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 16 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 82 75 73
Rank change year-on-year -7 -2 -60
Permanent jobs citing QA 371 282 533
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.17% 4.13% 3.24%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 26.44% 24.21% 23.28%
Number of salaries quoted 186 135 345
10th Percentile £28,250 £37,700 £26,250
25th Percentile £32,500 £42,500 £35,920
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +10.53% -13.64%
75th Percentile £65,640 £64,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £81,875 £85,250 £72,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -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 1,403 1,165 2,290
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.20% 17.07% 13.93%
Number of salaries quoted 886 632 1,642
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,250 £26,750
25th Percentile £37,500 £35,000 £34,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £51,282 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +2.38% +7.96% -5.00%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £81,250 £82,548
England median annual salary £60,000 £58,500 £53,000
% change year-on-year +2.56% +10.38% -7.83%

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 16 April 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 16 April 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 +23 203 £45,000 -14.29% 97
Yorkshire -8 112 £43,474 -13.05% 52
North East -40 56 £42,500 -22.73% 32
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 7 (1.89%) CMS
1 7 (1.89%) WordPress
2 2 (0.54%) Apache Airflow
2 2 (0.54%) Confluence
2 2 (0.54%) nginx
3 1 (0.27%) IIS
3 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.27%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 14 (3.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (3.50%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.89%) Spreadsheet
4 6 (1.62%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.27%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 9 (2.43%) SAP ERP
2 5 (1.35%) SAP PM
3 3 (0.81%) Shopify
4 2 (0.54%) Academy Housing
5 1 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 35 (9.43%) Azure
2 26 (7.01%) AWS
3 24 (6.47%) Power Platform
4 17 (4.58%) SaaS
5 16 (4.31%) Microsoft 365
6 10 (2.70%) Serverless
7 9 (2.43%) GCP
7 9 (2.43%) Google Analytics
8 8 (2.16%) Amazon S3
8 8 (2.16%) AWS Lambda
9 6 (1.62%) Apigee
10 5 (1.35%) dbt
11 4 (1.08%) Amazon ECR
11 4 (1.08%) Amazon ECS
11 4 (1.08%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (1.08%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.08%) AWS Step Functions
12 3 (0.81%) Azure DevOps
12 3 (0.81%) Datadog
12 3 (0.81%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 6 (1.62%) HTTP
2 5 (1.35%) Broadband
3 4 (1.08%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.27%) SAN
4 1 (0.27%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (5.66%) Power BI
2 6 (1.62%) SQL Server
3 5 (1.35%) DynamoDB
4 4 (1.08%) BigQuery
5 3 (0.81%) Azure SQL Database
5 3 (0.81%) Data Lake
5 3 (0.81%) Relational Database
5 3 (0.81%) Tableau
6 2 (0.54%) Data Mining
6 2 (0.54%) Looker
6 2 (0.54%) Metadata
6 2 (0.54%) MongoDB
6 2 (0.54%) MySQL
6 2 (0.54%) PostHog
6 2 (0.54%) Redis
7 1 (0.27%) Geospatial Data
7 1 (0.27%) GIS
7 1 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.27%) Spatial Data
7 1 (0.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (4.04%) JIRA
2 13 (3.50%) Jenkins
3 12 (3.23%) GitLab
4 11 (2.96%) Git
5 10 (2.70%) Cucumber
6 9 (2.43%) SonarQube
7 8 (2.16%) Cypress.io
8 7 (1.89%) Postman
9 6 (1.62%) JMeter
10 5 (1.35%) Selenium
11 4 (1.08%) Maven
11 4 (1.08%) SpecFlow
11 4 (1.08%) Visual Studio
12 3 (0.81%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.81%) Locust
12 3 (0.81%) TestRail
13 2 (0.54%) Appium
13 2 (0.54%) JUnit
13 2 (0.54%) NUnit
14 1 (0.27%) LSMW
General
1 135 (36.39%) Social Skills
2 69 (18.60%) Finance
2 69 (18.60%) Manufacturing
3 64 (17.25%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (6.20%) Organisational Skills
5 22 (5.93%) Public Sector
6 20 (5.39%) Marketing
7 19 (5.12%) Influencing Skills
8 17 (4.58%) Law
8 17 (4.58%) Pharmaceutical
9 12 (3.23%) Legal
10 9 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.89%) Games
11 7 (1.89%) Retail
11 7 (1.89%) Telecoms
12 6 (1.62%) Banking
12 6 (1.62%) Military
13 5 (1.35%) Aerospace
14 4 (1.08%) Documentation Skills
14 4 (1.08%) French Language
Job Titles
1 47 (12.67%) QA Manager
2 40 (10.78%) Lead
3 33 (8.89%) Head of QA
3 33 (8.89%) Quality Manager
4 32 (8.63%) Senior
5 28 (7.55%) Analyst
6 27 (7.28%) QA Engineer
7 16 (4.31%) Developer
7 16 (4.31%) QA Officer
8 14 (3.77%) QA Leader
9 12 (3.23%) Administrator
9 12 (3.23%) Tester
10 11 (2.96%) QA Tester
11 10 (2.70%) Quality Engineer
11 10 (2.70%) Software Engineer
12 9 (2.43%) Automation Engineer
12 9 (2.43%) Business Analyst
12 9 (2.43%) QA Automation Engineer
13 8 (2.16%) Senior Manager
13 8 (2.16%) Senior Portfolio Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (3.77%) HTML
2 13 (3.50%) .NET
2 13 (3.50%) CSS
3 10 (2.70%) Playwright
4 8 (2.16%) Gherkin
4 8 (2.16%) React
5 7 (1.89%) AngularJS
5 7 (1.89%) REST
5 7 (1.89%) Spring
5 7 (1.89%) Spring Boot
6 5 (1.35%) .NET Framework
6 5 (1.35%) Entity Framework
6 5 (1.35%) RabbitMQ
6 5 (1.35%) RESTful
7 4 (1.08%) Flutter
7 4 (1.08%) Jest
7 4 (1.08%) JSON
7 4 (1.08%) Qt
7 4 (1.08%) STL
7 4 (1.08%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (9.70%) Analytical Mindset
2 12 (3.23%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.43%) Cloud Native
3 9 (2.43%) Product Ownership
4 8 (2.16%) Driving Licence
4 8 (2.16%) PMI
4 8 (2.16%) Social Media
5 7 (1.89%) Distributed Systems
6 5 (1.35%) Client/Server
6 5 (1.35%) Management Information System
6 5 (1.35%) Mobile App
7 4 (1.08%) CCTV
7 4 (1.08%) NHS
7 4 (1.08%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.81%) Animation
8 3 (0.81%) Legacy Applications
8 3 (0.81%) Mainframe
8 3 (0.81%) Photography
9 2 (0.54%) Derivative
9 2 (0.54%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 12 (3.23%) Windows
2 7 (1.89%) Linux
3 6 (1.62%) Android
3 6 (1.62%) Apple iOS
4 5 (1.35%) Unix
5 3 (0.81%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (24.80%) Continuous Improvement
2 71 (19.14%) Agile
3 65 (17.52%) Mentoring
4 53 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
5 52 (14.02%) Analytics
6 50 (13.48%) CI/CD
7 49 (13.21%) Quality Management
7 49 (13.21%) Test Automation
8 44 (11.86%) DevOps
9 40 (10.78%) PRINCE2
10 39 (10.51%) Actionable Insight
10 39 (10.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 37 (9.97%) Root Cause Analysis
12 36 (9.70%) Change Management
12 36 (9.70%) Stakeholder Management
13 33 (8.89%) Service Delivery
14 30 (8.09%) Anti-Money Laundering
14 30 (8.09%) Customer Experience
15 29 (7.82%) User Experience
16 26 (7.01%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 24 (6.47%) Python
2 23 (6.20%) C#
3 20 (5.39%) Java
4 19 (5.12%) SQL
5 14 (3.77%) TypeScript
6 12 (3.23%) JavaScript
7 7 (1.89%) Groovy
8 6 (1.62%) Go
9 4 (1.08%) Bash
9 4 (1.08%) C++
10 3 (0.81%) COBOL
11 2 (0.54%) Bicep
11 2 (0.54%) PHP
11 2 (0.54%) PowerShell
12 1 (0.27%) C
12 1 (0.27%) Perl
12 1 (0.27%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 33 (8.89%) Degree
2 30 (8.09%) IRCA
3 12 (3.23%) BPSS Clearance
3 12 (3.23%) PMI Certification
4 9 (2.43%) Security Cleared
5 7 (1.89%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (1.62%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.62%) MCSE
7 5 (1.35%) DBS Check
7 5 (1.35%) SC Cleared
8 4 (1.08%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.08%) ISTQB
8 4 (1.08%) PMP
9 3 (0.81%) CCEA
9 3 (0.81%) Citrix Certification
9 3 (0.81%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.54%) DV Cleared
11 1 (0.27%) HND
11 1 (0.27%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 1 (0.27%) RIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (10.24%) GDPR
2 32 (8.63%) ISO 9001
3 8 (2.16%) Accessibility
3 8 (2.16%) Data Quality
3 8 (2.16%) P3O
4 7 (1.89%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.35%) WCAG
6 3 (0.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.81%) Software Quality Assurance
7 2 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.54%) GMP
7 2 (0.54%) GRC
7 2 (0.54%) ISO 14001
7 2 (0.54%) NIST
7 2 (0.54%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.27%) FINRA
8 1 (0.27%) NEBOSH
8 1 (0.27%) SLA
System Software
1 15 (4.04%) Docker
2 1 (0.27%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.27%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 10 (2.70%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.43%) Terraform
3 7 (1.89%) Grafana
4 4 (1.08%) HP Fortify
5 3 (0.81%) Ansible
5 3 (0.81%) Packer
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.27%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 33 (8.89%) Microsoft
2 18 (4.85%) SAP
3 13 (3.50%) Google
4 7 (1.89%) Intapp
4 7 (1.89%) ServiceNow
5 6 (1.62%) Aderant
5 6 (1.62%) iManage
6 4 (1.08%) Planon
6 4 (1.08%) Siemens
7 3 (0.81%) Adobe
7 3 (0.81%) AppDynamics
7 3 (0.81%) IBM
8 2 (0.54%) DevExpress
8 2 (0.54%) Foundry
9 1 (0.27%) ESRI
9 1 (0.27%) Nimble Storage
9 1 (0.27%) Splunk
9 1 (0.27%) Veracode