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 21 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 60 104 65
Rank change year-on-year +44 -39 -35
Permanent jobs citing QA 518 304 524
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.46% 3.22% 3.11%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 29.12% 24.68% 24.82%
Number of salaries quoted 331 116 298
10th Percentile - £35,875 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £45,000 £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 £60,000 £71,250 £62,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £86,250 £70,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -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 1,779 1,232 2,111
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.45% 13.07% 12.54%
Number of salaries quoted 1,291 576 1,371
10th Percentile £30,000 £25,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £33,125 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £49,000
Median % change year-on-year - +2.04% -2.00%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £76,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +4.55% -4.35%

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 21 July 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 21 July 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 +39 307 £45,000 -18.18% 89
Yorkshire +24 115 £40,000 -36.00% 44
North East -4 96 £52,500 - 20
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 (2.12%) Apache Airflow
1 11 (2.12%) CMS
2 10 (1.93%) WordPress
3 7 (1.35%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.16%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.97%) Apache
5 5 (0.97%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.58%) IIS
7 2 (0.39%) Confluence
7 2 (0.39%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.19%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 28 (5.41%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (4.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.74%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.35%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.77%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.97%) SAP PM
2 4 (0.77%) Sage 200
2 4 (0.77%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.77%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.58%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 55 (10.62%) AWS
2 48 (9.27%) Azure
3 33 (6.37%) Power Platform
4 29 (5.60%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (3.28%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (2.51%) GCP
6 13 (2.51%) Serverless
7 12 (2.32%) SaaS
8 11 (2.12%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (2.12%) Amazon S3
9 9 (1.74%) Google Analytics
10 7 (1.35%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 7 (1.35%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (1.35%) dbt
10 7 (1.35%) GitHub
10 7 (1.35%) Power Automate
11 5 (0.97%) Amazon EMR
11 5 (0.97%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (0.97%) Entra ID
11 5 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.77%) HTTP
2 3 (0.58%) HTTPS
2 3 (0.58%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.39%) Broadband
3 2 (0.39%) VoIP
4 1 (0.19%) ADSL
4 1 (0.19%) Firewall
4 1 (0.19%) ISDN
4 1 (0.19%) LAN
4 1 (0.19%) Network Security
4 1 (0.19%) VDSL
4 1 (0.19%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (5.79%) Power BI
2 13 (2.51%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.54%) BigQuery
3 8 (1.54%) MySQL
4 6 (1.16%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.97%) Amazon Athena
5 5 (0.97%) DynamoDB
6 4 (0.77%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.58%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (0.58%) Tableau
8 2 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.39%) Big Data
8 2 (0.39%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.39%) EDRMS
8 2 (0.39%) Looker
8 2 (0.39%) Metadata
8 2 (0.39%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.39%) Redis
Development Applications
1 31 (5.98%) Git
2 24 (4.63%) JIRA
3 19 (3.67%) GitLab
4 9 (1.74%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.54%) Postman
6 7 (1.35%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.97%) Cucumber
7 5 (0.97%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.58%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.58%) JUnit
9 2 (0.39%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.39%) JMeter
9 2 (0.39%) NUnit
9 2 (0.39%) Selenium
9 2 (0.39%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.39%) TestRail
10 1 (0.19%) Gatling
10 1 (0.19%) Locust
10 1 (0.19%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.19%) Zephyr
General
1 164 (31.66%) Social Skills
2 85 (16.41%) Manufacturing
3 80 (15.44%) Analytical Skills
4 67 (12.93%) Finance
4 67 (12.93%) Pharmaceutical
5 36 (6.95%) Public Sector
6 27 (5.21%) Legal
7 23 (4.44%) Marketing
8 19 (3.67%) Organisational Skills
9 18 (3.47%) Law
10 12 (2.32%) Swedish Language
11 11 (2.12%) Retail
12 10 (1.93%) Aerospace
13 8 (1.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 8 (1.54%) Telecoms
14 7 (1.35%) Banking
14 7 (1.35%) Games
14 7 (1.35%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.97%) Legal Technology
15 5 (0.97%) Military
Job Titles
1 55 (10.62%) Senior
2 53 (10.23%) Analyst
3 50 (9.65%) QA Manager
4 48 (9.27%) QA Officer
5 44 (8.49%) Quality Manager
6 36 (6.95%) Developer
7 35 (6.76%) QA Engineer
8 33 (6.37%) Head of QA
9 28 (5.41%) Lead
10 26 (5.02%) Quality Engineer
11 20 (3.86%) Software Engineer
12 18 (3.47%) Business Analyst
12 18 (3.47%) Service Analyst
12 18 (3.47%) Service Desk Analyst
13 17 (3.28%) Test Engineer
14 15 (2.90%) Tester
15 14 (2.70%) Senior Manager
16 13 (2.51%) Administrator
17 11 (2.12%) QA Tester
17 11 (2.12%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (6.18%) .NET
2 31 (5.98%) HTML
3 28 (5.41%) CSS
4 14 (2.70%) REST
5 10 (1.93%) Playwright
5 10 (1.93%) RESTful
6 9 (1.74%) ASP.NET Web API
6 9 (1.74%) Node.js
7 8 (1.54%) .NET Framework
7 8 (1.54%) ASP.NET
7 8 (1.54%) OAuth
7 8 (1.54%) React
8 7 (1.35%) Entity Framework
8 7 (1.35%) JSON
8 7 (1.35%) OAuth2
9 6 (1.16%) .NET Core
9 6 (1.16%) AngularJS
9 6 (1.16%) JWT
9 6 (1.16%) Swagger
9 6 (1.16%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.37%) Analytical Mindset
2 16 (3.09%) Life Science
3 14 (2.70%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.12%) Onboarding
5 10 (1.93%) PMI
6 8 (1.54%) Distributed Systems
6 8 (1.54%) Management Information System
7 7 (1.35%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.16%) AI Agents
9 5 (0.97%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (0.77%) Animation
10 4 (0.77%) CCTV
10 4 (0.77%) Driving Licence
10 4 (0.77%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.77%) Mobile App
10 4 (0.77%) Online Games
11 3 (0.58%) FMCG
11 3 (0.58%) Legacy Applications
11 3 (0.58%) Mainframe
11 3 (0.58%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.54%) Windows
2 4 (0.77%) Android
2 4 (0.77%) Apple iOS
2 4 (0.77%) Windows 10
3 3 (0.58%) Linux
3 3 (0.58%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (23.94%) Continuous Improvement
2 96 (18.53%) Agile
3 79 (15.25%) CI/CD
4 65 (12.55%) Problem-Solving
5 59 (11.39%) Analytics
5 59 (11.39%) Mentoring
6 55 (10.62%) Test Automation
7 53 (10.23%) DevOps
8 46 (8.88%) Quality Management
9 45 (8.69%) Decision-Making
10 44 (8.49%) Change Management
11 43 (8.30%) Stakeholder Management
12 42 (8.11%) PRINCE2
12 42 (8.11%) Validation
13 41 (7.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 40 (7.72%) Actionable Insight
14 40 (7.72%) Coaching
15 38 (7.34%) Root Cause Analysis
16 37 (7.14%) Customer Experience
16 37 (7.14%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 52 (10.04%) SQL
2 40 (7.72%) C#
3 37 (7.14%) Python
4 35 (6.76%) JavaScript
5 26 (5.02%) Java
6 20 (3.86%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.35%) Go
8 6 (1.16%) PHP
9 5 (0.97%) Bash
10 3 (0.58%) COBOL
10 3 (0.58%) Groovy
11 2 (0.39%) Bicep
11 2 (0.39%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.39%) R
11 2 (0.39%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.19%) C++
12 1 (0.19%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.19%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.19%) Perl
12 1 (0.19%) Swift
Qualifications
1 60 (11.58%) Degree
2 30 (5.79%) IRCA
3 26 (5.02%) Security Cleared
4 24 (4.63%) SC Cleared
5 19 (3.67%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (3.09%) AWS Certification
6 16 (3.09%) MCSE
7 11 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (2.12%) PMI Certification
8 7 (1.35%) Computer Science Degree
8 7 (1.35%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.35%) Postgraduate
9 5 (0.97%) ISTQB
9 5 (0.97%) PMP
10 4 (0.77%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 3 (0.58%) RIBA
12 2 (0.39%) CHECK Team Member
12 2 (0.39%) CREST Certified
13 1 (0.19%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 1 (0.19%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (7.14%) GDPR
1 37 (7.14%) ISO 9001
2 21 (4.05%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.12%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.12%) GMP
4 7 (1.35%) PMO
5 6 (1.16%) P3O
6 4 (0.77%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.77%) Software Quality Assurance
7 3 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.58%) WCAG
8 2 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.39%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.19%) AQAP
9 1 (0.19%) NCSC
9 1 (0.19%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.19%) NIST
9 1 (0.19%) SLA
System Software
1 24 (4.63%) Docker
2 2 (0.39%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 14 (2.70%) Terraform
2 10 (1.93%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.58%) Ansible
3 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.58%) Packer
4 2 (0.39%) Grafana
Vendors
1 56 (10.81%) Microsoft
2 23 (4.44%) ServiceNow
3 13 (2.51%) Google
3 13 (2.51%) SAP
4 9 (1.74%) Aderant
4 9 (1.74%) iManage
4 9 (1.74%) Intapp
5 5 (0.97%) Databricks
6 4 (0.77%) Sage
7 3 (0.58%) Adobe
7 3 (0.58%) AppDynamics
7 3 (0.58%) IBM
7 3 (0.58%) Planon
7 3 (0.58%) Salesforce
7 3 (0.58%) Splunk
8 2 (0.39%) Apple
8 2 (0.39%) DevExpress
8 2 (0.39%) Draytek
9 1 (0.19%) F5
9 1 (0.19%) Foundry