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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 62 90 66
Rank change year-on-year +28 -24 -45
Permanent jobs citing QA 491 333 602
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.39% 3.74% 3.13%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 27.99% 26.49% 25.28%
Number of salaries quoted 317 115 352
10th Percentile - £37,050 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £45,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +22.22% -18.18%
75th Percentile £61,250 £71,250 £60,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £86,250 £71,250
England median annual salary £55,000 £58,500 £52,000
% change year-on-year -5.98% +12.50% -13.33%

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 1,754 1,257 2,381
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.54% 14.10% 12.40%
Number of salaries quoted 1,270 576 1,589
10th Percentile £30,000 £25,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £33,125 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £51,282 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +7.96% -5.00%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £58,750 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +2.17% +9.52% -8.70%

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 2 July 2026.

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 2 July 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
North West +33 295 £45,000 -18.18% 118
Yorkshire +19 110 £40,000 -39.62% 55
North East -30 86 £51,250 -2.67% 29
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 11 (2.24%) Apache Airflow
1 11 (2.24%) CMS
2 10 (2.04%) WordPress
3 7 (1.43%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.22%) Apache Spark
5 5 (1.02%) Apache
5 5 (1.02%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.81%) IIS
7 2 (0.41%) Confluence
7 2 (0.41%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.20%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 25 (5.09%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (4.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.83%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.43%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (1.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.81%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (1.02%) SAP PM
2 4 (0.81%) Sage 200
2 4 (0.81%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.61%) Shopify
4 2 (0.41%) Academy Housing
4 2 (0.41%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 50 (10.18%) AWS
2 45 (9.16%) Azure
3 35 (7.13%) Power Platform
4 26 (5.30%) Microsoft 365
5 14 (2.85%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (2.65%) GCP
7 12 (2.44%) SaaS
8 11 (2.24%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (2.24%) Amazon S3
8 11 (2.24%) Serverless
9 9 (1.83%) Google Analytics
10 7 (1.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 7 (1.43%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (1.43%) dbt
11 6 (1.22%) GitHub
11 6 (1.22%) Power Automate
12 5 (1.02%) Amazon EMR
12 5 (1.02%) Azure Monitor
12 5 (1.02%) Entra ID
13 4 (0.81%) Amazon ECR
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.81%) HTTP
2 3 (0.61%) HTTPS
2 3 (0.61%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.41%) Broadband
3 2 (0.41%) VoIP
4 1 (0.20%) ADSL
4 1 (0.20%) Firewall
4 1 (0.20%) ISDN
4 1 (0.20%) LAN
4 1 (0.20%) Network Security
4 1 (0.20%) VDSL
4 1 (0.20%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (6.31%) Power BI
2 13 (2.65%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.63%) BigQuery
3 8 (1.63%) MySQL
4 6 (1.22%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.02%) Amazon Athena
5 5 (1.02%) DynamoDB
6 4 (0.81%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.61%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.61%) Tableau
8 2 (0.41%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.41%) Big Data
8 2 (0.41%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.41%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.41%) EDRMS
8 2 (0.41%) Looker
8 2 (0.41%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.41%) Redis
9 1 (0.20%) DocumentDB
9 1 (0.20%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 31 (6.31%) Git
2 24 (4.89%) JIRA
3 19 (3.87%) GitLab
4 10 (2.04%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.63%) Postman
6 6 (1.22%) Cypress.io
7 5 (1.02%) Cucumber
7 5 (1.02%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.61%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.61%) Selenium
9 2 (0.41%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.41%) JMeter
9 2 (0.41%) JUnit
9 2 (0.41%) NUnit
9 2 (0.41%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.41%) TestRail
10 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.20%) Gatling
10 1 (0.20%) Locust
10 1 (0.20%) REST Assured
General
1 160 (32.59%) Social Skills
2 76 (15.48%) Analytical Skills
3 70 (14.26%) Manufacturing
4 67 (13.65%) Finance
5 60 (12.22%) Pharmaceutical
6 36 (7.33%) Public Sector
7 24 (4.89%) Legal
8 23 (4.68%) Marketing
9 19 (3.87%) Law
9 19 (3.87%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (2.04%) Retail
11 9 (1.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.83%) Swedish Language
12 8 (1.63%) Aerospace
12 8 (1.63%) Telecoms
13 7 (1.43%) Games
13 7 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (1.22%) Banking
15 5 (1.02%) Legal Technology
15 5 (1.02%) Military
Job Titles
1 54 (11.00%) Senior
2 49 (9.98%) QA Manager
3 46 (9.37%) Analyst
4 44 (8.96%) QA Officer
5 42 (8.55%) Quality Manager
6 34 (6.92%) Developer
7 33 (6.72%) Head of QA
8 31 (6.31%) Lead
9 29 (5.91%) QA Engineer
10 20 (4.07%) Quality Engineer
11 18 (3.67%) Software Engineer
12 16 (3.26%) Business Analyst
12 16 (3.26%) Test Engineer
13 15 (3.05%) Senior Manager
13 15 (3.05%) Tester
14 13 (2.65%) Administrator
14 13 (2.65%) Service Analyst
14 13 (2.65%) Service Desk Analyst
15 12 (2.44%) QA Tester
16 10 (2.04%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (5.70%) .NET
1 28 (5.70%) HTML
2 26 (5.30%) CSS
3 16 (3.26%) REST
4 10 (2.04%) RESTful
5 9 (1.83%) ASP.NET Web API
6 8 (1.63%) .NET Framework
6 8 (1.63%) ASP.NET
6 8 (1.63%) Playwright
6 8 (1.63%) React
7 7 (1.43%) .NET Core
7 7 (1.43%) Entity Framework
7 7 (1.43%) JSON
7 7 (1.43%) Node.js
7 7 (1.43%) OAuth
8 6 (1.22%) AngularJS
8 6 (1.22%) JWT
8 6 (1.22%) OAuth2
8 6 (1.22%) Swagger
8 6 (1.22%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.72%) Analytical Mindset
2 14 (2.85%) Product Ownership
3 13 (2.65%) Life Science
3 13 (2.65%) Onboarding
4 12 (2.44%) PMI
5 8 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
5 8 (1.63%) Management Information System
6 7 (1.43%) AI Agents
6 7 (1.43%) Cloud Native
7 6 (1.22%) CCTV
7 6 (1.22%) Driving Licence
8 4 (0.81%) Animation
8 4 (0.81%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (0.81%) Mobile App
8 4 (0.81%) Online Games
8 4 (0.81%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (0.61%) FMCG
9 3 (0.61%) Legacy Applications
9 3 (0.61%) Mainframe
9 3 (0.61%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 7 (1.43%) Windows
2 5 (1.02%) Android
2 5 (1.02%) Apple iOS
3 3 (0.61%) Linux
3 3 (0.61%) VME
3 3 (0.61%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (24.24%) Continuous Improvement
2 88 (17.92%) Agile
3 69 (14.05%) CI/CD
4 62 (12.63%) Mentoring
5 61 (12.42%) Problem-Solving
6 59 (12.02%) Analytics
7 54 (11.00%) Test Automation
8 50 (10.18%) DevOps
9 44 (8.96%) Decision-Making
9 44 (8.96%) Stakeholder Management
10 43 (8.76%) Quality Management
11 42 (8.55%) Change Management
11 42 (8.55%) PRINCE2
12 41 (8.35%) Actionable Insight
12 41 (8.35%) Coaching
13 40 (8.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 38 (7.74%) Validation
15 37 (7.54%) Customer Experience
16 36 (7.33%) Root Cause Analysis
17 33 (6.72%) AI
Programming Languages
1 48 (9.78%) SQL
2 36 (7.33%) Python
3 35 (7.13%) C#
4 32 (6.52%) JavaScript
5 25 (5.09%) Java
6 17 (3.46%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.43%) Go
8 6 (1.22%) PHP
9 5 (1.02%) Bash
10 3 (0.61%) COBOL
10 3 (0.61%) Groovy
11 2 (0.41%) Bicep
11 2 (0.41%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.41%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.20%) C
12 1 (0.20%) C++
12 1 (0.20%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.20%) Perl
12 1 (0.20%) R
12 1 (0.20%) Swift
Qualifications
1 55 (11.20%) Degree
2 30 (6.11%) IRCA
3 20 (4.07%) Security Cleared
4 18 (3.67%) SC Cleared
5 16 (3.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (2.65%) AWS Certification
6 13 (2.65%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (2.65%) MCSE
6 13 (2.65%) PMI Certification
7 9 (1.83%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.43%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (1.02%) PMP
9 5 (1.02%) Postgraduate
10 4 (0.81%) ISTQB
11 3 (0.61%) CCEA
11 3 (0.61%) Citrix Certification
11 3 (0.61%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 3 (0.61%) RIBA
12 2 (0.41%) CHECK Team Member
12 2 (0.41%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (7.54%) GDPR
2 36 (7.33%) ISO 9001
3 18 (3.67%) Accessibility
4 11 (2.24%) Data Quality
5 9 (1.83%) GMP
6 8 (1.63%) P3O
7 7 (1.43%) PMO
8 4 (0.81%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.81%) Software Quality Assurance
9 3 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.61%) WCAG
10 2 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.41%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.20%) AQAP
11 1 (0.20%) NCSC
11 1 (0.20%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.20%) NIST
11 1 (0.20%) SLA
System Software
1 22 (4.48%) Docker
2 1 (0.20%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 14 (2.85%) Terraform
2 9 (1.83%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.61%) Ansible
3 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.61%) Packer
4 2 (0.41%) Grafana
Vendors
1 50 (10.18%) Microsoft
2 20 (4.07%) ServiceNow
3 15 (3.05%) SAP
4 13 (2.65%) Google
5 10 (2.04%) Intapp
6 9 (1.83%) Aderant
6 9 (1.83%) iManage
7 4 (0.81%) Databricks
7 4 (0.81%) Planon
7 4 (0.81%) Sage
8 3 (0.61%) Adobe
8 3 (0.61%) AppDynamics
8 3 (0.61%) IBM
8 3 (0.61%) Salesforce
8 3 (0.61%) Siemens
8 3 (0.61%) Splunk
9 2 (0.41%) Apple
9 2 (0.41%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.41%) Draytek
10 1 (0.20%) Foundry