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 29 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 49 96 52
Rank change year-on-year +47 -44 +22
Permanent jobs citing QA 644 291 486
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.67% 3.07% 3.56%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 31.20% 26.94% 27.58%
Number of salaries quoted 414 119 178
10th Percentile £27,500 £32,250 £25,000
25th Percentile £32,563 £42,063 £28,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +37.50% -27.27%
75th Percentile £58,750 £71,250 £55,625
90th Percentile £74,625 £85,250 £72,800
England median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £54,500
% change year-on-year -13.04% +5.50% -9.17%

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 2,064 1,080 1,762
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.57% 11.41% 12.91%
Number of salaries quoted 1,455 452 795
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,100 £25,000
25th Percentile £38,772 £33,125 £31,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £46,000
Median % change year-on-year - +8.70% -8.00%
75th Percentile £67,563 £64,875 £60,991
90th Percentile £86,250 £75,990 £77,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £56,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +1.77% -1.74% -4.17%

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 29 September 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 29 September 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 +36 378 £45,000 -18.18% 238
Yorkshire +30 139 £40,000 -27.27% 121
North East +13 127 £55,000 +22.22% 79
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 (1.55%) Apache Airflow
2 7 (1.09%) Apache
2 7 (1.09%) Apache Spark
2 7 (1.09%) Jupyter
2 7 (1.09%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.78%) CMS
4 4 (0.62%) WebLogic
4 4 (0.62%) WordPress
5 3 (0.47%) IIS
6 2 (0.31%) Confluence
7 1 (0.16%) Apache Superset
7 1 (0.16%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 31 (4.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (3.88%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.40%) MS Visio
3 9 (1.40%) Revit
4 7 (1.09%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.93%) AutoCAD
6 4 (0.62%) Navisworks
7 3 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (0.62%) Sage 200
1 4 (0.62%) SAP Business One
1 4 (0.62%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.47%) SystmOne
3 1 (0.16%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 72 (11.18%) AWS
2 62 (9.63%) Azure
3 30 (4.66%) Azure DevOps
4 28 (4.35%) Power Platform
5 27 (4.19%) Microsoft 365
6 22 (3.42%) Serverless
7 21 (3.26%) Amazon S3
8 18 (2.80%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 17 (2.64%) AWS Lambda
10 16 (2.48%) Amazon EC2
10 16 (2.48%) SaaS
11 14 (2.17%) GitHub
12 11 (1.71%) GCP
13 10 (1.55%) Amazon ECR
13 10 (1.55%) Amazon EKS
13 10 (1.55%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (1.40%) Power Automate
15 7 (1.09%) Amazon ECS
15 7 (1.09%) AWS Fargate
16 6 (0.93%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.09%) DNS
2 6 (0.93%) Remote Desktop
3 5 (0.78%) SSL
3 5 (0.78%) TCP/IP
4 4 (0.62%) Internet
4 4 (0.62%) VPN
5 3 (0.47%) HTTPS
5 3 (0.47%) Structured Cabling
6 2 (0.31%) Broadband
6 2 (0.31%) HTTP
6 2 (0.31%) LAN
6 2 (0.31%) SMS
6 2 (0.31%) VoIP
6 2 (0.31%) WAN
7 1 (0.16%) ADSL
7 1 (0.16%) DHCP
7 1 (0.16%) Intranet
7 1 (0.16%) ISDN
7 1 (0.16%) RIP
7 1 (0.16%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (3.26%) Power BI
2 15 (2.33%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.24%) MongoDB
4 7 (1.09%) DynamoDB
4 7 (1.09%) MySQL
4 7 (1.09%) Relational Database
5 6 (0.93%) Amazon Athena
5 6 (0.93%) DocumentDB
6 4 (0.62%) BigQuery
6 4 (0.62%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.62%) Redis
7 3 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.47%) Big Data
7 3 (0.47%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.31%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.31%) EDRMS
9 1 (0.16%) EDMS
9 1 (0.16%) OLTP
9 1 (0.16%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 37 (5.75%) Git
2 26 (4.04%) GitLab
3 25 (3.88%) JIRA
4 15 (2.33%) Cypress.io
5 11 (1.71%) Jenkins
6 10 (1.55%) Postman
7 7 (1.09%) Selenium
8 4 (0.62%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.62%) JMeter
8 4 (0.62%) JUnit
8 4 (0.62%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.47%) Artifactory
9 3 (0.47%) Claude Code
9 3 (0.47%) RStudio
10 2 (0.31%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.31%) NUnit
10 2 (0.31%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.31%) TestRail
11 1 (0.16%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.16%) Xcode
General
1 152 (23.60%) Social Skills
2 111 (17.24%) Manufacturing
3 69 (10.71%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (9.63%) Pharmaceutical
5 55 (8.54%) Finance
6 49 (7.61%) Public Sector
7 32 (4.97%) Legal
8 31 (4.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 25 (3.88%) Aerospace
10 23 (3.57%) Law
11 21 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
12 15 (2.33%) Marketing
12 15 (2.33%) Retail
13 12 (1.86%) Swedish Language
14 11 (1.71%) Electronics
15 10 (1.55%) Local Government
16 9 (1.40%) Banking
17 7 (1.09%) Automotive
17 7 (1.09%) Games
18 6 (0.93%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 87 (13.51%) QA Engineer
2 73 (11.34%) Analyst
3 72 (11.18%) Senior
4 66 (10.25%) QA Officer
4 66 (10.25%) Quality Engineer
5 61 (9.47%) Lead
6 54 (8.39%) QA Manager
7 50 (7.76%) Developer
8 44 (6.83%) Quality Manager
9 27 (4.19%) QA Leader
10 22 (3.42%) Automation Engineer
10 22 (3.42%) QA Automation Engineer
11 21 (3.26%) Test Engineer
12 19 (2.95%) Business Analyst
13 17 (2.64%) Tester
14 16 (2.48%) Service Analyst
14 16 (2.48%) Service Desk Analyst
15 15 (2.33%) Software Engineer
16 14 (2.17%) Software Developer
17 13 (2.02%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (6.83%) .NET
2 33 (5.12%) HTML
3 31 (4.81%) CSS
4 28 (4.35%) Playwright
5 27 (4.19%) Node.js
6 24 (3.73%) REST
7 18 (2.80%) RESTful
7 18 (2.80%) Terraform
8 10 (1.55%) .NET Framework
8 10 (1.55%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.55%) OAuth
9 9 (1.40%) React
10 8 (1.24%) ASP.NET Web API
11 7 (1.09%) .NET Core
11 7 (1.09%) Entity Framework
11 7 (1.09%) Jest
11 7 (1.09%) JWT
11 7 (1.09%) Middleware
11 7 (1.09%) Spring Boot
11 7 (1.09%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 33 (5.12%) Product Ownership
2 19 (2.95%) Life Science
3 17 (2.64%) Cloud Native
4 14 (2.17%) Distributed Systems
5 12 (1.86%) Driving Licence
6 11 (1.71%) Management Information System
7 9 (1.40%) Onboarding
8 7 (1.09%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.09%) Mobile App
9 6 (0.93%) AI Agents
10 5 (0.78%) Blog
10 5 (0.78%) PMI
10 5 (0.78%) Security Posture
10 5 (0.78%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (0.62%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 4 (0.62%) Legacy Systems
12 3 (0.47%) Online Games
12 3 (0.47%) Renewable Energy
12 3 (0.47%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 20 (3.11%) Windows
2 14 (2.17%) Linux
3 8 (1.24%) Android
4 7 (1.09%) Apple iOS
5 6 (0.93%) Mac OS
5 6 (0.93%) Unix
6 5 (0.78%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.31%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (22.67%) Agile
2 132 (20.50%) Continuous Improvement
3 113 (17.55%) CI/CD
4 104 (16.15%) Test Automation
5 97 (15.06%) Problem-Solving
6 77 (11.96%) DevOps
7 76 (11.80%) Mentoring
8 62 (9.63%) Validation
9 55 (8.54%) Software Testing
10 50 (7.76%) Stakeholder Management
11 48 (7.45%) Software Engineering
12 43 (6.68%) Customer Service
12 43 (6.68%) Decision-Making
13 41 (6.37%) AI
14 35 (5.43%) Coaching
14 35 (5.43%) Collaborative Working
14 35 (5.43%) Scrum
14 35 (5.43%) SDLC
15 32 (4.97%) Microservices
16 30 (4.66%) User Stories
Programming Languages
1 67 (10.40%) SQL
2 65 (10.09%) JavaScript
3 50 (7.76%) C#
4 37 (5.75%) Python
5 32 (4.97%) Java
5 32 (4.97%) TypeScript
6 9 (1.40%) Bash
7 5 (0.78%) Go
7 5 (0.78%) PHP
7 5 (0.78%) PowerShell
7 5 (0.78%) R
8 4 (0.62%) Kotlin
9 3 (0.47%) C++
9 3 (0.47%) Groovy
10 2 (0.31%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.16%) Bicep
11 1 (0.16%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.16%) Perl
11 1 (0.16%) Scala
11 1 (0.16%) VBA
Qualifications
1 76 (11.80%) Degree
2 62 (9.63%) Security Cleared
3 51 (7.92%) SC Cleared
4 18 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (2.64%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (2.17%) AWS Certification
6 14 (2.17%) MCSE
7 8 (1.24%) Postgraduate
7 8 (1.24%) RIBA
8 7 (1.09%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.09%) HNC
9 6 (0.93%) Computer Science Degree
9 6 (0.93%) CREST Certified
9 6 (0.93%) DV Cleared
9 6 (0.93%) HND
10 5 (0.78%) PMI Certification
11 4 (0.62%) PMP
12 2 (0.31%) APMP
12 2 (0.31%) Chartered Engineer
12 2 (0.31%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (4.35%) ISO 9001
2 24 (3.73%) Accessibility
3 12 (1.86%) Data Quality
3 12 (1.86%) GMP
4 11 (1.71%) PMO
5 9 (1.40%) GDPR
6 3 (0.47%) ISO 19650
6 3 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.31%) ECSS
7 2 (0.31%) P3O
7 2 (0.31%) Software Quality Assurance
8 1 (0.16%) AQAP
8 1 (0.16%) Good Clinical Practice
8 1 (0.16%) GRC
8 1 (0.16%) NCSC
8 1 (0.16%) NIST
8 1 (0.16%) WCAG
System Software
1 31 (4.81%) Docker
2 3 (0.47%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 19 (2.95%) Kubernetes
2 4 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.47%) Ansible
3 3 (0.47%) Packer
4 2 (0.31%) Kibana
5 1 (0.16%) Cisco CUCM
5 1 (0.16%) Fluentd
5 1 (0.16%) Grafana
Vendors
1 63 (9.78%) Microsoft
2 20 (3.11%) ServiceNow
3 17 (2.64%) SAP
4 9 (1.40%) Aderant
4 9 (1.40%) Autodesk
5 8 (1.24%) iManage
5 8 (1.24%) Intapp
6 7 (1.09%) Dynatrace
7 6 (0.93%) Confluent
7 6 (0.93%) Databricks
7 6 (0.93%) Sage
8 5 (0.78%) Salesforce
9 4 (0.62%) Google
9 4 (0.62%) IBM
10 3 (0.47%) AppDynamics
10 3 (0.47%) Splunk
10 3 (0.47%) YouTube
11 2 (0.31%) Alteryx
11 2 (0.31%) F5
11 2 (0.31%) Palo Alto