) Kibana
4 3 (1.61%) Ansible
4 3 (1.61%) logstash
4 3 (1.61%) Oozie
5 2 (1.08%) Functional Safety
5 2 (1.08%) Progress Chef
5 2 (1.08%) Prometheus
5 2 (1.08%) Puppet
Vendors
1 32 (17.20%) Microsoft
2 8 (4.30%) SAP
3 7 (3.76%) Google
4 3 (1.61%) Databricks
4 3 (1.61%) ESRI
4 3 (1.61%) Informatica
4 3 (1.61%) MicroStrategy
4 3 (1.61%) Oracle
5 2 (1.08%) AVEVA
5 2 (1.08%) Lotus
5 2 (1.08%) New Relic
5 2 (1.08%) Rockwell
5 2 (1.08%) ServiceNow
5 2 (1.08%) Siemens
6 1 (0.54%) AppDynamics
6 1 (0.54%) Nimble Storage
6 1 (0.54%) Sage
6 1 (0.54%) Salesforce
6 1 (0.54%) Splunk