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 14 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 99 55
Rank change year-on-year +51 -44 +29
Permanent jobs citing QA 669 289 451
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.78% 3.07% 3.48%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 31.69% 27.06% 26.37%
Number of salaries quoted 427 120 159
10th Percentile £29,900 £31,250 £24,800
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,250 £27,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +29.41% -22.73%
75th Percentile £57,500 £73,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £83,875 £73,550
England median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% -12.00%

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 2,111 1,068 1,710
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.78% 11.33% 13.19%
Number of salaries quoted 1,457 455 718
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £32,750 £31,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £46,465
Median % change year-on-year - +7.61% -7.07%
75th Percentile £67,500 £65,000 £60,991
90th Percentile £83,000 £76,250 £78,250
England median annual salary £55,000 £56,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -2.65% -5.83% -

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 14 October 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 14 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
North West +42 383 £45,000 -27.42% 151
Yorkshire +32 145 £40,000 -27.27% 103
North East +12 141 £52,500 +23.53% 49
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 10 (1.49%) Apache Airflow
2 8 (1.20%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.05%) Apache
3 7 (1.05%) Apache Spark
3 7 (1.05%) Jupyter
4 5 (0.75%) CMS
5 4 (0.60%) WebLogic
5 4 (0.60%) WordPress
6 3 (0.45%) Confluence
6 3 (0.45%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Apache Superset
7 1 (0.15%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.15%) SAS
Applications
1 31 (4.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (3.59%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.79%) Revit
4 7 (1.05%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.90%) AutoCAD
5 6 (0.90%) Navisworks
6 4 (0.60%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 4 (0.60%) Sage 200
1 4 (0.60%) SAP Business One
1 4 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.45%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 64 (9.57%) AWS
2 60 (8.97%) Azure
3 29 (4.33%) Power Platform
4 28 (4.19%) Azure DevOps
5 27 (4.04%) Microsoft 365
6 18 (2.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 18 (2.69%) Amazon S3
6 18 (2.69%) Serverless
7 14 (2.09%) AWS Lambda
7 14 (2.09%) SaaS
8 13 (1.94%) Amazon EC2
8 13 (1.94%) GitHub
9 11 (1.64%) Power Automate
10 10 (1.49%) Amazon ECR
10 10 (1.49%) GCP
11 9 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Copilot
13 7 (1.05%) Amazon ECS
13 7 (1.05%) Amazon EKS
13 7 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.35%) DNS
2 7 (1.05%) SSL
2 7 (1.05%) TCP/IP
3 6 (0.90%) Internet
3 6 (0.90%) Remote Desktop
3 6 (0.90%) VPN
4 3 (0.45%) HTTPS
4 3 (0.45%) Structured Cabling
5 2 (0.30%) Broadband
5 2 (0.30%) HTTP
5 2 (0.30%) LAN
5 2 (0.30%) SMS
5 2 (0.30%) VoIP
5 2 (0.30%) WAN
6 1 (0.15%) ADSL
6 1 (0.15%) DHCP
6 1 (0.15%) Firewall
6 1 (0.15%) Intranet
6 1 (0.15%) ISDN
6 1 (0.15%) RIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (2.84%) Power BI
2 14 (2.09%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.20%) MongoDB
3 8 (1.20%) Relational Database
4 7 (1.05%) DynamoDB
4 7 (1.05%) MySQL
5 6 (0.90%) Amazon Athena
5 6 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (0.90%) DocumentDB
6 5 (0.75%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (0.60%) BigQuery
7 4 (0.60%) Redis
8 3 (0.45%) Big Data
8 3 (0.45%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.45%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.45%) Power Query
9 2 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.30%) EDRMS
9 2 (0.30%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (5.08%) Git
2 23 (3.44%) GitLab
3 21 (3.14%) JIRA
4 17 (2.54%) Cypress.io
5 10 (1.49%) Postman
6 9 (1.35%) Selenium
7 8 (1.20%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.75%) JUnit
9 4 (0.60%) JMeter
9 4 (0.60%) REST Assured
10 3 (0.45%) Claude Code
10 3 (0.45%) RStudio
11 1 (0.15%) Android Studio
11 1 (0.15%) Appium
11 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.15%) Gradle
11 1 (0.15%) NUnit
11 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
11 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.15%) Xcode
General
1 155 (23.17%) Social Skills
2 110 (16.44%) Manufacturing
3 72 (10.76%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (9.27%) Finance
5 61 (9.12%) Public Sector
6 57 (8.52%) Pharmaceutical
7 37 (5.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 28 (4.19%) Legal
9 26 (3.89%) Organisational Skills
10 25 (3.74%) Aerospace
10 25 (3.74%) Law
11 18 (2.69%) Marketing
12 15 (2.24%) Retail
13 11 (1.64%) Banking
13 11 (1.64%) Electronics
14 10 (1.49%) Local Government
14 10 (1.49%) Swedish Language
15 8 (1.20%) Games
16 7 (1.05%) Automotive
16 7 (1.05%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 99 (14.80%) QA Engineer
2 87 (13.00%) Senior
3 69 (10.31%) Quality Engineer
4 66 (9.87%) Lead
5 65 (9.72%) Analyst
6 62 (9.27%) QA Officer
7 55 (8.22%) QA Manager
8 51 (7.62%) Developer
9 48 (7.17%) Quality Manager
10 33 (4.93%) Automation Engineer
10 33 (4.93%) QA Automation Engineer
11 28 (4.19%) QA Leader
12 25 (3.74%) Tester
13 22 (3.29%) Test Engineer
14 19 (2.84%) QA Tester
15 16 (2.39%) Software Developer
16 15 (2.24%) IT Support
16 15 (2.24%) Senior Developer
17 14 (2.09%) Business Analyst
17 14 (2.09%) Senior QA Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (6.43%) .NET
2 38 (5.68%) HTML
3 36 (5.38%) CSS
4 33 (4.93%) Node.js
5 26 (3.89%) Playwright
6 23 (3.44%) REST
7 17 (2.54%) RESTful
8 15 (2.24%) Terraform
9 9 (1.35%) .NET Framework
9 9 (1.35%) AngularJS
9 9 (1.35%) OAuth
10 8 (1.20%) ASP.NET Web API
10 8 (1.20%) Middleware
10 8 (1.20%) React
11 7 (1.05%) Jest
11 7 (1.05%) Kafka
11 7 (1.05%) Spring
11 7 (1.05%) Spring Boot
12 6 (0.90%) Express.js
12 6 (0.90%) MIDP
Miscellaneous
1 36 (5.38%) Product Ownership
2 20 (2.99%) Life Science
3 16 (2.39%) Cloud Native
4 14 (2.09%) Management Information System
5 13 (1.94%) Driving Licence
6 12 (1.79%) Distributed Systems
7 10 (1.49%) Data Centre
7 10 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
7 10 (1.49%) Onboarding
8 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
9 6 (0.90%) AI Agents
9 6 (0.90%) Blog
9 6 (0.90%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 6 (0.90%) Mobile App
10 5 (0.75%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (0.75%) PMI
10 5 (0.75%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.45%) CCTV
11 3 (0.45%) Culture of Ownership
11 3 (0.45%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 23 (3.44%) Windows
2 13 (1.94%) Linux
3 8 (1.20%) Android
4 7 (1.05%) Apple iOS
5 6 (0.90%) macOS
5 6 (0.90%) Unix
6 5 (0.75%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.30%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 156 (23.32%) Agile
2 148 (22.12%) Continuous Improvement
3 117 (17.49%) CI/CD
4 114 (17.04%) Test Automation
5 108 (16.14%) Problem-Solving
6 76 (11.36%) Mentoring
7 74 (11.06%) DevOps
8 67 (10.01%) Validation
9 58 (8.67%) Software Testing
10 50 (7.47%) Stakeholder Management
11 45 (6.73%) Software Engineering
12 43 (6.43%) Collaborative Working
12 43 (6.43%) Decision-Making
13 41 (6.13%) AI
14 40 (5.98%) Customer Service
15 39 (5.83%) SDLC
16 37 (5.53%) Test Strategy
17 36 (5.38%) Coaching
17 36 (5.38%) Scrum
18 35 (5.23%) End-to-End Testing
Programming Languages
1 70 (10.46%) JavaScript
2 68 (10.16%) SQL
3 50 (7.47%) C#
4 35 (5.23%) Python
5 30 (4.48%) TypeScript
6 29 (4.33%) Java
7 9 (1.35%) Bash
8 5 (0.75%) Kotlin
8 5 (0.75%) PHP
8 5 (0.75%) PowerShell
8 5 (0.75%) R
9 4 (0.60%) Go
10 3 (0.45%) C++
11 2 (0.30%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.15%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.15%) Scala
12 1 (0.15%) Swift
12 1 (0.15%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 76 (11.36%) Degree
2 70 (10.46%) Security Cleared
3 57 (8.52%) SC Cleared
4 17 (2.54%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (1.49%) AWS Certification
6 10 (1.49%) MCSE
7 9 (1.35%) DV Cleared
7 9 (1.35%) RIBA
8 8 (1.20%) CREST Certified
8 8 (1.20%) Postgraduate
9 7 (1.05%) DBS Check
9 7 (1.05%) HNC
10 6 (0.90%) HND
11 5 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (0.75%) PMI Certification
12 4 (0.60%) PMP
13 2 (0.30%) APMP
13 2 (0.30%) Chartered Engineer
13 2 (0.30%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.23%) ISO 9001
2 25 (3.74%) Accessibility
3 13 (1.94%) Data Quality
4 12 (1.79%) PMO
5 11 (1.64%) GMP
6 10 (1.49%) GDPR
7 6 (0.90%) ISO 19650
8 3 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.30%) ECSS
9 2 (0.30%) Good Clinical Practice
9 2 (0.30%) P3O
10 1 (0.15%) AQAP
10 1 (0.15%) GRC
10 1 (0.15%) NCSC
10 1 (0.15%) NIST
10 1 (0.15%) SLA
10 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 29 (4.33%) Docker
2 4 (0.60%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 16 (2.39%) Kubernetes
2 4 (0.60%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.30%) Kibana
4 1 (0.15%) Cisco CUCM
4 1 (0.15%) Fluentd
4 1 (0.15%) Grafana
Vendors
1 65 (9.72%) Microsoft
2 17 (2.54%) SAP
3 16 (2.39%) ServiceNow
4 12 (1.79%) Autodesk
5 7 (1.05%) Databricks
5 7 (1.05%) Dynatrace
6 6 (0.90%) Confluent
6 6 (0.90%) Sage
6 6 (0.90%) Salesforce
7 4 (0.60%) Aderant
8 3 (0.45%) Google
8 3 (0.45%) iManage
8 3 (0.45%) Intapp
8 3 (0.45%) Splunk
8 3 (0.45%) YouTube
9 2 (0.30%) Alteryx
9 2 (0.30%) Apple
9 2 (0.30%) Citrix
9 2 (0.30%) Draytek
9 2 (0.30%) F5