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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 65 79 64
Rank change year-on-year +14 -15 -48
Permanent jobs citing QA 467 359 630
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.32% 4.33% 3.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 27.34% 28.20% 25.50%
Number of salaries quoted 302 107 370
10th Percentile £30,000 £39,200 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,813 £46,250 £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 £62,188 £72,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £77,370 £86,250 £70,125
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £52,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +15.38% -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 1,708 1,273 2,471
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.50% 15.35% 12.37%
Number of salaries quoted 1,224 566 1,664
10th Percentile £30,000 £25,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £33,031 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £46,734
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +11.27% -6.53%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £59,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +2.61% +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 20 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 20 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 +31 278 £45,000 -18.18% 70
Yorkshire +19 111 £40,000 -40.74% 34
North East -37 78 £50,000 -9.09% 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 (2.36%) CMS
2 10 (2.14%) Apache Airflow
2 10 (2.14%) WordPress
3 7 (1.50%) SharePoint
4 5 (1.07%) Apache
4 5 (1.07%) Jupyter
5 4 (0.86%) IIS
6 3 (0.64%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.43%) Confluence
8 1 (0.21%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.21%) WebLogic
Applications
1 23 (4.93%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (4.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.93%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.50%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (1.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (1.07%) SAP ERP
1 5 (1.07%) SAP PM
2 4 (0.86%) Sage 200
2 4 (0.86%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.64%) Shopify
4 2 (0.43%) Academy Housing
Cloud Services
1 45 (9.64%) AWS
2 42 (8.99%) Azure
3 35 (7.49%) Power Platform
4 25 (5.35%) Microsoft 365
5 12 (2.57%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (2.57%) GCP
6 11 (2.36%) Amazon EC2
6 11 (2.36%) Amazon S3
6 11 (2.36%) SaaS
7 10 (2.14%) Serverless
8 9 (1.93%) Google Analytics
9 7 (1.50%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 7 (1.50%) AWS Lambda
10 6 (1.28%) dbt
10 6 (1.28%) GitHub
11 5 (1.07%) Amazon EMR
11 5 (1.07%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (1.07%) Entra ID
11 5 (1.07%) Power Automate
12 4 (0.86%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.86%) HTTP
2 3 (0.64%) HTTPS
2 3 (0.64%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.43%) Broadband
3 2 (0.43%) VoIP
4 1 (0.21%) ADSL
4 1 (0.21%) Firewall
4 1 (0.21%) ISDN
4 1 (0.21%) LAN
4 1 (0.21%) Network Security
4 1 (0.21%) VDSL
4 1 (0.21%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (6.64%) Power BI
2 9 (1.93%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.71%) MySQL
4 7 (1.50%) BigQuery
5 6 (1.28%) Relational Database
6 5 (1.07%) Amazon Athena
6 5 (1.07%) DynamoDB
7 4 (0.86%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.64%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.64%) Tableau
9 2 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.43%) Big Data
9 2 (0.43%) Data Mining
9 2 (0.43%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.43%) EDRMS
9 2 (0.43%) Looker
9 2 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
10 1 (0.21%) MariaDB
10 1 (0.21%) MongoDB
10 1 (0.21%) Redis
Development Applications
1 30 (6.42%) Git
2 24 (5.14%) JIRA
3 19 (4.07%) GitLab
4 10 (2.14%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.71%) Postman
6 6 (1.28%) Cypress.io
7 5 (1.07%) Cucumber
7 5 (1.07%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.64%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.64%) Selenium
9 2 (0.43%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.43%) JMeter
9 2 (0.43%) JUnit
9 2 (0.43%) NUnit
9 2 (0.43%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.43%) TestRail
10 1 (0.21%) Gatling
10 1 (0.21%) Gradle
10 1 (0.21%) Locust
10 1 (0.21%) REST Assured
General
1 152 (32.55%) Social Skills
2 74 (15.85%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (14.56%) Finance
3 68 (14.56%) Manufacturing
4 56 (11.99%) Pharmaceutical
5 33 (7.07%) Public Sector
6 22 (4.71%) Marketing
7 21 (4.50%) Legal
8 20 (4.28%) Organisational Skills
9 15 (3.21%) Law
10 9 (1.93%) Aerospace
10 9 (1.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (1.71%) Telecoms
12 7 (1.50%) Banking
12 7 (1.50%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (1.50%) Retail
12 7 (1.50%) Swedish Language
13 5 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
13 5 (1.07%) Military
14 4 (0.86%) French Language
Job Titles
1 49 (10.49%) Senior
2 48 (10.28%) QA Manager
3 42 (8.99%) Analyst
4 39 (8.35%) QA Officer
5 38 (8.14%) Quality Manager
6 33 (7.07%) Head of QA
7 31 (6.64%) Developer
7 31 (6.64%) Lead
8 30 (6.42%) QA Engineer
9 18 (3.85%) Quality Engineer
10 16 (3.43%) Business Analyst
10 16 (3.43%) Software Engineer
10 16 (3.43%) Test Engineer
11 15 (3.21%) Tester
12 14 (3.00%) Senior Manager
13 13 (2.78%) Administrator
14 12 (2.57%) QA Tester
15 11 (2.36%) Service Analyst
15 11 (2.36%) Service Desk Analyst
15 11 (2.36%) Technical Assistant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (5.57%) .NET
1 26 (5.57%) HTML
2 24 (5.14%) CSS
3 16 (3.43%) REST
4 10 (2.14%) RESTful
5 9 (1.93%) ASP.NET Web API
6 8 (1.71%) .NET Core
6 8 (1.71%) .NET Framework
6 8 (1.71%) ASP.NET
6 8 (1.71%) Playwright
6 8 (1.71%) React
7 7 (1.50%) Entity Framework
7 7 (1.50%) JSON
8 6 (1.28%) AngularJS
8 6 (1.28%) OAuth
8 6 (1.28%) OAuth2
8 6 (1.28%) Swagger
9 5 (1.07%) CSS3
9 5 (1.07%) HTML5
9 5 (1.07%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.07%) Analytical Mindset
2 14 (3.00%) Onboarding
2 14 (3.00%) Product Ownership
3 12 (2.57%) Life Science
3 12 (2.57%) PMI
4 8 (1.71%) Distributed Systems
4 8 (1.71%) Management Information System
5 7 (1.50%) AI Agents
5 7 (1.50%) CCTV
5 7 (1.50%) Cloud Native
5 7 (1.50%) Driving Licence
6 4 (0.86%) Animation
6 4 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (0.86%) Mobile App
6 4 (0.86%) Online Games
6 4 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
7 3 (0.64%) FMCG
7 3 (0.64%) Legacy Applications
7 3 (0.64%) Mainframe
7 3 (0.64%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 7 (1.50%) Android
1 7 (1.50%) Apple iOS
1 7 (1.50%) Windows
2 3 (0.64%) Linux
2 3 (0.64%) VME
2 3 (0.64%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (22.91%) Continuous Improvement
2 82 (17.56%) Agile
3 61 (13.06%) Mentoring
4 60 (12.85%) CI/CD
5 56 (11.99%) Analytics
6 55 (11.78%) Problem-Solving
7 49 (10.49%) Test Automation
8 48 (10.28%) DevOps
9 45 (9.64%) Stakeholder Management
10 42 (8.99%) PRINCE2
10 42 (8.99%) Quality Management
11 41 (8.78%) Actionable Insight
12 40 (8.57%) Change Management
13 39 (8.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 38 (8.14%) Coaching
15 37 (7.92%) Decision-Making
15 37 (7.92%) Root Cause Analysis
16 36 (7.71%) Validation
17 34 (7.28%) Customer Experience
18 33 (7.07%) AI
Programming Languages
1 43 (9.21%) SQL
2 33 (7.07%) C#
3 31 (6.64%) Python
4 28 (6.00%) JavaScript
5 23 (4.93%) Java
6 15 (3.21%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.50%) Go
8 6 (1.28%) PHP
9 5 (1.07%) Bash
10 3 (0.64%) COBOL
10 3 (0.64%) Groovy
11 2 (0.43%) Bicep
11 2 (0.43%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.21%) C
12 1 (0.21%) C++
12 1 (0.21%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.21%) Perl
12 1 (0.21%) PowerShell
12 1 (0.21%) R
12 1 (0.21%) Swift
Qualifications
1 53 (11.35%) Degree
2 30 (6.42%) IRCA
3 18 (3.85%) Security Cleared
4 16 (3.43%) SC Cleared
5 15 (3.21%) BPSS Clearance
6 14 (3.00%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (2.78%) PMI Certification
8 11 (2.36%) AWS Certification
8 11 (2.36%) MCSE
9 6 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
9 6 (1.28%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.07%) PMP
11 4 (0.86%) ISTQB
11 4 (0.86%) Postgraduate
12 3 (0.64%) CCEA
12 3 (0.64%) Citrix Certification
12 3 (0.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 3 (0.64%) RIBA
13 2 (0.43%) CHECK Team Member
13 2 (0.43%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (7.92%) GDPR
2 36 (7.71%) ISO 9001
3 17 (3.64%) Accessibility
4 11 (2.36%) Data Quality
5 8 (1.71%) GMP
5 8 (1.71%) P3O
6 7 (1.50%) PMO
7 4 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.86%) Software Quality Assurance
8 3 (0.64%) WCAG
9 2 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.43%) ISO 14001
9 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.21%) AQAP
10 1 (0.21%) NEBOSH
10 1 (0.21%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (4.07%) Docker
2 1 (0.21%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 13 (2.78%) Terraform
2 7 (1.50%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.64%) Ansible
3 3 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.64%) Packer
4 2 (0.43%) Grafana
Vendors
1 48 (10.28%) Microsoft
2 18 (3.85%) SAP
3 17 (3.64%) ServiceNow
4 13 (2.78%) Google
5 10 (2.14%) Intapp
6 9 (1.93%) Aderant
6 9 (1.93%) iManage
7 4 (0.86%) Planon
7 4 (0.86%) Sage
7 4 (0.86%) Siemens
8 3 (0.64%) Adobe
8 3 (0.64%) AppDynamics
8 3 (0.64%) IBM
8 3 (0.64%) Splunk
9 2 (0.43%) Apple
9 2 (0.43%) DevExpress
9 2 (0.43%) Draytek
9 2 (0.43%) Foundry
9 2 (0.43%) Salesforce
10 1 (0.21%) CheckPoint