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 4 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 80 71 69
Rank change year-on-year -9 -2 -56
Permanent jobs citing QA 435 364 572
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.19% 4.58% 3.11%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 26.54% 28.71% 24.11%
Number of salaries quoted 266 104 361
10th Percentile £28,500 £38,600 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,538 £46,250 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +15.79% -10.38%
75th Percentile £65,000 £76,250 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £86,250 £70,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £59,800 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.03% +13.90% -12.50%

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 1,639 1,268 2,372
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.26% 15.97% 12.90%
Number of salaries quoted 1,145 555 1,652
10th Percentile £30,000 £25,488 £25,500
25th Percentile £38,772 £33,063 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,101 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.57% +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,000 £66,875 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £81,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £59,773 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +3.95% +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 4 June 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 4 June 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 +17 247 £45,000 -18.18% 106
Yorkshire +13 115 £40,000 -38.46% 55
North East -32 73 £47,500 -13.64% 26
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 (2.30%) Apache Airflow
1 10 (2.30%) CMS
1 10 (2.30%) WordPress
2 5 (1.15%) Apache
2 5 (1.15%) Jupyter
3 4 (0.92%) IIS
4 3 (0.69%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.46%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.23%) Confluence
6 1 (0.23%) WebLogic
Applications
1 22 (5.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (3.91%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (2.07%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.61%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 7 (1.61%) SAP ERP
2 5 (1.15%) SAP PM
3 4 (0.92%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.69%) Shopify
5 2 (0.46%) Academy Housing
5 2 (0.46%) Sage 200
5 2 (0.46%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.23%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 42 (9.66%) Azure
2 40 (9.20%) AWS
3 32 (7.36%) Power Platform
4 20 (4.60%) Microsoft 365
5 12 (2.76%) Azure DevOps
6 11 (2.53%) GCP
7 10 (2.30%) Amazon S3
7 10 (2.30%) SaaS
8 9 (2.07%) Amazon EC2
8 9 (2.07%) Google Analytics
8 9 (2.07%) Serverless
9 6 (1.38%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 6 (1.38%) AWS Lambda
9 6 (1.38%) dbt
10 5 (1.15%) Amazon ECR
10 5 (1.15%) Amazon EMR
10 5 (1.15%) Azure Monitor
10 5 (1.15%) Entra ID
10 5 (1.15%) GitHub
10 5 (1.15%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.15%) HTTP
2 3 (0.69%) Broadband
2 3 (0.69%) HTTPS
3 2 (0.46%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.46%) VoIP
4 1 (0.23%) ADSL
4 1 (0.23%) Firewall
4 1 (0.23%) ISDN
4 1 (0.23%) LAN
4 1 (0.23%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.23%) VDSL
4 1 (0.23%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (6.44%) Power BI
2 9 (2.07%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.61%) BigQuery
3 7 (1.61%) MySQL
4 6 (1.38%) DynamoDB
4 6 (1.38%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.15%) Amazon Athena
6 4 (0.92%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.69%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.46%) Big Data
8 2 (0.46%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.46%) Looker
8 2 (0.46%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.46%) Tableau
9 1 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.23%) DocumentDB
9 1 (0.23%) Metadata
9 1 (0.23%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.23%) Redis
Development Applications
1 28 (6.44%) Git
2 20 (4.60%) GitLab
3 19 (4.37%) JIRA
4 11 (2.53%) Jenkins
5 7 (1.61%) Cypress.io
5 7 (1.61%) Postman
6 6 (1.38%) SonarQube
7 5 (1.15%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.69%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.69%) Selenium
9 2 (0.46%) JMeter
9 2 (0.46%) JUnit
9 2 (0.46%) NUnit
9 2 (0.46%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.46%) TestRail
10 1 (0.23%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.23%) Locust
10 1 (0.23%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.23%) TestComplete
10 1 (0.23%) Zephyr
General
1 142 (32.64%) Social Skills
2 70 (16.09%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (15.63%) Finance
4 67 (15.40%) Manufacturing
5 40 (9.20%) Pharmaceutical
6 29 (6.67%) Public Sector
7 21 (4.83%) Marketing
7 21 (4.83%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (4.14%) Legal
9 15 (3.45%) Law
10 12 (2.76%) Influencing Skills
11 9 (2.07%) Banking
11 9 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.84%) Aerospace
13 7 (1.61%) Retail
13 7 (1.61%) Telecoms
14 5 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.15%) Games
14 5 (1.15%) Military
15 4 (0.92%) French Language
Job Titles
1 50 (11.49%) QA Manager
2 43 (9.89%) Senior
3 37 (8.51%) Quality Manager
4 33 (7.59%) Analyst
4 33 (7.59%) Head of QA
5 32 (7.36%) Lead
6 31 (7.13%) QA Officer
7 28 (6.44%) Developer
7 28 (6.44%) QA Engineer
8 17 (3.91%) Software Engineer
9 15 (3.45%) Quality Engineer
9 15 (3.45%) Tester
10 14 (3.22%) Administrator
10 14 (3.22%) Business Analyst
10 14 (3.22%) Test Engineer
11 12 (2.76%) QA Tester
12 11 (2.53%) QA Leader
12 11 (2.53%) Technical Assistant
13 10 (2.30%) Senior Manager
13 10 (2.30%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (5.29%) HTML
2 22 (5.06%) .NET
2 22 (5.06%) CSS
3 15 (3.45%) REST
4 9 (2.07%) Playwright
4 9 (2.07%) RESTful
5 8 (1.84%) ASP.NET Web API
5 8 (1.84%) React
6 7 (1.61%) .NET Core
6 7 (1.61%) .NET Framework
6 7 (1.61%) ASP.NET
6 7 (1.61%) Entity Framework
6 7 (1.61%) JSON
7 5 (1.15%) AngularJS
7 5 (1.15%) CSS3
7 5 (1.15%) HTML5
7 5 (1.15%) JWT
7 5 (1.15%) OAuth
7 5 (1.15%) OAuth2
7 5 (1.15%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 34 (7.82%) Analytical Mindset
2 13 (2.99%) Onboarding
3 11 (2.53%) Product Ownership
4 10 (2.30%) PMI
5 8 (1.84%) Cloud Native
5 8 (1.84%) Distributed Systems
5 8 (1.84%) Life Science
6 6 (1.38%) AI Agents
6 6 (1.38%) CCTV
6 6 (1.38%) Driving Licence
6 6 (1.38%) Management Information System
7 4 (0.92%) Mobile App
7 4 (0.92%) Online Games
7 4 (0.92%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.69%) Animation
8 3 (0.69%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (0.69%) Legacy Applications
8 3 (0.69%) Mainframe
8 3 (0.69%) Photography
9 2 (0.46%) Client/Server
Operating Systems
1 9 (2.07%) Windows
2 7 (1.61%) Android
2 7 (1.61%) Apple iOS
3 3 (0.69%) Linux
3 3 (0.69%) VME
3 3 (0.69%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (21.84%) Continuous Improvement
2 79 (18.16%) Agile
3 60 (13.79%) CI/CD
4 57 (13.10%) Mentoring
5 55 (12.64%) Analytics
6 54 (12.41%) Problem-Solving
7 50 (11.49%) Test Automation
8 47 (10.80%) DevOps
9 42 (9.66%) Quality Management
10 41 (9.43%) Stakeholder Management
11 40 (9.20%) PRINCE2
12 39 (8.97%) Actionable Insight
13 38 (8.74%) Change Management
13 38 (8.74%) Root Cause Analysis
14 37 (8.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 35 (8.05%) Coaching
16 32 (7.36%) AI
16 32 (7.36%) Customer Experience
16 32 (7.36%) Decision-Making
16 32 (7.36%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 41 (9.43%) SQL
2 31 (7.13%) C#
2 31 (7.13%) Python
3 25 (5.75%) JavaScript
4 24 (5.52%) Java
5 15 (3.45%) TypeScript
6 8 (1.84%) Go
7 6 (1.38%) Bash
7 6 (1.38%) PHP
8 4 (0.92%) Groovy
9 3 (0.69%) COBOL
10 2 (0.46%) Bicep
10 2 (0.46%) C++
10 2 (0.46%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.23%) C
11 1 (0.23%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.23%) Perl
11 1 (0.23%) PowerShell
11 1 (0.23%) R
11 1 (0.23%) Swift
Qualifications
1 44 (10.11%) Degree
2 30 (6.90%) IRCA
3 12 (2.76%) BPSS Clearance
3 12 (2.76%) PMI Certification
3 12 (2.76%) Security Cleared
4 11 (2.53%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (2.30%) SC Cleared
6 8 (1.84%) AWS Certification
6 8 (1.84%) MCSE
7 7 (1.61%) DBS Check
8 6 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.92%) ISTQB
9 4 (0.92%) PMP
10 3 (0.69%) CCEA
10 3 (0.69%) Citrix Certification
10 3 (0.69%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 2 (0.46%) CHECK Team Member
11 2 (0.46%) CREST Certified
12 1 (0.23%) Postgraduate
12 1 (0.23%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (8.51%) GDPR
2 32 (7.36%) ISO 9001
3 13 (2.99%) Accessibility
4 11 (2.53%) Data Quality
5 8 (1.84%) P3O
6 6 (1.38%) PMO
7 5 (1.15%) GMP
8 4 (0.92%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.92%) Software Quality Assurance
9 3 (0.69%) WCAG
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.46%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 1 (0.23%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.23%) SLA
System Software
1 20 (4.60%) Docker
2 1 (0.23%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 13 (2.99%) Terraform
2 7 (1.61%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.69%) Ansible
3 3 (0.69%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.69%) Packer
4 2 (0.46%) Grafana
5 1 (0.23%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 41 (9.43%) Microsoft
2 18 (4.14%) SAP
3 13 (2.99%) Google
4 12 (2.76%) ServiceNow
5 10 (2.30%) Intapp
6 9 (2.07%) Aderant
6 9 (2.07%) iManage
7 4 (0.92%) Planon
7 4 (0.92%) Siemens
8 3 (0.69%) Adobe
8 3 (0.69%) AppDynamics
8 3 (0.69%) IBM
8 3 (0.69%) Splunk
9 2 (0.46%) Apple
9 2 (0.46%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.46%) Draytek
9 2 (0.46%) Foundry
9 2 (0.46%) Sage
10 1 (0.23%) CheckPoint
10 1 (0.23%) Dynatrace