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

6 months to
13 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 97 65
Rank change year-on-year +38 -32 -41
Permanent jobs citing QA 506 313 568
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.43% 3.32% 3.11%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 28.47% 24.98% 24.87%
Number of salaries quoted 326 117 327
10th Percentile - £36,050 £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 £62,200
90th Percentile £75,000 £86,250 £71,250
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 1,777 1,253 2,284
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.53% 13.29% 12.51%
Number of salaries quoted 1,294 582 1,509
10th Percentile £30,000 £25,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £34,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £58,000 £57,500 £53,500
% change year-on-year +0.87% +7.48% -6.96%

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 13 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 13 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 +29 303 £45,000 -18.18% 104
Yorkshire +27 110 £40,000 -40.74% 53
North East -12 93 £51,250 -2.67% 27
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 (2.17%) Apache Airflow
1 11 (2.17%) CMS
2 10 (1.98%) WordPress
3 7 (1.38%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.19%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.99%) Apache
5 5 (0.99%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.59%) IIS
7 2 (0.40%) Confluence
7 2 (0.40%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.20%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 28 (5.53%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.78%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.38%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.99%) SAP PM
2 4 (0.79%) Sage 200
2 4 (0.79%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.79%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.59%) Shopify
4 2 (0.40%) Academy Housing
Cloud Services
1 54 (10.67%) AWS
2 44 (8.70%) Azure
3 33 (6.52%) Power Platform
4 29 (5.73%) Microsoft 365
5 14 (2.77%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (2.57%) GCP
7 12 (2.37%) SaaS
7 12 (2.37%) Serverless
8 11 (2.17%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (2.17%) Amazon S3
9 9 (1.78%) Google Analytics
10 7 (1.38%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 7 (1.38%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (1.38%) dbt
11 6 (1.19%) GitHub
11 6 (1.19%) Power Automate
12 5 (0.99%) Amazon EMR
12 5 (0.99%) Azure Monitor
12 5 (0.99%) Entra ID
13 4 (0.79%) Amazon ECR
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.79%) HTTP
2 3 (0.59%) HTTPS
2 3 (0.59%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.40%) Broadband
3 2 (0.40%) VoIP
4 1 (0.20%) ADSL
4 1 (0.20%) Firewall
4 1 (0.20%) ISDN
4 1 (0.20%) LAN
4 1 (0.20%) Network Security
4 1 (0.20%) VDSL
4 1 (0.20%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (6.13%) Power BI
2 13 (2.57%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.58%) BigQuery
3 8 (1.58%) MySQL
4 6 (1.19%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.99%) Amazon Athena
5 5 (0.99%) DynamoDB
6 4 (0.79%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.59%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.59%) Tableau
8 2 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.40%) Big Data
8 2 (0.40%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.40%) EDRMS
8 2 (0.40%) Looker
8 2 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.40%) Redis
9 1 (0.20%) MariaDB
9 1 (0.20%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 31 (6.13%) Git
2 24 (4.74%) JIRA
3 19 (3.75%) GitLab
4 9 (1.78%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.58%) Postman
6 6 (1.19%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.99%) Cucumber
7 5 (0.99%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.59%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.59%) JUnit
9 2 (0.40%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.40%) JMeter
9 2 (0.40%) NUnit
9 2 (0.40%) Selenium
9 2 (0.40%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.40%) TestRail
10 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.20%) Gradle
10 1 (0.20%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.20%) TestComplete
General
1 164 (32.41%) Social Skills
2 79 (15.61%) Manufacturing
3 78 (15.42%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (13.44%) Finance
5 64 (12.65%) Pharmaceutical
6 37 (7.31%) Public Sector
7 25 (4.94%) Legal
8 23 (4.55%) Marketing
9 20 (3.95%) Law
9 20 (3.95%) Organisational Skills
10 12 (2.37%) Swedish Language
11 11 (2.17%) Retail
12 10 (1.98%) Aerospace
12 10 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 8 (1.58%) Telecoms
14 7 (1.38%) Banking
14 7 (1.38%) Games
14 7 (1.38%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.99%) Legal Technology
15 5 (0.99%) Military
Job Titles
1 54 (10.67%) Senior
2 53 (10.47%) Analyst
3 47 (9.29%) QA Manager
3 47 (9.29%) QA Officer
4 42 (8.30%) Quality Manager
5 33 (6.52%) Head of QA
6 32 (6.32%) Developer
7 31 (6.13%) QA Engineer
8 29 (5.73%) Lead
9 23 (4.55%) Quality Engineer
10 20 (3.95%) Software Engineer
11 18 (3.56%) Service Analyst
11 18 (3.56%) Service Desk Analyst
12 17 (3.36%) Business Analyst
12 17 (3.36%) Test Engineer
13 16 (3.16%) Senior Manager
14 14 (2.77%) Tester
15 13 (2.57%) Administrator
16 11 (2.17%) QA Tester
17 10 (1.98%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (6.13%) HTML
2 28 (5.53%) .NET
2 28 (5.53%) CSS
3 14 (2.77%) REST
4 10 (1.98%) RESTful
5 9 (1.78%) ASP.NET Web API
5 9 (1.78%) Node.js
5 9 (1.78%) Playwright
6 8 (1.58%) .NET Framework
6 8 (1.58%) ASP.NET
6 8 (1.58%) React
7 7 (1.38%) Entity Framework
7 7 (1.38%) JSON
7 7 (1.38%) OAuth
8 6 (1.19%) .NET Core
8 6 (1.19%) AngularJS
8 6 (1.19%) JWT
8 6 (1.19%) OAuth2
8 6 (1.19%) Swagger
8 6 (1.19%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.52%) Analytical Mindset
2 15 (2.96%) Life Science
3 13 (2.57%) Product Ownership
4 12 (2.37%) Onboarding
4 12 (2.37%) PMI
5 8 (1.58%) Distributed Systems
5 8 (1.58%) Management Information System
6 7 (1.38%) Cloud Native
7 6 (1.19%) AI Agents
8 5 (0.99%) CCTV
8 5 (0.99%) Driving Licence
9 4 (0.79%) Animation
9 4 (0.79%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (0.79%) Mobile App
9 4 (0.79%) Online Games
9 4 (0.79%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.59%) FMCG
10 3 (0.59%) Legacy Applications
10 3 (0.59%) Mainframe
10 3 (0.59%) Photography
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.58%) Windows
2 4 (0.79%) Android
2 4 (0.79%) Apple iOS
2 4 (0.79%) Windows 10
3 3 (0.59%) Linux
3 3 (0.59%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (24.70%) Continuous Improvement
2 89 (17.59%) Agile
3 72 (14.23%) CI/CD
4 62 (12.25%) Problem-Solving
5 60 (11.86%) Mentoring
6 59 (11.66%) Analytics
7 54 (10.67%) Test Automation
8 50 (9.88%) DevOps
9 45 (8.89%) Decision-Making
10 44 (8.70%) Quality Management
10 44 (8.70%) Stakeholder Management
11 43 (8.50%) Change Management
12 42 (8.30%) PRINCE2
13 41 (8.10%) Actionable Insight
13 41 (8.10%) Coaching
13 41 (8.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 41 (8.10%) Validation
14 37 (7.31%) Customer Experience
15 36 (7.11%) Root Cause Analysis
16 34 (6.72%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 48 (9.49%) SQL
2 36 (7.11%) C#
2 36 (7.11%) Python
3 33 (6.52%) JavaScript
4 26 (5.14%) Java
5 19 (3.75%) TypeScript
6 7 (1.38%) Go
7 6 (1.19%) PHP
8 5 (0.99%) Bash
9 3 (0.59%) COBOL
9 3 (0.59%) Groovy
10 2 (0.40%) Bicep
10 2 (0.40%) PowerShell
10 2 (0.40%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.20%) C++
11 1 (0.20%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.20%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.20%) Perl
11 1 (0.20%) R
11 1 (0.20%) Swift
Qualifications
1 58 (11.46%) Degree
2 30 (5.93%) IRCA
3 24 (4.74%) Security Cleared
4 22 (4.35%) SC Cleared
5 19 (3.75%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (3.16%) AWS Certification
6 16 (3.16%) MCSE
7 13 (2.57%) PMI Certification
8 12 (2.37%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (1.78%) DBS Check
10 7 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.19%) Postgraduate
12 5 (0.99%) PMP
13 4 (0.79%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.59%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.59%) RIBA
15 2 (0.40%) CCEA
15 2 (0.40%) CHECK Team Member
15 2 (0.40%) Citrix Certification
15 2 (0.40%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (7.31%) GDPR
2 36 (7.11%) ISO 9001
3 20 (3.95%) Accessibility
4 11 (2.17%) Data Quality
5 10 (1.98%) GMP
6 8 (1.58%) P3O
7 7 (1.38%) PMO
8 4 (0.79%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.79%) Software Quality Assurance
9 3 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.59%) WCAG
10 2 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.40%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.20%) AQAP
11 1 (0.20%) NCSC
11 1 (0.20%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.20%) NIST
11 1 (0.20%) SLA
System Software
1 23 (4.55%) Docker
2 2 (0.40%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 14 (2.77%) Terraform
2 10 (1.98%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.59%) Ansible
3 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (0.59%) Packer
4 2 (0.40%) Grafana
Vendors
1 54 (10.67%) Microsoft
2 23 (4.55%) ServiceNow
3 13 (2.57%) Google
3 13 (2.57%) SAP
4 9 (1.78%) Aderant
4 9 (1.78%) iManage
4 9 (1.78%) Intapp
5 4 (0.79%) Databricks
5 4 (0.79%) Planon
5 4 (0.79%) Sage
6 3 (0.59%) Adobe
6 3 (0.59%) AppDynamics
6 3 (0.59%) IBM
6 3 (0.59%) Salesforce
6 3 (0.59%) Splunk
7 2 (0.40%) Apple
7 2 (0.40%) DevExpress
7 2 (0.40%) Draytek
7 2 (0.40%) Siemens
8 1 (0.20%) F5