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

6 months to
19 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 92 58
Rank change year-on-year +46 -34 +25
Permanent jobs citing QA 690 288 435
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.87% 3.19% 3.41%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 32.27% 29.66% 25.47%
Number of salaries quoted 439 118 149
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £24,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,250 £26,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +37.50% -27.27%
75th Percentile £60,000 £71,250 £53,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £83,750 £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.

6 months to
19 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 2,138 971 1,708
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.88% 10.75% 13.39%
Number of salaries quoted 1,469 446 706
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £32,500 £32,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £49,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% +3.16% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,500 £64,844 £61,080
90th Percentile £82,750 £76,250 £80,000
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 19 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 19 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 +24 390 £45,000 -25.00% 170
Yorkshire +40 151 £40,000 -27.27% 115
North East +19 149 £55,000 +29.41% 57
QA
England

QA Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Quality Assurance & Compliance

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1ISO 90015.2%36
2Accessibility3.8%26
3Data Quality1.9%13
4GDPR1.6%11
4GMP1.6%11
6PMO1.4%10
7ISO 196500.9%6
8ISO/IEC 270010.4%3
9Cyber Essentials0.3%2
9Cyber Essentials PLUS0.3%2
9ECSS0.3%2
9Good Clinical Practice0.3%2
9GRC0.3%2
9P3O0.3%2
15AQAP0.1%1
15NCSC0.1%1
15NIST0.1%1
15PERC0.1%1
15SLA0.1%1
15Software Quality Assurance0.1%1